A CHINESE DINNER PARTY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 47, 25 February 1901, Page 2

A CHINESE DINNER PARTY.

A most entertaining- function is a Chinese dinner party, with its quaint customs and its surprising dishes. According to a writer in "Blackwood's Magazine," "during the quarter of ah hour before dinner the guests (only male, of course) sit or stroll about eating cakes—a favourite being a sort of hot fruit puff (which each orders for himself)—and sipping tea. Melon seeds and salted almonds are also in demand for desultory nibbling. When, our number is complete a tremendous encounter of good manners ensues. Though the question of precedence is. of course, al) cut and dried beforehand, each man must be polite enough to simulate an irrevocable resolve not to accept any but the lowest place until the host's 'Friend, go up higher' promote him.

"The table is ready laid with an imposing show — a regulation number of ,■)' regulation dishes, marshalled in regulation order; quaint porcelain stands filled with Alices of oranges, pears or cold goose; towers of purple quince -jelly squares, grapes or shredded chicken breast; saucers of shrimps^salted in their skins; and, never forgotten, the famous ' eggs, preserved for years in lime, and I served, sliced, in beds of brown jelly (much prized for their acrid anil rather ' ammonical flavour, but not usually ap- ,■ predated by foreigners). Hot wine,' of various brands and vintages, is served f throughout. That most commonly drunk is a kind of sack or sherry negus—a yellow wine distilled from Indian corn,-Be* s ing comparatively mild, it is served in small cup/3—ardent white spirits of rice— samshu—in thimblefuls. 'Rose' wine ,is one of several varieties flavoured with roses. (No wine is made from, grapes, though they are plentiful in Nftrth China.) ..I*"''" "When all are seated ready for the fray, the host raises his cup—'Let us drink!' We reply, "Thanks, thanksI.* then set to—with chopsticks, picking now from one dish, now from another, in piquant contrast of sweet, sour and salt. The first fury of the opening attack tminff spent, the shattered bands of hors d'oeuvres are withdrawn, and the guests saunter into the other rooms for a wnifl! of tobacco or—whisper it not in Gath— ';.> a pipe of opium, en attendant^the real repast. . t "Certain traditional dishes form the . backbone of the feast. For instance, that most delicious of bouillis~, shark's fin soup, always opens the. ball. It is served in a large bowl, smoking hot, and ;: consists of a glutinous entanglement of % soft fins stewed in their own liquor. TheJ| flavour .is slightly salt, but exquisite. Another traditional dish appe.aff towards the close of the feast, in the shape of Jfl fat duck, reposing- in its broth. Though boiled so thoroughly that a touch from : a chopstick dissolves it witHout the aid of knife, the bird appears on tHe table with smooth white breast and limSl intact, and its nobly toothsome appearance is usually greeted with a buzz of anticipatory applause."