eekbot's belly

Classic Greek from Pizza Pizza - $4.80

2010-10-28T11:26:00.001-03:00

Domain @ Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

There’s no such thing as good pizza in Malaysia. That said, you take what you get, and as far as that goes, this is not bad at all.

A small simple shop serving a variety of pizza and limited pasta dishes, Pizza Pizza was empty when I drove past it, but it seems most people just get it delivered.

Anyways, the Classic Greek had minced beef, black olives, onion, capsicum, mushroom and cheese. I got a 9” to myself, which was surprisingly filling. Every bite was flavourful, a nice bread-to-toppings ratio.

I’m definitely going again.

Cajun Jambalaya Pasta from Cheesecake Factory - $14.95

2010-06-24T22:12:00.003-03:00

132 Christiana Mall, Newark, DE - 302.454.9444

http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com

Firstable, I sorta guessed the price, so don't get all finicky on me for being wrong.

This was my first ever experience at Cheesecake Factory after numerous previous attempts so there was a bit of hype and.... and it fared pretty well in my mind.

I drove my takeout order about 30 minutes away before chowing down and the chicken was STILL tender and juicy. I really love how they placed a fat layer of shrimp and chicken over the bed of al dente pasta. I almost want to say everything was spot on for this dish, but alas, there is a complaint - the lack of Andouille sausage. That's my favorite part of Jambalaya! How can you make jambalaya without the Andouille sausage!?

That "flaw" alone is reason enough for me to choose something else on the menu the next time I go - but that's also because I have a hidden agenda to explore some of their other tantalizing dishes (e.g. chicken madeira... mmmm).

Bulgogi Bento from Korean BBQ & Sushi Restaurant - $8.95

2010-06-19T17:44:00.002-03:00

3 Liberty Plaza, Newark, DE - (302) 455-9100

Here's a lunch special from the only Korean restaurant I know of in Newark. Bulgogi is thinly sliced prime rib eye that's marinated in some special Korean sauce. It has a slightly sweet taste to it, Usually, if you eat in, they provide you the raw meat and then you grill it yourself at the table.

The rest of the stuff they give you is part of what I think is called banchan? It's just an assortment of little side dishes. I think this place always give you a fried shrimp, two sushi pieces, a scoop of rice, and kimchi. For those of you who don't know, kimchi is the reddish stuff in the 2nd picture - essentially, it's pickled cabbage.

The rest is random - I think this was the first time they gave me cantaloupe, and I usually get the sesame-oiled broccoli and those sweetened potatoes (not sweet potatoes, but sweetened).

Thosai from Rahim’s - $0.50

2010-06-15T16:44:00.002-03:00

Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

This is thosai. I didn’t make it. It’s indian also. I’ve just found that it’s made of rice, black gram and fenugreek. It’s actually quite tasty on its own but you usually eat it with chutney or dhal. I like chutney more but since I got a friend to get take-away for me, he didn’t specify that and instead I got dhal.

It’s usually a full circle but this one looks folded, cos again, this was take away.

Excuse the brief post but North Korea are playing a ridiculously good opening game against Brazil now and I need to get ready to cheer in the off chance that they score.

Aww man…. Brazil just scored against North Korea… RIP the korean goalkeeper.

Homemade Chapati - $0

2010-06-14T17:11:00.002-03:00

My kitchen.

OK so it isn’t absolutely free but I don’t know the cost of 3 cups of flour, a few good throws of salt, water, a few teaspoons of yoghurt and about half a shot of oil. A shot as in alcoholic shots. That’s all the ingredients I used.

I decided to make chapati after reading the recipe and finding out that it is incredibly easy to do. It didn’t turn out so good, but was fun and easy and at least now I think I know where I screwed up and can make a better batch next time.

So 1 cup of flour is all the measurements I was given. The salt you add to taste and the water, well, however much is needed to get the flour into manageable dough consistency. Oil is optional but I think you should add it in. This gives you 5 chapatis.

I made 2 batches, one with water and another with yoghurt. Mixing flour with cold yoghurt is TOUGH.. that shit is slippery and doesn’t mix well, and getting the right mix is hard. I ended up adding another cup of flour into it, in an attempt to find the right flour-yoghurt ratio balance. When rolling you apply a lotta flour so it doesn’t stick.

The pic on the right is how it should look like after the first flip, and when the other side looks like this also, you flip it again. It will start puffing up if you don’t control the heat on the pan, which I guess makes for an interesting visual treat but that’s not how real chapati should be like. Oh I should mention this is not bad for your health at all based on the ingredients, and the fact that you don’t cook with oil. Notice I said this “isn’t bad for your health”… I didn’t say “this is really healthy”. Cos I dunno how beneficial it is for your health. The oil you add into the premix doesn’t make it oily (to the touch). And because you don’t cook with oil, the flour that you used to smoothen the dough will also transfer to the pan and eventually onto the finished product. Yeah, you eat raw flour. Unsure of the health benefits there but let’s just say it is for the sake of ending this post.

So where did I screw up? I made it too thin, and cranked up the heat on the pan. That resulted in very crispy chapati, like biscuits. Chapati should be like tortilla wrap, it should be soft and bread-like, as in non-yeast bread.

Also, I forgot salt with the yoghurt mix. So while it was slightly smoother, it was completely tasteless. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I had curry to go with it, but that’s my last mistake – I made chapati without any curry.. or ANYTHING… to go with it. That’s like making rice but forgetting about all the other stuff. Real smart.

A Leisurely Gentleman from Logan House - $10.00

2010-06-05T17:38:00.003-03:00

1701 Delaware Avenue, Wilmington, DE - (302) 652-9493

http://www.loganhouse.com

The Leisurely Gentleman is a burger where the bun is composed of grilled cheese sandwiches. My jaw dropped when I first heard that alone, but there's MORE - the top grilled cheese sandwich has a tomato in it and the bottom one added bacon. If that's not an ingenius idea, I don't know what is.

From the sounds of the description alone, you'd expect it to be some towering sandwich you could barely get your jaws around, but it turns out to be an entirely manageable sandwich.

Seeing how simple yet, extraordinarily awesome the result is really makes me think I need to add this sandwich to my cooking repertoire.

Assorted Baklava from Naf Naf Grill - $2.99

2010-06-04T01:19:00.002-03:00

1095 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - 630.904.7200

http://www.nafnafgrill.com/

Even though my description of this dessert won't sound appetizing, just know that I really do love this stuff. Anyway, whenever I sink my teeth into this delectable dessert, cardboard always comes to mind. I thought of cardboard when I tasted my dog's dry food too, but that was different. In the case of the baklava, the texture is what makes me think of carboard. It's heavily layered with the top part being thin and light, sort of like paper, and then bottom being thick and dense just like cardboard.

The flavor is really fantastic though. From what I can gather, underneath the top layers of thin, crispy dough is a layer of crushed nuts sweetened with honey or syrup. The second picture shows an overhead picture with the papery layer taken off to give you an idea.

Steak & Kidney Pie from Square Pie - £4.29 / $6.30

2010-06-02T23:58:00.005-03:00

105c Commercial Street, London, UK E1 6BG

http://www.squarepie.com/index

What the hell were the Brits thinking when they made this? "Hmm... let's take something awesome and then add kidney to it and laugh at them when they cringe as they reach the kidney portion of it." That has to be it.

I like to believe I can stomach disgusting foods, but that awful kidney flavor really disagrees with me. It's like anchovies in that no matter what else you add to the dish, you can't disguise its flavor. It's there to haunt you.

Anyway, the rest of the pie was actually really good. The crust is flakey like a crispy buttery croissant and the gravy added some good flavor. There were also mushrooms tucked away in there to give a different texture too.

I'd go back to this place, but next time stick with a less adventurous dish.

Ruby Red Trout from White Chocolate Grille - $16.99

2010-06-01T20:19:00.003-03:00

1803 Freedom Drive, Naperville, IL - 630.505.8300

http://whitechocolategrill.com

I'm not exactly sure where the white chocolate comes into play, but when you can make fish glisten like that, who cares!

My one complaint about this dish is how uniform its taste is. Yea, it was scrumptious, but each bite tasted exactly like the last. I know this is being nit-picky so I won't delve into it, but basically, it would've been nice to have another side along with it.

Hualien Fare

2010-05-27T15:37:00.001-03:00

Hualien City, Taiwan

So the train after lunch at Mr. Brown’s coffee shop in Taipei, brought us to Hualien. Nice city / township, very small and quiet unlike Taipei.

It was dinnertime when we arrived, so we had a walk around the night markets to look for dinner. Stopped by a little restaurant whose name I’ve forgotten, and had regular Taiwanese food. They were advertising that they make their own noodles so we tried that.

To start I got us some century eggs. I love this shit, as you can tell from here. Apparently they are good anywhere around the world.

I had the seafood soup noodle. Not much seafood here, just a few squid rings and I don’t remember what else. Only so-so.

My friend had stir-fried vegetables with kimchi sauce on rice, I don’t know how that went.

Some home-made noodle slices here in kimchi sauce, stir-fried as well. They’re probably not what you’d call noodles, just dough that’s cut into trapezoid slices. But this was good.

Then some stir-fried beef and vegetables to share, these were very flavourful as you can tell from the thick sauce. A tad too salty to be had alone but we all had noodle/rice so that’s fine. Not bad, I was satisfied.

Continuing on we had some dessert but I only have this one pic of hot Tau Fu Fa with peanuts. My friend had the other one, a black herbal drink that I didn’t try, and since it’s just a cup of black liquid I decided not to take any photos either.

While they were buying dessert I went across the street to the convenience store, Family Mart if I’m not wrong, to buy me some of my kinda dessert, the local brews. This was the only one left by the time we got back to the dorm. Seen here posing in front of the Laphroaig which I picked up at the airport on my way into Taiwan.

I am too lazy to go thru all my old posts to check if I mentioned this, but if not, another thing about Taiwan, alcohol there is so effin cheap, so cheap I want to move there. I’m serious too. I was totally entertaining that thought each time I step out of the 711 or bottle shop with a new purchase. This can? It’s 500ml, that’s a pint, and only $1.30.

DAAAAAAAAAAyyyyyyyymmmnnnnnnnnnnnnn……

Fish & Chips from Tower Of London - £5.00 / $7.19

2010-05-26T19:51:00.003-03:00

202-203 Grange Road, London SE1 3AA - 0844 482 7777

This wasn't exactly served AT the Tower of London, per se, but it was a tourist trap right outside. And before you get on my case for eating at a tourist trap, lemme explain - we were hungry, and it was cold, rainy, and we had walked tons. I mean SHIT tons.

Anyway, their fish & chips are really something. Well, steak fries are too fat for my taste so the chips weren't all that, but the fish was pretty awesome. The fish was delicately fried leaving a nice, crispy finish, and the tartar sauce was so good that I daresay it was on par with McDonald's tartar sauce (I mean that in the best way possible - I absolutely LOVE McD's tartar sauce).

Not so bad for a tourist trap...

Buffalo Burger from Gourmet Burger Kitchen - £8.95 / $12.95

2010-05-23T11:38:00.003-03:00

29-31 George Street, Oxford, OX12AY - 01865 245 424

http://www.gbk.co.uk

This was my first time eating buffalo, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not quite sure what it was about it that made it so good. The consistency? The spices? Anyway, if you get the chance to order buffalo and it's just a little bit more cost, I highly recommend it so you taste for yourself.

Tan Kim Hock Durian Candy - $1.90

2010-05-17T10:42:00.002-03:00

Some shop in Yong Peng, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia.

