Taiwanese Frozen Meals in a Pinch

Braised beef, and chicken and corn noodles

I'm still on the hunt for delicious Taiwanese braised beef noodle that can easily be heated up from frozen.

The standard I'm measuring it against is The Regent Taipei's version that I used to eat in Hong Kong.

The frozen packages from the box

In Vancouver I recently tried the version from A.Bento, a Taiwanese eatery on Broadway, which also offers some frozen dishes to make at home, including braised beef noodle.

Each box comes with two packs, one with the braised beef in the sauce with some bok choy, and the other is the dried noodles.

You take the beef out of the packaging and it's a giant solid mass that melts and heats up relatively quickly in a pot, while in another boil some water and then put the noodles in.

The two come together in under 15 minutes, and tastes straight forward. The beef is very tender, but perhaps the spicy braised beef noodle version would be tastier.

I also tried the frozen chicken with corn and noodles, with the same preparation. However, here the serving is one whole chicken drumstick which takes longer to heat up, but nevertheless is pretty tasty and substantial, garnished with corn kernels. 

The noodles in both are wide and a little thick, and has a kind of homemade texture to them. The soups of both are savoury and comforting.

Family Style Dining at McKiernan in Montreal

There's a big dining space at McKiernan if you can get a table

A food staple for Montrealers is the rotisserie chicken. One time we got lost trying to find the nearest metro station, and a guy carrying his roast chicken dinner in a plastic bag not only gave us directions, he escorted us, as he was walking in the same direction.

One place well known for its rotisserie chicken is McKiernan, a bustling restaurant in an industrial space overlooking Lachine Canal.

The rotisserie chicken is a must here

Chef Andersen Lee suggested we go there for brunch, but with last-minute reservations, we could only get a table at 1.30pm. However, when we arrived early and wanted to add another person to our table to make it five, we were told we'd have to wait even longer.

As we waited around, we could see large groups of people, extended families ranging from babies in carriers hooked on the arms of their fathers, to seniors well into their 80s who climbed up the stairs to dine here. 

Hungry diners waiting for a table can play foosball to pass the time, otherwise they are forced to watch what others are dining and salivate even more.

When we were finally seated we quickly ordered several dishes from the brunch and lunch menus, and none disappointed. 

Thinly shaved prime rib with arugula

The half rotisserie chicken was roasted perfectly, juicy, tender and seasoned just right, topped with arugula that had a lemony dressing.

We also ordered a schnitzel Holstein that was garnished with anchovies for a briny flavour, and the tuna crudo that was seasoned in a tangy sauce.

McKiernan is also known for its prime rib dinners, but for lunch and brunch you can have thinly sliced prime rib with a light creamy sauce and lots of arugula on top. Again tender and delectable. One can only imagine the prime rib dinner being even better.

There's also simple dishes like pasta with garlic and broccoli -- now that's different and delicious, or how about roast Brussel sprouts tied together with a creamy ranch dressing and lots of toasted sliced almonds.

Lemon meringue pie, donuts and banana pie

How could we not have dessert? There was banana pie, not cream pie, where banana slices are mixed with custard, and a lovely lemon meringue pie, light and dreamy. McKiernan is also famed for its donuts. One online review advised asking the server to save us some in advance, but he said there was plenty to go around. We ordered two pillowy donuts, one filled with strawberry jam, the other cookies and cream.

I didn't know about McKiernan but now I do and fully understand why you need to make reservations way in advance. If it's good for people of all ages, it's good for you too.

McKiernan

5524 Saint-Patrick Street

Montreal

514 759 6677

Hong Kong-style Wonton Noodles in Toronto

Giant freshly made wontons with noodles in soup

On our last day in Toronto we made our way to the airport via a stop in Markham for some wonton noodles at Wonton Hut Noodle Bar.

Chef and owner Eddie Yeung is very passionate about making wontons and dumplings from scratch, having learned the craft back in his hometown of Hong Kong. He puts a lot of effort into the food he makes and it shows.

Traditional dumplings in broth

We had the signature wonton noodles, and we were already impressed by the jumbo-sized wontons almost the size of golf balls that were choc full of fresh shrimp and some minced pork. 

Sui gao or traditional dumplings as they are called on his menu, were also very good, stuffed with shrimp, pork, yellow chives, wood ear mushrooms and shiitake. 

