'Roaming

Stockholm 'survival' guide

2011-11-20T01:36:00.000+01:00

I have to travel to Stockholm to attend to some important matters and now after the trip, before I forget all the details (and also to serve as reference to myself in future shall I visit Stockholm again), I just want to share what I experienced to help others make their travel plans. If you're looking for a back-packing style of travelling, please stop reading further and buy a Rough Guide. I've only been to Stockholm once for a short weekend, I am not an expert about the Stockholm; however, I do live in a more expensive Scandinavia city and has extensive travel experience, plus, it's my blog :p

First of, hotel. If you do not die of staying right in the middle of everything that happens in town, then consider just a few metro stations away from the city centre, definitely brings your money more worth of its value. I guess it's no mystery to many but Stockholm in particular is worth while to do so because the city is of a decent walking size. If you're not too unfit & the weather permits, you can plan your sight seeing trips without breaking your wallet by the areas - on foot. Most hotels in Stockholm include breakfast, which saves you quite some money unless your idea of breakfast is a croissant and coffee from 7-eleven ;) The one thing that is not common in Stockholm hotel is the coffee / tea making facility which is probably common in other places, so set the expectation right.

Now after selecting your hotel, how are you going to get into town from Arlanda airport (assuming you are flying to Arlanda)? Arlanda Express which costs 260SEK one way, takes 20 minutes to go into city centre and is the best option if you're travelling alone and press on time. If you travel on Saturday/Sunday or in summer, you only need to pay 280SEK for two person for a single journey. Plus, you can bring up to 4 children below 17 years old for free. And if you're only in Stockholm for a weekend, from Thursday/Friday until Satuday/Sunday of the same week, then get a weekend return ticket for 325SEK, you can also bring up to 4 children for free for the ride. Remember, if you do not stay right next to the Arlanda express station, you'll need to purchase tickets for use of public transport (unless you have the Stockhol card).

We travelled to Stockholm, arriving on Saturday & departing on Monday and decided to take a taxi directly to our hotel. Our taxi ride costs 495SEK fixed price from the company called 'Airport Cab', nice clean Mercedes with very good service. Taxi Stockholm / Taxi 020 charges 520SEK one way and you shouldn't pay anything more than that. If you pre-order a taxi, additional fee will incurred for the waiting & parking time. There are quite a number of 'private taxis' in Stockholm and there's no regulation about taxi fare, so watch out for 'black cab'. Taxi Stockholm, Taxi 020 (very yellow painted cars) & Taxi Kurir are the major taxi companies with compatible price and their service is also more trustworthy.

From the city to the airport, it should be cheaper (because there's no airport tax) and the fixed price taxi rate for Airport Cab is 390SEK. If you really can't find any Airport Cab, there are plenty of taxis in town that is more than willing to take you to the airport. However, remember this direction should always be cheaper than 520SEK, so negotiate the price and definitely get a final agreement on price before getting on taxi. We paid 450SEK from city centre to Arlanda airport. It is possible to take public train to the city from airport but it's not cheap, changes are required and the local train only travel nearly once an hour, not recommended.

So how are you going to move around in town? If you have purchase the Stockholm card, then you can disregard this section but if you haven't, then please read on. If you visit Stockholm in summer, I'd highly recommend walking. Stockholm is a good size walking friendly city. Plan the areas you want to visit by location, then you can easily save hundreds of Swedish kroners on public transport, plus you get a better overview of the city by walking.

Inevitably, at some point, you'd have to take public transport. A single ticket cost 36SEK and allows you to travel within zone1, which is pretty much everything interesting in Stockholm. If you have the need to travel more than a few times, you can purchase a 'pre-sale strip' of 16 zones at 200SEK for a total of 16 zones. A small note for the strip: minimum travelling zone is 2 zones; which means, even when you only travel within zone 1, the booth personnel will stamp two zones on your ticket. Even with that, 2 zones = 25SEK with the strip, you still save 9SEK each trip.

16-zone strip (on the left) and a single trip ticket (on the right)

Another option is of course to get a day pass, which save all the hassles but it doesn't really come cheap at 115SEK; a three day ticket is however more reasonably priced at 230SEK. Expect to pay 20SEK extra for the smart card and the cards are valid from the hour of first use. My advice? walk around, enjoy the beautiful scenery. All tickets can be purchased at booths / kiosks with the blue 'SL' flag. For more detail info, you can check out http://sl.se/en/Visitor/Tickets/Visitor-tickets/.

Stockholm is expensive but it doesn't mean you can't visit this beautiful city if you don't have loads of money. We tried not to spend a fortune but still end up with a bill that is equivalent to a week's vacation in the middle / eastern Europe for two, so watch out your wallet & plan wisely. Hopefully the info provided above helps on top of whatever researched you have found about Stockholm, and have a pleasant trip :)

Momofuku Noodle Bar

2011-09-11T17:15:00.111+02:00

I am a big big Momofuku fan, so much so that New York is chosen as a holiday vacation out many other interesting places in the States partly because Momofuku restaurants are there. I have a Momofuku cook book, still loving it; and have been trying to perform some David Chang experiments in my own kitchen with great success, so I have very high hopes in Momofuku Restaurants.

Not wanting to spend a fortune on the new Momofuku Ko, we decided to try the first Momofuku shop - The Noodle Bar. The noodle bar's original location is now Ko and Noodle Bar is moved to East Village, bigger space, more seats. We make it a point to visit Momofuku Noodle bar for a late lunch while we're in NY.

I must say the shop has a very subtle facade but having previously checked out the location on Google Earth, it's not a problem finding the location. Warm welcoming staff and a pretty occupied restaurant at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon seem like good signs to me :) We were lead to the bar seats, simple 'paper menu' are provided and specials of the day are written on chalk boards hanging on the walls.

Open kitchen so diner can see all the kitchen actions; simple decó, nice & bright; and the process flow of the restaurant is streamlined to perfection, I must say. The kitchen never have to worry about take away for it is being taken care of at the bar. Even the placement of the take away utensils are thoughtfully arranged in a way that benefits the process flow. One of the head staff is closely monitoring the output from kitchen, checking the 'performance'.

We ordered the 'must try' Momofuku pork bun as starter to share, Mr.T decided to try their signature ramen and while I want to put my taste bud to test on their Kimchi stew (did I forget to mention I LOVE kimchi?).

Our pork bun arrived after a short wait. My first impression of the bun was not good. The pork is too fatty and the colour doesn't look like it's been braised well. A bite into the bun brought even more disappointment. The pork is no doubt tender and the buns are steaming hot but the combination of pickled cucumber, hoisin sauce and spring onion which should accentuate the taste of the pork are just not working. The textures are there but the tastes are missing!

Soon after, my kimchi stew is delivered and the colour just looks so luring. Does the Kimchi stew taste as good as it looks? Nah, big NO NO. The attractive colours aside, the kimchi stew doesn't even taste much of kimchi. The only thing that taste of anything in this stew is the pickled daikon. Unfortunately the daikons are cut into such a big chunk, a few bites of the same bits is enough to push me to the limit of stop eating. Pork is still tender albeit tasteless. Did they forget to season the stew?

And then comes Mr.T's order of signature Momofuku ramen. Judging from his expression, he's not happy with the quality of his noodle either. Thinking it cannot be that bad, I tasted his noodle and reluctantly, I have to admit this is an absolutely bland noodle. The only part that taste good is when Mr.T broke the egg and the yolks blends into the soup. I'm sorry to say they seem to have the ability to suck all the tastes away from what should have been a very tasty bowl of noodle (considering how many ingredients are present in this bowl).

Three dishes tasting below par on a visit really makes me doubt Momofuku's reviews & ravings. It's either both Mr.T and my palettes are totally off than those of New Yorkers or something is really wrong with the Momofuku Noodle Bar the day we visit. I also suspect they're using MSGs because we are both very thirsty after dining at Momofuku.

After the trip, I log into Trip Advisor to leave a comment and was surprise to see that others who have visited the restaurant on the same day as we did had very good review about the restaurant. Having dining from street side stalls to Michelin restaurants, I do not think my taste buds (or Mr.T's for that matter) are made any much different than others; and although hard to believe but even as a Momofuku fan, I have to say Momofuku Noodle Bar is not delivering!!

I still refuse to believe this is the normal standard of Momofuku but I do believe they need some better quality control if this is what they are delivering daily to customers. For now, I'll just be a Momofuku cook book fan than the restaurant itself.

9/11 Memorial

2011-09-11T14:47:00.081+02:00

On 9/11, we woke up early (despite getting up at 3am in the middle of the night) and went for our complimentary breakfast at the diners below the hotel. The diner is totally filled to the brink but the turnover rate is fast, so we quickly got our seats. I love the fresh orange juice, saw half & half for the first time, tasted a bland American breakfast then to realize apparently seasoning are to be done by ourselves (unlike in Europe) and sipped a terribly thin American coffee. Mr.T love his American breakfast though.

We went back to the hotel after breakfast for a quick use of toilet and saw some helicopters hovering around the World Trade Center old sites. Did I forget to mention I'm in the same city as 2 presidents (President Obama & ex-President Bush), senators, governors, mayors and politically important 'big shots' of US? Suddenly I feel so much more privilege to be in the city.

Subway station that stops at WTC is closed off and every single exit is guarded by 2 policemen. Due to 10th year 'anniversary' of the 9/11 incident, the entrance to the memorial site is given to family members of the victims of the attack as priority and we tourists who failed to reserve the remaining limited tickets can only walk around the perimeters that are safely guarded by almost the entire state's police force.

The crowd walking outside the perimeter of WTC

Coming out from the subway station, we were merely walking blindly in the financial district, assured on the fact that the best force are in town maintaining the security and ensure the smooth progress of the memorial ceremony. Psssk, by the way, there was a bomb threat to the memorial day but the authority has been doing a good job screening every single van that fit description, so we feel pretty safe. We walked pass the patisserie that is said to serve the best financier, but we're too full for that, so a picture as memorial.

The best financier in town?

I just love the water towers on top of the buildings and the outside staircases, and can almost see Spiderman hoovering from one tower to another.

Nice police car

One of the replacement building for WTC under construction, from battery park.

The raging bull at Wall Street

Walking pass the financial district, we tried to be smart and decided to go against the flow and take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, which turns out to be a good decision because there's literally no queue. Passing through the Battery Park, seeing the flags designed using all 911 victims names left a rather heavy impression.

As the ferry leaves Manhattan, the city's beautiful skyline that is featured in so many movies appears in front of our eyes, I almost feel like I'm in a movie. Unfortunately the weather is cloudy and hazy, it'd would have been a great view with clear blue sky.

Arriving at the Liberty Island, special agents with heavy machine guns are stationed at the dock for extra security precaution. I wanted to take a picture of them but not sure if it'll cause any unnecessary trouble, so I give it a rest. Standing at the feet of the Statue of Liberty, I can finally proudly say 'I've been here!'

Manhattan from Liberty Island

Despite the warm weather on Manhattan, once we're on the Liberty Island, the constantly blowing wind actually brings down the temperature and make it rather chilly. We take a really slow pace to go around the island, skipping Ellis Island and head back to the Skyscraper's Museum. A small free museum, nothing to shout about.

I have planned for the day's lunch to be food truck lunch but on a weekend, food trucks are not so easily available at the financial district, so we head for the subway to the new Momofuku Noodle Bar in East Village. To find out what's going on in the restaurant that sweeps New Yorkers feet away, check out Momofuku Noodle Bar.

Food truck selling soft ice

One of my colleagues says the best way to enjoy New York is by walking on the street, seeing it and feeling it; I couldn't agree more. So after Momofuku, we walked from 14th street to 37th street, passing by some of the more iconic landmarks like the Flatiron building and part of Fifth Avenue.

Our wonderful plan is to go back to the hotel for a small pit stop and then head out again to hit the town, but alas, jet lag hit us. A supposed little nap prolonged to be a good night sleep, when we wake up again, it is 3am in the morning. Empire State Building is looking gorgeous from the window but the day is gone, argh!!! We vow to do better the next day.

New York - First Contact

2011-09-10T22:08:00.091+02:00

Finally, I set foot on the United States, and it's none other than the city that never sleeps - New York, hooray!!! My travelling time coincides with 9/11 10th year memorial, which is not intended. My brain stops working when I saw the word 'sales' on air ticket and forget about the extra security check that might be imposed during that period. Well, it turns out to be okay, nothing excessive in particular during our one week stay (except the day on 9/11 itself).

Hotel New Yorker that we stayed in

Mr.T booked us a suite on the top floor of a nice hotel and we were given a suite that not only boasts Empire States Building view (which is just a block away), but also has a Manhattan down town view and on a clear day, we can actually see the Statue of Liberty. We can't stop amazed at the suite's view throughout our stay during different times of days, good choice, Mr.T; and thanks for the stay :)

What did I say about the view? ;)

Getting to the city is easy as a breeze with the train and since we're staying at mid-town, the streets are very easy to navigate, so check in, drop baggage and done with. We then went out to Time Square to pick up our New York Pass, rubbing shoulders with people of all trades along the way and amazed at how common Spanish is in America's everyday life. Many times, I felt a deja-vu of seeing scenes from so many movies taken place in this very city. Mr.T has been doing 'research' by watching movies involving New York - Godzilla, US Marshall, King Kong, MIB etc., hence the influence...

Time Square

And then something 'magical' happens: Woodie, Elmo, the cookie monster suddenly appear on the street, how cute right? So I approach a Woodie and asked for a picture to realize the picture will cost ~USD1- 2, I was angry at myself for being naive forgetting about the realistic sides of this city. Well, that aside, we visited Hershey and M&M, saw some huge chocolates and also bought quite some amount of chocolates. Mr.T claims he didn't like the taste of Hershey (mainly due to the milk used) yet manage to eat 250g of my newly bought Hershey nougats!!

My 2USD shot with Woodie

Another shot of Time Square

Giant Hershey bar, real chocolate!

Tired, we decided to walk back to the hotel and take a rest. Along the way, a very special mini cup cake shop caught my eye, check out how beautiful the display is below. I cannot remember the shop name but there are plenty of mini cup cake stores in NY, be sure to treat yourself one.

These mini cup cakes cost a dollar each, not cheap for they are really small. After Mr.T and I munched down two, I realized I haven't take any picture and hence this is the last of it with vanilla frosting and cookie bear topping. They taste pretty good at their size, I think they'll be too sweet if they are normal sized cup cake.

The street was actually quite warm for a September day, around 26degreeC, we really appreciate the powerful air-conditioning in the hotel. After some discussion, we decided to sleep early tonight to try to gain energy for the days to come but before that, we of course have to had our first American dinner. TGI Friday is right across the street and so we went for it.

My first encounter with American servicing, the same waiter/waitress that waits you will be the one you settle the bill with, good to know. As for the food...it's very disappointing. Mr.T's burger was very dry, the fries are fried so many times that they are too hard to be consumed; the best part of my Jack Daniel sauce chicken & shrimp platter is actually the broccoli, the shrimp is half raw and the chicken is dry, the sauce was ok though.

And the most unwanted thing happen - jet lag. We automatically wakes up around 3am, wide awake, watching TVs, eating chocolates and taking picture from our room's wonderful view.

The jet lag goes on for a few more days but that aside, more on 9/11 day next.

A weekend in Amsterdam - 2

2011-08-28T21:54:00.000+02:00

Now one of the things about travelling with friends (to my limited knowledge of Asian friends), we NEVER sleep before 2am. And if it's a 'long lost' friend who's not been in close contact recently, then the sleeping time just gets delayed by staying up talking, card playing, trash talking and junk food eating (sometimes also some booze).

Being a grown up for some years now (working makes one feel old), I really miss those times and I am so glad we're on this trip because what that is lost in 'adulthood' is found again :) Having said that, it also means we have a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed in the morning. If not for the nice complimentary breakfast that stops serving at 9.30am, I don't think we'll get up before noon.

The day starts with a self-timer photo snap in the tram. It's a result of wide angle camera, good timing with the tram stopping time & lack of others to help to take picture. Where we sit in the picture, is OUR daily seat while in Amsterdam. Nobody seems to like to move all the way to the back of the tram so we happily take up the three seater. Any more horizontal growth from any one of us, we'd have to seek for alternatives. Well, luckily that day hasn't come.

Trio in tram

We went to Van Gogh Museum without any reservation and were of course scared off by the street long queue and move on to Rijkmuseum, which also has a queue but not as long. Walking through the front green area of the museum, passing by a big pool, we found a very happy dog chasing tennis ball thrown into the water by its owner. On a sunny day, everything seems so relaxing with laughter in the air.

Spotted the 'I amsterdam' sign that everybody is taking pictures with, we simply have no chance. So we took the alternative shoot on the reversed side, not bad huh? Gosh I wish I'm a few inches taller, I look like a fat midget in between.