You’re gonna get a kick outta this post… Durian Candy! From a shop I normally visit to get Otak-Otak (I’ll post about that some time later) in Yong Peng, Johor. It’s about 125 miles from home, but whenever I go to Singapore I’d stop by Yong Peng for some otak-otak on my way home.

At $1.90 a pack with probably 20-25 pieces inside, it’s pretty expensive by Malaysian standards. This is also not the best durian candy I’ve tried. I’m no fan of durian but I’d at least like durian flavoured products to taste a bit like actual durian. So no, this candy doesn’t have a strong flavour, doesn’t leave you smelling like durian after, there’s just nothing outstanding about this.

So in an effort to make this post worthwhile I’ll add some more pics from the night BEFORE I bought the durian candy. Stayed a night in Johor Bahru for the fun of it and bought the following for dinner: nasi lemak, keropok ikan (fish crackers), A Capricciosa pizza slice from Monty’s, and otak-otak.

You should know about nasi lemak by now, except this is the other way you find it; in a wrapped triangle. Banana leaf inlay and paper under that, wrapped into a little triangle, usually no more than 1-2 ringgit depending on size. This one I paid RM1.50 for, so $0.50 cents. But notice the serving is not exactly a full meal by your standards.

Nor mine of course, hence the Capricciosa pizza slice. I’m not gonna say much except that it’s a whole lotta bread and not enough toppings, I remembered it being much much better the last time I had this over 1.5 years ago, but that was the morning after some heavy drinking so maybe that’s why.

For sides I also got some keropok ikan or fish crackers, deep fried of course. Sorry for the lousy pics I was half high on a cheap bottle of Highland Park 12 year old scotch, and also starving so that’s the only pic of the keropok I got.

Anyways, last thing I got was some otak-otak. That’s basically blended fish and I’m assuming some spices cos it’s usually very slightly spicy. The typical way of serving it as you can see is to wrap it in between 2 banana leaf folds stapled on ends and grilled over charcoal fire. If I’m not wrong this is an authentic Malaysian dish, a Peranakan invention from north Malaysia. I think. It’s good shit. Fun fact: otak means “brain” in Malay, and in the language the same word said twice with a dash usually means plural…. So otak-otak would mean brains.

The end.

Ramli Burger - $0.94

2010-04-30T15:37:00.001-03:00

Outside Most 7-11s in Malaysian Cities

This… now THIS… yes this.. this is t3h bomb. Ramli burger. No Malaysian doesn’t know it. It’s the unofficial Malaysian dish. In fact maybe by the next generation it will be the official Malaysian dish, overtaking nasi lemak.

What I got this time is a “Burger Daging Special”. Daging = meat = usually means beef, special = means they will add an egg in. I wonder why I didn’t get the Burger Daging Double Special, which means 2 meat patties.

This here… cheap bread, REALLY cheap meat of questionable sources, cooked in butter, cucumber slices and sauce. Sound normal? Yes. However, the secret here is the sauce. Maggi brand soy sauce and ANY cheap-branded chilli sauce and mayonnaise (probably Lady’s Choice, a local brand). It’s essential. Try making a Ramli burger without these and it will fail MISERABLY.

What they do is take the burger buns/bread and put it on the giant wok/grill, that’s usually completely layered in butter. Then they take a piece of Ramli brand meat patty, slice it in the middle and slap it onto the grill. If you asked for a Special, which I did, they will crack an egg on too, and drop that piece of meat patty on top of it. Then right before the egg completely solidifies, they fold the egg over and around the meat, enveloping it.

The rest is standard fare; lettuce (sometimes) and cucumber on the now-hot-and-buttery bread/bun, put the meat on, squeeze your sauces and you’re good to go.

The pics show exactly how bad the “quality” of the burger is. However, its taste cannot, CANNOT, be rivaled. I mean I like my Mushroom Swiss from Chilli’s, or my occasional McD’s too, but this is a whooollleeee different story.

This is orgasm in every bite. This makes it into my list of top 5 stuff you HAVE to try in Malaysia.

If this is all a little incoherent, it’s cos I’ve had quite a bit to drink. And no that’s not what makes these so ridiculously awesome. I think.

Haw Flakes – $0.03/roll

2010-04-25T13:51:00.001-03:00

All Over Malaysia and I Suppose China Too

We interrupt the regular Taiwanese broadcast to bring you a lil snack I’m binging on right now.

Haw Flakes! I think they come from China, as the company responsible for this is Qingzhou Jiahe Food Co Ltd. I’ve never found these in other countries, I suppose Malaysia is the only importer of these very badly packaged yet ridiculously satisfying snacks. But I’m sure other countries have it hidden somewhere in a dark corner of a dingy Chinese grocer in Chinatown, you just gotta look for it. Granted, if I never grew up on these I’d probably be quite wary of its contents, China and all. But no, I’ll risk a 3rd nipple (if that is all that will happen) for the sugary goodness.

These lil wonders come in a pack of 10, costing a whopping 1 ringgit. That’s 30 cents in USD. So a roll is only 3 cents. Granted, they are small and you could probably pop a few rolls into your mouth at one go, but somehow each flake has enough flavour, so don’t want to pop in more than a couple per time. I go with 1. Attached is also a picture of how small a roll is, each flake no more than 1mm thick.

So what exactly is haw? No clue? Me neither. But wikipedia mentions (there’s a wikipedia entry on Haw Flakes!) that it’s the chinese hawthorn fruit. Interesting, the only Hawthorn I know is the location of my uni campus in Australia, and an old side-scrolling platform game, never knew it was a fruit.

Anyways, the taste is tangy but primarily sweet. You should give it a try if you find it.

Haw Flakes!

A Taipei Morning

2010-04-24T15:34:00.002-03:00

Soya Bean King & Mr. Brown Coffee, Taipei, Taiwan

We walked around that morning and found "Soya Bean King”, so soya bean (or soy bean as it is known in the US) milk it was for breakfast, accompanied by vegetarian bun, glutinous rice and peanut paste soup and yau char kuey / yu tiao, which literally translates to “oil stick” and there couldn’t be a more accurate name for it. I’m guessing it to be about $1.50 per person, keyword is guess.

Soy bean was nice and smooth, not too sweet. Pretty good. But then we have that here in Malaysia so it’s nothing to write home about.

Amazingly enough the vegetarian bun was also oily as all hell. So in Taiwan it’s deep fried everything including breakfast. It think they first stir fry the vegetables in a few cups of oil before they wrap it in dough and make it, yet the skin is so oily it feels like they dunked the bun in a bowl of oil before baking. Maybe that IS what they do…. /shrug.

The glutinous rice and peanut soup thingy is actually a dessert and the version we have in Malaysia is without glutinous rice. It’s normally very buttery, so making it taste almost like peanut butter, but warm and thick like cream based soup. The glutinous rice in this version made it much less sweeter, which would work for some other people but I kinda prefer the stronger tasting no-rice version.

Around lunchtime we were gonna take a train to Hualien and with a 20kg bag each we had limited choices as to where to walk to, so the first (and only) place we could eat along the way to the train station was Mr. Brown, a coffee chain in Taiwan, so Taiwanese Starbucks. I’ll firstly get this out of the way, the Americano was only average. As for the food…

It was average too. I don’t remember the price but I do remember it was not cheap by any standards. Coming in sets, I had cheese baked fried rice and my friends had a mini pizza and roast chicken with rice. It all came with tomato soup each, which was probably canned. My cheese baked fried rice was not the greatest, I think I’ve had better in Malaysia. It’s apparently a Hongkee invention, baking fried rice topped with cheese and tomato or cream pasta sauce, sometimes with a piece of chicken, beef or fish fillet in between. My friend said the mini pizza was rubbish, and considering that it looks like oven baked vomit topped with egg, I’ll say he’s being kind. The roast chicken guy had nothing to say about his meal so that’s that. Then it was off to Hualien for better food, more about that in the next post.

Duck with Sherry & Ginger Sauce from Sally Lunn's - £9.98

2010-04-18T11:22:00.006-03:00

4 N Parade Passage, Bath BA1 1NX - 01225 461634

www.sallylunns.co.uk

This is supposed to be one of the "must-see" places to go if you're in Bath, but it's more for its history (the restaurant is housed in the oldest building in all of Bath) than for its food. They offer tours of the building, but thanks to shotty railroad engineering, we arrived too late for that.

The meals here are served in the traditional "Trencher-style" which from what I understand is a fancy way of saying "on top of bread." Sally Lunn's claim to fame is its renowned "Lunn bun" which to me, was nothing more than light and crispy Texas toast, aka garlic bread. Although, I can imagine that if I had eaten this back in Medieval times, it would have been euphoric.

The duck itself was moderately sweet and was well-prepared, meaning that it wasn't too rare/burned. More than anything, I was relieved that it had taste at all after trying their vegetables that completely lacked flavor.

For the price I paid (~$16 USD), I would've like more quantity, especially considering that the birds I saw in the UK all looked like they were on steroids.

Also, the server seemed attentive, but he accidentally charged us with a bottle of wine instead of just a glass. Might want to be weary of that if you're ever there.

Apple Crumble from The Big Bang - £3.95

2010-04-17T11:03:00.005-03:00

124 Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford OX2 6AH - (01865) 511441

thebigbangrestaurants.co.uk

I liked this dessert a lot. The custard wasn't too sweet and I'm a sucker for that crumbly texture. What's not to like? Oh, right, the price.

Bangers & Mash from The Big Bang - £8.99

2010-04-16T08:19:00.004-03:00

124 Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford OX2 6AH - (01865) 511441

thebigbangrestaurants.co.uk

I can't find on the menu what I ordered. I remember one of the sausages was the Merguez (spicy Moroccan lamb), another one was pheasant, but I don't recall the last one. Doesn't really matter though because they all tasted pretty much the same. Not to say they were bad, but they didn't blow me away either - especially not at that price. The mashed potatoes were good and garlicly, but again, nothing to write home about. The peas and purple cabbage tasted like straight up steamed peas and purple cabbage so nothing special there.

Cannoli fom Tony's Cafe - $??

2010-04-14T20:16:00.003-03:00

366 Possum Park Road, Newark, DE - (302) 737-2411

I'm not sure about the price on this one because it was given to us for free. We had a vendor visit us at work and they bought us lunch. Since the order was so large, Tony's decided to spoil us with a few freebies to "lock in our business relations." It worked - we went back there the very next day for some strombolis.

Anyway, regarding the cannoli itself, it's basically a lot of frosting inside of a flakey shell and dusted with powdered sugar. You'd think that this would be too rich or sweet with all that frosting. In fact, most of the coworkers didn't bother with it for that very reason, but for whatever reason, I was able to stomach it just fine. I don't think I'd pay much for one, but it's a pleasant treat on a rare occasion.

Duck Everything from Shilin Night Market – $~0.60/stick

2010-01-27T12:49:00.001-04:00

Taipei, Taiwan

More from the night market. This will be a short one. On the way out I had some deep fried sweet potato wedges. It was a bit dry for my taste, which is surprising considering she dunked it in hot oil for well over 2 minutes to heat it up…

We walked farther down the street and found this guy selling all things duck. Another thing I noticed about Taiwan, they love their duck there. More than they do chicken. In fact most of the time the only chicken you find are the deep fried kind.

