u m a m i

GZ- DIY foods

         

One final post on Guangzhou, which is noteworthy for the fact that this was the first time we actually cooked our meals while 'on holiday'. One of the reasons we decided to stay in a serviced apartment, other than the fact that it is cheaper than a hotel and that it has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and plenty of living space, is the convenience of a kitchen to cook foods for the baby. Porridge and soups, quick, easy, nutritious stuff. Good for us adults too, as it can be tiresome, not to mention rather costly to eat out all the time.

We brought along a sturdy saucepan, some chilli condiments and herbal medicines as well as baby foods and bottle steriliser. The apartment came equipped with a microwave which we used a lot for steaming, also some pots and pans but not a wok. A nice range of water and wine glasses and other cutleries and crockeries were also provided. At first we lugged big bottles of water from the supermarkets every day but soon we found out that we could rent water dispensers at about 8 yuan a day. Watson's water from Hong Kong is more expensive than the local brands like C'est bon, but it tasted far better, and what a convenience it was to have the dispensers, we were getting through almost a jar a day, it even dispensed boiling-hot water.

There is a small wet market within walking distance from the apartment, and we soon found ourselves enjoying the morning walk with the mostly elderly residents in the neighbourhood. The market is bustling and colourful, everything was really fresh and cheap- see chicken in the middle picture which later became our dinner; we could even buy eggs still warm from hatching, and even 'the best soya sauce in China' which is not available at the supermarkets (so the vendor informed us). At the supermarkets, we found the next most popular soya sauce, Master's, which is much like our Maggi seasoning.

My favourite find were little jars of crab roe sauces, retailing at a most reasonable 24 yuan; a spoonful of it transformed plain congee into bowls of luxury and provided oomph to simple steamed omelets.

          

As we didn't want the small apartment to smell too much of cooking fumes we limited ourselves to making soups, refreshing herbal drinks, congees, steamed fish/ chicken/ omelets or braised dishes. For variety, we bought supermarket fen pi (pea thread noodle) salads, roasted meats or cold cuts.

We really appreciated the convenience of being able to cook whatever and whenever we want, even in a foreign city. It was for us, a little home away from home, being able to sit down and enjoy a simple family meal by ourselves, it just made the 10 days we spent in the city pass a lot more pleasurably. 

And that brings us to the end of our GZ postings. I'll be going to KL for the next week or so, for work and visiting with family, a break that I am really looking forward to after these few hectic weeks. In the meantime, I wish my readers a good week ahead and happy eating! Cheers!

GZ- not just good for Cantonese food y'know

                     

Before I go on, I would like also to point out that the Cantonese value another neighbouring cuisine as much as their own, and that is the Chiu Chow/ Teochew style as these two dialect groups are neighbours in the same province. The Chiu Chow style is mainly about minimally tampering with ingredients and emphasis on clear flavours so many dishes are steamed or lightly dressed, very similar to the Cantonese less-is-more philosophy. This is the reason why many Cantonese restaurant have a menu dedicated to Chiu Chow dishes.

The other Chinese cuisine favoured here is Hunanese food. There are branches of Hunan Home all over the city, one of which happens to be at, surprise!, Victory Plaza. A large room furnished in the trendy canteen style, the restaurant was busy but not crowded the day we visited. It is also staffed by very sweet natured and pretty waitresses who came by often the pinch baby V's chubby cheeks.

The food is hearty and rustic, with very deep and in-your-face flavours, the cooks use cloves and other pungent spices with abandon, it is as as homely as Cantonese dishes are sophisticated. Portions are unsurprisingly, rather generous. I was very taken with a humble dish of boiled lotus roots, the lotus root had a pleasing "fan" or fluffy powdery texture instead of the usual crispiness and the flavours were surprisingly meaty either from its inherent composition or the meaty broth it was cooked in.               

