Author: My Husband

While shopping at Costco several weeks ago, we saw the seafood stand selling frozen King Crab legs. The product looked nice and meaty, but the prices were jaw-dropping. Christina and I looked at each other and tacitly agreed that we wouldn’t buy any that day. We would wait for next spring – when the crabs are in season – and go to a restaurant to eat them for a fraction of the Costco price.

I’d been meaning to post some photos of a King Crab meal we had earlier this year, but didn’t get around to it until now. Better late than never I suppose…

We ordered a 9.5 lb crab to be prepared two ways. We received two plates of steamed legs and one plate of deep-fried body pieces. The meat was full of umami goodness and the freshness of the product really shone through in the taste and texture. The resultant broth was lip-smackingly good and, surpringly, did not contain much MSG.

For those who have yet to eat King Crabs, the meat’s taste and texture is a combination of lobster and dungeness crabs. It is not to be missed by crab enthusiasts.

We also had some soup. It was pretty tasty, but it had to be eaten quickly lest it cooled and the corn-starch thickening agent started breaking down.

Yi mein (乾炒伊麵) is a favorite of mine, and this was decent. It didn’t have enough wok-hei (I like them a little caramelized), but the flavours were good. A huge positive was that the noodles were not drowning in oil.

I’ve eaten at Gingeri many times and I must say the chefs do a good job of controlling oil usage. We’ve never had a meal at Gingeri where an excess of cooking oil was used, and we really appreciate that in restaurant food.

This might seem strange. Why did we have congee for dinner? Well, my wife had her wisdom teeth extracted only two days before this meal, so we ordered something that she could comfortably eat. That didn’t prevent her from braving the pain and chowing down on the crabs though. She’s a trooper, my wife.

So, looking at the photos again, spring can’t come soon enough for us. What are good places to have King Crabs? We like Kirin and Gingeri, which are places where we have consistently gotten what we paid for. Other restaurants may sell the crabs more cheaply, but caveat emptor. When we went to another restaurant for King crabs with some friends, we ordered an 11 pounder and got smaller portions that what was served at our Gingeri dinner.

Author: My Husband

Regular readers may have inferred from my postings that we like Shangri-la hotels, and they would be absolutely correct. I do think that the Vancouver property is a little too small and too western to do justice to the Shangri-la brand, but it is a very nice hotel in its own right. When Christina found out that the Vancouver Shangri-la serves afternoon tea, she practically dragged me along to experience it with her.

Afternoon tea is served in the ground floor lounge that faces Alberni Street. Despite the ever-present flurry of activity outside, the atmosphere in the lounge is cool and tranquil.

Adding to the sense of well-being is the music being played on this $125,000 Fazioli F183 grand. The notes produced by this gem of an instrument are warm and expressive, and they just completely envelope and reverberate around you. By comparison, a Yamaha grand sounds overly bright and trebly – it’s like the difference in tonality between say, a young Andy Williams and James Blunt on his most high-pitched day. Christina had a quick chat with the pianist and he said it’s the best piano he’s ever played on.

Tea begins with the server bringing a selection of leaves from which you make your selection. You sniff and select the tea which you like best.

The selection of teas, as well as the finger foods.

The savory selection.

Scones served with clotted cream.

The sweets.

The kit the tea is served in. You pour the tea through the strainer to prevent errant leaves from making it into your cup – very genteel indeed.

Tea is served between 2:30 and 4:30 in the afternoon; you can stay longer, but the pianist leaves at 4:30. To be honest, the food is really nothing to write home about (the Afternoon Tea at the Hotel Vancouver is much better when it comes to food), and there isn’t very much of it either. However, the relaxing atmosphere and the beautiful sound from the Fazioli (pity most of the pieces are showtunes…) make the price of admission a little easier to swallow…

Author: My Husband

What, two sushi posts in a row? Well, I did say we’ve been eating more than our fair share of sushi in my previous post, didn’t I?

