Recipes

January 5, 2015 Canada Trip Report

Happy New Year - A Look Back at 2014 (Part I) - Travel

Celebrating New Years at home with our homemade Ginger Lime Jalapeno Beers!

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Another year has already gone by and we're in 2015 now. Sometimes I look at that number and it still looks foreign to me . . . like it's far far in the future (like in the movie Back to the Future 2!).

I always like taking time during this week of the New Year to reflect back on what my year was really like. It's helpful to remind myself that even though it feels like it's flying by, there's actually A LOT of stuff that has happened: new experiences, new lessons learned, and lots and lots of memories. It's nice to have this solid block of time to sit down, reflect, appreciate, and be thankful.

It's also a good time to re-evaluate and plan for how I want things to be different (or the same!) for 2015.

This roundup of the year serves as a rough guide to most of the blog posts I've written this past year. Perhaps you'll find a post or two (or even a whole series!) you had missed that you find interesting. Because of the sheer length of content summarized in this post, I've divided it into two posts. Today's part will focus on travel. Tomorrow's will focus on recipes and Boston restaurants from the past year!...

December 30, 2014 Hawaii

New series! Hopping the Hawaiian Islands

Seeing a crazy intense rainbow in Maui from the dive boat

Aloha!

Can you believe the New Year is just around the corner? I hope you all have been enjoying your holidays up to this point.

I am kicking off 2015 with a new series on my recent trip to the Hawaiian Islands.

About two years ago, we visited Australia and New Zealand with Bryan's family. While visiting the world famous Great Barrier Reef, we signed up for an introductory dive. Basically, they teach you some really basic skills and then they allow you to dive with an instructor. Though I struggled a bit with getting used to putting my head underwater, Bryan had no fear and instantly fell in love with diving.
Diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I'm the fourth person on the right. Bryan's at the right.

For Christmas following that trip, I gave Bryan a fully paid up SCUBA open water dive certification course.

Life got busy, and things got in the way. We never found a good time to schedule the courses. And thus the certificate sat there . . . . for almost two years.

Finally, about two months ago, we decided to take the plunge and finally get SCUBA certified. The plan? Book a trip to Hawaii and complete our open water dives there (the thought of diving in New England's frigid waters during the winter just sounded a bit overwhelming). In one month, we completed all of our coursework and pool dives in Boston with East Coast Divers (excellent shop, by the way!).

And then, right before Thanksgiving, we were off! ...

December 28, 2014 Kawaii (Cute)

Totoro Soy Sauce Eggs (Totoro Eggs)

Starting about three months ago - 83 days ago to be exact - I began a fun little series on my social media accounts which I tagged with the hashtag #Totoro100Days. My goal was to post a Totoro a day, sort of a photojournalistic record of all the Totoro things that I have amassed or made over the years.

I've always been a bit spontaneous in nature and I enjoy taking risks. I had no idea whether I really owned a hundred Totoro items or not. I'm not sure what compelled me to choose "100 days" as my target, but for some reason, I began the series.

As time started going by, I started to realize that I most likely *didn't* own 100 Totoro things....

December 26, 2014 California

Din Tai Fung South Coast Plaza

Happy Boxing Day!

Can you believe Christmas is already over? I swear this year whirled by.

Bryan and I spent Christmas with Bryan's family in Orange County where he grew up. I always love coming to California during the holidays. The weather is fantastic; it's always so nice to see his family (they treat me just like one of their own, if not better!); and . . . the food!

In the past, his parents have always made a point to take us to Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, which they knew to be one of my favorite restaurants. This year, we didn't need to make the 45-minute trek to Arcadia. Instead, for the first time, the newest Din Tai Fung at South Coast Plaza was open.

We knew that the mall would be crazy during the holiday shopping season, so we tried showing up right around 11:15am.

Despite the fact that there was a line wrapping around the outside of the restaurant (with waits hovering around 45 minutes), we were able to walk in and immediately be seated.

How?...

December 25, 2014 California

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Greetings from sunny California!

Bryan and I are enjoying the warm California sunshine hanging out with his family here in Orange County. Bryan's parents have been cooking up all sorts of phenomenal food for us to enjoy, everything from a classic Chinese hot pot and a traditional Thanksgiving turkey (we missed real Thanksgiving cuz we were in Hawaii!) to crispy duck and the Che family pumpkin cake.

In the short time that we've been here, we also had the opportunity to visit a few local places, like the new Din Tai Fung at South Coast Plaza (post coming soon!), a bunch of Asian supermarkets & shops, and Disneyland!

It's a Small World Ride totally decked out!

During this time it's been priceless to spend deep, enriching times with family, catch up with old friends, and reflect on the multiple blessings from the entire year. I even ran into an old roommate of mine (it's been 10+ years since we'd seen each other) at Disneyland! What are the odds of that? It was a delightful surprise.

At the same time, I'm reminded not everyone gets to enjoy this time of year with their families. Some people have to work; others live too far away to visit home; and even others have lost members of their families. There are people who are struggling a lot during this time. Let's remember to think of them, reach out (if we can), and support them.

I hope you all have an enriching, warm, and blessed Christmas.

For those on the east coast, enjoy the unseasonably warm weather!

Our own tree back in our home in Cambridge

December 19, 2014 Misc

Happy Friday! Aerogarden #Giveaway Winner + Discount Promo Code

It's been just a little over a month since I set up my Aerogarden to grow sweet basil, Thai basil, and cilantro. I'm happy to report that they are all coming along nicely and didn't even flinch when I left them by themselves for two weeks while I visited Hawaii (preview post coming soon!). The cilantro took the longest to start and also to grow. It's been about a month now, and I still feel like I need to wait before harvesting them. Honestly, Bryan would eat those five stalks in one bite.

However, both basil plants are growing phenomenally fast. I have had to harvest both of them at least once already to prevent them from growing straight into the "sun" and getting their leaves singed. It's been nice having access to fresh herbs, even if it's just as a garnish.

I randomly chose a winner from the 124 entries using random.org. The winner of the Giveaway is number 48, Tamara, who said "Chives, Sage and Parsley."

Congratulations Tamara!

If you're bummed you didn't win the Giveaway but would still like to get your own Aerogarden, you can use the promo code Digital20 to get 20% off anything at Aerogarden.com.

Disclaimer: this post was sponsored by Miracle Gro, owner of AeroGardens. Miracle-Gro also supplied me with my own AeroGarden 3, the gourmet seed kit, and they are providing the prize pack for the Giveaway. All opinions are my own.

December 18, 2014 Asian

Crystal Jade (Singapore)

I wasn't even supposed to be here.

The night before my early morning flight out of Singapore back to Boston, Bryan got an alert on his phone from American Airlines. Uh no. A huge typhoon had hit Hong Kong, and the airport was closed. All flights in and out of Hong Kong (my stopover destination) were canceled - including mine. We knew it would be a mad rush of flight rebookings, so Bryan immediately called AA. Thankfully (partly due to his executive platinum status), he was able to rebook me on a later British Airways flight with a 12-hour layover in Heathrow.

Though the situation wasn't ideal, all of a sudden I was unexpectedly blessed with a whole extra day in Singapore. Instead of getting up at 4AM to catch my super early flight to Hong Kong, I could now sleep in, spend the day with Bryan (who was still flying out the next evening to India), and then leisurely head to the airport for a 9PM flight.

Where to eat? Unlike the rest of my trip, I hadn't planned for meals on this surprise day.

Then I remembered one of my readers asking if I had tried Crystal Jade. Although I'd tried it once in Shanghai (and thought it was excellent), I had never tried it in Singapore, where the popular Cantonese restaurant began.

It just so happened that Crystal Jade's flagship restaurant was located at Ngee Ann City, a huge shopping complex right on Orchard Road, one of the most fashionable shopping districts in Singapore. In fact, inside Ngee Ann City, there are four different Crystal Jade restaurants to suit all different tastes and budgets: Crystal Jade Korean Ginseng Chicken & BBQ, Crystal Jade Kitchen, Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, and Crystal Jade Palace, the high-end Cantonese restaurant.

We only had time for lunch, but we wanted to experience higher-end Chinese food (something that is pretty rare in the U.S.), so we headed to Crystal Jade Palace....

December 15, 2014 Boston

Juniper (Wellesley)

The timing could not have been worse.

After multiple emails back and forth with the folks at Juniper, we had finally settled on a date when Bryan and I could come and visit this exciting new (opened July 2014) Mediterranean restaurant in Wellesley. It took a bit of coordination, but finally, we settled on December 9th.

Who would have predicted that a crazy, windy, wet, wet, WET Nor'easter would come plummeting into our lovely vulnerable city that very day?

On any normal day, taking the commuter rail out to Wellesley would have been a cinch, considering Juniper is a mere 3-minute walk away from the station. However, on this dark and miserable day, I found myself sloshing through 6-inch deep puddles and battling horizontal rain that left me 100% soaked.

With pants that felt like a wetsuit and water-logged boots that squished and squeaked with each step, I entered Juniper after a harrowing 2-hour commute, feeling like a mess.
What greeted me completely washed away any memory of discomfort I had. The warm space, the friendly host, and the sight of Bryan (who I hadn't seen all day) sitting at the bar, sipping on a drink. The host was not at all phased by my wet appearance, but instead warmly offered to take the coat off my hands.

"My feet are COMPLETELY soaked" I whispered to Bryan as the friendly host took us to our seats.

Thankfully, ever-so-thankfully, our hostess led us to a cozy little booth in the corner. In the intimate, semi-private corner, I was able to get comfortable, dry out my boots a bit, and sit back and relax.

The server immediately brought us some water and a bowl of olives, plus menus. As memories of the rainy commute faded away, my attention quickly focused on the fun menu, which had an assortment of Mediterranean inspired mezzes (starters), dips and hummus, as well as entrees, all for surprisingly reasonable prices....

December 11, 2014 Cuisine

Iggy's Singapore

It's true. Singapore is a haven for all types of food.

I've spent many posts describing the phenomenal variety of casual hawker stall type food that is available on this little island. Many of Asia's best Chinese restaurants open up a location in Singapore, like Taiwan's Din Tai Fung or Hong Kong's Tim Ho Wan. On top of all that, there is no shortage of high end, European influenced dining in Singapore, with Iggy's probably being one of the most famous ones.

Awards and accolades adorn this high-end restaurant located inside the Hilton on one of Singapore's poshest streets, Orchard Road. It consistently makes S. Pellegrino's World's 50 Best Restaurants list, and was even named the best restaurant in Asia in 2012. The Miele Guide of Asia's Top 20 Restaurants listed Iggy's as number one in 2008, 2010, and 2011.

The restaurant is tiny, with only 10 tables and an additional eight seats at the dessert bar. With sixteen chefs in the kitchen, that's a pretty high chef to diner ratio. They recommend making reservations over the phone, though you can submit a form online if you're reserving more than a week in advance. They'll still call you to finalize the reservation. In order to confirm your reservation, you have to given them a credit card number. The cancellation policy states that you must cancel 2 days before your dining date (by 3PM of that date!), otherwise, you forfeit the entire amount: S$275 (~ $220 USD) multiplied by the number of diners (ouch!).

We made a reservation about 2 weeks before and had no trouble booking the exact time we wanted (7PM on a Tuesday evening). The restaurant is closed Sundays, thought it is open for lunch on Mondays, Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays. A la carte lunch costs S$85, while the lunch tasting menu is S$150. On Mondays through Thursdays there is shortened dinner tasting that costs S$235. Finally, there is the Gastronomic Dinner tasting, which costs S$275 (S$195 for the vegetarian version). At the time of press, the exchange rate was $0.80 USD for every $1.00 SGD.

We started with a half bottle of a light and crisp Riesling. I didn't get a photo of this, but we also got a hot towel which came in the form of a tiny little disc. When the waiter pour hot water on it, grew taller in front of your eyes into a hot towel.

The space was warm and cozy, with most people pretty dressed up. If it hadn't been for the loud wedding that was going on outside in the hotel lobby (which we would only really hear when the door to the restaurant opened), the overall environment was reasonably hushed and formal.

There was one automatic sliding door leading to the kitchen.

Because we sat right next to it, we had the opportunity to peek into the kitchen every now and then and see what was going on inside. If you look closely, you can get a glimpse of executive chef Masahiro Isono on the left.

We started with a variety of fun, crunchy snacks. The long black sesame cracker stick was a nod to what Italian restaurants like to give, which makes sense given Chef Isono's previous experience at a Japanese-inspired Italian restaurant in Kyoto.

House made taro chips were super thin and delicately crispy. We finished our first bowl rather quickly, and they happily brought us refills.

The tasting menu began with a series of "Snacks."

Burnt Oyster was an oyster that looked like it was completely covered in jet black charcoal. It came with an anchovy and parsley sage sauce. The oyster was warm, pretty tasty, and (thankfully), didn't taste too burnt. Overall, it was a decent dish, though it did not wow us.

