When in Rome, do as the Romans do, When in Beijing...

... Eat Peking duck of course!!

And that is precisely what I did. Although Peking roast duck is ubiquitous here, I am always suspicious of 'famous' food, because there tends to be a spectacular range of quality. This is because a significant number of innocent tourists will always fall trap and purchase horrible, but decent looking food just because they've heard of it before. For example, in New York, a tourist might stumble across a New York bagel at a deli and feel like they've struck gold, but that bagel could be dry and stale and in no way representative of the best bagel that New York has to offer... As a result, I was extra careful to consult multiple sources about where to eat the best Peking duck here, because I didn't want to fall into the common tourist trap and (metaphorically speaking) eat a stale bagel.

Based on my survey of friends and taxi drivers, the general consensus is that there are two famous Peking duck places. One came highly recommended by my co-workers and friends from the U.S. and is called Da Dong, which is known for a its leaner and healthier way of preparing roast duck. The other one was enthusiastically recommended by locals (including several taxi drivers and a local guide) and is called Quan Ju De. Since I absolutely trust my friends in the U.S. and thought healthier was the way to go, I decided to start with Da Dong and boy was i not let down!

Da Dong has several branches in Beijing, but the one we went to was in the Chaoyang district and conveniently located near the theater where my mom and I watched the acrobatics show earlier that evening. Walking inside, you could immediately tell that they paid the utmost attention to presentation. Everything inside was beautifully decorated and even the menus and tableware was artfully displayed:

Below is the duck shaped chopstick holder (everything was elegant and in black and white):

Below is their hefty menu that was as thick as a textbook, and had a picture of every dish that was offered. Although their dishes were mostly traditionally Chinese, the display definitely had French and contemporary western influences (including use of smoke and flash freezing things especially for dessert). Towards the back wall of the restaurant, a TV screen displayed a slide show which rotated through a close up of every dish, which made them even more visually appealing.

Menu

As soon as we sat down, the waitress took our roast duck order, because each duck is roasted to order and it takes about 40 mins to roast each one. Since my mom is a vegetarian, I had a half order of duck which came to around 200 Yuan (30 USD). About 30-40 mins later, a dedicated chef came over to carve our roasted duck in front of us. This kind of reminded me of the waiters at Mexican restaurants who come to make your guacamole tableside, but this required a lot more skill as the chef painstakingly carved the entire steaming roast duck.

End product (beautifully carved with the skin in tact):

The waitress then brought over a platter of condiments (extra 8 yuan but absolutely necessary to complete the experience). Clockwise from upper left: Granulated sugar, hoisin duck sauce, sliced scallions, diced pickles (red and black), sliced honeydew melon (green and red). This was the first time I had heard of eating duck with sliced honeydew!

The wrappers were then brought out. One was a really thin, almost translucent wheat wrap (similar in size to a tortilla, but much thinner and softer) which was in a bamboo steamer. There were about 10 of these wraps in each steamer and you could get refills if you ran out. When I tried to open it to take a picture, the waitress scolded me and told me to close it before it got cold - hence, no pic. The other wrapper was the sesame pastries below, which are actually really light puff pastries that are hollow inside and cut in half for you to stuff the duck pieces in with the condiments to create mini duck-burgers.

The waitress then came over to show me the 3 different styles of eating Peking roast duck. The first is just to take a piece of crispy skin and dip it into the granulated sugar. I took a bite of this and it tasted a bit like crystallized bacon. Delicious - but totally fatty, so one bite was enough. The second method is to take a flat rice wrapper, take a few pieces of duck (meat + skin), dip into the hoisin sauce and place on the wrapper with a few pieces of scallion. She then folded the wrap into a triangle so each bite would include a bit of duck, scallion and wrapper. The last method was using the sesame bun, where she stuffed pieces of duck + skin dipped in hoisin sauce, and added some scallion and honeydew melon inside. 