Also well made were the beef meatballs, made with Ontario beef and seasoned with black pepper. The texture of the meatballs were bouncy and tender, though they would have tasted better with a hint of mandarin peel.

The same could be said of the dace fishball, which could have benefited from the addition of mandarin peel, instead of just the fish that is minced and made in-house. We didn't get a chance to ask Yeung why the mandarin peel flavour wasn't added, was it because of cost or customers didn't like it?

Nevertheless, we also enjoyed the braised beef brisket and tendon coated in a thick sauce, though it was on the slightly saltier side. 

Braised beef brisket and tendon

We left sated and definitely full as we had a late afternoon flight to catch and wouldn't be eating until later that evening.

Wonton Hut Noodle Bar

3760 Highway 7

Markham, Ontario

905 604 9060

Modern Chinese at Toronto's Mimi Chinese

Fantastic Dungeness crab with steamed cheung fun

Toronto has many Chinese restaurants, but how about one where the dishes have a slight twist, making them modern and are served by waiters wearing crisp white shirts and bowties?

That's the concept of Mimi Chinese, where regional dishes are re-interpreted and accessible, making them fun and delicious, and more importantly get the thumbs up from the pickiest of Chinese diners.

Outstanding Iberico char siu here

On the night we went, the clientele was more Chinese, with young people to middle-aged and they had obviously come for the very good dishes that aren't found in most top restaurants in Markham, where many of the Chinese diaspora live.

The hands-down winner of the evening was the Iberico pluma char siu, the pork so tender and flavourful, we all savoured each bite, and the taste was also marinating in the caramelised soybeans.

Another winner was the BC live Dungeness crab steamed with fresh cheung fun. It's definitely the Canadian version of The Chairman's flower crab dish ini Hong Kong. Instead of marinating the crustacean in Shaoxing wine and chicken fat, here the fresh crab's flavour was enhanced by the ginger and scallion sauce.

Beef tenderloin with black pepper sauce

The crab shell was already scraped clean by the kitchen, so all we had to do was focus on the clean flavours complemented by the delicateness of the cheung fun, soaking up the light soy sauce and sweet crab meat.

We also had some outstanding starters, like Chaoshan marinated scallops with a sauce made from ginger and scallion, similar to poached chicken, but with a citrusy soy sauce for brightness. Another was fluffy shrimp toast studded with sesame seeds, and gorgeous chicken wings deboned and stuffed with glutinous rice, mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

The four foot belt noodle was a showstopper. The waiter did his routine of using tongs to lift one end up so high -- it really was one noodle, about two inches wide. Then he placed it down, folding it back and forth and then used a pair of scissors to cut it in half. The noodles had a spicy kick, thanks to the chilli crisp.

Sizzling prawns in hot pot with a spicy kick

Another spicy dish were giant prawns sizzling in a hot claypot, while a Cantonese favourite of beef slices stir-fried with onions and thick rice noodles (gon chau ngau ho) was altered to use wheat noodles instead and strings of scrambled egg. So good and comforting.

The only minor fault was the typhoon shelter asparagus, as the seasonal vegetable was lost in this dish, and the seasoning didn't enhance the asparagus. Nevertheless we finished on a high note with an ode to sizzling platters, this one with beef tenderloin and cooked with a black pepper skillet. The beef was so tender, it was brilliantly executed.

To cleanse our palates, we were given a small scoop of sorbet made from almond jelly. It was a taste we all instantly recognised from our childhoods. Personally I didn't particularly like this flavour growing up, but it was nostalgic for sure.

For dessert we had a refreshing seasonal fruit sorbet featuring slices of snow pear with osmanthus jelly and oolong tea. Another using gai daan jai, or egg waffles with caramelised banana, hawthorn jam and sesame ice cream with maple syrup drizzled on top. A creative way to elevate a simple street snack.

Snow pear with osmanthus jelly and oolong tea

Overall the food and experience at Mimi Chinese was outstanding and we can't wait to see what comes next for this restaurant that has modernised Chinese food in a thoughtful way.

Mimi Chinese

265 Davenport Road

Toronto

416 505 0799

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant Finally Gets its Due

Claypot filled with large oysters and beef tendons

Last week Vancouver Magazine named Dynasty Seafood Restaurant as Restaurant of the Year, and last year was named Best Chinese Restaurant in Canada by the Chinese Restaurant Awards.