Two additional snacks came on one slate. On the left: Sakura Ebi, a ball of deep fried whole baby shrimp tossed with curry salt and ginger. It was crunchy and reasonably tasty, though nothing particularly exciting. On the right was Tuna Tartare with marscapone and cut crackers inside. We both loved this bite - everything from the soft, fresh raw tuna and the creamy marscapone to the crunch from the crackers.

Two additional snacks came on another slate. On the left, Corn Soup was delicious. The velvety soup tasted fresh and had a nice, intense corn flavor. On the right was a Corn Frito, a Japanese deep fried corn fritter. Although it tasted pretty good, at this point I was starting to get a bit tired of fried foods.

The final series of snacks was called Truffle Real or Bluff.

These beautiful dark spheres looked like freshly dug black truffles. In fact, they were deep fried quinoa and squid ink encrusted balls filled with Hokkaido crabmeat inside. Real shaved truffles lined the bottom of the plate. The (fake) truffle was crunchy (like arancini) and fun to eat, though the flavor of real black truffles was not very strong. Bryan commented that he thought the squid ink overwhelmed the subtle black truffle flavor.

This second dish was an egg custard topped with several generous shavings of black truffle. Here, the black truffle was allowed to shine much more.

Sea Urchin consisted of uni (sea urchin), somen (noodles), edamame, grean pea, and yuba, a soft, tofu-like sauce, all topped with a Japanese pepper leaf. This dish was excellent. It was a cold dish that was refreshing, creamy, yet balanced. We thought the blend of flavors was very good and it was definitely one of the better dishes of the night.

Execution of plating was sometimes a bit sloppy. Although mine (pictured above), was done well, the one Bryan got had fallen over, and didn't look nearly as pretty as mine.

Tuna was super fatty tuna belly (otoro) served with burrata, caviar, and fennel in a bright orange tomato jus. I absolutely loved the brilliance of this dish. The tomato jus was sweet and bright, with very real tomato flavors.

The burrata added a lovely creamy accent to the rich otoro, and the caviar gave the perfect pop of briny umami to top off a phenomenal dish. This was definitely one of my favorites thus far.

After all these appetizers, it was finally time to try their bread. All of their bread was excellent. We tried several: peanut, cheese, and almond.

For the next course, Pompfret, a mild white fish, came steamed in a sealed plastic bag together with Kujo-neghi (Japanese green onion), Matsutake mushrooms, and sudachi (a type of lime).

It was opened (carefully!) table-side.

Light, subtle, yet pronounced, I liked how the earthy Matsutake mushroom added depth to the clean, healthy dish.

With red meat and pork you must have red wine. After finishing our half bottle of riesling, we moved onto Iggy's own house wine, which (from what I remember) is actually from France.

Cocotte was an elevated play on a simple Chinese dish of pork over rice. Here, tender pork belly was served over risotto and flavored with scallions, togarashi (a Japanese spice mixture), and coriander. We loved how the rice crusted to the bottom of the hot cast iron bowl (like dosolt bibimbop or paella!), giving us some crunchy rice to enjoy.

Our first main course was smoked Wagyu Beef served with a simple ratatouille made with eggplant, corn, zucchini, tomatoes (on the left) and an olive sauce (middle).

Overall, we enjoyed the nice smoky flavor of the Wagyu beef, though we weren't sure if the ratatouille or the olive sauce added that much more. Nevertheless, the dish was enjoyable and the beef was delicious.

Matsutake was the second main course. Lightly seared Matsutake mushrooms came over fava beans, green pea puree, and yuzu. It was a nice, light dish that worked well and reminded me of spring (even though it was fall).

A simple palate cleanser of Musk Melon ice, with hibiscus, creme fraiche, camomile, and caramel foam was refreshing.

The dessert was layered, with creme fraiche at the bottom and musk melon ice on top.

Kiwi was the main dessert and consisted of a kiwi compote (underneath the huge white chocolate disc!), macadamia nuts, spherified balls, banana cream, and hanahojiso (beautiful pink flowers that have the essence of shiso). Even though I don't like banana, I thought this was a really good dessert. I especially enjoyed the macadamia nuts and the crunch that they added.

We ended with a Hinoki Chocolate Box, which was filled with a selection of home-made chocolates and macarons. You could choose as many or as little as you wanted.

Bryan only took one (I think it was the wasabi chocolate), whereas I took a nice little sampling for myself.

Wasabi chocolate, yuzu sake chocolate , salted caramel macaron, black truffle maracon, and chocolate with popping candy. I liked all of them, though my favorite was (surprisingly) the black truffle macaron, which was full of black truffle flavor and had a nice balance of sweet and salty. I wished for more . . .

At the end of the meal I had a chance to briefly meet executive chef Masahiro Isono, who joined Iggy's in 2012 and took over as executive chef in January 2014. Chef Isono is from Japan and previously worked at Il Ghiottone, a well-known Japanese-inspired Italian restaurant in Kyoto.

General Thoughts
Overall, the meal at Iggy's was enjoyable but a bit underwhelming for the price ($275 SGD or $220 USD per person). Admittedly, the high prices partly come from the fact that they do use a lot of expensive, imported ingredients from Japan. In general everything was solid, but most dishes just did not stand out for me. Plating was a bit sloppy at times. On the bright side, there certainly were standouts, such as the Tuna Tartare, Sea Urchin, and Tuna (otoro) dishes. I would eat those again in a heartbeat.

All in all, it was nice trying one of Singapore's most famous restaurants. We still had a very pleasant meal with many tasty dishes. The service was good, and everyone was friendly. If I were to return to Singapore, however, I would probably be inclined to try another place.

Iggy's Singapore
Hilton Hotel
Level 3, 581 Orchard Road
Singapore

This is the 21st and FINAL post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Malaysia Posts: Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry. Bijan, Onde Onde, Jalan Alor -Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Food Street, Walking Food Tour of Kuala Lumpur, Mamak - Malaysia's Indian Muslim restaurants, Hiking the Rainforests in Malaysia (and swimming the waterfalls!) with Open Sky Unlimited, and Singapore Posts: Din Tai Fung, Marina Bay Sands, Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Tim Ho Wan, Food Republic, The Red House (Chili Crab), and Newton Food Centre (Singaporean Hawker Stalls!)

December 8, 2014 American

Craigie on Main - Pig's Head for Two

This post is part of a larger series titled Bryan's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza detailing restaurants visited on Bryan's birthday weekend back in October. Other posts in this series include Shabu & Mein and Toro.

Nose to tail cooking is a philosophy that encourages using as much of an animal as possible in an effort to avoid waste. It embraces recipes that use animal parts that most people throw out, such as offal (hearts, livers, and other internal organs), feet, heads, and (quite literally), noses and tails. It's something the Chinese have been doing all along, so in some ways, I'm more used to it because I grew up eating half of this stuff.

Tony Maws from Craigie on Main and Kirkland Tap & Trotter, has long been a proponent of this type of cooking and is not afraid to put unusual animal parts on his menu. Examples of some of his more well-known dishes include his Crispy Fried Pig Tails, Grilled Salmon Head, and offaly items from his Road Less Traveled Dinner, like cock's combs, monkfish liver, and cod milt (aka . . ahem, cod sperm sac).

One of his most well-known "nose to tail" dishes is the Confit and Roasted Milk Fed Pig's Head for Two at Craigie on Main. It's half a young pig's head, confit in its own fat and then baked at super high temperatures to form a gorgeous, crispy skin. The head is served with wrappers, pickled vegetables, and a modified hoisin sauce - a nod to the style of Peking duck.

Bryan has been wanting to try this forever. We had already tried Craigie's Whole Roasted Misty Knoll Chicken for Two (which was fantastic, by the way), the Ultimate Craigie Experience, brunch, and the famous Burger.

So for his birthday weekend, we booked a late seating at Craigie on Main and scored the ringside seats, giving us the best front row views to the open kitchen.

Before I continue, if you are squeamish about seeing animal parts, especially a pig's face being eaten, I would advise that you don't click on the "more" link to see the rest of this post. Otherwise, click on to see the meal that we had!...

December 3, 2014 Asian

Newton Food Centre (Singaporean Hawker Stalls!)

Nothing beats visiting an authentic hawker stall with locals. In fact, at a place like Newton Food Centre, it is highly advised.

We were very fortunate that we had some friends who lived in Singapore. The husband grew up in Singapore, and the wife has lived there for close to a decade. They took care of all the ordering, and also warned us of pitfalls that may fall upon the unsuspecting tourist who comes here for a meal....

December 1, 2014 Restaurant

The Red House (chili crab) - Singapore

If there's one thing you have to try while visiting Singapore, it would have to be the national dish, Singaporean Chili Crab. The crab can be a variety of sizes, but there has to be the signature red sauce made from chili paste and tomatoes. Some restaurants have a sweeter sauce, while others make it more savory. Spice levels can vary too, although in general this is not a very spicy dish. Eating with your hands is mandatory. They'll provide a bib and wetnaps to help you along.

If you really hate to get your hands dirty (like Bryan), you can even bring gloves. Heh heh, I think some people would say that we were wimping out, but Bryan ended up having the time of his life eating these crabs. He kept smiling throughout the meal saying things like "this is great!" or "this is really fun!" Ha! I'm sure that would not have been the case had I not bought him those gloves earlier in the day at the train station.

I digress.

There are many chili crab places scattered throughout the city. Several of them are clustered together on the East Coast of Singapore facing the ocean. That would be Jumbo, Long Beach, and Red House.

More than one source told us that Red House had the best chili crab, Long Beach had the best black pepper crab, and Jumbo had the best view but not as good food. One local coworker described Jumbo to Bryan as the "McDonald's of chili crab." I have no idea if it's true or not. However, based on these recommendations, we decided to eat at Red House. Red House is set back a bit and does not have as good of an ocean view as the other two restaurants. However, it has still managed to be very, very popular. That says something about its food, I would think?...

November 28, 2014 Asian

Food Republic (Indoor Hawker Stalls) - Singapore

It's a new trend that's becoming more and more popular in Singapore and all around Asia: indoor food court concepts that comprise high quality (and highly sought after) hawker stall fare combined with mini restaurants. Food Republic is a well known chain that has established branded food courts at many of Singapore's most popular malls and tourist destinations.

The concept has even spread to other countries in the region. Food Republic has locations in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

It's not hard to see the appeal, especially in a location where outside temperatures and humidity can quickly become unbearable. Access to a bunch of different hawkers stalls in a comfortable air-conditioned space? Sign me up! Bonus: I can stop by for lunch before or after shopping!

My local Singaporean friend took me to a Food Republic at Vivo City /Sentosa Station for lunch before the two of us headed out to Sentosa for the afternoon. It was just the two of us, but we still managed to try several different types of food!...

November 27, 2014 Boston

Jen's List of Boston's Top 10 Restaurant Dishes

Photo from Thanksgiving Dinner at Bryan's parents' home a few years ago

Happy Thanksgiving! Time sure flies. It's only feels like yesterday that I was still living at home, enjoying Thanksgiving meals with my family. It's weird to think that I've lived in Boston for twenty years (!) now. I'm more Bostonian than Ohioan at this point. Through the years, I have also eaten at A LOT of places here (can you believe there are over 300 Boston restaurant posts on this blog?). For today's post, I've partnered with Expedia ViewFinder to bring you a list of some of my favorite bites in Boston. The rules that I made for myself:

1. Only one dish per restaurant (no repeating restaurants!)

2. Try to pick dishes that are more unique to Boston

3. Aim for some variety

I wanted to create a list that included dishes that were reasonably timeless - menu items that a visitor to Boston could order 6 months from now, or even a year from now. That means that some of my favorite restaurants (those whose menus change too quickly due their heightened focus on seasonality - e.g.. Bergamot, Bondir, and the like), won't make it on the list even though their seasonally-inspired dishes are always really, really good.

This list is by no means comprehensive. Please comment below letting me know what are YOUR favorite dishes in Boston. It would be so cool to hear what everyone has to share.

Enjoy!

...

November 24, 2014 Cambridge

Shabu & Mein (Kendall Square, Cambridge)

Word of mouth is the most powerful form marketing.

It's definitely stronger than an advertisement, and still stronger than reviews from the masses on sites like Yelp and Chowhound. After all, it's harder to trust the opinion of a person you don't know versus someone you know.

About a month ago, one of Bryan's coworkers who is really into food told Bryan that he had recently tried the ramen at Shabu & Mein and thought it was really, really good.

"I think it's the best ramen in Boston right now."

That's a pretty bold statement to make, especially in light of the fact that we have places like Totto Ramen (recently transplant of a very popular place in New York), Yume Wo Katare, and several late night seasonal ramen options (Midnight Ramen at Uni Sashimi Bar, the on again, off again late night ramen at Sycamore, and Guchi's Midnight Ramen, just to name a few). Yet word-of-mouth is pretty powerful, and we trusted this coworker, so we decided to visit during Bryan's birthday weekend (a weekend filled with all types of restaurant adventures).

...

November 21, 2014 Asian

Tim Ho Wan (Singapore)

Hailed as one of the cheapest Michelin starred meals you can get in the world, Tim Ho Wan has been an extremely popular dim sum place in Hong Kong since seemingly forever ago. More recently, they have expanded to many parts of Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and most recently, Taiwan (they are even expanding to Brisbane and Sydney in 2015!).

