Taiwan Day 10: Jin Chun Fa Beef Restaurant / 金春發牛肉店 (Taipei: Datong District / 台北市: 大同區)

Ever since my cousin first recommended Jin Chun Fa (金春發牛肉店) to me, it has been one of my absolute favorite places to eat in all of Taiwan.  It is a restaurant that specializes in beef dishes, and it proudly advertises that it has been in operation for over 100 years.  There are over 40 dishes that feature all parts of the cattle.  Dishes range from the safe and traditional like beef satay, curried beef, and beef and potato stir-fry... to more adventuresome plates of tendon, tongue, stomach, brain, heart, and penis.  Here are some of the items that I order whenever I visit.

One dish I dream about at night is this curry beef chow mein (炒咖哩牛肉麵), an absolute must order dish at this restaurant.  The spice from the curry, although apparent, does not take away from the strong point of this dish, which is the sliced beef.  It is sliced thin, which makes it tender and almost elastic in texture.  The noodles are my favorite because they are saucy, slippery, and slurpable, the way that a traditional Taiwanese chow mein is cooked.  It is neither greasy nor spicy... a surprise to most who try it.

Most bone marrow lovers prefer theirs oven roasted and served with toasted bread, but this stir-fried dragon bone marrow (炒龍骨髓) is what I crave.  It has been wok tossed with tomatoes into a savory and saucy dish that tastes like a soy sauce infused marinara.  All that marrow gravy goes great over rice or noodles.  Mmmm... and although I am not sure why it is called dragon bone marrow, I am sure that after having this dish you will change your mind about how you want your bone marrow prepared.

You know me... I need my vegetables.  What better way to get your greens in than by combining it with beef? This sauteed water spinach (炒空心菜) is flavored with garlic, red chili, and a blend of curry powder different from the one used in the chow mein.  The hallowed vegetable stems are crunchy and are a nice contrast to its leaves.  The beef, by the way, is just as soft and tender as the the leafy spinach. 

Another favorite at the restaurant include the stir-fried vinegar beef (炒醋肉), cooked with strands of ginger that blend into a sweet and sour sauce.  The satay beef (沙茶牛肉) using traditional Taiwanese barbecue sauce is an authentic dish that is worth a try as well.  All of these dishes, by the way, would pair well with a bowl of steamed white rice, but they taste even better chased down with ice cold beer.  Taiwanese beer is light and has lots of tingly effervescence, enhance the very flavorful beef dishes, many of which have lots of spice and seasoning, even further.

Anthony Bourdain featured this place on his episode of The Layover in Taipei, but I'm happy to say that I have been eating here years before he had ever dropped in.  He tries the beef noodle soup, but I think the stir-fried dishes definitely steal the show here.

Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Jin Chun Fa Beef Restaurant (金春發牛肉店)
台北市大同區天水路20號
No. 20, Tianshui Rd., Datong District, Taipei City

ML - 20130709

159. A Burmese Spread at Daw Yee Myanmar Café (LA-SGV: Monterey Park)

After my first experience with Burmese food at Burma Superstar in San Francisco, I have been intrigued by the food from the country now known as Myanmar.  We visited Daw Yee Myanmar Café to eat more of this unique cuisine that blends Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Lao influences into its own native fare.

A must-order dish that provides a glimpse into traditional Burmese fare is the tea leaf salad.  Diced tomatoes, roasted peanuts, fried lentils, and toasted sesame accompany shredded cabbage, whole chilies, and fermented tea leaves imported directly from the mother country.  Our Burmese server-host-instructor extraordinaire tossed the hodgepodge of ingredients table side until it created a harmonious blend of rainbow colored, texturally titillating, fragrant salad.

One of our favorites was the kima platha, a sort of grilled flatbread in finger food sized pieces folded over ground chicken seasoned with Indian masala.  It is almost like a potsticker, but a more bready, heartier, fuller version of the usual fried dumpling.  The kima platha comes with a dipping sauce, but we used it to soak up all the leftover curry goodness on our plates.

Speaking of curry, the egg curry was a highlight of the night.  Get this... the eggs are hard boiled and deep fried, then added to the mix of tomato and onion sauce.  The colorful curry covers the eggs, making them gleam in the golden pool of glory.  Cut the eggs up and let them fall into that sauce... douse the eggs with more sauce, and you've got a spoonful of bliss.  Whoever thought of this (someone Burmese I presume) was a genius.