                     

Tender beef in chilli sauce was scattered generously with garlic and chillis, the meat was cooked slow and long in a meaty stock enhanced with plenty of the same garlic and peppers as well as abundant doses of assorted pungent spices. Not too hot if one takes care to shake it free of the garnishes and most of its sauce, this was a perfect accompaniment to steamed white rice and loads of stirfried greens.

                     

I could not resist ordering thick crab roe soup and it was a good thing I did. The soup was thick without being too starchy, and inside floated dreamlike pieces of tofu and frilly egg bit. It was similar to thick shark fins soup, with the crab roe flavours cranked up 20 fold, nice if you like crab roe like I do.

                      

Of course we couldn't be eating Chinese food all the time. One day my palate just screamed for french fries. Off we went to the neighbourhood around Garden Hotel, and stumbled upon Madison's. We shared a chilli dog and a hamburger between us three adults. The chilli dog was fine if one overlooked the strange choice of an overcrispy sesame roll. The burgers, on the other hand, was an irredeemable failure- the patty was of the frozen horror variety while the fries reeked of heavily recycled oil.

A much better place for "western" or at least the Chinese version of "western" was the Greenery Cafe which also has branches all over the city. The menu is very broad ranging, it has flower teas, ice cream shakes, grilled lamb racks, Thai curry with rice and noodles soups. Their french fries were superb, each skinny fry crisp on the outside and fluffy without being hollow inside, good till the very last piece. Everything else we ate and drank were made with obvious care and effort, it is what our own Swensen's and Jack's Place can be like if they only try a little harder.

                      

Around the same neighbourhood as Madison's is a tiny pizzeria called Pizzeria. The local magazines wrote that it was started by a hippie and that it was highly popular so we checked it out. The crust was of the thick variety which I am not a fan of, nevertheless the pies were freshly made and not too inedible.            

                     

I was surprised to read that Turkish cuisine ranks as one of the top 7 most popular cuisines in the city. Not Szechuan, not Mexican, not Vietnamese, not Korean, but yeah, Turkish. We had to go find out why so we took a taxi across town to Sultan Turkish Restaurant. The restaurant sits between posh La Perle and a Guangzhou Friendship Store. Once we walked through its doors we were instantly transported to the exotic Middle East. Every inch of the walls, floors and ceilings were tiled with mosaic and decorated with more gilt, azure, mirrors, tall backed European style chairs, deep banquettes, cushions and curtains. Middle Eastern customers outnumber Chinese and the restaurant had a vibrant happy vibe much like what I imagine a bazaar to be like as the local Turkish population and their friends gather together for stupendously good Turkish food. I didn't even imagine there are so many Turkish people in China, let alone Guangzhou but there we were, surrounded by middle aged Turkish businessmen and their younger compatriots.

Every table was served a complimentary garlicky dip which was very creamy, with garlic sweetness and an unexpected raw finish, this was unstoppably good especially with freshly baked flatbread.

                     

Even better was the moutabel, a puree of smoked aubergines. If the garlic dip was unstoppably good, this was practically orgasmic. Creamy and smooth with beads of tiny seeds, the aubergine's sweetness and smokiness was maddeningly addictive. Forget pate and foie gras, give me a plate of moutabel with bread, and I would be more than happy.

As the restaurant specialises in grilled meats, we ordered a mixed platter of kebabs and were duly impressed. Succulent juicy meats charred in all the right places, with a little mound of nutty rice and a cleansing onion parsley salad on the side, everything got full marks from us.

In fact we liked the food so much we went back the next day, this time we ordered the mixed appetisers and found out that their hummus was just as irresistible as the moutabel. Garlicky, very creamy, very nutty and insanely good, it puts to shame my previous lumpy efforts. Desserts- baklavas were too stodgy and syrupy but the Rice Pudding was To Die For, seriously, the mother of all rice puddings, I had to fight with baby for my share....

Truly, this place served some of the best Turkish food I've ever eaten, and it was a shame we only discovered the place two days before we had to leave. If I had more time, I would try to eat through the entire menu, and also check out all the other Turkish hangouts in the city. So there we are, if you find yourself in Guangzhou and don't know what to eat, consider trying their Turkish food!