I didn't know when I would be traveling to Hong Kong, so I thought, "why not check out this famous restaurant's outpost in Singapore and see what all the hype was about?
...

November 19, 2014 Boston

Toro Boston (South End)

It is very, very unusual for a Boston restaurant to consider opening up a second location in New York. I mean, it's New York (!) - one of the most competitive restaurant markets in the country. Yet Toro, a collaboration between James Beard award winners chefs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette, has been thriving in New York. The original Boston location is as busy as ever, commanding hour long waits on any given night.

In fact, the wait time was precisely the reason why it took me so long to finally get myself out to the South End to try this place. Bryan and I really don't like the uncertainty associated with long waits, which is why it sometimes takes us forever to try really popular restaurants. But eventually, we did find a way.

Bryan decided that he wanted to visit Toro on his birthday. It was an extended weekend of eating at all sorts of places that are hard to get into (e.g., we went to Neptune Oyster for lunch). We would show up right at 5:15pm, which is about fifteen minutes before opening. The bar is open all day, so you can enter the restaurant, put your name down, grab a drink and then wait for a table. Our waiting time was capped to 15 minutes, and we were seated right at 5:30pm.
...

November 17, 2014 Asian

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice (Maxwell Food Centre, Singapore)

If you spot a long line at a hawker stalls in Singapore, chances are that whatever one dish is being sold there is pretty darn amazing. Tian Tian in Singapore's Chinatown (inside the Maxwell Food Centre), always has a ridiculous line outside - even at 3PM (which is when we arrived for our mid-afternoon "snack").

I guess it doesn't help that Anthony Bourdain visited Tian Tian on his Travel Channel show No Reservations and proclaimed it the best chicken rice in the world. Or that Tian Tian's chicken rice beat out Gordon Ramsay's version in a Hawker Heroes Challenge in 2013.

We had already eaten lunch that day and had plans for dinner. I was curious about Tian Tian, yet hesitant to overeat.

"Let's just get one. You and I can share it," said Bryan.

Bryan loves chicken rice, and immediately jumped into line, perfectly willing to wait to try this super famous dish....

November 14, 2014 Misc

I'm growing AeroGarden Gourmet herbs! + Giveaway {Sponsored}

Last Christmas Bryan's sister gave me an unusual and really fun gift for Christmas: an AeroGarden. It's a plug-in indoor all-in-one system that allows you to grow herbs anywhere in your home with virtually no effort at all. No sunlight needed! I plopped in the seed pods in January, and within 6 weeks, I started getting endless amounts of basil, chives, and parsley.

The plants did really well, and survived until early October. 9 months is pretty impressive, especially considering what a black thumb I have with most plants.

One struggle I had with the original system was the nature of the herbs that came in the basic pack. I don't use that much parsley or chives in my daily cooking. The basil I used the most, but the others were difficult to use up, and I found myself pruning the plants without eating them way too often.

Earlier this month, I was contacted by AeroGarden to consider trying out their Gourmet Seed Pack (and also hosting a giveaway!). I was intrigued by the gourmet seed pack, which includes the three basic herbs I had grown before, but also included Thai basil, cilantro (Bryan's favorite!), dill, and mint.

I knew Bryan would have no problems eating the cilantro. I thought the Thai basil would be really useful for making Vietnamese spring rolls or maybe pho? My first stint with the AeroGarden went really well, and it would be pretty amazing to have cilantro on hand all the time, so I agreed to try it out again.

This contraption is super easy to set up. After connecting a few pieces together, place the seed pods that you want to grow into the holes. I picked Genovese basil, Thai basil, and cilantro.

Add water.

Place the little plastic domes on top, and turn it on!

There is a fluorescent light that shines on the plants. You can control when it turns on by plugging it in at the time you want it to turn on. It will automatically shine for 12 hours and then shut off for 12 hours.

It's still early, but I just checked after 4 days, and the Thai basil is already sprouting! Aren't they super cute? I can't wait until they get big enough to harvest!

Giveaway!
I am giving away one Prize Pack which includes:

1 AeroGarden product with seed pods
herb infuser
a gardening cookbook
berry bowl
a cutting board with a prep station

To participate in this Giveaway, please comment below letting me know your favorite herb to grow indoors and how you would use it all year around. Giveaway ends ~~December 19, 2014~~ December 18th, 2014 at midnight EST.

November 14, 2014 Asian

Din Tai Fung (Singapore - Marina Bay Sands)

We had just gotten off the plane and it was only 11AM. Bryan had wanted to maximize his time in Singapore after having spent a week in Malaysia, so he booked the earliest flight he though we could tolerate. Check-in took awhile, since our early arrival meant it was harder for them to find a room for us. By the time everything was all set, it was closed to lunchtime.

"Where shall we go?"

Just for fun, I did a search for Din Tai Fung, one of my favorite dumpling chains, and did a double take.

There's one less than 500 feet away!

Could it be? It turns out we were staying in a massive hotel complex called Marina Bay Sands that was connected to a fancy mall. Din Tai Fung was connected to our hotel right inside that fancy mall.
We immediately started walking....

November 12, 2014 Malaysia

Hiking the rain forests in Malaysia (and swimming in the waterfalls!) with Open Sky Unlimited

This is the thirteenth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series and the final (can you believe it?) post about Malaysia. We move into Singapore after this one! Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry. Bijan, Onde Onde, Jalan Alor -Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Food Street, Walking Food Tour of Kuala Lumpur, and Mamak - Malaysia's Indian Muslim restaurants

Out of all the organized tours and classes I took in Malaysia, this day long hike in Malaysia's rainforests turned out to be my favorite of all (I know, a non-food activity!).

Perhaps it was because I love the outdoors. Or maybe it's because the Malaysian jungle is so different from anything I've ever seen before. I was fascinated by the plethora of tropical fruits that were growing in the forest. It could even be due to the delicious authentic meals we had pre and post hike at a mamak, an Indian Muslim restaurant.

I'm sure it was all of those things. On top of all that, most importantly, our tour guide Amos (who owns the business Open Sky Unlimited and runs all of the tours), was fantastic. He was extremely organized, very responsive, kept us safe at all times, and was just a really pleasant person with whom to talk about all sorts of things. I felt like I made another friend by the end of the hike....

November 10, 2014 Michelin

Thanksgiving Dinner at Daniel (NYC)

What is your family tradition for Thanksgiving?

Being a daughter of immigrant parents from Taiwan, my Thanksgiving tradition was just a bit atypical. Not only did my mom dislike poultry (I ate very little chicken growing up), we just weren't a huge meat-eating family. Our dinners usually consisted of Chinese family-style dishes: two stir-fried vegetables, one meat (usually fish or pork), and a soup. (plus rice, of course!).

For Thanksgiving, we almost always had a hot pot, where family members would sit around a bubbling cauldron of flavorful broth and cook their own meat and vegetables. It was always fun and something I looked forward to every year.Bryan's mom, on the other hand, has always prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal for as long as Bryan can remember, so that traditional is steeped deeply in his mind.

Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Even though we haven't been able to go back to his hometown in California as much for Thanksgiving anymore, Bryan still insists on eating the traditional fixings, no matter where he is.Even if it's at a three star* Michelin restaurant in New York.

...

November 6, 2014 Cambridge

Cafe ArtScience

It finally happened: the worst nightmare of all for a food blogger - forgetting your camera while checking out one of the most highly anticipated restaurants openings of the season.

It's not completely my fault. Last minute schedule changes led to an unexpected free Saturday evening. Originally, we had a packed schedule full of diving classes (yes, we are getting SCUBA certified!), which meant we wouldn't get out until closer to 10 PM. At that point, we figured even the most popular restaurants would be available, so we didn't even bother making a reservation for dinner.

And then we received a phone call asking if we could reschedule our diving class. Before you know it, we had completed our class and it was only 7 PM.

7 PM on a Saturday night spells death for reservations at popular restaurants (and even less popular ones). It's almost impossible to get any sort of last minute booking at that point. Good luck trying to walk into a popular place.

And then I saw a 7:15 PM opening at Cafe ArtScience pop up on Opentable.

I quickly reserved it, convinced it was available because word hadn't gotten out yet about this place.

Cafe ArtScience is the restaurant associated with Le Laboratoire, the "cultural innovation center partner of Café ArtScience". David Edwards of Harvard University created Le Laboratoire in Paris in 2007 to explore the fusion of art and science. He decided to open up a second location in Kendall Square, arguably one of the most innovative hubs in the U.S. Cafe ArtScience is not only a restaurant that serves great food, it's a places where diners can sample some of the latest food science creations coming out of Le Laboratoire.

Edwards has put together an impressive team which includes executive chef Patrick Campbell (No. 9 Park, Eastern Standard), sous chef Chris Cordeiro (Clio), pastry chef Renae Connolly (Marea in New York), Bar manager Todd Maul (Clio, Uni), and general manager Tom Mastricola (Commonwealth).

I won't hold you in suspense - I loved my entire experience there. The modern feel of the space was bright, open, and just slightly nerdy (don't those lights look like space filling models of molecules?). Sure, the unprotected door resulted in uncomfortable drafts every time guests entered the restaurant ("we're working on it" the server told me), but overall, it was pleasant. Service, for the second day of opening, was surprisingly smooth, with just one course taking a little too long. They voluntarily apologized and sent over a free snack - a perfectly graceful way to make up for the wait.

The food was excellent. Below, please enjoy this "first look" at our meal at Cafe ArtScience. I tried my best to make my iPhone photos look OK. I think they actually turned out decently (yay new iPhone 6 camera). Originally, due to my lack of "real" photos, I had decided not to write this post at all. However, Bryan convinced me to share our experience, since the restaurant is so new and people would be curious.

So, here you go. Enjoy, iPhone photos and all. :)...

November 3, 2014 Malaysia

Mamak - Malaysia's Indian Muslim restaurants

This is the twelfth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry. Bijan, Onde Onde, Jalan Alor -Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Food Street, and Walking Food Tour of Kuala Lumpur.

One of my favorite parts of joining small, personal tours in Malaysia was the added benefit of having a local friend show me all sorts of things I didn't even know existed.

The "mamak" (the "k" is silent) is a perfect example. Mamaks are casual, open-air, 24-hour restaurants owned by Muslim Indians serving casual comfort food. I discovered mamaks when I signed up for a day long hiking trip into the rainforests of Malaysia with Open Sky Unlimited (highly recommended!). Although hiking was the main focus of the tour (and I'll write a separate post about that experience), one bonus of the trip was the opportunity to visit the same 24-hour mamak twice: once for breakfast and once as famished people who had just completed a strenuous 9-mile hike.
...

October 31, 2014 American

Autumn Root Vegetable Soup + Giveaway! {Sponsored}

Hello glorious color!

We are finally in the peak weeks of glorious fall foliage here in Boston. Despite several gloomy days of rain in the past week (our first Nor'easter in a series of several, sadly), many of the leaves have clung onto the trees, and we were blessed with balmy weather and beautiful vibrant hues this past weekend.
As the cold weather comes upon us, I find myself craving soup.

Soup is the perfect comfort food and one of my favorite foods in the colder seasons. Autumn is when the weekly farm share starts to deliver all sorts of root vegetables. Recently, I've gotten everything from rainbow carrots and Kennebec potatoes to purple kohlrabi, honeynut squash, and leeks. With Bryan traveling quite a bit this month (leaving me with the task of eating a whole weekly share by myself!), I find that I am gravitating towards soup as the perfect, all-in-one autumn meal.

...

October 29, 2014 Malaysia

Malaysia Food Tours: Walking food tour of Kuala Lumpur

This is the eleventh post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, and Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry. Bijan, Onde Onde, and Jalan Alor.

I love walking tours.

Actually, I just love walking. Whenever I visit a new location, my favorite way to experience it is to walk it. I like randomly exploring and stumbling upon interesting shops, roadside food stalls, and people going about their daily lives. Usually when Bryan and I travel, we pretty much eat and walk. Plan out our food stops and walk as much as possible.

It's a lot of work to plan out walking paths, however, especially in an unfamiliar country. You might not know which neighborhoods are safe; the street signs might be in another language; and you may end up wasting a lot of time.

Sometimes, especially if Bryan is doing work meetings during the day and I'm traveling alone, I'll opt to join a walking food tour instead. I've realized it's a great way to be exposed to a new cuisine from the eyes of a local. Plus, it's fun to learn more about the food and the culture from someone who actually lives there.

On one of my last days in Kuala Lumpur, I booked a walking tour organized by Food Tour Malaysia in collaboration with Kuala Lumpur Urban Adventures. I had a blast trying all sorts of local treats.
...

October 27, 2014 Misc

I've moved! (to WordPress)

Dear Friends,

After seven (!) years of blogging on a simple blogspot template, I have taken the plunge and switched over to WordPress. I'm still figuring stuff out (this is brand new to me!) but I'm already pretty excited by the added functionality of WordPress over my old, old Blogger theme (whose code I had heavily edited and manually tweaked painstakingly by trial and error).

