Crispy Milk at Happy Chef

Crispy Milk at Happy Chef

Dessert time at Chinese restaurants can be embarrassing: I feel badly for the servers who have to tell customers that after what is usually a fascinating repast of complexly flavored, brilliantly colorful and damn tasty foods, what we have to close off this wonderful experience is…green tea ice cream (at best). I understand that not all cultures make as big a deal out of dessert as ours does, but certainly the expectation (or, more accurately, hope) is usually for something more than fortune cookies shaken from a big bag.

Last night, dreading this moment and looking nervously around the walls at Happy Chef, I spotted: Crispy Milk. Oh yeah! Querying the server, who confirmed it was a dessert, we ordered.



With nonexistent Chinese language fluency, my further inquiries were limited, but our waiter told us it was milk (I’m guessing condensed and cooked down), frozen and then fried.

Served with characteristic Cantonese restraint (a simple bowl of sugar), it was one of the best Chinese desserts ever.



The outside fry was very delicate and the milk inside was just this side of custardy, all of it very light and just sweet enough to feel as though dinner was complete. It’s not cheap by Happy Chef standards ($12.95), but it is highly recommended and ends the meal in a way that seems special. Plus, I love the name.

Happy Chef
2164 S Archer Ave
312.808.3689

This dish turns up at various Cantonese restaurants. Most often a sweet dish as you had it, I have also seen it served with seafood (this was a specialty at a long gone Chinatown spot named Guy Yee ((sp??)). They also serve this at Mountain View Chef. I like it too.

The Chinese are not the only people who do not offer abundant dessert options. Having something sweet at the end of a meal was a concept introduced by the ancient Romans. They also introduced lettuce-based salads. As one explores the world, or at least the world's cuisines, one discovers that it is, in fact, only the cultures that rose pretty directly out of the culture of the ancient Romans (i.e., Europe) that have lettuce-based salads and desserts.

Other cultures (including, and perhaps especially, the Chinese) have plenty of sweets, they just reserve them for snacks. Traveling in China, one finds that, as a concession to Western tastes, a sliced orange or piece of watermelon might be served at the end of a meal. But one can cover China from one end to the other and not find a dessert. So asking for dessert actually makes the meal less authentic.

That said, the fried milk looks lovely. I appreciate the report, as it looks like it owuld be a fun snack.

It looks and sounds very appealing. But $12.95? It must be a bitch to prepare. Any idea why it's so pricey?

Much cheaper at MVC next door (though in an appetizer sized portion).

I love the (temperature) hot glutinous rice balls at Lao Sze Chaun -- called Chengdu Rice balls? They're filled with sweetened, roasted, and ground black sesame seeds -- like Korean dok rice cakes but all the Koreans I know agree these are much better. (they tell me this secretly, and with a little shame)

They're usually frozen and restaurants just drop them in boiling water but at LSC, the sesame seeds inside are so freshly roasted (and can burn your tongue, they're so hot) that we swear they must be handmade. It also takes them almost 20 minutes for them to come to your table so they act really irritated if you wait until the end of your meal to order them when there's a line. We always try to remember to order them mid-meal, otherwise, we feel too bad about occupying an empty table for that long with that huge line of people.

They are only 5 or 6 dollars for an order of 6.

Cogito wrote:It looks and sounds very appealing. But $12.95? It must be a bitch to prepare. Any idea why it's so pricey?

No, though there are a number of VERY pricey items on the Happy Chef menu: a fresh scallop is like six bucks, and The Wife reported that she noticed some fish dishes that were over $100. That said, you could eat there, and eat well, for under $20.

David "If I order a hundred buck fish, I'm not eating it on a Hefty Bag" Hammond

kuhdo wrote:This dish turns up at various Cantonese restaurants. Most often a sweet dish as you had it, I have also seen it served with seafood (this was a specialty at a long gone Chinatown spot named Guy Yee ((sp??)). They also serve this at Mountain View Chef. I like it too.

