Thursday, 13 August 2009

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Destination Hong Kong #2: Cafe de Coral

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It looks like there may only be two Destination Hong Kong posts for now. I realized that my time spent in Hong Kong was spent eating at few memorable places, but the chains we frequented were worth mentioning. My dad had been telling me about HK style Chinese fast food for years, and I made sure I got my fill during my trip. Sure, we went to a Fairwood, but the crown of HK fast food is still Cafe de Coral.

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Badly translated as "everybody happy," Cafe de Coral has been a mainstay of Hong Kong for the last forty years. What started as a single restaurant has ballooned to over a hundred franchises within Hong Kong, 24 locations in Mainland China, and eleven other brands totaling more than 500 restaurants. While it might be near impossible to stay in Hong Kong and not see a Cafe de Coral, you might also encounter one of its subsidiaries such as Spaghetti House or Oliver's Super Sandwiches.


Although Hong Kong is now somewhat part of China once again, the local cuisine is much more an amalgam of global influence than purely Cantonese. In part, Victoria Harbor's influx of trade brought influences from Portuguese, Indian, Southeast Asian, and we can't forget the fast food component from America. Therefore, characterize the Cafe de Coral as Western-Chinese, rather than just Cantonese. For the same cost of a regrettable croissanwich and hashbrown at the airport Burger King, I could get a pork chop rice, black bean spare ribs, barbecue plate, or simply a delicious fried rice.



Despite the convenience, price, and general cleanliness of most of the modern stores, Cafe de Coral is still fast food. There is much better Chinese food around town at most local restaurants, but be on the lookout for this famous chain.

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Friday, 31 July 2009

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Destination Hong Kong #1: Hui Lau Shan's Mango Pudding

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Arriving in Hong Kong at six in the morning, of course my first meal was an early dim sum near my aunt's house in Ho Man Ting. However, as with most meals on my month-long trek, I would be sharing with too many people to impose my food photography on them. Therefore, I neglected to document my dim sum experience, which if you're in Hong Kong, is certainly a must. I'd say aim for the dishes that you don't see in America, but even the Occidental stand-bys are outstanding. I did however, capture my first Hui Lau Shan trip.

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Hui Lau Shan is a major dessert chain throughout Hong Kong. There's even a location in San Francisco stateside where it's named Creations Dessert House. But it's readily identifiable by the three golden words hanging over its door. In Hong Kong, you'll see them as commonly as Jamba Juices here. Enter any of them and you're greeted with a myriad of mango mixtures, but I wanted to try the pudding as original as it came.



My friend who spoke Cantonese actually ordered the pudding. We were a group of five people, but the cashier only suggested two orders. I figured with the diminutive sizes of Asian dishes, two may not be enough. After a ten minute wait, we realized that the gigantic saucers of golden agar would be more than enough. About 8 inches in diameter, 2 inches thick, and weighing a pound each, the mango pudding is certainly a meant to be shared. Though I suspect there is a smaller order for one.

Since we were in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong island, we walked to the Times Square Mall and sat in the food court. There, I poured on the condensed milk, a dessert ingredient we'd encounter many more times before this trip was over.



I was already expecting much before my first spoonful. Seeing the mango crates outside the store, I knew that they used fresh mangoes in their desserts. And looking at their menu, mangoes are what they do best. Most of the puddings, ice creams, drinks and other concoctions contain mango in some form, often fresh. A key element that I saw all over Asia, is that the mangoes they use are the yellow, slightly tapered mangoes. Avoid the large green and splotchy red ones, as those tend to have less flavor. I've heard the yellow ones have shorter shelf-lives, making them less marketable. You'll find them commonly in Asian or Hispanic market. I've bought a crate of them before off a Latino guy on the street. My experience is that American grocers tend to only stock the hardy green ones. Besides that little description, I can only point you to Wikipedia for a full list of mango cultivars.

Next time you're in Hong Kong, be sure to look for those three golden words. They'll guide you to dessert heaven.

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Monday, 27 July 2009

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Walking through the Slanted Door to Vietnam

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Pending my trip to Southeast Asia, I thought it would be intriguing to compare high-end San Francisco Vietnamese food with the street food I'd enjoy on the street of Saigon and Hanoi. Now that I'm back from my trip, I can give a fair comparative review of The Slanted Door.

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The meal started with an offering from the raw bar. Although the oysters, kampachi, and Japanese Yellowtail with crispy shallots and Thai basil (pictured above), didn't seem like Vietnamese dishes. But I had accepted that prior to walking into this hip San Francisco joint. If anything, the menu tended to have fewer fusion items than I expected. The yellowtail were the best items of the night, though the appeal was still not Vietnamese.


Our more cuisine specific dish came in the form of a banh hoi wrap of sauteed shrimp, parilla leaf, cucumber and vermicelli. My meals and talks with Wandering Chopsticks had given me and introduction to Vietnamese food that doesn't come as rice noodles in a bowl of beef soup. Though messy to eat, each bite tended to spill shrimp all over my plate, the morsels would've been just as good playing center-stage as an entree rather than an appetizer. The five-spice quail with pickled cucumbers had good flavor, but led me to a conclusion about the tiny poultry. Quail in general doesn't have nearly enough meat to be worth the trouble. And in a nice, Western restaurant like this, I wouldn't stick the whole bird into my mouth and pull out the little bones. Confined to a knife and fork, there was too much meat to leave behind to warrant ordering quail again. Contrastingly, in Vietnam, I could pick at the little bird with my fingers and teeth and leave it glistening as though vultures had their way with the carcass.


Catfish claypot, cilantro, ginger, Thai chilies

Hodo Soy Beanery organic lemongrass tofu, shiitake mushrooms, onions, chili sauce
With the first round of courses finished, the entrees came family style. Besides the above two, I also ordered Niman Ranch filet mignon shaking beef with watercress and lime dipping sauce, grass-fed Anderson Ranch lamb sirloin, and cellophane noodles with Dungeness crab. I made sure to include all the adjectives for each dish since Slanted Door prides itself on its fresh and local ingredients. After taking a cooking course in Thailand, I really understood the difference that fresh, quality ingredients make. Though maybe it was too fresh, the catfish felt somewhat sandy. For the luc lac shaking beef, the cubes were too large to be properly marinated. The restaurant may have been trying to showcase their beef by presenting large enough pieces to feel the texture of the meat, but I think it overshot the concept of shaking beef altogether. Neither the noodles nor the lamb sirloin had any distinguishable flavors.


The dessert offerings were impressive, perhaps reflecting a French trained pastry chef. Though there were several Pacific-leaning desserts, I fell for the tray of mignardises. Macarons are always my sweet spot, but the passionfruit gelee had a certain appeal too.

Satisfied with the classy Vietnamese offerings of the States, I ventured off to Asia for some low-end food. Something dirty and cheap. I walked out of the restaurant, full and eager for my adventure. I took a picture of San Francisco to take with me to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand.


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The Slanted Door
slanteddoor.com
1 Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, 94111
(415) 861-8032
$10-15 appetizers, $15-30 entrees

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

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Index of Posts

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Destination Eats

Los Angeles
New York

Scottsdale Reviews

Destination Peru Series


Destination Southeast Asia


Other Destinations
Slanted Door (San Francisco)
BC Deli (Oakland)
Chez Panisse (Berkeley)
Grand Canyon Eats (Williams, AZ)
Lotus of Siam (Los Vegas)
Plumed Horse (Saratoga, CA)


Eating Manifestos


Cooking and Recipes

Book Reviews
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee


Food Events

Tuesday, 21 July 2009

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Los Angeles Restaurant Reviews by Region

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Monday, 22 June 2009

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Los Angeles: City of Food Angels

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Street tacos: Quintessential LA Cuisine

Although I missed the talk last year regarding "What is LA cuisine," having finally left the city, I can certainly look back on my five years and tell you what characterizes Los Angeles food. It did take me several years to get over the superficiality of the Westside. In fact, living West of the 405 had left a bad taste in my mouth regarding LA's obsession with fads. By the time I graduated from UCLA, I thought I would leave the city thinking this shallow, pretentious image of Beverly Hills would be the one I'd take with me for the entire area. However, this last year I discovered the authenticity of the city actually lay within the unique geography and ethnic makeup of the city. And of course, I made that discovery by eating my way through this food destination.

