Recipes

November 3, 2024 Taiwan

Eating in Taiwan - 2024 Edition

富錦樹台菜香檳 Fujin Tree Taiwanese Cuisine & Champagne Jen Bryan

After going to Taiwan in February 2017 and July 2017, I never would have imagined it would be so many more years before I returned again. After all, I lived in Hong Kong, only a 1.5 hour flight away. But then the pandemic came, and before you know it, it was 2023 before Hong Kong fully opened up again.

So . . . . I made up for lost time. Since Hong Kong opened up fully in March 2023, I have visited Taiwan a total of four times. That’s more times than the whole decade prior to this year (!).

Below is a summary of the top, notable places I visited during more recently while "eating in Taiwan". I'll follow up by writing some detailed posts about several of these, but I wanted to at least gather them all up into a single post (so I can share with others if they ask me "where do you recommend eating in Taiwan?").

Yongkang Street

I still love just walking down Yongkang Street. Foodies go there to get Tianjin Scallion Pancakes, delicious mango mochi shaved ice, or the famous Yongkang Beef Noodle Soup (Taiwan’s “national dish”). Of course the food is a huge draw, but even if you don’t plan on eating, it’s still a fun, lively street to explore. There are other small boutiques, and the whole street just has a really nice vibe. I even randomly ran into a friend from the US while walking down that street.

This street is only about a 10 minute walk from our old family home in Taiwan, so one evening my sister and I were tasked with walking here and picking up dinner for the extended family. We had so much fun walking into various shops to try different things. One of my favorites was the scallion pancake from Tianjin Scallion Pancake 天津蔥油餅 with just egg and basil. It was so good!

Fuhang Soybean Milk

This is probably THE most famous traditional Taiwanese “soymilk” restaurant in Taipei. The place is a sight to see, with workers making all sorts of scrumptious Taiwanese pastries from scratch right before your eyes. The lines are looooong, and start early. Basically, if you don’t want to wait in line, you should show up before 7AM. Otherwise, the line could be anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours (!).

Get the savory soy milk (which is kind of like a tofu pudding), fried crueller + sweet soy milk, the rice ball (fantuan) 飯糰, and sesame flatbread. The food is delicious, fresh, and cheap.

Ahong Popiah 阿宏潤餅

I am a huge lumpiah/popiah fan. This is a soft spring roll filled with vegetables that possibly gets it roots from Hokkien (you see it in Malaysia, Singapore, Xiamen, Taiwan . . .). My mom makes an awesome one (recipe here!), and I’m always trying to seek it out wherever I go. I tried one in Xiamen that I thought was phenomenal.

I looked up popiahs online and Ahong was highly recommended. We made the trip out (and even filmed a small video there!). It was my first time having freshly made wrappers! I was mesmerized watching the person hand make each one (watch the video to really appreciate his skills!). The texture of the skin was amazing, and the inside ingredients were fresh. Overall, it was tasty, though the version I ordered wasn’t as flavorful as I had hoped. I actually liked the one I had in Xiamen (as well as my mom’s version) a lot better.

Taiwanese Fruits & Vegetables

Taiwan is an agricultural haven and I LOVE eating fruits whenever I am there. It’s so inexpensive, fresh, and delicious. Depending on the season, some of my favorite fruits to eat in Taiwan include guavas, fresh jujubes, and rose apples. Haha, can you tell I especially like crispy, crunchy fruits?

Taiwan also has a bounty of vegetables, many that you won’t see anywhere else. I love just going to the morning market (the one in Dongmen or on Wuxing Street where Ahong Runbing is located are fantastic) to explore, photograph, and shop!

Raohe Night Market

I’ve been the Shilin Night Market 士林夜市 (the most famous one) and Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) the more “foodie” one. Another famous one is Raohe 饒河夜市. I heard they had the really famous black pepper buns, so I dragged Bryan out there one night to experience this new might market.

I’ll dedicate a separate post about the whole experience, but it’s HUGE! And there are lots of black pepper buns (along with many other choices). Definitely get the quintessential lumpia filled with ice cream, peanuts, and cilantro. It’s surprisingly good! There are many other classic Taiwanese foods you must try. I think this is a pretty good night market. It’s bigger than Ningxia, probably not has huge and crazy as Shilin, but is still reasonable large and has lots of food options, many which seem quite good!

Fujin Tree Taiwanese Cuisine & Champagne

During our trip we visited one Michelin starred restaurant. Fujin Tree offers high quality Taiwanese dishes with a modern twist, optionally paired with champagne. We went to the original Songshan location. Apparently a month after our visit, they opened a new location inside Taipei 101!

Our meal here with food writer Nina Simonds (plus our photo above) was even featured in a Boston Globe article titled 50 Years Later I'm Still Falling for Taipei!

Din Tai Fung

Yes, even though I can now get Din Tai Fung delivered straight to my home in Hong Kong (and I can walk there in 20 minutes), I still love going to the Din Tai Fung in Taipei. There are a few additional items available in Taiwan. Plus there’s just something about this restaurant that makes me happy every time I come. The service was mad efficient yet super kind and friendly at the same time. The food is great, and the dining environment is comfortable. The cute smiling dumpling figures add to the happy vibe of the whole place.

These days, the original location at Xinyi is only a takeout counter. You cannot eat-in there. If you want to eat-in, you can go to the Xinsheng branch which is not too far away. This newer branch is also 3 stories (similar to the original one), but is newer, has an elevator, and a bigger area for those waiting in line to hang out.

There’s a large chance you’ll have to wait in line. One strategy is to show up early, grab a paper ticket, and then show up later. You can also monitor the wait times by downloading the Din Tai Fung app. It shows you the waiting times at each of the branches, which is pretty handy. I think you may even be able to monitor the progress of the line.

Tasting a Streetside Sesame Pastry

And Let’s Not Forget Taichung

My mom’s from Taichung and many of my relatives still live there. Now that it’s only a 45 minute high speed train ride from Taipei, it’s pretty easy to take a day trip there, or to go back and forth. During my summer trip to Taiwan with my sister’s family and my mom, we decided to take the high speed train straight to Taichung after landing at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport.

Train bentos

There’s a nostalgia for the boxed bentos that you can get at a train station in Taiwan. They always come in a paper box that’s held together by rubber bands. Inside, there’s rice, some picked veggies, maybe some meat sauce 滷肉, a soy braised egg 滷蛋, and usually a pork chop, chicken chop, or a vegetarian option. It’s delicious, reasonably priced, and super convenient.

Our family made sure to pick up some bentos at the train station in Taipei before getting on the high speed rail to Taichung.

Qin Yuan Chun 沁園春

My uncle in Taichung knew I was a foodie so he wanted to pick a special place to treat the whole family. He chose Qin Yuan Chun, also recommended by the Michelin Guide, which specialized in Shanghainese food.

The food was indeed excellent. The kids especially loved the deep fried steamed buns with condensed milk (yum!). All of the food was excellent, and I’d highly recommend it if you’re looking for a place to eat in Taichung.

The Most Amazing Danbing (Egg roll)

Taiwan shines in this casual street food, and the made freshly on-the-stop egg rolls 蛋餅 are no exception. Even though this egg roll comes from a chain store and only costs like $2 USD, it is simple, freshly made-to-order, and sooooo satisfying. Better than most Western fast food chains.

Stinky Tofu at Tofu Daddy in Taichung

I’ve learned to like stinky tofu, even though I acknowledge it’s an acquired taste. Stinky tofu connoisseurs will judge the level and type of “stink” that each stinky tofu has. Trust me, they are not all the same, and some have better “stinks” than others.

We tried a few, and all agreed that Tofu Daddy was top notch. Their stinky tofu is light, crispy, and has just the right amount of stink. They punch a hole in each tofu block, fill it with copious amounts of freshly grated garlic, and fill it with their delicious brown secret sauce. It was fantastic.

Bawan from Taichung

My uncle took a special extra trip on his motorcycle to stop by the most famous “Bawan” 肉丸 place in Taichung, called 台中肉員(yes, their version is better than the version I make at home). These chewy, sticky dumplings filled with pork, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and some special brown sauce and sweet chili sauce (it’s all in the sauce!), is sooo satisfying. Perhaps in some ways it’s comfort food for me, but I love it. Open since 1933, this place is also recommended by the Michelin Guide.

And that's a wrap . . . . for now

I still plan on visiting Taiwan at least a couple times a year, so hopefully I can continue building on this list of places to visit. Please feel free to recommend to me your favorite places in Taiwan!

September 23, 2024 China

Top Foods to Taste in Shunde, China

They say Cantonese food has three main roots: Chiu Chow (chaozhou), Hakka (kejia) and Shunde (pronounced SHUN - Duh). Many say that the origins of Cantonese food comes from this small but packed region full of incredible food.

In 2014, Shunde was recognized by UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a city of gastronomy. To be honest, while I was living in the States, I had never heard of Shunde, much less Shunde cuisine. But here in Hong Kong, everybody knows it. If you say you are going to Shunde, it's certainly because of the food.

1. Roasted Pigeon + Clay Pot Rice

So we technically ate our first bites of roasted pigeon in Zhongshan, a large city across the bay from Shenzhen that just got connected via a loooooong bridge (the Shenzhong Cross Harbour Bridge) that reduces the travel time between the 2 cities from 2 hours to 30 minutes.

Zhongshan is known for its pigeon, and we saw many places selling it the moment we crossed the bridge into this neighboring city.

Clay pot rice is another speciality (we see it in Hong Kong a lot too!).

居然果Ju Ran Guo — Roast pigeon and char siu (BBQ pork) from 居然果（Ju Ran Guo) inside of He Garden (和园)

2. 魚生 Raw Fish Salad

Out of everything I ate in Shunde, this raw fish salad was by far the most unique and also my favorite. Shunde’s famous raw fish salad, known as Shunde Yu Sheng (順德魚生), typically features thinly sliced raw freshwater fish, such as grass carp (鯇魚) or mandarin fish (鱖魚), which are prized for their delicate texture.

The fish is arranged on a platter and served with a variety of fresh, colorful accompaniments like ginger, garlic, onion, pickled shallots, pickled turnip, chili, lime leaf, and wok roasted peanuts.

These ingredients provide an amazing contrast of flavors and textures, from acidic and spicy to crisp and fragrant. All of this is tossed together in peanut oil, which I fell in love with! I really need to buy some peanut oil and try my hand at making a version of this salad.

The server tosses all the ingredients together for you, table-side.

In some ways it reminded me of Burmese Tea Leaf Salad (which I also LOVE), but with a ton of crazy fresh raw fish and more Chinese flavors.

I loved this dish, and I would go back to Shunde just to have this. The restaurant is called 居然果（Ju Ran Guo) inside of He Garden (和园). The ambiance was beautiful, the service was excellent, and (most importantly), the food was very fresh and absolutely delicious.

3. Congee Seafood Hot Pot

Another very famous dish Shunde's congee hot pot (順德粥底火鍋). This local specialty replaces broth with congee (rice porridge), which is made from slow-cooked rice. Diners cook a variety of fresh ingredients like sliced fish, seafood, meat, tofu, and vegetables directly in the congee, which absorbs the flavors and thickens as the meal progresses.

We ordered oysters, mud carp, "雞子“, and goji leaves! 雞子 (jī zǐ) is a bit of a nebulous word in Mandarin Chinese. Our good-intentioned Mainland friend (the wife of the couple we went with) told me that 雞子 was very nourishing, very "補" (bu) in Chinese medicine principals. "It's especially good for women" she said (indicating that the offal was kind of like an egg or related organs).

It wasn't until we ate several that she discovered that 雞子 is actually rooster testicles (!!!!). We had eaten some already. Frankly speaking, it's not all that bad, but maybe not AS good for women as she thought!

4. Double Skin Milk (Buffalo Milk) 民信 or 人信

Another super famous dessert in Shunde is double skin milk (雙皮奶). The version in Shunde is unique because it's made from fresh buffalo milk. It's called double skin milk because of two layers of skin that form during the preparation process. After boiling, the milk is cooled, allowing a creamy skin to form on the surface. The milk is then mixed with sugar and egg whites, steamed, and topped with a second skin. The resultant "custard" is rich and creamy, easy to eat with a spoon.

They had many flavors, such as ginger and coffee, as well as toppings, such as red bean, peach gum, and boba.

We tried two different competing companies (owned by two brothers from the same family who split back in the 1930's) -- yes, these shops have a LONG history). Both are fine. 民信（in business since 1925) is in a more central location. We had to walk a bit to reach 仁信, but overall liked it better. They also sold buffalo milk by the bottle, which our friend purchased.

5. Dim Sum at Dongcheng Nanji 東城南記酒樓

We visited a very famous traditional Shunde dim sum spot located in the Dongcheng Hotel. It was very, very similar to Hong Kong dim sum, since this is probably where it was born. The practice of pushcarts is gone in most places, including here. However, the food was still quite good (though honestly, I don't think it's better than Hong Kong). One unique aspect is that they do make some very very traditional dishes that you don't see in most modern dim sum restaurants anymore.

One example is black rice rolls (腸粉) made from 龜苓膏. 龜苓膏 (guī líng gāo) is a traditional Chinese herbal jelly. Traditionally it was made from a blend of tortoise shell (龜) and sarsaparilla root (土茯苓), along with other herbs. This dark, slightly bitter jelly is believed to have cooling properties that help detoxify the body and promote skin health. These days, it's really, really expensive to use tortoise shell, so I've heard most versions don't contain any actual tortoise. I'm a bit relieved at that. Since I grew up with a pet turtle (he's STILL alive!), it's one of the few animals I refuse to eat.

6. Steamed Rice Rolls w/ Roast Goose Jus 蒸腸粉陪燒鵝醬或油汁

These freshly made rice rolls had such an amazing texture. They were a bit bouncy, QQ, and slippery at the same time. They gave us the option to dip it in either soy sauce or roast goose jus. Everybody agreed the roast goose jus was tastier.

7. Beef Offal 牛雜

The Chinese are obsessed with beef offal, and will often line up for the best beef offal in town (we noticed this phenomenon when we were in Macau). In Shunde, beef offal stands are pretty common. They usually have a HUGE pot of a rich, flavorful broth (牛雜湯) in which they have slow cooked a variety of beef offal, such as tripe, intestines, lungs, and tendons for hours. Each shop's broth is different and has its own unique flavor.

You can get a mixture, or you can pick out your favorites. I am personally a huge fan of tendon, but less excited about tripe, intestines, or lungs. Bryan, on the other hand, loves all things offal.

8. Coffee at 四囍Coffee or Hand-crushed Lemon Tea

Coffee shops are pretty popular in China now, and certain places become MUST-SEES after being featured on social media, usually on Xiaohongshu（小紅書）, China's parallel app that's kind of like Instagram (but not quite).

We joined the masses to line up at one of these internet sensation places, called 四囍咖啡公司 (Sixi Coffee Company). The coffee was very good, but not sure if was worth the 45 minute wait (!).

Hand crushed lemon tea has been super popular in China recently, and the trend even recently reached Hong Kong this past year. In Shunde, we also tried a refreshing (massive) cup of lemon tea. I liked how I could order a version with no sugar, and just enjoy the fragrance of the perfume lemons and brewed tea.

Other Shunde Specialities

If you have a chance, also try the deep fried milk, which is a delicate, tofu-like dish made from milk and egg. I've had it in Shenzhen at a Shunde restuarant (it's delicious!), but I didn't have a chance to try it this trip.

And there you have it, many of the important classics to taste while in Shunde China. We only went for less than 48 hours, so there was a limit to what we could try. Still, I left the city totally blown away by the food, especially the raw fish salad, which I absolutely loved. I still think about it to this day . . .

Non-Food Excursions

I leave you with a few additional photos from some non-food parts of the trip from the He Art Museum and the streets of Shunde.

