Travel - Taipei, Aug 2011 - (Day 3 / 4)

On our 3rd day, we were able to get up before 12:30pm only because I made a lunch reservation at 1:30pm. When it comes to food, to urge to sleep becomes secondary! The place was Mitsui Cuisine which has become one of the must stop Japanese restaurants in Taipei on every visit. Mitsui and its chain of Japanese restaurants each has its own theme so to speak to provide a different experience to diners. I am not certain and I doubt Mitsui and all its outlets are the best (or the cheapest) in Taipei but so far all my visits have been very consistent in terms of quality and service.

Hiro Sushi (Toronto)

Not much of a review this time around but more of a sharing. Hiro Sushi has been in business for over a decade, situated in the downtown Toronto area headed by Hiro-san himself almost every single night! His dedication and joy of being at the restaurant serving diners inspired me in re-thinking about one's dream and possibly how to achieve it with passion, patience and perseverance, the 3P which l like to call it. When young, many of us have been asked what you want to become, some wanted to become policemen, some doctors, some firemen, some bus drivers, some lawyers, some chefs and some even wanted to become rockstars. As for myself, I honestly don't remember what I wrote or if I came up with anything as a matter of fact. I strongly believe that there is nothing wrong in having a progressively developing dream(s). Hiro-san's passion to food has re-sparked my quest in evaluating, prioritizing ... and realizing my dream(s).

Travel - Guam (Part 2/5)

As mentioned, Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is part of the USA only differ by the fact that the "state / territory" has no voting rights. With almost 40K US troops stationed there, the Guam government received an annual compensation or so-called rent for that part of the land within the island accordingly to my sources. That is a fairly large sum of money for an island of this size and population, so in other words, I say Guam is quite rich! It does make one wonders why the USA want to keep this island under its control repeatedly over the past century or so. Time for some history? Like it or not, I am going to talk about it for a bit before going into details of my trip which include tons of food 24/7 and a few exciting activities such as flying a plane and other water sports. Of course it is a given to be able to see clear blue sky and fluffy clouds almost every single morning!

Kaiko Teppanyaki 鐵板燒‧海幸 (Hong Kong)

I just realized this is my first teppanyaki coverage in my blog. In other words, teppanyaki is apparently not something I frequent yet quite enjoyed mainly for the watching how the chef skillfully maneuver around the food in addition to the food itself of course. Based on my humble research (thank you wikipedia - apparently there are more details in the Japanese wiki for the same entry for those interested and know Japanese), tappanyaki was introduced around 1945 as a way to cook Westernized food on iron plate. However, this concept was poorly received among local Japanese yet greatly welcomed by foreigners and tourists mainly due to how diners can watch the chefs do their magic in front of them. I do think it is a main part of having teppanyaki, at least to me, but here at Kaiko Teppanyaki, there wasn't much of a show yet you will get a great view overlooking the Victoria Harbour Hong Kong. To be fair though, the chef we had was very friendly, initiated various chit chats and very attentive to our needs, more attentive than the wait staff to be honestly.

Butao Ramen 豚王

My first visit to this place was back in early Nov 2010, a few days before its prime time TV feature which created the recent hype on this little ramen joint with about a dozen seats. M (from eatshowandtell) and I waited for about 10 minutes only back then instead of the average 1 hour or perhaps 2 hours wait nowadays? It took me this long to blog about it because I wanted to give the rest of the ramen selection a try first. However, any queue for food that requires more than 30 mins wait and less than 10 mins consumption time will likely skip. Therefore, I might as well share my experiences now in the middle of the hype. If you require a more detail insight into the different selection during this hype, please check with e_tingfood.com (also Facebook Fan Page) and tomeatsjencooks.com, both who recently went an hour before it opens on a Saturday morning for its first bowl of ramen. Based on my latest information, the y have limited the supply of ramen per day to 200 bowls ....

Sushi Hiro (Hong Kong)

Many crave for sushi or sashimi regularly, I crave for both at least once every two weeks. Sushi Hiro is one of the few Japanese places which I would return regularly when I feel like indulging myself in the land of sashimi without using any brain power in regards to ordering. Why? They offer plenty of set diners and most of them are multi-courses as well. My friend and I each ordered a set and our dishes were basically mixed up since we were sharing so please considered the following items to be the combined sets.

MisoCool

Cool name, but no so cool with it comes to food in my opinion. I mean it was alright, unexciting and boring? description too strong? It was rather boring when it comes to the food but had a great time chatting with friends. The decor at its K11 Mall outlet was trendy and contemporary with what I considered funky paintings and fixtures in this semi-open venue without walls.