GZ- Home of Cantonese food

                      

Like I said, the only redeeming quality about Guangzhou is its food, especially Cantonese food. The first meal we ate after we settled into the serviced apartment was dim sum. It was nearly 2 pm by the time we walked across the road to Victory Plaza and found Upday Chao the restaurant recommended by the apartment receptionist. 2 pm is also when the restaurant, like many others in town, offers discounts on its dim sum items.

The general opinion was that the dim sum were not as elegant or refined in appearance but more than make up for this deficiency in the taste department. The "pork lard cheong fun", above, exemplified this best. When this plate of nondescript brown rice rolls was placed on our table, I looked quizzically at husband. He said it was listed on the menu as a house specialty. We tried a piece and were surprised at its incredible texture, somewhere in between soft and smooth with an elastic resilient bite. The taste was mainly of soy sauce,a very nice soy sauce with sweet-salty beany nuances, simple yet sophisticated. I was amazed that such a seemingly plain dish could be so exciting, and pretty soon the plate of rolls was polished clean, like within 10 seconds.

Later on, I observed that the locals love their rice noodles, whether in dim sum rolls or the ubiquitous stir fried horfun, the latter was the default carbo dish at most of the Cantonese restaurants we later visited.

                     

And egg tarts, the ones we ate in Guangzhou were all fabulous, with tremblingly silky, very eggy custard barely held together by a delicate pastry shell that is flaky yet crumbles into almost nothing when bitten into. Just like the egg tarts that I used to eat when I was younger, the very old school type, i.e. world apart from today's pallid milky versions. These babies likely involved pork lard in the recipe, and were dangerously addictive. The best version I had was at a seafood restaurant, the well known five storey Dongjiang. A plate comes with 6 pieces and the two of us had absolutely no trouble polishing them off.

Upday Chao prides itself on fusion or new wave dim sum, and one particularly outstanding item was mochi balls tinged with bitter melon juice which husband was particularly enamoured of. The melon lent a slight hint of intriguing vegetal bitterness to the skin, lightening its rich sweetness while the crispy wonton skin bits add crunch and novelty.

                  

This is the yim yau fan at a typical casual eatery Man Fook Lau that I blogged about earlier. Again, simple food done simply and very well.

                  

One cannot miss roasted meats in Cantonese restaurants, no? The char-siew at the same place was excellent.

                  

Having a baby limited our eating out options quite a bit, as we didn't fancy the idea of travelling all over the highly polluted city in their very dirty and ill-maintained taxies with her. The most convenient solution therefore was to eat at the neighbourhood, i.e. Victory Plaza, restaurants. There are four, of which our favourite remained Upday Chao. Freezone was another option, this is a schizophrenic place as it had waiters dressed in tartan whizzing by on roller skates, tribal-type fixtures on the walls and a menu that covers Japanese, Chinese and Western dishes as well as prominently placed advertisements with Jackie Chan's face on it. The dim sum dishes were sub-standard IMO, but this doesn't matter because the locals go there for their bargain roast pigeons. At only RMB10 per bird, every table was munching on the little birds, accompanying them with yep, fried horfun.

                  

Only I was silly enough to order their baked crab, which was on a special price promotion, "only 50RMB" the waitress said. But she didn't tell me that this translates to the tiniest crab in the tank. Still, it was tasty enough.

                

Dou Dou Jun is a name synonymous with Guangzhou cuisine. Their history dates back to the 19th century, and the restaurant is crowded at all times. But the dim sum was terrible, and that is putting it mildly. Everything we tried was cold, lumpy and stodgy, but, very cheap, which may account for its popularity.

