Penang street food

My belly is still full from our weekend trip to Penang however not so full that I didn't dribble over the photos of the roti canai (in Singapore called roti prata) we ate.

Michelin's definition of 3 stars is a meal worthy of a special journey. On that basis Roti Canai Transfer Rd (Transfer Rd near the Caltex, in front of the blue shops, mornings only) serves a three star meal.

We ate the lamb and the beef, both meats cooked until you could almost drink them through a straw. The lamb curry was a thicker, tomato infused curry, the beef a thinner reduction. The roti was crisp, with a great char & flakiness - a delight. All served with some great banter from the roti-men.

The char kway teow from Heng Huat (Lorong Selmat) came highly recommended from various research sources and when the patrons were prepared to weight 1 hr, we thought there must be something special to it. There was not.

There wasn't anything wrong with the char kway teow and it was good, just not 1 hr-wait-good. We ate one chili and one non-chili, the non-chili allowing the delicious wok hei to come through a little more. Not worth a special journey.

The Nyonya restaurant Hot Wok (124 Jalan Burma) was a complete disappointment. They had a good otah which was airy and fresh however other than that, this was probably the greatest waste of calories on a trip where any calorie calculation would have caused a meltdown.

Nasi Kandar Line Clear on Penang Rd served some fine nasi kandar. Very friendly service and a location near some night spots meant that trade was pretty good. I could see this being a fantastic mid or post drinking meal.

If you were passing by, you would stop for a quickie.

While not on the level for the roti, the twice cooked pork from Teik Sen (Lebuh Carnavon, evenings) was phenomenal. Amanda doesn't like bacon (I know, I know - but I love her! What can I do?) but she liked this. I loved it. The below photo doesn't look like much however this is pig fit for a king.

While eating, you can gaze over the likely source of pig carcasses hanging in the tropical, open air butcher across the road. Yum!

We ate popiah, yam cake, mapo dofu, satay, krupuk and wanton mee. We drank beer and tea, wine and coffee (pretty good stuff from Straits Collection on Stewart Lane), water and barley juice. 36 hours of food coma inducing excess.

Let's do it again.

Tales from the Crypt - Ibu Oka, Ubud

From a trip several years ago to Ubud. See below pictures of babi guling - no words needed.

Quote

"I don't want to stand there, I just want to dance." Amanda Chan.

Waku Ghin

Tetsuya's Singapore restaurant opened recently and we were lucky enough to visit on the weekend. The cuisine is Japanese as opposed to the Japanese influenced served at Testuya's and is cooked/prepared at Teppanyaki stations, something I enjoy as I love seeing what's going on. The cost is incredibly high and its hard to even consider if "its worth it." I will say it is one of the greatest dining experiences I have had in a long long time.

Warm soup of pumpkin with white truffle.

Martinated botan ebi with sea urchin & Oscietre caviar.

Tachiuo wrapped in Pancetta with braised witlof & aonori.

Abalone with fregola & tomato.

Braised lobster with tarragon.

Warm salad of Cape Grim grass fed beef.

Australian blackmore Wagyu with wasabi.

Consomme with rice & snapper.

Gyokuro.

Granita of Kyoho grapes.

Ghin cheesecake.

The new fact for the evening was that the harder you grate fresh wasabi, the hotter it gets. We took the Pepsi challenge and sure enough less pressure results in a milder wasabi.


I have never really seen why abalone is such a highly regarded ingredient and I still don't, however the abalone dish served at Waku Ghin was phenomenal and by far my favourite dish of the evening.

The food was incredibly restrained. Exceptional ingredients prepared very delicately, the chef's skill being leaving the ingredients alone rather than doing too much. I would absolutely go back tomorrow, if someone else paid or next year if I am paying.

Deepavali long weekend in HK

Amanda and I have a tough life. We flew to HK again last weekend to celebrate the Deepavali long weekend with Bin. It was an eating holiday for all and a shopping holiday for the girls. I had my plans for the days however constant rain stopped me from walking the streets.

