nanamoose

Instead of Coffee, Temples Roam in Mystic Java

I had never heard of Yogyakarta before my friend Abraham suggested it a few weeks back. Even then, I was a skeptic – “How good could a place possibly be if nanamoose did not know about it?” the obnoxious moose was thinking. However, apparently even Starbucks knew better. When I arrived for transit at Jakarta airport I was pleasantly surprised to find a “Yogyakarta City Mug” at Starbucks with prints of its famous Borobudur stupas on it.

I was not able to track down any Starbucks in Yogyakarta (which sparks the question – what are city mugs for and does having a mug mean that there will be a Starbucks in the city? Some food for thought), but what I did find was even more valuable. Yogyakarta is home to two of Indonesia’s architectural marvels, the Buddhist Borobudur and its Hindu counterpart, Prambanan temple, both located within an hour’s distance from Yogyakarta. Visiting Prambanan temple by sunset was a serene affair, especially after a tumultuous ride on Garuda Air the same morning. The Prambanan temples were built around 8th to 10th century AD in dedication of Lord Shiva, when Java was ruled by the Hindu Sanjayas of Old Mataram in the north. Our guide, the auspiciously named Nono, told us that despite Prambanan being one of the most outstanding remaining examples of Hindu art and despite it being listed as a Unesco World Heritage list in 1991, it had not been granted the funds to allow full restoration. On the day we visited souvenir vendors easily outnumbered the few tourists who were there, and our group (consisting of the eight of us) was easily the largest in the complex. Under the grey ominous skies the Prambanan temples looked like something that could have come straight out of the Lord of the Rings with their overpowering black façade carved straight out of volcanic stones, yet in a matter of two hours the setting sun had completely engulfed the ghostly figures in its golden light.

Borobudur, on the other hand, was built slightly before Prambanan by the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty in the South, some time between 750 and 850 AD. We arrived late on a Friday morning having just missed the sunrise. Nevertheless, the Borobudur in front of us, encircled by an ethereal morning mist, was mystifying as ever. In the depths of rural Java, Borobudur soars quietly in the midst of lush green forestation and lifting fogs on a 118m x 118m base like a giant tantric mandala. Six square terraces are topped by three circular ones, with four stairways leading up through finely carved gateways to the top where 72 Buddhas sit serene-faced and partially visible from latticed stone stupas. I have never seen anything quite like this. As if suddenly hit by a wave of calmness (and despite the hordes of schoolchildren trying to chat up foreigner all around me), I decide to find a quiet location behind one of the stupas to do some meditation. Meditation proved hard with the fanfare around me, but instead I found one of the most beautiful spots in Java. The morning mist had long dispersed, yet behind me ancient Buddhas were smiling, children were laughing, on my left palm trees were swaying and on my right “luminescent green rice paddies” lay outstretched as if to infinity. Perhaps I did not need to meditate. Being in Borobudur is already a meditation in itself.

Visiting Yogyakarta

Unless you can afford to stay at the Amanjiwo right in front of Borobudur, stay at the Dusun Jogja Village Inn in Prawirotaman area. According to the Lonely Planet this boutique hotel has acquired somewhat of an institutional status in the city, and I believe rightly so. Small and quaint with a distinct exotic Javanese feel, this hotel boasts a mini massage parlour, movie room, restaurant and decent pool by which you can sit sipping a glass of red wine while counting stars through shuffling palm trees. Rooms are clean and rustic with a friendly staff. The hotel can arrange transportation and itinerary for surrounding sites.

A Franco-Japanese War (involving pastries)

I have a serious, serious problem with breads in Hong Kong. Correction, I have a serious problem with “baked goods” in Hong Kong. There are all these lovely pretty cake shops selling cakes that look more like jewelry than food and above all, are less than meets the eye, but no proper boulangeries or patisseries that actually serve good bread, pastries, and cakes with a substance.