Then comes Rijkmuseum, totally recommend it, especially if you're Rembrandt fan or admirer of Dutch impressionist. Some interesting stuffs besides the wonderful paintings as well, like the clock that seems to have a hidden man in it. Every 5 minutes, he'd wipe off the minute hand and draw a new one, neat!

Also these gorgeous hand made baskets from craftsmen in Canton region, the Dutch brought them back for trades to the nobles. Then I realized apparently photo taking is forbidden in Rijkmuseum, oopsss...

After a good 2 hours in the museum (if my legs are not tired, I can definitely stay longer), we skipped out to a nearby square and fell in love with this little red car, it's actually a 2 seater, how cute is that?

Not hungry but very thirsty, we found ourselves into Hard Rock Café. With canal view (outdoor seats are full in such beautiful day), a cocktail in hand, the best buffalo wings I've had in a long time and in best friends' company, life is great!

We got inspired by the water cycled boats while sipping our cocktail. So immediately afterwards, we 'trail' the water cycles to the rental place and took up a boat for an hour. If you think I'll be the lucky lady being chauffeured around by my dear friends, you couldn't be more wrong. I have to do a lot of pedalling & controlling, tough luck. The view from canal is nice, slightly different from street level, and we had a great laughter fun filled ride to remember (especially when we started out paddling in circle and hitting onto boat docking at the sides :p)

On the rare occasions that I'm being chauffeured, of course I have to document it with a picture :)

With tired legs, we walk around the city a bit more, bought some cheese, chocolates & liquorice (surprise, Dutch liquorice can be really nice too), and then pay a visit to a recommended coffee shop for a last hash experience. Do I like it? umm...I can hardly feel the hash's power and I really don't like the tobacco. Maybe we got the tourist dosage but I have better ways to keep myself calm & relax (say reading?) :)

Amsterdam is a nice decent size city to walk around exploring. Way pass dinner time, just few minutes before ordinary restaurant's last order time, we checked into a Japanese restaurant, ordered a load of food and feast ourselves. Strangely though, I don't feel full at all even though the food intake is way more than what I normally do. The effect of hash? my friend is convinced it is.

Remember I mentioned they have the intention to make me drunk? after our huge Japanese dinner, we went for a pint of beer at a nearby bar, listening to free open concern music. Part of the reason for the drink is also because the tram is filled with people at 11pm, so now we know the peak traffic hour in Amsterdam is 11pm ;). When the crowd started to reduce an hour later, we took off to our hotel and had 2 shots of tequila each (last order, so no more).

Did we go to bed afterwards? of course not. Remember the 2am rule? we manage to get up for breakfast the next day and then it's goodbye. It might seem like the most purpose-less and boring trip to others; but to use, it's one of the most memorable trip and I truly enjoy myself.

Our last self-timer picture

A weekend in Amsterdam

2011-08-21T20:35:00.001+02:00

I consider myself lucky to have my old college buddies also working in Europe, and as a by-product, we get to travel to places together. A short 2 weeks notice that goes 'hey, let's go to somewhere together this summer, a short weekend'; and we found ourselves on our ways to Amsterdam.

Our trip was not planned with detail itineraries, more of a 'see as we go' trip, not necessarily covering all essentials of Amsterdam but we had great great time. Honestly, I miss travelling with friends, not that Mr.T is not a good travel companion but being in old friends' company where I'm also comfortable with, is a precious experience.

We started walking around Rembrandt Square, scouting for the recommended Indonesian restaurant but to find that it's not open for lunch. So we had some Argentinian mixed grill with a bottle of red Argentinian wine instead. My friends set off with plans to make me drunk but one of them has even lower alcohol tolerance level than me, so he always ended up the one pulling the stop sign, so much for their ambition :)

After a satisfying meal, we went for a walk (in the drizzle) along one of the many canals, and then eventually switch to shopping street which leads to the palace. The weather is not our side, so we decided to take the tram back to hotel to take a pit stop. I've never try to take a metro yet but the tram is really really convenient and provides a good view on the street, no reason to skip the scenery, isn't it?

Well our supposed 'rest' turns out to be rounds & rounds of card games (winner gets to use the toilet first) and some internet surfing. The hotel room can accommodate 3 guests (2 on the double bed & 1 on the sofa bed), so we have more time to get 're-acquittance', talking from daily life to non-sense, and sharing old time jokes. Oh, I already miss the times!!

When it's getting late for dinner, we set off again to the recommended Indonesian restaurant - Indrapura, to try their infamous rice table. Apparently rice table is just the conventional way we eat rice back home, where lots of dishes were served to be shared among diners. Why Indonesian food? well, simply because there're so many Indonesian immigrant (Indonesia being an old Dutch colony and all) in Amsterdam, some of their restaurant is bound to be good.

We went for the spiciest option available, a bottle of rosé, and had a great 2hours dinner. Food is great and service is good. We started practising a bit of Malay/Indonesian with the waiter :) When asked about recommendation of coffee shop, he pointed us to one just around the corner from the restaurant, so we thought we'd give it a try some time during our stay.

Well, if you have been to Amsterdam, or have read about it somewhere, you'd probably know that coffee shop in Amsterdam sells more than just coffee, they sell weeds too. The only thing they cannot sell is alcohol, hence naming the shops as 'coffee shop' rightfully reflect their side products :). Magic mushrooms are also available, at 'souvenir shops' or 'smart shop'.

Instead of trying weed, we went to the red light district. Women dressed in skin revealing illuminating bikinis or luring under-gourmets poses themselves in front of glass windows. Curtains down, then business is on. I never know the price and my friends don't seem to be interested to try (maybe because I'm there?). The quality of the 'show women' differs, although most of them seems to posses silky smooth skin under the special lighting effect, and almost all of them have perfect figures, argh!!! I'm not sure if photography is permitted but I don't want to try my luck, so no photos to share.

After our round of 'window shopping', we caught the last tram back to hotel, feeling too tired to continue the day after having to get up at 4am in the morning (to catch the plane). And the next day is to be continued...

The Laundromat Café

2011-07-23T17:49:00.000+02:00

The laundromat café, as the name implies, is a café with self-service washing facility. It started out as a washing facility and then the café section's business is blooming so much that it has now become the major income of the 'café'. The seeding idea is to provide customer with good means of killing time while waiting for their laundry, plus food & drink. One stop location for stomach, chores and relaxing, very decent idea.

The café is crowned as the hippest laundromat in the world and boast the title of best brunch service from AOK (a Danish website on everything in Copenhagen from food to fashion and events) in 2007. There are two laundromat café in Copenhagen, Denmark and one of them is just around the corner from where I stayed. Sadly, after living at current address for more than a year, walking past it daily on my way to work, seeing the crowd flocking the café throughout seasons, I have never set foot on the café until recently.

One fine Sunday afternoon in summer, Mr.T and I visited the café, just to see what the fuss is all about. The outdoor seats are totally occupied, so we have to sit inside, which is not bad at all. Soft music playing in the background, a couple of table of guests minding their own stuff, reading one of the thousand books available, chatting and surfing internet.

Menu is placed near to the cashier, orders are to be placed by the counter and will be brought to your table, bills to be settled prior to leaving (or if you prefer, you can always pay up front). The café serves brunch until 4pm, and it's quite a good deal. One day I'd have to wake up late, go for a 3pm brunch and skip dinner ;) If you want something sweet to sink your tooth in the afternoon, there's no lack of option here too.

I love the environment there. There's nothing grand about it but the simple use of bright colour, books that are arranged in colour order and the random pictures/posters of the wall just make this place so comfortable, it's almost like sitting in my own living room (except with strangers). While waiting for food to be delivered, one look behind the counter and I found some games available: yatzi, card games, and even chest set. Never tried yatzi before and it was fun, even with just 2 people.

I wanted to try one of their more creative 'healthy' drinks so I went for the mango, elderflower and mint juice; and I like it. Mr.T ordered the elderflower in bottle but being a healthy café, their elderflower drink is not sweetened, and trust me, you don't want your elderflower drinks unsweetened; it taste funny.

We had dinner planned out so can only go for a lighter food, hence a portion of nachos to share. Comes with sour cream, guacamole, salsa and meat sauce. The cheese topping is definitely on the stingy side, I've seen much better ones and the sauces are, frankly, below average. The guy next table ordered a grilled sandwich and he seems to be enjoying it very much, maybe next time I ought to try the award winning brunch or the sandwich instead.

During our dining, playing, chatting session at the café, a foreigner came for the washing. To be honest, I was actually surprised, I thought the laundromats are more 'for show' than for use; but he changed some small coins with the cashier and started washing. Then I was thinking, maybe this is a place that ought to be recommended to tourists who needed to wash their laundry and yet sink into a nice environment with some food & drink, won't it be nice?

This place screams cool and score well on environment but the food? hmm...I think I have to try out the brunch to know for sure; but I'll be back again.

New Food Blog

2011-07-17T15:41:00.005+02:00

I've travelled to quite a number of places within the past months without any update to the posts: Tromsø, Monaco, Brussels, Lake Como... and I'm also struggling to maintain my blog's 'personality'. I'm trying not to make it looks like another food blog but my food enthusiasm and the increase amount of cooking I'm doing is really not helping, so I decided to create a new blog, solely focusing on food: kitchenblueprint.blogspot.com

Restaurant visits will remain on this post, together with my 'everyday' scribbles & travels; while all food related recipes (including cake) that I have experimented with, (be it a success or failure) will be published in the new food blog; partially also to ease my own archiving, don't want to live through the pain of searching for recipes from scratch again every time I wanted to cook something that I've tried before. Plus, the original recipe might not be a best fit case anyway and I don't want to miss out any more personal notes.

As for the older recipes that I have already published in this blog, hopefully, one day, I will manage to migrate all of them to the food blog, else, they'll just remain here to remind myself how I manage to lost control of maintaining a blog.

So then, here's an ambitious thinking to maintain 2 blogs from the lazy owner of one less than frequently updated blog. May god bless :)

Copenhagen Flooded

2011-07-03T17:58:00.001+02:00

Being born and raised in a tropical country, thunder storm is no stranger to me but here's something new. In midst of a fine summer day, the Danish weather forecast predicted 20mm of rain but heavy thunder storm with more than 150mm downpour in less than half an hour happened instead and turned Copenhagen into a 'canal-city'.

I was out visiting a colleague's place outside of Copenhagen and it was impossible to walk across the street without getting totally wet. I hopped from regional train to S-train, and then to bus, all without getting myself too wet (with a struggling to survive umbrella) but the final stretch home is the real killer.

Corners of the streets and road surfaces are over-flown with water because the drain system simply can't handle so much water at a time. It's not a pleasant feeling having to walk through pools of at least ankle depth water knowing that those are actually rain + drain water. And thanks to the wind, I'm half wet after a short 50m walk.

Compare to some motorist /cyclist, I guess getting soaking wet is not such bad situation. Some insurances don't cover water damage so aside from the inconveniences caused, there's also the money matters in account. The rain then followed by hail, Tivoli and Palads had to shut down with fear of electrical disturbance. Lighting, thunder and heavy rain is a bad bad situation for an amusement part.

Networks were down, a lot of house hold lost land line telephony, highways are shut down, traffic is heavily affected. It's not like the movie 2012 kind of disaster but it's enough to cause a lot of trouble for Copenhageners. Well, on a lighter side, Danes has a very literal way of naming such down pour. They called it skybrud, translate to cloud breaks; I find it cute (the name of course, not the situation) :)

Candy Megastore

2011-06-11T16:31:00.001+02:00

Having used to popping caramel popcorn in cinema in Malaysia, it was devastated when I realized there's only ordinary buttered salted popcorn in Denmark. Alas, after 3 years, there's a new shop in Strøget, the Candy Megastore that sells some American candies is selling caramel popcorn (with peanuts even) at DKK29, a must try for me...

I'll update the tasting review after I try it, need to pick a nice movie first ;)

The selection of American chocolates and candies / sweets are actually rather limited, but I spotted the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup that I like, that's DKK17 for 3 pieces of butter cup, quite pricy. Hershey kisses are also available but sadly, local department stores in Malaysia offer even more than Candy Megastore :p

So if you're dying for a caramel popcorn fix in Copenhagen but for any reason, can't do it on your own, then you know where to purchase it now ;)

Geranium

2011-05-18T22:07:00.003+02:00

Reservation at the world's best chef (Rasmus Kofoed)'s restaurant - Geranium, Copenhagen, is not easy. I put myself on waiting list for weeks (months ahead) and was finally called to be notified that there's availability in May. The restaurant only opens 4 evenings weekly, one seating, on 8th floor of a building next to Fælledpark in Copenhagen, providing a nice escape from normal daily norm and aerial view of the city.

We were greeted warmly by the hosts when the elevator reached 8th floor and were lead to a seating place in the lounge. As we were comfortable seated, two lovely looking snacks were served: the orange crispy carrot sphere with carrot mousse filling which is sweet and the texture brings out the taste of carrot, nice sensation; nonetheless, I fail to see the extraordinary part of the apple wrap, tasted to me just as ordinary thinly sliced green apple, the filling didn't leave lasting impression either.

As we were sipping our champagne (not complimentary, of course), we were given menu and the well informative host explained the selections in the menu. While studying the menu, a few platters (or stones :)) of finger food were served with the host explaining the finger snacks individually.

The only slight complain I have is the missing of wet towel / serviette, I'd like to wipe my fingers after picking up the finger food, something that they might want to add in future? Anyway, here's what we get:-

Crispy pig's ear with powdered mushroom

Potato chips with seaweed, surprise :)

Salted cheese sticks. Taste good on its own, double delicious with the cream cheese onion dip.

Cream cheese onion dip.

Pickled cucumber wrapped in gelatin, beautifully garnish.

Mr.T dipping cheese stick into the onion cream.

One of the things that I like dining in a fine restaurant (aside from good food & wine, attentive service & nice environment) is the little extra snacks or inter-course servings that sometimes served surprisingly, compliments of the kitchen. In Geranium's case, I'm absolutely pleased with the finger snacks quality. We were then guided to our round dining table. Seats are very comfortable, we got the couch seats and a small cushion pillow is thoughtfully placed right at our backs, comfy.

Soon, a humble looking egg starter is served. Opening the top cover reveals the egg to be caviar, served with crab meats and green strawberry. If you haven't try this combination, you've got to. It looks so simple, the ingredients are so straight forward, but the taste just exploded when you have a spoonful of all the ingredient in your mouth. Good start!

Next is the beautifully presented clear tomato juice, lemon thyme, wild flowers and gelled ham. I was so reluctant to destroy the beauty of the dish but as I dig in, the wonders of gelled ham really surprises me, in a very good way. Absolutely fantastic transformation of otherwise ordinary looking ham into a pleasant looking dish, disguise as gelled ham. Even the garnishing local flowers has its own function of bringing out the taste of the dish, nicely done.

The next dish is asparagus beer with its accompanying dish of smoke cream cheese and verbena. I'm not a big fan of beer so Mr.T had the share of what's mine as well. The asparagus dish with cream cheese is very good, I almost want to lick off the plate. Sweet freshness of green asparagus topped with verbena is perfectly paired with the slightly salty smoky smoke cheese.

We were then served the first juice from the pairing juice menu - green apple, cucumber & celery juice; no artificial sweetener / fragrant, just pure refreshing juice. The accompanying dish is the wizardly 'Summer of Feelings' - salted mackerel, dill and horse radish. Dill is grind into fine powders and cooled at extreme cold temperature with liquid nitrogen, and thus releasing the dreamy fogs. The mackerel tastes like a top cut of sashimi despite being salted, I have no idea what the black stuff is but everything just taste so good when combined together, my favourite dish of the evening!

Then comes the dish that pays its tribute to wheat - mini buttermilk wheat bread with sunflower seed. The pipping hot mini bread smells so good; taste even better when dipped with the onion butter cream. The onion butter cream is part 1 of 'Onion & Grain' dish with accompanying juice that's apple based but I can't recall what else, too many new things to remember in a single meal >.<

Snap shot of kitchen with Rasmus Kofoed

Part2 of 'Onion & Grain' is a mixture of charred spring onion, pickled red onion, pearl onion, and other onion associates served on bed of salted cheese. The dish was served half complete & the waiter add the final touch of the dish by pouring the wonderful cream sauce on the other half of the plate. The onions are simple to my opinion (not knowing how much work to prepare them in the kitchen) but the sauce is so wonderful that I wish I can lick off the plate, again.

Lightly smoked peas with lovage covered in new potato soup, topped with potato crisps is served next with an accompanying drink that is light in flavour, also apple based but I cannot remember the ingredient :s. To me this is one of the more ordinary dish, nothing spectacular but just simple execution and presentation.