He Art Museum 和美術馆 — Photo credit: Peter Huang

September 17, 2024 Indonesia

Sayan Night Market - Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

After two days of spending most of our time at the resort or on a resort organized tour, my friend was itching to go into the town and get a taste of the local markets and the street food! Sayan Night Market, located in the village of Sayan just a 20 minute drive away, was the perfect solution.

The market draws both locals and visitors. We saw colorful arrays of stalls selling traditional Balinese painting, clothing , handmade crafts, and more.

We caught the market right before sunset, where it had cooled down a bit but we could still see all the beautiful colors.

Street Food at Sayan Night Market

As night fell, we headed to the food part of the night market to taste some local street food!

The market was filled with all sorts of people (we definitely saw locals, but also LOTS of foreigners). On the one hand, it made me feel more comfortable that foreigners could eat here (and not get sick). It must be pretty clean, right?

I ate all sorts of stuff, including salads, noodle soups, and a cold fruit juice smoothie that was blended on the spot. I did not have any digestive issues. Everything was clean, and delicious!

It was really fun to visit Sayan Night Market and get a sense of what the locals eat. The prices are ridiculously cheap, and you can certainly get very full for probably less than USD5 (definitely less than $10!) while sampling a lot of really interesting flavors!

September 14, 2024 Indonesia

Balinese Home Cooking (Bali, Indonesia)

Balinese Home Cooking is a restaurant located inside a small, traditional Balinese village called Payogan. Approximately 3km north-west of Ubud Palace, it was a short drive for us to come here by car.

Before actually entering the restaurant to eat, we briefly walked around the village and saw some locals just enjoying their every day life.

Balinese Home Cooking - the restaurant

I believe this is the kitchen for Balinese Home Cooking?

A closer look . . .

The dining area is quite pleasant, with a partially opened wall so you feel like you are dining outside even in you're partly inside. We started with some raw crudite, hard boiled eggs, and shrimp chips.

They also gave us some free root vegetable chips to snack on.

The complex flavors of the food was so refreshing after multiple Western style meals. I loved this chicken soup, which chock full of fragrant herbs and brightened by lime juice.

We decide to share two dishes. One was a curry dish, which was great.

The hotel recommended this place, and I think it's a good recommendation. The environment is pleasant, the kitchen is very clean, and the food is delicious. Perhaps that's why it seemed like most of the diners were actually tourists. For those who might not be ready to "brave it" at an actual night market, this is a nice, "gentler" way to enjoy some local Balinese food.

Balinese Home Cooking

September 11, 2024 Indonesia

Bali: Nungnung Waterfall and the Ayung River

Nungnung Falls Bali Indonesia Ubud Bali Indonesia

On Day 2 of our private tour, we visited Nungnung Waterfall. It is about 1 to 1.5 hours away from Ubud. The entire excursion took 4 hours and cost about USD$200 for 2 people.

Nestled about 900 meters above sea level in the village of Nungnung, Nungnung Waterfall cascades from a height of approximately 50 meters into a small pool below, surrounded by dense tropical vegetation.

The journey to Nungnung Falls is an adventure in itself, involving a descent down hundreds of steps to arrive at the river's edge.

Ubud Bali IndonesiaNungnung Falls Bali Indonesia

Swimming with the Waterfall

We brought a change of clothing so that we could play in this natural pool right at the foot of the waterfall.

Because this waterfall is a bit further away from Ubud city center (and the fact that you have to hike down so many steps!), there are certainly a lot less tourists here than at some of the closer waterfalls. It was almost like we had our own private waterfall pool!

Having a tour guide is nice, because he could watch our stuff and even take photos of us!

White Water Rafting in the Ayung River

Finally, our last half day excursion was white water rafting down the Ayung River! What can I say, white water rafting is just a lot of fun and quite exciting. We even saw some stone carvings in the rocks along the river, which was really cool.

It was wet (and bumpy!) during the actual rafting, so I don't have any photos from that!

Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve

September 8, 2024 Indonesia

Classic Vintage Tour of Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia Classic-Volkswagon Vintage Tour

The Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve offers various types of excursions guests can reserve. One popular private tour that takes you to all of Ubud's most popular "must-see" sights (perfect for a first timer to Bali like myself!) is the Classic-Volkswagon Vintage Tour.

It was AWESOME to ride in this VW open-top convertible while driving through beautiful rice fields of Ceking Village.

The roads in Bali certainly have their own cultural flavor. It was a special holiday when we were there, and thus the roads were decorated a bit more than usual.

Tegalalang Rice Field

Our first stop was the stunning Tegalalang Rice Field. This UNESCO World Heritage site consists of beautifully arranged terraced rice fields that are irrigated using traditional Balinese irrigation method passed down from the 8th century.

It was quite hot, so we didn't stay for a super long time. However, if you want, you can hike down along some of the paths and get a bit closer to the rice patties.

Interesting fun fact: our tour guide told us that Indonesian rice is only grown for the local market and is not exported. They said "we keep the best rice for ourselves."

Gunung Kawi Temple

The next stop of our tour was to visit Gunung Kawi Temple. One of the oldest temples in Indonesia, Gunung Kawi Temple was built in the 11th century and is composed of 10 shrines cut into the side of a massive cliff that stands 7 meters (23 feet) tall.

These shrines are believed to be memorials dedicated to the Balinese royal family of the Udayana dynasty. It's fascinating to walk through structures from a kingdom so long ago.

Surrounded by tropical vegetation, the walk through this (surprisingly big) area is quite pleasant (provided you can stand the heat!).

Tirta Empul Temple

Our third stop was Tirta Empul Temple, one of the most famous sites in Ubud. Tirta Empul Temple is a Hindu temple in Ubud known for its holy water. People line up and visit a series of fountains, practicing a ritual called Melukat that involves purifying the mind, body and soul. You can observe (or even participate in) this traditional Balinese Hindu purification ritual.

We saw both locals and tourists lining up to experience this series of cleansings. There were also a lot of people who, like us, just observed.

Luwak (Civet) coffee

Our last stop was a coffee plantation that had Luwak (Civet) coffee. Luwak coffee, also known as civet coffee, is a highly prized coffee produced in Indonesia, particularly on the islands of Bali, Sumatra, and Java.

It's famous because of the unusual process by which it is made. In short, the beans are picked out of civet droppings.

Whaattt?

That's right. Asian palm civets (a nocturnal mammal local to Indonesia) are the coffee "foodies" of the forest, and supposedly only eat the best coffee beans. However, their digestive systems do not destroy the beans. Instead, the beans undergo fermentation in the civet’s digestive system, and then are excreted out, as whole beans. This fermentation process enhances the coffee's flavor by reducing its bitterness and adding a smooth, rich taste.

After the beans are collected from the civet's droppings, they are thoroughly cleaned, roasted, and ground to produce the final coffee.

Our guide explained that each coffee plant has "male beans" and "female beans" (based on shape) and they have different flavors. 80% of the beans are female (which have a more sour, lighter taste), while 20% are male beans, (which have a stronger, smoother flavor). The male beans are more expensive.

Coffee Tasting

After learning about the coffee and taking a short walk through the plantation, we got to sit down and enjoy a tasting of 14 (!) different types of coffees and teas.

I found the "male bean" coffee to be stronger, more robust, but not at all bitter. It was very smooth. The "female bean" coffee had more sour notes. There was a little shop so I bought a small bag of beans (it was still US$20, which is a lot in these parts!).

And that was our tour! We got back into our VW open top vehicle and headed back to enjoy the Mandapa Reserve for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

September 6, 2024 Indonesia

Mandapa Reserve (Ritz Carlton) Bali Indonesia

This next series of posts describes the trip I took to Bali, Indonesia in October 2023

It was almost magical, our first exposure to the Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve in Bali, Indonesia - though all the events that happened before were certainly not (more on that, later).

After a crowded adventure weaving my way through the airport, I finally found the driver. It was rush hour, and (not surprisingly), we hit traffic. We managed to arrive at the Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve just around sunset.

This video gives you a sense of how they welcomed us. It totally blew us away.

Afterwards a little golf cart came to pick us up and drive us towards our bungalow.

The Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve is beautiful resort located in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Though most people associate Bali with beaches, bars, and huge crowds, Ubud is different. Ubud is located more in the mountains (high elevation) and is pretty far away from the ocean. Ubud is known for rice fields, waterfalls, temples, and yoga retreats. The Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve, which is located in Ubud, is even more secluded and quiet.

We were visiting during "Golden Week", one of the biggest Chinese holidays, at a location that is very, very popular. I was quite thankful I was in this more remote location and didn't have to fight too many crowds.

But there was a bittersweet part of the story.

Bryan and I had planned to fly out to Bali to meet a friend who had moved to Indonesia. Bryan used his bazillion Marriott points to book the Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve. Sadly, we found out at the airport that Bryan's passport didn't have enough full blank pages for the visa-upon-arrival we would need in Indonesia. Alas, he wasn't able to board the flight, and I flew out to Indonesia by myself to visit our friend. 🙁

Breakfast at Sawah Terrace

Breakfast was included as part of our stay, and it was amazing. Every morning we would sit on the terrace overlooking the raging river below.

There was a ton of food options, including local Indonesian specialties, tropical fruit, and Western offerings as well.

Lunch at Sawah Terrace

Sawah Terrace converts to an Indonesian restaurant after breakfast is over. We started by enjoying Lalapan, an assortment of raw vegetables and tempeh with Sambal Roa, a chili dipping sauce.

Wash your hands in Kaffir lime leaves and water!

Indonesian rice! All the rice grown in Bali is kept for the domestic market. "We keep the best rice for ourselves" said my tour guide.

We also enjoyed several other delicious local specialities, such as jackfruit salad and chargrilled pork ribs.

Kubu Restaurant

Kubu Restaurant "Bamboo restaurant" is located right along river. Diners eat in cozy private cocoons outside. The food is Mediterranean-European prepared with Bali-sourced ingredients.

This is where we came the very first day we arrived in Indonesia.

The food is fusion, though mostly European in its style.

My friend (who had moved to Indonesia) was craving non-Indonesian food this whole trip. As a result, I ate more Western food than I typically would during a trip to a new country. I ordered the lobster tail while my friend ordered the beef Wellington. The entire tasting menu (maybe 6-7 courses) was only 1,200 thousand Indonesia dollars, (USD78 per person).

Grace by The Rice Field

The resort offered a "Grace by the Rice Fields" dinner. It's essentially a private romantic dinner next to the rice fields that on the Reserve. You are given your own private server, who brings you food from some hidden remote kitchen. Since Bryan couldn't make it, my friend and I enjoyed this meal without him.

Dining Beyond Experience: In Villa Romance

There's another version of the same meal where they serve you an entire tasting menu right inside your room. It was a bit over the top. They even brought rose petals and real burning candles to place all along the floor.

At least Bryan joined remotely (he just ordered take-out on his side).

All in all, the resort is very nice and the service is top notch. You wouldn't expect any less of a Ritz Carlton property. I do think we threw them off when Bryan unexpectedly didn't show up. They didn't quite know how to adjust. They kept a lot of the originally planned "romantic" meals, even though it wasn't as fitting anymore.

Still, overall we had a great time. The Mandapa Ritz Carlton Reserve is perfect if you don't want to think about planning anything. Their tour guides work directly for the Reserve and only serve hotel clients, so the quality is top notch. We enjoyed each and every one of our excursions (more on that in future posts!).

I do recommend getting off the property to get a taste of real Ubud. One evening we took a car downtown and had a blast walking around the local night market. That post will be coming very soon as well!

August 18, 2024 Hong Kong

Amber Revisited

This post refers to a meal we had in May 2023

The moment I walked into the dining room the memories came flooding back.

It was 2019. Hong Kong was under intense social unrest. Bryan had narrowly escaped being stuck at HK airport (later reports said people were stuck in traffic for 3-4 hours trying to get out) as the place became flooded with black masked protesters. His driver whispered “we gotta go. The protestors have arrived”. The two of them ran as hard as they could, luggage in hand, hopping into the car to make their “getaway” before it was too late.

They made it to Amber just in time. I remember sitting there, wondering if he would make it.

Who could have predicted what would happen next . . . that the government would need to do an abrupt about face regarding those masks. Pivoting from disallowing masks to requiring them.

It some ways, it seems like a different world. And in other ways, it feels like yesterday.

The pandemic coupled with the period of social unrest really does a number on one’s sense of time.

So as I walked into Amber, I did get a weird sense of deja vu. But I came to my senses and remembered that it’s 2023. The WHO had just declared that the Pandemic was over. At the same time, Hong Kong just announced that Covid cases were rising (up to 10,000 per day now), and the sale of masks had shot up recently.

We saw our friend sitting at the far table. This traveling nomad friend, a person who spends over 300 days of the year traveling, greeted us as an old friend. For me, I hadn’t seen him since a meal we had together in Paris. Bryan saw him more recently in a number of different countries: Spain, Mainland China, just to name a few. This is how traveling nomads connect: meeting up in exotic places all over the world.

I remember loving Amber the last time I dined here. They had just changed over to a dairy-free menu, and I was blown away by the exquisite use of soy, tofu-related preparations, coconut milk, and more. The meal felt light, healthy, comfortable . . . what would this meal be like?

We opted for the longer tasting experience, largely because it includes a course in Amber’s impressive kitchen.

Amber Longer Tasting Menu

The first few courses were really really good! A fresh mushroom tart made from thinly sliced button mushrooms. A soy-based custard topped with a deep black truffle paste.

One of my favorite dishes was raw sayori in a rocket puree. It was fantastic: super balanced, light, and incredibly fresh tasting.

Next, the signature uni + lobster jelly custard topped with caviar was just as good as I remembered.

It was spring, so the next course of a huge steamed white asparagus was certainly seasonal. This one was intricately decorated with stripes of sauce, topped with crunchy iberico ham. It was tasty, though it didn’t blow me away quite in the same way.

Next, shrimp dumplings (like a shrimp ball with a ultra thin also transparent skin) together with a few pieces of shrimp (well-done, not so bouncy) were served in a clear, shrimp head stock. The stock was quite nice, definitely shrimpy, and seemed to have a bit of a sherry or anise flavor to it.

That Course in the Kitchen

We went into the well-run gleaming kitchen to enjoy the next course: white fish (possibly sous vide) served with snap pea sauce. Again, one must remember that they are dairy-free, which means there is no cream or butter in any of these sauces. It’s quite impressive how rich and unctuous the sauces are, despite the lack of butter/cream.

Back to the Table

We returned to our table for our main courses: lamb with morel mushrooms and A5 wagyu beef with black garlic puree.

The black garlic puree seemed to also have some black seaweed sauce (the Japanese dark black paste), and the flavor was similar as well. It still reminds me to get some and try experimenting with it . . I was surprised it was a flavor that Bryan had never tried, even though I grew up eating it with our 稀飯 (congee), alongside the 豆腐乳 (fermented tofu)，肉鬆 (pork sung) and other Taiwanese condiments.

Desserts

The first dessert was a mix of citrus.

The second was a chocolate mouse tart topped with a sour raspberry sorbet (“eat it all in one bite, since the top is tart”).

Finally, we had a lovely array of fruits from Taiwan, including pineapple (delicious, so sweet!), lembu (my favorite!!), and “milkfruit”, a purple creamy fruit I’d never had before (it was only OK).

Amber - General Thoughts

All in all, it was a long meal but full of great food, lovely wine, and really interesting conversation. We enjoyed excellent champagne and a red burgundy (pinot noir) from a producer that has the name “Jesus” in it (brought by our friend). We talked about all sorts of topics, from whether the model of “open source” patent pooling could work for the biotech industry to whether humankind was going to "make it" as a civilization.

Of course we talked about restaurants: about food and cooking (our friend apparently makes a good chocolate mousse), about successful women chefs, like Helene Darroz, and about Michelin ratings (and whether to trust them).

I'm really glad Amber is still as good as I remember. Bonus on top was a chance to catch up with our traveling nomad friend. I guess we'll have to see where we meet up with this traveling nomad friend next (or perhaps more importantly, what will we eat when we meet up . . . .)

