Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken

Location: Sapporo, Japan

Author: My Husband

Our last stop on the trip before heading home was the city of Sapporo in northern Japan. We have visited quite a few places in Japan in the last several years, but all of them were located on Honshu island. This was our first time in Sapporo, which is situated on the northern island of Hokkaido.

It took us a little while to get from HK to Hokkaido (my wife will probably roll her eyes at my definition of “little”). We first had to fly from HK back to Singapore (on a SQ A380 - nice!), and then waited 4 hrs at Changi for our overnight flight to Tokyo Narita on yet another SQ A380. We waited out a 3 hr connection at Narita in the ANA lounge, then spent another 2 hrs on a regional flight from Tokyo Narita to Sapporo New Chitose. I didn’t mind the flying – airplanes are almost like a third home for me anyway – but Christina thought I was nuts.

Pretty sky somewhere between Tokyo and Sapporo.

A glimpse of the outlying areas surrounding Sapporo – very agricultural. What a difference compared to the built-up areas surrounding Tokyo.

Oh yeah – funny story on the flight from HK to Singapore. My wife, who is now a certifiable Iberico ham fanatic, found some good-quality jamon Iberico de Bellota at Seibu’s “Great” food hall, so she bought a small pack to eat on the flight. In the air, she shared some of the ham with my Aunt, and before long, I had two hysterical women lamenting the fact that Iberico wasn’t available in Singapore or Canada. Great… (We later found out that Iberico ham is available at Bosa Foods and Oyama Sausage. Oyama Sausage has the better quality ham from acorn-fed pigs – jamon Iberico de Bellota. Bosa Foods only sells regular jamon Iberico. Christina will be writing a post about this soon enough..)

We got into Narita at around 7:30 in the morning. I slept a little during the flight, so I was feeling pretty good. My wife on the other hand, didn’t sleep much and promptly fell into a deep slumber while sitting upright in the ANA lounge. Since my company was fast asleep, I took a leisurely shower and amused myself by pouring beverages, one after another, using the infamous Japanese beer machine in the lounge.

This is a typical self-serve beer machine in the ANA lounge. You put a glass in the metal holder and press the start button. The machine then tilts the glass and dispenses the beer until you press the stop button. The automated tilting action ensures a perfect head of foam every time. Yes, it probably was too early to drink, but hey, I was on vacation.

Typical Japanese attention to detail. Beer glasses were kept cool in the fridge. Only Japanese airline lounges serve Pocari drinks – I was tempted to have a can to relive my youth, but draft Sapporo won out in the end. The white liquid in the top shelf? Hokkaido milk, imho, the best tasting milk in the world.

The ANA regional flight got us into Sapporo in the early afternoon and we made our way from the airport to Sapporo Station on the JR Express train. A word of advice to those of you who are thinking of travelling to Japan: pack light. Our bags weren’t large by North American standards, but we encountered some challenges getting them onto and off the train. And when onboard, there really wasn’t any space to put the bags without getting in the way of other passengers. Needless to say, our bags were the largest ones onboard…

We stayed at the Keio Plaza Sapporo, which is located several minutes walk away from Sapporo Station. The following are views from our room:

View to the west. JR train tracks are in the foreground.

View to the east, looking towards Sapporo station.

By the time we were settled in, it was already early evening. The long travelling hours were starting to catch up to us, and we just wanted to get something to eat and turn in early. We didn’t have any idea what we were going to to eat, so we walked out to Sapporo Station to check out what was available.

Now, Japan is the land of plenty when it comes to many things, but food has to be at the top of the list. We strolled into the basement food hall at Daimaru and we were lost in a wonderful maze of food stalls selling an amazing variety of foodstuffs – think super-sized foodcourt on crack (without the chairs/tables) and you’ll get a sense of what we found ourselves in the middle of. Sleep and hunger forgotten, we spent the next hour walking around the Daimaru food hall, and then through the underground mall to the other food halls in the basement of the JR Sapporo Station complex.

