Ocean Avenue from Erik's Delicafe in Northern California

A cold sandwich sounded nice for dinner given the blazing hot weather in the Valley today. So we stopped at an outlet of Erik's Delicafe, where I saw a sign for this "Ocean Avenue" sandwich, which was named after the street in Santa Cruz. It turned out to be just a tuna fish sandwich though, with the taste of the mayonnaise dominating so much that one really couldn't taste the sprouts and wuch. I should've stuck to my usual roast beef.

"Maxwell Street Hawker Inspired" Chicken Rice on United Airlines

That looks rather sad above, but the name drew a smile from me when I saw it on the United Polaris in-flight menu out of Singapore today, as it was clearly a reference to Tian Tian. It was oddly served hot though, as it was heated in the galley ovens, while the rice was heavily accentuated with lemongrass. There was no dark soy sauce, ginger, nor chili sauce available, although at least that square salt and pepper shaker had some cayenne pepper in there. They had laksa available as one of the midflight snacks available as well, but I didn't try it.

Sushiro's Tamakue Grouper from Japan

I didn't realize this until after I ate it, but Sushiro's parent company worked with a supplier in Japan many years ago that crossed two different types of grouper, one of which is a very tasty but slow growing one. Their faster-breeding hybrid is an effort to bring that fatty taste to the masses at a low price, and it is on the list of specials at Sushiro Singapore now. The texture was firm, but admittedly the taste wasn't as pronounced as I had expected. Apparently it is supposed to be aged in order to get more character out of it, and I don't think Sushiro did that.

Balestier Bak Kut Teh in Singapore

Balestier Road is known for bak kut teh shops, like Founder in particular. Out of sheer convenience though, I went to another one just one block down (365 Balestier Road). I regretted getting these meatballs, as they were not the super firm and bouncy kind that I thought I was getting. Instead, these had a soft homemade feel with bits of crunchy tendon in there. The soup was OK and was certainly much better than that Old Tiong Bahru place on Sixth Avenue. But next time I'll go to Founder, or at least better optimize my order by getting actual ribs rather than meatballs.

Epilogue: BTW, I just realized that I might have been to this shop twenty years ago, especially since I likewise noticed a very mild herbal tinge in the broth this morning.

The Chicken Bihari Boti from Kebabchi

To be honest, I am not entirely sure if this is the Chicken Bihari Boti from Kebabchi. It's what I ordered, but the waiter who delivered it said that it was Chicken Tikka Boti. Apparently the former uses mustard oil instead of a yogurt marinade and thus has a sharp smokiness to it. Based on that, this should have been the former. I was happy with it either way.

Flying Out of Bangkok on Thai Airways

One of the things that I've always liked about flying out of Bangkok was the free massages in the Thai Airways lounge. But it seems like that has long since disappeared; that might have even been at the old Don Mueang airport, which really goes to show you how infrequent these Bangkok trips are for me. It's too bad that the lounge doesn't have it anymore either way.



The Thai Airways lounge at Suvarnabhumi has other surprises though, not only in how looooooong the lounge stretches in both directions down the terminal, but also in the array of food stations in both directions. That included not just soup noodles and pad thai cooked to order above, but also desserts and snacks like that these banana sticky rice dumplings. None if it is worth saving stomach space for, but it was interesting to see how much effort they made, including some celebrity chef visits scheduled too.



To that end, the in-flight economy class meal today featured Thipsamai-branded pad thai, along with a lemongrass-based salad and even a coconut dessert, which was a nice surprise. If I get a flight out of the new satellite terminal again, then I'll need to stop at Ginger Farm Kitchen, as it's a Bib Gourmand from Chiang Mai.

Paste in Bangkok's Gaysom Village

I really don't get out to Bangkok enough. The sheer density of Michelin restaurants around here is amazing! And while this formerly-starred restaurant wasn't cheap (999 Phloen Chit Road 3F, 02-656-1003), they fortunately had a lower-priced lunch set upon request that made it just under our corporate budget.

Yes, I liked nearly everything that they served us, be it some puffed rice starters, duck curry, or eggplant salad. That brown thing above is actually tom yum soup (and a decently potent one at that) which surrounded a delightfully tender yet crispy cut of pork leg topped with jackfruit seeds. The only odd thing was a dessert that tasted like wax, but apparently a jasmine candle was used to smoke the coconut mousse, so I guess it was intentional.

Anyway, the service here was attentive, and the quality of the ingredients was better than Eat Me from last night. But it was also more upscale, whereas Eat Me felt more down to earth. Too bad Eat Me isn't open for lunch on weekdays.

Eat Me in Bangkok, Thailand

This Michelin-listed restaurant has been around for many years, but somehow I'd never made my way over until now (1/6 Soi Phiphat 2, 2238-0931). It was pretty good. One of the dishes that they are known for are their clams, which are done with with a mildly sour northern Thai sausage, making for a pleasantly savory and refreshing dish.

That wagyu tartare above was likewise seasoned like larb, and it was spicier than I thought it would be, in a good way. I even had a chance to try a local rice wine called sato, which was mildly sparkling and yeasty. Yes, I'll be happy to go again. It wasn't cheap, but the staff was friendly, and the food is presumably more affordable than the many Michelin-starred places in the surrounding block.

Mashi no Mashi Singapore's Wagyu Tsukemen

I went to Mashi no Mashi out of convenience today and decided to try their tsukemen this time. The good thing was that the meat quality was much much better than the last time I had it, being both tender and delicious. But that was the only thing I liked. The thick udon-like noodles were chewy but were disjointed from the rest of the bowl. You could taste the beef in the broth, but it was also sweet and had this off-putting starchiness to it. I don't need to order it again.

Casa Buenas at Newport World Resorts in Manila

My flight home was delayed tonight, so I quickly scrambled to see if there was a decent dinner that I could grab near the airport. It turns out that there is an upscale resort area right across the street that is conveniently connected to Terminal 3 by a walkable sheltered bridge. There were some Michelin-listed places available and even a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, but I went for this ornate-looking Filipino place, especially since it was pitched as having a Spanish influence.

I grabbed some sinuglaw, a mixture of grilled pork belly and vinegar-cured tuna, which they served here on rye bread with jellied vinegar. I liked it more than I thought I would, especially since the pork was nice and smoky, while the vinegar was delicate rather than overpowering. I also had that caldereta above, which was a local version featuring beef instead of lamb, and yet was topped with Manchego cheese. It was rather salty and came with disappointingly soggy rice, but it's probably much better than eating at the airport itself.

Japan's Key Coffee in the Philippines

This Japanese coffee chain from Japan was called Kimura Shoten but is now just called Key Coffee. And their only overseas outlets are in the Philippines, one of which happened to be nearby today. It was doing the kissaten look with wood paneling, solo dining counters, and vinyl records; the only things missing were ashtrays. Anyway I got the thing that I figured would be fastest, which was this omurice. I've never been that big a fan of omurice, but this one was a little better given it had savory bits of chicken in there as well as a nice layer of egg. I wouldn't go out of my way for it though.

Trying Cebuano Sikwate in the Philippines

The hotel breakfast had a few local items available this morning, including this drink called sikwate from Cebu. It looks like hot chocolate, and basically was hot chocolate when you consider that it's made from ground cacao beans (yep, apparently the Spanish brought it over). It was gritty and without sugar though, so it was nutty and slightly bitter. I like dark chocolate though, so this worked for me.