So when I say all things duck I mean it. Here you see an overview of the cart with your choices. Oh and another thing I noticed about Taiwan, they sell a LOT of their food on sticks/skewers. A lot. Taiwan must go thru forests worth of bamboo each year. Anyways, on the cart you have, from top-down left-right order, duck head & neck, duck neck, duck head, duck blood in squares of glutinous rice, tofu, duck feet. Next row: I dunno, duck blood in coagulated form, duck drumstick and gizzard, duck wing, duck tongue (pic), dunno what the black stuff is, then tofu. Final row: duck meat ball?, quail eggs, duck intestines I think, more balls of some sort, duck heart (pic), duck butt(pic) and finally 2 varieties of duck skin.

3rd thing about Taiwan – everrryythinggg is deep fried. So naturally anything you pick off this cart will most probably be dipped into a pot of boiling oil. If not then it’ll be grilled. Last pic is Uncle taking out some duck tongue that he just deep fried for us. Duck tongue was amazing. It looked amazing. Like something out of Aliens. There isn’t much to eat as there isn’t much meat, but it was just fun to chew on it. There were boney bits that were quite hard to chew thru, it almost felt like the plasticky backbone you find in squid, but it’s not.

Actually all we had was the duck tongue. I’m not much of an ass person, you could say I don’t have the heart for it, so I just settled for some tongue action… geddit geddit? 3 weeks later we went back to look for Uncle but his stall was closed. Pity.

Beef Noodle Soup from Shilin Night Market - $~1.40

2010-01-23T13:52:00.001-04:00

Shilin, Taipei, Taiwan

Happy 2010 everyone, just back from a 3 week long trip around Taiwan. Well, 3 weeks ago, but I only have time to post now.

I’ve taken over 100 shots of the stuff I ate there, so I’ll probably be posting for weeks to come. I also probably won’t be as descriptive as before, and instead go ahead with mostly photos and accompanying captions. Since I don’t speak a word of Mandarin I should say now that I’ll be making up the names for most of the dishes. Also, I never took note of how much each and every dish were so guesstimates are all you’re gonna get. You’re welcome. Also, all the shots were taken using only a point and shoot. It may be a spectacular camera my S90, but with little to no photographic forethought before each shot, it can only do so much, so excuse the quality and lack of artistic flare.

We start off at Shilin Night Market, one of the more famous night markets in Taiwan. We went there on our very first night in Taiwan, but ended up there on our final night in Taiwan as well so expect to see more from this place much later on.

Here we have Beef Noodle Soup, from one of the many noodle stalls within the night market. More specifically, it’s beef chunks, tripe and stomach. You get to pick what type of noodle you want, for example egg noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli, etc. Nothing incredibly special about this. The price is between $1-1.40.

This is what my friend ate, rice with beef stew. Pretty unappetizing IMO. The beef stew was not all meat, half of it was fat. It’s not much of a complete meal, probably more of a snack or space filler or a deal closer and as such only costs about $0.60 maybe? I noticed it was really glistening with oil so I went to look for where this was prepared, and found the source. This is what the “stew” looks like. Ugh.. however I discover later that it’s sold all over Taiwan, so it must be a well known Taiwanese dish, and now I kinda regret not trying it.

Since I took a few more shots that night, I’ll include them in this post. It’s the only time you’ll see SLR shots of food, as it was the first day and I was excited enough to want to shoot everything with the SLR.

The drink was a letdown, I think it’s supposed to be primarily kumquat juice with a bit of herbal tea and jelly. Well I only tasted the kumquat which is fine, but the jelly had no taste at all, yet it is served in pretty big bite-sized chunks. So when I was done with the drink I had about over a quarter cup of jelly with absolutely no taste. Probably cost me around $0.30 - $0.60.

The next you see someone frying vegetables and Ho Chien, or omelette with oysters which I believe is Hokkien. I never sampled it in Taiwan, cos from the many times I’ve seen it cooked, I wasn’t really in the mood to. One thing I noticed about Taiwanese cooking, it’s oily as hell. I mean ridiculously oily. Like 7 layers of paper towel under this dish and it’d still soak right thru oily. But anyways we get this dish here in Malaysia so I’ll do a follow up one day.

Finally the last pic shows someone grilling Taiwanese pork sausages. These are available EVERYWHERE but I only ate this later on in the trip and not here where I took the pic, so I’ll post about it later.

The night isn’t even over yet, after this we walked on and found some more stuff to eat, but I’ll talk about that in another post.

See, told you I’d keep it short didn’t I?

Dolsot Bibim Bap from So Gong Dong Tofu House - $9.00??

2010-01-07T00:23:00.005-04:00

3307 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago, IL - (773)539-8377

I think Dolsot Bibim Bap loosely translates to something like "hot stone bowl of mixed rice." You can also order a plain Bibim Bap which is the same thing but doesn't come in the heated stone bowl.

If you look at the picture closely, you can see steam coming off the rice. The stone bowl is piping hot when it arrives and you can hear the rice cackling from the heat. Eventually, this will sort of burn the rice slightly and add a slightly crispy texture to the dish.

The little dish on the left is chili paste and is usually added into the rice bowl and you mix around all the contents within the bowl which included a raw egg (that cooks from the heat of the bowl), lettuce, beef, bean sprouts and some other vegetables I can't seem to recall right now.

The other little plates are what is called banchan. Banchan is basically a collection of side dishes that come with your meal. This is standard for most Korean entrees, I believe. In our case, we received what looks like four varieties of kimchi, a fish, and some sesame oil concoction. Suffice it to say, this was a pretty crappy banchan relative to other Korean places I've been to (I'm used to more variety than just different kinds of kimchi).

As for the dish itself, it was good, but not great. I liked the touch of crispiness from the rice burning against the stone bowl but the flavor wasn't doing anything for me. Maybe I was expecting too much because my sister prepared me by saying it's her favorite Korean dish, but even she wasn't awed by its taste. Either way, I wasn't impressed enough to make a return trip to this restaurant.

Crispy Roasted Pork from TME - $5.57

2009-11-24T12:17:00.001-04:00

Ground Floor, Hartamas Shopping Center, Plaza Damas

My friend opened a new restaurant called The Meat Experts. He’s a bit of a porker himself so I think he’s found his calling. This may come as a surprise to most but little known fact, they mostly deal with meat. I know, the name totally threw me off the first time too.

I decided to drop by and have a sample. About 40 dishes to choose from, nice average number. I went for one of the cheaper dishes, Crispy Roasted Pork. This is his gourmet-ed take on what is normally a chinese style of preparing pork (dry roasted till the skin is crispy). It’s usually just the pork, you see. Here you get mash and roasted veges. So gourmet.

The addition of garlic in the meat was great, the pork wasn’t too dry or over-roasted. In fact, some bits of the skin weren’t too crispy, which I’m guessing is a result of not being roasted for long enough? But again the meat itself was pretty excellent, a lot of porky goodness and no pork stench (you get that sometimes).

The vegetables were quite good, not too mushy, altho it was slightly over oiled but then again it’s olive oil so I’m not complaining. The mash was nothing to write home about, but was a nice balance to the other 2 roasts.

All in all, I think quite worth the money… and I promised to go back sometime again to check out the other dishes.

Prosperity Burger from McDonald’s - $3.50

2009-11-24T11:03:00.001-04:00

Any Malaysian McDonald’s

I’M BACK! For no good reason, really. The blog owner’s being a lazy a-hole and not keeping this site updated so why should I. But when I bought the Prosperity Burger I immediately thought of this blog and my previous post.

So here we go. The last post was about the DOUBLE Prosperity Burger, which somehow is not making a comeback this year. No matter, the regular is fine too. The usual McD’s critique, meat that doesn’t quite taste like beef (way too tender), black pepper sauce that tastes a little powdery, and of course the black pepper itself which I’m not a fan of. The diced onions were still crunchy so I guess that’s a plus point. Since this burger is more oval than it is round, it’s decidedly more filling than regular single-patty burgers.

It came with curly fries and coke, both not pictured. I’m not the biggest fan of this burger, or anything with black pepper really, but this is a seasonal set so I kinda HAVE to have it at least once a year to pay my dues to Ronald.

Burrito Special from Moe's Southwest Grill - $6.99?

2009-08-11T22:25:00.002-03:00

1241 Quintilio Dr, Bear, DE‎ - (302) 832-6637‎

I don't exactly remember the name of the item that I ordered. It wasn't on the regular menu though. I saw a little cardboard standup with a picture of the item so I decided to get it. In the end, it's all practically the same since you can customize your burrito to your liking.

Judging from the picture, this burrito had guacamole, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, my choice of meat (I think I chose spiced pork), and some grilled peppers. I don't actually see rice or beans in there, but that doesn't sound right - I usually ask for those.

Anyway, the taste is pretty much on par with Chipotle's burritos, which to me, is a good thing. Hard to screw up Mexican food though because everything mixes with everything else and still tastes darn good.

Spare Ribs from Jim 'n Nick's BBQ - $20.50

2009-08-03T08:29:00.004-03:00

1908 11th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL - (205)320-1060

I tried to order their popular baby back ribs, but they were sold out. Instead, I ordered their spare ribs, and I definitely wasn't let down.

They're everything you'd want from ribs - tender and flavorful. I wish more places would follow suit with the pickles, but I'm pretty sure that's just a southern touch.

8 Ounce Wagyu Kobe Foie Gras Burger from Gallagher's - $24.95

2009-07-25T00:33:00.003-03:00

1133 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ - (609)340-6555

"Topped with porcini mushrooms and fresh Hudson Vally foie gras."

Look at that price! Wow. So why did I buy a ridiculously priced burger in the first place? 1) It was my vacation and 2) I wanted to try foie gras for the first time.

Foie gras means "fat liver" in French. They force feed a baby goose or duck in order to fatten the liver and make it more supple. Therefore, the serving of this food is frowned upon by many, although highly desired at the same time.

Anyway, knowing that ahead of time, I might have been expecting more out of foie gras. And after tasting it for myself, I was highly disappointed. I didn't HATE the flavor, but I wasn't impressed by it either. I've never eaten liver before, but my friend said it tasted like normal liver but just a bit softer. And then I discovered this little article stating that people think it tastes the same if not worse than dog food. Greeeeat. Glad I spent $25 on it.

The rest of the burger wasn't all that bad. The kobe beef was very tender and practically broke apart the moment I gripped the burger and the fries were what you'd expect of fries.

Peachtree Melt from Roly Poly - $5.95

2009-07-22T08:28:00.001-03:00

"Black forest ham, melted Swiss and imported brie cheeses, peaches, pepper relish, and grilled golden brown. Served with a side of fresh dill horseradish."

Good, particularly if you enjoy sweeter foods, but slightly disappointed that the peach chunks weren't bigger. Also, very messy.

Gyro With Pita from Olympic Place - $7.50

2009-07-21T20:42:00.000-03:00

1000 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ - 609-348-5315

Lamb shavings + cucumber sauce = magic. It's a messy meal, but oh so worth it. This gyro in particular is on par with the average gyro in my opinion and the price seems relatively fair considering you're just right outside the casinos.

Alligator Tail from Crazy Cajun - $9.95

2009-07-20T08:53:00.000-03:00

125 Inverness Plaza, Birmingham, AL - (205) 408-0630

This is just as its name implies - fried alligator tail. You know that phrase, "tastes like chicken?" Well, that applies here, HOWEVER, it chewed like calamari... weeeeiiird.

Cemitas Atomica from Cemitas Pueblas - $9.00

2009-07-14T07:59:00.002-03:00

3619 West North Avenue, Chicago, IL - (773) 772-8435

"Sesame seed bread layered with avocado, choice of meat, adobo chipotle peppers, fresh Oaxacan cheese and papalo (seasonal)."

For the meat, we chose the Atomica version which includes Milanesa (breaded beef fillet), Carne Enchilada (thin sheet of pork coated with chili pepper), and Jamon (a Spanish ham).

