All things Vietnamese: Ca Phe

And so begins my posts on all things Vietnamese. Although I have plenty more up the sleeve about my holiday in Vietnam during this summer, I’m going start with the very basics. Ca Phe, or as we British like to call it: COFFEE. I’m not thinking Starbucks dishwater coffee though, but very original Vietnamese coffee beans.

And so the tour guide told us a story about their coffee beans (a ploy to sell coffee? Maybe! But I don’t care!). Apparently, a squirrel has the skill to choose the best coffee bean, and at it’s ripest (and best) stage, which is usually during the night. But what do humans do? We’re incapable of doing such things, and instead, pick the droppings from these aforementioned animals, and get our hands on these coffee beans this way. What a lovely thought, hey?

What makes Vietnamese coffee different from le Starbucks though? Apart from not being a tres annoying chain around the country, coffee from Vietnam is made with sweet condensed milk. It is this sweetness that makes the coffee much easier to drink, especially for those like me who don’t do coffee.

So from le city de Ho Chi Minh, I brought back a fair sized pack of coffee granules and coffee filter. As you may know from having dinners at Mango Tree, Pho and Cay Tre, vietnamese coffee is a patient affair. You’d be waiting five minutes, maybe more, for a thoroughly filtered through cup of coffee, and then to pour this into a glass full of ice for your ICED COFFEE. Usually worth the wait though, in my POV. And now I decided to give it a go myself!

Our beloved tour guide taught me to spoon 3 teaspoons of coffee into the filter, to fifteen teaspoons of coffee (so 1/4 of the filter full). Now this is where my filter died, and just let all the water pass through without any resistance. It’s not meant to be like that! Google saved the day with a step-by-step guide courtesy of INeedCoffee and I’ve since learnt, you really need that top filter to compress the coffee down, so it’s a very slow process where the water literally DRIPS through. Ideally, it should take minutes, not 20 seconds! So end of story, my vietnamese coffee failed… badly.

But I do not despair, I will notify when I make the perfect cup of coffee. Until then.

Xin chào

The return of the glorious…

After ten weeks in Asia, it’s time to return to the realms of reality of ’sunny’ London. Updates from these past few weeks will be up at a leisurely pace…

Behold!

Mr. J’s, Zhongsan TAIWAN

On my trip to Taiwan, I was adamant I made it a Jay Chou pilgrimage. For those not familiar with this ‘president’, Jay Chou was (and still is) one of the most popular Taiwanese male singers at the turn of the century, but you’ll find him dipping his toes in the movie industry too. He’s also my idol. He opened the first Mr. J’s in 2006, and later opened a second branch in the Taiwan Medical University (click here). I visited the first of his Mr. J’s near Zhongsan station.

First impressions count right? And the door of Mr. J’s was not open, so I was at first horrified to think that the restaurant was closed when I arrived. Fortunately not, and the waitress indicated through the window to push it. Through. And shown to one of the tables nearer the kitchen on the ground floor. With only five tables on the ground floor, and a bar table, I would say it’s quite small, but the restaurant actually has 3 floors.

Mr. J’s feeds amy Jay Chou fan’s hunger. From being handed the specially decorated menu, to the oil paintings on the 2nd and 3rd floor, up to the payment counter over by the exit with all the Jay memorabilia for sale. However, let’s stop there with the Jay overload and bring you back to the food. Is it good? Hell yes.

Orders wise, a Mr. J’s House Special Black tea and a Farfalle al Sugo di Pollo for moi. The tea was similar to your standard lemon tea from Hong Kong, but the tea was really ‘pure’, not the muddy bitter flavour you can sometimes get. Taiwan’s known for their good quality of tea. Refreshing and cold, just how lemon tea should be.

A little while later, my pasta arrived. Under the yellow tinted light, I can give you a wild guess as to say my pasta was a lobster colour, rosy orange. First impressions, sauce looked a bit runny, but generally well presented and steaming away. Pasta was al dente (something that I thought this part of the globe seemed to not understand until I came here). Sauce was gorgeous – consisting of leek, garlic, chilli, onion and tomato, matched with generous amounts of chicken pieces. I actually scooped up a spoonful of the sauce and ate it, not remembering at the time what was in the pasta, but it was so very tasty.

