Q: So Lion Head, tell me about yourself

LH: Well, I’m the best dinner companion you can get from Sweet Mandarin – I am king of all the dim sums. Some call me ’smooth and a real meaty treat’.

Q: Where does your name originate from, Lion Head?

LH: My name comes from the clan “Lion’s Head Meatballs” from 900 B.C. An old Chinese spinister who became the only woman chef to the Emperor of China made delicious pork meatballs for the Emperor’s afternoon tea. To ward off evil curses, she gave my ancestors (the meatball) the courage of a lion and the Emperor, on first sight exclaimed “Wow this mere meatbll resembles a Lions Head”. The Emperor bit into the Lion Head and jumped for joy that he had tasted Heaven. So, that’s how Lion Head the name, and reputation stuck with us.

Q: What advice would you give to other wannabes who want to join the list?

LH: Exercise, only the trimmest meats get into the gang, and you gotta be the best you can. So even the chicken wing (heheh) can get in there, just.

Q: What are your interests?

LH: I love singing karoke, but sometimes the neighbours tell me off for singing too loud. I can’t apologise for my natural talents – that’s the roar of a real lion head!

Q: You’re an eligible bachelor dim sum. Tell the audience what your ideal dim summette would be like?

LH: (laughs) Someone who is carries herself well, smells gorgeous and loves to sing. Ahem, like the Beautiful Beijing Dumpling – she’s mighty fine.

So, now you’ve met the mighty Lion Ball. Meet him face to face at Sweet Mandarin by booking your table here.

To the ruler, the people are Heaven; to the people, food is Heaven’

My grandmother, Lily Kwok was born in a small village in Southern China in 1918, confounding the midwife who’d predicted that she must be a boy because she had kicked so hard in the womb. That independence, strength and energy stayed with her all her life. Lily is 88 now, and still a fit, intelligent and – I’m afraid to say – stubborn woman despite all that she has been through. She and I are very alike. Lily and my mother, Mabel, inspired and shaped much of what I have done with my life: my success at school and in business; my return to the catering trade; my journey back to China to rediscover my roots, and in doing so, discovering her roots too. Her story is my story, and it’s the story of Sweet Mandarin. My sisters and I were immersed from birth in the Chinese catering business – the fourth generation of our family to make a living from food. We grew up in a family firm that was built on decades of graft and hard-earned experience, and we were expected to give up our evenings and weekends to help out behind the counter or in the kitchen. Not surprisingly, by the time we were teenagers we just wanted a way out. I became a lawyer, Lisa, my twin, a financier and Janet an engineer, but for all our efforts to escape we found ourselves choosing to follow in Mabel and Lily’s footsteps in the end. We opened our own restaurant together in 2004, and called it Sweet Mandarin. None of our friends in the Manchester Chinese community understood why we were doing it. The restaurant business is a very demanding one – the hours are long, the work hard and the economics precarious. One moment you’re in the black, the next something unexpected has plunged you into the red. It’s a tough, male-dominated world too, so why would three twenty-something professional ladies with good degrees and white-collar careers want to risk it all for something they’d seen their parents slave over all their lives? Our friends in Manchester had done everything they could to avoid taking on any responsibility for their own parents’ restaurants and takeaways, even moving hundreds of miles away so it was impossible for their family to call them up and expect them to rush home to help out. Living any nearer would involve a burden of guilt and obligation from which they were desperate to be free. I could count on one hand the number of my Chinese peers who were going back into catering.

They thought we were taking a step backwards, and even at the huge street party we held for the restaurant’s launch, with firecrackers and performers and champagne, I could see them quietly shaking their heads over the choice we’d made. The generation above them understood though. I remember old Chinese – the bosses of the established Chinatown restaurants and supermarkets – smiling on us with respect. It was an acknowledgement that we were carrying the flickering, dimming torch for a new generation, and they wished their own sons and daughters would do the same, keeping the community alive and handing down traditional recipes and family business know-how to their own children.

Opening my own restaurant gave me all those things; it was much, much more than a chance to test my entrepreneurial streak. It brought me closer to my sisters, for a start, and though I’m the voice for all of us in this book, they share this heritage with me as well as the work of setting up Sweet Mandarin. It also introduced me to my grandmother and mother all over again and opened up a bridge between us that crossed East and West, uniting the present and the past. I came to understand what their lives had been, and what my generation represented to them.

Lisa, Janet and I had problems getting our business off the ground, but all our slog and late nights were nothing compared to Mabel and Lily’s struggle. They arrived in Britain from Hong Kong with nothing, strangers in a foreign country. Everything they had they built from sheer perseverance and toil, and everything we had came from them.

Every Saturday morning, my mother, grandmother and I shop at the Chinese supermarket. We buy stock for the kitchens at Sweet Mandarin and food for our own home cooking. In the past I’d only known the barest facts about my grandmother’s long life, but when we began these weekly trips she started to reveal the real story, bit by bit. I’d known some things already – just the anecdotes and the funny characters that make up family folklore – but now the detail and the scale of what my grandmother had gone through began to emerge. It was as though each bottle or package that she picked out for our basket was tied to a different chapter of her life, and now she wanted to share it with us. When your entire family works in restaurants, food becomes a family album – an heirloom that triggers memories.

