hmmmm....Food!!!! What we like to eat!

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

Don't forget this can include drinks and yea....anything that is edible....haha

I Love Taiwan Beer, better than Heineken.

bd Popeye do you know where in Singapore? I might be going to Singapore during the next few years for another holiday.

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

kliu0 said:

I LOVE Japanese UDON!....lol its great tasting.

Wonton Noodles I love too! I remember theres a shop in centre of Kaohsiung, I use to go there all the time when I was a kid. Its quite famous and has been in several magazines.

uh....please explain what chicken Pad Thai is please, never tasted it before....

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It is sliced or shredded stir-fried chicken and vegetables in a very hot but very tasty sauce sprinkled with peanuts and served on top of soft, flat rice noodles, also typically drenched in sauce; in fact, the sauce should be throughout the entire dish, but with most of it on the chicken and vegetables. Very good (but have lots of water or beer at hand if you're not used to it). At the risk of murdering the idea itself, think of it as the Thai counterpart to a Teriyaki Beef stir-fry, but much hotter and with a more exotic taste. Pad Thai can also be shrimp instead of chicken.

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

Oh ok, thanks Norfolk. I'll try it hopefully sometime soon with lots of water at hand. XD

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

If you're going to Singapore, I highly recommend reading this wiki entry:


For soup, Bak Kut Teh (Rou Gu Cha) made with pork ribs is very good. BUT the weather there is hot so get this at night, preferably late evening. Go to Bugis Village and ask where Alison hotel is, there's a food stall area next to the hotel that's open until 3am (?). You can get Bak Kut Teh here. You can also check the dry goods stores in SG Chinatown for Bak Kut Teh spice packets and take it home. Get a foot massage while you're in Chinatown.

For satay, go to Geylang. Be warned that this is the RED LIGHT DISTRICT so behave yourself:



For breakfast, go to any breakfast shop and get tea with kaya toast. SKIP the breakfast at your hotel. I also recommend roti prata for breakfast.

If you're thirsty, get the ice/cold barley drink. Look for kopitan food court inside some malls, there's usually a fruit place that sells freshly cut fruit on a stick. I highly recommend it.

For lunch, try Nasi Goreng or Nasi Lemak. It's hard to find restaurants that do them well in the US.

If you have a strong stomach, ask the teenagers running around where to get the "illegal" burger ramly from stalls in night markets.

If you see Thai girls walking around Orchid Road, be warned that some are actually men.

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

bd popeye said:

Philippine Lumpia with some Philippine Pancit..yummy..Can't get that her in the ethnically cahllenged state of Iowa.

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If you ever visit Los Angeles/Orange County, I can direct you to PH restaurants. We have Goldilocks, Red Ribbon, Chow King, Jollibee, etc. However the Jolibee in LA is even worse than the one in SM Mall Makati, except for fried chicken with rice and gravy.

I get meat buns and spongy bread from Red Ribbon in Cerritos, and Lumpia from a little PH food joint in Tustin called Manila Groove. My buddy's wife is from Mauban/Quezon and she says the food is very authentic. Breakfast is fatty and unhealthy as usual.

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

I run a local dining club group in my area (South Orange County) and did a write-up on a few noodle topics. I'll repost them here -- warning: lots of pictures.

A brief on noodles in Japan

The world's oldest noodle was found in Lajia dig site in Gansu, China. The noodle was made from millet and carbon dated to approx. 4,000 years old, during the Qijia civilization period:


However, local civilizations in Gansu that pre-dates Qijia, such as the Dadiwan (5850 BC), Majiayao, Yangshao, Banpo, etc. were all known to have cultivated millet and vegetables. These neolithic to bronze age civilizations had developed beyond hunter gatherers to agricultural civilizations with irrigation canals and fields. It's possible that they made noodles from millet at an earlier date, but no surviving evidence have been found.

As an interesting trivia, the Qijia civilization was centered around Lanzhou area in Gansu. Today, 4,000 years later, Lanzhou is still the capital of Gansu, and "Lanzhou Lamian", or Lanzhou pulled noodles, is popular across China, made by Hui Muslim chefs by hand. The soup base is usually beef bones and never pork, because pork isn't halal to Muslims.

Chinese Hui Muslim chef making Lanzhou lamian by hand, & beef lamian:



There's a popular misconception that noodles were only introduced to Japan during the Meiji era (1868-1912) via Chinatowns in port cities. Udon, which is a wheat based thick noodle, was introduced to Japan as early as 9th century during the Heian period, most likely a Tang-Dynasty import. The Kanji for "udon" is used for wonton-style dumpligns in Chinese today. We're not sure if it was a mis-translation by the Japanese, or the usage in Chinese had changed over the past 1100 years.

