Wishing you all a very Happy Chinese New Year for 2012 and thank you for your continued support and friendship.

1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000

People born in the Year of the Dragon are healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They are also honest, sensitive, brave, and they inspire confidence and trust. Dragon people are the most eccentric of any in the eastern zodiac. They neither borrow money nor make flowery speeches, but they tend to be soft-hearted which sometimes gives others an advantage over them. They are compatible with Rats, Snakes, Monkeys, and Roosters.

Please do book via our Book a Table page (below or click here) and we look forward to accomodating you.

Follow me on Twitter @sweetmandarin

Wishing you a very Happy Chinese New Year

All the best and see you soon.

Lisa, Helen and Janet
www.sweetmandarin.com

A New Year’s Message to You All

HELLO!

We hope you have recovered from all the Christmas festivities and raring to go for 2011. At Sweet Mandarin there are early preparations  to make the celebration of  the year of the Rabbit a magnificent one. As we await this celebration, let us see what is in store for the year of the Rabbit.

To ease you into the brand new year why not start the new year with our lovely jubbly tips to get the NEW YEAR OFF TO A BANG and most importantly a NEW YOU…Every day we keep you up to date with New Recipes and Cooking tips on our blog.

We are open on Saturday 1st January 2012- book your table here

Happy New Year To YOU

Best Wishes and Sweet Dishes to You and Your Family

Lisa, Helen and Janet

TIP TOP TIPS FOR 2012

1. LOOK FORWARD
2012 welcomes the Year of the Dragon – the sign symbolizes strength and innovation.  Reward yourself with a dinner at Sweet Mandarin to celebrate your year ahead.

2. RECHARGE YOU
A great Chinese proverb: ” Getting up when the sun is up and rest when the sun is down” Remember to recharge your batteries after the christmas rush. Enjoy a sumptuous meal at Sweet Mandarin and book a table (click here).

3. COOKING YOUR WAY TO HEALTH
Try something different by taking part in the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School (Featured in the Sunday Times and CityLife). Learn how to make fast, healthy super suppers and impress you, your friends and family.

4. TREAT THE NEW YOU
Calorific mouthwatering dishes at Sweet Mandarin to celebrate the new year – Try the Sizzling King Prawns bursting with fresh vegetables and light soya flavour. Join Sweet Mandarin’s fortnightly detox menu and see the New You.

5. ME MYSELF AND I
Take advantage of the special offers for Sweet Mandarin Newsletter subscribers. Win a bottle of champagne, a meal for 4 or a place on the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School. Enter here and we wish you luck on the monthly prize draw.

Dear Friends,

I don’t know where the year went but its nearly Christmas already. Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day – my only two days off in the whole year and I can’t wait :0)

Some dear customers have asked how do the Chinese celebrate Christmas…I guess in response, the Chinese like any other nationality celebrate with Family and Food.

Our family has always cooked two turkeys for Christmas. One British style with pork and sage stuffing, baby sausages wrapped in bacon, roast potatoes and Brussel sprouts, and the other braised in soy sauce and crammed with glutinous rice and mushroom. Both are delicious and typically represent my identity being British Born Chinese (‘BBC’).

At Christmas, we also remember our dearly beloved grandmother, Lily Kwok who passed away in 2007, aged 89. My grandmother had so much courage. Pop, thank you for your sacrifice and determination. I wish you were here.

Wishing you and your family a safe happy Christmas filled with love and good food.

Lisa, Helen and Janet

Every Christmas, we reflect on our lives and pay our respects to our grandma who passed away December 2007. I loved my grandma. She was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. She had integrity and courage.  She was my hero, because she was kind to everyone. She didn’t bow to peer pressure and he didn’t care who you were. She just cooked for everyone and satisfied everyone’s hungry bellies. What a chef. I wanted to be just like my grandma and now I’m living my dream. I wake up every day to cook for my customers at Sweet Mandarin and this Christmas, is our 8^th Christmas and we’re still standing tall, still looking after our customers, still teaching people how to cook healthy Chinese at the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School and loving everything we do.

One day, when I was a few years younger with a dodgy fringe do, I remember the Christmas banquet at Sweet Mandarin we cooked the crab claws in ginger and spring onion. They were the most massive of crab claws and it was as big as her hand!  My did she enjoy that! What a memory. Unconditionally beautiful. It was an amazing night. Filled with delicious food, hearty laughter and tears of joy.

We’re not from a rich background. In actual fact, I lived in a very poor, working-class estate in an urban sprawl called Middleton, about 8 miles north west of Manchester. My father and mother ran a chip shop and after years helping out in the business, I grew out of my ashamedness of poverty. It became almost noble. Also, everyone I knew was in the same situation, and I had everything I needed. Also I was happy and learnt how to cook my way out of poverty. A huge relief for my parents. You see, growing up where I did, mums didn’t hope as high as their kids growing up to be doctors; they just hoped their kids didn’t go to jail. So I guess I’ve not done too badly – seeing as I grew up above a chip shop.

There are two things my grandma was fastidious about – the first was be honest. She instilled in me to live an honest life and for that you need the truth. That’s the other thing I learned from my childhood, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

The second was “Do unto others as you would do to yourself”. So I live by that.

My offering at Sweet Mandarin is just that; honest good food which I love and hope my clients will love too. I’m not perfect but I strive to try my best and look after my clients the way my grandma looked after hers. During this Christmas season, I am grateful for my life, for Sweet Mandarin and my clients. I live to cook for you good people and hope to do so for four decades – just as my grandma did. Thank you to my grandma, Lily Kwok – who passed me her curry recipe, and her love.

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. May you treasure the times you have at Sweet Mandarin with friends and family. I am honoured to cook for you.

Wishing you and yours the sweetest Christmas.

Love

Lisa

That’s better. Now your talking. This is more the Kiss I’m talking about. Sweet, tender, loving. Sunset or no sunset. Do you keep your eyes shut when you’re kissing and is it therefore sweeter?

GOADSBY STREET, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Hotel Reservations : 0871 423 4876

The brand new, modern and contemporary Holiday Inn Express Manchester City Centre-MEN Arena is situated right in the heart of Manchester on the doorstep of Sweet Mandarin (www.sweetmandarin.com).

The Northern Quarter, MEN Arena, Printworks, Arndale Centre, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Millennium Square and the big wheel are just a few minutes walk. Located in the vibrant northern quarter with its cosmopolitan mix of boutique shops, captivating nightlife, fashion designers, creative agencies, art galleries, home to the iconic Afflecks Palace, popular cafes, bars and restaurants, the northern quarter is the cultural heart of Manchester. The Manchester Central convention complex, Man Utd & Man City Football Stadiums are all within easy reach. Ideally located for the business and leisure traveller the hotel provides you with the gateway to what the city has to offer.

