The Travelling Hungryboy

Hangoga, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

2012-01-25T19:38:00.003+08:00

I wasn't planning to come here (10 Bayfront Avenue #B1-01B, 6688-7385). I actually came by to check out the Indian place next door, but when I walked by this place I smelled fatty beef being grilled on a flame. I inexplicably couldn't pull myself away, and somehow found myself sitting at a table waiting for food.

I ended up with this bulgogi, which they brought out on a little hot plate rather than using the proper grill underneath. And it was delicious: thin slices of beef marinated ever so sweetly without being annoying, all resting on slivers of onion that caramelized at the bottom. I gobbled it up in seconds. Too bad the banchan provided was so skimpy though.

Interestingly, these guys appear related to Kraze Burgers - although they are on complete opposite sides of the shopping mall. And the aforementioned aroma that drew me in here? Yep, it stuck to my clothes too. I saw a sign that said that they offered to spray you with some deodorizer after leaving, but I didn't get it.

White Belly Fish for Lunar New Year

2012-01-23T16:54:00.004+08:00

I have no idea what the English name of this is, but directly translated from Chinese, it is called "white belly fish," and it is specifically eaten for the Lunar New Year holidays. I was told that no one really eats it any other time of the year, and that the price skyrockets just before the holidays, in part because it's the spawning season now and the fish should be filled with roe.

In that sense, it was similar to that fish we got the other day, although this meat was much cleaner-tasting, presumably because it was a saltwater fish instead. Ours was done two ways: one sauteed with garlic and leek, while this one above was fried to the point where the meat was almost jerky-like, but in a good way.

Yes, those are two skeletons sitting underneath the uneaten fish in the center; I liked it enough that I ate three of them in one go. Granted, there really wasn't much meat in these things. In that sense, it was a bit like eating Chesapeake blue crabs: a lot of effort for not that much meat, but the point was more of a savory nibble to be washed down with some suds rather than a proper meal.

Shabu Shabu from Yoshinoya Singapore

2012-01-22T14:18:00.005+08:00

It looks like a few Yoshinoya locations are now offering this so-called shabu shabu meal in Singapore. Considering that all of the ingredients arrived pre-cooked in the pot, this wasn't really "shabu shabu," but rather just a generic nabe - and not necessarily anything that I'd go back for either. Well, one can't exactly expect much from a fast food chain that only charges about S$7 (US$5.50) for it. But next time I'm sticking to what they do best: the basic gyudon.

Anyone Want Some Poon Choi?

2012-01-21T20:17:00.005+08:00

Yes, the juvenile inside me couldn't help but snicker a bit at this unfortunate transliteration. But all joking aside, this was the first time that such a dish has been brought to my attention. I'm sure that I've had something pretty similar before at a Chinese banquet or something, but this was the first time that I had heard this referred to by name.

What is it? If I understand it correctly, this is a simmered dish that is popular in Hong Kong for special occasions like the aforementioned banquets or - in this case - for the Lunar New Year holidays. And while there are a lot of dishes served like this, this one in particular is supposed to be layered up with all sorts of fancy stuff like abalone and shark's fin.

This version tonight had none of the latter, but it did have duck feet at the bottom (or were they chicken feet?). I'm usually one that avoids that upon seeing it at dim sum, but I ate two or three of them tonight, largely for the sake of being polite. But I have to admit that I kinda liked them in the end; it was basically like eating chicken skin, albeit with a bunch of little bones that weren't as frustrating to navigate as I had thought. I couldn't help but wonder how great that skin might taste when grilled on a fire or even deep fried.

Da Lian Teochew Noodles, Balestier Road

2012-01-21T10:55:00.003+08:00

After reading about these guys online a few weeks ago, we made a note to ourselves to come down here for breakfast one of these days. And today, we finally did. Located at the Kai Juan Coffeeshop (395 Balestier Road) across from Boon Tong Kee, it sat next to a larger bak kut teh stall, which most of the customers seemed to be patronizing, seeing how there was no line in front of the noodle man. Our jaws just dropped then when we were told after placing our noodle orders that they wouldn't be ready for at least 30 minutes.

We went ahead and waited for it anyway, picking up a little steamed fish from the bak kut teh stall in the meantime. The fish's meat wasn't anything special - in fact, it tasted a little muddy. But then I unsuspectingly ate a white jelly-like organ near its stomach, which I think was its roe sack or something. It turned out to be very rich and creamy, which was probably why most people were getting these fish too. Sure, it was a little bitter, but nothing that those pickled veggies that they threw on top couldn't fix.

Anyway, when the noodles finally came out, we liked what we got, mainly because of its dark condiment mixture that gave it a unique character. This was supposedly due to the use of the buah keras nut, which - if I understand it correctly - is different from the similar sounding buah keluak nut. I also liked the fact that he used dried chili seeds rather than a sauce that most other Teochew noodle places would use. I don't know if I would wait 30 minutes for that again, but it was good and certainly unique.

Piao Xiang Ma La Xiang Guo, 313@Somerset

2012-01-14T19:44:00.003+08:00

These guys have been up here for a while now (313 Orchard Road #05-01), but I never made any huge effort to come here, largely because my experiences with ma la xiang guo were never very interesting to me. Yet, we were in the neighborhood tonight and decided to give it a try, selecting a few items out of their fridge and telling them to make it extra spicy. They took it in back and threw it all into a hot wok before giving it back to us.

It turned out that it was good that we asked them to do so, as that made it a bit more exciting. To make things even better, they addressed the pet peeve that I have about getting this thing in China: there were no bone fragments accompanying the meat - yay! But alas, I am not going to go out of my way for this again though; I've lost my taste for a lot of this salty greasy stuff. Besides, I don't suppose there is any way in this food court setting for them to turn this into a soup afterwards.

Jungle Beer and Kawaebi from JiBiru

2012-01-14T18:27:00.001+08:00

These guys (313 Orchard Road #01-26, 6732-6884) opened sometime ago, specializing in Japanese beers. But I never had the chance to sit down there until this afternoon, when I needed to park myself somewhere for a few minutes. Most of their selection is bottled, with only Sapporo and a couple of Hitachino varieties on tap. Well, that, and one more name I didn't recognize: Jungle Beer.

Seeing how these guys specialized in Japanese beer, I figured that maybe it was a Japanese brand. When I asked the bartender, he told me that it was English instead. But something didn't sound right, since it seemed like they were merely serving the English Ale version of Jungle Beer rather than Jungle Beer actually being English. And I was right: I subsequently looked it up online and found this to be a local Singaporean brand. Interesting that I had never heard of it until now.

Unfortunately, I didn't like it. It was strangely a bit sour and tangy, which was very off-putting when I was expecting a smooth English ale. I think they used fruit or something like that in it. I thus migrated next to Hitachino's Pale Ale, but I didn't like that one either, again because of how floral it was. Oh well. At least the salty crispy kawaebi made for a nice little nibble.

Trying to Figure Out Kagami Biraki

2012-01-11T22:17:00.002+08:00

Meidi-Ya has had a bunch of these kagami mochi things on sale for a while now, in a range of nicely packaged sizes from this small baseball-sized one to gigantic watermelon-sized ones. It wasn't very clear what they were; they looked a bit like seasonal decorations, but it also said that it was made of glutinous rice, and the package had instructions on how to break the seal on the packaging. After reading up a bit more on it, I realized that it was exactly for that dual purpose: it was a seasonal decoration for the Japanese New Year, and to be opened up on January 11th. I thus waited until today to open it up and figure out how to eat it.

It was totally different from what I figured it would be. First off, this thing was rock hard. I mean, given its mochi name, I was expecting a soft gooey thing that oozed right out, but this thing was practically like plastic. And if I read up on the tradition correctly, one couldn't use a knife to cut it since it symbolically represented the cutting of ties. Yet, I couldn't break it apart no matter how hard I pounded on it. I thus capitulated and cut it with a knife, which frankly wasn't that easy either; despite how it looked, it was much stiffer than a hard cheese (and yes, the little daruma head on top really was just a plastic decoration).

Next, I had to figure out how to prepare it. I saw a recipe online that suggested pan frying it with just some simple seasoning. Seemed easy enough. And once heat was applied, it suddenly softened up. But it didn't just soften up; it became stickier than I ever thought it would be, pulling all my scattered pieces into a cement-like clump no matter how hard I tried to keep them separate. I figured that they should have behaved like a Korean ddeokbokki or even those Chinese stir-fried rice cake slices, but these things just held together like glue. In the end, I failed massively; it was nasty and nearly inedible, and I pretty much threw most of it out. One of these days I'm going to have to figure out how this is really done.

Mentaiko Cream Udon from Tsuru-Koshi

2012-01-10T20:31:00.004+08:00

Here's a special that Tsuru-Koshi is running through next month. It admittedly didn't look nor sound very enticing when I saw the sign, but it turned out to be delicious, especially since it was rich, piping hot, and topped with a dallop of mentaiko and a dash of white pepper. I gobbled it up in seconds and savored it until the last drop. I was nearly ready to lick the bowl at the end to make sure that I didn't miss out on any of it.

Tendon from Ten Tempura Restaurant

2012-01-05T20:16:00.002+08:00

This was the shop that replaced the Central outlet of Kusabi (6 Eu Tong Sen Street #01-68, 6221-2185). I'd prefer to have my pieces served up individually like the way Teppei does, but this tendon set still did the job. Either way, it was definitely light years ahead of that nasty tempura that they serve at Yayoiken.

Nigiri Umi from Tomi Sushi's Lunch Menu

2011-12-30T12:42:00.005+08:00

Here was the nigiri umi lunch set from Tomi Sushi. At S$20 (US$15), it was more than I would prefer to spend on lunch, but it was still much cheaper than most of the other stuff here. And at least it was healthy, not to mention kinda cool that they go so far as to provide two different types of soy sauces depending on whether you are eating sushi or sashimi (the former being darker but milder in taste).

Kao Tian Xia BBQ World in Geylang

2011-12-27T21:39:00.006+08:00

A comment was posted this afternoon with a suggestion to give this place a try (196A Geylang Road, 8401-1318). The thought must have stuck, since Xinjiang skewers were the first thing that came to mind when I was trying to figure out what to eat for dinner.

The good thing was that it was pretty much what I expected: heavily salted (anything less would not have been authentic). But that also made me realize that I've lost my taste for this stuff. It was too much for me, especially when the lamb meat was a bit dry and tough too. I ended up leaving some of my food uneaten.