Amber Hong Kong
7/F, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental
The Landmark
15 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong

August 15, 2024 China

Street Food on Old Kunming Street 老昆明街

At night, we went to Old Kunming Street 老昆明街 to walk around. There are TONS of fun things to try here. We had already enjoyed a lovely dinner at 福照楼汽锅鸡·云南菜 Fuzhao Lou Steam Pot Chicken, so we didn't have room to each as much as we would have liked.

Still, we prioritized coming to a few of our friends' favorite spots in the old city.

Handmade Rice Balls 陈嬢嬢大馅汤圆

Huize Fried Potatoes 会泽炸洋芋

Another way to enjoy potatoes is on the street, as fries tossed in the spice blend of your choice. 会泽 Huize is a town in Yunnan which is famous for potatoes.

Yogurt Drink with Purple Rice

And then, finally, my friend told me about the yogurt drink with purple rice (his daughter's favorite!). This light yogurt drink is refreshingly not too sweet (nor too sour). The added purple glutinous rice adds a nice chew, similar to boba. I loved it, even though I was SOOOO full already. I drank half, kept it in the fridge overnight, and still very much enjoyed the leftovers the next morning. Despite the rice having softened a bit, it was still delicious.

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo! But it looks a lot like a boba drink except it's filled with deep purple rice.

August 13, 2024 China

Crossing the Bridge Noodle過橋米線

Listed as an “intangible cultural heritage of Kunming city” since 2008, Crossing the Bridge Noodles 過橋米線 carries with it a legend from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). A scholar was studying for the imperial exams on an island city. Every day his wife would make his favorite noodles for lunch and bring them across the bridge over to the island. Unfortunately, the noodles were soft and the soup cold by the time he husband received his lunch.

The wife soon discovered that she could keep the soup hot by insulating it with a layer of chicken fat on top. She further innovated by separating the noodles, toppings, and the soup during the transport. After arriving, she would put everything into the hot soup, sort of "cooking it" on the spot. The resultant dish was perfect. Now her husband could enjoy a fantastic bowl of hot soup with chewy "al dente" noodles and freshly cooked ingredients.

This innovative transportation method spread throughout Kunming and beyond. Now, restaurants serve the dish with the hot soup, toppings, and noodles separately for you to mix together on your own.

We visited a tiny little shop inside of a strip mall called黃老媽 (roughly translated as Granda Huang). Their specialty was ivory tusk grass 草芽 crossing the bridge noodles from Jianshui (建水草芽过桥米线). We had just visited Jianshui, an old city in Yunnan Province with tons of history, just last year.

Ivory tusk grass is a rare and expensive vegetable from the neighboring town of Jianshui 建水. The owner told us that it's hard to get this vegetable anywhere beyond Kunming because if you travel any further, the transport time will be too long and the vegetable won't keep.

"This vegetable is the most expensive thing on the menu. It costs more than the meat!" he said.

This special signature version of Crossing the Bridge Noodles costs 38 RMB ($5.25), which is considered quite expensive, considering the normal ones (where you pick your toppings), cost only about RMB 16-20 ($2-$3 USD).

A lot of places will serve this dish on a mini bridge, which is pretty cute, certainly a nod to the legend of its origins. We reenact the bridge story here by adding 18 different toppings!

This little shop is in a strip mall a little outside central Kunming. It was immaculately clean, and the owner really seemed passionate about his product. The soup was delicious, and, still felt really inexpensive (6 US dollars), even though it's already pretty expensive for these parts.

黃老媽建水草芽过桥米线
昆明市五华区中铁云时代

August 10, 2024 China

Lunch at a Yi Village Damoyu (大墨雨村)

The largest minority group in Kunming is the Yi Minority Group, and there are several villages right outside the city that you can visit. We visited a village called Damoyu (大墨雨) that was not quite yet “discovered” (i.e. less touristy and crowded) yet was already being renovated and inhabited by more and more younger people wanting to live the village lifestyle.

Damoyu has a 600+ year history of being a Yi village. Currently, Damoyu has a mix of local Yi people selling their traditional foods as well as younger “imports“ who are opening up trendy coffee shops within the village.

It makes for an interesting vibe, not unlike the more famous (touristy and crowded) ethnic minority villages in Lijiang and Dali.

Hiking to a Secluded Reservoir

Damoyu Village is adjacent to Qipanshan National Forest Park 棋盘山国家森林公园 and Moyu Reservoir 墨雨水库. After parking our car and looking around the main village area, we took a short hike "up the hill" to a very pretty and secluded reservoir area.

Hiking up the hill . . . .

Looking back towards the village.

It's only a short climb before reaching this secluded and quiet reservoir.

We found a perfect little "peninsula" at which to sit down, hang out, and enjoy the scenery. It was amazing because we had it all to ourselves (despite the fact that we came on a Saturday late morning!).

You can hike around the lake. I would recommend wearing long pants because there are some less-maintained portions of the trail where the vegetation has gotten quite long (and could come into contact with bare legs if you're wearing shorts).

After sitting on the lovely grass for about 20-30 minutes, we walked back to the entrance to eat at the local village restaurant.

Lunch at the Yi Village Restaurant

Wandering Around the Yi Village

After dinner we wandered around the village and encountered so many interesting looking buildings. Honestly, the village feels like a traditional village in the middle of a transformation. We saw certain beautiful buildings that were right in the midst of renovations. We saw a new building coming up that looked like it would be the new, modern welcome center (or perhaps museum?) for the village.

There were several signs up advertising the availability to rent certain traditional looking houses, perhaps either as businesses (coffee shop anyone?) or as a place to stay.

For us, it felt like a hidden, not-quite-yet fully discovered gem of a village where we could walk around freely and explore.

We relaxed in the afternoon at a local coffee shop, and spend some time wandering the streets of the village.

One person mentioned how it feels like Lijiang, but much less crowded and less commercial. I can imagine this place being really pleasant when all the preparations are done. Right now, there are still a lot of places being renovated and built up, so it doesn't "quite" feel done. Still, we had a lovely time exploring this quite place, and it was indeed relaxing to get away from the crowds and feel like we had the village (almost) to ourselves.

Damoyu Village大墨雨村
雲南省昆明市西山區雨花村

August 7, 2024 China

Weekend Trip to Kunming, China: Yunnan Specialties

This next series explores a quick, weekend trip I took to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. The trip was short, a mere 48 hours, but we were able to enjoy A LOT of fantastic food (which I can't wait to share with you!). I'll split up these experiences over a series of four separate posts. 1) This post: an exploration of Yunnan specialties from a number of great, casual sit-down restaurants 2) Our visit to a local Yi Village and the farm-to-table meal we enjoyed 3) Local Street Food on Old Kunming Street and 4) Crossing the Bridge Noodle at a delightful local shop with a really passionate owner!

Yunnan, The Harvest Capital of China

Yunnan is the produce capital of China, and is particularly known for its vast variety of vegetables (often not found anywhere else in China), mushrooms, fresh flower pastries, and Pu-er tea (just to name a few). Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province and is also the largest city in the region. As a result, if you’re short on time, it’s a great place to experience a wider variety of the bountiful foods from the Yunnan Region.

Here’s a brief look at some of the delicious Yunnan foods we were able to enjoy during this quick, 48-hour weekend trip to Kunming.

外婆味道 Grandma’s Kitchen

We ordered several simple vegetable dishes, stir fried and in broth.

福照楼汽锅鸡·云南菜 Fuzhao Lou Steam Pot Chicken

A local friend had recommend this restaurant. Although we didn't have time to dine there the first night, we were thrilled to discover there was a branch right inside Kunming Old Street. We decided to "forfeit" some stomach face from street vendors in order to have a proper meal at this restaurant.

General Thoughts

It's impossible to fully experience what Kunming has to offer in just a mere number of days. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit and at least try some dishes. I was very thankful for these two family-style meals where I got a taste of the variety and abundance of produce, spices, and cooking styles that make up Kunming "cuisine."

Jianshui Yunnan Trip Report
Kardia Cafe Kunming China
Two Days in Kunming China (Jan 2023)

August 5, 2024 Bilbao

Bilbao Spain - Top Things to Do

Bilbao, Spain is such an under-appreciated city. Many people fly into Bilbao's airport just to rent a car to drive to San Sebastian. Granted, San Sebastian is heavenly (and we admitted also flew into Bilbao and drove straight to San Sebastian our first time in the region). But Bilbao is a lovely, lovely city. I had the opportunity to spend almost a week there when Bryan attended a conference in the city. The more I explored it, the more I fell in love with it.

Bryan says the city "punches above its weight", with a world class museum, access to some of the world's top restaurants, a vibrant pintxos casual food scene, and beautiful hikes. It's certainly worth a visit if you are in the area. Here are some of the top things I would recommend after spending a week there.

1. Visit The Guggenheim

This is probably the most famous attraction in Bilbao, and it's definitely worth seeing. The architecture is stunning, and the collections is good too. Dine at Nerua, the 1-Michelin star restaurant at the Guggenheim.

While we were there, there was a special "Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now" exhibit going on there. As a result, the entire place was decorated with her signature polka dots. To see more about what I saw at the Guggenheim, you can visit this post.

Go Pinxtos Hopping

Visiting multiple pintxos bars is a must-do when visiting the Basque region of Spain. Pintxos are small bites, often on a piece of bread (but not always). The term "pintxos" refers to a "spike" (usually a toothpick), that is "speared" through the food to hold it together.

In fact, the first thing we did after we arrived at our hotel was to visit a pintxos bar. We found one just around the corner that was delicious. In fact, most pintxos bars we visited were excellent. Bilbao people really know their food!

Pintxos places that we visited: El Globo (excellent variety!), and the following three in Plaza de Nueva: Charly (founded in 1973), Gure Toki, and Café Bar Bilbao. All were really good, and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. To read more about each of these places (and see photos of the tapas from each place), visit this post Pintxos Hopping in Bilbao, Spain.

Visit the Old Town (Casco Viejo) and Ribera Market

If you only have two days in Bilbao, you should visit the Guggenheim and spend a day exploring the old town (Casco Viejo). The old town is filled with beautiful little alleyways, bridges, and little neighborhoods you can explore. There's also Ribera Market, which is a fun place to see locals shop for fresh produce. We bought a lot of jamon iberico here, and found the prices at the market to be cheaper than going to the fancy department store El Corte Inglés. A popular place to eat great local Basque food right in the old town is at Los Fueros. We also enjoyed jamon + wine at Beher and excellent steak + jamon at Mio Basque Urban Food. Visit this post if you want to see more details about the Casco Viejo (including our meal at Los Fueros!).

Ribera Market
Mercado de La Ribera
Bilbao Spain

Enjoy Fine Dining

Spain in general is SUCH a good value when it comes to fine dining in Europe (compared to, say, places like London or Paris). The food is just as good (if not better, IMHO), and it costs significantly less. During our visit, we dined at 3-Michelin star Azurmendi as well as several 1-Michelin star gems: Restaurante Mina, Extanobe Atelier, and Nerua (Guggenheim).

Half-day Trip to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (Game of Thrones)

I was mesmerized by this stone islet located about a 45 minutes drive away from the old town of Bergamo. Depending on the day and season, you may need to book (free) tickets in advance in order to visit.

The hike is stunning, and the views are beautiful. At the top is a building dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. I highly recommend coming here if you have time! The hike only takes about an hour or so, or maybe 2 hours if you really want to take your time and take lots of photos! For more details, click on this post to learn more about our half-day trip to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe.

Day Trip to Rioja Wine Region

The Rioja region is well within driving distance of Bilbao (less than 2 hours), so it's another great excursion if you have a bit more time in the region. My friend Tracy Chang from PAGU (who did a cooking stint in the Basque region) highly recommended her friend Gabriella Ranelli from Tenedor Tours. We had a fabulous time. Gabriella has lived in Spain for 30 years and is very well connected with the food + wine circles. She's super knowledgeable, and took us to some great places. To read more about our tour with Gabriella, you can read these posts: Tour of Rioja Region Part 1; Tour of Rioja Region Part 2.

And that's a wrap! It was a fantastic trip and I highly recommend visiting the Basque region. For more fun reading about Spain, you can also check out these other cities:

Other Cities in Spain
San Sebastian
Girona
Barcelona
Madrid
Valencia

Bilbao Posts from this Trip!
All Spain Posts
El Cellar de Can Roca - Best Restaurant in the World

August 2, 2024 Bilbao

Azurmendi Spain (3 Michelin Stars)

Our "epic" special meal this Spain trip was at Azurmendi, a 3-Michelin starred restaurant in the neighboring town of Larrabetzu, a 20 minute drive from our hotel in Bilbao.

We had just finished an amazing day touring around the Rioja region. Our guide Gabriella knew our dinner plans, so she purposefully kept our daytime eating (and wine tasting) activities reasonable so that we'd have room for dinner!

Azurmendi's and Chef Eneko Atxa's philosophy is "[u]sing cooking to achieve a more sustainable, healthy, and just society." The restaurant is very active in its community, organizing activities and events to help children with autism spectrum disorder, cancer, and the like, as well as involvement in the Basque slow food movement.

The "Picnic"

Our meal began with a sustainability "feel". We entered a huge glass enclosed room filled with indoor greens and trees.

After the picnic ended, they guided us into a second room. We left the forest and entered what looked like a busting kitchen. We walked up to a counter.

A chef created a Truffled Egg + Truffled Meringue in front of our eyes. Using a syringe, he squeezed a black truffle essence into a sphere that looked like a yolk. It was, indeed, an "egg" made using the spherification technique. Biting into it gave a pop of truffle-y goodness.

This was paired with a foamy apple + truffle drink.

They ushered us into yet another room. This one was full of fantasy, like Alice in Wonderland in a gprgeous floral garden.

But this was a different garden with leaves you could "pick" and eat (like this glazed shiso leaf).

Finally, to Our Seats

The garden theme continued after we sat down, and more "leaves", "flowers", and dirt appeared in front of us.

The Sea

Next was a different type of cylinder, a tiny one-bite maki "roll" wrapped with nori (seaweed) with caviar on one side and trout roe on the other side.

Spider crab foam topped crabmeat "gelee" was next, served in a sea urchin bowl. Who can resist a lovely Dom Perignon from 2004?

We really tasted the essence of the ocean in this next course, simply titled "The Sea", which showcased a single French oyster served with sea granita and sea beans.

Bread Part 1

Like many high end restaurants, Azurmendi waits to serve the bread course a little later in the tasting menu. What's a bit more unusual is that Azurmendi has TWO bread courses. The first one reminded me a lot of a Chinese steamed bun.

Tomato

Next, a delicious tomato "consomme" served with fresh tomatoes, a tomato powder, and dried tomato skin.

Seafood

Bread Part 2

A second piece of bread, this time a yeast-risen corn bread.

Meat

The final meat course was "IBERIAN PORK".

The preparation was a pork "duxelle", a minced mixture of mushrooms, shallots, and herbs. It was surprisingly light for a final meat course.

Cheese

Dessert

Video

The pictures don't do justice to the entire experience of the dinner. To "sense" the meal in a different way, you can watch the short video I made below.

Consider how much work this meal took, 272.73 EUROS per person was quite reasonable. I really liked the garden theme and the overall focus on vegetables, sustainability, and health. I especially enjoyed the use of different techniques to showcase the essence of different vegetables. The overall "journey" -- complete with a picnic in a forest, a kitchen visit, a rose garden, and multiple surprises at our table -- certainly make this one of the more memorable meals I've had!

July 31, 2024 Bilbao

Tour of Rioja Wine Region: Part 2

This is part 2 of a two-part series about our tour of the Rioja region with Tenedor Tours. Part 1 can be found here.

Lunch where the Locals Eat

For lunch Gabriella took us to a restaurant that specializes in grilled meat, namely lamb ribs!

Just as we arrived, we spotted this man delivering freshly picked tomatoes . . . in a wheelbarrow!

Aren't these just gorgeous?