To book a table at Sweet Mandarin click here

This series of blogs is addressed to Oprah and all those out there battling the bulge and excess weight. I am often asked by my clients to prepare for them a special detox meal over a period of a week to a month. The following recipes are just a sample of our offerings and are unique to Sweet Mandarin (www.sweetmandarin.com). If you would like a one-to-one consultation, contact me, Lisa Tse on lisa@sweetmandarin.com.

Best wishes and Sweet Dishes to You and Your Family

Lisa

Instead of meat try ordering the tofu – it is made of soybeans, high in protein and not too high in fat and calories – it soaks up the flavor of the foods that it is cooked with. Avoid dishes using fried tofu.

MABEL’S CLAYPOT TOFU

This is a family favourite of my mother, Mabel. It evokes home cooking at its best and will draw you to the warmth of the family table after tasting this delicious and nutritious dish. The story behind this dish stems from when my mother was only a child of seven and immigrated to the UK. She felt so home sick and hated the rainy cold weather, the fact that she couldn’t speak of word of English and had no friends. Her mother made her this dish, and it immediately transported her back to the warm climate of Hong Kong to a place where she felt safe and secure. This claypot was her comfort dish – her comfort food – and helped her transition to a new world.

INGREDIENTS:

•           1 packet of firm Tofu

•           1 1/2 teaspoons (7 mL) dark soy sauce

•           1 ½  teaspoons (7 mL) Chinese rice vinegar

•           1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) salt

•           ¼ teaspoon (1 mL) sugar

•           3/4 cup (187.5 mL) chicken or vegetable stock

•           1 teaspoon (5 mL) cornstarch mixed

•           2 tablespoons (25 mL) water

•           1 tablespoon (15 mL) vegetable oil

•           1 tablespoon (15 mL) sesame oil

•           2 spring onions sliced in one inch pieces

•           2 baby bok choy, cut into rough squares

•           Quarter Chinese sausage (lap cheung) finely sliced – or replace with salami (optional – don’t add if vegetarian)

•           1/2 onion, sliced.

•           1 tablespoon (15 mL) grated ginger

•           1 teaspoon (5 mL) garlic

•           1 large shallot, chopped

•           5 Chinese mushrooms from can or if dried, soak until soft

•           2 sprigs cilantro

•           2 cups (500 mL) jasmine rice

PREPARATION:

1. Pre-heat oven to 360–375?F

(180–190?C or Gas Mark 4–5).

2. Soak mushrooms in hot water for one hour (alternatively use ready-to-cook tinned

Chinese mushrooms).

3. Cut tofu into bite-sized pieces.

4. Mix the marinade ingredients (salt, sugar, Chinese rice wine and corn starch) in a large

bowl, add the tofu pieces and stir gently.

5. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

6. Place wok on high heat. Add the oil, stir in the ginger and garlic, and cook until golden.

7. Drain the tofu (reserve the marinade). Stir-fry the tofu until it’s cooked through.

8. Add spring onions, mushrooms, lap cheung and bok choy. Stir-fry for three minutes until the vegetables soften slightly.

9. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and salt.

10. Add chicken /vegetable broth and marinade and bring to a boil.

11. Add cornstarch mixture and mix well until consistency thickens.

12. Switch off heat. Pour the tofu, vegetables and stock into a clay pot.

13. Cover and place the pot in the oven.

14. Bake for 5-10 mins until mixture is bubbling.

15. Serve with fragrant jasmine rice.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

Each serving includes:  Calories 269, 26 g Carbohydrates, 21 g Protein, 10 g Fat, 1 g Saturated Fat, 50 mg Cholesterol, 4 g Fibre, 330 mg Sodium, 420 mg Potassium. An excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and niacin. A good source of fibre, vitamin E, vitamin B-6 and folacin.

Chinese Black Mushrooms – No need to visit the Chinese pharmacist for these – you’ll find bins of Chinese black mushrooms packed to overflowing in any Chinese grocery store. Used in soups stir-fries and braised dishes, they are thought to be helpful in lowering blood pressure.

Ginger – Besides being appreciated for its distinct flavor and ability to diffuse other strong odors, ginger has long been used as a digestive aid. Thought to get rid of air in the body, it is used to treat both stomach acidity and motion sickness. In China, women customarily drink a mixture of ginger cooked in wine and sesame oil shortly after giving birth.

To learn more about the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School – www.sweetmandarin.com To book your place on the course or to order specific detox menus – email Lisa Tse on lisa@sweetmandarin.com

Take away Menu

As T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the crullest month”. Very true, I thought as I shook my head like a wet dog- its rainy every month! It feels particularly cruel in Manchester because we get lashings and lashings of rain, and another bucket or so for good measure. If you are as unfortunate as I have been these last evenings, I’ve become caught in the rain, drenched and shrivelled like a prune to serve my customers their takeaways.

I was chatting to my friends who are also my customers (its funny how customers become friends after a while) and getting their feedback on Sweet Mandarin’s takeaway offering – always listening and trying to improve our service.

My friend Julia said many nights, she had gone home hungry – craving good Sweet Mandarin food – she remembered our wholesome Chinese food with a steaming bowl of rice after a corporate night out with her firm. She said “No where else does what you do – offer simple but delicious food at reasonable prices.” That’s true. Most restaurants will charge you restaurant prices for takeaway. What we offer is takeaway at takeaway prices with restaurant quality. We’ve also chosen our containers with thought, to ensure it comes to your door piping hot. We consider takeaway to be one of our core businesses and we value customers at home, as if they were sitting at Sweet Mandarin.  We’ll even accompany the dinner with our choicest wines, so you can have the Sweet Mandarin experience in the comfort of your own home.

You can’t beat a takeaway  – here are Julia’s top ten reasons:

1. I am home alone

2. Its raining/cold/late

3. Just in time for Eastenders

4. I just want to eat some decent Chinese food – no one else does Lily’s curry or Mabel’s claypot and the more I think about their food, the more hungry I get.

