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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Friday 28 September 2007

Spicy Korean @ Kunjip, New York

A few blocks from the Empire State Building, there is a small district of K-town with several 24-hour Korean restaurants. Kunjip is reviewed as one of the best Korean eats in Monhattan, and was crowded full of Korean people when we ate there for lunch on Friday - a good sign that this is the place to have good authentic Korean food. The restaurant was packed, and we waited about 10 minutes for a table. Service was quick and efficient, and we must look Korean because the waitstaff kept talking to us in Korean.

One of the best part of this lunch was the banchan. A myriad of complimentary side dishes covered most of the table, and they were delicious. I could have had my fill with just rice and the banchan, which included the usual kimchee and beansprouts, but also many other dishes like pickled white radish, marinated nori (seaweed used for sushi), potatoes braised in soy sauce (reminded me a lot of pongteh, a Nonya dish my mum cooks), a dried seafood/jerky dish (which I loved) and some greens. The banchan given in Perth's Korean restaurants pales in comparison to this spread. Perhaps this is pretty close to what is served in Korea.



I love the fact that the Korean cuisine has such robust and unpretentious flavours, and its bold in-your-face spiciness is something I definitely appreciate. I've had yummy Korean in Perth and in Japan, and this is perhaps the best Korean food I've had so far. I ordered Suk-Uh Chigae ($12.95), a spicy seafood soup, and Honey got Yuk Gae Jang ($7.95), a hot and spicy beef stew. The seafood included prawns (or shrimps as they call them here), fish and clams and they were fresh. The beef stew was quite delicious with a pretty spicy kick - there was japchae (translucent potato noodles) in the beef stew too. I can't really say more than that the food was delicious, and very filling. Good value for what we paid.

Suk-Uh Chigae and Yuk Gae Jang


One day, we'll visit Korea and try some of the awesome Korean food and sweets that I saw on Dae Jang Geum (an awesome Korean drama series which got even a guy like Rob hooked on it).

Tuesday 25 September 2007

Photos to show

Wow, it's been a really busy time for me this past week, having both Rob's mum and my sister Honey visiting us at the same time. MIL returned to Perth on Saturday evening, and Honey's meeting with her friend this afternoon, so I finally have some time to sort my photos. Honey and I spent a lot of time shopping, and can that girl shop! It has been a few years since I'd gone shopping with her, and it was good to have a shopping buddy, someone who gave good feedback other than "I don't know, that one maybe?" whilst shrugging and pointing quite randomly. I think my mum and older sister were hoping that I would be a good influence on my sister with her spending habit, but I think Honey had more influence on my spending habit. I'd actually forgotten that shopping can be fun when you have a good shopping buddy. But, with all that said, I still can't say I enjoy shopping... I only bought what I needed, compared to Honey who had a few impulse buys.

Other than shopping together, we took photos with an NYPD police officer armed with a huge gun, visited the famous Empire State building, briefly checked out Macy's ('world's largest store') in the Garment District (mainly to use the toilet), experienced the really crowded street fair in Little Italy (Feast of San Gennaro), checked out the usual really crowded street of Chinatown on a weekend, and walked through Central Park. And of course having good eats. That's basically the super-summarised gist of our last week. Here are some piccies to look at while I am busy with hunting for a place to stay in Japan - we leave NYC next Tuesday! :(

Check out the huge gun! The cop looks mean in the photo, but he was really nice and friendly. Taken near our apartment on Wall Street opposite the Federal Hall and next to the NY Stock Exchange:


Can you see the shadow of the Empire State Building?




At the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy:


The beautiful Minton Tile Ceiling at Bethesda Terrace Arcade in Central Park

Wednesday 19 September 2007

Yummy falafels

Roadside stands are ubiquitous in NYC - newstands selling newspapers and magazines; foodstalls selling bagels, pretzels; and drinkstalls selling coffee, juice, water. Business people and tourists alike rely on these roadside mini-'shops' for their daily nutrition. The NFT (Not for Tourists) guidebook I use mentioned only one roadside stall, and it's Sam's Falafel in Liberty Plaza (now known as Zucotti Park) not far from our apartment on Wall St. Now, I noted this falafel place in the guidebook because Kim (one of my friends back in Japan, a fellow JET from America) said to me, "Jean, I'm so jealous you're going to New York city - you have to eat all the falafels for me". A few weeks ago, I happened to be in the park for a free music event around lunchtime, and I spotted this Sam's Falafel nearby with a huge queue of people waiting for Sam's falafels. I took a shot of the long line, knowing that before I leave NYC, I will be one of those people in line for falafels.