In 1992, the Cantonese restaurant originally in the West Broadway location was called East Ocean and then it changed hands in 2009 to become Dynasty Seafood Restaurant. 

Mini minced pork patties with lotus

For Vancouverites who have discerning taste, Dynasty is the one to beat, as each successive chef cooks up creative delicious dishes built from solid culinary foundations. And then there's the presentation: many years ago I remember as decoration a basket was woven out of stalks of green chives. 

Perhaps the only challenge about this restaurant is that it is hard to book a table, or the noise level in the dining room can get to raucous levels. 

We went here a few days after Dynasty was crowned the top restaurant in the city, and surprised to find they didn't have our reservation, but that they happened to have an extra table for us.

For dinner we didn't go too fancy, but some highlights were the claypot filled with gelatinous hot beef tendon paired with large oysters, succulent sauteed diced beef with eggplant, and mini pan-fried minced pork patties with lotus for added texture. 

While these dishes were delicious, they had quite a bit of MSG in them; I was quite thirsty afterwards!

Stir-fried diced beef with eggplant

It was quite the shock to see Dynasty FINALLY get its due from Vancouver Magazine... a long time ago for many years, the publication's perception of good Chinese food was Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant, a place that seems frozen in time in the early 1980s and hasn't evolved much since.

We're glad to see Chinese cuisine finally get more praise from mainstream media. But there are many other great restaurants too other than Dynasty. 

Here's to hoping more Chinese places get recognised by the tastemakers who are beginning to learn what good Chinese food is!

Sake to the Hollywood Stars and Beyond

Dassai Junmai Dai Ginjo 23, 39, 45 and Nigori 45

In the late 1980s sushi and sashimi came to Vancouver, and along with it, sake.

At the time Japanese restaurants served sake warm, presenting them in silver buckets meant for ice, but instead filled with warm water.

Bluefin tuna crudo with blood orange

For a long time that's how many of us thought that was how sake was supposed to be imbibed.

However it turns out warm sake is typically lower-grade sake to mask the harsh flavours, while premium ones are served chilled, much like white wine.

Last night I got a chance to try some sake by the brand Dassai, which I have tried a few times with Japanese food.

At the Governors Ball following the Oscars last Sunday, Hollywood elite were treated to Dassai sake to have with food prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, along with sushi prepared by sushi chefs. And for those curious, it was Dassai 23.

But the exercise last evening was to sample the sake with Western-style food to show non-Japanese that sake can be paired with anything from cheese to pizza and steak.

Rice polished at different percentages

The Sake Samurai for Canada is Patrick Ellis and he loves talking about sake. He became a Sake Samurai in 2018, where he was inducted in an hours' long ceremony where he had to give a speech in Japanese about what sake means to him.

He explained that sake has umami, the fifth sense, described as savouriness which can be found in food like tomatoes, mushrooms, soy sauce, anchovies, cheese and dashi.

The numbers on the bottles indicate how much the brown rice has been polished. In the case of Dassai 23, that means 77 percent of the rice has been polished, and for Dassai 45, 55 percent of the rice was polished. The more the rice is polished, the cleaner the flavour and brighter the aroma.

We started off with a sparkling sake which was milky in appearance, followed by Junmai Dai Ginjo Dassai 23 Centrifuge paired with bluefin tuna crudo with blood orange segments. The centrifuge helps filter the sake from the lees for a cleaner taste, or so they say. This pairing extended the sweet taste of toro and chutoro.

Foie gras torchon with brioche and apricot

The tasting continued with Junmai Dai Ginjo Dassai 39, which tasted cleaner, and a bolder taste, paired with foie gras torchon on toasted brioche with apricot gelee.

The main course of USDA prime Omaha striploin was rolled with proscuitto and served with stewed San Marzano tomatoes, black truffle and whipped potatoes, and was paired with Junmai Dai Ginjo Dassai 45. This was similar to Dassai 39 with a clean taste that had no trouble holding up to the strong flavours of the beef.

For dessert, Madagascar vanilla panna cotta with poached pear sauce together with Nigori Dassai 45.

After dinner, Ellis also told us that Dassai sake ingredients were sent to the International Space Station last fall to try sake fermentation in space! It returned to Earth recently and will be made into sake soon. He was hinting that if we end up living in space, the easiest alcoholic drink to make there will be sake, not wine.

