He referred to a noodle dish involving dried squid and fermented chilies.
Food venders are always nearby hawking the perfect complement to a tipsy evening: grilled meats, dried squid, pork buns, noodles.
RECOMMENDED DISHES: Fried bean curd with mashed shrimp, braised abalone, crispy live shrimp, sauteed crispy shredded squid, stir-fried pig's stomach and dried squid, winter melon soup.
At a nearby table an elegantly dressed Taiwanese woman, obviously perplexed by a shallow bowl containing a single sheet of dried squid, laughed aloud as it separated into curly noodles when a server poured hot kombu broth over.
On display were dried bean threads, dried seaweed, dried squid, dried octopus, dried lotus root, dried birds-nests, lup up (dried duck), dried tangerine peel, canned fried spotty fish, pickled ginger, preserved turnips, braised bamboo tips, bean curd, tiger balm dried scallops, and preserved eggs, wrapped in a poultice of earth & herbs, & guaranteed to be at least a year old.
The noodle soups are a highlight, especially the tom yum, which takes a basic vegetable broth and drugs it with a feverish cocktail of lime juice, dried squid, fish sauce, chili powder and other stimulants/ingredients that will rock your brain.
Pasembur is one of the more mystifying dishes I've eaten, a jumble of cucumber, shredded jicama, boiled potatoes, tofu, dried squid sambal, chunks of fried soft-shell crab and two kinds of shrimp fritters, one spongy and sweetened with coconut, the other salty and crunchy from a batter of rice flour.
Fuchsia Dunlop, an expert on Chinese cooking who is based in London, told me by e-mail that jian is added to bread and bun doughs to neutralize the acidity of the sourdough fermentation, in marinades for tenderizing tough meats, and to reconstitute leathery dried squid, which becomes very tender and "slithery".
