Name that...thing

My note taking system has failed me. How could I forget what this crazy looking thing is called? I believe it's a monkey something - monkey's paw, maybe? It's not from a monkey, though; it's actually a fungus, a totally odd and offputting looking fungus, but very tasty. It appeared in a soup, and the hairy looking parts soaked up the broth like a sponge, and the rest of the fungus was very dense and meaty.

This meal took place in May of this year, when I was in Beijing for work. I managed to wedge in some time after an early work dinner (terrific Szechuan food; I need to look at a map to remember where we went) to see my uncle Kenneth. He and his business partner/girlfriend took me to Heng Shan Hui, a Cantonese restaurant that they go to frequently and that seems to be a hangout for people from Hong Kong and in the film industry.

So, yes, this was my second dinner of the evening. Maybe my overstuffed condition explains why I didn't do a better job with documentation. But this crazy monkey mushroom is certainly hard to forget.