Striploin rolled with proscuitto in tomato sauce

Representing Dassai were two executives who specifically flown in to Vancouver just for this event and left today: Shohei Yamane, director at Dassai, and Takenari Yamamori, manager of international business.

I asked Yamane about how Dassai managed to get served at the Governors Ball and he explained that one of the Dassai partners is in the movie business. What a great marketing strategy! Apparently director Steven Spielberg pronounced their sake as "exceptional".

When I asked Yamane about the biggest sake market outside of Japan, he said it was China. Before it was Hong Kong, but like seafood and steaks, some of it goes across the mainland and it's hard to know exactly how much.

We also talked about Hong Kong, and he knew of a sake bar called Sake Bar Ginn that he had visited, and I had been too! Too bad it closed during Covid.

Yamane talking to the sake crowd

Dassai is hoping to grow sake consumption in Canada, and it starts with dinners like these to educate diners what sake is and how it complements pretty much everything you eat.

 

So Long, Sammy's Kitchen

Restaurant was an institution for over 50 years

The latest old school restaurant to close in Hong Kong is Sammy's Kitchen in Sheung Wan. It was well known for its giant neon cow sign which was taken down in 2015 after it was deemed an illegal structure, but thankfully it is preserved at M+ in West Kowloon.

It was sad news to hear of its impending closure, but it wasn't the first time the restaurant threatened to shutter.

One could have escargots in garlic butter sauce

Back in 2017 the owners announced they would close Sammy's Kitchen and like many others I rushed over to try it, not once but twice. It was so busy before the purported closure that it actually continued operating, until a few days ago on January 31.

The restaurant was best known for Hong Kong style western food, like beef Stroganoff, escargots with garlic butter baked in cheese, beef Wellington and even Chateaubriand for two. Don't forget desserts like peach Alaska, souffle, and banana flambe.

It was opened over 50 years ago by Sammy Yip and his friends, who had experience working in hotel kitchens and decided to strike out on their own.

When I went nine years ago, the cavernous, dim restaurant was run down and tired. Tables were covered in plastic sheets with a Burberry tartan design. 

Hong Kong style western food on the menu

The menu, presented in plastic binders had so many dishes, one wondered how the kitchen in the back could produce all those items, but apparently did, arriving piping hot at the table.

Did no one think to at least edit down the menu a bit to make it easier for the kitchen and control food costs a bit more?

Nevertheless, perhaps there is a time and place for things and the food at Sammy's Kitchen is long past it's due date. 

There are many other restaurants in Hong Kong that do beef Wellington and Chateaubriand much better, though I will concede probably cost more. And in general diners are more sophisticated and expect better quality, which is why they have also moved on from Sammy's Kitchen.

At least we'll have the neon cow sign to remember it by.

Tokyo: Eating Well in the City

Eating lots of seafood at Andy's Shin Hinomoto in Tokyo

We ate pretty well in Tokyo, but probably not as good as most Japanphiles who specifically head to the Land of the Rising Sun for the marvellous food at cut-rate prices.

Last Thursday we arrived in the evening and by the time we checked into the hotel, it was almost 8pm. Before I went on my trip, my Japanese hairdresser suggested that I try the food at McDonald's because the items would be different than in Vancouver.

McDonald's food in Japan is... different

Even though I hadn't eaten McDonald's in years, that's what we did -- with mixed results.

We tried an ebi filet-o or Filet-O-Shrimp, chicken teriyaki Filet-O, a grape soda, medium fries and two desserts, one that looked like mini churros with a strawberry filling, and strawberry daifuku pie in sakura pink packaging.

The Filet-O-Ebi substituted fish for shrimp with lettuce and mustard and it was not bad, tasting slightly sweet, while the chicken teriyaki burger was smothered in the dark sweet sauce to make the chicken patty palatable. 

Meanwhile the Qoo white grape soda was far from natural juice, but still refreshing, though the fries seemed undercooked, but we ate them anyway. 

Like other McDonald's meals, you wolf down the food, but then don't feel full. For dessert, the chocolate churros, called hitokuchi kuro churros were baked rather than deep-fried, and the strawberry filling was not jam, but artificially flavoured pink. The pie, available for a limited time, had a filling that was part mochi, part strawberry jam which was strange. Nevertheless it was the latter that made the pie taste extremely sweet. I finished off the fries to balance out the saccharine taste.

