Restaurant Review!

Best of India l Oliver l 36094 97 # 4 Highway / 250.498.0872

My uncle needed to head out to Osoyoos for the day to check on a job site. I had volunteered to drive him there as it was a long distance but I had the ulterior motive of wanting to pick up some hard to find Okanagan wines and to dine one more time at the Best of India in Oliver.

I had stumbled upon the Best of India a few years back while touring the wine country of BC. I was utterly amazed by the quality of the food. Our lamb curry has incredibly nuanced with the full flavor of fresh curry leaves and a hint of creamy nuttiness from ground cashews. This time around, I found that their menu had been trimmed back though no less delicious. Our cheese pakoras were airy and light with just a hint of paneer. Our Saag Paneer was creamy while still retaining the fresh green flavor of spinach. The chicken curry was spicy and bright with curry leaves.

Speaking with the owner, I found that they had decided to simplify and trim the menu back as the kids had grown up and moved on. The couple had run the restaurant for nearly 10 years and had wanted a little less work for themselves now that the kids had gone off to university. He wished me a happy Chinese new year and I thanked him for the delicious meal.

Restaurant Review!

La Buca l Vancouver l 4025 MacDonald St. / 604.730.6988

San Francisco has this amazing ability to generate stellar neighborhood restaurants. Competent yet unpretentious, there is something wholly democratic about the way that they bring a philosophy of simple cooking, excellent ingredients, and a warm room together. You’ll find old couples who have lived in the neighborhood forever and adventurous eaters from the other side of the city seated elbow to elbow in a convivial atmosphere.

Imagine my surprise when I came back to the city to find a picturesque storefront on a quiet little shopping area on Macdonald Street. I’ve had the fortune to dine at La Buca twice and I’ve found that they do a lot of things well. The wine list is very reasonable. A starter of a poached egg on grilled asparagus and Parma ham was wonderful but not as absolutely outstanding as a Caesar salad with whole leaves of romaine hearts and a deep fried anchovy filet. The garlic bread consisted of garlic paste with loads of olive oil on poppy seed bread. The crowd favorite is the veal Osso Buco with fall off the bone tenderness and a little spoon for you to dig out the marrow. My friend’s sausage and green pepper pasta was also well executed with a generous sprinkling of herbed bread crumbs to give the dish some extra crunch. The blood orange panna cotta was excellent and the chocolate truffles we ordered was a good foil as we went back and forth between the two.

I am charmed to find that Vancouver finally has that neighborhood restaurant which doesn’t sacrifice stellar cooking for a sense of Civitas. That pang of longing that I sometimes feel for the Bay Area has diminished of late.

Restaurant Review!

Fetch l Vancouver l Corner of Abbot and Water St.

The mountains are as majestic as ever, crouching over the city in a shroud of mist and snow laden evergreens. I drove over the Lion’s Gate Bridge to find a grey colored watercolor painting on my right with tankers set against the back drop of Spanish banks. On my left, the sun was just peaking through and glancing off the glass spires of downtown. The air had an invigorating purity. Now that I’m back in Vancouver, what could be better than a bracing stroll in the bright winter air?

Finding a hot dog stand on the corner of Abbot and Water St. That’s what. Opened by the same people who brought us Salt Tasting Room, it has the same philosophy of simple ingredients and fantastic condiments. The hot dog itself was an all meat affair served on brioche. Meaty and satisfying, the only thing that made it better was a piling heap of traditional English relish and mustard. There is a surprising array of sauces and toppings with which to dress your hot dog and an even greater number of combinations. Standing on the cobbled streets of Gastown with the mountains and city wrapped around me, I took languid chews of my hot dog and stared at the embarrassment of riches around me.

Restaurant Review!

Ming Yuen l Sai Kung l Kowloon

So when people ask me where I live, I always tell them I live in Sai Kung. Their eyes go wide and their mouths drop and they are amazed that I can get anywhere in the city because it’s so freaking far away. Sai Kung County is a huge area of land on the Kowloon side. It’s known for being a little bit rural with a country park, islands, and Sai Kung town, which is what everyone is actually thinking about when I say Sai Kung. I guess that no one pays attention to the 20 minutes of winding villages and verdant hills that they have to cross in order to get to the town by the sea. When I try to convince them that I live just 10 minutes away from an MTR station, they will try to convince me that I don’t live in Sai Kung. When I finally convince them that I do live in Sai Kung County, there next question, inevitably is, “Do you eat seafood all the time?”