The focus of this post is Miko Sushi on Robson Street. Here are some fun facts about the place: (1) it has been at the same location for over 10 years; (2) the chefs and waitresses are Japanese; (3) many professional athletes have eaten and left their marks here.

Both side walls of the restaurant are plastered with autographs of pro athletes who have eaten here. It would seem that many of the Canucks stars like sushi…

Without further ado, here’s our meal:

Fanny bay oysters. These were fresh and briny, and served with the typical Japanese ponzu mix.

Deep fried soft shelled crab. It is difficult to find well-prepared soft shelled crabs in Vancouver, and these were lacking as well. The lack of batter, and perhaps insufficient oil temperature, meant the crab retained more oil than a perfect deep-fry job. It was less than crisp, though the meat was still firm and tasted fresh. Alas, the gills were not removed before deep frying, which resulted in us having to inelegantly pick them from our mouths.

My nigiri. Toro, hamachi, tamago, ebi, uni, and tobiko. The uni was perfect, and the fish was fresh. The ebi was probably pre-packaged and too firm, but there was a sweetness to it. The sushi rice was seasoned well, but packed a little too tightly.

My wife’s nigiri. Toro, unagi, and amaebi. Christina claimed it was all good, with the unagi and amaebi being standouts. The unagi was perfectly boneless, had a good balance of fat, and a sauce with just the right amount of sweetness. The amaebi was very fresh, with a very crunchy texture that didn’t become too gluey during the chew.

As mentioned in my previous post, we like to end our sushi meals with some hot courses. We had a roasted eggplant topped with bonito. I was expecting the eggplant to be marinated or basted with a sauce during the roasting, but it was done naked. As a result, it tasted pretty bland even with the bonito topping.

Grilled black cod. This dish was a winner; the fish was perfectly cooked with rich, tender flakes of black cod just melting in our mouths.

Grilled salmon belly. This dish was a bit of a mixed bag. For the parts that had lots of fat surrounding the meat, it was rich, tender and flavourful. The leaner parts were a little overcooked and firm.

We used to eat at Miko when we were living downtown, and we’re happy to report that standards have been maintained over the years. Their prices have also held over the years and if anything, may actually have dropped! When we’re in that part of town and looking for a Japanese fix, Miko is still our favourite choice.

Author: My Husband

Finally, we have arrived at the last post on my Singapore-India trip. It took a while, but I’m glad to have gotten out the series of posts that I’d planned. I hope it was easy reading, and maybe even a little illuminating, for some of our readers out there.

Right, back on topic then… For anyone wanting a full culinary experience in Singapore, the (in)famous Chilli Crab is not to be missed. I don’t know much about the origins of this dish, and there are as many stories about it as there are people to tell it, but what I do know is that Chilli Crabs have gotten as close to being Singapore’s “national” dish as any.

Naturally, being a “national” dish, there are a multitude of establishments that serve it. From the humble neighbourhood hawker centers to Singapore’s most swanky restaurants, each cooks up their own variant of Chilli Crabs. Despite this, I always head (or am taken) to one of the three seafood chains for my fill of this dish: Jumbo, Long Beach, or Palm Beach.

This trip found me and my relatives at the new-ish Palm Beach branch at One Fullerton. One Fullerton provides a very pretty setting for restaurant, especially during dusk.

Restaurants along the One Fullerton river walk.

The hotels at Marina Bay. You can see the multicoloured F1 grandstands on the right.

The décor of the restaurant is sleek and modern, and aside from the bank of seafood tanks lining the back wall, I wouldn’t have guessed this was a Chilli Crabs place.

Here’s what we had:

Palm beach chilli crab. A meaty Sri Lankan crab cooked in a tomato/chilli sauce. The meat of the Sri Lankan crab is firmer and less flaky than that of a Dungeness, and has a hint of sweetness to it. The crab meat is a vehicle for getting the sauce into one’s stomach. I like a thicker sauce, so Long Beach’s Chilli Crabs are a bit more to my liking, but Palm Beach’s was pretty decent too. That said, I’d still vote for Long Beach as my preferred place for this dish.

