48 hours eating and drinking in downtown vancouver, canada

Vancouver.

Vancouver has a great reputation for eating and dining. On a recent work related trip, Mr. Sazy Rock and I took the opportunity to test whether that reputation had merit. I thought that it's a fun eating city. I did gain five pounds in a span of 48 hours. But, I did it so you don't have to.

Top Restaurants

restaurant review: miller union in atlanta

The last time Mr. Sazy Rock and I visited Atlanta, Georgia in 2011, we dined at a new-ish restaurant called Miller Union. I enjoyed my meal then. So, on a recent trip back to Atlanta, I was pleased to dine there again.

The decor at Miller Union.

restaurant review: connie and ted's (again)

In May, Martinikitty wrote about her and Mr. MK's dining experience at Connie and Ted's, a restaurant in West Hollywood (a city within the County of Los Angeles). Although Connie and Ted's is only about six and a half miles away from where I live, in Los Angeles traffic, it could take me anywhere from half an hour (if I had enough karma points) to an hour (if I pissed off someone in the universe) or to more than an hour (if President Obama was fundraising in town) to get there. So, I've taken pains to avoid it because of its location and the notorious LA traffic. 

But, one evening, Mr. Sazy Rock and I decided to brave (in the first-world-problems-kind-of-brave) the LA traffic to check out the restaurant. Was it worth the traffic headache?

Connie and Ted's in West Hollywood, California.

sazy rock's top 10 best street food dishes (to date) around the world

For me, there is nothing more satisfying than traveling to a new place and falling in love with the food. Let's face it, the way to this gal's heart is through her tummy (and sometimes, liver). When I look back on my travels, I often drool when I remember all the food I ate.

Last week, I listed my top 10 restaurant dishes.  This week, I'm sharing my top 10 favorite street food dishes I've encountered while traveling.  I'm not sharing those found in the United States because that's where I live (although, I particularly like this taco truck in Los Angeles called, Mariscos Jaliscos, that serves the most delicious shrimp taco I have ever tasted).

So far, these are my top street food dishes I've encountered while traveling listed in no particular order.

1.  Taiwanese sausage in Taipei, Taiwan.

I found all sorts of tasty food in the Taipei night markets. But, the simple Taiwanese sausage caught my eye, nose, and taste buds. My first bite snapped the casing and immediately released slightly sweet juices of the cooked ground pork. While I liked eating the sausage by itself, dipping it in garlic sauce added another layer of flavor.

Taiwanese sausage.

eating and shopping in morocco

Morocco is a shopper's paradise. Their artistry is superb and geometric and abstract tribal designs work very well with modern aesthetics. Although you can buy many Moroccan items in the States, nothing beats the rush you will get when getting a deal on a purchase and as a bonus it will serve as a wonderful reminder of your time in Morocco. And their food isn't half bad either.

Shopping

• Leather slippers aka babouches. Still commonly worn by locals, these unique and portable items make excellent souvenirs.  They come in a variety of colors and are super soft- especially when made from goat or camel skin. Sazy Rock and I had a wonderful mini-adventure with a cobbler in Marrakesh who insisted we come up to his attic workshop - not advisable for a solo traveler!- while he custom-made several pairs of infant slippers while we watched. 60-200MAD.
• Blue ceramics. Decorative plates or tiles; be sure to have the fragile goods properly wrapped for transport back home. 
  

sazy rock's top 10 best restaurant dishes (to date) around the world

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really like to eat - and not necessarily healthy foods - when I travel. Eating while traveling makes me happy. In this first of my top 10 series, I will be sharing my top 10 restaurant dishes so far. I've excluded the US because I live there. I also reserve to change my mind about what should be on the top 10 tomorrow -- only because there's so much tasty food out there. So, without further ado, here they are:

1.  Various dishes at Azurmendi near Bilbao, Spain
This restaurant just outside of Bilbao served delicious, local, seasonal and beautiful food. The lobster on lobster dish was absolutely simple yet so tasty. The truffled egg was not simple but, biting into the yolk just showed how a great chef can elevate a simple egg into something ridiculously good. Oh, and the foie gras ash was so rich and creamy I thought I died and went to heaven. Okay, I loved a lot of dishes at Azurmendi, which I reviewed here. In fact, I'll just say that, in the past five years (and probably more), Azurmendi served the best dishes I have ever eaten anywhere (including in the United States).

Five of around 19 dishes served at Azurmendi. Clockwise from top left: lobster with lobster cornet,
foie gras ash with a block of foie gras underneath, squid, mullet, and egg yolk infused with black truffles.

