Asian Food (part 3)
This will be the final installment for now. Because I am torturing myself doing this, you know? Haha. I would crave all these yummy/favorite food but can’t have then anytime soon.
VIETNAM (1)
It’s a shame spending just about 5 days in Vietnam and still not able to go back until now. That trip was one of the most fun trips I’ve ever taken. I guess what’s different is that we’re sort of a big group (6 people) but we were all in the same page of what we want to do i.e. eat and a little bit of adventure. Everyone’s independent, as in no one is “pabebe” or needed to be taken care of – so we don’t have to worry and we take turns with the responsibilities of doing the needed stuff. We were an efficient and well-oiled machine, yeah! But it was definitely not boring because aside from the trip’s theme of pigging-out that led to our hashtag #TeamBBYinVN (team baboy or pigs in Vietnam), I would say the secondary theme was #LaughTrip. It was non-stop laughter even when we were stuck in traffic or even the moment we stepped-out of the airport to try and find a ride to the hotel. It’s fitting to have good vibes only for a super quick vacation in the middle of our very busy months that time. Going back to food, we all have the same goal to eat and try as much good food as we can. As in our main concern is if we can eat five times a day so we’ll have more opportunities to try more food that we keep reminding each other whenever we discuss our activity options. We were very lucky that one of our friends was living in Ho Chi Minh for a few months there on an extended business trip. She was the one who planned our whole itinerary including food with a lot of local inputs from her officemates there. So, here’s my list which I also had a hard time trimming down:
1. Shrimp and Squid Noodle Soup from Hu Tieu Muc near our office/Intercontinental hotel. We ate here twice (yeah in just five days) because we can’t get enough of this and the green chili sauce that they do not sell (because if asked if we can buy and take home some). Now I am half-wishing to have an audit there so I can go back really soon.
2. Coco cream, I think is the name of this from the same restaurant. So good I ate 2.5 servings hahaha.
So here’s our group picture outside the restaurant.
3. Random banh mi from a random cart on our way home from Mekong river tour that we really didn’t enjoy. I really love banh mi and it’s another shame that we are only able to try this once because yeah, we have all other food to try too. Hahaha.
4. Ah there’s this dumpling in Hoi An. I regret not taking pictures because we were hungry and it’s dark anyway. And I didn’t even take note of the name of the restaurant but it’s really yummy. Huhu. I will have to update my list but that’s it for now.
There are more food that didn’t make the list after I trimmed it like the chicken wings that we attempted to bring home to Manila but I ended up eating my share after 2 or 3 hours we bought it. Hihi. Also, there are so many good food from Cuc Gach Quan restaurant in HCM. While on its own, the food is already great with reasonable price, if I may add, it also gained popularity when Brad Pitt and Angelina were spotted eating here some time 2011 when they visited Vietnam. So I didn’t take pictures of the food because we were busy video calling other friends. And again once the food came, it was so yummy I think we forgot “documentation.” Anyway, I hope I get back there soon.
INDIA (1)
Now my India experience is in another level in a lot of aspects. But for this, let me focus on the topic at hand which is food. But the quick background is that it was a personal trip where we visited our old boss who already retired. So the thing is that the food itinerary is prepared/recommended by locals, somewhat similar to our Vietnam trip. And our old boss paid for all food, except for Day 1 we went to see Taj Mahal in Agra. So I would say I was not surprised at all that I super, super loved all food we ate. Yeah, as in even the ones from Indian fast food are really yummy, lol! I know that for some people, Indian food may be an acquired taste. Maybe because it’s vegetarian or maybe because of the strong spices that emit strong smell. But with and open mind and open stomach/tongue, we embraced the adventure to eat Indian spicy food for a week! But I would like to apologize ahead because I think I was not able to once again get the proper names of the food. I will try my best to research and update:
1. Our first night in Hyderabad, we went to a bar. We didn’t eat much because we just had late lunch at 4pm. So by around 12 midnight, we “had” to eat again. We went to one of the dark alleys near Charminar and suddenly stopped at a small space. Our boss’ nephew went out of the car and we were waiting for some time. We were speaking in Filipino and we were wondering what we were doing there. The place was dark, it’s already 12:30am and it doesn’t look like there’s any open establishment nearby. We were joking that maybe we’d be doing something illegal. Lol!! Anyway, after about 15 minutes, our new friend came back and there were two men with him carrying something huge that we cannot make out since it was really dark. It turned out that those things are tables and chairs to be set-up in front of our car. Hahahahaha. Boss’ nephew said that they are not yet open but they will serve food for us. We were guessing that he’s referring to the “food place.” Since it was our first day with our new friend, we would admit that there’s a little bit of doubt. But this stewed lamb (I think) with milk cheese, I think – the white one, is the bomb! I’ve never tried anything like this though it somehow reminds me of bulalo. I am not a fan of lamb – it’s not common here in the Philippines and if you do not handle it well when you cook it, there’s a weird aftertaste and smell. But this one was cooked tenderly with the right combination of flavor and spice. Oh plus the bread hahaha! I dunno what kind of bread but it’s a bit crispy and goes really well with the soup. I think I would never be able to get back to this place on my own and eat this food so maybe that’s why this was the first on my list. Or maybe it’s the experience that will be once in a lifetime, lol! In any case, I hope I get to try this again next time.