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Several weeks ago, I received a frantic call. My friend was looking for restaurant recommendations for a Chinese business executive flying in for only two days. This guy was coming in by private jet; money was no object. What were some of the best restaurants in LA when you can spend anything you want? Of course the usual contenders made their appearance--Urasawa, Providence, Melisse and the like. But beyond the few, I soon realized that the best food in LA is not the most expensive food. Sure, these restaurants offered what you might characterize as "LA/Californian," but fresh, organic ingredients with a combination of European and Asian influences didn't seem immediately indicative of LA. You could say the same of almost any fine dining restaurant in the world. So what makes LA unique?

Bless the Commutes

One of the most frustrating aspects of the city also makes creates an environment for the best dining. Does it really take two hours to drive ten miles? It can in LA! Everything's so spread out, streets and freeways are packed all day. Stuck on the 10 for the second hour, it is easy to lose sight of the benefits of being so dispersed. Given my upcoming move to New York City, I would hardly call LA a city. Instead, LA is more like a collection of various villages carved out by long running boulevards and concrete rivers. This combination of low-density and high population form ethnic enclaves each offering its own victuals. Unlike cities like San Francisco, the constant influx of new immigrants creates communities that don't exist elsewhere. Being so spread out, these communities don't meld and mix as readily as they do in other denser cities. It usually takes a traveling kitchen to mix Korean and Mexican food, though a drive through Koreatown will convince you that Spanish and Korean are both native languages of Mexico and Korea. The result is communities that have a certain cultural integrity and allowance for diversity within those cultures. The distances between cultural quarters allows restaurants to specialize and become incredibly proficient at a few dishes that would mostly appeal to a homegrown crowd.


Ho-tteok from Pizza Land in K-Town

Where else can I go on a LA Ghetto Goodies marathon and have Korean ho-tteok, fried pancakes filled with brown sugar, and tacos off four taco trucks on the same day? Los Angeles is home to the largest communities of Thai and Vietnamese outside of their respective countries. In fact, North Hollywood is home to the only Thai Town in the United States. I spent almost every Sunday in old Chinatown, and despite its dilapidated charm, it still has a vibrant community. Go further East and you'll run into the newer Chinatown cropping up in San Gabriel Valley. I lived in Westwood; Little Tehran was just down the street. When I felt like eating with my fingers, it was off to Fairfax's Little Ethiopia. The South Bay has a diverse and vibrant enough Japanese community to host a Japanese Marathon without a sushi restaurant. Not to mention almost all of Los Angeles has taquerias and taco trucs.

Cheap Food Draws All


Tostada Mixtiada from Mar Azul

As a consequence of all these immigrant communities, cheap, delicious ethnic foods abound. A seafood tostada is $3 from the Mar Azul taco truck. $7 for the best ramen at Santouka. Indulge in Seven Course of Beef for $14. This is the perfect environment for amassing friendly eating gatherings, and as I've mentioned before, food marathons.

LA's cultural geography makes it rich for food blogging. Instead of just debating the best Japanese restaurant in town, people can claim expertise in the best yakitori, izakaya or ramen. A restaurant can be terrible in all other respects but have one dish be its saving grace. That's the magic of the LA dining scene.

Where to Go From Here


Chocolate cake from Comme ça

As I have emphasized, the beauty in LA food is the influx of new immigrants. But the lack of Old World immigrants have also led to a lackluster collection of European eateries. In future returns to town, I'd like to see growth in French bistros and Italian trattorias. Yet, will this betray the new age cuisines that characterize LA? Maybe a return to classical cuisines wouldn't be so bad. After all, the sushi and Thai fads are fading, but it seems like anything served from a truck is immensely popular.

What are your favorite aspects of LA cuisine culture, and where do you want to see it grow?

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Thursday, 11 June 2009

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Williams, Arizona: Journey to the Grand Canyon

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In a sleepy one-road town on Route 66, my girlfriend and I stayed for two nights for our trip to the Grand Canyon. Williams, Arizona, about sixty miles from the National Park is one of the closest and most affordable places to lodge if you're going to see this magnificent natural wonder. When asked if the Grand Canyon is worth seeing, I always respond the same way--while most landmarks look smaller in person than you expect, the Grand Canyon is hundreds of times grander than you imagine. Since this is Food Destination, I thought I'd profile three of the restaurants in town.

