The Charm of the Breakfast at B&Bs

Staying at top-rated inns in New England is always a treat. When done well, it's obvious inn owners pour a huge amount of time to ensure their inn is welcoming, clean and suitable chintzy. From lacy doilies on all surfaces to blooms in the garden, a delicious full breakfast is an important component to the whole experience. The Atlantean Inn in Bar Harbor certainly earns and deserves its No. 1 ranking on Tripadvisor.

We stayed at the Atlantean for two nights in June and loved the butler's pantry where we helped ourselves to tea and home-made cookies with frequency. The front door is never locked - apparently, Bar Harbor is that kind of town! We even got to keep our branded green recyclable water bottles (Bar Harbor is a stepping stone to Acadia National Park).

Typically, the owner or one of the owners will be an excellent cook especially of breakfast entrees. At the Atlantean, Gary was the chef and the menu consisted of a fruit appetizer followed by a cooked entree. On the first morning, we were treated to pears with creme fraiche, followed by the lauded pineapple upside-down french toast. The french toast looked incredible with the pineapple adding a great deal of sweetness.

Presentation and fine bone china is key

Two rings of french toast

Our breakfast on the second morning was not quite as successful. A perfectly good yogurt parfait started the proceedings followed by an oddly-spiced vegetable frittata with berry compote. I love savory breakfasts but the addition of curry and cumin in an over-cooked frittata did not quite do the trick. Fortunately, there were baked muffins on the sideboard to fill us up for the 7 hour journey to Quebec City.

Yogurt Parfait

Curry-flavored frittata

Bonus picture - here is one of The Atlantean Inn

The front door is never locked!

Birthday Lunch at Sushi Miyake

It might seem a bit odd to eat sushi while in Maine - luckily, we did and we were not disappointed! For my 40th birthday this year, a celebratory road trip up to Bar Harbor and then crossing the Canadian border to Quebec City and Montreal was planned. Or to be specific - I did the planning and Paul did the driving. On our way to Bar Harbor ( a 4 hour drive from Boston), we stopped off at Portland, Maine for lunch.

Portland is fast becoming a culinary "destination" and I have read some great things about Sushi Miyake. Of course, you never know with Yelp and such whether the reviewers have had good traditional sushi and no, we are not talking dragon rolls.

The restaurant was passably busy when we dropped by on a Friday. We both ordered the boxed lunch set daily special which began with a miso soup. The miso soup is usually a good first gauge for the quality of the rest of the meal. Unfortunately, the soup was flavorful but far too salty (perhaps it was seasoned twice). Paul couldn't even finish it. With hunger surpassing my fear of bloating and excess sodium, I polished off both our soups.

Luckily, the lunch box special was more successful. There were six dishes in all - tuna and avocado sushi roll, stewed clams in sake butter, sashimi, vegetable pickles, salad and a beautiful piece of marinated fish. The sashimi was fresh and clean-tasting. My favorite was the hot dishes - namely, the clams and marinated fish. Both had strong flavors though so more rice was needed for balance. I ordered a separate bowl of rice so was able to finish the rich clam buttery broth.

All in all, it was not the best Japanese food I have ever had but still a very satisfactory lunch. If you ever find yourself in Portland and craving Japanese, Sushi Miyake may just hit the spot.

Lunch box Daily Special

Epic Family Meals - CNY 2014 version

This blog would not be complete without a post on this topic - the epic Chinese New Year family meals Paul and I enjoyed in Hong Kong earlier this year. With the Law family re-united under one roof, my mum wasted no time in utilizing her formidable cooking skills. Here is an example of a regular family meal:


Mum's home cooking at its best

These dishes may look simple but are fairly complex - made up of several steps. The pork-stuffed tofu would have required:

-  mincing and marinating the pork with shittake mushrooms and scallions
- scooping out the tofu centers
- pan-frying the tofu packets meat-down
- braising the whole dish in an oyster sauce.