One of the reasons we came to Sapporo was for the food, and we knew rightaway that we weren’t going to be disappointed. Something Christina really wanted to eat on this trip was authentic Japanese tonkatsu, or deep-fried pork chop. We were supposed to go to a restaurant in HK to do so, but we never made it there. As luck would have it, we ran smack into a tonkatsu restaurant on one of the dining floors in Stellar Place, a multi-storey mall connected to Sapporo Station. We didn’t wait for an invitation; we stepped right on in.

Tonkatsu restaurant. One of the things about Japan is the discipline and consistency with which malls are designed. In the basement, you will find the food hall. Keep going up the escalators and you will find yourself on the dining floor – restaurants galore. A true foodie paradise, Japan is.

The staff in the restaurant did not speak much English, and we did not speak an iota of Japanese. But this being Japan, we were offered picture menus as soon as the staff realized we weren’t locals. The funniest thing was Christina being mistaken for being Japanese ALL the time, and I will relate a funny story about this in a later post.

One thing that I noticed was the patience that people in Sapporo had for foreigners – they were extremely nice to non-Japanese speaking people, which made things a lot easier for us. In Tokyo and Osaka, people are slightly less patient. The worst experience we had was in Kyoto, where some of the sales people we tried to buy stuff from were downright rude to us. In terms of tourist-friendliness, Sapporo is the perfect city for first time visitors to Japan.

But back to tonkatsu – the picture menu was pretty comprehensive. You could choose the kind of pork, the size of the tonkatsu by weight, the meat to fat ratio, and a host of other stuff. Because Japanese kanji is approx 70% similar to written Chinese, we generally understood the context of the information being presented. I ended up choosing a set meal with a 164g tonkatsu. My wife went all out and chose a 250g piece. After making our choices, our food started showing up pretty quickly…

These were the condiments and “tools” that were placed on every table. On the left, you have the mortar and pestle for grinding up sesame seeds, a bottle of which you see on the right; the ground sesame paste is used as a sauce for the tonkatsu. Next to the mortar and pestle, you have a selection of salad dressing. Next to that, you have one jar of sweet sauce and another jar of spicy sauce.

This trio of pickled vegetables were presented to us before our tonkatsu arrived. All were very good, and we ended up eating quite a bit of the middle one, as well as the one on the right. Also served, but not photographed, were two bowls of very tasty miso soup.

Then these were served.

Tonkatsu – perfectly fried with no excess oil. And tonkatsu is always served with a healthy heaping of shredded cabbage. Guess the greens balance out the fried pork chop. This was my 164g order.

This was Christina’s 250g order, which was sliced before serving. See how light and crispy the panko crust looks? Also, see how thick the tonkatsu is? It puts to shame all the pale imitations served at the Taiwanese and Japanese restaurants in Vancouver.

Another view of the pork chop. It was fully cooked (no medium rare doneness here), very moist, and had the perfect ratio of meat to fat. The texture was superb, and very umami tasting. It was, in a word, awesome.

Last but not least, two bowls of Japanese rice were served. Now, Japanese rice is very premium stuff and is not usually exported out of Japan. (The Japanese rice we buy in North America is grown in North America). The rice we had was soft, fluffy, and pleasingly starchy – it was superb. My wife, who usually doesn’t eat much rice, finished her whole bowl. She also had rice every morning for breakfast, so you know it’s gotta be good…

With our hunger fully sated, we made our way back to the hotel and settled in for our long-awaited sleep. But the tonkatsu was a really perfect way to start our vacation in Sapporo, and it was just a teaser of the great things that were to come…

In the next few posts, we’ll talk about seriously good eats in Sapporo…

Location: Hong Kong

Author: My Husband

After three days in Hong Kong, it was time for us to travel to our next destination. But before I post about that, here are some photos of the HK odds and ends to wrap up this visit.

The best Portuguese egg tarts, we found at Lord Stow’s in Macau. However, HK also boasts some very good egg tarts as well. For instance, the ones available in Tai Cheong Bakery are pretty good.

Creamy custard filling, and interesting pastry shell made with oats.

Here’s where you can find them – Tai Cheong Bakery. There are branches all over the city, and word is that the last governor of HK – Chris Patten – used to be a regular patron.