We were then served sprouts of cabbage stalks, langoustine (Norway lobster) and rhubarb. The langoustine head where it usually contains the orange looking paste like compound (I have no idea what it's called in English but in Chinese we named it 膏) is transformed into drops of orange pastes, the langoustine was grilled to perfection, and the foamy sauce brings out the taste of sea, wonderfully executed on the overall presentation, the only down side is that it's too salty to my taste but yet it goes perfectly with the pairing light pink rhubarb juice.

A closer shot of the langoustine

Beautiful colour palette of some of the juices

At this point, despite the small serving portion, because every dish is served slowly, our stomach is reminding us that it's approaching it's dinner limit. Soon after the thought pop up, an intriguingly good wood burning smell grew stronger in the air, following the waiter serving pieces of chicken wing (de-boned) with burnt pine wood. Instead of serving the chicken, they were just left on the table while the pine woods continue to emit wonderful fruity burning scents.

While we're still intrigued, the waiter appear again with serving plate portioned with morels, truffles and mixed mushrooms. The chicken was then transferred to the serving plate and viola. Morels were perfectly done, mushrooms are delicious with the sauce, but...but, I can hardly taste the truffles despite the generous slices and the chicken is too salty, again. This time we have the sweet sour juice to pair and didn't really take away the salty edge, sorry Rasmus.

After the main course, we were served the cold palette cleanser: elderflower soda with carrot pearls. Now, in order for food to be presented / served best, a good tool investment is a must. The container keeps the elderflower soda chilled throughout the whole time; the sour sting of elderflower soda and the refreshing carrot pearl is a really good palette cleanser, no doubt.

And then we were served the first dessert, synthetic strawberry with rose-hip & yoghurt, cold dish. Yoghurt made into ice-cream, rose-hip sorbet and also iced rose-hip dusted with powdered sugar plus the synthetic strawberry. Rose-hip sorbet tasted 'neutral' but gives the extra texture, yoghurt ice cream is slightly sweet & the synthetic strawberry is made to be slightly sour yet with absolute taste of a fresh strawberry. How and why, one may ask. I have no idea how but why go through all the effort to make it synthetic? I think a reasonable answer could be...

Strawberry taste alters from fruit to fruit individually but if you make a synthetic strawberry, deciding to the decimal millilitre / milligram of each component, then the taste (how sour, how sweet) is under the chef's absolute full control. I declare this kitchen is run by perfectionist! Not to forget the pairing juice, a beautifully bright red rose-hip & apple juice, very very nice.

Finally, we have come to our last course. Pairing with the pear cider (still with a bit of apple base), is the milk in mysterious way. Milk cake, milk ice-cream, drained milk, sour milk, caramelized milk and dried milk on bed of milk jelly with tonka beans. Too bad I didn't zoom in, the small flakes, those are dried milk, I'm pleasantly surprised that milk can be made into flakes. They were 'shaked' out of a milk box, I'd call it the new 'milk-shake'. Despite the excitement of seeing different types of milk presentation, the dessert does it job to end a very very pleasant meal but it's not to the extend of great. I know I might not be fair to the preparation work going behind this milk dessert but taste buds don't lie. I'd like the cake to be fluffier and perhaps removed the sour milk, I like my dessert traditionally sweet, but that's just me :)

So, when I was thinking of getting the bill, Mr.T has the urge to go for coffee. Geranium only served French pressed coffee, freshly made, of course. Three bean choices, Søren recommended the more full body rich Columbian coffee but we went for the rounded Ethiopian coffee instead. We were lead out of the dining room, back into the lounge where the coffee is then served with complimentary caramel chocolate ball dusted with pine powders. Normally I'm crazy for chocolate but, sorry, not this one, really sorry, it tastes too weird for me.

All in all, it's a wonderful eye opening experience in a nicely set environment with best in class service. Our dinner cost DKK4000 in total, definitely on the steep side. Is it worth it? Yes. Will I dine there again? Most probably, on special occasions & with different menu. I must give compliment to their overall presentation, not just when the dishes are served but even when we started to eat or 'dig into' the dishes, the presentation & composition still remain nice if the 'guide' to try have a little bit of everything in every bite is followed. I cannot remember how many times I stopped to ponder at the beauty of the dish half way through eating :)

So if you're in Copenhagen looking for a quality assured restaurant and don't mind the high price, Geranium is one of the best option. Bon Appetite!

Kate & William

2011-04-29T15:18:00.000+02:00

If there's anyone out there who doesn't know Kate & William (Prince William & Catherine Middleton), they must be living under the rock. The prince who shared a lot of media spot light together with his well celebrated mother, the late Princess Diana, lives his life under close observation from media and public and has find his soul mate - Catherine Middleton and has decided to tie the knots together in a holy matrimony.

Bride's arrival at West Minster Abbey

Bride and her father, Michael Middleton

The wedding venue

Their engagement announcement only escalated the news coverage, TV reports, magazine pictures, advertisements, and gossip magazines articles about the couple, which in turn boosts the couple and also the British Royal family's image & publicity in public. I'm not a huge fan of British royal family but I have to admit Prince Williams & Kate Middleton makes a lovely couple. One of the Danish magazine named Kate as the new-age Diana, only stronger, smarter & prettier :)

Watching the hour long wedding ceremony of probably the most celebrated couple possibly throughout the British Royal history brings back font memories of the old days for some, I'm sure. Looking at British royal family gather together with prestigious guests, such formal event, I'm not sure I'd enjoy it if I were Kate but I guess it's part of the 'deal' of marrying a prince :)

The Queen and her husband (plus other royal family members)

Prince Charles, Camille and Prince Harry

The Royal wedding certainly brings more benefits to just the royal family. Fashion designers, hotelier, caterer, media, and even small merchants selling souvenirs sure benefit a lot from this wedding. It's a shear pleasure to watch men in official outfits, finely dressed ladies (duchess, countess) with their posh designer clothing, special tailored shoes, matching handbags and accessories, and of course, the large & elaborative hats ladies used to wear in old times.

Look at the magnitude of photographing of the wedding

And the crowd goes wild

So in the high spirit of celebration, sharing in the joy of the their union, a sincere wish to the newly wed royal couple, Happily Ever After!!! *with a side note to Prince William: do not follow Charles' foot step ;)

Punctuation

2011-01-30T12:25:00.000+01:00

The topic about language and punctuation came up during a brunch session with friends. She has two children at 11 and 7 studying in Danish public school. On a side note: personally, I don't think Danish public school possess high education quality, I was surprised to discover that there's no nation wide examination to determine the academic results of the students at all!

Of course nationwide exam is not the single guideline to having a good public school but how do further higher education organizations determine the standards of the student before entering college or university? Is there no common baseline? It all puzzles me.

Anyway, recently, it is to my friend's great shock to discover that apparently punctuation usage has been changed creatively to an absolute wrong direction, for example:-

Teacher in school wrote this:-
"Dear parents! We are hosting an event in school! Please join us in this wonderful event!"

or a text message between parents:-
"Hi! I assume you'll be picking up the kids! Just want to confirm with you! Have a nice day!"

Notice all the exclamation marks? Since when does exclamation marks replace full stop in a sentence? Fundamental mistake such as this, especially if it's made by a school teacher, is really worrying. What is becoming to the next generation? Punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. I sincerely hope that these are just handful isolated cases of ignorance or human error.

Language is constantly evolving but if the basic fundamental is changing (for better or worse) without synchronization or consensus from other users, what will become of the language in future? If full stop is going to be 'replaced' by exclamation mark, I'm afraid my world will be very different too.

Korean BBQ Pork

2011-01-17T18:09:00.000+01:00

Korean BBQ pork / Daeji Bulgogi

450g thinly sliced pork

3 tbsp soy say

2 tbsp minced garlic

½ tbsp freshly minced ginger

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chilli pepper paste)

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp cooking oil (for pan frying)

Korean BBQ Pork

Instructions:-

1. Combine all the ingredients except pork and cooking oil, stir well to make marinating base.

2. Add pork and marinate for 30 - 60 minutes. I guess overnight marinate won't harm but it's not necessary.

3. Turn heat to high and add cooking oil. When it's nearly smoky, add marinated pork and stir fry until cooked. I like mine a little charred, so I tend to keep the heat high and stir the pork around.

4. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds (or green onion) for garnish. Served with steamed rice.

Note: The recipe also tastes very good with chicken

Ever since I introduce this pork in my cooking, I find myself cooking it on a rather frequent basis. The taste lingers in my mind all the time. A very versatile recipe and one of the best home cook pork dish that can be ready in less than 5 minutes (minus the marinating time) which is perfect for weekday dinner meal; definitely a keeper :)

Mozzarella Carrozza with Bacon & Tomato

2010-12-07T13:16:00.000+01:00

A foggy winter Saturday morning calls for heart warming comfort food. Recently I lost control over the desire of cheese purchase creating a reservoir of cheese in the fridge. What's better than to put the two together to create a heart warming cheesy easy lunch? Hence the mozzarella carrozza with bacon and tomato.

Ingredients:-
4 slices white bread
4 slices of pre-cut mozzarella cheese or fist-sized ball mozzarella, cut into approximately ¼-inch (0.6cm) slices, then strips (season with a pinch of salt & pepper)
4 strips of bacon slices
1 medium tomato120ml (½ cup) milk
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
oil for frying (I used what's been 'released' from the bacon)

1. Pan fried bacon until golden brown and crispy. Retain oil for later use.
2. Cut tomato into thin slices, set aside.
3. Make sandwiches out of the bread and mozzarella, I layered it by 'bread-mozzarella-tomato-bacon-mozzarella-bread' sequence.
4. Leave a little margin around the edges unfilled with cheese, and press the edges together with fingers to help seal.
5. Pour the milk into a shallow plate, the flour into another, and beat the egg with salt and pepper in another.
6. Warm the bacon fat in the frying pan over medium heat. Dunk the sandwiches briefly, 1 by 1, in the milk, then dredge in the flour, then dip in the beaten egg.
7. Fry in hot oil on each side until crisp and golden and remove to serving plate. Cut in half and serve.

Macau

2010-11-19T01:14:00.116+01:00

While in Hong Kong, why not take the liberty to cross the sea to the nearby Macau, a city that's so close to Hong Kong yet so different from the British colonial city and its mother land - China. A side note if you shall decide to do that: entry form to Hong Kong needs to be returned at the harbour upon departing to Macau, and a new form needs to be signed to enter Hong Kong again. For an hour boat trip, estimate about 30minutes of queueing time if you're unlucky.

As an ex-Portuguese colonial, Macau's street names retained its Portuguese names and manage to keep the charm of Portuguese influenced in some buildings; culture and food are heavily Portuguese influenced, which in a more subtle way, contrast its metropolitan cousin - Hong Kong. Contrasting to Hong Kong's octopus like metro line, Macau is a small city that relies entirely on buses as public transport, but no metro.

Lisbao and some other 'historical' buildings in Macau

Moon boots in Macau, is it really necessary?

A man on a bench in a wonderfully tiled small park

A walk down Largo de Senada, it's not hard to find that even Macau has changed its paced towards a commercialized city, chain shops everywhere. We dined at a noodle shop that is originated from Mace (which then turned famous in Hong Kong as well) but you can get the same quality even in HK airport, thanks to globalization. Not that it's not good, but nothing is so uniquely Macau any more.

I had most fun walking in a maze like small streets behind the main high street (wanted to avoid the many souvenir shops that are selling pork jerky or Portuguese tart or the many other cookies / souvenirs). A few turns and often an area of tranquillity with buildings of different architecture is found. For example, the late Lou Lim Ioc, a prominent rich merchant in Macau's residence. Beautifully carved wood panels of the house with 2 different carving patterns on both sides shows the highly skilled wood craft in the older days and of course, a way to declare the rich and powerful's status.

If there's one thing that cannot be missed in Macau, it must be it's iconic Sao Paulo ruin (Ruins of St. Paul's). Facing flocks of tourists wanting a portrait with this magnificent façade as back drop, I resort to the side which actually offers a nice view :). Musuem of Macau is right next to the ruin, on top of a hill though, together with Fort de Monte. If you don't have good legs, there's elevator service (typically for older people and disabled) :p

Wanted to flee away from the heat (even in end November, it is still very hot in Macau) and the noisy tourists (I'm also a tourist, but less noisy than a flock :p), we then marched on to Lou Lim Ioc Garden. On our way, I stopped for a very refreshing drink - jasmine tea with apple infused flavour, still miss it; and also provided direction to another tourist. I wonder why he needs direction because there's practically a city map at every junction of the city, not that I'm not glad to help though :)

Unlike other gardens in Macau, Lou Lim Ioc Garden features pavilions, terraces, lakes, zig zag bridges, rocks and cascades, reminiscent of the classic ShuZhou garden. I saw the garden first time in one of the Amazing Race episode and remembered it since :) All elements in this garden are skilfully arranged and it is perfect for a relax or tranquillity retreat. However, this government owned garden seems a bit under maintained, nevertheless, it's a pleasant afternoon walk for sure.

Casino business is the core of economy in Macau. Lisbao being the first and longest established casino plus all the other smaller casinos was supporting the gambling life of hundreds of thousands of gambler annually; recently the big boys from Vegas join in the fun and build the world's largest casino - The Venetian in Macau; sorry cowboys :p

I'm absolutely amazed that they manage to mock up scenes from Venice and built 3 canals on the second floor of the building. If the old town city centre of Macau boasts culture, this very huge establishment screams luxury. Venetian Macau also contains some of the jaw dropping luxury shops-- Frank Muller watch, anyone? only around the range of Millions :)

Most of the gambling tools are computerized now. I was dying to try my hands on the slot machine but it's so sophisticated that a hardware engineer plus a software engineer couldn't figure out. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop me from winning 60HKD (oh...Macau Pataca is not accepted in casinos in Macau, ironically), don't ask me how, I just press some buttons.

If you didn't manage to find Margaret's Portuguese tart near Largo de Senada, her ex-husband's establishment opens up a branch in the Venetian as well. Not as good as a pipping hot tart from the oven but still much better than those on the streets leading to St. Pauls ruins :)

Well, that concludes my one day Macau trip. To be honest, if I were to go to HK again, I won't take the trouble to go through custom just to get to Macau, there's too much excitement in HK!!

HK Special - Private Kitchen 'Da Ping Huo'

2010-11-16T13:12:00.277+01:00

Private kitchen dining is one of Hong Kong's best kept secret for years until the rave review and excessive promotion from movies and bloggers unconcealed the covert dining secret. Private kitchens that were only known among old customers are now being published as a list on websites and I chose the fiery Szechuan private dining which is also on Michelin Bob Gourmet list - Da Ping Huo (大平伙), which literally means everyone, regardless status, sit and dine together.

Owner Wang Hai (an artist / painter) and wife Wong Siu King (chef / Chinese opera singer) moved to Hong Kong in 1980s and every Saturday night, they invited friends over for traditional Szechuan home cooking. Eventually more & more guests were coming that they simply have to add tables and extend the 'serving hours'. Now, a spacious basement for approximately 30 people is open for dinner, two sessions each night (6.30pm & 9pm), fixed 12 course menu and only accept cash payment (actually payment has to be made up front but they made exception for tourists like me), drinks at extra costs.

Even though I know exactly which street to go to, it still took some minutes to find the 'hole in a wall' entrance. The door was not open 10minutes before the serving time (of course, they need time to clean off the previous session) which makes it a bit difficult to spot the house number ;)

While we still have some minutes before the dinner is ready, the kind waiter took a couple of pictures of the two far travelling hungry tourists. Our 9pm session was out-ratio by foreigners (Expats in Hong Kong), 6 locals and 15 foreigners (me included, of course). We were sharing table with an expat and his visiting girlfriend from US, lovely couple. Oh, and we were definitely the most 'under-dress' people in the whole restaurant :p

Before serving, Mr.Wang explained to us that the dishes will be served with spicy & non-spicy Szechuan food alternately to revive the taste bud if the spiciness is a bit over the top. And if the fiery hot dishes are not spicy enough for our taste, they can always 'level up' the spiciness :) Soon we were serve with 2 appetizers:- chilled julienne pickled cucumber 糖醋香瓜 and spicy Szechuan salad 凉拌三丝.

chilled julienne pickled cucumber 糖醋香瓜

spicy Szechuan salad 凉拌三丝

Just when we thought we can well handle the spiciness, came spicy bean sheets with soy nuts and spring onion 酸辣粉皮. The translucent bean sheet (sort of glass noodle texture, more chewy) is slightly chilled, soaked up the delicious sauce, very spicy but the cold noodle brings out the contrast of the spiciness topped with the crunchiness of the nuts and a bit of the 'stinginess' of spring onion, definitely one of my favourite dish.

spicy bean sheets with soy nuts and spring onion 酸辣粉皮

After washing the spicy/non-spicy starters down with some sweet sugar cane juice, up next is the famous 'Mouth Watering Chicken 口水雞' - braised chicken in Szechuan spices and chilli oil topped with sesame seed and peanut. The chicken is served traditionally cold with skin on and bone in. Texture of the chicken is really smooth and the sauce is wonderfully seasoned, well balanced spiced and really mouth-watering :) Mr.T's 'chopstick' skill that night is not perfect when he dropped a chicken piece and splashed my t-shirt with chilli sauces!!!

braised chicken in Szechuan spices and chilli oil 口水鸡

To sooth our gradually numbing tongue, we were then served with a non-spicy mushroom white cabbage and minced chicken soup 雞豆花. I find the taste a bit too subtle compare to the strong spicy dishes we had before, which is intentional but not one of my favourite.

mushroom white cabbage and minced chicken soup 雞豆花

Keeping up with the alternating balance in dishes, stewed beef brisket in spicy gravy 水煮牛肉 was served. We were warned by the owner that this dish is super spicy and that he has extra rice and water standby for top-up if we find the dish too spicy. I actually think the bean sheet & the smooth chicken were much spicier than this in a different way (unless one bites into one of those chilli pepper in the beef dish, then it's a different story :p). The beef is braised to perfect tenderness and the gravy was irresistibly delicious than I was drinking it straight from the bowl. The owner was really impressed with the spiciness tolerance, but hey, I'm a Malaysian, we can eat spicy food :D

stewed beef brisket in spicy gravy 水煮牛肉

While I'm busy enjoying the beef, Mr.Wang served us the Szechuan spices marinated prawn 川味泡椒蝦. I don't find it memorably in any way especially when served together with the beef brisket. And the prawn shells are tricky when we're only given chopstick. I can't even be sure if it's supposed to be spicy or not, too bad.