The line:


This morning I took my younger sister Honey shopping at the nearby Century 21 department store - man, this girl is a serious shopaholic! Brand names + discounts = big spending for her. It's dangerous shopping with her because even though I'm not a big brand person nor a shopper, I walked away with a Guess bag. Anyway, two hours later, and five bags bought (yep, she bought four - and we hadn't even gone to the clothing section yet!), it was lunchtime. On our way back, we walked pass Zucotti Park, and even though it was just past 12pm, there was already a line in front of Sam's Falafel. We stepped in line and munched on the fried pieces of pita bread (kindly provided) while waiting for our turn to order. There were only two choices: combo platter for $5 which includes hummus, salad, dolmades, pita and a lot of falafel (10 pieces?); and falafel sandwich for $3 which includes three falafel, hummus and salad in half a pita. We bought the combo platter to share, which was plenty - we were full with some leftovers.

Verdict? It was really cheap and very yummy. Probably not very healthy since the falafels are deep fried, but I'm glad I tried it :) The package didn't look so photogenic after the 5 or so minutes walk home, but I took a shot of it anyway (there's a nicer looking photo of the combo by someone else here).

The yummy falafels:

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Breakfast food: crunchy muesli/granola

I do many things, but this is one thing I never do: skip breakfast. Yeah, I hear all the excuses for skipping brekkie: not hungry in the mornings, losing weight, in a hurry. Whatever! I myself don't have a big appetite in the mornings and I'm often in a hurry (who's not?) but I still eat something, or grab something to eat on the way. Skipping meals is also the worst way to lose weight and a good way to hang on to body fat. Think about it - you skip meals, go hungry and your body instinctively goes into starvation mode where your body's metabolism slows down in order to conserve energy. That's nature working to keep you alive when your body thinks there's a famine (aka starving-yourself-to-lose-weight). Then when you do eat again, you might have a bigger-than-usual meal (because you're hungry, right?), but the thing is, your body is still running on low metabolism (i.e. burning energy s.l.o.w.l.y.) and a lot of the energy you consume in that meal goes to fat. So, eating often is the key to maintaining a high metabolism, and high metabolism = burn energy quickly, and so on.

Anyway, back to breakfast. Granola is a popular breakfast cereal-type food in the US, and back in Japan I'd often wonder what my American neighbour was talking about whenever he mentioned that he ate some granola for breakfast. Found out that it is just crunchy muesli mainly made from rolled oats with a combination of nuts and dried fruits. I love toasted oats, and I would often make my own pan-toasted muesli to have with some fruits, nuts and yoghurt for breakfast. But I love crunchy stuff (gimme the crust of your toasted bread and baked pizza!) and after trying some store-bought granola, I decided that it was not too difficult to make my own at home. The main benefit of doing it yourself is that you know what goes in. None of that artificial crap that is found in many packaged cereal. Unless you want it, of course.

Oats is not so readily available in Japan (the land of rice), but it is both abundant and cheap in Australia and countless other countries. My recipe is special because it does not contain added fat (like butter or oil), but it contains good fats from nuts and seeds. I only use natural sweeteners like maple syrup and honey, and rely on the sugars in the dried fruits to add the extra sweetness. I usually eyeball quantities, and pretty well anything goes - add any fruits, nuts, seeds, spices, and even cocoa if you like (...mmm chocolate peanuts...). If the nuts and seeds are not roasted, roast them with the oats in the oven. Healthy you say? Yeah. That's the idea, right? But I warn that this is addictive - like eating sweet crisps, except it's healthy.

Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats
3 tablespoons applesauce (for moisture)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons honey
good sprinkle of ground cinammon (I use about 2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons dessicated coconut
a handful of toasted sunflower seeds
a handful of roasted nuts
a handful of dried fruits

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150-160degC (~310degF).
2. In a bowl, combine the rolled oats, applesauce, maple syrup, honey, cinammon, and coconut and mix well. Give it a taste and add more sweeteners if it needs it.
3. Spread onto an oven tray, and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes. Give it a stir every 10 minutes to prevent the sides from getting too brown. The goal is to get it nicely browned without burning, hence the low oven temperature.
4. Once the mixture is browned, take the tray out and let it cool.
5. Add the extra ingredients (seeds, nuts, dried fruits) and mix well.
6. Store in an airtight container or a zip-lock bag - it should keep for at least a week, but I doubt it will last that long (especially not with me around).

Sunday 16 September 2007

Razzle-dazzle Chicago musical

I accompanied Rob's mum to watch the Chicago musical in Times Square (Broadway) on Friday night. Both of us had watched the Oscar-winning movie and loved it, so naturally we wanted to watch the stage musical which the movie was based on. What can I say other than "wow"? Talented cast, sexy bodies, engrossing plot. Of course, having the view from a seat in the third row from the front certainly helps.

Unlike our last trip to a Broadway show, I brought my camera to take shots of the bright crowded streets of Times Square.

An intersection near the 42nd St subway station; outside the Ambassador Theatre:


The playbill:


Not related to the show: at the subway station in Times Square, there was this dwarf guy who did an impersonation of Michael Jackson. He was pretty good, and drew quite a crowd as he danced Michael Jackson's moves. I couldn't resist taking a shot of him:

Saturday 15 September 2007

Szechuan @ Spicy & Tasty, Flushing (NYC)

We were told by local foodies that there are good Chinese food to be had in Flushing, Queens which is one of the five outer boroughs of NYC. No wonder, since Flushing is home to the second largest Chinatown community in NYC. It's huge, unglamorous and crowded with Asian faces - yep that's Chinatown. Michael, the same eGulleter who accompanied us to have some yummy Malaysian, kindly suggested his favourite Chinese restaurant in all of NYC: Spicy & Tasty. The name sounded somewhat tacky, but I was assured that this is good and authentic spicy Szechuan fare. I love Szechuan cuisine in all its spicy glory, especially the hot-n-sour soup :9

Anyway, Chinese food is best eaten banquet-style (i.e. share many dishes), so it was clear to me that we needed more people in order to get the best out of this trip, which is a 1-hour ride on the subway from downtown Manhattan. The same Michael joined us with two of his friends, and with five people, we could sample a fair number of dishes. However I wasn't counting on dietary restrictions - one of them was a vegetarian and the other wasn't very adventurous and didn't eat spicy food. We still managed to order something for everyone, although I did feel somewhat guilty as we had many spicy dishes, and many meat dishes. Michael was the only one among the five of us who'd been to Spicy & Tasty before, so we relied a lot on his recommendations.

We ordered four cold dishes: two noodle dishes ("Spicy" and "Sesame"), seasoned cucumbers and jellyfish. The noodles were nice, but I'm not big on cold noodles. I really liked the jellyfish, which was served with a nice salty sauce with lettuce, but it seemed like I was the only one eating it (I think there's the ick factor with jellyfish) so it got a bit OTT towards the end.


Hot and Sour Soup, and Spicy Beef. I'd actually expected one serving of the soup, not a huge bowl for five because I was the only one at the table who wanted to try this. As a result I had about 5 bowls of this at the table, and took home the remainder. Talk about sodium overload! The water retention I had the following day was unbelieveable! The beef was tender, and tastily spiced with the Szechuan pepper.


Tofu in Special Sauce, and Soybean-encrusted Bass. The tofu was so-so but the fish was really yummy! It's not a very good looking dish, but the crusty coating was as delicious as the fish itself, and this was a favourite at the table as it was the first dish finished.


We also ordered green string beans which was tasty albeit a bit too salty. I didn't pay much attention to the price of each dish, but we paid $20 each including a generous tip. Overall, the food was pretty good and as authentic as you can get with large serving sizes. The food lives up to the restaurant's name: spicy and tasty; however, for some reason, I still prefer the familiar authentic Chinese food back in Northbridge's Chinatown.

