Flavor Boulevard

This is Vietnamese clay pot rice at Saigon Express. The pot comes sizzling hot, and after 5-10 minutes, we have a nice rice crust at the bottom, while the top is flavored with the sauce from the meat and vegetable. I wish there were more rice just because the sauce is so good, but I already get quite full with this portion every time.

The closest resemblance I can think of is the Korean dolsot bibimbap. In this Vietnamese case, there’s no kimchi, no gochujang, you don’t have to add anything to the already well seasoned toppings. I like this completeness of the rice bowl, as they say about the donburi (watch this Shokugeki no Soma episode for the donburi reference – ignore the sexy stuff, though, just focus on the food).

It’s amazing how much a restaurant can change over the years, or how much dining with a companion can change your perception of the restaurant (did they even have this clay pot rice back then?). I was not so impressed before. This time, it’s a change for the *much* better.

Side details: the hosts are nice, welcoming aunt-like ladies, who are more than willing to customize your order (cut the broccoli, not too much carrots, etc.). Each bowl costs around $9.

Address: Saigon Express
2045 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
They close on Sunday (T__T)

Hawaii is paradise if you are:
1. into constant heat and 90% humidity. In Hawaii, the world outside your air-conditioned box (e.g., your house, car, or office) is a sauna.
2. in the shave ice, juice, lemonade, or ice cream business.

The owner of Coconut Cafe is in *full* control of her life, her shop, and her customers. Her main sale is undoubtedly shaved ice, although her menu also has other dessert drinks (such as bubble teas), sandwiches and burgers. Coconut Cafe has no fixed hours of operation. She opens and closes when she wants to, and even if you walk into the door when she has already decided to close, she will tell you firmly so and there is no changing it. We know this fact, because we experienced it not just once, but 4 times.

The first day, we got there at 9:30 pm, after dinner, doors were shut tight, understandably, although we were somewhat surprised by how early stores and restaurants close in Hawaii compared to Berkeley. There was no sign anywhere saying what hours they’re open.

The second day, we got there around 5 pm. The lady said we could get shaved ice to-go because she’s closing, which is fine with us. A couple walked in a few minutes after us and they had to leave empty-handed. We thought about how lucky we were.

That luck didn’t last, however. The next two days we returned, around the same time, first to a closed shop, then to an about-to-close shop, and the lady said it’d be open around noon the next day. Noon the next day, we returned, a guy promptly greeted us with a simple cross of the arms, “we’re close,” without so much of a sorry. We left, dejected and irritated. Is a cup of shaved ice really worth our pride? Is a shaved-ice shop opening at noon, according to the owner’s words no less, really so much to ask for?

We were out of patience and ready to not ever go back, but luckily (and somewhat inexplicably), we went back. The owner lady apologized with as much sincerity as she could express, explained why she couldn’t open at noon as promised (I still can’t fully understand her explanation until this day, but I suppose that’s on me), and even waited for our return late that day. She stayed opened until 6:30 pm, just for us. As soon as we got our shaved ice, she closed for the day.

The fruity syrups, condensed milk and ice cream certainly make her shaved ice desirable. The heat helps, too. But I think her business model is successful for two main reasons:
1. The completely, unfailingly unpredictable hours (you know, keep us customers on our toes)
2. The owner is nice. She doesn’t treat her customers with indifference.

So, as one of the kids exclaimed right after taking his first spoon,
“This is the best shaved ice I’ve ever had. Thank you!”

Address: Coconut Cafe
2441 Kuhio Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(cash only)

Years of slouching at the computer and frozen pizzas have finally shown in my belly. The realization came when I bought a dress the other day without trying on, and if I grew just another quarter of an inch, the button would fly (… could it just be poor design? T__T). In any case, midnight pizza will have to go.

The problem: when you know you shouldn’t have something, you want it more. Every night, the hunger looms over me like a bright full moon….
The solution (maybe): pluots are in season again! YAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!

Pictured is 4 point something pounds of pluots. From darkest to lightest color: Flavor Royal, Eagle Egg, Tropical Plumana, and Golden Treat. (づ￣ ³￣)づ

It is finally spring in South Korea and the weather is beautiful – not too chilly and not too hot, just perfectly warm the way I like it. In other words, the weather is like Berkeley weather! After a long and cold winter, I definitely feel like I just awoke from hibernation.

So when I was watching TV with my partner’s family and we saw a spotlight on 꽃비빔밥 (flower bibimbap), my eyes lit up. On TV was a beautiful bowlful of flowers that looked so beautiful! Right away I turned to my partner and asked him to go together. So off we headed to the city of Asan to the Asan Botanical Garden (아산 세계 꼭식물관), a 40 minute drive from my partner’s home in Pyeongtaek.

Turns out the restaurant that was featured is part of a botanical garden, so we enjoyed the beautiful display of flowers on the way to our final destination: FOOD.

