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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

Wednesday 28 May 2014

Scrumptious seafood @ Ristorante Portivene 1, Portovenere (Italy)

Hi from Malaysia! We've been here since Friday for my cousin's wedding in Kuala Lumpur, and we're now in Kota Kinabalu for a short side trip before heading back home to Hong Kong. This was a great opportunity to introduce baby girl to relatives who haven't yet met her, and apologies to the bride because baby girl almost stole the limelight from the her. I will have more photos to add to my ever-growing backlog of photos for this blog. Speaking of which, here's a post from our trip to Europe last summer.

When we were in Portovenere, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a small restaurant that prepared local dishes featuring seafood caught off the Ligurian coast. Portivene Un Mare di Sapori is currently ranked #1 on tripadvisor for restaurants in Portovenere, and it definitely was a good choice for sampling the local specialties. I loved the nautical-themed decor, and the simple and relatively short menu made it a breeze to make our choices for a quick lunch.

The entrance into Ristorante Portivene:

The blue nautical interior of the restaurant:

Trio of fritters (5&euro, called "pancakes" on the English version of the menu), featuring locally caught seafood - salted cod, anchovies and mussel:

Rustic Pizza with Mussels (7.50&euro) - delicious and done right on a tomato base without cheese:

Linguine Byron (7.50&euro) - with squid, fresh tomatoes, olives and pesto. The squids were tender, and the tomato-based sauce was yummy:

Towards the end of our meal, we noticed Carpaccio di Tonno Fresco (tuna carpaccio) written on the daily special board, so we ordered one. Fresh and very enjoyable (though I had to limit myself due to the fact that I was 5 months pregnant at the time, and was concerned about the mercury content):

Fresh seafood and good quality ingredients are what you'll get at Ristorante Portivene. This gets my thumbs up!

Ristorante Portivene 1
Via Capellini, 94
19025 Portovenere
La Spezia, Italy
Tel. +39 0187 792722

Sunday 18 May 2014

"Aussie fusion" @ Bluetrain, Melbourne (Australia)

If you were to ask me to describe "Australian cuisine", I would first draw a blank. Not because there is a lack of cuisine there, but because Australia is so diversely multicultural, that you can get almost any kind of cuisine in the city. Then after some thought, I would probably list out sausage rolls, meat pies, anything on the 'barbie' (i.e. barbecue), fish and chips, damper, and Vegemite. And then after more thought, the awesome 'bush tucker' would come to mind. If you were to walk into a cafe like Bluetrain that serves modern Aussie food, you most probably won't find the above-mentioned food on the menu. Instead, expect to find more contemporary and creative dishes that fuses with other food cultures around. When we were in Melbourne a few months ago, we met up with a friend who I'd met five years ago in Tokyo. She was my Lifegroup leader of the mums' group that I started attending shortly after my son was born, and that weekly group meeting was my lifeline as a young mother living in a foreign city. I drew a lot of help, encouragement and support from this mixed group of both Japanese and expatriate mothers, and was greatly saddened when Coral and her family relocated back to Melbourne. It really was lovely to meet up with Coral and her children again after almost four years over dinner at Bluetrain, and I was glad to see the kids get along very well (my son was but a baby when they left Tokyo).

Modern decor with lots of sunlight:

And a lovely view of the Yarra River:

Bluetrain has a prime location on the upper level of the Southgate Complex overlooking the Yarra River. The restaurant was quite busy that Monday evening, so I suppose it is quite popular with the locals and tourists alike. Bluetrain is family-friendly dining, and the kids were given coloured pencils and the kids menu which had a fun illustration that could be coloured in. The service was friendly, but my son's order for chocolate milkshake got forgotten. This was quickly rectified when we enquired about it, but the milkshake was only so-so - the flavour was pretty flat, and could do with a lot more chocolate syrup. The food was quite good, and together with the floor-to-ceiling window views of the river, I can see why Bluetrain is a popular choice.

Pizza, from the kids' menu - simple cheese and tomato paste topping:

Hubby's Lamb Backstrap, which was delicious with a sweet balsamic sauce:

Pumpkin Salad with chicken, sunflower seeds, marinated feta, zucchini ribbons, walnuts, olive oil and sumac dressing. I really liked this salad for the texture and flavours :

The cake display opposite the entrance to Bluetrain:

This lemon meringue pie was picked out by my friend's son. It looked so good, I asked to take a photo of it:

Hubby chose Jaffa Cake - chocolate and orange are always a winning combination, though this one was a little stale like it had been sitting in the display case all day:

We had a good time at Bluetrain, enjoying great company over delicious food.