Japanese "nabeyaki" Udon:


During the 1500's, Chinese noodles were introduced to the Ryukyu Kingdom, now known as Okinawa. The Chinese noodles were flour based, and to this day the Okinawan soba noodles are still made of flour, unlike those in Japanese mainland, which are made with buckwheat.

Okinawa Soba:


During the Edo period (1603-1868) the Japanese were making soba noodles with buckwheat flour. Soba noodles are thin and served chilled with dipping sauce, or hot in soup. "Soba" is also a Japanese word for "buckwheat", and Japanese Soba is supposed to contain at least 30% buckwheat, except for Okinawan Soba which contains none (as mentioned above).

Japanese buckwheat soba with dipping sauce:


After the Meiji reformation, the Meiji era (1868-1912) saw an influx of foreigners. Chinatowns popped up in port cities like Kobe, Yokohama, Nagasaki, etc. Chinese immigrants brought lamian, or "pulled noodles" to Japan during this period. These noodles were made of flour and not buckwheat, so the Japanese referred to them as "Chinese soba". In Nagasaki, Chinese restaurant owners served "Champon" noodles, which is very different in style from the lamian/ramen that we know today.

Chanpon noodles:


After WW2, many Japanese soldiers and colonists were expelled from China and went home to Japan. The post-WW2 period offered few economic opportunities, so some of the Japanese who lived in China for many years opened Chinese restaurants in Japan to make a living. It was around this time (late 1940s-early 1950s) that lamian/ramen became very popular across Japan as an inexpensive, but filling dish.

Ramen (lamian) as we know today:


In 1958, a Taiwanese immigrant to Japan named Wu Pai Fu, aka Momofuku Ando, invented the first instant noodle. He became chairman of Nissen Food products and exported his chicken-flavored instant noodle world-wide as "instant ramen". Note that although the noodle is written as "ramen", in Chinese and Japanese they say it like "lamian" and not with "R".


The creator of instant noodle, Mr. Wu Pai-Fu aka Momofuku Ando, Noodles Papa:


Nissin Food's original "Chikin Ramen", the world's first instant noodle:


Different regions of Japan has their unique lamian/ramen flavors and toppings, which I'll get to in later post. There are also other types of noodles popular in Japan, such as somen, a thin, white-colored wheat noodle. It's commonly served during summers chilled with dipping sauce, or in hot soup during winters as "nyumen".

Somen:


Eating chilled somen by sliding it along bamboo pipe with cold water:

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

The many varieties of ramen

Generally speaking, Japanese ramen (non-instant, restaurant style) can be classified by soup base, location/origin, and type of noodle. Rameniac has done an excellent job on a ramen styles write-up, scroll down on this page and check the 22 different ramen styles by origin:


Since they didn't elaborate on the soup styles, I'll go over them briefly here:

Shoyu: Shoyu means soy sauce in Japanese. This type of soup base is usually clear and brownish, made from chicken and veggie with soy sauce added, typically served with straight or curly noodles.



Miso: This is basically Sapporo style soup base, made with miso, chicken, or fish. The soup base is thick and oily, typically served with thick or curly type noodles.



A variation of the miso ramen is the spicy miso:


Shio: Shio means salt, this soup base is made from salt, chicken, veggies, fish, seaweed, and sometimes pork bones. The soup is clear and yellowish, and never boiled. If you order this and the soup looks white-ish, you know the cook boiled the soup base.



Tonkotsu: This is a pork bone soup base, made by boiling the pork bones until the soup turns white-ish. Typically served with straight noodles, Hakata style.



Recently there have been other creations, such as this "curry ramen" with curry soup base:


Sometimes the ramen restaurant does a "fusion" soup base, such as tonkatsu-shoyu.

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

Lamian in Chinese cuisine today

There are many varieties of noodle in Chinese cuisine. I'll touch up on a few lamian styles briefly.

Generally speaking, there are 2 main styles of wheat Lamian (hand pulled noodles) in Northern China, Lanzhou and Shandong. Lanzhou lamian is usually made by Hui Muslims, and thus their food must be Halal (permissible). The soup base is usually beef or mutton, clear colored, with salt and some green onions. You won't find pork because it's Haraam (forbidden), and the soup will usually not contain soy sauce. The reason is because soy sauce typically contains 2% alcohol, and alcohol is forbidden to Muslims. Asian restaurants in Muslim countries have to use special Halal soy sauce.

