An Unpretentious Feast

feat Stephanie O'Connor

Instead of heading to the comforts of the north, a couple Thursdays ago I braved peak hour traffic to travel to the CBD to celebrate a friends birthday. I pulled into Commissioner street as the sun set and with it any second thoughts I may have had at prioritising the event. An hour later most of the guests were seated. I'm going to resist the urge to begin what would invariably be an intolerable rant on black people and time.

Part of the magic of the evening was that the space was filled with some of the most interesting and coolest individuals in the city but the main ingredient was really the culinary skills at Yung Chen. The restaurant wasn't a  fancy one at all. The lace curtains were a tad soiled and the deco was minimal. The lady of the "house" barely spoke a word of English however, the experience, as everything in life should be, was authentic. And as the invitation denoted we enjoyed an unpretentious feast and arguably the best chinese food you will ever have in our beloved city. Fragrant steam rice for each table, I can't even begin to tell you how much I like the smell of steamed rice. Deep fried dim sum, sticky beef with sesame seeds, a light corn soup with spring onions to give what could have potentially been a bland experience a nice pep to it. There were the chinese styled vegetables, mushrooms and the prawns which were devoured before I even got my hands on them. Then there were the tiny bowls being passed around. People had made their own concoctions with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, wanting to share it just to see their own pleasure mirrored in someone else’s face. The lady of the "house" and her companion leaned over the counter seemingly amused at the banter perhaps even complimented by some of the closed eyes, a really good sign of pleasure to some, and the occasional ohimgaads and yho joe's.  But no good feast is complete without a steady stream of vino. A naughty feature was the tequila in a quaint white teapot. Tea-quila someone at the table quipped.

It was a wonderful dinner to celebrate a wonderful person. In a later conversation Steph commented on the affair and had a few choice words about being a year older.

“The thing I love the most about being a year older is our self actualizations about the things we want in our lives and the things we can do without.  The older I get the more I only want to be surrounded by good company and usually this includes sitting around a table filled with great food.  We tend to care less and less about the actual celebration of our birthdays the older we get and focus more on the small enjoyments we are lucky to experience from day to day.  That being said, this year I didn't have any plans to "celebrate" my birthday… especially after my wallet being stolen earlier in the week, I just wasn't in the mood for any celebration.  Then a friend of mine contacted me and asked me about plans and offered to make me a cake.. then suggested we have some cheap eats in china town.  I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate, so I eagerly accepted her invitation and started putting out the invitation to my friends.  This modest but charming restaurant has quickly become one of my most memorable birthdays to date.  It's the simple things and experiences we should hold dearest to our hearts.”

Here, here Steph.

Stephanie O'Connor of www.connervarinblog.com