Gran Reserva Jamon from Joselito's.

2.  Jamon Iberico de Bellota at Joselito's in Madrid, Spain
Technically, Joselito's is not a restaurant but a store where you can get Jamon Iberico to take home or eat in the store. When I visited, they offered different kinds of Jamon Iberico de Bellota, which came from black footed Iberian pig fed on acorns while freely roaming the dehesa of the Extremadura region of Spain. The best kind I tasted was the Grand Reserva, which was aged for up to five years before being carved. The resulting ham was nice and fatty (I'd like to think that the fat was good for me because you know, it's acorn fed). When I ate it, the thinly hand sliced piece practically melted in my mouth.

survival tips for djemaa el-fna, marrakesh

The heart of Marrakesh is the (in)famous Djemaa el-Fna, a large open public square that takes a life of its own when the sun goes down.

Djemaa el-Fna alive with lights, sounds and smell.

Food Stalls

Good rule of thumb is to eat where the crowd eats at, especially the local crowd. Although the square is very touristy, many local Moroccans also come to partake in the excellent and cheap food offerings here. I recommend:

# 94 is filled with local men,
we got some raised eyebrows when we squeezed in

stall #98

getting to know the usa: kansas city

Ribs and Brisket at Oklahoma Joe's

Captain Obvious alert: the USA is huge.  While I've gotten to know a lot of American cities, I am ashamed to say that there are still plenty that I have not even visited. Recently, I've been on a mission to do something about it, and this "Getting to Know the USA" series is an effort to highlight the many cool and wonderful things to see, do and eat around the country.

Let's start off with Kansas City.

First, there are two Kansas Cities - one in Missouri (KCM) and another in Kansas (KCK). But, they are close to each other so if you want to visit all 50 states, it would be easy to tick off two states in one visit.

Second, the food, and especially the barbecue, rocks. Seriously. KCM has a storied barbecue history - every fall, it hosts the American Royal World Series of Barbecue, which is the world's largest barbecue festival!  Plus, it also hosts a Kosher Barbecue Festival.  So, it is unsurprising that the BBQ joints along the Kansas and Missouri border are delicious. These are my favorites:

restaurant review: din tai fung - the taiwan original is still the best!

they even have a mascot!

Din Tai Fung is famous worldwide for their soup dumplings, which are delicious pillows of savory meat and soup broth that magically fill my mouth with happiness.  According to their website (www.dintaifungusa.com) they have locations in the United States, Taiwan, China, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Australia and Thailand.  I’ve personally had them in the USA (Arcadia location), Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Thailand, and I have to say that the original location in Taiwan (Xinyi Road – no. 194, Sec. 2, Xinyi Rd., Da-an District) is still the best!  The texture, taste and temperature of the soup dumplings at that location are consistently perfect.  And I mean perfect.  The dumplings don’t even burn your mouth – just pop them in there and enjoy! 

restaurant review: husk (charleston, south carolina)

On a recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina, the hubby and I drank and dined at Husk Restaurant.  He's eaten there before but, it was my first time.  He's hyped it to me so much I felt certain it was going to suck.  Well, it didn't. We had an enjoyable evening and, while one dish had a flaw, most everything we ate were tasty.  Husk locally sourced all the ingredients (they proudly listed the farms from which all the food came from on a chalkboard near the entrance), which I think made the quality of food so high. I am convinced I gained five pounds after the meal because we ate so much food.  I listed everything we ate below.  You've been warned.

Bread and butter.

restaurant review: mccrady's (charleston, south carolina)

The McCrady's facade.

When I put it out there on social media that I was planning to go to Charleston, South Carolina, the interwebs said I ought to try McCrady's Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant in the historic old town.  It prides itself in sourcing ingredients from local farmers, and lists those sources on the menu.  That sounded like the food could be fabulous so, I made my reservations and off I went with hubby in tow.


The scene

I loved the building!  Because it was built in the late 1700s, I wasn't surprised that there was so much history inside.  It used to be a tavern and I bet one of the USA's founding fathers used to imbibe there.  Also, when the USA's first president, George Washington, visited the area, Charlestonians hosted a dinner for him at McCrady's. How awesome, was that?