5. The fridge is bare apart from some mouldy cheese and stale bread – even a mouse would decline that offer!

6. I don’t want to cook, and even if I did, I have no food. Can’t cook won’t cook.

7. Its cheaper to get Sweet Mandarin take-out, than to buy all the ingredients and try to cook it yourself.

8. When I cook it tastes funny- I’ll leave it to the experts at Sweet Mandarin.

9. Takeout is great for a romatic night in, especially accompanied by the fine selection of wine Sweet Mandarin has (hehehe, I’m not alone, so you can ignore point 1 tonight :0))

10. Sweet Mandarin takeaway is the best…because the staff are friendly,  the food is superb and the price is right.

Now that you are in a state of ravenous hunger, here’s what to do – call 0161 832 8848 and see their online new menu for takeaway here.

where’s the phone?

who’s taken my phone?

I need takeout NOW!

spring rolls – sweet and sour chicken – peking duck – firecracker prawns – special fried rice – chicken chow mein – one hot and sour soups – no make it two – and some prawn crackers…..and hurry. i’m about to faint with hunger.

Given that Captain America was filming around the Northern Quarter (where Sweet Mandarin is located), I enjoyed taking a stroll on the set of Captain America to deliver delicious Chinese cuisine and even found myself a walk on part (lol -as I’m walking into Meyers Bros I’m going to say ‘I wonder if they do sweet mandarins here’  lol). The whole place has been turned into New York City 1940s. I’m loving it, loving it, loving it.  If you are coming to Sweet Mandarin over the next few weeks watch out for superheros, fast cars and villans.

Facebook Competition Announcement

‎8 CHANCES TO WIN A MEAL FOR 2 AT THE AMAZING SWEET MANDARIN

SIMPLY ‘LIKE’ OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND YOU COULD BE ONE OF THE 8 LUCKY FANS TO WIN A TASTY MEAL FOR 2.

CLICK HERE AND ‘LIKE’:
http://www.facebook.com/sw​eetmandarins

“For those not in the know, Sweet Mandarin is a restaurant in the Northern Quarter of Manchester offering some of the countries top Chinese nosh! You may have seen these talented ladies WIN their heat on Gordon Ramsay’s F Word. I did. Outstanding.” M Dog www.mdog.me

One lucky winner will be announced and contacted per hour – 1.08pm, 2.08pm, 3.08pm, 4.08pm, 5.08pm, 6.08pm, 7.08pm and 8.08pm – on 8th August 2011.

Winners can dine whenever they choose.

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

Happy Independence Day. Today on the 4th July 1776 America celebrated its independence from Great Britain. The funny fact I learnt was that the legal separation of the countries actually occured on the 2nd July rather than the 4th July. However, on the 4th July fireworks, banquet and parties were scheduled. So the entire USA adopted 4th July as the official celebratory day. That means food trumps legal papers! Hey I’m cool with that!
Thank you to America for embracing our book, Sweet Mandarin – which is used in schools in America and has been endorsed by Amy Tan and Oprah’s chef, Art Smith (click here) .

I know one day will never make up for all the universal joys and incredible memories of childhood that I’ve shared with my Dad but I wanted to thank you Dad, for being there for me, always, unconditionally and always fighting our corner. Together with the entire world – in celebrations of Dads all over the world on Father’s Day 20th June, I wanted to say I love you Dad.

I remember the midnight jogging sessions to Chaddy park with Dad, my siblings and our dog, Choy Sum as Mum drove the old banger alongside us. Even though we never managed to jog back as we all went home in the car – I loved that sense of adventure you instilled in us.

I remember Mum had gone out to buy the groceries and you decided to be a hairdresser for the day. We all had pudding bowl haircuts……and it was so atrocious you bought us an ice cream to make up for it. I learnt quickly not to let you touch my hair ever again!

I remember the amazing dinners you made us ranging from spare ribs to a whole steamed fish to chicken tomato with an egg in it and your amazing red cooked melt in the mouth chicken. And you allowed me to go on the woks and you taught me how to cook the perfect egg fried rice. Wow – Dad you’re the best.

And now you and the fat baby are partners in crime!

For everyone out there, don’t forget its Father’s Day on Sunday 20th June. We only have a few tables left that evening (5-11pm). If you’d like to tell your Dad you love him by treating him to a delicious Chinese banquet, I’d be honoured to serve you our sumptuous food and ice cold beers. To book your table call 0161 832 8848 or email me lisa@sweetmandarin.com or click here

There are some moments in one’s life that one will always remember. Here is one magical moment that I want to share with you. It was an event to give thanks to all our customers predominantly from the Middleton area – over the years who have kept my grandma, my mum and me in business.

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. Who knows, maybe after my 50 years, our grandchildren can invite you, our regular customers to a wonderful event like the above.

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 night, 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’.

Every day, before the phone starts ringing off the hook, before the delivery men drop off the wine, beers, vegetables, meat, before my team are briefed with the specials for the day, before the clients walk through the door and before I turn on the PC, I love to sit in silence.

Sweet Mandarin has amazing feng shui. It is cool, calm and peaceful. I usually sit at table 3 (which means alive in chinese!) and just be, in silence. I clear my thoughts, leave any anxieties or issues at the door and just say a small prayer of thanks to God for the blessings and protection before service starts.

Those few moments are precious and that is why the silence before the storm is my Sweet Nothing  of the day.

We met Gary about 7 years ago now….when we had just set up Sweet Mandarin and Gary was a high flying executive who visited us every Wednesday without fail for dinner. If Gary turned up on a Thursday, it would totally confuse us as in our minds, Gary only came in on a Wednesday! One day, Gary said, “Hey, there’s a restaurant near you that is for sale!”

“Which one?” we asked

“Let’s just say, we’ll be seeing more of each other very soon…everyday will be a Wednesday!” responded Gary in a cryptic fashion.

Next thing you know, Gary had bought the Market restaurant and we were practically neighbours sharing the same street and the same wonderful view of the imposing Smithfield Fishmarket Wall.  Since then, we’ve shared chats about the quest to run a restaurant as best we can – and keep pinching each other to say hey, you’re no longer dreaming – you live in the magical world of one’s dream to be a restaurateur and where limitations of the rat-race corporate world no longer bind us. For me, there has always been a deep longing within my soul to return to its true home from whence it came – namely food – which has been our lifeline for five generations.

We’ve shared heart-felt stories about our customers who touch our heart, energise us to keep going and uplifts us even though we’ve been burning the candle at both ends. You see, a restaurant like Sweet Mandarin becomes a place to share my world, my dreams and my passion for food. Every plate that I cook and serve at Sweet Mandarin is made with love and invites you onto a culinary journey to China. I’ve placed my heart into the foundations of Sweet Mandarin – and now Sweet Mandarin is blossoming – her love flows as deep as a glorious, tranquil, infinite ocean. When we drop a single pebble of love into its centre, waves of divine inspiration radiate outward and uplift all that set foot into Sweet Mandarin.