Thursday 13 September 2007

Quick update

We have less than three weeks before we return to Japan. We have Rob's mum visiting us at the moment in NYC, so I've been downright busy with planning her itinerary (a rather thankless and time consuming job) as well as job-searching and apartment-hunting in Tokyo. But these must be done and I have to do them. My younger sister arrives on Sunday and her stay will coincide with Rob's mum's stay for one week, so it looks like I will be very busy right up until we ourselves leave NYC.

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Download free cookbook to help charity?

Sounds like my kinda deal! Barilla have launched an online cookbook where every download will result in a $1 donation (up to $20,000) to the Children's Food Education Foundation. Click here for more information and to download this free Barilla Celebrity Pasta Lovers' Cookbook. Do it, now!

Monday 10 September 2007

My first celebrity sighting!

Last Friday, we saw a notice posted in the lobby of our apartment complex that there would be a filming scheduled on Monday morning between 6am and 9am, and management apologised in advance for any inconvenience caused by the filming. We forgot all about that until we stepped out of the elevators this morning and saw the film crew. I was so busy trying to get us out of the way as quick as possible that Rob had to actually point out that it was Cameron Diaz right next to us! Dang, I wished I could've stayed and watched, but I had things to do this morning. I came back to the complex an hour later at 9am, and the film crew was still there, with Cameron still standing in the lobby. Of course, I wanted to watch (eventhough I have a lot to do - preparing for a phone interview was one of them) so after putting away my groceries, down the elevator I went again with my camera. Standing in the lobby meant that I'd be in the way of filming, so I went outside to the street and took photos from there so that I had proof of my sighting!! So here's my show 'n tell.. (limited since I didn't stay long to watch)

(By the way, they were filming for What Happens In Vegas...)

Part of the film crew outside of our apartment complex; and filming in progress along Wall Street:


Filming still in progress; Cameron (and her bodyguards?) on the way to her trailer on Water Street:


So that's my exciting piece today.. Back to work...

Rollerblading madness

We just rollerbladed the whole 5 mile (8km?) length of the Hudson River Park bike path. Crazy feat considering we are only beginners at this rollerblading thing, but dang are we proud of this achievement. Mind you, it was a rather nervous start tackling slopes and discontinuities in the pathway, but we persevered. We still have a long ways to go yet before rollerblading can become a feasible means of transport, but hey, by the end of the trip, I was going faster than the joggers!

Before our rollerblading trip, we went to Times Square Church at my older sister's recommendation. When she said we should go early for good seats, I chuckled because she made it sound like we were going to a theatre show - but she wasn't kidding. We arrived at 10am on the dot for their morning service, and the whole theatre was already completely full with people standing. We had to go to their annex building to watch the service through a big screen, and the seats were full with many people standing by the time the sermon began. It was huge! Being in Times Square, the church building is actually a huge theatre with gorgeous decorations. There was even a whole ochestra and a huge choir (all garbed in those choir uniforms) on stage. I think there was at least 3000 people present at the morning service (and I hear that there are more than 8000 people who attends this church every week). With all that said, it's not really my kinda church, more of some place to go to for the "wow" factor.

Sunday 9 September 2007

Waiting for Lady Liberty

The trip to Liberty Island to see the statue is actually a pretty simple affair of hopping on the ferry, riding 15 minutes from downtown Manhattan, and disembarking at Liberty Island for a look-see around. Sounds relatively painless right? Well, let's see, we arrived at Battery Park to catch the ferry at 12pm, but we didn't actually step inside the statue's pedestal until 3pm.

When I researched online about visiting Liberty Island, I found that we aren't actually allowed inside the statue (post-9/11), and that there are only a limited amount of people allowed to inside the monument for each 3-hour intervals per day, and that we needed a special 'timed pass' which goes very quickly on weekends. This pass can only be obtained when buying the ferry tickets at Battery Park jetty, or booked in advance when you buy the ferry tickets online (for a $1.75 additional fee). Last weekend was a long weekend (Labour Day) so these 'monument passes' ran out a week beforehand - I felt sorry for the many who couldn't step inside the monument because there weren't any passes left. I bought our tickets and booked the passes more than 1 week prior to our trip, but did that help? Well, we didn't have to wait as long as many others to grab our ferry tickets, but we waited a good 1.5 hours in line to get on the ferry. The queue was very long, which would have been amazing if it wasn't so annoying.