Shrimp in tomato water.

primer on filipino food when visiting the philippines (or that pinoy restaurant near you)

Pinoy (as inhabitants of the Philippine islands are lovingly called) food is an unsurprising mish mash of versions of Spanish, Chinese, Malay and whatever-the-natives-ate food. After all, the islands were colonized or visited by imperialists and traders for centuries. The dishes range from vegetarian to meat centric, and from light to heavy. So, if you go to the Philippines, or to a Filipino restaurant (also sometimes called "Filipino Chinese" or "Filipino Hawaiian" or whatever else Filipino it is named) in a town near you, check out the following savory dishes.

Oh yeah, I'm skipping dessert because there are too many to mention. I'm also skipping pansit (noodles) and lumpia (eggroll) because there are many types of each dish and those are worthy of their own individual posts. Finally, I'm skipping all the simply grilled or fried seafood, meat or vegetables (e.g., grilled fish, squid, shrimp, eggplant, chicken etc.) that Pinoys also love to eat because they're pretty much self explanatory.

Aligue from Abe.

Aligue (ah-lee-GEH) - you know when you open the shell of a crab, there's a gooey reddish pink stuff in the shell? That's aligue (or the cholesterol). The stuff is sweet and rich -- maybe too rich, so just have a small portion. Although it can be served by itself, you can also find it mixed in fried rice.

guide to eating noodles in koreatown(la)

There are three representative noodle meals (in my opinion) that anyone who wants familiarity with Korean cuisine or Koreatown food scene needs to be aware of: jajangmyeon, black bean noodles; kalgooksoo, knife-cut noodles; and mul naengmyeon, cold soup noodles.

Jajangmyeon
Technically, jajangmyeon is not a Korean dish. It's Chinese in that it's typically sold in Chinese restaurants run by ethnic Chinese who cater to Korean clientele but it cannot be found in other Chinese restaurants. The prevalence and popularity of jajangmyeon in Korea is undisputed. Having jajangmyeon for lunch in Korea is equivalent to having a burger for lunch in America. The sauce is unique in its black color and is made from dark soybean paste. The sauce is stir-fried with onions, ground meat (pork or beef typically) and smattering of other vegetables and sometimes topped with julienned cucumbers. The noodle is thick tubular shape like a fatter spaghetti and made from white wheat flour. Traditionally pulled by hand in a theatrically repetitive stretching and twisting motion, today restaurants primarily rely on machines to pull this ever popular noodle. Sidenote: In Korea, April 14th is called Black Day and singles gather to commiserate their singledom by donning black color clothing and eating black foods e.g., jajangmyeon.

eating and drinking in koreatown- old school version

Big feature of Korean and Koreatown (Los Angeles neighborhood with general borders created by Olympic Blvd. to south, Vermont Ave. to east, 3rd St. to north and Crenshaw Blvd. to west) culture is drinking. Recently, the travelbits&bites crew gathered at one old school establishment, Dan Sung San, for a little eating and drinking.

Location- Northwest corner of 6th and S. Berendo St. (3317 W 6th St, Los Angeles) inside a strip-mall. There is no English signage but you may locate it by its address and the outside billboard of two men (Kim Dae Jung, former S. Korean President, and Kim Jong Il, dead dictator of N. Korea) facing each other with Korea flag in the middle. Cheap valet parking is available onsite.

Ambiance- This place is a pojangmacha, a divy Korean drink/food establishment.  Dimly lit inside, the walls and furniture are well worn and covered in graffiti. They play old school Korean pop and have no flat screen TV's. What significance the billboard of Kim Dae Jung with Kim Jong Il promoting Korean reunification and the name Dan Sung San, which means "porno" in Korean, have with the food or drink served is beyond me. But these features do add to the distinct character of the establishment. Although there are no smoking signs, I have sat next to smokers indoors.

cooking with mom #2: taiwanese green scallion pancakes

For the second installment of the cooking with mom series, my mom is showing me how she makes her green scallion pancakes.  This is a simpler (and healthier) version to make at home.  Traditionally these are done with LOTS of oil and in lots of layers, but for obvious reasons, we don't do that at home.  But no worries - they are still delicious!

The ingredients for about 5 to 6 large pancakes:

cooking with mom #1: taiwanese pork chop dinner (with recipe)

My mom is a phenomenal cook.  I'm not just saying that because she's my mom but simply because it's true.  If my friends could come over to eat everyday, they would.  I'd like to think some of her skills have rubbed off on me, but alas, I know that is simply wishful thinking on my part.

My mom cooks by natural instinct, feel and taste.  She doesn't really follow recipes so it has been a challenge trying to learn to cook from her.  I realized long ago when she tells me to add a "pinch" of something, that it could mean anywhere from a literal pinch, or a cup or a handful....  I live in constant fear that I will never be able to replicate her delicious dishes, so I've decided to try to capture some of her best taiwanese dishes in a new series "cooking with mom".