Deep fried man tou. We got these to soak up the remainder of the chilli sauce.

Deep fried whole baby squids dressed in a sweet and spicy sauce. The squids are super crispy. Tastewise, there is an initial sweetness that complements the crispness really well, followed by a long and nicely spicy finish.

Fresh prawns in Dang Gui (當歸) broth. The prawns, scooped up from a live tank right before preparation, were toothsome and had a natural sweetness to them. The broth was a good mix of umami, sweetness, and woody-ness (thanks to the Dang Gui).

Fish otak. This was fish paste wrapped up in a leaf, then deep fried. Tasted much the same as other deep fried fish paste – nothing very special about it.

Chicken satay. We ordered a ½-dozen to try, and it was decent. I liked the Chinese-style pineapple dip that could be added to the regular satay sauce.

Rojak! This version even had century eggs in it. It wasn’t bad – the rojak sauce was too weak – but the one we had at Food Republic was much better.

Prawn/Squid fritters. Sorta the same concept as otak, except without the leaf and with prawn/squid paste instead of fish. And like the otak, it tasted much the same as other deep fried seafood paste…

Sambal kang kong. I am known to have a dislike for veggies, but I really liked this dish. The kang kong vegetable is very tender and non-fibrous, and just soaks up the sambal flavors.

Deep fried silken tofu. The tofu was made in house, and was supposed to be really smooth. It was good, but really not that different than the tubed silken egg tofu that can be found at T&T.

After two days of vegging out and (over)indulgent eating, it was time to head home. I met up with my friend D, who had flown in from HK that day, at the airport and we caught the SIA flight home.

Before leaving Singapore, both D and I had some satay at the airside T3 restaurant. It wouldn’t have been as good as that which was available elsewhere in Singapore, but it sated our hunger and was as good a meal as any to end the trip with.

The Satay restaurant in Changi T3

The size of the satay is worth noting. This reminded me of the size of the satay sticks served in Vancouver…

The SIA flight from Singapore required a tech stop at the Incheon Airport in Seoul. We got into Incheon close to midnight local time, and the airside shops were all closed. So D and I made our way to the Asiana Airlines lounge, which was thankfully still open.

The lounge was opened recently, and is decorated in a fusion modern-Korean and old-English theme. We sat ourselves down in the food section and helped ourselves to snacks.

Coke is bottled in smaller cans in Korea.

The lounge attendants could cook you some instant noodles if you asked.

Pretty measly selection of liquor, but lots of interesting Korean soft drinks…

Like this. An energy drink with added vitamin C.

Finger sandwiches and a salad bar were still on offer despite the late hour.

Korean snack cakes – tasted very much like twinkies. I took a couple of these home for Christina and she quite liked them!

Ok. Next posts – Vancouver restaurants.

Author: My Husband

I asked some of my India-based colleagues if they ate Chinese food, and the response was an overwhelming “Yes!” One of them volunteered that many Indians love Chinese food, but he goes on to explain that Chinese food in India is different (i.e. much spicier) than that available elsewhere. This really piqued my curiosity, so one evening, I suggested to D and M that we have dinner at Chinoiserie, the Taj’s Chinese restaurant.

The entrance is a bit nondescript for a fine-dining restaurant…

But the table setting and stemware certainly didn’t look out of place.

The head chef – originally from Hunan – at Chinoiserie actually came by the table to take our order personally. Frankly, I think he was just happy to have the opportunity to meet some people with whom he could converse in Mandarin.

Before our main dishes arrived, we were given some pickled veggies to whet our appetities.

Before long, our mains arrived. Like Sonargaon, the waiters divvied up the food between the three of us. However, the portions at Chinoiserie were more generous and as a result, there was enough food remaining for seconds and thirds.

Stir-fried veg. with mushrooms. Tasted like regular stir-fried veggies to me.

Lemon chicken. This was a deep-fried chicken cutlet dressed with a sweet/tart lemon sauce, very much like what Hon’s serves. I remember thinking that the Hon’s version actually tasted better.

