We stopped by a food stall in a small street near KaoShan road in Bangkok. Because there were a lot of locals eating there the other day, we decided to try it.
We ordered egg with glass noodles with some meat topped on white rice. The meat is really tender but I have no idea it is beef or chicken. My favorite is the simple glass noodle with egg and tomato, but full of flavor. Surprisingly, no dish is spicy.
Located at Modesto Lafuente, 64 / Madrid, Sudestada is a minimalistic decorated fine Asian restaurant. Every dish is prepared with interesting Asian ingredients and various fusion spices. From grilled meat to stir-fry, each dish is a present treat. I am surprised to see pig ear salad on the menu. As Chinese, I eat them all the time, but it may be a bit weird for other culture. The crunchy cold cuts of pig ears fits well with fresh salad.
I know I only been away from home for 2 weeks, I already missed Korean Pork Bone
soup. As the convience of living close to little Korean town, I go to Korean
restaurant often in Toronto.
The Korean restaurent I often go to is called KA Chi. It has two locations, one is
in little Korean, the other is in Kensington market. For less than $8, pork bone
soup comes with a bowl of rice and other free small dishes. When it is cooked right,
I love the pork so tender that falling off the bone. The meat is juicy and soaked in
mild spicy soup. Sometimes it comes with potatos, sometimes don’t . But it always
topped with sprouts.
I am so addicated to the pork bone soup, but not the rice. I don,t know what kind of
rice they are using, but it is always too much water and sticky. Maybe it is a
Korean style? I am not sure.
The restaurant is often packed with young Koreans and Chineses. One reason is
because they are cheap food. The raised price a little bit after the expension, but
it is still very good price.
Even I tried to cook it at home with all the Korean ingredients, it just not taste
like in the restaurent. I hope they do not use MSG in the stew, or it will break my
heart.
Seaweed is not really in North American’s daily diet. Staying in Toronto
for many years, I started to miss some of my favorite food: seaweed is one
of them.
In China, kelp (large type of seaweed) is commonly used in the soup or
hotpot. When I was a child, my mom always makes sure that I eat enough
seaweed. She said it is healthy, but can’t really explain the scientific
reasons. If you are interested, to read more:
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/seaweed.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/006586.html
It is amazing Japanese and Koreans find many ways of using seaweed in
daily diet. There are various types of seaweed, mainly Kombu (large
seaweed), Wakame (often in miso soup or as salads) and Nori (thin dried
seaweed sheets).
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2310.html
My favorite Wakame(generic name) is Kukikame (stem seaweed). Wakame salad
is easily found in Japanese restaurant in Toronto. However they never
specify what kind of Wakame they are serving ( I bet most of them have no
idea either). If I am lucky, I will get Kukikame, it is almost like thin
noodles with various green shades. (See Pic1)
I also love Japanese Aonoli (thin seaseed). My friend Saoli bought it for
me from one of Japanese store at Finch Ave (See Pic2). In Manpuku
restaurant (see last month’s blog) put Aonoli on top of octopus YaKi and I
really love the special flavor. I put little bit on rice as topping.
Ginger –cheap Asian style with No Tips
The restaurant named Ginger is located on 521 Bloor st west, which is the one I always go. They have other locations on Church Street and Carlton Street. You pay the bill before you eat the food and you pick up your own cutlery and water. They do bring food to your table. Tip is not required just like in Asia.
They claim they cook Vietnamese cuisine with no MSG. However the soup they served tastes like MSG stock for me. Maybe there wasn’t any additional MSG added, that is what they meant.
I never tried their vermicelli and rolls. The two dishes I always get are : Fried Fish w/Ginger Lime sauce $ green mango on rice and curry Lamb with Rice. ($7.25, great price!)
The fried fish is addictive but deep frying stuff easily gave me pimples. For those have no reaction to the frying food, I highly recommend the dish. It goes so well with the sour /sweat sauce and green mango salad.
In winter, I can’t get sick of curry lamb. They are so good! Big chunks of lamb are tender with potatoes or someday taros soaked in curry. I prefer taros because the subtle flavor but you have to try your luck at Ginger.
It is a nice restaurant if you are looking for cheap and decent Asian food. Although I heard the pad Thai is not so good, try it yourself!
My Japanese friend Saori told me about the restaurant, which just opened not long ago at 467 Queen Street West. We arrived there 11:40 am and are the first customers that day. With 15 minutes, the restaurant is almost full.
We ordered some interesting sushi rolls, such as Fire House roll (Tempura Shrimp, Banana inside; top with spicy tuna crunch and scallion). It is pretty good, but personally I prefer switch banana to avocado.
The Black Dragon is really good as well (eel, avocado and fake crab).