This dish would been made first and kept warm in a clay pot while other dishes such as the pan-fried fish are prepared. There is also a slow-cooked soup which needs at least three hours of careful simmering. From the soup ingredients on the table, it was a pork and watercress, corn and water chestnut soup. My mother's cooking gets better every time I visit - and she is also adding new dishes to her repertoire which I have not tried before. This time, it was a steamed fish dish topped with marinated dried wood ears, chinese chives and pork (on the right in the photo).
During the Lunar New Year, there are several key moments where a family comes together for food. Some occasions may vary according to household tradition but the last meal of the old Year is universally important in Hong Kong. It is an absolute no-no to eat alone and local workers leave work early to ensure they are back home for this meal. For our New Year's Eve meal, we came together with the Wan family (my mother's side) where my uncle cooked up the necessary number of dishes. There is always a lucky number of dishes - eight (the word eight sounds similar to wealth) or nine (sounds similar to longevity) dishes is popular.



The table is groaning

Our line-up included a whole chicken, a whole duck, braised dried conpoy and dried oysters, two vegetable dishes, roasted pork belly, the family's famed braised pork belly and taro dish, shrimp and a whole fish. It's important that the fish is kept whole (including the head and tail) so that no luck is lost. For auspicious meals such as this one, certain foods such as the whole chicken and whole fish are always featured. Shrimp is also a popular lucky dish as the word sounds like laughter in Chinese. White-colored foods such as tofu is not a good idea as white is the color of death nor is squid (as the word for squid sounds like losing your job in Chinese).

Braised dried conpoy and oysters on a bed of lettuce

My favorite finger-licking dish was cooked by my uncle - his "secret recipe" for  sweet and tangy shrimp. Although I don't have the full recipe, I'm told Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce is his magic ingredient.


Uncle's tangy whole shrimp

After the huge New Year's Eve dinner, neither meat nor fish is consumed in the first meal of the first day of Chinese New Year, as per our family tradition. This requires a bit more creativity but again, my mother had it covered by cooking up the following:
- corn soup (made from fresh corn kernels)
- Buddha's delight (vegan lotus root, water chestnut and Chinese celery stir fry)
- braised tofu skin with gingko nuts and wood ear fungus
- two leafy greens dishes


Vegan for the 1st day of the Year

The 2nd day of Chinese New Year is another blow-out family meal. With so many people around this year, we decided to have "poon choi" - a Hakka speciality whereby all the various dishes are layered upon each other in a large bowl. Obviously, we didn't think the ordered "poon choi" was luxurious enough so we added our own braised abalone!

The poon choi - we added our own abalone!

 Usually, one "poon choi" is enough for the meal but as we are talking about this excessively food-loving family, all kinds of additional dishes also appeared. Namely, a steamed whole fish, roast duck, chicken, a vegetarian stir-fry, shrimp and more leafy greens. Needless, to say there was plenty of leftovers.

One big bowl is not enough for the family

Chinese New Year is a wonderfully festive time - when the family comes together through various traditions and rich celebratory foods. Unsurprisingly, after three days of excessive gluttony, palates get jaded and fearing for our arteries, we yearn for the simple and reach for that oatmeal breakfast....



Green tea Everything - Hong Kong version

I previously wrote about my love for green tea and all its permutations in the world of desserts. It was bliss for my taste buds to find stunning matcha lattes and cakes in Seoul. Seems like most people in Asia feel the same way as I also found some incredible matcha treats in Hong Kong. Let's start with this matcha green tea pudding available from Patisserie Yamakawa.

Power matcha

The pudding provides an unassuming first impression - simply encased in a small plastic container with the name of the Patisserie in gold font. One small spoonful though and your mouth is filled with smooth pudding texture, bursting with matcha bitterness. You don't need a lot to feel totally sated with an intense matcha high. I loved this one! Patisserie Yamakawa products can be found in the Citysuper branches in Hong Kong.

At Sushi Kuu in Central, a work colleague and I finished off an excellent sushi set lunch with two impeccable desserts - their signature Hokkaido milk pannacotta as well as a green tea pudding. Both were beautifully presented.

Desserts at Sushi Kuu

 Walking around Sha tin, Paul and I found a plethora of matcha dessert treats. Or rather I led Paul on a hunt for green tea treats. Found in Citysuper - this ice cream float was green tea soft-serve ice cream in a hot cup of green tea!

Green tea hot and cold sensation

In Sha Tin New Town Plaza, we stumbled across the aptly-named Maccha House which specializes completely in all things green-tea flavored. This exciting dessert was made up of Japanese pancake filled with mochi, vanilla and green tea ice cream, decorated with green tea sweet syrup. It was delicious!