Sai Kung town center is famous for its seafood restaurants and most of them sport impressive live tanks. On the weekend, small boats line the elevated boardwalk and people look down the drop to see what seafood is being sold that day. Some bargaining takes place and then money is dropped into a bucket at the end of a pole and is drawn down to the boat. Moments later, fresh seafood is hoisted back up, ready for the wok.

Ming Yuen is located in close to the bobbing boats and the searing neon signs of flashier establishments. The Cantonese maxim for seafood is that if it isn’t alive, it isn’t fresh. The flip side to this is that you should keep the preparation as simple as possible so that you let the freshness come out. Ming Yuen, understands this and though every dish is a common seafood standby, they are able to bring out something special. The deep fried mantis shrimps were heaping with deep fried garlic; its flesh was still meat sweet and tender. Razor clams were sautéed in a sweet black bean sauce and chili peppers until they just fell out of their squared shells to reveal firm, sweet flesh. Their roast duck and suckling pig are also sublime with perfectly crisped skin and succulent meat cooked to order and served just out of the oven. It’s great that we can drop by early and ask the waitress with the Markie Post haircut to purchase seafood for us at one of the local markets. This ensures that we are getting the freshest catch of the day. The rest is in their hands.

Restaurant Review!

Pierre l Central l Hong Kong

Hong Kong is bursting with restaurants. One of the things that makes Hong Kong a world class city is the number of destination restaurants that call Hong Kong home. There weren’t a lot of places that really peaked my interest though until I heard about the anchor restaurant in the newly renovated Mandarin Hotel.

Pierre Gagnaire is an iconic figure in the world of French cuisine. A 3 star Michelin chef and leader in the forefront of the fusion movement, he has revolutionized French cuisine by pushing the boundaries of taste and texture combinations. Of course, when I found out that he was anchoring the Mandarin Hotel, I could not let this opportunity pass.

The level of service at Pierre was what I had come to expect from the Mandarin Hotel. As we arrived at the top floor, the manager came out to greet us to lead us in. We entered the room and found nothing but an amazing open view of Victoria Harbor. The room was immaculate.

We started off with a series of amuse bouche. All were wonderful and clever, from the wafers in cumin sugar to the deep fried quail egg yolks. I started with tiger prawns with soft boiled eggs. My companion had three starters. The first was a mushroom medley, the second was a sorrel arugala salad over roasted eggplant and the third was a brilliant slow cooked salmon over celery root salad. All were phenomenal. The sorrel arugala salad had the sour, peppery taste of the greens and the fullness of the roast eggplant. The salmon came out raw looking but with a greatly intensified flavor.

My main course was a sole meneure with a parsley olive oil and white polenta with béarnaise sauce and sultana raisons. Eaten together there was the butteryness of the firm sole and the rich creaminess of the polenta and béarnaise sauce. The sultana raisons gave your mouth sudden turns with its plump sweetness which reset my palate and never let the dish from becoming overly rich. My companion had a roast chicken which turned out to be a perfectly cooked breast in a cream sauce. The dark meat was turned into a sausage wrapped in caul fat and served on a roasted yam. The chicken’s flavor was intensified in both dishes while bringing out the differences in the dark and white meat.

Dessert was a true adventure. My companion had a chocolate cake with ice cream and fresh fruit. It turned out to be a chocolate tart served over a roasted pepper and a coconut jelly. The amazing thing about the jelly is that if you take a bite, it starts tasteless but after a few seconds, an intense coconut flavor floods your mouth. What that means is that when eaten together, you start off with dark chocolate with the meatiness and spiciness of the pepper but as that fades, coconut rises and finishes off the bite. The fresh fruit turned out to be thinly sliced fruit in a cointreau gelee and handmade marshmallows. The ice cream was passion fruit and vanilla ice cream studded with dark chocolate.

I found myself wondering if I had ever had a meal quite like this. I came away realizing that I had never had a meal so good. The meal was challenging without being gimmicky. The fundamentals were impeccable while the experimentation was precise.

Restaurant Review!

New Sangeet Indian Restaurant l Tsim Sha Tsui l Kowloon

Every once in a while I have a serious craving for Indian food. Well, let’s be honest, I’m always craving something at any given time. So, when I asked around for a good Indian restaurant, I was pointed to a long established restaurant located in a maze of streets in Tsim Sha Tsui. Known for both its food and ambience, I spent several exhausting minutes winding around dead end streets until I finally came across it hiding at the end of a dark quiet street.