(Methods 2 and 3 below):

My favorite was still the traditional method using the thin rice wrapper (pictured on the left) because i felt the sesame bun was a bit too thick and masked the juicy duck inside. The duck was the most tender and juicy duck I have ever had (without being oily or fatty) and the rice wrapper was extremely pliable, yet light at the same time and worked really well to hold the duck and scallion inside. However, the surprise star of the show was the hoisin sauce, which was just the right amount of sweet + tangy, and had a smoky, deep flavor that really complimented the quality of the duck. 

Da Dong's other dishes were also beautifully crafted and presented. Another dish we ordered was the sauteed bamboo shoots, which was displayed on a plate with actual bamboo stems:

 Overall, a great first Peking duck experience! Let's hope I tried a truly authentic one :)

Japanese-Italian in Malaysia!

I'm a huge fan of japanese food, and a larger fan of italian food, so little wonder that i'm a big supporter of quirky japanese-italian places. That said, most are pretty disappointing, so it was a little worrying to try a new japanese-italian place named Ozeki in Menara Cosway...

Ozeki (Italian) is a spinoff of my local Japanese place, also named Ozeki, which is actually slightly Italian-Japanese... they have pesto octopus sashimi and mentaiko pasta... I really like the ambience (and sometimes food) of Japanese Ozeki so I thought I'd have to give the italian one a shot.

It's a pretty cozy place, nice lighting and comfy decor.

Now the food... hmmm well I am willing to give it a 2nd shot but only because it just opened. Overall the food wasn't great. Ideas weren't bad but execution was sloppy.

First up was a green salad with anchovies... i forget the menu description but i love anchovies (real ones AND the nasty ones they put on pizzas), so i had to try this. It was a fairly pedestrian salad with some mangos and grapes (which didn't work at all) and too much dressing. Anchovies were tasty tho.



Next was a recommended dish... a chicken liver pate and toasted baguette. I love pate too, but this was too large a serving and for some reason, much too sweet. I ate quite a bit, but more out of guilt than enjoyment. Not much to recommend here. Bread was nice but when i asked for more, they charged me 1 RM for each slice (O_O) Not cool. Especi since the hostess recognized me from my 20 trips to the Japanese Ozeki...

Last was one of my "must-order" dishes. Pasta (preferably Fettucine) Amatriciana, (along with any kind of Chili, and Pasta Puttanesca) must be ordered by me every time i see them at a restaurant. I'm still looking for the perfect example of each. This was not close. They chose to use Bucatini for their Amatriciana dish which i think could have been fine. However, this sauce was a little too oily and light for my taste. I think a proper Amatriciana needs to be spicy and a little thicker, with generous amounts of bacon and onion... well that's why it's so fun to order. Always looking for the best one...

 

In any case, Ozeki will be tried again (especially since they gave me a 20% off coupon as i left), but I think the secret is to order the slightly wackier stuff on the menu. I went too conservative and this is what i got! 2.5/5 for now.

Pok Pok by Death

I had one of the most delicious, complex and spicy things today and this was at Pok Pok, aptly named after Papaya Pok Pok (also known as Thai Papaya salad). Pok Pok is most well-known for its fried chicken wings, but after eating mouthfuls of their potent Pok Pok, I now realize why the restaurant is not called Wing Wing. I ordered the Wing Special, which included 3 wings marinated in fish sauce, garlic and sugar, deep fried and tossed in caramelized fish sauce and sugar with a heaping side of papaya pok pok, Vietnamese daikon radish pickles, fresh cucumber slices and a hunk of sticky rice.  