Green tea sugar heaven

We also enjoyed an iced matcha shake with whipped cream and a dusting of chocolate.

Green tea brain freeze

Asia truly is a place where I can indulge my green tea taste buds. Unfortunately, Boston does not offer much in this department - perhaps I need to start making my own?

Food dispatches from Seoul

My first visits to Seoul in the 2000's were strictly work trips. Back then, I had no burning desire to visit South Korea but  I remember a cold wintry land where an indecipherable language was spoken. The memories of the food was tremendous though - warm kimbap (rice rolls) wrapped in foil for breakfast bought by a colleague and a BBQ lunch where all of us stank of garlic afterwards.

Fast forward a decade and Korean pop culture is the cultural trendsetter in Asia - exporting K-dramas and K-pop to all of Asia and the world. You can watch Korean dramas and variety shows (subtitled in English) on drama apps. Korean pop acts release their music videos real-time on Youtube for their global fans. There have been K-pop concerts not just in Asian countries but also LA, New York, Paris, Brazil. After watching 30+ dramas, following 2 K-pop bands and numerous websites, my immersion into K-culture is deep. I've attended a few Korean language classes at MIT and no longer does the Hangul alphabet flummox me. A Korean mega-supermarket - Hmart opened near my home and I learnt to cook and love Korean food with its strong, spicy flavors.

No surprise then that I had a culinary hit-list for our vacation in Seoul this year. Bibimbap, street food, jigaes, kimbaps - short of pork hocks and intestines, I wanted to eat it all!

Luckily, the food at Rakkojae where we stayed for two nights was excellent and we started each morning with a satisfyingly traditional breakfast. The first morning, we had an abalone porridge with grilled fish. It was my first time eating abalone porridge but it was thick, subtle and delicious!

Abalone porridge at Rakkojae

The second morning, we were treated to Winnie's spicy kimchi jigae. Unfortunately, this was too spicy for Paul so I tried to eat both portions while Winnie cooked up more abalone porridge for Paul. I also loved the egg rolls!

The kimchijigae at Rakkojae for breakfast

Walking around the streets of Insadong, we enjoyed this hot eggy bread (gaeran bbang) which was a delicious morsel in the cold January weather.



Eggy bread
 

More snacks - at the sauna (jijimbang), I couldn't wait to drink the sikhye (a sweet rice drink) and eat sauna-style eggs. These are eggs that are beige/brown in color, having been cooked at a very low heat for a longer time. Rather than the taste, it was more to do with the overall jijimbang experience that I have seen so often in k-dramas. While all this was happening, Paul was enjoying the sauna.



Selfie at the jijimbang with egg (sorry no make up!)

While out late night shopping in Dongdaemun, this seemed like an ideal opportunity to enjoy some spicy tteobokki from the street stalls. Filling, sweet and very spicy, I couldn't even finish this small portion of rice cakes.

Spicy tteobokki (rice cakes)

After a couple of hours of the requisite sightseeing at the Gyeongbokgung palace, Paul admitted it was boring and off we went to look for food in Samcheongdong. This was a delightful area bordering on Bukchon Village with lots of interesting cafes. We were tempted by the signs alluding to waffles at this one café but it was this massive portion of patbingsoo (shaved ice with red bean, vanilla ice cream, mochi and banana) that truly hit the spot.

Red bean patbingsoo

And my favorite snack - close to our hotel in Myeongdong, a busy kimbap joint makes the Korean equivalent of Subway sandwiches on the spot. Warm rice rolls with assorted fillings, wrapped in seaweed. The rice is flavored with sesame oil and Korean seaweed is tastier than it's Japanese counterpart, making kimbap satisfyingly savory.This decent portion only cost about $4!

Made to order kimbap

With Paul not being able to eat spicy food, bibimbap was an ideal compromise as the spicy gochujang sauce often comes separate so that it can be mixed according to taste. In the basement of Ssamzegil mall in Insadong, Gogung is well-known for their Jeju-style bibimbap. I enjoyed a spicy squid bibimbap dolsot-style which meant it came in the hot stone pot. I prefer bibimbap this way in the winter as it keeps the rice toasty-hot. Others also enjoy the crunchy rice at the bottom.

Dolsot bibimbap (hot stone)

Generous banchan

Our meal at Gogung also came with some interesting side dishes which I enjoyed trying. I also love makgeolli (Korean rice wine) which came in the traditional kettle! Unfortunately, it was too much liquor for me and I could only manage a couple of bowls.

