As our chow-master drizzled the final layer spoonful of gram dal atop an already generous mountain, each of our senses aligned themselves in appreciation of something approaching culinary perfection.

The aroma of fresh spices, the tinkling of ladles, the din of restoration, the scene of satisfaction, and the heaviness of kitchen air that lands just so on the surface of the skin. This is masala, literally a mix.

Pent up hunger and a longer journey than expected conspired to place us at the precipice of something so good we’d bet our lives on it.

But how did we deliver ourselves to something so satisfying after so many wrong turns?

Timely Trains and Bustling Markets That Weren’t

Public transport and markets: two contexts we often use to orient ourselves, to interact with and appreciate ordinary people, and to find something about a place that the brochures surely missed. So when we eyed the Durban city map and realized that we could take Metrorail, the public train, to get from Moses Mahbida Stadium to Victoria Street Market, we figured: perfect combination.

But it was Sunday, sleepy. The train station was dusty and desolate, ticket offices were closed. After clearing the automated gates, we were just late for a departing train. We found ourselves the only ones on the platform, save the cleaning lady. We asked her about the train.

“It comes,” she reassured us.

A few minutes later another hopeful passenger emerged: “The train comes.”

Then, a security guard arrived: “It comes.”

The train never came.

Victoria Street Market, In Search of Lunch
Should you find yourself in Durban and possess an even faint interest in food and spice markets, Victoria Street Market is supposed to be the place. Images of heaping piles of brightly colored Indian spices danced in our heads. Dreams of cheap, delicious food stalls wafting with curries, too.

The reality? By the time we arrived, closing time for all, except an occasional souvenir store. A few hours late, we found ourselves defeated. Starving, too.

On our way out, we passed a convenience store whose entrance featured a few square metal tins filled with spices. I smiled at the Indian man presiding over his small empire as I passed.

A few meters on, I turned around. An instinct told me he held the keys to changing the course of our day. I gave into what felt like a stereotype: “He’s Indian. He’s selling spices. He must know where to find good Indian food in the area.”

“Could you recommend a place to eat nearby? Where do you eat lunch?” I asked.

“Do you like Indian food?” he shot back, excited.

I couldn’t nod energetically enough.

“It’s a simple place, vegetarian food. Very good, where I go for lunch. And it should still be open. It’s called Little Gujarat. I have lunch there often.”

Sold.

A few minutes and several wrong turns later, we arrived. The aroma of popped Indian spice wafted into the street.

This was it.

Inside, simple tables and chairs took up one side, as the kitchen counter and dozens of cafeteria vats loaded with curries and masalas – from greens to beans – took up the other. Two Indian women moved quickly, customers bustled, too. Homemade menus from a family printer listing options and specials — from rotis to dosai — adorned the walls. Prices? Sub $2.00. The feel: family and restorative, cafeteria yet caring.

This was our kind of place.

At this point, you might be asking: Indian food in South Africa? And what the heck is bunny chow?

Gandhi, Durban Indians and Bunny Chow

Durban, South Africa’s third largest city, also happens to be the biggest “Indian” city outside of India.

Why is this?

In the late 19th century, the British brought thousands of indentured servants from India to work the sugar cane plantations of KwaZulu-Natal and to build the Trans-Natal Railway. A wave of immigration followed as traders sought business opportunities and a better life. Mahatma Gandhi even arrived in Durban in 1893 as a young lawyer and spent a surprising 20 years in South Africa. Today, Indian-South Africans make up about 30% of Durban’s population.

But what of this bunny chow you refer to?

Bunny chow is essentially a hollowed out piece of plain, white sandwich bread stuffed with curry (or masala, if you like). There are many legends as to how the dish came to be, but the one we heard most often from Durbanites goes something like this:
Mr. Bunny, an indentured servant working the sugar cane plantations, was challenged by how to bring his lunch with him into the fields. Curry can be unwieldy, messy, overwhelming. To mitigate all these, Mr. Bunny’s clever wife nipped it all the bud by burying curry into a loaf of bread so that his lunch was self-contained and field-ready to eat.

Today, bunny chow is a legend in Durban.

The Ultimate 5-Layer Bunny Chow

Back at Little Gujurat, we were overwhelmed by choice. “Which curry do you want?” the woman behind the counter asked.

This was a critical moment. We almost choked. Instead, Dan asked her, “Which are your favorites?”

A bizarre question judging by her initial reaction – a sort of “Who are these crazy folks who can’t make a simple decision?” She quickly eased into a smile, pointing to the curry vats below.

Then, you could see a click in their eyes. They both broke in the same direction. “Can we have a bit of each? Is that OK?” Dan asked hopefully.

Win.

She nodded and put her expertise to work. Each of the five layers were imprecise yet somehow perfect: sugar bean curry, moong dal, gram dal, broad bean curry, and mixed veg curry. This was a culinary tour de force.

Would it all work together?

It certainly smelled outstanding. Dan began to pant. I think I saw tears.

The man of the house came out from the back and witnessed our excitement. (He smiled. There’s nothing like the beauty of subtle, restrained pride.) As we photographed our tower of bunny chow from every angle, he added a finishing touch: a little bread “hat” and a topper of dal gravy for dramatic effect.

Painfully beautiful at $1.50.

We’re embarrassed to say that we didn’t stop with bunny chow. We ordered a bowl of pumpkin curry, dal and two fresh rotis. Then I insisted on a plate of pani puri, the Indian chaat food combination of sweet (tamarind sauce) with savoury (spicy cilantro, chili and black salt sauce) I adore.

Although the pani puri and roti and masalas were all good, the five-layer bunny chow was something transcendent. It stole the show and qualified as the best Indian food we’d eaten in years, at least as far back as our last visit to the subcontinent in 2008.

Human Connection, Ultimate Beauty
As we waddled up to the counter in our fullness to settle our bill, the owner asked us what we were doing in Durban. We explained, and he decided it was his duty to show where and how to truly enjoy his city.

He disappeared for a moment, and proceeded to rifle through every piece of paper in his desk drawers and cabinet. We waited, unaware of what was going on. Finally, his wife pulled a paper from her purse and the man’s smile grew big.

The magic paper: a discount coupon for the aquarium. He went over everything on the paper, from what we would see there to how much the coupon saved us. The likelihood that we would have time to actually use the coupon was slim to none, but at the foot of kindness, you graciously accept what’s given you. Good will, whatever the circumstances, ought to be preserved.

We took it, thanked him and his family profusely, and paid. The grand total for our Indian feast gorge? Roughly $5.00.

Even though things don’t always work out as we’ve planned, they do work out somehow as they were meant to be, and even in our favor.

These are the times that you want to throw your arms around the world.

We walked out. Then walked back in, asked to take a photo – if only to remember the moment, because the moment itself was enough to carry us away.

Practical Details for Little Gujarat Vegetarian Restaurant:
Address: 107 Prince Edward Street (or 106 Dr. Goonam Street), just a few blocks from Victoria Street Market.

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Disclosure: This campaign is brought to you by the South Africa Tourism Board and is supported and managed by iambassador. As always, the opinions expressed here — including our love for this bunny chow — are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 17 comments

I have a confession to make. I was afraid of haggis, almost deathly so. You could say I harbored an irrational fear of the stuff. Yes, haggis.

And yes, me. The guy who’s eaten a lot of sh*t and then some. The guy who’s eaten bugs, balls and innards, tongues, goat jaw bones, and all manner of bits and bobs. And that’s the stuff I was aware of. I’m sure I’ve unknowingly eaten cat and dog and maybe even someone’s pet hamster.

But I gotta be honest: before my recent visit to Scotland, the thought of haggis kinda’ freaked me out. Culinary fear of the ground unknown.

I’d had bad dreams — bad dreams about haggis. Haggis was a mystery. I was so afraid of it that I couldn’t even bear looking up to see what it actually was.

(By the way, the official definition of haggis, if you’re wondering: a traditional pudding made of the heart, liver, etc., of a sheep or calf, minced with suet and oatmeal,seasoned, and boiled in the stomach of the animal.)

And all of this made me feel a wee sheepish.

My History with Haggis

Maybe it’s the word. Haggis. It just doesn’t sound right, does it? Haggis. It’s onomatopoetic, like something hanging down, dripping, dragging. Haggis. Like a post-disembowlment draping of innards on a clothesline. I look at the word and it does weird things to me. Haggis. It makes my skin creep, it gives me the willies. Before I got to know haggis, I always — perhaps unfairly — associated it with this photo (be sure to read the caption).

Then there’s the silly film So I Married an Axe Murderer. “Harriet, Harr-i-et, hard-hearted harbinger of haggis,” Mike Myers’ character Charlie MacKenzie would crow during his stand-up routine.

Haggis, you know there’s a problem with you when you have harbingers.

How Then, The Haggis?

Then I visited Scotland. There in Edinburgh, I was introduced to deep-fried haggis logs. Deep fried haggis logs!?!? Why not serve deep-fried antichrist? Actually deep fried logs of just about anything ought to frighten us, but these particular digestive hijackings looked like something we men could never in a million years imagine happening to us.

Yes, that. You know what I mean. And if you don’t, may I introduce you to Lorena Bobbit. Yes, that. Haggis.

There’s a popular rendition of haggis called Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. Basically a poo-shaped pile of haggis sided with piles of mashed turnips (the neeps) and mashed potatoes (the tatties). Haggis, neeps and tatties. The sound of that dish, at once childlike and pornographic. I pull the blanket up over my head. Haggis.

Holy poop, it’s haggis!

I was so stricken with fear that I sought to shield myself. If I were to lose my haggis virginity, perhaps there was a preferred method. I would set off to find it, to seek the haggis with which I might make peace.

I asked our first taxi driver in Edinburgh where to eat it. “You could buy haggis at the butcher, but it wouldn’t taste like much,” he framed his recommendation. “It’s about where you get it and how you prepare it. It’s not going to taste interesting to you…”

Sounded fair and balanced, like a good FOX News episode. Innocuous enough. (I kid)

“Hmmm,” I said.

That’s when he suggested, “You can get it with a whisky sauce.”

Now you’ve got my attention.

Later, a friend recommended a restaurant that served something she called a “Haggis Tower.” Haggis Tower? Sounds like an office building crying out for its own demolition. A tower of innards, probably pulsing. The Leaning Tower of Haggis. Why on Earth would anyone want a god-forsaken pile of such a thing. Haggis.

Eventually, after multiple consultations with taxi drivers, tour guides and five-star hotel concierges, Audrey and I opted for the Bard’s Haggis at 1780 pub, a mini mountain of the stuff on a pile of mashed potatoes, all drizzled in whisky sauce. I hesitated for a moment, dark bits staring back at me. Then I ate it.

It wasn’t that bad.

Honestly, it was pretty good. Actually, Audrey and I scarfed it, devoured it like it was our last meal. (I’m certain there was a drug in it.) Or perhaps the truth: just about anything tastes good with whisky cream sauce, and even better when you wash it down with a pint of freshly-pulled Scottish Ale.

In some parallel universe, haggis is probably even good for you — if you are a shepherd who regularly runs marathons with your sheep in the face of fierce winds blowing across the Scottish highlands.

But enough, I said. There’s a lesson in all this haggis. I thought long on it all, and I came to this: It’s easy to be hard on haggis. Haggis takes it on the chin. Haggis is the red-headed stepchild of ground offal. But all that notwithstanding, haggis is really not that bad. Most of all, you’ll never really know for yourself until you try it.

