There were two reasons I wanted to stay at a ryokan, or Japanese inn. One, I wanted to experience a Japanese guesthouse furnished with traditional furniture and decor. Two, I wanted to have kaiseki, or Japanese haute cuisine. I loved the idea that the best of Japanese cuisine would be brought to me, without any effort on my part. (“Awesome Japanese food for dummies!”) It would be stuff I would probably never order on my own, and I would try everything, no matter how scary or weird it looked. A real culinary adventure!

As I wrote previously, I had a great stay at Sakoya in Yoshino. When I checked in, the very helpful concierge asked what time, between 6 and 7pm, I would like to have my dinner. I then went on a nice walk around Yoshino, came back to Sakoya for the first of many soaks at the hot spring, and got dressed for dinner in the comfy yukata that was provided.

When I got to the dining room at the appointed hour, most of my dinner was already laid out in the most beautiful arrangement. I was slightly overwhelmed with gratitude that I had the priviledge of enjoying such a wonderful meal, and also just a little sad that no one was there to share it with me.

I ordered a very large beer (the only size that they served — honestly!), and started in on my meal.

Only half of my meal -- I need a wide angle lens!

My "view" during the meal: the traditional alcove with a hanging scroll, flowers, and a sculpture (and a phone!).

There were 12 components of my meal! Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Assorted platter: This dish was so beautiful, and it was hard to figure out what I was supposed to eat and what was just for decoration. The thing that looks like a sea urchin/tiny bird’s nest is actually fried potato (?) with hazelnut center. I overcame my initial hesitation about it, took a deep breath, and took a bite. It turned out to be the best part of the whole meal!  There was also egg and lightly fried okra. I think the shrimp was mostly for decoration, the white ball turned out to be butter, and I’m not sure I ate that tiny slice of brown and white thing in the back.
2. Raw plate: shrimp, chicken, and fish. I suppressed all that I’ve been told about salmonella and ate the raw chicken. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. I don’t think I would eat it again. Fish and shrimp were good though.
3. Vinegar salad with noodles, cucumber, radish, and fish. Refreshing and bright.
4. Assorted veggies: tofu molded into a leaf, taro, eggplant, snow peas, tofu skin, tofu roll. Nice to finally get some simple vegetables after lots of meat and carb-heavy meals.
5. Tofu custard. Sorta tasteless.
6. Tempura: okra, taro, eggplant, sweet potato, mushrooms. Who doesn’t love tempura? The weird thing is that they didn’t give me any tempura sauce (light ponzu?)… but it was still darn good.
7. Milk gratin aka “pot o’ cheese.” Since I didn’t have any lactaid with me, I chose to only take one bite. Because it was so milky, it wasn’t really my thing.
8. Grill: chicken coated with black pepper, green and red bell peppers, corn, and mushroom. This was a fun DIY thing to keep myself entertained.
9. Grilled local river fish, served with pickles and pickled asparagus. I tried to eat this whole, but wimped out when it came to eating the head.
10. It wouldn’t be a complete meal without perfectly cooked rice, soup with tiny mushrooms, and pickles.
11. Dessert was sliced Asian pear with matcha (green tea powder) covered jelly. A nice and light end to a tasty meal!
12. The apéritif was a delicate plum wine.

It was definitely one of the most memorable meals of my life. After dinner, I took another dip in the hot spring. Full, warm, and relaxed, I headed to bed and dreamt of beautiful and tasty foods.

Some of you might remember this post I wrote about the Sky Umeda Building in Osaka. Briefly, it’s an ultra modern building — actually, it’s two towers connected at the very top by a bridge/platform. The building was cool but what I was really excited about was the “food court” in the basement. My guidebook advertised it as a bunch of restaurants tucked into traditional village (sanwo) style alleys.

Down one of the walkways of the Sky Umeda "food court."

Indeed, it was pretty much the neatest food court I’ve ever visited. I was also relieved that it wasn’t hokey in any way, and that the clientele were mostly Sky Umeda office workers, not tourists or foreigners. It was tough to decide on a restaurant — all of them seemed really good, but I ended up going to Miyake, a place that served bento boxes and traditional Japanese lunches.

Entrance to Miyake

I ordered one of the lunch specials: grilled fish, served with pickles, eggs, tiny fish, “shiny sour mushroom thing” (seriously, that’s what my notes say), rice, salad, and miso soup. All for about $9. I was so very happy after this meal — it was exactly what I wanted.