Very little has been written about the experiences of mainland Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong and to Britain, but I knew that as I discovered more about the journey my grandmother had made, and the extraordinary things that had happened to her, this was a story that had to be told. It’s shared by many of the Chinese who settled in this country, who also carved out a place in their new homeland through the catering trade.

To Buy the Book, Sweet Mandarin Click Here

Having watched this architecturally brilliant design, I will never complain that I don’t have enough space!
Wishing you all a very happy and well rested Bank Holiday Weekend.
Lisa

I know I look young, but my goodness I’m in my 30s now.

Dear Friends, I’ve just come back from ASDAs empty handed. I’ve run out of vodka and tonight I’m making a vodka flambe drunken chicken so I thought just pop into my local ASDA and get a bottle of vodka. The lady at the check out looked me up and down (and no I was not wearing school uniform!).

‘Do you have ID?’ she asked.

‘No’ I said smiling and added ‘I haven’t brought my passport as I wasn’t planning on leaving the country today.’ I said sarcastically.
She looked at me sterly as if I’d just offended her mother. Then she gave me the daggers. I swallowed and thought oh dear, me and my big gob. I should have kept zip.
‘Sorry love, if you don’t have ID, I can’t sell you that bottle of vodka’. she said smirking – probably thinking I was a daytime alcoholic skivving school.
I shook my head in disgust. ‘I’m over the hill, love. I’m 30 odd’.
‘Sorry, its our policy. You should be over the moon that you still look 15.’ I didn’t know whether to be angry or happy. All I can say is if anyone is going to the off-licence, can you buy me a bottle of vodka. The chicken is in desperate need for a drink.

So having just knocked off over half my years off in one fell swoop. I’ll put getting asked for ID on the Sweet Nothing List.   That means when I get to 50, I’ll might just be looking old enough to buy my first pint in a pub. Well only time will tell.

I’m gonna stand up and declare that I’m a Twitterholic. I just love Twitter and the Twitterers I have met. So its my pleasure to host Tweet Up meetings for Twitterers like the one I’m going to host on Sunday 22nd August.

Quite simply in 140 characters, ‘ at a tweet up we eat dim sum, drink a glass of wine or two & just meet fellow tweeters in Manc.alot of fun..”OH ITS YOU!”‘

Have you ever wondered who is that person you’ve been tweeting to morning, noon and night? Well pop in tomorrow (starting from 5pm) and you’re gonna meet your tweeters at Sweet Mandarin.  I have a confession to make. I aka (@sweetmandarin) am a ”certified twitterholic” and I cook n tweet, serve n tweet and can’t wait to meet you in person. I’ve already got butterflies as I’m preparing the dim sum extravaganza.  It is customary for the Chinese to offer small gifts, so please enjoy our complimentary dim sum (literally translated means from the heart). My dream is to meet all the tweeters in the Manchester area, perhaps even Liz (@travelogged) from NY?

Twitter is such an amazing discovery. Not only is it fun, but its a way to help our fellow Mancunians. Through tweets with fellow tweeters, I know Manchester folk are suffering with the downturn. Everyone can do their bit and we’re going to hold events to match people with jobs.  To my Manchester friends - its the Year of the Ox -  Be strong. Turning up is half the battle and I know that networking helps boost the spirits, if not create an opportunity. Follow us @sweetmandarin.

Date: Sunday 22nd August
Time: 5-8pm
Cost: Free
Bring: Blackberry/Phone/Iphone/Camera/Your own sweet self
RSVP: lisa@sweetmandarin.com or DM me on Twitter @sweetmandarin (oh and please follow me)
Food: I’ll sort out the dim sum
Drinks: Pay as you go

What is a Noodle?

A noodle is food made from unleavened dough that is cooked in a boiling liquid. Depending upon the type, noodles may be dried or refrigerated before cooking. The word noodle derives from the German nudel (noodle) and may be related to the Latin word nodus (knot). In English, noodle is a generic term for unleavened dough made from many different types of ingredients. Noodles exist in an abundance of shapes.

Which country created the first noodle?

Today Italians are credited with their pasta noodle dishes but in actual fact a 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles unearthed in China is the earliest example ever found of one of the world’s most popular foods, scientists and the National Geographic reported. It also suggests an Asian—not Italian—origin for the staple dish. The first written account of noodles is from the East Han Dynasty between AD 25 and 220. In October 2005, the oldest noodles yet discovered were found at the Lajia site (Qijia culture) along the Yellow River in Qinghai, China. The 4,000-year-old noodles appear to have been made from foxtail millet and broomcorn millet.

Davjon

With that in mind, when Davjon - probably the greatest noodle manufacturer (See Davjon website link here) asked me to sample, test, cook and talk about their fresh noodles, how could I say no. After all, the Chinese created the first noodle and with a humble wok, I took the challenge to stress test their noodles.