So you are thinking that it’s no wonder that I praise this place, because it is my place of pilgrimage (kind of). Maybe that might boost its image in my mind. However a points to note: good italian cuisine is hard to find in Hong Kong (maybe I am looking in the wrong price range), so much that I could guarantee you that I could match or better the standards of some of the restaurants. Food made to order is a rarity, but you find this is exactly how it is done in Mr. J’s, so be prepared to wait for your food. We were able to watch the 3-4 cooks (side note: on the good looking side of the spectrum) in the kitchen prepare our food, as it is on the ground floor viewable to the whole restaurant via a tinted pane of glass.

I really love this place. The staff probably get it all the time, these annoying young girls taking photos of this that and whatever; hogging the menus for taking photos and even more photos, spending hours in the company of oil paintings and the squealing… but they don’t shoo you away. Being in the middle of practically nowhere, this place was made for the fans. And I hope it stays that way

Mr. J’s French-Italian Restaurant
No. 3, Lane 308
Guangfu South Road, Da-an district
Taipei City 106
022731-2245

Alternative review (click here)

Cheung Chau, Hong Kong

Cheung Chau is an island about 30 minutes away from Hong Kong, accessible by a boat trip of about 30mins-1hour depending on whether you’re a cheapass or not – the fast ferry is slightly more expensive of course.

Arriving on the island by midday, we hired some bikes for the day. But first stop was to eat 午餐 – LUNCH. Cheung Chau is a rather old residential area, so it’s not surprising that you find little cafeterias serving you bowls of fishball and cuttlefish ball noodles, originating back to 1959.

82 hours and counting

So 82 hours and counting having arrived in The Yellow Land, I’m going to share my initial thoughts with you.. about food. Arriving at mid afternoon on Friday, I have since had late breakfasts at Cafe de Coral, Dim Sum lunches, teatimes at local cafes, dinners with Duck Skin Pancakes (片皮鴨) for only $1 extra, desserts at 11pm…

What you have to admire about this place is how much people revolve around food, food FOOD. Today I was in the washroom of the restaurant we were having dim sum in, and Middle Aged Woman #1 told Middle Aged Woman #2 how was was going to make steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce for her husband because it’s his favourite dish. It’s pretty standard chitchat for chinese housewives, let alone being in Hong Kong. Whilst having my haircut today, I flipped through magazines, and the last dozen pages were filled with new local restaurants and incredibly aesthetically pleasing photos of their house special dishes. There was one sectioin which was promoting a Salad Buffet. Gawk. “There are over 18 types of vegetables!” Enticing for the health fanatics maybe, but for me: double take and run away.

And now it’s 10.08pm and I’m waiting for my delivery of Beef meatballs with noodles in soup $17 (牛丸湯麵) and Fried Fish Skin $9 (炒魚皮) and also Sago dessert with pomelo shreds $20 (陽枝金露). Envy me now whilst I go and collect it at the door……

This is how we do it…..Hong Kong

Upon arrival to Hong Kong, the second day is definitely one of  I cant sleep and wake up at 5am days. And again off I trotter with Grandma in the heat to yum cha at 8:30am in the morning after seeing my cousins off to school. Cute kids. Totally adorable!

This is what I like about HK, the feeling of being exclusive. Instead of walking up the stairs through the main entrance, my ultra cool granny (and believe me she is cool) has a key to the door of the side (or back) entrance so we can take the lift. Now, how cool is that?!?! And we were quickly shown to a table settled down with 3 pots of different tea, I just love HK.

There’s a ritual when tea-ing in HK, first step is washing all the cutlery you’re about to use. This doesn’t mean the restaurant hasn’t washed the dishes properly, but granny tells me it’s because they haven’t rinse the soapoff properly. It’s just so nostalgic watching the dishes being wash, I felt like a little kid once again accompanying my grandma every morning for yum cha.

I have a little soft spot for the honey glazed char siu bao here, known as chan bao, the pastry is soft and sweet the filling is also sweet. It sounds sickly but there is something that capture me about that bun, what ,is something I can’t quite pinpoint yet.

Yum cha in HK usually means bustling familiar faces everyday, friendly waiters/waitresses who seem to know your family inside out. The waitress recognised I wasn’t the normal grandchildren accompanying my grandma and asked me when I got back………..I think this is why the older generation like yum cha so much, its the chance to chat/socialise with thepeople around you bearing in mind some of them may live alone. What is nicer than have someone remember you, ask you how you are, ask questions about your family and talking to you.

I think I am use to HK already.

(p.s photos will be uploaded soon, need to find cable first.)

Stay tuned for…

As of tomorrow, both D and V will be in the sunny continent of Asia, and not this glum painstakingly wet country we call Great Britain.

#1 stop: HONG KONG – Notes have been made. Octupus cards at the ready. Food updates inevitable!

Keep your eyelids peeeeeeled…

Palm Court Brasserie, London

I didn’t manage to take pretty pictures at this restaurant, since my camera doesn’t seem to function well in dim lighting BUT I have got a new camera which, I hope, will produce pretty pictures since it has a FOOD scenery setting. Wait for it!

Palm Court Brasserie located in convenient Covent Garden and unmissable from the decorative exterior. Although the front seems small and cosy, to my surprise, the inside manage to sit up to 150 according to Toptable so it’s pretty big. The inside screams: “I’m a cosy looking, possibly romantic, Paris style 1950’s bistro decor with beautiful golden gilded mirrors on the side”

J ordered french onion soup with Gruyere cheese and it was full of flavour and is a definite order for anyone! I decided to skip starter since I knew that the mains would be filling and the desserts seemed to good to be missed, I mean Ginger cheesecake! So new to me!

For the mains J had haddock and chips with mushy peas, and I had the chef’s special for the day (I can’t remember exact name since this dining was taken in March), but it was something along the lines of, duck breast with ginger sauce, broad beans and garlic butter mash.

The haddock is not for anyone who can’t eat fish with bones or for anyone who hates sitting there and constantly having to detect the bones in mouth, but otherwise J said it was nicely done and cooked perfectly, crispy batter with a just right silky soft fish. For me, the duck was cooked to perfection, the mash was smooth and rich the only point that I thought which could further improve the dish was less sauce; I mean who wants to eat a dish swimming in sauce, even if the sauce is lovely and gingery (I love ginger) but there is so much sauce you can have. Duck was a bit dry though.

For desserts, J chose a Sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was sticky, that was what she said, and what do you want from a sticky toffee pudding the most? And how do you its a good sticky toffee pudding? Well if it sticks to your teeth then you know it’s good and that is what you want. It was served warm with a good helping of vanilla ice cream to balance the sweetness overall.

I chose the ginger cheesecake and raspberry coulis. Raspberry coulis, is soso and I never really pay attention to it since I always think its there to make the dish look pretty and sometimes to balance the dish out. The ginger cheesecake was awesome! Bursting with ginger taste! Smooth and velvety, rich and what a cheesecake should be, a little crumbly but still smooth when in mouth with a thick biscuit base. But I only manage to eat 3/4 of this, since I was quite full.

For two, including service and drinks (no alcohol), the bill came up to 60 pounds. Booking recommended.

Palm Court Brasserie,
39 King Street ,
Covent Garden,
London,
WC2E 8JS.
020 7240 2939

How many SNOGs do we actually need?

Welcome to London, a new place for yoghurt infestation.

We’ve sort of grown to love (I question) SNOG and its catchphrases ‘Do you fancy a SNOG?‘ ‘I like SNOGGING better than ice cream‘ but the deal is… how many snogs can you deal with before it starts to grow old and you’d rather just… not snog. When snog opened its first store down in sunny South Kensington, it was the perfect student’s hideout galore with trendy white seats and groovy flower mosaics. The yoghurt was the least attractive factor, although, its mere name made your brain revel in such ‘naughtiness’ whilst you “had a snog”.

So. I’ve just received an email telling me about YU-FORIA, another new yoghurt company opening on the 1st June in Covent Garden. Rivalry? Much. Its description? “100% fat-free yoghurt, and that’s all”. Yawn. Don’t we deserve a little more… diversity? And the point is… yoghurt is spreading like good ol’ Starbucks. Everybody wanting a little bit of the health-freak recession-biting trendy crowd of London. But how much do WE want yoghurt though? Yes you could give me all the toppings of the world, but yoghurt is still yoghurt. How far can you go with it?

South East Asia preceded us with this yoghurt trend (like they always do) with Korea and Hong Kong leading the pack. Companies like Red Mango and Pinkberry are insanely popular in America too (just to prove that it isn’t just some yellow people’s fad).

Will DT love yoghurt?

Will London follow suit and embrace our friendly bacteria?

Palm Restaurant, London

ATTENTION – OFFER

Palm Restaurant,
1 Pont Street,
SW1X 9EJ
020 7201 0710

Situated in Belgravia. 50% off everything!!!

But hurry offer ends Friday 29th May……..when it’s their official launch day.