The dishes at Cheng’s Kitchen were designed to be easy on the wallets and appetites of the local college students; the portions were generous, and the prices were modest, relying on high volume for profit.
With the bountiful harvest from the Jiaodong Peninsula, the standard way to serve seafood was to steam seven or eight varieties of shrimp, crab, and shellfish, then plate them across a large, rectangular shallow tray.
The meal served today followed the same principle, with one major difference: the kitchen had piled a whole basket’s worth of seafood into a stainless steel basin the size of a washbasin, forming a veritable mountain of food.
Chapter 23