Did Someone say Fried Chicken for One Dollar?!!

Ohhh... how brightly you shine.

If there is one thing to know about me, its that one of my all time favorite foods is Fried Chicken!! Just the sound of the words makes a little light *ding* in my head. In fact, one of my personal food quest in life is to eat all the fried chicken my body can handle.  However, the accumulation of cellulite on one's thighs can be a deterrent from this quest. 

Most travelers to Taipei know the one food spot to visit is Shilin Night Market. They have a large number of food stalls here that alone require their own blog entry. But one of the firsts you see when walking into the market is Hot Star Fried Chicken, in all its mesmorizing florescent blue signage. 

The long line and the excitement of someone getting closer.

The queue for this place is pretty long, but it moves quite expeditiously. It kind of reminds me of the queue in Philly as you are lining up for cheesesteaks, or the queue in NYC for the Soup Nazi. One wrong move and you are off the line! Well maybe not that dramatic, but you get the picture. As you get closer to the front, someone is there to hand you a plastic bag to make sure you 1.) place your order, 2.) give the correct change (or close to it) , and 3.) the yummy chicken is placed in your bag. 

The chicken is a little over $1 USD., more like $1.50 USD. But still very affordable and it is piping hot once you get it. They sprinkle some tiny crushed red pepper and you are set to go. Now if they only had a bowl of rice for me to eat it with...

Ta-dah!

Saigon, (aka Ho Chi Minh City) Gastronomy Tour Part II

If you travel to HCM City and can only eat at one place, then it has to be Quan An Ngon restaurant, a HCM institution. I loved it so much I went there three times in one weekend.  'Ngon' means delicious -- which is almost an understatement. What Quan An Ngon managed to do was bring all the local street food under one roof. The place is packed with locals and foreigners. There is a lot to choose from on the menu and it can be overwhelming. If you can, go with a local. But if can't like me, just do a quick once over in the restaurant. I tend to go for the 'I am looking for the bathroom route', just to see what everyone else is eating. Luckily, the restaurant also has open air cooking. So you can actually see how many of the dishes are being prepared. Just as if you were on the street!

Pork and Spring Roll Vermicelli. 

Spring Rolls! 

I had one of my all time favorite Vietnamese dishes, Pork and Spring Roll Vermicelli. Truth be told I just love the spring rolls and the fish sauce combined. So I got a dish that was only that as well. And despite the Spring Rolls, I felt that these were very respectable healthy dishes. But I am sure it was all in my mind. 

My friend had the Mekong Delta Style Roasted Pork and Seafood. The soup had a deep rich fish paste base to it. I think it was called the Mekong Delta style because they lumped ingredients you would find in the Mekong Delta. A weak theory, I know.

Green Papaya Salad with dried beef and peanuts.

I saw everyone eating the Seasoned Toast and Beef Cubes. It was the restaurant's take on the traditional Banh Mi, which they did not have much to my disappointment.  

Quan An Ngon

138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia

Ho Chi Minh City, District 1

Vietnam

It Tastes like Sh*t!

Chicken Katsu in a toilet bowl. They had curry, but I couldn't do it. 

On a night out in Taipei, my then boyfriend told me he was going to take me somewhere really special that evening. Of course being the girl that I am, I got tremendously excited and contemplated the different outfits I could wear later that evening. I asked myself, would this restaurant be on top of a hill with lights strewn all over? or would it be in a little romantic garden with fountains? The romantic possibilities seemed almost endless.

My boyfriend even told me to conserve the batteries on my camera, because this place he was taking me was so special that I would definitely want to take pictures. Of course, I love to look at pictures after I take them so when dinner time arrived my batteries had drained. But he reminded me again that this place was so special I should go to a random camera shop and ask for my battery to be re-charged. Obligingly I went in and asked a stranger to 'charge me up.' Luckily the people of Taipei are very kind.

As we got on the road to where the restaurant was, I pointed out to him 'Look over there at that restaurant with all the toilets and kids coming out. God that looks like a nightmare!' And strangely we went closer to the said restaurant. Boyfriend said, 'we're here.' And there you have it folks, the romantic restaurant that I had envisioned for the night was in fact Modern Toilet. 

A chained themed restaurant, Modern Toilet's primarily clientele consists of teenagers eating fried foods, curries and the like out of....you guessed it toilet bowls. The food here is your typical snacking food and most of the people that visit come for the ambience. Eating curry out of a black toilet bowl just gives the dining experience that extra dimension.  But the ultimate dish was the chocolate ice cream in the toilet bowl. I had one bite and that was all I could do. Just a little too much dimension for me.

Counter seating. Need some tissue?

Chocolate ice cream. Chicken McNuggets.

Modern Toilet 

Shilin District 

Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) 

Saigon, (aka Ho Chi Minh City) Gastronomy Tour Part I

Unfortunately there is nothing really sexy about this city once named Saigon. If you were hoping for a French colonial feeling Hanoi is your best bet. Saigon, or what it is presently known as today -- Ho Chi Minh City, is still very much an underdeveloped, dare I say industrialized city. There aren't too many sights to see, but the Gastronomy Tour: Saigon Edition I took was one of the greatest.

First stop Pho Hoa, considered the best Pho in all of HCM. The sayers were right. This place was delicious. The sliced raw beef - tender and taseful. Not at all the chewiness I sometimes find. I got the Pho Tai for 35,000 VND (2.10 USD) which I found to be almost a crime. I think the look I gave them was appalled. Preying on the innocent tourists. Usually a bowl is 27,000 VND (1.60 USD). But it's almost pointless to argue over a few cents (though on more than one occasion I have). Especially, when you fly all the way to their country and walk half way across the city for a bowl of noodles. Indeed, Pho Hoa is not the easiest to find. But it was all worth it to taste the clear broth and fresh ingredients.