My wife loves beef, so we weren’t going to leave HK without eating at Kau Kee (九記牛腩) first. This restaurant has a rich history of serving beef brisket (and only beef brisket), and boasts a customer list that reads like a who’s who of HK high society. Their beef brisket was very good indeed. So good, in fact, that the waiters did not see any particular need to provide much - if any - service to the customers.

Beef brisket noodle in clear broth. The noodles were interesting – they were flat and delicate, and had a texture somewhere between al-dente and mushy. The beef is tender and flavorful. Broth is chock-a-block with umami.

Beef brisket in clear broth. The beef in this dish is even more tender than that in the dish above. Very satisfying indeed.

Kau Kee is an institution, and plenty of customers flock to it. This also means that they haven’t refreshed the place in ages (i.e. it is little more than a hole in the wall), and have in their employ waiters who do not even speak to you when taking your order. It was really quite the experience…

I happen to like HK milk tea, especially like the iced version; however, I usually have to rush against time to finish it lest the melting ice dilutes the flavor. In HK, several “creative” solutions have been applied to this particular problem. An ingenious one is to freeze milk tea into ice cubes, and then use them in the preparation of the final drink. I was on the lookout for this, but did not manage to find it. Another solution, albeit one that is quite gimmicky, is this:

Ice-well milk tea. Since the ice is on the outside, it can’t dilute your drink.

You can find the above at Tai Hing Roast Meats – this place is apparently popular amongst locals, but I found the food to be quite average.

We also went to one of the more popular cha-chan-tangs (茶餐厅) in Central called Honolulu. They are pretty well known for their egg tarts, pineapple buns, and milk tea, so we ordered those.

More egg tarts. The custard was excellent, but the pastry had gone a bit limp as it had been out of the oven for a while. Fresh out of the oven, these tarts would have been awesome.

Pineapple bun. It was also a little limp, but the top coating was pretty good. I would say that Lido’s (Central Square, Richmond) version, often regarded as the best in Metro Vancouver, is as good as Honolulu’s.

Iced milk tea. Strong and creamy, this was superb. I haven’t found any in Vancouver that are better. And because Honolulu is owned by my good friend’s family, I actually have a tub of their tea leaves sitting at home.

I really like Hong Kong, and I can’t wait to visit again. After HK, my wife and I pushed on to our next destination:

This tower is not particularly well known, but it is a landmark of the city that we travelled to. Any guesses as to where this is?

Finally, to end our series of posts on HK, the following photos are of a meal we had at Leung Man To’s (梁文韜) Tai Wing Wah Village Restaurant. Leung, also known as Hugo, is a celebrity chef in HK and has a well-deserved reputation for being a gourmand. Since both Christina and I like to watch his TV shows, we were really enthusiastic about trying out his food.

The Tai Wing Wah in Kowloon. The place was pretty packed – good thing Christina made a reservation.

Smoked oysters. These were pretty decent; the oysters were suitably smoky, and had a pleasant texture.

Family-style chicken. This was ok. Not bad, but not fantastic.

One of Hugo Leung’s more popular dishes – rice with lard and soy sauce. Sounds disgusting you say? It is actually really flavourful. You are provided with the lard and soy, and you can add as much as you like.

The rice was beautifully cooked.

A cold platter of roast suckling pig and jelly-fish. The roast pig was very nice. Skin was crispy, and the pork very tender.

Another of Hugo’s popular dishes – “rice fried” duck that is supposed to be limited to only 20 per night. The duck was flavorful and pretty rich, but also quite chewy.

Yet another of Hugo’s popular dishes – Ma Lai Gou. The serving size was gigantic. It had a very fine texture, was suitably moist, and had more than a trace of butter. This was very good indeed.

The food at Tai Wing Wah is meant to be “village” food, so everything is served family style. The dishes are not meant to be fancy; rather, they are supposed to be rustic and honest. Judged in that context, Tai Wing Wah delivered in spades. What’s more, the food was very reasonably priced by any standards – all the food above (plus beer for me) came to approx. CAD $60.