Especially pastries. I think pastries are gravely overlooked in Hong Kong. People are obsessed with pretty, crafty cakes so that cake shops and cake schools alike are overflowed with Hong Kong “OL”s who have no knowledge whatsoever in relation to cakes and probably have never cooked, and will never cook again, in their lives. There is first of all Zoe with their HK$30 odd-a-tiny-piece-cakes and freezing cold air conditioning, then there’s Teresa Festival with their inexperienced staff and minimal drinks selection, Antique Patisserie with their HK$50-a-piece-of-Happy-Birthday-sign-policy and Mandarin Oriental’s jewel-like cakes. Recently there is even a bakery which specializes in cupcakes that opened at Elements in Kowloon. There is nothing honestly wrong with these beautiful cakes except they lack the heart and soul that makes them interesting. Perhaps like the perfect man who, for me, requires that little deficiency in order to be “perfect”, so do food and especially baked goods precisely since its “prettiness” means so much.

Now you can imagine what pain this phenomenon brings to a self-confessed palmier lover like myself, and what a refreshing experience it was for her when she found the best palmier-like pastry ever at the new Tokyo Midtown. The Sacristain at “BE”, or Boulangepicier, in the basement of Tokyo Midtown is a long, stick-like pastry covered in molten sugar that tastes almost like caramel yet lacks the overpowering sweetness. In Hong Kong, pastries are often relegated to a mere breakfast snack at shops like Delifrance and Maxim’s and stuffed with all kinds of funny fillings like pork floss and curry chicken, yet at BE pastries and breads are given prime attention. Choose from a selection of savoury and sweet pastries and enough fine breads to make your mouth water. If that’s not enough for you, perhaps the fact that BE is part of the Alain Ducasse group and a quadruple chain, two branches of which are in Tokyo and the rest in Paris, will be enough for BE to redeem itself.

Just when I was reminiscing over the demise of Japanese ingenuity in the baking world, I was given a brief insight into the Parisien bakery scene and stumbled upon Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki and its variations on the macha theme. I guess the Japanese are still going strong after all.

Inauguration of "My Favourite Restaurants" in Shanghai

It is easy to become delusional in Shanghai. You often believe yourself to be in Europe only to be immediately transported back to mainland China with the snap of a finger, the yell of “fuwuyuan!” (server!), the sight of a man spitting into a perfectly manicured garden or the typos on the menu. However, to my surprise, my experience at Casa 13 on Huashan Road was rid of all such similar mishaps.

Casa 13 is the latest addition to the ever expanding Eduardo Vargas family (Azul, Viva, iiiit) and features Mediterranean classics in a secluded renovated 1920s house in the heart of the French Concession. My one time experience there was flawless by Shanghai standards – the food was great and perfect for sharing (and those who know me will know that I’m a sucker for all things tapas!), the service polite, and the house tastefully decorated.

This is the perfect place to impress a date or to round up a group of friends, sit out in the terrace while kick starting the meal with the charcuterie board over a glass of sangria. On the night I was there I received a little notebook named “My Favourite Restaurants” from my friend K. Might as well, Casa 13 can the first one listed.

Casa 13 is on No. 13, 1100 Huashan Lu
near Xingguo Lu 华山路1100号13室 近兴国路

Tel: (86) 21-5238-2782

Japanese Influence in Yao Culture? (or Vice Versa?)

After an action packed day in Yangshuo we set off to Lonji Titian. Dragon’s Spine Rice Terraces, as they call Longji in English, is an area a good 4 hour drive north of Guilin and populated by the Zhuang and Yao minorities. On the way we passed by Baisha market and decided to experience the hustle and bustle of a typical Chinese market. Baisha offers almost anything you can imagine, and in the largest scale I have ever seen. Every service, or product, is offered in row-upon-row –folds. There are the prêt-a-manger food stalls offering dog meat, cat meat and rabbit meat and occupying a semi-open air space the size of big delinquent warehouse. Then there are the dentists, a handful of them operating on patients from a single display table (one with a promotional display saying “咳声脱牙”, something which I do not understand to this day. Do dentists in China deal with coughs as well?) and chair on the sidewalk side by side with the chicken vendors. There are the barbers who line the park while men get their shaves sitting on single wooden chairs, and the glutinous rice cake makers by the dozens, all rubbing and churning out the exact same food. Even the patrons shop in the exact same way, live chicken in hand albeit grabbed in slightly different ways, some by the feet and some by the wings.