I registered another life lesson on fear, this time from haggis.

Haggis. Sounds like hell, looks like purgatory, and depending on how its cooked, it can taste like Heaven.

Daniel Noll plans a forthcoming novel about the around-the-world travels with his wife entitled “What Haggis Taught Me”

An Ode to Haggis
Finally, I promised to you, in the title, an ode. I’m not sure if you’ve heard that song about Alice. We once saw a rather terrible rendition on a ferry from Stockholm to Estonia many years ago; since then, I’ve never been able to fully purge the tune from my head. (But I digress). Anyway, I decided to rework the song a bit and came up with this. Perhaps you’ll want to listen to the original song to get an idea of the tune.

Eating Lotsa Haggis

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Disclosure: Our trip to Scotland and the Blogmanay campaign are brought to you by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and is sponsored by VisitScotland, ETAG, Edinburgh Festivals, Haggis Adventures and Skyscanner. The campaign bloggers were sourced and managed by iambassador. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 21 comments

Japan, where the dining experience is not only about the actual food consumed, but also the presentation, the design, the sheer beauty of what you’re eating. Japanese cuisine, where the food canvas employs color, where form truly follows function.

From the traditional to the modern, from the quick to the drawn-out, and from the haute to the street — with a few unusual (and necessary) ideas for limited budgets to help your yen go a bit further — this is our take on Japanese food.

Japanese Cuisine: A Taste of Ritual

In traditional Japanese cuisine, as in Japanese life, there are rules. Food rules. Meals are divided into bowls and dishes, which are then further subdivided, all in an effort to separate flavors so that they might not touch each other.

This is precision on a plate.

In Japan, aesthetic is critical, from the many porcelain plates and bowls from which you might take one meal, to the landscape of the tray upon which it is all served. There’s logic, there’s purpose in every facet of the dining experience, in each item in the meal. By design for design. Contrast this with other East Asian cuisines where large pots are shared from the middle of the table.

Japanese food is careful, that is, full of care. (We’re certain we horrified our share of hosts by sharing with each other tastes from our respective meals.)

Rice: As in other Asian cuisine, rice is the guiding force, a requisite. In fact, the Japanese word for rice, gohan, is also the word for meal. In other words, you can’t have one without the other. Or perhaps in Japan, one is the other.

Pickled vegetables: The Japanese seem to be able to pickle just about anything and everything that grows. And they make it all taste good. Japanese picked vegetables (tsukemono) are to be eaten on their own or in condiment fashion. Beware: portion sizes are usually inversely related to the strength of the pickle.

Their artistic arc begins with their shapes and colors accenting serving plates and bowls and ends curled astride one of your courses in complement. Perhaps best of all — and we are running on intuition here — pickled vegetables serve a function to the body in better absorbing or processing the food they are served with, balancing all the protein and rice, cleansing the palate between bites.

Japanese pickled vegetables. Small, but they pack a punch.

Soup: Often a miso soup, but you may also be served another lighter broth or clear soup.

Meat/Fish: Japan is an island, so it’s not surprising that fish is abundant and the go-to source of protein. Raw is the chosen method of preparation, but in multi-course meals you’ll find an occasional piece of steamed fish topped with a light sauce.

However, a perfectly marbled beef such as Kobe beef (or the new king, Hida beef) will be served beautifully raw with the expectation that you’ll cook it to taste on your own individual tabletop hibachi grill.

Take a look at this traditional meal at a restaurant in Takayama specializing in Hida beef. Can you find all the components?

Japanese Breakfast

You’ll find the same deliberate practice in a traditional Japanese breakfast as well. Your tray will contain many small plates, each with a different flavor and purpose. They all come together to provide a substantial – and protein rich – start to the day.

A Japanese breakfast landscape.

Where to find a Japanese breakfast: The best place to try a traditional Japanese breakfast is to stay in a ryokan (Japanese inn). Our two favorite ryokans for breakfast: Oyado Iguchi in Takayama and Tagaoogi in Kawaguchiko near Mount Fuji. Our favorite breakfast treat in all of Japan: hōba miso, grilled miso paste served atop fish on a dried magnolia leaf.

Bowing to the Alter of Raw Fish: Sushi and Sashimi

To get to the heart of raw fish, sushi and sashimi heaven, be sure to make a trip to Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.

Smiles and sashimi for breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.

Many of you are probably familiar with the different styles of sushi – nigiri (slice of raw fish on top of rice), maki (rolls) and sashimi (slices of raw fish, no rice). We also became fans of sashimi don – a bowl of sushi rice covered in slabs of freshly cut sashimi.

After learning how Tokyo manages tons of fresh seafood each day, grab a sushi or sashimi don breakfast of champions at one of the tiny sushi restaurants in the market.

Tuna sashimi on top of a bowl of rice (don).

Our favorite sashimi dons: We did not have time to wait in line for three hours at Sushi Dai (Daisha) but we did enjoy a great sashimi don at a small place a few doors down called BenTomi Sushi in Building #6.

Mixed sashimi don, breakfast of choice in Tokyo.

Conveyor Belt Sushi
Sushi purists may snub their nose at conveyor belt sushi or sushi trains, restaurants with moving belts of sushi plates where you serve yourself and pay at the end based on your pile of empty plates. However, we found that in Japan the quality of fish in these establishments could be exceptional, especially when you consider the price.

Sushi go-round.

Instead of being held prisoner by what was goes around the conveyor belt, you also have a choice of ordering sushi directly from the chef for the same price. Once we figured out this trick by watching locals in their routine, we rarely picked anything off the conveyor belt and ate exclusively from custom orders.

Often, we would be stuffed to the gills with sushi goodness for around $25-$30 for the two of us. In Japan terms, that’s considered a steal. And a win.

Favorite Conveyor Belt Sushi: Tototoriton Sushi Go-Round near Shinjuku station (south exit), Tokyo. Not only were most plates 130 Yen (under $2), but the custom order menu was 40+ options deep with sushi and sashimi options.

Blowfish Sashimi
Blowfish (fugu) is delicious, but it’s one of those delicacies that can kill you if it’s not properly prepared. Do your research to find a trusted fugu den (i.e., a restaurant that focuses only on fugu). We opted for a sashimi plate and found the fugu to be subtle flavor, slightly sweet, a tad numbing, with the consistency of very tender squid.

Thinly sliced tender fugu sashimi.

For even more fugu fun, be sure to get a glass of fugu sake – hot sake with fugu fins set on fire and infused into the brew. Fugu sake: intense, tasty, and also very fun to say ten times fast.

Where to find fugu sashimi: Osaka, they’ll even let you hold the fugu afterwards. Just beware that the fish might begin to blow up in your hands.

Kaiseki Dinner: Traditional Japanese Cuisine at its Best

We often sing the praises of cheap eating as we travel, but we are making an exception here for a traditional kaiseki meal. If you plan to splurge somewhere in Japan, consider doing it for this. Our kaiseki meal at a ryokan near Mount Fuji was one of the most memorable and unique meals of our lives.

Kaiseki is a multi-course (6-15 courses) traditional dinner, served in the manner of samurai (we’re not kidding). But it is more than just a meal, it’s an entire cultural experience. Each course is tiny, but delicately prepared and served in bowls and dishes that are well-suited to the food. And no two dishes will be the same; everything has a purpose. The presentation and service is an unforgettable experience, sheer joy.

The start of our kaiseki dinner, the first of many dishes.

The courses of a kaiseki meal will change based on the seasons and what is fresh, but they’ll often represent all the different styles of cooking – raw, boiled, grilled, and steamed. The experience will pull influence from the mountains to the sea. There’s a pace that ensures that the meal moves along, but it’s slow enough as to enable the full appreciation of presentation, design, and flavor.

Recommended Kaiseki Dinner: Tagaoogi Ryokan at Kawaguchiko near Mount Fuji. Just amazing, from the quality of the food to the presentation and service.

Japanese Cheap Eats

It is true that the words cheap and Japan don’t often go together, but there are thankfully a few tasty, healthy Japanese options that are easier on the wallet.

Okonomiyaki
A friend living in Japan told us the style of okonomiyaki is a reflection of the city where it is served. Some places are more orderly with straight streets, others are messy with curved roads. You can find this personality in the local okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki, roughly, is a savory pancake stuffed with sliced vegetables, seafood and other bits. Although its roots go back centuries, its popularity dates from the days of U.S. troops and post-WWII deliveries to Japan of wheat flour (used in the pancake batter). Usually, okonomiyaki is cooked on a big griddle or at your table in a cook-your-own style. Top with hanakatsuo — dried, fermented, and outrageously thin bacony looking smoked bonito (skipjack tuna) flakes that curl like mad when you place them atop hot food.

Hiroshima okonomiyaki in the making.

Trust us, it tastes much better than the description makes it sound. It’s usually an inexpensive meal as well, especially if two people can share one portion.

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki: This was the first okonomiyki we enjoyed, and it was massive. Noodles (choice of soba or udon), grated vegetables and seafood are served on top of a thin fried pancake. Usually it is topped with a sweet Worcestershire style sauce and topped with mayonnaise.

Where to get Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki: Just near the Hiroshima train station is the main street Johoku Dori. If you walk past the Post Office you’ll find this place on the right side in a brick building. All locals, lots of fun.

Osaka-style Okonomiyaki: In contrast to Hiroshima’s signature okonomiyaki, Osaka okonomiyaki does not include any noodles, its veggies are more finely chopped, and the whole package is more tidy.

Where to get Osaka-style okonomiyaki: There are lots of places along Dōtonbori Street in Osaka that specialize in okonomiyaki. If you ask nicely, they’ll even draw Hello Kitty on top in mayonnaise.

Tokyo style, okonomiyaki: Officially known as monjayaki, all the ingredients are blended into the batter so that it is all cooked together, almost like a pancake-omelette. Our server came to the rescue when he realized we had no idea what we were doing on our grill and piled the cut cabbage and other goodies on the outside and while much of the liquid batter cooked on the inside. Then you mash the whole thing together with little metal scrapters. Rather messy, not very orderly, but really satisfying.

Where to get monjayaki in Tokyo: Just at the main crossing at Shibuya station in Tokyo, look up to find this sign across the street and left from the metro. You’ll have your choice of monjayaki or okonomiyaki that you cook yourself at your table. Lots of fun, terrifically social and inexpensive.

Takoyaki
Takoyaki, you say? Hot octopus and herbed dough balls. All part of the experience: watching takoyaki masters quickly turn their takoyaki balls in something that looks like a cupcake pan with long toothpicks to that they are cooked evenly on all sides. Takoyaki is often topped with a sweet sauce, oregano, and ample helpings of hanakatsuo.

Takoyaki from the streets of Osaka.

Where to get takoyaki:

• Nishiki Market, Kyoto: There’s a bustling stand in the covered indoor market serving up piping hot takoyaki for a great price. Fun atmosphere with lots of students hanging around.
• Dōtonbori Street, Osaka: Several vendors sell takoyaki fresh from the grill along this busy street.

Izakaya restaurants
Izakaya are technically known as drinking restaurants, but there’s usually a large menu of dumplings, salads, fried chicken and other snack bits to nosh as you drink your beer. Izakaya sometimes even offer karaoke so you can sing off all the calories. If you look around, you can find some good deals at Izakaya restaurants with dishes that run $3-$5.