I met with Susanna, Alexia and Hayley at Sweet Mandarin who brought four products for me to test 1) Won Ton Pastry 2) Shanghai Noodles 3) Thin Egg Noodles and 4) Thick Egg Noodles . MY RATINGS KEY

***** outstanding will definite use in restaurant and will recommend to my cookery school students

****good will use now and again in restaurant but forsee home cooks will struggle with this product

*** ok but hard to use ands needs improvement in taste and/or packaging

 Won Ton Pastry *****

Taste: Light, non greasy, eggy flavour.

Texture: When fried, creates beautiful air bubbles enhancing the crunchy texture. When boiled the won tons are silky and smooth…testimony that the translation of a won ton is ’swallowing a cloud’.

Good: I liked the fact that the pastry was thinly rolled out and all pieces were evenly cut and rolled out.  Easy to use and do not stick together.

Improvement Tips: I felt that it needed a sealable package to prevent air drying out the pastry and more emphasis on the packaging that the pastry is very versatile – it can be fried, boiled, steamed.

Shanghai Noodles ***(*)

Taste: Absorbs the flavour of the dish but an element of oily residue can be detected.

Texture: Heavy suet like noodles made from rice wheat. It has a springiness to its texture and has that chewiness and elasticity but perhaps a bit too hard in the noodle bite.

Good: Easy to cook and non sticky – used for Shanghai Beef Noodles…which can be replicated at home.

 Improvement Tips: Unattractive packaging makes it look like a pack of worms. 

Fresh Thin Egg Noodles*****

Taste: Lovely flavour and you can really taste the fresh noodles in these thin noodles.

Texture: Has a springiness in the noodle bite and retains its cohesivity in a noodle soup dish. Bonus was that the noodles were not too chewy.

.Good: Easy to use and perfect for restaurant dishes.

Bad: Packaging wrong size and the vacuum packed look negated the notion it was a ‘fresh’ product.

Scientifically – A typical Chinese raw noodle has the following measurements: springiness 0.96, hardness 1,200 grams, cohesiveness 0.66, and chewiness 750 grams. 

Why is this important?
Noodle texture is an important quality characteristic. Based on the noodle type and the marketplace, noodle texture can be hard bite or soft bite. For example, Udon noodles are usually softer and more elastic while other noodles are harder and chewier in bite.

Fresh Egg Thick Noodles****

Taste: Delicious stir fried. Can really taste the freshness of the noodle and the intensity of egg.

Texture: Has a springiness in the noodle bite and the ribbon effect of the noodles creates a multi-dimentional texture.

Good: Great taste

Improvement Tips: Very hard to cook, stick together and needs instructions on how to cook them for the optimum dish. In addition, restaurants generally do not use thick noodles – this product would only be saleable in takeaways.

Cooking

Noodles may be cooked from either their fresh (moist) or dry forms. They are generally boiled, although they may also be deep-fried in oil until crispy. Boiled noodles may then be stir fried, served with sauce or other accompaniments, or served in soup, often with meat and other ingredients. Certain rice-noodles are made directly from steaming the raw rice slurry and are only consumed fresh.

Unlike many Western noodles and pastas, Chinese noodles made from wheat flour are usually made from salted dough and therefore do not require the addition of salt to the liquid in which they are boiled. Chinese noodles also cook very quickly, generally requiring less than 5minutes to become al dente (firm but not hard) and some taking less than a minute to finish cooking, with thinner noodles requiring less time to cook. Chinese noodles made from rice or mung bean starch do not generally contain salt.

Measuring Noodles

Most dried noodles doubles in volume when cooked and fresh noodles increase by one and a half times. For accuracy, measure noodles by weight rather than by cup. The general rule is one pound of dry noodles will serve six as an appetizer or four as a main course. Remember – shapes may vary in size according to the manufacturer, so use these measurements as generalizations.  The easiest way to measure noodles is to use your digital scale. 4 ounces of uncooked noodles = a 1-inch diameter bunch of dry noodles = 2 cups cooked noodles.  

How To Cook Noodles Properly

Important Rule: Noodles should be prepared just before serving it.  

Today, I saw on Twitter that Benji Lanyado (@benjilanyado), a travel writer with the Guardian is coming to Manchester armed only with a mobile phone. I am so happy to introduce my hometown to Benji that I dedicate this blog to his travels up North.  He’s asked for direction as to where to go. Here’s my suggestion for a tour.

1.Go lounge on a deckchair at Spinningfields. Get a coffee from Carluccios and just chill. I hope the weather will be nice for you…..but I won’t hold my breath on that one.

2. At the back of Spinningfields and adjacent to the Manchester Courts is a little gem of a find – the People’s History Museum. Its free and its great fun and informative. Manchester really is the melting pot of political fervour – suffragettes, Chartism, unions – right on our doorstep. I ended up appreciating my hometown even more after a trip here. Oh and the cakes are pretty awesome too.

3. The Lowry Hotel where they film X Factor is a great place for afternoon tea. They currently have an exhibition on – all Disney pictures – which I think is truly magical and worth a visit.

4. Manchester’s town hall is the place where you see weddings taking place and at Christmas there’s always the inflatable Santa that goes flat. I love the architecture though. The front courtyard houses the German Market, Jazz Festivals and other big events. But today, its just business as usual…..still worth a look though.