A Kettle of Makgeolli

I had so much fun eating in Seoul - it's no surprise that my only regret is that I didn't get to eat even more! We never got round to enjoying Korean vegetarian temple food, BBQ pork belly (samgypsal), beef soulongtang (beef bone stock soup), ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang) or fried chicken!

Guess these are my five reasons to plan another visit... 

Jinsadaek, Seoul

Jinsadaek is a traditional Korean restaurant tucked away in a back alley of busy Myeongdong. It is owned by the same group as the Rakkojae inn where we stayed for two nights. As we were impressed by the breakfast at Rakkojae, we decided to give Jinsadaek a try. The restaurant was styled like a hanok (traditional Korean house) which meant Paul and I had to sit on the floor for 90 minutes. We elected the 13 course Sa Jeongsik menu - the cheapest course at KRW38,000 per person (about US$38).


1st course - abalone porridge

The course started with a little abalone porridge, corn silk tea as well as some cold "white" kimchi which Paul liked as he can't eat the spicy stuff. We loved the abalone porridge which was thick but had a subtle taste of savory abalone.

White kimchi

The next course was Korean sweet potato vermicelli stir-fried with various vegetables which is called japchae.

Japchae

We will then served slices of cold rare beef with shreds of scallion tossed with chilli and garlic slices. I guess you wrap the scallion and garlic with the strip of beef. I loved this dish as I'm a huge scallion and garlic fan. Paul - not so much.

Cold slices of beef (minimally cooked) with garlic and scallions

Fresh sashimi was the next course. In Korea, sashimi is usually eaten with dabs of spicy gochujang and wrapped in perilla leaves as opposed to soy sauce and wasabi.

Hoe (Korean sashimi)

Our next course was a simple steamed shrimp with vegetables - satisfyingly simple. Unfortunately, we only got one each!

Steamed shrimp

























The next course was three different types of pajeon - Korean pancake with zucchini, oyster and potato fillings respectively. These were delectable little bites dipped in the soy sauce.

Pajeon sampler

By now, the table was groaning with all the dishes and there was still more to come! The next dish was a good version of beef bulgogi.

Beef bulgogi

Past mid-way point - we had reached the seasonal soup course. This was a lukewarm seaweed soup. Not unpleasant in taste but a bit slimy in texture. It was different.

Seaweed soup

 

The next dish was the steamed belly pork served with slices of seaweed to wrap the pork in.



Steamed pork with seaweed wraps

The next course was one of the reasons I wanted to eat here. Raw crabs marinated in soy sauce - called ganjang gejang. I had heard about this delicacy in Korea and wanted to try it. Here was my chance.

Looking delicious!

The taste was interesting - subtle taste of crab meat but marinated in soy sauce with scallions and sesame seeds. I would certainly eat it again but must say cooked crab still beats raw crab. By this time, we were getting full but there was also grilled tile fish to enjoy. This was followed by rice and a side dish of whelks with zucchini which was good. There was also a soybean paste stew which was fabulous with rice. Alas, I was too stuffed at this stage to truly enjoy the last few dishes of the course menu.

Chilli zucchini and whelks salad

All in all, I really enjoyed this 'degustation' menu of traditional Korean foods. It was priced very reasonably and we tried a variety of dishes although nothing stood out particularly. Throughout the evening, we were also treated to a rather jarring gayageum performance but that simply added to the charm.

Looks better than it sounds

We had an early dinner reservation but by the time we left, the restaurant was bustling and turning walk-ins away. It seemed like an ideal place to take visitors from out-of-town for business but there also seemed to be locals dining there. Since we were staying at their sister property Rakkojae, we even got a 10% discount!

Having a grand time!



Seoul: Ongo Food Tour

South Korea has been on my travel wish-list for a while and following the food blog Seouleats has been an integral part of the research. The blog writer also started Ongo Food Tours so it was with excitement and curiosity that I booked their Night Food tour during our visit to Seoul.

The meeting place was the Ongo culinary school near Anguk station (north side of the river). Unfortunately, our guide was not founder and master foodie Daniel Gray but a young local university student who spoke good English. The group was very mixed -- from business travelers enjoying a free evening to a young overseas nanny enjoying the city on her day off.