My most excellent and tasty lunch. (Rice and soup not pictured.)

Seriously folks, I am committed to powering through these last few posts about my trip to Taiwan and Japan. Today, I bring you my 3-part meal in Osaka! I arrived around noon but held off on eating real food until dinner time. Boy, was I hungry! I knew I definitely wanted to get takoyaki, or fried octopus balls, an Osaka specialty. But who knew what else was in store?

I walked around shinsaibashi for quite a while and came upon a sit-down takoyaki restaurant. A lot of street stalls sell the delicacy, but I wanted to relax and enjoy my octopus balls. Wouldn’t you?

Takoyaki hot off the griddle

This particular restaurant sold the regular takoyaki, as well as the “Bikkuri Takoyaki” or “surprising fried octopus.” What was so surprising? Well, according to their menu, “the pieces of octopus are so big that you’ll be surprised!” Since I had no reference point, I’m not sure I was that surprised, but the pieces of octopus were pretty darn big. Basically, it’s a piece of octopus surrounded by an egg-y batter. You’re supposed to eat it with bonito flakes (not pictured) and dark soy sauce (aka okonomiyaki sauce, pictured). After I coated the takoyaki with bonito flakes, I blew on them to cool them down (they were really super hot)… subsequently, I blew bonito flakes all over the place. It was quite embarrassing but that was part of the fun. Oh, and at first the waiter told me they had run out of beer, which made me quite sad. But then they got more, and he was so excited to tell me, since I was so obviously upset at the lack of beer. It was cute.

Octopus ball + beer = a nice welcome to Japan.

Even though I devoured 8 of the surprisingly large takoyaki and one large beer, I was still really hungry. Then I came upon this food stall selling ramen. Yes! My first noodle encounter in Japan! I checked out how the locals were ordering and realized that I had to buy a ticket from a vending machine.

Meat or more meat? The machine was also quadra-lingual, which is better than just about anyone that might work at a ramen stand.

For those who don’t know, Japan is full of vending machines. I swear, there is at least one vending machine per block. They sell everything from drinks to ice cream to ramen. In the case of ramen, you buy a ticket, which you then give to the guy making the ramen. This is genius, because: 1. the guy making the ramen never has to touch money, making things more sanitary; 2. you order exactly what you want, and you don’t even have to talk to anyone (great for tourists); 3. it keeps the employees from accessing/stealing from the register.

Ramen guy moves so fast!

Three bowls (on the right) ready to be filled with deliciousness.

So the procedure went something like this: I went up to the vending machine, put money in, made my selection between regular ramen ($6.50) and one with extra pork slices ($10), retrieved my receipt, gave my ticket to the ramen man, who promptly made me a steaming hot bowl of delicious ramen that I ate standing at the stall. It was AWESOME. I also loved watching people come up, place their orders, and slurp down the noodles in about 5 minutes flat. Like at many ramen places here and abroad, there were lots of condiments including the special ramen pepper, hot sauce, and even spicy chives and pickles.

Tasty and hot ramen!

I was pretty full at this point, and decided to walk off dinner by strolling around the arcades at Shinsaibashi (basically, an outdoor mall). Then, I came upon Crêpe Ojisan, literally, “Crêpe Uncle.”

I wished that I had an uncle who made me crêpes. (you might notice that this place is right next to the giant 4-floor Sega entertainment complex)

Another thing you should know about Japan is that they are really good at making those fake food molds. So, I saw a whole display case full of crêpes with various fillings, and I decided that I must have one.

We all scream for ice cream. In a crêpe.

I went with a crêpe filled with chocolate almond ice cream and whipped cream. The ice cream was good but the crêpe was just so-so. Also, I got a lot of strange looks from people as I was eating it. Then I realized that the Japanese seem to frown upon walking and eating. Apparently, just standing on the side of the Crêpe Ojisan to eat your food is preferable. I guess they think it’s vulgar to be moving and eating at the same time, or perhaps you can’t possibly truly enjoy your food on the go. Such a different mentality than in the States!

Last year, I blogged about making turkey rice porridge with the leftover turkey carcass from Thanksgiving. I decided to make it again this year and actually write down the recipe and share with y’all, because it is THAT GOOD.