Stir-fried Spicy Lamb. This was probably the best dish of the evening; the meat was tender and the spiciness added an extra kick to it. As you can see, it doesn’t look appreciably different than any stir-fried meat dishes in North America…

I think the chef tried to make the dishes a little more “Chinese” for us, so we didn’t get to experience the Chinese-Indian fusion flavours described by our colleagues. Since the food wasn’t much different than that available back home, we only visited Chinoiserie once.

“Moist and fluffy, this black forest cake is one of my favourite cakes”, says the girl who tells everyone that she doesn’t desserts.

Not everyone would agree that the black forest cake purchased from a chained grocery store such as Save on Foods is irresistible. But taste is a very subjective thing, I just can’t help liking this black forest cake. I don’t like it just a little; I like it a lot. The texture is soft and rich, but the best part is the cream – it’s silky, buttery and yet light. It’s seldom that I would finish one piece of cake, but I would be glad to have seconds for this one.

If I could be objective for a second, then I can’t say this is the most perfect black forest cake in the world. After all, ET doesn’t care for it (and yet he managed to eat half of this 6” tower). “There isn’t any kirsch in this cake, and they really skimmed on the cherry filling”, said ET as he shoved another mouthful of cake into his mouth.

Besides this black forest cake, I also like the “High Five” from Death By Chocolate. The “High Five” is a rich five-layer chocolate cake filled with decadent chocolate ganache. Oh, and also there is the expensive rum cake that must be flown from the Caribbean.

Yes, and I still tell people that I’m not a big fan of desserts.

Author: My Husband

For our friend headed to Singapore soon, here’s the post I promised – a small sampling of our favourite hawker dishes. Since we don’t live in Singapore, I don’t know the locations of the “famous” hawker stalls that sell these dishes, so perhaps some of our Singaporean readers (few though you may be ) can chip in with their recommendations?

Yes, there is a HUGE amount of variety when it comes to hawker fare; the dishes described here are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is hawker food in Singapore. S, my best advice is to stop and taste everything that looks appealing to you. But remember to pace yourself…

Murtabak. This is a super-sized roti prata with meat filling. The hawker used twice the amount of dough of a typical prata to make this; filled with your choice of meat, onion, and eggs, it is fried on a big griddle until it is nice and crispy. This was served with a bowl of curry for dipping. This is tasty stuff, but be that as it may, I have never been able to finish one of these by myself.

Fried Hokkien “Mee” (noodles). There was an interesting discussion on ChowTimes about this dish, but the consensus is that the Singaporean version (as opposed to the Malaysian one) isn’t cooked with a dark sauce. This version had plenty of ‘wok hei’ and was sufficiently “prawn-y”. Remember to ask for the sambal chilli as it provides the dish with a nice kick.

Do not forget the satay.

Chai Tow Kway. The locals refer to it as carrot cake, but obviously, it isn’t carrot cake in the North American sense. This can be cooked with or without the dark sweet soy. This is really very similar to the Cantonese 蘿蔔糕 , but cut into pieces and pan fried over high heat. This was one of my favourite dishes growing up, and even now, I make it a point to eat it more than once when I’m visiting.

Orh Jian. This is a wonderfully greasy fried oyster omelette. Eggs and oysters are combined with a binding agent (usually a slurry of potato flour) then fried in a huge pan until a nice crispy crust forms. The vinegary chilli sauce that accompanies this dish is important for (i) cutting the greasiness and (ii) giving it a nice heat – ask for more if you like.

Hainanese chicken rice. OK – it IS weird to just order the rice without the chicken. But Christina likes free range chicken and doesn’t think much of the “tofu” chicken that is so prevalent in Singapore. But the rice by itself is fantastic. Aromatic and flavourful, each grain is distinct and al dente.

Teh Tarik. This is a strong tea – flavoured with both condensed AND evaporated milk – that involves a degree of showmanship to prepare. The tea is first mixed with the milk, and then poured between two containers to (i) cool it down (ii) aerate it for a smoother texture. The showmanship comes into play when the hawker gradually increases the distance between the two containers during the pours, thus giving the impression that the liquid is being “pulled” between them.

Ice kachang. Shaved ice, red bean paste, and a black jello like substance(涼粉). The ice is drizzled with various coloured syrups and gula melaka. Gula melaka, which I had referenced here, gives this dessert a smokey, coconutty flavour that elevates the taste of simple shaved ice into the flavours of haute cuisine. Superb stuff.

Chendol. Like ice kachang, except with the addition of coconut milk and the little green jellies. The version shown here is served in a bowl, but this is usually served in a cup. It is yet another wonderfully refreshing dessert with which to fight the Singaporean heat.

There are many many other dishes that I haven’t described, but consider the above a preview for your trip, S. I’ll continue with a sampling of street snacks for my next post.

If you are also a rum cake lover and you want to find out how this one tastes, you can order it the Tortuga Rum Cake website.

Author: My Husband

When we are in Singapore, we would sometimes skip the hotel’s western breakfast and head to the nearest foodcourt for a more “traditional” Singapore version. And nothing is more traditional than a breakfast of kaya toast, soft boiled eggs, and coffee.

This is how the breakfast is presented. A cup of coffee (or tea) with condensed milk, two eggs (prepared in a hot water bath after your order has been taken), a slice of toast with a generous spread of kaya (coconut jam), and some dark soy and white pepper to be used as condiments for the eggs.

Kaya has a nice toasted coconut flavour; it is sweet (don’t overdo it) and very rich. For those of our readers in Vancouver looking for a taste, you can buy jars of this stuff @ T&T or Osaka supermarket.

Eggs are perfectly soft boiled; there are no traces of uncooked albumen.

Eggs are runny. Kaya toast is warm and crisp. Coffee is strong, nutty, and full-bodied. It may not be the healthiest breakfast around, but it sure puts smiles on our faces every time.

Author: My Husband

Going through the gigabytes of food photos we have accumulated over time, one thing became very clear to us. We will never be able to catch up with all the “regular” posts that will be required to share our photos with you, our patient readers.

Instead, we’ve come up with the idea of “Quick Take” posts. From time to time, we will post these “quick takes” that will be short on prose, but will instead focus on photos of foods and restaurants that we found noteworthy. Some quick takes will be on places we have eaten at recently, others from as far as a year or two back. The common thread running through all these posts is that we liked the food (and/or restaurant) and we think it is worth sharing with a wider audience.

So without further ado, I present our first quick take: Alaskan king crab – two ways.

Steamed

The legs were loaded with minced garlic and steamed. In my opinion, steaming is the best way to enjoy fresh crabs (any fresh seafood, really). The carapace is there mostly for decoration, though sometimes there is some creamy roe in it.

The restaurant splits the legs in half for easy access to the meat. King crab shells are pretty elastic, making them much harder to crack than say, Dungeness crab shells.

King crab meat is extremely tasty. It is sweet, with secondary flavours that reminds one of the sea. Texture wise, it is a cross between lobster and Dungeness crabs. One thing to note is that fresh king crab meat is much better, taste and texture wise, than the frozen (and thawed) king crab legs one finds at the Las Vegas buffets.

The broth was extremely tasty, and could probably be used to cook a really mean congee. We just drank it straight up. (And there probably wasn’t much msg in it – we didn’t feel particularly thirsty after the meal)

Deep fried

The body pieces were deep fried “bei fung tong” (避风塘) style. The crab pieces were crunchy on the outside, with the meat perfectly cooked on the inside. The deep fried garlic and salt, plus the heat of chilli peppers, complemented the sweetness of the flesh well. After experiencing the “unadulterated” taste of the crab in the steamed course, the deep-fried course switches things up with additional flavours. The best of both worlds really.

Our dining party of 5 got a 9.5 lb crab, which equated to two plates of steamed legs and a plate of deep-fried body pieces. Along with two other dishes, this meal fully-sated our appetites.