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Eating Hoi An – Riverside

Apr15

Location: Hoi An

Date: March 25, 2014

Cuisine: International

Rating: Great Location

Our second hotel, in the scenic “ancient city” of Hoi An is the Anantara Hotel (a great hotel in general). Like most resort hotels, it features a buffet breakfast.

The second floor setting is amazing. A lovely breeze blows off the river beyond.

Various (semi) exotic juices.

Including this one I’ve never tried.

Lots of fresh fruit. Vietnam is a very wet and green place, and full of silty rivers, which means its fabulous farmland.

Fresh rambutans.

And Dragonfruit!

Not your everyday fruit salad.

The bananas here are little, but tasty.

Fresh yogurts.

Salad.

Cheese.

Cold cuts.

Packaged yogurts.

Cereal.

Pad Thai. On different days, this was different noodles and the like.

Congee again, and the requisite toppings.

Chicken.

bacon (two kinds).

Baked beans again, I guess for the Brits. And chicken sausage.

Pork sausage and pancakes.

An omelet bar.

Pickled vegetables (very good actually).

The Pho station! It’s never too early for Pho.

Here is the result.

Oh, and being a former French colony, Vietnam has great pastries.

And coffee.

Overall, this was a pleasant breakfast. If we hadn’t just come from the amazing Saigon Intercontinental one, it might even be great.

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asia, eating-vietnam, Hoi An, Travel and Tourism, Vietnam

Good Morning Vietnam

Mar23

Restaurant: Hotel Intercontinental Saigon

Location: Saigon

Date: March 22-24, 2014

Cuisine: Vietnamese / International

Rating: First rate buffet

Having arrived at 2am, my first meal of the trip was breakfast, in this case at our hotel, the Intercontinental Saigon. Right off the bat the buffet looked impressive.

Fresh squeezed juices.

Cane sugar syrup for sweetener!

The French presence in Vietnam may have been miserable for the country, but it did leave them an excellent baking tradition. The custard stuffed beignets on the left were particularly delicious.

Cereals.

Bread.

A selection of nice meats and cheeses.

Including pate (at least two sorts).

Smoked fish.

Various salads, including kimchi.

And exotic (and not so exotic) fruits.

Stewed fruits.

Enough with that healthy stuff, onto the seared pork products.

And the omelet station.

But it’s really the Asian fare I came for.

Baked beans!

Two kinds!

Then corn and chicken.

And Vietnamese beef stew.

Indian curry.

Stir-fried noodles.

Veggies and Char Sui (fatty BBQ pork). Great pork BTW.

Chicken and veggies.

Special coconut sticky rice.

Glazed ham.

Every Chinese’s favorite breakfast: congee (rice porridge).

With the toppings…

like thousand year old egg.

And this other pickled egg.

Or pork bits. No grubs though (a favorite in China).

Pork meatballs with fish sauce (excellent).

Condiments for this soup station.

And two kinds of noodles for the soup.

And wantons.

Which all combines like this. Really nice.

For the Japanese, some sushi (mostly various pickles).

And chicken teriyaki.

Tamago (Japanese omelet).

Then a build your own miso station. This buffet loves soups!

Tofu with mince pork.

And various trimmings.

The result tasted lovely, Very interesting blend of fresh and savory flavors.

Condiments for beef rolls.

More.

And more.

The actual beef rolls themselves.

And assembled with all the trimmings on the plate. You pour fish sauce over this and eat.

because we haven’t had enough soup (or choices), the Pho station.

Which comes out like this. Fresh noodles, beef, and lots of sweet and sour flavor!

If you’ve any room left, there is always some dessert!

What you can only partially tell from the photos is that this is a buffet managed with meticulous care. Everything tastes great!