Now, I've had papaya salad many times, but have only had memorable papaya salad on 2 occasions: once at the night market in Chiang Mai and once at a random Thai restaurant in Central Market called Ginger. Now I can add to those occasions and say that this was the most satisfying and sneakily spicy papaya salad i've had in the U.S. It was marinated in just the right amount of sweet fish sauce, with a kick of spice that just creeps up on you and catches you by surprise after you've already ingested a mouthful. My mouth was on fire, but it was the perfect set-up to tear into the juicy, garlicy, yet perfectly crispy chicken (far superior to korean fried chicken), complimented by the sweet Vietnamese daikon radish pickles and the coconut sticky rice wrapped in a plastic bag which reminded me of the Taiwanese breakfast rice balls. Look at the platter of beauty below! Although it was what you might call a 'hole in the wall', Pok Pok pays careful attention to detail, with free servings of pandan flavored water (Delicious), and plenty of wet wipes to clean your fingers with. It was a memorable meal and I plan to be back soon! J, not sure if this is your thing but woww it was pretty amazing.

An un (Fig)-gettable meal

While J was "up to his eyeballs in work", I went on a weekend escape getaway with my girlfriends to Sonoma. Although it was not difficult to find delicious food there (fruits and vegetables are amazingly juicy and cheap in California!), one notable meal was at the Girl and the Fig, which is a restaurant in downtown Sonoma featuring contemporary, yet homey/earthy fare with a twist of French flavor. I came across the owner's recipe book which was featured at one of the wineries that I visited earlier that day and went in with high expectations after witnessing the mouthwatering recipes in the book. Our table started with the cheese sampler, which was a mix of fruit, cheese and nuts. We chose 3 different types of cheese: two from goat's milk and one from cow's milk. My favorite was the piece in the middle, which is goat's milk crusted with some kind of herb. The pièce de résistance and what the restaurant is partly known for, was a fig cake which provided a sweet accent to the cheeses. 


Our second dish was a simple, yet delicious plate of arugula salad tossed with caramelized bacon bits, crumbled goat cheese and dried fig.  The arugula provided a surprisingly spicy kick which enhanced the bacon, fig and cheese.

I ordered the duck confit for my main, which was highly reviewed by yelpers but which I was skeptical about because usually duck confit either comes out too salty or fatty for me. This one was perfectly prepared with a very subtle flavor, tender amounts of duck that fell off the bone and was served over a bed of quinoa and carrot ribbons, providing a lightness from the vegetables that complimented the duck. We didn't get to try dessert since we were stuffed, but overall was impressed by this charming farm-to-table restaurant!

More Chili?? You bet I Kin(Kin)!

Before we dive into the NY carb-tastrophe (which could be the title of the next blog...) last week, i thought I'd finally do a blog on an amazing Malaysian noodle place I went to the week before NY.

So, for those of you who are familiar with Malaysia, you know that we are famous for hawker stall food and each stall pretty much makes only 1 or 2 types of dishes, but makes it deeeliciously. One of the more uniquely Malaysian dishes is Pan Mee, which as you can read here, is freshly made flat noodles either served dry with sauce, or in soup. I love them both, but a certain type of dry Pan Mee, Chili Pan Mee has become extremely popular in the KL area.

The most famous Chili Pan Mee still belongs to the original, Kin Kin.

Now, it's definitely a Malaysian dish in that it is meant to be eaten with glorious amounts of this sambal/chili type stuff. It isn't incendiary like most chilis, and is FILLED with flavor so just a little is required, but it may be daunting for the spice-averse. I can't even really describe what it tastes like besides a little spicy, a little salty, and very rich.

Chili Pan mee is served with dry anchovies, fried garlic and chives as well as a lightly poached egg. Now... the egg is a little curious because the yolk is completely runny, which is unusual in a dry noodle dish... but this is the secret that makes it so delicious. The right pic includes the amount of chili I usually add.

  

When you mix everything together then, you get the beautiful flavor of the chili and anchovies tied together and thickened with the egg... it's delish. The egg just works so well to give the dish weight and a meaty feel, which helps to lighten the fire of the chili, leaving just tons of that rich flavor and the chewy consistency of the fresh noodles. And you get a tasty anchovy soup with veggies to soothe your chili-numb tongue.

It all sounds like much ado about noodles but you'd love it Mokes!

          

No such thing as Red Lobster in Southampton

We are far too snobby to eat at chain establishments!!