Szechuan spices marinated prawn 川味泡椒蝦

Steam sticky rice with pork rib and pumpkin 粉蒸南瓜排骨 is up next, giving us some rest from the spicy dishes. The pumpkin was a really nice touch but I found some small bone pieces in the sticky rice, not a very pleasant experience when it nearly broke my tooth and the taste was just so-so.

After a sort break for the tongue, classic Szechuan dish, tofu in spicy chilli sauce - Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 was served. At this point, I change my comment about the bean sheet or chicken being the spiciest because the tofu just blow my tongue away. It is so out of the world spicy and when you thought your tongue is too numbed to taste anything, the wonderful flavours of the sauce well soaked into tofu creeps back to your mouth. Eating this dish is like taking drug. Suicidally spicy and yet I can't stop eating it. The minute I put down my chopstick, my mind is savouring the taste, commanding my hand to pick up the next tofu again...

Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐

Mr.Wang then served us a soothing vegetable soup 蔬菜汤 (I stopped him from clearing the tofu away) and immediately after bringing my tongue back to life, I resume eating the remaining tofu even though my stomach is screaming to explode. The soup was yet another not so memorably taste ones but it comes at the right time to temper the palate :)

vegetable soup 蔬菜汤

Just when I thought we're going for dessert (I lost count of the dishes at some point), two home made dumpling in spicy sauce 成都水饺 was served in a small bowl. The dumplings had thicker skins than Shanghai's dumplings, hence preserving the subtle taste of seasoned minced pork inside while contrasting the spicy dressing outside. I never like thick skin dumpling, but I like this.

dumpling in spicy sauce 成都水饺

Dessert is a Da Ping Huo special - varied textures of sweetened beancurd with white fingus, atapchi (palm seed), water chestnut and Chinese pear 马蹄雪耳香梨豆花, slightly on the sweet side but oh so refreshing. It might not fit everyone's taste for its slightly slimy texture but I could easily eat a few more bowls if I'm not already too full to even breath. While working through the wonderful dessert, the couple (owner, of course) appears at the table and invites guests to stick around for one final hospitality.

Da Ping Huo special dessert

Being a former Chinese opera singer, our chef of the night presented us a high pitch Szechuan classical opera song. I was surprise to hear so much power and volume from a small size lady like our lady chef here, the voice echoes the basement for quite sometime. Not exactly my cup of tea but I highly appreciate the sincerity and effort.

Dining at a private kitchen is a highly recommended must try experience. Not knowing the menu up front might not pleased some with special dietary but definitely brings out the element of surprise and anticipation, and in some way, 'spiced-up' the dinner. The serving portion in Da Ping Huo is generous, so if you're going there, don't eat anything up to 4 hours before and enjoy ;)

Da Ping Huo (map)
L/G 49 Hollywood Rd.
Central, Hong Kong
+852 2559 1317

Hong Kong - 3

2010-11-16T10:42:00.090+01:00

A trip to Hong Kong will not be complete without a dim sum treat. On the third day of this trip, we took the tram (I've developed a serious fond for the tram by now) from our hotel to Central again for a quest to search for the authentic dim sum restaurant - Luk Yu Restaurant.

Hong Kong dim sum place is known for its packed crowd and patrons needs to posses skill to spot potentially leaving customers to secure a seat and to put on the invisible wall to shield you & your company from the rest of the strangers who are sharing the same table while in the mean time trying your best grabbing skill to grab one or two of the freshly make dim sum from kitchen yourself.

I find the busy, loud and fast moving environment in Hong Kong a bit intimidating and are really not keen on having a pushy dim sum experience, hence chosen Luk Yu Tea House, known as one of the best tea house in Hong Kong. It's featured in quite a lot Hong Kong movies and a business man was shot to death at point-blank range in 2002 by a hired gunman while having breakfast in Luk Yu!!!

The dim sum comes at very slow pace, basically you have to stick your neck out to see one of the serving ladies with traditional tray walking down the stairs to check on what's freshly made from the kitchen. They'll usually yell out the dish name but if Cantonese is not your strong field, then place order with the waiter serving tea. He'll deliver your order to table when it's available.

We had 5 different dim sum: deep fried, braised, steam and the bun. I'm so disappointed to find such famed tea house to produce dim sum at a quality that's worse than a lot of Penang's local dim sum (or the ones in Copenhagen); and they cost at least 30% more expensive than the one-star Michelin dim sum restaurant - Tim Hou Wan. The restaurant environment is nice but I'd definitely advice against going there for a dim sum experience unless you're only interested in the architecture and willing settle the rest for it.

Finishing dim sum, we took a long ride to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau island. Super long ticket queue (we didn't make reservation up front, mistake, mistake) and a 25 minutes cable car ride brings us to the foot of the Buddha where an artificial Chinese village is built to cater for tourists' eating, drinking & shopping demand.

Massive queue

Forget if you should look left or right? not a problem in HK.

The Buddha statue is magnificent but that's about it. Not that the tourist village is not nice, in fact, there're some personnels scattered around the village helping tourist with info or photo taking, which I find very nice. Nevertheless, I'd rather have the feeling of venturing into a world of tranquillity with a big Buddha and a quiet temple than walking into a hustle bustle tourist oriented souvenir town.

On our way down from the hill top, we were seated in a cable car with 4 other Hong Kong women who were talking about their travelling trips to various places in China. 25minutes is a long time and we soon become interesting subject when they ran out of topic...I ended up engaging in a conversation with them, nice aunties, just a bit too chatty. We almost ran off the cable car when it finally reach the terminal :s

Noticed a lot of shoppers in Hong Kong who are spending big money are from mainland China. Expensive watch, designer cloths, famous brands / outlets, where do all the money come from? ;) Bought some shirts, went back to hotel for a rest and awaits the night where we will experience for the first time, Hong Kong's unique private kitchen dining. Next blog!

Yung Kee Restaurant 香港鏞記酒家

2010-11-15T10:44:00.105+01:00

Months before I started my Hong Kong trip, I've been browsing Open Rice for restaurant reviews and checking out the Hong Kong Michelin guide. A restaurant stood out amongst others for its consistency in high quality roast goose and also bears a Michelin star - Yung Kee Restaurant 香港镛记酒家.

Yung Kee restaurant

Yung Kee's roast / braised poultry on display shelf

This 4-storey restaurant which is located in the busy central area, even on weekday, can only cater for the two of us after 9pm for dinner. We were directed to the third floor. According to the local reviews, the higher the floor, the better the service, not sure how true that is. The golden shimmering decorations are not really my cup of tea but that's not why I'm in Yung Kee :)

Tea for two at HKD22 per person, a bit pricy for Hong Kong, but then again, for a Michelin, that's probably about right. It certainly cost much more in Copenhagen than in YungKee, perhaps I should be thankful (or not) that Copenhagen's high living standard trains me to be numb with high price ;)

Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, who reviewed the restaurant recommended the runny yolk century egg 皮蛋酸姜, I just have to try it. A single portion is only half an egg, but cost HKD8.50. The egg is good but the real magic is the combination with the pickle ginger. Never thought a century egg can bring so much sensation to taste bud, definitely worth eating even if it's twice the price.

Filled restaurant at 9.30pm on a weekday

I slowly studied the menu (the waiter had to come back for the third time to get my order), picked the 3 most desired dish out of the hundreds that I'd like to try:- signature roast goose (regular portion) 金牌燒鵝 , pak choy with braised enoki mushroom & deep fried eel with brown sauce 燒汁爆鱔球.

Roast goose, HKD140 for normal portion

Roast goose from another angle

To be honest, I think 3 dishes is a bit too much for the two of us, but I just can't stop eating. The roast goose is extremely tender, juicy and so flavourful that one bite will trigger the desire for more. The goose is a bit on the fat side but that's what make it taste so good, imagine the goose roasting in its on fat, yumm...

Bak choy with braised enoki mushroom, HKD88

Deep fried eel with brown sauce, HKD128

The vegetable dish was served next; mild yet flavourful and compliments the roast goose very well. As we thought this Cantonese culinary experience can't go any further, an absolutely unforgettable deep fried eel with brown sauce was served. Eel is definitely fresh, even when deep fried, the rich creamy texture didn't degrade. Glazed with special brown sauce (definitely with some sugar in it), served on a bed of spring onion, onion and chilli shreds, I can eat this dish everyday!

The only downside with this restaurant is their air-conditioning; there's certainly no worry about getting too warm in there and it's so strong that food gets cold at a faster rate than usual. Lucky for them, the food taste good even when they're no longer warm. As we dig our heads through the wonderful dishes, we found gem under the roast goose - a bed of braised peanut and the juice that the peanuts soaked in made them taste so wonderful.

smug look of Mr.T

I missed my third chopstick pick of peanut. Mr.T laughed at me and demonstrated his chopstick talent in picking up the peanuts successfully five times consecutively. For the next few hours, he's been soaked in the happiness of beating me in chopstick skill and displaying this smug look :s

Hong Kong - 2

2010-11-15T01:26:00.214+01:00

Never very good at being an 'early bird' tourist, I woke up at around 10am on my second day in Hong Kong. Since there's no time constraint, we decided to take the double decker tram. For a mere HKD2 regardless distance, it's definitely a must try experience. Cruising through the busy city on a nearly 130years old track in one of the individually colourful decorated (with advertisement) tram body, enjoying the breeze, feels very relax compare to taking MTR.

Ding-ding

I enjoyed the ding-ding ride very much, gives a very good view of HK's daily life while cruising through the busy streets. The only disadvantage is that there's no notification on which stop the tram stops, so it's all up to your own building recognition skill ;) Then again, the tram stops are very close to one another (hence the long tram ride) at about 250m interval. Missed one? no problem, just walk a bit.

What can be done when there's no customer? cutting vegetable, apparently :s

Stopped somewhere in central, good thing about HK, the streets are never too long or too difficult to find (unlike Macau) if you have a map. Walking the small steps up Pottinger street with small stalls on both sides and seeing a couple's pre-wedding photo shoot, makes me feel like I'm living the life of TVB drama series character's.

Arriving at Tsui Wah, loud, bold, wildly popular and perhaps Hong Kong's busiest quick service chain restaurant to try its famous food and also blend into the local dining scene. Were there slightly before lunch, but the restaurant is already starting to fill up. Quick menu browsing, quick order, quick serving and I had a very nice bowl of rice noodle with special made fish ball & fish cake (潮州魚蛋片頭米粉), tasted their famous silky milk tea and the butter condensed milk toast bun (奶油豬仔包).

It didn't take long before we were requested to share our small table with 2 more diners during peak lunch hour. It's interesting when one can totally understand the conversation of the other party yet behave like they absolutely didn't exist. I think it's a skill developed over long time of table sharing culture. Well, at least it's an efficient way of utilizing the restaurant's free seats and reducing patrons waiting time by sacrificing 'just a little' privacy ;) We then move on to our wonderful walking tour suggested by HK Tourism Board with a little adjustment.

a small park with little green, very art nouveau

Passing through the busy business district, we took the mid-level escalators up to Staunton Street and the SoHo district. Watch out for one of the MTR discount counter, simply scan your Octopus card and get a HKD2 instant rebate when you take your next MTR ride. The ride offers excellent view of buildings alongside and any time you wish, just jump off one of the side street to experience some local food stall or watch some local trade being carried out.

Central-Mid level escalator

Walking down Hollywood street and trying not to follow map (there's pink & blue signs almost every junction indicating next nearest tourist attraction) and let our legs take us where it wants to, we found some nice fleet of staircases, ultra 'slim' buildings and some exotic shops worth browsing.

Streets of HK (island side)

Funny boxers in G.O.D.

Eventually we reach the famous Man Mo Temple. Unfortunately, tonnes of other tourists also found the same spot so we skip the temple visit. It's just 'funny' to see an old temple tucked in among some of the tallest residential buildings in Hong Kong, amazing.

Man Mo Temple

Taking a turn down from Man Mo Temple, reaching to Upper Lascar Row 摩罗街 (also called Cat Street, wonder why) which is famous for curio and antique shop, we found the one quiet street in Hong Kong. Perhaps it's not tourist peak season, or perhaps the hour is oddly afternoon, shops & stalls are operating but the street is rather empty, giving us sufficient space to slowly roam the streets and enjoy the little tranquil oasis in one of the worlds busiest city.

Continue walking downhill (see, that's why my walk is better than HK tourism board's suggestion because instead of going up hill, our route is towards downhill, same scenery, half the energy ;), we reached the Western Market, an Edwardian style building which is originally the waterfront harbour office, now a historical monument with themes shops.

Western Market

Nothing much inside, lots of cloth, I mean raw cloth shops, souvenir shops, antique shops, a restaurant occupying a whole 3rd floor and then I spotted this Honeymoon Dessert shop which is on my 'to-try' list. Taking a foot rest in the famous chained dessert shop, we ordered a mango pancake and 杨枝金露 (a uniquely Hong Kong dessert with mango, pomelo, sago, coconut milk etc), delicious. I later found out that apparently their durian dessert is even more famous, sigh...next time, next time.

Honeymoon dessert

We then took the tram to go back to mid-Central district again. Honestly, it's not that far but I just can't miss the tram rides :). Busy busy busy, tall buildings, historical looking buildings, none stop traffic and then we found the only four gas street lamps remaining in Hong Kong

HK streets

Duddell street steps and gas lamp

If you watch Hong Kong TVB drama series, or maybe even some Hong Kong movies, it's not hard to find yourself familiar with the famous Duddell street steps. At least in my memory, almost half of the drama series that involved couples getting back together (or breaking up) happens here. Lovely steps, except it's also adjacent to truck loading / unloading on Ice House street, so...

Feeling tired, we took the tram (again, yes) to our hotel, take a few hours nap and then depart later in the evening for a great dinner in YungKee (see next blog for it). Right next to Wellington street where YungKee is located, is 'night-owl's popular pub/clubbing area - Lan Kwai Fong. Recently, however, some 'night-owls' have moved on to SoHo area so LKF seems a bit deserted.

Lan Kwai Fong

Not much of a fan for clubbing, we walked down the central area. An area that is filled with people and traffic during business hour is now only empty buildings (literally) and reasonable traffic on the road. Makes the area feels more 'approachable', at least that's what I think.

And then I made a mistake by walking into Sasa looking for nail polisher remover. I'm totally impressed with the selling skill of Hong Kong sales person. I only wanted 1 item but ended up buying nail polisher, facial masks, and hand lotions on top of what I originally wanted (luckily I still remember what I wanted, haha).

So, here's second day in Hong Kong, more to come...slowly...

Hong Kong - 1

2010-11-14T12:58:00.063+01:00

Arriving in Hong Kong an hour earlier than scheduled at 6.15am, hop into a taxi (too much luggage, don't want to hassle) and arrived at Hotel Metro Park at around 7.30am. I cannot believe my luck when the kind gentlemen at check in counter checked that the room is ready & checked us in without even any request from us. What a great extended hospitality. In Tokyo, we would have been told to leave the luggage and come back at 2pm, happened before (and we were only 2 hours earlier than 2pm check in time) :s

view from hotel room

Having a room means having a chance to catch some sleep to rejuvenate our very tired body, which is great! After nearly 6 hours of sleep, waking up afresh, we set off to explore Hong Kong. First stop: food, so Yee Shun Dairy Company it is. My travel itinerary includes a day-to-day dining plan as well with thorough background check. This particular Yee Shun at Jordan has been consistently receiving good review in Open Rice, no rude waiter and no bad food for weeks around our traveling date ;)

Ordered the famous double-boiled milk (hot), egg & cheese sandwich, pork chop noodle & a double-boiled milk with coffee (hot).

