Jinli streets during the day: ye er ba, beef fried pancakes, edible sugar art, sichuan north jelly noodle; Bottom 2: Wide Alley at night.
Chengdu, known as Tian Fu Zhi Guo (“land of heaven”) is the capital city of Sichuan province in China. Aside from being one of the most important economic centers in Western China, Chengdu is famous for its tasty spicy food, and for being the home of the adorable pandas. It is also the place where I grew up. If you ask me, I would proudly tell you, I'm a Chengduese first, a New Yorker second (although I just recently moved to LA).
7 years is surely too long a time to be away from one's hometown. It changed so much that I couldn't even navigate the streets I used to know by heart! To bring me up to date, my friends took me to 2 new-to-me attractions: Jinli and Kuan Zhai Xiang Zi which translates to Wide & Narrow Alleys.
Both Jinli and Wide & Narrow Alleys are revived ancient streets located in Chengdu's historical sites. They are similar in that they sell xiao chi (snacks) and lots of cute, fun souvenirs. Wide & Narrow Alleys seems to be more upscale, but both have many restaurants and bars, making them great places for a night out.
They are also perfect for a fun afternoon with friends: snacking on my favorite ye er ba (steamed mochi with either meat or sweet fillings), slurping spicy jelly noodles, browsing the market for unique gifts, sipping tea in an old tea house, watching the opera (the famous bian lian, aka face change), and goggling over the old man making edible sugar art—one of the many street stands that I used to stop by everyday on my way to school. Sadly, sugar art stands are now pretty much extinct in the city. Seeing them certainly brought me back to my happy childhood days. You too, will be transported back to a simpler time to enjoy the old old Chengdu life.
Häagen Dazs ice-cream mooncakes. Photo courtesy of Häagen Dazs.
Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. It's a harvest festival that falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month every year, and it's one of the most important holidays in China. The celebration calls for the whole family to come together and have dinner (much like Thanksgiving). Instead of turkey, the main feature of the feast is mooncake, a round pastry filled with paste, traditionally made with lotus seed paste, red bean paste, or five kernel. Our favorite ones always had an egg yolk in the middle.
Over the years, the making of mooncakes has become more innovative in terms of flavors (we've seen green tea, chocolate, ham, durian, and cheese, to name a few). This year though, we're seriously craving Häagen Dazs' ice-cream mooncakes! They're new to us, but have been out in Asia for a couple of years. I saw them in Shanghai last week, but sadly haven't found them in the States. They should be available in many Asian countries, so if you're one of the lucky ones there, make sure to try them.
Happy Mid-Autumn!
Borough Market: tortelloni wild boar, fresh oysters, various pastries, mini pies, ice tea, turkish delightBorough Market is one of London's largest food markets and sells a variety of delicious goods from all over the world. Kind of a foodie's heaven. It's right by the River Thames, and a short walk from many attractions in South Bank.
I slept in on a Friday and arrived at Borough Market around noon; sampled a variety of snacks, had freshly cooked Tortelloni Wild Boar from the pasta stand, La tua pasta, and treated myself to a refreshing iced tea. Although the market is pretty small, it's full of warm colors and wonderful smells—definitely overwhelmed my senses and sent me straight to my happy place.
Afterwards, I walked along the Thames, passed by the London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the Millennium Bridge, and ended my day browsing through exhibitions at Tate Modern. It was the perfect afternoon for me (I don't like to cram a lot of things into my travels :p). Feel free to reverse my itinerary, start your day at Tate Modern, slowly work your way to Borough Market and end your day with great food! Or, if you are an ambitious traveler, try the London South Bank Walk created by wikipedia.
Clockwise: ramen from Santouka, Chabuya, Jinya, and Ton-chan.
My favorite comfort food is Japanese Ramen. And yes, the ones they serve in these restaurants are definitely a step above your packaged instant noodles.
LA has a wide selection of great Asian restaurants, and coming from eating Ippudo, Hide-Chan, and Totto Ramen in NYC, I'm not exactly a stranger to great ramen. How has things fared in the City of Angels so far?
Very good. Definitely can compete with the best of the east coast, but with more selection and usually cheaper prices. Santouka and Ton-chan ramen all offer a combo meal with a bowl of rice topped with either salmon roe, pork belly, or fermented beans. Ton-chan has even more options, letting you opt to get curry rice as well as other dishes with your bowl of noodles. But enough with the sides, how is the actual ramen?
All of these ramen restaurants serve their noodles in a rich pork broth, with pork belly, some vegetables, and usually an egg. Ramen Jinya has a limited 20 servings a day premium rich pork broth, and it's delicious. Too bad their noodles are the worst of the 4. Chabuya is the healthiest of the 4, as they don't use MSG. But their portions are smaller and their broth just seems slightly blander than the rest. Ton-chan adds black garlic oil to their tasty broth, but their noodles are only slightly above Jinya's quality.
The best ramen I've had in LA then is Santouka. Everything in the bowl is slurptastic, and definitely worth a trip to the west side. Ton-chan Ramen is a close 2nd, as they have the best value (you choose 2 extra ingredients to add to the ramen for free, and you get a nice pudding dessert with the meal). Either way, I'll be on the look out for more Ramen in LA!
Note: I've tried Daikokuya before this post, and I would rank it on the same level as Jinya.
Raw oysters, Lobster gazpacho, White asparagus with fried egg and Iberico ham, Hake with Catalonian baby squid, Grilled duck breast with foie gras, and desserts.2 weeks ago, I went to London with a friend for a week-long vacation. The night before my flight, Dan sent me a restaurant recommendation that spiked my interest: Cambio de Tercio, a Spanish restaurant in London that happens to be Rafael Nadal's favorite. As a trusting fan, I immediately booked it as my first dinner on this trip.
Now, a note about getting a reservation. I called on a Monday afternoon and got a reservation pretty easily for the same night at 8pm. However, I also emailed the restaurant before I left New York but didn't hear back until 1 hour before my requested reservation time. So it looks like calling is the best way. Either way, make sure you get a reservation, because without one, you might be turned away at the door (I saw it happen).
We had the 7-course tasting dinner priced at £37 which was a great deal. The first course was the highlight for me: raw oysters with red shallots vinaigrette, covered with pink grapefruit foam. It was sooooo refreshing, a mouthful of delicious oysters with great citrus flavor. I felt like I could just keep on eating it! After that, we were served a lobster gazpacho with cherry ice cream which was my friend's favorite dish of the night. Our dinner continued with 3 more well-cooked dishes and 2 desserts, all had interesting flavor combinations and nice textures.
This turned out to be one of the best meals I've had in London. As we ate, the table next to us (they looked like regulars) had a roasted suckling pig that made us drool big time... and we swore right there and then that we'd be back for more next time.