Toronto - May 2010 - Day 7 (Sweetness Overdose?)

What do I mean by Sweetness overdose? How can that be possible? True, actually I don't think it is possible hence the question mark! I woke up quite late on this date because .... I have already adjusted to the timezone! I got up around 11am instead of 7am! Yes! That's normal during holidays! I was not really hungry so my parents and I stayed home for a simple homemade brunch which consisted eggs and toasts. Sooner than we expected, our stomachs were making noises so we called Aunt P to join us for afternoon tea! Where to? We picked one of my old times favorites, Oliver and Bonacini located in the Bayview Village mall. I recalled how I enjoyed the baked chocolate cake with the rich and creamy molten chocolate in every bite, but the item was no longer being offered! Argh!

Toronto - May 2010 - Day 5 (Special Date with Hot Dog and Pho!)

It has been 4 years since I last returned to Toronto and even during my years in Toronto, taking the subway to downtown wasn't something I would do regularly for many reasons. This time around, I took the subway to downtown for a day trip with my mom and I realized that nothing and i mean nothing has changed over the past 4 years with the subway.

Toronto - May 2010 - Day 3 (A Sunny Sunday Walk)

A few years ago I left Toronto for many reasons, one being that I found the life style a bit boring at times. A few years have passed now and only after a few days I started to question why I left because I quite enjoyed the the weather, atmosphere, friendly smiles and leisure activities as simple as a Sunday walk in a park. What happened? I am not too certain what happened but I think it is a different perspective into the understanding of work-life balance perhaps.

Applegreen

I really enjoyed my meal here and already am looking forward to my next visit. I should have visited this place earlier so I would have another casual dining favorite in the Causeway Bay area. There were hits and misses but my overall experience was a very pleasant one. Atmosphere was causal, bright with very spacious seating arrangements. Service was excellent particularly to diners who takes pictures of the food. How so? I will explain later.

Taipei March 2010 - Day 2 (More Food Please ... )

Day 1 of my recent Taipei trip was mostly about experiencing the culture by eating my way through it and Day 2 would be pretty much the same. Taiwan was Japanese's first colony during the period from between 1895 to 1945 and its social and culinary cultures have been under much influence up til today. It is quite normal to find many Japanese restos in town with some claiming to be authentic while some are Taiwanese-styled Japanese cuisines which I am yet to try.

For lunch I went to one that claimed to be authentic I think. I wasn't quite sure how authentic it was but all I knew was that their stuff was pretty good and sashimi was extremely fresh! Before I get to there let me start from the moment I got up! HAHA ... My mom and I took a different travel plan so she got up way too early around 7am to head to somewhere far with my aunt while I continued to sleep until 10am. To my surprise, I found a bowl of Flour Rice Noodle 麵線 on the desk! It consisted of plenty of yummy pig intestine and cockles (鮮蚶), yum yum! but the "soup" was rather too thick and flavors were not strong enough but it was satisfying as the first thing in the morning! :) ... ooops, time to brush my teeth!

So after breakfast (and a cup of espresso from the Nespresso machine), it was time for lunch! Instead of taking the taxi, my cousin V and I decided to take public transportation instead. As mentioned, to understand a culture, one has to try to live like a local as much as possible! (scooter would have been my choice if I can get my hands on one!)

One of the first thing one would realize when taking the bus was that in most part of Taipei, buses travel in the middle of the road on a isolated lane! If that can be applied in Hong Kong, would that solve or at least improve the traffic conditions? Possibly! The payment system seems pretty complicated with different payment depending on the travel distance (or sections).

After a short ride, we walked towards our destination. Argh ... really hated the rain especially when I was on holidays!

Wow, street food vendors started working around 11am already!

We arrived a bit too early so ended up at the coffee shop across from the resto. (Honey Coffee on No 49 Nong an St, Taipei)

This place brews their coffee using the vacuum coffee making method and the Batista took her time to make each cup. I ordered a stronger Manhattan blend? (as translated). While strong and intense, it was on the acidic side. Oh did I mention the little milk tin was very cute???

The lunch was held at Mitsui Japanese Restaurant and the group has several outlets with varying theme and decor, definitely maybe worth visiting in my opinion.

My cousins (and her lovely friend W - "it was my pleasure meeting you indeed") ordered a different set lunches than I did. Their was TWD1,000 and consisted of the following items.