As good as the porridge is, it can be kinda boring by itself. Last year, I put shittake mushrooms in the porridge. To change it up this year, I made a shiitake and baby bok choy side dish that was, in my humble opinion, awesome. (Recipe below!) Since I made a TON of porridge, I had a few friends over to help me eat it. In addition to the mushroom/bok choy side dish, I also served Japanese pickles (radish and cucumbers) to add some crunchy texture and pretty colors to the porridge.

You’ve probably thrown out that turkey carcass by now, but you can also make this dish with a chicken carcass (if you happen to have a roasted chicken around), or pork bones. Just scale down accordingly.

Turkey Rice Porridge (aka turkey jook)
This recipe was inspired by my sister JS, who made an awesome turkey jook many, many Thanksgivings ago. I was reminded of it a few years ago, and this is the 3rd year in a row I’ve made it. A new tradition!

1 turkey carcass
water, enough to cover the carcass (about 5 quarts)
2 inch chunk of ginger, skinned and sliced in large chunks
1/2 cup Chinese rice wine (cooking wine)
Salt, pepper to taste
Optional: dash of sesame oil, Chinese white pepper, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 cups short grain rice
Garnish: green onion and ginger, thinly sliced

Cover turkey carcass with water. Add rice wine, salt, pepper, and ginger. Optional: Add a dash of sesame oil, Chinese white pepper, soy sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for ~2hrs, skimming off fat along the way. In the meantime, cook the rice.

Remove carcass from stock; drain and cool. Add cooked rice to the stock and continue to simmer, covered. When carcass has cooled, pull off residual meat off the bone, and add meat back into porridge. Shred any additional meat (leftover breast meat, for instance) and add it to the broth. Simmer, covered, until rice/stock mixture has turned thick and rice grains have disintegrated (about 1-2 hours). Garnish with green onion and ginger.

Serves 6.

Baby bok choy + shiitake mushrooms
This is a recipe I made up 2 years ago, when I happened to buy shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choy at the farmers’ market, and wham! Yummy new recipe!

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
4 bunches of baby bok choy, washed, hearts removed
¼-1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp water
Black pepper, to taste

Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, and water in a small bowl and set aside. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy pan. Add garlic and fry until fragrant (~1min). Add bok choy and mushrooms to the pan, stirring often. Add a splash of water to “steam” the vegetables. When veggies look cooked (mushrooms tender and bok choy slightly limp), add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and water mixture. Mix everything together quickly and remove from heat.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Alternative versions: For a true vegetarian dish, substitute oyster sauce with hoisin sauce or an extra tablespoon of soy sauce. To make it a main dish, add 1/2 lb of sliced firm tofu, pork, or chicken.

About to dig into some spicy and delicious pork stuffs.

I’ve finally made it to my FINAL Taiwan post! Whee! Twelve posts later and I’m still 2.5 months behind, but I will be staggering more recent photos (i.e. Thanksgiving) with my Japan posts.

I only realized a couple of years ago that a lot of Taiwanese food is fried. Maybe that’s why it’s so delicious! I’m grouping a few meals together in this post. The first photo is from the basement food court of Taipei 101, on the same day my sister and I had afternoon tea. We shared a combo meal featuring some Taiwanese staples, including oyster omelette. The oyster omelette is very interesting because it has eggs and oysters (duh), but also something glutinous (because Taiwanese love chewy stuff) and lettuce. It’s topped with a sweet ketchup based sauce, often in a slightly disturbing shade of fluorescent orange.

The second set of photos are from a meal with two of my sisters at a more upscale, Taiwanese restaurant in one of the department stores. Of all of the dishes we had there, I’d say the most authentic/unique was the clay pot filled with pig intestines and pork blood pudding. I know, it sounds awful and disgusting but it’s actually really delicious. You’ll just have to take my word for it!

Before I left Taiwan, my mom took me back to the Taipei Train Station Food Court (aka the Largest Food Court in the world) for my last taste of Taiwanese food. We had oyster omelette again, as well as vermicelli noodle soup (only so-so), and a giant fried meat ball, another Taiwanese specialty. It’s basically minced pork, garlic, and bamboo shoot inside a very chewy skin, topped with that same orange sauce as the oyster omelette. When it’s good, it’s SO good, but this one was just ok.

Finally, I finish with this great photo of a giant bowl of delicious noodles that cost about $3 and bigger than my nephew’s head!

