Let’s Visit Asia

Japanese cuisine is more than just sushi and sashimi. If you’re headed to Tokyo anytime soon and fancy a degustation of local flavors, check out this ABC article for some ideas on what to expect.

Once the menu is presented, the strange and often thrilling journey outside the comfort zone begins. Though Japanese cuisine is based on the familiar — rice, noodles, soups, tofu, fish, livestock — it also appears to embrace most of the other creatures that inhabit the region, with the exception of Hello Kitty. About 450 types of seafood are sold at the city’s Tsukiji fish market, the …read more

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Much as I love food and trying out new tastes, I must admit I am quite wary of trying out dishes that are totally unfamiliar to me. I can’t count the number of times I’ve ordered (more like pointed out to) something on the menu, imagining how it tastes like, and ending up quite frustrated cause it was nothing like what I expected. I’ve had so many bloopers of blindly ordering something I don’t know, and I just end up wasting money and sometimes disappointing the cook or wait staff.
If you’re headed to Korea, make sure you read Matt’s experience …read more

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Singaporean cuisine, being a fusion of Indian, Malay and Chinese cooking, is possibly the most diverse in flavors among Asian cuisines. If you’re in the island over the weekend, it’s the perfect time to sample local cuisine as the Singapore Food Festival comes to a close.

Here are the Top 10 Must-Try Dishes:
1. Chili Crab
2. Rojak
3. Hainanese Chicken Rice
4. Bak Kut Teh
5. Satay
6. Char Kway Teow
7. Fried Carrot Cake (no, there’s no carrots in there at all)
8. Fish Head Curry
9. Roti Prata
10. Laksa
For tourists, just present your passport to any of the Singapore Visitors’ Centres (located at the airport, Orchard Road, …read more

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One thing I don’t like with flying budget airlines is that you have to pay for your meals. But because budget airlines usually fly short routes, it’s tolerable. Afterall, the savings you get from the airfare more than covers the cost of the meal. However, if you find yourself really hungry onboard, most budget airlines won’t have much to offer anyway to fill your grumbling stomach. Perhaps the most filling you can get is a sandwich, which can a little bit unsatisfying for the duration of say, a 3-hour flight.
Well, not with Air Asia, which just announced that they are …read more

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Thanksgiving is not a big thing in Asia, but if you find yourself in the region (or even at home) and would like to try a Thanksgiving meal with an Asian flavor, here’s a great Thanksgiving feast:

Indian-Spiced Pickled Vegetables
Pickled Daikon and Red Radishes with Ginger
Pickled Napa Cabbage with Umeboshi Plums
Pumpkin, Corn, and Lemongrass Soup
Spiced Roasted Turkey
Smoked-Oyster Sticky Rice Stuffing in Lotus Leaf
Stir-Fried Baby Bok Choy with Garlic
Roasted Japanese Sweet Potatoes with Scallion Butter
Cranberry Kumquat Sauce
Wine: Suavia Le Rive Soave Classico ‘04
Desserts:
Coconut Tart
Tea-Poached Pears with Tapioca Pearls and Satsumas

For complete recipes, check out the links and timeplan at the Epicurious. If …read more

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Have a taste of Southeast Asian cuisine without leaving Singapore! In addition to the ongoing Singapore Food Festival, you can have a sampling of delectable Asian dishes from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam at the ASEAN Food Trail. This sumptuous event is held as part of the ASEAN 40th anniversary celebrations, and will run from July 9 to 22, 2007 at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel’s Café Brio.
A Taste of Solidarity, a dish created by the award-winning culinary team of Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel specially for the celebration of ASEAN’s 40th anniversary, will be …read more

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Have a taste of Singapore’s culinary delights this coming month of July during the Singapore Food Festival!
Comprising of weekly core events, themed celebrations, culinary workshops and competitions organised island-wide, this month-long festival celebrates the local perennial food favourites that have given Singapore an international reputation of a diverse food Mecca.
If you’re visiting Singapore anytime next month, don’t forget to collect your Chilli Crab Chase! vouchers before you leave the airport (look for the Singapore Visitors Centres), and get a FREE portion of Chilli Crab -a must-try for anyone visiting Singapore- in any of this year’s 21 participating outlets.
And when you’ve …read more

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Wandalust has a tip on where to sample the best-tasting most-authentic Peking (Roast) Duck: Qianmen Quan Ju De Restaurant.
Most Chinese restaurants would serve mostly just the thin crisp skin, including the thin layer of fat underneath, without much meat. Right, it’s not for those concerned about cholesterol and fat intake. Westernized roast duck are served all over the world, but the preparation have been modified to contain more meat and less fat.
If it’s an authentic Peking Duck you’re after, though, try the Quan Jude De (Roast Duck) Restaurant, which has outlets at Qianmen, Hepingmen and Wangfujing.

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When we think of Chinese food, we automatically think of stir-fried noodles or rice. In reality, the chinese cuisine is more than the stir-fry veggies and carbo you find in take out boxes.
In China, the diversity of the cuisine reflects the enormity of the country. From the lamb kebabs of the west, to the pan-fried cheese of Yunnan, to the searing spices of Sichuan, the provinces’ flavors are as unique as they are varied.
And you can sample the cuisine in each of the 22 provinces and five autonomous areas (yes, including Mongolia!) without ever leaving Beijing. Where? At the …read more

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How do you react when you see Western fastfood joints in Asia? I just came across this article from CNN about Krispy Kreme’s expansion into Asia, first in Hongkong and then to South Korea, Tokyo Indonesia and the Philippines.
On one hand, it’s a welcome development. Asians get a taste of Western cuisine (if it can be called that), and don’t we all love to try everything that’s novel, unchartered, unfamiliar? I can imagine that to a certain extent, for the less-adventurous tourists at least, the sight of a McDonald’s or Burger King restaurant means there’s a place they can seek …read more

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