If you've always wanted to explore my site but felt that it was hard to search for stuff, please come and revisit the new site! I've created all sorts of different visual galleries of different categories, like restaurants in Cambridge, Thailand posts, or different recipe categories, like appetizers, soups, pasta, and even one called "Kawaii" (the Japanese word for cute).

It's been a huge project just re-categorizing everything, but hopefully it will all be worth the effort at the end. It's still a work in progress (after all, I have over a thousand posts to categorize). However, I've already made quite a bit of progress, and the site is already much more easy to navigate (and find content!) than before.

We will return shortly to our regularly scheduled program. Once I have a better handle on things, I'll write a post about how I made the transition, along with tips for anything I learned along the way. For now, please enjoy exploring the site!

October 22, 2014 Fish

Sous Vide Salmon

I got into the sous vide game early. Back before all the fancy elegant wands there was this workhorse called the Sous Vide Supreme. It was a HUGE box of a machine, but it did kept water temperature consistent. I played around with it so much, trying to make all sorts of fun sous vide dishes.

After moving to Hong Kong, I went for almost two years without sous vide before finally breaking down one day and asking Bryan to pick one up at the super market near his work.

Since then I've been revisiting sous vide. I realized that I never published this post I worked on years ago. The content is still good and I picked it back up just last week while making one of my first batches of sous vide salmon in Hong Kong.

...

October 22, 2014 Back Bay

Asta (Back Bay, Boston)

If you're an avid follower of restaurant lists and Michelin stars, the name Noma won't be foreign to you. Noma is a modernist, locavore, Nordic restaurant from Chef René Redzepi in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has dominated the top spot in S. Pellegrino's World's 50 Best Restaurants list, named the best restaurant in the world in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. It also holds two Michelin stars. Dishes (or shall I call them experiences?) are influenced by hyperlocal ingredients interpreted through the artistic and fastidious lens of a chef who has trained at places like The French Laundry and El Bulli in Spain.What about Boston? Does Boston, a city that historically has preferred steakhouses, New England seafood, and gastropubs, have an appetite for such modern and cutting edge food?

Enter Chef Alex Crabb, previously from L'Espalier, who in January 2013 opened Asta with his girlfriend, Shish Parsigian. Chef Crabb staged (pronounced "st-ah-ged", meaning an unpaid apprenticeship) at Noma for two months in 2011 to learn from the best restaurant in the world. He came back, ready to introduce Boston to a menu that most certainly pushes the envelope of Bostonian dining.

Asta only serves tasting menus. You choose between a three course ($45), five course ($70 + $40 for optional wine pairing), and an eight course ($95 + $60 for optional wine pairing). None of the menu items overlap, so you really have to try all of the different menus to sample all the food.The nice thing about Asta is that each party can order a different tasting. We had a party of four, so we ended up getting a mix of five-course dinners and eight-course dinners (we wanted to try as much as possible!). There are also a few optional add-ons you can order for an additional price. Bryan ordered the extra foie gras dish, which cost $24.

Silverware is kept in a drawer right underneath your table, which makes it pretty convenient for the servers. Instead of bringing a new set of silverware for each course, you just get your own. Noma has the same practice.

Our first pre-course, an amuse, consisted of a pickled mussel served with a rye crisp and chili aoili. It was a fun bite full of different texture and flavors.

At this point, our tasting menus diverged completely, so I will describe them separately.

FIVE COURSE TASTING ($70 + $40 pairing)
Compared to the eight course tasting, this one is less modern and more approachable. It might be a good option for those that have never tasted modern cuisine. It's also a little less food, but not that much less, than the eight course.

The first course was called Octopus with Chickpeas, and consisted of cooked octopus served with crispy chick peas, a deep squid ink sauce, baby greens, and flower petals. Honestly, this was a disappointing dish. The octopus was quite tough (overcooked?), and overall everything was a bit undersalted and light. The dish was visually beautiful, but overall came up short in flavor.

Thankfully, we absolutely loved our second dish, Beans with Fresh Goat Cheese, Relish. A creative take on a four bean salad, this version was filled with fancy speckled heirloom-esque beans, fava beans, and green beans tossed together in a beautifully bright lemony dressing. The texture on the beans was perfect: nice and al dente (I don't like mushy beans) and perfectly bound together with the creamy goat cheese, which was not at all stinky.

Similarly the next dish, Hake with Corn and Tomato, was also brilliant. The properly pan-seared hake sat in a concentrated tomato "water" that burst with beautifully intense tomato flavors. Fresh corn added a sweet textural component that rounded out the dish really nicely.

Our main course was Beef with Potato and Parsley Puree. The steak was a simple preparation that was properly seasoned but nothing particularly special. The beef quality was fine, but not as nice as what you would find in a steak house.

I really liked the potatoes with the vivid green parsley puree, which was fragrant and well seasoned.

Our final and fifth course, Berries with Milk Bread and Lemon Verbena, was a winner. The dessert reminded me a bit of a deconstructed bread pudding, but made with a fluffier, less dense bread. I loved soaking up the cream with the absorbent bread and enjoying the milk-infused bread with the fresh fruits and almond slices on top.

EIGHT COURSE ($95 + 60 pairing)
The eight course consists of more smaller bites, more of which are a bit edgy and remind me of places like Noma. If you like trying a lot of little bites, this may be the better choice for you.

The first course was simply titled Melon, and consisted of a few slices of very ripe cantaloupe served with a fresh slice of Zebra tomato and wakame (seaweed). An unusual and creative combination, it worked quite well. The umami from the saltier seaweed balanced out the cleaner, bright flavors of the melon and the tomato.
The second course was Oyster Stew, and came in a tiny skillet over toasted dried grass (or is that hay?), yet another nod to one of Noma's most famous dishes. Rich and buttery, the stew overall had nice, robust flavors. You could taste the freshness of the oysters. There were also crunchy bits (maybe croutons of some sort?) that added a fun textural component that made the dish fun to eat.
One of my favorite courses of the evening was the Mushroom + Rock, which consisted of different interpretations of mushrooms on top of a large hot stone. There were three components: a crimini mushroom cracker, a piece of chicken mushroom, and a smoked eggplant purée.

All three parts were excellent. The cracker had a nice, solid crunch and was full of that deep, earthy mushroom flavor from the crimini mushrooms. The chicken mushroom was pretty much served "as is", but surprisingly really tasted like chicken, both in flavor and texture. It was fun to try. The eggplant puree was deep and smoky. There were also tiny crunchy bits of grated and dried mushroom "dirt" that were really flavorful and elevated the enjoyment of this course to yet another level.

The next course, Broccoli + Lardo, was a single charred broccoli floret topped with a thin layer of lardo and served with a tart horseradish cream. Again, there were small crunchy bits that added a really nice textural component to the dish. I especially liked how the tart cream and crunchy bits added needed contrast to the rich lardo and charred broccoli.
The Sweet & Sour Eggplant was a single roasted eggplant marinated with a sweet and sour glaze, hyssop, and topped with chopped peanuts. The dish was almost reminiscent of a chocolate bar (some say Snickers), with crunchy peanuts and a sweet cream.

Bryan and our friend Peter ordered the extra course, Seared Foie Gras ($24). The foie gras was seared with a coffee crust and served over a slice of sweet potato in a coffee flavored broth. It was excellent. We were surprised that such unusual components would go together so well, but it worked beautifully. The sweet potato paired well with the coffee-crusted foie gras, adding just a right amount of sweetness to the dish.

The biggest fail of the evening was the Pork Belly with Black Walnut. A single slice of pork belly came topped with walnuts and cape gooseberries. The pork belly was inedibly tough. We were pulling at it with our teeth and still having trouble chewing it. It reminded us of jerky, with dried out fat and meat that was more suited to be shredded into pork floss.

We weren't sure if that was the intent of the dish, so we inquired about it. The server said that the pork belly is meant to be well done: not super soft, jiggly, and fatty (which is common with a lot of pork belly dishes). However, we said it was hard to chew. She said she would ask, but we never heard from her again regarding the disappointing course. She actually seemed a bit confused by our questions, unsure of what to do. Most restaurants would take the offending dish off the check (or offer a free dessert), but I'm not sure how you would handle that when there's already a tasting menu that includes everything.

The first dessert, a refreshing palate cleanser, was a Concord grape sorbet with rose. The flavors were lovely, with a pronounced flavors from both elements.

The main dessert, Fig Leaf with Tomato and Hazelnut, consisted of a fig leaf panna cotta topped with hazelnuts, fresh apples, and tomato jam. Overall it was a pleasant dessert that was light, fruity, and easy to finish.

The check came with a plateful of cute cookies, which we polished off.

Initial Thoughts
There's clearly a lot of talent in the kitchen here. Several dishes were superb - creative combinations of flavors that worked really well in surprising ways. My personal favorites were the beans, the hake, the mushrooms + rock, and the foie gras.

Yet at the same time, there were certain courses that were either near misses or total misses. Meat was sometimes overcooked, and certain courses just didn't have the oomph of other dishes. We also found the bill a bit confusing because it was not clearly itemized. The foie gras extra (which is $24), automatically comes with its own wine pairing if you've ordered the wine pairing, but they don't clearly state that they will charge you an additional $8 for that glass.

All in all, I think it's a restaurant with a ton of potential. In general, I really like what Chef Crabb has done here, introducing a new, more adventurous style of dining that's pretty missing in Boston. I think the restaurant just needs a bit more time to iron out execution kinks. I know there's a ton of creativity going on in the kitchen, and I like that. I'd prefer to have a daring chef that's not afraid to take risks, even if sometimes those risks fail. There's serious room for greatness here, and in general, it's already coming along really, really nicely.

Asta
47 Massachusetts Ave
Boston, MA 02115

October 20, 2014 Malaysia

Jalan Alor - Kuala Lumpur's most famous food street

This is the tenth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, and Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry. Bijan, and Onde Onde.

A food series about Malaysia would be incomplete without mentioning Jalan Alor, the most famous food street in Kuala Lumpur. The street comes alive at night when many of Malaysia's most famous hawker stalls set up shop and sell all sorts of street food, from choose-your-own skewers and fragrant noodle dishes to exotic things like frog porridge and pungent fresh durian.It's very conveniently located, right next to Bukit Bintang, one of the busiest shopping areas in Kuala Lumpur.Unfortunately, I only visited for a short while, and didn't really have a chance to try any food because I was already too full from our exploration of Lot 10 Hutong (only a 5-minute walk away). Nevertheless here's what I thought about it, including some links to good resources you can use from others who have eaten there countless times.

The street looks like a pedestrian street, but it's not. This can get pretty annoying when cars try to squeeze their way through. The streets are jam packed, and cars are not afraid to get pretty close to the pedestrians. You can see there's very little space for the people to go when a car comes through. I often found myself squeezed right against someone's table or chair.

The food choices are endless, and the restaurants are popular with locals and tourists a like. There were A LOT of tourists. We saw tons of people taking photos of themselves at the street (us included!), and you could see all different types of people sitting at the tables.

Although I didn't personally eat there, my research turned up a few places that everyone says are "must visits".

1. Wong Ah Wah for its barbecued chicken wings or spicy chicken wings
Its popularity has caused it to grow from one stall to five all in a row!
Address 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Jalan Alor

2. Meng Kee for its grilled fish or other grilled items, like grilled stuffed tofu.
Address: 39 Jalan Alor

3. Frog Porridge
If you dare, this place is hard to miss because there's a huge sign that basically says frog porridge. Bryan's pretty squeamish about frog so I'm guessing we would have never ordered it, but I've read it's pretty good.

3. Local fruit
If you dare, try durian! I personally grew to like durian after trying it in Thailand last year. We later learned that Malaysian durians are the most sought after ones in China because Malaysian durians are ripen on the trees, resulting in a richer (stinkier?) flavor.

Here are a few great resources about the area from those that have visited:

Hungry Go Where: Best Jalan Alor Food Part I
Hungry Go Where: Best Jalan Alor Food Part II

If I return to Kuala Lumpur, I will plan on visiting this area with an empty stomach and a stomach of adventure!

And I will try a fresh durian.

October 17, 2014 Boston

Tiny Urban Tidbits - Exploring Boston restaurants!

Happy Autumn Friday!I know I've been spending a lot of time on my Malaysia and Singapore! series. It's hard to condense, partly because there's just so much stuff to share. Crazy to think that I'm only about ⅓ of the way through all the posts that I plan on publishing from that series. (!)In order not to alienate my readers who aren't that interested in Malaysia and Singapore (or who just would like to see some Boston stuff), I've decided to start adding some Boston-focused posts here and there, starting with this post which summarizes what I've been up to in the past few weeks. If you want to follow my day-to-day activities more "realtime", you can always follow my Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus account. I update pretty frequently.Additionally, we celebrated Bryan's birthday a couple weeks ago with a crazy weekend full of trying a bunch of new restaurants (as well as some old favorites). I'll begin interspersing posts from this new mini-series, which I'll call Bryan's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza, where I'll highlight some of the awesome meals we tried that weekend.I'll give you a sneak peek of that series in this post. 🙂

1. A New England cookbook from one of our own chefs!

Congrats to Jeremy Sewall, chef-owner of the ever-popular Island Creek Oyster Bar, Lineage, and Row 34, who just launched his first cookbook, The New England Kitchen, in collaboration with Erin Byers Murray.Bryan and I had the honor of attending their launch event at Island Creek Oyster Bar a few weeks ago. We enjoyed delicious passed hors d'oeuvres as well as endless shucked Island Creek oysters (they were fantastic!). I purchased a book and got autographs from both authors (as well as a photo!). I'm excited to try out some of the recipes and will report back once I do.