5. Make Your way to the Manchester Big Wheel and you’ll see fountain and stones along the boulevard. I always chuckle when I see that kids have poured in washing up liquid and created a bubble factory right in the heart of Manchester. You don’t get that in Trafalgar Square huh!

6. Got to see the Urbis for its ultra cool architecture. Unfortunately its not open at the moment but I bet you’ll go ‘Wow that is so cool!’ when you see the glass structure right in front of you. Behind it is the MEN Arena where all the stars have sell out tours. To its left is Cheetham’s School of Music where they have delightful classical renditions and to the right, you have Printworks – walk in 10 minutes and you are at Sweet Mandarin.

7. The Printworks houses the Odeon theatre. Have you seen Inception? Its messed with my head and I don’t know sometimes whether dreams are real or not. Anyway, there’s a few ‘discos’ in the Printworks. I sound so old skool calling them ‘discos’ but that’s what they really are. Discos for teenyboppers.

8. Walk up Withy Grove. Its a bit shabby on one side with the old run down shops and a bit glam on the other, with the Birdcage – that in a nutshell is Manchester – an ecclectic mix.

9. Withy Grove then becomes Shudehill and forks into High Street. This is where the Arndale Centre (Fish market entrance is). With your back turned to the Arndale, this is the view. Do you see the white building? That is where I am, at Sweet Mandarin – in that white building. I’ll save you a table Benji and look forward to welcoming you to Sweet Mandarin.

10. Sweet Mandarin – based on the first High Street of Manchester, overlooking the imposing Smithfield Fish Market wall. We are an award winning Chinese restaurant and cookery school. Outside where we are, they are filming the Hollywood movie, Captain America – take a front row seat and relax. Welcome to Manchester, Benji.

Tonight a handsome young man came to Sweet Mandarin armed with a CD and an ancient scroll. He’d come to inspect the table – table 3 in the alcove – a table he’d sat at three years ago on a first date.  Tonight, he was going to propose to his girlfriend whom he’d first met at Sweet Mandarin and he wanted it just perfect, just as it was three years ago. Its been raining in hushed whispers all night. Every now and then, a chuckle seems to escape it as the lovers walk into Sweet Mandarin.

The atmosphere was electric – at Sweet Mandarin they escaped from other spaces, which seemed cluttered with superficial concerns and hollow outrage. Here, he could ask the question. In the candle lit space, he could ask for her hand in marriage. He’d planned every course, the music and his proposal  as a creative challenge, composing lucid thoughts to record the event – giving mankind hope of an optimistic outlook on life and love.  I peered around waiting for the signal. He was waiting for that moment to come.  I think we both could sense a pin dropping it was that tense. He gave me the nod and then I delivered the plate with the scroll on it. It was time. I placed it on the table. It shimmered from the waxy paper. Almost hypnotic. It spoke about ‘In my heart is a temple. Sacred, intricate, divine. Cool floors, echoing ceilings.  I want you to be part of my life. You’re the one’.

In this scroll was scribed a promise, a small-scale personal approach – outlining his world where he was inviting her to join, creating a place where love, beauty, wit, and inspiration dominated, and when his girlfriend started to read these poignant words, she cried tears of joy as she was overwhelmed with love. On bended knee, he proposed and virtually built a bridge from himself to his fiancee – because sometimes in life there are rivers to cross on the way.

“Yes. The answer is yes.” she whispered.  At that moment it goes hazy like they are stranded between nothing and everything.

I couldn’t help it. The tears welled in my eyes and I too was overcome with emotion. There’s a little bit of this couple in all of us. They laugh love sing sleep dance ignore fight insist like everyone has been through – I guess we are all filled with nostalgia.

On an innocent Tuesday night in August 2010 this young couple’s experience of Sweet Mandarin would change forever. The proposal was inspirational, funny, and wise. It uplifted Sweet Mandarin to a marshmallow floaty existence where dreams really do come true – and has become a precious moment that will always be recorded in their memory and mine.

I realise my raison d’etre now – to cook delicious food for people who appreciate Sweet Mandarin. Through food, interactions can be very deep and meaningful very quickly. There is nothing flippant or superficial in the cuisine I cook, so I attract likeminded people who are looking to share, inspire, validate and enjoy good food.

Tonight, it has been amazing – a vibrant world of wonder that inspires and truly adds value to the surrounding world. In one word, life is ‘Sweet’.

If I had a conversation with you on the phone and you’d never seen me before you’d think I was a right proper Manchester lass. I end up saying things like ‘The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread’…..and ‘Ya know what I mean’. Its so funny – the Northern Accent. Some people try to refine it, shorten their vowels, and others just let them hang loose – and are proud of their roots. I’m the latter camp. Hey, I’m Loud and Proud and that’s why the Northern Accent makes #962 Sweet Nothing.

See you at Sweet Mandarin and I’ll happy give you a rendition of Eliza Dolittle ‘The rain in spain stays mainly on the plain’. It will crack you up. I promise. Book a table here.