Japanese Curry
Although we’ve heard that Japanese curry originated with the British, it’s nothing at all like a British or Indian curry. The best way to describe Japanese curry sauce: brown. It’s a smooth sweet and savory gravy. Although not on par with Indian or other curries, it can be a nice food break from typical Japanese fare, and it’s usually pretty inexpensive.

Mixed seafood Japanese curry from Coco Ichibanya.

Where to get Japanese curry: Most major cities feature inexpensive curry restaurants. We tried Coco Ichibanya in Kyoto and enjoyed a large plate of mixed seafood curry for about $10.

Japanese Soups
There are quite a few restaurants specializing in soups. Often you can choose your noodle (thick udon or the thinner soba), style of broth and the meat or vegetable inside.

Where to get Japanese soups: Although a chain restaurant, Tenkaippin (or Tenka Ippin) serves a formidable bowl. Ippudo is another popular and apparently reliable soup chain.

Ootaya Restaurant
Ootoya is actually a chain restaurant, but one that features high quality food at very reasonable prices (e.g., around $8-10). A great option when you want a hearty, good-looking meal without breaking the bank. You can find Ootaya restaurants all around Tokyo, especially in and around the business disticts. We went to the one in the Subaru building in Shinjuku.

Regional and other Favorite Japanese Eats

Conger Eel, Miyajima
Much of the eel that you’ll find in Japan is unagi, meaning freshwater eel. But in the Miyajima and Hiroshima area, the eel of choice is anago, or saltwater eel. It’s grilled slightly and then topped with a sweet sauce. We ate our anago as a rice bowl (don) just near the train station in Miyajimaguchi. Standard price is around $25-$30 per bowl.

Anago meshi on top of a bowl of rice.

Grilled Oysters — Miyajima
You would think that with all the raw food Japanese eat they’d throw oysters into the raw eating basket. But they don’t, at least during certain times of the year when water temperatures are too high. So during the time of our visit in May, oyster vendors on Miyajima island grilled their oysters. While the oysters were not petite, they were tasty and rich, massive guys, a perfect complement to a good dry sake.

Grilling oysters is a hot business on Miyajima.

Tempura
Tempura always struck us as an odd Japanese food — it is fried, whereas most Japanese food is light on oil. Dig into the history of tempura and you’ll find out why: thank the Portugese influence for tempura in Japan.

While tempura is often done badly – meaning overly fried or not using fresh oils – there is a beauty to it when done well. The exterior of excellent tempura is just slightly crunchy, protecting the tenderly cooked interior. And there’s no better way to appreciate the skill behind perfectly prepared tempura than by eating at a bar where you can watch tempura masters at work.

Serving up freshly fried tempura at Tsunahachi in Tokyo.

Where to eat tempura in Tokyo: We went for the lunch menu at Tsunahachi Restaurant in Shinjuku ($15-$30). The cheapest lunch menu available, while missing some of the special seafood bits, is an excellent value. Their tempura is exceptionally high quality. We also enjoyed sitting at the bar watching the chefs do their magic. This restaurant will give you eating and dipping instructions in English to be sure you eat everything correctly. Helpful, cute and delightfully Japanese.

Hida Beef
Many people have heard of Kobe beef, but few have heard of Hida beef. This is the new top beef in Japan according to the latest food competitions. The meat is marbled with fat, making it melt in your mouth when you grill it. Not inexpensive at $25-$30 for a set meal, but worth trying. Since the town of Hida is just north, Takayama is full of restaurants specializing in Hida beef.

Chunks of marbled Hida beef ready to go on the grill.

Drinks and Desserts

We had no idea that Japanese people had such a sweet tooth, but if you look around the basement food floor of any department store you will be amazed by the array and selection of sweets. Many are made with rice flour doughs and bean paste or other bits of regional fillings. The sweets that take the cake (and we almost made ourselves sick on all the free samples in Kyoto) were the Yatsuhashi sweets — rice flour dough pillows tucked with various sweet fillings.

Yatsuhashi sweets with bean paste filling in Kyoto

Sake: Made from fermented rice, sake is a traditional Japanese alcohol that pairs nicely with sushi, grilled oysters and other bits of traditional Japanese fare. Obviously, not all sake is created equal, so if your first experience is not great, don’t dispair. To get a sense of the range of sake available, taste and sample as much sake as you can. If you find yourself in Takayama, be sure to take part in free sake tasting in the old town near Sanmachi (or Kamisannomachi). Look for the sugidama (large cedar balls) hanging outside, indicating that sake is brewed and served inside. The best tastings include an array of sake, and also indicate which sake is best served cold or warm.

Free sake tasting in Takayama. Dangerous in the middle of the afternoon…

Green tea: We had never really been big fans of green tea prior to visiting Japan. Much of what is passed off as green tea in the West, can be less than noteworthy, especially in the bottled iced tea arena where tastes border on the syrupy and tea-free.

In Japan, however green tea is everywhere, and it is often exceptionally good. There is a smooth, smoky flavor that is to be appreciated without any sugar or additives. Take the opportunity to attend a Japanese tea ceremony and you’ll appreciate the culture behind tea drinking even more.

Water preparation in a Japanese tea ceremony, Kyoto.

A note for coffee drinkers: Knowing that Japan is mainly a tea-drinking society, we were surprised by the prevalence of coffee shops and espresso machines. Getting your coffee fix is possible, however, but it is not cheap (i.e., $4-7 at a Starbucks or similar type of café).

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By no means is this an extensive Japanese food guide, but it should help you navigate the Japanese food landscape and offer a few options for budget eating in Japan.

Japan: eat it, live it, enjoy it — and share with us your favorite features and dishes in Japanese cuisine.

いただきます Itadakimasu!

Environmental note – BYOC (Bring Your Own Chopsticks): Most restaurants in Japan will provide you with disposable wooden chopsticks. Consider bringing a pair of your own portable / foldable chopsticks or just regular chopsticks for your Japan travels to avoid all that wooden chopstick waste.

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Disclosure: Our Discover Japan tour was provided by G Adventures in cooperation with its Wanderers in Residence program. Some, but not all, eating expenses, were covered. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 34 comments

Take yesterday, perfect example. We’re in Berlin, it’s sunny and we’re in the mood for lunch fresh and cheap. We take a stroll down the street to Turkish pizza corner and in minutes are noshing on hot Turkish pizzas tucked with salad and topped with sumac and crushed red pepper. The cost of maintaining this love affair: €1.50 ($1.85) per pizza.

This got us to thinking: what other memorable meals from around the world run under the $2.00 mark? Maybe you’re thinking, “Only a handful, at most.” Not quite. Curating this list turned out to be trickier than expected.

Now let’s a take a walk down our $2.00 culinary memory lane. In no particular order:

1. Thai seafood curry: Bangkok, Thailand

“Red curry chock full of squid and shrimp for $1.00…you’re lying!” Nope, check the streets of Bangkok, Thailand. Sure, the price may go up and down a bit depending on the weakness of the dollar, but we still have a ways to go before it tops $2.00. Cost: 30-60 BHT/$1 – $2
More reading: Bangkok 15 Course Street Meal and For the Love of Thai Food

2. 10 Tacos: San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico

Have you ever asked for the bill and thought maybe you’d misheard, maybe a zero was missing? The taco stand just outside of Santo Domingo Church in San Cristobal de las Casas featured this pleasant misunderstanding. The meat was good (as in no mystery bits), the spice combination was right on, and even the hot sauces were freshly made and excellent. And the price? 2 pesos or $0.16 a taco. True, they are a bit on the small side, but south of $2 will get you your fill.Cost: 2 pesos/$0.16 per meat taco, hot sauce=free

3. Chapati and curries: Mandalay, Burma/Myanmar

On the corner of 82nd and 27th Streets in Mandalay, Myanmar you’ll find a chapati and curry factory in action as evening comes around. Hordes of people gather around to eat Myanmar-style Indian goodness – stacks of chapati flatbread and lentil, vegetable and lamb curries. Cost: $1 for two curries and four chapatis.
More reading: No More Bats and Bicycle Chickens: The Better Side of Burmese Cuisine

4. Mysore Masala Dosa: Kollam (Kerala, India)

Just about everything we’d eaten in India fell into the under $2 range so it’s difficult to choose just one entry for this list. But we must, so we will. And our choice: the amazing dosa.

We quickly became dosa fanatics while traveling southern India. Dosas (dosai) became our breakfast of choice, our comfort food. But perhaps the best dosa ever on all of our travels in India came from a little hole-in-the-wall place in the town of Kollum in the Indian state of Kerala. There, dosa transcendence. Maybe it was the spice blend (the masala) mixed with potato, maybe it was the sambar and coconut chutneys. Any way you grab it and tuck it (all eaten with the hands), it still makes our mouths water. Seek it out at Sree Suprabatham Restaurant in Kollam, India. Cost: 40 rupees/$1
More reading: South Indian Food: A Few Favorites

5. Chinese Dumplings: Kaili (Guizhou Province, China)

After taking an overnight train that deposited us at the Kaili train station at 5:30 AM, we were exhausted and starving. Gathering our bearings, we found a mother and daughter team making dumplings (jiaozi) by hand at a tiny shop about the width of a doorway. We popped in and ordered a tray of perfectly steamed minced meat and herb-stuffed dumplings. Then we ordered a plate of fried dumplings. And we returned every day for the next few days to try everything in the house. These dumplings were easily among the the best we eaten in all of China, if not the best — and we ate a lot of dumplings.Cost: $0.80 for a tray of 8 steamed or fried dumplings
More reading: Top 10 Chinese Dumplings and Chinese Food Series (6 parts)

6. Khachapuri: Tbilisi (Georgia)

Still shocked looks when we call out Georgian food as one of our favorite cuisines. Some of Georgian cuisine’s signature dishes define comfort food, and among our favorites in the Georgian snack arsenal, khachapuri – a bread stuffed with tangy Georgian cheese that just oozes out with taste and tang.Cost: $0.80-$2, depending upon the size.
More reading: Georgian Food Round Up

7. Empanadas: Salta Region, Argentina

In much of South America, empanadas are the go-to, especially when traveling on-the-go and on the cheap in Argentina. But the empanadas in Argentina’s Salta region take the whole stuffed dough pocket thing to a whole new level. In these parts, there was something about the slightly flaky dough that was notches above repurposed pizza crust you might get elsewhere in Argentina. Perhaps most importantly, folks in Salta actually enjoy spice, so hot sauces were plentiful everywhere we went. One of our favorite places: La Casa de las Empanadas in Cafayate. They over a dozen varieties of empanada in and watch the women in the back roll the dough fresh for over a dozen varieties.Cost: 3 pesos/$0.60 per empanada
More reading: Argentine Food: Steak, Empanadas, Pizza, Pasta, Repeat and Wine Tasting in Cafayate, Argentina

8. Street pho: Hanoi, Vietnam

Who would have thought that sitting on tiny kingergarten-sized plastic stools slurping pho bo, Vietnamese beef soup, in Vietnamese winter could be so satisfying? We do. Fresh herbs thrown on top of steaming long-cooked broth create a steam bath of savory goodness. It’s all culinary balance, from the savory beef broth to the sweets of star anise and Asian basil.Cost: $1 – $1.50
More reading: A Taste of Hanoi

9. Plov, Taskhent (Uzbekistan)

In Central Asia, food is not a strong point, but we did grow to love plov — rice mixed with vegetables, meat and spices. Of all the plov we sampled, Uzbekistan featured the best in the region. Our favorite came from Flamingo, a simple little restaurant in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. Their plov featured carrots, peppers, raisins, chick peas, and spices all long-simmered together with rice and beef/lamb. Cost: $1/plate
More reading: Central Asian Food: The Good, The Bad, The Inedible and Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets

10. Turkish Pizza (lahmacun), Berlin (Germany)

Let’s close with the inspiration for this post, not least of all because we found it in Europe, a continent not often thought of as the home of low cost, high quality eating. We take almost every visitor who comes to Berlin to Tadim at Kottbusser Tor because it really does serve an almost perfect Turkish Pizza (lahmacun) – freshly rolled out flat bread dough covered with a thin layer of herbed and lightly spiced minced meat gets cooked in the oven just so. The resulting dough is topped with freshly cut lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and parsley, then rolled and tucked. Cost: €1.50/$1.85 (if you want sauces, price goes up to €1.70/$2.10)
More reading: Cheap Berlin Eats Under €5 and Berlin Food: Favorite Neighborhood Meals Under €10

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“OK, I’m hungry,” you’re thinking. “But so what?”

