The concept of Food Touring was sparked at this place, when I had dinner with friends on Jan 6th. Unfortunately, the first post wasn’t Indian food because I did not take any photos that night. I finally had the chance to come back with my parents on Friday night!
My dad and I both love lamb and spicy food, so my dad picked Kolhapuri Mutton, which is lamb cooked in special Kolhapuri masala. The lamb was very tender and flavorful. Overall, this dish is very spicy, so if you can only handle mild spiciness, do not get this dish.
Kolhapuri (a city in southwest Maharashtra, in western India) is known for its delicious & spicy mutton curries. (Sanjeev Kapoor)
There is nothing subtle about this dish. Its red, hot and pungent.The taste hits you right away because of the generosity with which garam masalas are added. The chillies are hair raising. Especially if the lavangi, that firecracker of a mirchi ,is part of the ingredients. Its sparks define Kolhapuri food. Almost painful to the palate, once eaten most people are not ‘twice shy.’ In fact many remain fans forever, addicted , craving that colourful gravy, situated as they are, far away from the rugged terrain that surrounds the place of it’s origins. (The Cook’s Cottage)
Sweet & Yummy is a food truck that specializes in a Hungarian sweet pastry called chimney cake, or kürtőskalács in Hungarian. I came across this vendor through Yelp several weeks ago, and finally had the chance to check it out last night! It’s a bit tricky to find the food truck; it’s located in the Mountain View Target parking lot, on the edge next to Wheel Works. They only operate Friday and Saturday evenings, approximately 7 to 11pm.
Their chimney cake comes with three different toppings combined with sugar- cinnamon, coconut, and walnut. I got coconut and walnut. Even though it’s called a “cake”, the texture is more like thin sweet bread, and it’s shaped like a hollow, cylindrical, spiral tower.
Here’s some info about kürtőskalács, from Wikipedia:
Kürtőskalács is a popular pastry specific to Hungarian-speaking regions, more predominantly, the Szekler land. Earlier a festive treat, now it is part of everyday consumption.
Kürtőskalács is made from sweet, yeast dough (raised dough), of which a strip is spun and then wrapped around a truncated cone–shaped baking spit, and rolled in granulated sugar. It is baked above charcoal cinders while lubricated with melted butter, until its surface gets a golden-brown color. During the baking process the sugar stuck on kürtőskalács becomes caramel and forms shiny, crispy crust on the cake. The surface of cake can then be provided with additional toppings such as ground walnut or cinnamon powder.
The Chimney Cake was originally born is Transylvania (present day Romania), while the territory was still part of present day Hungary. There are many different beliefs about its exact origins; one of these says that Kürtőskalács was first made by a clever Szekler (Székely) woman who saved the locals from starving to death while the Mongols (Tatars) invaded Hungary in 1241-1242. According to another belief (that is most probably the real truth) this pastry is only a few hundred years old and was first made by some Szekler families who wanted to make another use of the smouldering charcoal in their house. They put the charcoal onto their stovepipes and started to bake the pastry above that. A bit later this pastry became a traditional sweet on weddings and some family events both in Transylvania and in whole Hungary.
Nowadays Chimney Cake is usually sold on special events, carnivals and fairs by street vendors, but it is popular in bakeries and different pastry shops as well, not just in Budapest or Hungary.
The cake itself is not that hard to make and is usually topped by different sweet spices like cinnamon, coconut-sprinkles or walnuts. Sugar is caramelised on the surface of the pastry and then it is rolled into one of the above mentioned toppings. This way the whole Chimney Cake has a sweet and crispy surface and a very soft, almost creamy interior.
This pastry is a national symbol of Hungary, though it was registered by the European Union as a Protected Geographical Indication/Speciality (PGI) of Slovakia under a different name (Trdelnik).
Restaurant: Vung Tau II Restaurant City: Milpitas, CA
South Vietnam’s weather is typically hot and humid all year round, so it’s no surprise that they have plenty of no-soup dishes that are suitable for hot days!