There are many more items on the menu that are great to share as well.  We also ordered the mutton curry, which was robust in meaty flavor with a tinge of lemongrass.  The mohinga, Myanmar's national dish, should not be missed.  Rice noodles submerged what is known as a catfish chowder piques an initial interest but results in a complete addiction to the comforting noodle soup.  We are definitely returning for more.

Happy birthday, Ron.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Daw Yee Myanmar Café
111 N. Rural Dr.
intersection of Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
Closed Tuesdays

ML - 20130909

136. Tokyo - Bread, Bread, Bread at Saint-Germain / サンジェルマンのパン (Tokyo: Shibuya-ku, Ebisu / 東京都: 渋谷区, 恵比寿)

If you ask anyone about what he or she wants to eat while visiting Japan, the likely answer will be sushi... sashimi, perhaps... maybe even ramen or tempura.  Well, at the top of the list for me is none other than bread (pan / パン).  While strolling through Yebisu Garden Place, I came across Saint-Germain, a two story bakery and café brimming with the warm aroma of baked goodness.  This popular chain is part of a larger family of bakeries including Maison Kayser, one of my favorite producers of European style Japanese bread.

Lucky for me, the nearest location of Saint-Germain was a hop, skip and a jump from the Westin Tokyo where I was staying.  Right across the street from the entrance of the Yebisu Sky Walk (恵比寿スカイウォーク), it was utterly convenient to grab some breakfast on the way to Ebisu Station (恵比寿駅) on the JR Yamanote Line (JR山手線).  For those that don't know already, I am bread crazy.  Like... insane when it comes to bread.  This was my loot from just one morning.

Mentaiko bread (明太子パン) is easily one of my favorite types of Japanese bread.  A salty spread of pollock roe that is utterly glowing is smeared across the soft inside of a crisp baguette making for an absolutely irresistible version of caviar on toast.

There is no way to avoid a curry donut (カレードーナツ) when visiting a Japanese bakery.  When done right the outside should be golden brown but not to the point of crunch.  The inside of the football shaped fried fritter is gooey with spicy curry, peas, and carrots, and the mantle of bread should still be soft and easy to tear apart to reveal the goods within.

This bacon and cheese baguette (チーズベーコンバゲット) captured my attention the moment I laid eyes on it.  Tender and succulent slabs of sweet bacon and cheddar are sandwiched inside thin, crusty French style bread.  Japanese bacon is usually not as crispy or salty as American bacon, which makes for a texture more like that of a fatty ham.  Yum.

Just close your eyes and take one bite of the pork cutlet and egg salad sandwich (サンドイッチのとんかつ卵サラダ), and you will feel like you have gone to heaven.  There is nothing like a deep fried pork chop with sweet ketchup essence submerged under a fluffy cloud of egg salad.  Really, there isn't.  When the pork cutlet and egg salad canoodle under the covers of a soft bun, the combination becomes the definition of excess and decadence.

I picked up a tomato, cheese and bacon calzone (カルツォーネ) based on the staff recommendation.  I still prefer a piping hot pocket feel stuffed with heart attack inducing fillings, but if you like a more delicate, less oily take on the Italian-American classic, this is a good choice.

Custard pudding (カスタードプリン) or flan, Japanese or not, is one of my favorite things to eat of all time.  So naturally, when I saw it sitting in the refrigerator section, I had to take one back with me for dessert.  It was something that I could eat without needing to glance away from the morning paper.  Digging for the caramel syrup that lines the bottom of the smooth custard is like diving for gold at the bottom of a treasure chest.

Also somewhere in this mess of carbs was a hash brown, but I ate it so hastily that I did not get a chance to take a picture of it.  Just a heads up... my next meal is definitely carb overload too.  Until the next carb fest, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

サンジェルマン / Saint-Germain
東京都 渋谷区 / Tokyo Metropolis, Shibuya Ward
恵比寿 4-20-5 / Ebisu District, 4 Chome 20-5
恵比寿 ガーデンプレイス 内 / Yebisu Garden Place

Check out some more mentaiko madness from my Flickr set here.

ML - 20130627

124. Portland - Back to Portlandia for More Food Carts (Portland: Southwest/Downtown)

It is time to travel again! This trip involves a stop in Portland, about a week romp in Tokyo, and a two week stay in Taipei.  The first leg of the trip began last weekend with a flight to Portland to attend a wedding.  Since I had just finished writing 12 posts about Portland last month, this quick weekend trip came at the right time... yay for more posts on food from Portlandia!

