I just came back from a much needed vacation with the family in France. This post is not the ultimate guide to eating in Paris, just a little glimpse at how we do it in the old country and it starts with a picnic at home. The abundance of delicious foods in every neighborhoods makes it quite easy to improvise a dinner. On the table some quiches, a jambonneau, a delicious pâté de campagne, a pig feet with sauce gribiche, olives and some truly incredible cheeses from Rodolphe Le Meunier (MOF) i brought back from a memorable adventure in Tours a day earlier. Add a few baguettes, a bottle of Bordeaux and a green salad and i’m in heaven.

For dessert we had some of the best chocolate éclair i ever tasted. They were bought at Le Furet Tanrade, a pastry shop around the corner from my brother’s apartment also famous for its homemade jams and that has been in business since 1728. Those éclair were deep, dark and perfect. My waistline is expanding just thinking about them.

And since we’re talking about expanding waistlines how could you not resist a strawberry and mint baba from Lenôtre as well as a few other goodies i won’t post for decency reason. Okay, maybe just because they were eaten before i could take a picture.

Of course, Paris is known for its temples of high gastronomy. Those establishment run my kitchen Gods capable to imprint your memory with tastes and sensations you’ll remember as long as you live, but during this trip i was more in the mood (and in the budget) to explore the classic bistros to see for myself, as a lot has been written on the subject, if they were a dying breed.

I don’t know if i was under the charm of the authentic decor or just lucky but i don’t have any horror story to report as i didn’t have a single bad meal while i was there. Is it just me?  The classics, which is what you should order when eating in those old bistros were well prepared and quite delicious. I had snails, terrines, pied de cochons, cotes de boeuf and desserts like creme caramel and ile flottante and i haven’t been disappointed. No thrills, but good. That’s what a bistro should be about.

On the left, one of the last subway stop kept like in 1900. In montmartre.

The picture on the right is a little look at my brother’s antique camera / early cinema boutique. During the time i was there an assistant for Martin Scorcese was busy buying a whole lot of antique things for an upcoming movie. So stay tuned as you may see some of these pieces on the big screen soon.

That’s just me practicing taking photos at night. That’s, of course, a little look at Notre-Dame taken from the Seine.

If window licking is more your speed you could do that on rue montorgueil, my old neighborhood. Stohrer’s pastry shop was opened in 1730 by Nicolas Stohrer who was previously Louis XV pastry chef. He was also the inventor of the Baba au Rhum and they claim the recipe hasn’t changed since. The pastry chef have though, err.. i hope.

And Paris wouldn’t be Paris without street artists, musicians and dudes doing Superman tricks on lamp poles. This guy clearly didn’t have what i had for lunch.

Another old bistro that’s been in business since 1896, the food at Chartier is definitely not was it used to be but the room, the atmosphere of old Paris and the cheap prices make it a descent place to have a quick lunch if you stick to the basics. I had an andouillette and a Pêche Melba that were quite good. Watching the servers carrying so many plates also makes it worth the trip.

In case you haven’t noticed, i love wandering around the Seine at night. Across from the river “La Conciergerie”, a former royal palace and prison in Paris infamous for its reputation as the “antechamber to the guillotine” during the Reign of Terror, the bloodiest phase of the French Revolution. Scaryyy..

We don’t care much about cutting people’s heads anymore. We much rather make colorful and delicious things instead and a trip to Paris wouldn’t be complete without indulging on macarons. Pictured above the display of Eric Kayser’s boutique.

I think i got a little carried away on my quest for the perfect macaron. Pictured, boxes from Eric Kayser, Gerard Mulot, Ladurée, Pierre Hermé, Jhules and Cafe Pouchkine.

My favorite macarons were eaten one afternoon at the terrace of a cafe rue de Vaugirard and came from Pierre Hermé’s boutique. And i’m not sure if my favorite was the Pietra macaron (praline-noisette) or the olive-oil-vanilla macaron as they were both out of this world delicious. One thing is sure though, what made them even more delicious is the excellent company i was sharing them with..

Hope you enjoyed this little tour. Let’s finish with a little look at my ‘home’ away from home…

______________

If you enjoyed this post there’s more in the Zen Eats! serie:

• Zen Eats Kyoto
• Zen Eats Singapore
• Zen Eats Hong-Kong

As much as i would love to share with you the tastes, the smells and the sounds of my trip to Japan.. i couldn’t find a teleportation booth for sale on Ebay. So instead i tried to recreate in pictures the different moods of my adventure. My best advice to you, go visit Kyoto Foodie for inspiration and book your plane ticket because this post will only scratch the surface. I guarantee you it’s worth every penny.