The so what is this. The key to tasty meals, human connections and rich experiences: don’t be shy, be curious, have a nose for the fresh, be guided by the local. And whatever you do, don’t break the bank.

The cover your culinary ass caveat: Prices are accurate at the time of consumption. Happy eating!

What have been some of your most memorable meals in the under $2 category?

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 35 comments

In the first of our Berlin cheap eats installments, most of our recommendations were under €5 and located in Kreuzberg, where we happened to be living at the time. During our last visit we stayed in Neukölln, but several times a week we cycled across the city, hither and yon, lunch-seeking in the €5-€10 range. This is the result of our food quest. You’ll find some of the usual suspects and a suggestion or two a little off-path. A big thanks to all of our Berlin peeps — you know who you are — for the tips.

Let’s dig in!

Azzam

This Lebanese-Syrian hole-in-the-wall became a favorite eating spot of ours in Berlin. Some of the highest quality food for the money in the city. Two people can easily stuff themselves with delicious treats for under €5. Our suggestions include: Manakeesh flatbread (€1) covered in za’atar (a spice blend including thyme and sesame seeds) or cheese with a subtle fragrance of nutmeg; Musabaha (a warm whole chickpea dip) or hummus for €3.50, falafel plate (€3.50), fatteh at €4.50. Everything comes with a boat of fresh vegetables, olives, and herbs plus a bag of pita bread.
Details: Azzam, Sonnenallee 54 (Neukölln)

Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebab

You’ll know you’re close when you spot the long line snaking down the street. Not your typical kebab – a spindle of chicken and roasted vegetables is carved up and served with a fabulous mélange of potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, cheese and sauce. If you’re vegetarian, you can also go for the pure veg option. We usually opted for the durum doner (with chicken) for €3.90 which more than fed the two of us.
Details: Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebab, Mehringdamm 32 (Kreuzberg)

Wok Show

When a Chinese friend (thanks, Yuhang!) recommends a Chinese dumpling place, we take note. When we arrived at Wok Show for a late lunch, mother and daughter were stuffing and folding away. Select from about a dozen dumpling varieties. An order of 20 homemade and fabulously fresh dumplings costs €4.50-€6.50. Temporarily transported us to China and our favorite dumpling experiences there.
Details: Wok Show, Greifenhagener Straße 31 (Prenzlauer Berg)

W Imbiss

Compliments to Henrik of Berlin food rally fame for introducing us to this eatery. This became another favorite spot for its “naan pizzas” — crispy naan crusts topped with vegetarian freshness including combinations of artichokes, guacamole, rucola, sundried tomatoes, and creamed forest mushrooms (€6 and up, big enough to feed two). For a little off-pizza variety, check out the hearty black bean quesadilla (€5).
Details: W Imbiss, Kastanienallee 49 (Mitte)

Heno Heno

Authentic Japanese food in this tiny Charlottenberg eatery. Bowls of udon soup and gyūdon (beef bowl with rice) for around €5. Happy stomach, Heno Heno.
Details: Heno Heno, Kantstraße 65 (Charlottenberg)

Toros

This friendly family-run Turkish food stand on the corner of the park at Oranienplatz specializes in tantuni, an Anatolian-style slow-cooked spiced beef. The durum and bread (which blows the mind after they rub it in the sauce and on the grill) tantuni sandwiches are both delicious and cheap at €2-€3. Don’t go too late at night; once the homemade flatbread (durum) sells out for the day, that’s it.
Details: Toros, Oranienplatz 2 (Kreuzberg)

Dong Xuan Center

For something a little further afield, check out the Vietnamese market district in Lichtenberg and order yourself a bowl of pho, the Vietnamese soup just about everyone these days has learned to love. A standup bowl of pho bo tai (beef noodle) will run about €6. The bowl above is from the restaurant first on the left from the main artery (with outdoor seating) as you enter the complex.
Details: Herzenbergstrasse 128 (Lichtenberg)

Kuchen Kaiser

If you’re in the mood for hearty traditional German food, make your way over to Kreuzberg to this cute German eatery. Prices are more in the €7-€10 range, but portions are large and can often feed two people. Our favorites include the spaetzle covered with bergkäse and bacon, beef gulash and leberkäse. Rumor has it that they do good cakes and strudels, although we’ve never had the room to get there. Try also the Kreuzberger Molle, a pilsner style beer brewed locally. Highly addictive stuff.
Details: Kuchen Kaiser, Oranienplatz 11-13 (Kreuzberg)

In the world of value eating (i.e., the best quality food for your money), it’s hard to beat the lunch menu. Even some high end restaurants will offer quality dishes on a lunch menu for a fraction of the cost of their dinner menu. Here are a few of our favorite Berlin lunch menus for around €5.

Blisse 14

This social enterprise supports people with disabilities and offers up creative and fun two-course lunches for €5 like chicken, mushrooms, peas, cherry tomato and mint over rice with a starter of tandoori-coconut soup. Menus change every week. It’s a bit out of the way in the Wilmersdorf neighborhood, but worth a cycle or metro ride over. Special thanks to Nicole at Visit Berlin for this tip, as we’d never have found this place without it.
Details: Blisse 14, Blissestraße 14 (Wilmersdorf)

Lavanderia Vecchia

An over-the-top cute Italian restaurant decked out in the theme of mama’s laundry. Open kitchen. The daily menu revolves around the whim of the chef and what happens to be fresh. For lunch, the single-course menu runs from €4.50 with a two-course meal setting you back €8. Go early as it fills up quickly. If you want to splurge for a nice dinner, consider Lavenderia Vecchia’s 8-course €39 evening menu.
Details: Lavanderia Vecchia, Flughafenstr. 46 (back courtyard), Neukölln

Vino e Libri

Bring a book, get a book, and enjoy with a glass of wine. We first went here in the evening as part of our Berlin food rally, but noticed the inexpensive lunch menu and decided to return. The lunch menu changes regularly and starts at €5.50 for dishes like the spaghetti with mussels pictured above. Otherwise, the standard menu starts at €10 for pastas (e.g., homemade pumpkin ravioli) and heads up and over €20 for meat and seafood mains.
Details: Vino e Libri, Torstrasse 89, Mitte

Chen Che Teehaus

If you are looking for real Vietnamese food in Berlin, this ought to be one of your first stops. The décor is also fun and beautifully thought out. Lunch menus run €6.50-€8, with taster menus running a bit more. Chen Che also features an extensive tea selection for aficionados.
Details: Chen Che Teehaus, Rosenthaler Str. 13, Mitte

Papà Pane di Sorrento

If you like Napoli style pizza, this place has your number. Particularly when cherry tomatoes are in season, the sauce is spot on. You’ll speak more Italian here than German. Lunch specials run around €6 with specialty pizzas (our favorite is the Papà Pane — thin crust, chunks of buffalo mozzarella, pomodorini, and big basil leaves) for €7-€9. House wine is decently priced at €4 a half liter.
Details: Papà Pane, Ackerstraße 23 (Mitte)

Gasthaus Figl

For thin crust traditional Italian and Tyrolian style pizza with bergkäse (German mountain cheese) and speck, head to Gasthaus Figl. Fun atmosphere, pleasant outdoor garden. A short but decent selection of beers on tap. Go early or make a reservation, as Figl fills up quickly.
Details: Gasthaus Figl, Urbanstrasse 47 (Kreuzberg)

A.Horn

After Kotti at Kottbusser Tor stopped serving breakfast, it was time to find somewhere new. A.Horn is it, our breakfast and brunch favorite near the canal. Bagels are pretty good, as is the coffee. But it’s the mixed plate flush with tasty jams, fruit, cheese and meat that takes the prize. And they serve a decent weissbier — this and the outdoor setting offer the perfect excuse to drink beer for breakfast.
Details: A.Horn, Carl-Herz-Ufer 9 (Kreuzberg)

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Our question to you, dear Berlin food mavens: What did we miss?

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 26 comments

You smell the stink, but you hear the scent!

– Viki, one of our guides on the Greek island of Crete, captures the philosophical essence of Cretan cuisine.

While I appreciate that the traditional Cretan diet is known as being one of the healthiest in the world, every time I look at our food photos from Crete I think back to our experience: “Damn. That was just awesome food.”

Cretan cuisine is one of foundation, not of complicated sauces. Its strength lies in the quality and freshness of its ingredients, the use of wild herbs and greens, and purity of taste. And not to be forgotten, the copious use of olive oil, Crete’s liquid gold.

We’ll touch on the ingredients and philosophy of Cretan food before diving into some of our favorite appetizers and sides, mains, desserts and drinks — and where we consumed them. The goal: so you don’t come to Crete looking only for gyros and souvlaki.

Let’s dig in!

When it comes to Cretan food, you could say it features the three F’s: freshness, fragrance and family.

Wild Herbs and Greens
As we drove from Heraklion, the provincial capital of Crete, civilization quickly yielded to nature. “Pull over here,” Viki implored us as we made our way into the hills. We did.

She hopped out of the car and scampered off the side of the road, and returned a minute later with armfuls of wild sage, oregano, thyme and marjoram. The car filled instantly with fresh and fragrance. It was out of this world.

She also pointed to several plants growing nearby: “You can pick those for wild salads. We have over thirty kinds of wild greens in our mountains.”

The Cretan countryside smells of wild herbs and flowers. Oregano is perhaps the most common herb used, but sage, thyme, parsley, marjoram, basil (different than Italian basil), fennel, and dill also play a prominent role. On Crete, you’ll find them used on salads, in dishes and also in beautiful, cleansing blends of herbal tea.

Cretan Vegetables and Fruits
One woman joked with us: “If you think this tomato is good, you should have tasted one from when I was a kid. Pure gold.”

Maybe so, but we were still impressed by the selection of local produce in the markets. Every time we went to a restaurant we learned that the food came from a nearby farm or village. And it tasted that way, too.

From pomegranates to peppers, Cretan produce is all about the crisp, the fresh, the retained flavor.