Allison and I flew out of the newly remodeled Long Beach Airport on JetBlue on Saturday morning.  If you've flown on JetBlue before, you know exactly what that means... raiding the snack basket when the flight attendant swings by! When we landed it high time for lunch.  Those in-flight snacks can only hold us over for so long...

As soon as we checked into the hotel, we headed straight for the food pods at the intersection of Southwest Alder and SW 10th Avenue.  Originally, we wanted to try the famous chicken and rice at Nong's Khao Man Gai, but this location was not open on the weekend.  No worries, we quickly found the Euro Trash cart and ordered something we could not get in California... foie gras.  Duck Butter, as it is listed on the menu, is a sinfully seared piece of foie gras laying on a bed of freshly cooked potato chips dripping with garlic aioli (known as their house made Nah-Nah Chips just by itself) and the drippings of the fat foie.  I felt hunger, heaven, and a heart attack all in one bite.  Bewilderment.

While foie gras on potato chips is delicious and all, it doesn't quite make a full meal.  Just around the corner and a few carts down from Euro Trash sits the E-San Thai cart, one of the many, many carts serving Thai cuisine in Portland.  There are six Thai food carts just at the pod at Alder & 10th intersection alone.  I ordered a green curry with tofu, eggplant and other vegetables, plopped myself down on a parking curb and let the sweat drip down my face.

Allie had a hunkering for meat, so she ventured over to the Number 1 Bento cart for the galbi bento.  The flavoring was not far from what we know as Korean barbecue in LA, and for just six bucks, it was a steal.  One thing though... the food comes in a plastic container, so beware of the heat from the steaming white rice while holding the box.  Ouch!

Sitting and eating on a parking curb is no easy task, but the good food makes it all worthwhile.  We won't let the food take away from the main focus of the trip... the wedding.  Which, come to think of it... this was about the time that we dropped the food to head back to the hotel to get ready.

We clean up real nice now don't we? I kid, I kid.  These Instagram filters make us look extremely airbrushed, so they look best on IG.  Congratulations Sarah and Ray! Allie and I wish you two all the best.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20130622

Post 115: Portland - Finally Made it to Pok Pok Thai (Portland: Southeast/Richmond/Clinton)

I finally made it to Pok Pok in Portland.  I have heard about this place from many, many friends for a long, long time.  Anyone who lives in Portland, has been to Portland, or is about to make a trip to Portland knows about this place.  Is this the best Thai restaurant in Portland? Possibly.  Is there even a large ethnic Thai population in Portland? Hardly.  So why have people have said that this is the most authentic, non-authentic Thai food they have ever eaten outside of Thailand? What the hell does that even mean?

Well, the creator and head chef of Pok Pok is Andy Ricker, and he is a white man.  The common culinary conception is that a white man cannot make good Asian food.  But if that is the rule, then there are always exceptions to the rule.  Chef Andy Ricker is the exception.  He presents what he calls Northern Thai peasant food to the people of Portland (and now Brooklyn) with recipes and ideas that he picked up from his travels to the Land of a Thousand Smiles.  But let's not get it twisted.  No one comes here to eat pad thai.  It isn't even on the menu.

What the people of Portland come to eat on the patios of Pok Pok is pure and unpretentious peasant food.  It is the people's food... dishes that Northern Thai people make at home on a daily basis.  It is not the food that can be found at restaurants or at the typical street stall down some soi in Bangkok.  It is food like muu paa kham waan, a charcoal grilled boar collar dish.  It is rubbed down with garlic, coriander root, black pepper before cooking and glazed with sugar and soy.  Sliced and served with a sauce of spicy chili, lime, and garlic, it is considered a great pairing with alcohol.  With its fatty succulence and the fiery spice, it is definitely something that should be eaten with beer.  Rather, it is something that must be eaten.

Ike's Vietnamese fish sauce wings are another must-eat on the Pok Pok menu.  It is not entirely Thai as it actually originates from the Vietnamese home of the restaurant's daytime cook, but it still has a bit of Thai flair with its spiciness.  It is marinated in fish sauce and sugar, deep fried, and then tossed in more fish sauce and minced garlic.  These glorious and spicy chicken wings go great with beer too.  We ordered one spicy and one traditional plate each.