Arriving at Longji we had to choose between visiting the Zhuang minorities in Ping An or the Yao minorities in Jinkeng due to our time constraints. Being adventurous backpackers as we are (no doubt about that - we left our luggage to the poor village women who charged us RMB20 to carry our suitcases in baskets up for us) we decided to skip the more popular and more easily accessed Ping An and head further inland to the Jinkeng Yao Village.

As we watched the black turbaned and pink jacketed Yao women disappear swiftly uphill with our 15kg suitcases on their backs, we processed slowly up into the Yao village perching alongside the rice terraces. Jinkeng reminded me, much to my surprise, of the set for the Tom Cruise movie the Last Samurai. Even the Yao houses and the cobblestoned streets looked oddly Japanese. The rice terraces, each only a few feet wide, are painted an autumnal golden yellow. Smoke rises gently from some of the houses. I realize it is perhaps inching towards supper time. The only noise that is breaking the quietness and stillness of the valley is the sound of schoolchildren shouting and laughing in the local school playground. Jinkeng seems almost idyllic, an existence that is increasingly hard to find in modern day China.

After a leisurely 3 hour hike we arrive at our hotel, Meijinglou, or Beautiful Scenery Mansion which occupies a typical吊脚楼 (literally - “hanging feet structure” - the sizes of each floor increases slightly as we progress upwards to reveal “feet” – or extended wooden pillars - hanging from the four corners of the floor above). Outside the hotel, where our luggage is being offloaded, gathers a loose crowd of around 20 Yao women selling their wares in various forms. I decide to buy from our porter in acknowledgment of her hard work and paid RMB100 for an extensively embroidered bright pink jacket and RMB20 for a hand woven belt. I will probably never get to wear them but such is the magic spell a beautiful place like Jinkeng casts on its visitors - you feel like you become a Yao, living high amongst the mist, care free.

10 reasons not to visit Lapis Casa in Shanghai

1. I was trying to find my way to Lapis Casa from the northern end of Xintiandi on the corner of Taicang Road and Huangpi West Road. I called up and reported my location, asking for directions to the hotel. The staff on duty said, “We are located on the north of Xintiandi near 企業天地, where Bellagio (the Taiwanese restaurant) is.”

“Ok, but I am now at the corner of Xintiandi on the junction of Taicang Road and Huangpi West Road. Is your hotel located on the other corner of Xintiandi along Taicang Road?”

“Yes”. But when I walked over to the other side there was nothing but Paul’s (and what joy the sight of Paul’s brought me! I had been waiting for years for the arrival of Paul’s in HK and who would have thought that Shanghai would beat us to it in bringing this famed French bakery to the city? Favourite pickup at Paul: palmier – unfortunately, or fortunately, they don’t sell it here in Shanghai) and Starbucks. So I called again, this time giving them names of all streets enclosing Xintiandi plus my exact location. Still, they gave me the standardized answer. It was only after about 5 minutes down the conversation was I finally able to squeeze some useful information out of his confusing directions which led me to finally find the hotel.

2. The door did not open when I tried to insert my key card into the door. My mother had arrived earlier & had complained of the same problem with her keys, after which they claimed to have been caused by a mechanical failure of the locks, and which they supposedly later fixed. The same problem repeated itself after checkout. Total failures at attempts to open door – 3.

3. It was written in the hotel literature that the rooms are equipped with DVD players. However, I turned the room upside down and found no DVD player. I called reception and was told that they would bring a DVD player to the room. However, the TV was installed on a blank wall with no cabinet whatsoever underneath. The DVD player had to sit on a chair moved over from the dressing table. It took the staff half an hour to figure out how to connect the DVD player to the TV.

4. The sink was leaking water. The bathroom went wet before anyone took a shower.

5. The rainforest shower head was about 5 inches from the top of my head.

6. The temperature adjuster is super sensitive yet super slow at sending signals. The slightest movement in the adjuster turns the water super hot or super cold, about five minutes after the knob is turned. Water pressure is also low.