Of all of the great food I love eating in Taiwan, dim sum is definitely at the top of my list. We have a favorite restaurant that takes reservations, which is a must considering that our group can be as large as 16. This time, we only had 6, but we still had a great time. My mom is an expert at ordering dim sum — she knows exactly how to maximize diversity of dishes without being excessive. If I inherit anything from her (besides great skin), I hope it’s this useful talent.

Here’s the gallery of our dim sum meal. As today is Thanksgiving, I dedicate this post to my family. Not only are they really supportive and fun (see above), but they were also super enthusiastic at helping me with my food blog. They were ever so patient with letting me take photos of everything before eating, and even going the extra step as my food stylists and models. Thanks family! xoxo

Excuse my language (as in the title) but I couldn’t come up with a better name for this week’s food experiment. I’ve been up to my neck in cranberries and made four (FOUR!) sauces just so I could report back to you in time for Thanksgiving, in case you’re still looking for a good cranberry sauce recipe.

If you’re like me, you came to cranberry sauce late. It was always that jelly thing in the corner that I would skip in favor of the mashed potatoes, turkey drumstick, and most importantly, the gravy! However, I eventually realized how the tart of cranberry brings out the flavor of roast turkey. More importantly, the sauciness of it can balance out the dryness of the meat. And who doesn’t like a dab of sauciness now and then?

I’ve never made cranberry sauce before and I decided that this year would be the year of cranberries. Two Thanksgiving potlucks (this past Sunday and this coming Thursday) provided just the right venue for me to make lots of varieties without getting stuck with 4 tubs of cranberry sauce. It wouldn’t be right for me to judge them, since I made two tonight and won’t have them with turkey until Thursday, so I’ll just list them here and describe their essence, and you can decide for yourself whether they’re worthy of your Thanksgiving feast.

Sauce #1: Traditional with orange zest

I got this one from smitten kitchen, a fantastic food blog with great recipes and awesome food porn. The original recipe can be found here, but here it is slightly modified by me:

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 (12-ounce) package fresh or frozen cranberries
Several julienned strips of orange peel, or thick pieces of zest (~1/4 of an navel or blood orange)
A few squeezes of orange juice (from 1/2 orange)
Optional: Add a couple drops of vanilla extract and a sprinkle of ground nutmeg.

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries and zest, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a few squeezes of fresh orange juice. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

I really enjoyed this one, and I think it was a favorite amongst the guests at the pre-Thanksgiving potluck I went to yesterday. It’s tangy and citrus-y with just a hint of sweetness. Perfect with turkey.

Sauce #2: Canned with mixed berries and chopped walnuts

Also from smitten kitchen. Probably the easiest recipe I’ve ever followed.

1 15-ounce can jellied cranberry sauce
1 15-ounce can whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 bag frozen mixed berries, not defrosted
1 handful chopped walnuts

Break up the jellied cranberry sauce into chunks in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Stir. Frozen berries will melt as it sits.

This was really good but also incredibly sweet. It’s fine with turkey but also went well with apple crumble, and, I’d imagine, ice cream and yogurt.

Sauce #3: Cranberry Chutney

This is from the Gourmet Cookbook. Not sure if I’m allowed to copy the recipe here, but here we go anyway:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2/3 cup shallots, coarsely chopped
12-oz cranberries, fresh or frozen
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Heat oil in 3-quart heavy saucepan. Add shallots and cook until tender. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until berries pop, about 12 minutes. Let cool. Can be refrigerated up to 1 week.

Again, I don’t have a fair comparison in the absence of turkey accompaniment, but this sauce is really complex and savory. There’s the ginger and the shallots, followed by the cranberry tart and finally the sugar. I’m looking forward to enjoying this one with the turkey on Thursday!

Sauce #4: Cranberry and Pickled Beet Relish

I took a picture of the beets since they disappeared into the cranberry sauce in the end.

This one is also from the Gourmet Cookbook.

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
1-16 oz jar sliced pickled beets, drained and quartered

Combine vinegar, water, and sugar and bring to a boil. Add cranberries and simmer until berries pop (15 min). Stir in beets, remove from heat, and cool. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Keeps up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

This one is SOUR. My face kept puckering as I tasted it. In isolation, I’d say it’s my least favorite but it might be nice with turkey. The pickled beets really bring some interesting, earthy taste to it. We’ll have to see.