Well, at least it was a new place, and it was interesting to see them do all sorts of vegetables on a skewer. They also had some drinks from China in the fridge, including a haw nectar and some brand of beer that I'd never seen before. I seem to recall liking LDM's skewers more, but these days I suspect that I'd probably find it too salty too.

More Travel Tips Inspired by Clooney

2011-12-26T20:10:00.011+08:00

More than a year ago, I put up my list of travel tips that were inspired by George Clooney's character in Up In the Air. Since that time, I have realized that there is a bunch of other stuff that I do that wasn't mentioned. So in a followup to that, here are more tips to add to my original list:

(1) In my original set of tips, I mentioned that one should choose a bag suitable for the location. One that works well for me is a bag that can double as a wheelie and backpack. A great example is when I went to Gulangyu in Xiamen: the narrow cobblestone walkways and cramped ferry were best maneuvered in a backpack format. But when I got in a taxi to head to the airport after that, I switched my Tumi bag en route into the wheeled configuration for easy navigation through the airport.

(2) Try to avoid packing shoes in your luggage since they take up too much space. Assuming that I'm on a business trip, black leather shoes are generally versatile enough that I can wear them nearly anywhere (if I need to work out, then just pack swimming trunks which take up very little space and can be rolled up). And if I really have to pack a second pair of shoes for some reason, then I'll be sure to shove socks into the shoes to take advantage of that space.

(3) Not only does it make sense to travel lightly, but sometimes I intentionally underpack. Pants, if kept clean, can be reasonably worn on alternating days without needing a pristine pair for every single day. And if needed, one can just buy more clothes at the destination - or just pay for the hotel's overpriced laundry service in the worst case. The only thing that I intentionally overpack? Socks and underwear. They are small, light, can be tucked into corners of your luggage, and must be clean! Having it all in your carry-on also makes it convenient when using the showers at the airport lounge.

(4) I know a lot of people wear jeans on the plane. But jeans would be the last thing that I would wear, especially on a long haul. Why? Have you ever tried to sleep in denim? Ugh. My choice is for khakis instead given that the soft cotton is much more comfortable. Sure, shorts are comfortable too, but that pressurized cabin gets cold after a while. Plus, khakis give you the ability to look respectable (think: upgrade candidate), especially when paired with a jacket. And if the humidity down here on the equator makes a jacket impractical, then a dress shirt with a frontside pocket at least comes in very handy for holding a boarding pass while trying to get through the mayhem of an airport security check.

(5) One of the things that makes Singapore Changi airport so awesome is the fact that the currency exchange booths offer rates that are pretty much in line with the market (as opposed to the huge ripoff that I once faced at SFO's Thomas Cook). And if one has a Singapore bank account, then one can use the electronic NETS system so that one doesn't even have to fumble for loose change. I also make sure to change money at the start of every trip, even if I have enough cash from my last trip to that country. This way I get a receipt that makes it easier to submit expense claims later without having to go online later to look up the historical rates and print it.

(6) When you have a lousy laptop like mine whose battery only lasts about two hours, a BlackBerry (or other phone of course) is key since I can do most emails in offline mode on the plane without having to drain the laptop battery. Plus, the emails go right out once you hit the tarmac rather than trying to find an internet connection for your laptop, which is really only needed when I need to do something deeper with attachments or applications that the BlackBerry can't handle.

(7) Many people have probably included one of those global plug adapters in their arsenal of travel equipment. But I also try to make sure that my electronics use US/Japan plugs because they are the smallest and also work best with most in-flight power outlets. The worst situation is to travel with one of those gigantic UK plugs - I've seen a couple of cool designs where UK plugs can collapse into a more compact form, but it hasn't been that common, and still doesn't beat a US/Japan plug.

(8) Always have small padlocks on your bag, even if you are not checking in anything. Why? Shockingly, some hotels don't have in-room safes. And even ones that do might be so small that they can't fit a laptop. Sure, these little locks can easily be cut, but at least it's enough of a deterrent in case you really need to use your carry-on bag as a makeshift safe in your room. And always hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door to keep the staff from coming in. I mean, does anyone *really* need turndown service and an ice bucket? Even daily housekeeping service is unnecessary in my opinion unless one is staying more than a week (kudos to Westin for their Green Choice program).

(9) You know those little sheets of paper that hotels have sitting next to the phone? Always grab a couple blank sheets and shove them into your bag. This is to keep track of those little cash-based expenses without receipts, like tips, vending machine soda, or even street food. Scribbling them down on the little sheets not only helps one remember when filing expense claims, but also makes it a bit more substantiated when written on paper that has the hotel's logo and address on it.

(10) In the US, where security requires you to take off your shoes, jacket, and belt, I have a preferred sequence with which to send my bags through the X-ray machine. The first tray must contain my shoes. That way, once I get to the other side, I can put on my shoes immediately and be functional enough to move around quickly to keep the line moving. My second tray must contain my laptop. That way, once I get to the other side, I can easily grab that and shove it into the third item going through, which is my laptop bag. My fourth item is my wheeled luggage, which I can just grab and move away easily with - and put my belt back on later.

Oh - and if you are able to get your hands on kiosk-based immigration clearing in selected countries, definitely get it - it saves so much time. Singapore residents of course already have that, while I'm also very grateful for the US's Global Entry program as well as HK's Frequent Visitor e-Channel. Now I just need to somehow find a way to get an APEC card.

Quesadilla from Spruce Taquería

2011-12-21T13:48:00.005+08:00

Watching Rick Bayless on TV this morning got me thinking about tacos, so we made our way to Spruce for lunch today. Granted, I ended up with a quesadilla instead, but it did the job, even if the salsa didn't taste as fresh I would have liked. They were pretty stingy with the side of guacamole, and they've gotten rid of their aguas frescas too. But hey - I liked the chips, and I can't expect much more without having to go all the way back home.

Yakiniku Yazawa, Robertson Walk

2011-12-18T20:12:00.007+08:00

I've been wanting to come to this yakiniku shop for a while now. But last time we tried to do a walk-in, we were unexpectedly met with a fully-booked restaurant. So we made a reservation for tonight, and made it down here to the former grounds of Cafe Garb (11 Unity Street #01-01, 6235-2941).

One of the things that these guys differentiated themselves on was the quality of the beef (and mind you, with correspondingly high prices to match). Sure, places like Aburiya offer wagyu too, but these guys are particular enough that the serial number of the cow that they have in stock that day is displayed in the restaurant so that you can go to the website to look up the details and lifespan of the beast before they flew this marbled beauty down here from Japan. And similar to the chicken diagram at Shirokane Tori-Tama next door, these guys had a cow diagram so that one could pick out the parts of interest - or one could simply go for an omakase.

We went for a plate of the tokusen kiri-otoshi, which amusingly was just an assortment of scraps that they couldn't cut into full-sized pieces. It was still melt-in-your-mouth delicious - so much that I kept getting more glasses of beer just to wash down the taste of that fat lingering in my mouth. They also offered a few cuts of cheaper Australian wagyu, which suited us just fine. And I loved the salt that they used in the salad dressing as well as the cold tokusei reimen that we used to close it all off with. It was definitely worth the money, but at these kinds of prices, it's reserved for special occasions only.

Haji Maksah Barkat Chahya Nasi Lemak

2011-12-17T13:37:00.006+08:00

The name above is a bit of a mouthful, which may be why this place is probably more commonly known as Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak (221 Boon Lay Place #01-106). I'm not exactly any nasi lemak expert, but I can see why this place is so highly regarded. The chili sauce was spicy, the rice was fluffy, and most strikingly, the ikan bilis was as light as air.

And while the one of the fried chicken pieces that I got was disappointingly cold, having cumin in the batter was a nice touch. Indeed, I liked this ensemble enough that I went back for seconds. I'm not planning to be out in Jurong again anytime soon, but if I do, I'll be stopping by here. Hopefully that lei cha fan place that I noticed on the way out will be worth a try too.

Japan's Yayoiken Has Opened in Singapore

2011-12-16T20:05:00.003+08:00

Another family restaurant chain from Japan has opened up in the Liang Court basement next to Meidi-Ya (177 River Valley Road #B1-50, 6338-7170). Similar to Ootoya, the menu consists mainly of teishoku, ranging from grilled fish to tonkatsu. Similar to Ootoya, they provide unlimited refills of rice. But unlike Ootoya, the quality of the ingredients just wasn't quite as good.

Now, it's not like I had a bad meal; if anything, I cleared everything on my tray and plan to return rather frequently. I liked it a lot better than many of those stalls just outside of it, and having a little jar of tsukemono that you could help yourself to was a nice touch too. But if there were an Ootoya next door, I'd easily go to Ootoya instead. (Side note: these guys have a bento service available on weekdays that might be interesting to try one of these days.)

Shabu No Koya, Liang Court

2011-12-15T20:01:00.003+08:00

I noticed this shop a number of months back, but only got the chance to give it a try tonight (177 River Valley Road #B1-03, 6337-7856). And unfortunately, I didn't like it. The sesame sauce was a tad too sweet for me, and worse, some of the veggies that they brought out were starting to wilt.

At S$27 (US$21) for the kurobuta dinner, it wasn't cheap either. I was going to say that one could pay just a little more for the tabehoudai option at Ohsumi, although it looks like I was scarred by a subsequent experience there too. The search for a quality shabu shabu continues.

Sapporo's Kura Ramen in Singapore

2011-12-14T20:02:00.002+08:00

Of all of the ramen shops that have been popping up in Singapore over the past few years, this is probably one of the few that I hadn't tried (68 Orchard Road #04-01, 6333-9280). It was intentional; the miso-based menu simply didn't look very interesting to me. But we were at Plaza Singapura tonight and needed some dinner, so we ended up stopping here.

I didn't like it, mainly because the noodles were overcooked. Actually, it wasn't just the noodles; the rice in the chahan was mushy too, while the gyoza were frail and limp. Fortunately, that brown stuff in the middle wasn't pre-minced garlic from a jar, but rather tenkasu. And I liked the thin slices of pork from a separate bowl of buta shabu ramen. The white miso broth above was much better than I thought it would be, but alas, it wasn't so good that I finished the bowl to the end.

Separately, it looks like this Tokyo Walker place has done some shifting around. Ajino Champon is gone. In its place is Kazokutei from the back. And in Kazukutei's old spot is an outlet of Botejyu. Kura, Ajisen, and that Fruit Paradise place are still in their old spots. Well, I normally don't come that often to Plaza Singapura anyway.

