Bibimbap Run

Dolsot bibimbap with squid

The first time ever for me to try bibimbap was during my visit to Korea last September.  I ate bibimbaps five times during my four-day stay!  Bibimbap is a Korean dish that literally means "mixed rice".  It is warm white rice topped with namul (sauteed vegetable) and gochujang (chili pepper paste).  A raw or fried egg and slivers of meat are common additions.  The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. 

Dolsot version already mixed up

Vegetables used in bibimbap include cucumber, zucchini, mu (daikon), mushrooms, doraji (bellflower root), gim, spinach, soybean sprouts, and gosari (black fern stems).  Dubu (tofu) and lettuce may be added.  Chicken or seafood may be substitited for beef.

A variation of this dish, dolsot bibimbap, is served in a very hot stone bowl in which a raw egg is cooked against the sides of the bowl.

The unglamorous  looking bibimbap served in an aluminum bowl was the cheapest but yummiest we have tried!

Beautiful bibimbap served at the museum coffee shop : so-so...

Nanxiang Steamed Bun

One of the xaiolongbao places to be checked out in Shanghai we were told was Nanxiang Steamed Bun restaurant.  We were warned about the long queue but is surely worth the wait-  food is good and reasonably priced.  

View from inside the restaurant

On our visit to Yuyuan Garden, we saw a long line of people waiting to buy xaiolongbaos to go.  There were a lot of food shops in the place but we were intrigued of the queue.  We completely forgot that this was the xialongbao place our friend described to us days before.  After going around the garden and the shops, we decided to dine-in (queue was much shorter!). 

The ambiance may not be like Din Tai Fung's.  The steam baskets were a bit greasy. The xialongbaos were not as delectable  as Din Tai Fung's but Nanxiang is a good place to fill stomachs of hungry tourists like us.

But be forewarned - just beside Nanxiang is a place with quite a queue of people waiting to buy stinky tofu!

Night Out: Din Tai Fung, Shanghai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Din Tai Fung is an award-winning restaurant originating in Taiwan, specialising in xiaolongbao (small steamed buns).^[1] Outside its native Taiwan, Din Tai Fung also has branches in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United States and Thailand.

The characters in the name mean: 鼎, a type of cooking cauldron; 泰, peaceful; and 豐, abundant.

During my short visit to Shanghai, my friends and I saw to it that a visit to Din Tai Fung is on our itinerary.  And we were just so lucky to have the resto just down our hotel complex!  So on our first dinner in Shanghai, we all trooped down to Din Tai Fung at the Shanghai Centre.  We ordered a basket of their excellent xiaolongbaos, whose delicate folds and succulent skin make them arguably the best in Shanghai (regardless of shelling  out ten times the going rate of a stall on the street).  We ordered some fried rice, mushroom xiaolongbaos, some sweet and sour thing and the chicken in Shaoxing wine (which I later on recreated back in Manila- recipe to follow).  One of the best food finds in Shanghai!

Baker and Spice... and everything nice

I was in Shanghai for a short vacation with my friends last year.  We stayed at The Portman Ritz-Carlton on West Nanjing Road, the better end of Nanjing.  And being at the Ritz guarantees that you are just nearby some cool places.  And that means Din Tai Fung and Baker and Spice just in the building complex!

We thought Baker and Spice was just a muffin place so we opted for Starbucks, also in the building complex, for our first breakfast in Shanghai.  A Shanghai-based friend picked us for lunch and mentioned that Baker and Spice was a good place to have breakfast so decided to give it a try the next day.  The moment we entered the place, we fell in love with it!  It was more than a coffee shop!  It was simply cozy and they served the yummiest sandwiches, breads and coffee.  We practically ate everytime there.  Oh how I wish we have some sort of a Baker and Spice in Manila....

My Mang Inasal food trip

This is day 4 of my Mang Inasal chicken diet (not!).  The first time I ever tasted Mang Inasal was just this Tuesday and I totally became I fan.  I ordered my first ever Mang Insasal PM1 (leg and thigh with unlimited rice for only Php99!).  I got home past 10 in the evening with a very satisfied stomach.  The following day, my office mates and I were craving for more we ordered "to go" but I was not able to enjoy the meal as I was in a rush.  Come afternoon, I invited my friends to go to Mang Inasal (jut nearby our office) again for dinner. This time, we all ate with our hands which made the meal more enjoyble. Imagine juicy chicken eaten with chicken oil drizzled over hot rice.  Happiness!  This past 2 days, I have been eating Mang Inasal still.  And tomorrow, I will be making my own inasal- complete with chicken oil.

