上禮拜剪完頭髮決定自己來一個小小的城市之旅,去試試存了一陣子的餐廳 Mikivi。點餐的時候猶豫不決,最後順著當下的心情在烤豬肉和蔥薑雞之間選了看起來比較清爽的蔥薑雞。邊吃邊想著這熟悉的味道究竟來自何處,頭腦上的燈泡一亮!原來是每次吃燒臘的時候最令人期待的薑蔥蓉。想起以前不知道要吃什麼的時候,不論炙熱的正午還是陰雨的傍晚,家附近的燒臘便當總會是一個很有競爭力的選項。雖然這碗蔥醬雞飯的配菜是甜椒、鷹嘴豆和溏心蛋,不是我最常選的高麗菜、空心菜和豆腐,吃著吃著,忽然好像還是被往十年前的台北稍微拉近了一點點。
店家招待了一小碟豬肉讓我品嚐,所以還是吃到了我猶豫不決的另一個選項呢。
On gloomy windy day, I decided to go on a little city trip after getting a haircut. Walking all the way from Punavuori up to Töölö, strong wind from all directions had almost reset my professionally, freshly styled hair.
After stepping in to @mikivi.helsinki, I stood in front of the menu and spent quite a while trying to choose between pork and chicken. Eventually, I decided to take scallion and ginger chicken with rice, thinking that the flavours of scallion and ginger would really warm me up from almost half an hour of walking in the strong wind, but keep it fresh at the same time.
After a few bites, I was almost scratching my head trying to figure out what this familiar taste reminded me of. I searched in my head hard, and finally realised that it was the ginger scallion sauce I love so much from Hong Kong BBQ, or siu laap (燒臘), restaurants. When I lived in Taipei, no matter it was on sunny days or rainy days, at noon or in the evening, I'd always up for a Hong Kong BBQ bento. I would walk a few blocks to a Hong Kong BBQ restaurant at the corner and buy a bento to enjoy at home. Although here I had paprika slices, chickpeas, and marinated soft-boiled eggs instead of my favourite stir-fried cabbages, water spinach, and tofu as sides, the rice bowl still pulled me a little bit closer to my ten-year-ago self in Taipei.
The chef kindly served me a complimentary try-out dish of the Hong Kong BBQ pork, the other option I hesitated to choose between. So I got to taste both after all!