Walking in, I recognized this restaurant from my childhood. I had been to Hong Kong as a child and my mom’s friend was charged with looking after me for a couple of days while my parents were out of town. She promptly gave me a coupon for a chain of bakeries and vanished for some marathon Mahjong sessions. Luckily, my aunt invited me over for dinner those nights so I didn’t starve. My mom’s friend made up for her negligence by taking me to an Indian restaurant. This Indian restaurant.

Sitting down, I noticed a small stage on one side of the interior. I began to browse the expansive menu and ordered some intriguing items. The Saag Paneer was amongst the best I’d ever tasted as the spinach was still fresh and bright. The Dum Biryani came in a small clay pot and was outstanding with the pot sealing in all the flavors of mutton and spices. The fish pakoras were also well executed but as the meal progressed, my mind turned towards dessert.

Quietly, two men and a woman took to the stage and sat at their instruments. The music that came next left me breathless. Playing a series of standard Indian songs and requests form the audience, I was awed by their voices. I’ll admit that I do have a soft spot for older Indian songs but I still say that this is the best restaurant house band I have ever seen and a big reason why this is my favorite Indian restaurant in Hong Kong.

Restaurant Review!

Sift l Sheung Wan l Hong Kong

Ah yes. The allure of the dessert restaurant where you can order a piece of cake, a coffee, and then linger for hours. I’ve always wondered how these places can stay in business as the turnover must be painfully slow, overhead high and margins relatively small. More often than not, they seem to be projects of passion as the products are generally very high quality.

Sift is a beautiful dessert spot that seems to be one of these pet projects. The room is wonderfully designed with a bar where the desserts are constructed with sushi like precision and a courtyard that gives you no inkling that you are in one of the densest, most vibrant cities in the world.

Our deconstructed Rainer cherries with napoleon cake was well presented but flawed at the outset as reducing it to dollops of custard sandwiched in pastry squares and sliced cherries destroys the cohesion that lets the ingredients work together to bridge their weaknesses and strengths. My cheese plate with poached pear was decent as the cheeses were well selected by the candied walnuts were syrupy and the poached pear bland.

I really want Sift to work but it the food just comes across as being someone’s personal hobby as opposed to a well thought out and orchestrated creation. There are ideas at play but the execution isn’t experienced enough. The hefty prices though are one side of the equation that makes sense at least.

chongqing hot pot
assembling sour spicy noodles
black sesame stuffed dumplings

sweet salty sour salad

chargrilled mutton skewers
30 cents a skewer
chicken in chilli sauce
cucumber salad and cold smoked duck
sour and spicy street noodles

making ginger candy

spicy fermented tofu
old streets of chongqing
sticky rice cooked in bamboo

Chongqing Express

Chongqing is an ancient Chinese city clinging to the sharp cliffs situated at the fork of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers. It once acted as a port between China’s far flung western provinces and its eastern hub. Spices followed the trade routes and gave the region’s cuisine its strong and robust flavors.

Quite often, a regional cuisine is exemplified by a traditional dish or specialty. In the case of the Sichuan region of China, the small ubiquitous Sichuan Pepper permeates every dish. The Sichuan Pepper isn’t related to the black pepper that we are so familiar with - even though it does bear a striking resemblance. In fact, it’s not spicy at all. Instead, it carries a unique citrus taste, similar to dried orange peels, with a lingering sharpness and has a slight analgesic effect. Often coupled with hot chili peppers and oil, it rounds out the heat with its citrus sharpness while blunting the chili peppers’ full charge with its numbing effect. Up to a few years ago, this pepper was banned from the United States due to its ability to carry the citrus canker but new preparation regimens have allowed it to be imported.

One of the most popular Sichuan dishes is the good old spicy hot pot. This boiling magma of peppers, spices, green onions, broth and oil is perfect for dipping and cooking pieces of meat, fish and vegetables before dousing them in a mix of sesame oil and minced garlic. Chongqing Hing Kei Lung Hot Pot is known for its wide selection of ingredients. At first, I was shocked by the amount of peppers and oil involved but I found it slowly addictive. That citrus taste and numbness gave everything a completely different timbre and suddenly made me feel like I was indeed in a different place.

The following day saw me partake in a truly disgusting binge of gluttony. I admit it was completely voluntary but I started eating at 11 am and just couldn’t stop. First up was Yuan Rong Jiao Zi where we had an impressive selection of pork and mutton dumplings. The mutton had an intense gaminess which worked wonderfully with the Sichuan pepper oil. The poached chicken in chili oil was also stellar but the hand down winner was a simple cold cucumber salad with minced garlic. To this day I can’t figure out what they put in that dish that made it so much more than the sum of its parts. As far as I could tell, it was nothing more than cucumbers and garlic with a bit of oil but it was so full flavored, we had to order another platter of it.

I was reeling from this breakfast when I was informed that the next stop was “Food Street” in downtown Chongqing. I ate my way through skewers of cold marinated duck meat, duck hearts, and duck gizzards. If I thought it would have tasted good, I would have eaten the rabbit heads they had piled neatly on a tray. Next up was the spicy and sour noodles. Nothing more than clear yam noodles doused with cilantro, chili oil, peppers and minced pork. This was perfect street food if I ever had it. It seemed to be an intense collision of tastes and textures that perfectly suited the chaotic shopping scene around me. I staggered down into a food court nearby where local people were feasting on steamed buns and local dishes. The pan fried steamed pork buns were absolutely perfect with a layer of sesame seeds at the bottom to give it an extra crisp texture. The soft pillowy dough yielded perfectly to the minced pork stuffing within. Clawing my way towards the blinding daylight and outside, I heard the undeniable call of a Muslim man selling skewers of mutton. I heeded his call and watched anxiously as the skewers were grilled over charcoal before being generously doused in chili powder and cumin. I began to realize what was keeping me eating was the fact that all these dishes were all pungent but unique; never giving my palate a chance to rest. That was when someone placed in my hands the most wondrous bowl of sesame filled rice dough dumplings. Smaller than what I usually eat, the thin sticky rice dumping easily released the burst of sweet roasted sesame paste.

At this point, I was truly disgusted with myself so I agreed to head out to a tourist area where they had renovated an old residential area and brought it back to its former glory. Stone steps and old style wooden buildings had me feeling that I had walked onto the set of an old kung fu movie. The narrow winding streets were perfect for walking until I realized I had to run the gauntlet of food stalls selling everything from ginger candy to deep fried fermented tofu with peppers and chili oil. Sadly, I lost most of these engagements and ended up eating yet again.

After a few hours of rest, we were guided to dinner in the outskirts of the city where we came across hawkers selling beautiful tree sprigs laden with yellow blossoms. Like many places in Chongqing, the restaurant was unheated but the dishes kept us toasty throughout the evening. The tofu in China is especially delicious. Smooth and milky without being fragile, there was a clear soy taste in every bite. Our tofu braised with vegetables acted as a refresher from the spicy courses to come. Fish simmered in peppers and Sichuan peppercorns was smooth and biting. Deep fried chicken morsels with fresh green peppers was alarmingly light while chicken braised in spicy red chili sauce gave it a darker take. A common preparation technique is to chop the chicken into very small pieces which allows it to absorb as much flavor as possible. This had the added benefit of allowing you to really savor each bite. The winner of the evening was a truly impressive salad which was succulent, tart, sweet, and slightly numbing with the citrusy flavors of Sichuan peppers. As the final course of the day and the trip, it was a fitting way to end my stay with the lingering taste and feel of the very special pepper.

Podcast!

Here’s my next podcast.

Plus/Minus - Let's Build a Fire (2006)
Emily Haines - Dr. Blind (2006)
Antony & the Johnsons - You are my Sister (2005)
Beachhouse - Master of None (2006)
Dangermouse - Public Service Announcement (2004)
Malajube - Etienne d'aout (2006)
Architecture in Helsinki - Fumble (2004)
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne (1968)
Suicide is Painless - Lady & Bird (2006)
Swan Lake - All Fires (2006)
The Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (2006)
Malajube - Montreal -40 (2006)
The Blow - Parentheses (2006)
Metronomy - This Could be Beautiful (2005)
Exchopopture - Lost and Found (2005)
Tom Vek - If You Want (2005)


To subscribe to the podcast, all you need to do is highlight this following link: http://www.switchpod.com/users/barbapapa/feed.xml and then copy it. Go to iTunes, highlight podcasts and then under “advanced” you can click on subscribe to podcast. Paste the link into the field and then click update to start downloading!

Restaurant Review!

Congee King l Wan Chai l Hong Kong

It’s all always good to have a bit of a competition going on. This congee house is supposed to have some of the best fish congee around. The key to their specialty is that their rice is cooked in fish stock to give the congee its intense flavor.