Lamb ribs are grilled over a wood-fired grill. The wood is actually old grape vines!

Old grape vines.

Of course we enjoyed the meal with a lovely bottle of rioja.

The heirloom tomatoes were outstanding, especially simply paired with some local tuna, onions, and olive oil. When the ingredients are inherently good, not much else is needed.

We enjoyed a whole plate of ribs, and they were excellent.

Here's a video that tells you more about the restaurant!

Scenes of Rioja

We explored a few more scenic spots where we could get some amazing panorama views of the whole region.

We stopped by several small villages and explored them on foot.

Looking at scenes like this is truly good for the soul.

Climbing up to a high view point!

Frank Gehry - HOTEL MARQUES DE RISCAL

Our final stop was to visit the other Frank Gehry designed building in the region: Hotel Marques de Riscal. This unique looking hotel is fun to visit. We ended up sitting at their outdoor courtyard area enjoying a few glasses of wine and the beautiful scenery.

It was amazing just to sit at their outdoor dining area, stare at the ridiculously stunning scenery all around us, and (of course), sip on some wine.

The views are almost unreal in how beautiful they are.

And that was it! We enjoyed an immensely full day getting our first "taste" of the rioja region. There's still so much to explore. One day is certainly not enough. As the sun started to set, Gabriella drove us to our very special dinner at Azurmendi. What a day!

July 27, 2024 Europe

Tour of Rioja Wine Region: Part 1

The Rioja region is well within driving distance of Bilbao (less than two hours), so it's another great excursion if you have a bit more time in the region. My friend Tracy Chang from PAGU (who did a stint staging in the Basque region) highly recommended her friend Gabriella Ranelli from Tenedor Tours. We had a fabulous time. Gabriella has lived in Spain for 30 years and is very well connected with the food + wine circles. She's super knowledgeable, and took us to some great places.

First Stop: Ostatu Winery

We couldn't believe our good fortune. The grape harvest season had just become a few days before our arrival. Even our tour guide, Gabriella, hadn't seen them yet this season.

As we pulled up to Ostatu Winery we couldn't help but gasp, marveling at the operations that were happening right in front of our eyes.

The daughter of the family that owns the vineyard held out a bunch of grapes and said "tempranilllo from this morning . . . you want to try?"

I was surprised how sweet the grape was! Here's a video of me trying it.

The harvest season in this region is really short, only 2-3 weeks. We felt so fortunate we happened to be here to witness this.

So amazing.

The Wine Tasting

Afterwards we sat down inside their winery and tried some wines.

This was paired with some cheese, charcuterie, and their own olive oil.

Driving Through Rioja

The rioja region is stunning and so, so vast and spacious.

There were so many times when I just wanted to point my camera out the window (during the drive) to capture the incredible scenery all around us.

Second Stop: District Station

Our next step was District Station (El Barrio de la Estación), an area where several really well known wineries (like Muga, Roda, Alta, Gomez Cruzado) are clustered together. It's a great way to taste a lot of Rioja's "greats" without traveling to far.

Roda

We stopped by Roda for a tasting of a couple of their wines.

We had chance to venture down into their cool and dark wine cave, sipping on wine via candle light.

Viña Tondonia

Our third stop was Viña Tondonia, right in the center of District Station. I loved the flask shaped building, modern architecture juxtaposed with the surrounding traditional stone buildings. The door to these buildings is typically closed, but we were lucky enough to see an open door the day we visited!

We ventured inside to see some cool, very old wine-making equipment.

Inside the flask-shaped building, we saw a really cool library of really old vintages.

Finally, we got a bottle and enjoyed some charcuterie and a bottle of Viña Tondonia as our afternoon "snack."

Next up: Part II of the wine tour!

July 24, 2024 Bilbao

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (Game of Thrones) - Spain

San Juan Gaztelugatxe Bilbao Spain — *San Juan de Gaztelugatxe*

Even if you're not a Game of Thrones fan (being a non-TV watcher, by definition that includes me), San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is so worth the visit. This beautiful "rock" is "Dragonstone" from Season 7 of Game of Thrones. In Basque, the words "gaztelu" and "atx" mean "castle" and "rock", respectively.

Only a 45 minute drive from Bilbao (in the town of Bermeo), this majestic stone islet with its medieval walkway and church on top is a stunning place to hike. The hike takes 1-2 hours, so the whole outing can be easily finished in half a day. We left around 4PM and had plenty of time to get back into the city for a late dinner (mind you, Spanish restaurants don't even open until 8PM at the earliest).

To protect the area and for general crowd control measures, they do limit the number of people that can go each day, especially during peak times (e.g., weekends or during the summer). The tickets are free, but you must pre-book if you go during a high peak time. Here is the link to the official website to book a spot.

Because we were there during the off-season, thankfully we didn't have to book if we went during the weekdays. I was thankful, because the weekends were fully booked for weeks on end!

Despite rain all morning long, I was thrilled when the sun started to come out *right* when we started hiking!

You can't drive all the way to the island, so you'll have to hike across this natural land bridge to arrive at the stone on the other side.

Once you arrive, climb these stairs up to the top! Definitely take your time to enjoy the breathtaking landscape, take photos, and savor the moment. Don't forget too look behind you, where the scene may even be more stunning!

Almost to the top!

The top is a church (hermitage) dedicated to John the Baptist. It is said that John the Baptist visited Gaztelugatxe after landing at the port in Bermeo.

The building is usually closed, and only used a few times a year to celebrate mass.

We definitely took our time at the top to enjoy the views, take photos, and contemplate.

Still blown away by the blue skies!

There are 241 steps in total to reach the top of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. This is the only way you get can there.

Fascinating how the sea is different colors on the two sides!

Back near the parking lot, there is a restaurant where you can grab a bite, or at least a drink, if need be. They also have restrooms (which was much needed after so many hours!).

I definitely recommend trying to come to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe if you have time while in Bilbao. It's really such a special place!

Bilbao Posts from this Trip!
All Spain Posts
San Sebastian
El Cellar de Can Roca - Best Restaurant in the World

July 21, 2024 Bilbao

Extanobe Atelier Bilbao Spain

If you're staying in Bilbao and you don't feel like driving out really far for dinner, consider eating at Extanobe Atelier, which is right in Bilbao's city center. Chef Fernando Canales (a true local, born in Bilbao) is the executive chef at Extanobe Atelier.

The restaurant focuses on seafood, particularly fish (which I love).

There are two Extanobe restaurants that are located side by side. Atelier is the higher end one, (1 Michelin star), while The Shelf is the more "casual haute cuisine."

There are several different types of tasting menus (they call them "experiences", which you can book beforehand. We went with the Chef Atelier Menu Experience (130 EUROS).

Appetizers

We begin with an unusual start: a glass container shaped like a fish head sits in front of us. They say it's a hake's head, and it's their favorite fish, which they call "the bride of the Basques." The server removes the top portion to reveal a "treasure" inside called the "kokotxa", a jewel cooked on the grill and seasoned with garlic and chili. It is a single bite of what seems a bit like lightly breaded and deep fried fish.

Four our second appetizer (right), a lobster carpaccio with a bacon vinaigrette.

The Tasting Menu Begins

For the next course, Chef comes out to sear our dish table-side.

A Few Meat Courses

Desserts

The next course is simply called "Carrot, Ginger, Tonka bean and Lime" on the menu, plus words that peaked our interest . . . "you will see it at your table."

Finally our last dessert is the most memorable. They bring over VR glasses (!) for us to watch while enjoying our last bite.

General Thoughts: Extanobe Atelier Bilbao Spain

All in all, we had a really enjoyable meal at Extanobe Atelier. The quality of the food was enjoyable, and there were definitely some standout dishes. The creativity is there, and I certainly wasn't expecting the VR course. I very much enjoy the seafood focus. Overall, I would be happy to recommend this to others.

Extanobe Atelier Bilbao Spain
Calle Juan Ajuriaguerra,8
48009 Bilbao. Vizcaya.

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July 18, 2024 Bilbao

Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao Spain

The Guggenheim in Bilbao is a beautiful museum full of rotating exhibitions and a strong permanent collection. A visit here will take at least half a day, so it’s nice to be able to walk just a few steps to dine at a 1-Michelin star restaurant right "on campus".

"Muina”, Basque for core, heart or essence, is the soul of our kitchen”. Head chef Josean Alija utilizes local ingredients (their own garden, the sea, and area farms), together with his creativity to build dishes that are decidedly Spanish but with a modern twist.

We wanted to experience the “soul” of this kitchen, so we went ahead and ordered the Muina tasting menu (92€). Wine Pairing was 38€, or Non-Alcoholic Pairing for 25€. The whole table had to get the tasting.

We had unique countertop seats. Interestingly, we were the only three people seated at the counter. The rest of the diners were at tables in another room. In someways, it was special to watch the kitchen, while at the same time it felt a bit isolating to not see other dining guests.

Our view!

Muina Tasting Menu

Amuse bouche, starting small bites.

It waw silky, soft, and delicious. Familiar flavors, but very different textures!

We enjoyed this course with a rioja.

'BONITO' TUNA | roasted tomato juice and pickled shallot.

General Thoughts - Nerua Guggenheim

Nerua holds its own in this area surrounded by delicious food. Their approach matches the Guggenheim, with their creative, artistic take on local Spanish dishes. Especially if you are short on time, you can't really find a place more conveniently located if you're planning on visiting the Guggenheim anyway (which you totally should!).

Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao Spain
GUGGENHEIM BILBAO MUSEOA
Av. Abandoibarra, 2. 48001 Bilbao

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July 15, 2024 Bilbao

Pintxos Hopping in Bilbao, Spain

Visiting multiple pintxos bars is a must-do when visiting the Basque region of Spain. Pintxos are small bites served at bars around the city. These bites often include a piece of bread (but not always). The term "pintxos" refers to a "spike" (usually a toothpick), that is "speared" through the food to hold it together.

Most places already have plates of premade pintxos at the bar, displayed for people to see. At many places, getting those pintxos just involved moving your way through the crowd to the front where you fill up your plate with pintxos and then pay before bringing them back to your table.

Plaza Nueva

Plaza Nueva is a beautiful square full of pintxos bars. It's definitely worth visiting (just to feel the vibe!) regardless of whether you want to eat or not. You could just come here alone and have the opportunity to sample plenty of places. We tried two places in the plaza for lunch: Cafe Bilbao and Charly.

Bar Charly

This pintxos bar has been around since 1973. We came here first and tried a jamon sandwich, a tortilla (Spanish omelette) topped with tuna/mayo salad, and a tuna + bread pintxo.

In retrospec, I kind of got mayo overload from what I ordered. I typically love tuna salad (tuna + mayo), and everything looked so good I couldn't help but just get all the tuna + mayo pintxos. They were pretty tasty, but it was a bit too repetitive (totally my fault, since we all choose our own pintxos, right?).

Cafe Bilbao

At Cafe Bilbao we tried to order a wider variety of bites, which worked out quite nicely. It's lovely to sit outdoors in the plaza while enjoying the pintxos.

El Globo

I had read really good reviews about El Globo, which was hailed as being a bit more international since they incorporated global flavors into their pinxtos (hence the name).

I came by here by myself during the weekday when Bryan was busy with his work stuff. It's always harder when I go alone, since I can't try as many pinxtos. Still, I concur that the pinxtos at El Globo are really tasty!

That Place Around the Corner from Our Hotel

Our first stop. Alas, I don't know the name of this place! A colleague of Bryan's had picked it out, and we were so hungry I didn't even pay attention and just started ordering!

All I can say is that it was only like a five minute walk from our hotel, Hotel Carlton, which is pretty much in the city center.

This restaurant was certainly very traditional and had a number of pinxtos at the bar. We went with favorite classics, such as jamon sanwiches, tortilla, croquetas, olives, and the like.

The pinxto pictured on the left is supposedly one of the most famous and popular pinxtos in Bilbao. Called "Gilda", is is named after a "strong and spicy" female character from a film with the same name. The pinxto consists of an olive, pickled chili pepper, and an anchovy.

All in all, you can't go too wrong at a pinxtos bar. You can order with you eyes (most pinxtos are made beforehand and already displayed). There's no pressure to get a lot of food, so go ahead and just order one or two pinxtos, and hop onto the next place!

July 12, 2024 Bilbao

Restaurante Mina Bilbao Spain

Located opposite the Ribera Market right on the river is Restaurante Mina. Mina serves farm-to-table innovative dishes with a focus on sustainability.

Bryan found Mina in the Michelin Guide when looking for a good place to take his colleagues the first night after arriving in Bilbao. Mina was perfect. It's location is pretty much in the center of town (walkable from our hotel!). The food is seasonal, creative, and delicious.

Chef Álvaro Garrido emphasizes local and seasonal ingredients as a core tenet of the restaurant. They think the tasting menu is the only way to really experience what the restaurant offers.

If you have time before dinner, it's beautiful to walk along the river and explore this side of Bilbao. You can also cross the bridge and visit Ribera Market (though please note the fresh produce market closes at 3PM, though the restaurants are still open).

Dining at Mina

Upon entering Mina, you'll notice it's not a big restaurant. In fact, they only take a maximum of 25 guests per evening. There are a handful of tables, and then eight seats at the kitchen counter (where you can watch all the action!)

There are two tasting menus: 10 courses for 130 EUROS and 14 courses for 160 EUROS. Wine pairings are 60 EUROS or 80 EUROS, respectively. We went with the 14-course tasting.

14-Course Tasting Menu

Tomato + perillo leaf

On the left, Carranzana sheep cheese with ginger and melon. On the right, bonito with dashi stew and codium emulsion.

Black garlic and mushroom infusion

Pickled Guillardeau oyster

Txangurro and salt-cured egg yolk soup

Scallop cured in kombu seaweed and pork skin stew

Hello caviar!

And a mysterious onion shaped bowl?

Purple onion royale from Zalla

Aubergine (eggplant) confit with red tea and white prawn

Flambeed red mullet with rebozuelos stew

Trout pastrami with citric butter sauce and roe

Cod kokotxas with a cockle juice

Charcoal-grilled deer sirloin served with spiced emulsion

Palate cleanser simply called "The sea."

Hazelnut, smoked butter and spicy chocolate

Mignardises

Restaurante Mina - General Thoughts

It was a really lovely dinner. The cozy, intimate ambiance helped us relax after a long day of travel. One diner who was supposed to be there had missed her flight (and the dinner). Everyone kept saying how she really missed out.

To get a better, more "live" sense of the restaurant, watch this short video I made of our dinner at Mina.

Date this meal was enjoyed: September 15, 2023

Restaurante Mina Bilbao Spain
Muelle Marzana
48003 Bilbao
(+34) 944 795 938

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July 9, 2024 Bilbao

Bilbao Spain: Guggenheim

The Guggenheim in Bilbao is probably the most famous attraction in the city, and it's definitely worth seeing. The stunning architecture is worth the visit alone, and the ever-changing collections are good too.

To control numbers, they do sell tickets for various time slots. To ensure you are able to visit when you want to, I recommend booking your tickets in advance straight from their website.

Bilbao is a small, walkable city (which I love!). Our hotel was only a 10-15 walk away from the Guggenheim. We booked 11:30AM tickets on a Sunday morning, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy a relaxing brunch at the hotel breakfast buffet (yum, jamon iberico!). We pretty much gave ourselves the whole afternoon to enjoy the museum at our leisure.

Upon arriving, the first thing you'll see is this massive dog statue made out of fresh flowers (!).

It's still a bit of a walk down these stairs before you get to the entrance.

Right when you walk in, it's hard not to be awed by architecture.

I just couldn't stop taking photos.

The Matter of Time

Walk inside a life-size exhibit, called "The Matter of Time" by Richard Serra. Through the different structures you can experience different senses of perception, time, and space.

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now

While we were there, there was a special "Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now" exhibit going on there. It's a fantastic exhibit. Even though I'd already seen it in Hong Kong, I still enjoyed seeing it a second time here.