Meaty king crab served cold

Needless to say, we did a lot of walking afterwards to try to keep the calorie count down.

The next evening we went to an izakaya called Andy's Shin Hinomoto in Yurakucho. It is located under a train overpass, so you can periodically hear trains going by. There are several eateries in each of these moon-shaped deep alcoves that are quite cozy. 

Andy is Andy Lunt, an Englishman from Leicester, who in 1978 married the izakaya's owner's daughter and in 1986 came to Tokyo to help out with the business, and then taking over in 2010.

People can put their bags and umbrellas in little nooks or up above in fishing nets suspended from the ceiling. What a great idea to save space!

Our host had already ordered the king crab and it was boiled, but served cold, and the parts chopped up, but not cracked liked they would be in Chinese restaurants. Instead they were cut open with incisions here and there to help make it easier to extract the sweet meat aided by a skinny long metal tool.

Large plump clams cooked in sake

We were also served a plate of sashimi, long, meaty gyoza, tempura, and wagyu croquettes. The tempura were subpar, same with the croquettes, which were actually three patties of minced beef mixed with mashed potato. However, the highlight was the large clams cooked in sake, and the meat was so plump and juicy.

With beers, highballs and a plum drink, the total came to 26,000 yen for three. Again we walked off the meal by walking to the Imperial Palace, which had strategically placed strong headlights to prevent people from coming too close. 

We walked to a place near the subway station that sells taiyaki, a fish-shaped pastry that has different fillings. We had the custard and red bean one. They were very hot out of the waffle iron, and a good way to keep warm as the temperatures began to drop. 

Tender cuts of beef for yakiniku

Another excellent meal was at Yakinikutoraji Honten, which has several branches, and we ate at the one in Shibuya that had three floors. Our host did the ordering and we didn't mind not knowing what we were eating over a hot charcoal-fired grill.

We started off with thin slices of beef tongue that were delicious and then moved onto other cuts of beef that I was unfamiliar with, but everything was tender, despite not being marbled. Some cooked meats we wrapped in lettuce or shiso leaves, and grilled the odd slices of peppers.

Service was great, as after each round the staff came by to replace the metal wire rack over the charcoal. For dessert I had two scoops of soybean ice cream with a caramel sauce drizzled on top. This meal cost 2,000 yen less than the izakaya!

Our final dinner was at Savoy after our visit to Tokyo Skytree. The pizza place opens at 5.30pm and we didn't know we could make reservations so when we arrived there was luckily a short lineup ahead of us. The first group ahead of us was eight people including four young children; the parents couldn't decide if they wanted to order take away or eat in... Luckily we didn't wait too long, perhaps half an hour or so and we were the next batch of people to go in.

The best seats in the house were near the entrance where the pizza oven was located, with a roaring fire, but we were led to the back kitchen where salads were prepared and dishes were washed. It was kind of strange to have a open view of the back of house, but perhaps they felt they could take advantage of hungry diners eager for any kind of view.

A watery Margherita pizza at Savoy

The pizza menu had changed since my friend last came, with fewer pizzas to choose from. Nevertheless we ordered the classic Margherita and the Blue fin tuna from Yamayuki which looked intriguing. But first we ate an appetiser of octopus with peppers and fennel lightly dressed with oil, vinegar and parsley. Delicious.

We also had some meatballs covered in tomato sauce and some sprinkled melted parmesan cheese that were very tender and total comfort food.

Not long after we finished the meatballs the Margherita pizza arrived. It looked great, with the slightly burnt crust. But when I pulled a slice away to eat, I could see the tomato sauce was quite watery, which dulled the taste of the pizza. I still liked the crust which was airy and held up to the watery filling.

Excellent blue fin tuna pizza

Our waitress thought we were finished after this pizza and began collecting our plates when we told her we were still waiting for the second pizza. Guess they are in a hurry to get the next batch of hungry customers in.

Finally (and giving us a bit of time to digest), the Blue fin tuna pizza came with a side of wasabi and we were not disappointed! This was definitely a memorable pie. Since there's only a few slices of tuna, they were all bunched up in the middle and seared from being in the pizza oven; some bits were still a bit raw. 