I wrote in my last post about the experience working at Kichisen. This post will focus on the rest of the trip. The adventure began when I met my good friend Marc of No Recipes in Osaka a day earlier. After some Okonomiyaki and wandering around Osaka Castle we took the bullet train to Kyoto. Lost in translation style.

I have a blurry memory of our first evening in Kyoto, so i looked at the pictures hoping to find some clues. They were blurry as well. Not a good sign! Marc and I met up with Michael of Kyoto Foodie, and i don’t remember much after that expect we had some excellent local Wagyu beef, best i ever had, and what seems like a lot of shochu.

We ended up in at Asakura Sake bar where the owner/bartender/Michael Jackson fan let us sample a fantastic selection of unpasteurized, unfiltered local Sake which pretty much opened my eyes about sake. There was a smooth unpasteurized one with hints of melon we talked about for days. We finally got so hungry again we had to stop at a great ramen joint at some ungodly hours and finally say goodbye to Michael Jackson by the river (or was it Michael from Kyoto Foodie?). That’s all i remember. Hmm.

The next day we went to see the Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages) to clear up our heads. It’s a traditional festival enjoyed by people of all ages who participate in the parade dressed in authentic costumes representing various periods and characters in Japanese history. We didn’t stay for the parade but caught up early with the participants gathering in the park for some nice close-up shots. Look for some really nice photography in No recipes in the coming weeks.

Later, we met up with Alice and Jared of Eat Duck I must, a foodie couple, bloggers, and talented photographers from Chicago who happened to be in Kyoto at the same time and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city together. After lunch we went to Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavillion), a Zen Buddhist temple covered with gold leaf and surrounded by beautiful gardens.

Our afternoon walk took us to Ryoanji, a Zen temple in northern Kyoto. The temple’s main attraction is its rock garden, the most famous of its kind in Japan. The Zen garden consist of nothing but rocks, moss and neatly raked gravel. The meaning of the garden’s arrangement is unknown and up to each visitor’s interpretation. So Alice just had to snap the picture.. Zen chef, in a Zen Temple sitting by the Zen garden. It doesn’t get more Zen than that. Except for the hangover..

At night we all went to see the crowded Fire festival in Kurama where the whole town was lit up with torches carried by children.

We made it back to the city and ate at Torito. It’s by far the best yakitori place i ever been to, and was also recommended by Kyoto Foodie. Marc and Jared asked for the Japanese menu because we wanted to order the ‘not politically correct’ items like oritsukuri (chicken sashimi). Raw chicken liver and heart dipped in salt, sugar and sesame oil anyone? I know it’s hard to believe but it was incredibly good and everyone seem to have survived so far (guys, give me a call if you read this). The Torito special chicken Tsukune (a grilled chicken meatball on a skewers served with an egg yolk) was to die for.

On another day we went on the Philosopher’s Walk which follows a cherry-tree-lined canal in Kyoto, between Ginkaku-ji and Nyakuōji-jinja. The route is so-named because a well known philosopher is thought to have used it for daily meditation. It passes several temples. The monk on the picture above was rushing to a prayer. We sat and watched them chant Buddhist mantra to relax.

Chef Yoshimi Tanigawa made a Sabazuchi (pickled mackerel sushi – Kyoto’s specialty) and packed it in bamboo leaves the day before for us to take to go. That was our lunch and it looked so good that a lady who was passing by nearly fell into the canal from staring at it. She came back later to ask us where we bought it…

We were walking around Nishiki-Koji Market in Kyoto were this little fishmonger caught my eye. She was leaning over a bucket full of live baby eels trying to catch one. She succeeded at first but she let the tiny fish escape on the floor and chased it for a while. She finally grabbed it and proudly show us her catch. I say  - she’s pretty damn gifted!

We went to stay at a Ryokan for a night to try to recover from the beating Chef Tanigawa had given us. We were awaken at 5 am by a earthquake instead (true story!). A Ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese inn and most offer dinner and breakfast and usually promote themselves on the quality of their food. Meals consist of traditional Kaiseki cuisine, which features seasonal and regional specialties.

On our last night in Kyoto, Michael offered to do a chicken Sukiyaki at his house. Marc went shopping and prepared the food while i stayed out of the way and happily snapped pictures instead.  Sukiyaki consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef but it’s done with chicken in Kyoto), slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Before being eaten, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw eggs. It was great!

Afterward we picked up Chef Tanigawa at Kichisen and all met up with the lovely Miwa of Kyoto Foodie at the unfamous Sake Bar where we got pretty giddy a few nights earlier. Chef Tanigawa gave us gift bags loaded with goodies from Kichisen to take home, including a soup with magic properties…

No, i won’t tell you what those magic properties are.

A million thanks to Marc who made this trip happen and for being a great guide and translator. Who know, I might still be lost be in Japan if it wasn’t for him. Thanks also to Michael and Miwa of Kyoto Foodie for being the greatest Ambassadors known to Kyoto cuisine. All the recommendations we received from them have been stellar. And finally to Master Chef Yoshimi Tanigawa Of Kichisen for opening his doors to us and for  generously sharing a few of his secrets.

Last week, Kyoto Kichisen Master Chef Yoshimi Tanigawa opened his doors to Michael of Kyoto Foodie, Marc of No Recipes and I. I don’t usually fly across the globe to do internships at fine restaurants but this opportunity was just too good to pass and i’m infinitely grateful to both Michael and Marc for inviting me to join them on this incredible adventure.

Yoshimi Tanigawa is a true artist and the incontested master of Kyoto Kaiseki cuisine, he’s also quite famous for his sweeping victory over Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef. Michael wrote a great article on Tanigawa on his blog which i highly recommend. You’ll find the episode of Iron Chef there as well.

We met the Master at Kichisen at 5:30 am. 5:20 am to be exact. We were warned that Tanigawa is never late and doesn’t like to wait. It was agreed he would take us to Kyoto Central Wholesale Market first to shop for ingredients for his restaurants and for a master class in Kyoto-style sushi and other specialties in the afternoon. We made a stop at one of Kyoto oldest Temple on the way, for his daily ritual..

We spent two hours following Tanigawa around the market as he was buying, joking and chatting with old acquaintances. He bought packages of somen, dried shrimp and fish along the way and gave it to us to take home. We sampled octopus and dried mullet roe while he picked the freshest fish and produce imaginable. By the time we came back to the car after a crazy cart ride across the market the car had already been loaded by invisible helpers. Not a minute was wasted. We stopped at his favorite Ramen shop on the way back to the restaurant, an old school neighborhood joint, and i was instructed how to eat ramen properly – slurping and all. It was about 7:30 am.

The first thing you notice when you walk into Kichisen’s kitchen is the quiet but hard-working cooks who look like Zen monks with their shaved heads – and the deep respect they have for their Master. Tanigawa’s training is rooted in Zen Buddhist methods, an ‘encouragement stick’ is on display at the entrance of the restaurant to set the tone for his students. It is traditionally used by Zen masters to hit drowsy meditators on the back during meditation practices.

Marc and i were quickly dispatched to learned how to properly wash, rinse and cook the sushi rice. We kept an eye over our shoulders at all times to make sure the encouragement stick wasn’t coming our way.

Next we started working with Ikehara, Tanigawa trusted sous-chef who’s been working with him for over 20 years. We watched him as he filleted all different kinds of fish with speed and precision while explaining various techniques. Ikehara has incredible knife skills. At a table nearby, two apprentices were thinly shaving large quantities of dried bonito over wooden boxes. The bonito flakes were later used along with kombu from Hokkaido to make the best dashi i ever tasted, also the most expensive one at $4.50 food cost for half a cup.

Kyoto is located in inland Japan, and it was difficult to obtain fresh fish in the old days. They only had the option of using cured fish, or fish that did not spoil too quickly. Kyoto-style sushi has evolved from those old preserving methods and features lots of cured or lightly pickled fish but presented with the aesthetic of Kaiseki cuisine.

After the preparation of the fish was done, we went upstairs to the main kitchen to watch Tanigawa prepare for service, we watched him make dashi and an incredible turtle soup while the cooks were busy preparing all the small garnishes. Kichisen is a well-oiled machine, by the time the guests arrived everything was in place.

Kaiseki is the equivalent of Western fine-dining, but more deeply-rooted in tradition. Kaiseki cuisine tells a story. It’s an art form that balances the taste, texture, appearance, and colors of food with an emphasis on fresh local and seasonal ingredients. Dishes are beautifully arranged and garnished, often with real leaves and flowers, as well as edible garnishes designed to resemble natural plants and animals. It was quite amazing to watch Tanigawa plate everything himself during service. ” I don’t want to let the young cooks plate. They don’t have the Art yet!” he said at one point.

Kaiseki follows a particular order of dishes that you could compare to a tasting menu you would get at a fancy restaurant. There’s the equivalent of an amuse-bouche, followed by sushi and several small side dishes. Then there’s sashimi, a ‘lidded dish’ typically a soup which in this case was a delicious looking Dobin Mushi served in a teapot with fresh Matsutake mushrooms we had picked up that morning at the market.

The epic meal continues with a grilled seasonal fish, it was served at Kichisen on a stunning display with smoking leaves which i wasn’t quick enough to photograph. There are palate cleansers such as pickled vegetables, a hot-pot, a tofu dish, a miso based soup and intermezzos in between.

Seasonal fruit is served as dessert. Those perfect persimmons were brulee on top which i found interesting. They were so sweet that the natural sugars caramelized immediately on the surface. Kichisen also has a huge stock of plates, bowls, cups..etc which changes every month with the menu. The colors match the seasons.

After the lunch service we got a class on Kyoto-style sushi from master Tanigawa. He demonstrated his skills but also put us on the spot to make sure we were paying attention. We learned how to prepare Hamo properly (pike eel) by chopping it thinly to crush the bones in between the flesh and the skin. We learned how to make Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet) from Ikehara and Sabazushi (pickled mackerel sushi – Kyoto’s specialty) from Tanigawa.

And yes, there was lots of no,no,no,no,no.. as he watched us nervously handle the fish with our left hand while hesitantly forming rice balls with our right hands. He would correct us and make us try again and go.. no,no,no,no,no,no again. He never used the encouragement stick on us, though.

We finally sat down at the sushi bar after a long day and enjoyed the fruit of our labor. Tanigawa showed us pictures of him with fancy French chefs like Pierre Gagnaire and chatted about the Michelin guide (he recently received 2 stars), fancy cars, Ed Hardy clothes and fashion in general. “People who can’t dress, can’t cook.” he said. We also all went to drink at Sake bar on an another night.  Yes, it’s a different Tanigawa outside the restaurant. And a quite surprising one.

Yoshimi Tanigawa is definitely one of the most fascinating person i ever met.

Don’t forget to buy a copy of Bon Appetit magazine in February to learn more about this fantastic chef…

KICHISEN

Kyoto-style kaiseki restaurant

5 Tadasu-no-mori (Morimoto-cho), Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

Phone: 075-711-6121
FAX: 075-711-8993

http://www.kichisen-kyoto.com/

After about 10 days in Hong-Kong i got the opportunity to visit Singapore for a few days and met up with some local friends as well as my old buddy olivier with whom i went to restaurant school in Paris over 15 years ago. He’s now the Food & Wine manager of the Scarlet hotel on Erskine street.

I think i averaged 7 meals a day while in Singapore and how can you not when you’re surrounded by cheap and delicious street food. Food courts, as pictured above, are everywhere in Singapore and one of my favorite was Maxwell Food Court near Chinatown. Each stand is a kind of mom and pops operation, some specialize in some sort of ethnic south-east Asian food while others produce Singaporean specialties. I haven’t been disappointed once but it would have taken me two full weeks to sample food from all the food stands. I need to go back. Gosh, i need to go back!

Brace yourself as this post is about 2 miles long. Don’t forget your GPS.

When you’re a gwei lo wandering around the Ali Baba cavern of food it can easily get overwhelming. So i looked for familiar signs and it came in the form of an highlighted paragraph from Anthony Bourdain’s “The Nasty Bits” displayed on a food stand selling oyster cakes. It went like this: 

I wandered down to food stall number 5, an establishment called, appropriately enough, simply “Oyster Cake”. The woman proprietor proudly told me she’s been serving the same dish, and only that dish, for 45 years”. I figured, correctly, that after all that time she got to be pretty good at it. A throng of local customers lining up for the deep-fried Foochow-style beignet of oysters, minced porked, prawns, and batter, seemed to support that conclusion. I sat down at a center table (all the businesses share and jointly maintain the bare, bolted-down center tables), poked a squeeze bottle of spicy pepper sauce into the center of my cake, and gave it a good squirt. Pure goodness, washed down with a tall cup of fresh sugarcane juice from an adjoining stall.

Well, i thought! If it’s good enough for Bourdain it must be good enough for me…

So i bought an oyster cake from the old lady in question and discovered they were also crusted with peanuts. Pork, prawns, oysters, batter and peanuts and .. deep fried. Love at first sight! I also bought a tall cup of fresh sugarcane juice from an adjoining stall and sat down at a center table. I poked a squeeze bottle of spicy pepper sauce into the center of my cake, and gave it a good squirt, and took a bit bite… i was in heaven for the next 10 minutes. Those oyster cakes were great. So great in fact i wanted to propose to the old lady but she didn’t seem interested at all. I suspect she already got an offer from Bourdain.

This was a dish from another food stall. A deeply satisfying stir-fry made of pork, oysters, eggs and served with a spicy sauce. Singaporeans like their food spicy for the most part so it’s not hard to find squeeze bottles of spicy sauce about everywhere. For spicy food lovers, the best chili sauce on the planet (at least in my opinion) can be found in a restaurant called Big Bird in Singapore. I brought a few jars home. It made me cry of happiness!.. err.. or maybe it was spiciness.

And then, there’s of course the legendary Hainanese (Singapore) chicken-rice. A local specialty considered the national dish. There are many restaurants who claim to have the best version but i’ve been told by locals Tian-Tian is one of the most popular and judging by the throngs of customers lining up, i kinda believe them. The dish consists of a whole chicken cooked in a fresh chicken stock flavored with ginger and garlic, the same stock is often used to cook the rice which they call ‘oily rice’ because it absorbs all the good stuff from the chicken. The dish is served with several dips, a really spicy chili sauce and a thick dark soy sauce. 

A great place to have Satay in singapore is Lau Pa Sat. A food mecca located in a beautiful historic building in the center of town, a favorite of locals and tourists alike. I didn’t have my camera handy when i passed by unfortunately but here’s some chicken and pork satay from a different place. It cost me about $1 and it was damn good.

After having eaten so much food you should definitely go to the temple to redeem yourself. It’s noon and you already had 4 meals and you should be feeling pretty guilty. The Buddha tooth relic temple on south bridge road has a giant vessel at the entrance for your satay sticks. People set them on fire before entering the temple and pray to the Satay Gods. It’s a very moving experience. The story doesn’t say in the Buddha lost his tooth while munching on chicken or beef but from the shape of the broken tooth i would say it was chicken, but i i leave it to the scholars to decide.

When you’re at peace with the Gods you can go back for a little snack. This is a mostly vegetarian buffet to not offend them so quickly. No pork in sight, I’m feeling zen right now.

You cannot write a post about Singapore without at least showing one coconut tree. So here you have it. It’s required by the internet police. If you need a little exercise you can head to the boardwalk and have a nice little walk while watching the sunset. Of course, i would never make the trip if there wasn’t some kind of food discovery to make…

… and here it is!

Black pepper crab is another specialty of Singapore (there’s also chili crab). Local friends recommended the Long Beach seafood restaurant on East coast parkway, right on the boardwalk. They were the first to serve Black pepper crab in 1959 so i figured they had time to practice before my visit. I first wondered how the black pepper sauce could penetrate the shell of the crab but realized the shell is cracked, and the flavor very much inside too. The quality of the crab was amazing, meaty but sweet and perfectly accentuated with the pepper sauce. Perfect with a chilled pint of Tiger beer. Bak Ku teh is another local specialty, a pork rib soup in a spicy, garlicky broth. One of the best thing i have eaten in Singapore but no picture to share. It was very late at night..

There’s also the district of Little India in Singapore that i didn’t get to explore as much as i wanted to but that’s where i had some very good Dosas with different dips. I forgot to mention in my last post i had some fantastic Indian food in Hong-Kong in an underground restaurant called Surya in Kowloon. The most authentic Indian food i ever got to try. The restaurant is a little hard since it’s in a building and at the bottom of several flights of stairs but definitely worth the efforts. Now, where’s good Indian food in New York? Does good Indian food even exist in New York? Is there any hope?  Someone please say yes!

Dessert places aren’t hard to find in Singapore. They often sell icy concoctions of tropical fruits with coconut milk. Very refreshing in 80 degrees weather. I particulary loved the chilled mango soups with pomelo and tapioca (not pictured) and a mountain.. a volcano even!.. of shaved ice drizzled with mango coulis and fresh mango pieces. Too bad i didn’t have my camera with me because it was very impressive. The ones above had aloe, coconut milk, jellies and various local fruits on ice.