The entire place was decorated with her signature polka dots.

Many of these pieces we actually saw at the Hong Kong version of the same exhibit!

This mirror display was different than the Hong Kong version, which was only in black and white and involved a lot of black & white polka dots.

Walk or Jog at the Guggenheim

The area around the Guggenheim is just really pleasant. If you have time, you can walk along the river, cross the bridge, and look back at the Guggenheim from a further vantage point. During my week long stay, I loved jogging along the river on this path.

We even joined an early morning jogging group and saw the sunrise while running along the river!

Nerua Restaurant

There is a 1-Michelin restaurant called Nerua that is attached to the Guggenheim. The food there was quite good, and we loved the convenience of the location. Here is the full post on our meal there.

The Guggenheim itself is a stunning piece of art, and it's also filled with even more great art. Exhibitions rotate in and out, so definitely check the website to find out what's currently being exhibited.

Guggenheim Bilbao Spain
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Tickets

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July 9, 2024 Bilbao

Bilbao Spain: The Old Town (Casco Viejo), Mercado de La Ribera, and Los Fueros

Casco Viejo Bilbao Spain — Casco Viejo in Bilbao Spain

Hello Bilbao! We'll begin a new series covering my trip to Bilbao, Spain in September 2023. During that time, Bryan had a weeklong conference in this beautiful city. Even though I had technically been here before (yes, we flew in just to rent a car to drive straight to San Sebastian), this was essentially my first time getting to know the city. I was so thankful to have a whole week to explore this lovely city.

If you only have two days in Bilbao, you should definitely visit the top attraction (the Guggenheim) and spend a day exploring the old town (Casco Viejo). The old town is filled with beautiful little alleyways, bridges, and little neighborhoods you can explore.

Casco Viejo

The old town is next to a river, and there are different bridges you can cross. The views are really nice no matter which side you are on.

La Ribera Market

Once you cross the bridge, you can visit La Ribera, a fun foodie market where they sell fresh meat, vegetables, and all sorts of other food.

Frankly speaking, if you've been to the markets in Barcelona, Valencia, or other bigger cities, this one may be a bit of a let down. Still, we enjoyed exploring a bit.

This market also closes at 3PM, so make sure to go early in the day. The first time we went, we stopped by at 4PM and everything was closed (except for the bar/restaurant in the same building).

We bought a lot of jamon iberico here, and found the prices at the market to be cheaper than going to the fancy department store El Corte Inglés.

Check out this amazing variety of olives!

Los Fueros Bilbao

On our last day in Bilbao, we explored the old town (Casco Viejo) and finished off the night by dining at Los Fueros, one of the most famous restaurants in the old town. Open since 1878 (!), this restaurant offers a large variety of local Basque dishes to try. It also has a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide. Every one says to get the prawns (which we didn't get!). I do kind of regret that, even though all the food we ordered was excellent.

Breaded and deep fried chili peppers.

The most beautiful jamon Iberico de bellota, servied with delicious bread crisps.

This heirloom tomato salad, tossed with their "Casco Viejo" dressing, red onions, and pecorino, was delicious.

Duck cured in "Cantabrian salt" and corn meal

Russian Salad

Beautifully seared pork chop.

We loved how it was medium rare inside!

For dessert, we had this unusual cookie-topped cheese cake. Though I was pretty full, I ended up eating a lot more than I had planned!

All in all, it was a fun restaurant, with great Basque food and a fantastic location.

Stay tuned for many, many more posts from the Bilbao trip, including some day excursions that we took!

June 29, 2024 Chaozhou

A Weekend in Chaozhou China - Day 2

Breakfast: Chaozhou-style Rice Rolls (Changfen 腸粉)

Day two! We got up bright and early because we wanted to catch a traditional Chaozhou breakfast before heading out for the day. We stopped by a traditional breakfast stand close to the Ancient Bridge to eat Chaozhou style rice rolls!

It’s fascinating to watch them make the rice rolls.

The rice roll master pours a super thin layer of rice water paste onto a metal steamer box full of layers of drawers. Toppings (e.g., pork, beef, egg) are added on top, and then the rice roll master rolls up the paper-thin rice sheet into a scroll. Each one is made-to-order, and it’s fascinating to watch a rice roll master keep track of all the different orders.

A Chaozhou style rice roll importantly is served with a mixture of sesame paste and soy sauce. It’s delicious, and so fun to see them make it one at a time.

Like every good Chaozhou meal, we also ordered a clear soup to balance out our saucy rice rolls. I chose the fish ball + bean sprout soup, which was clean and flavorful, with fried shallots and celery notes. Our local friends ordered the pork + pig’s blood (cubes) soup. The pig's blood actually looks like dark red tofu chunks, and taste more like tofu than anything else. I tasted a tiny bit of their soup, and it definitely had a stronger, deeper flavor. I preferred the fish ball soup since it was lighter overall.

Qipan Ecological Tea Garden in Fenghuang Mountain Area
棋盘生态茶园 (鳳凰山）

Our next step was in the Fenghuang Mountain Area, which is outside the city. It certainly feels a lot more remote in these parts. Our destination was the Qipan Ecological Tea Garden, which was about an hour's drive up the mountain from the city center. The roads are a bit windy, so you definitely want an experienced driver.

This Tea Garden has been preserved by the government and set up as a place for tourists to come visit and learn about different types of tea.

There are signs describing the different types of tea that come from different types of tea leaves. We got to smell them, and even took some home.

After walking around the garden area, we entered a little tea house where a tea master served us some of their tea. The tea served in Chaozhou is called "Gongfu" tea 功夫茶 (or "kung-fu"), which literally means "making tea with skill."

This particular style of tea brewing, which arose during the Song dynasty in Chaozhou, does indeed take a lot of skill. The tea master needs to manage the water temperature, steeping time, and when and how to pour the "shots." The tea cups and teapot for gongfu tea are tiny, because you're not supposed to steep it for very long. The tea master continue to brew very small portions, pouring them out quickly as people's cups empty.

It was a fascinating experience, not only to watch the tea master's actions, but also to taste several different types of tea leaves!

There's a pretty walkway that allows you to walk amongst different types of tea plants. Near the tea house, we even saw them making some chicken congee on coal-fire pots!

Chaozhou Lunch

After a morning filled with mountains, tea leaves, and tea, we were hungry and decided we didn't want to drive another hour down into the town to eat lunch. Instead, we went to one of the most popular restaurants in the village near the tea plantations (Fenghuang Mountain area鳳凰山).

You could pick your seafood from a number of tanks, and then they would cook it.

The food was really, really good. Freshly made tofu, locally harvested bamboo, free range wild chicken, fresh seafood, and more.

A Bit of Shopping . . .

Our friend likes to purchase the free range chickens (土雞) directly from the farm here in the Fenghuang Mountain area.

Her mom requests them because these chickens have so much more chicken flavor than supermarket chickens. The price is reasonable, about USD$5 a pound.

Hulong Old Village

On our way back to the city center, we first stopped by an ancient village called Longhu. This village has been around for over 1000 years, built during the Song Dynasty.

It's a small village, with one main road filled with vendors selling locally made snacks, drinks, crafts, and more.

We were actually needing our caffeine fix by then, and stumbled upon a lovely coffee shop situated inside one of these restored ancient buildings. One of the owners happened to be there, and began telling us about the building itself.

This man was actually from Shenzhen, but several years ago co-invested in this location to open up a coffee shop. He preferred the pace of life in this village compared to the hustle and bustle of Shenzhen. He later gave us a private tour of the entire space, which was a fascinating look back into history. It included Mao-era slogans and art painted on the inner walls of the building. The coffee was also quite tasty, and we enjoyed just chilling for an hour or so in this very cozy and comfortable coffee house.

Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot

Chaozhou people LOVE beef. There’s a saying “there’s never been a cow who has left Chaozhou alive.” In Chaozhou they are quite particular about the different cuts of beef. The cuts are different from US cuts of beef, so it takes a bit of studying to understand exactly what part you’re eating.

A typical beef hot pot involves many trays of thinly sliced beef from all different parts of the animal. We also had some intestines, tongue, beef fat, tripe, various cuts of meat, and vegetables.

The beef balls are also really special (you can see them floating in the photo above). These balls are made with hand chopped beef and beaten by hand until they cook up to a very al dente "Q" texture.

We rushed off to the train station to catch the high speed rail back to Hong Kong. Thankfully, the beef hot pot restaurant was right across the street from the train station (which is like an hour from the city center!). Our trip across the street still took like 15 minutes with traffic (!).

Good-by Chaozhou. What a lovely visit to a lesser-known, off-the-beaten path city. It was lovely to enjoy a city with a slower rhythm of life, a deep sense of history and culture, as well as really fantastic food!

Weekend Trip to Chaozhou Day 1
Revisiting Xiamen & Xiamen Street Food Crawl
China Posts (Category)
Yunnan China (Kunming, Jianshui, Xihuangbanna)

June 26, 2024 Chaozhou

Weekend Trip to Chaozhou China - Day 1

It amazes me that I had never heard of “Chiu Chow” Chaozhou 潮州 food before moving to Hong Kong. The cuisine is super popular in Hong Kong (including several in the Michelin Guide), and most people recognize it as a “foodie” cuisine. When I told friends I went to Chiu Chow over the weekend, the first response I’d get would be “oh, the food’s really good there.”

In Hong Kong, certain “classic” Chiu Chow dishes frequently appear on restaurant menus, such as braised goose 卤水鹅 and oyster pancake 蛤仔煎. In some ways I thought I was pretty familiar with the cuisine. However, this trip opened my eyes up to another side of Chiu Chow cuisine. How? Local friends who grew up in the city (and whose families still live there!) took us on a unique and very personalized tour of the city.

Here’s a recap of what we did during our two days in Chaozhou!

DAY 1

Jieyang Handmade Dry Noodles 揭阳手工擀面

揭阳 Jieyang is a neighboring city that is known for its own special type of handmade noodle. Our friend’s cousin married a man from this neighboring town, and the couple opened up a popular noodle shop specializing in Jieyang style noodles. They “import” (it’s a 30 minute drive) the fresh noodles from Jieyang every morning and prepare everything else themselves.

Chaozhou people always eat dry sauce noodles “paired” with a bowl of clear soup. They find that the soup provides balance, a light, “cleansing” counterpoint to the saucy noodles. This was fantastic, and at US$3 a bowl, truly a steal.

All the ingredients are made from scratch. Pork fat is the secret ingredient in the sauce for the noodles, giving the noodles a wonderfully fragrant and rich flavor profile.

The handmade noodles are perfectly “Q” (al dente), and the seafood soup is refreshing and a much needed balance to the heavier, rich noodles.

Guangji Bridge + the Old City

Traveling in the spring has its risks. After our lovely (outdoor!) lunch, the weather took a rapid turn for the worse and we found ourselves stuck on Chaozhou’s most famous bridge in the midst of a torrential rain storm.

Yes, we were soaked. Yes, the bridge was jam packed with unprepared tourists on one of China’s biggest holidays.

But we had a good laugh and still enjoyed ourselves. We certainly have unique photos and videos from the freak storm.

This bridge has very beautiful architecture and a deep history dating back to the Song Dynasty (1170 A.D.). Its most interesting feature is how it doesn’t go all the way across. A portion is left open to allow large boats to cross at night. During the day, a series of canoes are laid out as a temporary bridge. It’s a fun (touristy) act to walk across the bridge.

Once you cross the bridge, you come upon the Ancient City Wall and the Old City.

Take a walk down Chaozhou Arch Street, where different arches honor different civil servants who got high scores on their exams.

There’s a very popular street for trying all sorts of Chaozhou street snacks.

Here are some that we tried:

Yougan Citrus Juice 油干汁

This small, tart citrus fruit (yougan) does not exist in the US, but is common in Southern China, especially in Chaozhou. The locals use it to make a very interesting tart drink that has a bitter, sour, and dry initial taste but transforms into a slightly sweet aftertaste. It grew on me, and after some time, I learned to like it (and even bought more the next day).

Char Kway Teow 炒粿條

Ahhh! This was one of my favorites bites: rice flour cubes (that reminded me of turnip cakes) stir fried with eggs and scallions.

It’s so simple, but the wok hei (fire) together with some simple seasoning made this dish hard to resist. I kept going for the pieces with the most crispy edges (yum!).

Sugar-coated Taro

I’ve actually had this dish before in Hong Kong, but it’s harder and harder to find. From the outside it simply looks like long rectangular pieces of big taro root coated (unevenly) in sugar. However, the method of making this dish is very labor-intensive, a process involving a wok, sugar, taro blocks, and lots of time and patience.

Aged Buddha’s Hand Fruit

Buddha’s Hand is a citrus that looks a bit like a hand. In Chaozhou they age it for years (the more years, the better). The resultant black, chewy mass is intensely flavorful and can be used in all sorts of applications. Storekeepers are happy to let you try a sample, giving you the opportunity to taste the nuanced differences that come with different years of aging. I was surprised that I enjoyed it, and almost bought some to take back with me.

枫春白粥 - Feng Chun Congee Restaurant

Chaozhou people are night owls and love hanging out at night. There’s a culture of eating 宵夜 (midnight snack) with friends on a regular basis. These types of restaurants don’t open until 10PM, and go on deep into the night.

Go inside, pick your dishes (it’s a huge selection), grab a table and sit down on the plastic stools. Chat the night away with your friends while munching on delicious (and cheap!) food such as carp skin, boiled squid, preserved turnip omelet, and chili marinated raw seafood (!).

Have you ever had carp skin? It's quite good! We had all sorts of interesting bites.

The place we went to is a super popular spot, and actually doesn't even OPEN until 10PM. It was mobbed around 11PM when we went.

We started our "late night meal" around 10PM, and called it a night close to midnight. Wow, these Chaozhou people have a lot of energy! I was a bit squeamish about eating the raw shrimp and raw clams (even the locals said not to eat too many of them since you might get a stomachache . . . ). I did love the carp skin, baby clams, congee, and more.

Next up: Day 2 in Chaozhou, China!

June 24, 2024 China

Revisiting Xiamen + Xiamen Street Food Crawl

Time flies. It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since we serendipitously “found” Bryan’s ancestral home in an urban village in Xiamen. A LOT has happened in between. In fact, the reason we went back out to Xiamen again this time was to see Bryan’s granduncle. Granduncle Carl used to go back to Xiamen every year. The pandemic brought all that travel to a halt. In a blink of an eye, 5 years have passed and Granduncle Carl is 88 years old.

Recently Granduncle struggled with some health issues, and thus wasn’t sure if he could handle the long flight from the US (where he lives). However, he really, really wanted to go, this being perhaps his final trip. When we saw him last Christmas in the US, we promised that we would go if he made the long trip.

Amazing, through the Lord’s provision, Granduncle Carl’s health and strength improved, and he managed to make the long trip over to Xiamen. No matter what, we knew we had to prioritize this trip out to see him together with the extended family.

Stories

We visited the ancient Che family home a second time. This time, it was a younger relative, Cousin Ling (our generation) that took us out to the village to see the home. Though it had been 6 years since our last visit, the house pretty much looked unchanged. The teenage kid who lived there is now in his 20’s (and still lives there).

Ling grew up in the house, and he started to tell us stories about how many generations of relatives were crammed into that house at one time. Every single person wanted desperately to get out of that house soon as they could. As each family member made enough money to move out, they did. Until only one family remained.

This was indeed the trip where we heard stories. Loads of stories from relatives we’d never met before from Bryan’s dad’s side of the family. A long lost aunt who was given away when she was a baby. A certain neighbor who supposedly had a crush on one of Bryan's aunts, 60 years ago. An uncle who changed his last name to Che since he lived in the house. How historical events pulled the family apart, and the miracles that led to them finding each other and reuniting after decades apart.

XIAMEN FOOD - FAMILY STYLE

We shared about the amazing feast our relatives cooked for us the last time we arrived. This time, five years later, it was like a reenactment of that meal. We learned that Granduncle’s FAVORITE dish is the Che family egg dumplings.