We started at a local street BBQ joint - where we enjoyed some grilled skirt steak -  a fairly tough and cheap cut of meat. We were introduced to Korean BBQ style -- enjoying banchan (side dishes), making lettuce wraps with the meat and adding ssamjang (a sauce made from mixing the 2 key sauces in Korean cuisine, doenjang and gochujang).

Mom-and-pop local BBQ joint



Getting the BBQ started

Beef Skirt and mushrooms on the grill

More fun though was the accompanying alcohol and some lessons on Korean drinking culture. Our guide taught us how to make soju bombs - start with a layer of coke soda, then top up with soju in a soju glass. Drop the whole soju glass in a larger glass of beer. It was surprising good especially when we had to "one-shot" the soju - you initially taste soju but finish with a sweet satisfying after-taste.

He also taught us some drinking games and the concept of a "black knight" or "black rose" - a male or female who will drink your round for you when you can't take anymore. With Paul being tee-total, you can guess who was his "black rose". I really enjoyed this stage of the food tour - mostly because I enjoyed the soju bombs so much and was feeling very merry.

Heading to our next food destination, we walked through dim back-alleys, hidden away from the bright lights of the main streets. It felt like we were discovering the inner soul of the city. Seoul has a very modern face - all sophisticated coffee shops; designer stores and cutting-edge plastic surgery. However, these inner alleys felt like we were exploring what truly laid beneath behind the modern façade - great food in low-key settings, made by locals for the locals.

Behind the modern skyscrapers....exploring the back alleys

Perhaps too, there are places the Seoul tourism board prefer to keep quiet about. It's not for me but here is the name of the restaurant in case you wanted to visit:

Stop no. 2 was a local tteokbokki (rice cake) joint. The place was packed with locals enjoying dinner with their families. We were the only foreigners - a good sign. We had two tteokbokki ramen stews - one spicy and one non-spicy called the royal tteokbokki which I have not had before. The royal tteokbokki was what this restaurant is known for. It was a nice savory dish with fish cakes, some vegetables and beef.

No English menu!

Royal Tteokbokki Stew

Spicy Tteokbokki

Not feeling too full yet, we headed to our third destination - a pojangmacha.

Pojangmachas are small tented food stalls, the backbone of street food in Korea. Some stalls have seating areas, serve alcohol with their food and keep out the cold in the winter with clear plastic tarp. In Korean dramas, the juicy confessions often happen over soju and snacks at a pojangmacha. Due to my love of Korean dramas, I will admit that I chose the Night Tour specifically to experience this slice of K-culture.

Choosing our seats

The pojangmacha we visited was fairly large but had the requisite humble decorations - check out the toilet paper roll hanging above! The food was excellent - we had a rolled egg omelette with ketchup and grilled mackerel and played some drinking games with local Cass beer.

 

Savory egg omelette with ketchup

Grilled mackerel - note the wasabi and soy sauce condiment

My first visit to a bona-fide pojangmacha

 



Our final stop was Kwangjang market - a traditional food market with many casual eateries selling street food.

 

Kwangjang market street food

 

We were guided to a popular restaurant specializing in bindaetteok - a crispy pancake made of mung beans. The mung beans are ground up; mixed with bean sprouts, green onions and then fried. It did not taste too special to me - similar to hash browns. I did love the accompanying makgeolli though - a milky, slightly sweet rice wine that tastes like alcoholic soy milk!

 

Mung bean pancake with oysters



Makgeolli bottle with a promo by Jun Ji-Hyun (You from another Star was airing then!)

 

The evening ended there - at a very bustling, noisy restaurant. The tour lasted about 3 hours and at the end, I would say I was only 85% full.  Looking back, I wished the tour had done the stops in reverse order so that we finished at the intimate BBQ place, drinking our soju bombs through the evening. Or perhaps the group just started out in high spirits but never truly bonded so there was no impetus to continue on our own. It would have been fun to end the night with noraebang - karaoke k-style!

With the tour priced at US$80 per person and 8 people in the group, we certainly were not getting our money's worth on the food which was very cheaply priced. Also, Paul was totally tee-total while we had some strong drinkers in the group which I'm sure ate into the budget. However, without the food tour, we would never have walked through the inner back alleys and visited the authentic local eateries where no tourists venture.