I had the vermicelli (bún) with grilled pork (thịt nướng) and egg roll (chả giò). The food inside the vermicelli bowl is typically put in layers; the top is the meats, the middle is the vermicelli, and a salad at the bottom composed of lettuce, mung bean sprouts, pickled carrots and daikon, green onion, and basil and/or mint. There were also peanuts in this dish, so if you’re allergic to peanuts, remember to order this dish without peanuts! This dish is typically eaten after mixing the noodle and salad with the fish sauce (nuoc mam), as shown in the second photo. I usually put the meats and egg roll aside prior to mixing, so it’s easier to mix and the egg roll won’t get soggy from the fish sauce.
Bún thịt nướng is very popular in the southern region of Vietnam. In the North, a similar dish of rice vermicelli and grilled meat is called bún chả. (Wikipedia)
Travelfish.org has a good explanation of the dish, while comparing it to a similar dish from the North (bún chả):
Bun thit nuong (pronounced: boon-tit-nun) is a delicious staple of southern Vietnamese cuisine and their answer to the north’s bun cha. Bun, a cold, thin white rice noodle, also known as vermicelli, is placed in a bowl. Thit nuong, grilled strips of pork, are then placed on top and, unlike bun cha, served as a single dish. Often you have the option of adding cha gio (pronounced: cha zo) or small, crispy spring rolls, which are also placed on top. In the south, this dish is commonly served with pickled daikon and carrot and garnished with roasted peanuts. And of course no Vietnamese dish would be complete without pouring on some nuoc mam, or fish sauce.
Bun thit nuong is generally served over lettuce and cucumber, with herbs and bean sprouts. Depending on the street stall you attend (in Vietnam) they may have more or less of these extra ingredients. Luckily, unlike bun cha, which is generally served only for lunch, bun thit nuong is served all day. A breakfast stall commonly runs around 06:30-10:30, a lunch stall will go from 10:30-14:30 and a dinner stall will be open from 18:00-22:00 or until food runs out.
Bun thit nuong is a dish that is not too hot and not too cold but, as Goldilocks and I would say, “just right”. It is a perfect option for any time of the day.
California’s weather has gone bipolar! It was rainy and high 50s (°F) by the end of last week; today is sunny and ~90°F… I had to grab a cold drink on my way home from work.
85°C Bakery Cafe is a self-serve bakery chain from Taiwan. They’ve had stores in Southern California since 2009. In November, they opened their first store in Northern California, in Newark. They just opened their San Jose store last week. They also have drinks and cakes in addition to their breads.
My favorite drink at 85°C is the Sea Salt Jasmine Green Tea, which is a type of foam milk tea. The top layer has ice and foam milk, topped with matcha powder. The bottom layer has the jasmine green tea with the sea salt on the very bottom of the cup. Like most pearl milk teas, you shake the drink before inserting the straw through the lid.
Here’s a bit of info about the foam milk tea, from Wikipedia:
泡沫奶茶 (Pinyin: pàomò nǎichá), “foam milk tea” – one of the many variants that is prepared the same way as the “foam red tea”, well-shaken before serving.
泡沫紅茶 (Pinyin: pàomò hóngchá), “foam red tea” – by direct translation, is the drink that is more appropriate for the more literal name of “bubble tea”; however, the English name, foam tea, is not used much throughout Asia. Consequently, in non-Chinese-speaking Asian countries, “bubble tea” is commonly used to refer to this drink. There is no tapioca in this particular drink. To create this, vendors mix hot or warm tea (in this case, black tea) with syrup or sugar and ice cubes into a cocktail shaker. Then they would shake the shaker either by hand or by machine before it is served. The resulting tea would be covered by a layer of foam or froth and the tea would have a light foamy feel to the taste.
[Edit on 05.08.2015] My sister and I went to a LATTEA (綠蓋茶) in Taipei, where we ordered a sea salt foam milk tea. It was served in a tall glass mug without a straw, as shown in the photo below.
We were confused because we were accustomed to having the drink with a straw, so the waiter said this drink was meant to be consumed as a regular beverage, by sipping from the top of the glass. The foam-to-tea ratio actually stayed pretty consistent throughout, much to my dismay, and the taste was pretty consistent until I finished the drink!
Restaurant: New York Fries City: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
First Throwback Thursday post!