This trip to Asia had an awakening effect on me. For instance i had the first banana worth calling a banana, i don’t know what i had before but it wasn’t what a banana should be. It was ripened on the tree and sweet, floral with a little tinge of citrus. Not the kind of bananas we get in the US. This food stand was selling banana fritters in Maxwell Food court and gigantic bushels of ripe bananas were hanging above the old man selling them.

Banana –> Deep Fried in Batter = Good. 

I’m not sure i have the right name for the dishes above, the roll was filled with bean sprouts, egg and peanut among other things and was called Pokah but i couldn’t find anymore infos by googling the name. It was very good though. The one in a back was called fruit borah and i wasn’t too crazy about it. The sauce was pretty strong and it totally covered the flavor of the fruit. I guess there must be some better versions of it somewhere.

Those were sweet coconut rolls with various filling but since by that time i was approaching a food coma, i don’t remember them very well. They were good and the texture was great. I wish i could have a little slice… now.

Beef jerky and as a matter of fact, all kind of jerkies, are very popular in Singapore. There are lots of store competing for the title of best jerky in town, since i didn’t try all of them i won’t even go there.Those guys were grilling sheets after sheets of jerky at lightning speed. The meat was charred and slightly sweet and it was so good and addictive i had to smuggle some back to the US. No officer.. i have nothing to declare.. [looking at the ceiling with an innocent look on his face]

Here you have it, friends! Hope you enjoyed my little tour and sorry if it took you half the day to get to the end of this post. Hopefully it will inspire you to go visit on your own. Cheers!

Hong-Kong is a foodie holy grail and this post doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface but i will share with you a few random bites anyway. This trip also took me to Singapore and Macau but both those fantastic cities deserve a post of their own for their eclectic foods, i will get to that eventually. I took hundreds of pictures that i will upload to my Flickr page as soon as i get over my jetlag. Food is everywhere in Hong-Kong and from a cheap bite at a food stand to an expensive meal at a trendy restaurant, there’s something from everyone. I had what i thought was the best pork dish in my life on one day, and it was surpassed the next in a different restaurant. What the hell! Both were version of char siu. Both were incredible. Damn you Chinese cooks!

This picture was taken at Dynasty restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui during Dim Sum, a restaurant that specialize in good old Cantonese food. When a Dim Sum restaurant is given a one michelin star rating you know it’s gotta be good and the service was top notch as well. The lady in red was scooping out portions of pot rice studded with scallops and shrimps into individual bowls. It was great and the crunchy rice from around the edges provided a great textural contrast. 

Dynasty Restaurant 滿福樓
Address: 4/F, New World Renaissance Hotel, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui S’s4樓
Tel: 2734 6600 

This was the first pork revelation of my trip also at Dynasty restaurant. What you see is an incredibly crisp and flavorful pork skin on a very thin pancake, below it was the roasted pork, tender and voluptuous. This is one of the dishes this restaurant bases it’s reputation on, and they really hit the spot. It was porkfection! (cheesy pun, check!)

This was a rather large crab and shrimp dumpling in a flavorful broth accentuated by vinegared.. something? Someone help please. It’s pickled, it’s good. err.. Help!? For the anecdote, all the porcelain used in the restaurant has the motif of the celestial dancing girl from the Tang dynasty. Nothing to do with the celestial dancing girl from the gogo bar. I don’t know for sure but i don’t think they’re related. 

This dried abalone dish came after … dessert. We have had a delicious home-cooked meal and dessert when my host asked with a worried look on his face: “Have you ever had dried Abalone?” … “No, dude!” was my answer. 10 minutes later this dish was in front of me and it was absolutely incredible. I think i like it better than fresh abalone, the texture was tender and slightly chewy in a good way. The sauce was made with a whole chicken and dried scallops among other ‘secret’ ingredients and simmered for 24 hours to a golden sirupy glaze. I demand the secret of that sauce! Washed down with a glass of Dom Perignon 1996, it was pure heaven. It was then followed by a Cuban cigar and a glass of Cognac on the terrace… and a hangover the next day. Oh, my head!