Other daily Northern Thai dishes include kaeng hung leh, a homey sweet pork belly and pork shoulder curry, khao soi, a curry noodle soup, and papaya pok pok, or what we commonly know as green papaya salad.  Since we were in a large group, we tried all of these dishes and more, and I know that I would be happy to eat these dishes at home... peasant or not.

Not knowing how these dishes actually taste in Northern Thailand, though, sparks my curiosity.  Perhaps it is time for a return visit to Thailand.  But for now there is much more food to be had in Portland... and a few drinks too.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20120914

Post 93: Pork Belly Octo-nom (LA: Koreatown)

When I decided to dedicate the month of October to the most pleasurable portions of pork, the first thing I thought about was pork belly.  Not bacon? What a shock.  Ah, pork belly... it is a luxuriously thick slab of fatty pork that, at least for me, gives me more exhilaration than eating just basic bacon no matter how smoked, cured, or maple syruped it has been.  One of the most memorable meals of delicious pork belly that came to mind was the eight courses of decadent grilled pork belly from Palsaik Samgyupsal Korean BBQ in Koreatown.  Palsaik, meaning eight colors, specializes in BBQ of pork belly.  There is beef on the menu also, but most patrons select one of two multi-course set meals of pork.  The first selection on the menu, the one we ordered, is an ample amount of food for three people with moderately large appetites.  The meal comes with other grilled vegetables, a salad, seafood stew, fried rice and side dishes... all of which can be refilled by the server with the push of a glutton.  Er... button.

The eight different flavors include (in order of suggested consumption)... wine marinated, original, ginseng, garlic, herb, curry, miso, and spicy gochujang.  There is even a ninth flavor of smoked pork belly.  It is left off the classic palsaik, but it can be ordered a la carte by the strip or by the tray.  The restaurant stresses the healthy aspect of eating the pork belly, which is laughable at first.  But after exploring the health benefits of the eight flavors posted on their website (ginseng stimulates metabolism... herbs alleviate stress... curry helps prevent Alzheimer's and certain cancers, etc.), it is understandable as to how each ingredient can be good for you... those healthy ingredients should probably be consumed without it being slathered over slices of fatty pork belly.  Speaking of which... each cut of the fatty pork belly has been scored so that the supposedly healthy marinades can permeate the protein more easily for the utmost of flavor in each bite.

The first cut is wine flavored pork belly, which the server tells us has been marinated in a red wine overnight for eight to 12 hours.  Having the wine break down the proteins in the meat for that many hours allows for a texture that is tender and succulent.  I have not figured out why the wine marinated belly gets served prior to the original flavor yet... although I speculate that the remaining seven cuts of belly are not as tender as the wine marinated.

Following the wine marinated cut is the original pork belly.  It is the cut in the purest form without even a sprinkling of salt or pepper...  Returning from the tenderness of the wine marinated cut, this is a reminder of what unaltered pork belly tastes like.  It's crispy... it's fatty... it's juicy.  It is around this time that I notice the many things happening on the table at once that it is difficult to focus on only the pork belly.  I am distracted by the seafood stew that is still boiling away... and mesmerized by all that is gleaming on the table.

After the original flavor is one that has been rolled in ginseng.  The ginseng flavor is extremely smart because it is almost a palate cleanser.  It is a bit unexpected but not unrealistic to have contrasting flavors to help cut the grease of fatty pork belly, which there is a lot of exuding from the strips of glistening pork.  Tilting the grill pan is another method of helping to cut the grease.  All the extra fat runs downward into a convenient hole at the bottom of the tilted grill.  What is not captured by the black hole helps to fry the kimchi and spicy soybean sprouts.  That goes without saying that kimchi fried in lard is quite delicious. 

The last of the first four is garlic pork belly with actual sliced cloves of garlic.  The pairing of meat and garlic is very natural.  It is one of the first items in the kitchen that cook will grab to cook or marinade with.  The fragrance and aroma of the garlic is powerful, and it becomes even more potent after it is grilled.  It may even help induce an orgasmic climax during the meal.

Of the final four, herb marinated is next, with dill as the predominant tasting herb.  None of the herbs are thought of as typically found in Asian cooking, so it was surprising to taste these flavors marinated into the pork belly.  I appreciate the break in seemingly Asian flavors knowing that curry and miso were coming up.  More than halfway through the meal now, food coma may start to set in.  I found myself zoning out and staring at all the cuts of pork belly sizzle away on the grill.

