Chinese New Year at Sun Fortune

Chinese New Year is a big deal. Based off the lunar calendar, the Chinese people have celebrated the turning of the "Lunar New Year" for thousands of years. Needless to say, growing up as a proper Chinese boy, New Year was always met with immense optimism and excitement. For every cultural activity and mythology that is associated with Chinese New Year, there are ten (perhaps an exaggeration) food items and dishes that must also be consumed ... and that is where I came in. Traditionally, Chinese New Year was a time of celebration with family and so on New Years Eve we would always stay at home, stream the shows and parties from China, make dumplings, and devour a venerable feast of delicious Chinese goodies.

This year, being away from family, I decided to celebrate with my new pediatrics (and Winnipeg) family at the local authentic restaurant, Sun Fortune. What better way to indulge in delicious food than in the company of my future colleagues and residency family!

Sun Fortune is located on the south end of Pembina Highway in a stretch of road littered with good eateries of various Asian cuisine. It has consistently (and through my previous visits) ranked highly as authentic Chinese cuisine. If the litany of other families filling the tables on New Years Eve was any indication, it seemed that the community tends to agree with the quality of food that Sun Fortune provides.

Chinese New Years dinner typically begins with a soup and we chose a Crab Meat & Fish Maw Soup to begin our feast. Fresh crab meat is combined in a luxurious soup with fish maw, egg and cilantro in this hearty dish. The fish maw, the air bladder of a fish, is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and offers a nice collagenous crunch to the otherwise smooth soup. Make sure to add a slight hint of vinegar to round out the flavour, delicious!

Peking Duck, usually reserved for special occasions, made its way to our table next. Peking Duck, a traditional dish originating from Imperial China is a labour intensive dish to make. The bird is first prepared by blowing air into the cavity, dried for at least 48 hours, coated with Chinese spices and sweet sauces and then roasted. The key is the dichotomy in the crispness of the skin and the smooth tender meat underneath.

The dish is served in two parts. The first takes thin slices of the crispy skin and challenges the diner to make pancakes with onion, celery and Hoison sauce. Akin to a small burrito, the crisp fatty skin is contrasted to the sweet and salty Hoison and sharp vegetables. Overall a classic and Sun Fortune presents and finishes the duck expertly.

The second part of the dish involves taking the meat and stir frying it with soy and vegetables. Served with halves of lettuce, the idea is to stuff the lettuce with the meat, add a dash of Hoison sauce and consume the entire "wrap".

Again the key to this dish is the contrast in flavours and textures. I was impressed by the tender savoury duck and loved the crunch and freshness of the lettuce with it. Furthermore, the addition of Hoison sauce elevates the entire dish by adding a sweet and salty component and harmonizes all the other flavours and ingredients. Marvelous!

Our next dish was the Crisp Chicken, a staple of Chinese New Year. Here, Sun Fortune takes a full chicken and deep fries it to form a crispy skin and exterior but maintaining the full juiciness of the interior. Unlike Western cuisines of fried chicken, there is no thick coating or batter here; rather the crispness lies in the flash frying effect on the chicken skin. Juicy and moist, this was a intentionally bland-er offering that was a good segue-way from the rich Peking duck to the rest of the meal.

Slices of Tender Beef with Maggie Soya Sauce was a table favourite. Thin slices of beef tenderloin were paired with soya sauce and fried kale. What made this dish remarkable was the exquisite tenderness of the beef that had a wealth of explosive sweet and salty flavour. The fried kale added in a hint of well needed bitterness to create a full umami effect of the beef.

Needing to fulfill our vegetable quota, we ordered a Gai Lan with Garlic. Gai Lan, or Chinese broccoli, is a hearty green popular in China because it is soft enough to soak up sauces while strong and woody enough to maintain a crunch. The slight bitterness of the greens itself offers a nice contrast to the aroma of garlic in the sauce.

Cantonese Fried Rice to offer some carbohydrate load. Normally I do not order fried rice at restaurants due to them often being non-authentic and crudely done, but Sun Fortune does a fantastic job here with fluffy rice mixed with egg, shrimp and Chinese ham. There was a good amount of greasiness in this dish which highlighted all the subtle flavours in this dish. A table favourite, this was lapped up in no time.

Chinese New Year Noodles are handmade  noodles that are intentionally kept long (not cut). These traditional noodles are signs of longevity and the longest single strands of noodle that one can pick is a signal for their lifespan and health. Obviously there is no medical truth there, but that does not detract from the simple egg noodles fried in soya sauce with mushrooms.

The cherry on top of the meal was the Lobster Chow Mein. A sign of royalty and luxury, this lobster dish is again a classic at Chinese New Year. The lobster is painstakingly double fried, first by itself and secondly with onions, garlic and ginger and served on a bed of Chow Mein noodles. This was divine: I always prefer my lobster done in this more flavourful way that allows one to appreciate the underlying sweetness of the lobster in the context of Chinese sauces and ingredients.

Chinese New Year is a time for celebration with friends and family and I could not have wished for a better meal and group of people to celebrate with! In terms of the food, Sun Fortune offers solid authentic Chinese cuisine with flavours and tastes that I recall from my childhood. It ranks on par with the best I have had in Winnipeg and should be a automatic recommendation for anyone looking for true Chinese food (sans chicken balls, ginger beef and lemon chicken). Happy Year of the Sheep everyone!