The thing to eat though, is their pastries. We bought a random selection and everything tasted very fresh and absolutely fantastic. I was at first drawn by their steamed honey cakes, these looked so inviting with their dark honeycomb cross-sections, and I overheard another lady telling her friend how much she loved them. She was right, the sponge was soft yet springy and the burnt sugar taste was nicely rounded. The popular "kai jai peng" or chicken biscuits were amazing, redolent of dried sausage meatiness and beautifully short yet crisp to bite, so sinful and so bad for you yet so irresistable. Century egg pastries was exemplary too, with the perfect pastry skin that is ever so flakey and dissolves meltingly in the mouth as it should be. "Hap tho so" or walnut cookies were faultless too, one bite and I was transported to my childhood when Chinese bakeries habitually used butter and lard instead of nonsense like margarines, flavourings and stabilisers.

                

Above: water chestnuts doused with a light syrup. This was an appetiser dish at the five storey Dongjiang seafood palace. They have all sorts of live sea creatures, even water beetles!

               

We opted for less complicated dishes like braised tofu. The tofu tasted really fresh and sweet, the braising sauce coating it lightly yet not overpowering its natural flavours.

               

Crab with salted egg yolk. One could have it steamed of course, but we chose to live dangerously. Worth every finger-licking bite.

We also ate at popular chain outlets like Gongfu, Cafe de Coral and Greenery Cafe, all excellent options for low to mid-priced eating. Another place we didn't try was Bellagio Cafe, a Taiwanese chain, but I went to one outlet in Beijing and enjoyed my experience- their lu rou fan was especially tasty. There are too many eating options in this big bad place, 10 days is just enough to get but a mere glimpse. In my next post, I will touch on other gastronomical possibilities.

Guangzhou = Good Food

After the rains on Monday the pollution eased a little, but it is still quite dusty and there is a lot of noise from construction works at every corner.

Guangzhou is not exactly a tourist destination, more like a convenience town for the thousands of manufacturing plants in the Guangdong region. The urban planning is haphazard and sprawling, high-end lifestyle stores next to grimy toolshops, residential block sharing acreage with offices and shop, the grey concrete all pervasive, and the taxis very ill-maintained and can sometimes be difficult to find. Fortunately our apartment is located in what the locals describe as an upmarket desirable neighbourhood and there are plenty of shops and restaurants nearby. We've been quite the homebodies, other than the trips to the agency and immigration departments, we have stayed mostly indoors, venturing to the wet market for very fresh produce (fresh as in you point, they kill) or the local Jusco or Park n Shop for groceries.

The eating has generally been good to excellent. Even their fast food is not something to sniff at, one night we ate dinner at the very popular fast food chain Zan Gong Ku (Real Gongfu) which uses Bruce Lee's face as their logo. The food was generous, tasty, nutritious and inexpensive, best of all, there wasn't any MSG after-effects.

This city is very down-to-earth, there isn't a see-and-be-seen restaurant scene that I've come across yet. In fact, the more fancy places isn't that much better in terms of food quality than a humbler establishment. A lunch at Peach Blossom in Garden Hotel was terribly disappointing while a repeat visit to Upday Chao revealed that their forte is dim-sum not more elaborate dinner dishes.

A better bet would be in any of the modest airconditioned eateries popular with the locals. Last night we walked randomly into Man Fook Lau,one of the many eateries along Beijing Road. The manageress took us in hand, helping us to order a homely slow-boiled soup, charsiew, lettuce hearts and hotpot rice. The charsiew was first-class, sticky sweet-salty with melting fats in between tender meat. The seasonal lettuce hearts were simmerred in a rather oily broth but the surprise was a generous topping of fresh bamboo pith, almost a heaped bowlful of the sweet crunchy stuff. Best of all though, was the "yim yau kuk fan" literally riced baked with salt and oil, the rice not in the least greasy but infused delectably with fragrant shallots and soy sauce, good food at its simpliest best. Portions were vast, we took home the leftovers which were just as well appreciated the second time round.

Pictures to come later, promise!

Hello Guangzhou

We have internet access, and we can blog! A good thing, since I have problem sleeping. No pictures until we are back home and I can edit them. I will also write the emo, non-food related stuff in the other blog from time to time. For now, some quick notes.