The combination of the slight sashimi taste of the tuna combined with cheese was so smooth and sweet, and the roughly chopped spring onions added a bit of crunchy texture. We did not need the wasabi to liven things up. It was already so good.

For dessert we didn't only have one but two tiramisus, very light, almost fluffy light and a hint of the espresso-soaked ladyfingers underneath. We walked out feeling sated and happy to make it to this place. Our total eating time: 45 minutes. 

Hong Kong's Beefed-Up Diets Debunked

Here's what over 10 tonnes of frozen wagyu beef look like

There are statistics that say Hong Kong is the largest consumer of meat per capita in the world at an average of 137kg per person daily.

That's basically five times the international average.

Are people eating tomahawk steaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday?

If so there would be even more Hongkongers dying of heart disease.

It's not true.

The seized speedboat with six engines at the back

The reality is that a good portion of that meat is smuggled across the border to mainland China and some of it was caught yesterday.

Hong Kong Customs intercepted a high-powered speedboat on September 2, in the southwest waters of Hong Kong. In the boat was about 10.1 tonnes of suspected smuggled frozen wagyu beef with an estimated market value of HK$21 million (US$2.7 million).

Customs officers had spotted a suspicious speedboat heading to the open sea at high speed with its navigation off, and immediately followed it. Officers later discovered the speedboat was equipped with six powerful outboard engines. Five men aged between 22 and 36 were arrested, and the meat was seized.

That is sadly wasted meat... it will probably be stuck in a freezer as evidence for months and perhaps destroyed afterwards? 

So yes -- Hongkongers are not constantly eating beef all day. The same could be said about seafood, with highly prized fish, shark's fin, abalone, sea cucumber and so on are probably smuggled north as well!

Army of Cooks Feeding Cruise Ship Passengers

Showing off some cool knife skills

We ate all our meals on the Ruby Princess this past week and I can attest as a cruiser that the novelty fades quickly; the breakfast buffet looks pretty much the same everyday, and in the fine dining restaurant, ingredients are used in different ways. It's best to eat something fresh on the menu -- and asking your waiter for tips on what's good that day.

Nevertheless we have to say running the food outlets on a cruise ship is no easy task. Executive chef Russell Clarke explained that half the staff are related to food and beverage, either cooks or waiters from some 50 different countries.

Pastry chefs busy making cakes for the day

During a culinary presentation in the theatre, Clarke quipped that he spoke Australian, not English, while all the other cooks and waiters spoke at least two or three different languages.

On stage, Clarke quickly made three dishes for the audience of passengers: shrimp cocktail with mango salsa, lamb chops, and pavlova with berries and coulis.

However, we weren't invited to try the dishes -- the pavlova looked rock hard and dense -- but to go to the galley kitchens to take a look. Apparently this is a popular tour and some people raced to the kitchens! In the end there wasn't much to see, except lots of empty work spaces, stainless steel everywhere and only a handful of chefs working at 11am.

Perhaps the cooks were shy, or Clarke wanted the area cleared out, we could only look at a distance though some areas were decorated with creative carvings of vegetables and fruits. Some were constructed to look like mice and birds, but the flowers carved out of the side of a watermelon were most impressive.

A hearty slice of prime rib with potato, beans

We were given a fact sheet on how much food is produced on the ship, and it involves ordering 110-115 tons of food delivered on a single cruise.

Three butchers clean and cut 1,700 fish into portions daily, while five butchers, three assistants and helpers prepare beef and poultry. On a cruise, 1,400lbs of poultry, 1,700lbs of beef, 1,400lbs of pork and pork products (like sausages); 300lbs of veal, and 200lbs of lamb are cooked daily.

While I had a large slice of prime rib that was pretty good on the last night, the lamb rack I had was overcooked. Interestingly the cream of whatever vegetable soup like cauliflower, or lentil, and the Alaska seafood soup were really good. These are made by 13 staff, preparing 550 gallons per day.

Some 1,600lbs of salad are served daily along with 400lbs of shrimp, 13 gallons of mayonnaise, and 1,500 sandwiches. The Caesar salad was consistently good and what I ate the most.

The bread served on board is made fresh daily by 10 bakers, including the bread rolls we ate everyday that had a light crunchy exterior and fluffy interior along with whipped butter. I did not try the pizza nor the croissants. The bakers use some 1,500lbs of flour daily! I saw some dough being proofed when we went through the kitchens.