For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asia, eating-vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh City, Hotel Intercontinental Saigon, Travel and Tourism, Vietnam

Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ

Jun02

Restaurant: A-1 Chinese BBQ

Location: 2014 Pacific Coast Hwy. Lomita, CA 90717. (310) 325-6709

Date: May 19, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck

I recently joined a meetup.com foodie group and I noticed in the feed that people were talking about this place for great Peking Duck. I’ve long been a fan of the crispy foul, to the tune of eating it three nights in a row in Beijing, and it is scare represented on the Westside, so I thought a pilgrimage was in order.

If you decide to go you must call ahead to reserve/prep a duck. It takes too long for them to do to order.

This establishment is not about looks. It makes Din Tai Fung look like Cesar’s Palace.

Although, I do have to say the inside is one step up form Totoraku, and that is a high end joint!

Another great thing is: no liquor license, which means no corkage. Bring your own cork screw. This is a reliable (although not awesome) negotiant 1re cru. We had to drink it out of plastic “pizza hut style” glasses, so that didn’t help either.

NOTE: big menu, so keep scrolling for the food!

The menu is grungy and enormous.

We started with these “prawns with spicy salt, headless.” This is generally called “salt and pepper shrimp” and this particular version was one of the best I’ve had. I particularly appreciated the lack of head.

Then out rolled our feathered friend. He was carved back in the kitchen.

And served with the usual Hoisin sauce and the often seen in China but not as often here doughy buns instead of pancakes.

You put some sauce, some scallions, and some duck on the bun and enjoy. This was definitely some of the best duck I’ve had in California. The skin was perfectly crispy, and there was some, but not too much fat.

After this we switched it up to this awesome Rosso. “The 2009 Rosso di Montalcino is totally beautiful and elegant in its expressive bouquet, silky fruit and understated, harmonious personality. This is a wonderful, impeccable Rosso from Le Potazzine. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2017.”

This is “Chow Ma Mein” (I think). A spicy soup with noodles, shrimp, beef, chicken and various vegetables. It was good.

“Orange peel chicken.” Fairly typical of the type, but not bad.

“Dry braised string beans.” I like this dish when I usually have it, but this wasn’t the greatest version. It was too oily and lacking in garlicky punch.

“Sweet and sour pork.” The pork was a little tough, but flavorful. The sauce a bit goopy. Just so-so.

The check was awesome. $20 a person all in with tip.

Overall, the duck was fantastic, the shrimp and soup were very good, and the other dishes a bit mediocre. It was a very nice meal, and with a little more trial and error ordering probably could be totally first rate. I’m curious if any of you readers know any other places with great Peking Duck in LA. I’d love to find one that was 40 minutes from my house!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: A-1 Chinese BBQ, Asia, Barbecue, bbq, Beijing, China, Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Hoisin sauce, Lomita, Peking Duck

Singapore – Long Beach Dempsey

May01

Restaurant: Long Beach Dempsey

Location: 25 Dempsey road Left turn to Dempsey via Holland Rd (before Peirce Rd) Singapore 249670 Tel: 6323 2222

Date: March 23, 2012

Cuisine: Singaporean

Rating: Amazing Crab

On my way back from the Maldives (see here for that food) we stopped for a day in Singapore. I’d been told this pretty and modern city has some of the best eating in Asia. The Raffles hotel (where we were staying) sent us to this local chain for some chili crab. It wasn’t fancy by western standards, but the crab was phenomenal.

Got to love these Asian picture menus.

This is “sweet and sour shrimp.” Heavily fried but oh so good.

And a different kind of fried shrimp, the “House Specialty Prawn.” These were good too, a bit like shrimp tempura with a slightly more Chinese taste.

And for the trio of main event items this is “classic white pepper crab.” There were a choice of crabs between $68 and $220 dollars. We went for these “popular” Sri Lankan crags. They were huge and delicious, and not nearly as expensive as the Alaskan King Crabs and the like. The white pepper crab had an awesome and delicate white pepper flavor. Not cloying in the least.

Here is the “Famous Black Pepper Crab.” It was also great, perhaps a little more powerful in taste than the white. Spicier. I think I might have liked the white slightly better.