Arrived Guangzhou at noon with husband and G, our domestic helper. The air quality is bad.

Checked into Springdale Serviced Residence, an Ascott property which is so new it is not officially opened yet. Clean, comfortable and convenient. 

The neighbourhood: Next door is the Victory Plaza, where we had an excellent dim-sum lunch at Upday Chao. Further across the road is mini Hong Kong TeeMall which houses Jessica, Wanko, Jusco, Luk Fook, Mannings, a Maxim's bakery as well as an amusement centre complete with bumper car rides. Ate dinner at the Cafe de Coral cha charn tng, which we enjoyed very much. It is true what people say about this city, the eating's very good.

I went into the bumper car ring three times, as driver of course, wheee.......

Weekend in Beijing

                      

I was about to place one of these jewel-like crystal dumplings into my mouth when husband SMS-ed me to say that my blog was featured in the Saturday papers.  My lunch companions teased me a bit, and then we got back to appreciating the delicacy and refinement of the dumplings. The red bean paste version I sampled was gorgeous, the translucent resilient skin tingled with the oils of dried mandarin peels and maybe even a hint of eucalyptus. Just the treat to counter the throat-parching effects of a city enshrouded in a blanket of smog and dust.

                                                            

                           

My colleague and I had taken the 1.20 am flight into Beijing which landed in the morning.  I was able to sleep very well in the plane, no doubt thanks to the lovely wines imbibed at dinner with friends at Old Mother Hen in Geylang. Thanks ttc!

The Beijing Zhaolong Hotel let us check in early, it was nice to have a lie-down on a firm mattress with duvets before the shops opened. This time round I was good- at the local market, I only managed to spend 510 RMB in total, on two cotton nighties, 1 pantsuit for my newest nephew and 2 little girl dresses.  5 items for our equivalent of $20 oops $100. Then my friend G,  who relocated to Beijing from Singapore only a few months ago, met up with us and we went to the building next door where she has heard of a good dim sum place.

The Deluxe Restaurant on the third floor of the Comfort-Inn/ Pacific Century building is large, and it was full of Cantonese speaking customers, we felt as if we were in Hong Kong.  The dim sum here was both excellent and innovative.

The cheong fun range was extensive, the classic prawn version impeccable,  with skin as thin and smooth as  silk. But  it was the pork liver and wolfberries combination that wowed us with its bite sized pieces of just-cooked liver and tender red berries nestled within.

Then there was a plate of spring rolls that we demolished easily, the skin was done to a teeth-shattering crisp whilst the insides of vegetables and meat were lightly crunchy and sweet.                               

                        

Not everything was successful of course, the wonton dumplings had very stolid casings.  Maybe this is the style  the locals prefers.

                     

After lunch, we ventured into the dusty capital for some shopping.  We went to a street lined with small shops stocked with teenybopper fashion and fake designer goods,  not my cup of tea but at least good for the wallet. After a while I realised we shouldn't be out breathing in all the polluted air. Above is the view taken from the plane at 7.20 in the morning, by afternoon the whole city was covered in the haze and everywhere we were inundated with the smell from burning wheat chaffs as the farmers prepare their land for the next planting season. The only refuge from it all was ironically, the swanky shopping centres which had strong airconditioners, we escaped into one with a fancy supermarket and stocked up on water and fruits. Then it was time for work as we met up with our China colleague.

                      

By the time work was finished, it was raining hard. G who has made it a mission of sorts to find a credible "Imperial" cuisine restaurant, had made bookings for Red Capital Club. My colleagues joined us for dinner and we jumped into a waiting cab. Located deep in a the hutong alleyway, we exited from our taxis and stepped right into the past, a recreated past of fervent ideology in a bar filled with Mao paraphernalia on one hand,  and on the other hand, a genteel courtyard with a moon gate as well as a tiny dining room flickering with lanterns and dominated by a Ching dynasty "dragon" robe. The blurb on the huge silk-bound menu mentioned that the building was long ago the residence of a Manchurian bannerman , and in the not-so-long-ago past it was home to a notorious female spy.