Is it weird to feel so hungry while looking at flowers? We were very hungry when we arrived, so while looking at the beautiful flowers and enjoying the sights and smells, I was also simultaneously thinking about the flowers that I would get to munch on at the end of the garden!

Well…after about 5 greenhouses of lovely flowers, we finally reached our destination.

Behold…flower bibimbap (꽃비빔밥), priced at 8,000W (about ~$8).

The flowers were so pretty, but I thought that there would be more (the TV program that we watched showed what seemed to be an opposite ratio of flowers to lettuce). Underneath the flowers are typical bibimbap ingredients: lettuce, seasoned spinach, mushrooms, and roots. The rice came on the side as well as seaweed soup (미역국 miyeok guk) and radish kimchi (깍두기 kkakdugi). Gochujang (고추장) also came in the typical squeeze bottle.

Overall, the dish was delicious but tasted a bit too much like ordinary bibimbap. The flowers, on their own, however had a very unique taste. Citrusy, bitter, a little sweet, and crunchy, they were super delightful to eat on their own. However, when mixed with all of the other bibimbap ingredients, they were lost and it was difficult to really distinguish this dish from a bibimbap without flowers. Maybe because we weren’t TV hosts, we didn’t get the special treatment of having a ton of flowers! I think this dish would have been more unique and balanced if the amount of lettuce had been reduced by 50% and the amount of flowers increased by 50% so that the unique taste of the flowers would stand out a lot more, especially next to such assertive (and other deliciously crunchy) ingredients as spinach, roots, mushrooms, and of course, the spicy gochujang.

It was a great experience though trying flower bibimbap! The beautiful flowers and sitting and eating inside the greenhouse with all of the wonderful smells really marked the opening of spring for me.

And of course, the visual beauty of the bibimbap was worth the trip for me!

More information about the greenhouse can be found here.

 

 

 

My love for these will never cease.

I’ve written way too much about banh cuon (Vietnamese steamed rice rolls) over the years, and if we’re friends, it’s highly probable that I have made or will make you try them the first chance I get. How much you like them kinda determines how much I like you.

Bánh Cuốn Thiên Thanh focuses on the northern-style(*) bánh cuốn Thanh Trì, where small, flat steamed squares (banh uot) are served with cha lua (silk sausage) and/or shrimp flakes on the side. They also serve 2 other types: rolls with pork and mushroom – banh cuon thit (pictured above), and rolls with grilled pork – banh cuon thit nuong. The owner told my mom that the younger kids (pointing at me) often liked the third type the most. I always stick to the second.

Compared to Tay Ho (which is inarguably the best places to get banh cuon in America – just what In ‘n Out’s fans claim about their favorite burger, only more factual), Thien Thanh’s rolls are much bigger, have more stuffings, taste just as good, and because they’re so big and flat, they can be rolled again (doubly rolled!) for easier handling. The only (personal) downside: the dipping sauce (mixed nuoc mam) has too much chili pepper. My lips were burning.

Address: Bánh Cuốn Thiên Thanh
11210 Bellaire Blvd. Suite 140
Houston, TX 77072
(281) 564-0419
Dinner for one: $7

Foodnote:
(*) – Technically, all banh cuon are northern. Banh cuon originates from the North.

I am obsessed with these doughnuts (or is it spelled donuts?).

I have a mild obsession with doughnuts…as in, once in a while, I will crave them but it’s usually pretty rare. However, after having a bite of this doughnut during a conference at Korea University this summer, I instantly became obsessed and have been craving them ever since. These doughnuts are “mochi doughnuts” and have the same chewy consistency as mochi but a little doughier. It’s like eating super fluffy, chewy, light-as-air dough. The texture kills me. And the chocolate frosting…yum!

I did try a coffee flavored doughnut but it wasn’t as tasty and there is another flavor that is labeled as “olive,” which I have yet to try.

These doughnuts resemble the popular Mister Donut doughnuts and because of their commercials with the little lion that eats its own mane, I call them “moinchy donuts.”

This Dunkin’ Donuts is located in the Pyeongtaek train station, so while waiting to take the train back to Seoul, I usually end up eating one because I just can’t resist the “moinchy” texture.

The True Deluxe: cheese, medium-cooked quarter-pound hamburger on toasted egg buns, lettuce, tomato, garlic mayo (no mustard, thank god), and a crispy portobello mushroom stuffed with smoked mozzarella. When I eyed it, Eric was like, “it’s BIG. Maybe you two can share one.” You two being me and Cheryl. Now that I think about it, Eric hadn’t seen me with burgers before.

Luckily, Cheryl was also hungry and wanted her own burger. Hers was pretty small compared to the Deluxe, but she’s a skinny girl who thinks a regular In ‘n Out is sufficient. For Mai, there’s no burger too big.