Delicious? Oh yes! I order the TWD1,600 set and consisted of the following items. Just look at the uni! OMG! I was speechless when it was served. After the short silence, it was exciting!

The sashimi platter was a little different than theirs with different types of fish, very fresh too!

Lobster was alright, no surprises though.

The following was a steamed fish wrapped with bean curd sheet and it tasted wonderful with the soup containing a rich and intense fish flavors.

Some kind of baked minced fish, interesting texture with rich flavors.

The beef were tender, juicy and soft with an excellent beefy taste to them. Wagyu beef if you ask me.

I was pretty full by now but I still have the soup and dessert. Wow the soup container looked like a piece of art with the colors and it being so spherical. It was a fish clear soup which I really enjoyed especially especially at the end of the meal. Very comforting indeed.

Dessert was simple with green tea ice cream and some fruits.; simple yet very satisfying indeed!

===========

Our next few stops included the new Bella Vista shopping mall and Taipei 101. I wanted to visit Bella Vista because of the buzz I have been hearing about it recently especially with the SALON DE THE de Joel Robuchon Tea Salon on its 3rd floor. To be honest, I find both Bella Vista and Taipei 101 rather BORING! They are just another luxury malls around town, nothing really exciting. According to what I was told, the owner of Bella Vista initially asked her father to invest into her little project of opening a cafe but her generous father gave her this piece of land (and a pile of cash for development) as well. This is one huge cafe indeed! [this is what I heard ...]

It was raining pretty hard outside on this particular evening and we really did not want to head out to find places so we decided to just stay inside Taipei 101 for dinner. We initially wanted to try the their food court which was huge compared to Hong Kong's but it was so crowded at 6pm already!

Look what I found! Dunkin Donuts! So tempted to grab a donuts before dinner but perhaps I should wait.

One would expect most food being offered here would be targeted for tourists and I would have to agree to a certain extend. However, there are still several places that offer semi-traditional Taiwanese cuisine. At least they have items that were new to me. We went to the only Chinese resto on the 4/F of Taipei 101 named Jiu Ru 九如 which specialized not only on Shanghainese cuisine but also some Taiwanese traditional dishes as well.

From Life as a Bon Vivant

We picked a few cold appetizer which included smoked fish, "smoked vegi duck" aka smoked bean curd roll and honey glazed lappa burdock (牛蒡) roots which was worth trying indeed for its crunchy yet gluey texture!

Only reason I ordered the Fried Vegetables with Tree Seed (山蘇) was because of the Tree Seed which I had no idea what it was. Apparent it tasted just like many other simialr greens common used by Chinese.

Another first for me was the Baked Mullet Roe with Garlic Sprout (烏魚子) which was very salty and texture was like preserved ham. This delicacy is famous in Taiwan and the supply is decreasing due to the disputes of the sea boarder with neighbouring countries as well as failure in controlling the already depleting reserves.

Deep Fried Pork Intestine was not for everyone especially with the overly visible fatty layers. The outer layer was crunchy and the placement of the green onion inside the intestine was great, giving every bite a more balanced flavors. I skipped the pepper salt because I didn't want to dehydrate myself!

Double Boiled Chciken soup with Yunnan Ham, Bamboo Shoots and Bean Curd Roll was alright, no surprises. Flavors of soup can be more rich in my opinion.

Another not for everyone kind of dish, it was the Deep Fried Frog Leg with Fragrant Salt which I enjoyed very much. Tasted like chicken but it was too dry could have been more juicy I think.

Deep Fried Buns looked nice but they were too hollow inside and very dry as well even after dipping into the condensed milk.

I really think I have two stomachs because otherwise there was just no way I can fit so many food inside me! No more food for tonight because I was literally stuffed! But guess what, I went down to the Hotel Lounge area later that night to grab some fruits ... I think my digestive system is in pretty good shape :)

We actually went to bed quite early (with a full stomach of course) because we got to get out at 8am on Day 3! It was an outing event to Yiland 宜蘭 (an hour drive from Taipei) for lunch! Zzzzz ... time to sleep!

Day 1 >> Taipei March 2010 - Day 1 (Eat, Eat and ... Eat)
Day 2 >> Taipei March 2010 - Day 2 (More Food please ... )
Day 3 >> Taipei March 2010 - Day 3 (I have a 3rd Stomach!)
Day 4 >> Taipei March 2010 - Day 4 (More Food and Cuties Spotted!)

Day 1 + Day 2 + Day 3 + Day 4

- End of Day 2 -