Breads are made daily on the ship

And there are 13 people working in pastry making desserts, ice creams, cakes and pies. Around 6,000 pieces of pastries are made everyday, along with 100 gallons of ice cream, and 300 cakes and pies. The blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream was a favourite at our table. The souffle on the first day was more like a steamed cake, but there was baked Alaska (a giant one sliced up, to individual ones that were sloppy). The safest bet was peach melba or ice cream with fresh fruit sauce like pineapple or strawberry.

Every morning I ate fruits -- honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. Sometimes there was papaya. Towards the end of the trip there was more canned fruit like apricot, peach and pineapple. I ate those anyway, and once had canned figs. Around 6,000lbs of fresh fruit is served daily, while 400lbs of butter are used everyday!

For those who drink coffee, 470 gallons are consumed, 62 gallons of coffee cream, and 400lbs of sugar for the coffee.

After consuming all that food, someone has to clean the dishes. Fifty-seven people wash china, glasses, silver, and pots and pans. Everyday 70,000 dishes are washed, while 21,500 glasses are washed. 

And that's just the passengers. There are also 1,1000 crew who need to eat too!

Delicious Budget Thai Eats in Yuen Long

Whetting the appetite with pomelo and prawn salad

When I was in Hong Kong, a foodie friend was keen to take me to a dai pai dong in Sham Shui Po called Oi Man Sang. Customers have to queue for a table, but many believe it's worth it, as the place is known for cooking fresh seafood. We were all looking forward to it -- until we found out it would be closed on Qing Ming, or grave-sweeping day, one of the few holidays the staff get off.

Braised beef in a tart soupy sauce

So, we had the second-best thing -- a Thai restaurant in Yuen Long, about a 20-minute walk from Yoho Mall II in the New Territories. 

My friend drove us there along with his cousin and her husband, along with another chef acquaintance to Thailand East. When we got there it's a large compound, with people eating outside and inside, and parking at the back.

We were shown to a indoor area and upstairs where practically all the tables were filled. While the place served Thai dishes like green papaya salad and skewers, they also had claypot rice -- very Cantonese, and soy sauce chicken.

To start the pomelo and shrimp salad was delicious, large chunks of the citrus fruit together with plump shrimp, cherry tomatoes and peanuts, with a light soy dressing that was seasoned with fried garlic chips. Soon came the pork and beef skewers dipped in a thick peanut sauce.

Claypot rice with Chinese sausages was spot on

In a large stainless steel bowl was a giant beef bone, seasoned with garlic and coriander. The bits of beef fell off the bone easily and the slightly tart soup was delicious. I could have eaten the soup on its own and be fully satiated.

Next came two piping hot claypot rice, and they had the crispy rice at the bottom. The first had Chinese sausages, including one with offal and pork belly, the other with small pork ribs. Both were delicious and just depended on which flavour your were more partial to. How a Thai restaurant prepared spot on claypot rice I don't know, but practically every table had at least one.

A pre-ordered baked soy chicken arrived sitting up on a mini stake with a bowl at the bottom to catch the drippings. It seemed disconcerting at first to see a headless chicken sort of standing upright, but we took pictures anyway. After the photo session it was whisked back to the kitchen for the chef to expertly chop into pieces.

Roasted chicken was tender, hardly dry

For vegetables, water spinach with a touch of chillis was just right, along with more fried rice with pork belly and scrambled eggs on top. 

By this point we were pretty full, but wait there's dessert! We had the standard black sticky rice with mango and coconut milk, and a plate of taro-flavoured jellies with small cups of coconut milk jelly. 

Together with good conversation mostly about food, and talking about what we ate, it was a very enjoyable evening at a restaurant on the side of the road. For five people the bill came to around HK$1,300 including drinks, about HK$260 per person. Practically Shenzhen prices! No wonder the place was packed!

Black sticky rice with mango and coconut milk

Thailand East

G/F, 1 Tung Shing Lei

Yuen Long

9790 6118

Palm Springs: Going Asian at Rooster and the Pig

Really yummy congee to start the meal

Before I left for Palm Springs, another friend recommended Rooster and the Pig, a Vietnamese restaurant. It has a no-reservations policy with doors open at 5pm. We decided to try our luck on Friday around 7pm.