Kuhdo,

In attempting to order the seafood version tonight at Emperor's Choice we were, as you know, served the ubiquitous shrimp stir fried with mayonnaise with walnuts sans walnuts. Further inquiry led to the 'real' Shrimp with Milk being an order in advance item.

Hadn't been to Emperor's Choice in many a year and it's held up well, in fact Orange Peel beef wasn't sucky in the least and their somewhat citified version of Salt and Pepper Shrimp was darn right delicious.

Enjoy,
Gary

I'm planning on going to Happy Chef this Saturday to try the crispy milk--it sounds heavenly. It'll be my first visit to Happy Chef. Can I get suggestions on what else I should eat for dinner? I did a quick search for Happy Chef threads, but nothing jumped out at me.

Thanks!

happy_stomach wrote:I'm planning on going to Happy Chef this Saturday to try the crispy milk--it sounds heavenly. It'll be my first visit to Happy Chef. Can I get suggestions on what else I should eat for dinner? I did a quick search for Happy Chef threads, but nothing jumped out at me.

Thanks!

My mini-review of Happy Chef is running in today's Chicago Reader (along with information about a lot of other Chinatown places, including a place or two reviewed by the effervescent Trixie Pea, the peripatetic Mike Sula, and the august GWiv), but if I were to go again, I would probably go back to the tanks and select some of the superfresh aquatic life (shrimp, sea cuke, etc.).

Hammond

My mini-review of Happy Chef is running in today's Chicago Reader (along with information about a lot of other Chinatown places, including a place or two reviewed by the effervescent Trixie Pea, the peripatetic Mike Sula, and the august GWiv), but if I were to go again, I would probably go back to the tanks and select some of the superfresh aquatic life (shrimp, sea cuke, etc.).

Thanks. I'll check out your review.

David Hammond wrote:The outside fry was very delicate and the milk inside was just this side of custardy, all of it very light and just sweet enough to feel as though dinner was complete.

Hammond,

I recently had the pleasure of Crispy Milk at Happy Chef and thought it absolutely delicious! Light, crisp, slightly sweet, nicely accented by a sprinkle of sugar. My first taste easily qualifies as Best Bite of the Month.

The rest of the meal was uneven, with a few orders of dim sum, steamed shrimp/chive dumplings being quite good, mixed with regular menu items, salt and pepper shrimp being decidedly mediocre.

Thanks again for your post on Crispy Milk, it's not something I might have ordered and it's decidedly delicious.

Enjoy,
Gary

I've been meaning to follow up on this thread since Gary's post. I don't have much to add except for a few pictures.

Happy Chef Crispy Milk (Sugar Added)


I found the crispy milk strangely comforting. I wanted to curl up for a nap with a pacifier in my mouth after eating it.

Crispy Milk Interior


As Gary said, the salt and pepper shrimp were mediocre at best, but they sure looked good. Of course, as we all know, pictures can lie.

Happy Chef Salt & Pepper Shrimp

Warning: Image may be less delicious than it appears.

This is great! I used to get this all the time at a Thai restaurant in Rome while I was living there. They called it "fried milk" but I have never seen it on a menu in America. (Not that I was looking all that hard...) I really miss it, has anybody seen this in other restaurants?

SoylentKatie wrote:This is great! I used to get this all the time at a Thai restaurant in Rome while I was living there. They called it "fried milk" but I have never seen it on a menu in America. (Not that I was looking all that hard...) I really miss it, has anybody seen this in other restaurants?

They also serve it at Mountain View Food Court which is nearly next door.

Mmmmm.....

Brings back fond memories of my childhood eating in NY Chinatown. Fried milk (or crispy milk) was definitely a staple of many a banquet or dinner out with my family's friends.

Silky texture with just a hint of sweetness.

I can't tell you how many times I have tried making the recipe for this at home only to get lumps of oily flour.
Thus, everytime I have tried to explain/demonstrate this food to non-Cantonese friends, I am met by total blank expressions.

I think the Cantonese word for it is something like Ja Nai or Chow Nai, meaning fried milk.