The sandwich was good, but in my opinion, over-hyped and over-priced, just because it was featured on the show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. Still, this Pueblan sandwich is supposedly unique to this single restaurant in the entire Chicagoland area so it could be worth checking out.

Beef Tenderloin with Bamboo Shoots from Lao Sze Chuan - $???

2009-07-13T21:57:00.002-03:00

1331 West Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove, IL - 630.663.0303

The picture really makes this look more appetizing than it actually was. Not to say that the dish wasn't good, but all the oils made it lack any interesting flavors. It tasted just like what it was - beef and bamboo.

The appeal of this dish lies with its texture - juicy, tender beef chunks with softened, ever-so-slightly crunchy bamboo shoots. Drool...

Seafood Rotini from Crazy Cajun's Boiling Pot - $10.95

2009-07-10T08:53:00.005-03:00

125 Inverness Plaza, Birmingham, AL - (205) 408-0630

"Fresh Louisiana crawfish tails, Andouille sausage, shrimp, crab meat, simmered in Cajun cream sauce. Served over spiral rotini pasta."

I did my usual and asked the waitress what her favorite dish was and she pointed me to the seafood rotini as the most popular menu item so I went with that.

When the dish arrived, my eye caught glimpse of those white chunks and immediately thought, "Chicken? That's odd for a dish called seafood rotini." But then I remembered that scallops are white like that too.

Anyway, my sister asked to try a little of my dish, so I scooped up some pasta and then tried to cut a piece of scallop for her, but my fork sliced right through the scallop... like a hot knife through butter. As it turns out, that's what it was! Those massive white chunks are gobs of BUTTER. Geeeeeeeeeeeeezzz. Those Cajuns really know how to fatten up their food.

In spite of that, the dish was rather yummy and still maintained a strong spiciness. Sure, I felt guilty that I just downed a bazillion calories of fat, but the flavor just might be worth it.

I saw reviews of this restaurant complaining about the service, and I can see what they mean - there was only one server for the entire lunch-rush filled restaurant, but fortunately for us, she was phenomenal at keeping up. All in all, it was a pleasant experience.

Shamrock Shake from McDonald's - $???

2009-07-09T22:12:00.000-03:00

1401 Governor's Place, Bear, DE - (302)836-1308

My coworker introduced me to this nice seasonal dessert. People get pretty diehard about it and I think can see why. Instead of being overpowered with mintiness, it's a very subtle touch, and I believe I prefer it that way. My coworker says that it varies according to which store you to go though. Anyway, it comes out around March for St. Patrick's Day, if you couldn't already guess from the name so look for it then.

Steak Lunch Quesadilla from El Jefe - $6.50

2009-07-08T08:31:00.002-03:00

110 Astro Shopping Center, Newark, DE - (302)894-9000

The word quesadilla comes from Spanish, and literally means "little cheesy thing" or "cheesy" (-Wikipedia). Rightfully so, because the best part of this dish is the gooey cheese inside. I've only tried a handful of other dishes here at El Jefe, but this one has quickly moved up to be my favorite amongst the ones I've tasted.

The service can be on the slow side, but it's tolerable. My impatience may also be in part because I'm going there during my work lunch hour.

Spicy Sour Calamari from Lao Sze Chuan - $5.95

2009-06-22T21:40:00.004-03:00

1331 West Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove, IL - 630.663.0303

I ate this back in December so I kind of took a stab at the name of the dish. I also don't clearly remember the taste. I know, I know, this is a really useful post.

However, I think my sister and I thought it was the best dish we ordered that day. Hope that counts for something.

Pinang Satay Beef from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $8.00

2009-06-21T20:05:00.002-03:00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

The online description is "Marinated chicken or beef skewers, jicama and bean sprouts with shrimp pancake, sliced tofu, hardboiled eggs and chef's special sauce."

Obviously, that description doesn't match up with the picture because it's missing a lot of items (basically, everything listed between the beef skewers and the chef's special sauce). I ordered this dish about six months ago, so either they changed the item since then, or they completely messed up my order. I really hope I didn't pay $8.00 for this measly appetizer, even if it did taste very good, but I WOULD reconsider paying that much if I received everything on that list.

Anyway, the beef has a peanut-buttery taste to it, of which I am very fond, hence, my love for Thai food. So if I were taking only the food quality into account, I would rate this as a very good appetizer.

Nasi Lemak from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $7.00

2009-06-17T22:35:00.001-03:00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

I posted the environmentally friendly version of this dish here. If I'm not mistaken, this is basically the staple dish of Malaysia. Just as the Thai have their Pad Thai or how the Americans have their burgers, the Malaysians have their Nasi Lemak.

My favorite portion of this dish, believe it or not, is the anchovies (upper left corner). They're coated with some sweet syrupy sauce that pretty much hides the anchovy stench with which you might be familiar.

I don't know what to say about the vegetable concoction on the left, except that it compliments the dish favorably. And I'm a die hard fan of both beef (upper-right) and eggs, so those work for me. That brings me to my least favorite part - the cucumbers. They really feel out of place in this dish. But if you think about it, this dish is a strange assortment anyway.

All in all, it's something I would order again, especially if I was getting them at these prices.

Cedar-Seared Salmon Pasta from TGI Friday's - $9.39

2009-06-14T18:33:00.006-03:00

650 South College Avenue, Newark, DE - (302)737-3700

"Succulent pan–seared salmon fillet, coated with cedar smoke seasoning, served over al dente fettuccine ribbons tossed with golden brown zucchini and a blend of creamy Alfredo, bruschetta marinara and tangy lemon sauce."

I had this dish months ago and I can still recall loving its silky, creamy texture. In fact, that memory is so pleasant that I'm going to order another one right now.

Shrimp Toast from Lao Sze Chuan - $5.95

2009-06-13T09:40:00.004-03:00

1331 West Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove, IL - 630.663.0303

Here's a yummy little Chinese appetizer. It's essentially a fried dumpling with shrimp inside. I liken it to a Chinese shrimp-flavored version of Burger King's French toast sticks - probably because of the texture. Nothing particularly fancy about this item.

Salad Bar from Soup Plantation & Sweet Tomatoes

2009-06-09T21:41:00.000-03:00

986 North Route 59, Aurora, IL - 630.978.4017

Okay, I know I'm going to get yelled at for the crappy lighting in this picture, but oh well - I thought I'd go for a different kind of post that isn't seen often on here - an almost healthy meal.

This place goes by the name of either Soup Plantation or Sweet Tomatoes (I went to Sweet Tomatoes). Everyone with which I went was really disappointed in the selection of the salad bar because they had all gone to another from the same chain and it had a much larger variety.

There's not really much to describe taste-wise because most of the food was raw vegetables so it tastes like what it is. I remember I mostly stuck to the clam chowder, cheese bread and the strawberry kiwi juice.

Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun from Ming Chu – ~$1

2009-06-08T12:20:00.001-03:00

Chinese Hawker Stalls all over Malaysia.

Hong Kong style Chee Cheong Fun is what I sometimes have for supper when at work. Normally you only get it when you “yum cha” (literally drink tea, it means to have dim sum for breakfast/brunch as per Hong Kong customs – they call it “drink tea” because they usually sit there after dim sum and just chat over continuous refills of chinese tea for many hours…… or so I’ve been told), but this is Malaysia so we get it at hawker stalls that open till late, 3am even.

It’s not a very filling dish so I normally have 2 helpings. It’s very thin rice erm….. I don’t even know what you call it but it’s made of rice and stretched out very thinly and then steamed, when stretched out it is slightly translucent. It looks like a very thin wet cloth when they move it around. Then ingredients are put in the middle, re-steamed and the whole thing is rolled into a strip and cut into pieces. I MAY have gotten the order of events wrong, I don’t actually remember when they re-steam it. Your choice of ingredients are either “char siew” (barbecued pork) or shrimp, or both. Served with soy sauce and dried chilli oil, left of picture.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich from Chick-fil-A - $???

2009-06-07T12:45:00.002-03:00

1101 Quintilio Drive, Bear, DE - 302.843.4816

I can't really say that I'm too fond of tomato on chicken sandwiches, but they found a way to make it work with TWO of them. I'm pretty sure the juiciness of the chicken made me forget all about it. Oh, and waffle fries for the side in the meal deal? That's money.

Pizza from Papa John's - $???

2009-06-06T14:37:00.003-03:00

1162 Pulaski Highway, Bear, DE - (302)832-2600

My usual order for pizza is sausage & mushroom, but they happened to have a deal for three toppings so I added jalapeno so that the last topping wouldn't go to waste. I like that Papa John's throws in a little tub of garlic butter with each pizza. It really makes the crust more fun to eat.

Anyway, Papa John's is pretty reliable with their pizza - it's pretty standard fare. Don't know what else to say about it.

Bacon Cheese Dog from Five Guys - $???

2009-06-04T22:36:00.002-03:00

1249 Quintilio Drive, Bear, DE - 302.832.7555

Here's the bacon cheese dog to follow up the bacon cheeseburger. I gotta say, not really much difference.

Bacon Cheeseburger from Five Guys - $???

2009-06-01T20:18:00.002-03:00

1249 Quintilio Drive, Bear, DE - 302.832.7555

As soon as you step in the front door, you'll realize Five Guys seems very proud of their numerous accolades. That was reassuring because it was actually word of mouth that brought me there.

I asked the cashier to order me his favorite item(s) on the menu and he introduced me to their bacon cheeseburger (and the bacon cheese dog, to be discussed in another post). Now, even with all the hype behind this burger, I can happily say I wasn't disappointed.... buuuuuuuuuuut I still think it's overrated. I mean, sure, the burger was mouthwatering, but I couldn't distinguish anything special about it. It was a while ago that I ate that burger, but I remember thinking that that was what I'd expect from the amount of money I paid. So yea, if you're looking for a solid, greasy meal, then this will hit the spot.

Oh, and one more note. Their fries were WAAAAAAAAAAAY too salty. Maybe I got a bad batch. I don't know. But it was definitely a bad first impression.

Three Strips from Chick-fil-A - $3.15

2009-05-31T22:13:00.002-03:00

1101 Quintilio Drive, Bear, DE - 302.843.4816

It feels like Chick-fil-A has a die hard fan following, very much like White Castle does and after eating there, I can see why.

Obviously, they specialize in chicken, so I ordered the three strips. I believe there's really only three or four things to check for with chicken strips - juiciness of the chicken, breading texture, the dipping sauce, and the price. In this particular case, I ate it sans sauce so that doesn't apply. The chicken was tender and the breading was light and unobtrusive, while the price seems fair. That gives it a 2.5 out of 3 - definitely a winner in my book.

Beef Royale Jamaican Patty from Royal Caribbean – $?

2009-05-30T21:24:00.001-03:00

A very small booth in a small airport in a somewhat small town in Philippines (Clark Airport, Angeles City).

I’m posting this in response to the post below this one. This is my only experience with Jamaican food. Judging from where I got it, I’m guessing it ain’t too Jamaican. I can’t remember the price as it was months ago. But it wasn’t expensive… maybe around the vicinity of 1-2 dollars. Maybe.

Just like any regular hot pocket, with the meat tasting like heavily processed (read: way too tender) road kill and the skin a little too hard from sitting in the heated erm.. window display for too long.

Oh, except this gave my friend and I the runs the next day. Luckily we only had 1 each. Tho I wouldn’t hold that against Jamaican food, cos I mean look where I bought it.