J & C were finally reunited this past week, and one of the first snobby meals of course had to be at the #1 rated restaurant in Southampton on tripadvisor.com, which ended up having outrageously expensive things on their menu such as a $38 lobster roll for lunch. However, since we drove allll the way out to  Southampton, we figured we needed to go all out or else we would regret it for the rest of our lives. So that's exactly what we decided to do.

First off, Silver's is located on the main street of Southampton filled with chic shops and delis (you don't see Gap here! Only the obligatory Ralph Lauren and Vineyard Vines retail stores of course)

Thy offered us the best seat in the house facing the window, because we are kind of a big deal :)

Yelp and tripadvisor reviews are never wrong, and everyone said to order the lobster bisque, so J got it for us to share and mopped up the bowl with our complimentary basket of crusty baguette drenched in a pool of olive oil (the bread was surprisingly delicious, at least for the first few bites). We asked for a second basket of plain, un-oiled bread to go with the soup, and J was in carb heaven after that. The lobster bisque had healthy chunks of lobster meat in a creamy base with a very well-rounded and deep / hearty flavor, but was on the salty side in my opinion. 3.5/5 for this one.

Next up was my lobster roll, which was nothing short of amazing. It was stuffed and overflowing with huge, fresh chunks of lobster, lightly dressed in a dab of dressing and sprinkled with a few herbs here and there, letting the true lobster flavor shine through. Absolutely outstanding and worth every $38. The only thing i'd improve on would maybe be a softer or more flavorful bun which kind of paled in comparison to what it was holding. 4.5/5 for the lobster roll and i would possibly consider rounding to 5.

J got the roman sandwich which was grilled tomato, mozzarella and prosciutto in between two crusty pieces of white bread. J seemed to enjoy every last bite and the portion of the ingredients looked extremely generous. Carb heaven once again!

Overall this was one of my favorite meals in the Hamptons! I'm sure we would have bumped into many more people far snobbier than us, but it was still quiet season. J, your turn to post the next meal!

Yum Yum Sae What?

If the US lacks culture, it makes up for it with the most diverse set of self-proclaimed new age 'fusion' restaurants, fusing all sorts of different types of dishes. Some restaurants end up losing any type of identity, whereas others veer very little away from their original culinary roots. Zutto, which calls itself a Japanese American Pub was more asian than American (C suspects the American pub aspect just comes from the fact that it's located in Tribeca) but was an interesting experience nonetheless. We began with the  Kobe beef steamed buns (steamed buns, by the way, are all the rage in these types of fusion restaurants thanks to Momofuku which if credited with anything, should be credited with elevating steamed buns through its signature pork belly buns):

The bun was quite substantial and had strips of seaweed salad (which I appreciated), a bit of red onion and spicy mayo. I kind of wished there was more spicy mayo or something because the beef was a bit dry and sort of reminded me of the beef in a mcdonald's cheeseburger (sorry Zutto-chef, you must be aghast if you read this). Next up was my favorite dish of the night: the most randomly named maki roll called the Yum Yum Sae Woo which was stuffed with tempura shrimp, crab, and spicy sauce in a lettuce wrap instead of the typical rice and seaweed. I was a bit unsure of this choice as it sounded pseudo-thai, but it ended up being a winner, with the lettuce pieces chosen carefully so that the skin was dry and tough enough to hold the chunky pieces of shrimp and crab inside. I liked the smear of spicy red bean sauce on the side which added a kick to the lighter roll. Yum yum indeed! J, bonus points to you if you can figure out where the name of this dish came from.

Last up was the seafood ramen which had healthy chunks of shrimp and clams. My favorite was the juicy clams inside. The broth was a bit on the salty side, but otherwise pretty tasty. I can't figure out whether I'm just not a big ramen fan because I haven't really been blown away by any ramen I've had so far. Overall, more Japanese than American, but appreciated the twist, thought the ambience was really nice and would like to try more yum yum yummy rolls again.