On Friday night we were booked in to Liberty Private Works, a private kitchen we had loved on a visit earlier in the year. Upon arrival we were told that there was a private function and that they had tried to get in contact with us, our booking wasn't confirmed, a dog ate their homework, sometimes bad things happen to good people.........I suspect that they had a better offer which I can understand for a 10 seat restaurant however that lack of professionalism and behaviour will come back to haunt them. I had such a great meal there last time that I am not sure how long my black-list will host them.

Try getting a booking at 8:30pm on a Friday night in Hong Kong. Our fall back plan of some noodles and meats was always going to be great however we were focused on something else. We eventually got a 10:15pm booking at The Drawing Room, a 1 star Italian restaurant attached to our hotel (JIA). The food was fantastic and everything I love about great Italian food - simple & unfussy, great ingredients, unpretentious. And generously covered in freshly shaved white truffles.

Amanda has taken an immediate shine to the white truffle after just our first try. Heaven forbid she should take to the slightly less ridiculously priced black truffle.

So we went to Bo Innovation for dinner on Saturday night. The Chef Alvin Leung is some sort of bad-boy rock star of the HK food scene although I think that this is mainly self-styled. I was very excited to eat here as Bo is one of the few restaurants delivering modern Chinese food (not to be confused with fusion). I have been very disappointed with most of the "acclaimed" fine dining locations I have eaten at in Asia many of which have been French (should I be surprised?).

I am very glad I dined here and I generally enjoyed the meal however I won't be back.

A google search will find you far better and in-depth food reviews than I can provide however my general thoughts are that this is meal is a condescending theme-park offering. As each course is served, the waiter brought out the traditional Chinese ingredient(s) that is referenced in the course being eaten and explained the background of the dish. I am fine to have some irony served with my dinner however not if it needs to be explained (condescendingly). There were almost no Hong Kong natives eating and this restaurant will continue to be a tourist only destination if it continues down this path.

Some dishes were molecular, some not. The interpretation of Beggar's Chicken was made from frog with an almost flavourless lotus root powder. It was tender and delicious however there was no link whatsoever to Beggar's Chicken. The foie gras course didn't make any discernible reference to a Chinese dish.

As a friend aptly described, it was try hard.

Deepavali 2010

Hong Kong - Bledisloe Cup weekend

Amanda and I were in Hong Kong to watch the Bledisloe Cup - a great birthday present from a very thoughtful husband. Australia had not beaten the All Blacks in 10 matches and NZ were on track for a world record winning streak. The Wallabies had a recent habit of running in tries through the first half then being overrun in the second so when the All Blacks went into half time with a lead, it looked bleak.

The Australian back three were brilliant again and when O'Connor scored after the final whistle to tie the scores, it was left to him to convert his own try for an overdue win. The rest is history and a history that will give the All Blacks some nightmares over the coming year. It was a fantastic test after a brilliant Tri Nations with rugby back on track after some boring years. It's now time for SA, NZ and Aus to embarrass the Northern Hemisphere teams and the quality of rugby being served up there.

So, food.

We ate at an OK Teochow restaurant on arrival but it was great to line the stomach for the rugby. A few drinks with Bobby and Kim after the match and then off to an Italian steak restaurant for some very fine meat. Bistecca in Lang Kwai Fong served some of the better steaks I have eaten in recent times.

In the morning I went for a walk and came across one my favourite street foods of all time - congyoubing - scallion pancake. A few pancakes were scoffed on the street watching the world of Causeway Bay go around. They were not great, but they were still congyoubing.

We were staying in a cool boutique hotel called JIA which I can recommend. Cool design, afternoon tea, evening drinks, free flow soft drinks, a 1 Star Michelin restaurant attached......

While we ate lunch at Caprice and were pretty disappointed (as I semi-expected to be), the real treat was eating at Le Marron, a small French restaurant which has recently graduated from a private kitchen. Very well done classic French cuisine - plump, juicy escargot, some delicious Gaillarde oysters, the juiciest pork chop I have ever eaten and a bottle of Bass Phillip pinot noir hands down outshone the over-priced and beige offerings of Caprice. Excluding the Epoisses cheese perhaps.

Yes!