Yee Shun Dairy Company, Jordan branch

Delicious food & dessert at YeeShun, love the double-boiled milk

Reservoir of desserts

Time to walk around and absorb in some vibrant energy of the bustling city, what better than visiting Mong Kok with it's many themed streets of night markets?

Mong Kok street view

Street food stall in MongKok

Passing through the many funny name streets - Soy Street, Tong Choi Street etc and proceeding to Nathan Road with lots of jewellery shop & medicine shop. Dried duck kidney for sale, anyone?

Traditional medicine shop

After the hustle bustle of street markets, next stop is the Light of Symphony on both banks of Victoria Harbour. Being on the Kowloon side, naturally, the Star Avenue is the chosen location for the light show. Personally, I think Hong Kong is much prettier at night illuminated by thousand lights than day time (too much pollution, always 'foggy'). The light show? well, if it'll take you more than 10minutes to wait for it, don't. It turned out to be a bit disappointing.

Victoria harbour view from TsimTsaTsui

Starving & failing to find any known artist on the Star Avenue walkway to take picture with, we decided to proceed to dinner. The promenade along the harbour in front of the Harbour City shopping mall is great to hang around though. Plenty of couple taking advantage of the great city night landscape view walking hand-in-hand there.

Dinner was a slightly pricy dissapointment in Harbour City's Teochew restaurant, so let's skip it. Stopped by 7-11 before going back to hotel to pick up some drinks (hotel drinks are charged at Danish price, slightly more expensive even, and not so much selection). End of report of day1, looking forward to subsequent days of the trip :D

Souvenirs (food) and some drinks from 7-11

Hong Kong - Onroute

2010-11-14T12:40:00.000+01:00

Finally, my 3 weeks home trip with a detour to Hong Kong is happening after 6 months purchasing the ticket. I have to say that the early purchase made me look forward to the trip too long, almost feel like it'll never happen, won't do that again. Best way to stop in HK without spending too much extra (on ticket) is to take Cathay Pacific, only need to pay the airport tax for a stop over.

My route: Copenhagen -> London -> HK -> Penang -> HK -> London -> Copenhagen. A lot of 'in the air' hours, sob sob...a small price to pay. I have to praise Cathay Pacific. I flew with them once about 5 years ago, they were good; now, they're still good, in fact, I think better than before with the new seats - adjustable cushion and head rest but the seat 'shell' is fixed so you won't have inconsiderate front passenger leaning the seat all the way back, leaving you dying in fear of confined space watching tilted TV screen.

Lots of entertainment on plane, new movies - Salt, Inception, Despicable Man etc; strings of TV series (I learnt how to cook baked pork chop rice); haven't even have time to explore the movie collections. And mind you, I was awake for 10 fully entertained hours on the flight because I can't fall asleep, so kudos. Food is good, strangely though, Western food are better than Asian food. Could it be due to the fact that food are prepared by their European kitchen? great sandwiches & salad but very bland pork congee (still regret not having their wonderful frittata).

Air hostess are attending, slightly lack of smile but I stop asking for friendly face since I started traveling within Europe. Smile is free but only mine, European air hostess smiles are a bit more on the rare side. There was once I press the 'attention' button but never get a respond from air hostess, can't remember which airline but European for sure, total negligence.

So if you have to fly long haul & happen to be in the Cathay Pacific coverage, I'd recommend you to take it. Price is reasonable & gives you a good overall package (good food, comfy seats, good entertainment in case you can't fall asleep, and attending air hostess). Their business class provides fully rest position seats, with foot rest. Wonder how first class looks like? someday, maybe ;)

Momofuku

2010-10-16T22:42:00.002+02:00

Momofuku, the new 'hip' name in the culinary business in New York has swept me off my feet when I first tried their Octo Vinaigrette Fried Chicken, which subsequently triggers me to find out more about Chang and his restaurants and to realize how amazing / experimental a cook he is. Seeing my interest, Mr.T secretly bought me a Momofuku cook book to surprise me. I certainly hope it's not an indication that I shall cook more Momofuku food for him, it'll kill me, if you know Momofuku ;)

Anyway, here's the book: simple wood imitate cover with the lucky peach (in japanese: momofuku).

Just as David Chang himself , who's selling all sorts of funny food you can't imagine in his noodle bar and yet manage to win well reputed award and the hearts of New Yorker (and more), the book is nothing like any ordinary cook book. Or shall I say, it's not just a cook book. It's a biography about Chang and also a story telling book that explains in length histories behind each recipes and it also encourages creativity in cooking, explaining that sticking to the norm is not bad, but it can be changed for better.

I've never seen F**k word in a cook book before but this one has it. Does that make the book bad? NO, hell, no...not at all. To me, it's a multi-functional book, read it as you please like any other books that you have and use it as you wish, just like any other cook books that you have. If you're looking for that one cook book that'll blow your mind, get one of this. I'm loving it, so much. Thank you, Mr.T :D

H.C.Andersen

2010-10-15T22:29:00.002+02:00

Now, we're not talking about the famous Danish fairy tale author, but a bakery that's named after him, H.C.Andersen Confectionery. I mentioned this bakery before in an old blog, and never able to forget the goodness of this special bakery. It specializes in cakes, pastries, and also sandwich. It is so good that the royal wedding cakes only comes from this bakery.

New facade

Recently, the bakery moved to a new address and has went through a new face lift. I've been waiting and waiting for it to re-open and the day finally comes on 15-Oct. It was a purely out of the habit to check on the bakery's renovation progress and to my surprise, it's opened, hooray!!!

New cake ordering counter

Sandwich / pastry counter

The new shop is much smaller in seating capacity but feels a grade higher than the old cramp area. Well lit, warm welcome and clear product display, the only thing that's missing is price tag (maybe it'll come later?). Love the new chairs & the pairing cushion / pillow, so cosy that I feel at home. Anyway, ordered an all time favourite - Othello cake (oh...they do it best) and was given free latte for the new opening :D

Nice comfy seating

The Othello cake is slightly different from the ones before. The top layer of marzipan is replaced with chocolate frosting, taste a bit different but not bad at all, but maybe that's why the cake is softer than it used to be and crumble when the cashier cut a slice. For that, I get 2 free mini éclairs, yum ;)

'Scrambled' othello cake

Free but high quality latte

Free mini eclairs

Dining section

Less seating capacity which will be one of my regret because the old one with bigger capacity is usually full house, from the logical perspective, at some point I will find myself no vacant seat when I visit. The bakery is right behind the cake counter, not sure what exactly is being baked, maybe just some simple breads / pastries but it definitely is a sign of quality assurance when the product comes directly from 'manufacturer' to the counter ;)

Bakery right behind the cake counter

There seems to be more changes to the old ones that I haven't noticed yet but I'm just glad that whenever I crave for a piece of good cake, I know where I can go to.

Mr.T Scallion Pancake

2010-10-10T21:56:00.001+02:00

For a long time, I've always read about the tastiness of scallion (American way of saying spring onion) pancake but never actually tried it before. It's probably a very common staple food in China but not in Malaysia ;)

So finally on a lazy Sunday afternoon where there're no chore calls or need/desire to go out, I looked up the recipe and tried it out. Well, er...in the process of making the pancake, it is 'unfortunate' to discover that I'm not that good with dough mixing and being gentle with rolling pin so Mr.T with his 'feminine' hands took over and made the dough plus all the rolling.

Mr.T in action

Rolled up the side of pancake

Ready to be pan fried pancake

Well, I had to take part in the pancake making so I did the pan fried part but was actually clueless if it's cooked or not. Nevertheless, judging from the gradually translucent texture and then golden brown pancake surface, I take it as a ready sign :)

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try (and please tell me if it's my fault that it's dry):-

2 cups flour

3/4 cups luke warm water

6 tsp sesame oil (or mix with ordinary cooking oil)

1 tbsp salt

2 bunch of spring onions chopped

1. Put flour in a mixing bowl, gradually add in the water and mix well. add a bit flour if it's too wet; or some

water if it's too dry; bottom line is it should not be too sticky. Let it rest for 15minutes.

2. In the mean time, chop the spring onion and set aside.

3. Take the rested dough and form a roll. Cut into 6 pieces of equal size and roll the pieces into balls.

4. Place a ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll into a thin circle, as thin as you can get.

5. Spread 1tsp of oil over the dough, sprinkle a good pinch of salt (you'll need it) all around the dough and 1/6 portion of chopped spring onion on top.

6. Roll the pancake up from the end (shown in Mr.T's picture), then curl the roll around in a spiral and pinch the end of the roll to 'seal' it.

7. With your palm, press the roll from the top to flatten it then roll the pancake out to 1/8 inch thickness.

8. Heat a tablespoon of oil on pan over medium heat. Set the pancake in oil & fry till bottom is crisp & golden. Then flip the pancake, add more oil if needed. Remove from heat when both sides are golden brown.

Scallion pancake in pan

Final product

The taste? I'm actually slightly disappointed over the slight dryness of the texture. Maybe my recipe / method was wrong or maybe I didn't cook them well enough but I imagine it to be something much nicer. Anyway, it was a fun Sunday afternoon with lots of dishes to clean afterwards :s

Crispy Chinese Salt & Pepper Tofu

2010-10-03T00:31:00.000+02:00

I love tofu, whether it's steam, braised, stewed, in soup, stuff with fillings, fried or even fermented. Every now and then when I shop in the Asian shop, I just can't resist to buy a block of tofu; firm for frying / braising; soft for sukiyaki. Anyway, I bought one of this tetra pack tofu block for quite some time and finally find a new recipe to try it out: crispy chinese salt & pepper tofu.

Here's the recipe to share: Crispy Chinese Salt and Pepper Tofu

Serves 4 (Cooking time: 40 minutes)

For the tofu:
1 lb firm tofu, drained
1 tablespoons dry sherry or rice wine
2 teaspoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons corn starch
3-4 tablespoons of peanut oil for frying

For the stir-fry:
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 big clove of garlic, finely minced
¼ inch cube ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon or to taste red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 spring onion, thinly sliced

Slice tofu into ½ thick slices and layer between sheets of kitchen towels. Lay on a cutting board and weigh it down with any heavy items on top to drain the water for about 20 minutes. When ready, gently separate tofu from towels and cut into ½ inch cubes.

In a medium bowl combine rice wine and soy sauce. Add cubed tofu and toss to combine. Set tofu aside for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Careful not to break the tofu cubes.

When ready to fry tofu, heat peanut oil over medium-high in a large, heavy skillet or wok. Sift cornstarch into a shallow bowl. Drain tofu from marinade, shake off any excess liquid and roll tofu into cornstarch. Lower tofu into oil and fry for 3-4 minutes each side until all sides are golden coloured. I use a deep fryer, so much easier. Remove goldened tofu from pan and placed on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

Pour 1 tablespoon peanut oil into skillet and heat to medium high. Add ginger & garlic, stirring quickly until sizzling and fragrant. Add red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt and tofu and fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Toss in the spring onion and quick stir for another 30 seconds, remove tofu dish from heat, and move to a serving platter.

If you're like me where you find eating tofu in Chinese restaurants in non-Asian countries disappointing, then you should definitely try this dish out at home. Most works lies on preparing the tofu but it's well worth the effort. And if you are lucky enough to have nice tofu dish vastly available to you, I'd still recommend you to try this out, I guarantee you there's no regret (probably some fuss on tofu preparation if you're new to cooking).

All in all, a recipe that's worth keeping. I'll definitely do this again!

Berlin & Chocolate

2010-10-03T00:12:00.001+02:00

I must first introduced my 'love hate' relationship with Berlin.

Love part: dining at my favourite Thai restaurant (oh, yes...) or the great German tapa restaurant; spending hours in wonderful museums; shopping for the precious Ferrero Küsschen, and visiting my friends.

Hate part: (If and when) I have to work there :(

I was, again, sent off to Berlin this week on very short notice for 2 days work. In order to compensate my 'hate' feeling, I grab the chance to buy some chocolate. And if I have a bigger luggage than my back pack, trust me that I'll buy the whole Ferrero Küsschen section back.

There are more nice chocolates that are not available in Copenhagen but can be found in Berlin, for example: the Werther's Original chocolates with different filling. I never understand why we're so near geographically yet so different in chocolate marketing strategy. Maybe I should start looking for a job in Germany? If I do so, I'm probably the first one who hunt for job based on chocolate eh? shh...don't tell my boss :p

Fruitful Garden

2010-09-19T21:13:00.005+02:00

I was invited by a colleague to visit his house in the countryside this weekend. He's been bringing apples, walnuts, plums etc. to work whenever it's harvesting season, of course I'm curious to see what kind of garden he has and was definitely thrilled to be invited. An hour and a half train ride brings me to his lovely house in the flat green behind a local community owned pond.

Bee in flower, love this picture

Driving down a small road filled with beach stone, a small delicate yellow brick house with white window panes sits quietly between the pond and a large horse field. We had some lunch together, actually long lunch, plenty to chat from 12:30 until 15:00, then a garden tour starts.

The garden is categorized into sections based on its used. Vegetables (potatoes, carrots, cabbages, lettuces, onions, green peas, corns) and strawberries are planted in two big sections side by side, surrounded by beautiful flowers (and huge sunflowers); tall trees (walnut, pine, 'Christmas tree' and some huge evergreen trees) are intentionally planted at the outer most ring of the garden to provide natural fence towards the horse field and also the neighbours.

Some of the beautiful flowers in garden

A hazel tree is planted next to these vegetable areas along side with one of the walnut tree. I have always known hazelnut as the way they are available in the supermarket (only the nut) and was totally amazed with how it looks like when it's still enclosed, hanging from the tree. On top of these plants, apple trees, pear trees, plum trees (he has 3 different types of apple & plum tree each) and cherry tree are scattered around the garden as well as some black & red current trees with strings of fruit.

From top left (clockwise): pink apple, pink pear, hazelnut (in husk), walnut (encapsulated in green outer shell) and wild berry in the centre

A 10mx10m green house with cherry tomato, cucumber, red & green jalapeno, grapes and bigger tomatoes situated beside a small pond with lotus and some fishes and even a small bridge across the pond (my colleague dug a hole to create the pond) with a few benches placed strategically around the pond, simply beautiful. Some bamboos are plant on one side of the pond. I could sit for hours in this picturesque setting if the weather is nice.

Vegetables in the garden

We continued out to the community owned pond (where my colleague actually takes care of) and discover some frogs, duck, trace of fishes and wild mushrooms. I have absolutely no courage or intention to try them but they look stunning in the pictures. There are also some red leave plants in his front garden, so there's definitely something to see every season :)

Poisonous looking black mushroom

More wild mushroom, love the orange colour

Aside from the flora, fauna activities are not lacking in this garden. Three large chicken (that loves peanut) lives in a fenced area, plenty of room to roam around. A small water container with squirrel statue strategically placed outside the dining room window to enable birds watching when they come for drink or take a dip into the water or even eating from one of the many bird feeders placed around the garden.

The happy chicken family, what happen to 1 wife policy?

Snails, snails, spider & ladybirds.

More insects are found during my visit: different types of snails, many different types of spiders, bees, ladybirds, birds, fish, frog, lizards...the garden is definitely lively. At last, the garden tour ended after 1hr50mins, I didn't even notice the time slipped away so fast, explains how huge the garden is ;). As a guest, I was given the privilege to pick something (anything) from the garden so here's what I got:-

That concludes my wonderful, eye opening and fruitful visit (and the best cherry tomato that I've ever tasted). If I have a garden (and a gardener), I'd love to have a garden like this. To the least, the pond is a must have, too lovely to let go in any garden planning ;)

Tale of a Chilli

2010-09-15T23:15:00.001+02:00

One of my project manager (yes, we have a lot of managers at work :p), despite a Dane, he actually worked and stayed in Singapore for 9 years before he came back to Denmark recently. Being so long in a hot & humid tropical country that loves chilli, he too, has been influenced to live with chilli in his life. Instead of buying chilli that is commonly available in ordinary supermarket (and they can be spicy too), he grow his own chilli at home.

One of these days, he was bragging about the spiciness of his home grown chilli and I gave my usual sceptical review on his comment. The next day, I found a chilli, carefully wrapped in kitchen towel, lying quietly on my laptop at work. In order to 'savour' his hard work (in growing the chilli) and effort (for bringing it), I decided to use it in my favourite vegetable dish - kangkung belachan (shrimp paste stir fried water convovulus).