The food, how is the food one may be curious to know. I have come across many such over-restored, over-ambienced, over-hyped places to expect more than half-decent food at outrageous prices. But it was late and we were hungry, and the four of us, all coming from different countries (China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore) have become so comfortable with each other I felt no strong reasons to suggest going somewhere else. Although G must have thought me very inconsiderate when I was not at all concerned that we were running late and maybe the restaurant would not seat us when we finally arrived. No such thing happened, there was no heaving crowd outside, and there was a lovely table in a secluded corner waiting for us, the lighting was dim and the shabby-aristo chic decor elicited much delighted chatter. It may be tourist trap, but high-class tourist trap OK!

The food was surprisingly, to me at least, good. Every dish had a fancy name and were served on vast platters complete with a carved radish garnish, that apart, the dishes were cooked simply and seasoned with a light hand, none of that oily, salty mess that we associate with their counterparts in say, Shanghai. Dream of Red Chamber, a vegetarian dish, was light and fresh-tasting, so was another vegetarian dish with an equally bombastic name Jade Tree of Gold Coin. Ribs purpotedly cooked in the style favoured by Emperor Kang Xi had a piquant sweetness, and beef in a tomatoey gravy was pleasantly meaty and robust without being crude.  It is expensive to dine here compared to many restaurants in the city, but still worth a visit, if only to know what the fuss is all about.

                      

The next day we woke up bright and early for a morning seminar. There was much hand-shaking and speech-giving and well, work. For lunch, our hosts arranged lunch boxes in their canteen. Filled with way too much (not very appetising actually) dishes and a mountain of rice. There was savoury filled wheat pancakes too as optional side dishes, now these I much prefered,  there is just something about Beijing breads that calls out to me.

And soon, it was time to say goodbye and to leave for the airport. The plane was delayed by 1.5 hours, just enough time for us to sigh in resignation, call husband and say yes to the nice attendant who asked if I wanted any satay. Yes please, chicken and lamb, thanks! I needed the sustenance, there was another three intensive days of training to follow  when we reached home.                                                          

                                    

Seoul: Hospital food

It wouldn't really feel right if I didn't eat at least one meal of bibimbap when I am in Korea. This was taken care of the day we worked in the hospital. My local colleague had purchased meal coupons for the staff canteen, very good value at only 2000 won each, and I was thrilled to find out that the menu for the day was bibimbap. Actually there was only this option available, although on other days the menu might include rice with different dishes.

                                 

The setting was very institutional, everyone lined up and filled their tray with the pre-dispensed rice and soups. Kimchi was a all-you-can-eat deal set out in big buckets. We helped ourselves to tea and gojuchang. This was a filling, not fancymeal. The bibimbap was plain with a good mix of vegetables and a fried egg but no meat. Soup was cabbage, I suppose at this time of the year cabbage would be the most affordable and plentiful vegetables. Cabbage turned up everywhere we went, in the ubiquitious kimchi of course, but also in soups, stir fries, casseroles.... therefore it was a good thing I am a fan of this versatile yellow vegetable.

Seoul - Foreign influences?

Korea, being neighbored by two strong and forceful countries like Japan and China, is determinedly proud of its own identity and culture. What the Koreans have also done well is to assimilate the ways of its neighbours and made it their own.

This observation was exemplified by the popular snack and lunch dish of kimbap. Kimbap is rice rolled with pickles, vegetables and a protein treat like tuna or omelet and wrapped round with seaweed. Looks like maki sushi, tasted a little like sushi found in any conveyor joints around the world, but try calling it sushi or maki, and our Korean colleagues would object and insist that it is their invention.

Another example was dubu. Dubu is what we know as tofu. Like us, the Koreans love their dubu. There are many dishes worked around this soya bean product, and one of the nicest way to enjoy it is in a hot stone pot casserole called Soon Dubu Jigae. We happened upon Dubu House near our hotel the second evening, and discovered this wonderfully warming and comforting dish.