It's located in a mini strip mall with apartments in the back and a parking lot that's not really paved. I rushed to the restaurant and lo and behold there was a table big enough for five of us right by the entrance.

"When is the rest of your party coming?" inquired the waiter.

Pork belly fried rice with Chinese sausage

"They're right over there," I replied, pointing to them approaching the restaurant just steps away.

They added another seat to the table and we sat down in minutes. 

It's a minimalist kind of look in there, with Vietnamese posters, cookbooks on Asian cuisine, a colourful tiffin, and plants on shelves above diners' heads.

The menu is pretty straight forward, with some appetisers to start, some rolls and then mains, all meant to be shared. For the five of us, I chose six dishes and it worked out quite well in the end.

We were even given a small bowl of congee to start and boy was it good! It had been simmering for hours, the rice broken down and thick but not too gloopy either, garnished with deep-fried garlic and scallions. 

Next up were two rice rolls, one with pork and shrimp with mint with a peanut sauce, the other butternut squash with lettuce with fish sauce. They were a prelude to the mains that came quickly.

Crispy turmeric cod with rice noodles

Our vegetable dish was braised daikon with a few stalks of Chinese water spinach or tung choi, seasoned with star anise and cardamom, though these flavours were barely detectable. 

Pork belly fried rice was a favourite -- it included Chinese sausage of lap cheong, pork belly, mushrooms, onions, and shallots. The rice wasn't sticky, but day-old rice and so the dish was not too heavy.

Another star of the evening was the crispy beef with a generous portion of egg noodles. The beef was fried then deep-fried for crispiness, contrasting with the noodles that had a bit of a bite to them. 

The crispy turmeric cod was delicious, lightly fried and perfectly cooked, though they were accompanied with lukewarm rice noodles, which was probably the style, but we would have preferred the noodles hotter. 

The portion was just right for the five of us and we finished everything. When we asked if they had dessert, we were sad to hear they didn't serve any! And we didn't see any Asian staff -- even one of the cooks who took a breather outside was African-American. We were impressed.

Crispy beef egg noodles was hearty

Our meal was so good that we wanted to eat it again the next day, but when we drove by Saturday evening, there were several people standing around outside and the restaurant looked full. We gave up and went back to Manhattan in the Desert for dinner instead.

Rooster and the Pig

356 South Indian Canyon Drive

Palm Springs

760 832 6691

The French Food that Chinese Like to Eat

The mini pho bo with a sous vide egg at Linh Cafe

Linh Cafe is popular -- among mostly the Asian crowd.

The vast majority of the customers are Chinese -- both Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to come eat elevated Vietnamese fare and French bistro dishes like steak tartare, escargots, and mussels.

Three mini spicy baguette sticks

However, practically every table has at least one bowl of pho bo -- Vietnamese beef noodle soup with slices of beef brisket and rice noodles in a flavourful broth.

We later saw a Caucasian couple sit down, order two glasses of red wine and a bowl of pho bo each. How romantic.

Another Instagram dish is the spicy baguette sticks. We saw the table next to us had it so we ordered it too.

It comes with a minimum order of three sticks and they are mini baguettes sliced down the middle and filled with pork liver pate and topped with hot sauce that isn't really that spicy. It looked like a curry wurst, but was actually warm pate with a tinge of spiciness. Not something to order again.

We liked the frogs legs that were marinated in a spicy and garlicky sauce before being deep fried. If you were patient enough to extract the lean meat you were well rewarded with small plump bits that had a lingering spicy finish.

Delicious fried frog legs with a spicy finish

The country terrine is a classic dish, though this one was wrapped in a very fatty bacon. Nevertheless the combination of foie gras, Black Forest ham, and liver did give it a rustic texture that went well with the complimentary bread.

And like everyone else, we also ordered the pho bo, though ours was the mini size with a sous vide egg. We marvelled at the broth that had very deep flavours and yet was light and maybe some MSG in it? The beef brisket is a step up from typical Vietnamese pho places that offer thin slices of raw beef. Good to the last drop.

My friend was curious to try the palmier, but it wasn't exceptionally crispy or delicate; perhaps this pastry wasn't made in house? But a disappointing finish nonetheless...

Linh Cafe

1428 Granville Street

Under the Granville Street Bridge

604 564 9668