It is my first time trying the shitake mushroom roll. I find the mushroom is too salty. My Japanese friend is surprised to hear that shitake mushroom is about & 8 per lb. She told me it is quite cheap in Japan. Oh, well, we are not in Japan.
We also tried something new: grilled salmon neck, fat belly and sautry (I am not sure about the spelling that is what they wrote on the menu). After having the salmon belly, I think it is time for me to lose some weight. Yup, they are really fatty! But so good…
By the time 1pm (ya, we are still eating), they have to turn away many customers because the full capacity. It is also quite difficult for us to get any service. We have to attentively waving to the waitress. The good thing is we weren’t in a hurry.
Overall, the rolls are quite decent and fishes are very fresh. My Japanese friend said the rice isn’t as good as those in Japan. But it is pretty good for non-Japanese, include me. I guess I wouldn’t comment on it until the day I visit the real Japanese sushi restaurant in Japan.
I would totally go back to have All You Can Eat again, but first I need to lose some weight.
The other day I bought some yogurt drink in Korean supermarket on Bloor Street. Unlike regular yogurt drink, it is very watery. It tastes sweet and sour and doesn’t have white color. It is so refreshing when just taking out of the fridge. Since I don’t understand any Korean ( all Korean letters printed on the bottle), I don’t know what the name of the yogurt. I am sure they have more than one kind in Korean. I have to go there to find out one day…
My Korean friend Soojin to give me more info: “They claim that they use special lactic bacterium for fermentation. I think that's why it has different figure and texture.”
I read online somewhere, and it says:” …It’s Japanese actually, developed for ingesting friendly bacteria pleasantly.”
Now I don’t know who is the first one developed it now.
I really love that drink! I remember many years ago, some Korean restaurant used to give the drink at the end of meal as complementary. Somehow, they don’t do that anymore. L
But they are available and cheap to buy in Korean and Chinese supermarket in Toronto. They are also widely distributed all over the world. If I am not mistaken:
http://www.yakultusa.com/products.htm
10 tiny bottles of yogurt drink are wrapped in plastic and sold as $2. The only thing is that they are only sold in tiny plastic bottles. I feel guilty of wasting plastics bottles, because I can drink all of them at once!
Today I went to Manpuku at 105 McCaul Street Unit 29-31, which just opened not long ago. They mainly have Rice Dishes and Noodle Dishes, no sushi and sashimi. It is like fast food Japanese restaurant (average food is $4 or $5). They have put some thoughts in the restaurant design. The menu signs have bigger Japanese with small English explanation underneath, which gives the place a lot of character. I felt I was in Japan for a second.
Since we don’t see many restaurants like that in T.O, I decided to try something new. I ordered Ochazuke and Takoyaki.
Pic 1: Ochazuke: A warm bowl of rice in a tea broth topped with nori seaweed and okaki cracker
I really like the brown part of the rice, it is crispy. The tea broth taste subtle but really nice. In the middle of rice ball, there are some canned tuna meat, which add some flavor to the rice. It is an interesting dish to try but it mainly is rice in tea. I prefer my meal has veggie, meat and carbs all together.
Pic 2: Takoyaki: Flour with octopus in the center grilled on hot plate, topped with Takoyaki sauce, Katsuo (dried tuna flakes) and Aonori (green seaweed)
Katsuo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skipjack_tuna
6 balls are served in a simple white plate. The plate is really hot. The heat makes the dry tuna flakes move in an interesting way, as if it is dancing. It is a fun fish to try. When you bite into it, the fish flakes and seaweed added very unique flavors. However, I didn’t find a big chunk of octopus in the center. Maybe it has been blended with the flour. With $5 price, I guess I can’t ask too much.
Overall, it is an interesting restaurant, if you are looking for something exotic and authentic. For example, you can order Natto Gohan, which a traditional Japanese food, made from fermented soybeans. From what I heard from friends, I was intimidated to try that dish because the strong texture. Maybe one day…
The diversity of South Asia population highly reflected on Singapore food. Restaurants are everywhere filled up with all kinds of yummy goodies. However, if you ask if the food have MSG or not, you probably won’t get a firm answer, just like in China. Grown up in China, I can understand that they don’t care much, as long as it tastes good.
According to the food guide, chili crab and curry fish head is a local specialty. Unfortunately, not many restaurant cooks curry fish head often. Even some places advertising on their menu, they run out of stock the day I visited them. As for crab, I had it in a very tourist area in China town (pic 1). The crab is cooked in a sweet and sour chili sauce. Looking around, I am the only one there to get my hands dirty, eating bites pieces of crab meat. It is not my favorite way of eating crab, because I found the chili sauce is over-powering the subtle crab meat. But it is still delicious with the Heaven and Earth Jasmine Green Tea.
