But what about the food? (part 1)

Besides little snippets about my adventures in Thai cooking, or my first day in Hong Kong, I realized that I've spoken very little about all the food that I've devoured on the trip thus far. Food, of course, is a huge part of the attraction traveling to Southeast Asia. Everything from sketchy street food to hometown favourites to extravagant feasts are all available easily in Macao, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, and maybe even Cambodia. On this trip, I've learned a lot about the actual authentic "version" of many foods that we're familiar in the west. I can honestly say that I've developed a greater appreciation for foods that I used to shun, simply because I've had a chance to taste the real thing, and not some watered down, Americanized (Canadianized) version created for the western palates.

One good example is Thai curry. They come in a myriad of "colours", generally indicating their level of heat and spicyness. From yellow to red to the spicy green, I've always dismissed Thai curry as being very coconut-y and spicy but without much character beyond those two dimensions. On this trip to Thailand, I finally went through the process of learning how to make red curry paste from scratch (all Thai curries start from a paste, which is then mellowed out by the addition of coconut milk and other spices as necessary), and learning the contents and taste of each underlying component of the paste. I also learned about a tell-tale sign of whether or not a curry is well made -- the layer of red oil must be present (and distinct) on top of the curry to indicate that the curry paste itself was well-cooked before coconut milk was added to the curry. Many restaurants outside Thailand change or rush through this step in order to prevent the red oil from floating to the top as to not offend or scare away health-conscious diners.

Some food highlights from the first half of the trip:

Macao
Hands down, the Portuguese egg tart takes the prize for most memorable food. Although sold in a lot of places, Lord Stow's Bakery is supposedly the place that actually invented them, and sells the best tasting ones in town.

Hong Kong
My favourite non-Chinese meal has got to be the one from Amber at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel (thank you, Olivia!). Although we skipped the 10 course tasting menu, we did end up picking the highlights recommended by the server. We knew the meal was going to be different when the amuse bouche consisted of not one but three dishes, one of which was a foie gras bite that required a plastic pipette of raspberry sauce to be "squirted" into the diner's mouth once the foie gras was in your mouth. (And I won't go into the phallic presentation of that particular dish!) The Iberico ham appetizer, served slightly warmed on a "pyramid" (more like a tangine stove with a tea light inside) with toasted bread and a white radish salad was a winner. As were the braised beef short ribs (served boneless), and the john dory in a surprisingly light tomato broth with aubergine stuffed calamari.

Dinner at Opia was also pretty good -- the seared foie gras with chocolate mousse was the most memorable dish from that meal!

As for Chinese food, I could go on and on. However, this time around, I definitely found that I leaned towards more casual, "street" food that's usually harder to find in Vancouver or North America, for that matter. Hand made fish balls in rice noodle soup, hand-wrapped sticky rice with dried pork, warm egg tarts and pineapple buns fresh from the oven, stewed cow tripe, and freshly made tofu dessert make me salivate just thinking about them. The sheer accessibility of good, cheap food in Hong Kong never ceases to amaze me.

Only food regret from the Hong Kong leg was the lack of roasted goose (my favourite from the venerable Yung Kee). Due to reports of avian flu in mainland China, goose imports were halted temporarily for precisely the one week that we were there. *Sigh*

All this talk about food is getting me hungry...more on the 2nd half of the trip's eats another day!