2. Spicy fried corn, in general. I think this is bar food, lol. But still. I love corn and the spices gave it a refreshing (though it was really hot) twist. Despite the “mild spice” burning my lips and tongue, I did not stop eating. Yeah, maybe a little gluttony but I just can’t help it, huhu. Now I want it as I think about it.
3. You have to congratulate me for remembering the name of this Indian ice cream with noodles or at least something that looks like noodles. It’s called falooda! Oh yeah!! I asked my boss what it’s called before eating, hahaha. It’s not a real noodle, I think. If my memory is correct and I had to check in google, this vermicelli noodle-looking thing is called kulfi. Or was it the milk ice cream? Haha. Imagine when I received the plate, my facial expression was like “uhm, why does my ice cream has pancit???” Lol! Boss had to tell me to go on and try because it’s really good. And yes, it’s sooooo goooood. In fact, I just didn’t know that it’s good but this dessert or a version of this dessert exists in other countries – I tried this in Myanmar and Thailand just last March 2018.
4. So I was proud that I remember this one is called aloo, only to realize that aloo means potato and that there’s a second word to name this dish. So I am yet to determine what’s the second word. My best bet though is that it’s called aloo chaat but I’m not 100% sure. As you can see, we ate this inside the car but it’s actually a street-food. However, boss’s daughter said that it’s better that we eat inside the car instead because it’s hot outside and that there are mosquitoes. This is just one of the times to show how we were so spoiled in this trip. Lol!! This has all the ingredients of food I love – potato, cheese, onions and spices. Aaaaah, give me some now!!
I stuck with food here but we had really good alcohol cocktails too ;P
MYANMAR (1)
I have to be honest that Myanmar is probably the country where I have the least local food experience. I thought about several reasons why and the most sensible I could think of is that I had an impression that it’s a fusion of South China, Thailand and India given its geographical location and I can’t pinpoint its defining aspect of its cuisine. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the food like pizza, palak paneer, biryani and even falooda. However, I thought it’s not a uniquely Myanmar-experience for me. Or that I’ve already experienced the better version of the food elsewhere first like the biryani and falooda. Like how I associated Ichiran to Hongkong first and then eventually transferring to Japan because apparently I liked the Japan version more. Plus, we did not prepare for any itinerary, hahaha. So that may have played a factor as well. But I loooooove our Myanmar trip for other aspects.
I do have one food though that has been really memorable for us. Fried rice! I think we compensated for the lack of preparation for food itinerary with fried rice, which you can never go wrong ^_^ And it has sentimental significance too. You see, I went to Myanmar with my college roommate. Back then, we didn’t have a lot of time and talent to cook real meals. I think until now I still don’t have the skills, but my friend eventually dubbed herself “domestic goddess” as she learned to cook more yummy food. So in college, the easiest to cook for us is fried rice – we would alternate which ingredients to go with the default egg. It was team effort for the two of us and we bonded a lot in that activity. So I posted this:
"After 10+ years (literally), we are still eating fried rice for dinner!"
JAPAN(1)
Finally, I’ve been to Japan! Well, it’s for work but also partially personal when I got a chance to for to Disney Sea. Before I get confused with my list because there’s too many once more, here it is:
1. Ichiran ramen is now transferred to this list from Hongkong! But to be fair, the Japan version seems to be better. Or maybe it’s just in my mind but Ichiran is still my favorite ramen.
2. When in Kobe, eat Kobe beef. I don’t really know what’s the difference of Kobe beef with other beef. But our boss made a really good point that any beef from Kobe is Kobe beef so we can’t go wrong! Lol! It is the most expensive but also the best-ever beef I’ve eaten. I ate cheaper food for breakfast and lunch so I can splurge my business trip food allowance on this and I have no regrets. And then I had fried garlic and garlic Japanese rice with it. I was with a colleague so I appeared to be calm and chill while eating. But I was screaming inside, hahaha.
3. Food from our Manila office cafeteria sucks. Yeah, that’s something common. But not in our Japan Kobe office. I prefer to eat breakfast there than the expensive but just okay hotel food. I regret discovering about it mid-week. The caterer is called Cezar’s Café and I love all the drinks that I tried. It was a close fight between banana milk and green tea latte with black honey. Ever since the Thailand trip last March, I’ve been searching for a really good green tea latte that is not from Tsujiri. BLK 513 is probably the nearest but after tasting the Cezar’s Café’s green tea latte with black honey, it has became my favorite. Ah but there’s still a lot more drinks to try when I return to the office cafeteria in Kobe ^_^ Maybe I’ll have a new favorite drink then. I mean even the carrot-orange juice is a contender ;p
Like Korea’s, don’t get me started with the snacks and noodles hahaha. Maybe I’ll just create a separate list for that ;P