Belacan kangkung

A trip to the Asian shop to get water convuvulus (kangkung / eng chai in hokkien), a few raw tiger prawns, a crab filament stick (that's all I have in the freezer), minced garlic, chicken stock, chopped dried shrimp, belacan plus the 'star' (because it's a gift) ingredient - Kim's home grown chilli, and I'm all set for some wok action.

Ingredient (minus vegetable =.=)

Heat wok on high heat with 1-2 tablespoon of oil until it starts to smoke, do not reduce the heat throughout the whole cooking process to maintain 'wok hei (锅气)'. Add in belacan and stir fried till fragrant, then add in the dried shrimp and chilli, for a few round of quick stir (about 30 seconds). Dried shrimp might get burn at high heat so stir frequently. Then add in minced garlic, stir fried until fragrant, add shrimp and crab filament.

Processed ingredient

Before the prawn is fully cook, add the vegetable. Stir fried until the vegetable's colour turn darker (indicating it's cooked), add in chicken stock (to taste). Water convovolus will release some water during the cooking process but if you like more sauce, then add a few tablespoon of water. Quick stir for another 30 seconds and voila...a plate of spicy steaming full of fragrant kangkung belacan is ready to be served.

Hjælp, Jeg er i Japan!

2010-09-11T00:37:00.002+02:00

Danish paid TV (TV3 Viasat) is showing an 'intriguing' show - Help, I am in Japan (Hjælp, Jeg er i Japan in Danish) where 10 Danes are selected to live in Tokyo, participate in crazy contests of Japanese game show in TV studio and faced a number of cultural challenges in their everyday life while staying in Japan. The winner will walk away with 250,000DKK.

The ten participants in the program live together in a house where there's a housekeeper - an English speaking Japanese housewife helps with some basic chores. First day when they enter the house, they walked right in with shoes on, even into their own bedroom without realizing how rude this is in Japanese culture (the camera focused on the shoes, haha).

The contestants are also subjected to addition of challenges in Tokyo's street grocery shopping on first episode. They were paired up two by two and one of the team was asked to buy garlic. In Japanese pronunciation, garlic & condom are rather similar. They went around screaming after condom on the street, being corrected several times by locals on their pronunciation but they just wet totally wrong and ended up buying condom home for cooking :s

In the TV studio is where the 'cruelty' is: the elimination of one participants each week. The show is conducted in Japanese with Japanese host & audiences. When the contestants were asked questions, the host will change to English (or rather 'Japlish'), and so we have confused contestants participating in weird funny game shows; whilst the Danes find the exaggerating expression / body language of the hosts funny instead.

Albeit entertaining to see the show (and to wonder at the ignorance of some participating Dane on cultural & tradition difference), one can't help but to ponder: have I been doing the similar respect-less behaviour action sometime somewhere?

Here's a link if you're interested (and understands Danish :) http://tv3.dk/japan/

Momofuku Fried Chicken

2010-09-05T12:02:00.002+02:00

I've seen so many great comments / reviews about Momofuku (not the Ramen creator, but David Chang's restaurants) and have been longing to try its dish. Nevertheless, New York is not exactly near from Copenhagen and albeit in plan, I didn't manage to put down an actual plan to visit the city yet. Dying to try the dish, I looked up some Momofuku dishes and find the most executable one to try out.

Momofuku fried chicken

Why executable? None of Momofuku's recipe requires less than half a day preparation, some even requires a few days of preparation, I'm so defeated just by reading the recipe. Normally if I fried chicken, I'll just marinate the chicken overnight & throw it into my deep fryer but the Momofuku fried chicken recipe seems achievable with stunning result, hence my first Momofuku attempt.

I used 6 chicken drumsticks, brine them in water, sugar & salt liquid in container for 2hours in fridge, then steam them for about 40minutes until cooked. The cooked drumsticks are then chilled in fridge overnight on rack (or at least 2 hours) to make sure the skin is dried. The chicken is taken out from fridge at least 30 minutes before frying (to bring it to room temperature) and then fried in a deep fryer of 185ºC, turning once until the skin is deep brown and crisp (about 6 - 8 minutes).

Brined, steamed chicken drumstick on a rack

I have pre-made some octo vinaigrette sauce made of finely chopped garlic, ginger, sugar, bird's eye chilli, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, cooking oil and soy sauce; which is said to taste good with everything (proven) except ostrich egg by David Chang. The fried drumsticks taste good on its own, crispy skin, oh...I can eat a lot of those; tossing them in octo vinaigrette brings the drumstick to another level, it's heavenly. Finger tripple licking good.

Octo vinaigrette sauce

My verdict: although the recipe is time consuming but the result is well worth the effort. Mr.T thinks fried chicken should be done that way!! :)

In face, the sauce was so good that I refuse to throw the leftovers away. I brine some chicken breast, deep fried them, heat the sauce in a sauce pan and toss in the chicken. Result? Wonderful.

Fried chicken breast in octo vinaigrette sauce

Summer Peach Cake

2010-09-05T00:18:00.001+02:00

It's been quite some time since I last baked. My latest creation - chocolate banana cake was baked under the condition of lack of banana, so the filling is too little compare to the rich cake. My colleagues called my chocolate banana cake - chocolate chocolate banana cake, they said that's the only way to correctly reflect my cake.

So, wanted to build up my reputation again, I chosen another layered cake recipe with peach. Even though widely available in summer, I choose the can peach to ensure the sweetness of the peach, also to save some time making the sugar syrup.

The baking is easy but cutting the into halves are not. Initially I plan to make a three layer cake but my first cut nearly broke the cake into pieces, so I have no choice but to stay with 2 layers. The cake looks beautiful with the colour contrasts and it tastes great too, my colleagues love it. Recipe as follow:-

Summer Peach Cake

White Butter Cake:

2 large eggs, separated

1 3/4 cups (175 grams) sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar, divided

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

White Butter Cake:

1. While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl. Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.

3. Butter and flour an - 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper and grease and flour parchment paper.

4. In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

5. In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes).

6. Add 3/4 cup (150 grams) of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).

7. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

8. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

9. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

10. In a clean bowl of electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.

11. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

12. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

13. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

14. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan.

15. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Filling:

250g. mascarpone cheese

40ml heavy cream

2.5 Tablespoons powdered sugar

½ Teaspoon vanilla

3 peaches, thinly sliced (peel 2 before slicing, leave the peal on 1 to use to decorate the top of the cake.

1. Beat cheese, cream, sugar, and vanilla with a mixer until smooth.

2. Cut the cake in half (to make a 4-layer cake. Slice the cake horizontally into 2-3 layers.

3. Place one layer cut-side up on a cake board or serving plate and lightly crush the surface with the simple syrup.

3. Spread a thin layer of mascarpone filling over the cake layer and arrange the peach slices over the surface.

4. Spread an additional layer of mascarpone filling over the peaches.

5. Brush the cut-side of the second layer with the simple syrup and place it over the first layer. Repeat for subsequent layers (if needed).

For the stabilized whipped cream frosting:
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
4 teaspoons cold water
240ml cold heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 peaches, thinly sliced (peel 2 before slicing, leave the peal on 1 to use to decorate the top of the cake.

1. Put the cold water in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the water and let stand for 5 minutes (do not stir). Dissolve gelatin by microwaving for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes; gelatin must be liquid but not warm when added to cream.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl & wire whisk in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat the mixture until beater marks are slightly distinct. Then, while beating slowly, gradually pour the gelatin into the whipped cream mixture. Then whip the mixture at high speed until stiff peaks form.

3. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Decorate as desired and garnish with the reserved strawberries. Decorate top of the cake with skin-on peach slices. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (preferable longer) before cutting.

Smushi

2010-08-28T22:39:00.002+02:00

The Royal Café in Copenhagen, albeit tucked in a small alley in Strøget, is famous for serving food / drinks with their beautiful china serving sets made by Royal Copenhagen (hence the name). Recently the café has given birth to a new culinary phenomenon - Smushi, traditional Danish smørrebrød (open faced sandwich) with a contemporary sushi twist.

Entrance to the café

Buildings surrounding the café

I love the concept and the pictures from the café's website is so luring, I just have to try it. Finally on a one fine weekend with good weather, I paid my visit to the café targeting the smushi. Picking an open air garden seat beside the running water 'fountain wall', ordered a platter of my favourite 3 smushi selections, a pot of coffee with warm milk, I'm all set for the first encounter of smushi.

Table decó, courtesy of the florist next to the café

The beautiful chinas never fail to impress me although I think it's a bit weird to use what is typically liquor pot in China is used as coffee pot in Copenhagen. I could have sworn it'll look much nicer in one of those chubby tea pot :)

And here comes the main character, tada....and aren't they wonderful looking? Small yet delicate, filled with nice finishing touch, they look so beautiful. There's only one more thing to find out - the taste. Experience says that a lot of time, restaurants / cafés focus on making food looking nice and neglected the taste. How's this one?

Smushi platters

Surprisingly, they tastes good. Not Michelin good but they taste of what they're supposed to (these descriptions explains why I can be food critic). The fish fillet is freshly fried, still steaming hot, the rye bread taste fantastic (I normally don't fancy them). If I must pick something to critic, I think the liver paté is the low fat type; albeit healthier, the taste is being compensated.

Smushi with shrimp and egg

Smushi with liver paté and roast beef, topped with 'sky' (the wiggly black jelly)

Smushi with fried fish fillet & tartar sauce, my favourite

I love love love Royal Café now. Their cake might not be the best but never bad. Now with tasty smushi, topped with their impeccable seating / settings, the always beautiful china and friendly service, I'll definitely bring all my visiting friends there if possible. I'm even starting to think about having similar business in Penang, unfortunately a lot of Asia's retail groups are already lining up to get a piece of smushi action (:s) Any potential business partner out there?

Celebration

2010-08-24T23:24:00.001+02:00

To celebrate the successful launch of my previous project, the department figure head hosted a company wide celebration tea party with wonderful strawberry tarts and sparkling wine (champagne is a too high on budget for so many people). Who doesn't like a small token of recognition eh? :D

sparkling wine & strawberry tart

Hyponatremia

2010-08-21T15:07:00.000+02:00

Hyponatremia occurs when one has abnormally low amount of sodium in the body (or excess water in blood), new important term that I've learnt this week.

It all begins with my sister's text message a few days ago telling me that our dad is in ICU (Intensive Care Unit). I was shocked, panic and don't know what to do. My dad has always been healthy and we had video stream just last weekend but all of a sudden he's in ICU? I'm not prepare for any of this and I actually felt slightly helpless. Heart aches (for not being able to be there) and cold fingers, praying hard nothing bad happens.

I felt the sudden fear of losing one of my parents, never was the threat feel so close & real. Even if I purchase ticket instantaneously the next day & fly home, it'll take me another day before reaching home. At this point, I can only make phone calls home & rely on my sister's emails and text messages to keep my updated with the situation.

Apparently my dad has been vomiting for 3 days and did not get better after consulting doctor twice. He stopped eating / drinking (even just water) on the last day and looked absolutely pale when a family friend visits. He was took to the hospital & upon arrival, fell unconscious. What follows were a string of checking, blood test & hospital transfer to perform MRI scan, having the fear that he might suffer stroke.

My mother has been brave through all these, she called my sister home and stayed with my dad as long as she can before being chased out by the nurse from ICU. He's diagnose with low blood sodium (about 110uM), was unconscious for a day and can finally manage to open his eyes on the second day. After 3 days, he's finally being released from ICU into normal ward now and luckily, didn't suffer any stroke.

I truthfully thank those who have helped in the process and pray that he can be discharged soon & come back to normal again. Why is there no Doraemon door where I can just open & go home? Dad, wait for me, I'll be back in November, make sure you're healthy & smiling then. Maybe I should try to talk to my boss to send me back on business trip? hmm...

Fu Hao Dim Sum

2010-08-01T16:29:00.001+02:00

Dim sum, heart touching if directly translated from Cantonese, used to be one of my favourite brunch during weekend back home. Living in Copenhagen strips me off this luxury but not anymore. Previously I've tried the dim sum at Royal Palace but it's not exactly a very good one. Fu Hao, was recommended by colleagues from work, so I decided to give it a try.

Char siu fried noodles

Tucked in the corner of a side street right behind the central station, this newly renovated restaurant has a lot of Chinese customers, even some Thai & Vietnamese. I made an appointment for dim sum with my colleague, so more varieties can be tried out. Started with the roast pork fried noodle, bit oily but that's what gives it a great taste, Fu Hao score 1.

Following with some assortment of typical dim sum: siu mai, radish cake, roast pork cheung fan & prawn dumpling; not to say great but they're all good. And some sweet dishes: water chestnut cake, red bean cake, read bean bun & malay cake. Normally I won't order the first 3 sweet dishes but that's part of the fun about eating with someone else, you get to try something out of the norm. And the malay cake is great!

So, a wonderful Sunday brunch for 4 with pot of chrysanthemum tea, DKK432...my purse is getting slim but the experience is worth it. Fu Hao, mark my word that I'll be back ;)

What to do with 80 Kroner

2010-08-01T00:00:00.003+02:00

I was out shopping today (hooray~~), set to buy a nice rain coat (yeah, the rains have started) which I never really get to do it since summer. Being easily distracted, I didn't manage to get what I intended to buy but that's not the point. The point is: I manage to get a cute Hello Kitty T-shirt & very nice bangles from H&M for only DKK70. DKK70!!! I still can't believe it. Love those sales days. I left the shop with a huge grin on my face :p

My cute Hello Kitty T & bangles from H&M, DKK70!!!

Having spent DKK350 for a nice lunch at the post museum's restaurant...yes, post museum's restaurant in Copenhagen serves wonderful food with good city view on the fifth floor (which tells how 'high' the rest of the buildings in city centre are); the H&M purchase must be my best move since years.

Feeling good for a great purchase, I march down the street to LaGlace, the oldest confectionery in Copenhagen for some French macaron. I still remember the great ones from Paris 2 months ago, can't bake it but I can at least buy it ;).

Macarons are expensive in Paris, about €2 each and apparently the price trend is well maintained here as well. Squeezed myself through the crowded confectionery entrance, stuck in between a couple who's yelling to each other over my head (am I transparent?); I finally made my order to a box of 6 macarons which cost DKK78.

Box of 6 macarons from LaGlace, DKK78!

DKK78...it's 8kroner more expensive than my H&M purchase & I know very well that they'll be gone at a very fast rate. Gosh...the macarons are worth it. I won't say it's better than LaDurée's but they certainly taste good. Coffee, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, oat (with hint of liquor) & pistachio...they were gone in minutes following the sequence, and I'm still craving for more, hehe...

So, 2 way of spending DKK80 in Copenhagen, which one is better? Hard to say. I'm just glad I don't have to choose between them :D

Prague - Overview

2010-07-24T19:21:00.002+02:00

Finally, I set my foot on the city of a hundred spires - Prague; famed to be one of the most beautiful old city in Europe. Arrived in style, picked up by chauffeur from an arranged airport transfer & was delivered safely to the hotel in a shining black Audi ;). The airport transfer company also provide 3 hours of free guided tour which covers most essential parts of the city, and yes, the city's attractions are within walking distance. If your legs can't make it, there's always trams, metros or buses that gets you from A - Z.

The colourful tour guides' umbrellas

Astrological / astronomical clock

The tour group meets in front of the famous astrological / astronomical clock, built in early 15th-century, in old town square. When the skeleton of death strike the time upon the hour, the moving figures of Jesus's 12 disciples rotate and the whole process ends with a cock crow & bell chimes. If it's more than 5 minutes wait before the hour, don't spend time on this, it's a complicated clock to understand and the crowd is just a bit too overwhelming; another reason not to spend time is: you'll most probably be back a few more times during your stay, I did :-)

St.Nicholas church at Old Town Square & the expensive shopping street beside the church

View from clock tower: crowds in old town square watching World Cup 2010

The beautiful Charles Bridge connects the old & new town of Prague at the core, decorated with statues on both side, the bridge is full of vendors selling souvenirs, paintings and 'artists' playing on the bridge while thousands (if not more) tourists flock the bridge. Both towers of the bridge provides excellent view of the city and it's definitely worth the visit to see the 'back bone' of the city.

A shot with the tower guard

Charles Bridge

View from Charles Bridge tower: Mala Straná (new town)

Charles Bridge & its tower illuminated

As if to live up to its reputation, Prague castle, which is the centre piece of the city is also the most stunning background providing a breathtaking view all day long especially near sunset. I shall write more about Prague Castle in the next blog.

Prague castle sitting beautifully.

Summer BBQ

2010-07-12T23:06:00.001+02:00

As slow as it can get summer still has its reach in Copenhagen and screams for barbecue when there's plenty of sun. Since I don't have a garden of my own & don't really want to go down to the shared garden that's available for all other apartment residents, so an arrangement was made to visit a friend with private garden :)

Nothing more refreshing than sweet watermelon in hot days.