7. Towels are small and thin, amenities meager.

8. Breakfast is served at the adjacent River Seine French Restaurant. Food was already disappointing, but the biggest joke came when the toaster did not work. A manager came to fix the problem but burnt our toast. I asked a second member of staff to come take a look, “Your toaster is broken. Can you fix the problem?”

“Oh, it’s not broken, there’s just a little malfunction.”

9. When we complained about the various problems above to the reception during check out, our initial response was – no response at all. Zilch. Not a word of apology, not even, “Oh really?”Just an embarrassing glance. After persistent complaints they finally mumbled, “But we’ve had a lot of customers from overseas. They all like our place very much and return to us. If you return next time we will give you an upgrade.”

10. Jia just opened not far from here. Who needs Lapis when we have Jia?

Staying at Lapis Casa is like staying at a mediocre bed and breakfast in Europe, with a price tag of RMB1,700. Sure there is some “old Shanghai charm”like its predecessor, restaurant Lapis Lazuii on Dong Ping Lu. But like Lapis Lazuii Lapis Casa is a meretricious place.

Farewell Lapis Casa! Looks like will not be seeing you for a long while.

If you want to visit Tenya, my favourite all you can eat Japanese toro restaurant in Shanghai, however, the restaurant is located right inside Lapis Casa and you can find it on 68 Taicang Road, near Shun Chang Road (Tenya tel: 021-53836886, Lapis Casa tel: 021-53821600)

Impression – Li River

The introductory pamphlet on our “luxury” cruise for the local Chinese describes the dramatic karst peaks which envelopes the winding, emerald green Li River that runs, in part, from Guilin to Yangshuo as “grotesque peaks”. Cannot really blame the cruise company. After all, what better word to describe these oddly shaped and bizarre-looking mountain peaks than the word “grotesque”? The Tang Dynasty poet Han Yu described them as blue jade hairpins running through a green silk belt which is the Li River – and if you imagine blue hairpins plugged on top of a piece of green silk the image isn’t particular that poetic either.

I have visited the Li River some fifteen years ago with a Hong Kong tour group and did not have such fond memories of it. All I remembered from the trip was the tour guide’s continuous reminder of how beautiful Guilin was with the saying, “Guilin’s landscape triumphs heaven and earth, Yangshuo’s landscape triumphs Guilin” and waterway caves lit up with tacky rainbow-coloured lights. I had left thinking, “So, this is all there is to the world-renowned Guilin!” I learned a couple of years later that when you travel with tour groups from Hong Kong, “this” would be all there is no matter where you go. I vowed soon after this realization never to travel with a Hong Kong tour group again.

My impression of Guilin was therefore scarred for a good fifteen years, to be redeemed only until the recent film The Painted Veil, which was set in the ancient town of Huang Yao along downstream Li River. Intrigued by how beautiful the area looked with Edward Norton in it I decided to take a trip to Guilin to see for myself...

My Mother's Pearls

Chengdu has a rather funny way of turning iconic local eats into big chains all over the city. Think Chengdu delicacies – 担担面 (dan dan noodles), 龙抄手 (spicy wonton), 赖汤圆 (Chengdu syle glutinous rice balls), 夫妻肺片 (thin slices of beef and tripe in spicy sauce), 钟水铰 (spicy dumplings), 韩包子 (Chengdu style steamed buns) and 麻婆豆腐 (ma po tofu) - all have developed from being unassuming little stalls to big restaurant chains with branches all over Chengdu. Take龙抄手 (spicy wonton) for example. The chain is now a symbol of Chengdu ‘small eats’, occupying a big stand-alone building on Chengdu’s busiest 春熙路Chun Xi Road and serving, in canteen style, everything from its namesake spicy wonton to everything Chengdu is famous for like dan dan noodles and spicy dumplings.

One of Sichuan’s delicacies which has been converted, although less successfully, into one of these chain restaurants is the “pearl ball”. I tried very hard to think of a more elegant English name for this jewel of foods only to realize that sometimes, English will prove itself deficient in translating hidden poetic enunciations in Chinese. However, as its name aptly suggests, the “Pearl Ball” is a spherical tit bit covered in glutinous rice and which has been my mother’s performance dish since as long as I could remember. Nowhere else in Hong Kong can you taste these delicious rice balls apart from at Chan’s residence and everyone are bound to be wowed by it on every occasion they are brought out to our guests. We are not entirely sure as to the origin of this dish apart from the fact that it was handed down by my late grandmother and that it apparently, upon some digging around the web, originated from Hubei, China (yes, Hubei, and so our family’s savory version is starkly different from the ones you get in Chengdu, which is sweet).