The Return Flight on SilkAir

2011-12-10T12:46:00.004+08:00

This doesn't look like much; after all, there is only so much that the flight attendants can do when the plane only spends maybe no more than 15 minutes at cruising altitude on this short hop from KL to Singapore. But despite that, they had plenty of newspapers to offer everyone before taking off, making this flight go by in the blink of an eye.

Treating a Hangover at McDonald's Malaysia

2011-12-10T11:26:00.001+08:00

This chicken porridge from the McDonald's at KLIA this morning was exactly what I needed: a warm salty sludge to sit in my stomach. OK maybe sludge is the wrong word...it was more of a thin pulp instead. I wonder what that fried chicken McMuffin tastes like.

Post-Drinking Bites from Jalan Alor

2011-12-10T00:30:00.005+08:00

Here were a couple of things that I grabbed in the vicinity of Jalan Alor tonight, the first of which was labeled "Mongolia BBQ" on those lit yellow hawker signs (are those a new thing, BTW?). It seemed more like an attempt at Xinjiang skewers rather than a bowl of Mongolian BBQ. If it was meant to be like Xinjiang skewers though, then it failed due to the lack of one critical ingredient: cumin. I probably won't get it again as a result.

I thus defaulted to that old Malaysian street food standby: a Ramly burger. This guy out on Jalan Nagasari made the beef patty inside nice and greasy, although there was so much margarine in this thing that it almost tasted like chemicals. Well, I suppose that it probably wasn't any worse for me that all of the alcohol that was consumed earlier.

Taking SilkAir to Kuala Lumpur

2011-12-08T11:00:00.003+08:00

SQ only operates a few flights to KL every day, but they've been hard to get ticketed on, so I've had to take MH on my past couple of runs up here. And I'm not sure why I didn't realize this before, but SilkAir has a lot of runs up here too.

It must have been a long time since I've flown these guys, but I was surprised by how the plane's interior is so bright and clean, providing a sense of space. The mood music overhead provided a gentle calming effect for what would have otherwise been a rushed commuter flight.

But waiting forever on the tarmac at Changi this morning also reminded me of how much more work I can get done by taking the bus instead (incidentally, I'm told that Aeroline finally got some newer buses or seats now). Well, if I need to fly to KL for some reason, then I'm definitely choosing SilkAir. In some ways, I like it even better than those cramped flights that SQ proper does up here.

Japan's Marukin Ramen at Scotts Square

2011-12-07T19:42:00.004+08:00

Another chain from Japan has opened up a branch in Singapore, with this one being at the newly opened Scotts Square (6 Scotts Road #B1-11, 6636-3468). But in contrast to the chain's usual tonkotsu broth, these guys created a chicken-based broth, apparently in an effort to be halal.

Normally I would frown on such a deviation from the original, but given the tonkotsu fatigue that was discussed yesterday, I was actually kind of glad that that did that. All things considered, they did a decent job of getting this chicken broth to a tonkotsu-like white color, all while staying savory and refreshing at the same time. I haven't seen tsukune used as a topping before either.

But there wasn't much else that I liked about this place. The noodles were overcooked, the gyoza were a bore, and perhaps most shockingly, they weren't serving any beer! This isn't going to be a regular place of mine as a result, but at least it kept from adding to the tonkotsu clutter, even if that technically is still my favorite variety of ramen.

Hachifukumaru by Nantsuttei Group

2011-12-06T19:58:00.003+08:00

It's interesting. Keisuke's original outlet in Singapore was largely based on chicken stock (at least, outside of his shellfish varieties), while Nantsuttei across the way was largely based on tonkotsu. Then Keisuke went toward tonkotsu as well, and even opened up a second shop dedicated to it. Now it looks like Nantsuttei has also expanded to a second shop (160 Orchard Road #01-13, 6737-9713), but going in the opposite direction by using chicken bones.

There was no doubting the quality of the ingredients that they were using, and by and large, this was refreshing, especially since tonkotsu ramen is so overplayed here these days. But admittedly there wasn't anything so punchy about this bowl that made me cry for joy either. At least that black negi-based oil gave it a little extra fragrance, and all of those veggies on top helped eliminate some of the guilt. The fact that I drank the broth down to the last drop showed that I still appreciated the quality either way.

My First Flight on ANA

2011-12-05T22:10:00.010+08:00

I may have just found my new favorite airline (or at least, somewhere up there next to Virgin America). Why? For one, that economy class meal, which was almost as good as one might get at a restaurant, with thin, tender, fragrantly marinated karubi, all with the nice touches of miso soup, oroshi, and a generous bottle of water to accompany it. More importantly, the economy class seats were decked out, complete with laptop power, live camera feeds from the nose of the plane, and even Japanese food programs dubbed Iron Chef-style. I can't believe that I've been missing out on ANA all of this time.

Granted, the seat pitch here was claustrophobically tight. It almost felt like I was in one of those capsule hotels...not that I've ever actually been in one of those. I struggled for a while trying to place my power adapter into the plug underneath the seat because one simply couldn't bend down that far given the seat in front of you (I MacGyver'ed it by taking a photo with my phone and then figuring out how the plugs were oriented). Note that these were those fixed shell seats that slid out underneath you rather than reclining backwards, so thankfully the guy in front of me couldn't make it even more cramped than it already was.

Interestingly, ANA was also offering something called My Choice, which let you buy snacks like donburi and udon if you were still hungry after the official meal service. You could even pre-order a full business class meal in economy class if you wanted to, albeit at the cost of a whopping 5000 Yen (US$65). I didn't order any of this, but it was cool to see that such options were available. Seriously, I might have to consider taking ANA on my next flight to Japan or even the US, especially if I run out of Systemwide Upgrades on United. I'd much rather take Economy Class on ANA than on UA, and it would presumably be cheaper than SQ too.

Vegetable Sukiyaki in United Economy

2011-12-05T15:18:00.004+08:00

This was lunch from the long haul in United peanut class today (no, I didn't clear the upgrade list, perhaps because my itinerary was ticketed by Continental rather than United?). The sad thing wasn't even the meal itself, but rather the possibility that this was probably the most vegetables I've eaten in the past five or six days. I'm definitely going to have to load up on salads when I get back.

Raising Cane's at San Antonio Airport

2011-12-04T07:29:00.005+08:00

That breakfast biscuit was a lot better than I thought it would be. At first these guys didn't seem like anything more than a shop that sells chicken fingers, but that sauce put it to rest. I liked how it wasn't overpowering with a processed taste, while the little hash browns were perfectly seasoned too. I'll eat that again if I'm back here again.

This airport really needs to put up better rental car return signs though. When driving in the darkness at 5 or 6 AM, one can't see the signs to figure out where to go. This forced me to drive around for a while before powering up the GPS, thus losing whatever time I thought I would gain by choosing an airport hotel for the night before. Strangely, even Hertz itself did not have its big yellow sign turned on.

A Drink Roundup from This Run to the US

2011-12-03T22:53:00.004+08:00

Here's just a roundup of some interesting drinks that I saw on this trip, such as these lightly carbonated Neuro drinks that were just way too syrupy for me. I'll pass on these next time.

I also saw these sphere-shaped Coke bottles at Walmart. I didn't buy any, but it was interesting to see; I can only assume that it was a promotional thing made to resemble Christmas ornaments?

Probably the most interesting drink of them all was this Dos-A-Rita, or basically a frozen margarita with a bottle of Dos Equis inverted into it. I believe the idea is for the beer to come out slowly into the margarita, but I drank the latter so quickly that I ended up having to pour the beer out into the glass afterwards. It was two drinks in one, but it was also priced at $10, which was more expensive than the plate of puffy tacos that I got along with it.

Henry's Puffy Tacos Cantina, San Antonio

2011-12-03T21:29:00.005+08:00

Puffy Tacos. Yep, that term in and of itself aroused my curiosity. And when I heard that this shop (6030 Bandera Road, 210-432-7341) was the creator of them, I figured that I would hop on over there for dinner tonight. But instead of the grimey hole in the wall that I was hoping for, this turned out to be a commercialized family restaurant with a T-shirt counter.

Granted, the food came out super fast, and those deep fried tortillas was interesting (they were a bit like an Indian bhatura, but thicker). But seeing mine topped with Taco Bell-like lettuce and tomato was a big turnoff for me. Even Chuy's had fresher salsa than these guys. In retrospect, maybe I should have gone to try Rosario's tilapia tacos instead.

Corn from San Antonio's Market Square

2011-12-03T15:43:00.004+08:00

Man, I must be visiting all of the wrong places in San Antonio. I came down to Market Square, or El Mercado, as it was supposed to run some kind of Hispanic festivals. But it turned out to be just as touristy as the River Walk, with store after store of souvenir shops lining the walkways.

There was some food, but one had to pay tourist prices too, like this $4 cup of Elote en Vaso. Granted, it tasted great as it was dressed up with butter, cheese, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice. But I noticed thus stuff for sale at local supermarket chain H-E-B where the same sized cup would have cost maybe just a dollar or so.

Sights from Austin on a Saturday

2011-12-03T13:34:00.004+08:00

Here were just a few things that I came across before leaving Austin today, the first of which was just a place that I happened to notice while driving by (it was too early in the morning to have gone in). Yes, the sign suggests that they managed to serve phở alongside Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish. How is that for one stop shopping? I thought that the Vietnamese-Cajun thing was more in Houston instead of Austin, but I suppose that they are not that far from each other.

Next up were these stacks of Three Wishes at the flagship store of Whole Foods. The interesting thing was that these were $2.99 rather than the $1.99 that they are priced at back home in order to compete with Trader Joe's. Otherwise, this store was huge, with a lot of various cooked food counters for you to sit down at. It was almost like they were able to surround the supermarket with a bunch of stations from Marché.

Finally, I went to the downtown location of the Austin Sustainable Food Center's Farmers' Market. It was much smaller than I thought it would be: just two rows of a parking lot rather than the gigantic sprawl that we saw in Portland. But I managed to grab this bowl of South Texas Antelope Chili from a stall called Dai Due. It tasted as good as it looked, with a rich and crumbly cornbread to go along with it. Actually, those red chili peppers were more sour than they were spicy, but either way, it worked for me.