Since I don’t have much to say about this, but have 4 pictures to share…. I’ll just keep babbling on. The 2nd picture shows you the available flavours. Not everything was available at that time. I went with the Beef Royale as it had the word Royale, and the scene about Cheese Royale from Pulp Fiction couldn’t stop playing in my head immediately after reading the menu.

And this twisting text thing is giving me a headache.

Jerk Chicken from D&H Jamaican Cuisine - $7.99

2009-05-29T17:57:00.005-03:00

748 East Chestnut Hill Road, Newark, DE - 302.896.8826

If you recall from my previous post here, all you need to remember is to ask for a lot of ox tail gravy.

This dish is good enough that my two coworkers and myself order it regularly whenever we come here. I'm not crazy about the cabbage, but who is? The plantains are okay, but easily forgettable - in fact, the last time we went there, I didn't realize the plantains were missing until it was pointed out to me. The focus of the dish is the quarter leg of chicken and all that gravy that covers the rice and that alone makes it worthwhile.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp from Riva - ???

2009-05-28T07:53:00.003-03:00

2020 Calamos Court, Naperville, IL - (630)718-1010

I ate this a long time ago so I don't quite remember its exact name or its price. I DO recall that it was tasty, but bordering the I'm-not-sure-it's-worth-the-price mark. Riva is a classier joint though, so I'm a bit more forgiving.

New England Clam Chowder from Harry's Savoy Grill - $6.25

2009-05-23T00:10:00.009-03:00

2020 Naamans Road, Wilmington, DE - (302)475-3000

I realize soup doesn't make for the best pictures, but I feel this image still captures this soups creaminess. MMMmmm... It was tasty soup, but not sure if it was worth the money. A glutton like me needs more than this plateful.

Century Eggs - $0.41

2009-05-21T16:48:00.001-03:00

Malaysian Chinese Hawkers – Lobak Stall

Since somebody’s being a lazy hobo (name starts with an e and ends with an rnest), I figured I’ll post the promised follow-up to the Balut post. Well not so much a follow-up as it is a related post and since I mentioned it there…. yeah you get the idea.

Century eggs. Very dark brown bordering on black, translucent, coral/snowflake patterns on the egg white (technically black), Dark grey-ish green yolk, again bordering on black.

Contrary to what Americans think of it, and that it is actually a 100 year old egg, it is not. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I did see at least 3 different and separate occurrences of this, one being Fear Factor. If that is indeed what you are thinking, give yourself some time now and think that through and you’ll see why that is impossible. I’ll give you some keywords to help the with the thought process : hatch, rot.

Century eggs are actually preserved eggs, the process of which include ash, clay, salt, lime and rice straw, lasting for several weeks to several months (Source: Wikipedia). The egg has a very strong ammonia smell to it, which brings us to popular misconception #2, and that is that the eggs have been marinated in horse urine. They haven’t.

But it does have a very strong taste to it, and the ammonia smell plays a big part in that. Once I bought some and steamed it (it’s always served hard boiled), it wasn’t ready yet but somehow the genius in me decided to give it a try. The egg-white was barely taking form. It was like jello, breaking form on contact. Because it was still steaming hot, when I took a bite the ammonia scent whiffed up my nose and I started tearing. All in good fun, I still ate it all. The yolk is the best part, having a custardy texture to it if cooked right and tasting/smelling like sweet and salty sulfur.

I don’t know if there are any health benefits to eating this, I’m guessing there are none. Popular dishes that have century eggs as an ingredient include the Century Egg and Lean Pork porridge which is mostly available during Dim Sum breakfasts.

There’s also the Penang Lobak (hence the suggestion to find this at the Lobak stall in any Chinese hawker), a mixture of fried tofu and other stuff (these eggs included) cut up into pieces and eaten with sweet sauce. I don’t normally eat Lobak, hence this post focusing only on century eggs rather than Lobak.

(Ed: I wrote this MONTHS ago and never posted it. I figured there was no point to it since this blog was dying. But *someone* promised to stop spending so much time on the Xbox 360 and post more, so here’s to keeping that promise, hobo.)

Aussie Trio from Matilda's Pub & Barbie - $12.99

2009-02-27T08:05:00.000-04:00

801 South College Avenue, Newark, DE - 302.737.4800

"An awesome trio of Emu, coconut prawns, and Roo, served with three sauces: sesame ginger, teriyaki sauce, and manga salsa."

Okay, first look at the food. Then look at the price. Now look at the food again. If you're anything like me, then your brain just went, "Really? Is that all I get for $13?"

This appetizer was disappointing in almost about every way thinkable. I say "almost" because the coconut prawns' flavor wasn't bad. However, you'd think an animal the size of a kangaroo or an emu would be able to produce more meat than this. Give me some pouch or thigh for crying out loud!

Even if you put the size factor aside and judge the quality only, you'll still be let down. Had one of the skewers tasted okay, I might have cared to find out which skewer was which animal. But no, the meat was tough, dry and flavorless, so now I know to avoid them both.

Green Nasi Lemak from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $8.00

2009-02-26T21:09:00.004-04:00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

Not sure what's "green" about it. Maybe it's environmentally friendly (Go Green!) Personally, I think the regular nasi lemak with the white rice was better - not to mention that the regular one is $1 cheaper.

This one has a striking similarity to Korean fried rice - at least in appearance. I ate this a while back, and I think it tasted like Korean fried rice too (meaning it contained sesame oil). I don't know. I was pretty unimpressed, especially considering how much money I dropped for this. I expect either better quality or more quantity.

Balut from the corner of a dark street at Lapu-Lapu, Mactan Island - $0.25

2009-02-20T14:14:00.001-04:00

All over Philippines.

My final Philippines post. Before going there I didn’t know what to expect of the country, its people, and the food they ate. But I knew about this one, and it was my mission to try this before leaving. Ironic that I should only find someone selling this on my very last night in Philippines. I was excited as hell, and wanted to eat it the way it’s meant to be eaten; by the side of the road where they sell it off a box behind a bicycle. But for the sake of taking better-lit pictures, I bought 2 to bring back to the hotel where the toilets are well lit and the toilet bowl is well within reach in case it really is as bad as people make it sound.

I’m no expert but as far as I know, balut is boiled (or steamed?) duck eggs at its mid-growth foetal stage. I was told it’s 2 months after they’ve been laid. And I don’t know how to make that not sound dirty.

It’s available all over Philippines and as far as I know they’re the only culture that eats this.

They mark the egg with an X where you are supposed to open it. I believe that is where the “clearing” is, as the other side is where the egg white and duck foetus is clinging to. You want to crack it open at the opening so you can drink the fluids that are in there, foetal juice if you will.

Being a smartass I decided to open the other end (the top of the egg).. and was met with egg white. So I peeled the whole thing vertically and there you have a side-view of what’s inside the egg.

The egg white is nearly inedible as it is really tough. It also has this veiny overlapping feature that… well I think they’re really veins. And along the entire egg is a black strand swirling around, thicker and darker than the other veins. That, I believe, should be the umbilical cord.

Although the overall structure of the bird is visible; beak, eye slit, feathers and all, but on contact the bird is actually very soft, almost jelly like. I suppose the bones aren’t fully formed yet, hence why I keep calling it a foetus instead of a baby bird.

Now I was REALLY excited when I bought these eggs, as I’ve been meaning to try this for a very long time now. However, after the slow process of unshelling the first egg, I lost my appetite, much to my surprise. I LOVE eggs, of any kind and any method or style of preparation, even ones that are black and translucent (look forward to this post in the future), so this should be no different. Yet somehow, no. Not this time. My friend pointed out that it could be due to the fact that i was standing over a toilet bowl. Maybe… maybe.

Anyhoo, after some slight hesitation and deep breaths I ate it. It just tastes like stale eggs, with a slight poultry taste to it. I know I’m not being overly helpful with the description here but YOU try eating a foetus and be descriptive about its taste. It’s eaten with salt and chili vinegar.. I tried it with and without and can’t decide whether there is any improvement with the extras or not. They don’t smell as bad as people make it sound, and they don’t taste as bad as people make it to be. It doesn’t taste GOOD, no siree, but it doesn’t taste bad. But it sure was an experience and I’m glad I can check this one off my list now.

Colossal Burger from Ruby Tuesday's - $10.99

2009-02-10T21:27:00.001-04:00

928 Bear Corbitt Road, Bear, DE - 302-834-1039

"Two handcrafted, USDA Choice patties on a triple-decker bun with Swiss and American cheese."

As you can tell, this burger is pretty big, making it difficult to eat. Size is probably the only unique thing going on for this burger too. Otherwise, it's just a standard (but still tasty) burger.

I do have one gripe unrelated to the actual taste of the burger though. They charged me an extra 10% just because I ordered this for carryout. Perhaps I'm being cheap, but that's pretty hefty if you ask me. All they did was walk about 10 feet to hand me my food and then take my money. Other places will deliver ALL THE WAY TO MY FRONT DOOR for the same charge!

So I don't believe I'll ever be visiting Ruby Tuesday's again. And if I do, I'm going to chug a bunch of milk, gas up the inside of my car real good, and then motion for the server to get real close to my window and then BLAMMO! Unleash my natural napalm into their nostrils. Only then will I feel they earned their 10%.

Surf & Turf Burger from Blackstones - $10.00

2009-02-09T21:08:00.001-04:00

401 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - (302) 266-0880

This has quickly turned into my standard order when I visit Blackstones, so that should tell you what I think of the burger. It's fairly pricey for a burger when you think about the size, but it happens to be right across the street from work so going here is convenient. The regular burger costs $8.50, so I'd happily pay an extra $1.50 to get some lump crab on it. The burger also comes with some sort of sauce (Russian dressing, I believe?), but they forgot to give it to me this time. In fact, they've forgotten multiple times, so make sure to remind them if you don't get it, because I believe it makes the burger taste better.

Grilled Octopus from Greek Island - $13.95

2009-02-08T09:12:00.000-04:00

200 South Halsted Street, Chicago, IL - (312) 782-9855

"Tender octopus seasoned with a splash of olive oil, vinegar, and oregano. Served with rice and potatoes or baked vegetables."

The octopus was definitely tender as the menu states. I'll give it that. And the flavor of the spicing wasn't too bad either. But just look at the skin of the octopus. Charred like a mug.

I don't believe I'll be ordering that anymore. However, the restaurant itself has a great atmosphere and the service was above par, so I'd definitely like to check out some more of their dishes.

Crunchy Breaded Pork Lauriat from Chow King- $2

2009-02-08T01:31:00.001-04:00

All over Philippines.

Remember when I said this was going to be the last Philippine post? I lied. I decided bad Chinese food is worth posting about too. Philippines has a chain (they like chains) of fast food restaurants serving Chinese food.

Take a moment to let that sink in. I think this is weird as fudge, because to me, fast food is almost a food category in itself… So Chinese fast food sounds as weird as “car bike”. But since I have actually seen half-car half-bike vehicles before, I guess Chinese fast food can exist in this dimension without destroying the space-time continuum.

Observe, the Lauriat set… I don’t know what Lauriat means… but I take it as “set meal” or “meal”. Or “set”. I ordered the Crunchy Breaded Pork Lauriat w/ New Ube Sioplet, other options include the Crispy Fish Fillet Lauriat w/ New Monggo Sioplet. All kindsa funny language there.

Firstly, Sioplet is all wrong. I think they are trying to say “mini” pau, pau being Chinese for bun, in Chinese it'’s called “Siu Pau”. They got that right (spelt Siopao in the menu). But this is the mini version, so I guess the are trying to say “Pau-let”… however, they went with “Sioplet”… which doesn’t make ANY sense as all. They cut “Siopao” in between the p and the a! Like pork cuts… and the mini version, they call porkculets…. I mean you put the “let” at a meaningful position, not stab it in the middle of a word.