Here are photos of Mang Inasal picked from the web.  

Pictures pa lang, nakakagutom na!

I will be posting my chicken inasal shots soon.

Royce' Potte Goma Cookies

I actually thought it was weird when I saw them on the shelves but I know Royce' never fails.  I got four boxes of these treasures as pasalubong but I ended up giving away only one because they were too precious to share! These are not available at the Royce' stores in Manila.

Who could go wrong with everything good is rolled into one: potato chips, cookies, chocolate and black sesame seeds?! Absolutely delish!

Strange but yummy Kitkat Wasabi

When we were in Osaka, I tried a lot of strange things like curry tonkatsu, green tea (I never liked green tea until that trip!), green tea Melty Kiss, soy sauce and green tea KitKat and even seafood flavored Nissin cup noodles. When we were in Kansai International and about to board our plane, we came across a small shop selling all kinds of KitKats.  We bought a few of Kitkats but I did not even dare touch the wasabi flavored ones. Huh! Big mistake!  Almost half a year after the trip, Edith gave me some of her leftover chocolate loot and I just fell in love with KitKat wasabi! I want to hit my head for not stashing these yummy bars! Ugh!

Caramel Butter Pecan

I just got home and I just put a quart of soft Tillamook Caramel Butter Pecan ice cream in the freezer.  I can't wait till tomorrow morning so I can dig in!

I have tried a lot of Tillamook flavors and this one stands out. I can only get it through an expat friend even though S&R carries the brand (only in very limited flavors).  The only local ice cream that comes close to this is Selecta's Vanilla Almond. 

This is one of my simple joys and it costs $5.37 a quart- not bad! Thanks a lot, Nishi-san!

Starbuck's Black Sesame Green Tea Frappucino

We were asked to pick our snack this afternoon and I settled for Starbucks' Black Sesame Green Tea Frappucino.... and I just died! Can't wait for my next grande!

What's your birthday handa?

My mom sees to it that she prepares special dishes on our birthdays.  She would ask us days before our birthday what we would want to eat so she can prepare her menu and shopping list.

My brother, Dr Magoo Chicken, and I have favorite dishes that are simple and we would always ask mom to cook these for us even if we are not celebrating our birthdays at all. We call these favorite dishes “birthday handa.”  Do you want to know what’s on our “birthday handa” list?

My birthday handa:
pork with tofu and kinchay
pochero   
sans rival                                                                       

My brother's birthday handa:

mechado

pesang lapu-lapu

mole

chili con carne

Tako-yummy, Takoyaki

Takoyaki is a Japanese food which is basically a little bit of octopus (tako) cooked inside of a pancake-like flour based batter (but not sweet) and covered in katsuobushi (the dancing fish flakes) and aonori (seaweed), as well as takoyaki sauce.Takoyaki stalls can be found at food courts in Manila.  I like these balls I do not mind falling in line while they cook. The Manila version of Takoyaki 's sauce has

mayonnaise and mahu-like flakes on top. We hardly  bite into octopus bits!   So when we were booked for a trip to Osaka, one of our must try was Takoyaki- of course, especially that these precious octopus balls are Osaka street food stars.warned to wait 5 minutes before popping these into our mouth.The first genuine Takoyakis that I have tried were the ones sold at the Osaka Castle grounds.  Boy!  They were not cheap at 400-yen for 8 pieces!  But they were good- not too much veggies but instead lots of octopus chunks.  The sauce on top was very different from the Manila Takoyakis and there were covered with bonito flakes and seaweed.  Yummy! The second time we tried these yummy balls was when we were walking towards our hotel in Umeda from a night out in Dotombori. There was a singing Takoyaki-on-wheels vendor and a queue building up leading to his van.  He must be famous for people to queue up at night waiting for their turn to buy the balls.  We waited a while until it was our turn.  The guy cheerfully gave us samples.  Oh boy! His Takoyakis were the best we have tasted. For 400-yen for 8 balls plus a few samples, we were satisfied.  Ahhh!

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Nama Chocolates

As soon as we landed at the Kansai International Airport in Osaka, we asked an airport staff if Royce' Chocolates are sold at the airport. We have learned prior to the trip that these treasures were not easily available elsewhere.  We did not see any Royce’ Chocolate shop around town, not even at Daimaru and Hanshin. 

On our way back to Manila, we were all so eager to go Duty Free shopping specifically to grab some of the famous Royce’s Nama. The sales ladies at the shop must have been amazed how much each of us piled up on these in our shopping carts.  I must have spent Y10,000 on chocolates and most of these were of course, Royce Chocolates.

Here's proof to our loot: