My place in Seoul

Cocotte Sausage Eating Contest

It was Cocotte's second annual sausage eating contest and this year I was part of a team entry. I was shocked by the change in sausage from last year's delicious, moist, grilled sausages to this year's insipid & boiled chipolatas.

Tim, Paul, John and I ate well and took out third place and like year, the top amateur position in the country. If the professional eaters didn't go to the bathroom for a reversal of fortune, who knows how we would have fared?

When the moon hits your eye

We are in Naples and we're threatened with murder.



Heading to Nick and Bel's wedding in Ravello, we spent 5 nights in Naples, a city I had travelled through a few times however had never stayed for any length of time. The reputation is of a gritty, unglamourous & dangerous city. The looking over my shoulder had just started to ease-up while we were walking through the Spanish Quarter, home of the Camorra.




A stereotypical nonna was hunched through her doorway watching her streets when she looked at me, pointed up the the road and wagged her finger at me. I gave her the smile reserved for doddering old ladies and kept on walking. She gave me the smile reserved for stupid tourists and after pointing up the street again, drew her finger across her throat and pointed at me.





On a brighter note, the Veiled Christ is one of the most magnificent works of art I have ever seen. Photos are not allowed however as can('t) be seen in the above ripped-off photo, nothing could do it justice. In particular the incredible detail off the feet, somehow under a veil, somehow not, was breathtaking.





It was great to spend some time with friends I had not seen in a while including my God-Daughter Ms. Ginger who was kind enough to share the fact that Dom has a crush on Bronwyn Bishop and Georgia a crush on Tony Abbott. Some good meals and some good wine were long overdue with Dom & Georgia as well as Mr Too-Cool-for-my-Wedding-Nicky.







The view from our Ravello rooms was not too bad either.





Being the birthplace of pizza and being a fat pig, I (and my not a fat pig wife) hit the streets pretty hard for a fix. As each pizza wore off, we searched harder and longer for a bigger high never being satisfied, even while eating fists of mozzarella like an apple.

• L'Europeo di Matozzi - our fist stop within 90 minutes of checking into the hotel so was always going to hit the spot, scratch the itch, twinkle the ivories and raise the flag. A little bit wet but molto bene.

• Sobrillo - my favourite all-round pizza. Cheap, flavour-full, not wet (as it seems the Neapolitans like) and an excellent crust.

• Trianon di Ciro - my favourite crust - smoky, chewy, charry. Amanda's DOC margherita was phenomenal though pretty wet.

• Antonia et Antonia - adjacent to the bay, great views of Naples and the air-kissers. A very competitive pizza that would be proud in any line-up. Glasses of prosecco while you wait and my starter of a basketball of mozzarella was outstanding. A little bit saltier than others and all the better for it. Unfortunately ruined by the waiter kindly informing us that in addition to the 15% service charge and 4euro pp seat cost that a tip is customary.
  
  

Pastries were generally exceptional at our pre-determined destinations.

• Mignone - good but probably the weakest of a strong group.


• Gran Bar Riviera - excellent, adjacent to our hotel, jaw-dropping gelato.


• Aruta - fantastic


• Angelo Carbone - diabetic

Amanda managed to eat 2 gelato for every day of our trip. While the gelato was fantastic (nociola, nociola, nociola!!!!) even I, one of the world's pre-eminent ice cream whisperers could not compete.

Coffee, pastries, pizza, mozzarella & gelato were generally of exceptionally high calibre wherever we ate. Other meals were for the most part, disappointing. Pasta appeared to be from a packet at every restaurant we ate at - maybe Amanda needs to teach them how to make the fresh stuff!

• Hosteria Toledo - great service, great company, good food but not particularly memorable.

• La Cantina Di Triunfo - solid, great service, modern decor...OK

• Da Salvatore (Ravello) - solid salumi plate, some very good plates at the table (ricotta gnocchi with veal cheek) and a semi-freddo inedible for 3/4 of the table (including me - Ice Cream Whisperer). I was hoping for better.

• Umberto - terrible. Polpette that tasted like dense, soggy cardboard

• Squisistezze - tasty little lunch spot with modernish takes on Italian. Yummo zucchini amuse.

The exception was Da Dora. It is an expensive restaurant for all its simplicity however the seafood risotto I had was incredible. Not the kind of dish I would normally eat however was extremely delighted. The restaurant is a small kitschy place located in a small alley in the Chiaia region. Nonno does the cooking in an alley-side open kitchen (charcoal BBQ included) while Nonna and team serve it up inside. Ugly nautical paraphernalia, TV on - loved it.