Tacodeli in Austin, Texas

2011-12-03T09:43:00.006+08:00

I'm not sure why, but a lot of the taco places around here are only open during the hours of around 7 AM to 3 PM, thus making them breakfast and lunch places rather than anywhere that one can get dinner at. In that spirit, I came down to Tacodeli for breakfast today, especially since there was one outlet just down the street from my hotel. They claimed to be "serving the best tacos in Austin since 1999," and Zagat had them as a top Bang for the Buck.

The breakfast renditions I had included this spinach, egg, and cheese version as well as one with grilled corn and roasted poblano peppers. They were pretty darned good, especially with the various sauces that they had to go along with it, including a habanero one as well as a creamy green one that was kinda spicy too. I may have expressed hesitations about Tex-Mex in the past, but if Tacodeli and Torchy's are better representations of it than Chuy's, then I'm all for it.

Side note: They had locally brewed Dr. Pepper here. Like a Mexican Coke, it used sugar rather than fructose. I still really couldn't taste the difference (perhaps because my mouth was still on fire from that habanero sauce), but it was also only recently that I realized that Coke in Singapore is also sugar-based. In that sense, it's actually American Coke (and maybe Korean Coke) that is more unique since it uses fructose instead.

Tex-Mex from Chuy's in Austin, Texas

2011-12-02T23:22:00.002+08:00

The place that I wanted to go to tonight was already closed, so instead I ended up at a nearby outlet of Chuy's, a chain restaurant from here in Austin. It certainly was commercialized with its birthday chants, margarita pushes, and T-shirt counter. But I've gotta admit that I pretty much finished all of my food too, including those paper thin chips and fresh salsa.

It reminded me a lot of Chevys Fresh Mex from back home, except that I liked this place a little better. Indeed, if I were being forced to eat at a Tex-Mex chain, then this might be one of the better choices. But alas, I left here tonight with a bit of remorse, and certainly would still prefer to avoid such places if I can. At least I can take some consolation in the idea that it was local.

City Market in Luling, Texas

2011-12-02T14:32:00.006+08:00

With work in San Antonio now behind me, I grabbed a car to make my way up to my next meeting in Austin. But I didn't take the most direct route. Instead, I swung out to the little town of Luling, where barbecue from the City Market (633 East Davis Street, 830-875-9019) scored a whopping 29 for food on Zagat. That was even higher than the 26 that Kreuz got, so I was looking forward to seeing what made this place so great.

Similar to Kreuz, the meat pits were separated from the sides/drink counter, and for good reason too. After emerging from the pit room, my clothes completely smelled of smoke - just what I needed before going to my next meeting. That, and the raw onions that I really shouldn't have eaten...but they just tasted so good with that meat and sauce.

Yes, the thing that made this place stand out was the sauce, a bottle of which they handed over to you, together with a fork, when you ordered a drink. I liked the quality of the meat, particularly the tender brisket. But my gripe was that it really required the sauce to take off, whereas Kreuz of course took pride in not needing any sauce at all. Frankly, I still prefer Kreuz instead. Actually, next time I'll probably try the other shops in Lockhart; I passed Black's and Smitty's on the way up to Austin.

Ácenar HotMex CoolBar in San Antonio

2011-12-01T21:26:00.005+08:00

Downtown San Antonio was much more touristy than I thought it would be: filled with plasticky-looking restaurants along the Riverwalk, including a top-rated Zagat establishment that we went to last night but turned out to be somewhere that I'd prefer to forget. So I wasn't getting my hopes up about this place either (146 East Houston Street, 222-2362), especially since they were serving upscale Tex-Mex rather than proper Mexican.

Then again, this was Texas after all, so Tex-Mex technically would be more local. And I ended up really liking the food, be it the spicy little starters and tortilla soup or the grilled adobo pork loin above, whose delightfully smoky meat surrounded what looked like turkey stuffing inside but turned out to be cuts of spinach tamale instead. I'm looking forward to seeing what else I can get around here, especially after getting a car to make my way out of the tourist district.

My First Flight on Continental Airlines

2011-11-30T12:14:00.005+08:00

I don't think I've ever flown Continental before. So I was kinda looking forward to seeing what this leg out to Houston was going to be like, especially since they didn't seem to be fully integrated into United yet. Indeed, even requesting an upgrade required going through a so-called "integration team," but fortunately they got me into their so-called BusinessFirst cabin.

As I walked to the gate at Narita, I noticed that the plane was already decked out in United livery. When I got on board, I realized that it the seats were still from Continental. And I actually liked them a little better than United given all of the little areas they had for you to put your stuff. Sure, the headphones were flimsy, the entertainment system didn't hold your spot for you, and the service that I experienced on this flight wasn't that friendly. But otherwise I liked the soft and comfy seat, as well as that thick bone-in pork chop with morel sauce above that they put into an Executive Meal service for me (otherwise known on United as Express Dine).

It will be interesting to see which bits of Continental legacy emerge after the integration team's work is done. In the meanwhile, there were still some amusing differences here and there. For instance, the in-flight magazine was from United, but the duty free catalog was from Continental. The coasters and chopsticks were branded United, but the toothpick and amenities kit were branded Continental. United CEO Jeff Smisek was still giving his usual spiel about the merger before the safety video, but the menu was amusingly just a few photocopied sheets of folded white paper stapled together rather than that thick stock that United uses with a color cover. Not that anything as trivial as the quality of the menu's printing should really matter.

Tohato Boukun Habanero from Japan

2011-11-26T22:08:00.003+08:00

In retrospect, I probably should have just combined this with the previous entry for a broader junk food post. Anyway, I spotted this just as I was walking out of Daiso this afternoon, mainly because these were habanero-based. They weren't nearly as hot as one might have thought they would be, but eventually the spices caught up to provide a little more of a burn from those processed potato rings.

Monde Pola Snack from Indonesia

2011-11-26T18:06:00.002+08:00

I'm not exactly sure what this thing is supposed to be, but the label says that it's from Indonesia, and that it has the "most authentic taste." The ingredients also specified sugar, spices, salt, and caramel, which was pretty much what it ended up tasting like; an ever so mildly combination of sweet and salty crackers made to resemble little animals. Are these basically the Indonesian version of animal crackers?

Ebi Seiro from Ootoya Singapore

2011-11-13T20:42:00.003+08:00

Here's an ebi seiro that Ootoya has added to its menu. These little fresh shrimp over rice were served in a little bamboo steamer over a flame along with a serving of simmered veggies on the side. It was all fairly mild in flavor, but it was also definitely the guilt-cleansing that I needed given all of the burgers and ramen I've been eating over the past few days. I think I'm going to have to eat salads for lunch every day next week too.

Iroha's Mala Miso Ramen at Isetan

2011-11-13T13:52:00.002+08:00

Interesting - Menya Iroha had a temporary stand set up at Isetan again this year, despite having a proper stall over at Ramen Champion, where we were last night. And Kurihara-san himself was here this afternoon, perhaps because it was the last day of the fair.

The only thing they were offering here besides his signature black shoyu ramen was this mala miso ramen. I'm not sure if it's the same as the spicy version available at Ramen Champion, but I was a bit bummed to find that it was just miso ramen with some dabs of red chili oil on top (the word "mala" suggested to me that maybe it'd be something more sansho-flavored instead).

Well, the good thing was that it was still that high Iroha-quality miso ramen underneath. So in that sense there was nothing to complain about. But just throwing a scoop of simple rayu on top doesn't do it for me; it's for that same reason that I was so disappointed with the red version at Keisuke's Tonkotsu King too.

Spicy Ramen Fiesta at Ramen Champion

2011-11-12T19:29:00.003+08:00

It looks like Ramen Champion is running some kind of spicy ramen promotion through the end of the year, with every stall offering its own rendition. The one above is from Ikkousha; its appearance was more tame than its "God Fire" name suggested, but it still had a respectable burn at the end, all while still letting that lovely rich broth underneath shine through. Unfortunately, Tetsu's spicy version was mild enough that it really wasn't that interesting. And neither of these could hold up to Kusabi's gekikara uobushi, although I guess that's not really an option in Singapore anymore.

Iroha, interestingly, also also had a special non-spicy chicken menu on the side. This basic chicken and garlic version wasn't too salty nor greasy, and hence wasn't anything particularly striking either. But that was also exactly what I needed, as frankly this was probably the healthiest thing that any of these stalls were offering. If I were really going to pledge myself in that direction though, I'd rather go to Keisuke for his refreshingly thin shio ramen.

Triple O's by White Spot from Canada

2011-11-11T14:24:00.006+08:00

No, this wasn't meant to be a streak of burger chains from overseas. But there was a suggestion last time to check out this place, a burger chain from Canada that has recently opened a stand at a food court in Singapore (8 Marina View #02-14, 6336-0002).

When I first bit into it, I was shocked my how much sauce there was. Seriously, the thing was practically swimming in some kind of a mayonnaise-based sauce (I'm not sure if it's just coincidence or not, but last time I had a Canadian burger, it was also loaded up with sauce). Fortunately, it didn't mask the taste of everything else in the burger, including a beef patty and also a respectable bun. I suppose that the placemat *did* warn me that this was going to be the sauciest burger around - apparently the name Triple O's is in reference to the order-taking notation of loading up on everything.

If that's the case, then hopefully next time they will let me tell them to take it easy on the sauce. Yes, I liked the quality of the ingredients enough to want to come back, especially when they are so considerate so as to shove a thinly sliced pickle in the top of the wrapper. What a nice surprise.

Kraze Burgers is now at Liang Court

2011-11-08T20:56:00.007+08:00

I've been wanting to go to Kraze Burgers from Korea ever since they opened up shop at the Marina Bay Sands. But it never seemed worth the hassle of having to go there, so when I noticed that they had opened up another outlet at Liang Court (177 River Valley Road #01-09, 6333-5389), I finally had my chance to give it a try.

Unfortunately, it looks like they brought their casino-like prices along with them. Seriously, S$15 (US$12) for a Tiger beer...at a casual burger shop?? And S$6 (US$5) for a glass of orange juice, even if freshly squeezed? Burgers were generally up to about S$15 (US$12), making this much more expensive than next door neighbor McDonald's. Well, they did say upfront that Kraze was *not* fast, even if the casual brightly-lit decor suggested otherwise.

Either way, I didn't think that much of my KG Burger, which aside from some bulgogi marinade and mushrooms, really wasn't that remarkable (and in the case of that strange corn/bean/pineapple garnish, it was rather off-putting). I'll come back here to give one or two others a try, including a spicy version and a "naked" one too, but to me, this place is not unique enough to be worth the money yet.

