World's Best Restaurants - Top 10

In conjunction with the newly released S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants 2011, here is a short review of the 7 restaurants we've tried from the Top 10 list (pictures and links attached).

#1: Noma -- Hope to try soon!

#2: El Celler De Can Roca -- Need to make a trip to Spain again for El Celler De Can Rosa!

#3: Mugaritz -- One of our favorite restaurants. See posting and food pictures here.

#4: Osteria Francescana -- The food is so out of this world it's hard to describe in words (hence no proper posting yet). But here are some of the food photos for now:

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#5: The Fat Duck -- It's nice, but abit too gimmicky if you ask me. The whole experience was like going to a food circus, except all I wanted was to eat. Some pictures of the food we ate in Fat Duck:

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#6: Alinea -- Hands down the best restaurant in America. Grant Achatz is a genius.

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#7: DOM -- Next stop, Brazil.

#8: Arzak -- We are big fans of Juan Mari Arzak and Elena Arzak, and the Arzak restaurant. They came to say hi to everyone at the table and had proper conversations with us. Food was spectacular; even though we were already overdosed with our 13 course meal at Asador Etxebarri earlier. See what we ate at Arzak here.

#9: Le Chateaubriand -- The food was good, but we weren't wowed. Maybe due to chef Inaki Aizpitarte not present in the kitchen that night.

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#10: Per Se -- One of the best restaurants in New York. See posting here.

The French neo-bistrot movement

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When I read the neo-bistrot movement on the Wall Street Journal/New York Times, it made me think. What is it that makes people in food industry to want to make a statement, consciously or unconsciously?

To draw a parallel, this is not much different than another creative industry. Independent music has been changing how consumers listen and attend concerts. In a way, they are the anti-mass consumerism, anti-mass media appeal, anti-establishment of their industry. Food is no different. I think Anthony Bourdain captures the essence of the movement succinctly. If you are a young turk, looking to unseat the U2's of the world, it is your duty to piss on the establishments. High end fine dining and Michelin starred restaurants, take notice! This is the shot across the bow by the hippies of our generation.

Our trip to Paris is in a way, our pilgrimage back to where our fine dining culinary adventure began. As I sit comfortably in the Eurostar making its bullet fast trip from London to Paris, listening to Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition, I started pondering what we would find in Paris. Frenchie, Le Chateaubriand and Le Comptoir. They are not exactly still struggling to rise up. To be fair, they are probably an establishment even more difficult to get a reservation than L'atelier de Joel Robuchon or l'Arpege. I think Sarah had drawn up an immaculate list of the old U2 establishments versus the new Phoenix establishments.

I feel alive.

Lunch @ Midtown

Ever since I started working in midtown Manhattan a few months ago, I've been exploring the lunch scene there tirelessly, checking out interesting food trucks/food carts and restaurants around the area. My midtown food experience has been wonderful, not good for my waistline, but I can diet when I'm done trying most of the places. My favorite food at this point are the buttery kati rolls from Briyani Cart, everything at Cafe Zaiya, kurobuta (black pig) katsu at Katsuhama, korean soup at Cafe Duke and quality salad at Chop't. Like most people working in midtown, I follow my favorite lunch trucks on twitter to find out their schedule, and midtownlunch.com to find out new places for food.