Before I finish this post, I wanted to encourage everyone to donate either canned goods, time, or cash money to your local food bank. Give thanks for all that you have by sharing just a tiny bit of your wealth with those in your community who are less fortunate. Happy Thanksgiving!!! Gobble gobble!

The food court in Taipei’s central train station (“Breeze Taipei Station”) claims to be the largest food court in the world. I’m not sure if they are referring to square footage or to number of stalls, but it is pretty huge. It’s split up into four smaller food courts, each with a different theme: beef noodle soup (famous in Taiwan), curries, Taiwanese specialties/small eats, and desserts. In addition, there are a few full service restaurants as well as bakeries and specialty shops.

My parents don’t eat out a lot but they like going to this food court because it’s relatively convenient and the food is high quality but very reasonably priced. The food court has a nice clean aesthetic which makes meals even more appetizing.

On this particular day, we all went for various kinds of beef noodle soup. There were about 10 different stalls selling subtle variations of the same thing, so it was difficult to decide. Like at many American fast food joints, all of the stalls push combo meals, usually composed of a bowl of noodles accompanied by a couple of side dishes.

My combo meal: hand cut noodles with a meat-filled pastry and pickled cucumbers (my fave).

Close up of my noodles. Drool.

Close up of pickled cucumbers. More drooling.

My sister got the tomato-base soup which was yummy.

Beef noodle soup in clear broth. Light and savory.

My dad got the curry beef noodle soup. He was also very helpful with the food styling. Thanks dad!

Happy diners!

If you ever find yourself in Taipei train station, head up to the 2nd floor to find this food court paradise!

Posted in photos, travel Tagged: food court, noodles, photos, Taiwan ]]> http://willblog4food.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/the-worlds-largest-food-court/feed/ 1 Jen IMG_0875 IMG_0876 IMG_0882 IMG_0877 IMG_0883 IMG_0885 IMG_1906 http://willblog4food.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/you-spin-me-round/ http://willblog4food.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/you-spin-me-round/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:15:49 +0000 Jen http://willblog4food.wordpress.com/?p=1233 ]]>

The concept of  Sushi-Go-Round/Revolving Sushi is amazing: fast, fresh, healthy, and relatively cheap. Basically, you sit at a bar while plates of nigiri, sashimi, and rolls move past you on a conveyor belt. You grab whatever you feel like eating. At the restaurant that my mom took us to, the plates were $1 each, but at other places, the plates are color coded corresponding to prices. If you don’t see anything you like, there’s also a menu of made-to-order food.

The food at this particular sushi-go-round was so-so. The miso soup was rich and filled with large chunks of fish (sorry no photos) and the salmon nigiri was quite delicious. However, one of my orders (was it tuna? or maybe yellowtail?) was really disappointing. The highlight for me, though, was the design. I loved that there was a water spigot every couple of seats that dispensed hot water for tea, the little trash tub that kept things orderly, and the cute container for chopsticks.

My mom never stops trying to feed me.

A couple more sweet things to blog about from Taiwan!

Since bubble tea was invented in Taiwan, it’s no surprise that every aspect of each bubble tea can be customized there. The many options include: tea flavor (duh), bubble size (big vs. small), sweetness (no sugar, 30%, 50%, 75%, regular), and amount of ice. It’s almost as complicated as ordering a Starbucks drink! My favorite was passion fruit green tea with 30% sugar, since the passion fruit syrup is pretty sweet already. Even for a someone with a sweet tooth like me, the regular/normal sugar level was way too much.

Passion Fruit Green Tea with small tapioca. "The Tea of Cool" and don't you forget it!

My sister PJ could be a professional shopper. We usually shop all day (literally) and only take breaks for two things: to use the restroom and to eat or drink. She has memorized the layout of every single major department store in Taipei. It’s damn impressive. Anyway, during one such shopping marathon, my sisters PJ and JS and I stopped for afternoon tea (if you haven’t noticed, such things are common in Taipei). We each ordered a coffee and PJ ordered Belgian waffles with fruit and ice cream to share. Since I was still full from lunch, I told her I wouldn’t have any. However, as soon as the plate arrived, I quickly reversed my decision. It was too delicious looking not to take a bite… or two. Really, can you blame me?

Why yes, we are the official spokeswomen for this delicious looking dessert.

Up close and personal: waffles, fruit, and ice cream.