L'Angolo Ristorante Italiano at Maxwell Chambers

2011-11-08T13:30:00.003+08:00

This place was surprising (32 Maxwell Road #01-03, 6224-0978)...both surprisingly expensive and yet surprisingly good. I mean, I knew that it was the former grounds of another Osvaldo outlet, which meant that it might be a tad upscale. But its spartan wood-floored decor suggested that it was more casual than its poshed-up neighbor Otto down the street, and yet many of the pasta dishes here were S$30 (US$24) or more.

Granted, the food was excellent, particularly the quality of ingredients they used. Today's special above featured perfectly firm noodles with delightfully seasoned scallops. We've all seen TV episodes where Gordon Ramsay yells at kitchen staff for overcooking their scallops into "rubber," but these delicate beauties were far from that. Still, the high prices mean that I won't be coming here again regularly, especially without any lunch sets available.

Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh, Rangoon Road

2011-11-05T10:03:00.006+08:00

My perception may be a bit skewed seeing how it's been ages since I've had any bak kut teh, but I loved this place (208 Rangoon Road, 6291-4537). The pork was tender and full of tasty fat while the broth was peppery and fuller in flavor than I recall Founder and Ya Hua to be. I thought I detected an extra herb in there, but it was so mild that it wasn't anything like the Malaysian version.

I'll easily come back here, especially since they have a wide selection of leaves to use in your kungfu tea. They recommended xiao yue gan, which had a delicately sweet aftertaste to it. If the pork broth doesn't bring me back here, then the tea leaves will. I just have to remember that this is more of a breakfast place than one for a late night snack given its 7 AM - 10 PM hours.

Absolute Thai, 313@Somerset, Singapore

2011-11-03T20:49:00.001+08:00

Here was a green curry chicken that we picked up from Absolute Thai (313 Orchard Road #01-29, 6509-6623). Considering its heavily-trafficked train-station location, I was expecting totally mediocre food, so it surprised me when this turned out decently good and spicy. Of course, that prized location also meant that they could charge unnecessarily high prices, like S$9.90 (US$7.80) for a single serving of tom yum soup. So I'll probably stick to those places up at Orchard Towers instead, as long as that venue is suitable for the occasion, of course.

Umeboshi Soba from Shimbashi

2011-10-31T20:26:00.001+08:00

Shimbashi Soba had this plum-flavored version on its menu today. But aside from the mildly red tint, I really couldn't taste the difference. Perhaps the more noticeable change was the new staff, which still seemed to be trying to figure things out: the senior manager working today didn't even know how to take an order and had to get one of his staff to come over instead. They got the order wrong a few times, but they were eventually a bit more attentive with the refills at least.

London Epilogue: Some Packaged Goods

2011-10-31T19:09:00.000+08:00

Here goes another roundup of various packaged goods that I picked up last week. The malt drink on the right was probably the most interesting. Despite looking like a beer bottle, it was mildly sweet, non-alcoholic, and tasted a bit like liquified bran flakes. The drink on the left wasn't anything special; there was another orange drink called Tango that I liked a lot more. I think it's supposed to be a competitor of Fanta.

And no, normally I'm not one to go buy junk food like this. But I needed a bit more food one night and wasn't in the mood to sit down for a curry. So I grabbed some shortbread and chips (or as they say in England, crisps) from a convenience store. I didn't feel good about eating them, but I suppose that they did the job as advertised.

Qantas Derailed My Lufthansa Upgrade

2011-10-30T16:57:00.005+08:00

Yup, that's an economy class meal. My upgrade request didn't go through today, as the long haul was heavily overbooked thanks to Qantas passengers scrambling to find other flights. Sure, they are on a different alliance, but Heathrow and Singapore are some of Qantas' busiest hubs. It's just my dumb luck that the decision hit on the day of my flight going to and from exactly those cities. All of the LH staff were pretty apologetic at least.

I believe that LH starts its new A380 service to Singapore tomorrow; I wonder if the seating capacity on that would have made a difference. I incidentally overheard a purser telling the airbridge staff upon arrival at Changi that they were the last 747. I thought I heard him say that he hopes that they go back empty but I wonder if they will take stranded Qantas people.

At least I got an aisle seat just in front of the galley, which not only allowed me to put stuff under my actual seat (rather than the seat in front of me), but also allowed me to recline my seat without worrying about cramping anyone behind me.

Cheese Sandwiches from Lufthansa Again

2011-10-29T18:54:00.002+08:00

LH was giving out cheese sandwiches again on the leg out of Heathrow, with this one featuring Gouda on dark bread. It sure beats those lame bags of peanuts that one usually gets on other one hour flights.

Oysters From Borough Market in London

2011-10-29T13:49:00.002+08:00

I wasn't originally planning to come here today. But I was short on time and needed a quick lunch before checking out of the hotel, so I made a quick stop at Borough Market to see what I could get. I ended up getting some of these very briny but tasty local oysters along with a cup of soup and a fruit juice. I need to remember *not* to come here on a Saturday at lunch time again though; it's just way too crowded.

The Butcher & Grill, Wimbledon Village

2011-10-29T10:30:00.003+08:00

Friends of mine down in Wimbledon took me here for breakfast today (33 High Street, 020-8944-8269). It was a short menu, but there were a few things that piqued my curiosity, like this plate of deviled kidneys on toast. It certainly tasted like organ meat when I first bit into it, but eventually it grew on me, especially when discovering those peppercorns on the side that helped spice it up a bit. I don't know if it's something that I'll rush for again, but I liked this place, and I'm glad that I tried those kidneys.

The Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe, Bankside

2011-10-28T22:17:00.001+08:00

That plate probably looks like some kind of roast beef and potatoes with gravy on top, yeah? Well, on the menu here (21 New Globe Walk, 020-7928-9444), this thing was listed as a "venison stew," so I was expecting some kind of a thick soupy thing instead. But it still worked for me, especially with that deliciously aromatic sauce and tender local meat. It's too bad that they ran out of the grilled calves liver though. Even if I haven't been a big fan of that organ (outside of ducks, anyway), I was hoping to try something different.

The Golden Hind, Marylebone, London

2011-10-28T14:27:00.003+08:00

It's a bit of a cliché to go to the UK and get some fish and chips. But this place (73 Marylebone Lane, 020-7486-3644) totally blew past my expectations. One could tell just by looking at it that the batter was delicately thin, and yet it was crispy enough that one could hear a crunch before releasing the steam keeping the cod warm inside. I gobbled this thing down in seconds. It was much better than that Rock & Sole Plaice.

Roast Bone Marrow at St. John in London

2011-10-27T21:11:00.003+08:00

Finally...I was able to get my hands on the roast bone marrow at St. John tonight. See, last time I was here, they had already sold out. So I looked forward to plopping myself down at the bar tonight to get a couple of pints and bar snacks.

Those snacks included not only this deliciously rich bone marrow, but also a pork skin salad, pea and ham soup, and even some snails and oakleaf. Yum...this place is awesome, not to mention surprisingly fast with the food too. I left here extremely happy.

Standard Balti House, Brick Lane, London

2011-10-26T21:40:00.008+08:00

Once again I needed something more substantial to sit in my belly for dinner, so tonight I went back to Brick Lane to try to finally get that spicy phall. And oh yes, it was spicy. It was basically a habanero-based curry, with that distinctive habanero taste making it a delight to eat with rice. Admittedly the burning sensation got a bit old after I finished all of the cuts of chicken inside; by that point, I might as well have just poured habanero sauce over a bowl of rice, even though this was mildly richer to give it a bit more heft. I'm definitely going to feel this tomorrow morning on the other end, if you know what I mean.

To my surprise though, not many of these shops down here were offering phall (in case you're wondering, the name of the dish apparently comes from the word "phallic" in the spirit of the masculinity required to consume this beast). After having gone from shop to shop to glance at each menu, only these Standard Balti guys (71 Brick Lane, 020-7247-5855) and Aladin had it on their menus. Other than that, pretty much all of the shops on the street seemed to be offering nearly the same stuff - and perhaps more amusingly, all of them had some sign claiming to have won some curry of the year award, not to mention trying to tout you with what seemed to be an industry standard 20% discount.

Oh - and just to settle a discussion that I was having with a few people earlier: it was no problem eating out here tonight despite it being Deepavali. It was just business as usual, most likely since these guys were technically Bangladeshi rather than Indian. Either way, this phall was unique enough that I'll come back for it, perhaps after a night of heavy drinking...or maybe I'll take it down a notch and settle for the merely "very hot" vindaloo that pretty much every shop on this street seemed to offer. Either way, I'm glad I finally got the piece of English culture that I was looking for.

Preem and Prithi, Brick Lane, London

2011-10-25T21:57:00.003+08:00

I needed a more substantial dinner after some drinks tonight, so I hopped on down to Brick Lane to try to hunt down some proper English curries. After walking up and down the street to check each shop out, I finally settled on these guys (124-126 Brick Lane, 020-7377-5252), in part because they seemed the most casual without linens, but also it was jam packed with locals. And even though I originally thinking of getting one of those super spicy phalls, I ended up instead with the national dish of England: chicken tikka masala, served in a balti bowl, which has become a bit of a novelty here.

As I waited for my food, I was getting excited. The smells coming out of that kitchen were deliciously aromatic, and I was looking forward to getting mine. Unfortunately, when I finally tasted it, I was taken aback by how darned sweet it was. Granted, this stuff is probably supposed to be this way, and probably also explains why it has been so popular around here. But it was almost like candy, and I really wish they cut back on the sugar and loaded up on the spices instead, especially since the ones that they did use were respectably fragrant. Well, this won't stop me from coming down to Brick Lane again though; that phall has still eluded me to this day and I'm going to get it one way or another.

F. Cooke Pie and Mash, London

2011-10-25T15:09:00.000+08:00

I wanted to get some cheap yet traditional English food while I was here, so I stopped by this old school shop (150 Hoxton Street, 020-7729-7718) to grab one of their pies and mash. It was a lot lighter than I was expecting, especially with that green parsley-based "liquor" on top, helping me gobble this down quickly. I was kinda curious about those jellied eels that they had too, but instead I exercised restraint, seeing that I had eaten another meal just an hour or so before this.