The scene that stays with me is a bar packed with people, a swarm of twitterers in overdrive, with a mix of titilation and trepidation, after Manchester’s first Twestival. I met twitterers who have kept me company in virtual reality, made me burst into laughter and order Sweet Mandarin takeaways from me.

So what is a restauranteur and cookery school owner like me doing on Twitter. My journey into this scrappy world of 140 characters is thanks to my customers telling me about this MUST TRY social network. I responded “Look, I got Facebook, Myspace, Blog and a real life restaurant with hundreds of clients…what’s so good about Twitter?”

They responded with such passion – “its instantaneous, its addictive and it gives us a chance to figure out how you fit it all in – a restaurant, a cookery school, a book, juggling your family and Lisa – you’re everywhere – HOW?!”. Their arguments roused my curiosity and struck so deeply into the psyche of me that I put aside my common sense (and time) and signed up. 7000 followers and 3000 tweets later, I’m hooked and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I tell you that I’m firing up a wok, I try to crack a joke (try is the operative word), I’m watching tv, I’m exercising – now I’m not. Twitter lets you talk about the minutae of life and with my life, it revolves around my clients and food. What fires me up is the “Sweet Tweets” – bookings for tables, orders for takeaways, compliments (I love you too) – because I live to cook and serve…..and Twitter has helped me to run my business in the most fun way possible.

About Me

I set up Sweet Mandarin with my two sisters four years ago, achieving a long held dream. We wanted to be slightly different and offered modern Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails. We have been blessed with a loyal following many of whom have become friends who come to Sweet Mandarin to catch up on life, hang out and eat good, fresh, healthy Chinese food – and also learn how to make it via our cookery school. Being part of the Manchester Twitterati is a natural extension of our lives – and relationships. I’ve learnt that there are many things which try to divide us, but food is that one uniting factor – and through our snippets of food – I share the highs and lows with our community in Manchester. Twitter helps us to understand each other better and just say what we have to say (in 140 characters). Follow us @sweetmandarin and if I can help, I will.

Reminder: Tweet Up @sweetmandarin on Sunday 18th July 5-7pm.

I love my job at Sweet Mandarin. I cook, I teach people how to cook, I make lots of friends along the way. Pictured here with me are my No.1 clients: Bill with his ‘I Love Sweet Mandarin teeshirt’ together with Sue, his wife, and Vicky their daughter. I met them when they came to dine at Sweet Mandarin and we just had a great laugh together during the meal. They came back nearly every single week and it was just a joy to serve them. Its so great to see a friendly face and catch up on the news todate.

Sue has previously joined me on the Intermediate Cookery course at Sweet Mandarin and loved it – she is now a pro at making steamed seabass, sweet and sour, beef and blackbeans (fresh, not from a jar) and spicy Sichuan king prawns.

Today, the family have joined me for the Dim Sum Masterclass at Sweet Mandarin Cookery School – and I had to put this on my Sweet Nothings Blog. Bill made the I Love Sweet Mandarin teeshirt and when I saw it – it brought a huge smile to my face. Wowsers, that is so sweet and I wanted it to share it with you my dear readers. They are so so lovely and really make my job at Sweet Mandarin worth it 110%. I dedicate this blog entry to Bill, Sue and Vicky. Thank you for being a great friend and you are always welcome at Sweet Mandarin.

I’ve just slobbered all over a Pakistani Mango and I’m not ashamed to share that fact with you. It was such a juicy sweet experience I gotta climb to the top of my wokbox and shout it to the world. Forget green or red mangos. Go for the Pakistani Mango. There is zero substitute for the nectar sweet honey flesh that this yellow mango encases. You’ll love it and yes you too will shamelessly slobber all over it until all that is left is the big bad pip. And it makes the best mango puddings too – I’ve been churning them out and my clients are loving these beauties. Book your table at Sweet Mandarin here and I’ll save you one.

Going Mad About The Mango

Mango is the fruit par belongs to the family Anacardiaceae. It is a prominent fruit among the commercial fruits of Pakistan. Mango have many varieties and known for attractive colours, aroma, delightful taste and high nutritive value. Mango fruits contain 10-20% sugar. Mango is an important source of vitamin A & C & contain vitamin B.

Pakistan is an important mango growing country in the world. The soil and climatic conditions of Pakistan are highly suitable for mango cultivation. According to FAO production year book of 2001, Pakistan stands FIFTH among mango growing countries of the World and today Pakistan share 10% share in total mango exports.

Mango has second position after Kinnow in Pakistan. It is grown in the province of Punjab and Sindh. The mango from Pakistan is well known for its taste and quality abroad. Pakistan export mangoes mainly to to neighboring and European countries, i.e. Afghanistan, Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, France, Malaysia and Singapore etc. fetching foreign exchange.

Langra, Dusehri, Samar Behisht, Chaunsa, Anwar Ratol are important varieties grown in Punjab. Sindhri, Bagan Pali, Suwarneka, Neelum and Gulab Khas are leading ones from Sindh.

Pakistan mangoes are also known as The king of Fruit and one of the most popular fruits in the world. Sun Citrus export these mangoes with a delicious, mouth watering flavour and rich aroma.