Eating Paris

What can be said about Paris that has not been said before? It is such a magnificent city especially for walking. Flat geography, human scale & medium rise construction, a mixed use urban planning strategy, depth and layering of built history, fine grain streets and direct, broad boulevards (what a great way to get to those peasants in their fertile, still, tepid air!)..... and chacuterie to be found everywhere. Not a tonne of street food, but I think that the Parisian street food just happens to be found indoors.

Essentially we just ate and walked our way around Paris. Each day we would have a few pin-points on the map to provide direction. The pin-points ranged from A L'Etoile d'Or for salted caramels (a morning rush had bought out the Henri le Roux natural salted caramels however we grabbed some Bernachon chocolate) to vintage boutiques where they were not sold out of vintage Dior bags, thank-you-very-much Santa!

Luckily we were doing between 4-6 hours on foot as each meal was from 3-8 courses with bread, petit fours, amuses, wine, treats, coffee, mignardises...... The mashed potato from Benoit was essentially mashed butter with a little potato. Incredible, but thrown in as a side dish to a three course meal where the mixed tart dessert was three normal sized tarts on one plate -we somehow didn't manage to eat dinner that night.

The above made-to-order mille-feuille masterpiece from Jacques Genin was sublime. We queued at Pierre Hermes for macarons however despite them being good, the wait time is better spent at Genin. They are supposedly known for their eclairs however it was full of chocolate custard, whereas we are cream filled people.

Big Eats

• Jules Verne - incredible view (Merry Christmas window seat - well organised me!) but the food a bit hit and miss. The sommelier suggested a wine at half the stipulated price which was very much appreciated.



• Robert et Louise - OK steak cooked well on an open fire in an atmospheric bistro however it tasted too much like the hot plate. Good escargot and chacuterie.



• Le Gaigne - environment a little sterile however the food was simple, cooked well and the service generous.



• Benoit - absolutely huge servings. Huge, juicy escargots, "don't turn your back on that with me sitting opposite you" souffle, magnifique cassoulet, incroyable boudin noir. Worthy of another visit. Perhaps too much and perhaps too rich. Perhaps not? Perhaps just man-up next time?



• Les Diables au Thym - superb tete de veau with gribiche though there was cumin in two out of three courses which was a little odd.



• Hidden Kitchen - a private kitchen run by a young American chef. The food was good though not sure why he is such an apparent darling of the American food world. Perhaps it's because he cooked an excellent 10 course meal for sixteen people in a genuine domestic kitchen? Great Paris apartment.



• Spring - though odd to hear a thick Aussie accent coming out of the open kitchen this was great, simple, clean food. My only complaint was having to listen to the guy at the next table read out the entire (I promise - ENTIRE) Louvre section of the Lonely Planet to his bored date in a monotone. He was then rude to the garcon and wondered out loud why the French hate Americans. Sorry buddy - just you.



• Paul Bert - delicious steak though very average frites (as we encountered wherever we ordered them). Sweet-as-my-wife St Jacques scallops and a Grand Marnier souffle to top Benoit.



• Le Nemrod - order the croque monsieur on Polaine bread. Amanda took the Pepsi challenge with the two versions. A second croque was not what the garcon was expecting when he asked "can I get you anything else?" If he had known Amanda he could have expected a heap of croque. Good steak tartare but that is one big plate of raw meat.

We cancelled Guy Savoy and Les Ambassadeurs as we couldn't handle any more.

I am assured that I have been to St Chappelle in the past though I don't recall going - Wow.

Two sisters - both striking, one more crinkly than the other? Only in the crazy mind of an artist!

We couldn't skip it while in Paris.

Little Eats

• Pierre Hermes - maybe queue for 5 minutes, not longer.


• Jacques Genin - superb pastries.


• Au Levain du Marais - the best croissants we had from a disappointing bunch. Very very yummy but I would probably choose Victoires.


• Paul - chain boulangerie pretty good as a fall back as opposed to a random walk-in.


• Au Petit Fer Cheval -we only had a drink here but the food looked good, the service was fantastique and the setting lovely.


• Huitrerie Regis - excellent excellent oysters with sancerre.


• A l'Etoile d'Or - charismatic shop owner (picture 50 year old French lady dressed as a Japanese school girl). Tasty tasty salted caramels.


• Jounnault - dauntingly expansive fromagerie (and now, a nicely stocked Singapore fridge). I am not knowledgeable enough to compare this to other shops.


• Le Rendez-Vous des Amis - not as good as my moules but a great chacuterie plate. Note to self - picon biere is not a French brewer but the addition of a nasty bitter orange liqueur to a glass of beer.

Hmm - queuing up for the Tower while we were over-charged ridiculous amounts of money for pretty good food. Suckers!

And we couldn't skip the Tower either.

His eyes don't follow you.

The view from our apartment.

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.

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.