Deep fried Island Creek Oysters from the launch event

2. Newly Revamped Savenor's

Gorgeous Japanese wagyu at the newly renovated meat counter @savenors #Cambridge

Savenor's in Cambridge closed for renovations for about a month in August. We had no idea what they were going to do. The newly revamped space is beautiful and definitely puts their meats front and center. It feels more like a butcher shop than a gourmet market now, with a long meat counter as the centerpiece of the whole store.We were thrilled with the really interesting offerings - everything from Japanese Wagyu beef (at a pretty penny!) to dry-aged grass-fed prime beef. We're definitely looking forward to stopping by and trying some on the grill.3. It's Fall! What I've Been Cooking in the Kitchen

Oven roasted carrots

It's autumn! That means my CSA from Siena Farms has been delivering a lot more root vegetables and cruciferous vegetables (hello broccoli and kale!). I've been making tons of kale chips (all different kinds), as well as butternut squash soup (like this recipe but without the maple), which tastes phenomenal with a bit of Jonah crab and Serrano peppers sprinkled on top.

Another favorite is oven roasted carrots, which are seriously addictive and taste quite different from raw carrots. They almost remind me of sweet potato fries, which is why I titled my post on how to make them "Carrot Fries."

I took the plunge and finally tried making my own Bo Ssam from David Chang's Momofuku cookbook. Yes, it took 8 hours, but the overall result was delicious. I easily served it to 25+ people (along with many other dishes), and everyone loved it.

4. Bryan's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza Sneak Peek!

This year Bryan's birthday fell on a Monday, so he decided to take that day off from work, essentially creating a three-day weekend. Originally we had considered a driving trip of Vermont (to taste beers and cheese!) or a quick eating trip to New York City. However, after realizing how much time we'd spent in transit for the short weekend, we decided to stay in Boston and explore our own backyard.

For lunch on Saturday, we tried out Shabu & Mein, a new restaurant in Kendall Square by the same group that owns Fuji at Kendall and numerous other restaurants in and around Quincy. We were extremely impressed with the ramen, which had a nice tonkotsu broth and chewy, properly cooked al dente noodles. They also had Kobe beef shabu, which was delicious (though a bit pricey).

The ramen's probably the best I've had in Cambridge, and definitely one of the top ones in Boston at the moment. I'm looking forward to going back and then writing up a proper post!

Bryan enjoying Pig's Head for Two at the ringside seats at Craigie on Main

Bryan had always wanted to try the Pig's Head for Two at Craigie on Main. We found an available reservation late on Saturday night, so we took it.

Yes, it's a bit weird and definitely not for the faint of heart, but I can attest that it's really, really good. The skin is beautifully crispy, the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, and the flavors are spot on. It's definitely not something you would eat everyday, but it's worth trying at least once.

On Sunday evening, we had a lovely dinner at the ever-so-cozy Mamma Maria, an old North End favorite. Bryan enjoyed his favorite (the osso bucco), and we tried a variety of pasta dishes (all excellent). Our server and friend Jason was so generous as to give us four desserts to try, complete with candles for Bryan and our friend Peter (whose birthday is just one week earlier).

On Bryan's actual birthday, he decided he wanted to "try all these places I can never get into . . ." - in other words, places that don't take reservations and usually have crazy lines.

On Monday morning at 11:15am, we "got in line" at Neptune Oyster (we were basically the second and third people in line). We waited 15 minutes and immediately got seated.
The food is still as fantastic as I remembered it the first time I visited. I still love the Johnny Cakes (pictured above), and we finally got to try the hot buttered lobster roll.

For dinner, we stopped by Toro at around 5:15pm (can you see our strategy?) and waited at the bar for about 15 minutes before getting seated immediately. We ordered a ton of tapas plus paella. Everything was really good, and I plan on writing up a proper post for that meal.

It was a great birthday weekend, and I'm glad we stayed in Boston to better explore the city.

Happy belated birthday to Bryan, and with this, we kick off a new mini-series! Of course, the Malaysia and Singapore series will continue going along on its merry way.

Disclaimer: there are some links to Amazon within this post. If you click on it and purchase something, I get a tiny commission as an Amazon affiliate. Additionally, I also received my Siena Farms CSA at a discount. I did not pay to attend the launch cookbook event at Island Creek Oyster Bar, although I did pay for my own book.

October 16, 2014 Asian

Onde Onde (sticky rice balls) LaZat Malaysian Cooking School

This is the ninth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, and Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry. and Bijan.I have a horrible weakness when it comes any dessert made with glutinous (sticky) rice. Whether it be simple homemade mochi, matcha mochi cupcakes, or tang yuan (boiled rice balls in a soup, like red bean soup), I just can't get enough of its addictive chewy texture.

It's no surprise, therefore, that this phenomenal Malaysian dessert called onde onde became one of my favorite new discoveries during my trip to Southeast Asia.

Just imagine: rice balls flavored with aromatic, floral pandan, filled with warm palm sugar, and covered with fresh coconut shavings. The palm sugar melts a bit from the boiling process, which results in a fantastic "pop" of flavor when you bite into one of these things. I absolutely loved it, and am thrilled to discover this dessert.

Pandan is a flavor that comes from the pandanus plant, also known as the screwpine. The leaves of this tropical plant have a sweet aroma, almost like vanilla, and are often used in Southeast Asian desserts.

In Malaysia, where pandan leaves are available everywhere, people blend fresh leaves with water to make "pandan juice". Without access to the fresh leaves, it's possible instead to use a few drops pandan flavoring essence in water.

The first step is to place glutinous rice flour in a mixing bowl and slowly add pandan juice. Mix together until a kneadable ball of dough forms.

According to our instructor, rice flour is one of the most finicky flours when it comes to the way it absorbs and mixes with water. Humidity, temperature, speed of mixing, and other unknown factors greatly affect how much water you need to add. The amount varies all the time, so use your judgment to decide when the ball of dough is considered "kneadable."

Knead lightly and stop the moment it seems right. You don't want to overwork the dough.

Once your ready to start forming rice balls, heat up a pot of water to boiling.

Form small balls by pulling a piece of dough and rolling it between your fingers. Ideally don't use your palms because they are warmer and will soften the dough more quickly.

Flatten the sphere slightly and fill each one with a piece of palm sugar. Close it up and re-roll it back into a sphere.

Our instructor said, "I like to fill it with lots of palm sugar because I love sugar."

At first I thought that she just had a sweet tooth, unlike me. Boy, once I tasted the deep, rich intensity of palm sugar from Malaysia, I totally changed my mind. Palm sugar in Malaysia is so different from anything I've found in the States. It's super dark, intensely deep in flavor, and fantastic in this dessert. I especially love how the slightly melted palm sugar bursts in your mouth with a huge pop of flavor when you take a bite.

Your saucepan full of water should be boiling by now. Drop the ball into the boiling water and let ut cook it until it floats. Once it's floating, pick it up with a slotted spoon, drain well, and throw it into a bowl of fresh coconut shavings. Cover with coconut, set it aside on a plate.

You can do this serially - as you continue to make balls, drop them into the water and take them out as soon as they are done (to make room for new ones that need to boil!)

Let cool and serve!

Notes
I know that the ingredients for this recipe may be a bit challenging to find for many of us. I think it's not too hard to find dried pandan leaves or pandan flavoring, though from what I've been told, use small amounts of the flavoring because it is quite potent! One of these days I may try recreating this recipe with ingredients I can find in the U.S. Maybe I could try using pandan oil and brown sugar or something.

Onde Onde
Source: LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking
Serves 1-2 people
Makes 8-10 rice balls

Pandan Juice
10 large pandan leaves
100 mL water

Rinse pandan leaves and cut them into 1 inch pieces. Blend leaves and water in a blender. Pour through a fine sieve strainer and discard solid.

Ingredients
100g (3.5 oz) glutinous rice flour
100 mL (3.4 oz) pandan juice
60g (2.1 oz) palm sugar
60 g (2.1 oz) grated coconut mixed with a pinch of salt
700 mL (24 oz / 3 cups) water

Place glutinous rice flour in a mixing bowl and slowly add pandan juice and mix together until it forms a kneadable ball of dough. This amount varies all the time, so use your judgment.

Knead lightly

Form small balls. Flatten them slightly and fill each one with a piece of palm sugar. Close it up and roll it into a sphere.

Bring water in a saucepan to a boil and slowly cook each ball as you form it and cook it until it floats.

Drain well and roll in coconut shavings. Cool and serve!

October 13, 2014 Malaysia

Bijan (Malaysian restaurant)

This is the seventh post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake, and Nonya Malaysian Chicken Curry.There's no doubt that Malaysia (or southeast Asia for that matter) is known for its street foods. Much of Malaysia's rich and colorful cuisine comes from the melding of flavors from neighboring countries with a strong street food culture: India, Thailand, China, and Indonesia.

Naturally, as a food-oriented traveler, I was most interested in checking out all the streetside noodle shacks, open air restaurants, and mom-and-pop stalls. Similarly, I was highly suspicious of high-end, beautifully decorated restaurants that seemed to cater to Westerners.

Nevertheless, it is hard to just eat street food for an entire week. You get tired of feeling sticky and sweaty from being outside. The flies buzzing around your food gets old fast. Sometimes it's nice just to sit down after a hard day of sightseeing (or business meetings!) in a comfortable, air-conditioned setting and having someone serve you really good food. Bonus if they also have some local beer or wine.

After our first full day in Kuala Lumpur, Bryan said he really preferred a sit-down place for dinner. (I bet he was afraid I would arrange only hawker stall dinners for us all week long!) We stopped by the hotel concierge and asked for a recommendation.

Without missing a beat, the concierge immediately recommended Bijan and asked whether we wanted him to make a reservation. Although I was a bit hesitant (I hate making rash decisions without doing any research), we said yes, thinking we could always cancel later if needed.

It ended up not being necessary. We ended up enjoying Bijan so much that we actually went back for a second visit on the last day of our trip.

Bijan has been named the "Best Malay Restaurant" by Tourism Malaysia and "best Malay food" by Timout KL. It is very well known for serving excellent Malaysian food. They say they serve Malaysian food "with a modern twist".

It's not super high end, but it's definitely a nice and classy restaurant. The ambiance is cozy, rustic, and romantic. There's a lovely outdoor terrace where you can dine under the stars (which is surprisingly comfortable once the sun goes down). Conveniently located, Bijan is located just an 8 minute walk from the center of the lively shopping district Bukit Bintang, tucked in an area that's a little off the beaten path.

The prices for such a nice restaurant are surprisingly reasonable, probably due to the strength of the U.S. dollar. Most appetizers were in the $3-$4 range and entrees in the $7-$10 range.

Below I've summarized the dishes we ordered from two separate visits (lest you think we eat a ton in one sitting!).

Cucur Bijan (RM12 or $4 USD) is a classic Malaysian appetizer that consists of crisp fried vegetable "fries" of tofu, sweet potato and tempeh matchsticks together with bean sprouts and spring onions. These are all served with Bijan's homemade peanut and chili dipping sauce.Being a deep fried dish, it was pretty heavy, though satifying. The peanut and chili dipping sauce was flavorful and went well with the "fries." It reminded me of tempura, a bit, but with a heavier and more flavorful batter.

Kerabu Pucuk Paku Daging Salai (RM22 or $7 USD) is a wild fern salad tossed with char grilled beef slices in a dressing of lime, torch ginger, and crispy shallots. The wild ferns are very local and are typically harvested from the nearby mountains and rainforest regions (for photos of the wild ferns at the market, see photos from my outdoor market trip in Malaysia).

I loved this salad. The flavors were bright and floral, and I loved the textural differences from the wild greens, crispy shallots, and marinated beef. Additionally, it just felt healthy and I felt good after eating it. All in all, it was probably my favorite dish.

Because Bryan can't have coconut milk (which is quite limiting in Southeast Asia, to say the least!), we focused on dishes that used other types of sauces. Ayam Ketumbar Sambal Tomato (RM30 or $10 USD) consists of crispy fried chicken pieces served with a spicy tomato sambal.

Sambal is a spicy sauce typically made from grinding together chili peppers, aromatics (e.g., garlic, shallots, ginger, scallions), an acid (lime juice or vinegar), and an umami component (e.g., fish sauce or fermented shrimp paste). This version was made with tomatoes and had a lovely sweet but deeply flavored umami that was delicious with the chicken.

Water spinach (or hollow heart vegetable) is very common in Malaysia. A classic Malaysian dish is Kangkung Goreng Belacan (RM15 or $5 USD), water spinach stir fried with dried shrimp and belacan, a fermented shrimp paste that is commonly used in Malaysian cuisine.