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Here are some of the places/carts/lunch trucks I have tried:
1) NYC Cravings Truck - fried chicken thigh/fried pork chops over rice, chinese zhong zi (rice dumpling)
2) Schnitzel and Things - pork schnitzel with potato salad
3) Briyani Cart - kati roll, briyani rice with chicken
4) Katsuhama - kurobuto katsu (breaded pork cutlet) with rice
5) Rickshaw Dumpling - chicken and basil dumpling with peanut sate dipping sauce wasn't my favorite, will have to try the pork and Chinese chive dumpling with sesame soy dipping sauce next time
6) Aunt Kim's lunch cart - fried fish over rice or bulgogi over rice @ 46th street and 6th ave
7) QBA lunch truck - cuban steak and plantains
8) Maze at the London NYC
9) Margon Restaurant - Serving good Cuban/Latin American food
10) John's Shanghai- xiao long bao (soup dumplings)
11) Cafe Zaiya - one stop Japanese lunch place - bento, sushi, bakery etc.
12) Wu Liang Ye - solid Szechuan dishes
13) Burger Joint - at Le Parker Meridien Hotel
14) Topaz Thai - Thai restaurant near 56th and 6th/7th Avenue
15) Cafe Duke - Korean deli with massive selections o salad, hot food buffet, sushi and sandwiches
16) Chop't - expensive but good quality salad
17) Pret a manger 
18) Chipotle
19) Monster Sushi - "monster" size sushi
20) Korean noodle soup cart - champong seafood noodle soup
21) Bulgogi and Kimchi street cart - I didn't like the spicy chicken and bulgogi beef over rice here

Some places near Midtown West thatI still need to try:
1) Ma Peche
2) Wafle and Dinges
3) Shake Shack Times Square
4) 53rd and 6th Halal cart
5) Hallo Berlin

Even though my lunch option has expanded tremendously, I'm starting to miss the limited but excellent lunch choices in Jersey City, especially Milano's Italian Deli, Krave Korean BBQ lunch truck, Louisianaa Spice truck, Taco truck and Grandma's Pizza. I'm also missing my yaokui lunch buddy, Gan; it would be even more exciting if he is there in Midtown to explore the lunch places with me!

Malacca Food Tour Introduction

My hometown Malacca was once a prosperous entreport for spice route from 1500s-1600s. Thanks to its colonial past, with Portuguese colonizing Malacca in the 1500s, Dutch in the 1600s and British in the 1800s, Malacca is a melting pot of local culture and those of its colonial masters. Just like its colorful history, Malacca cuisine is complex, with influences from the Chinese, Malay, Portuguese, Indian, Dutch and Siamese. Peranakan and Portuguese-Eurasian food for example, are the product of cross cultural marriage between local Malays and Chinese immigrants during 15th and 16th century, and between the Malays/Chinese/Indian and Portuguese during 16th and 17th century.

But the Malacca cuisine Gan and I grew up eating are mainly Chinese food of different dialects, brought over by our Chinese ancestors from different parts of Southern China during 19th - early 20th Century. Some of our Chinese ancestors moved to Malaysia (then Malaya) to seek better life. Those who came to Malacca during that time were mostly of Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka and Hainan dialect descent, which is why Bak Kut Teh (Hokkien cuisine), Teochew porridge and oyster omelette (Teowchew cuisine), yong tau foo (Hakka cuisine) and Hainanese chicken rice (Hainanese cuisine) are so popular here in Malacca. Just like the Chinese cuisines found in other parts of Malaysia, Malacca Chinese cuisines have their own local flavors and varieties.

During our food tour to Malacca, Gan and I tried to emphasize our itinerary on the diversity and uniqueness of Malaccan food such as Bibik Neo Peranakan food, Oysters Omelette (not entirely similar to the more famous Taiwanese Oh-Ah-Chien), Nyonya/Durian chendol, Taiwanese pork chop/beef noodles, Hainanese chicken rice balls, satay babi and Nyonya zhang (dumplings). You can trace most of the origins or influence of these food to the cultural influences of the immigrants or various past rich history of Malacca. Malacca was awarded the World Heritage status just recently so it is aptly appropriate that we're now documenting the richness of the history of Malacca food. Most of these places are already pretty famous since they were already featured in local TV food programs and are more popular among the tourists. There are still some hidden gems in Malacca though, which are not yet discovered by "food scouts", like the chendol place in Klebang that my parents brought us there.

