Earth Day is coming and I always like to honor it with a celebration that directly honors the earth herself. Everyday, at the restaurant, we work with foods harvested directly from the earth: organic greens, broccoli, lettuces, green onion, garlic, carrots, daikon, avocado, tomatoes, yams, peanuts, limes, rice as well as, other food products like both wheat and rice noodles, plain and baked tofu, which are prepared  from what grows in the earth. The chicken, pork and beef toppings we serve are roam on the earth.  The Jasmine and Oolong tea leafs, the herbs and spices harvested from the earth.  To work in the kitchen in the early morning, when the cases of produce arrive, to listen to the chopping, to smell the rising aromas, to see the vibrant colors of greens and orange is a feast for all the senses.  This happens beginning early every morning, like playing among the fields, in our kitchen.  To take this wild abundance, and with alchemical magic, create: Spicy Dan, Pad Thai, Chow Mien, Laughing Phoenix, Chicken noodle soup (Pho) and so much more.

And so it is with so much gratitude for the abundant generosity of our earth, Earth Day is in deed a time for celebration.  A time to slow down and thoughtfully acknowledge the offerings from this blue green earth we live on.  All this natural medicine available for nourishing our bodies.  I see Earth Day as a thank you, as an astonishment, a wonder, a joy for the all that is given to sustain us.

This year Charlie Hong Kong’s celebration will benefit Life Lab at UCSC, which offers farm and garden based programs for children and educators.  It’s our way to honor families and their children who choose to “Eat Real”.

Party for children: Sat, April 20th, 10:30-noon, at Charlie Hong Kong, tickets: www.ediblemontereybay.com, under events tab.  Join us for the fun!

Food Day, was on October 24.

Mission: to promote a nationwide celebration of a movement towards more healthy, affordable and sustainable food.  In 2011, Food Day, brought together hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states, at more then 2,300 events.  October 24, 2012, Food Day was even bigger, creating a web that criss-cross the entire United states.

FOOD DAY PRIORITIES

*Promote safer, healthier diets

*Support sustainable and organic farms

*Reduce hunger

*Reform factory farms to protect the environment and animals

*Support fair working conditions for food and farm workers

Food should be tasty, healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the environment, animals and the women and men who grow, harvest, and serve it. Food Day’s goal, to bring us closer to this ideal.  Food Day brings together some of the most prominent voices for change in the food movement.

Charlie Hong Kong seeks to inspire community action to improve our food system and American diet.  We use organic locally grown produce.  On Food Day, Charlie Hong Kong customers were asked, if they would sign a Pledge, declaring “I Eat Real”.  There was a generous response, customers signing until all the forms were used.  These pledges will accompany petitions to our US Congress men and woman, demanding change in our current food system.  This is how a movement generates momentum.  Politicians don’t create movements. “We step in front of a movement and call it our own.”

To acknowledge our customers for eating healthy, we handed out our delicious coconut rice pudding.

To learn more about Food Day and become part of building the movement, go to www.foodday.org  Become a part of next year’s Food Day, October 24, 2013,

“It’s Time to Eat Real!”

Family signs pledges, “I Eat Real!”

Thursday, October 11, at 1 PM, Charlie Hong Kong will celebrate the action: TO BAN PLASTIC BAGS FROM RESTAURANTS. Please join us.  Several of the Board will join us and SOS will be honored for all their hard work.

Plastic bags, the new urban tumble weed, have infiltrated almost every part of our environment.  It’s hard to miss the visual of  plastic bags flat against something in our landscape. Or the image of people walking down  a sidewalk, as a plastic bags floats past them. Or watched a plastic bag caught between buildings riding on air currents and up over the roof.  We’re all to aware of the plastic bags strewn along our freeways.  Recently driving to  visit friends in a lovely county area, I was disturbed by a new scene,  plastic bags dotting the side of the freeway, in this once pristine area.

How can we be committed to our health, eating organic, organic farms, sustainable foods and not be outraged by the flooding of plastic bags into our environment.  I remember my shock the first time I experienced what happens to plastic when exposed to the sun. A hanging plant in a basket lined with plastic required a new home.  I left the empty basket on the patio, where it stayed for some months.  When I finally remove the basket, the plastic lining began to break up.  As I tried to pick-up the plastic, it would break up and blow away.  I experienced this sinking feeling of panic, as I ran around attempting to capture the smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. My  visceral response to the dilemma secured my commitment to finding solutions to all this plastic. Plastic once a modern convenience now a threat to our environment.