A shot taken while waiting in line. Battery Park serves as a temporary memorial of the 9/11 event featuring an eternal flame in front of The Sphere, which was the mangled centerpiece that once stood at the center of the WTC plaza prior to the 9/11 event:


Then we had to go through a security check before getting on the ferry - a post-9/11 security measure. Finally, we were on the way! We arrived on the island at 2pm, and headed straight for the monument. It was a good thing there were only a limited number of people who could enter because there was yet another excruciatingly long wait to enter due to yet another annoyingly tedious security check. So that's why it took us 3 hours before we finally stepped inside the statue.

It was nice to learn about the history of Lady Liberty, and the views of Manhattan and New Jersey were breathtaking, but I wonder if a 3-hour wait was worth something that took a mere 1 hour to look at. I'm sure if we could have seen Lady Liberty on a weekday, we would have done so. Anyway, here are some photos for your viewing pleasure - you don't have to go through what we did to see what we saw.

Kids at the Lady's copper foot inside the museum. We had to climb almost 200 steps to reach the top of the statue's pedestal - the climb upwards was significantly more difficult than the climb back down. There are elevators for those who wish not to climb the stairs.


The original torch inside the monument; the Statue of Liberty in all her green glory. Did you know that the statue is made of copper? The green colour is oxidisation at work:


Last but not least, a panoramic view from the most popular side of the pedestal (hey, I did my best stitching three shots together). Click for larger image:

Saturday 8 September 2007

Chocolates in New York

We've been having so much fun trying out all sorts of different brands of dark chocolate available in NYC. I've lost track of the brands we've tried, but there are a few that I quite like. It's easier to write about the different taste of chocolates when you have several to compare with at the same time, so this review features three brands. For fairness and consistency, I've reviewed only plain chocolates that have the same cacao content and cost at least $4 for a 100g bar.

75-77% cacao



First up is Select Origin Chocolates ($3.75 for 85g) by Lake Champlain Chocolates (LCC). Rob loves these! I am pretty impressed with this, for an American brand. The Tanzania Dark Chocolate contains 75% cacao, yet it is really smooth and sweet - surprising for such a high cacao content. The ingredients list is also quite plain: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter and soybean lecithin. No added flavours, yet it has a light fruity fragrance.

The Vintage Plantations Arriba Chocolates ($3.99 for 100g) are the first Rainforest Alliance-certified bars, which gives us the assurance that third-world farmers are not being exploited to make these chocolates whilst preserving the Ecuadorian rainforest. These Arriba cocoa are grown solely in Ecuador, and the packaging says that these chocolates are processed at the plantation in Ecuador itself. I like the idea behind this chocolate brand, and since our previous encounter with Ecuadorian chocolate was good (compared with Venezuelen and Trinidad), I didn't hesitate in grabbing the 75% Dark to try. The first thing that struck me was the strong fragrance even before opening the packaging. A bit of research reveals that the "Arriba” is the only cocoa bean with a perfumed floral scent, and the ingredients list reflects the aim to preserve this floral note with no added flavours or vegetable fat. The texture is not very smooth, and the taste is a bit tart and astringent, reminiscent of the taste of tannins in unripe fruits. It has quite a woody flavour too, if that makes sense. Rob actually didn't like this chocolate as much as others he's tried. He thought it had a strong liquour taste, which I think is attributed to the strong fragrance. Myself, I actually enjoyed this - it's a chocolate with a good cause.

The last chocolate from this list was the most expensive (more than $5 for 50g bar), but the most disappointing too. Teuscher is a Swiss brand name, and we picked up this Chocolate 77 bar at their Fifth Avenue shop in the Rockefeller Centre. Swiss chocolates are one of our favourite types, but my disappointment with this particular brand did not stem from un-met high expectations. Yes, it was smooth, as is characteristic of chocolates from Switzerland, but it was bland. It was neither sweet nor bitter, and considering its significant 77% cacao content, where was that chocolatey taste? The lack of character failed to impress. Perhaps they make good truffles?