We generally like this dish a lot and order it often. This version was solid.

One of Bryan's favorite dishes was the Sup Ekor, an oxtail stew braised in an aromatic broth full of potatoes and Malaysian spices. It was hearty and satisfying. The oxtail was fall-off-the-bone tender and the overall flavors of the soup were perfectly balanced.

There are many different types of rice in Malaysian cuisine, and we were able to try several of the non-coconut milk varieties. Nasi Ulam (RM10 or $3 USD) is white rice tossed with dried shrimp, salted fish, anchovies, belacan, herbs and spices. It is a very herbaceous dish and could be an acquired taste if you're not used to the strong flavors of anchovies, fermented shrimp paste, and other Malaysian herbs. I enjoyed it, but it did feel a bit foreign to me as well.

Nasi Goreng Kunyit (RM23 or ~ $7 USD) is fried rice made with prawns, sambal tumis and turmeric leaves. Sambal tumis a [articular type of sambal made from stir-frying together chili peppers with belacan shrimp paste, onions, garlic, and tamarind juice. This dish came with chicken satay and fish crackers, both of which were very good.
Because I was in Malaysia, I felt like I should have some sort of durian dessert. Although I was tempted by the Durian Chocolate Cake (which is one of their most famous desserts), I decided I was too full for something so heavy and opted for the simple homemade Durian Ice Cream (RM7 or $2.50 USD) instead. It was OK - the durian flavor was definitely there, though the quality of the ice cream was subpar to what I usually get in Boston (which is a high standard!).

General Thoughts
All in all, we really enjoyed our meal. The service was excellent, the space was really nice, and the food was very good. The restaurant is very foreigner-friendly (I think it shows up in a lot of guidebooks and English language websites), and thus is filled with quite a bit of tourists.

Despite the fact that this would usually bother me, I was actually OK with this. Being "touristy" or popular with foreigners doesn't necessary mean bad food. One thing we learned while we were in Malaysia is that Malaysians love to cook and most of them eat at home a lot. It's not surprising that you don't see that many of them at a restaurant like Bijan, which serves a lot of home cooking type dishes on western-style dishware. Furthermore, the prices at Bijan are still higher than open air restaurants or streetside stalls. Most local Malays would probably opt to go somewhere without the fancy atmosphere.

From my perspective, the overall prices at Bijan were still very, very reasonable compared to most fancy restaurants in other countries. I didn't mind at all paying a bit more for something in a much nicer atmosphere. It's definitely a nice alternative and can still be easily mixed into a week that also includes lots of street side vendors and open air restaurants.

Bijan Restaurant
No 3 Jalan Ceylon 50200
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Tel + 603 2031 3575
Open Mondays to Sundays, 4:30 - 11pm

October 10, 2014 Malaysia

Nonya (Nyonya) Malaysian Chicken Curry - kari ayam (LaZat Cooking School)

This is the sixth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers, and Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake.

I'm always fascinated by how geography and the movement of people influence food.

Nonya or Peranakan Cuisine fuses together Chinese ingredients with Malaysian spices and cooking techniques. It came about with the immigration of the Chinese to Malaysia in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. The Chinese brought with them the dishes they knew and incorporated Malaysia's rich access to tropical ingredients, like kaffir limes, galangal, coconut milk, and belacan (fermented shrimp paste). What results is this incredible new, fusion cuisine that definitely resembles Chinese food but most certainly tastes like a distinct cuisine.

All of the dishes I made in my cooking class in Kuala Lumpur were Nonya dishes. Malaysian Nonya curry typically incorporates local ingredients such as shallots, belacan, coconut milk, and tamarind. A truly "made from scratch" version would also include a homemade, grind-it-yourself curry (which is what I did in Thailand!).

This version is much easier for a person in North America or Europe to reproduce. It uses a curry powder from a reputable brand that can be purchased in the U.S. The only more "exotic" ingredients are tamarind (which I've found in most Asian markets), and curry leaves, which may very well be available in an Indian grocery store (I haven't checked). The recipe omits the strong smelling belacan (which is hard to find and a bit smelly to store!).

I haven't tried making this again at home, but I can attest that the version we made in Malaysia was delicious.

We'll start by prepping a few "pastes." Make a pounded aromatics paste by pounding together shallots, garlic, and ginger with a mortar and pestle. Make a curry paste by mixing together curry powder and water.

Our instructors highly recommended Babas brand, which they said was their favorite in terms of its fragrant flavors. I was happy to find that this brand is pretty easy to find online. The owner of the cooking school, Ana, also said she sometimes makes her own curry and offered to share with us the recipe if we wanted. I haven't taken her up on the offer, but if I am inspired, maybe one of these days I'll try grinding my own!

Mise en Place: Chop up chicken thigh or breast into bite sized pieces, cut potatoes into small cubes (about ½ inch thick), and gather all the other ingredients.

Heat your skillet to medium heat (or low heat if you have a really temperature sensitive pan, like this one), and add curry leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, and cardamon. Cook until fragrant.

Add the pounded aromatics paste to the skillet and saute for a few more minutes until the mixture is sticky and "goopy" but not caramelized.

Add curry paste and fry until the oil separates.

Ana told us that, according to traditional French cooking techniques, letting the oil separate out is one of the biggest sins in cooking. French-trained chefs coming to take her class were shocked to learn that Malaysian cooking technique requires this step. It went against everything they had learned. However, Malaysian cooking requires this step in order for the dish to come out right.

Add water, potatoes, tamarind juice, and salt. Let simmer. See how the separated oil has now risen to the top?

Once the potatoes are almost cooked, add chicken and coconut milk. Continue cooking until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

You can serve this straight up with rice, or serve with roti jala, Malaysian lacy pancake.

Enjoy!

NONYA MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY
serves 1

I would most definitely double or quadruple this recipe if you want to serve multiple people. I made the version shown below and ate the whole thing myself with the roti jala. 🙂

Pounded Aromatics
4 shallots, skin removed
2 garlic cloves
½ cm ginger, skin removed

Curry Powder Paste
2 tablespoons meat curry powder
2 tablespoons water

Sauce
130g (4.6 ounces) chicken boneless thigh or breast meat, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons of oil, preferably a neutral higher heat oil like canola, grapeseed,
1 stalk curry leaves
2 cm (about ½ inch) stick of cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cloves
2 cardamon
180 mL (6 ounces) water
30g (1 ounce) potatoes, cut into cubes
1 teaspoon tamarind juice
½ teaspoon salt
70 mL (2.4 ounces) coconut milk

1. Make "Pounded Aromatics" paste: pound together shallots, garlic, and ginger in a mortar and pestle. Set aside.

2. Mix together curry powder and water to make the Curry Powder Paste. Set aside.

3. Add oil to a skillet at medium heat and cook curry leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, and cardamon until fragrant.

4. Add Pounded Aromatics to the skillet and saute for a few more minutes until the mixture is sticky and "goopy" but not caramelized.

5. Add Curry Paste and fry until the oil separates.

6. Add water, potatoes, tamarind juice, and salt. Let simmer.

7. Once the potatoes are almost cooked, add chicken and coconut milk.

8. Continue cooking until chicken is cooked.

9. Serve!

Disclaimer: There are some affiliate links to products on Amazon on this page. If you click on the link and buy the product, I get a little commission from the sale.

October 7, 2014 Asian

Roti Jala - Malaysian Lacy Pancake (LaZat Malaysian Cooking School)

This is the fifth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf, and Little Penang Cafe + Visiting the Petronas Twin Towers

I always thought "roti" meant a very specific type of pancake like bread that's often served in Malaysian restaurants accompanied with a chicken curry dipping sauce. It wasn't until I visited Malaysia that I learned that "roti" actually just means bread.

A local guy told me, "if you go to a supermarket and you want a loaf of bread, you could say 'I am getting some roti.' You need to add a descriptor at the end to specify what kind of bread."

Ohhhhh . . .

It's even more confusing because the type of pancake that I was thinking of has different names depending on where you are. In Singapore, they call it roti prata, whereas in Malaysia they call it roti canai (pronounced chuh-nye) and in India they call it paratha.

When I first saw "roti" on the menu for my cooking class, I immediately though we were learning how to make the pancake version. It wasn't until I arrived in class that I learned about all the different types of "roti", and how the type we were making - roti jala - was actually a delicate, lacy pancake of sorts.

It's actually beautiful, and our instructor told us people often eat it at fancier occasions, like at weddings.

What's so amazing is that this pancake is actually really, really easy to make, arguably much easier to make than roti prata / canai.

I can't wait to make this at my next party!

Mix together dry ingredients: flour, salt, and tumeric powder, whose main purpose is just to add a bit of color. Add coconut milk and then half of the water and begin stirring. Slowly continue adding water and continue stirring (faster and faster) until everything is well mixed. Pour beaten egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well.

Strain the batter to remove lumps

Lightly grease a flat pan over low heat. They use a pandan leaf, which infuses a lovely essence, but in a pinch you can probably use a paper towel.

Using a roti jala maker, drip the batter onto the pan in circles to form the lacy design. The roti jala maker is an unusual cup that has three little funnels coming out. Roti jala makers are really hard to find in the U.S. People have been pretty creative with solutions, such as using a sauce squeeze bottle or punching holes into plastic water bottles.

This can be much harder than it looks depending on the quality of your roti jala maker. Some of ours were not in good shape (they dripped all over the place), and people had to switch them out for new ones.

I think if you have a high quality squeeze bottle, it may actually be easier to use than a traditional roti jala maker.

Cook until set (just a couple minutes) and flip over.

You can bring it over to a plate, or I've seen some people even wrap or fold it right on the pan.

Fold into triangles or roll up into cylinders as shown above!

Serve with a sauce, like curry chicken (recipe coming next!).

Enjoy!

Roti Jala (Lacy Pancake)

INGREDIENTS
125 g (1 cup) all purpose flour, sifted through a sieve
½ teaspoon salt
a pinch of tumeric powder for color (optional)
1 egg, beaten
100 mL (3.4 oz) coconut milk
220 mL (6.8 oz) water
1 teaspoon oil
roti jala maker

1. Mix together dry ingredients: flour, salt, and tumeric powder
2. Add coconut milk. Add half of the water and begin stirring. Slowly continue adding water and continue stirring (faster and faster) until everything is well mixed.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well
4. Strain the batter to remove lumps
5. Lightly grease a flat pan over low heat.
6. Using a roti jala maker, drip the batter onto the pan in circles to form the lacy design.
7. Cook until set (just a couple minutes) and flip over.
8. Fold into triangles or roll up into cylinders as shown above
9. Serve with a sauce, like curry chicken!

October 6, 2014 Malaysia

Little Penang Cafe (and visiting the Petronas Twin Towers and KLCC)

This is the fourth post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof, LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking, and Otak, Otak Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaf.One of the hardest parts of planning a food-oriented trip in a city I've never visited before is coordinating the sightseeing locations with the food. If I am not very familiar with the geography of a destination, I get overwhelmed reading Chowhound posts and various magazine articles which are usually only directed towards what to eat and not so much where they are located relative to the best places to sightsee.

As a result, I find myself struggling to connect the dots and overlay restaurant addresses, sightseeing locations, and subway maps. It's a bit exhausting. I swear, someday I am going to sit down and write a little eating guide for Boston that tells you what to visit and where to eat all in one go.

Anyway, I digress. The whole point of bringing that up was to say that we found a lovely little place to dine right in the middle of a heavily-trafficked tourist area in Kuala Lumpur.

Everyone who goes to Kuala Lumpur will visit the Petronas Twin Towers

These twin towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, when they were surpassed by Taipei 101. Currently, Burj Khalifa in Dubai holds the record. The Petronas Twin Towers continue to be the tallest twin towers in the world.

You can go up the elevator and walk across the Sky bridge (right above Domo in the photo above), as well as take the elevator all the way to the 86th floor to the observation deck at the top (RM 80, about $27 USD).

If you don't feel like doing all those activities, you can still shop in the attached mall called Suria KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center).

I soon learned something about restaurants in malls in Kuala Lumpur. They are good. Unlike the reputation that mall restaurants often have in the U.S. (mediocre chain restaurants), the restaurants in KL malls tend to be some of the best restaurants around.

We entered the fourth floor restaurant area of the mall and saw several restaurants. I saw Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Indonesian, Taiwanese . . . I was in heaven seeing the amazing diversity of Asian cuisines represented.

We noticed Little Penang Cafe had the longest line out front. Furthermore, it had pretty good online reviews.

When in doubt, follow the lines.

Thankfully, the line moved really, really fast. So fast, in fact, that I hardly had time to take a photo of the line. You can see Bryan is actually yelling at me in the photo, telling me to get back in line because the hostess had just called our name.

Oops! . . .

Service was very good. They must be very used to dealing with long lines. A server gave us menus and took our order while we were waiting in line.

When we sat down they immediately took our drink order. Enamored by the access to fresh fruit, I ordered a watermelon juice just because I could. Soon after, the food arrived.