I was coming up the escalators in the shopping centre near our apartment and coming down another escalator I spy the back of this girl who looks alright. I am checking her out (in a completely non-pervy way, but in a respectful of the beauty of all womankind kind of way) and she must have felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up because she turned around.

And it was my wife.

Got to love that.

Mum & Dad

And a few drams.

Roger's whisky

Last week Roger invited some some very fine company to enjoy some very fine whisky. Robert, Lacy, Alex, Dad and myself joined Roger (under supervision of Mum and Eva) to open 6 great bottles. The Arbelour and the Glenury Royal were particular favourites of the collective group.

Aberfeldy

Aberlour A'bunadh

Benromach 19

Dalwhinnie 15

Glenury Royal 23

Talisker 12

Hug it out

If it was ever possible to have too many hugs from the world's most beautiful nieces and nephews, then this was the trip. Luckily that is impossible. I hope to challenge this on my next visit.

Mei Mei

Congratulations to Bin who has just become the youngest, hottest, smartest, most pleasant, generous surgeon in Australian history. A genius of shocking loveliness.

Sydney's pastry chefs

Having just come home from a whirlwind visit to Sydney which included a meal at Universal and Quay, I have been thinking about how exceptional the pastry chef's of Sydney are. Unsung heroes, the recent deserts I have eaten in Sydney deserve attention and along with Claude's, the "big" meals I have recently enjoyed have finished on massive, massive highs.

Throw in my Victoire's and Sydney is sweet.

A litttle German, a seagull riding a turtle and fishing in Darwin

I am no photoshop wizard, so it has taken me several days to turn the goldfish Lacy caught into the beast you see below. After the CGI effects, this Golden Snapper was the biggest fish caught on the charter and a mighty fish worthy of Lacy's mighty hangover the following day.

I was surprisingly impressed with Darwin. I am not sure what I was expecting - maybe a rough frontier town, however there was a really young, fun, outdoors feeling to Darwin and it is somewhere I would head back to in a flash. The city is clean, small and generally navigable on foot. There are lots of backpackers and tourists contributing to the party atmosphere and upon my arrival at the airport at 3:00am, the ZZ Top bearded taxi driver greeted me with a "Ow r ya Cobba?".

Does it get any better?

Out on the water we saw a number of sharks (including the one I caught - "we're going to need a bigger boat"), porpoises, sea snakes, squid and yes, a seagull standing on the back of a swimming turtle. It is an amazingly rich environment - a very uplifting place to be.

A cheeky pub crawl on Saturday night led us to meet a small German. If you recall Goldmember of Austin Powers fame then you have a good image of our friend. "I am little and German - isn't that vierd?"

Needless to say, we only had one drink at that pub.

Fishing with Nathan

Nathan and I used to fish Sydney harbour probably 2-4 times a week for many many years when we were kids. Fast forward 20 years and we found ourselves with the opportunity to head a few hours north to Rompin, Malaysia to try some proper fishing. Fishing for sailfish.


The first day was action packed with around 10 missed strikes, 3 fish that got away and 4 fish landed and safely released. This is by far the the biggest fish I have ever caught and the leaping and speed of the sailfish is incredible. They can reach over 100km/hr in speed and when hooked, leap spectacularly.

Day two was not so good. After our meal at a local restaurant, 6 out of 8 of the people involved with the two charter boats had severe food poisoning which required hospital treatment. Nathan and I escaped with a a nasty case of diarrhea and left everyone else behind as we set out for a second day fishing.

Despite the terrorist attack that took place in the bathroom throughout the night, I felt pretty good in the morning and was fit for fishing. However as the boat left the dock I deposited my breakfast over the side of the boat and spent the next 8 hours lying on my back moaning. I managed to get up for 10 minutes to land my second sailfish before collapsing again in exhaustion and pain.

Despite the great fishing, the trip really gave me the shits.

Makgadikgadi Pan - Camp Kalahari

This is out of sequence being our last stop on the trip, but though I would load it now anyway. This is me being viciously attacked. If the meerkats were bigger than a rat, this could have been serious.