I know it’s not simple.  I know I am only one person.  I also never underestimate the difference we make one action at a time.  In fact our actions are our most prized possession.  To commit to our personal health and well being, requires a commiment to the health and well being of our environment. The way I view it, the two are intertwined and reflect each other.

Develop the “Bag-It Habit”.  Bring your own bag for to-go orders 10 times and the 11 time receive a free bowl.  Ask for your card.

My niece, from New York City, and her best friend, visited  Santa Cruz, this summer.  They had been dreaming about this trip since junior high.  Having just graduated high school and before heading off to college, their trip became a reality early July.  My niece has visited many times with her family, my brother is her father.  The summer she turned 15, she came by herself and worked at Charlie Hong Kong.  Her first job.  Inspired by the organic farmers markets, the food prepared from the bounty and the meals served at Charlie Hong Kong, on her return to NYC, she declared, I am now a Vegan.  Her mothers calls me in desperation, please make her stop.  Of course I’m powerless and didn’t make her start.  Her mother, not a cook herself, though she loves food and eating, quickly comes around and supports her whole heartedly.  My niece remains a dedicated Vegan.  She and I share our passion for healthy food and cooking. She loves the life style of Santa Cruz.   She and her friend, also a Vegan, were in awe by the array of food options here for Vegans.

Like me, she can spend hours shopping at our glorious organic farmer’s markets.  She and her friend explored the Wednesday downtown market  for over 3 hours before I could pick them up.  Concerned I would find them bored, I was greeted with enthusiasm. They were so excited by all the free samples generously given.  Apparently New York markets don’t hand out samples. Not yet done shopping, they begged for more time.  Most nights of their 2 week visit, we prepared a special meal, from local organic fruits and veggies.  My niece devoured my vegetarian cookbooks and would go on-line for recipes.  I enjoy cooking, and though I eat at our restaurant daily, for the past 13 years, I always cook dinner at home and usually breakfast.  The girls hungrily took advantage of the opportunity to be taught basic cooking skills; how to properly use a knife, different terms for ways to cut veggies,the  importance of using all you senses when cooking.  To teach a subject so dear to my heart was thrilling for me.  I’ve discovered most young people do not know how to cook and in most homes no one actually cooks anymore.  Busy schedules, stressed lives have most folks picking up pre-made food or eating out.  The commitment of Charlie Hong Kong, is to offer affordable, healthy, organic, as possible meals, to ensure that people have healthy options.  Feeding people is my passion.

I took the girls to the UCSC farm, one of my favorite places to take visitors.  We explored the entire farm.  I would point and ask what is this?  Not totally surprising, NYC girls were unable to recognize the tops of onions and carrots, the leaves of a kiwi tree.  We had so much fun identifying and interacting with all the plants just coming awake in the soil.  We ran into Liz Milazzo the head of the Apprenticeship program at the CSA barn.  She gave us 2 stalks of rhubarb and invited the girls to return next week to participate in harvesting for their farm stand.  With the beyond amazing organic strawberries from Windmill Farms, the girls came up with an spectacular Vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp.  Showing them how to use pot holders to remove the hot pan from the oven; observing them hovering over the steam rising from the pan; as they watch and wait for it to cool down, to taste their creation, is one of the sweetest moments of their visit.  I suggest we eat it right away, since we hadn’t had lunch. A moment of hesitation, then realizing an adult offered them desert for lunch; it must be OK.  I add, let’s top it with Vegan coconut ice cream.  After two servings each, were stare at each other with grins from ear to ear!  The girls become crisp making fools and I begin to refer to them, as the Crisp Goddess.