Bluetrain
Shop UR3, Upper Level
Southgate Complex
Southbank VIC 3006
Australia
Tel +61 3 9696 0111

Bluetrain on Urbanspoon

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Brunch @ Madam S'ate, Hong Kong

On Sunday I celebrated my fifth Mother's Day. My day began at 4:20am (which reminded me of my first couple Mother's Days), but despite the too-early start, I had a pretty good day. My boy was sweet and (mostly) well-behaved, the baby had two solid naps (instead of the cat naps she'd been taking the past few weeks due to growth spurts and reaching developmental milestones), and hubby really wanted to make it an extra special day for me. On Sunday mornings I usually take the kids out to church so that hubby could enjoy some downtime on his own; however the baby fell asleep before we needed to head out, so the boy and I enjoyed a rare one-on-one time with each other. Once we were back home, hubby and I discussed lunch options, and for some strange reason, I didn't feel like eating out, so hubby said he'd cook. I didn't want hubby to bother himself in the kitchen on his day off (because cooking is a chore and not a pleasure for him), so we headed back out to a newish restaurant in the mall downstairs that we had yet to try. Just before heading out, hubby said I looked happy, and I was! I guess I must've been quite the harried sleep-deprived housewife/mother since the baby was born a few months ago, that just 2.5 hours being baby-free to fully enjoy my firstborn's company was enough to get me happy and relaxed.


Madam S'ate is the more casual sister restaurant of well-known Madam Sixty Ate, and it recently opened in October in the rooftop dining section of the Elements mall. It went on my list of restaurants-to-try since I first got wind of this restaurant-to-be last August, but it kinda fell off my mind in the months to come (having a baby would do that), and I was only recently reminded of it when we ate at one of our favourite restaurants. We hoped that the restaurant would have worked out most of its growing pains seven months after opening, but we found that there was still room for improvement. It's a lovely restaurant with a laidback and comfortable atmosphere, and the waitstaff were polite and friendly, but there was one waitress who needs to be either re-trained or re-purposed so that she doesn't deal with the customers. We consider ourselves to be fairly low maintenance customers, and we wouldn't have minded if it was a once-off occurrence, that perhaps she forgot our request, but it wasn't - three times we made requests with this particular waitress, and all three times she acknowledged our requests, yet we were left waiting and waiting until we had to call over another waitstaff who would promptly see to our requests. The food was excellent and nicely presented, which more than made up for the patchy service.

For the boy: Two Poached Eggs with sautéed spinach, béarnaise, English muffin, aka eggs benedict (HK$100, add thick-cut bacon or smoked salmon for extra HK$30). It looked great, and the boy ate all of that on his own, saying it was very yummy. The poached egg was more like onsen tamago (hot spring eggs), with runny whites and set yolk, and I believe these were slow-poached at around 65 degrees (explaining why we waited 30 minutes to receive it):

Hubby ordered a cappuccino while waiting for our food to arrive (we ordered the boy's food first while we decided on what we were going to have). Pretty good coffee:

Hubby's Tartine with Smoked Salmon, crème fraîche, capers and herb (HK$130). This was delicious! It was a good combination of flavours and textures - the smoky creaminess of the salmon with the salty capers, tart crème fraîche and crunchy red radish all pulled together on crunchy toast and fresh dill:

The Madam S'ate One-pan with poached egg, thick-cut bacon, grilled tomato, French mushrooms, pork and black pepper sausage (HK$130) - high protein and lots of vegetables make this a nutritious and filling meal on one plate:

The yolk from the slow-cooked poached egg

Babycino, with mini marshmallows and chocolate syrup (HK$10)

For the grown-ups: Affogato. The espresso was good (as we already knew from the cappuccino), but we felt it could be a bit hotter, and a little more ice cream would make this come close to the perfect one we had in Italy:

The Ice Cream Sandwich (HK$80), with coconut macaroon and strawberry ice cream. Wow, this dessert was executed well - it really was like eating a giant macaroon sandwich with ice cream filling

I really enjoyed the food at Madam S'ate. So although service could do with a bit of improvement, the food will bring us back here again.

[Prices quoted above do not include the 10% service charge.]

Madam S'ate
Shop R009, 3rd Floor
Civic Square Rooftop
Elements Shopping Mall
1 Austin Road West
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel. +85 2 2537 7555

Thursday 8 May 2014

Boat trip to Portovenere

There is nothing more blissful than a boat trip on the Mediterranean Sea enjoying the beautiful midsummer's blue sky and the gorgeous views of the Cinque Terre. The final destination of that boat trip was Portovenere, a town located south of the Cinque Terre. We disembarked at Portovenere for lunch and some sight-seeing before taking the return ferry and train back to Levanto where we were staying. This UNESCO World Heritage Site has beautiful ancient architecture, and there are plenty of opportunities for photography of both the natural and cultural landscapes.