Anyways. Ube, I’m guessing is Tagalog for taro, cos the bun is purple. On the plate I have crispy breaded pork, prawn crackers, chow mein, the Sioplet®, and rice.

This sucked. I wouldn’t order this ever again. I would probably give Chow King a miss entirely too.

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve put a pic of what my friend ordered too. I think it’s the Spare Ribs with rice. Don’t ask me how it tastes like, but from the Lauriat I had…. I’m inclined to think that it sucked too.

PS: At least it was cheap.

Italian Beef from Johnnie's Beef - $???

2009-02-01T04:52:00.000-04:00

7500 West North Avenue, Elmwood Park, IL - (708) 452-6000

Many people consider this to be the best Italian beef in the world. Indeed, I agree it was a fantastic beef. My friend and I were so pleased that we wanted to get another one on the way home but they had already closed for the night. However, I don't believe the gap in quality from Portillo's beef to make it worth the extra 40 minute drive.

This was also the first time that I had my Italian beef dipped and I had it double dipped. The bread came out very soggy to the point where it was falling apart and still, the Italian beef was outstanding.

I hear they have a superb lemon ice with beefy chunks of lemon, but I didn't try it that night since it was about 0 F outside. Maybe next time...

Note: I THINK they only accept cash so be prepared.

Chow Kueh Teow from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $8.00

2009-01-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

This is "Malaysian Famous stir-fried flat rice noodles with fresh shrimp, squid, bean sprouts, eggs, soy sauce and chili paste."

You know those Chinese dishes that lack all taste because they're so oily? Well, this dish matches that description to a T. Bland, greasy, and chewy. I can deal with the chewy part, but the rest of the dish needs a makeover.

Double Cheeseburger from McDonald’s - $1.50

2009-01-24T06:49:00.000-04:00

All over Philippines.

Not much to say about this one, except that it was my very first meal of 2009. For comparison’s sake I got a very unadventurous Double Cheeseburger Value Meal from McD’s. It tastes and looks exactly the same as I what I get in Malaysia. The same goes for the fries and Coke, obviously.

I also got a Taro Pie, which is quite new to me, and I’d welcome this addition to the McD’s pie family in Malaysia (which includes apple, banana and at one point, pineapple). Taro btw is yam, and if you still have a puzzled look, you should to google it. You get it a lot in chinese cooking.

My friend was slight more adventurous and went for something more Filipino, with the Chicken McDo & McSpaghetti. Ok adventurous may not be the best word to describe this, but you get the idea. McDo must be their short name for McDonald’s as you will find their website is www.mcdo.com.ph, that or they think fried chicken is the flagship McDonald’s dish in the Philippines.

I heard the spaghetti is sweeter than it should be, and the fried chicken tasted like fried chicken. I wasn’t sure what to expect walking into a McD’s in Philippines, now I know it’s not that much different from what we are all used to.

My next post will be the last from my Philippines trip. I have a lot more pics, but because they are so similar (to each other) as well as to chinese food, I decided to give them a pass. Also most of them are more snack-like than a proper meal. Maybe I’ll post them in a batch next time. But what I’m posting next, well that was one of my culinary missions before going to Philippines, so you can imagine how happy I was to find it on my very last day, also the reason why it’s the last post.

Szechwan Cold Noodles from Katy's Dumpling House - $7.00??

2009-01-23T20:15:00.000-04:00

665 North Cass Avenue, Westmont, IL - (630) 323-9393

Katy's Dumpling House is a great little gem of a restaurant tucked away in the corner of a shopping center. Supposedly, they hand-make their noodles every morning and results are well worth the effort.

This was my first time eating here, and the noodles were a wee bit on the tough side, but my friend said that's not the usual case. In spite of this fault, the dish was still fantastic. It's harder for me to find spicy food in Delaware, so the chili oil on there really hit the spot. But even with the oil, this dish still lacks the greasiness that plagues most Chinese noodle dishes.

Anyway, I should note that Katy's Dumpling House closed on Wednesdays. In addition to that, they ONLY ACCEPT CASH so be prepared before you go.

Santa Fe Wrap from Einstein Bros Bagels - ???

2009-01-22T20:50:00.000-04:00

1727 Freedom Drive Suite 101, Naperville, IL - 630.955.1138

It's turkey sausage, ancho lime salsa, jalapeno cream cheese & pepper jack cheese sealed within a tortilla shell.

Each part contributes a valuable piece of the puzzle. The turkey sausage provides the fleshy foundation for the dish. Add to that the ancho lime salsa and you've juicy, flavorful bite. Meanwhile, both the jalapeno cream cheese and pepper jack cheese act as a glue to seal the wrap while simultaneously pitching into the slightly sweet zest. Leave it to a restaurant named after a genius to concoct a successful combination as unique as this.

Yum with Cheese Value Meal from Jollibee - $1.70?

2009-01-21T08:41:00.005-04:00

All around the Philippines.

So Jollibee is Philippines’ answer to McDonald’s. That’s not to say they are short on McD’s. Or KFC or Wendy’s or whatever other American fast food chain you can think of. They LOVE their fast food. And they have a major sweet tooth too, desserts, donuts, everything.

We were stuck in Cebu City on New Year’s eve, so to make the best of it I picked a mall from my Lonely Planet guide and headed there, hoping to find a few bars to drink 2008 away. Nothing against Cebu, I was just thinking I’d be celebrating new year’s AWAY from a city for once. I picked Ayala Center for its newly constructed Terrace area, aptly called The Terraces. Being open air, maybe there would be a few bars and some fireworks. I mean it’s a mall right? There HAS to be a bar that’s open to celebrate New Year’s. You will find a bar (or 5) in every mall in Malaysia, and come Xmas or NY’s they’ll stay open till after countdown. That apparently is not how it works in the Philippines. Anyway, that’s a whole other story. BEFORE the clock struck 12, dinner was first.

For some reason I decided to forego a nice NY Eve dinner and thought it was as good a time as any to continue sampling the daily Filipino diet. I’ve seen Jollibee at least twice a day throughout my 2 weeks there, it’s a wonder how I haven’t actually tried it yet.

To be honest the menu doesn’t look that good, I feel like it’s just trying to be McD’s. In fact it’s actually more popular than McD’s there, but anyways. I didn’t see anything I’d especially like, so for comparison’s sake I went with a Yum with Cheese value meal. That’s basically a cheeseburger.

The big difference between this and McD’s is that the meat patty tastes very sausagey. Also again with the sweetness, I found the meat to be really sweet. Or maybe it was the ketchup that was sweet. The meal comes with fries and Coke, and I don’t really have anything to say about them. But overall not a very outstanding burger. It doesn’t suck, but I don’t miss it.

Ironically, in trying to figure out the price of the meal, I went to the website and found some pretty nice sounding items like Cheesy Bacon Mushroom and Amazing Aloha with an “It’s Back!” logo on it. Well damn why couldn’t they come back sooner?

Beef Patty from D&H Jamaican Cuisine - $1.75

2009-01-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

748 East Chestnut Hill Road, Newark, DE - 302.896.8826

There are just three words you need to know about this appetizer: ox tail gravy. This is just a beef patty deep-fried in batter, but then you drown that sucker in some ox tail gravy and you've got yourself a winner. I don't believe there is such a thing as "too much ox tail gravy" so go nuts. And if you have leftovers after you finish the patty, dump it on your entree. My coworker and I go so far as to get another bowl of oxtail gravy on the side to make sure our food is submerged.

How would I describe it? Meaty, oily, and yummy. I honestly can't explain it better than that. Just give it a try if you run across it and you'll see what I mean.

Bolognese Pizza from Pizza Volante - $7?

2009-01-17T08:41:00.002-04:00

82 Session Road, Baguio City, Philippines

On the second day of our Philippines trip, we were at Baguio, a small highland city with a population size of a large one. Kinda killed the fun of being at a highland (where the weather is a nice 68°F, an awesome relieve from the average South-East Asian temperature of 80-88°F), as this means over-crowded streets, and major major polution.

Anyways, Session Road is where the action is, and I noticed it was packed with pizza joints, among other things. Yellow Cab, Greenwich, Pizza Hut, Shakey’s & Pizza Volante on the same street, about 2 blocks long. Now if they’re that passionate about pizza, they should theoretically rock at making it, so we had to give it a go as part of the Filipino experience.

First pizza was an 8” Bolognese. I know, pretty boring flavour, not my choice. Without trying to sound daft, it tasted like spaghetti on bread and a lotta cheese. OK so it does sound a bit daft, but hey, I write ‘em as I taste ‘em.

Next pizza is a 6” whutchamacallit. I forgot the name. It was beef something. Why I don’t remember is a combination of it being over a month ago and the pizza being very un-memorable. It was.. mehh.. it had a strong red wine taste to it and nothing else that stands out.

This was all the time I could afford for pizza in Philippines, but I just googled Pizza Volante and I see some people raving about how this is one of the better places to get pizza in Philippines. Based on that, I’ll have to say I was wrong about them rocking at pizza making.

Oh here’s a San Miguel Strong Ice that went with my pizza. It was, as with all other San Miguel beers, good but made better with the price being only $1. This is standard throughout the country, prices ranging from $0.60 to $1.50 for bottled beer. Why drink Coke when you can have a San Miguel!

Roti Telur from Pinang Asian Cuisine - $5.00

2009-01-16T17:02:00.000-04:00

218 Louviers Drive, Newark, DE - 302.368.2298

Roti Telur is a traditional Indian pancake filled with egg, onion, served with curry chicken and potato dipping sauce.

I like the eggy bread, but there's too much onion for my tastes. The dip is good too, but with the flimsy eggy bread, it's hard to grab any dip without it falling off. This was an interesting venture, but I don't believe I'll be ordering this one again.

Pasta Mardi Gras from Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen - $21.95

2009-01-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

921 Pasquinelli Dr, Westmont, IL - (630) 455-9846

Pasta Mardi Gras - Linguine tossed with crawfish, andouille sausage & crimini mushrooms in a marinara cream sauce topped with jumbo grilled shrimp.

I can't deny that the above menu description sounds awesome, nor can i deny that the dish was tasty. But at $22 for a bowl of pasta, there needs to be more. Someone told me you get a large discount when you sit at the bar during lunch hours. I didn't hear about this until after I went so I can't confirm it, but 50% off (yes, I was told 50% off) is definitely worth a shot. And if I could get this same dish for $11, I would make the trip all the time.

Thin Crust Shrimp Pizza from Giordano's - $15.85

2009-01-14T00:07:00.000-04:00

119 South Main Street, Naperville, IL - (630) 428-2111

This price will get you the thin crust, medium, 12" shrimp pizza. Not worth it.

There are so many things wrong here. Firstable, what am I doing getting a thin crust pizza from a joint that specializes in deep dish? Secondly, that doesn't look like $4 worth of shrimp topping. Also, ordering shrimp from a pizza joint located in the Midwest isn't the greatest idea either.

But hey, sometimes you have to be adventurous to find that special dish. And it wasn't completely bad - the shrimp pizza was actually pretty good. It just wasn't worth the price.

Beef With Chinese Broccoli Over Rice Noodles from Tong's Polynesian Village - $8.99

2009-01-13T22:34:00.000-04:00

1239 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - 630.357.7120

Here's a dish I loved so much, that I still remembered its name even after it mysteriously disappeared from their menu. The owner couldn't locate the item on the menu either, but knew exactly what I was referring to, so he still had it made for me and charged me the same price as a similar item. Very nice people. It's a shame to see that their restaurant shrank since my previous visit about three years ago.