Singapore is really a seafood heaven for me. I saw some interesting seafood that I have never seen them before (pic3,4,6). No. 3 is a funky-looking shrimp, cooked in curry sauce. No.4 is bit over-cooked for my liking, or maybe those types are supposed to be tougher. No.6 is half-cooked with sauce on the side. The restaurant owner said it is suppose to eat half raw, which is really delicious. I didn’t even dip them with the sauce. The clam itself is fully of the taste of the sea, very unique and strong. The first time I tried it in China town, I was worried that my tourist stomach won’t get along with the local food. But it turns out fine, so I had another plate the next day. I wish I can have seafood everyday!
It may sound cruel to some people, but you have to cook seafood while they are alive. Simply dead seafood changes the meat texture, especially for crabs, most of fishes and shrimp. And it is true; I can taste the difference, just like other people grow up near the sea. In Toronto’s China town, they sell some live fishes and crabs, but live shrimps are very expensive if there is any. In Montreal China town, I didn’t even find live fishes.
Next, it is time for dessert. After a big plate of shrimp, I can hardly walk. A meal like that is not healthy, since I didn’t eat any vegetables. Oh, well, I am traveling, can be excused. I asked the waiter what are local special desserts? Considering Singapore is 24 hours flight from Toronto, I have to fully benefit my one week stay. Durian dessert caught my attention. Durian fruits are native to South East Asian, mainly Malay Peninsula. They have been a delicacy for the inhabitants. Its’ spiky appearance is easy to be spotted in Toronto’s China town also. I didn’t remember when the last time I tried Durian was. All I remember is its’ strong smell. In Thailand subway, a sign clearly stated that “NO Durian” in subways. For exotic reason, I ordered durian dessert. It comes in a clear glass cup (pic2). The light brown part is the durian, almost like mash potato, but with durian taste. I have no idea what are the green worming thing on top, obviously, they are food-colored. If you like durian, you will like the dessert. After trying them many times, I started to like the strong taste, not for everyday though.
After that meal, I can’t stuff anything down anymore. Even Ana (a friend) call me “hollow legs”, I have a limit too. But just looking around, taking some pics give me pleasures. I would love to find out what is No.5? I saw them in Indian town. Some Chinese restaurant has beautifully crafted their dessert into small piece animal shapes. Cuteness always sells in Asia.
Bangkok- Thailand
As a tourist, of course I visited most popular sight-seeing spot at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in Bangkok (pic 1). They sell almost everything on the small boats. I can never forget the golden color of mangoes and bananas under the sun. The Floating Market is already packed with tourists by 9am. Not enjoying with crowds, I went to much quieter streets to get some Jack fruits (pic 3). Jack fruit has an unique subtle taste, not very juicy. They sell it in Toronto’s China town also, at Spadina and Dundas Street.
Luckily my stomach has no problem with street food. I tried small portion of variety street foods all day long. Quail eggs weren’t something new to me (Pic 7). A quail egg is roughly one-fifth the size of a chicken egg and it taste just like chicken egg for me. But they have beautiful black spotted shell and internal of the shell is pale sea foam color. I was surprised they have a table of fried quail eggs lined up for sell. They sell 10 quail eggs on each plate. In a hot summer day, it wasn’t something that I really want to eat for lunch; besides, I know I can get them easily in Toronto.
More interesting street food would be local bugs and worms. I ran into someone who only sells insects at the night market. With language barrier, I couldn’t chat with the locals. I heard the stories of farms catch fresh bugs at their houses and cook “the bug of the day”. I wasn’t brave enough to try them and I am not regret either. People who tried them told me the worm taste like French Fries. You have to try it yourself to know it for sure. My friend Jérôme told me that he ate bat in Thailand. I would try it if I see them next time.
I have to admit I am not really interested in worms at all, neither those shopping mall food (Pic 2 & Pic 6). I didn’t spend too much time to inspect what are those things: fruit dessert on thin bread (maybe another version of Japanese pizza?) and highly food-colored flour jellos.
The last 2 days in Bangkok, I visited my Korean friend who works there. He brought me to a Korean restaurant in Korean community in Bangkok. I was recommended to try a very traditional dish: raw minced beef mixed with a raw egg, onion and some sauce. All they told me that is a special cut of the beef. I am surprised it is very tasty. I hope I can find them in Toronto’s Korean town. Speaking of which, I eat quite often Korean food in Toronto. I was quite happy that restaurants always give free small dishes of appetizers to accompany the main dish (normally is 3-5 small dishes). Until I saw Korean restaurant in Bangkok gave us almost 15 small dishes besides the main meal. My Korean friend told me that it is a tradition to cover the table with dishes to show hospitality to guests. I guess they are cutting corners in Toronto.