Beautiful flowers in garden, blooming.

Out of the many sunny days that we can get, we chose one of the hottest day with 33degC. So here it is, a hot summer afternoon with 3D TV (oh yeah...comes with cool 3D glasses but cost a fortune), golf, badminton and BBQ.

The golf

The 'lean' BBQ

The happy party.

Lángos

2010-04-05T18:56:00.001+02:00

Ever heard of lángos? The Hungarian food speciality which is a deep fried potato flat bread from plain to various toppings with anything from cinnamon and sugar to cheese and Mexican salsa has became my favourite street food in Copenhagen. The good (or bad) thing about Europe nowadays is that food travels. What used to be only local speciality is now available thousand miles away.

Toni's Lángos outside Nørreport train station

Freshly made lángos

I've never try the authentic Hungarian ones albeit being in Budapest before; tried it in Prague but can't beat one small mobile van stationed just outside Nørreport station, selling lángos daily - Toni's Lángos. Toni´s lángos costs between DKK25 to 40 depending on the topping. My favourite topping? shredded cheese, no doubt.

My favourite lángos with cheese topping

Lángos with meat sauce & crème fraiche

Why it's called Toni´s lángos? I have no idea. I've seen 3 different person handling the lángos making, none of them looks like 'Toni' but they actually have good consistency among themselves to produce nearly identical quality piping hot delicious lángos, the only difference is how much topping they put. If you're visiting Copenhagen, do stop by Nørreport station and give it a try. Toni´s lángos operates from around 9am to 6pm. It's worth a small detour. You'll love it!

Penang Summary

2010-03-20T09:44:00.010+01:00

Obviously my new year resolution is about to fail terribly for the first quarter for this is ONLY my first blog after New Year (shame shame)... went back to my lovely, all time hot & humid hometown - Penang on business trip for 2 weeks (I took a week's vacation on top of that) in conjunction with Chinese New Year celebration.

First impression after the 'long' 10 months apart from Penang is: crowded. Penang is just flocked by people coming from nowhere; streets are filled with heavy traffic (especially down town); restaurants are always full; and even toilet queues are always long!!!

I must admit I felt the Penangites are rather 'dressed down' in airport upon arrival but the heat very soon reminds me of how I used to 'dress down' and the reason behind. Hence, the very next day (I arrived in late evening), I've 'localized' with newly bought short pants, t-shirt & sandle and walking the 'down-dressing' culture ;)

Visited quite a lot of temple, the Kek Lok si, the sleeping buddha, the burmese temple, the Goddess of Mercy temple and I think the temples must be really rich to be decorated so nicely during the festive season. Love the lanterns...
It's becoming a routine to go for massage & spa session in Danai Spa everytime I go back. Feel brand new everytime after the massage and skin scrubbing. Despite its luxurious outlet in G-Hotel (and the fact that I'm staying there), I still prefer its first outlet in Tanjong Bungah for the outdoor experience. The only disadvantage is a 'collection' of mosquito bites on the 'new born' skin, sob sob...

My first visit to the Penang Peranakan Mansion, really really nice, especially if you know the culture. We're being toured by a Malay guy and I think I could have been a better guide ;)

Visit Penang Hill (view from top shown below), first time after my first visit when I was 5 years old and I can certainly explain why I never re-visit...it's hot along the way up hill in the funicular, packed with people (I feel like canned sardine fish) and it's very very slow. Sadly, the condition didn't change after all these years, still hot & packed & slow.

Saw the street sign board with 3 language street name (indian & malay street name at the back). It was a big debate back then whether to use traditional chinese or simplified chinese, I guess I know the verdict now ;)

Brought Mr.T home to present to my parents (he received a lot of 'ang pao' during the period, ishh) and of course he has to try a little bit of everything from Penang's wide range of food to 'taste' Penang. Refer picture below, (clockwise from top left): poori in mamak stall; hasma (frog's fallopian tube) from Dragon-I; char koay teow (fried flat noodle) from Golden Bay hawker food center; egg toast with sugar from a down town local coffee shop (he caught a lot of attention) & a mix of nyonya kuih (peranakan sweet cakes).

On top of that, also watched a RM10 movie (Percy Jackson, won't recommend it though); catch up with some friends and was surprised to find out a few of them (including some relatives) are getitng married in 2010/2011, some are even expecting babies...oh no...I feel old!!!

While I was away, some new restaurants pop up and out of curiousity, I sampled a few of them and was absolutely amazed with the fantastic super delicious food quality. Some highlighst:-

Mixed roast meats (roast chicken, roast duck & roast pork belly) from Canton-I, Queensbay Mall. The roast pork belly is unbelievable delicious, their roast BBQ pork with honey glazed is also great (not in picture)

Iced yun yong (coffee & milk tea mixed), used to be a Hong Kong specialty, now very common in Penang as well. The one from Canton-I is by far the best I've ever tasted. RM5.50 per glass though & Mr.T typically drinks 2 glasses!

Another nice surprise from Canton-I - deep fried durian. I didn't expect it to be as nice as this...fantastic. Hence explains my frequent visits to Canton-I (4 times in 2 weeks)

Belacan fried chicken in Mama's nyonya food, so delicious...it's 10 on scale of 10. It comes with a dipping sauce, a dip, brings the chicken's perfect score taste to heavenly.

For roast duck, don't ever miss out Xuan Xin's (in Gurney Hotel) roast duck. Crispy skin on the outside, full flavoured juicy meat on the inside, top with dipping sauce, mmmm...now I miss the roast duck!

Stayed in 3 hotels during this trip: G-Hotel, Equatorial Hotel & Eastin Hotel. Out of the three, I'd recommend G-Hotel for its central location, quality of service & its lovely pool; Eastin for the price & its proximity to the Free Trade Zone where most Multi-national companies are (in other words, close to work); but not Equatorial Hotel (EQ). EQ is one of the first 5 stars hotels with gold course but it seems to be going down hill. A friend who works in EQ said the hotel is under-going some renovation and the quality is expected to be improved after the new 'face lift' but I think I'll skip the chance & stay in G :)

Small down sides for this trip would be: bad food, 'small' scratch on car, paid unreasonable price for food (RM5 for a small bowl of prawn noodle in a local coffee shop in Gurney, it's not the amount of money but matter of feeling ripped off!!) & burnt by accidentally poured hot porridge on my back in restaurant.

Some of the bad food experience (just for your reference, from top left, clockwise):- steak in The Ship (so called 'best steak in town); green tandoori fish in Palace d'India in Queensbay Mall; soft shell crab in Sakae sushi Gurney branch; crab in 'weird sauce' in Bali Hai. I've had good experiences with these restaurants before, something must have went wrong when I'm away.

Nevertheless, a free trip home to visit friends & family plus an escape from the -11C cold Copenhagen is really really nice. For behaving good during the trip, Mr.T earn a family portrait with my family :)

New Year, New Start

2010-01-17T15:37:00.002+01:00

Happy 2010...I know it's already 2 weeks into this new year but since I still make the mistake of writing 2009 whenever I wrote a date (force of habit), guess it's not too late for a new year greeting :)

So...2009 sum up? Lots of travel (Barcelona, Southern France, Vienna, Tokyo), first 'in-flight' (and the subsequent few) vomit, first 'in-cinema' throw up (courtesy to 'Avatar 3D') and many more that's gradually fading in my memory because it's filled up with 2010 happening & plans now.

First up: house moving (that's why I haven't manage to update my blogs for sooo... long, still more to cleanup & hopefully can get most of my old apartment down payment back), new travel plans and home trip soon (oh...all those Penang hawker food is awaiting me, yum yum).

New year resolution (limited to this blog): to update my blogs on a more regular basis than 2009's last quarter. Hopefully, if I don't give in to the exciting TV series that will make me a TV addict ;)

Frozen Lake

2009-12-23T03:25:00.004+01:00

I have been in Copenhagen for 2 winters now but this is the first time I saw whole lakes frozen up. Last year I was back in Penang for a month during the winter, so not much to comment but this year's winter is hard and cold. All four large lakes in Copenhagen in city centre is frozen, uo to 16cm thickness (else we're not allowed to walk on it).

Frozen lake with a little water opening left

I was so excited to walk on lake for the first time in my life. Not a good skater but I like the opportunity to see the city from another view, another angle...although it might be a little too slippery sometimes ;) Danes who are more accustomed to frozen lake are using this opportunity at a wider spectrum than I am. Skating, cycling, taking a 'short cut', putting their children on a slayer and drag along the lake...it's fun to see.

'Playing' on frozen lake

The discussing couple statue that's sitting by the lake

Glimpse of flying birds

I like snow, at least when they're fresh makes everything looks clean & beautiful & dreamy. I live in a fairy tale country!!!

Laksa

2009-12-12T20:00:00.001+01:00

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay, found in Malaysia & Singapore. There are several types of laksa but from where I came from - Penang, we're loyal to the ultimate laksa of all laksas - asam laksa.

Asam (tamarind) laksa is a sour fish-based soup. The main ingredients for asam laksa include shredded fish, typically mackerel, and finely sliced cucumber, onions (red / yellow), red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, mint (or daum kesum) and ginger buds; normally served with thick rice noodles and topped off with 'hae kor', a thich sweet dark coloured fermented shrimp paste.

There's no lack of recipe on the internet to cook Penang asam laksa from scratch but I received this wonderful laksa paste from my mom and also some dried laksa noodle (thick round rice noodles), just can't wait to try it out. The cold winter weather provides more reason to do so.

Laksa paste from mom

Frozen mackerels from asian shop

A blend of sliced onion, mint, chillies, lettuce, cucumber & pineapple.

All ingredients are available from local Asian shop except the shrimp paste. Luckily I 'smuggled' a bottle with me when I came back from Penang last time. I knew there's always a need for it, at some point ;)

So boiling the fish & cook everything per instruction on the paste package and voila ~~ a bowl of steaming hot laksa. The taste? It's not as good as home, of course; but being 10,000 miles away and still can taste laksa, priceless.

A satisfying bowl of laksa

Screw-pine Leaves (Pandan Leaves)

2009-11-24T01:17:00.001+01:00

Received a big bunch of fresh screw pine leave from Penang, they even have some soils attached! How can it be fresh? well, thanks to my frequent travelling colleagues from across the department who helped to bring it across the continent :) Sometimes screw pine leaves can be found in the Thai shop in Copenhagen but not always and I've been wanting to cook something with screw pine leave: nasi lemak & pandan chicken.

Screw pine leave (or pandan leave to locals)

So upon receiving the leaves, I've used some to make the nasi lemak (direct translation: rice in fat, but coconut fat) below following The Nasi Lemak Lover's guide. I make this two days in a roll to savour the anchovies chillies made from scratch.

Nasi lemak (Malaysian style coconut rice)

As for the rest of the pandan leaves, I made some pandan leave wrapped chicken with it. Pre-marinated the chicken with some turmeric powder, chili powder, salt and sugar to taste, and a few drops of fish sauce, then wrapped in pandan leaves. I can't figure out the traditional wrapping method, so I just roll them up and secure with toothpick, works fine.

Pandan chicken

Deep fried until chicken is cooked / leave turns brown, the aroma was great and the chicken is good. I won't say it's compatible to those available from restaurants in Penang but this is by far the best I can get in Copenhagen, and I'm proud of my own result :)

Oprah & Copenhagen

2009-11-22T23:21:00.004+01:00

I haven't have time to update blog for quite some time, actually really quite some loooo....ng time, shamefully. Super busy with both work & after work life (renovating a friend's apartment, tough job) and organizing pictures for Tokyo trip really takes up a long time. However, there's something that I must share.

Oprah Winfrey was in Copenhagen during the Olympics 2016 host city selection to boost the Chicago bid. Oprah's cheer leading didn't win Chicago the right to host the game but did surely win my heart in her show featuring Copenhagen. In the show, she shows her audience the different lifestyles living in countries bidding for 2016 Olympics. Copenhagen is not bidding for it but it's where all the action of voting took place, so naturally also part of the show.

Oprah's almost presented Copenhagen as heaven to live in, lots of plus points to the city especially in the aspect of safety, social security & the beauty of being able to choose (career, marriage etc). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7s89ptz0dA&feature=related & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QS8dROjKNY&feature=related.

During such short trip, I don't expect her to have a total overview of Copenhagen but I do agree with her first impressions on Copenhagen, I felt exactly the same when I came about a year and a half ago. I was surprised to see the amount of bicycles & cyclist within city in normal clothings (or even formal suits); amazed that children can be left outside shops without being attended & still safe; the amazing Danish designs & of course, the 'notorious' tax.

The you tube version of Oprah's show is attached, checked it out for your own verdict :)

Tokyo - 4

2009-10-20T15:46:00.010+02:00

Stopping at Hamamatsucho, the nearest JR station to Tokyo Tower, another surprise awaits. Right in the middle of the hustle street, the same street that houses the Tokyo World Trade Center is the tori leading to Zojoji temple. Pedestrians & motorists travel pass the tori towards the T-junction that stops directly in front of Zojoji Temple's front gate.

What is special about Zojoji temple? Honestly, I don't know. Didn't even step into the temple. The reason I was there is because one of the best view of Tokyo Tower is available from the temple's view. Isn't it amazing to have a tall telecommunication tower so close to a religious temple? Well, that's Japan.

Posted one of my favourite Tokyo Tower shots. Honestly, I think Tokyo Tower is more 'photogenic' than Eiffel Tower due to its colour scheme (which of course corresponds to the Japanese national flag colours). Look how pack Tokyo is from top...high rise buildings stretch beyond the reach of eyes (unless you have binocular, of course). Also played around with my new camera and shot a miniature view of Zojoji temple from top, hehe... Going to the first observatory tower is not a challenge but the second tier requires long wait in front of 1 single elevator, so be ready to spend some time at the tower.

Leaving the tower, proceeding to the smaller of the two parks available in Hamamatsucho - Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden. My first visit to Japanese garden and I've already fallen in love with the setting at first sight. Kyu Shiba Rikyu is a small garden but the settings are so lovely, craftfully planned, well maintained & quiet. No screaming kids, barking dogs, smokers, garbage lying around...just clean, peaceful & tranquil. It is amazing that despite being 50m away from a busy main street, you can barely hear any traffic, too bad I don't have sufficient skill to take a nice picture of this breathtakingly beautiful garden.

Next on the days itinerary is Sensoji temple in Asakusa. The time was nearly 4pm but because my travel companion insisted on the taking a cruise on Sumida river to the temple, we walked nearly a kilometer to Hinode Pier, waited 40 minutes for a nearly 40minutes ride to Asakusa. I was pretty grumpy about the time wasted but then was also grateful that we get to have a break in the glass top boat and cruise through bridges after bridges along Sumida river, seeing the other side of Tokyo.

Picture on top is the famous landmark for Asahi beer, locating directly opposite the pier in Asakusa. Arriving at Sensoji, the oldest temple in Tokyo dedicated to Goddess of Mercy with slight light remains & most tourists crowd gone, I get to take a shot of the famous Kaminarimon (雷门) lantern without too much 'obstacles'. If you're in the mood for a rickshaw tour, opportunities are plenty around the area, some provide guided tour.

Passing through the gate brings you immediately to the oldest shopping street that stretch towards the temple. I'd say this is one of the best place for souvenir purchasing, the second best is - the airport. So if you missed out the chance to buy yukata / Kokeshi doll here, you can always find better quality ones at the airport albeit more expensive. Strolling the street is a nice experience, probably because the crowd has slightly reduced compare to 'peak hours'.

Aside from souvenir shopping (which totally deviates from the intention of temple visit :p), lots of small tit-bits are also available on the Nakashime shopping street (not to mention the hundreds of restuarants on its branch out side streets). With full enthusiasm, me & my travel companion tried the deep fried mochi & the seaweed senbei. Senbei was so so but the mochi was absolutely delicious.

The Nakashime shopping street ends with blessing lanterns on both sides and another gate that leads to the Sensoji temple. As you can see from the picture, the sky is dark, and thus the temple is closed as well. Too bad for us that it's under some maintenance work, so part of the temple is covered, hence no picture taken to share.

I did my home work and found a century old small family run restaurant that serves best unagi in the area for dinner. Unfortunately for us, when we reach to the small slightly under maintain restaurant/house, it's already close for the days business. Craving for unagi, we proceeded to another restaurant that looks promising.

The meal was fine albeit not the best but it's definitely different from what I experienced before. First, put the spring onion & seaweed (and wasabi if you like) into the tea pot which actually holds dashi stocks, scoop the rice & unagi from claypot to rice bowl, pour some soup into the bowl and eat it. And of course, finish the meal with miso soup. I ordered some char grilled shishamo fish(had to take picture & show the waitress due to language barrier), serve with a lemon wedges and japanese mayonnaise, nice & authentic :)

Hot spring next blog...