Anyway, the dish name is pretty self-explanatory. Chinese broccoli is sometimes referred to as kai-lan or Chinese kale too. These rice noodles are fluffier and stickier than the ones you might receive from a Thai restaurant, but I love them just as much, if not more. The sauce is just a typical brown sauce you get in a Chinese dish - probably oyster sauce - but when you put that with other three ingredients, it's magic.

One more thing to note - you can't tell from the picture, but the serving size is pretty enormous. It's tough for me to finish the entire thing in a single sitting, which if you've seen me eat, you know means a lot.

Wreck from Potbelly's - $4.19

2009-01-12T20:21:00.000-04:00

28361 Diehl Road, Warrenville, IL - 630-821-7940

The Wreck comes with salami, roast beef, turkey, and ham with swiss cheese. On top of that, you can choose from mayo, mustard, hot peppers, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickle, oil & Italian seasoning. As for me, I like to get everything.

Potbelly is one of those place that I crave when it's not around me. But when I stop to think about it, I think the only sandwich I've ever ordered from there is the Wreck, so you could say that it's the Wreck that I truly miss. You get a good amount of meat, AND the hot peppers give it a pleasant, fiery zest. Can't beat that.

Enchiladas con Mole from Las Palmas - $11.50

2009-01-11T00:15:00.003-04:00

1150 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - (630) 717-9030

The menu lists this dish as "a rolled corn tortilla stuffed with Seasoned Ground Beef, Marinated Chicken or Cheese, topped with our special mole sauce & melted cheese, garnished with lettuce & tomato." In my case, I paid the extra $1 to substitute skirt steak (so the cost was actually $12.50).

This was my first time trying mole sauce and I was quickly able to detect a subtle chocolatey flavor and as it turns out, mole sauce is typically made with Mexican chocolate as one of its ingredients. Anyway, this blended well with the tender steak and the refried beans. The vegetables felt a little out of place, but that could be because I'm more of a carnivore. Yummy Mexican dish.

Crispy Pork from Cafe Uno - $1.50

2009-01-10T02:55:00.000-04:00

1 Bonifacio St, Vigan City, Philippines

This is my first in a series of Philippine posts, of food I had during my 2 week trip to Philippines end of last year.

This was the first meal we had since landing in Philippines and taking a 10 hour bus ride to Vigan from Angeles City, with the last meal before this being a crappy eggs benedict from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, about 14-15 hours before.

I’ll confess, I forgot the name and price of the dish. It IS essentially crispy pork but I don’t remember the Filipino name. The closest I’ve come to via googling is Lechon Kawali. But the price is accurate to about USD0.40 so it’s a fair estimate on my behalf.

First thing to note about Filipino food, it’s very similar to Malay / Chinese cuisine. This is no exception, reminding me very much of Chinese Roast Pork, only this is cut into chunks before roasting. I liked it, not too much seasoning so you get to enjoy all the porkiness.

We also ordered a serving of fish, I really don’t remember the name, and the price is around the vicinity of $1.50 as well. Because I have no idea what it is, I didn’t include it into the topic of this post, but here’s a picture. It was okay, standard fare, fried fish cuts, with sauce that was starchy and quite flavourless, maybe that’s why it also came with pickled vegetables mixed with a fermented sauce, I don’t know what it was but it tasted incredibly similar to a Malaysian sauce called Cincalok, which is basically fermented shrimp.

Another thing to note about the Filipino diet, they eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also, most of their dishes (the flavours of Philippines, if you will) are a little too much for foreigners of the non-asian kind to handle, and a lot of the locals told me stories about how some of the Caucasian visitors would order a lot thinking they are adventurous, and when it comes some of them would only eat white rice, perhaps picking on the egg or vegetable dish only, cos the other dishes are too overwhelming. I can picture it, and have nothing to say except to shake my head at the thought.

Flaming Saganaki Cheese from Greek Island - $5.50

2009-01-09T00:24:00.002-04:00

200 South Halsted Street, Chicago, IL - (312) 782-9855

Even if you don't have a taste for cheese, this appetizer might still be worth an order for the little show. After deep frying this imported Greek cheese in the kitchen, the server will come out and flambé the cheese tableside and shout "OPAA!" Apparently, that practice originated at the restaurant next door to Greek Island so it's more of a Chicago touch than it is a Greek custom.

As for the cheese itself, instead of consuming it while it's soft and gooey, I liked it better when it cooled to a slight firmness which also made it easier for cutting too. To give you an idea of what it was like, I'd say it's similar to a very lightly battered & fried mozzarella.

Chef's Special Crispy Duck from Lao Sze Chuan - $10.95

2009-01-08T06:47:00.005-04:00

1331 West Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove, IL - 630.663.0303

Honestly, there's nothing special about this "Chef's Special" crispy duck. Not that it was bad (in fact, it was very good), but there was nothing unique about it to receive such a name like "Chef's Special." It's a standard Chinese duck dish, served with hoisin sauce, as usual.

For those of you unfamiliar with ordering duck, $11 for an entire duck is a very fair price that you may find difficult to match. This particular version is served with bones, and some may also find it tedious to dig through them to get at the meat, but like lobster, it's well worth the effort.

Unfortunately, this is a poor representation of the restaurant itself, because the other dishes are usually more decorated and flavorful, but trust me, if you like Chinese food, this place is a winner.

Chicken Pomodoro Panini from Go Roma - $6.49

2009-01-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

28361 Diehl Road, Warrenville, IL - (630)393-7662

This sandwich is comprised of roasted chicken breast, oven dried tomatoes, spinach, basil, provolone cheese, and pesto mayo on panini bread.

The bread was too hard for my liking and the chicken a bit too dry. In spite of these two criticisms, the sandwich was still okay. The crispy fries that came with the sandwich earned it some bonus points.

On a sidenote, I also ordered their pasta & meatball soup. I didn't take a picture because soup pictures tend to look boring. Anyway, the soup was far too salty so I recommend passing on it.

Pad Thai from Joy Yee's Noodles - $8.50

2009-01-06T02:20:00.003-04:00

1163 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - 630.579.6800

Pad Thai is a dish of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chilli pepper, plus any combination of bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts and coriander. It is normally served with a piece of lime, the juice of which can be added along with Thai condiments.
- Excerpt from wikipedia

I did a post on this same dish before here and now I'm showing you another restaurant's take on it. Joy Yee's Noodles is a fairly prestigious shop in Chinatown of Chicago, but this is one of their newer shops in the suburbs. Also, I believe they are more famously known for their bubble tea instead of their food.

Anyway, I have reached the conclusion that just about every dish at Joy Yee's is good, but not great, but they make up for their lack of awesomeness by giving you huge portions. That's definitely okay with me. Another handy feature is their ginormous menu with pictures of nearly every dish.

But that's beside the point. Today, I'm criticizing their pad thai and like I stated about the rest of their food, it's good, but not great. If you're only looking to leave stuffed to the brim with some decent quality food at a fair price, then this place is for you. But if you're seeking something to tantalize your tastebuds, then I recommend driving a few miles from there to Lao Sze Chuan (which I'll post about later).

Shrimp Fra Diavolo from Buca di Beppo - $19.99

2009-01-05T12:13:00.005-04:00

90 Yorktown Road, Lombard, IL - 630.932.7673

Fra Diavolo (Italian for "Brother Devil") is the name given to a spicy sauce for pasta or seafood. Most versions are tomato-based and use chili peppers for spice, but the term is also used for sauces that include no tomato, or that use cayenne or other forms of pepper.
- Excerpt from wikipedia

Although this pasta looks like it's loaded with peppers, it wasn't all that spicy. In fact, I didn't even know it was supposed to be spicy until I looked up the meaning of "fra diavolo" just now.

In spite of that, the dish was really great. The noodles were a bit dry, but not in a bad way, unless you like your noodles sopping with sauce. The sautéed garlic shrimp were cooked well too. The price may seem steep, but the serving size is large enough to feed two even though we only ordered a small. All in all, I would happily order this dish again, if not for the chance to discover other great dishes on their menu.

Double Prosperity Burger from McDonald's - $5.50

2008-12-13T16:18:00.003-04:00

This is the Prosperity Burger, which is available once a year during the Chinese New Year season (that’s next February). It’s quite a big sized burger, and with the width it looks more like a sandwich. I got the Double Prosperity, which is just the Prosperity Burger with 2 beef patties.

It’s a classic McDonald’s sesame seeded bun, only longer, with a beef patty inside seasoned with dark black pepper sauce and onions. This is the double, so there’s 2 beef patties. They’re very generous with the sauce and when you open the pack you’ll find it has probably smothered the whole burger. Very messy but very entertaining to eat. At first bite, it tastes a bit off, the meat as usual tastes like a mixture of roadkill and clay, but surprisingly more tender than the regular “beef” patty you find with the Big Mac or any other beef burger from McD’s. But somehow as you keep eating, it’s hard to stop. The sauce is the real winner here, and I’m not a big fan of black pepper or peppers of any sort for that matter. It makes this and overall pretty spicy burger, but not overwhelmingly so. The onions are nearly non existent, as I think they didn’t give me enough, at least not for a double.

It came with Twister Fries (or Curly Fries) which were shit. Didn’t help that I was having it about 30 mins after purchase so they turned out quite hard. Like flavoured cardboard. Regular fries are much better.

Al's Fish Tacos from TGI Friday's - ???

2008-12-04T20:28:00.000-04:00

650 South College Avenue, Newark, DE - (302)737-3700

I don't know who Al is, but he sure made some rockin' fish tacos. The order comes with "three flour tortillas filled with crispy, nacho-crusted tilapia, shredded lettuce, corn salsa, and creamy lemon dill remoulade sauce. Served with a side of chips & salsa."

This dish is not so much about the fish as it is the corn salsa and remoulade sauce. MmMM... creamy goodness. I wish it came with more than just three.

Chicken Marsala from Seasons Pizza - $10.99

2008-12-03T20:07:00.001-04:00

1460 Pulaski Highway, Newark, DE - (302)832-5555

I have to admit, this dish looks pretty sweet. Too bad it didn't taste like anything, and $11 is a lot of money to waste on flavorless food. I'm getting the feeling that Seasons Pizza doesn't know how to make decent pasta. I guess that's why they're named Seasons Pizza and not named Seasons Pasta.

Baked Meat Lasagna from Seasons Pizza - $9.49

2008-12-02T19:21:00.002-04:00

1460 Pulaski Highway, Newark, DE - (302)832-5555

The restaurant sells this as Homemade Baked Meat Lasagna which I think is complete garbage because it's obviously not made at anyone's home. Now that I got that off my chest, here's the skinny on the dish: It's bland.

If not for the additional marinara sauce (which I believe comes at an extra charge), the dish would taste like plain noodles with plain ground beef. At one point during the meal, I found myself actually preferring the salad since it had more flavor. That's when you KNOW there's something wrong.

Anyhow, there's no point in me wasting anymore time on a dish this bland.

Stuffed Quail from Riva - $24.00

2008-12-01T21:57:00.002-04:00

2020 Calamos Court, Naperville, IL - (630)718-1010

This very well may be the BEST dish I've EVER TASTED. The quail was stuffed with sundried tomatoes, Italian sausage, Swiss chard and then place atop a mixture of olive oil, whipped potatoes, roasted pearl onions, and Madeira demi glace (Madeira is a type of Portugese wine; demi glace is a brown sauce often used in French cuisine).