I’ve been to Calgary numerous times as I have relatives there, but the first time I tried poutine was in July 2008. New York Fries is found at many food courts in Canadian shopping malls. Sadly, it’s only located in Canada and a few other countries except the United States. Contrary to its name, NYF is not from New York; it’s based in Toronto.
New York Fries’ poutine – “Invented in Quebec, perfected by New York Fries. A delicious marriage of New York Fries, premium cheese curd, and trans fat free gravy.”
The following is some info about poutine, from Wikipedia:
Poutine is a common Canadian dish, originally from Quebec, made with french fries, topped with a light brown gravy-like sauce and cheese curds. This fast food dish can now be found across Canada, and is also found in some places in the northern United States, where it is sometimes required to be described due to its exotic nature. It is sold in small “greasy spoon” type diners (commonly known as cantines or casse-croûtes in Quebec) and pubs, as well as by roadside fry wagons (commonly known as cabanes à patates, literally “potato shacks”). National and international chains like New York Fries, McDonald’s, A&W, KFC, and Burger King, and Harvey’s also sell mass-market poutine in Canada (although not always country-wide).
Finally found the Korean red bean pastries in fish-shaped buns! Thanks My Hong Kong Husband, for telling me where to find ’em after I couldn’t last time. I swear they weren’t in stock last time I went… They were down to the last “layer” when I saw them this time. :D
There are 10 pieces in the package. The package is kept frozen. Simply microwave one piece for ~1-2 minutes and then eat it!
In addition to the tofu soup, we had the seafood pancake; squid, clam, imitation crab, and grill onions fried in batter. SGD’s seafood pancake is actually quite big and pricey (~$14 USD); it can be too much for 2 people but just right for 3-4 people. It is typically served with a dipping sauce made from soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
Our seafood pancake was initally served undercooked (shown below); it looked cooked from the outside, but the inside was half-way cooked. We suspect that the pan’s heat was too high when they cooked it, because when we were served a new one, it was golden-brown to brown on the outside but the inside was perfect (second photo). SGD’s seafood pancake is really good when properly cooked!
This traditional Korean recipe for savory seafood pancake originates from the city of Busan in South Korea. (SBS) Continue reading →
Today was rainy, windy, and cloudy, which was the perfect weather for hot soup!
SGD’s original soft tofu soup comes with beef, pork, or chicken and mushrooms. I picked beef, and chose medium spiciness. All soft tofu meals are served with purple rice and banchan.
Sundubu jjigae is a type of jjigae; here’s the info from Wikipedia:
Jjigae (찌개) is a Korean dish similar to a Western stew. There are many different varieties but it is typically made with meat, seafood or vegetables in a broth seasoned with gochujang, doenjang, ganjang or saeujeot. Jjigae is typically served in a communal dish and boiling hot.
Did you know that despite being a Korean dish, sundubu jjigae was not created in Korea? Here are the details from Wikipedia: Continue reading →
Had Greek for an early dinner tonight! There were so many appetizers to choose from, so I just picked one that seemed to be popular on Yelp.
Biftekia – mixed ground beef, garlic, onion, spices, herbs, served with tzatziki (grated cucumber in yogurt garlic sauce, herbs, and spices) and Agape sauce (kalamata olives blended with mayo, olive oil, and garlic), and served over garlic fries. Feta cheese cubes, olives, pepperoncini, and a lemon wedge were also on the plate.
Biftekia (μπεφτεκια) is also known as “Greek beef patties” and is typically served with a pat of butter and a generous squeeze of lemon. One of the ingredients is bread, which is soaked with milk or water, then squeezed to remove all the excess liquid, and ripped into pieces to the meat mixture to make it more tender. (Mama’s Taverna)
I thought the biftekia I was served was a bit dry, but eating it with the sauce or feta cheese helped. It appears that some recipes don’t even use bread, such this one from Food Network. There’s also a variation called biftekia yemista, where the beef patties are stuffed with feta.
I got a box of Haitai’s crushed pear juice at Hankook a while ago and finally got to it! I really like how the box is designed; you can transform the box to have a carrying handle!
The crushed pear juice is very refreshing when it’s drank cold. The best part of the drink is when you get to nibble on the crushed Korean pears!
Food Touring 