So where can you sample the Pearl Balls? You either befriend Mrs. Chan or myself and pray that we invite you over for dinner, or you join Mrs. Chan’s bible study class, or you try to make them yourself!

Pearl Balls (makes enough for 6 persons)

Ingredients:

300g Minced meat
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sesame oil
¼ tsp Pepper
2 tbsp Diced water chestnuts
1 tbsp Diced dried shrimp
1 tsp Diced ginger and spring onion
1tbsp Corn starch
¾ cups Glutinous rice
Half a stick Carrots
Around 20 pieces Parsley

1. Wash and soak the glutinous rice in cold water for about an hour. After an hour, sift the rice dry and put on a plate.
2. Marinate the minced meat with salt, sesame oil and pepper. Keep stirring the minced meat in one direction for at least 10 minutes until the meat becomes sticky. You can also throw the meat down into a mixing bowl for added softness. This should be done for about 5 minutes.
3. Add water chestnuts, dried shrimp, ginger, spring onion and corn starch to the mixture, mixing while you go along.
4. Sculpt the meat into balls around 3 cm in diameter (can make around 20) and dip into the plate to cover completely in rice.
5. Put balls into a bamboo steamer (or any other kind of steamer) – no need to brush with oil – and steam for 30 minutes on high heat.
6. Peel carrots and cut into thin strips. Put on top of steamed pearl balls together with strips of parsley.

* This recipe is posted at the request of my mother's bible study group. Happy cooking! Hope you can help to spread the good news of my mother's delicious Pearl Balls! *

When Xiaolongbaos Go Global

If I have only one day in Taipei the places I would visit are, in that order: breakfast at Mei Er Mei, lunch at Din Tai Fung, a visit to Eslite bookstore, coffee at Have a Booday followed by KTV and beef noodles at Partyworld, massage at Sakura and lastly a late night snack of soybean milk and fried dough and shao bing at Yong He.

Amongst these places to visit perhaps Din Tai Fung is the only place that is also available outside of Taiwan. Din Tai Fungs have mushroomed all over the world, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, even the United States. It is therefore not the case that I do not have the opportunity to sample Din Tai Fung on a regular basis. It is also not the case whereby its branches are so numerous that their qualities become inconsistent while only the original one in Taipei is good. Quite the opposite, ALL Din Tai Fungs all over the world (with the exception of the one in Hong Kong – or perhaps I have gone on a bad hair day) are of a surprisingly high quality; from décor to cleanliness to its friendly and efficient staff to thoughtful little details like folding baskets put alongside the table for your bags, to its food. Everything at Din Tai Fung is so perfect, like your annoying high school friend who has got the looks, the grades, the family background, and the cutest guy as her boyfriend. Din Tai Fung makes you wonder – how do you manage to keep everything under such perfect control when you are a 36- fold chain?

No matter how much you hate or question your high school friend or Din Tai Fung, the reality remains the same. Some people are just good at everything. Take a look at the open kitchen window of Din Tai Fung’s new Sogo branch for example. Look at the dedication with which the staff breaks up the dough, puts it onto the scale (they even weigh the dough to make sure that they are all the same size! I could hardly believe my eyes) and flattens it out into small pancakes. Watching this scene ought to make many feel ashamed of themselves. At least thinking about myself, I can hardly remember the last time when I put that much dedication into producing something. Even if there was, it was definitely not at work. How did the management at Din Tai Fung pull this off? Like the beaming staff at Haidilao in Beijing, this remains a big mystery to me.

So, why do I keep on visiting Din Tai Fung everywhere I go despite the fact that it is soon becoming as commonplace as Starbucks? Simply because it is so good I just cannot afford to not go.