70% cacao



For the 70% cacao content chocolates, there's LCC's Sao Thome Dark Chocolate and Scharffen Berger (SB) which is another an American brand. The LCC Sao Thome chocolate is smooth and sweet with a subtle undertone of vanilla flavour. It has a more woody chocolate flavour than the SB chocolate bar. The SB chocolate ($4.99 for 100g) has a smooth mouthfeel and a light fruity tang, but it contains added vanilla which kinda overwhelms the tastebuds compared to the LCC Sao Thome. We both prefered LCC chocolate because it tasted more chocolatey than SB, which is great because it's also cheaper.

Thursday 6 September 2007

Ethiopian @ Ghenet, New York

I remember a few years ago reading about Ethiopian cuisine. I was intrigued by the fact that food is served on the tablecloth, and the tablecloth is then eaten! Of course, the 'tablecloth' is not actually cloth, but injera, which is an unleavened bread from Ethiopia. Needless to say, after reading about Ethiopian food, I was yearning to try some. Alas, although the Perth restaurant scene is quite diverse due to its multicultural population, African food is unfortunately not very popular. Who would've thought that I would one day actually get a taste of Ethiopia without stepping inside Ethiopia?

(When I mentioned to Rob about trying Ethiopian food, he made a funny comment that it'd be strange eating food from a country that he related with famines. Famine or not, Ethiopian food is yummy!)

There are a few notable Ethiopian restaurants in NYC, and Ghenet is one of them. We went in at 3pm on a Saturday to avoid any lunch crowds, and sure enough, the place was quiet. Our waiter was perhaps affected by the mid-afternoon slump because service was only so-so, but there's not much to complain here because he did his job satisfactorily. We asked for recommendations, and he suggested trying one of the combinations, where each of us could choose 1 meat dish and 2 vegetarian dishes (i.e. altogether 2 meats and 4 vegs). Great for trying a variety of dishes, all for $31.50 (excl tax) for the both of us.

For meat, we chose Doro Wett (spicy chicken) and Siga Wett (spicy beef), both of which came with a side serving of split peas. For vegetables, we had Gomen Wett (spicy collard greens), Atkelt Wett (cabbage, potato and carrot with caramelised onion sauce), Misir Wett (spicy lentils) and Shiro Wett (spicy beans). As you can tell, Ethiopian food features a lot of spices, but not spicy in the chilli sense. As expected, the food came out served on top of a big piece of injera (on a huge plate), with additional injera on the side to scoop up the sauces into your mouth.

The sauces for both the chicken and beef were different, despite having the same "wett" in their names, with the chicken dish having more of a milky, buttery taste. Both of the meat dishes were rich, and it didn't take long before we'd had enough of either. On the other hand, the vegetarian dishes were done very well, particularly the spicy beans. We both agreed that the vegetarian dishes were better than the meat dishes.

Our plate (unfortunately not very photogenic); and a closer look at injera, which is a spongy sourdough pancake-like bread that is very floopy:


This was a good experience - there's something beautiful yet fundamental about eating with your fingers. I used to eat with my hands when I was younger, because it was the traditional way my mum would usually eat her food (strangely I haven't observed her doing that much since migrating out of Malaysia). The Indians and Malays also traditionally eat with their fingers.

Like I said before, Ethiopian food is good, famine or not. I'm glad I finally had the opportunity to try this cuisine.

Wednesday 5 September 2007

Simple single-serve fish pie

This is one of those easy recipes made with oh-so-few ingredients but taste yummy and is good for you. I used chicken stock to make the potato mash, but feel free to use the usual milk and butter if you want (I'm lactose-intolerant and dislike the taste of butter). Serves two.

