Using Your Noodle – Fan Tan Cafe
Good afternoon, pretty ponies!
The staff at Horsing Around have been in the trenches in search of the holy grail of our favourite foodstuff, the glorious noodle. Whether it be mung bean, traditional wheat pasta, egg or rice noodle, we have slurped them all down with equal brio.
Today we want to give kudos to a dish you may not be familiar with, Chow Fun. Many of us have enjoyed Chow Mein, the ubiquitous Chinese take out staple. Chow Mein is comprised of thin wheat noodles,wok fried until hot and crispy. Chow Fun alternately is comprised of wide soft, rice noodles, stir fried with a protein (usually beef), flavoured with ginger and dark soy, and topped with crunchy bean sprouts. Chow Fun is said to test the mettle of the Cantonese cook as the noodles have to be sauteed in a dry seasoned wok to impart the requisite smoky flavour (we have heard that some cooks “cheat” by adding liquid smoke) . Whatever the method of preparation, we love Chow Fun – the textural contrast between slippery noodles and crunchy bean spouts, the little throat warming kick of ginger and liquoricy dark soy, we crave this dish again and again.
Fan Tan Cafe, a veritable institution in Victoria’s Chinatown, know their way around a rice noodle. Their rendition of Chow Fun has the requisite smokiness coveted by serious chow hounds. The dish is available with your choice of protein. We think the beef is the best, but we certainly won’t wag fingers if you prefer a different rendition. If you aren’t in a noodle mood, the folks at Fan Tan make a fine won ton soup. The combination plates, while mostly comprised of “white guy” staples like sweet and sour pork and fried rice, are a filling and fantastic bargain and, may we say, make for great hangover food. If you’d sooner stab yourself in the heart with chopsticks than eat a chicken ball, do not fret, Fan Tan has plenty of authentic Cantonese dishes for your inner purist, the menu is extensive.
Do you have a favourite noodle dish? Visit our Facebook or Twitter page and let us know! That is using your noodle.
Take care, you fancy fillies and coquettish colts!
Love, Monty and the whole gang at H.A.