Here's some pictures of chefs making Lamian by hand. The best tasting noodle is always the freshly made stuff, machine-made noodles at the supermarket just can't compare:



You can also find many YT videos on lamian making:


Here's the finished product, notice the soup is clear-ish:


With hot chili sauce added:



The second type of "northern" lamian is Shandong, which is usually made by ethnic Chinese chef and not Hui Muslims. There's a stereotype that says Lanzhou lamian tends to be "round" while Shandong lamian is "flat", but the shape is really up to the chef making it, or the machine used. Shandong Lamian doesn't have to be Halal so the soup base could contain soy sauce. However, it's rare to find it served with pork chop. Here's an example of machine-made Shandong noodle, stir fried with soy sauce and other seasonings:



In addition to hand-pulled noodles, there's also a "knife-peeled" variation called Dao Shao Mian (daoxiaomian). Here's a video showing the "knife peel" process:



There are 2 popular regional versions, central Shanxi (San-shi) and Xi'an (Shi-an), though I'm not really sure what the difference is. @_@ Knife-peeled noodles tend to be flat and wide. Like Lanzhou Lamian, when made my Hui Muslims it's Halal and typically served with simple beef soup. But when served by Chinese chefs, they may add soy sauce and other spices:



Over the years, Northern noodle making traditions spread south, and many Southern provinces have their own unique noodle dishes today. Here's a noodle chef in Shanghai making hand-pulled noodles:



Up until the 19th century, many Han-Chinese avoided the consumption of beef, because it was considered immoral to kill and eat an animal that labored for you on the farm. This cultural sentiment was exported to Japan, where consumption of beef was illegal until Meiji era. Thus, Han-Chinese preferred pork over beef, while non-Han Chinese like the Hui ate beef and mutton. Here's an example of knife-peeled noodle served in Taiwan, with pork sauce topping:



However, with the coming of modern era, cows were replaced by tractors, and our beloved moo-moo's were eventually accepted as food by Han-Chinese. A very popular Chinese noodle dish today is the Szechuan Spicy Beef Noodle, with chili oil added to the soup base for that extra kick. You can find this dish in many Chinese restaurants today:


This style of noodle was brought from retreating KMT forces in 1950 to Taiwan. Over the years it had became extremely popular in Taiwan, and entire magazine issues have been published in Taipei dedicated to the best bowl of beef noodles. The noodle is usually served with some veggies, fresh or preserved, along with beef and beef tendons. It's possible to order with only beef or beef tendons only.

Taipei Beef Noodle Festival 2005:


Various Taipei beef noodles:


Taiwanese "pork chop noodle", with fried pork chop on top instead of beef. This is one of my favorite dishes, sometimes the fried pork chop is served on the side.



In 1988, a Chinese-American businessman from California opened a chain of beef noodle shops in China called "California Beef Noodle King USA":




The owner looked to American fast food chains like KFC for inspiration. I ate at one of the chains in Beijing last year and it was pretty good value for the money, about $1.25 USD for a bowl of beef noodle. So, like "Taco Bell", you can say that America is now re-exporting ethnic foods back to China.

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

A brief on Phở

This is an attempt by non-Vietnamese to describe (briefly) the history of Phở, and a few popular regional varieties. Apologies for any inaccuracies.

To summarize history, prior to arrival of the French, Vietnam was like many of her Asian neighbors, refraining from consumption of beef. The family cow spent most of its life laboring in the rice paddies, it was just immoral to kill it for meat. Then the French came and Moo-Moo's became fillet mignon and pot-au-feu. End of history lesson.



The Vietnamese wasted no time in adopting to French tastes of beef. The first phở bò, or beef noodle is reported to have been served between late 1800's to early 1900's, in the provicne of Nam Dinh, just SW of Hanoi. The dish quickly spread to Hanoi, then to other cities. Phở bò was served with clear beef bone soup base, with banh pho, a white rice noodle. If you could afford it (back then), your bowl came with slices of beef, or various beef bits and parts (tendon, tripe, oxtail, etc).



Generally speaking Phở is considered a northern Vietnamese dish (Pho Bac = Northern Pho), with some Chinese and French influences. Purists prefer to eat it without a lot of garnish or sauce, because they consider the soup base to be most important, and should NOT be contaminated in flavor by adding lime juice, hoisin, or chili sauce directly into the bowl. Purists don't even like bean sprouts. If you see a plate of onions on the side, put some chili sauce on it and eat it with a spoon (along with some soup), but don't put it inside your bowl.

