Food Post Part 2 - Poon Choy @ LYJ Restaurant

If you, like moi, thought "Who's Poon Choy?" then you would benefit from a short history lesson.

'Poon choy', or 'Big Bowl Feast' is a Hakka dish that originated in the Song Dynasty, when the locals of the Guangdong Province cooked a massive amount of food for the fleeing emperor and his entourage (they were invaded by Mongol troops), but had no dishes to serve them in. 

Problem: No space. 

Solution: Stick 'em all into washbasins!

And thus, Poon Choy was born.

Can I get an 'Amen, Hallelujah'?

This is heaven in a dish for gluttonous swine like me. Those in denial, come out of it, I can hear your stomach growling from here!

Okay, LYJ has taken us out of the times of wooden washbasins, and now we have stainless-steel dishes and 

 stoves(!)

to keep the food warm (Yay for technology!). But, they have retained the essence of the original Poon choy - food fit for an Emperor, all in one dish.

Mmmmm. We counted, there were about 10 varieties of food in there - fishpaste-stuffed fish, steamed chicken, roast duck, vegetables, oysters, some sea fungus thing, pork and a whole lot more - all sitting there bathing in each other's sauces. A word of warning - the Poon Choy can feed up to an estimated 10 - 15 people, depending on their appetites. There were about 12 of us that night, granted, a lot of us aren't exactly large eaters, but there was a huge amount of food left over! Oh, and the Poon Choy comes with a ginormous plate of vegetables on the side. 

Imagine your typical 10-course Chinese dinner, all condensed into one single course. And the fun of trying different sauces and gravies with different meats. They all taste good, you have my word for it.

Proof of LYJ's awesomeness - they have their write-ups on the wall. Photo (and the next couple of photos too) from this blog!

There, now you're all set! Just make sure you have a large group with you - or a large appetite. 

Bon appetit!