These dumplings are a labor of love. First, each egg wrapper is cooked one at a time in a wok over a small flame. Second, the fillings consist of hand-chopped ground meat (“machine ground meat does not have the right texture”) as well as hand peeled and chopped fresh water chestnuts. Each dumpling is wrapped on the wok after the super thin egg wrapper is formed over low heat. We can’t even imagine how long it took to make the 20+ egg dumplings that were on the table. Bryan said “I ate at least 4 myself . . .”

Another memorable dish was the homemade oyster omelettes, Xiamen-style. I'm used to seeing pan fried versions, but the Che family in Xiamen deep fries them! They were delicious, and I ate several!

Xiamen Street Food Crawl

Throughout the first couple days of our trip, we had multiple large, family-style banquets when eating with the extended relatives. Most of these meals consisted of many different types of seafood. After all, Xiamen is an island, so seafood is king here.

On our last day, Cousin Ling told us "I want to take you on a Xiamen street food crawl. We'll visit all the best places near the old home." Cousin Ling grew up in that old house, so he knew the neighborhood well.

I was so excited! After 3 straight meals of seafood banquets, I was ready for a change of pace. Something simpler and more casual. Getting the super local street experience from a local sounded perfect!

First Stop: Fuzhou Style Fishball Soup + Taro Dumplings

Taro dumplings (they call them “baos” 芋頭包) remind me of Taiwanese bawan in that the filling is pork, bamboo shoots, etc. but the outside is made with taro and sweet potato flour, instead of just potato flour. It was sooo delicious! What a unique dish. Everything is handmade from scratch, including the satay chili sauce.

Second Stop: Noodles + Soup

3rd Stop: Dry Tossed Sesame Noodles

4th Stop: Lumpia / Popiah / Fresh Xiamen Style Spring Rolls

Last Stop: Where the Locals Eat (Offal + Local Catch)

It was SUCH a fun food crawl. We also enjoyed getting to know Cousin Ling a little more (this was our first time ever meeting!). He shared stories with us about what it was like growing up in Xiamen.

Here's a video I made about the street food crawl:

June 21, 2024 Japan

Sushi Suzuki Tokyo

I’ve loved things associated with Japan for as long as I remember - whether it be Sanrio characters (hello Keroppi!) and Totoro when I was young*, or deciding to study Japanese language when I went to university - I’ve always been drawn to Japan.

That also includes Japanese food, which is woven through Taiwanese cuisine due to their tightly tied history.

However, Bryan was not the same way, and actually didn’t really like Japanese food when we first met. His only exception was sushi, and only the very best sushi.

When he started traveling to Japan more frequently for work (starting around 2008), I would tag along on these trips. Each trip, due to his narrow dining preferences, we’d mostly visit famous sushi restaurants. It was a crazy time, dining at Sukiyabashi Jiro, Sushi Mizutani, Sushi Sawada, and other “greats”. However, we only occasionally tried other cuisines, mostly noodles (Bryan loves noodles), and maybe an occasional kaiseki.

Since Moving to Asia . . .

In more recent years, Bryan’s palate has broadened a lot. He can actually enjoy curries and coconut milk (something he used to HATE), and he’s more open to a wider variety of Japanese food. This is why our trips (and this blog’s content!) have expanded to include all sorts food types, such as tempura, tonkatsu, yakitori, ramen, soba, udon, kaiseki, shabu shabu, tofuya, sukiyaki, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, teppanyaki, . . and even wackier things like a hedgehog cafe, maid cafe, dog cafe, and more.

But we still love sushi. And ever since Hong Kong banned seafood from 10 prefectures (including Tokyo) due to Fukushima wastewater issues, it’s hard to know what we can get in Hong Kong now.

So this trip, I decided not to consult the Michelin guide. Instead, I went to Tabelog, the go-to reference that Japanese people use. Japanese diners are particularly tough critics, and scores on Tabelog tend to be a bit lower than those on sites like Yelp, Google, Travelocity, OpenRice, and Dianping.

This is all a very, very long prelude to explaining how I came upon Sushi Suzuki. This restaurant is rated very, very highly on Tabelog. Based on that alone (and availability during the Easter weekend), I decided to book it and give it a try.

It was our only sushi meal the entire trip!

Then & Now

Suzuki-san opened his own shop in 2015, after working for 12 years at Sushi Aoki. In fact, when I went back to my Sushi Aoki photos (from our visit in 2013), I was tickled to see photos of him. I guess he served us 11 years ago!!

His own shop is a tiny operation. It appears to be run by just Suzuki-san and his wife. Perhaps there are hidden apprentices in the back? We couldn’t tell.

Omakase Sushi Dinner at Sushi Suzuki

We entered a small, windowless, blond wood paneled room on the 5th floor of an office building in Ginza (very, very typical). Suzuki-San greeted us with a friendly smile and asked us what we wanted to drink.

His wife took our coats and attended to our drinks while Suzuki-San began preparing the food.

The restaurant only has 8 counter seats. The night we went, there were only two Japanese speakers (a man and a woman, both solo diners). They sat near the middle (near Suzuki-san), presumably because he would be able to chat with them. As it turns out, he chatted mostly with the Japanese lady. The Japanese guy was on his phone most of the night. From time to time, chef Suzuki would try to interact with us and the other foreign visitors. We didn't find out until later, but the other three diners were also from Hong Kong!

It turned out to be a really great and interesting meal! Suzuki-san definitely threw some unusual surprises into the mix. It may not be for everyone (you‘ll see why).

Small Appetizers

Next was Katana (or tachi-uo), a Japanese samurai sword fish that swims vertically. Apparently it swims with its head up while it is "hunting", and when it finds prey will "strike out" and catch its dinner. Chef Suzuki pulled up some photos to show us how the fish swim. It's so interesting!

The fish was amazing, so incredibly tender and really, really delicious.

Next course included steamed squid (filled with roe) and abalone + liver sauce. Both were very good.

Some unusual "exotic" dishes

My mouth almost dropped when he told us what the next dish was: fugu shirako plus rice.

Hold on, wait . . . shirako is the male gonad of a fish, right? I can eat it, but I’ve never been a huge fan. But fugu is the puffer fish, the potentially poisonous “tingly” (numbing) fish that - if not prepared properly - could kill you.

”Mix the shirako with the rice.”

It felt like a Japanese, “Russian-roulette”, exotic version of a creamy risotto. I was a bit nervous, but what can you do? Honestly, it turned out OK, and I didn't even get a hint of the “numbing feeling” (which I think, means there really wasn’t any poison??).

It’s not our first time having fugu, but after not being that wow-ed by it the first time, I didn’t really plan on eating it again . . .

The exotic unusual dishes did not stop there.

Part II: Nigiri Sushi

Signature Tuna Trio

Next came the tasting of tuna: maguro, chutoro, and otoro (lean, medium-fatty, and fatty). All were very, very good.

Sake

We learned how to describe the sake we were drinking, which had an element of salinity: sweet + salty is “amai” + “shuopai ”. Shuoyu is soy sauce (ha!), so it makes sense.

Concluding Thoughts: Sushi Suzuki + this Japan Trip

It’s been close to 5 years since we’ve had high-end sushi in Japan (due to the pandemic). Not that we’ve been deprived of sushi (Sushi Shikon in Hong Kong is equal to the best in Japan). But it still felt like a homecoming of sorts to finally be back in Japan eating sushi like we used to in our early days traveling to Tokyo.

The quality of the food at Sushi Suzuki is excellent. You may try some more unusual pieces, which may not be for everyone. Of course it's better if you speak Japanese (he tried, but had a hard time communicating with us). He's certainly friendly. It made me wish I had worked harder to preserve my Japanese language skills from college. (perhaps it's not too late!)

This trip was special for other reasons. We were thrilled to catch good weather and the beginning of the cherry blossom season (which was super late this year - so glad we caught it!). We also had a chance to spend time with dear friends from the US, which was precious. Finally, the exchange rate between USD and JPY is ridiculously favorable right now, so we also went shopping!

Can’t wait until the next time I return!

Sushi Suzuki Tokyo
Japan, 〒104-0061 Tokyo
Chuo City, Ginza, 6 Chome−5−155F

*OK full confession, I still love all these Japanese characters

June 19, 2024 Japan

Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki - Kaiseki

The ask was high: Could I find a traditional Japanese restaurant that was family friendly, reasonably priced, had great food, nice ambiance, and convenient location? I was thrilled when I discovered Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki, a Japanese kaiseki place (with private rooms!) with a location right in the heart of Shinjuku.

Our plan was to visit Shinjuku Gyoen (my favorite cherry blossom viewing spot in Tokyo), so this restaurant's location was perfect, a convenient 7-minute walk away.

Shinjuku Hoshi no naru Ki Tokyo — *The first cherry blossoms we saw in Tokyo was when we came out of the subway in Shinjuku on the way to this restaurant!*

Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki is a Japanese kaiseki restaurant that focuses on nature and the seasons. They blend traditional and modern Japanese food concepts together into their kaiseki meals. Seasonality is key, and ingredients can come and go depending on what's available right now. During the springtime, there was a huge emphasis on flower.

The restaurant offers a variety of set menus. We pre-ordered the mid-level Kaiseki Hundred Flowers lunch set meal for JPY4400 (USD$28) per person. This seemed like a phenomenal deal, considering their dinners go upwards of JPY220,000 and more.

Private Rooms

Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki was particularly great for us because we had a slightly larger party (6 people), including two kids. Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki offered the option of multiple private rooms, which you can book. This is a great option if you have children, want a quiet space to talk, or just want to have some more private space to relax.

Booking the private room cost an additional charge of JPY5500 (US35), which I thought was reasonable considering the benefits of having such a room.

A few caveats to note: the cancellation policy is quite strict here. I had to pay for the entire meal up front. If I canceled within 3 days, I would lose my entire deposit. I guess they've been burned by enough tourists canceling at the last minute. Additionally, my hotel would not let me book anything within 6 hours of my arrival time (I guess people's delayed flights have caused other issues).

Thankfully, after we successfully arrived in Tokyo at 7AM (red-eye flight from Hong Kong!), our hotel allowed us to move our lunch booking a bit earlier.

Kaiseki Hundred Flowers Lunch

Warm Dish

Sashimi

Main Course

Dessert

General Thoughts about Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki

Overall, the food was pleasant, the service was excellent, and we really enjoyed a relaxing, unhurried lunch in our private room. The meal felt like a steal, likely bumped by the strong dollar and weak yen.

It was raining outside, so we really appreciated having the ability to enjoy being indoors, eating beautiful seasonal food while catching up with old friends. The kids loved it too, and commented multiple times on how much they loved the food.

For us, the timing could not have been better. The rain stopped, and the sun came out right after lunch! We quickly pack up all of our stuff and walked over to Shijuku Gyoen.

What a fantastic first day in Tokyo!

Shinjuku Hoshi No Naru Ki
Rainbow Village (Building) 9th Floor
3-5-4 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0022

June 16, 2024 Europe

La Scène Thélème - Paris

La Scene Theleme Paris France — *La Scène Thélème - Paris*

It was our first night in Paris. Bryan had arrived just a day earlier to do some meetings in another city. I arrived - jetlagged - and was just so thankful that he had already booked some places for us.

He said “I think La Scène Thélème is right up your alley. It’s French food by a Japanese chef.” We chuckled because we were both thinking of a common foodie “snob” friend. This person is extremely particular about fine dining, and the food he seeks out the most is French food by Japanese chefs.

I can see why. Japanese chefs possess an inherent Japanese ethos and obsession with quality ingredients and artistry. Combine that with the highest caliber of French technique, and you have a combination that's hard to beat.

La Scène Thélème - French Restaurant by a Japanese Chef

You can find this combination a lot in both Tokyo and Paris. At La Scène Thélème, Japanese chef Yoshitaka Takayanagi marries his extensive training in French technique together with inspiration and flavors from Japan. He has even partnered with a local farm (YASAI farm) to grow Japanese vegetables in France. This one Michelin-starred restaurant is a good value for its price, offering 5, 6, and 7 course tastings for €98, €124, and €149, respectively.

The restaurant also is attached to a theater, thus you have a chance to listen to a concert next door and enjoy the "scene."

The Tasting Menu

We began with pea chawanmushi with wasabi and yuzu, which was fantastic. I loved how light and fresh it was, truly showcasing the natural inherent flavors of the ingredients. This first course really reminded me of a Japanese kaiseki.

Next, a single scallop dressed with chive oil, pickled pearl onions, and a flavorful light broth was also excellent.

A white fish with yuzu and rice came next, served with shiso pesto and a beurre blanc sauce. This dish really had elements of French food (hello beurre blanc sauce!), while at the same time exploring "sushi" in the form of wild greens. The flavors were very nice, though we both agreed if the rice were not as soft (“mushy”) and more al dente (like sushi rice), it would be even better.

A single "sausage" with foie gras served with parsnip chips, black garlic, and a flavorful black truffle jus came with a twig, which they warned us not to eat!

Next, cereal encrusted veal sweetbreads was served alongside a few curly ribbons of ultra white tripe, hazelnut, vegetables, and jus.

Palate Cleanser + Dessert

Shiso lime sorbet, apple ribbon, and apple juice.

Lemon pavlova with white sesame ice cream.

Finally, a selection of mignardises including these cute little test tubes!

General Thoughts

Overall, it was a lovely meal where the food was prepared with care, precision, and artistry. The service was smooth. The environment was hushed, but not stuffy. Ingredients were excellent, and the fusion of Japan and France was done tastefully. I recommend this place!

La Scene Theleme Paris
18 Rue Troyon – 75O17 Paris
Tel : +33 1 77 37 60 99
[email protected]

June 13, 2024 Europe

Golden Poppy Paris by Dominique Crenn

Golden Poppy Dominique Crenn Paris France

Imagine this: a California restaurant in Paris, started by a three-Michelin-star French female chef renowned for her eponymous establishment in the US. That’s right, Dominique Crenn has returned to her native France and launched her first more casual dining venue in the heart of Paris: Golden Poppy.

What’s interesting is that this restaurant showcases Californian style and ingredients, complete with a charming rooftop garden and a spacious area for family gatherings. There's also a reasonably sized counter with plenty of counter seating, which is where we chose to sit to catch all the culinary action up close.

TL;DR - A Summary of Our Thoughts

We absolutely loved our experience here. Perhaps it’s because it was a Sunday evening and the restaurant wasn't as crowded. Our server was exceptionally warm and extremely knowledgeable about the menu.

We also relished the "theater" of observing the kitchen staff meticulously preparing various dishes.

Bryan remarked that it certainly brought back memories of America, evoking a sense of nostalgia for the type of "farm-to-table" creativity we find less frequently in Hong Kong. It's the emphasis on local, creatively crafted ingredients, with a menu that's constantly evolving.

Our Favorite Dishes

Cornbread "madeleines"

Oyster "special N° 2 Cadoret" with aguachile, parsnip milk, and oyster leaf (24 euros)

Citrus Kakigori (shaved ice), which was amazingly refreshing, yet also had a lovely balance from just a bit of cream.

The Food

Parker House rolls with condiments (21 euros) were highly recommended by our server, who claimed it as her favorite dish.

According to her, the French appreciate their bread, hence locals particularly enjoy this offering. While delicious, it was quite filling, and I might skip it next time to explore other dishes.

Gluten-Free Rice Noodles

Bryan was intrigued by the rice noodles with wakame seaweed butter and smoked trout roe (29 EUROS). The texture of the noodles was great, though I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the combination of butter sauce with rice noodles—a dish I typically associate with Asian cuisine.

I laud the efforts; it’s a great gluten-free option. Bryan loved it, and I must concede that the technique and execution was top notch.

We also ordered the "Whole Sea Bream, 'ikejime & dry-aged', with beetroot salad and condiments" (95 euros), a dish designed for sharing.