During the mid 20th century, Vietnam was divided between North and South via 1954 Geneva Conference. An estimated 2 million North Vietnamese moved South, increasing the popularity of Phở in Southern Vietnam. The South Vietnamese added their own preferred garnish, such as bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, lime, hosin sauce, etc.



Over time, various other ingredients are added, such as beef balls, seafood, chicken, etc. My favorite variety is chicken, which is made with clear chicken soup base (no beef bones):




Now let's briefly go over the 3 main regions of Vietnam, and their local Phở varieties. Wikipedia also has a good write-up:



Northern Vietnam

Phở bò (beef noodle), which we've already covered. Bun, a thin rice vermicelli, typically served in dishes like Bún Cha (with grilled pork), and Bún Than, which is a chicken noodle soup.

Bún Cha, note the rice vermicelli is served "dry" on a plate. You can read more about it .



Bún Than (chicken noodle soup), in this picture the soup hasn't been added:



Central Vietnam

Central Vietnam is famous for their Bún Bò Huế, which is served with pork-beef-lemon grass soup base, and bun noodles (roundish rice noodles). In addition to the beef, be warned that this dish may come with pig's feet, pig's blood cubes, and other goodies like steamed pork and shrimp paste. The spicy lemon grass soup WILL STAIN if you get it on your shirt. You can read more about it . There's a few restaurants in Westminster that serves Central Vietnamese dishes, I'll post them later in this thread.

Two versions of Bún Bò Huế, note the noodle looks different from typical northern Phở:



Other Central Vietnam dishes include Mì Quảng, from Quang Nam province. The traditional style use a yellow-ish noodle, but these days I've seen it served with white noodles. You can read more about it .


And there's Bún măng Vit, which is served with bamboo (măng) shoots and duck: (quack quack)



Southern Vietnam

As mentioned earlier, the South Vietnamese adopted their own styles of garnish to Phở. In addition, they have local noodle styles, as well as those influenced by Chinese immigrants, Thai-Khmer (Cambodian), and possibly Chăm.

After the Manchu conquest of Ming Dynasty, many ethnic Chinese immigrated from Guangdong to Vietnam. About 85% of them lived in the south in 1970's, and are referred to as "Hoa". They typically spoke Cantonese or Teochew. These Chinese immigrants also brought with them Southern style Chinese noodles to Vietnam, typically referred to as "mi" in Vietnamese, as well as flat/wide Chinese noodles for pan frying, and clear noodles used in Hu Tieu Thanh Xuan and Hu Tieu Mi Kho. But the Vietnamese "Bún" noodle is totally indigenous.

Here's a picture of Hu Tieu Mi Kho, made with clear noodle (aka "glass noodle) and egg noodles. Typically clear noodles are served with seafood, but can also be found with beef/pork or combination with seafood:


"Glass Noodles":


Crunchy Chinese egg noodles (mi):


Here's another Southern dish, Bún riêu (crab meat noodle soup). This version is topped wtih crab and shrimp paste:


Bun Thit Nuong, rice noodles with pork and veggies -- Recipe . This dish is served with cold vermicelli noodle, sometimes with sliced marinated cucumber, daikon, carrot, with veggies and sprouts added, and toped with marinated pork and served with fish sauce on the side. In the photo below, some of the veggies went into the sauce. @_@


Bun cha gio, or noodle with fried egg rolls (cha gio = fried eggrolls). This dish is usually served with cold vermicelli on bottom, topped with veggies and cut fried eggroll, with fish sauce on the side:



Here's a Southern dish with some Chinese & Khmer (Cambodian) influence, Hu Tieu Nam Vang, aka Phnom Penh Noodle Soup (recipe ). This dish could be made with a variety of different noodles, but the soup is pork bone based and not beef or fish. Go here for more info:


Here's another variety of Hu Tieu noodles, Hu Tieu My Tho. My Tho is a city about 70 km SW of Saigon. This dish is made with pork bone soup stock, ground pork, pork bone/ribs/knuckle, clear, roundish medium chewy noodle, and somewhat fatty:

Re: Whats your Favourite Asian Food?

I dig Philippine Lechon and Lechon Kawali. Oh and that evil thing called dinuguan.

Someone said they like Lumpia. It's actually of southern Chinese origin, which also has both Filipino and Vietnamese variations. All are good.

I like noodles. All the ones mentioned above and previously makes my mouth water, whether its Japanese, Chinese or Taiwan Tan-Tan.

I'm also a fried rice fanatic, both Japanese cha-han varieties and Chinese varieties like the Yang Chow. The quality of a Chinese restaurant can often be tasted by the fried race they make.