A close up. With the necessary condiments of hot and plum sauce.

A delicious last bite!

Pho Hoa
260 Pasteur Street
Ho Chi Minh City, (Saigon)
Vietnam

Marmalade Pantry Oh My!

The food served up here is as cute and kitchy as the name of the restaurant. There are two locations, one in Hitachi Tower (my personal favorite) and the other at Palais Renaissance. Marmalade Pantry serves up sandwiches, pitas, salads, pasta and even all day breakfast! We had the Crab Meat Cesar Salad. Personally, I don't like that much crab meat in my salad, it tends to overwhelm the rest of the other fine ingredients -- such as the lettuce. Otherwise, this dish was a nice spin on the traditional Cesar Salad. I also sampled the snapper cooked in breadcrumbs and I couldn't have been any happier. I am trying to go on a diet the past couple of days (success rate zero) so this dish fit the bill perfectly. My friend on the other hand had an extra large helping of eggs, sausages and french fries?! Muahaha. Verdict? They definitely don't skimp here.

Crabmeat Cesar Salad with Pine Nuts.

Marmalade Pantry

Palais Renaissance

390 Orchard Road

Singapore 238871

House of Singapore

I am strangely drawn to places that have been 'converted.' 'Oh this use to be a convent where nuns used to pray. Now they serve Spanish tapas.' or 'This used to be my mom's house, but I kicked her out and turned it into my dream restaurant.' So, it was only fitting that I visit a place called Dempsey Road. It's an area of Singapore that used to be army barracks (are you shocked as I am that this place even needs an army? I have lived here or one year and saw a police officer once. It was at the police station to file a lost ID card.) which has now been converted to a series of restaurants on a road called Dempsey. Here you will find a large number of expats as well as locals dining a range of Mexican, Italian and American cuisine. 

House is a combination of things: spa, restaurant, bar and/or living. However, I went for the Sunday brunch. The place serves your basic American breakfast with its own unique twists on the average sunny side up eggs and pancakes. A tad on the expensive side, think NYC prices. When I arrived I was immediately drawn to the 7-layer pancake with nuts and other various delights on the menu. Sadly, when the plate of pancakes arrived I was completely taken aback. It was 7-layers of pancakes alright, but what they forgot to mention was that they weren't going to serve 3/4 of the rest of the pancakes. What I got was actually 7 slices of pancakes. Deceiving. I took matters in my own hands and went back home to create the same exact dish --with my own added touches of course. And yes, they look exactly like the ones at House. ;)

Making 7 stacks of pancakes takes a long time! I could only do 3 stacks before I got hungry.

Each layer had nutella inside with toasted almonds, pistachios, green raisins and dried figs. Don't forget the maple syrup!

Dempsey House

8D Dempsey Road, Singapore 249672

Singapore

JJ Market & Braised Chicken Noodle Soup in Bangkok

Braised Chicken Noodle Soup with Ramen.

This weekend I traveled to Bangkok and gave another go at the weekend JJ Market, also known as Chatuchak Market. It's dubbed Asia's largest outdoor market. However, I am not entirely sure if this is true. But best believe that this place is large and sells everything from dried plants, vintage clothing, pets and even random car parts. However, my favorite part about this market are the ubiquitous food stalls. My friend and I took a quick break from our shopping and got a bowl of stewed chicken and ramen noodles. Simple, yet utterly delicious. The chicken just melted off the bone. Even better was that each bowl was 1.16 USD each!

Greek Food in Boracay?

The Mousaka. I love mashed potatoes on top.

Chicken gyro.

Yep, you can find great Greek food in Boracay. Its almost as going to Greece itself. I kidd... But hey, its not bad. (I had some of the Mexican here. You can pass on that.) We were looking at a dive gear at D'Mall. And yes, its actually called 'D' Mall. In D'Mall there is also D'Restrooms and D'Rock Climbing Wall. I am not kidding. But alas I stray.

We were greeted by an overly buff, think 'D' Rock size ( I am sorry I had to get one more in) but quite charming man and apparent chef of Cyma. Cyma in Greek means 'to flourish.' The service was great. But I found that to be true of all of Boracay. The food here was delicious. We had the gyros and the mousaka. Yummy! Also try Jonah's Juice located in Station 1. Its the best on the whole island and can't be missed.

Ahhh...Its Passionfruit !

If there is one thing I pride myself on, it's my knowledge of fruits. So, it's not often that I am startled when I find something I can't quite identify. Until this weekend in Jakarta of all places. At first glance, it resembled a pomengranate, albeit orange. Texturally its seemed alright. But then I began to crack it open and my fingers just dug into the inner spongy skin. Almost like opening open a rotten orange. And then, the thousand tad pole like seeds came jutting out. I ate a few bites (later I find out you can eat the seeds). It was tart and not all too tasteful.

Its passionfruit! I do think it tastes much better as a drink and mixed with other things. As a stand alone fruit, I have had far more juicer ones. Which reminds me. I better pick up some Kyoho grapes soon.

The passion fruit takes the prize of strangest fruit eaten this weekend.

An Introduction

Since moving to Singapore a year ago from New York City the first thing I realized is the lack of proper 'web guidance' on food in South East Asia. The big Apple has Adam Platt and Robyn Lee, just to name two who have helped me on my journey. Meanwhile since living here the past year, I have not been able to find anyone posting new and exciting blog entries to keep up with my happy appetite. I hope this blog creates discussions on new favourite eats from my readers as well as my perspective on some of the delicious and no so delicious foods that I have come across.

Remember kiddies, "If it goes in your belly, its a serious business."