This is another quite trendy restaurant called Chung’s Kitchen where i had a fantastic Dim Sum and the Best Char Siu EVER! (i will had the address to this post as soon as i find the business card) It was so good in fact, i forgot to photograph it. Oh well, i can’t torture you by posting 2 pictures of pork on the same post anyway. That wouldn’t be fair but take my word for it, if you go to Hong-Kong, go to this place and order the Char Siu. It’s.. well i already made that pun.

I liked this place so much i took my camera to the kitchen like if i owned the place and nobody seemed to care. Ok fine… it’s an open kitchen. This is a plate of pork and shrimp dumpling with a spicy sauce being prepared. Everybody say… mmmmmm.

Chung’s kitchen worked ultra-efficiently. No words were exchanged between the cooks and i’m not even sure who’s the head chef since nobody was calling the orders but all the dishes appeared from different stations at an amazing speed. I suspect they cook telepathically in a Spock meets Martin Yan kind of way. Notice also how clean and well organized the line is. I probably stayed in that spot for 15 minutes watching them cook as it was more exciting than buying a movie ticket.

This picture of an old lady scooping out ladlefuls of silky fresh tofu was taken on Lamma island after an hectic day in the city. Lamma island can only be reached by ferry (it’s a 25 minutes ride) and once you get there, surprise! There aren’t any cars! Quite a change of pace from metropolitan Hong-Kong. You walk around the small fishing village and walk up the hills into mosquito-infested tropical forest to find various street vendors, food carts and  locals eating and sharing freshly picked fruits. For the anecdote Lamma island is also the birthplace of Chew On Fat… not sure of my spelling but I think he’s some kind of famous actor. Dude. I want a name like that!

The silky tofu gets a drizzle of what i think was a sugar cane syrup. Perfect for an healthy afternoon snack in hot weather. This was sooo good! I had this dessert in several occasions during my trip.

Also on Lamma island, a Satay food stand. We definitely need more of these food stands in New York. Enough with the hot-dogs already! I had the pork satay which was made from the belly and char-grilled. Pretty damn good. The squid was calling my name but i was too full by then.

This is a jasmine tree and the aroma was so strong and delicious when i passed by, i couldn’t resist to snatch a few leaves. Sorry dear owner of the tree if you’re reading this blog. I will not do it again. I’ve been a bad bad boy and i apologize to you and the tree.

There was an old lady proudly displaying a a freshly picked jackfruit in the front of her house she had just traded for some bananas with a neighbor (thanks to my friends on Twitter, this was identified as a Jackfruit). It seems to be a common practice on the island, everyone grows something and trades it for something else. The smell of the fruit is pretty strong but not as much as Durian but once you take a bite it’s pure sweetness. Me like!

This gotta be one of my absolute favorite fruit here on display in a market in Hong Kong. Mangosteens are very hard to find in the U.S which is a shame. Once you peel the thick purple skin you’re left with what looks like a white clementine. Each segment comes out easily and  the fruit is pleasantly perfumed and sweet and slightly citrusy. Hard to describe for a gwei lo but good, really really good. Now can someone tell me why we can’t find this fruit in the US?

This was another fishing village on Lantau’s island, also home of the Big Buddha. The village is built on water and gets flooded once in a while but the locals don’t seem to mind.

All kinds of dried fish, squid and whatnot can be found in the village. That’s where i got a great shrimp paste from an old guy who makes it on the other end of the village. Just follow the smell.. Oh boy, it’s stinky. The shrimp paste is great though.

In the old part of Hong-Kong a few ‘street restaurants’ can still be found. Only the locals can take you there if you’re a white boy like me. You basically eat in the middle of the street, food cooked on the sidewalk in rather crummy surrounding. You’re likely to share your table with some thugs and wanted criminals but who cares since you’re here for the food. Definitely not for the faint of heart but if you can take it, the food is good and cheap. You’ll really appreciate that if you survive. The red cooked pork on noodle was spicy and delicious.

And then there was drinks, and a lots of them. I particulary like SEVVA on top of the Prince building in Central Hong Kong for the terrace, the 360′ view and well.. the drinks. There’s a restaurant there too but i was told it’s not worth the money. Instead you can stay on the terrace and order some really well mixed drinks and some crunch cake which is supposed to be all the craze in HK right now. A crunch cake is somewhere between a sponge and an angel food cake with a not too sweet icing and big chunks of caramelized meringue over the top. It was good i thought but get ready to spend some $$. I’m moving to Hong-Kong and starting a crunch cake business. Don’t tell anyone!

When the pictures get blurry is when i’m supposed to go to bed. Good night everybody!