Mangoes are available from May through August at Sweet Mandarin. Book yours here

I love taking photographs and have joined Flickr where photographers (professional to amateur i.e. me) upload their photos and share in techniques on how to take the best photos. I also hold Flickr meet ups where everyone comes to Sweet Mandarin armed with the latest kit and big lenses. Wow there are some powerful beasts roaming the streets of Manchester. The king of the pack is Tootdood. Check out his profile and his pictures – click here . The guy puts so much passion and energy and love into each photo that he inspires me and makes it onto my Sweet Nothing List as #965. Go Toot Go!

Reminder. We are holding the next Flickr Meet Up – keep in touch with us by joining us on Flickr.

Sweet Mandarin Cookery School teaches a Dim Sum Masterclass. Its been so busy that we’re full till October 2010 and I’ve had to add an extra date for the people who really really really want to learn. So here’s a date for your diary: 8th August. Its first come, first served. For more information, go to www.sweetmandarin.com To book your place on the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School click here or email lisa@sweetmandarin.com

As a British Born Chinese, I have lived a very British way of life being educated in Manchester and Australia. However, throughout my life, I grew up with the backdrop of serving and cooking in the family restaurant and continue my involvement in the catering empire as a co-owner of Sweet Mandarin Restaurant (www.sweetmandarin.com).

(Illustration by Lisa Tse “To The Ruler, the People are Heaven, to the People Food is Heaven”)

Chinese food has had an overwhelming presence in my life and been the catalyst for my hunger for understanding China and the significance of food in its culture. This series explores the cities where I stayed, the lives that crossed my path and the amazing food with a story to tell. China is a captivating and vivacious collection of diverse cities, provinces and regions. In the south, Guangdong, the Cantonese speaking region is renowned for its steaming, boiling and stir frying and dim sum feasts which we have become accustomed to and love in the western world. Beijing in the coldest area of China boasts the Emperor’s banquet, the world famous Peking Duck and hot pot. In the east, Shanghai offers its famous Shanghai Dumplings, whilst the Sichuan provinces easily provide the hottest and spiciest cuisine.

I finally arrived at Guangzhou which is famous for its “dim sum”. Literally translated, “dim sum” means “to touch your heart”. Guangzhou is north of the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Hong Kong and holds a special place in my heart as the place where my family originates from. The nickname for this province is “Flower City” because flowers keep blossoming all year round.

(Five Ram Statute in Guangzhou)

It also holds the myth that there were five celestials riding five rams with rice in their mouth. The celestials gave the rice to the residents of Guangzhou and blessed the province with good harvests and an abundance of food. Today, the celestials have flown away but the five rams have been turned into stone sculptures in the Yuexiu Park area. The blessings have seemingly been fulfilled and the city is brimming with masses of people, bicycles and restaurants.

To date, there are over 10,000 restaurants in the city, with seats for over 500,000. The people of Guangzhou are natural born gourmets. Food in Guangzhou is famous worldwide. Indeed in 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the nationalist party responsible for unifying China, set up his headquarters in Guangzhou and enjoyed dining at the many restaurants serving dim sum.

(Dim Sum Mania on Sunday Mornings)

Dim sum is often referred to as “yum cha” (??) which means “drinking tea”. This interchangeable expression originated from the teahouses which set up along the Silk Road. The Silk Road linked China to Syria and was travelled by merchants and farmers trading their silk, gold, ivory, spices, exotic animals and plants. Travellers and rural farmers, exhausted after working hard, would also go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. However, people later discovered that tea can aid in digestion. Therefore, teahouse owners began adding more variety of snacks, so the tradition of dim sum evolved.

(Dim Sum Restaurant – Old Hong Kong)

Dim sum mania spread to Hong Kong as the Guangzhou population immigrated to Hong Kong in the 1920s. Chinese restaurants grew exponentially in Hong Kong and soon dim sum was available from 6am through to late afternoon. Restaurants in Hong Kong and Guangzhou became filled mainly with the elderly population who often gathered to eat after the morning session of tai chi exercises, often enjoying the morning newspapers.

In the west, dim sum came about as a natural result of Chinese immigrants moving to the western world. When Europe started trading with the Orient, the seaport of Guangzhou became the gateway to the West. The Chinese readily absorbed these cosmopolitan influences, and being great travellers themselves, emigrated to the United States of America and the United Kingdom. They were the first to make Chinese cooking known to the Western world and as a result dim sum has become the firm favourite of the Western world.

(A Packed Dim Sum Session)

Go to a Chinese restaurant on a Sunday afternoon and you will be greeted by a sea of Chinese families spanning three generations. Dim sum is the Chinese equivalent of French hors d’oeuvres or Spanish tapas. It’s a colourful and loud dining experience starting with the rush for vacant seats and the hustle and bustle of the gesticulating waiters selling their dim sum specials from their trolleys. Bamboo containers filled with steamed dim sum are stacked high and quickly snapped up. Waiting on staff ask what kind of tea we want to drink offering a vast array of jasmine tea, oolong tea, pu-er tea and green tea which helps to wash down the dim sum. The noise of the chatter of the diners is deafening. It’s a busy, frantic affair and there is an air of organized panic in the restaurants, which adds to the excitement and entertainment. Dim sum is an overwhelming introduction to the Chinese nation’s love of food, gregariousness and cheerful chatter.