Char Kway Teow is a Nyonya style noodle dish that consists of flat rice noodles stir fried in a wok over high heat with shrimp, bean sprouts, Chinese chives, egg, chicken in a gloriously flavorful sauce made with hot chili, belacan (fermented shrimp paste), and soy sauce. Here it is served over a banana leaf.

This was one of our first meals in Kuala Lumpur so we had nothing with which to compare it, but we loved it. It exploded with flavor, had a nice smoky wok "char", and the noodles had a good texture.

Penang style Hokkien Mee is a prawn noodle soup. The flavorful stock is made with dried shrimp, prawn heads, white pepper, and garlic. You get a choice of yellow noodles or vermicelli. I wasn't sure, so the server said, "why not both?" I said "sure." You can see both noodles in the photo.

The soup was fantastic, so richly full of so many complex flavors. The shrimp was a bit overcooked, but other than that it was very satisfying.

Pie Tee (also known as kueh pie tee or kuih pie tee) caught my eye the moment I saw a photo of it on a placard outside the restaurant. These are tiny deep fried crunchy spring roll cups filled with your typical popiah filling of jicama, carrots, and deep fried shallots. They were delicious little bites that burst with flavor.

All in all we had a lovely meal at Little Penang Cafe. It's a perfectly fine choice for lunch if you happen to be visiting the Petronas Twin Towers and the KLCC area. If the lines are too long for your liking, you can also consider checking out Madam Kwan's, another restaurant on the same level. Bryan ended up eating there the following day with coworkers (I think he had their signature nasi bojari fried chicken dish) and he said it was pretty good. Unfortunately, I have no photos from that meal since I wasn't there!

Afterwards, if it's not too hot outside, walk over to Bukit Bintang (10 minute walk away), one of the liveliest shopping districts in the city.

Little Penang Cafe
Suria KLCC 4th floor,
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
50088 Kuala Lumpur
Phone:+60 3-2163 0215

October 3, 2014 Appetizer

Otak Otak - Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaves (LaZat Malaysian Cooking School)

This is the third post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof and LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking These cute little "presents", called Otak Otak in Malaysia, make the perfect pre-dinner appetizer at a large party. You can make a large batch of them beforehand and just steam them right before the guests arrive, which only takes 10 minutes.

They are impressive to look at, taste phenomenal, and are really easy to make.

Otak Otak is very popular in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. It's a portable food, and thus is often sold at stalls for people on-the-go, sort of like the Chinese do with zhongzi (bamboo leaf wrapped rice dumplings) or the Japanese do with onigiri (seaweed wrapped rice balls).

The steamed little package is usually filled with small chunks of white fish and aromatic flavors like lemongrass, shallots, tamarind paste, kaffir lime leaves, and curry - all bound together with eggs and coconut milk.

The resulting dish is fantastic and most certainly a crowd pleaser.

Prepare a spice paste by grinding together (either with a mortar and pestle or food processor) lemongrass, red chili peppers, and shallots. Prepare shredded kaffir lime leaves by rolling up a leaf and then thinly slicing it.

If you can't find fresh kaffir lime leaves, you can probably use the dried version, but use a lot less.

In bowl, add a beaten egg to the spice paste and mix well. Add fish curry powder to the mixture and continue mixing. Finally, add the cut up fish to the sauce mixture and mix.

Add coconut milk.

Add the shredded kafir lime leaves and mix. Finally, add sugar and salt. Now you're ready to start wrapping!

First, we need to soften the leaves. The easiest way to do this is to lay the banana leaf on an open flame for about 10 seconds. It will soften, darken, and be less prone to breaking.

Lay down the heated banana leaf, put one kaduk leaf down, and top with the fish mixture. Kaduk leaf is really, really hard to find in the U.S. (and no, it's not a betel leaf, though it looks like one. Some call it wild pepper leaf). The instructor told us we could substitute with spinach.

I think 2-3 pieces of fish is plenty.

And then wrap according to the visual instructions below!

Have your toothpicks ready so you can seal your little presents.

Little packages of love, ready to be steamed!

You can refrigerate or even freeze them at this point until it's time to serve them.

Steam for 10 minutes.

Waiting patiently.

Viola!

Definitely eat while hot - it's so much better that way.

It's hard to eat just one, so I was glad we each made four of them!

Otak Otak
Recipe Source: LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking
additional notes by Jennifer Che
Makes 4, serves 1-2 people

Spice Paste
2 stalks of lemongrass, sliced really thinly
2 red chili peppers, deseeded and sliced
6 shallots, peeled and halved

Grind together the lemongrass, chili peppers, and shallots either with a mortar and pestle or with a food processor, adding a bit of oil if necessary to keep the blades running. Set aside.

Ingredients
80g (2.8 ounces) white fish filet, cut into 1 inch cubes
Spice Paste (see above)
1 egg, beaten lightly
½ teaspoon fish curry powder [They recommended using Babas brand {affiliate link}]
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 kafir lime leaf (finely chopped)
5 kaduk leaves (or spinach)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
4 banana leaves (or aluminum foil, see note below)

Making the Fish Filling
1. In bowl, mix together the beaten egg and spice paste.
2. Add fish curry powder and mix well.
3. Add fish filet to the sauce mixture and mix.
4. Add coconut milk and shredded kafir lime leaves and mix
5. Add sugar and salt

Wrapping
1. Clean and soften banana leaf by placing it over a low flame for ~ 5 seconds before use
2. Place a small scoop of the fish filling (about 2-3 pieces of fish) in the center of the leaf on top of a kaduk (or spinach) leaf
3. Wrap as shown above
4. Stick a toothpick through the middle to fasten it shut
5. Steam for 10 minutes
6. Serve!

Notes:

1. I asked whether bamboo leaves could be replaced for banana leaves and they said no, because the bamboo flavor would overpower the dish. If you don't have banana leaves, you can easily do this with aluminum foil. You could even make little "purses" by playing around with the foil and making handles. I would cut the foil approximately 4 inches by 8 inches, though you could make different sized packages if that's what you prefer. Be creative!

2. I would highly consider doubling or even quadrupling the recipe. Allot about four per person as an appetizer. I easily ate four of these myself in the class, and I was still plenty hungry to eat the rest of my meal.

October 2, 2014 Asian

LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking Class (and wet market tour!)

This is the second post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One RoofI first discovered my love of taking cooking classes while on vacation in Thailand.Through a series of cooking classes throughout the week, I met some of the warmest and most passionate people who taught me about the local produce, spices, and cooking techniques. In Buenos Aires, I met a lovely couple who invited me into their home to show me how to make classic Argentinian dishes.

Cooking classes feel more genuine and personal. Instead of gazing at a famous statue or photographing a tourist-flocked building, you meet locals who are passionate about their own cuisine and want to share about it with you.

You make friends. You get a tiny peek inside the lives of locals, even if it's just for an afternoon.

Meet Ana, the owner and founder of LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking. Though she's always been a passionate home cook, she ran gas stations for a living. One day she had an epiphane. She Google searched "Malaysian Cooking School" in English and could not find a single hit.

She knew that it was time to share her passion about the cuisine with others.

After spending several months converting her dishes into tested, easy-to-follow recipes, she opened up LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking seven years ago.

The first part of the cooking class involves a market visit, which is always fun especially in an area where the local, indigenous produce is so different from what I get at home.

Here's Sue, the friendly woman who met us at the market to start us on our tour.

Our first stop was a fun spice market, where the owner let us try various types of snacks made with her spices. She also sells premade spice packets for popular Malaysian dishes. It was tempting to pick up a few packages, but I just didn't have time before our little tour moved on.

We then visited a market stand that specialized in wild, jungle-picked vegetables. Pictured above are local wild ferns picked straight from the jungle. They are typically chopped up and stir fried or used in salads. The texture is crunchy and sort of reminds me of seaweed a bit.

These huge Petai beans (or stink beans) are another hyper local crop that is mainly found in the rainforest. They are said to smell vaguely like natural gas and are often cooked with other strongly flavored elements like garlic, shrimp paste, or chili peppers.

I can't remember the name of this funny purple flower like thing.

Does anyone know?

Update! Thanks to my trusty mom, one of my most loyal readers, who pointed out to me that "[t]he purple flower in your post is called 洛神花 in Taiwan. It is very sour and we make tea or make candy out of it."

In English, this is called a roselle. It is a species of hibiscus and is often used to make teas, jams, or adding sourness to recipes. It reduces hypertension and is super high in vitamin C and other antioxidants.

Rambutans are tropical, spiky fruit with a sweet, white flesh and pit inside, not unlike a lychee.

Next to the rambutans are Duku, or lanzones, another tropical fruit with white flesh and a single pit on the inside, similar to rambutans and lychees (though less sweet).

We visited the meat section of the market. Here is Sue ordering some chickens for our chicken curry that we would make later in the day.

She showed us different types of fish, explaining what was typically local in Malaysia and what was not.

At the last part of the tour, we went to the food court area and saw this man making roti canai filled with bananas.

It looked so good that the people in my group could not resist and asked if we could try a few. It was only $2 ringit each (like 67 cents USD), so we bought several and shared them among ourselves.

Yes, we knew we would be cooking and eating a huge lunch after this, but it was so hard to resist!

We then hopped into the van and after about 5 minutes driving up the side of a mountain, we arrived at this beautiful sanctuary hidden within the trees.

Welcome to LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking!

We donned our aprons and met several other teachers: Ana the owner and Lisa (pictured below on the right).

It was a super fun morning and early afternoon spent meeting new people (my class included visitors from Australia and New Zealand), learning how to cook Malaysian food, and eating all the results of our hard labor!

Otak Otak (fish wrapped in banana leaves)

We got to know the owner, Ana, who shared with us her background, how she got to this point, and her dreams for the future.

Kari Ayam (chicken curry), Roti Jala (lacy pancake), and Onde Onde (sticky rice ball dessert)

When you talk to Ana, you can sense her true warmth and passion about Malaysia. She readily shares so much about herself through funny anecdotes and stories. By the end of the class, you feel like you've made a friend and simultaneously learned so much about Malaysia, its culture, and its cuisine.

Ana told us she was totally willing to share recipes with us, even recipes from classes that we did not take. To her, if you show a passion for Malaysian cooking, she wants to share that joy with you.

"Why do I share my recipes? In my mind, you want a recipe because you want to use it to cook a dish. Recipes don't just sit around collecting dust. When you cook a dish, you share the dish with your friends. If more people around the world are cooking Malaysian cuisine, then more people are exposed to it."

She wants to see Malaysian cuisine reach the level of worldwide reach that other Asian cuisines, like Chinese, Japanese, and Thai, have attained.

To further Ana's dream for Malaysian cuisine, I will share with you several of Ana's recipes in the next several posts as we learn how to make Otak-Otak (fish wrapped in banana leaves), Kari Ayam (chicken curry), Roti Jala (a delicate lacy pancake), and Onde Onde (an addictive pandan flavored sticky rice ball filled with palm sugar and coated with fresh shaved coconut).

Stay tuned!

September 30, 2014 Malaysia

Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's most famous hawker stalls under one roof

This is the first post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series.

You know how overwhelming it is.

You enter a brand new foreign country for the first time. You hardly speak the language; you're unsure about the culture; and your smartphone doesn't work because you don't want to roam (OK, I've buckled since the early days and now usually get a local SIM card, but still!)

You really, really want to get a taste of the best local food possible, yet the prospect of researching it all, finding where each restaurant is, and then ordering the right thing (in the right language!) is daunting. This gets exacerbated when the best food exists in hawker stalls, where you can't make a reservation online; signs may or may not be in English; and finding them all involves detailed hunts across every nook of the city.

Thankfully, billionaire Dr. Francis Yeow had a similar problem and created a solution.

Francis grew up in Malaysia and had fond memories of his father taking the family all around town, sampling the best street food in Kuala Lumpur. There was the jet black hokkien mee from Kim Lian Kee on Petaling Street in Chinatown. Or the springy fishball noodle soup from the Chua Brothers in Bukit Bintang. These signature dishes had been passed down for generations, using recipes brought over by Chinese immigrants in the early 1900's.

Yet the stalls were scattered all throughout the city. Furthermore, Francis feared for the long term viability of these outdoor stalls. The younger generation preferred to stay cool and hang out inside modern, air conditioned malls. The next generation of these stall owners often were educated, and thus would be less likely to take over the "family business" operating a hot stall outside.

He pondered how to preserve these "heritage stalls" so that the next generation could appreciate their unique dishes.

When Francis purchased Lot 10, a shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, he convinced the owners of the most famous hawker stalls in the city to open a location inside his mall. Many of these hawker stalls are close to a century old and have been making their signature dishes the same way for generations. By convincing the hawker stalls to have a relative (often a son or daughter) open a second location in Lot 10, Francis's dream of preserving age-old cooking methods and dishes down through the generations started to take shape.

The new concept has since taken off like wildfire. Diners love the convenience and accessibility of basement level food court. Tourists are thrilled to be able to sample so many famous vendors in one trip. The concept became so hot that in August 2013, a new Lot 10 Hutong opened up in Guangzhou, China.