The next week I drive them to the UCSC Farm.  We’re amazed how much everything has grown in just a week. This is prime growing time here .  The long rows of plantings are lush and vibrantly green.  The ocean is present off in the distance, the fog bank already burned off.  Confidently the girls identify onions, carrots, leeks, chard, as we walk towards the designated meeting spot by the crating shed.  We’re greeted by a smiling second year apprentice in jeans, flannel with dirt under her fingernails.  She’s from the unique program, that includes academic and hands-on organic farming technique right here at our own UCSC.  (http://casfs.ucsc.edu/apprentice-training) The girls are lead down a row of strawberries.  I walk back through the rows watching the apprentice instruct the girls, as they bend over to inspect a plant.  I think how exhausted they’ll be when I see them again and how every young person should work in the fields, bending, picking, weeding, to fully understand what goes into food that shows up on their plate.  Not only will they expand the variety of foods they eat, they’ll become advocates for protecting our farms and the environment.  Later when I see them, there’s no exhaustion, only excitement bubbling over from their experience in the field.  The strawberries were easy; it’s the chard that was hard.  They proceed to demonstrate how to twist and pull a leaf.  Avoiding the bugs which seemed to be on every other leaf required concentration.  They slap hands in a high five and commit to work on an organic farm, WWOOF.

So what will it take to protect our organic small farms so precious even though numerous in this area?  So many people are disconnected from their food source.  Food appears so abundantly on the shelves in grocery store and there seems to be an endless supply of food at the drive-up window.  In my business, I’m directly connected to the farm source that supplies our products, whether organic chard, broccoli, green onions, Jasmine rice, peanuts, coconut milk.  A flood, a drought, disease effects prices and availability.  I’m well aware of the vulnerability  present to what we consume.  There are a lot of us to feed.  In Santa Cruz County, we live in a garden of Eden.  Consumers show up and demand product vaguely aware of the farmer in the field or the challenges of nature.  This is a big topic, a huge topic.  I encourage everyone to consider, like the wide eyed wonder of my niece and her friend, with your next meal, your next bite, with gratitude to the soil, the farmer, the natural world, that provides, sustains and feed us.

This coming Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day.  There will be celebrations all week, including a Santa Cruz community gathering on Saturday.  How will Charlie Hong Kong honor the occasion?  Being present for the original first Earth Day, was a moving event for me.  What seems to have become a big party, though I’m not against celebrating, I felt Charlie Hong Kong needed a larger personal context for this Earth Day.

So when Sarah Wood from Edible Monterey, called to ask, if Charlie Hong Kong would like to do a “Popup Supper Club” the wheels of my mind stared turning.  This after I said, Supper Club, we’re not that kind of restaurant. Edible Monterey’s mission for the “popup supper clubs” is to nurture our local conscious food community.   Well, Charlie Hong Kong, is a Certified Green restaurant.  We’re committed to using organic produce grown right here on the central coast.  Charlie Hong Kong is alignment with this mission. Thus our Earth Day celebration started to take shape.

But I felt it had to be more then just Charlie Hong Kong serving our Signature vegan bowls.  Then the obvious struck me; the UCSC Farm and Garden, bring them into the equation. Here is this amazing program right in our neighborhood.  Their Apprenticeship Program is educating a new generation of organic farmers.  This gives hope, for that critical mass to shift away from convention argro-business to sustainable, organic farming.  This resource is available to gardeners and our entire community.  I wanted to pay respect to this amazing endeavor.  This is what Earth Day is about.

A number of e-mails and phone calls and UCSC Farm was on board.  The plan: a private tour of the farm, with Liz Milazzo, field production manager, generously offering to be our guide.  It will be very exciting since it’s planting season and she’s the expert.  Then rendezvous at Charlie Hong Kong, for a private tasting from our Signature Vegan Bowls and other menu items.

Yes, this feels like the way to honor Earth Day!  Gratitude, respect, kindness and generosity, the founding principals of Charlie Hong Kong.   The same expression we want to express towards our magnificent earth.

Details: Edible Monterey blog April Supper club

Cost: $20.00-($5.00 goes to UCSC Farm & Garden)

Time: 3 pm meet at Farm then Charlie Hong Kong

Limited space

Sorry Restaurant will be closed during this special event 4:30-5:30

Five or six years ago, we received the news, the company that made our noodles was going out of business.  This noodle is called a Hong Kong style noodle or chow mein (which means noodle) noodle.  It’s eggless and made from wheat.  So here was the opportunity: find a new noodle for the favorite Spicy Dan’s Peanut Delight and Charlie’s Chow Mein and improve the quality.  Lucky for us, Rudy, my business partner and husband, is the most amazing investigator, so I put him on the job.  Sleuthing around through the internet and many phone calls later, Rudy locates a professor at a “Noodle College” (yes, there is a noodle college) in LA, who is an expert in noodles and noodle manufacturing.  Rudy gives him a call in hopes that he may know a local noodle distributor.  After first receiving a thorough noodle education, different types, styles and what makes an excellent quality noodle, he’s given the name of a company in Oakland that makes a high quality fresh noodle. Fresh noodles, high quality, this was music to my ears.  We drive to Oakland to check them out.