Dominique Crenn adopts a Japanese method of aging her fish, a practice somewhat at odds with traditional French culinary wisdom (which values fresh fish!).

The fresh salad plus an array of pickles reminded me of a Korean-style bo ssam.

Creating lettuce wraps was an ideal way to pair the robustly flavored grilled fish with the crisp lettuce, beets, and pickles.

It was delicious, though we were quite full by the end, perhaps due to ordering the equivalent of three entrées(!).

Dessert

We declined dessert (we were genuinely too full!), yet they still sent over a citrus kakigori, served with Japonese citron yuzu "ice cream" and cédrat confit (11 euros).

This (seemingly) simple dessert consisted of yuzu shaved ice topped with a rich whipped cream. It was refreshing light and a perfect way to end the meal. In fact, the dessert briefly transported me back to my Ohio childhood, reminding me of a slushie topped with soft-serve ice cream—a nostalgic yet elevated twist.

General Thoughts - Golden Poppy Dominique Crenn (Paris)

In conclusion, I can’t say enough nice things about this restaurant. I’ve never had the opportunity to dine at Dominique Crenn’s three Michelin star restaurant in California, but I can deeply sense her personal expression in these dishes, an innovative approach to combining California’s creative and bold style with Japanese artistry and precision, and (of course) lots of edible flowers.

The service was exceptional, and our server, a university student working part-time, was particularly warm, friendly, and made us feel exceptionally welcome.

I’d happily come back again if I’m ever in Paris, despite the fact that it’s not French food!

Golden Poppy Paris - Dominique Crenn
Hotel La Fantaisie
24 Rue Cadet, 75009
Paris, France

June 10, 2024 Europe

Restaurant Nosso Paris

On the outskirts of Paris in the 13th arrondisement sits a delightful Brazilian French restaurant, located in the midst of a number of startups in an incubation space.

I probably normally wouldn’t come out to the side of Paris, but a friend lives in the area and invited me to come out to dinner here.

It was really interesting to see this more “surburban” side of Paris. The buildings are more modern, the streets are wider, and in general it's is a lot more quiet and spacious. This neighborhood feels different from the traditional Parisian streets lined with old-school cafés and bakeries.

Brazilian-born chef Alessandra Montagne incorporates all different types of ingredients and flavors into the food at restaurant Nosso. South American influences certainly make the dishes more exciting.

In fact, when I first took a bite of the starter bread, I immediately exclaimed "this taste just like Brazilian cheese bread!” (Which, by the way, is called pão de queijo and which I absolutely love).

My friend immediately replied and said “this is a Brazilian restaurant!“

It’s true. There are some dishes that seem almost completely traditional Brazilian. Yet at the same time, there’s clearly French influence, whether it be the cooking technique, exquisite plating, or the ingredients.

The prices are very reasonable. We had the five course Discovery Menu, which cost 82€ and included 2 appetizers, a fish, meat, and dessert. There's also the seven course Tasting Menu, which costs 98€ and includes 2 appetizers, a fish, 2 meat dishes, and 2 desserts.

We got the 5-course Discovery Menu, which was the perfect amount of food.

I will say that the desserts are very, very sweet （especially for someone who has gotten used to Asian sweets). Still, the meal was fun and it’s a nice refreshing change from a typical French restaurant.

This restaurant is recommended by the Michelin Guide.

Nosso Restaurant Paris
22 promenade Claude Lévi-Strauss
Paris, 75013, France

June 7, 2024 Japan

Maisen Tonkatsu Tokyo - 2024

Tonkatsu is a breaded and deep fried pork cutlet, usually served with a thick, tangy sauce ("Tonkatsu sauce"), shredded cabbage, and miso soup. Inspired by European cuisine, it first appeared in the late 1800's in a Western-food restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo.

These days, Maisen in Tokyo is pretty universally acknowledged as one of the best tonkatsu houses in the city. Their signature dish is the kurobuta tonkatsu (literally "black pork," also known as Berkshire pork in the US). Kurobuta is known for its high fat content and intense, juicy flavor.

The original restaurant is uniquely situated inside a former World War II public bathhouse. In fact, the main dining room (pictured above) was once the changing room, complete with some of the original architectural details in the high ceilings.

There are many other locations around the city, but this original one is special because of the building itself.

Lines can be long, especially during peak hours. We actually arrived before opening and there was already a line trying to get into the first seating!

I highly recommend trying to black pork “rosu” (fattier cut) versus the “hire” (filet, leaner cut). The “rosu” is deliciously juicy, and the black pork is particularly flavorful.

We did notice that after the first wave of people sat down, there were actually still plenty of tables open. I guess we didn’t have to line up before opening!

I felt like trying something different, so I went with the “katsu-don”, which is a smaller pork cutlet over rice with egg. It was also delicious, and exactly the size I wanted (i.e. smaller).

Their sandwiches are fantastic, and if I were to go back again, that’s what I would order. You can also find these at many “depachikas” (underground supermarkets). They are a convenient lunch or snack, easy to eat and conveniently packaged for take-away.

We tried other snacks, like these mini sausages and potato wedges. They were fine, but they didn’t stand out the way their signature pork cutlet dishes stand out.

There are other more “boutique-y” and gourmet tonkatsu places in Tokyo. However, Maisen has many locations around the city, it's convenient, and the food is always very good.

Maisen
4-8-5 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo
Phone: 03/3470-0071

Related posts
First visit to Maisen
Second visit to Maisen (Most detailed post)
Japan's Underground Depachikas
Butagumi (tonkatsu restaurant)

June 4, 2024 Japan

Tawamarai Soba Restaurant in Tokyo

I was intrigued when I saw two Soba restaurants in the Michelin guide. Yes, I love, love, love soba, and it’s a type of noodle that is less commonly exported outside of Japan. I was certainly attracted to trying a Bib Gourmande (great value) restaurant while being able to enjoy one of my favorite noodles.

Despite numerous blog posts from diners describing different types of meals they had, our hotel told us that the restaurant had multiple strict requirements. We had to provide our credit card number. The cancellation policy was strict, and we would have to pay the entire amount if we canceled on the day of the reservation. Finally, our only option was the tasting menu (JPY9,900 per person). And they closed at 8:30PM, so we had to arrive early.

The Neighborhood: Outskirts of Shibuya

Tawamarai is located in a quiet neighborhood outside of Shibuya. Unlike the hustle and bustle of Shibuya (think: the world famous crosswalk), This part of Shibuya feels decidedly residential.

Inside the decor is simple. Wood is the theme, and the lighting is subtle. The overall atmosphere is quiet, though, there’s light conversation exclusively in Japanese. We felt like we were definitely eating in a very authentic space. It was pretty obvious we were the only foreigners.

As we looked around, we noticed that nobody else was eating this tasting menu. The man to the left of us just ordered a bowl of soba noodles, one appetizer, and a simple dessert. On the other hand, we sat for almost 2 hours, tasting through course after course of the restaurant's highlights.

The staff were very polite, and they were accommodating to foreigners. There was an English language drink menu, as well as a translated version of the tasting menu.

I had wanted to try the tofu (which I had heard was incredible). I was happy that it was part of the tasting menu. However, other parts of the tasting menu, I think I could have done without.

For example, the tasting of fishcakes and pickles was fine, but it did fill me up quite a bit.

The Soba

The star of the show was the soba, of course, and we were able to eat two different kinds. The first kind was a thinner cold noodle, presented with a dipping sauce. This is a pretty classic way of eating soba, and their version was excellent.

The noodles are made in-house, and you can tell. The texture is particularly chewy and has a bit of that rustic coarseness that comes with hand ground buckwheat.

Thin Soba with Cold Dipping Sauce

I loved how they provided instructions (in English) together with comic-strip style drawings to show us all how to properly eat the soba with the dipping sauce and the egg.

Thick Soba + Hot Soup

The second version was a thicker soba, which I find to be a bit more rare, served with a hot soup.

Both versions were really good, and we wished we had more soba (and perhaps less of some of the earlier courses).

Other "Relatives" of Soba + More

We did try some interesting variations on soba that I had personally never tried before. For example, there was a soba mash, which Bryan describes as tasting like “cream of wheat, the way my mom used to make it.”

What does he mean by this? When Bryan was young, his mom used to make him oatmeal with egg and soy sauce. Basically, it was savory oatmeal that is not unlike congee.

Here, the mashed soba was like grits or cream of wheat, but also served "savory style" with Japanese soy sauce and wasabi. It was really interesting, and pretty enjoyable.

Another interesting bite was the grilled miso, a mashed up "pancake" of soybean partially fermented. It was very salty, but had a lot of umami at the same time. It was interesting to try, though I’m not sure if I would order it on my own.

General Thoughts - Tawamarai Soba Restaurant in Tokyo

All in all, I was very impressed with the food from Tawamarai. My favorites included the noodles, the tempura, the tofu and the egg omelette.

Although we both wished for more soba (and less of all the other stuff), I still appreciate the tasting because I was exposed to so many dishes that I probably never would have tried, like the soba mash, the tamago with radish, and the vegetable tempura.

I understand that during a busy weekend such as Easter, small restaurants, such as Tawamarai need to put in certain rules. It’s likely that they were "burned" in the past by tourists who made reservations and then canceled at the last minute. Or, perhaps worse, yet a large group of tourists that show up and only order one bowl of noodles just to try. Whatever the reason is, I understand their need to have a policy.

Still, I long for the easier days of the past when we could be treated like locals and be able to enjoy a restaurant in a more casual, more humble way than the drawn out extended tasting menu.

A Michelin star is a blessing and a curse at the same time. You can exposure and publicity, but at the same time you are crowded with tourists and the environment and ambience of the restaurant you created could easily get a bit lost.

Tamawarai
5-23-3 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo, 150-0001, Japan

May 31, 2024 Japan

Wagyumafia X Teruzushi X Nakasho Collaboration

Hunting for Sakura Blossoms

After enjoying an unexpected explosion of cherry blossoms our first day in Tokyo (at Shinjuku Gyoen, still my favorite cherry blossom viewing place in the world), we were met with disappointment at the Meguro Cherry Blossom Festival, a mere 18-minute walk from our hotel in Ebisu.

*Meguro Cherry Blossom Festival* - but no cherry blossoms!

The festival was still on and the weather was perfect (despite missing blossoms!). We munched on free Häagen-Dazs ice cream sandwiches, watched a beautiful dance performance, and Bryan even got to try out a Japanese firefighter uniform.

Lunch at Wagyumafia Republic

For lunch, we used our Wagyumafia membership (which we bought in Hong Kong) to try out a one day only pop-up collaboration between Wagyumafia X Teruzushi X Nakasho. Lunch would come in the form of a “don” (over rice). We could pick between eel only or half eel half beef ("UNA-GYU"), and three sizes: small, medium, and large (2, 3, or 4 slices of eel, respectively).

I went with small (which was plenty), and Bryan went with medium.

We noticed they staggered the seating times, ensuring that they could freshly prepare each party’s eel. We noticed a new party arriving roughly once every 15 minutes or so.

The eel was delicious, extremely tender, soft, with a great flavorful sauce. At JPY11000 or the small and JPY22000 for the medium (roughly USD73, USD149 respectively), this was certainly the most expensive unagi-don I’d ever had in my life (and that’s taking into account the unusually good exchange rate right now).

The unagi is from the waters of Kansai. The beef is Wagyumafia’s famous Omi Wagyu beef cooked with onions (fantastic, by the way).

Hand-ground Sansho Pepper

The chef pointed at a spice container and said, “Sansho pepper. You can eat with the unagi.”

“You recommend?” We asked.

”Yes, my favorite!.”

Bryan sprinkled some on his eel. “It’s green!” He said.

Before you knew it, Bryan was dumping copious amounts of this pepper on everything: his eel, his wagyu beef, his rice.

”It’s really good. I like it.”

The chef saw how much pepper Bryan was eating. “You like it?”

We loved it. The flavor reminded us of Sichuan Peppercorns, but less chili spice and mostly just the numbing part. It was fantastic. Bryan ended up using up the whole container and we had to ask for more . . . .

Later, we overheard the chef explaining to someone else, “this pepper is very hard to come by. We hand grind it ourselves. If you were to buy it, it would be 150 EUROS for this container.”

We later inquired whether we could buy some. After checking with someone in charge, they came back and said, “yes, we can sell you the pepper.”

It was indeed pricy, but Bryan was addicted to this delicious green powder. They let us buy 3 small “envelopes” of the stuff (which they cobbled together with a vacuum sealer and what they had in the kitchen). At USD$30 a bag, it is probably one of the most expensive spices we’ve ever bought.

We did find a cheap USD$5 bottle of green sansho from House brand at the Seibu underground supermarket the following day. It will be interesting to compare them, if nothing else to see if we were tricked into buying this crazy expensive powder. I’m even tempted to buy dried sansho peppers from Japan and grinding my own. It really is so tasty!

Wagyumafia Republic
3-13-6, 4F Akasaka Kokusai Amano Bldg
Akasaka

May 27, 2024 Japan

Ten Yokota Tempura Restaurant in Tokyo

The Easter holiday in Hong Kong is a 4-day weekend. As a result, it's a very, very popular time during which Hong Kongers flock to neighboring countries for vacation. We like traveling to places like Japan (or even Mainland China) during that time because we can take advantage of shorter lines and smaller crowds during this holiday that many surrounding countries do not celebrate.

Hong Kongers LOVE traveling to Japan.

Right now, with the yen at an all time low, everything feels particularly cheap. As a result, Tokyo was FULL of tourists during this cherry blossom viewing holiday weekend.

Under this backdrop, I found out last minute that one of my closest friends from college was visiting Tokyo the SAME WEEKEND!

We made tentative plans to get together the day she arrived - Friday night.

Imagine trying to book a good restaurant for a party of 6 at the last minute in Tokyo during Easter Weekend on the first day that the cherry blossoms started to bloom.

As fate would have it, her train had issues and ended up being stopped for almost 2 hours. We had to cancel our dinner for 6 and make plans to meet another time.

All of a sudden, Bryan and I were stuck without a restaurant reservation on a Friday night during the busiest weekend in Tokyo.

Concierge to the Rescue

Amazingly, the very patient and persistent concierge staff at the Westin called place after place after place. She finally found 2 counter seats at the Shinjuku outpost of a well-known Michelin starred tempura restaurant in Ginza.

Tempura at Ten Yokota Tempura Restaurant Tokyo

Ten Yokota has several outposts across the city. We found it interesting that our concierge sent us to a further location that had counter seating, rather than a closer location that only had table seating.

Tempura at higher-end establishments is usually a course-by-course affair. It’s important to enjoy the tempura ASAP after the tempura master hands you your piece, which is fried one piece at at time behind the counter. This is likely why our concierge thought that sitting at the counter is much preferable to sitting at a table.

The tempura at Ten Yokota was very good. It showcased a nice variety of fresh seafood, seasonal vegetables, and the restaurant's signature prawn.

The prawn is served in two pieces, the "head" (which includes the legs) and the "tail". The head was extremely flavorful, crispy, and light (not at all greasy). The "tail" was juicy and sweet.

My personal highlights included the signature prawn, uni topped "tempura-battered" seaweed sheet, anago (sea eel), and the lovely hand-whisked matcha tea at the end.

This shrimp hand-roll was pretty awesome as well.

Tempura + Soupy Rice

Near the end, we had a love bowl of "rice soup". The server poured a flavorful clam broth into a bowl of rice, seaweed, and kakiage tempura (baby shrimp).

Dessert: Ice Cream + Matcha

Dessert was light and refreshing, with a lovely hand-whisked matcha to finish it all off.

Counter Seating

At the 8-person counter, a majority were visitors from Hong Kong, with a few Japanese customers scattered here and there. It really felt like Hong Kongers had invaded Tokyo for this cherry blossom Easter weekend!

So thankful to get a last minute reservation at a quality tempura place during such a busy weekend.