Then comes the “world famous chili crab.” This guy is drenched in a curry-like chili sauce. The sauce was incredible.

It was so good we got these bread balls to scoop it up with. But that wasn’t enough. We spooned it and more (see later).

Next were some “Dong Po ribs with honey sauce.” These were some of the best Chinese-style pork ribs I’ve had. They melted from the bone.

“Renowned Crispy Duck.” Also good, but a little dry in comparison to everything else.

When we ordered this clam and noodle dish the waiter sold us we wouldn’t like it, “too local.” It was odd. Like steamed clams in gravy covered in strips of fried clams. By gravy I mean Turkey gravy or the like. As I said, odd.

My poor wife had to watch the other seven of us devour all that before she got anything she could eat. This fried grouper in sweat and sour schezhuan sauce. It was good too.

After finishing the crab itself and dipping up a storm with the sauce we just couldn’t let it go.

At the suggestion of the staff we ordered some egg fried rice and just spooned the sauce on over it. Yum!

Then we got a pair of peculiar Asian desserts. These are like panacotta with in one case caramel and the other chocolate.

You can see it closer here. It was steaming like dry ice. The flavor was mild and sweet, making it a pleasant was to end a very pleasant evening.

This meal might not look like one of my crazy Michelin places but it sure was fantastic!

For more dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asia, bbq, Black pepper, Chili Crab, Chilli crab, crab, Long Beach Dempsey, Raffles Hotel, ribs, shrimp, Singapore, Sri Lanka

Cocoa Island – Languorous Lunch

Apr21

Restaurant: Cocoa Island

Location: Maldives. Tel +960 6641818 Fax +960 6641919 Email res@cocoaisland.como.bz

Date: March 16-22, 2012

Cuisine: International

Rating: ?

We head back to Cocoa Island (and its single restaurant) to cover the second meal of the day. If you missed the endless breakfast, find it here.

Here in paradise the view from the lunch table doesn’t suck. One could eat outside there too, but it was pretty hot, like 94 degrees and humid. The food, however, was anything but tepid. It’s highly varied and international with an Indian slant fitting the location.

Tuna carpaccio with arugala and olives. Like nearly everything at the restaurant this was impeccably fresh and tasty.

Caprese salad.

Salad with beets and mozzarella.

An amazing “squid salad” with light fresh squid and a zesty vinaigrette.

Caesar salad with anchovies and spec.

Raddiccio salad. As you can see, there are a few salad options!

This typical frozen mock-tail was amazing for those with a sweet tooth. Strawberry passionfruit!

Spider roll. Fried softshell crab roll.

Some dipping sauces and ginger. The left is soy, the right a spicy mayo.

California roll made with shrimp. I like the wasabi balls.

Grilled blue fin tuna and potatoes. Sort of deconstructed salad niscose. The tuna was again perfectly fresh.

Fried calamari. Crisp and succulent.

A lot of folk went for the burger which had a kind of curried caramelized onions on it and came with salad and fries.

Goan fish curry. Local “job fish” stewed in fresh curry with Naan (house baked) and bismati rice.

Nasi Goreng. A kind of Indonesian fried rice with egg, chicken satay, mixed seafood, cucumbers, and a spicy peanut sauce. Not light, but it sure was good!

Chicken Tikka Masala. Also awesome.

We caught some local fish and they grilled them up.

And steamed some with ginger, garlic, and scallions.

Even this ugly barracuda.

And made these into fresh fish curry!

The bread was great too.

And the fries.

Plus one, day, I ordered this passionfruit semifreddo which was superb.

It’s pretty amazing that a restaurant can do this breath of styles with such excellent execution, but they did. Everything I had was great, and the same 2-3 guys in the kitchen did it all (even the breakfast, dinner, desserts, and baking!).