There is a warehouse district next to downtown Oakland, off highway 880.  Numerous small food distribution and business warehouses are tucked in an area I didn’t know existed. We locate the noodle makers in the maze of unmarked buildings and enter into a large warehouse.  Stacked shelves line down the middle, with a window on the right, into a side room, where we can view an enormous machine making fresh noodles.  After we find someone who speaks English, this is a Chinese operation, we introduce ourselves; explain who we are and about our noodle mission.  A long term business partnership begins. They agree to make a noodle specifically for Charlie Hong Kong.  It is a longer more robust noodle.  The quality is superior to the previous noodle.  The noodles are made from scratch, then immediately hung over racks in a special room to dry.  The noodles are boxed and delivery to us the second or third day after being made.  We buy noodles by the pallet to keep prices down and receive deliveries every  2 1/2 to 3 weeks.  Noodles eaten at Charlie Hong are are that fresh.

Our “noodle people” have visited Charlie Hong Kong to taste their product first hand.  It’s a lovely family run business, father and sons, with high integrity. We recently made a trip to visit their new warehouse.  We were graciously welcomed and walked through the entire process, from arrival of the flour to the freshly dried noodle.  What I can say is; the plant is immaculate with state of the art equipment.  Everyone working there smiled at us and seemed happy.  Quality really matters to them like it does to us.  Now we’re cooking up a new noodle idea. I’ll keep you posted!

I know it’s not easy to change.  I know to change a habit can be inconvenient but sometime the effects the habit causes can be enough to propel a change.  When it came to protecting our precious environment, saying no to plastic bags became a habit I chose to break and in the process took along with me all our Charlie Hong Kong customers.

Caring for the earth is the main reason, I was drawn to eat organic.  Recycling has been a way of life for me which I’ve forced on my family.  I always have a stash of re-usable bags in my car and stacked next to the kitchen door.  Paper or plastic, my proud response, paper.  But like most people, as plastics bags became more and more a way of life, I found myself with my share of plastic bags, particularly next to the kitchen sink.  Though I try to wash and air dry them; they get kind of a gross.  At the farmers market, I’d easily take a plastic bag for my fresh organic produce. Though I keep an empty paper towel roll, stuffed with my collection of plastic bags, I repeatedly forget to bring it with me.  Traveling to countries, once plastic bag free, I’m alarmed at the careless overuse of plastic bags.  Visually plastic bags dot our landscape: in shrubs, our beaches, clinging to buildings, along the freeway.  Urban tumble weed, as it’s referred to.  And I’m not innocent.  In the past, I accepted the take-out food handed to me in the plastic bag.  At least I’ll recycle it in the weekly garbage pick-up, even as I wonder what really happens to all these supposedly recycled plastic bags.  Then the news of the gyre in the North Pacific Ocean, referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage, becomes an alarming wake-up call.  Plastic, particularly plastic bags, are an enormous world wide problem.

Charlie Hong Kong has been a certified green Business since, 2008.  As more and more scientific information fills the news, the evidence of the effects of plastic on wildlife and our environment is clear.  The longevity of plastic and it’s effect on our health has scientific evidence to back it up.  I read about the enormous quantity of plastic water bottles in our landfills.  It turns out, people do not recycle their plastic water bottles.  The health trend to drink more water has proliferated an environmental hazard.  I push to discontinue plastic water bottles at Charlie Hong Kong.  Though water bottles are a popular item, about two years ago, we stopped offering plastic water bottles.  We already offered filtered water.  Many people now carry personal stainless steel water bottles they can refill.