Curry tasted like a blend of Southeast Asian curry flavors more like the taste of Malaysian curry rather than an Indian or Japanese curry.  It was a little heavy for my taste, especially because I was expecting something a bit lighter like Japanese curry, but it was still good.  The Southeast Asian curry uses its somewhat more exotic spices to provide more of a punch.  Because it is one of the heavier tastes it is nice to wrap it around some radish paper or have a bit of the pickled japaleños and onions to cut the heaviness.

The penultimate flavor of pork belly was miso paste.  There were no surprises here.  The miso flavor provided the saltiness that I expected from eating pork belly, which gave it more of a bacon quality.  I especially liked this flavor because the miso paste crusted up really well on the grill.  It has a great grilled color and crisp texture on the exterior.  Yum.

Hot/spicy was a favorite for all at the table.  It was flavored with gochujang, a spicy Korean chili paste.  Although the red glow from the marinade warned of the impending heat, the slight sweetness of the gochujang does not overpower your taste buds with overwhelming heat or bite.  There is a smoothness to the spice that allows you to continue eating it until there is no more.  It really was the best ending to all of the flavors... understandable why they saved the best for last.

Our eight colors of pork belly was quickly followed by a boiling cast iron pot of seafood stew.  From crab to shrimp to mussels to octopus to tofu to udon noodles, we eat everything until just the little dregs were leftover... but there is just enough stew to reduce down into some intense flavor that is perfect for making fried rice.  The server arrives to cut and fold the leftover kimchi and soybean sprouts into the rice along with remaining onions, mushrooms, and seaweed.  If the pork belly has not already made your stomach full, the last of the fried rice will.  In the couple of times that I have dined on Palsaik's eight flavors, we have never finished the last of the fried rice.  No matter... when the rice is done, we dig in.

We are full and satisfied from the eight, delicious flavors of pork belly.  This meal has inspired me to make my own pork belly octo-nom.  I am convinced that my collection of eight pork belly flavors are going to result in mouthgasms across the land just like Palsaik's incredible palate of eight has done for us.  So until then (when I wow you with my pork belly octo-nom), let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20120811

Post 84: Squash Carbonara and more - Mrs. Haraguchi Grew Butternut Squash in the Backyard

A few seasons ago, Allison's mom presented me with a butternut squash grown from her own backyard... and I had no idea what to do with it.  Mrs. Haraguchi's suggestion was to roast it, but there's only so much roast squash a guy can eat! By the way, it was a huge butternut squash... huge.  So I planned out two dishes with this grand gourd... a squash and bacon pasta carbonara and a squash and sweet potato Japanese curry.

To make the carbonara, I roasted one half of the butternut squash.  I brushed the top with olive oil and tossed some salt and pepper over the top.  After rendering the bacon, I tossed in the pasta noodles with eggs and heavy cream, making sure not to overheat the pan.  If the pan is too hot, then the eggs will curdle, and the pasta will taste like tofu has attacked it.  While tossing all of the ingredients together, I added cubes of the roasted squash and garnished it with fresh basil at the very end.

Japanese curry is relatively simple to make using the box of concentrated cubes of curry.  Rather than using the usual Idaho potatoes, I substituted sweet potatoes and fresh butternut squash in for the starchy base.  I cut a high quality beef into cubes and browned it along with onions, garlic, celery and carrots.  After adding in the appropriate portion of water to curry cubes, I added in the starches and canned corn.  When serving, spoon the curry over a bed of steamed rice (brown rice if you're feeling healthy), and garnish with toasted sliced almonds.  This is definitely a unique take on the traditional Japanese curry.

With all of my remaining vegetables, I made a vegetable soup.  It isn't the most exciting of soups, so I amped it up with some... bacon! Bacon makes everything more exciting, doesn't it? And to add even more oomph to the soup, I spooned in some pesto to the base... and I also made sure to include the celery leaves (not just the stalks) because they smelled so fresh and aromatic when I first got them.  I also added in cherry tomatoes as an interesting twist. 

I was pretty amazed at the amount of food that I made with just one homegrown butternut squash.  Next time I am going to attempt making a butternut squash panna cotta that I saw on Iron Chef America.  But until then, thanks so much for the squash, Mrs. Haraguchi... let's get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20120604