However, in absolute terms, truth is, the food was really just so so. Perhaps we were expecting too much, or maybe it was a bit of an off night for the chefs, but we didn’t walk away wanting to visit again soon.

Location: Macau

Author: My Husband

After completing the write-up on Lung King Heen in late December, I had planned to put up the next post in a couple of days. For a bunch of reasons, that couple of days quickly turned into one week. Then one week quickly turned into a couple. And in the blink of an eye, a couple of weeks became a month. A month without updating this blog… I’m not even sure I want to see what the traffic statistics look like anymore.

Over the last four weeks, a new deal has been taking up a good part of my work days. The effort that I’ve been putting into it, plus all the associated travel required to manage it, has made me want to be a passive recipient of entertainment after hours (i.e. TV!) instead of being a content creator. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to manage new deals, especially complex ones. But this non-stop action has made me look forward to a little R&R again. What better time then, to revisit our vacation from two months ago where the biggest stressor of each day was deciding where to go for our meals?

Picking up from where I left off, here’s the post on our day-trip to Macau.

The façade of St Paul’s Cathedral. Built in the 16th century, it was mostly destroyed by fire in the 1800s. Today, only the facade remains standing. This is one of the most popular tourist sites in Macau and we always visit to take photos every time we’re in town.

Modern day Macau has a bit of a schizophrenic personality. Its downtown core is filled with throngs of people and its streets jammed with loud, slow-moving traffic. There are still vestiges of Macau’s Portuguese connections in some of the architecture, but the city scene is largely dominated by cookie-cutter buildings and garishly colored signboards that reminds me of a typical mainland city. This commercial part of Macau is fast-paced and over-developed; when surrounded by the unending sea of humanity, you can’t even hear yourself think.

A street in downtown Macau. Looks a lot like Guangzhou.

People people everywhere.

But just a few streets away, a gentler Macau awaits. This is a Macau that is more like the environment in which my wife grew up – a place where the air is stiller, where golden silence is only occasionally broken by the sounds of raspy scooters putt-putting down small side streets. This part of Macau, I like.

Charming older builders, no ugly signs, no huge mass of people – this is Macau as I imagined it to be.

Along these quiet streets, you will see many small family run businesses selling specialty Macanese snacks and pastries. You will also come across a few stores specializing in Chinese desserts. This one came highly recommended by my Aunt.

A traditional Chinese dessert store. As a tribute to Macau’s Portuguese colonial past, most businesses still maintain their signage in Chinese and Portuguese.

And here are some of the desserts we had. They were cooked-to-order, and were excellent.

Almond soup.

Walnut soup.

In contrast to the quiet parts of Macau, the crowd-filled Senado Square is home to many “western” businesses.

Macau’s famed Senado Square. Who says the red-blue-white fabric is only good for carrying bags? You can use it for wrapping buildings too - who’d have thought? (heh heh, a little inside joke for our readers from HK )

The McDonald’s juggernaut first came to Macau in the late 80s, and there are now quite a number of branches in the city.

Macau hasn’t escaped the Starbucks machine either.

After wandering around Senado Square for a bit, sampling and then buying the pastry snacks that Macau is famed for, we hired a cab to take us to Coloane island where we had dinner reservations. The half-hour ride took us from the hustle and bustle of mainland Macau to the glitter of the newly developed Cotai strip, and then through open bucolic countryside to the southern tip of Coloane island. The further south we went, the more open the countryside became, and the more I liked what I saw.

We were headed to Macau’s famous Fernando’s restaurant on Black Sand Beach, but we had the cabbie make a brief detour to Lord Stow’s – original home of Portuguese egg tarts - first. The Portuguese egg tart was created by Andrew Stow in the 1980s when he adapted the recipe for the Portuguese Pastel de Nata for Asian consumption. Andrew’s (aka Lord Stow’s) Portuguese egg tarts were so popular that these delicious little treats eventually made their way all around Asia and even North America. Even today, busloads of tourists come to Lord Stow’s to buy their egg tarts. Here were ours…

We bought the tarts to go. We did see a few customers eating their egg tarts right outside the Lord Stow’s store.