Okavango Delta - Kwetsani

The next Botswana stop was into the heart of the Okavango Delta which was still in high water. The camp was stunning, looking out over the waters with leopard and elephant patrolling the camp during the night. Game viewing was either by boat, by mokoro or by vehicle. Our mokoro trips reminded me of the photo of Freddie on her trip to "my Africa," sitting in a mokoro on the Delta, looking serene.

The boat trips cruised the hippo highways at high speed and although I am sure the speed was slower than it felt, we were very 007. Our fishing trip very nearly ended in Amanda out fishing me yet again, however as neither of us managed to land our fish it was hard to see if her fish was bigger than mine, despite the crytal clear water.

Unfortunately the game viewing was gain a little disappointing however we had some great kudu sightings, which would definitely have to be my favourite antelope. Yet again we were amused by zebra and giraffe and their constant staring. It can be quite creepy, but they are always looking at you. I can just imagine them pointing their hoof at their eyes then at us - "I see you."

Singfest 2010

On Thursday night Amanda and I went to Singfest. When reading "Singfest" please hold your arm straight up, clench your fist, then extend your pointer and little fingers, all whilst nodding your head.

The line up was some nobody I have never heard off, then Ian Brown from the Stone Roses, The Vines, 30 Seconds to Mars and The Smashing Pumpkins. I am not a massive Stone Roses fan so not really up to speed with Ian Brown. The music was OK although doesn't seem to be great for a live gig. The Vines were awesome. I had not seem them live but Youtube led me to believe they were going to be messy and all over the shop. They were fantastic though perhaps there was not as much "performing" as I expected. Smashing guitars in Singapore is as illegal as chewing gum.

30 Seconds to Mars was a tragic loss of 45 minutes of my life, listening to some tosser lead a band through average music that nobody will remember in 2 years. So by the time The Smashing Pumpkins came on at about 12:45am, Grandpa were pretty tired. I would like to say tired from the hard-core mosh pit, but it was more the "gee that's loud and my legs are saw from standing up for 2 hours" kind of tired. You know - sad old git tired.

Lagoon Camp - Kwando

Lagoon Camp is a beautiful tented camp surrounded by a broad range of environments from wetlands to scrub to plains to more densely wooded ares.


This camp is known for their wild dogs which was our primary reason for heading there. On our first day we were lucky enough to come across the dogs heading out for their daily hunt. They flushed out a large warthog which ran into a den inside a large termite mound. The dogs won't follow in as it's too fair a fight, one on one against a dangerous, tusked warthog. Unfortunately for the warthog, the dogs are smarter. They backed off out of sight and when the warthog poked its head out to check if the coast was clear, it didn't see any dogs. The scene was like the last scene in Gallipoli - the one where you are urging "don't run, don't run....please don't run."

But you know that he is going to run and you already know what the outcome will be.

Wild Dogs do not kill their prey before eating and even though the pack was 18 strong, it took a long time for the warthog to die. The squealing of a dying warthog is a particularly horrible noise that cuts to the bone. If you would like to know what that sound is like, we have a large video file which I will try to upload at some stage.

The weather patterns were changing during out time in Kwando, which unfortunately meant that there was some quiet times on the game drives as much of the game had moved on thinking the rains were coming. The cheetahs that include the area in their territory were a no-show however we did some interesting species - eland, honey badgers and sitatunga amongst them.

Livingstone & Chobe

After my friends in poorly-fitting dresses on Singapore airlines had delivered us to Livingstone (I presume), we went straight to Victoria falls. It was actually hard to see anything as the once the water falls to the base, the spray thunders back up and creates a mist obscuring much of the surrounding area. A walk along a knife's-edge bridge had us soaked to the bone before quickly heading to our lodge on the Zambezi river for a boat cruise, fire-side dinner and an early night before our trip to Botswana the next morning.

At this stage, Amanda had already shown the early signs of what would be an uncharacteristically ditsy trip, having left her scarf at the airport then losing her gloves watching the lunar rainbow. I on the other hand, had started to exhibit a very fledgling interest in noting the beautiful birds we saw and suffering the indignity of being called a "birder." While we were together, I had to look at birds out of the corner of my eye &/or through sunglasses.