The day I quit the day job, I surrendered my fear of what people thought, expanded my awareness and now feel liberated that not only is my dream a reality, but one of my dearest clients is now a fellow restaurateur whom I can share this journey with, and also tweet with. Gary, its great to have you as a neighbour. Thank you for your support and friendship. Wishing you and The Market a wonderful, peaceful and sweet New Year ahead.

L

This video is dedicated to Kerry, Jane, Mr Stacey and friends….Enjoy.

We started Sweet Mandarin six years ago – wearing jeans and trainers. People looked at us, looked down on us and dismissed us.  I don’t know why people do that. Why criticise without foundation? Why bring us down when we’ve never caused you harm.  For the Chinese especially, those people that look like the door man, dressed all scruffy and rough around the edges are actually the boss. The suited and booted are the employees. Hey, we might be young but we know our food and we know how to cook it. I’ve risen to every challenge thrown my way and succeeded beyond my own expectations. I love what I do, I love Sweet Mandarin and love my clients. My take on the critics. Ignore them because what goes around comes around – gratutious unfounded criticism is uncalled for and they should stand in my shoes for a day. Then they’d zip it pretty quickly. We are clean living, hard working folk who try our best to look after our clients. We have always been the underdogs and fight harder to over come the prejudice – of being young, of being women, of being Chinese.

I remember the first day we set up trade and found an accountant who was open on New Year’s Eve. If he was open on New Year’s Eve, he deserved my business. I asked my accountant whether we should enter into this venture. This bespectacled, greying  man with a broad Rochdale accent said, “Lisa, small acorns, grown into big trees.” and beamed showing a set of shimmering pearly teeth. I felt reassured and signed the papers.

Its amazing how after six years we have gone from being dismissed to being respected, and even won a few awards along the way. I was the key note speaker for Growing Business Conference 2008 at the GMEX Exhibition Hall, listed as an expert on entrepreneurship in Flux Magazine and impressively was finalist in the Women of the Future Awards 2007 presented by Liz Hurley and the Precious Awards 2007. We’ve won Gordon Ramsay’s F Word’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant in 2009-2010.  Oh and we still wear jeans and trainers.

We are known as “The Tse Sisters” and were featured in the Bold Venturers book of Entrepreneurs, as key role models for the Make Your Mark Campaign and made it into the top 100 entrepreneurs list in EN Magazine. If you want to book us to give an inspirational talk to your event or school, contact me lisa@sweetmandarin.com – it would be my honour to share our story with you.

Sweet Mandarin is also the title of our book, published by Random House worldwide, published by St Martins/Thomas Dunne in USA and we secured the audio book deal with BBC Books. This book charts our epic story beginning with our great grandfather, grandmother, mother and our generation. Four families who made a living from food, and our obstacles in our journey from East to West. You can buy the book on Amazon.co.uk and the audiobook is available from BBC Books.

If I never met you, I wouldn’t like you. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t love you. If I didn’t love you I wouldn’t miss you. But I did, I do and I will. Thank you for loving Sweet Mandarin – we will always cook with love for you because you are my reason for existing, my raison d’etre.”

Sweet Mandarin is celebrating her 6th birthday this week and over our six years, we have been blessed with wonderful customers like yourselves who have fallen in love with us and have become our dear dear friends. On the most special of occasions we’ve had a suitor on one knee, clasping a diamond ring bringing tears to the surprised girlfriend’s eyes (and mine) (I wrote a blog entry dedicated to this sweet couple here). It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride. We have suffered with everyone else who has been ridden on rough-shod by the economic recession but also experienced sweet success when we clasped the F Word Trophy with Gordon Ramsay crowning us the UK’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant (watch us on the F Word  here). We are delighted to announce that out of 500 nominated Chinese restaurants, we came in at the top tier as a finalist in the Tsingtao Best Chinese Restaurant Competition 2010 – 2011.  Thank you to all you lovely clients who voted for us – this trophy will be displayed at Sweet Mandarin in honour of you.

I also have an insight to share with you my friends. I have just returned from our amazing tours to China with a select group of Sweet Mandarin Cookery School students (for more information on these tours click here) and there, at the temple where my grandmother prayed, I met a wise old man who imparted incredible insight into human nature.  He bowed low and quietly stated,

“Wherever you go you can find something to complain about.” He asked where I was from, and I said Manchester. He nodded and gave me a wry smile – he had family located in Manchester.

“You might complain about the rain, that life is boring, that tv is dull and repetitve. But maybe your group might have complaints about visiting China – maybe about the crowded airport or being lost in translation.” I nodded politely feeling uncomfortable that perhaps there was some truth to his opening statements.

The old man shuffled around the temple, lit a joss stick then turned to me and said with deep sincerity,

“In the old Chinese way, we have a sense of gratitude combined with a desire to repay others for what we have been given.  It’s not just that we feel grateful, or that we express our gratitude, but that we actually experience a sincere desire to give something back.  We might think of it as appreciation that stimulates a sense of obligation.  Not an externally imposed obligation.  But a sense of obligation that arises naturally within us as we recognize how we have been supported and cared for by others. You need to live and breathe that philosophy in your restaurant – that’s all you need to do, and the business will take care of itself.” I was dumb founded.

I know I am not perfect, and sometimes make silly schoolgirl mistakes that one wants to kick oneself about but I always strive to work harder, make the best meal I can for clients and encourage my team to look after them like our best friend. When I returned to England and to Sweet Mandarin, I saw things differently. Sometimes, when its so busy, it can be all too easy to switch onto automatic, just execute and see only the Table numbers e.g. Table 1, Table 2 mains. However, every table has a name, an event, a heartbeat. I know it sounds obvious but sometimes its the little things that count.

I actually felt humbled by the kindness of my clients when they return week after week for their family meal at Sweet Mandarin. I felt gratitude to the families who have supported us through out the generations. For me, its not just a business. Sweet Mandarin is a part of everyone’s life who has joined us at our family table. I hope that with time, I can develop my own regulars to the same depth as that of my grandma and mother who paved the way in the food business. I am pleased to say that I do have my core of clients whom when I see them, I know the day of the week because they visit say every Thursday. I wanted to really dedicate this blog to them, and to new friends whom are visiting Swet Mandarin.

Sometimes when I step out of the kitchen and wander around the tables to talk to clients, I’m overwhelmed by that sense of gratitude that that old man described. I try harder for my clients and the pleasure is all mine when I see you enjoying my food. It is really my honour to cook for you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me live my dreams – to own a buzzing restaurant – to cook my creations and share my family’s recipes with you.