Even though Gan and I have left Malaysia for a long time, we still think highly of the food we grew up eating in Malacca. It's the local proprietors' dedication in preserving traditions and maintaining food quality that keeps it good and affordable for the people to enjoy. Of course Malacca is still not as popular as Penang (Georgetown, the other World Heritage site recently awarded together with Malacca) as a food destination, but it does have alot of good/unique food to offer.

Malaysia Food Tour 2009 Overview

We have been talking about doing a Malaysia Food Tour for years and it finally happened last month. For an entire week last month, the yaokuis launched a massive, well planned (almost) and non stop gastronomy tour, hitting four main Malaysia food cities- Malacca, Kuala Lumpur (KL)/Petaling Jaya(PJ) and Penang. Malacca is Gan and my hometown so we were in charge of the food itinerary there, while Nick Choo aka Chef Nick was supposed to be our food guide in KL/PJ, and Nan showed us some of her favorite food in Penang.

What really inspired this gastronomy tour in our own country was actually Tony Bourdain's No Reservation episode on Malaysia. Although Tony almost always hit the best eating spots in many cities, we thought he didn't get to experience the true Malaysian cuisine (not just Malay cuisine, Tony) during his trip to Malaysia. Perhaps he didn't have the right people showing him around (chef Wan, bull testicles soup, really?) I don't know. We did toy with the idea of inviting Tony Bourdain to join us in our Malaysia food tour, but I'm not sure if he would have agreed to participate.

First stop, Malacca. Based on our discussions with friends from other Malaysian cities, it seems like there are certain food such as satay babi, chicken rice balls, durian chendol, (Malacca style) taiwanese pork chop noodles, malaccan nyonya, oyster omelette and satay celup that are unique to Malacca, so we made them the "must eat" places during our stop there. But with so much food to try and so little time, and with some popular restaurants closed during the weekends, we only managed to check out a handful of places. So no satay celup, bukit rambai chendol, teoh chew porridge etc for my visiting friends. But I'm glad they enjoyed satay babi and oysters omelette as much as we did!

Next stop, KL/PJ. The food itinerary in KL/PJ consists of Ah Wah Hokkien Mee, Village Park Nasi Lemak, Pantai Seafood, Sage Restaurant, You Ai Seafood curry mee and Greenview restaurant. KL/PJ's food tour was interesting, mainly because our food tour guide Chef Nick was not with us the whole time, so coordinating what to eat and when to eat was a little challenging. But to be fair, we did cause Nick to miss his hot date(s) and made him wait for almost an hour at Ah Wah restaurant on our first night there. For that reason Nick, we forgive you for being MIA since then!

Thankfully, I was able to recall some of the really good places my brother in law brought us to the last time we visited, so I took over Nick's responsibility and organized the food tour instead. One of our favorite restaurants in KL/PJ area turned out to be Greenview restaurant; it's the kind of restaurant where you can just order any dish and they are all impressive! Salted egg crab, ribs, steamed fish, fried noodles, anything!

On our way up to Penang, we did a pit stop in Ipoh, a city famous for many things ie hometown of movie star Michelle Yeoh, birthtown of white coffee, a city famous for its Ipoh Nga Choi Kai (bean sprout & chicken dish) and Ipoh Hor Fun (Ipoh chicken noodles soup). It was in Ipoh (specifically in Sin Yin Loong Coffee shop) where we had the best kaya toast and the best coffee.

Final stop in Malaysia, Penang - the food capital of Malaysia, the city where you get the best char kuay teow and where assam laksa and shrimp noodles originated. It was Gan's first time visiting the Pearl of the Orient, and he really loved it. Since we were also in Penang to attend a friend's wedding, we didn't get to try as many places as we've planned. But under Nan's guidance, we did manage to eat some really awesome food over there; We went to the famous Heng Huat Char Kuay Teow, Teochew chendol, Perut Rumah nyonya restaurant, Mee Sotong etc. If you love char kuay teow, you must try Heng Huat's at Lorong Selamat. It will blow your socks off -- super chunky fried lards + jumbo shrimp cooked at really hot wok (so hot that the cook has to wear a pair of goggles while cooking) = out of this world char kuay teow.