Unlike most champion congee houses, this place was fairly modern with a newly renovated interior. Plastered on the walls were various write ups and reviews that the place had received. We were amongst the first customers of the day so we picked a booth and ordered fish congee with fresh water eel and sticky rice wrapped in dried lotus leaves. The congee was surprisingly bland with a watery consistency. The eel, which is usually rich and fatty, tasted almost carp like in its taste and texture. The sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves however was excellent. The stuffing of beans, rice and pork was tasty without being overly rich. One of the better ones I’ve eaten.

The congee here is far from bad but when you are put on best of lists side by side with Sun Kee, you really need to be special. Congee King just didn’t live up those expectations.

Restaurant Review!

Chan Kan Gai l Sheung Wan l Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a surprisingly eclectic city. Waves of immigration from different parts of china have given the place a hidden diversity with a wide range of localized traditions, dialects and cuisines. One of the largest groups to move into Hong Kong was from Chiu Chow and they brought their unique dishes to the city.

Chan Kan Gai located in Sheung Wan is nondescript with the standard Chiu Chow array of fishes and meats hanging on display in its windows. Much of the food is served cold which is perfect for the often stifling Hong Kong summers. First up, was Chiu Chow style congee. It’s very different from your typical congee as its very brothy; filled with meat and vegetables. It’s not thick like your typical congee and this was one of the best I’d ever had. Our marinated goose with 5 layered pork belly was also wonderful. The goose, dipped in vinegar is always one of my favorite dishes and the pork belly was a new taste for me with an indulgent 3 layers of fat sandwiching 2 layers of tender pork. A oyster omelet rounded out the meal with that sort of puffy and browned texture you only seem to get with a well seasoned wok.

Chan Kan Gai is one of those neighborhood restaurants that just never seem to open up where you live. Lucky for Caroline, she has easy access to excellent Chiu Chow dishes at a startling affordable price.

The amazing thing isn't the line up, it's the fact that it's 19 degrees and everyone is breaking out the fleeces. I can't figure out why the color is so funky either.

Restaurant Review!

Gow Kee l Sheung Wan l Hong Kong

Here is a Hong Kong legend. The story goes that decades ago, they were offered a million dollars to give up the secret to their beef brisket in clear broth. They declined the offer and have continued to feed huge lineups of hungry customers from their single location on a narrow street perched on the steep roads of Sheung Wan.

I must admit that when I first went years ago, I found the brisket nice but far from unique. However, its fame persisted so I was looking forward to giving them a second try. Once again playing hooky was the catalyst for this venture as they don’t open on Sundays when I have my day off. Queuing up with 20 people in front of you at 12:30 in the morning isn’t what you usually expect to do on a Saturday morning but people were all smiles and a steady parade of cars began to park illegally on the street.

When the doors open, people rushed inwards and we split a narrow table by the kitchen. We ordered the beef brisket in clear broth with flat noodles, blanched lettuce, and a small bowl of curried brisket and tendon. It didn’t look special in the least. In fact, it looked a little messy with the pile of fatty and tender meat perched on the noodles with a dollop of spring onions on top. My first bite though filled me with awe. It still amazes me that some places can take such a simple dish and elevate it to godhood. The brisket of course was tender, with just the right amount of fat to make the whole thing melt in my mouth. Yeah, sure, the broth was on the sweet side but it did nothing to dissuade my joy. In fact, it seemed to work so well with the simply braised beef. Somewhere, there was a taste that I couldn’t quite get my head around. One of the those reptilian back brain tastes that cuts straight to the spinal cord and tells you to keep on doing what you’re doing. And, like a rat in a skinner box, I kept on pressing that lever when the red light came on until the bowl of brisket disappeared.

Caffeine Eldorado

I’ve been in Korea a few weeks now and I have taken advantage of the number of coffee houses here. Coffee shops and bakeries are spread all over the city and they can produce a pretty decent cup of coffee. I’ve seen Krispy Kremes, Dunkin’ Donuts along, Starbucks, and a myriad of local coffee houses and donut shops. What I didn’t expect to see here was Café Artegiano.

I knew that they had opened a franchise here a few years ago but I also knew that it was in an out of the way location south of the city center. It just so happened that I was shopping in that particular mall when I remembered that Café Artigiano was located there. Sure, the lattes really slipped when they stopped using Intelligentsia Coffee and their rapid expansion has lead to some spotty barista skills but that first sip so far away from home was like ambrosia. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad. The foam was a bit stiff but the latte wasn’t too bad at all. Good enough to make me involuntarily shut my eyes and savor the best latte I’ve had since I’ve been in Asia.

Photo Issue!

Here are some of the photos I've taken and and around the city of Seoul over the last few weeks.