Like our Facebook Page

We’ve got a really fun Facebook page and a dedication album to all you wonderful clients – every dinner photo tells a sweet story – of a journey that meets at Sweet Mandarin and shares a tale of happiness, fine food and love. Please feel free to like our page. Click here

Sweet Mandarin Cookery School – Perfect Christmas/Birthday Gifts

Cookery School has also been very busy – we’ve taught budding chefs from near and far (as far as Washington, South America, New Zealand and South Africa!) and our hard work and expertise has been recognised as this year, the Manchester City Council have appointed us as the Food Tech providers for all 174 schools – so we’re teaching kids about Healthy Eating, Dim Sum Masterclasses and Fruit Origami Masterclasses (read my Manifesto here). To buy your Sweet Mandarin Cookery School e-voucher online click here .

Thank you once again, to you lovely clients – you really are the best.

]]> http://www.sweetmandarin.com/thank-you-to-all-my-wonderful-clients-you-are-the-best/feed 0 http://www.sweetmandarin.com/how-to-get-to-sweet-mandarin-a-map http://www.sweetmandarin.com/how-to-get-to-sweet-mandarin-a-map#comments Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:47:09 +0000 admin http://www.sweetmandarin.com/?p=3186

Forget the TV. Radio is what keeps me sane in the kitchen. I can’t watch Neighbours as I’m chopping a bag of onions. I’ll end up chopping my fingers off but radio gives the brain musicwaves and clever banter whilst I can focus and get the prep done for the day.

My favourite show is Mike and Chelsea in the Morning. For me, radio is a lifesaver sometimes. I need noise, I need music and the good beats at that too. Key 103 ticks all those boxes and also makes me chuckle along the way.  Chelsea and fiancee, Matt came to Sweet Mandarin and she was really really nice. It was amazing to finally put a face to the voice.  I had to give her a hug because after all the years hearing her on Key 103, especially listening to her diary excerpts every day, I felt like I was meeting a long lost friend. They even gave us a shout out – so here’s me reciprocating. Much love and keep up the good work. Glad you brought back Thingymejig and got rid of Honk Your Horn. For being the nation’s voice and giving us great songs to wok dance to, you are my Sweet Nothing of the Day.

Tune in here

I love Cantopop because its easy listening, has great sweeping melodies and are always about love. Here are the famous Two Chinese Boys lip syncing to one of my favourite songs. They crack me up and make the song even more enjoyable so this makes my Sweet Nothing of the Day. What’s your favourite song? Let me know and I’ll play it at Sweet Mandarin. Or if you really must, I’ll bring out the Karoke set. You have been warned!

This second video was a lot of fun to make. I’ve been honoured to cook for thousands of people, teach hundreds of clients and meet a few celebrities along the way. This pictorial journey is a little something I’d like to share with you. The music is by Train and the up beat sweet song is ‘Hey Soul Sister’. I hope you will be inspired to cook. Much love Lisa.

Love Lisa

A long long time ago, when I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up a Princess that did ballet and wore pretty tutus. However, all my Barbie dolls had lovely pointed noses and mine was a flat button of a nose. At school, we were reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and I got the crazy notion to put a peg on my nose at night to try to make my nose straighter and perhaps one day I could be a pretty Princess. It didn’t work and I ended up waking up in the middle of the night gasping for breath because I’d forgotten to open my mouth. Eventually, I stopped the peg-on-the nose thing – I would always have a flat nose – and still do. Growing up, I had insecurities – about being poor, about being at the bottom of my class and about being Chinese. Being the only Chinese kid in my school and town was somewhat isolating. No-one looked like me apart from my twin sister. But I bounced back. Thank God for Mickey Mouse.  I always comforted myself with Mickey Mouse – a rare present that my mom had bought for me. I loved Mickey Mouse and as a child, I could only fall asleep if my thumb and index finger was rubbing the label of the toy. Some kids have blankets. I had the label adhered to Mickey Mouse.  So when I heard Disney was coming to town, I was jumping for joy. Its magical, its pure entertainment and I love it – and we’re a 10 minute walk to the MEN. It would be rude not to go :0)

I can’t wait to see my old friend, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and their friends from Disney’s Mulan, The Lion King and Pinocchio and Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles and Finding Nemo and this year is a big celebration, Disney On Ice Celebrates 100 Years Of Magic.The Manchester ice shows will feature more than 60 unforgettable Disney stars that span the decades, a sing-along score of award-winning Disney music, stunning choreography, elaborate sets and beautiful costumes. Its even been choreographed by Sarah Kawahara, who co-ordinated the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Invitation for your Happily Ever After

Join us for dinner at Sweet Mandarin before or after your magical event and make your day even sweeter.

We are next door to the Crowne Plaza Hotel which is a short 5-10 minute walk to the MEN Arena. Approximately 40 furry footsteps and you are door to door. Click HERE for the AA Routeplanner and Map.

Which Date Are You Going to Sweet Mandarin and Disney on Ice (below is the date and times for the Disney On Ice Show)? Book your table at Sweet Mandarin here .

Sunday 17th October at 18:30

To book Sweet Mandarin click here

I have never been the A* student. In fact during some of the teen angst years I hated school and at times myself. Being the only Chinese kid on the block also made me feel like an alien at times.  Low self esteem and lack of belonging is a dangerous mix. But luckily I found a home in the Home Economic room. Amongst the baking loaves,  flour dusted surfaces and Mrs Woodward’s direction (‘Not another stir fry Lisa, come on try something else’), I felt happy and able to give back some worth. Note to reader, although I did make stir fries every week, my stir fries won class prizes and after branching out to new culinary dishes, I loved making a shortcrust meat pie.

When I teach at schools its cathargic and I love seeing the students enthuse over making dim sum or learning a new culinary technique. That is why I will always make time for schools and teaching the next generation.  My campaign is to work with schools in the local area and give nutrition advice and cooking tips to school teachers, parents and students. I am delighted that Manchester City Council has made Sweet Mandarin the specialist Food Tech provider to the 174 local schools and my manifesto is to exposing children to new foods from different cultures, giving them a unique experience in the classroom and during Sweet Mandarin field trips (a safe after-school setting).

Today, fewer and fewer families cook together let alone eat together. Forget TV dinners and supermarket meals for one. We need to encourage students to make meals together, gain basic cooking skills for life and bond with their families again. The way I see it, this break down in the family table  what I call a ‘nutrition crisis’ could well be the underlying problem of today’s anti social, ADHD society.