Doria Castle and the Church of St Peter, as seen from the boat on the Mediterranean:

The Church of St Peter, seen from the boat:

The Doria Castle and the colourful narrow buildings in front:

At the grounds of the Church of St Peter:


Doria Castle as seen from the Church:

A panoramic view from the top of the stairs to the Church of St Peter (click image for larger view):

Hanging out in the streets of Portovenere:

And enjoying some delicious local gelato:

Corniglia from a different angle to the ones taken in the morning. This was the only Cinque Terre town we didn't set foot in because of its elevated location that required either hiking up or catching a bus. Also visible is the windy road up to the town from the train station near the sea level:

Approaching Monterosso, the northernmost Cinque Terre town. Visible in the shot is the start of the hiking trail we took on previous day:

We wandered a little through Monterosso, and briefly stepped inside the Church of San Giovanni Battista:

And then it was time to head back to Levanto for dinner and bedtime! Stay tuned for more!

Sunday 4 May 2014

Delicious unagi (eel) and hitsumabushi @ Atsuta Houraiken Matsuzakaya-ten, Nagoya (Japan)

The previous three posts on this blog saw me writing about Chinese food in Hong Kong, our trip to Italy, and eating African food in Australia. I love how easy it is to travel these days, and the diversified experiences that travelling rewards us with. Today's post is about Japanese food we had during our most recent overseas trip to Japan, and I hope no one's getting dizzy as I switch between travels and food experiences to catch up on my ever-increasing backlog of photos.

Aside from miso-nikomi udon, another of Nagoya's food specialty is hitsumabushi, an unagi (freshwater eel) dish. Hitsumabushi is a variant of the more well known unadon - eel kabayaki served on top of rice and accompanied by seasonings and dashi broth. I ate something similar at a little hole-in-the-wall place in Tsukiji a few years ago when we were still living in Tokyo, and enjoyed the experience. Atsuta Houraiken is where hitsumabushi is said to have originated from, and the main restaurant was founded in 1873 at Atsuta Jingu Shrine. Atsuta Houraiken has three branches, and two are located in Sakae, which is really conveniently close to the hotel we stayed at. At the end of a fabulous day at Nagoya castle, we walked over to the humungous Matsuzakaya Department Store, one of the oldest department stores in Japan (established in 1611) and the three buildings boasts the largest floor space in Japan. It took a bit of effort to locate this particular branch of Atsuta Houraiken because we failed to pay attention to its location in the South Building. By the time we arrived around 7:45pm, there was a really long queue of hungry diners waiting for dinner at Houraiken. I think we must have waited about 45 minutes to an hour for a table, but we were too tired to look for alternatives. The wait was well worth it, because that was the best unagi I've ever tasted (and four years living in Japan granted me plenty of eel-eating opportunities).

The entrance to Atsuta Houraiken at Matsuzakaya Department Store. To the right is a display of three of Houraiken's most popular unagi dishes:

The main dining area (photo taken around 10pm, so it was relatively empty):

The hallway into the tatami rooms, where we were seated:

There was a choice of dining at the bar, table or tatami room. Service was good and efficient (as one would expect from Japanese hospitality). The menu was brief, but that meant the kitchen could focus on serving their specialised dishes to an excellent standard. And the food was delicious.

For the 5-year-old, an order of Umaki - omelet wrapped eel. This tamagoyaki with unagi within its layers was a sheer genius combo:

Hubby chose the Unagi Shirayaki (literally "white-grilled eel", without sauce), served with rice, tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and soup:

The shirayaki option was a great way to taste the good quality eel on its own without the distraction of sauce and condiments. The eel was meltingly tender and sweet, with no muddy or brackish flavour that I often could taste in unagi:

I ordered Houraiken's most famous dish, the Hitsumabushi, complete with condiments and dashi broth in addition to the tsukemono and soup:

English instructions on how to eat hitsumabushi:

Grilled eel on rice:

Step 1 - just the eel and rice. This was my favourite of the three ways to eat:

Step 2 - eel, rice and the toppings of sliced green onion, wasabi and nori:

This was the waiting area outside the restaurant. The queue snaked from the left of the shot, all the way around to where hubby is standing with the baby pram:

Atsuta Houraiken is probably the best place to taste excellent quality eel in Japan. It is a popular choice at mealtimes, so try making reservations in advance, walk in at non-peak times, or be prepared to wait.

Atsuta Houraiken [Matsuzakaya-ten]
10th Floor, South Building
Matsuzakaya Nagoya Department Store
3-30-8 Sakae,
Naka-ku, Nagoya
Aichi 460-0008
Japan
Tel. +81 52-264-3825