OK – BEST egg tarts EVER! The custard was totally sinful, and the flaky pastry is unlike anything we’ve tried. It was both light and substantial all at once. No wonder Lord Stow’s made such a name for itself.

With our egg tarts procured and safely stowed (no pun intended), the cabbie drove us to Fernando’s. Fernando’s, run by a Portuguese proprietor, is located in a charming wood and brick building right on Black Sand Beach. It was too dark by the time we got there to actually see the beach itself, but the sounds of the lapping waves and the sea breeze made it a really atmospheric place for dinner. My wife has some fond memories of eating BBQ chicken wings at Black Sand Beach when she was a kid; she was really hoping that the BBQ vendors would be open for business, but none were that evening. I told her it was something we would do the next time we were back in Macau.

Fernando’s.

Interior of the restaurant.

Fernando’s is particularly well-known for the roast suckling pig, so that was one of the dishes we had that evening.

Individual serving of roast suckling pig. It was the first time I ate at Fernando’s, and I found the pork to be slightly underwhelming. Based on the rave reviews given by people who had eaten there, I had pretty high expectations. But in reality, the pork was only above average. The crackling was disappointing. Instead of being crunchy, it was actually quite chewy. The meat was, however, very moist and quite flavorful.

We also ordered some roast chicken. Christina did not like this, but I thought it was ok. A little overcooked and dry perhaps, but the flavour was not bad.

This crab dish was the best one of the evening. It was cooked in a flavorful and herby red sauce that complemented the sweet crab very well.

Finally, we had some fried rice. It had plenty of wok-hei and very tasty – rather nice dish to finish off the meal with.

After dinner, we hired another cab to take us to the new casinos on the Cotai Strip to walk off the food. As you will see from the following pictures, the Cotai Strip is like a mini replica of the Las Vegas strip. In fact, there is an almost identical replica of the Venetian hotel/casino there – right down to the gondolas plying the artificial lagoons.

The entrance to the hotel/casino is a dead ringer for the Las Vegas one.

And so is the clock tower.

To conclude this post, I’d like to leave you with some more pictures of Macau. I hope you enjoy them - click on the following link to bring them up. Next post: HK wrap-up.

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Author: My Husband

For those of our readers who like Starbucks Casi Cielo, it’s back and available in Metro Vancouver stores as of a few days ago. I’ve been waiting for this - my favourite Starbucks coffee - for a whole year and I’ve already stocked up. What about you?

Back to regular programming in a couple of days…

Location: Hong Kong

Author: My Husband

Of all the different types of Chinese cuisines available, it is no secret that Christina and I like Cantonese best. While those who misunderstand the cuisine describe it as “bland”, we feel that good Cantonese cuisine is all about highlighting and enhancing the natural flavors of the main ingredients in a dish. This is best done by carefully balancing the textures and flavors in a dish to ensure that the main ingredient is not overpowered by the other things in it.

In good Cantonese dishes, you can always find harmony in the flavors/textures: the sweetness of fresh steamed fish is complemented by the subtle saltiness of a light soy, the heaviness of a thick stew is cut by a few drops of vinegar, the softness of tofu is contrasted with a crispy deep fried prawn paste, etc. Cantonese food can be subtly flavored, or it can be strongly flavored, but whatever the case, it is the balance found in those flavors that creates the depth and complexity in taste that so satisfies those of us who appreciate the cuisine.

On the flipside, it is difficult to cook good Cantonese food. The freshness of ingredients and the talent of the kitchen staff are of paramount importance in determining the success of the food, and cut-corners or missteps in the cooking process will result in a “faulty” dish. In North America where the majority of Chinese restaurant dishes are cooked to meet a price point, it is challenging to find good Cantonese food indeed.

But what happens if menu prices take a second seat to food quality? What happens when a chef decides to cook the best food he can by using the freshest ingredients without worrying about food costs? Lung King Heen happens, that’s what, and the inspectors from the Micheline Guide liked it enough to award this restaurant and its chef three stars.

On this Hong Kong trip, my foodie aunt insisted that we go to Lung King Heen to try the dim sum for ourselves. Will we find the balanced flavors and textures that we so prize? Read on to find out…

We were seated at a very spacious four-top next to a bank of huge picture windows. Some seriously nice china was used for the place settings.