I love dim sum. There are over 200 dishes to choose from. One Cantonese saying goes that anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies is edible. Another says that the only four-legged things that Cantonese people won’t eat are tables and chairs.

The range of cooking skills required to make dim sum is vast. There is usually a dim sum master overseeing his section of the kitchen and there is a real art involved in making the dishes. Some dishes are steamed, others are fried. Some are baked. The variety of tastes is also mind boggling – sweet, sour, savoury and chilli.

(Left: Har Gow, Right: Siu Mi)

There are firm favourites such as “har gow” (prawn dumplings wrapped in translucent rice paper), “siu mi” (pork dumplings) and “char siu bow” (pork buns in a white fluffy dough). If you are feeling more adventurous, an eye opening experience with a stronger flavour is “fung jow” (chickens feet in yellow bean sauce and chillis). One caveat – this particular dish is not for the faint hearted. The sweet dishes for dessert range from the egg custard tarts which are extremely delicious to sago pudding or mango pudding which are refreshing and a great ending to the dim sum experience.

(Me (Left) learning how to make dim sum with my sister (centre) and mother, Mabel (Right))

A meal in a restaurant opens the taste buds, but cooking dim sum for my friends and family widens all the senses. I learnt the authentic recipes from Guangzhou and used them at Sweet Mandarin. Together with my sisters, Helen and Janet we made every dim sum from fresh. Stuffing and shaping wontons was the real family enterprise. We made the stuffing from a light prawn mince and wrapped the teaspoon of filling with a fine egg based pastry. We all left our individual stamp on the won tons in the way we crimped the edges. I added a flamboyant tail on these wontons, which can then be dipped in the sweet and sour dip. My everyday rituals of properly selecting produce, cooking and presenting a meal, which I have inherited from my family, have given me an insight to see the meaning of my own cooking as a metaphor for life.

I would love to share with you our recipe on making this exquisite dim sum.

Ingredients
For the Prawn Filling
250g pack shrimps
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp potato starch
1 egg white
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Hot vegetable oil to lightly fry the wontons
Ingredients for the Wonton Wrappers
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1 tsp potato starch
1/4 cup of water
2 cups of plain flour
Dressing for the wontons
Serve with Sweet Mandarin’s The General Tse’s Sweet and Sour Sauce
Method to make the wonton pastry
1. Kneed the ingredients together into a ball. The consistency is dough like.
2. Leave in the fridge for half an hour.
3. Roll out into a very thin sheet (as thick as a piece of paper) with a rolling pin ensuring there is plenty of flour to avoid sticking.
4. Cut into squares 3inches squared.
Method to make delicious and easy wontons
1. Put all the prawn mixture into a food processor and mix thoroughly.
2. Shape into balls the size of walnuts.
3. Place the filling balls into the centre of the wonton wrappers. To make the tail, gather the four edges and twist together.
4. Heat oil
5. Place wontons in hot oil for 5-6 minutes or until cooked through.
6. Drain from oil.
7. Serve the wontons with the Sweet Mandarin’s General Tse’s Sweet and Sour Sauce.

Sweet Mandarin Cookery School teaches a Dim Sum Masterclass. Its been so busy that we’re full till October 2010 and I’ve had to add an extra date for the people who really really really want to learn. So here’s a date for your diary: 8th August. Its first come, first served. For more information, go to www.sweetmandarin.com To book your place on the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School click here or email lisa@sweetmandarin.com

Twitterers (T) (photo 1) Meet the Flickrs (F) (photo 2) could be come Jazz Hands Extravaganza (photo 3)

I Tweet (a lot), I Flickr (quite a lot), I Eat (all the time). I host Tweet Up meetings for Twitterers and Flickr Up meetings for Flickr, so I’ve decide to link up these two groups. It could be a smash hit with splattering of photographic evidence (check out the third photo with the aptly named Jazz hands effect lol). Or it could be a bit like the first school disco where each group cliches to their own – the Ts verses the Fs. Its worth the experiment. So here is its my friends, I’m hosting the first ever Twitter Meets the Flickr Tweet Up @sweetmandarin.

Have you ever wondered who is that person you’ve been tweeting to morning, noon and night? Well pop in on 18th July (starting from 5pm) and you’re gonna meet your tweeters at Sweet Mandarin.  I have a confession to make. I aka (@sweetmandarin) am a ”certified twitterholic” and I cook n tweet, serve n tweet and can’t wait to meet you in person. I’ve already got butterflies as I’m preparing the dim sum extravaganza.  It is customary for the Chinese to offer small gifts, so please enjoy our complimentary dim sum (literally translated means from the heart). My dream is to meet all the tweeters and flickrs in the Manchester area.

Twitter is such an amazing discovery. Not only is it fun, but its a way to help our fellow Mancunians. Through tweets with fellow tweeters, I know Manchester folk are suffering with the downturn. Everyone can do their bit and we’re going to hold events to match people with jobs.  To my Manchester friends - its the Year of the Ox -  Be strong. Turning up is half the battle and I know that networking helps boost the spirits, if not create an opportunity. Follow us @sweetmandarin.