If you have tried Malaysian food in New York City or somewhere else and you love it, you must make a trip to Malaysia at least once to check out the real deal. And if you are a chef, eating in Malaysia will only inspire you, expand your sense of taste and expose you to food that you never knew existed! Look at what Malaysia has done to/for Zak Pellacio! Fatty Crab!

What I absolutely love about eating in Malaysia is the fact that the food vendors are very specialized where they serve only a few dishes that they cook really well. Because of that, I can always count on getting the best and freshest food prepared daily at almost everywhere, and at a price I'll never find in New York City. I'm already missing the food back home!

Back in New York City!

The yaokuis have just returned from our two weeks of non stop eating and feasting in Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Bali. Stay tune for postings and photos!

Hungry ghosts on the prowl for food in Ipoh!

Happy Birthday Txikito!

We've been going to Txikito for about half a year now, and it's one of our favorite restaurants in the city. Our friends love it too. Bartender Brian and manager Brett are amazing and always making sure that customers are well taken care of. Owners Alex and Eder are two very talented chefs who never fail to impress us with their signature dish and specials. The quality of the txokos at Txikito are also amazing; I still vividly remember the txoko co-hosted by guest chefs Ruben Garcia, Ramon Martinez, Will Goldfarb and Dave Cruz earlier this year and the dishes these chefs prepared. Among our favorites were baby sea cucumber with praline sauce by Ruben Garcia and Ramon Martinez from Jose Andres Think Food Group and wild Alaskan Halibut and Shellfish cream by Dave Cruz of Ad Hoc (a Thomas Keller's restaurant) supported by the Nobu crew. I missed Ashley Christensen's txoko in August because of Britney's concert (regrettably), but Gan couldn't stop raving about Ashley's dishes, especially the trio tomato soup.

Txikito is honestly one of the best thing that happened to NYC food scene. Thanks for making these past six months so "food" memorable for us yaokuis and we are looking forward to more good food and great times at Txikito. Zorianak!

Photos of food we ate at Txikito on November 15:

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Pair like a Pro: French Connection @ The Standard

I've always thought New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine magazine and Travel & Leisure magazine was the sister event of Food & Wine Classic Aspen, but it's actually the sister event of Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival. New York City Wine & Food festival was founded to benefit hunger relief organizations like Food Bank for New York City and Share our Strength. And even though the festival was just two year old, it's been able to attract some of the most famous chefs/food tv personalities. Looking at the festival's website, it's hard not to notice the star-studded lineup -- Daniel Boulud, Tom Colicchio, Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Alain Ducasse were some of the well known chefs who took part in this year's festival.

If you happened to be around meatpacking district or Dumbo area on Oct 8-11, you probably noticed the areas were literally transformed into a food wonderland filled Foodies and food enthusiasts from everywhere. Tickets to the individual events can be purchased in advance, and there's an overwhelming selection of events to choose from: culinary demonstration by famous chefs, sushi rolling class, wine pairing class, dinner with famous chefs etc. I wasn't planning to attend any of the event this year (or last year) because the tickets were pretty expensive. But since my friend Wenwen won a pair of tickets from serious eats to attend Dovetail's John Fraser and master sommelier Andrea Robinson's "Pair like a pro: French Connection" event in the Standard Hotel, I finally got a chance to check it out.

Our event was on Oct 11, a Sunday afternoon and I arrived a little late on the day of the event because of delayed service at Path Train (Yes I know, no excuse). Fortunately, I only missed the introduction and Andrea Robinson was just starting to explain the types of wine when I walked in (she picked a total of 6 different wine). Throughout the event, we tasted 5 different bite size dishes on the tasting plate prepared by Dovetail's Chef/owner John Fraser paired with the wine Andrea picked.