Ingredients

600g potatoes for mashing (go for the starchy ones, not waxy)
salt and pepper to taste
some oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup chicken stock
250g non-oily fish fillet, chopped into chunks (I used hake)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed and cooked
grated cheese (I used cheddar and parmesan)
dried parsley

Method

1. Make the mash (peel and cut potatoes into even chunks, boil in water until cooked, drain, add liquid (chicken stock or milk/butter), mash then season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the cooked peas with the mash.
2. Preheat oven to 170degC.
3. Heat the oil in a fry pan over medium high heat and saute the onion until softened. Add the garlic and stir for half a minute to roast it, then pour in half of the chicken stock to deglaze the pan.
4. Cook the fish chunks with the onion and garlic, and turn off the heat when the fish is cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Divide the fish into two portions, and spoon into two oven-proof bowls. Top with the potato mash and peas mixture, and sprinkle the cheese on top.
6. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese topping has melted and browned.
7. Remove from oven, sprinkle with dried parsley and let it stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Who says simple can't taste good?

Tuesday 4 September 2007

Sophisticated Mexican @ Pampano, New York

Following on with our foray into the gastronomic scene in NYC, last Sunday saw us having an early dinner at Pampano, a restaurant that does a modern spin, seafood-style, on the Mexican cuisine. To be honest, one of my reasons for trying this restaurant was curiousity. Many of the Mexican dishes that I am familiar with (e.g. enchilada, taco, burrito etc) are what I'd consider street-food: fast food, bold flavours, easy to make and not-so-healthy. So here is a 'fine dining' restaurant that dresses up Mexican flavours and puts a pretty hefty price on their dishes. Using seafood too. Curious, right?

We were greeted at the front desk and were asked if we wanted outdoor or indoor seating. The evening was early, it was a warm day, so up we went to the rooftop dining area. It's a nice swanky restaurant and great service to boot! Our waiter was friendly, attentive and helpful. Whilst poring over the menu, we munched on some spicy guacamole which was very addictive.

Colourful fake fish decoration next to me; the two-tiered guac-and-chips:


We ordered a 'mocktail' (non-alcoholic cocktail-style drink), and our waiter made us a lovely strawberry one (they'd actually ran out of fresh strawberries and had to rush to the shops to buy some for our drinks). For appetiser, we had a trio of Ceviche Tasting ($27): [clockwise from top left] Mahi mahi (with citrus tomato and chile serrano); Atun (tuna with tomatillo, chile poblano and mango); and Camaron (shrimp with lime, avocado and chile habanero). I loved the tuna ceviche - the tuna paired very well with the sweet mango. My least favourite was the mahi mahi - the dressing was too acidic to enjoy. The shrimp reminded me a bit of the cocktail-style shrimps. Ceviche is currently huge here in the U.S., and has been touted as 'the new sushi', although you can't really compare the two with each other. Me, I prefer sushi over ceviche.



For main course, I ordered Pescado Azteca ($27), pan-fried golden bass served on huitlacoche flan, Peruvian corn and chile guajillo consommé. This is my first time trying huitlacoche ("It's black corn and very delicious", says our waiter), and it wasn't as unpleasant as what I'd expected diseased corn to taste like. The 'flan' was actually more like a pudding, which had a very milky taste which I didn't really enjoy (I don't like milk very much). The fish was a bit overcooked, but we've long ago resigned to the fact that non-Japanese likes their fish very well-done. The consomme was oily, but not in an overly unpleasant way. I couldn't eat a lot of the pudding, but I certainly enjoyed picking the huge Peruvian corn kernels out of the pudding to eat.

Rob didn't take as long as I did to choose his main course: Mariscada ($24) - a medley of shrimps, calamari, scallop and octopus with cilantro rice and achiote~coconut sauce. The few mouthfuls I had of his dish tasted great, but it was the kind of rich, greasy dish that wouldn't take long to reach the stage where each additional mouthful was getting progressively too much.

My fish and Rob's shrimp rice:


Rob couldn't resist dessert, and ordered Pastel de Elote ($8) - warm corn cake with coconut ice cream and hibiscus sauce. The corn cake was slightly sweet, and its warm fluffy texture was a perfect offset against the coconut ice cream. The tart hibiscus sauce went well with both the cake and the ice cream.



This was a pleasant dining experience, but I felt that the main courses weren't done as well as they could. Mexican cuisine in general has strong flavours and very often greasy, and I think that these don't go very well with seafood, which needs to be treated a bit more gently. I guess that's why Mexican food doesn't often feature seafood. The trio of ceviches were good, and the dessert was very tasty. And our waiter's service made our dining experience very enjoyable.