Sure, the prices are not as low as they would be in a real hawker stall, but frankly it's still very, very reasonable. Noodle dishes were still only $3-$4 USD, which I found perfectly reasonable.

I was dying to try this place as soon as I found out about it and dragged Bryan there for dinner after one of his conference days.

1. Kim Lian Kee

The original Kim Lian Kee sits in the heart of Chinatown and is best known for it smoky, jet-black Hokkien Mee. Kuala Lumpur (locals refer to it simply as "KL") has its own style of Hokkien Mee that is different from the identically named dish from Penang and Singapore.

The KL version is dark and smoky, made from stir frying fat yellow noodles with dark soy sauce, cabbage, pork, and lard fritters over a hot, hot charcoal grill. The resultant noodles are rich, dark, smoky, and downright fantastic.

Kim Lian Kee, which is over a hundred years old, claims to be the inventor of this dark and smoky version of the dish. Most locals consider it one of the best. I didn't get a chance to try other versions, but I can attest that this version from the basement of Lot 10 Hutong was pretty darn amazing.

2. Campbell Mini Popiah

I knew I wanted to try a popiah here because I've been thinking about popiah (or lumpiah as we call it in Taiwanese) for over twenty years!

How is that?

The only food-related thing I remember from my first trip to Singapore back in high school was eating my first popiah from a street stall. I remember falling in love with the fresh springroll filled with fresh vegetables, crunchy peanuts, something savory, something sweet - all wrapped up in a soft and delicate wrapper.

It was the perfect balance of salty, sweet, crunchy, and spicy. I loved it.

My wish finally came true when I saw the popiah stall.

"I want one of those" I immediately told Bryan when he asked me what I wanted. I almost didn't care what else we got (though I had read so much about the Hokkien Mee I knew that was also on the list).

This popiah was filled with stir fried turnips and jicama, fresh lettuce, bean sprouts, peanuts, hoisin sauce, and mysterious crunchy bits (maybe deep fried shallots?) that added a lovely umami and texture to the whole thing.

I enjoyed this popiah a lot, though for some reason, it wasn't as amazing as my memory of the popiah from Singapore. It's possible that our minds exaggerate certain memories over time.

Nevertheless, it was still very tasty and I didn't regret getting it at all.

3. Chua Brothers

The Chua Brothers are best known for their homemade fish balls, which they have been making in their stall at Tengkat Tong Shin since 1930.

The laborious process for making these fish balls from scratch takes about 14 hours, and they do it every day.

You can order fish ball noodle soup or a dry noodles tossed in a sauce. The dry version comes with a side bowl of soup filled with fish balls (yay!). The stir fried noodles also come topped with additional slices of fish cake.

The fish balls were incredible. They had a great springy, "bouncy" texture and excellent flavor.

The noodles were nice, though a bit on the heavy side. I sort of wished I had ordered the fish ball noodle soup instead. My guess is that its lighter broth would have allowed me to enjoy the subtle flavors of the fish cake a bit more.

Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our dry noodles and slurped them up in no time. I also had my little bowl of fish ball soup, which was fantastic.

After sampling so many dishes, we were getting a bit full, though still feeling a bit unbalanced. Bryan finally figured out that we had not eaten any leafy greens. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which stall we went to, but we just found a random one that seemed to be stir frying Chinese watercress (hollow heart vegetable), something you see all throughout Malaysia.

This particular version was not your typical "balacan" style (stir fried with fermented shrimp paste). Instead, it had similar levels of umami, but was much less "stinky". I have no idea how they made it, but it was absolutely fantastic.

I was a bit worried that the large hollow stems = tough greens, but it wasn't true at all. These thick stems of Chinese watercress were surprisingly tender and crisp. It was one of the best Chinese watercress dishes I had in Malaysia.

We were full. If we had room for dessert, there would have been many options, like Durian Lagenda for all sorts of durian pastries, Nanyang Ten Coffee Shop for coffee and toast, and Oriental Dessert and Ice Room for shaved ice goodness!

There are over thirty vendors at Lot 10 Hutongs serving a variety of local Malaysian favorites - Hainanese chicken rice, porridge, various noodle soups, fried chicken, and much, much more. You could spend days here and still not sample everything.

All shops in Lot 10 Hutong are required to have a history of at least 40 years and to be an instantly recognizeable brand. As a result, you will be sampling a large slice of Malaysia's deep and rich food history.

We were glad to have the convenience and accessibility of this place, especially considering Bryan's time was tight since he was here on business. I would highly recommend coming here, maybe even multiple times. After all, with most dishes only costing about $3-$4 USD, you can really have a feast several times over before you even feel any sort of dent in your pocket.

Lot 10 Hutong
50, Jalan Sultan Ismail
Bukit Bintang 50250
Kuala Lumpur
{Google Maps}

September 26, 2014 Guide

Malaysia and Singapore!

Hi everyone!

So sorry for the less-than-frequent postings recently! I just got back from a 2-week trip to Malaysia and Singapore. I had never been to Malaysia, and it's been over twenty years since I lasted visited Singapore, so it's pretty much like I was visiting for the first time.

It was an incredible trip. I was blown away by so many aspects of this region: the diverse cultural vibes of each city, the friendliness of the people, the unique tropical landscape, and (of course), the phenomenal food. It's really, really hard to condense and squeeze these two weeks into a manageable-sized "teaser" post, but I will try.

I will spend the next several weeks (or longer!) diving into the details of my trip - everything from making roti jala and curry from scratch and picking fresh mangosteens off of trees during a jungle hike in Malaysia to exploring Singapore's fantastic hawker stalls and being blown away by its dizzying array of excellent Chinese food. There will be recipes from a cooking class I took. And lots of food pictures, of course.

I honestly can't wait to share it all with you.

For now, here's a little peek of what's to come!

Lift off!

It was a long, long, long flight out there. Not since my trip to Australia in 2012 did I spend this long getting to another location. We flew a circuitous route to Dallas first (4 hours) before connecting to Hong Kong (17 hours) and then to Kuala Lumpur (3 more hours). We finally arrived at our destination 30 hours after leaving our home in Cambridge.

Needless to say, I was exhausted. Even though I sleep horribly on airplanes, I zonked out immediately on that last leg to Malaysia.

We arrived on Monday evening and had one full day to explore Kuala Lumpur together before Bryan had to head off to his work meetings. We visited many of the classic sites, like the Petronas Twin Towers, the shopping district Bukit Bintang, and the Islamic Arts Museum.

On Wednesday, Bryan headed off to his conference and I was on my own! Often when I am on my own as a business trip tag-along, I like to sign up for classes and tours in order to meet some of the local people as well as make new friends.

I signed up for an excellent cooking class from LaZat Cooking School {post detailing my experiences here}, which provides transportation from your hotel to their beautiful hillside open air kitchen.

I had a blast there, learning to how to make Otak-Otak (fish wrapped in banana leaves), Kari Ayam (chicken curry), Roti Jala (a delicate lacy pancake), and Onde Onde (an addictive pandan flavored sticky rice ball filled with palm sugar and coated with fresh shaved coconut).

The food was delicious (and not too hard to make!). I plan on sharing all the recipes and tips with you in future posts!

The next day, I got picked up at the crack of dawn (actually, a little before sunrise!) at 6AM from Open Sky Unlimited, a one-man operated tour company that takes people on really interesting hikes on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. I signed up for a jungle waterfall hike, which takes you to the edge of a protected rainforest in Malaysia into a beautiful waterfall.

Before heading out, our little group of four (that's his maximum group size for these tours) stopped by a traditional mamak stall. Mamaks are Muslim Indian owned open-air restaurants that are open 24 hours and serve a variety of halal dishes. We had two meals here: breakfast, where we sample several types of roti canai (the super thin pancake this guy is making), as well as a post-hike lunch, where we had a delicious assortment of other very classic mamak dishes (e.g., rojak, nasi goreng, and nasi kanda).

I had never been inside a rain forest before, so all of it was fascinating to me.

We saw so many different exotic fruit trees. Pictured above you can see jackfruits growing on trees. To the right is a rambutan tree. We also saw ginger flowers, rubber trees, mangosteen trees, tons of bamboo, and even durian trees!

The final destination of the hike was this gorgeous waterfall. We were the only people there, and we all took a nice long extended swim. Our guide challenged us to get right under the waterfall.

I am not a good swimmer and I sort of freaked out, but he was really encouraging about it, and I was so glad that I mustered up the courage to do it. It was a bit tough for me, mentally (after all, I kind of hate getting my face wet, a consequence of learning to swim too late in life!) but I did it! And I have photos to prove it!

At the end of our hike, he took us on one last dip, this time to a much tamer area where we could just enjoy the scenery and relax with the bubbling stream around us. Again, there was no one else in sight. It was so relaxing.

This hike was truly one of the highlights of my trip to Malaysia, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves experiencing nature!

Malaysian style Hokkien Mee and eating with my hands at an Indian open air restaurant

Throughout the next several days, I was able to experience many other aspects of Kuala Lumpur's food through self-exploration (Bryan and I visited food halls or restaurants at night) as well as through a walking food tour of Kuala Lumpur with Food Tour Malaysia.

Indian style doughnuts, such as chickpea fritters on left (my favorite!) and savory spiced fried rings

Alas, our time in Malaysia came to an end and we hopped on a plane early Saturday morning to arrive in Singapore by 9AM. Bryan wanted to maximize our time in Singapore over the weekend since we both had to leave by Tuesday.

Singapore

In many ways Singapore resembles Malaysia in that both countries are heavily influenced by Chinese and Indian cultures. However, we could immediately sense the many differences between the two countries the moment we arrived.

We entered this very modern area called Marina Bay, which includes all sorts of interesting architecture. That's our crazy looking hotel/casino in the back, the Marina Bay Sands, meant to emulate a boat on top of the waves.

There are some fantastic looking gardens right behind Marina Bay Sands (called Gardens by the Bay), which were built only a couple of years ago. Artistic, space-age looking trees tower high into the sky.

Down the way there are two HUGE greenhouse domes that are filled with all different types of incredible plants from all around the world. One of them even has a multi-story waterfall inside the dome.

It's hard to describe the sheer vastness and diversity of it all. You'll just have to come see it.

The Marina Bay Sands is the most expensive building in the world, clocking in at $4.7 billion USD. Its best known feature is the Infinity Pool, a loooooong shallow pool spanning across all three towers at the top of the hotel.

The water appears to go right to the edge of the building and there are stunning views all along the edge of the pool.

You can't come to Singapore without visiting one of its many hawker stall centers - it's the ultimate Singaporean experience. We went with local friends who helped us order a bunch of very classic Singaporean dishes. Pictured above: fresh coconut juice from a coconut, oyster pancake, rojak, grilled sting ray, satay skewers, Hokkien mee, and chicken wings.

One of my only food memories from my first visit to Singapore back in high school was Popiah, a delicious fresh spring roll filled with jicama, daikon, peanuts, cucumbers, and hoisin sauce. It was fantastic - just like I remembered. It's still one of my favorite Singaporean foods of all times.

We had one fancy tasting meal at Iggy's, which included creative courses like these real and fake truffles pictured above. The black spheres are actually deep fried quinoa balls! The shavings are real truffles.

Singapore is filled with a myriad of excellent Chinese food due to the proximity of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. We had phenomenal dim sum at Tim Ho Wan, a one-Michelin starred Cantonese restaurant from Hong Kong. It was really the best char-siu (BBQ pork) bun I had ever had in my life.

We also tried Crystal Jade, one of Singapore's most famous Chinese restaurants. Their pork belly was perfect in every way. Honestly, everything was really, really good.

You can't leave Singapore without eating Chili Crab. There are many places to get it, but most people say The Red House on the east coast of Singapore has the best. Its view of the water is a bit compromised compared to the other restaurants in that area, but the crabs and their tasty red sauce totally makes up for it.

Singapore Botanical Gardens

I was blessed to gain one unexpected day in Singapore when my early morning flight was canceled due to a typhoon in my stopover city, Hong Kong.

Singapore Botanical Gardens

I ended up spending the morning at the Singapore Botanical Gardens, which was beautiful. It was nice to have a couple of hours to keep Bryan company before he left for his 4PM flight to India.

When Bryan left for the airport, I hopped over to the Art Science museum right at the base of Marina Bay Sands. After seeing a really fascinating photography exhibit by Annie Leibovitz, I just sat outside the museum and enjoyed the lily pads, beautiful skyline, and the surprisingly comfortable warm weather while waiting to head to the airport myself.

I sat there reflecting about how thankful I was to have this opportunity to join Bryan on this two week trip to southeast Asia. Even though I've been to Asia a lot, it's mostly been Taiwan and Japan.

It wasn't until last year that I visited Thailand, and this was really my first exposure to Singapore and Malaysia. I have learned a ton about the food in this region on this trip, yet I feel like I have barely scratched the surface. I can't wait to come back and continue learning more about this fascinating region, its culture, and its food.

Stay tuned for many, many posts that will go much more into detail of all the great food and travel experience I had on this trip!

UPDATE - Links to Posts Below!