The Exmouth Market in London

2011-10-25T13:40:00.003+08:00

I went into the city for a quick lunch today - specifically, to Exmouth Market. Unlike the much larger Borough Market with its huge varieties of goods, this was more of a little side street with a bunch of food stands set up, as well as proper cafes and restaurants lining the sides too.

And the stands smelled great, especially with one guy grilling sausages on a fire. It reminded me a bit of Portland's street carts, which is probably how I subconsciously ended up choosing a vegetarian stall. It was fine, but in retrospect I probably should have tried the Ghanian food instead.

Breakfast on Lufthansa to Heathrow

2011-10-25T08:25:00.003+08:00

This was the breakfast that Lufthansa handed out on the leg to Heathrow this morning. Yes, it was a sealed box of fruit salad plus a madeline, all with a little foldable fork inside for you to eat the salad with. The more memorable thing was looking out the window and seeing all of the air traffic around. I had heard that Europe's skies were really congested so it was interesting to see it right outside my window.

Dinner on Lufthansa Tonight

2011-10-25T02:43:00.002+08:00

This was the starter in Luthansa's dinner tonight. It was just tuna shoved into an egg wrapper with a knob of potato salad, but those little red peppercorns added an interesting flair.

Perhaps more notable was this huge magazine rack at the front of the cabin; now *that's* a proper selection of reading materials! And it was all conveniently placed right next to the lavatory door, too. :) Too bad that nearly everything was in German though (doh!).

Ah Por Ginger Fried Rice from Soup Restaurant

2011-10-24T20:58:00.006+08:00

Soup Restaurant has been running signs for their ginger fried rice a lot lately, and I'd been curious for a while. Well, there was a Soup Restaurant at Changi Terminal 2, so we went there for dinner tonight before getting on my flight. It was a little better than I thought it would be with its smoky aroma, but not necessarily that much different from what one might expect either; after all, it was pretty much the ginger sauce from their signature chicken dish, I believe. I'll stick to the olive rice next time.

On a side note, Lufthansa is running an Early Check-In Desk that opens at 4:30 PM, which should come in handy next time I need to go on a standby upgrade list again (rather than just coming three hours before check-in like I did today). And it looks like SQ has completely redone their lounges in T2, with big marble desks in the SilverKris pantry like at T3. And yet KrisFlyer Gold gets a different lounge, all while still separate from the SATS lounge for other Star Alliance Gold members. Interesting.

The Value Meal from Komala's

2011-10-23T12:32:00.002+08:00

Komala's at Tanglin Mall was not serving pau bhaji today, so I went for this value meal instead, which featured a green coriander-based rice that went down quickly with that salty spicy veggie in the lowermost tray. I wasn't a big fan of that yellow biryani rice in the corner, but hey, at only S$5 (US$4), who's complaining?

Yasai Curry from Bon Goût

2011-10-22T20:26:00.001+08:00

Here was the vegetable curry from Bon Goût, a place that I haven't been to in ages. It looked better than it tasted, most likely because I've been spoiled by all of those other Japanese curry shops that have popped up around town lately. But all we needed was a quick meal tonight, especially since so many other places were fully booked tonight down at Robertson Quay.

Did Youmenya Goemon Update Their Menu?

2011-10-22T14:12:00.002+08:00

Something seemed different about the menu at Youmenya Goemon today. At a quick skim, it looked like largely the same thing, with items like the mentaiko karashi takana available as before. But I saw some things that I don't really remember seeing on previous visits, like this shrimp and crab pasta topped with karasumi (think: bottarga, or mullet roe). I liked its fresh and savory taste, especially since they did it pepperoncino style.

Teppei Has Non-Tempura Too!

2011-10-19T12:21:00.002+08:00

Cool. I walked into Teppei today when I noticed that the guy was running a daily special. But rather than being his usual tempura, today's higawari was this maguro zuke. The cuts of fish weren't as thick as Meii Sushi across the street, but it was fresh, and you could still load up on lots of rice and countertop otsumami, making it a nice relief from all of the fried stuff that I've been eating otherwise there. A sneak peak at the dinner menu showed a wide variety of other things too, including kushikatsu, which is great considering that we would no longer have to break the bank at Si Bon.

Maze-Soba from Baikohken Singapore

2011-10-18T19:58:00.002+08:00

It looks like Baikohken is doing a special maze-soba right now. They really piled it on though; so much that it was hard to really mix it up to get to the sauce at the bottom. But at least it was relatively healthier given that the bowl was otherwise pretty much unseasoned, not to mention the huge pile of jirokei-like veggies that they put on top. Somehow I'll have to wade through that more effectively next time in order to be able to do a proper mix underneath.

Farewell, Kusabi Singapore (sniff, sniff)

2011-10-17T20:32:00.005+08:00

Well, they technically haven't shut down yet. But when we heard that they were shutting down in a few months to head back to Japan, we quickly scrambled down to their remaining Marina Bay location to try to get as much of that awesome gekkikara ramen while we still could.

Or so we thought. Upon arrival, we discovered that they had changed their menu yet again! It was just the other week when I nearly fainted upon finding out that they had killed pretty much everything that made them unique. And now when we got here, we found the unthinkable: they got rid of their gekikara ramen too. In its place was some lame "spicy ramen" that used one of my pet peeves: a scoop of chili sauce. Ugh.

There was now no more reason to come here anymore...aside from maybe the normal uobushi ramen that originally got me interested in this place the first time. Even the black garlic-based one that they featured today tasted like a knockoff of Nantsuttei. Another one bites the dust.

Returning on One of SQ's A330s

2011-10-12T21:52:00.005+08:00

Thankfully the return leg to Singapore tonight was on an A330, and it was fitted with the new SQ Economy Class seats, complete with power outlets (featuring UK plugs too) and a USB port to charge my phone with.

It was still a pretty full flight, but somehow I lucked out when a passenger asked to change seats so that she could sit next to her sister. It turned out that her original seat was in a completely empty row, even though everyone else around was packed next to each other. Granted, I was all the way in the back of the plane, but that didn't matter. I sprawled out all my gear and got to work without really touching much of this braised beef dinner.

And it looks like I haven't flown SQ to Hong Kong in a while. It was only tonight that I finally visited the updated KrisFlyer lounge in HKG, which was surprisingly cavernous and posh, especially compared to that tiny little hole in the wall that they had previously. But it's too far away from where United parks its planes though to be able to lounge crash when transiting through.

The Black Version of Butao Ramen in HK

2011-10-12T17:52:00.001+08:00

I came back to Butao Ramen today to try the black version this time, but I was kinda let down. I mean, it looked cool, with a gigantic ball of some mysterious black paste (ground sesame seeds?) plopped in the center. But somehow my broth ended up tasting a bit sweet in the end, in stark contrast with Keisuke's wonderful sansho-based one. Well, it was definitely unique, but next time I'll probably just go back to Mak's for some local Cantonese noodles instead.

Wang Jia Sha, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

2011-10-12T13:51:00.003+08:00

Those things in the photo may seem a bit off-putting, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it all - particularly the dark thing in the foreground, which I thought was a sweet pork rib but turned out to be a lightly fried fish that disappeared into my mouth in seconds. Anyway, my teammate took me to this place in Causeway Bay for lunch today (28 Yun Ping Road Shop 115, 2722-6222), and I really liked their light and delicate approach to everything, be it a super tender plate of bite-sized shrimp or a couple of light yet savory soups. They also had hairy crabs from China in season, but we held back on getting those.

Egg Noodles on SQ to Hong Kong

2011-10-12T08:50:00.002+08:00

This was breakfast on the way up to Hong Kong this morning, the other choice being an omelette. It was better than I thought it would be, even if I ended up pushing most of those chunks of beef to the side (I think I've been spoiled by all of the wagyu tempura that I've been eating at Teppei lately). Perhaps the more interesting thing was that this Singapore Airlines flight was slightly cheaper than United, largely due to the fact that I'm doing a day trip and SQ had removed its overnight stay policy sometime ago.

Yet I kinda regret not having taken United, mainly since SQ is so popular that this flight was nearly full, whereas I probably could have gotten an entire row to myself on United, if it was anything like last time. Sure, this hot meal is better than that lame bag that United gives, but my priority right now is in getting work done, and I could have used the extra space. Besides, this 777-200 was still fitted with the old SQ seats, so flying SQ didn't provide any power outlet benefits either. (I should have remembered to pre-order a special meal!)

My First Daging Salai Masak Lemak

2011-10-10T19:04:00.000+08:00

No sooner than I had talked about avoiding coconut milk did I find myself back here at KL airport, picking this coconut milk-based dish before getting on the return flight home. And it was surprisingly good. Sure, part of it was the spices but the main thing that surprised me was the paper thin slices of beef inside (I was expecting nasty crude chunks instead). And the gravy was thin enough that it was practically like a soup, which incidentally was the way I started to slurp it up in the end. I'm not sure if this is the way it is done in other places, but I liked this one.

Lunch From a Mamak Stall in KL

2011-10-10T13:27:00.001+08:00

This was an unplanned visit. I needed a quick bite before my afternoon meetings and was originally planning on hitting up those Middle Eastern places next to the Millennium Hotel to see if they had anything fast there. But just as I approached the building I noticed some plastic stools and canopy-covered tables down in the alleyway behind it. So I went that way out of curiosity and found a few mamak stalls, which are basically Malaysian Tamil stalls.

There was a spread of pre-cooked stuff to pick from, including a bunch of curries that I didn't choose. It didn't occur to me to consider scooping some gravy onto the rice, but in the end I didn't need it, as the veggies, fish, and dried chilies kept me going, and I liked it. Best of all, all of this plus my ginger tea was only RM 6 (US$2), making this thing a steal. If I worked nearby I'd probably come here regularly; one could keep it somewhat healthy by sticking to the greens and avoiding the coconut milk-based stuff.

On Approach to Kuala Lumpur

2011-10-10T11:23:00.002+08:00

Yeah, I know. I've been doing more of these scenery shots lately. But when I'm doing these short one hour hops where they don't really serve any food aside from peanuts, this is probably the more interesting thing to see. And for me, this sight was notable since I normally think of Kuala Lumpur as being inland rather than on the coast. But I guess the airport approach is still from the sea. I think this was just south of Port Dickson.

Kusabi Has Revamped Its Menu (Argh!)