Finding Taipei's Beef Noodle King

Cash Box, now Partyworld, is undoubtedly the best KTV in the whole wide world. I could go as far as saying that its one of the best things to come out of Taiwan (on top of the back alley cafes and books), for reasons below:

1. They are huge (often occupying a whole building with something like 10 floors);
2. All rooms are clean (with no cigarette smoke smell unlike the ones in Hong Kong) and most come with an en suite toilet;
3. All staff are friendly and efficient;
4. Songs are super new and aplenty (very often they have every single song from a hit singer’s new album) while all MVs are all beautifully filmed (though they all conform to a certain Taiwan-esque style); and
5. Most important of all, the food here is great!

The beef noodles here are so yummy a friend admitted to opening a room at Partyworld solely for the purposes of eating its beef noodles! Thing is, no matter how hard I tried I was not able to remember who said this to me, so in order to make sure I was not dreaming this whole thing up I decided to put its noodles to the test despite having to sport a big stomach after homemade dumplings from dinner.

The noodles here truly give a lot of proper beef noodle restaurants in Taipei a run for their money. The noodles were cooked al dente, the soup base was flavoursome with preserved veggies served on the side. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was the beef. Beef is the true art of beef noodles. You master the texture of the beef and you become the true beef noodle king.

This award I will for now, at least until I have found the next beef noodle king, give to Lao Wang Ji Beef Noodle King on Tao Yuan Street. Lao Wang uses authentic Taiwanese yellow cow imported fresh every day to create a broth that is thick yet not greasy, fragrant yet not salty. The beef, though cut up in big pieces, is slow-cooked so that it maintains the natural sweetness of yellow beef while being soft at the same time. Lao Wang even custom makes your noodles for you according to your preferences on the heaviness of the soup and texture of the noodles. Just make sure you don’t come here during peak lunch or dinner hours or you will have to be ready for a long queue.

Cash Box Partyworld 钱柜
Try its flagship store on台北市林森北路139號 (臨六條通) (tel: +886 2 23702277)

Lao Wang Ji Beef Noodle King 老王记牛肉面大王
台北市桃源街15号 (tel: +886 937 860 050)

Having a Good Day at Have a Booday

I believe Hong Kong’s coldness comes from its commercialism, addiction to materialism and lack of art and culture, while Taiwan breathes the latter. Anyone who’s visited Taipei knows that Taipei is best known for its street food, hidden cafes and bookstores. Its been talked about so often it has almost become cliché. But it is amazingly true. No visit to Taipei would be complete without a visit to an Eslite bookstore and coffee or tea at a back alley café.

Have a Booday is my newly discovered gem tucked away in a back alley a short 5 minute stroll from Zhongshan MRT station. The article about Have a Booday published in Ming Pao late last year aptly explained what these back alley discoveries are all about, “There may be nothing people in Taipei can do about their objective environment [meaning its less than attractive skyline and horrible traffic], but they put in 100% effort into their surroundings. They create one small cozy paradise after another in narrow side streets and back alleys while their dreams shone like a glowing halo on the top of their heads. The recent opening of a new shop by Mogu is a therefore news everyone is fighting to report to their peers because we have just found another hub in Taipei that allows us to rest and think.”

Have a Booday is the baby of the Booday design team, which most people in Hong Kong know through their publication “Mogu” magazine. Have a Booday is split over four floors in an old Taiwanese house - the ground floor is a small shop selling Mogu designed items like T-shirts, bags, postcards and cute boxes of matches with different poems written on each matchbox, the second floor is a café with an open kitchen selling coffee and tea, homemade cakes and Mogu recommended books and music, while the third and fourth floors are the Mogu design studio. This is the kind of place where you can spend the entire afternoon reading a book and sipping coffee, or even bringing your knitting to do and striking a conversation with artists and designers who treat the place like home.

On the Friday we visited Typhoon Sepat was wreaking havoc on the streets of Taipei with its strong winds and torrential rain, while inside Have a Booday soft Bossa Nova music was playing, the aroma of coffee and the sweet smell of innocence and creativity was lingering in the air. This is my kind of place. This is the kind of place where people build dreams. This is the kind of place that can change Hong Kong.