Although Santa Clara’s China Stix owner/chef Frank Chang categorizes his China tours as fun golf trips, the 16 members of the Foon Hay Seniors Golf Club found they were in for gourmet feasts as well. Particularly memorable to foodies John and Muriel Kao, Don and Jeannette Wong, and Roger and Sylvia Eng was the Tsuey Yuan imperial dinner in Chengde. Held in a glittering room of carved gold walls in the Man Han Chuan Shi Restaurant, the dinner was hosted by owner Sun Xiao Chun, one of the top chefs in China. The 42-dish meal included such exotic items as braised camel tendon, batter-fried peacock meat, venison blood soup, chicken head appetizer and giant dragon fish — just a mere sampling, said Chang, of China’s feasts for royalty. Mr. Sun’s Beijing restaurant of the same name is quaintly situated in a former mansion in the hidden alley of the cui hua hu tong area off famed Wanfujing Street. In equally gilded private dining rooms with immense round tables suitable for 20 people, Silicon Valley diners James and Evelyn Gate and Chuck and Deanna Leong were served by young maidens dressed in vibrant red robes with wooden shoes, reminiscent of the Ching Dynasty.
The feast-de-resistance was at the Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant, where master chef Sun Xian Hou and two other chefs carved three ducks in unison to a precise 98 pieces per duck. Howard and Pat Lum enjoyed a whole skinless tomato with shrimp in sauce under its lid, as well as a whole orange filled with special duck soup.
Chang has consulted with many of China’s top chefs in the Chinese Culinary Association and is now a director, along with Martin Yan, of the recently opened Culinary Art Center, where Chinese chefs can learn Western cuisine and vice versa in Shenzhen. Chang will lead more private tours next month with David and Brenda Wen and Lawrence and Ruth Chu of the Palo Alto Hills Country Club, and Steve Wong of Wong’s Electric Co.
Besides all that eating, Hugh and Shirley Lee climbed the JinShanLing portion of the Great Wall, and all of us marveled at the perseverance of our forefathers who spent their lives building this Wonder of the World. …
Four hundred supporters of the Asian Chefs Association feasted at their anti-human trafficking fund-raising dinner, “Chefs Without Borders,” at San Francisco’s Hilton Hotel recently. Those who enjoyed foods by 50 chefs — including Chris Yeo’s Straits, Khai Duong’s Ana Mandara, Lawrence Chu’s Chef Chu’s and Roy Yamaguchi’s Roy’s — were Santa Rosans Ken and Lan Tran, David and Sharon Seto, Dr. Randall and Dorothy Low, and newly appointed Asian Art Museum Director Jay Xu with wife Jennifer Chen and daughter Toni. Other featured guests included actresses Thuy Nguyen and Kieu Chinh, Chanh Pham showing his fashion designs, Martin Yan, and emcees David Tu, Cheryl Jennings and Don Sanchez.
Food for thought in the political arena was provided by Sunnyvale City Council member Otto Lee at his recent fund-raising dinner in Mountain View. California Controller John Chiang met the South Bay throng supporting Lee’s candidacy for Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
Legacy Through Giving held its first annual fund-raising dinner, “Giving Through Fashion,” at the Hyatt Burlingame, where couture clothes by Monique of Cicada, CC Couture, Dcepcion and OdileOdette were featured. Organizer Michael Chan’s goal was to help nonprofits raise funds through this event put together with wife Macy Mak. More than 400 patrons supported his idea, and the benefiting charities were S.F. HBF: Asian Liver Center, Cantonese Opera Assoc. SV, Bay Area Asian Sports Dragons, International Lions Club: Campaign Sightfirst II and Presidio Knolls School, among others.
NOT TO BE MISSED:
Olivia Oguma in SHN’s High School Musical at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre beginning April 15. Oguma has appeared on Broadway in Mama Mia and the film Strangers With Candy. … Asian Americans for Community Involvement’s 35th Anniversary Dinner, May 16 at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel. … ChiAm Circle Scholarship Award Dinner on May 15 at Cupertino’s Dynasty Restaurant. … Dancing With the Stars top contender Kristi Yamaguchi dancing weekly on ABC-TV.