We crossed through to Kasane, across the confluence of waterways that form the intersecting border of Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Botswana. Chobe and northern Botswana in general is the elephant capital of the world with large herds dominating the environment, to the point that the park is being loved to death by them. Sadly, the elephants (and other game) can easily cross the river to Namibia where they can be shot. The little guy below has some serious protection though and they moved into a flanking position in response to our proximity.

We were on a mobile safari and staying in tents. I had arranged two nights. Two nights turned out to be Amanda's limit. Amanda having stayed two nights in a tent was my limit.

Having been inspired by local fashion, Amanda is now thinking about "big hair." I didn't shave for a while but apparently that does not create the same " just want to cuddle-up and hug him" appeal that a lion's hair does. In my favour though, I thought that "not killing and eating her" was enough of a pay-off but Amanda thinks that lions don't like Chinese food.

Taster of our trip to Botswana

Amanda and I returned from Botswana last week and have many stories and even more photos. It will take quite a while to sort it all out and post, however I will eventually get around to it.

We started in Livingstone (Zambia) where we saw Victoria falls and the lunar rainbow - a rainbow that only shows during the full moon.

A mobile safari in Chobe brought huge herds of elephants and then when in Kwando near the Angola and Namibia border, we were lucky to spend time watching wild dogs hunt, socialise and den.

The Okovango Delta was fun cruising the flood plain in various water-craft while our final stay in the Makgadikgadi Pans was surprisingly amazing with its lunar landscape, unbelievably charismatic meerkats and walking with the San Bushmen.

The sunsets at every location were phenomenal, always improved by ice-cold sundowners.

5 days......

Until we go to South Africa, Botswana & Zambia!
Woo hoo!

If we were not meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?

Macau & Hong Kong

Amanda and I are just back from classy Macau and as always, amazing Hong Kong. I had never been to Macau before and was interested in the intense development that has taken place and is continuing to take place.

We decided to embrace the tackiness of Macau and stayed at the Venetian. As you can see below, the Venetian is all restraint and elegance. Even better, the frescoes are in great condition, far superior to the crappy ones you see in Italy. The "Grand Canal" runs through the middle of the Venetian flanked by Italian masterpieces such as Gucci, Armani, Versace and the flagship of Italian cuisine, Starbucks.

We had lunch at Robouchon and were incredibly disappointed. After previous experiences at 3 Star restaurants my previous suspicions have been confirmed and I am content to never place much value in the substance of the Michelin guide's higher certified restaurants. I have no interest in eating over-worked food in pretentious surroundings served by well dressed glassies.

However, I did eat one of the greatest cheeses I have ever tasted. It was a camembert from Champagne however unfortunately I got the name of the other camembert that was served and so am none the wiser. Stay tuned, I have sent emails to ask for the name and to see if I can marry their pastry chef.

Then began the great Portuguese egg tart hunt. After getting lost in the casino for 20 minutes and then stumbling upon the canal which was worth another 30 minute wander I ended up in another hotel. The concierge called ahead to confirm that the bakery was open only for the first taxi driver to not know the location. 10 minutes later the second taxi driver talked it through with the concierge and we finally had agreement. 15 minutes later I end up at a different egg tart bakery, my second preference - Lord Stow's. After my initial disappointment at not finding Margaret's Cafe e Nata I got stuck in to Lord Stow's. They are pretty damn good although a little too eggy. But with pastry like that, I can forgive many many sins.

Dinner at Fernando's was a great rustic bookend to the day and although my belly looked like I had a cheese-baby, we still managed to eat several plates of great food highlighted by an incredible plate of clams.

In Hong Kong we ate dinner at a fantastic private kitchen. Liberty Private Works served a seven course meal (accompanied by our beautiful BYO Lakes Folly) each course of which was beautiful. After the butter-fest of Robouchon the dishes were delicate, simple and fresh and I can highly recommend it to everyone.

Amanda is normally my salami mule as HK has some great delicatessens, however this time I smuggled my own cured meats. An incredible salami is calling to me from the fridge as we speak and the voices in my head won't stop.