A new Hakka restaurant

July 31, 2022: Unfortunately this restaurant looks like it has closed. Please let me know, if it has moved or re-opens

Closed????

Please let me know if it has moved or reopens.

It’s rare to find a Hakka restaurant in Northern California. We were lucky last week when we discovered Hakka Cuisine located in Fremont, California. Although I read about the restaurant in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Chinese Regional Guide a few years ago, I had not yet tried it. I’m so glad we stopped by when we were in the area. Although we only tried a few dishes, Hakka Cuisine will bring me back with its comforting home-style dishes. With strong direct flavors, a bit of salt and fat, and generous use of all parts of the pig, this menu echos traits often found in Hakka cuisine, especially in Taiwan and Canton.

Hakka Salt-Baked Shredded Chicken

An earthy sauce made with camphor-scented sand ginger (aka ground galangal) generously coats coarse shreds of moist chicken attached to bits of smooth, silky skin. Hidden underneath, a bone-in wing and a section of the back bone, prop up the mound of boneless chicken and offer the bone lover, as I am, gnarly pieces to chew on. Other restaurants usually serve this Hakka classic as bite-sized pieces of bone-in chicken with a meager portion of sauce on the side. I like Hakka Cuisine’s easier-to-eat and more flavorful saucy presentation. I’m a bone lover, so I even appreciate the extra bones to chew on. Nothing fancy about the accompanying cabbage dotted with roasted peanuts, it is just simple comfort food that I can’t stop eating.

Hakka Salt-Baked Shredded Chicken

House Special Braised Pork Belly

Chunks of pork belly braise in a dark sauce until soft, succulent, and infused with a sweet salty flavor. The glossy morsels melt in our mouths. Sop up the plentiful sauce with the rice and cabbage.

House Special Braised Pork Belly

Hakka Pork Dumplings with Egg Skins

The pork dumplings with the egg skins catch my eye on the menu. I have seen similar dumplings posted on Facebook but have never eaten them before. Small, rather thick egg pancakes loosely enclose a pork filling. The dumplings float in a comforting, deeply satisfying white broth, laden with carrots and bean thread noodles, enlivened with white peppercorns. The flavor of fried egg imbues the broth with warm familiarity.

Hakka Pork Dumplings with Egg Skin

More to try

We can’t wait to return to try more…perhaps the Pan-fried Stuffed Tofu, Steamed Pork Ribs with Sticky Rice, Emperor Chicken with Scallion Sauce, Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables, Lion Meatballs, Golden Braised Pork Feet and so much more. Explore the menu.

Hakka Cuisine menu

July 31, 2022: Unfortunately this restaurant looks like it has closed. Please let me know, if it has moved or re-opens.
Hakka Cuisine
43755 Boscell Road (near Auto Mall Parkway)
Fremont, CA 94538
510 668 0898
https://www.orderhakka.com/

New York Hakka Conference schedule

nyc Hakka I am putting together a slide show for The New York Hakka Conference. My subject is Hakka Cuisine so I plan to show photos of Hakka food and share stories I encountered on my global journey to research The Hakka Cookbook. Register for the conference and learn more about Hakka history, identity, and food. Following is a tentative schedule of events:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015

Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) at 215 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013

RECEPTION at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). 7:00 PM Feature presentation – The Nation Music of Jamaica’s Byron Lee. Starting a calypso and mento group in high school, Byron founded the Dragonaires as a big dance band that held sway over four decades in Jamaica and the Caribbean, as well as in  the diaspora cities of London, Miami, New York, and Toronto. From ska to rock-steady to reggae and soca, mambo and cha-cha-cha, Byron reproduced the international signature music of the Caribbean.

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2015 NYU Cantor Film Center at 36 East 8th Street, New York, NY 10003

9:00AM OPENING CEREMONY (Room 200)
9:15 – 10:30AM THE SEARCH for MY CHINESE FAMILY –  Paula Williams Madison screens her documentary and reads from her book, “Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China” (Room 200)
10:30 – 10:45AM BREAK
10:45 – 11:30AM CHINESE NAMES, HAKKA GENERATIONS – Dr. Keith Lowe, co-founder of the Toronto Hakka Conference, uses the Lowe family to illustrate the clan system that is the backbone of Chinese civilization. (Room 101)
10:45 – 11:30AM RESTORING THE CHINESE CEMETERY – Robert Hew and Robert Lee, leading members of the cemetery team of the Chinese Benevolent Society of Jamaica, describe the restoration of the cemetery that was unused for three decades.  Records have been translated and carried over to a database which reveals the location of one’s ancestors. (Room 102)
11:30AM – 12:30PM AFRO-CHINESE RELIGIOUS PRACTICES in CUBA – Dr. Martin Tsang, Florida International University (Room 101)
12:30 – 1:30PM LUNCH (Non-hosted) Please enjoy the wide selection of local restaurants.
1:30 – 2:45PM CHINESE SUCCESS AS SHOPKEEPERS, BAKERS, ENTREPRENEURS, Part 1 –  Alexandra Lee moderates a panel consisting of business leaders Vincent HoSang, Vincent J. Chang, Butch Hendrickson, and Dalton Yap. (Room 102)
1:30 – 2:45PM REVOLUTIONARIES AND CHANGE MAKERS – Prof. Richard Bohr, Dr. Samuel Lowe (Room 101)
2:45PM – 3:00PM BREAK
3:00 – 4:00PM CHINESE SUCCESS AS SHOPKEEPERS, BAKERS, ENTREPRENEURS, Part 2 – Alexandra Lee moderates a panel consisting of business leaders Vincent HoSang, Vincent J. Chang, Butch Hendrickson, and Dalton Yap. (Room 102)
3:00 – 4:00PM HAKKA CUISINE – Linda Lau Anusasananan, author of The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from Around the World (Room 101)

 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2015

NYU Cantor Film Center at 36 East 8th Street, New York, NY 10003

9:30 – 10:30AM HAKKA EARTH BUILDINGS AS WORLD HERITAGE – Ruifeng Liang, Professor of Engineering, Western Virginia University (Room 101)
9:30 – 10:30AM HAKKA MIGRATIONS – Patrick Lee, author of Chinese Canadian Jamaicans & Chinese Jamaicans Worldwide (Room 102)
10:30 – 10:45AM BREAK
10:45AM – 12:00PM MASTERING CARIBBEAN MUSIC and ART, Part 1 – Panel Discussion: Broadcaster Francine Chin, VP Records President Randy Chin, and author Kevin O’Brien Chang (Room 101)
10:45 – 12:00PM MIXED RACE PERSONS Screening of documentary, “Half,” produced and directed by Jeanette Kong (Room 102)
12:00 – 1:00PM LUNCH (Non-hosted) Please enjoy a the wide selection of local restaurants.
1:00 – 2:30PM MASTERING CARIBBEAN MUSIC and ART, Part 2 – Panel Discussion: Broadcaster Francine Chin, VP Records President Randy Chin, and author Kevin O’Brien Chang (Room 101)
1:00 – 2:30PM CARIBBEAN CHINESE LITERATURE and ART – Easton Lee reads poems and stories from his many books based on a lifetime spent developing Jamaican culture from the village square to the international stage. (Room 102)
2:30 – 2:45PM BREAK
3:00 – 4:15PM WRAP UP & CLOSING CEREMONY in Room 200