To kick this off, my mom will be making one of my FAVORITE DISHES OF ALL TIME - Taiwanese Deep Fried Pork Chops.  My mom always tells me this is a super simple dish and she can't understand why all my friends clamor for an invitation on pork chop night. But I totally get it.  My mom's pork chops are damn good.

restaurant review: state bird provisions

Mini fried quail with cheese.

(San Francisco, CA).  For over a year my Bay Area friends have been raving about State Bird Provisions, which was awarded one michelin star and won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2013.  They all raved that the food was consistently amazing and the place was
definitely worth the hype.  While I don't necessarily buy into the michelin grading system - which has a very french and western european bias and has not yet fully embraced the amazing flavors and food cultures of the east - it did seem to further validate that this was a restaurant worth visiting.... if you were lucky enough to score a reservation or patient enough to wait in line for hours.

My husband and I had received a gift certificate for State Bird Provisions as a wedding gift.  When we managed to get a reservation on opentable, we booked our flights and hotel around the reservation. But less than a day after booking, opentable cancelled our reservation due to a systems error.  This was extremely disappointing since we had already made our travel plans so I reached out to the restaurant directly and they were absolutely lovely about trying to accommodate us.  While we couldn't keep our original reservation time, they confirmed us for an earlier dinner time.  Yay for State Bird!

restaurant review: st. john bar and restaurant

The dining room at St. John.

During a recent trip to London, I returned for another dining experience at St. John Bar and Restaurant in the Clerkenwell neighborhood. See, there are certain things I like to eat when I am in London and the Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad dish is one of them. (The other things I love eating in London are St. John Bakery's custard doughnut and Tayyab's tandoori lamb chops.)

The scene
The restaurant and bar is very industrial looking because it used to be an old smokehouse. The decor is very minimalist - everything is white. Although it has one Michelin Star, the place is not stuck up. In fact, there's a nice (but not loud) buzz in the dining room.

The food

The Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad.

I've eaten plenty of roasted bone marrow dishes but St. John's version, which apparently has been emulated by many chefs around the world, tops my list. See, the richness of the bone marrow is tempered by the tangy parsley salad, and brought to life with a tiny bit of sea salt. And when you spread the marrow on top of the crunchy toasted bread, it's like eating heaven. Seriously, if this is all you order at St. John, you're golden.

The Eccles Cake and Lancashire Cheese is another dish that deserves a mention. Eccles cake is not a cake but a pastry... a very buttery pastry so it is nice and flaky. The dried fruit inside the pastry go well with the slightly salty flavor of the Lancashire cheese. It's delicious, and also a very British dish.

taipei for food lovers

Taipei is currently getting a lot of love from food obsessed travelers everywhere. And not because of the crazy concept restaurants (toilet theme, anyone?).  It is simply because Taiwanese food is delicious, and the Taiwanese people love to eat - all the time. 

These are some of the reasons why Taipei and her varied food options are getting a lot of attention:

A street vendor at the Ningxia Night market
selling grilled oysters.

1. Lots of night markets. There are big night markets (like Shilin) and small ones (like Ningxia). If you can, try and go to every single one of them. The food there ranges from oyster pancakes to Taiwanese sausages to various grilled meats, seafood and blood to fried chicken to fruits to …. So, if you have a travel companion, make sure you buy one item from each stall and share. That way, you can get to taste more items. Trust  me, you’ll be full and beyond satisfied. If you can’t speak the language, don’t fret. Just point. 

queenstown, new zealand for the non-thrill seeker

Queenstown has a reputation for hosting people who jump off stuff and do other crazy things. The reputation is well deserved. After all, commercial bungee and commercial jet boating started in this fair town. It somehow also seems appropriate that the beautiful mountain range towering over Queenstown is called “the Remarkables,” and another mountain nearby is called “Mount Difficulty.”

I first went to Queenstown with the idea of jumping off a bridge. I’ve previously jumped off a plane in Oxnard, California, and glided off a cliff in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. So, I thought jumping jump off a bridge wouldn't be that different. Unfortunately, the weather, my nerves or both (more likely, nerves) stopped me from doing something that would have been the basis of an awesome Facebook/Twitter profile photo (or at least something I could have put on Instagram).

Left without an extreme sport to partake in, was there anything else to do in Queenstown?  Absolutely.  For those who are not so extreme sports inclined, there are other un-extreme types of adventures and thrills to be had in and around town like the following: