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Chinatown mysteries unraveled, one by one
Appeared in THE BOSTON GLOBE - 5/29/2002
By Jonathan Bloom, Globe Correspondent
Chinatown: Mysterious, intimidating, crowded, and confusing. But does it have to be?
Despite an effort by Chinatown businesses and the city to bolster the neighborhood over the last 10 years, it still intimidates many outsiders. Bik Ng, a small woman with a lot of energy, is trying to change that perception - 20 outsiders at a time.
Ng runs Mein Dish Tours, which leads groups of people through Chinatown markets and stores she likes and ends with dim sum lunch at China Pearl. Ng is spreading the word that Chinatown is a neighborhood of friendly meals and exotic groceries, not a place to be feared.
"I tell people where to shop because most people get very nervous when they come to Chinatown," she says. "They don't know where to go. My tour is breaking the ice a little bit. We don't have a Great Wall in Chinatown."
On a recent Saturday morning, Ng led a tour for a group of New Hampshire parents who have adopted Chinese girls. The group wanted to give their children a taste of their native culture.
"We want our kids to always be proud of their heritage, being from China, exposing them as much as we can to their culture," says Heidi Thomas of Dublin, N.H.
"My goal was to expose some of the other people in our group to Chinatown, really," she adds. "They've been to China, but [the parents in the group] haven't been here. Just to know that you can come here and maybe get a little taste of China again and buy the noodles and the sauces we had in China."
The notion that Chinatown is dangerous is outdated, Ng says, but the different languages and cultures can be overwhelming.
On her tour, Ng tries to minimize confusion by passing out maps and arranging a designated meeting spot for anyone who gets separated from the group. But that doesn't seem likely to happen, as she shepherds her tour across the busy streets.
The first stop on the tour is the Sun Sun Market (18 Oxford St., 617-426-6494) where Ng gives tips on what to buy and how to cook it. Ng brings her group to the produce section first, explaining exotic items like bitter melon, lotus root, and long beans. While getting the children to touch the unusual produce, Ng gives parents quick cooking tips like "Just stir-fry them" and "Just boil it for a few minutes."
Ng advises the group, "If you find a brand you like, stick with it." She says the prices at Sun Sun and some other markets in Chinatown are about a third less than mainstream supermarkets. She has an opinion on everything from dry goods to frozen dumplings, suggesting noodles from the mainland rather than Taiwan. "The rice noodle is good," she adds, "you don't have to boil them."
It is easy to feel out of place in Sun Sun, with so many regular customers looking at visitors. But once the children see such produce as the electric-purple Japanese eggplant, they are delighted. As the children touch the odd fruit, it seems as if they have been transported to the Far East - until they walk outside and see the Dunkin' Donuts on the corner.
As the tour reaches the meat and fish counter at the back of the Sun Sun, the live fish capture the children's attention. "The Cantonese say when it's not moving, it's not fresh," Ng notes. Some older Chinese women ask the girls' parents about them, and Ng translates. Their faces light up when she tells them that one is from their home province, Canton.
Ng speaks three Chinese dialects, having been born in southern China and raised in Hong Kong. She immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Her family settled in Maine, where they ran a restaurant, and she came to Boston in 1981. For the last 10 years Ng, who lives in the North End, has run tours in Chinatown and culinary forays to China and Hong Kong in addition to teaching at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.
After finishing at the market, the tour visits a fabric store, Van's (14 Beach St., 617-423-6592), and an herbalist shop, Nam Buk Hong (75 Harrison Ave., 617-426-8227). The small children in the group are getting a little antsy, so those visits are briefer than Ng usually makes them. Then we head over for dim sum lunch at China Pearl (9 Tyler St., 617-426-4388). The 20-person group is escorted to a third-floor dining room. Typically, dim sum involves pointing at what you want from passing carts (the translation means "point to your heart's content"), but Ng has pre-ordered. Nobody seems to mind, as by that point there are some cranky children and tired adults.
But everyone perks up as shrimp dumplings, shu mai, steamed buns, and fried tofu arrive. Spring rolls are the first to go, and the fried tofu are a surprise hit. The soft layer of tofu is paired with a taut shrimp portion and fried into golden pyramids.
"I'm not a big-city person myself, but I think we'll come to Chinatown a lot more," says Weldon Mattson of Swansea, N.H.
Ng is still going strong. She goes back and forth between the two tables, explaining items and giving chopstick tutorials to the children. Heidi Thomas's 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, gets a one-on-one lesson. Ng shows her how to rest the bottom of the stick between her thumb and forefinger. "Keep it nice and relaxed," she says. Olivia manages until the spring rolls appear, when she and everyone else dive in, using their fingers.
Mein Dish tours are conducted on weekends. Contact Bik Ng at meindish@aol.com.
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