Olive Oil
Olive oil is the most important ingredient in Cretan cuisine. Virtually everything has a spoonful (or two or three) of olive oil thrown on top. Some Cretan dishes even swim in the golden liquid, only to their benefit. Savory pastries are fried in olive oil. Try french fries in olive oil and you’ll be spoiled.

Crete features over 1.5 million olive trees. If you are born on Crete, it seems like a birthright that you own at least a few.

To place the importance of olive oil to the Cretan diet in perspective, consider that average olive oil consumption in Germany and the United States runs about 0.5 liters/person annually. In Crete, it’s 25 liters per person per year. The best and healthiest olive oil, natural to Crete, has acidity levels of under 1, with 0.3-0.6 being the ideal.

Crete Eating: Family Style
Before jumping into our favorite eating experiences on Crete, a note on the local style of eating. Family style is the name of the game: everyone shares.

Our guide, Ioanna, chuckled at us before we figured this out. As we served salad to our plates from the community bowl, she observed as a Cretan might, “You are strange. Just use your fork and eat right out of the bowl.”

Agreed. Community eating binds us, and it just might make meals taste that much better.

Dakos: A very typical Cretan dish. Rusks, a traditional dried bread that is baked several times and kept for months, is moistened in a bit of water, and topped with grated tomato, olive oil, cheese and oregano. Crunchy, light and full of flavor, it makes a perfect snack.

Marinated and pickled vegetables: Artichokes, wild onion bulbs, black and green olives are just the beginning of a mountain of marinated appetizer goodies that you’ll find on Crete. If small plate eating is your thing, this is where experience begins.

Fasolakia: Fresh beans cooked with a little crushed tomato and olive oil. The simplicity of this dish belies its taste and reminds us never to judge a book by its cover.

Dolmades: Stuffed grape leaves, usually with a rice, herb and ground meat mixture. This dish is not specific to Crete; it’s popular throughout this side of the Mediterranean.

Crete cheese: There’s certainly no shortage of cheese on Crete. Among the main varieties you’ll find: anthotiros, a sheep and goat cheese that’s mild and soft when it’s fresh and salty and earthy when hard; kefalotiri, a firm sheep or goat cheese, and mizithra, the typical fresh cheese of Crete made from sheep’s milk (and when made from goat’s milk it’s called katsikithia).

Graviera, the typical hard cheese of Crete is usually made with sheep’s milk. Although the name sounds suspiciously like gruyere, graviera is nothing like its Swiss sister namesake. Also delicious when fried and served hot.

The best introduction to Cretan cheese is a walk through the market (preferably with some knowledgeable locals) and sampling visits to a handful of cheese stands. We did our Cretan cheese deep dive at the Atsalenio Wednesday market in Heraklion.

Sarikopitakia: Sheep’s cheese-filled pastries fried in olive oil. Named after the iconic traditional scarf, of the same shape, worn by the men of West Crete. We ate these fresh at the women’s cooperative of Idaia Gi in the mountainous village of Gergeri (on the way to Phaestos).

Greek yogurt: Decadently rich and creamy, this stuff is to die for. The local Cretan yogurt variety is made with sheep’s milk instead of cow’s milk. Top it with honey, nuts, and some fruit for one of the most beautiful (and healthiest) breakfasts on the planet.

Kalitsounia Kritis: A pastry crust stuffed with a slightly sweet Cretan cheese mixture (often including mizithra). Their sweetness implies dessert, but they are also served as appetizers.

Where to eat it: For a vast spread of Cretan appetizers and nibbles, head to Agreco Farm outside Rethymno. Many of the appetizers you see above were devoured there. It’s an organic farm with a nice view of the coast; food is fresh and top notch. Also serves a full Cretan feast for dinner.

Snails with Cracked Wheat (Coclious me hondro): Fresh snails cooked with olive oil, salt, onion and red wine served in a cracked wheat stew. You’ll never look at eating snails in the same way again. Added bonus: you will also earn serious Cretan cred by eating this dish. We’re told many travelers shy away from it. Not only did we enjoy eating it, but we felt honored to have been served it.

Cretan Rice: A rich, filling staple of Cretan weddings. Cretan wedding rice is made by boiling a side of sheep (we’re told older sheep are better for this dish) for hours and hours so that the meat becomes fall-off-the-bone tender. Served with rice cooked in sheep broth. It may sound boring, but the richness and depth of flavor will surprise you.

Artichoke hearts with wild hare: I heart artichokes. So imagine my excitement when we were served a dish overflowing with artichoke hearts stewed with wild hare (or the next door neighbor’s rabbit) and crushed tomatoes. I had to really work hard not to eat myself sick with this dish.

Where we ate it: We enjoyed the main dishes above at Kalliope Kehadiadaki’s Taverna in the village of Apostoloi in the hills just southeast of Rethymno (Tel: 30 28330 61285). Kalliope’s cooking is famous with locals and visitors alike. And, she’s a sweetheart grandmother. There’s no menu; just chat with Kalliope regarding what she has fresh and what you like. Ingredients come from her family farm or from other farms in the village. Very reasonably priced – €10-€15/person for a feast, including her husband’s wine and raki. The journey into the hills to find it is worth it. Special thanks goes to our guide, Ioanna Glypti, for introducing us. We would never have found it without her.

Psitos: Pork (usually) and potatoes slow-cooked in a traditional Cretan wood-burning oven. When the oven is hot enough, the wood coals are removed and trays of pork with potatoes are placed inside. The oven door is then sealed so no liquid or air can get out or in. Cooks for about 3 hours. It may not look like much in the photo below, but it is truly delicious and tender.

Where we ate it: Seli Ambelou, a family run taverna near the Venetian windmills on the way to Lassithi Plateau. This place is full of Cretan families on Sunday out for their weekly meal.

Cretan Seafood: We were surprised to learn that although Crete is an island, people don’t eat seafood as much as they do meat. One reason for this is that overfishing has pushed up the price of seafood. When you do find local seafood, it’s usually cooked lightly in olive oil. Worth a splurge.

Where we ate it: Taverna Spinalonga ARIS in Plaka. A great place to have a long seafood lunch after visiting Spinalonga island.

Candied fruit: Candied fruit may sound boring. But when done right, it can be terrific. In this case, take the sour perfume-fragrant skin of a pergamont (pergamonto, or bergamot orange), candy it in sweet syrup , serve it with fresh yogurt and side it with raki. Never tasted anything quite like it. An inspired finish to a meal.

Loukoumades: Like hand-made donut holes fried in olive oil and topped with honey, cinnamon, and finely ground earthy bits like sesame or nuts. Decadent.

Bugatsa: Pastry filled with cream and/or cheese, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The most famous bugatsa is served at Kipkop in Heraklion, founded in 1922 by Armenian immigrants who serve up the same recipe to this day.

Filo dough: While filo dough isn’t a dessert per se, it’s the foundation of many desserts on Crete, including the ubiquitous baklava. You’ll never look at filo dough again in the same way after visiting George Hadziparshos’ bakery in Rethymno (Address: Verbadov 30). He takes a small ball of dough and in his methodical way stretches it over a burlap covered mattress — without a single tear, bubble or hole. Amazing.

Raki: It’s hard to visit Crete without drinking raki — a couple of times a day. Although raki is made in the same way as Italian grappa – from the remains of grapes (pits/skins) – it is fortunately smoother and less potent. And, it’s almost always served with food like savory little snacks or dessert.

A typical spread to pair with raki at a local Cretan cafe.

When it’s time to make the raki (October-November), Viki explained: “I can hear the smell of alcohol.” Yes, you can literally hear the crackling of the wood and the sound of raki stills piping away. Then you know it’s time to join friends and neighbors to eat, drink and fill up bottles of raki straight from the still.

Cretan Wine
Crete is one of the Greece’s biggest wine producers. Most of the wine that we tried was of the local village homemade variety. While most of it was acceptable table wine, it didn’t strike us as exceptional. However, one of our guides gave us a bottle of her husband’s red wine and we were convinced that Cretan wine could, in fact, be truly excellent.

Herbal Tea
In the middle of the day or at its end, look for herbal teas. Never thought you could make wild oregano tea? You can, and it’s nice. Mix and match herbs, or better yet, let your knowledgeable host do it for you. And stay on the look out for malotera, or mountain tea. A great way to keep your body hydrated and refreshed as you eat your way around the island.

Kalí óreksi!

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If you don’t have a high-speed connection or want to read the captions, you can view the Crete Food photo set.

Disclosure: Our trip to Crete was supported by Visit Greece. Most but not all expenses have been paid for. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own. And we’d like to give a special thanks to our guides from the Crete Guide Association – Viki Vlachaki, Katerina Tsagaraki, Ioanna Glypti, Stavroula Stratigi and Vasso Katsantonis – for their personal introductions to Crete’s cuisine and culture.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 43 comments

Really.

As I assembled photos and descriptions for our recent 2011 travel round-up post, I kept getting distracted. Perhaps unsurprisingly for those who know me, food was the culprit. I was continually drawn back to memories of unforgettable meals from each country — memories not only of the taste, but to the time, the place, the people.

When I considered these experiences, a few instructive themes emerged.

So what were some of those great meals in 2011? And perhaps more importantly, what can we learn from them to take with us into 2012?

Let’s dig in!

Amari Valley, Crete: Go Local

“There’s no menu here. The grandmother just cooks what is fresh on the farm – either recently harvested or recently slaughtered,” our guide offered as we entered a simple mountain village kitchen-cum-restaurant in the Amari Valley on the Greek island of Crete.

Over the course of the next two days, Grandma Kaliope (pictured above) took us on a tour of Cretan mountain cuisine: snails in crushed tomato and garlic sauce, rabbit with artichoke hearts, sheep-stewed Cretan rice, sweet potato fritters and a constellation of small plates too vast to enumerate. Grandma knew how to combine fresh ingredients just so – each played a role, everything had its place.

Cretan snails. Eat them and you’ll get Cretan mountain cred.

Lesson learned: Simplicity and freshness are a powerful combination. You can taste each ingredient to its fullest flavor. What is needed for the dish is there; nothing extraneous needed. An apt lesson for looking at life ingredients.

Istanbul, Turkey: Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover

Çiğ köfte is raw meat (beef or lamb) mixed with bulgur, tomato and pepper pastes, herbs and spices. Our first taste of it was in Berlin, where it was hand-pressed into something that can best be described as turd-like, then tucked into a lettuce leaf. But it wasn’t until we arrived in the Tophane neighborhood of Istanbul this fall that our love affair with this Turkish snack food really began. It may not look like much when you first see it as a large mound, it may look even less appetizing when it’s spread across durum flatbread, and even less delightful still when hand-pressed into a brown plug. But if it’s done well, it can taste of amazing.

Çiğ köfte smeared onto durumflatbread with greens in waiting. Dazzling.

Lesson learned: Just because something looks like sh*t doesn’t mean it tastes like it. At life’s door, consider leaving the pre-conceived notions.

Tanzania: Manage Your Expectations, Find Pleasant Surprises

When we planned our trip to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and to go on safari, we didn’t expect the food to be a trip highlight. And for the most part, it was not. But one meal in particular stood out as exceptional — a veritable Tanzanian lunchtime feast served in Mto wa Mbu near Lake Manyara.