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As you can tell from the photo above, there's not much to this little town. Mostly dingy hotels and a scattering of restaurants, the tourism on route to the Grand Canyon seems to be the only thing keeping it alive. Oddly, there's a very modern looking Safeway grocery store at one end of town though. I guess everyone's got to have their slice of the twenty-first century.

Night 1: Dara Thai Cafe

The town's dining options are dominated by steak and chop houses offering slabs of meat in various slices of Americana. We actually searched out the outlier in all these restaurants and visited the one "ethnic" restaurant in town. It's actually not that easy to find, since the listed address is actually a real estate office. The cafe is hidden up Grand Canyon Boulevard, just keep your eyes out for signs. Being a Thai restaurant in the middle of nowhere with no discernible access to fresh ingredients, I didn't expect much. Places like these could get away with serving whatever chicken satay slathered in Sriracha and call it Thai. But the first thing I heard when I opened the door was rapid chattering of a Thai tour group. They were interacting with the waitstaff and seeming to enjoy their meals. I took their lack of total disdain as all the assurance I needed. A tom yum soup, a spicy tofu stir-fry and a dish of chicken sauteed in coconut milk called "jungle princess" all held up to the standards of Thai restaurants in LA. Certainly it's no Ruen Pair or Lotus of Siam, but I would go to Dara Thai Cafe even if it wasn't the only option in town.

Night 2: Rod's Steak House

After a day of hiking the Bright Angel trail into the Canyon, we came back to down ready to satisfy our inner carnivore. Along Interstate 40 driving towards Williams, we saw a cow silhouette on those familiar blue boards that show dining options at the exit. That cow would soon be very familiar to us, as it's used all over Rod's Steak House.

As with most establishments along Highway 66, Rod's is old. Old enough to have switched hands over three sets of owners and have legacies going back to the 1940s. In fact, judging by the interior, it probably hasn't been refurbished in decades. Though I can see how replacing some siding and table cloths might impinge on its Old West façade. Steaks at under $20 is not a bad price. I actually ordered their signature "charred steak", dipped in sugar and grilled. Yes, I was just as skeptical as you. Indeed, the sugar caramelized, then quickly burned, leaving a blackened exterior. But the steak was thick enough to maintain a pink medium-rare center. As a matter of principle, I refuse to order steak at restaurants that don't specialize in steak. While Rod's beef was far from transcendent, a thick, juicy slab is exactly what you need after a long day's hike. I didn't care much for milking the historic Highway 66 vibe, but if that appeals to you, Rod's certainly satisfies.

Morning 3: Old Smokey's Pancake House

Before leaving town back for LA, we decided on an extended breakfast at one of the many diners around Williams. Old Smokey's, like Rod's, features a long history coinciding with Route 66. In its previous life, it had been a diner, barbecue, and now a pancake house. Given its claim to fame, I had to order the pancakes. An unlimited stack of buttermilk pancakes for $5.99 was the way to go. But when I got my order, I was shocked that the buttermilk pancake plate was just one gigantic pancake. With griddle cakes this wide, it's hard to cook evenly, but they did a great job. Consistent throughout, and topped with one of the flavored syrups added to my delight. Strawberry, boysenberry, and pecan syrups all added something different to my pancake Frisbee. Though I settled on the nuttiness of the pecan as my favorite. Since I had a long way to drive, I didn't get another pancake, though in retrospect, $5.99 for one pancake would be too much to pay. To make it worth your while, at least down two of those suckers.

While there are a few more restaurants up in Tusayan, a few miles outside the Park, and many high-end eateries within the Park, Williams offers that small town feel. That is, assuming the small town has no evidence of any of the services you'd expect in a fully functioning town besides the tourism. But most of all, Williams has the cheapest lodging if you're on your way to the Grand Canyon, a trip I highly recommend.

Dara Thai Cafe
145 W Route 66, Suite C
Williams, AZ 86046
(928) 635-2201
~$10 a dish

Rod's Steak House
rods-steakhouse.com
301 E Route 66
Williams, AZ 86046
(928) 635-2671
>$20 a steak

Old Smokey's Pancake House
sideeffectsllc.com
624 W Route 66
Williams, AZ 86046
(928) 635-1915
$5.99 unlimited pancakes

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