I really loved all the wine Andrea Robinson had chosen for us; It was one of the best Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syrah that I have tried. The always reliable Albrecht Gran Cru Riesling Pfingtsberg 2004 and Chateau La Louviere Blanc matched especially well with Chef Fraser's wonderfully prepared oysters with grapefruit and sunchokes, and shrimp sausage with cardamon and sour cherries. And the Pinot Noir, Etienne Sauzet Cahssagne-Montrachet 2007 complemented Chef Fraser's beef cheek lasagna and casoulet croquette perfectly. The casoulet croquette, which was made with four types of pork: guanciale, panchetta, baby pig's leg and bacon was just plain amazing.

Wine pairing is definitely an art that will take me a long time to learn and acquire. I didn't expect to be an expert after attending this event, nevertheless, I did learn that successful wine pairing is about complementing food with flavors, texture, body and acidity of the wine. Also, this events confirms that red with red and white with white do not always work since it also depends on the way the food was cook (ie. type of sauce, seasoning, spices). Sounds complicated right? It is. I think I'll just leave it to the sommelier to pick my wine next time I dine at a restaurant.

Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson

Chef John Fraser

Wenwen and myself at the event

Good Food in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, Michigan. The small campus town where University of Michigan is located, where the Big House is, where the Michigan Wolverine plays. Does anybody really travel to Ann Arbor for food? I highly doubt it. But that doesn't mean there're no outstanding restaurants in the city. Broadway Cafe's cheese steak hoagie and fried mushrooms, and Krazy Jim's blimpy burger are absolutely amazing, even by New York standard. And haven't you heard of Zingerman's bakery, deli, roadhouse? It's so famous it even has its own mail order catalog.

Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger

Address: 551 S Division St, Ann Arbor, MI

Phone: 734-663-4590

Our first stop in Ann Arbor for food - Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger (not related to Blimpie). This is the place you have to go when you visit Ann Arbor. Their burger patties are thin and juicy, and you can add any toppings to your burger. Mine has a fried egg, fried onions, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, mushroom and cheese in it. Om Nom Nom!

deep fried vegetables

blimpy burger!

Zingerman's Roadhouse

Address: 2501 Jackson Rd., Ann Arbor, MI

http://www.zingermansroadhouse.com

Phone: 734-663-3663

For dinner, it was Zingerman's Roadhouse. This is the more grown up (and more expensive) restaurant of the Zingerman's "empire" here in Ann Arbor. Serving delicious regional American food such as fried green tomatoes, macaroni an cheese, BBQ meat etc with a focus on fresh, seasonal and locally produced ingredients. We were actually surprised by the quality of the food served here; tomatoes are from the owner's own farm (Cornman Farms), mozzarella made fresh in house and even the gulf shrimps were FEDEX'ed to Michigan the same day and were never frozen. We've also heard a lot about Zingerman's deli, but didn't get a chance to drop by. Our waitress did give us a pecan blondie and a magic brownie to try. Oh yea, it was delicious!

Fresh Kusshi and Wellfleet oysters

gazpacho

Fried Green Tomatoes

fresh Gulf shrimp flown in the same day, never frozen

BBQ sampler

Broadway Cafe

Address: 1139 Broadway St, Ann Arbor, MI

Phone: 734-769-3524

Morning of the Game Day, we headed to Broadway Cafe for its legendary cheese steak hoagie. The owner, Mr. Chang has been serving cheese steak hoagies and delicious Korean dishes at the same location for almost 20 years. It's a strange combination, having cheese steak hoagies and korean dishes under the same roof, but that doesn't bother us at all. Food is freaking good here, especially the cheese steak hoagie and fried mushrooms, and that's all that matters.