Ten Yokota Tempura Restaurant
2F, 3-10-5 Motoazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo,
106-0046, Japan

〒160-0023 Tokyo, Shinjuku City,
Nishishinjuku, 1 Chome−19−13, Seilei Building, 3F

The top location of this restaurant has 1 Michelin star. We visited the one in Shinjuku (bottom).

May 15, 2024 Belgium

Savage Brussels - A Plant Focused Experience

Savage Brussels Belgium — *Beetroot sorbet*

Savage is a hot new trendy restaurant in the Ixelles neighborhood of Brussels in Belgium. It’s interesting in that it really focuses on vegetables, to the point that the main tasting does not include any meat.

Their mantra is "A plant-focused experience, with meat and fish as optional extras."

The protein dishes are optional sides that you can add to share family style (e.g., steaks, scallops, etc.). We actually decided - and I was surprised that Bryan agreed to this - to go with the vegetarian tasting without adding any protein.

The dishes were artfully created, with bold vivid flavors.

What we Ate: the 38 EURO Tasting Menu

Cheese + Sake

General Thoughts: Savage Brussels

I actually felt that I was fine without the protein and I was pretty full after the entire meal was over. Bryan decided to get the optional cheese plate (partially to get some extra protein). With the cheese, he felt that it was a good amount of food.

Overall I really enjoyed the dishes for the price of €38 for the four course tasting. I thought the quality was much higher than the price would let on. Perhaps the cost of the ingredients for a vegetarian meal is lower. But still, I thought that this was a great place to have a nice meal in a very nice trendy environment. The staff were friendly, the food was enjoyable, and overall we had a great time sitting at the counter.

Savage Brussels
Place St Boniface
Rue de la Paix 22
1050 Brussels, Belgium

May 11, 2024 Belgium

Bozar Brussels Revisited

We have nostalgic memories of Brussels.

After all, we were stuck here at the beginning of the pandemic for close to seven weeks. It became like a second home of sorts. We got to know neighborhood restaurants, and even be-friended some of the families running those restaurants.

Bozar was by far our most memorable meal during that period.

Bryan fell in love with the signature pithivier that Bozar makes, and I just loved Chef’s overall approach to food and his obsession with quality.

Since our first visit, Bozar has attained another Michelin star now holding two stars total.

To be honest, I’ve always thought it’s quality was excellent and fully deserving of two stars. So I’m really glad Chef Karen Torosyan is finally getting the recognition that he deserves.

The menu does not include Chef's classic, signature pithivier anymore (the one filled with duck, foie gras, and mirepoix). However, Bryan called in advance, and they confirmed that they could still make the classic version.

Yay! We decided to relive our memories from our previous visits once again during our visit to Brussels just this past March (2024).

We love this place. I highly recommend Bozar if you want to have a really thoughtfully designed and executed meal. Even if you don't get the classic, you can still enjoy a croute as part of the tasting menu.

Classic Tasting Menu with Pithivier

The last two times we came, the restaurant gave us a keychain to commemorate the number of pithivier that we ate. We'd eaten 221 the first time and 319 the second time. Alas, they told us they don't give away key chains anymore.

I'll treasure the other two that I already have. At least they are still willing to make the pithivier! Thank you Chef Torosyan and the entire team!

Bozar Restaurant Brussels
Rue Baron Horta 3
1000 Bruxelles

May 8, 2024 Europe

CTC Urban Gastronomy - Athens Greece

This is the third post in our series about Greece. Other posts include The Zillers Rooftop Restaurant and HYTRA Restaurant and Bar.

CTC Urban Gastronomy is certain an urban oasis in the middle of Athens. Unlike The Zillers Roof Garden Restaurant, which is right in the Plaka and thus easy to access, CTC is about a 30 minute walk from the Plaka, and, frankly speaking, not in the prettiest neighborhood.

This is why it’s even more of a break taking surprise when you walk into the gates of CTC, because the big outdoor patio is absolutely beautiful.

The Space - A Beautiful Garden Oasis

Despite CTC Urban Gastronomy's location slightly away from the center of where most tourists might live, I would highly recommend take the time to come out to CTC. The food is incredible. Not only was everything done with precision and excellent, we were extremely impressed by the creativity behind the dishes and the funky Greek wine focused pairing.

It’s called an 11-course blind tasting. You know nothing about what is to come. The server will ask if you have allergies or dietary restrictions. Otherwise, your only choice is whether to upgrade the lobster dish for 25 EUROS (they highly, highly recommended it), and what drink you want.

We opted for the 60EURO “funkier”, more unusual Greek wine pairing. Not the 90EURO “safe” and traditional pairing using mostly international wines.

Initial Creative Bites: Whimsical Artistry

The bread course immediately gave us a sense of the innovative dishes that would follow.

A notebook and crayons is our “bread course”. The crispy flatbread “pages” are fastened together with metal coil, and colored “crayons” turn out to be flavored whipped butters.

It’s delightfully cute, bringing back thoughts of primary school, a universally shared experience, and a time when life was simpler and carefree.

Next, two more amuses bouches (though we were already quite amused by the first course!).

A churro topped with a sweet lemon sauce, this dish was both savory and sweet, which was refreshing. A beetroot tart, made with two types of beets. Excellent execution and delicious.

Finally, a crab-filled roll, crispy on the outside and generously filled with crab on the inside. It was fantastic.

Bread + Butter

Imprinted butter seems to be the trend in Athens, and here the butter was stamped with the restaurant’s logo "CTC Urban Gastronomy 2023". A stunning brioche “monkeybread” with pull apart pieces was set at the table before us.

“This bread is meant to be eaten with the entire meal.”

The places works like clockwork. They have the timing of the dishes planned out to a T, and things came smoothly one after another.

Starters

"Main Course"

“What do you think this next course is?” asked the server as we looked at a square piece on our plate with many layers.

“`Bacon!” I yelled out.

Yes, it is bacon, yet it is not bacon. Like all surprises, this piece of “bacon” was actually layers of pig’s head meat (like a rillet) served with cheese and a crispy potato chip (the “skin” of the pork). On the side was another piece of fried potato cake, topped with some fresh salad greens and herbs.

Dessert + Mignardises

The petit fours consisted of calva- caramel pate fuielle, a rose macaron, and almond custard cake with a charred top.

General Thoughts - CTC Urban Gastronomy

All in all, an absolutely delightful meal in a beautiful outdoor space. Despite the slightly gritty neighborhood in which the restaurant is located, once you walk in through the door you feel as if you’ve been transported into another world.

The food is very good, and I really appreciated the playful creativity and attention to detail. The dining space is really, really pleasant and relaxing. Frankly speaking, this 1-Michelin star meal is a steal at 95 EUROS.

Highly recommended. This was my favorite meal of this whole Athens trip.

CTC Urban Gastronomy - Athens Greece
15 Plataion Str., Athens 104 35, Greece

May 3, 2024 Europe

HYTRA Athens Greece

This is the second post in our series about Greece. Other posts include The Zillers Rooftop Restaurant

If possible, we like walking to restaurants when we can. However, Athens has been a bit of a surprise for us, as we’ve ended up in neighborhoods where we didn’t expect to find a Michelin-starred restaurant.

It wasn’t straightforward finding HYTRA. The restaurant sits at a roof top on top of an office building. If it weren’t for the tiny sign with the words HYTRA at the first floor, we’d probably still be circling the non-descript gray concrete building (situated on a busy road that is almost like a highway).

HYTRA’s dining space is magical. The open air restaurant only “exists” when the weather’s good. If there’s rain, the entire dining room moves indoors.

The space is beautiful and gives you 360 views of Athens, including the Acropolis, distant mountain, and the sunset.

I highly recommend trying to get a reservation that includes the sunset. It really adds such a vibrant and warm light to the entire room.

A Drink to Start . . .

We were extremely impressed with our server. He was especially observant and could “read” the table. I hesitated when trying to decide whether to do the wine pairing, and he quickly offered helping me pair a glass of white and maybe a red to go with the meal. Sold. When Bryan asked for suggestions on the cocktails, our server quickly sensed Bryan’s preferences for dry cocktails (because Bryan asked about the Negroni), and suggested something that Bryan would like.

By the way, HYTRA is known for their cocktails, and there are many very unusual and interesting ones on the menu. Bryan opted for a citrus-y one that was refreshing and “not sweet at all” (good in Bryan’s book).

The Food: 11 Course Tasting Menu at HYTRA Athens

HYTRA includes a la carte options as well as two tasting menus: an 11-course degustation (80 EUROS) and a 15-course degustation (95 EUROS). Add an extra wine or cocktail pairing for 115 EUROS.

We decided to go with the 11-course tasting menu. Bryan got the wine pairing (generous pours!).

Cheese Course

Bread . . .

The Meat Course

For our second to last main course, the "meat" course, we had pork cheek, pork belly, and baby gem lettuce.

Dessert + Other Sweets

Our palate cleanser was a blackthorne Greek yogurt “ice” served with a lemon verbena kombucha, which was refreshing. The dessert wine was MUSCAT DE LEMNOS.

General Thoughts - HYTRA Athens Greece

Like other Michelin starred restaurants in Athens, HYTRA was an insanely good value at 80 EUROS for the 11-course tasting menu. The restaurant certainly plays around with technically challenging dishes, and I enjoyed the food, especially the creativity of the dishes. The rooftop panoramic views are also fabulous. I highly recommend trying to book dinner right before sunset so that you can watch the sunset with 360 degree views of the city (and the Parthenon).

HYTRA Restaurant & Bar
6th/7th Floor OCC/STEGI
107/109 Syngrou Avenue
11745 Athens, Greece

April 27, 2024 Europe

The Zillers Roof Garden - Athens

We are beginning a new series on our trip to Athens in spring 2023 to attend an actual Greek Wedding!

I almost gasped when the elevator door opened onto the rooftop patio at The Zillers Roof Top Garden. Diners get an incredible view of the Parthenon from virtually every table!

The ambiance is magical during sunset, and the warm afternoon light is certainly great for photos.

We had just arrived in Athens the day before, and this was our first "real" meal in Athens. What a great way to start a trip! Bryan had done the legwork and booked most of these restaurants. He chose The Zillers Roof Garden because it was close to the center of town, has GREAT views, and was recommended by the Michelin Guide (1 Michelin star).

Chef Vasilis Roussos, who has spent time at multiple Michelin starred restaurants in Greece, leads the kitchen with an aim to capture "the essence of Greek and Mediterranean cuisine in a truly unique way." [source]

Bread + Butter

The butter arrives with 2 types of bread: a sourdough and multigrain (reminds me of my beloved Copenhagen bread).

“Oh cute! It’s a cow.”

“It’s not a cow, Can you guess what it is?”

It turns out we were enjoying goat’s milk butter with our bread. It had a slight, “goaty” finish, but it wasn’t too strong.

Next, a spiky sea-urchin shaped glass came with a delicious seafood filled bite, a consommé in jelly form, small morsels of mussels, and a seafood foam.

Welcome Treats

A trip of Chef’s welcome treats came next: asquid ink baton (like a “Pocky”, haha) that we dipped into an intensely flavorful Bottarga cream. A single bite chewy croquette flavored with herbs; and a goat cheese beetroot tart.

The Actual Tasting Begins

Our first official course was langoustine 3 ways. I loved the refreshing langoustine tartare, marinated in flavors of lime, coriander, and bergamot (which we soon learned was one of chef’s favorite spices) and served with a light camomile langoustine consommé.

On the side, the langoustine tail was fried as tempura (with puffed rice) and dipped in a creamy shrimp head + lemongrass sauce. The tempura was not very crispy, though the flavors were quite rice and paired nicely with the tart wine.

Next was "salsify two ways" presented in a single dish with layers: chunky bits of the root on the bottom and a blended soup on top. “Scoop it all in one bite” the server advised. Loved the black truffles, which added a nice, earthy element.

A homage to the traditional Greek lemon and rice soup, the next course consisted of a single artichoke elegantly deep fried (it was amazing how each leaf was preserved) and served over a lemon rice emulsion sauce.

Bread Part II

We'd already enjoyed fantastic bread at the beginning of the meal. Now was part II: a beautiful Japanese milk bread topped with sea salt from Crete.

More Seafood

We continued with seafood, moving onto a beautiful lobster pasta served with a rich, creamy lobster cheese sauce.

The lobster itself undergoes a lengthy preparation, including being coated in wax for 24 hours before being lightly poached. The server showed us an example of the "waxed" lobster.

The pasta was reasonably al dente, and the overall sauce was decadently rich. Bryan loved it, and I even gave him some of mine (since I was getting full).

Meat

The meat course was a beautifully roasted piece of quail breast that was almost rare on the inside (we aren’t complaining!). We enjoyed the quail with a tart made with the quail’s leg meat and a beautiful, flavorful celeriac root mash.

Dessert

General Thoughts

It’s hard to beat the ambiance and stunning views of the Acropolis that Ziller has when it comes to eating in Athens. On the one hand, the food isn’t really that *Greek* per se. Sure, the chef add some Greek concepts, such as the lemon rice soup, and sharing with us about Greek bread (before telling us that this bread is actually a Japanese milk bread), but it’s more like a French restaurant using international flavors and ingredients.

On the other hand, the food is very good, and the views are pretty hard to beat. You’ll enjoy a lovely dinner (probably together with mostly other well-to-do foodie tourists), while at the same time supporting Greek chefs, workers, and their high-end restaurants industry as a whole.

Try to get a reservation before sunset. It's beautiful to watch the sunset from the rooftop. Remember to ask the staff to help takes some photos of you before the sun sets, otherwise it’ll get too dark!

The Zillers Roof Garden - Athens
54 Mitropoleos
Athens 105 63, Greece

Recipes

Yongkang Street

Fuhang Soybean Milk

Ahong Popiah 阿宏潤餅

Taiwanese Fruits & Vegetables

Raohe Night Market

Fujin Tree Taiwanese Cuisine & Champagne

Din Tai Fung

Tasting a Streetside Sesame Pastry

And Let’s Not Forget Taichung

Train bentos

Qin Yuan Chun 沁園春

The Most Amazing Danbing (Egg roll)

Stinky Tofu at Tofu Daddy in Taichung

Bawan from Taichung

And that's a wrap . . . . for now

1. Roasted Pigeon + Clay Pot Rice

2. 魚生 Raw Fish Salad

3. Congee Seafood Hot Pot

4. Double Skin Milk (Buffalo Milk) 民信 or 人信

5. Dim Sum at Dongcheng Nanji 東城南記酒樓

6. Steamed Rice Rolls w/ Roast Goose Jus 蒸腸粉陪燒鵝醬或油汁

7. Beef Offal 牛雜

8. Coffee at 四囍Coffee or Hand-crushed Lemon Tea

Other Shunde Specialities

Non-Food Excursions

Street Food at Sayan Night Market

Balinese Home Cooking - the restaurant

Swimming with the Waterfall

White Water Rafting in the Ayung River

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Gunung Kawi Temple

Tirta Empul Temple

Luwak (Civet) coffee

Coffee Tasting

But there was a bittersweet part of the story.

Breakfast at Sawah Terrace

Lunch at Sawah Terrace

Kubu Restaurant

Grace by The Rice Field

Dining Beyond Experience: In Villa Romance

Amber Longer Tasting Menu

That Course in the Kitchen

Back to the Table

Desserts

Amber - General Thoughts

Handmade Rice Balls 陈嬢嬢大馅汤圆

Huize Fried Potatoes 会泽炸洋芋

Yogurt Drink with Purple Rice

Hiking to a Secluded Reservoir

Lunch at the Yi Village Restaurant

Wandering Around the Yi Village

Yunnan, The Harvest Capital of China

外婆味道 Grandma’s Kitchen

福照楼汽锅鸡·云南菜 Fuzhao Lou Steam Pot Chicken

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1. Visit The Guggenheim

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Visit the Old Town (Casco Viejo) and Ribera Market

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Half-day Trip to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (Game of Thrones)

Day Trip to Rioja Wine Region

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