CNY Take #2 at Chiam

Chiam
(48th Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenues)

Since 2009, it's been a tradition for my fiance, sister, her friend (let's refer to this friend as "Emma Bella") and I to get together for Chinese New Year dinner.  Last year, we went to Peking Duck House (which I just reviewed) and this year we wanted to try something new.  Emma Bella had suggested Chiam, a rather high-class establishment in Midtown East, for peking duck and overall Chinese food.  I guess he (yes, Emma Bella is a boy) had been there previously and thought it was close to nirvana for peking duck fans around the world.

Of course, being a peking duck fan, I was very keen and signed up for the dinner right away!  Between the four of us, we ordered one peking duck, one kung pao chicken, one dry sauteed string beans, and one grand marnier prawns.  According to several people on yelp and menupages, the grand marnier prawns are a must-try, so that was definitely on my radar.

The waiter brought out the roasted peking duck for our approval, and then went away to slice it up for us and roll them into pancakes.  There was no tableside carving, but that didn't bother me too much.  We each got 2 peking duck rolls... the pancakes themselves looked off.  They didn't look like normal peking duck pancakes, but more like burrito tortillas!  (I give my fiance credit on that one this time.)  They were charred and not soft like normal.  The duck inside was no better - where was the skin/fat/thinly sliced duck?  It was more like duck chunks inside.  The texture was yucky.  Plus, they had the spring onions in there which I really don't like.  I would've rathered they let us pack and roll our own peking duck.  Anyway, that was a definite bust... by far the worst peking duck I've ever tasted.  No offense, Emma Bella!!  This in no way affected my opinion of you as a friend... Haha!!

The other 3 dishes were served to us rather strangely by Chinese standards, and by that I mean not family style.  They actually divvied up the 3 entrees into 4 separate plates so we each had our own plate to eat from.  The remainder of the food was okay, but definitely not anything to write home about.  The grand marnier prawns were cooked with mayonnaise, which I've had before... but it wasn't review-worthy by any stretch of the imagination.  I was not impressed with anything regarding the meal, aside from Emma Bella's stealthy arm.  He was amazing at re-filling our tea cups from across the table without anyone noticing!  :)

M-Stars:
Decor/ambience: 3 out of 5 (the decor looks relatively classy, and there are private rooms near the entrance)
Food: 1 out of 5 (I don't know how this really counts as Chinese food...)
Service: 2.5 out of 5 (there were a few waiters who barely understood English)
Value: 1 out of 5 (the $40 peking duck was downright awful)
"It" factor: 0 out of 5
M&M's overall satisfaction: 1 out of 5

Bottom-line: It was really fun hanging out with friends and the overall conversation and joviality fortunately distracted from the fact that the food was terrible.  You couldn't pay me to come back here!

 

A mirror in the middle of the restaurant makes the hall look doubly long

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!  May you all have a happy and prosperous year of the tiger!

I'm sure Chinese New Year means a lot of different things to different people.  Growing up in Taiwan, I had the luxury of experiencing an authentic CNY experience for 13 years.  When my sister and I were young, our dad would buy a myriad of fireworks/firecrackers/sparklers and set them off in our backyard.  It was loud, dangerous and awesome all at the same time.  CNY also always meant angpows (red envelopes with money) would be coming our way!  That was definitely a highlight for my sister and me, and we'd often stay awake until midnight so that we could collect our angpows.  My dad would always host a CNY party at our house for his work colleagues, and every year we would cater a different kind of food.  Sometimes we did Mongolian BBQ (with the big grill and all!) and I remember one year we had Indian food (don't ask me how that makes sense...).  My dad and his buddies would always be sitting around the table playing poker and gin rummy, while the ladies would be chatting with us and our mom.  Those were fun times.  :)  As we got older, fireworks/firecrackers became illegal for purchase... but the fun didn't stop there.  Instead of obliging by the law, our driver would take us to hardware shops and after some schmoozing, the storekeepers would lead us down to their basement where whaddya know, they had a large contraband stash of firecrackers that they were happy to sell to us!  Oh, what great times we had in Taiwan.
   
In New York, celebrating Chinese New Year is a little bit tougher, especially if you're someone like me who doesn't fancy being swallowed by the crowds in Chinatown.  This is where Peking Duck House comes in.  A few friends wanted to get together for a triple-date last weekend and the only somewhat-classy Chinese restaurant I knew of stands right across the street from my apartment! 
 
Peking Duck House
(53rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)

I am highly biased to Peking Duck House because 1) I looooove peking duck - there is nothing better than stuffing roasted duck skin, cucumbers and sauce (hold the spring onions) into a delicious Chinese pancake (or as my fiance calls it, tortilla... *smacks forehead*) and 2) with "Peking Duck" as part of its name, this restaurant I assume has got to be one of the best in town for peking duck, right? 

Mmm... I can taste the skin and fat already...

 
ARGGHHHH!!!!  I just googled 'peking duck' images and this popped up on my screen!!!

 

Apparently this is what live peking ducks look like, just wandering the farms of China!  How adorable????  I had no idea real peking ducks were so... cute... I mean, this duck is smiling, for crying out loud, and doesn't have the slightest inkling about what is to hit him!  He's so white and clean... almost like a little swan or goose.  AWWW... I am feeling quite a bit guilty at the moment, I must admit. 
 

Anyway, Peking Duck House was great.  We ordered the set menu which is basically around $30 per person and you get appetizers, soup, one peking duck for the entire party, plus 4 entrees and rice.  Really quite a good deal!  The peking duck was sooo good... too bad we only got 2 rolls each though, since we had 6 people.  (I recommend going with a small party so that you get to eat more!)  Haha.

M-Stars:
Decor/ambience: 3 out of 5 (classier than anything you'd ever find in Chinatown)
Food: 4 out of 5 (peking duck is to die for... although the accompanying entrees are only so-so on average, depending on what you order.  Must admit that the non-Asian people in our group wanted to order the General Tso's chicken and orange beef - these ended up being better than the 'authentic' Chinese dishes, believe it or not!)
Service: 3 out of 5
Value: 3 out of 5
"It" factor: 3.5 out of 5 (the peking duck is the "it" factor!)
M&M's overall satisfaction: 3 out of 5

Bottom-line: The peking duck is spectacular for NY standards, and the $30 set meal comes with all the bells and whistles.  We will be back next Chinese New Year!

After dinner, we all went our separate ways and my fiance and I ended up at Bill's Gay Nineties pub, on East 54th Street.  I am a huge fan of live music (especially of the Frank Sinatra/jazz variety) and I was thrilled to find that there was a bar with live music a few blocks away from our apartment.  Sidenote: I looooooove living in Midtown East!!!!  Best neighborhood ever.  I will never leave until we move out of NYC.  :)

We had a great time.  We were only two of maybe six patrons, so the pianist/singer wasn't playing all that much music at the beginning.  Everyone was scared off by the upcoming snowstorm, we think.  Once he did start to play though, he was incredible.  He performed "Your Song" by Elton John, and several songs by Frank Sinatra ("Mack the Knife," "The Way You Look Tonight," etc.).  I always admire anyone who can play the piano.  I used to play the organ but it's extremely difficult buying organs nowadays.  Parents don't seem to make their children play instruments or cultivate any classical talents anymore... but I'll leave that to a separate post.  I'd like to learn the piano someday.  :)