The most prominent plus side of True Burger is that it’s ready in less than 5 minutes. It satisfies our imagination of what a burger should be. It smells of fast food (but not of McDonalds, how does McDonalds maintain that distinctive McDonalds smell all these years?!) and of industrialized America. I don’t even know why I’m writing about True Burger when nothing about it really screams significance, even its name. It’s just that, somehow, sitting in a classic, simplistic orange-colored fastfood joint in the middle of a modernizing city, chomping on a messy burger while staring at the wall art is oddly utopian, as if we were cut-out pieces of that messy Richard Hamilton’s collage.

Address: True Burger
146 Grand Ave.
Oakland, CA, 94612
(510) 208-5678
True Deluxe: $9, normal cheese burger: $5.65, fries: $2.60

From Mom: hủ tíu bột lọc.

Hu tiu is a common type of rice noodle in Southern Vietnam, often served in noodle-soup form, the noodle soup dish is of course also called “hu tiu“. The usual hu tiu noodle is characterized by its thin shape and chewy texture. Vietnamese love chewy noodles just as much if not more than any other country, so people began using various methods to make hu tiu (*) chewier (the soaking time before grinding, the grinding, washing the rice flour, the mixing ratio with water and other types of starch, the thickness to spread the mixture into a film, the temperature and time to steam it). Bánh bột lọc(**), a type of savory snack, is made with tapioca starch (cassava flour), so I guess hủ tíu bột lọc also contains tapioca starch.

I spent an hour googling but expectedly found little and contradicting information about hu tiu bot loc – nobody in the business would reveal their secret. What I found online is hu tiu bot loc originated from Cần Thơ, and what I found in my bowl are fat (and flat) strings, whose color is clearer and texture is chewier than both the normal (and thin) hu tiu and hu tiu dai (“chewy hu tiu”).

Mom’s hu tiu bot loc: (good luck getting a more detailed recipe than this one from Vietnamese moms!)
– boil dry hu tiu (sold at stores), immediately wash in cold water to preserve chewiness and prevent them from sticking together, set aside
– simmer pork bones to make broth, add salt to taste
– eventually, add pork, beef balls and eggs
– finally, add hu tiu and cilantro

Foodnote:
(*) – That link is written in Vietnamese but the pictures are instructive enough to get an idea of the hu-tiu making process.
(**) – What does “bột lọc” mean? Literally, “bột” is flour, and “lọc” is to distill, so “bột lọc” means “clear flour”.

Even if you don’t like anything at Cafe Rabelais (I didn’t), this mini-mountain of profiteroles loaded with ice cream is still as resistible as a pool in the summer, and worth every second you spend with it too.

To top, it’s HUGE. THREE orange-size puffs, for only $6.50! We thought it was going to be just one cream puff, you know, like how desserts are usually portioned… but no, the pastry chef has a heart of gold. Next time I’m at Rive Village, I’ll swing by for a profiterole recharge. 😉

Address: Cafe Rabelais
2442 Times Blvd (West University, steps away from the big shopping mall of Rice Village)
Houston, TX 77005
(713) 520-8841 (They don’t take reservation though)

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Now… a few more shots of Rabelais’ foods, but the menu varies daily and is only written on the blackboard so we might never see these dishes again:

By the way, the service is just plain negligence. But if you come only for the profiteroles, you won’t see the waitress enough to notice the service anyway. 😉

Technically four shots total, not one, but it’s not a meal, and it’s just a quick shout-out to what Kristen called “the best dessert she’s had” (“in a while”, I think?).

We first went to Revival a year and a half ago. Just like that time, we re-confirm this time that Revival excels at food jellies/sorbet/basically anything fruit and sweet.

The best dessert in Kristen’s opinion – Baked Alaska. (My heart died the day I knew Ippuku stopped serving black sesame ice cream, and I refuse to get attached to any other dessert.) The baked alaska is a layered ice cream and sponge cake (or whatever you can layer) in a meringue shell. In Revival’s case, from top down, it’s huckleberry sorbet, lemon-thyme ice cream and almond shortbread. If this is not Refreshing, nothing is. (Well, Ippuku’s black sesame ice cream was.)

Chocolate Tres Leches Cake with ginger sabayon, quince sorbet and ginger-chocolate crémeaux. Now it’s up to you to decide which on the plate is which. I have no idea. (We suspect the fruit slices are poached pear/quince, and the crispy looking things are ginger, but sabayon is a sauce)

It’s a pretty drink with a pretty-sounding name: Cotillion, like the French fluffy merry dance in the 18th century. Square One botanical vodka, Dolin Blanc vermouth, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, and creme de violette. Smell fantastically flowery but is actually quite strong – I can still see Kristen, Alice and Kendra cringing at every sip. 😀

Address: Revival Bar & Kitchen
2102 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 549-9950
Dessert for four: $8 per dessert, $10 for the Cotillion. A great chat with the friendly chefs if you’re sitting at the kitchen counter (or whatever it’s called).

UPDATE (2 days later)

The black sesame ice cream was too mealy and not cold enough, it tasted more like mooncake filling than ice cream. But the persimmon sorbet was perfect. (Again, Revival has a way with fruits 😉 )