When I set up Sweet Mandarin six years ago, we worked along side MANCAT now Manchester College catering arm and invited their students to internship programmes in my kitchen. It was pure magic and has proved to me how powerful food can be.  Before entering the programme, a few of these students had run ins with the law and hung out with the wrong crowds with some skiving for weeks. As they delved into what was a foreign land – the world of woks and cleavers – dim sum and stir fries, their eyes opened like saucers – and they wanted to learn something new and were highly satisfied with the skills I was slowly building into their day to day repetoire. I also noticed that their confidence in themselves grew by the day and their reliance on gangs became weakened. They could stand on their own two feet and could be a useful member of society. That courage to say no to gangs is really a break through. It created hairs on the back of my neck to stand up and I wanted to teach them more, teach them everything I knew so that they could prepare as good as any Chinese sous chef. These students were different people to those who entered my kitchen on day one.  After the programme at Sweet Mandarin they took pride in themselves and swapped their street life for the banter, ebb and flow of the professional kitchen. It would be tough to imagine a clearer illustration of the power of food.

I teach about two schools a day, every day of term. There is a saying that one should ‘Eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.’ That is true if you are eating the right kinds of food. However, processed foods  which kids seem to draw to automatically is really really really damaging to the next generation and to the world as we know it.  Arguably, eating processed foods can affect student’s English and Math school results. Those deficient in essential nutrients are more likely to be hyperactive (ADHD), skive off school, and have academic difficulties, including behavioral and attention problems. And, paradoxically, our undernourished children are overweight and obese.

I want to educate the students about real food not the processed stuff…and how delicious real food is. That is why our fruit origami programme is proving so popular with the primary school classes – especially fussy eaters. I’ve made apple swans, strawberry mice, banana dogs and the kids have no hesitation in enjoying their five a day fruit and vegetable after my demonstration. What I’m doing is a very small drop in the ocean but we need to fight against child obesity and we have to make real food the norm again.

There is a Chinese proverb ‘Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.’  Few things are more empowering for children than learning skills that have lifelong value. I’ve seen throughout my teaching programmes the benefits extend beyond the cooking. Students work better in teams, are more appreciative of new cultures and understand how important it is to eat a meal together around the table. As long as I have breath, I will fight to reverse the trend of generations of non-cookers. There are many things in this world that divide us but one thing that unites us is food.

To book Sweet Mandarin click here

Manchester’s gonna melt into a Buble frenzy. Michael Buble is playing at the MEN Arena on 6th and 7th October and I can’t wait to feed him. Since I’ve heard him,  I play his  tracks as part of the Sweet Mandarin music collection and those love songs which evoke his passion for life and an edgy sense of humanity and romance. The honesty of feeling sprawls out in the vocals that cut through the night like a dark echo of an aching heart – and couples fall back in love as the candles flicker at Sweet Mandarin.

As our concert goers are bopping to Crazy Love whilst enjoying the delicacies at Sweet Mandarin you can feel what Michael feels and hears in the studio – his jazzy sounds where the the drums bleed into the horn section with the thrill of the moment in mind – even though the songs were written over the course of 80 years. I suppose it wasn’t all that different from the way it might have been in a Louis Armstrong session in the ’40s or even Elvis Presley in the late 50s. The strings would get to carry an extra micro-vibration along with the bows. Sometimes acapella – other times with live bands and even huge orchestras – even some sessions with primitive 8-track recording devices that are a rarity in the crystalline perfection sound of the 21st century. But it isn’t just the time period that is crucial but the breadth of emotional territory a man is willing to live through and share by coming clean emotionally — in front of a bunch of strangers no less. Michael I salute you and am honoured to make you some soulful soup that will make you croon even sweeter.

Chicken broth can help unclog congestion in one’s chest and nose and has anti-inflammatory properties that aid soothing one’s throat and helps stop the movement of netrophis (white blood cells that encourages the flow of mucus that accumulates in the lungs and nose). Enough science. Lets cook!

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup – Ingredients:

Tablespoon of skinless chicken breast fillet diced finely ( blanch chicken dices first)
Tablespoon of corn kernels (fresh or tinned or frozen)
1 ½ cups chicken stock
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar
Potato starch mixed with water
1 egg
A drop of sesame oil

How to Make the Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup:

1. Heat Wok

2. Add chicken stock.

3. Combine adding the chicken and corn

4. When boiling add the salt, and sugar.

5. Add in potato starch water mixture to thicken the soup.

6. Simmer soup and add in beaten egg – swirl in.

7. Add a drop of sesame oil.

8. Stir and Serve immediately.

Gordon Ramsay has a new tv show out called Ramsay’s Best Restaurant. I wish all the participants all the best and hope you too will enjoy the experience like I have done.

Its an amazing opportunity to cook with Gordon Ramsay and watching this new show has made me reminisce about my experience exactly a year ago.  The pressure tests we were put through were the hardest, toughest, back-breaking, shooting-through-the-roof blood pressure experience in my culinary career. Cooking a three course meal for the 50 diners was a live competition – there was no cut, edit, paste. It was live, it was furious, it was hard. I know I cook  for sittings of 65 guests every night but Gordon Ramsay and his guests were a different kettle of fish and with Gordon Ramsay standing there watching over my shoulder it really stretched me to the limit. I’m thankful that we achieved 82 out of 100 and I dedicate this success to my mum – whose recipe, the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken helped us to rocket to the top of the leaderboard.

Although it was exactly a year ago, I remember vividly that evening when we received the news that we had made it to the Final of the F Word’s Best Chinese Restaurant Competition and we were estatic (Watch us battle it out here). Thanks to our wonderful customers who nominated us, we were on the map a la Gordon. However, before Gordon,  we were and still are are the third generation of women restaurateurs and have always had great families follow us generation after generation. Their gran knew our gran (who set up her restaurant before Chinatown was established), their mum knows our mum and now the third generation visit Sweet Mandarin.

Nothing had quite sunk in even when a black car picked us up at our home to drive us to the studios in London. Having not slept the night before didn’t help when we were faced with 50 chicken breasts and about 100 pieces of squid to cut in the F Word kitchen – and we had an hour’s prep time to get through the mountains of ingredients.