I begin to make waves about discontinuing the use of single use plastic to-go bags.  In a restaurant where half our business is to-go, there was concern about how this would effect our customers. Then that fateful day the photo appears in the paper, the baby otter trapped inside a plastic bag, her mother screeching, frantic to remove it.  I declare that’s it: No more plastic to-go bags!  Within weeks, with the support of all our employees, we no longer offer plastic to-go bags.  To ease the transition, we give away Charlie Hong Kong re-useable bags, as well as recycled cardboard boxes from our beverages. Then sell reusable bags for a nominal price, with a percentage donated to Save Our Shores,  We have paper bags as well, but limit them to hot soup.  It’s been 10 months now,  since we discontinued, single use, as they’re referred to, plastic bags.  Our staff has been incredibly supportive of this decision.  Our customers have been amazing, most just carry their boxed food, declining a paper bag or box.  Sometimes it can be challenging, especially if the person is on a bike.  What customers repeatedly say, “I appreciate and understand what you’re doing.”

So does it make a difference for one restaurant in Santa Cruz to say no to plastic bags?  We choose to take a stand and believe each and every action makes a difference.  I express my deepest gratitude to all our customers, employees and a heartfelt thank you to Save Our Shores for naming Charlie Hong Kong, 2011, Business of the Year, for our commitment to discontinuing plastic to-go bags.

I’m having this inner debate about my commitment to serving locally grown-in season-organic produce.  Recently we offered a special, Spicy Green Beans, made from locally grown organic BlueLake green beans.  The beans retained their snap and the sauce was just the right amount of spice and savory.  The season has ended and so has the special.  However customers continue to ask for it.  Some on the verge of begging, please can you make the Spicy Green Beans.  So here’s the dilemma, because there are conventional green bean available from a warmer climate:  do we keep our commitment to serving organic produce and wait until next year, when organic green beans are again growing abundantly or do we satisfy the demands of our customers?  Isn’t it a good thing to anticipate the change in season with, “Oh, soon it will be time for the Spicy Green Bean special”.  I know this is how it is with our Thai Butternut Squash Soup, as well as our Asian pesto-Garlic Basil Noodles Special.  I asked this question on facebook and received only one enthusiastic response-”stick to your guns”.  I know we have become accustomed to eating whatever we want for most of the year. Does it matter to be a restaurant that is committed to serving, as much as possible, in season organic produce.  Conventional green beans are not on the dirty dozen list which means a fruit of vegetable high in pesticide residue. I guess I feel strongly  that the more support for locally grown organic produce the better, for our bodies, the environment and importantly local organic farmers.

Charlie Hong Kong is a neighborhood eatery, offering noodle and rice bowls inspired by a fusion of Southeast Asian flavors with California organic sensibilities.  The vision: to offer healthy, affordable, “fast” food.  We call it Street Food because this food is intended to be eaten in community for people on the go.  Charlie Hong Kong – easier then cooking at home!

Charlie Hong Kong was recently featured in the Good Times:

Hooked on Charlie: WHY CHARLIE HONG KONG REMAINS A FAVORITE CULINARY HANGOUT

By Tara Fatemi Walker

Charlie Hong Kong is more than an affordable place to get Asian-inspired healthy street food. The benefits for your body and soul begin from the moment you walk up to the order window and are greeted by three words painted on the wall: Respect, Kindness, and Gratitude. These are the founding principles of owners Carolyn and Darryl “Rudy” Rudolph, who believe they are integral to the way they treat their staff and their customers.

“By eating here you are saying yes to your body, yes to the environment, and yes to community,” says Carolyn.

The Rudolphs are committed to giving customers inexpensive healthy food. “Organic and affordable normally don’t go together,” she adds. “We buy in bulk to do that, and work hard developing long-term relationships with our vendors.” Most of the produce is from local Lakeside Organic Gardens.

Click Here to read the rest of the article (pdf).

Don’t feel like cooking?  Worried about getting your vitamins, minerals and proteins?  No worries-come into Charlie Hong Kong and you can be reassured you’re nourishing you body with healthy, tasty food that is served up quick!

In Santa Cruz there is an organic farmers market almost everyday of the week.  It feels natural, to me, to eat what is currently growing in the fields.  I happen to be one of those people who has to cook everyday.  I get excited about the vegetables and fruits, like works of art and can’t wait to get them home.   I always buy way to much for just my husband and I as an expression of gratitude for the incredible hard, courageous work of organic farmers. It grounds and settles me to cook.  The aromas permeate my home with goodness.  I suspect it’s in my DNA this passion for fresh, real food, as well as my desire to cook and feed people.