                  

Like its neighbours, the joint is clean, overly bright and basically furnished. Busy ajumas staff the place and tell you in sign language how to eat the food, going to the extent of stirring and breaking eggs into your bowl to help you along if necessary. I had a seafood and oyster bowl, my colleagues had similar variations with beef, seafood and dumplings. The casserole is made up mostly of very soft, melting tofu enriched with the tastes of seafood stock. The tofu was well highlighted with its clean sweetness yet imbued with just the right proportion of broth flavours. Chilli powder and hot bean paste can be added to spice it up, but I preferred to dunk my kimchi in to give it a more fiery colour.  Rice is served in a hot stone pot, but uneaten rice is scooped out and the pot covered again in hot water, so that one can drink the 'rice water' which the ajuma said was good for us.

Mongolian hotpot was what my Korean colleague wanted for lunch the day we worked in her office. In Singapore we are used to the idea of Mongolian barbeque, which fits in somewhat with the image in our head of the nomadic tribesperson grilling food over an open source of fire as they take a break during their traverse of the vast desert. Hotpot seems more like a food suited for more wintry climes and a Mongolian hotpot sounded totally incongruous to me. But as I found out, it was nothing more than a pot of noodles, meats, dumplings and vegetables cooked at the table; the most Mongolian aspect was the graphic of a warrior emblazoned on the spoon cover and placemat.

         

Whilst interesting, this was not the best thing I ate. The Koreans like their noodles and beef cooked till very done and very soft; a few times while the pot was bubbling I suggested that we start eating, but colleague insisted that we wait for the ajuma who was similarly nonchalant about overcooking. As a result, everything was done to the texture most suitable for an infant about to start on solids.

                            

But this dish had a little twist. Colleague asked if I wanted some rice. I declined because Korean rice makes me really sleepy after lunch. But, she gently insisted, and since she is six months preggers I let her have her way. The ajuma brought a bowl of rice, but instead of letting us get on with it, she proceeded to, in dazzlingly quick procession, empty the pot of all ingredients save the stock, stir the rice in vigorously and then added an egg, seaweed and other seasonings. The end result was a smooth risotto-like porridge, which was way more tasty than the soggy noodles.

I have a strong suspicion that she brought me there not for hotpot, but this warm silky gruel. It reminded me of our dubu meal where residual rice was combined with hot water to glean a nutritious drink. Looking back, I think it was this propensity to combine their rice with fluids at the end of the meal that strike me as something uniquely Korean.

Seoul- Deok

It is a little sad that I have little time for movies, TV or even books these days, but flying gives one time and opportunity to catch up on these simple pleasures. This trip I watched a good selection:

Yours, Mine and Ours: Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid sleepwalking throughout a messy, corny and utterly boring plot.

The Family Stone: I was expecting a mix of sentimental (it being a Christmas themed movie) and self-indulgent SJP movie, but it wasn't like that, well, maybe a little in the beginning. But there are some honest, painful moments, an intelligent plot, well-paced script and likeable characters to make the movie worth watching.

Everlasting Regret: Is it just me or does Sammi Cheng have only one expression for every emotion she is supposed to be emoting? But still enjoyable to watch for its male characters, all of them strong, silent and a little tortured. I never mind sitting through anything in which Daniel Wu or Leong Ka Fai appears.

Election: What is a plane journey without a triad movie? This is highly riveting, moody and thought-provoking, i.e. a better movie than most of its genre. It has a big cast of very watchable HK actors too, including Tony Leung (again), Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Louis Koo.

Parineeta: I watched this movie twice because it was so entertaining, a very good-looking and talented cast, gorgeous cinematography and a storyline that is, sigh, more romantic than Titanic.

What was absent in the experience of watching movies on the plane was something small to chew on. Like deok.

                        

Deok is a catch-all name for Korean rice cakes. We in South East Asia may have our kuehs made with rice, palm sugar and santan. The Koreans make equally delectable sweets with their rice too.