I was cutting away in my own little world when suddenly this voice said ‘Hello Lisa!’ It was Gordon Ramsay. He was so tall and I was so shocked that it was the man himself that I nearly cut my hand.  It was at that moment that it finally sunk – I was in the competition headed up by Gordon Ramsay to find the UK’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant and after three generations who have endured rollercoaster after rollercoaster it was a chance for me to restore the family name.  Then I got nervous.   I finally realised that this competition was real and was shocked that Gordon knew my name. I’ve seen him on the TV, but for him to know and praise me was a chef’s dream come true.  It was a true honour to cook with him and a huge accolade to get 82/100 mark for the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken. When we won the Best Local Chinese Restaurant Award 2009-2010 I had tears in my eyes.  To my dear customers and to all of Manchester, this trophy is for you.

If you want to pop over for my mum’s claypot chicken, please book a table here

Read the interview with Sweet Mandarin’s head chef, Lisa Tse, and second chef, Helen Tse…

How did you feel when you found out you’d made it through the F Word?

Helen: Amazing! Speechless. Nearly wanted to faint! Jean Baptiste came to see us to try our Mabel’s Clay Pot Chicken. Just himself, very low key – and then he left. Suddenly I got this phone call at lunch time and it went, ‘Hi it’s Gordon’ and he said, ‘I’ve got some real bad news for you; you’ve got to come down to London on Thursday’. And we found out on Tuesday! So we had to re-jig everything to get down here but it’s worth it. We haven’t quite come down yet!

Why do you think your restaurant was nominated as one of the best Chinese restaurants?

Helen: We have the best customers. It’s thanks to them.

Lisa: I guess they must really like our food, they always rave about the food and the ambiance of the restaurant. And also the location is quite special. It’s in an area called the Northern Quarter and there’s a lot of regenerated business and it’s quite cool and funky round there and we blend into that, I guess.

Helen: We do a lot of work with the community as well. We open up the restaurant for free for events. Lisa here is a manic Twitterer and we always hold ‘Tweet ups’ every month, and they really appreciate that. And we do Flickr meetings as well, so people who are crazy about photography come along. We also do events called ‘Meet My Neighbour’ where we invite blocks of residents to our restaurant and they get to meet their neighbours. Where we are there are loads of flats, these people have been living there for years and they don’t even know who their neighbour is. They don’t even know who lives in their block, that’s how dangerous it could be. So we thought we’d introduce them to each other. We feel safe in the neighbourhood because we know who’s there.

Lisa: We feel safe in the neighbourhood, and also when they walk past after work we can give them a wave now.

What about the food?

Lisa: We serve modern Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails. When we first set up the concept it was a casual dining restaurant. So you could come in for a bite to eat up to the full blown banquet. We do traditional sweet and sour and black bean for example, but we also do recipes that have been passed down from our mother and grandmother. Like Lily Kwok’s Chicken Curry, Mabel’s Clay Pot and we also cater for vegetarians as well. Not only that but we have a Taste of China menu as well. So you can get regional dishes from China that you can taste in our restaurant, which is quite unique. I think when people go to a Chinese they’re scared to try things they not used to, so we try to introduce them slowly to spicier stuff or savoury dishes.

Helen: The dish that we’re cooking tonight for the competition is called Mabel’s Clay Pot Chicken, and lots of our dishes have a story behind it. And Mabel is our mum and she came to England when she was about 8, and she was separated from her mum for a few years because our grandmother came over first. And you know if you ever have distance from a friend or a family member there’s always an awkward time when they meet up again. And that also happened with mother and daughter. My mum hated England initially when she came here because she couldn’t speak the language, didn’t like the rain, didn’t like meat and two veg – she was used to rice every day. And this chicken was her favourite dish growing up, so my grandmother would cook it for her and it was through this dish that they bonded again as mother and daughter – and that’s why we’re cooking it again today. We’ve got this very strong belief; there’s many things in the world that divide us but the one thing that unites us is food.

And what is in the Clay Pot Chicken dish?

Lisa: It’s got chicken in, it’s actually got quite a lot of ying-yang elements in. So it’s got ginger which is yang, which is warming for the body, it’s got spring onion which complements it very well. And another thing that is very seasonal, which is Chinese cabbage and some onions as well. It’s really the sauce; what makes the sauce quite special is the Chinese sausage, called lapchang, so it’s a bit like your salami, and also the Chinese mushrooms as well. It’s very rustic.

How do you feel about cooking for the F Word diners alongside Gordon?

Lisa: I think once we’ve been in the kitchen and seen it we’ll be a bit calmer.

Helen: We’re going to have to cook quite quick it looks like and also tweak a few techniques to make sure you get it out within the time frame.

What would it mean to the pair of you if you were to win the competition overall?

Lisa: To get this far is just surreal, to meet Gordon Ramsay was pretty cool as he’s just amazing.

Helen: It’s a big thanks to our customers and would show that all the hard work’s paid off – and that whatever we’re doing we’re doing it right. Because sometimes in business you don’t know what’s the right decision or the wrong decision and you just keep going and hope for the best sometimes. Especially in the restaurant business; it’s so competitive, you always have to innovate and watch your competitors and hopefully we’ll do that for the diners.

Je te presente mes amies a France.  In other words, let me introduce you to my friends from France. This lively bunch came to visit Manchester of all places for a week and every night, they dined with us or shall we say blind tasted the food.  Thank you to Francois in the grey on my left who organised all this from France. Sometimes, when we get bookings for 50 people from abroad, you wonder, just for a moment whether its a hoax. But no, it was real and bang on the dot, in they trooped.  Their trip to Manchester comprised of meeting businesses, tours of factories (lol, I think they got the short straw) and walking in the rain. So when the got to Sweet Mandarin, their smiles were wide, their stomachs ready to be fed.

I’ve learnt that the French didn’t seem to like spicy but oh my they have a sweet tooth that rivals mine! We gave them a culinary tour of Chinese food at Sweet Mandarin and it was such great fun to meet them. Every night, the menu (3 courses) changed. My pastry skills have definitely improved after this week. Thank you my friends. Au revoir, a bientot.

If you are a school/college in the UK or abroad that wants a place to eat everynight in Manchester, email me lisa@sweetmandarin.com and I’d be delighted to accomodate you.

I’m honoured to be asked by the Gastro Club in Manchester to host their dinner tonight. I was so excited that I even created name badges for each member with their name translated into Chinese!  I’ve been told the menu has to be off-the-wall, not your typical favourites. Not a problem I said. Didn’t you know the Chinese have a saying ‘The Chinese will eat anything with their backs to the Heaven except the tables and chairs!’. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce to you the wierd and wonderful world of the Chinese palate.

