Exemplars of wok control: Hong Kong-style "sea clams" and sweet pea pods in XO sauce, and pan-fried egg with noodlefish. Also called icefish, noodlefish are relatives of the smelts; their enveloping eggs were particularly pillowy. (Compare this eggy lumberjack breakfast translated for Chinese farmhands.)
As for sea clams, a more on-point if less appealing English translation would be "sea cucumber intestines." The grooved seafood segments do indeed suggest chewy clams. Accompanying them, in addition to snow peas, my dining buddy divined green and red chile pepper, Chinese chive, purple onion, and what might have been crumbled Chinese bacon. Even as the only other customers filed out at the tail end of a weekend lunchtime, the assembled ingredients were deftly tumbled together, just minutes before the chef and his crew sat down to family meal.
Bensonhurst is home to a dense concentration of Cantonese kitchens; Shun Deck is one of many others that deserve attention. My "to eat" list grows longer with every visit.
Seafood Palace
2172 86th St. (Bay Pkwy.-Bay 29th St.), Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
718-669-8288
www.WhereYouEat.com/Seafood-Palace--16936.html