Where do I begin? The quail itself was AWESOME. Juicy, tender, minimal bones (the tiny drumsticks), no cartilage, well-seasoned, and cooked to perfection.

Oh! And the pearl onions? Oh, man, the pearl onions. I had forgotten how much I love the way they absorb the juices and gush into your mouth when you bite into them. Heavenly!

The rest of the dish (the greens and the mashed potatoes) balanced out the dish very well and I honestly can't think of anything to complain about. Well, that's not completely true. There was a live singer there to entertain the crowd and he kinda sucked.

NY Style Pizza from Sbarro - $3.99

2008-11-27T08:40:00.000-04:00

4737 Concord Turnpike, Wilmington, DE - (302)477-9850

First off, I'm not sure exactly which Sbarro I ordered this from. It was at one of the rest areas on Route 80 in the middle of Ohio, but I threw down some address in Wilmington, DE instead just to have something there. The reason I brought this up is because rest areas are usually more expensive than other locations so $3.99 may be a bit inflated.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture, there's nothing in particular that makes an NY style pizza stand out from any other typical pizza. I mean, I guess it's big and has a thin crust, but so what? It's like ordering an extra large thin crust from any pizza joint. That's why I'll always prefer the Chicago deep dish.

There is one other style I've heard many praises over and that's the Connecticut style. Who knew? Anyway, I hope to one day try their pizza.

Apple Kuchen from Riva - $6.00

2008-11-26T10:03:00.000-04:00

2020 Calamos Court, Naperville, IL - (630)718-1010

Unfortunately, I don't remember everything that was in this dessert. It's ice cream atop a little cake (kuchen means cake in German), and the cake was stuffed with some sweet stuff like caramel and warm apple bits.

Without the dressings around it, the cake would've been fairly tasteless so it reminded me a lot of a scone. But overall, the dessert was very yummy.

McRib from McDonald's - $2.19

2008-11-25T01:23:00.003-04:00

1520 North Naper Boulevard, Naperville, IL‎ - (630)505-0220

The McRib is a limited time sandwich that consists of a boneless pork patty covered in BBQ sauce, onions, and pickles on a six-inch bun.

It's a very good sandwich, but the corporate big wigs at McDonald's like to toy with people's emotions so they discontinue the sandwich on occasion, but simultaneously talk about making it a permanent menu item. I heard people were die-hard about this sandwich to the point where they would travel to different cities when it was discontinued in their own city. While I wouldn't say it was THAT good, it was still tasty. The BBQ sauce tastes like the same sauce provided with their nuggets - a sweet, slightly tangy, sauce and the pork patty resembles rib meat fairly well. This would be a fine addition to their permanent menu to give it more variety.

Reuben Sandwich from Ashkenaz Deli - $8.45

2008-11-24T00:59:00.000-04:00

12 E Cedar Street, Chicago, IL - (312)944-5006

I walked about four miles each way in Chicago winter weather for this sandwich and it was totally worth it.

It's a standard reuben sandwich in that all the ingredients are there without any extras: corned beef, Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut all on toasted rye bread. Therefore, I'm not sure what makes this sandwich so awesome, but it is. My sister even dubbed it "the best sandwich she's ever had."

The sandwich is a bit pricey, but you have to remember you're right next to the Gold Coast where people walk dogs wearing clothes worth more than most people's cars. Yes, I'm serious. So I don't think $8.45 is too outrageous, especially when the sandwich tastes as good as it does.

Meen Fun Kerr - $?

2008-11-23T23:34:00.009-04:00

Meen Fun Kerr

This is called "Meen Fun Kerr" in Hokkien. It's square pieces of noodles, vegetables, shrimp (not in the picture), calamari, fish balls and small slices of pork in a brothy chicken stock based soup. I don't know the history of this dish except that my grandma used to make this for me when I was a kid. My mom made it again for me recently and this is the result. Brings back memories. I like it. It's a simple dish. Maybe it's something my grandma made up along the way, I mean what can be simpler than rolling flour with eggs, throw in some vegetables and meat and whatever else into your chicken stock and then starching it up so it's thicker? But if anybody has a story about this dish, do tell.

Vegetable Dutch from Pancake Cafe - $9.95

2008-11-22T19:21:00.000-04:00

1292 Rickert Drive Suite#168, Naperville, IL - (630)637-1010

The Vegetable Dutch is a collection of vegetables baked into a Dutch baby and then topped with havarti cheese. If you're like me and don't know what a Dutch baby is, it's a miniature German pancake. If you're like me again and don't know what a German pancake is, then follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_pancake

Anyway, I'm very proud to make a find as tasty as this one, particularly because breakfast items are usually the same ol' same ol' sausage, eggs, etc. This on the other hand, was like a pancake-pizza hybrid with vegetables for toppings. It's dense like a pancake with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla, so reminded me a little of pumpkin bread. Another note: since the German pancake is larger, it looks more like a bread bowl than a flat pizza.

White Castle from White Castle - $0.61

2008-11-21T19:54:00.002-04:00

1219 Lake Street, Aurora, IL - (630)820-1333

These are the infamous White Castle "sliders" so named because they "slide" right through you. It's a steam-grilled patty with grilled onions, and a slice of pickle.

My sister told me that the police caught a jewel smuggler and he had swallowed some diamonds so in order to force them out, they fed him these suckers. That's the kind of effect they will have on you.

I know they will tear my stomach to pieces, yet, I keep going back for more. I also think the aroma can be pretty overpowering and perhaps even disgusting, yet, I keep going back for more.

So what gives? Why do I keep going back for more? I don't know. Maybe the 24x7 hours are convenient. Maybe the price is tempting. Maybe I like that I can demolish one with two bites. MAYBE I even enjoy the taste. I don't know, but their slogan "What You Crave" definitely has some truth to it.

New England Lobster Roll from Harry's Savoy Grill - $18.95

2008-11-15T10:07:00.000-04:00

2020 Naamans Road, Wilmington, DE - (302)475-3000

The lobster roll is so aptly named because it's freshly steamed Maine lobster salad piled on a grilled New England-style bun. This thing tasted FANTASTIC and I could spend all day eating these if not for a couple drawbacks:

First off, there's the price. Unfortunately, I can't afford to eat these regularly unless the next time I have salary negotiations, I propose they pay me in the form of lobster instead. Hmm... that gives me an idea...

The other downside is that the "New England-style bun" appears to be only a slice of white bread folded in thirds and toasted that way to keep its form. Therefore, the lobster roll was smaller than what I had envisioned and hence, less filling. If not for the price, I could smash three of these with no problem and then push myself to cram #4 & #5 into my belly.... and then probably stuff #6-10 in my pockets for later. Instead, I'll probably end up making the 20 mile drive and drop another $20 to satisfy my lobster roll fix only to drive back hungry for more. How sad...

Anyway, as for the potato chips, they taste home-made because they felt slightly warmer and greasier, but still tasted light and crispy. Lay's potato chips probably taste like this fresh out of the oven.

Chihuahua from Pure Bread - $7.50

2008-11-13T23:07:00.002-04:00

1309 Churchman's Road, Christiana, DE - (302)455-YUMM

The chihuahua is a sandwich made with grilled chicken, pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and chipotle mayo on cheddar bread.

Even though I love avocado, for some reason, it felt out of place in this sandwich. In spite of this, I thought the sandwich tasted good. Although, then I tried a bite of the French poodle and decided for what you pay, my sandwich could be much better, so I doubt I'll revisit this sandwich again.

Apple Crêpe from Bob Evan's - $4.99

2008-11-12T22:53:00.000-04:00

402 Eagle Run Road, Newark, DE - (302)369-3122

I made a post on their strawberry & banana crêpe earlier but when I went this time, they didn't have them. Their fruit crêpes are dependent on what fruit is in season, and then they have the constant offering of blueberry. Lucky for me, it's apples season.

The apple crêpe tasted better than its straw-bana counterpart, but was less filling, so it evens out. Either way, this variation has convinced me to make the crêpe a standard add-on to my entrée.

Border Scramble Burrito from Bob Evan's - $6.49

2008-11-11T22:37:00.000-04:00

402 Eagle Run Road, Newark, DE - (302)369-3122

The Border Scramble burrito is essentially the same as the Border Scramble omelette except instead of being wrapped in eggs, this is wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with sausage chili, scallions, and sour cream. I'm looking at the description online and apparently it was also supposed to have cheddar cheese on top as well. Oh well...

Anyway, this is, in my opinion, a tastier alternative to the omelette version. My friend tried both as well and he agrees. Factor in the cheaper price and you're in for a win-win meal.

Border Scramble Omelette from Bob Evan's - $7.99

2008-11-10T21:01:00.000-04:00

402 Eagle Run Road, Newark, DE - (302)369-3122

The border scramble omelette is a three egg omelette stuffed with pepper-jack cheese, Bob Evans sausage, home fries, diced tomatoes and onions in a Ranchero sauce. Then it's topped with sour cream, scallions and more pepper-jack cheese.

Don't know what to say about this one except that I enjoyed it thoroughly. And if you like this one then check the next post...

Sampler Platter from Uncle Bub's - $16.99

2008-11-09T14:27:00.004-04:00

132 South Cass Avenue, Westmont, IL - (630)493-9000

The sampler platter comes with a combination of 3 BBQ back ribs, pulled pork, BBQ sliced beef brisket, ribtips, and BBQ chicken along with your choice of two side dishes. The side dishes we chose were the fried mac & cheese, and the chili.

Without trying to hype this place up, this is perhaps the best BBQ I've ever had. The sauce has this very unique flavor that I can only describe as "pruney." Prunes in BBQ may sound gross, but man, I was tempted to swig that stuff straight from the bottle.

Everything that came with the sampler platter was fantastic with the exception of the ribtips and the chicken. The ribtips were very tough and difficult to eat around the cartilage, and the chicken dried out quickly (I covered up the chicken problem the best I could by dousing it in more pruney goodness).

I read other reviews saying the service was terrible, but you pay at the counter before you receive your food so I don't think this is the type of place where you're expected to tip.

Volcano Taco from Taco Bell - $0.89

2008-11-08T15:14:00.001-04:00

1501 Governor's Place, Bear, DE - (302)834-4563

The volcano taco is a limited time special from Taco Bell. Although, there's nothing all that special about it. The bright red shell is purely for appearance and has no additional flavor. The inside is identical to a regular taco (lettuce, cheese, beef) with the exception of an additional sauce that adds a mild spiciness to it. This sauce is creamier than the regular hot sauce packets, and I think I prefer it this way.

When you take the price into consideration, these aren't all that bad. You can't expect much for 89 cents, which is the same price as the regular hard tacos, so I still end up ordering these quite often.

Chicago Hot Dog from Portillo's - $2.25

2008-11-05T13:52:00.005-04:00

950 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - (630)961-1151

Here's a genuine Chicago hotdog. It's a Vienna Beef "all beef" hot dog, with a dill pickle spear, chopped onions, tomato slices or wedges, yellow mustard, sweet relish, sport peppers, and celery salt, all on a poppy seed bun.

There are two things to notice about that list. Firstable, there's no ketchup. Supposedly, it's taboo to put ketchup on a Chicago dog, so don't do it unless you want to be scrutinized as an outsider. Secondly, I put "all-beef" in quotes because my friend told me that Vienna Beef was recently sued for not being all-beef. Instead, they use sheep casings on their dogs. That's close enough for me, but some people out there are kosher fanatics.

The important thing is, it's a damn good hot dog. It's probably my favorite style hot dog and I've tried to be unbiased about it too.