the tipping point

I was sent some porn via email today – and it the picture of a fine bird. to be more precise, it was the picture of a lovely piece of roast duck over gravy soaked rice. I had to stop myself lusting.

I’d like to blame SQ, porn provider of the day, for having tipped me over the should-i-be-good-and-go-to-the-gym-or-go-and-look-for-roast-duck-instead balance. to be honest though, I had been craving roast duck and rice for the better part of the past homesickness tinged 3 weeks and this was probably just the excuse I was looking for to indulge those cravings.

and so it had to be done – a brief moment of half hearted contemplation as to whether the pursuit of roast duck was a worthy reason to give up attendance of spin class. of course I decreed that it was. I trotted off to the aptly named Hong Kong Delight at 33 rue Ste-Catherine with its rows of hanging barbequed meats. it looked admittedly rather dingy – but it was exactly what I was looking for – a good honest hole in the wall.

I was seated and presented with a menu written in chinese – it had the usual offerings - an assortment of one-dish meals on rice, noodles and soups. I ordered roast duck on rice, and a bowl of shrimp wantons in broth. sipping the jasmine tea I had been served, it almost felt like I was in a 茶餐厅 in downtown kowloon rather than lower town Brussels – the chatter of mandarin and Cantonese speaking customers around me, the sharp bang of the chef chopping up my duck, the strains of cheese over the radio.

the leg of roast duck had a good amount of meat, the skin was nicely caramelized though it could have benefited from being a little crisper. there was a good splash of duck gravy over the rice, and I added a large helping of chilli oil. the wantons were nice – proper thin egg pastry skins, and plump prawns, it was a good side to go with the greasiness of the duck.

I couldn’t be happier.