The flavors of our Tanzanian feast seemed to match the locally available vegetables and meat just nicely. Indian-influenced banana curry and pilau worked well with beef stew, spinach and the local Tanzanian-style polenta called ugali.

Tanzanian lunch, from start to finish.

Lesson: Manage your expectations, and your delight and disappointment just might find better balance.

Koh Samui, Thailand: Keep Digging, Experimenting

Thai food continues to be one of our all time favorite world cuisines. And we have a list of familiar dishes we just adore. But when we stayed on the island of Koh Samui at the beginning of last year, a friend pushed us to order something random with each new food outing. And with that push, we discovered even greater dimensions of Thai food deliciousness.

Our new favorite? Pla goong – a raw shrimp salad cooked with the heat of lime juice and tossed with lemongrass slices, kaffir lime leaves, and chili peppers. Like a New Year’s Eve party in your mouth. Terrifically fresh.

Lesson: So even if you have favorites, take a risk. Try something different. Pepper your selections with something new, something fresh. This approach can keep you on your toes and remind you that new favorites can only be discovered when you stray from your routine.

Azraq, Jordan: You Don’t Need to Be Fancy to Be Good

After our travels through Jordan, one of our friends at the Jordan Tourism Board asked us about our favorite meal in the country. We’d eaten in so many terrific restaurants and 5-star hotels in Jordan, but I offered a shocking response: a family meal at a home on the edge of the desert in the town of Azraq. Not only was the quality of the food top notch and the dishes unique, but the experience of eating in a Jordanian home firmly seated the experience in my permanent memory.

Click on the photo for an interactive image with all the names and descriptions of dishes.

Lesson: It doesn’t have to be fancy to be good. Family style, small plate eating: especially when you are attempting to get to know a cuisine, this is where it’s at.

Bangladesh: What Tools Do You Really Need?

Not only did the Bangladeshi food served to us during our village homestay turn out to be the best in the whole country, but I was humbled by how our host mother was able to churn out such vast quantities of quality food from a simple wood-fired kitchen dug into the mud. She also did absolutely everything by hand.

Imagine what this woman could do with a Viking stove.

Lesson: You don’t need a fancy kitchen to cook kick ass food. A simple pot or pan, a fire, some fresh ingredients and a little bit of love (don’t forget that) is about all you really need.

Makes me wonder what stuff we really need to make a kick-ass life.

Bali: Take a Cooking Class

It’s heartbreaking to witness how booming tourism can take its toll, even on the local cuisine. Bali was one such example where tourist traffic begat cuisine dilution. Many restaurants seemed to serve watered down versions of local dishes or altogether non-local Asian hybrid food just because it was cheap and easy. We were about to give up on Balinese cuisine when we decided to take a Balinese cooking class. Our opinion of and respect for Balinese food changed completely.

Seared tuna with “raw” sambal.

Lesson: Cooking classes offer one of the best routes to a basic understanding of the fundamentals of a cuisine. Same thing goes in life. It’s one thing to read about something, it’s another to get hands on and do it yourself.

Berlin: Seize Your Curiosity, Now

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know we have a love affair with Berlin and its ever-improving food scene. After riding our bikes around our neighborhood of Neukölln for a week, Dan kept noticing a Lebanese hole-in-the-wall cafe that witnessed a constant stream of people coming in and out.

We were intrigued, so we stopped in for lunch one day and and promptly fell in love with the place.

Not only did Azzam serve up fantastic Lebanese food with some of the best hummus and falafel around, but it also featured some unusual yet traditional dishes such as msabaha, a whole chickpea dip, and manaeesh, za’atar and cheese-topped breads. No wonder the Middle Eastern community came in droves.

And we joined them, all summer long.

Msabaha, a warm variation of your standard hummus.

Lesson: Follow your curiosity. Don’t put it off. Just do it. Now.

Tabriz, Iran: If You Want to Break the Ice, Break Bread

After two weeks of a heavy kebab diet in Iran, we were desperately craving vegetables. So when our guide invited us to his home for dinner, he smiled, “Don’t worry, my wife will cook. No kebabs.”

And his wife did not disappoint: vegetable soup and stuffed pepper and quince dolmas with just the perfect spice combination of cinnamon and cumin.

Perhaps even more crucial to our overall experience in Iran: as the meal progressed, the initial formality of meeting new people (we were introduced to the immediate family and their cousins) washed away as everyone sat together on the ground, sharing food and sharing of themselves. As the conversation continued, it moved from food to every other dimension of life in Iran.

Lesson: Food is the great leveler. Sharing meals is a way to break down barriers, build trust and develop friendships.

—

So food, the pathway to the stomach, the pathway to the psyche. And food: where simplicity, curiosity and humanity can all find a home. Where great meals are more than just about the food you eat, but about the journey — the people, the experience, the memory and the places firm and far — and what it can teach you about life.

What are some of your greatest meals? And what lessons have they taught you?

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 10 comments

Have you ever planned a hot sauce tasting? Ever even imagined one? Well, maybe you should.

A few hot sauce favorites from a tasting at Pfefferhaus, Berlin

In Berlin, we’d experienced wine tastings, brandy tastings, beer tastings, even a whiskey tasting. And through them all we noticed something about the power of progression and comparison. It’s along a flavor and experience continuum that you can see, taste and feel subtle differences. When you do that, you can really begin to appreciate and understand.

And when you do that, you’ve arrived.

Hot Sauce Tasting in Berlin

Our afternoon hot sauce tasting episode in Berlin fell into the category of the completely unplanned. We had no idea such a thing existed. After scanning the selection of hot sauces at Pfefferhaus, our group was headed toward the door when we heard: “Do you want to do a tasting?”

A hot sauce tasting? Well, why not? What’s there to be afraid of?

Within minutes, Emil — our hot sauce sommelier — brought out small bowls and tasting spoons. Then, one by one, he dealt up hot sauce bottles from behind the counter and from a refrigerated tasting stash in the back. He walked us across an oral firestorm, from mild mango-infused chili sauces to pepper extracts so hot it was only possible to take them in toothpick-tipped doses.

Along the way, he would ask our opinions, plumbing our preferences for citrus or sweet, smoky or sour.

Like only a sommelier could, he’d modify our path — straighten it a little here, kink it a little there — ducking back into the refrigerator room to pull a few more bottles to custom-tailor the experience.

A half dozen bottles into the tasting, however, we began to reach a chili saturation. But we also wanted more.

“What’s the best drink to go with hot sauce?” we asked.

Emil’s without-a-beat response: “Beer, of course.”

Following his expert advice, a few of us shuffled off to a nearby grocery store, the fire of chipotle barbecue sauce still searing the ends of throat nerves and glands we never before knew existed.

Minutes later, we were equipped to continue — Emil, too — with beers in hand, a tray of palate soothing crackers at the ready.

“Has anyone ever brought beer to drink with the hot sauce tasting?” somebody asked.

“No, you are the first ones. But this is Berlin. This is what happens.”

Heat Up, Endorphins Up

As if the chipotle sauce wasn’t hot enough, we moved on to jolokia sauce. The thermostat seemed to increase in an already warm Indian summer-bathed showroom. Hot sauce to cry for became hot sauce to die for; toothpicks replaced tasting spoons as the delivery utensil of choice. We were into the serious stuff now — sauces whose Scoville ratings topped off at 750,000 (as comparison, habanero chilies are usually at 200,000).

The endorphins kicked in. And if you’d have overheard us, you might just think we’d just dropped acid.

“I’ve never felt this way.”

“Oh my god, can you feel that?”

“What’s happening to me. I feel like I’m melting.”

“I think I need help”

Some of us had to retire to a nearby bench to settle down. This hot sauce tasting was an experience of the entire body.

The hot sauce discussion between us continued later on Twitter:

We keep using the orange mango hot sauce on everything, so the buzz has been perpetual. Is this how addiction begins? – (@SarahEverts)

…keeps seeing pretty colors – worried about after-effects (+ ‘orange mango’ totally sounds like a kind of LSD) – (@Benno)

None of us will ever look at hot sauce in the same way again.

A hot sauce lineup.

Our Favorite Hot Sauces

1. Cajohns Killer Chipotle
This seemed to be the hot sauce that took just about everyone to the next level.

Surprising, long heat. A slow burn that at first feels like a caboose, then rages like a locomotive. While the heat and delivery were both memorable, it’s the smoky chipotle taste flavor that sets it apart. Quite possibly addictive, certainly best of show.

2. Blind Betty, Blind in the Rind
A hot sauce from the Virgin Islands that combines a light, fresh citrus flavor with a spicy kick. Imagine this as a great dipping sauce or topping on any chicken preparation.

3. Stinger Suicide Sauce
Jolokia. To some, the hottest pepper in the world. Also known as the ghost pepper or ghost chili. Eating one whole will turn you into a ghost. Combining the pepper with honey garlic yields a fiery, red flecked hot sauce to be wielded with care.

4. Eckart Mango Sauce
Our first taste of the day. Not a lot of heat; more a mango sweet and sour flavor with tiny kick. Great as a dipping sauce or to spice up a chicken or pork dish.

Fiery Sauces, Toothpicks Only

1. 357 Mad Dog
When a bottle of hot sauce has a “Use it at your own risk” warning label and tips the Scoville scale at 750,000, it’s time to take note. Just a toothpick tip into this darkness, a touch to the tongue, a few seconds, some smoke, some heat, it hits the back of the throat, then run for the border.

2. Blair’s Beyond Death
Like a traditional hot sauce that you might put on a chicken burger. Hints of cayenne and smoke.

3. Holy Shit Habanero
Hot smoke. The label rightly notes it’s like a “blast furnace.” Not sure if that means on the way in…or on the way out.

Remaining Hot Sauce Review

1. Hottest Ride in Town
Loved the tagline on this one: “Burns faster and hotter from tongue to tailpipe.”

Like a barbecue sauce, but raging.

2. Cajohns Fatali Purée
Another deadly chili, the fatali burns for a long time after an intense in-the-mouth kick.

3. Cajohns Killer Cayenne
Tasted a lot like a hot sauce that would form the basis of buffalo wing sauce. Almost purely cayenne heat.

4. Susie’s Spicyburning Desire
Another entry from the Caribbean, this time from Antigua. A rather straightforward hot sauce that leaves a trademark sour taste.

5. Blair’s Heat Jalapeño Tequila
Straightforward, hot like you’d expect a jalapeno blend to be. Hints of garlic, tomatillo, tequila, and maybe a bit too much vinegar.

6. Marie Sharps Exotic Sauce
Supposedly Roger Ebert likes it. We didn’t especially. Not because it wasn’t good, but perhaps because of the stiff competition. A hint of habanero, but mainly a spice sauce, rather than a hot sauce per se.

Hot Sauce Tasting in Berlin: How To

Pfefferhaus is located at Dircksenstraße Bogen Nr. 94 on the outside ground floor area of Alexanderplatz U/S-bahn station. The tasting table is near the cashier’s desk. Inform Emil (or whoever happens to be working that day) as to your heat tolerance and hot sauce taste preference: smoky, sweet, sour, citrus, etc. Pick up a beer from the grocery store across the street (pair it all with the neutral, unflavored variety of Tuc crackers) and enjoy the ride. Open from 11-19:00 Monday-Saturday.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 24 comments

If you wish to learn about a place, eat your way to the answer. This maxim resonates no less so than in Berlin, a city whose history tells of a rise from the ashes and from oppression and whose present-day witnesses a continual carving out of its own identity.