Tokyo - 3

2009-10-20T15:44:00.009+02:00

First of all, I must admit my own ignorance. When I first saw the tori below, I thought this is already the famous Meiji shrine, was so dissppointed & my travel companion who's been there is not helping by mis-guiding me further away from the truth (I'm sure he enjoys it). Truth is, this tori marks the beginning of the part to Meiji shrine.

Walking a few minutes on a stone path through a small stream with sake offerings on both sides, it amazes me that despite Meiji shrine is just a street away from the happening Harajuku the whole world just transformed into peacefulness & quiet when we stepped through the first tori. When we heard a public announcement in Japanese, it felt absolutely awkard in this almost ancient setting. Anyway, since we're only 30mins away from the closing time, it's not hard to guess that the announcement is a gentle reminder about the approaching closing time.

Speeding up towards the shrine (actually just by reducing the number of pictures taken along the way is already a hige time saver, haha), finally the shrine is in sight. Traditionally, we're suppose to wash our hands and rinse our mouth before entering the shrine, hence this nice bamboo made water dispense system. Not having any intention for praying without knowing the ritual, we skipped this and rush through front gate (the security guard is already starting to 'minimize' the entrance gate).

Visitng Meiji shrine close to closing time has it's advantage (aside from the obvious rushing disadvantage). The shrine is sitting quietly in a peaceful setting while most of the tourists have left. The calming feeling associated with the soft sunset light is so tranquilizing. I almost forgot the rush to the shrine and the husle Tokyo and instead imagining myself in the middle of a sacred woods with the shrine.

Alas, the famous shrine quietly awaits its daily visitors and one of its millionth photo shoot. Photo taking is not allowed inside the hall. After making a small donation, I walked out to the courtyard and zoom in to snap one look of the shrine. If I have more time, I'd have place a wish on the wooden block, next time :)

Leaving the shrine, taking the same stone path out again, we're immediately greeted by Jingu Bridge where cosplayers socialize in weekend. Unfortunaetly, it's just a normal weekday when we're there so, sorry, no unique cosplayers to show. While Ginza offers high end shopping, Takeshita street certainly is the heaven for youngsters and cosplayers. Filled with people all the time, taking a stroll while trying to window shop could be challenging.

I entered Takeshita street with the intention to buy something unique but ended up only buying an egg shaped measuring cup, embarrassing. The fashion is too trendy for me and cosplay is definitely too outrages in Europe; skirts are too short for my fat thigh & shoes are too fine heel for my weight. Well, enough excuse, next stop, we're back in Shinjuku towards the tallest building in Tokyo - Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

The two top-floor panoramic observation decks of the building are free of charge to the public and are open till 11 pm on weekdays. The best part is: use of cameras is permitted. Unfortunately, after we walked up & down and finally found the entrance, we saw a notice saying special security is in place, hence it's not open to public. Sigh, there goes my Tokyo night scene dream.

Walking back towards the hotel, passing the happening Shinjuku and skipping all the nice izakaya along the way, we headed for McDonald. Yes, McDonald. My travel companion who's been having stomach problem wanted some food that he's familiar with, so... Well, the story is not that sad. Japanese McDonald has some local speacialty as well. We got teriyaki beef burger and prawn burger with grapefruit juice. Fries are the same, haha...

More of Tokyo, next blog.

Finding Totoro

2009-10-18T17:21:00.018+02:00

If you're a Japanese anime fan, then it's almost certain that you've heard of My Neighbour Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki (created by Studio Ghibli). Personally, I like his Spirited Away produced years later more but My Neighbour Totoro was the first anime that introduce me to Miyazaki. I still remember when the Totoro anime was first shown in Malaysia, my friends were all crazy over the cute friendly (and chubby) Totoro. Here's how he looks like (the grey one) with the 2 main characters and other wood spirits in the anime.

Ghibli Museum, designed by Miyazaki himself in Mitaka (a suburb of Tokyo) exhibits everything that relates to anime created by Studio Ghibli from animation history to their latest products. Entrance to the museum is by controlled tickets only. As an overseas visitor, I have to book the ticket via their Europe sales office and bring the appointment letter for entry, of course a small entrance fee of 1000Yen is incurred.

20+ minutes train ride from Shinjuku, the first impression I have of Mitaka is that it's a peaceful, tranquil yet classy small town (maybe because of the museum?). Walking from train station towards the museum, it's not hard to notice some 'road signs' along the way, discretely embedded as part of the city. I found some foot prints (with dog's paw prints as well) and some really cute lamp post (if you can read kanji, of course)

I think the museum is not designed for tourists but more for the local, or better yet, Ghibli / Miyazaki fans who dream of becoming a child again. The fact that they implement control ticket limits the number of people visiting the museum and keep the crowd at an optimum level. The real entrance ticket is a film cutout framed with hard cardboard which is so adorable. I was so glad that I get to keep the entrance ticket (worried at some point that they might collect it back).

Picture taking inside the museum is not permitted but outside of the museum (even though still within its compound) is not an issue. Young or old; local or foreign; everyone in the museum (as far as I can see), including myself have just turn more cheerful, excitingly discovering one secret room after another; finding staircase at weird corners and climbing rotating steel 'caged' spiral staircase.

I can't recall where this iron robot on the roof top originates from but he is definitely popular. Everybody takes a photo with him, I have to wait at the side and quickly take a picture during the 'human model exchange window.

Pic: Part of Ghibli musuem exterior

Pic: Totoro & the dust balls guarding the entrance

It's amazing to realize how much work it is to produce an anime, the conventional way. Stacks and stacks of drawings just to produce one scene or capture a movement. Seeing the very place where great animes like My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Poko Rosso... are produced really opened up views from different perspective. Think I have to watch the Ghibli animes all over again to further appreciate all the hard work behind.

My visit ends with a 10 - 15 minutes short anime in a small 'cinema'. All explanation / narration is in Japanese only but the anime is so nicely done in a way that you don't need the language to understand the message. Of course, no visit would be complete without some souvenir from the gift shop, one of the few places that sells original Studio Ghibli related products. Personally, I think the entrance ticket is already the best souvenir I can keep but seeing all those lovely products, it's hard not to buy some (and they're not cheap).

Pic: Big & small totorosss...

Pic: More...

Ghibli museum tour can easily take up half day (or more). If you're a Ghibli fan and happen to visit Tokyo, then I'd highly recommend the museum. If you haven't heard of any of the anime that I mentioned, I suggest you to start seeing some of them, starting with Totoro & Spirited Away, trust me, you don't want to live the regret of missing them out.

Tokyo - 2

2009-10-18T17:20:00.006+02:00

Having a hard time to wake up the second day in Tokyo at nearly 10.30am, me & my travel companion headed straight to Ginza. The good thing about being in Ginza on weekend is: some main streets are closed for cars so you can walk in the middle of the street without the worry of being hit. Walking across the many posh streets of Ginza somehow intimidated me. I can't gather enough courage to walk into flagship stores. Chanel, LV, Emporio Armani? no thanks, not that I can afford any of those anyway :p

Luckily Ginza has many to offer more than just luxurious shopping (oh yes, people with convertible Rolls Royles shop in Wako while the driver is waiting by the car). The famous kabuki theatre and the biggest fish market are in the area as well. But we're not into those today, we're going to Sony Building.

What's special about Sony Building? Well, aside from seeing some of the new Sony products that are not yet in the market, having beautiful assistance to provide explaination is kind of nice too (only if you speak Japanese, they tend to run away when you speak English). Having found anything that you're interested in, the opportunity to purchase at a tax-free price is available inside the building. Too bad picture taking is not allowed :s

Understand the fact that Ginza is expensive, I have made my homework by searching a reasonably priced restaurant for lunch. Gonpachi provides excellent lunch menu & it's definitely cheap compare to Copenhagen. Coincidently, when (ex)President Bush visited Japan, he was brought to Gonpachi for lunch as well, albeit differnet branch. My travel companion complained that the restaurant looks like a slump from outside and he got really worried when he saw a middle age drunk man sitting at a corner outside the restaurant and no visible customer inside the restaurant (peeping from window).

Just when I was beginning to doubt my choice, we discovered that apparently the restaurant's entrance lies on the other side of the building and they even have dress code! Thank goodness we're decent, haha... Stepping into the restaurant transform the environment 180 degree. We then understand the 'slump' look is part of the decoration to the restaurant's theme and it's a two storeys restaurant and all customers are being placed on first floor, near to the kitchen counter.

I had a grill fish of the day lunch set while my friend took the teriyaki don with soba set. Soba is hand made, fish iss fresh and grilled to perfection, the teriyaki chicken, oh teriyaki chicken...char grilled to perfection (again), tender and juicy, it tasted so so so good. Well, I don't expect less from a place that can host national guest :) At this point, my travel companion Mr.T is no longer complaining :p
Next stop, we proceed to Akihabara, the electronic town. I think it won't be exeggerating to say that if there's any electronic items on sale anywhere in the world, you'll definitely find it here. Just Yodobashi (one of the biggest electronic shop) is already a 6 storey building that covers a wide range of product from computer, house hold electronics, to camera and beauty related electronic appliances. They even have a machine to wash rice before cooking (/faint).

I wanted to buy one of the multi-function rice cooker but they don't support 230/240V supply!!! Then I went on to look at Lumix TZ7 but the 'sleek' salesman demonstrated the function of CX2 and 'cheated' me into buying the camera, its expensive leather casing, an extra battery (nealy also the power converter & screen protector) and the next thing I know, I'm now a proud owner of Ricoh CX2, haha...

Leaving Akihabara (being 50,000Yen poorer), we took a small pit stop back at the hotel before proceeding to Shibuya. At night, no place in Tokyo houses more people than Shibuya. The most famous scene in Shibuya, is its scramble crossing, the intersection among three large TV screen and every 3 minutes, thousands of pedestrians will flock the crossing. To be honest, I think it's a bit scary when you see at least a few hundreds of people walking towards you.

Found our way to one of the Momo Paradise branch in Shibuya for dinner (of course, it was planned). A very distinct diffrence between Europe and Japan is how the shops / restaurants are located. Very often, you'll find a block of building that houses many restaurants in each floor in Japan but in Europe, they are often just by the street, individually. During Mr.T's previous Japan trips, they often have problem finding restaurants and eateries but having a travel companion who reads kanji (a.k.a. me), of course the problem is no longer there :)

Momo Paradise is also a local favourite for their 90minutes buffet hot pot (shabu-shabu, sukiyaki and the new korean kimchi hot pot) with free flow of refill. By the way, Momo paradise opens up a branch in KL, slightly different from its Japanese main shop on side dishes & dipping sauce selections, perhaps I should try when I go back. Anyway, the guests surely come and go at a fast rate due to time limit so we got our seats after 15 minutes of wait (on a Saturday without reservation, that's fast).

Choosen shabu-shabu because we had an expensive one in Copenhagen before and it doesn't taste good at all, so we needed to try out the 'real' Japanese shabu-shabu. Drinks and rice are not included but can be added on small fee. Shabu-shabu pot with konbu soup base on top of infra red heating, 2 bento layers of very thinly sliced beef, a plate of vegetables, ponzhu & sesame sauce marks the start of our shabu-shabu journey.

Mr.T likes it so much that he labelled this meal as one of the best during the whole trip (after we returned from Japan of course). It is definitely way better than in Copenhagen but I have an ambition to try it with Kobe / Wagyu beef the next time (if) I visit Japan. Ending the meal with a total of 6 bento layers of beef (not much compare to other customers but enough for us), it was a satisfying dinner that billed less than 6,000Yen with 2 more very happy customers :)

Japan Fast Food 1

2009-10-18T03:48:00.005+02:00

One harmless little visit to a Japanese convenient store AM-PM with the intention to buy some simple convenient food to munch on ended up with a big shopping billed to 2700 Yen, I was a little embarrassed when I go to the counter for payment. But look at how much I bought, so excited. Some of these items became my first dinner in Tokyo. The convenient store even provide wet tissue for hand wiping before eating, spoon, chopstick with toothpick and serviette after food, all free of charge.

I start my 'dinner' with an instant clam miso soup. Clams were provided in a vacuum sealed pack with dried spring onions and miso paste. Pour 200ml of hot water into these unpacked ingredients, wait for 3 minutes and voila, a steaming hot clam miso soup. It tasted good too. My appetizer was a small piece of spicy fried chicken from the hot counter, really spicy. Main course was some inari sushi and triangle rice. The triangle rice is not that exciting though, rather tasteless but full filling. The dinner ends with the special edition kit kat, with rice crackers coated by chocolate, yum...Oh, nearly forget, all food was accompanied by Japanese milk tea (too sweet and lack of tea taste for me), not bad huh?

Tokyo - 1

2009-10-18T03:47:00.006+02:00

After nearly 15 hours flight, I finally arrived in Tokyo Narita airport. Bought the airport express train to Shinjuku where the hotel is but is not allowed to checked in before 2pm. Shinjuku station is a huge huge huge station with 3 train lines and 5 metro lines intersecting, taking the wrong exit could result in having to walk a big round to find your way again.

Me and my travel companion (who's having a bad stomach) , both tired, sleepy (it's midnight Copenhagen time) after attempting several times (east exit, south exit & new south exit) and several argument about directions, we finally manage to find our hotel which is only 320 meters away from the nearest entry point to the Shinjuku station (if you know the way, of course).

Despite our desperate need for a refreshing shower and a couple hours of power nap, we were rejected to check in because we arrive 2hours prior to check in time. Without any choice, leaving out luggage in the hotel, we set off to Takashimaya Time Square which is 300m away from the hotel for lunch and time killing.

Took a quick stroll in Takashimaya's basement food center and I was absolutely overwhelmed. Seafood, fruits, cooking ingredients, western, eastern, you name it, they've got it. There're so many food stalls selling different things: sushi, bento, sashimi, don, pasta, cakes, rice, noodles, mochi... Being greeted by a bow from the sales persons in Japanese when you walk from stall to stall made me even more confused. How do I pay? by cash over the counter or by coupon? Anyway, having a real hard time to choose, we decided to go up to the restaurant floors.

Spreading across 3 floors (12F- 14F), Takashimaya's 30+ garden restaurants (named garden because most of them have outdoor garden, from 12th to 14th floor) is not making my decision making process easier either. Considering my travel companion Mr.T's stomach condition, I finally gave up and settled for a food that is known to his stomach - egg wrapped tomato chicken fried rice and fruit juice. The rice turned out to be nicer that I thought but the bill is not cheap for lunch as well (~5000Yen for both of us).

Dragged ourselves through the neighbouring Tokyo Hands shopping mall and killed the 2 hours, we finally get to check in. The room is a tiny one (guess Tokyo's space is precious) but the toilet is nevertheless still impressive :). Toiletries provided are also very extensive, they even provide shower sponge ;) found a funny 'Japlish' (my term for Japanese English) too: 'Please finish up a roll of toilet paper to prevent wasting resources'. Well, it was really hard for me to finish a roll of toilet paper, hmm...

After a nice shower & 2hrs of power nap, feeling fresh again, we set off to the Yodobashi electronic shop 200m away from the hotel, opposite Lumine1 shopping mall. Apparently there're 8 Yodobashi's scattered around every corner of Shinjuku East, varied from 3 to 6 floors height, each specialized in a field: camera; audio & visual; home electronics; time pieces etc. I was stunned to see the amount of gadgets display. Just the camera shop (building#5, the red neon lighted building in picture below) is already almost like an essence of Malaysia's PC fair.

Mr.T and I made an agreement to forfeit our original plan of dining out but instead buy something from Takashimaya basement and eat at the hotel instead (due to his stomach circumstances, he needs a portable toilet to feel comfortable, poor guy). Unfortunately when we made it back to Takashimaya, the basement is already closed by 8.30pm, only the garden restaurants are open. All because we took a lot of picture on our way there, else we might have made it.

Anyway, failing to eat what I planned and worse, don't even get to buy anything from the basement food section got me into a grumpy depressed mood. I was 'nagging' Mr.T along the way until we went to AM-PM. I like Japan, if there's anything that can be made into can / pre-packed / cup noodle type, they'll do it. Found clam miso soup in a cup noodle form, clams vacuum sealed, amazing. Bought a lot of convenient items and ate some as dinner instead, the convenient shopkeeper was slightly shocked :)

Tarts

2009-10-15T19:39:00.007+02:00

Two days before my trip, instead of packing, I baked a tart. Not because I've packed and ready but due to the fact that the tart dough will go bad before I return to Copenhagen. I've been brought up with the teaching of 'do not waste food' so might as well make something out of it. Baked a French pear tart with chocolate base. Distributed it among my colleagues but it doesn't taste so good to my opinion, the chocolates are too overwhelming.

Another tart that I really like is apple cream tart. Bakes it not so long ago, recipe from Joy of Baking. My colleagues gave me two thumbs up for the apple tart but didn't say anything about the pear tart, so....