2011-10-08T21:00:00.012+08:00

I was walking through the Central on the way home from work the other day when I noticed that Kusabi had changed into a tendon shop called Ten Restaurant. "Oh no!," I thought, "Has one of my favorite shops in town finally shut down?" But I suspected that the Marina Square outlet was still open; after all, the staff at the tendon shop was still wearing those old black and white checkered Kusabi uniforms, so I presume that the owner merely changed the shop's focus. Fortunately, I was correct, as Kusabi was still at Marina Square.

But the story wasn't over yet. Upon sitting down at Marina Square, we found that they had revamped their menu. That uniquely fragrant kogashi ramen? Gone. That refreshing kasaneaji shio ramen? Gone. The huge jiro ramen? Also gone. Oh crap, this sounded just like the time Keisuke ditched their signature ebi ramen. And just like Keisuke, these guys also created a new tonkotsu-focused menu (not to mention a gimmicky DIY takoyaki), presumably in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Fortunately, the kickass gekikara uobushi survived the revamp.

I was thus a bit apprehensive about the new menu, but I gave in and tried the black tonkotsu ramen above, which came topped with some kind of a grilled onion paste or something. No, it wasn't like Keisuke's sansho-based black one, but it turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting, as it provided an earthy depth that motivated me to keep eating more. (Whew - what a relief!) While I'm definitely going to miss the old menu, I guess that they didn't have much choice but to make this move, as I hardly ever saw any other diners in there in the past. I wonder if it's because long names like marutoku uobushi tonkotsu shouyu ramen scared people away. It's too bad, because they brew some great tasting broths here.

Smiths Authentic British Fish and Chips

2011-10-08T14:05:00.003+08:00

I'm no pro at proper British fish and chips, but this worked for me (230 Tanjong Katong Road, 6345-9855), as it came out piping hot from the fryer with plenty of malt vinegar and salt at your disposal to douse over the mushy chips. Perhaps more memorable was the deep fried Mars Bar, which was properly done whole (unlike that strange Chippy place), giving it a soft warm oozy center with a crispy batter that made it much more fun to eat than if I had just taken one out of the wrapper from a 7-Eleven. And it looks like they are opening a shop at Boat Quay soon, which will be convenient considering that Fishermen's Wharf is gone.

Teppei Japanese Restaurant, Tanjong Pagar

2011-10-03T12:46:00.007+08:00

I love tempura bars. Unfortunately, the only places in Singapore to get a proper rendition has been high-end restaurants like the very expensive Tenshin, thus keeping it from becoming a regular affair. That has finally changed. This guy just opened up next to Keisuke's Tonkotsu King at the Orchid Hotel, and I'm loving this tiny place with counter-only seating (1 Tras Link #01-18, 6222-7363).

They're running lunch sets for just under S$20 (US$15), and yet they still fry each item individually in front of you so that they arrive piping hot and crispy, all with the requisite curry and green tea salt at your disposal. They've also got a variety of otsumami scattered on top of the counter for you to grab at will. Granted, the batter wasn't as fine as I was hoping for, but at these prices I wasn't complaining, especially when the quality of ingredients was still far ahead of any of those nasty mass market chains around town.

The only thing to keep in mind is that the smell of grease seeps a bit onto your clothes, so I'm only coming here if I don't have any meetings immediately afterwards. But it's kinda cool that they have a little onigiri stand at the register if you still need a little snack later. Tanjong Pagar seems to be increasingly forming a little cluster of proper Japanese restaurants like Cuppage and Robertson Quay have had, yeah?

Arumanis Mangoes from Indonesia

2011-10-02T14:33:00.003+08:00

Yes, it's another mango update, and these Indonesian ones that we got from Tanjong Pagar Market yesterday were green yet ripe as well. They were pleasantly sweet and juicy with a touch of richness, although still not as boldly as an Indian alphonso. Its skin hardly gave off any scent either. I'll happily go back to buy more of these though; the lady was selling them for S$8 (US$6) for three.

Japan's CoCo Ichibanya in Singapore

2011-10-02T11:16:00.007+08:00

Yesterday morning, we were going past 313@Somerset and noticed that a line was forming in front of the mall. We figured that maybe it was another one of those H&M or Uniqlo openings, or maybe some kind of Apple product finally being made available here, and didn't think anything of it further. It was only this morning that I finally realized what it was for: Japan's CoCo Ichibanya chain of curry shops had finally opened an outlet here in Singapore (313 Orchard Road #B3-25, 6636-7280), and they were giving away some kind of free meal vouchers for the first people in line yesterday.

The vouchers surely were gone by now, but they were still running a 30% off promotion today, and I knew that this place was going to be crowded, especially being a Sunday on Orchard Road. So I scrambled down here just after their opening at 10 AM in order to try to beat the crowds, even though I was still stuffed from having eaten three roti prata earlier. And hence, I ended up trying to get the lightest thing possible: a reduced size 150 gram serving with Japanese eggplant, in case you were wondering what those rather unsightly dark things were in the photo.

Yes, I liked it. In addition to your protein selection as well as your rice quantity, they also allowed you to customize your level of spiciness, which at my Level 2 out of 6 was a tad spicier than your typically mild Japanese curries. Using the tabletop bottle of powdered spices to manually crank it up after that resulted in a mildly pleasant bit of residual heat in my mouth and stomach afterwards. I still like its competitor Go! Go! Curry! upstairs at the food court for its uniquely bold curry taste, but these guys are also fun to go to with their orochon-like experience.

Miz Japanese Restaurant in Tanjong Pagar

2011-10-01T16:14:00.003+08:00

Whoa - that was surprisingly good. See, I've been eating some of their fast weekday lunches here in Singapore from time to time (7 Craig Road, 6225-5761), but usually those are just cheap and simple meals that aren't really anything so exciting that I would mention them, even if they were of acceptable quality. But today we ordered off their a la carte menu, which I believe they use in the evenings in more of an izakaya-style setting. And the things that we got were like night and day compared to those plain vanilla lunches during the week.

This cold garlic butter udon is a case in point. I figured that it was just the noodles that were served cold, but it turned out that the butter was cold too...and more surprisingly, the garlic was raw. It sounds kinda nasty, but it was uniquely satisfying, especially when the rich butter and pungent garlic was counterbalanced with a scoop of caviar. Granted, even *I* couldn't stand being within a 50 foot radius of myself after eating so much raw garlic, but it was good.

Even a simple ochazuke was presented traditionally with a little kettle on the side, and it was light yet satisfying. Oh - and that salmon belly at the top was from their list of specials today. It was seasoned perfectly and was deliciously fatty, while the skin was grilled for aroma and crispiness. Ordering small plates like this of course got much more expensive, but the food was just so much better this way. I won't even bother with those lunches here anymore; I need to save my money to eat the good stuff after hours instead.

Jambalaya on United Airlines

2011-09-30T21:26:00.002+08:00

United was serving this chicken and shrimp jambalaya just before the arrival of the long haul today. It was actually pretty good; and decently spicy at that...at least, considering that it couldn't be too excessive when being served to the masses on an airplane (and no, there was no Tabasco lying around either).

Well, it was good to see another break from the usual omelette and fruit plate selections. Too bad that the pasta on the final leg into Singapore was kinda nasty though; I had gotten my hopes up considering my good experiences with their pasta last time.

Willow Street Pizza at SFO International

2011-09-29T12:39:00.003+08:00

I may have eaten at local South Bay pizza chain Willow Street ages ago, although I can't really remember it. Well, I grabbed a pizza at their outlet here at SFO before boarding our flight back today, and it was a lot better than I was expecting, especially since it looks like a bit like some cheap pizza that I used to get back in school. But I loved the gritty twist on that thin crust (was that cornmeal or something?), allowing me to wolf this thing down pretty quickly. Next time I'll have to remember to try their soup bar on the side - today they had split pea soup available.

My First Time at Chipotle Mexican Grill

2011-09-28T20:22:00.004+08:00

Man, this Chipotle chain is everywhere these days, eh? I'd always passed by them before and figured that with a name like that, it'd hopefully be a more honest attempt toward proper Mexican food.

It turned out that I was totally wrong. The Tabasco bottles should have been the first clue. It was basically just a burrito bar (apparently inspired by the Mission District, if I read it correctly), but by leveraging the same ingredients they could present it differently such as in a bowl or salad form if you so desired.

Granted I liked the generous scoop of guacamole that they gave, but otherwise this "salad" that I got was just an excessive heap of calories and sodium. We just have gone to find some proper tacos instead.

Wild Salmon Chowder from Ivar's Sea-Tac

2011-09-28T15:11:00.002+08:00

Yes, I'm back here at Ivar's Fish Bar again. I was planning to go to Anthony's but I really wasn't that hungry, and Ivar's had some limited-time-only wild salmon chowder that sounded kinda interesting. It was pretty salty, particularly those big chunks of salmon that they put in there. But the fish also provided a nice smoky taste too. Anyway, it's off to the boarding gate now...

Belltown Pizza, Seattle, Washington

2011-09-28T01:05:00.007+08:00

Wow - a post from Seattle that wasn't seafood? Yeah, I needed something to fill my belly after a number of drinks tonight, and I was told that this pizza place was open until 2 AM (2422 First Avenue, 206-441-2653). It was a bit hard to find at first as it looked more like a bar than a pizza place, but I got there.

And yes, the pizza was fine. The dough was thin and it came out piping hot too. But I don't think I'd make any huge effort to come here again unless it were for a post-drinking snack. Or at least, I'd try to come here during normal business hours since they seemed to have a much wider menu than just pizza by the slice.

Oh - and a quick warning: for the little shakers on each table with the label that says "garlic," be careful to read the entire thing as I assumed that it was like NY-style pizza with simple garlic powder. It turned out that it was garlic salt rather than pure garlic powder, hence explaining why my slice became so salty after I tried to dump a lot of it on.

Waterfront Seafood Grill, Seattle

2011-09-27T20:29:00.003+08:00

Yeah, I know this isn't a picture of food. But I didn't really get a good shot of the meal tonight, so instead here's a photo of the view from the Waterfront Grill (2801 Alaskan Way, 206-956-9171), an upmarket place that certainly wasn't short on ambiance. The food worked too; I liked the halibut we had, and the service was friendly and attentive. Next time I'll have to try that so-called Wicked Shrimp to see if it's as "spicy hot" as the menu says (is it supposed to be like Killer Shrimp in LA?).