Ingredient 1: Silver Ear Fungus

Recipe: Sweetcorn, chicken and silver ear fungus soup

Known scientifically as tremella fuciformis, silver ear fungus has fruit bodies that are gelatinous, watery white, up to 7.5 cm (3 ins) across (larger in cultivated specimens), and composed of thin but erect, seaweed-like, branching fronds, often crisped at the edges. Tremella fuciformis has been cultivated in China since at least the nineteenth century. Tremella fuciformis is traditionally used in sweet dishes. While tasteless, it is valued for its gelatinous texture as well as its supposed medicinal benefits. White fungus contains much iron, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus. The fat and gum like protein in it is especially nourishing to the body. It is considered a good supplement to the body. All the soup bowls were empty and the consensus was that this soup was delicious! Thank you guys!

Ingredient 2: Jellyfish

Recipe: Salt and pepper soft shell crab with jellyfish

There are 85 species of jellyfish but only 12 are harvested. I’ve gone for the cannonball jellyfish because their toxins are harmless to humans. 

Traditional processing methods, carried out by a Jellyfish Master, involve a 20 to 40 day multi-phase procedure in which after removing the gonads and mucous membranes, the umbrella and oral arms are treated with a mixture of table salt and alum andcompressed. Processing reduces liquidation, off-odors and the growth of spoilage organisms, and makes the jellyfish drier and more acidic, producing a crunchy and crispy texture. Jellyfish prepared this way retain 7-10% of their original weight, and the processed product contains approximately 94% water and 6% protein. Freshly processed jellyfish has a white, creamy colour.

In China, processed jellyfish are desalted by soaking in water overnight and eaten cooked or raw. I’ve decided to serve my jellyfish with a salt and pepper soft shell crab.

So many of you asked for this to be put on the menu and deferring to public request, from today onwards, we will serve this dish!

Ingredient 3. Glutinous Rice, Chinese sausage (lap cheung)

Recipe : Make your own Dim Sum of Glutinous Rice Parcel and Chicken’s Feet – Yes, chicken’s feet.

Glutinous rice also called sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, biroin chal, mochi rice, and pearl rice is a type of short-grained rice that is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous  in the sense of being glue-like or sticky and not in the sense of containing gluten (so this is fine for a gluten free diet). The perfect filling for this would be chinese sausage (lap cheung), shitake mushrooms, chicken/pork and perhaps even chestnuts.

The Chinese fable behind this dim sum is a sad tale and concerns a Princess and her Prince. One day, the Prince was at sea but was washed overboard and drowned. No-one could find his body because the storm was so ferocious.  The Prince was such a kind man to his subjects, mainly fishermen, that the whole province in loyalty to the Prince and to respect him, wrapped these parcels and threw them into the sea, hoping that the fish would eat these parcels rather than the Prince’s body.

Tonight at the Gastro Club I got all participants to make their own dim sum of glutinous rice parcel. Not a bad job guys, not a bad job at all :0)

Ingredient 4: Wolfberries

Recipe: Sichuan beef with wolfberries and longans

Cultivated along the fertile aggradational floodplains of the Yellow River for more than 600 years, Ningxia wolfberries have earned a reputation throughout Asia for premium quality sometimes described commercially as “red diamonds”.

Since the early 21st century in the United States and other such developed countries, there has been rapidly growing attention for wolfberries for their nutrient value and antioxidant content, leading to a profusion of consumer products.

Ingredient 5: Tapioca Pearls

Recipe: Bubble tea

Tapioca is a staple food in some regions and is used worldwide as a thickening agent mainly in foods. Tapioca is gluten free, and almost completely protein free.  The bubble tea you are going to enjoy is a milk tea with delicious chewy tapioca pearls called “boba”.

There are two shops that claim to be the creators of bubble tea. One is Chun Shui Tang tea-house (春水堂) in Taichung, Taiwan, where Liu Han Chie experimented with cold milk tea and tapioca balls in the early 1980s. Although the drink was not popular at first, a Japanese television show generated interest in it among businessmen. The drink became well-known in most parts of East and Southeast Asia during the 1990s.

An alternative origin is the Hanlin (翰林) Teahouse inTainin Taiwan owned by Tu Tsong He Hanlin. He made tea using traditional white fenyuan which have the appearance of pearls, supposedly resulting in the so-called “pearl tea.” Shortly after, Hanlin changed the white fenyuan (粉圓) to the black version that is known today.

My friend Julia said many nights, she had gone home hungry – craving good Sweet Mandarin food – she remembered our wholesome Chinese food with a steaming bowl of rice after a corporate night out with her firm. She said “No where else does what you do – offer simple but delicious food at reasonable prices.” That’s true. Most restaurants will charge you restaurant prices for takeaway. What we offer is takeaway at takeaway prices with restaurant quality. We’ve also chosen our containers with thought, to ensure it comes to your door piping hot. We consider takeaway to be one of our core businesses and we value customers at home, as if they were sitting at Sweet Mandarin. We’ll even accompany the dinner with our choicest wines, so you can have the Sweet Mandarin experience in the comfort of your own home.

You can’t beat a takeaway – here are Julia’s top ten reasons:

1. I am home alone

2. Its raining/cold/late/got no car/car’s broken down/don’t want to venture outside for a whole night out

3. I’m already wearing pygamas and hooked to the tv set – you can’t just leave if Pop Idol or Desperate Housewives are on can you – get the bf to collect @sweetmandarin!

4. I just want to eat some decent Chinese food – no one else does Lily’s curry or Mabel’s claypot and the more I think about their food, the more hungry I get.

5. The fridge is bare apart from some mouldy cheese and stale bread – even a mouse would decline that offer!

6. I don’t want to cook, and even if I did, I have no food. Can’t cook won’t cook.

7. Its cheaper to get Sweet Mandarin take-out, than to buy all the ingredients and try to cook it yourself.

8. When I cook it tastes funny- I’ll leave it to the experts at Sweet Mandarin.

9. Takeout is great for a romatic night in, especially accompanied by the fine selection of wine Sweet Mandarin has (hehehe, I’m not alone, so you can ignore point 1 tonight :0))

10. Sweet Mandarin takeaway is the best…because the staff are friendly, the food is superb and the price is right.

Now that you are in a state of ravenous hunger, here’s what to do – call 0161 832 8848 and see their online new menu for takeaway at www.sweetmandarin.com – if you are really good with the computer, order online.

where’s the phone?

who’s taken my phone?

I need takeout NOW!

spring rolls – sweet and sour chicken – peking duck – firecracker prawns – special fried rice – chicken chow mein – one hot and sour soups – no make it two – and some prawn crackers…..and hurry. i’m about to faint with hunger.

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.

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.

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