For as much as we’ve learned and eaten during our time in Berlin, there was apparently still more to eat, still more to learn.

So we accepted an opportunity to take a gastro rally, a one-night deep-dive into the Berlin food scene, its mainstream and its edge, all wrapped in a Berlin history and culture lesson.

And this was its flavor.

Berlin: The History

Henrik Tidefjaerd, founder of the Berlin Gastro Rallye, scanned the intersection taking it all in en plein air with a look of contentment on his face. He explains, “I like to start my tours here. Rosenthaler Platz is important historically, it represents the continually changing nature of Berlin”

Henrik would be our host and guide – cultural, historical, gastronomical – for the evening.

Although we’ve crossed this intersection countless times — on foot, on our bicycles and on public transport – Henrik focuses our attention. We believed we’d already understood the place, but as he tells the story, we begin to envision the towers that once defined the edges of the old medieval walled city until the mid 1800s.

Before World War II, Rosenthaler Platz was one of the busiest intersections in Berlin. When Henrik moved to Berlin almost ten years ago, however, it was relatively quiet — a few restaurants and shops, almost sketchy in the dust of the fall of the Berlin wall. Nothing like today, where the intersection bustles, fashion moves apace, cafes and restaurants open anew, and creative and digital businesses spring up – earning it the affectionate moniker: Berlin’s Silicon Alley.

Destruction and renewal. Themes of the city; themes of the night.

Berlin: The Attitude

As we make our way to the first taste, Henrik sets the stage for the restaurants we are about to visit, the historical background and the waves and shift of the Berlin food scene.

“Berlin lost everything; it’s still emerging. There’s still a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Berlin, a creativity, a drive to experiment. You can see this now in the gastro scene.”

But he warns: ‘Don’t expect glam. If you want that, it’s better to stay in another city. Berlin is a ‘come as you are’ place; it welcomes you for who you really are.”

And with this, we arrive at our first stop.

Berlin Food: The Cuisine Scene

W Imbiss: Fusion Naan Pizza!
This snack cafe catches my eye from across the street because the “W” in its name is cleverly portrayed as an upside down McDonald’s “M” — cheeky and appropriate. It’s casual and you have to order at the counter, but it’s not at all about high volume.

Henrik explains that Gordon W, its Canadian owner, had traveled extensively; this was his experiment in combining influence from different cuisines — Indian, Italian and Californian — with fresh local ingredients. Fusion pizza sounded as if it could go very wrong, but we reserved our opinions for the meal.

A few minutes later, two plates with “naan pizzas” arrive. One is slathered in spicy guacamole and topped with sundried tomatoes and mounds of rucola and bean sprouts. The other is topped with cooked spinach, goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and sprouts.

A surprisingly authentic naan with a crunchy bottom – straight from a tandoor oven – has an aroma that hints at the South Asian subcontinent. Together with the cool, fresh ingredients piled on top, the entire creation is about layers of texture and flavor.

That this hasn’t become a world food trend is puzzling. It ought to be.

W Imbiss: Naan pizzas run from €6-€8 and are satisfying and large, almost enough for two people to share. We’ve returned several times and can recommend the artichoke naan pizza and bean quesadilla (€5, also huge), and specials like the curry chanterelle naan pizza. The inside is small, maybe five or six tables, but tables outside are perfect for three seasons. Address: Kastanienallee 49, Mitte

Vino e Libri: Sardianian Cuisine, Refined and Down-to-Earth
As we approach Vino e Libri, Henrik explains that this Italian (Sardinian, actually) restaurant had been around for ten years, a virtual eternity in modern Berlin terms.

The entrance almost looks like a cigar and book club – overflowing bookshelves to one side, a wine bar to the other. Library and aroma, wine and books, warm and cozy.

Our meal is refreshingly light and flavorful – grilled giant prawn over tomato basil ragu, sesame-encrusted whitefish atop greens and mandarin wedges, and roasted zucchini and potatoes, all served amidst artful dots of balsamic reduction. The citrus highlights of a Cantina Terian Winkl Sauvignon from the Italian Tirol makes for an exceptional pairing.

After the meal, we are invited into the kitchen to meet the Sardinian chef and owner, Bruno Lai. As we chat, he tosses pasta and cooks up another dish with prawns and garlic.

Another reminder that the best meals are usually rather simple in nature, but cooked with the right ingredients and care.

Vino e Libri: Bring a book, get a book – and enjoy reading with a glass of wine. Lunch menu starts at €5.50 (recommend the spaghetti with mussels) while the standard menu begins at €10 for pastas (e.g., homemade pumpkin ravioli) and finishes at €20 for main seafood and meat dishes. Address: Torstrasse 89, Mitte

Chen Che: Honest-to-Goodness Vietnamese
Having had our share of mediocre Vietnamese and Thai food in Berlin (we understand our travels have spoiled us), we hold our expectations in check when we hear the next stop is a Vietnamese restaurant.

Vietnamese is a big food influencer in Berlin. Henrik explains that during the Communist era, Vietnamese migrant workers were sent to East Berlin to help Vietnam repay its foreign debt to East Germany. Many of them stayed. This is why you’ll still see large Vietnamese communities in what was formerly East Berlin.

Our food arrives on beautiful trays covered in steamers and bowls, decorative porcelain tops, bamboo, warm airs and mystery. Soup, mixed vegetables, rice, stewed pork, fried codfish and pickled vegetables. This daily taster menu – usually served at lunch for around €8.50 – is our evening “snack.”

Although we were already full, we couldn’t resist the stewed pork, fall-off-the-bone tender. The stew and aroma hints at real Vietnamese flavors: star anise, maybe even some allspice, topped with fresh coriander and shredded green onions. The codfish was also spot on – fried lightly so the outside featured a thin crust to protect the tender fish inside.

Chen Che: If you are looking for real Vietnamese food in Berlin, this ought to be one of your first stops. The décor is also fun and beautifully thought out. Try going for lunch to take advantage of the daily taster menu option. Address: Rosenthaler Str. 13, Mitte

Weinbar Rutz: A Food Temple
Earlier in the evening, Henrik had explained that we would conclude our tour at a “food temple.” I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but when we arrived at Weinbar Rutz I knew we were there.

High-end, low-key. You might also say “very Berlin.” Henrik did. I look at him sitting across the table from us in his Miami Vice t-shirt and smiled. Everyone is welcome as they are. We like that.

Billy Wagner, the resident sommelier and our host took us on a ride, an experience, something that felt like a dining experiment — through our desserts and wines and they how they were conceived and crafted.

The core flavor inspiration for the evening came from the black locust flower. As Billy describes it, these trees grow wild on the outskirts of Berlin. Some of the staff had gone earlier in the summer to pick the flowers. We had images in our head of wait staff and hosts, in their outfits, jumping over fences, climbing trees and stealthily collecting petals in wicker baskets before some unsuspecting owner of the black locusts returned home.

Kidding aside, our first dessert featured a wine glass layered in plum wine sauce, kiwi and plum compote, all topped with locust flower foam. While the whole experience was something that almost bordered on the edges of molecular gastronomy, it was the black locust that blew the mind.

It tasted like nothing we’ve ever had, in a way that we could never aptly describe. Like thinking of citrus, maybe a grapefruit, while chewing a violet and thinking of a wide open field of poppies. Rarely is a dessert so ethereal.

Finally, the whole architecture is finished off with a thin, crunchy cookie studded with meringue drops. With the first spoonful of this light, crisp — but not certainly not too sweet — foam, Henrik’s earlier words resonate: “Once we get to the last restaurant, you’ll forget all that you’ve eaten in the night.”

Billy’s wine pair: Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Kabinett 2008. “Take a bite of the dessert, then a sip of the wine. Just trust me.”

We did.

Dan’s response: “It’s like eating a party dress.”

Weinbar Rutz: One of the first and finest establishments in the league of high-end Berlin restaurants. The menu revolves around “inspirations” usually with a minimum of two interpretations served for each course. For most, this is not for the every day (expect a minimum of €100/person for dinner), but perhaps for very special occasions. Unforgettable for sure. Address: Chausseestraße 8

Berlin Food: The Future

As we wound up our evening (yes, this was all in one evening, if you can still believe it), Henrik gives us a walking tour glimpse of the Berlin food scene future with a stroll along Torstrasse.

Along the way, we poke into individually owned restaurants with small spaces and artistic treats: a mosaic with revolving pieces from the former DDR parliament in one, a meat locker from a converted butcher in another. Menus change weekly or even daily based on what’s fresh in the market, or what’s fresh in the head of the lead chef.

Henrik notes that perhaps just as important as the food, the environment: “When people go out to eat in Berlin, they go for community. These restaurants give you this – you know the people around, you become friends with the staff, you feel at home.”

And as Berlin evolved, rents went up in areas around Hackescher Markt and restaurants sprang up here on Torstrasse. As Torstrasse perhaps follows a similar evolution, another neighborhood is busy creating something new.

Destruction and renewal. Movement and opportunity. This is what keeps Berlin and its cuisine scene ever-evolving, hopefully ever-experimental.

—-

A note on Henrik and Berlin Agenten: Henrik’s knowledge is vast and deep. If cuisine is your thing, he can talk it. History, yes. Clubs, those too. He’s also the quintessential Berlin story: a Swedish guy who came and loved the place and now calls it his own.

Henrik’s company offers several Gastro Rallye food tour options, including the Enjoy tour similar to what we outlined above. For the budget-minded, we understand these are not inexpensive – €180-€250/person. You need to think of it as an experience rather than a restaurant tour — a culinary and cultural journey through Berlin’s past, present and future.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 17 comments

Bangladeshi food in a home is the best – it’s cooked with the care and love of a woman’s hands. In restaurants, food is cooked by men for quantity.

– A Bangladeshi friend captures the crux of Bangladeshi food.

Sabzi. You know you want some!

Although you may not have realized it, it’s quite possible you’ve eaten Bangaldeshi food. Many of the restaurants along London’s famed Brick Lane are actually Bangladeshi in origin. The same can probably be said for other “Indian” restaurants throughout the world. After all, Indian food has much better branding. So after having traveled through India and upon arriving in Bangladesh, we thought its food might just be the same.

Well, not quite. So what about food in Bangladesh? What is it like?

We don’t claim to be experts in Bangladeshi cuisine, but we did our share of dining in Bangladesh. During our nearly six weeks in the country, we took the opportunity to eat on the street, in tea stalls, canteens, restaurants and in village homes.

Here is what we found.

Bangladeshi Food: Approach, Ingredients and Tools

Bangladesh shares a common Bengali culture, language and history with its neighbors in the nearby Indian state of West Bengal. This shared culture also carries over to its food – many dishes are shared across borders and are commonly referred to as Bengali cuisine.

Bangladeshi cuisine is decidedly South Asian in nature. However, it’s unique in its abundant use of fish and its employment of a variety of often fiery pastes made from ground roots, spices and chilies. So fiery they are, we’re told, that even some visiting Indians can’t handle the heat.

Fish: Bangladesh is a country of rivers so perhaps it’s no surprise that fish is a staple of Bangladeshi food. There’s a common saying: “Fish and rice make a Bengali” (Machh-e-bhat-e-Bangali). Often fish is fried in spice paste to enable the flavors to settle in.