For more dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asia, Cocoa butter, Cocoa Island, Cocoa IslandLocation, Cook, Indian cuisine, lunch, Maldives, Resort, Salad, Sri Lanka, Travel and Tourism

Cocoa Island – Endless Breakfast

Apr17

Restaurant: Cocoa Island

Location: Maldives. Tel +960 6641818 Fax +960 6641919 Email res@cocoaisland.como.bz

Date: March 16-22, 2012

Cuisine: International

Rating: Mindblowing Hotel Breakfast in paradise

One of my oldest and best friend’s wedding brought us literally across the world to Cocoa Island in the Maldives. This little slice of paradise is an atol about two feet tall in the Indian Ocean not far from the southern tip of India and Sri Lanka.

As you can see, it was hardship duty. Completely equatorial the weather is about 88 degrees day and night year round. The ocean is about 18 inches deep and around… you guessed it… 88 degrees. Above is the view from the restaurant, which brings us to my favorite topic, food. The food at this resort was incredible, and best of all was the breakfast. It was included with the room and you could order as much as you liked. This led us to term it “endless breakfast.”

There was a cold buffet plus this menu. Again, you could order one thing, two things, or ten things.

But one must begin with a cappuccino. Or three.

The cereal section of the buffet.

They had great baked goods.

And jams.

And fruit.

The yoghurt with fruit was incredible. Rich and unpasteurized. The fruit juice was pretty spectacular too.

We’ll start with some classic Indian breakfast. Potato masala dosa (below) with daal (lentil curry) and some kind of creamy sauce.

The ultra crisp potato filled fried crepe.

Maldivian egg curry. You spoon it out onto the crepes. There is coconut on the side too.

A fantastic egg’s benedict.

And a frittata.

Or straight up eggs, bacon, and hash browns. This ain’t no MacDonalds.

They had these amazing flatbreads. This is cottage cheese, tomato, arugala, and avocado.

Or this one with top grade salmon and cottage cheese.

Or this meet and cheese plate.

Or a bit of fresh sliced mango.

Then come the starches. These incredible waffles.

Or French toast. You can see what I mean when I say the food was fantastic.

One day I spent nine hours (no exaggeration) at the table. Not only was the food continuous and great, but so was the ever changing parade of dining companions. Truly, the ultimate endless breakfast.

A review of lunch can be found here and dinner here at this incredible resort.

For more dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (5)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asia, baking, Breakfast, Cocoa Island, India, Indian cuisine, Indian Ocean, Maldives, Resort, Sri Lanka, Travel and Tourism

Food as Art: Little Saigon

Nov29

Restaurant: Little Saigon

Location: 6218 Wilson Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044-3210 (703) 536-2633

Date: Nov 27, 2010

Cuisine: Vietnamese

ANY CHARACTER HERE

One of my favorite places back “home” (Washington D.C.) is Little Saigon, a local hole in the wall Vietnamese place with absolutely stellar food.

Yeah, Hole in the wall. But good!

We start with this prosecco. Basically Italian Champagne.

The menu is as long as War and Peace!

Table condiments.

Almost everyone here is Vietnamese, which is always the best sign of authentic ethic restaraunts.

This is marinated raw beef, soaked in fish sauce, with onions, chilies, and basil. Not a typical American flavor, but amazing nonetheless.

My two-year son’s favorite: rice cracker (with black sesame).

Vegetarian spring rolls, hot as the 9th circle of hell (temperature). The sauce is this amazing chili-sweet-soy combo.

The owner visists. My parents have been friends with her for years.

Vietnamese “hot wings,” but fried with TONS of garlic. Amazing. I was dipping the garlic by itself in the sauce and eating it.

We moved on to this tasty malbec. Toasty oak.

Soft egg noodles with tofu, brocoli, mushrooms, baby corn. Fine, but not the best dish of the evening.

Crispy orange duck. This must be Chinese inspired, but it’s amazing, totally amazing. The duck is perfect, and the sweet/bitter tang of real orange peels (not to mention the schechuan peppers) delectable.