Above left, clockwise from the orange slices: Sticky, chewy rice cakes with seaweed flavours dusted with soya powder, oily sesame crusted fried biscuit that every Korean I know loves, and a zhong-zi like cake of glutinous rice, raisins, pine nuts and red dates. The last was my favourite, they cost about 2000 won each and are so simple and delicious I wish I brought back a dozen.

Above right: rice balls with cinammon-flavoured paste - this I didn't like because I don't particularly like cinammon. The rectangular cakes are pressed with pistachios and sweet red dates, now these are very toothsome.

I know, there is a deok shop near Sin Ming Road but it has weird operating hours. Writing about this makes me long for some, and I hope I will be more lucky next time I visit them.

                     

Seoul- Samgyupsal, or The Universal Language of Bacon

                      

After checking into the hotel, I received a message from colleague. Dinner, she said. Thing was, we didn't know where to go. At the hotel entrance we decided to go left and somehow wandered into a sidestreet dominated by small, unpretentious Korean eating houses. Which was good, because days later we discovered that had we turned right, we would have found the glitzier, more cosmopolitan areas full of espresso bars, boutique hotels and non-Korean restaurants.

Not knowing which restaurant to try, and since it was so effing cold (minus 3 C) we decided arbitrarily that we would eat something grilled. It seemed that the most popular restaurant was one that was serving pork, grilled DIY-style. When in Seoul, do as the Seoulites do. We entered, took of our shoes, and was greeted warmly by the staff. Any misgivings about the smell and smoke from indoor BBQ was quashed by their enthusiastic welcome and our general reluctance to step back into the freezing winds outside.

We were shown to a low table, and given little aprons to wear and plastic bags to protect our coats. Looking around, we noticed that all but two other customers were male. Everyone was looking (discreetly) at us, I don't suppose they often see clueless foreign women in their midst. And it soon became apparent that there is no English menu or picturebook to refer to, and none of the staff or fellow customers spoke English. We communicated using sign language, holding up two fingers to indicate our order.

The food came, fast. From the kitchen emerged a sucession of kimchi, salads, pickles and soup. Pork was sliced by a man who sat next to the payment counter which was next to the entrance. There must be a reason why this guy was prepping raw meat within stepping range of the dining tables and the shoe cabinet but I didn't know how to sign-language this question. Quite soon afterwards, we were given a plate of thick cut belly slices which looked like streaky bacon to me. Quantity definitely exceeded our annual allowance.

We didn't quite know how to cook it, and must have looked so awkward that the ajuma came and showed us what to do. First, the lard was brushed on to grease the plate, then pork is arranged in the middle and upper part and when they are done they rest at the bottom. The hotplate is angled so that grease drains through a small opening.

The pork could be eaten either wrapped with lettuce or pickled radish together with any combination of bean paste, scallions, grilled garlic and/or green chillies. Not that any of this matters, because the bacon was utterly, sinfully, crisply, sizzlingly, meatily, juicily delicious on its own. The healthy vegetable side dishes with their fresh crunchiness and myriad sweet, sour and pungent tastes contrasted well with, and if anything, made the bacon taste even better. I giggled happily and showed two thumbs up to the ajuma. Very good, I said. She beamed with pride.

We finished almost the entire plate, though with the last few pieces we thought of our cholesterol and removed the fatty streaks. I also consumed a none-too-tiny pile of sliced garlic, the Korean garlic is much milder than ours and grilling them with bacon fat made them sweet and soft, rather addictive but quite healthful I should imagine.

The cost: 18,000 won (~ USD18). Which was equivalent to what our hotel charged for the cheapest room-service breakfast.

Two days later I showed my Korean colleague what we ate. She said it is one of her favourites, in fact the day before she had treated her husband to such a meal for White Day (a sort of Valentine's Day for males) celebrations. I asked for the name of the dish, and she told me. Samgyupsal.

Nice name. I won't forget it in a hurry.