Community Dinner: Hong Kong's Portuguese Chicken Rice (First Seating)

A one-plate dinner with beer and wine available for sale. This is not a cooking class. This seating is limited to 35 guests. See our registration policies here and our rules for in-person events here. 

In early 2020, Valerie Ng and Henry Hsu prepared to cook a Hong Kong Cha Chaan Tang pop-up at 18 Reasons, presenting a menu of dishes reflecting Hong Kong’s colonial history. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the pop-up due to the pandemic. This month, they’re excited to finally bring the main course for that event, Portuguese Chicken Rice, to 18 Reasons’ communal tables in our February edition of Community Dinner. This beloved comfort dish, which arrived in Hong Kong via neighboring Macau, a former Portuguese colony, is a warming coconut curried chicken and rice dish that brings together ingredients from Portugal’s colonies.

This ticket page is for the first seating from 6-7 pm. We do not have reserved seating and dining will take place at communal tables. We are limiting the capacity of this seating to 35 guests (if you attended Community Dinner in the past, we used to fit 40 people in each seating). We also have an option for guests who prefer to take their meal to go: Click here to reserve a plate for pick-up only. For our second seating at 7:30 pm, please click here.

MENU

Portuguese Chicken Rice: a coconut chicken curry with a touch of chili, baked and served with rice

This menu contains the following common allergens: Coconut (tree nut). If you have allergies or dietary restrictions that concern your ability to attend, please e-mail info@18reasons.org before purchasing a ticket. Because we are cooking in large batches, we are very limited in accommodating allergens and dietary restrictions.

Henry Hsu is a former architect, anthropologist, designer & public health advocate who slowly came to the food world through an equally circuitous geographic manner. Born in Taiwan, raised in Texas & educated in Iowa, his gastronomic predilections range from rice porridge for breakfast, chili con queso midday to chicken fried steak by night.

While living in Ecuador, working for a design NGO, Henry was known for his dumpling making skills, and eventually started a small catering company. He decided to immerse himself in the food world and to return stateside. He now spends his days working for local tofu maker, Hodo, and prior to the pandemic, spent all of his free time working with food in other ways: catering small events, teaching dumpling making classes under the auspices of @OramasamaDumplings, led food tours around the Bay Area for Edible Excursions, as well as farmers’ market time working the stand at the Ferry Building for Green Gulch Farms for six years before they left the market!

Valerie Ng’s interest in food began during her study abroad days in Spain and France, where she ate her weight in tortilla española and croissants. Several years after that seminal experience, a heritage trip through China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, where she learned to cook regional specialties, inspired her to share the cuisines of the Chinese diaspora with others. These experiences led her to pursue a career in the culinary field, which has included stints at Hodo Foods, Torani, and now La Cocina’s Municipal Marketplace. She has also worked as a culinary assistant at various cooking schools in the Bay Area for over a decade, helping students as they acquire new skills in the kitchen. In her culinary pop-ups at 18 Reasons, she is passionate not only about sharing delicious food but also the history behind it. You can follow her culinary adventures on Instagram: @valerieng317. 

ABOUT COMMUNITY DINNER

Once a month, we open our doors to friends new and old, welcoming all to our share a table and a delicious meal. Every month is something different, but tickets are always $18 and always tasty. Wine and beer are for sale at the event. Kids welcome! 

_{Photo Credit: Valerie Ng}