For Bangladeshis, not any fish will do. A river fish, be it from fresh or salt water, is the most highly valued. To Bangladeshis, sea fish just don’t offer the same flavor.

Ground pastes: Bangladeshi cuisine incorporates the use of pastes – spices and roots ground smooth. Green chili peppers are ubiquitous in Bangladeshi cuisine. Other common pastes include a combination of any of the following: ginger, garlic, red chili peppers, turmeric, onion, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, or mustard seed. (South Asian cuisine aficionados will note the use of popped spices as a foundation of Indian dishes as distinctly different from that of Bangladeshi cuisine.)

Mustard oil: Traditional Bengali cuisine makes frequent use of mustard oil which imparts an inimitable bitterness. You can definitely taste this in bhorta, uniquely Bangladeshi balls of mashed vegetables. Although mustard oil is still commonly used throughout Bangladesh, people are making the switch to more neutral vegetable oils.

Traditional stove: Who says you need fancy kitchen equipment to cook well?

A traditional Bangladeshi stove is made from mud or dug into the ground. It includes a place for fire (usually heated by wood, sometimes wrapped in cow dung so it burns slower) with an impression or opening in which to place the pan.

Boti (Knife):A traditional Bangladeshi carving utensil that consists of a curved blade on a shaft that you must secure between your feet. Bangladeshi women use it with lightening speed to cut onions, vegetables, fish — just about anything, no matter how small.

Eating with the right hand: As in other parts of South Asia, food is eaten with the right hand. Bangladeshis appreciated the attempt we made to eat “local style” – one restaurant manager even came up to us and thanked us for it.

Also, as our host mother in the village of Hatiandha told us, “Food tastes better when you eat it with your hands.” No argument here. When in Bangladesh, eat with your hands.

Eating in a Bangladeshi Village

Not surprisingly, the best food we ate in Bangladesh was served in a family home during a village homestay. We are told that Mrs. Ali, our host mother in Hatiandha is known for her cooking skills. She really went all out for us during our stay.

Please note these dishes are not always eaten every day; some may be considered “special occasion” meals.

- Awesome sabzi (mixed vegetables): Ok, the real name for this did not include “awesome” but we were so impressed by this dish that we felt it an appropriate name. Sabzi is common throughout Bangladesh, but Mrs. Ali took it to a whole new level.

In addition to ground ginger, garlic, onion, cumin, and chili pepper pastes, this dish also included fenugreek, fennel seed, black cumin, ajwain, and methi. Add to this carrots, potatoes, eggplant, cauliflower and whatever other vegetables you have hanging around and you’ve got something special.

- Maach Bhuna (Fish Bhuna): Bhuna is a style of cooking where spice pastes – red chili, ginger, cinnamon, onion, and garlic – are heated in oil and then cooked with fish, meat or vegetable slices. Add a little water to thin out the sauce. The result is something aromatic, flavorful, and spicy. One of our favorites.

A Bangladeshi taster menu, village style. Fish bhuna, top right.

- Bhendi Bhaji (Fried Okra): Simple and so delicious. Green chilies, ground onion paste and okra fried together in oil.

- Begun Bhaja (Fried Eggplant): Pan-fried sliced eggplant with turmeric and salt.

- Chicken Curry: A Bangladeshi garam masala-based curry that features chicken and potatoes. The masala — including cinnamon sticks, big brown cardamom, and small green cardamom — really shines through.

- Dal (lentils): Another staple of the Bangladeshi table. Sauteed spices, onions and garlic stewed to creaminess. If there exists nothing else at breakfast time, you’ll be sure to find dal and rounds of paratha bread.

- Pulao: A rice that uses the small, fine grain of rice (more expensive). It’s typically cooked with bay leaf, cinnamon sticks and topped with crispy dried onion. Delicious. You know you are considered someone special when the finer grained pulao comes out.

Bangladesh Restaurant Eating

Unless you’re going to a fancy hotel restaurant or a high-end eating establishment, don’t expect to receive a menu when dining at local canteens, cafeterias or restaurants. You don’t choose curry types; instead you choose chicken, fish or beef. Preparation is the choice of the man in the kitchen that day. It’s as if the restaurant is saying: “This is what we (collective we, like a family) are eating today.”

In this case, the selection is limited, but there’s something oddly binding in everyone sharing the same meal.

Meals are prepared –- and are therefore most fresh — around regular eating times. If you get off-cycle in your eating, you won’t go hungry but your food may have been hanging around for a while. Take note.

Bangladeshi Snacks and Breads:

Holding a singara on top of a pile of samosas

- Singara: Much like samosas, singara (the round items above) are spiced potato and vegetable mixture pockets wrapped in a thin dough and fried. What distinguishes a good singara is the flaky texture, almost as if it’s made with savory pie crust. Singara are really tasty and inexpensive snack (as cheap as 24 for $1) that you can find almost anywhere in Bangladesh.

- Samosa: In India, samosas are usually stuffed with potatoes and spices. Bangladeshi samosas tend to be triangular, filled with cabbage and other vegetables, and are more heavily fried and crunchier than either singara or their Indian samosa cousins.

- Paratha: A thin fried flat bread that can be found everywhere throughout the country. Most often eaten at breakfast.

- Fried roti stuffed with egg & onions: Once night hits in Khulna, many of the streetside restaurants were frying up a thin dough filled with egg, onions and spices. It was folded up like a square. More filling than it looks.

- Roti Kalai: A thick flat bread made from lentil flour. When we found this on the streets of Rajshahi, women were serving it with freshly cut onions and green chili sauce. More like a meal than a snack since the lentil flour makes it very heavy.

- Chana chaat: Chickpeas mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes, and spices often topped with popped rice and fried vegetables. Incredibly addictive snack food.

- Naan: Although naan (flat bread cooked in a tandoor oven) is not as common in Bangladesh as it is in India, it is still possible to find it in some restaurants and street stands. In contrast to paratha, you’ll find naan more readily available at night.

- Pitha: A fried snack – almost like small pancakes – made from rice flour. Can either be eaten straight or covered with ghur (syrup made from the sap of date trees) for breakfast.

Bangladesh Meals

- Bangladesh Breakfast: Our first meal of the day usually consisted of some combination of sabzi (mixed vegetables), dal (lentils), paratha (fried flat bread), omelette and milk tea. Hearty, filling reliable, good. Also incredibly cheap – we usually paid less than $1 for the two of us. We learned that tea is often eaten after the meal, not with the breakfast so you have to make a special request if you want your cup of tea to arrive with your meal.

- Bhorta: Mashed potatoes (or other vegetables) often mixed with shrimp or fish. Usually made with onion, green chili peppers, cilantro and mustard oil — lending it an intense flavor. The restaurant at Western Inn International in Khulna serves up some delicious shrimp and fish bhorta.

Bhorta. Impossible to photograph, especially in the dark. Even ugly. But uniquely tasty.

- Biryani: Spiced rice served with some sort of meat or chicken, sometimes mixed in and other times served on top of the rice. Maybe we just chose poorly, but we never really had a great biryani meal during our trip.
- Egg curry: Hard boiled eggs served up in a creamy curry sauce looked a bit odd to us at first, but the taste: remarkably good. Served with crispy onions on top.

Bangladeshi Desserts

The one segment of Bangladeshi cuisine that most resembles Indian cuisine: desserts.
- Mishti Doi: Sweet curd served in ceramic bowls. Our suggestion is to go for the semi-sweet variety. The best doi we found comes from a chain of shops called “Rosh” in Dhaka. We frequented the Gulshan 2 outpost, just on the circle. Go early: Rosh sells out of the semi-sweet doi very quickly.

- Ras Malai: A heavy sweet made from balls of paneer (pressed Indian-style cottage cheese) served with sweetened clotted cream and topped with ground nuts and/or sweet spices like cardamom.
- Rasgulla: Another heavy sweet made from balls of local cottage cheese mixed with semolina flower and cooked in a sugar syrup. The syrup absorbs into the ball. Intensely sweet.

Drinks in Bangladesh

Local Bangladeshi restaurants typically don’t offer a wide array of drinks. While tap water is available for free on tables, choices are usually limited to bottled water (a wise choice for visitors’ tummies) and basic soft drinks (e.g., Sprite, Coke). Alcohol is forbidden.
-Cha (tea): Bangladeshis are a tea drinking people. You’ll find little tea stands throughout the country with a few people sitting and drinking a small cup, perhaps with some snacks. Tea drinking and tea stands offer a great way to engage with and meet people. Most tea is black tea served with condensed milk and sugar, but you can also request “red” tea which is without milk.

- 7-Layer Tea: The famous 7-layer tea can only be found at Nilkhantha Tea Cabin outside of Srimongal (beware of imitations in the nearby village). The recipe is a secret, but combines three varieties of black tea and one green tea. Condensed milk and various spices (cinnamon, cloves), perhaps a dash of lemon and a hint of asafoetida make up the other flavor layers.

- Lime juice and sugar cane juice: You can find juice stands on the streets of Old Dhaka and other big cities. Just be careful that you’re just getting the juice and not a mixture with local water. Otherwise, Bangla belly might come to haunt you.

How to Avoid Bangla Belly, Getting Sick in Bangladesh

With all of our eating at local and street restaurants throughout Bangladesh, we never once got a case of “Bangla belly.” Use common sense when eating and be careful of freshly cut (and uncooked) vegetables and fruit. Don’t take your chances on local tap water – buy bottled water or sterilize tap water yourself (e.g., SteriPen or tablets). And be sure to use wash your hands before and after meals.

Restaurants in Bangladesh

We generally ate very well (and very inexpensively) while traveling throughout Bangladesh. If the food is being made fresh and it looks good, and there are a lot of customers creating a high turnover, then you will probably be OK.

Dhaka Restaurants: Although we didn’t eat out frequently while in Dhaka, everyone agrees that some of the best food around is in Old Dhaka. As you walk the streets around Shakari Bazaar, keep your eye out for streetside restaurants and guys like this serving up freshly cooked meals, paratha, singara and more.

Tasty. Friendly. You won’t be disappointed.

Khulna Resturants: The streets come alive at night along Upper Jessore Road with men cooking up fresh roti, naan, meat kebabs and more. For our money and experience, this is the place to go. For a higher end meal, try Western Inn International for fish bhuna and tasty bhorta.

Srimongal Restaurants: There are several good eating options along Station Road, but Kutum Bari became our favorite. It’s a bit more expensive than other restaurants (i.e., $5 for two people), but it offers a wider selection than most and serves up delicious Indian and Bangladeshi favorites in a pleasant, unstuffy atmosphere. Staff are exceptionally friendly and are not afraid to explain and recommend dishes. Our favorites: the chicken tikka masala and fish bhuna.

For a regular local canteen, try Gram Bangla Restaurant on Station Road. Great breakfasts, traditional cuisine (dal and sabzi) and singara.

Eating in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT): Traditional food in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is another experience, entirely. For the most part, you will find traditional Bangladeshi or Bengali style food. However, in ethnic homes and restaurants in CHT, you will find cuisine that more closely resembles Burmese end of Southeast Asian food. We will address this in a future piece on our experience in the CHT region.

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Bangladeshi Food Photo Essay

If you don’t have a high-speed connection or you’d like to read the captions, you can view the Bangladesh Food photo essay.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 55 comments