The fish were running; this one didn't get away.
Judging by the small but intact grains of rice, I'd say that my porridge with fresh steelhead ($5.50) was prepared Hokkien style, rather than in the smoother Cantonese manner, but I don't know my congees well enough to be on firm footing. At Hokkien stalls in Singapore, often it's possible to purchase a lesser or greater amount of sliced raw fish, then cook it yourself by immersing it briefly in the bowl; at Yee's it's served in one fell scoop.
And "steelhead"? That's the name for the ocean-going form of the rainbow trout before it returns to fresh water to spawn — which, unlike salmon, it can do more than once. In salt water the steelhead has a silvery appearance; upriver it becomes difficult to distinguish from its colorful cousin. As for any difference in flavor, I can't say.
Yee's Restaurant
1131 Grant Ave. (Broadway-Pacific Ave.), San Francisco
415-576-1818