I know that not everyone has this need to cook.  It seems that many people are disconnected from their food source today.  Fewer and fewer people actually cook meals at home.  And no, I’m sorry to say (well not really sorry) heating pre-made frozen food in your microwave is not actually cooking.  I am aware of the pressures in our lives.  Coming home after a long day at work, lacking time to prepare a lunch to take, being tired and hungry with kids needing attention,etc etc etc   Shopping and then cooking may feel like too much. I GET IT!  According to  the Go For Health! Collaborative, (organized to combat childhood obesity, by encouraging restaurants to offer healthy options as well as to get kids moving) out of $2.00 spent on food, $1.00 is spent in a restaurant or half our meals.  So when Charlie Hong Kong was awarded the Ultimate Golden Carrot, as the “healthiest restaurant in Santa Cruz County”, it was an acknowledgment of our mission: A place that offers affordable nourishing/healthy (easier then cooking at home) food for busy hungry people.

It’s full on summer.  Time to make Garlic Basil Noodles or Asian Pesto.  I’ve been waiting for the basil to come into season.  I make a trip to the Wednesday, farmer’s Market in downtown Santa Cruz, in search of basil.  The market is alive with activity.  Every stand is over flowing with gorgeous, vibrant, colorful produce and summer stone fruits.  I feel like I’m visiting a museum; each farm’s display, a work of art.  It’s late in the day and the vendors begin to break down their stands. This generates a whirl of activity, as last minute shoppers scurry around under collapsing tents and loading boxes.  I head directly to Blue Heron Farms (organic), knowing they grow huge beautiful basil.  I am not disappointed, though only a few bunches remain, I can see how huge and beautifully dark green, the basil leaves are.  We agree for me to pick up a case at the Saturday market on the West Side.  Santa Cruz is blessed with a farmers market almost everyday of the week, sometimes more then one.

Saturday comes and I meet Ben at the Blue Heron stand and host up my case of just picked basil.  Driving to the restaurant, the aroma of basil, coming from the back, is intoxicating.  I have an appointment to meet with our head chef, Juan, and create our Garlic Basil Pesto sauce.  Juan’s waiting for me and we begin measuring, chopping, pouring, and mixing all these fresh, organic ingredients.  We lean over the robot coup and inhale the delicious fragrance  emanating, as the blades turn.  It’s the very essence of  summer freshness.  A restaurant early in the morning is a special place.  It’s like being in the center of the hub of life.

When the sauce is complete we head to the wok and cook up some Garlic Basil Noodles.  First plain; then with prawns, next with tofu.  Everyone in the kitchen has completed their prep work and is ready for the day to begin.  I collect a handful of forks; pass them around and we all taste our creation.  In the silence of slurping noodles, I hear yum’s all around. Claudya in her beautiful handwriting, writes “Garlic Basil Noodles” in colored chalk on the Specials Board.

Come try it.  I’m sure you’ll slurp and yum.

Carolyn

Why do we refer to our food as “Organic Asian Street Food”?  When traveling through Asia, we (both my husband and I) loved to eat at food stalls that dotted the alleys, markets and roads.  This food represented the region. It was inexpensive, prepared quickly, and very tasty.  Workers, businessmen and women shoppers would stand (or squat) or perhaps sit in the couple of chairs provided, shoulder to shoulder enjoying noodles or rice, generally served simply in a large banana leaf.  This was humble food prepared to order, usually offering, only one item.  I once read a definition in a book about Thailand, that has stayed with me. “Street food: a place to grab home cooked food, while moving about in your busy day.”  That’s how I want people to think of Charlie Hong Kong; a place to grab a nourishing, (easier then cooking at home), food, while out and about in your busy day or night.

“Organic Asian Street Food”

The organic is our commitment to using organic produce, as well as, as many organic products as feasible.  The Asian refers to the South East Asian flavor influences in our food.  Since our Signature Bowls are vegan, this makes us unique and different from authentic Asian noodle and rice bowls, where fish sauce and shrimp paste are a staple ingredient.  Nuoc Mam (fish sauce ) is know to create “umami”.  Umami is an ingredient, when combined with other ingredients, makes food hum or brings out the, yummy, this tastes really good.  We use fish sauce in many of our non vegan dishes for that extra taste oomph.  Fish sauce was chosen, as the ingredient of the year, 2010, by Gourmet Magazine.

Out and about in your busy day?  Hungry for a home cooked meal to eat-in or take-out?  Join us at Charlie Hong Kong.

Happy eating,
Carolyn