North Beach Bistro

I think the voluntary period of silence has run out on this one so here we go. The lady was lucky enough to score a couple tickets to the most recent Bite Club event at the North Beach Bistro in Atlantic Beach. This meant an awesome sampling dinner (minus drinks) for no monetary cost to us at all. Before the announcement of this place as the venue for the Bite Club outing I'd never even heard of it so this was essentially a double score: get introduced to an amazing restaurant and get an amazing free meal.

One thing to note about the North Beach Bistro is its immense size. There's a bar area, a main dining room, and the gallery where we were seated. I think the gallery, with its art lined walls and large round tables, is typically used for gatherings and special occasions. But even ignoring this extra space, the North Beach Bistro is much bigger inside than one would expect.

Much to my dismay, the draught lines were down so no beer for me. That however, was the only personal disappointment for me throughout the night. First we started with appetizers. Unfortunately we missed out on the Vegetarian Spring Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce, a shame because that was the only vegetarian dish among the appetizers. However, I did quite enjoy the Marinated Ahi Tuna on Wonton Chips with Ginger Aioli and even more so the Teriyaki Beef Satay with Siracha which was tender and flavorful; marinated and cooked to absolute perfection.

Dinner started with Lobster Ravioli with Mushroom Pesto Sauce. I enjoyed the innards while donating the surrounding, meatless parts to my dear, starving companion. Just as well, I'm not a big pasta fan. I was, however, a huge fan of the salad that came next: Organic Greens, Granny Apples, Spiced Walnuts, Goat Cheese, and Cranberry Vinaigrette. If there's one thing I learned in Vietnam, it's that it's always a great idea to put fresh, grated fruit and nuts in a salad (or to just put those two things together and call it a salad).

Next was the Shrimp with Chorizo, Rosemary, Soft Polenta and Gorgonzola Fondue. I donated most of the polenta but I liked the few tastes I managed to scrape together. Several people remarked that the Chorizo, minced and marinated as it was, gave the dish a taco-salad-esque flavor and, I'm ashamed to admit, I can see what they were talking about. Following the shrimp was my absolute favorite dish of the night: Calypso Crusted Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa and Tamarind Drizzle. I will go back to the North Beach Bistro and this is what I will order. "Island" flavored dishes can easily go horribly wrong. You can't just throw tropical fruit on top of a pork chop and expect it to work. The component tastes of this dish were exquisitely balanced and resulted in a divine overall flavor.

Although I could have happily stopped after the Mahi Mahi and savored the lingering flavor for the rest of the night, there was one more main course to try: Applewood Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Wilted Spinach and Apricot Bordelaise. Its mild yet rich flavor made it a nice dish to close out the main course. But that wasn't the end of it. The night was rounded out with the general crowd favorite: Tony's Hazelnut Crunch Bar and Vanilla Anglaise. Pretty good stuff, but I again was compelled to donate it to my starving companion.

We had a great time and would like to thank Ashlee, The Folio, and The North Beach Bistro for the tremendous meal. I'm looking forward to my next encounter with the Calypso Crusted Mahi Mahi and also hope to end up at one of the future Bite Club events.



North Beach Bistro
725 Atlantic Blvd
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
(904) 372-4105

Fu Hing Seafood Restaurant

Lot's of restaurants claim authenticity and who are we to know any better? Even the most well-travelled among us haven't experienced enough of the world to be an expert on all flavors of cuisine. Even within a particular country or region the variation can range from subtle to immense such that something entirely new and unfamiliar can be the predominant style of an area close to another that you are intimately familiar with.

However, it is fair to call into question the authenticity of most fast food places with a foreign theme. Sure, the owners and workers at that Chinese restaurant you love so much are actually from China but what you are eating is actually an American born meal.

But, of course, there are the exceptions. This, my dear readers, is one of those legendary exceptions. One good look at the menu and you will have no doubt.

What you'll see before you looks like a regular "Chinese restaurant" menu. Same font, same colors, same layout, same dragons, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. You know there should be General Tso's chicken there and some sweet and sour pork over there somewhere. Oh, and over here I think is the house special fried rice. Right? You practically don't even need to read a menu like this. But please, take another look; a very close look.

Right there, right where it's supposed to say General Tso's chicken it actually reads "Goose Intestine w. Black Bean Sauce". How odd, let's look a few lines down for the Mu Shu Pork. No, there must be some mistake in the translation here because it says "Pork Blood w. Ginger and Scallion".

Jellyfish, frogs, turtles, fish head, fish belly, intestines, livers, stomach, blood, and tongue. These are but a few of the delicacies / oddities you can find at Fu Hing Seafood Restaurant. There are some quite appetizing sounding seafood dishes which, in typical Chinese restaurant fashion, are so plentiful in variation that picking one can give even the most decisive person a stress headache. As for the standard fare, due to popular demand they've added some Westernized Chinese dishes to a special supplementary menu but good luck ordering it. They don't understand English very well nor do they know what General Tso's chicken is (what is it anyway?) so you probably won't get what you're looking for.

Who wants to order that anyway? But if you're going the whole hog (literally or figuratively), be prepared wait. The authentic food takes a while. Sometimes forever.

Being among a few less adventurous types and some genuine Chinese people, I got a taste of both worlds. For starters I munched on some beef tongue, tendon, and pig ear. The beef tongue was absolutely delicious. I'm a fan of tongue's strong, "gamey" flavor and this was well cooked. The tendon was nicely sautéed with a teriyaki-ish sauce and has a texture I actually quite like. The pig ear, on the other hand, while not bad, definitely suffered from that dirty taste typical of pig skin. Still, quite a delicious and entirely unique appetizer.

While I waited for my fish (I was told it was going to be a whole fish; eyes, tail, and everything in between), I ate a bit of the fish head soup my Chinese friends ordered. As can be expected, it tasted quite fishy. It's common to find fish mixed with sour tasting spices in Asian countries, something that doesn't quite agree with the Western palate and I can't say I really enjoyed the soup all that much because of this. Sour fish, to my mind, screams bad fish. The soup also contained another lovely surprise: a thousand year egg. Now, it's not actually a thousand years old, but a thousand year egg is… well, let's take this one directly from Wikipedia:


Century egg, also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, and thousand-year-old egg, is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice hull for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. After the process is completed, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor or taste.


Sounds delicious, right? Dump that thing in some sour fish soup and you have the perfect recipe for a mighty retch. The texture was very gelatinous, akin to the tendon from earlier, entirely unlike an egg ought to be.

After the soup I got some bad news. My fish wasn't coming out, something had gone wrong and it wasn't salvageable. This was almost two hours after I ordered it so, rather than wait another couple hours, I decided to clean up the chicken and broccoli my wife ordered, have another spoon full of sour fish soup, and a bite of the amazing lamb stew that was now steaming on the table. Very good stew, indeed. Despite the disappointment of not getting my food, it was still a good experience overall and I'm itching to go back again to try some more of the odd items on offer.

Just a word of caution: if you can, bring a translator. Seriously. We had one and it would have been nearly impossible without one. But if you want to try authentic Cantonese food in Jacksonville, you really only have one option.

PS. My sincerest apologies about the sub-par photographs. I left my camera at home and had to resort to using my iPhone for the pictures.

I did grab a copy of the menu while there, however, and have scanned it in for your viewing plesure:

menu outside
menu inside


Fu Hing Seafood Restaurant
10586 Old Saint Augustine Rd

Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 268-1953