Anthony's Bell Street Diner, Seattle

2011-09-26T20:10:00.002+08:00

Yes, it's more seafood...I'm in Seattle, after all. This time, I was at the Bell Street Diner, which is part of the Anthony's chain (2201 Alaskan Way, 206-448-6688). I was surprised to find that the clams here were not steamed in the typical white wine and garlic mixture, but rather in a buerre blanc sauce.

That worried me, as it was going against my minimalist tendencies, but I ended up really liking it, as it didn't really distract from the naturally savory taste of the clams. Unfortunately I didn't really care much for the fish that followed; I probably should have gotten the interesting sounding salmon pot pie instead. At least they provided a decent loaf of sourdough here.

Steamers Seafood Cafe in Seattle

2011-09-25T19:50:00.003+08:00

Fortunately, that thing in the bottom left didn't taste as bad as it looked. I ordered just a seared sole but they topped it with a black bean and corn relish, which made the thing soggy and rather unattractive. But it tasted fine enough for me to eat it pretty quickly. I couldn't say the same about the salty seafood stew and the surprisingly breaded fish 'n' chips though.

Anyway, we originally came here since they were a more casual sister outlet of Elliott's (1201 Alaskan Way Suite #101 at Pier 56, 206-623-2066), kinda like how Ivar's and Anthony's run their casual Fish Bars next to their main restaurants. In retrospect, we probably should have gone to those guys instead...or just had our fill of fish and chips when we were up at Pike Place earlier today.

Sights from Pike Place Market in Seattle

2011-09-25T13:56:00.004+08:00

Last time I came down here, it was too early and most of the shops hadn't opened yet. There were no such problems today. We still stopped at Beecher's, this time for their mac and cheese. It was good, although we probably should have gotten the original version for a pure taste rather than the spicy "mariachi" version we had. Anyway, we hopped on down to Jack's Fish Spot after that (1514 Pike Place, 206-467-0514) for some quick local oysters as well as a dungeness crab cocktail. Anywhere that you pick at fresh shellfish while sitting at a metal counter is my kind of place.

And of course there was plenty of seafood in the market, as touristy as it may be. One of the more unique items we came across was a pasta shop that had chocolate linguine that they suggested you eat in its hard uncooked state together with ice cream. Other interesting varieties available included a painfully hot habanero pasta as well as some kind of linguine with Thai spices in it. Fortunately there was some relief at a fruit stand just down the way selling super sweet local peaches, as well as a stand selling dried local apples.

We closed out our rounds at Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar (1916 Pike Place, 206-448-7721) where we grabbed some steamed clams as well as their special, which was really just a sampler of oysters, shrimp, and chowder. They were all good (I liked how they use small clams, and the chowder was thick and chunky), but I still prefer places back home with their sourdough bread. Well, fresh shellfish from the Pacific Northwest is nothing to complain about; if they could somehow put the distinctive smell of these restaurants into air fresheners, that would be my kind of aromatherapy.

Six Seven, Seattle, Washington

2011-09-24T21:32:00.005+08:00

When I saw Armandino's Salumi Plate on the bar menu at Six Seven tonight (2411 Alaskan Way, 206-269-4575), my eyes opened up wide and a drawn out "oooh" came out of my mouth. So that means that I could get some of that Batali salumi without having to go down to his proper shop to line up, all while being able to wash it down with some local brews as the sun sets against the water? Cool.

Unfortunately, I didn't really care that much for it when it came out; somehow it was much more memorable in sandwich form last time rather than these surprisingly lean cuts, even if one of them had an interesting coffee-like smokiness to it. I was much more excited about the lobster mac and cheese here...and of course just being able to take it easy with a nice view along the waterfront.

Ivar's Fish Bar at Seattle-Tacoma Airport

2011-09-24T17:45:00.003+08:00

This was the tray of clams and chips that we grabbed today at the airport before heading into the city. Unlike Anthony's on the other side who had a full service restaurant in addition to its casual fish bar, Ivar's was running only the latter, thus limiting the menu to basically chowders, seafood cocktails, and fried stuff. These clam strips were tasty and did the job, even if the breading could have been a bit lighter. I'll have to drop by a full service Ivar's one of these days.

Gogo's In-Flight Wi-Fi on Alaska Airlines

2011-09-24T16:37:00.004+08:00

Here was a screenshot from Gogo's In-Flight Wi-Fi on Alaska Airlines. In contrast to Southwest's service, there was no flight progress map, thus leaving you with not much free content aside from the typical airline website and travel guides, the latter of which didn't really load properly on today's flight anyway. It did let you get access to Open Table at least, although I really didn't have much time to think about making a reservation anywhere, even with dinnertime looming ahead.

Yes, the price for access on this flight was double the price of Southwest's, but this month they were offering free access for "Web-enabled smartphones and iPod Touches"...if it could recognize your device in the first place, that is. It certainly worked on an iPhone but failed on a Symbian phone, thinking that it was a PC or tablet instead, and thus asking for a payment. And my BlackBerry's browser just didn't want to use the Wi-Fi network even though the phone was connected. Oh well.

Note that this was Alaska Airlines in a proper 737 rather than the regional Horizon Air in those little propeller-driven Bombardiers. That meant that there was no longer the free local wine and beer element provided anymore. That's too bad...I settled for a free glass of water.

Epilogue: The good folks at Gogo apparently read my post, and a product manager tried to contact me just a few days later to try to identify the BlackBerry issue, which is pretty cool. But I didn't follow up further since I suspect that the problem is my specific device's odd security policies rather than anything that Gogo could do about it on their side. I assume that most other BlackBerrys (and hopefully even mine if/when I get this one replaced) won't have a problem. Thanks to the Gogo folks for reaching out either way.

Phở from Beef Noodle #1 in San Jose

2011-09-24T10:34:00.003+08:00

It would almost be a crime to be in San Jose and not get a piping hot bowl of phở while we were here. Comments on Yelp suggested that the best place in town was either here (1631 East Capitol Expressway #206, 408-223-2022) or at nearby Phở Y #1. But this place had the added bonus of making some kind of green waffles too, so we hopped on down here for breakfast.

Sorta. The bánh kẹp waffles only got made from 10 AM onwards, and we were there just a few minutes too early, but they eventually got the waffle makers warmed up. They were not much more than just lightly pandan-flavored waffles, but nonetheless it was difficult to avoid the temptation when you could smell the waffle makers going at it - and for just $1 a pop too.

Oh - and how was the phở? The broth was lighter than I was expecting, but certainly not short on flavor, which allowed me to slurp this up quickly, especially with so many fresh herbs alongside. The man serving us was incredibly attentive and nice too; not exactly something one would expect out of a place like this.

My First "$100 Hamburger" to Harris Ranch

2011-09-23T16:43:00.012+08:00

Nope, that's not a grammatical error in the headline. The term "$100 Hamburger" is what aviators call a quick flight to somewhere to eat at a local airport and then turn back around (the $100 is just in reference to the cost of the fuel and plane rental required to get there). And one of my old friends from back home has a Private Pilot License, so we took advantage of the afternoon to hit the skies to do precisely that. Where were we headed in that little single-engine Cessna? Harris Ranch in Coalinga, California.

Why might that sound familiar? If you've ever done the drive on Interstate 5 to or from Southern California, you know the halfway mark where the giant ranch just stinks of cow manure. Yes, it's that slaughterhouse with the restaurant next to it. And everytime I passed by it in the past, I noticed that little runway, wondering who the heck would fly there (24505 West Dorris Avenue, 800-942-2333). Today, we wanted to be one of those people. Here was the approach from the south, with I-5 just on the left side.

No, I didn't get a hamburger. I got this ground sirloin, which I expected in a naked form rather than being covered in onions and mushrooms, but I liked the taste of the tender meat either way. We also ventured so far as to try some of their "mountain oysters," or bull testicles. The texture was a bit firm like a hot dog (no pun intended) with a hint of iron in the taste, which I didn't really care for; you could dip them in cocktail sauce if you wanted. Unfortunately, they also cut them up into pieces and deep fried them. That's too bad, since it would have been a much more interesting photo if there were two gigantic balls in front of us.

A Green (But Very Ripe) Mango From Mexico

2011-09-22T21:44:00.002+08:00

Time for another mango update, albeit from the western hemisphere now. These big ones were from Mexico, and oddly were still green-skinned, thus leading one to believe that they weren't ripe yet. But one press of the finger told it all: if we didn't eat these soon, they would start falling apart.

And sweet indeed they were - and a bit tangy too. Yet they didn't have any of the richness of an Indian alphonso, and were also very fibrous. Well, they were better than I thought they would be, and I'll eat them again, even if they are a far cry from my favorite ones from Burma.

The Original Burger from Johnny Rockets

2011-09-22T13:45:00.002+08:00

I haven't been to a Johnny Rockets in ages...probably more than a decade, in fact. But we came here today for a milkshake, all while picking up one of their Original burgers in the process. It was a bit of a letdown. The patty was too lean and overseasoned, making it totally pale in comparison to Jeffrey's in San Mateo or even In-N-Out.

Those wings were disappointingly breaded too, even though the black pepper that they used in the rather spicy Hot Rocket Fuel sauce was interesting. I wonder if it will be another decade before I come back here (maybe for a root beer float?). Hopefully the tableside jukebox here won't eat my nickel again like it did today.

El Taco de Oro in Alviso, California

2011-09-22T10:53:00.005+08:00

I swear, this isn't intentionally trying to become a taco and ramen blog. But I've wanted to come here for a while (5210 North 1st Street), and conveniently enough, I had a meeting in the area this morning, so I stopped by to see if I could get a bit of a late breakfast snack. And surely enough, their taco trucks were open for business.

They were proudly advertising a tripe taco on a handwritten sign today but for some reason didn't have any available, so I fell back on pastor and lengua tacos instead, both of which did the job. If I'm in the neighborhood again, I might give their restaurant a try, seeing that they serve menudo. Hopefully it will be a better experience than Rosita's down the street.

Does Something Look Wrong With This Burger?

2011-09-20T12:33:00.003+08:00

Does anything look wrong with that burger on the right? Yep - it's missing a patty. I went off the menu at In-N-Out again today, getting their "grilled cheese" this time. Unfortunately, it wasn't a grilled cheese sandwich on sliced bread, but rather simply the burger without the meat, making it a bit strange, if still somewhat tasty. The more exciting thing was the cheeseburger on the left, which featured not only grilled onions but some delightfully spicy chili peppers that they keep off the menu too. Gotta remember to make sure that they shove those in there again next time.