Jay Zhou brought a taste of New York's Chinatown to North Miami Beach when he lured several chefs south to cook at his restaurant, Hong Kong Noodles.

Zhou, a native of Canton in southern China, is well connected to the Chinese business community through his food import and distribution companies, New Marco Dixie Food in Hialeah and Tin How in New York.

Two years ago he bought the old Jumbo's and spiffed it up, adding fresh- and saltwater tanks that hold live eels, crabs, lobsters, tilapia and chame, a dark blue speckled fish farm-raised in Ecuador that's considered a delicacy.

The manager, Zhou's cousin, Joe Leung, brings to the job experience overseeing the Mayflower, a renowned dim sum place in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong, as well as years managing restaurants in New Jersey.

The restaurant specializes in seafood as well as noodle dishes and Cantonese-style meats ``barbecued'' over rows of gas flames in a special oven. There are honey-rubbed ducks infused with anise, chickens marinated in soy sauce, bright red pork spareribs and char siu (strips of pork tenderloin) basted in hoisin sauce, rice wine and five-spice powder, available whole or in half portions, mostly for takeout.

Cantonese chefs are also known for dim sum, a cooking style in its own right that takes years to perfect. Served in small portions in individual steamers or on plates, dim sum means ``to touch the heart'' and is meant to be enjoyed when the heart desires.

The chefs here turn out delicate shrimp dumplings, char siu bau (steamed yeast buns stuffed with roast pork in oyster sauce), fried eggplant slices sandwiched with shrimp paste and breaded fried mango shrimp rolls, all good with chili oil or hot mustard. Custard tarts and sesame balls with lotus paste are best with jasmine tea.

When Dungeness crab is in season, you can have a large one dipped from the tank into a sizzling wok and stir-fried with scallions and ginger in glossy brown sauce. Ask for a bowl of hot tea with lemon to clean messy fingers.

There are oodles of noodles, in soups, as lo mein (with wheat noodles), chow fun (with fat rice sheet ribbons), mai fun (with rice vermicelli) and pan-fried Hong Kong-style. A nest of skinny egg noodles comes fried on one side, served crispy-side down, topped with seafood, shredded roast pork or veggies in thick sauces that soak into the pasta. You'll be satisfied to your heart's content.

Linda Bladholm's latest book is Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.

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