A CHINESE DINNER IN NEW YORK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6072, 8 January 1898, Page 1

A CHINESE DINNER IN NEW YORK.

(rUttßtrate_ j-iiierican.) A Chinese dinner is the most civilised dinner in the world. -Though the feast began at two o'olock in the afternoon, tha tea-house was hung within and withoub with Chinese lanterns. The banquet table was round, to avoid all question ef precedent. At every diner's place were ivory chopsticks, with a collection of dainty little cups and bowls, and never a knife or -fork in sight. The first course was made up-of! such dainties as Western barbarism re*-* serves for desserts. These aroma-tic fnrita and conserves, sratteredall over the tabid in tiny dishes, piqued, the ajppetite and made eating a delicate delight. It was impossible to be hurried over dried watermelon seedß. The chow-ohow waa not a pickle but a preserve, a strange opaline tangle of gelatinous shreds, tough enough to require deliberation in the chewing, and of a flavour subtle as a perfume of flowers. The Cumquat oranges, litt_elroney-co_oured globes of pungent sweetness the size of the tip of one's thumb* were^yßteries td-^Utga; . , ; over. The melon-rind and cuiio-aiij** " candied ginger bit the palate pro voi*atr»>-lyx till it appreciated the SOOTHING BLAKDNESS of the long, juicy wheel-fruit. Everything had to be eaten with the ivory ohopßtiokss and owing to the zeal of the beginners to practise their chopsticks on such easily handled viands before passing to the difficulties of rice and Btew, it is probable that far more of the first course was eaten than, Oriental etiquette would approve. With the second course came the flrafc wine, a pale, faintly odorouß liquor, served from little covered teapots of quaint china, , and drunk from fragile cups of thimble • i size. The dish of this oourse, aptly known as "fowl in the nest," is one of the piker de resistance of the Chinese Savarin, and very enticing it looked, curiously ganushed. and resting in a great oblong bowl. It oonsists mainly of the breasts and legs of young pigeons, the breasts of young chickens, bean sprouts and Chinese* mushrooms, all stuffed into a hollow watermelon. The melon-rind is securely plugged, and the whole thing is boiled till the melon looks liko a roll of white pastry.. When this comes on the table a hole iscufc in the rind and the contents are scooped,, out, steaming and fragrant. Nothing could be more delicious or more wholesome. The shark-fin rolls, in spite of their forbiddingname, were a gelatinous mixture rolled in eggs, very light and digestible, but needing the relish of the red " soy " sauce into which one was expected to dip them. " Bird in the bush " was duck cooked in. some fashion unknown to the oh-roni-clefx and served* with A GARNITURE OF CHINESE PARSJjEY, not even remotely akin in flavour to our occidental herb -of that name. Throughoub these three courses were served with unremitting, diligence the thimble cups of white rice wine. Bufc wifch course five came the "wine of the roots," a heavier, more aromatic liquor, brownish-purple in hue, and blending perfeqtly with the strange stew of mushrooms, chopped fish and grated peanuts whioh accompanied it. The stuffed chicken wings were a. marvel of delicacy, but the addition of "soy " obscured their distinctive flavour to any but a Chinese palate Bubtilised by a thousand years of discrimination. Then-came the world-famous "bird's nest soup." Ife was like an idealised chicken broth, thickened with idealised tapioca. It justified its famo, which is more than can be said,of many other objects bf renown. The eighth course had a familiar air, being Bimply broiled pigeon. But it was well redeemed from the commonplace by the liquor which went with it. The rose wine is a^whita, spirit distilled from apricots and rose leaves. A THIMBLEFUIi MAKES EVERT VEIN TINGLE DF.-_IOIOtTSI<T. But the marvel of it is that successive thimblef vlb produce no worse effeot. Rose wine ' ruled the remainder of the feast, -and its rule proved beneficent. The boiled abalones, of the ninth course, wero interesting. They aro a dried shellfish, thafc require three days' boiling before they oan be eaten. Course ten was tho solid course of the meal. It was the standard Chinese dish of chop suey. This is a stew of beef, chicken, or pork, with bean sprouts, mushrooms, water-lily roots, sprouted .grain. and unknown flavourings. At this stage our artfully conducted appetites were just ready for a solid dish like this, and the liberal bowls of ohop suey 'were soon disposed of. With the white nut broth — a. Bort of light, sweet soup — came curious Chinese cakes, sweetmeats of unexpected flavour rolled in a white transpireut-peste.; Then little cups of water-lily tea, one of the finest of rare Chinese teas, rotu_ded»off ; a perfeot dinner,' whioh had lasted four hours. Between the courses, obeying a -wiseChinese custom, the guests would leave ,' the table and wander about the room, or show themselves from the baloony "to -the doubtless critical observers on the -street, j When the dinner-was ever, •the^usßtshacl ! neither eaten nor drunk too much for) -aontlrat or -dignity.