Nice view of Kowloon from our table.

When the Michelin Guide awards a restaurant three stars, it’s not only about the food. That the food is excellent is a must, but service and ambiance must be also be top notch. And Lung King Heen delivered.

The service was excellent – warm hand towels and finger washing bowls magically appeared when needed, tea cups were kept filled (teapots were kept warm at a nearby service console, keeping our table clear for the dim sum), water glasses were constantly refreshed, and a simple glance at the waiter had him by our table in a jiffy. The two waiters assigned to our table anticipated our every need and brought us stuff we wanted before we could even ask. For instance, after I ate a bun without using cutlery, a silver finger washing bowl appeared by my side. After I washed, the bowl disappeared. Even more impressive was the unobtrusive manner in which the service was delivered; we spent the entire lunch chatting amongst ourselves and despite all the freshening of the drinks and china at our table, our conversation was not disturbed at all. Who says good service at a Chinese restaurant doesn’t exist?

A trio of sauces. Note the perfect alignment of the three teaspoons…

Steamed dumplings (潮州粉果). A thin and delicate thin skin holding a filling made with shrimp, pork, chives, and mushrooms. Very nice.

Prawn dumplings (I蝦餃). The prawns were fabulously succulent and fresh. One of the best I’ve had.

Pork/Prawn dumplings (燒賣). The bouncy pork filling was topped off with prawn. Looked pretty and tasted great.

Lobster and scallop dumpling. This is one of the more renowned dim sum dishes at Lung King Heen. The dumpling skin holds a generous portion of scallop and lobster, which are topped off by half a shrimp. Each dumpling is served in its own steamer. This was wonderful.

Grated daikon pastry. A flaky pastry shell enclosing a savory daikon filling. See how the pastry takes the shape of a daikon?

BBQ goose buns. Perfect sweet/savory balance in the BBQ goose encased in a delicate bread shell. This was fantastic.

BBQ Pork (叉燒). The presentation left a bit to be desired, but tasted decent. I’ve definitely had better BBQ Pork elsewhere.

BBQ Pork Jowl. Perfectly fried, each slice was beautifully crunchy. Best pork jowl I’ve had. This was so good, we ordered a second serving.

Deep fried squab. This is Christina’s favourite, and she loved it. She said it blew the Tai Ping Koon version away, and I agreed. Definitely one of the highlights of this meal.

[Dry] Fried glutinous rice. There was an optimal ratio of rice to other ingredients in this one, which gave the dish a wonderful texture.

Abalone fried noodles. This was fried with abalone stock and some slices of abalone. Good textural contrast, but the abalone rice at Thai Village in Singapore is still our favourite.

Toothpicks in a solid silver holder were offered after we finished our savory selections.

Osmanthus jelly (桂花糕). Very fragrant and not overly sweet, this was one of the better examples of this dessert.

Portuguese style egg tarts. Oh yeah Baby! Fabulous.

Double boiled bird’s nest served with almond & coconut cream. Very nice.

Mango flavored sago cream with pomelo. This one was a huge hit with all of us. It’s much nicer than the version available at Hung Fa Lau.

Complimentary desserts.

Suffice it to say, we were STUFFED after this meal. And yes, the flavors and texture of the dim sum dishes here were balanced, and overall food quality (save the BBQ Pork) was excellent. This is the best dim sum I’ve had in quite a while, edging out even the Shang Palace in Singapore. The food, service, and décor in Lung King Heen could not be faulted, and despite it being a Michelin three-starred restaurant, the price for the meal was not super expensive. This is another restaurant we plan on heading back to the next time we’re in Hong Kong.

To conclude this post, here are some pictures taken at (and outside) Lung King Heen:

Lung King Heen is located on the 4th floor of the HK Four Seasons.

Another view of Kowloon.

Nice view from the multi-storey atrium of the hotel.

Typical Hong Kong street scene. The trams are a good way to see the city, and cheap too, at only HKD $2 per ride.

Next post – my wife’s old stomping grounds.

Christina and I would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!!