cheese steak hoagie

fried mushrooms

sul lung tang

Miki Japanese Restaurant

Address: 106 S 1st St, Ann Arbor, MI

Phone: 734-665-8226

I was introduced to my first shabu-shabu in Miki about ten years ago, and that was when my love affair for shabu shabu started. There are quite a number of decent Japanese restaurants which serve shabu shabu in New York City (and I can make this at home), so I didn't miss Miki that much. But Gan and I definitely feel sentimental about this restaurant.

assorted tempura

Sushi

Restaurant Week Part 2 -- Nougatine

Address: 1 Central Park West, New York, NY

http://www.jean-georges.com

Phone: 212-299-3900

I'm not the biggest fan of Jean Georges restaurants but I have to admit, Jean Georges is a very savvy businessman! While most top rated/high end restaurants chose not to participate in NYC restaurant week even during recession times like this, and especially for dinner, Jean Georges offered New Yorkers and visitors some of his best restaurants (ie JoJo, Perry Street, Nougatine) for the restaurant week line up. Gan and myself would probably not give Nougatine a chance if given a choice since we have been to a few of JG's restaurants already, and there are simply too many other interesting places to eat in the city. Their participation in Restaurant week is certainly the main reason Nougatine made it into our culinary resume.

Nougatine is the bar room and less formal dining room of Jean Georges restaurant at the Trump Plaza International. I usually find these bar room restaurants more worth it since you always get the food from the same kitchen as the more expensive dining room but for less money. I was pretty impressed with the restaurant week menu served at Nougatine, despite its limited choices. There's no options as in many other restaurants, which makes it easy for the diners but puts more pressure on the kitchen staffs for its execution. All the dishes were executed flawlessly; slowly cooked salmon was done perfectly on the slightly rare side as should be with fish dishes, roasted organic chicken was amazing as the main highlight of the line up and warm Valrhona chocolate cake was delicious. The chicken dish was so surprisingly good that I am still thinking about it. It's a perfect hint to restaurants who aim to impress that sometimes exotic ingredient and complicated preparation takes away focus from the main criteria people choose to eat at one place over another - taste.

Amuse bouche -- salmon sashimi with pickled cherry vinaigrette, toasted sourdough, chilled tomato gazpacho. This was ok, thought the amuse bouche could do without the toasted sourdough.

RESTAURANT WEEK MENU -- Watermelon and Goat Cheese. This appetizer was pretty refreshing, though the temperature should've been chilled lower prior to serving for better effect. I think I'll try making it at home next time

RESTAURANT WEEK MENU -- Slowly Cooked Salmon with Corn Pudding and Tomato Salad. The color pallette matches the flavor profile. Vibrant!

RESTAURANT WEEK MENU -- Roasted Organic Chicken with Green Bean and New Onion Compote, Spice Jus. surprisingly amazing. One of the best chicken dishes I have had.

RESTAURANT WEEK MENU -- Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Gan ordered the 5 course tasting menu which included Tuna Tartare, foie gras brule (not quite sure whether it was intentionally spelled this way but that's what's on their menu), red snapper, grilled beef tenderloin and dessert tasting. Everything was adequate but the grilled beef was slightly disappointing. We weren't impressed by the grilled beef at Nougatine. A high caliber with aspirations of Michelin stars restaurant should be able to cook red meat properly!

Overall, the $35 restaurant week menu were amazing value and the $68 tasting menu were sufficiently pleasing. Because of restaurant week, we now have experienced Nougatine and think it's worthy of us going back there again to try their other regular menu!

TASTING MENU -- Tuna Tartare, Avocado, Spicy Radish, Ginger Marinade

TASTING MENU -- Foie Gras Brule, Cherry Yuzu Compote -- this was excellent. I wanted more!

TASTING MENU -- Red Snapper, Lily-Bulb Radish Salad, White Sesame and Lavender

TASTING MENU -- Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Garlic, Parsley and Chili

TASTING MENU -- Dessert Tasting

Happy Yaokuis!!