Date: Sunday 18th July
Time: 5-8pm
Cost: Free
Bring: Blackberry/Phone/Iphone/Camera/Your own sweet self
RSVP: lisa@sweetmandarin.com or DM me on Twitter @sweetmandarin (oh and please follow me)
Food: I’ll sort out the dim sum
Drinks: Pay as you go
Reminder: There is a Threewitter party beforehand from 1-5pm at Madlabs. Have your cake and eat it! Here’s the Threewitter link http://threewitter.eventbrite.com/

Its finally back by popular demand. Our Rich Dad, Poor Dad Cashflow Game is back tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd June and Tuesday 29th June 2010). It starts at 6pm and is limited to 8 players (please email me to book your free place lisa@sweetmandarin.com).

The game arose out of my interest in the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki which taught me how to ‘Get Out of the Rat Race. Learn the secrets of cash flow and how to never worry about money again. This board game will transform the “money mind-set” of anyone who plays, whether they are new to financial information, or seasoned investors’. Ok it might not get you debt free immediately, but its always good to educate oneself and meet likeminded people.

Where: Sweet Mandarin 19 Copperas Street, Manchester M4 1HS
When: Tuesday 13th July Time: 6pm – 9pm
Cost: Free
Numbers: 8 maximium. Beginners welcome
Contact: lisa@sweetmandarin.com

We recently held a Thank You Dinner for our longest standing clients – those who through generations have frequented my Grandma’s restaurant, my Mum’s takeaway and now us at Sweet Mandarin. (Click here for the video created by an incredibly talented friend, Lisa Chan)

As I was serving these wonderful folk, my heart twinged with sadness and longing. Unlike my grandma’s and mum’s businesses who have loyal regulars every single week – on the same day, at the same time – ordering the same dishes (‘Usual please’) for the last 50 years – being located in the Manchester city centre area – the population is far more transient.

Nonetheless, I value my regular customers and corporate clients and set myself a personal challenge to get to know my regulars with a view to build a lasting legacy for Sweet Mandarin and future generations. Helen, Janet and I want to invite you to my very exciting events see below. Who knows, maybe after my 50 years, our grandchildren can invite you, our regular customers to a wonderful event like the above.

July Events

13th July 6-8/9pm Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Game (free)

18th July 6-8pm Twitter v Flickr Meet Up (free)

10th August 6-8/9pm Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Game (free)

Congratulations to all the Graduates.

We see new friends coming in and old friends are about to leave. Graduates now have a big decision to make in their life track. Some of them will start their career next summer while others will plan for their further study. Time flies. Three years at university transform a person from a high school student to a professional ready to serve society. We at Sweet Mandarin congratulate you on your hard earned degrees and give you our best wishes.

But before you start to fly high, please slow down and spend a quiet moment on your university campus, where you have been studying, working and making friends for three years. Give sincere thanks to every road you went through, every book you read, and every friend you made. Because once you begin to work, you will see how different it is from university life.

At university, all moments, happy or sad, have been treasures from heaven. Pack them up in your mind, and embark on a new journey. Plenty more such moments are waiting for you in the years to come. Whether these moments are good or bad, you will understand life through experiencing them.

Years later, when you are in another part of the world, the moment you think of your youth, you will realise that part of your heart is still at university and Manchester will always be your home!

To celebrate, join us at Sweet Mandarin for a graduation banquet. To book a table email Lisa@sweetmandarin.com or book here

Today, there are so many incredibly delicious brands of chocolate to indulge in but there is one that is dear to my heart and which my sweet tooth craves, and that is Ferrero Rocher.

As a kid growing up in the backstreets of Manchester, I was mesmerized by the adverts that surrounded Ferrero Rocher – the tray filled to the brim and eventually the last one was distributed around a room filled with impossibly glamorous people and an even more dazzling chandelier.

Every Christmas, Chinese takeaway owners visit neighbouring Chinese takeway owners and usually bring chocolates and oranges. Well the oranges were usually discarded to the kitchen, but the chocolates were inspected and given a shake through the wrapping paper to try to distinguish what kind they were. Most were recycled by way of gifting them to another visitor but when it came to receiving boxes of Ferrero Rocher, I ensured those boxes of chocolates never left our premises.

There is an art to eating a Ferrero Rocher. The way I have always always always insisted upon to my siblings (after all I am the oldest by 2 minutes), is to eat layer by layer but DO NOT break the wafer shell. When one has nibbled away at the chocolate encrusted nutty layer, the wafer shell should be opened and the hazelnut Nutella goo should be scooped out (with the tongue of course) and the whole hazelnut hidden inside the hazelnut Nutella goo eaten as best possible without it getting stuck in the teeth. At the very end, that is when one can pop the two wafer shells into the mouth to melt. It takes so much better than just crunching into one of these beauties. Try it and let me know the difference. You’ll thank me for the advice above and that is why Ferrero Rocher makes #970 Sweet Nothing.