Category Archives: Taste

Sayonara Tokyo

Time to go home

I’m writing this from the passenger seat of a rental van, on my way to Akita in northern Japan. This is the final stretch in the country move marathon: take worldly possessions to parent’s house. After a week of farewells and family time, I’ll be gone.

It’s strange to think that 2 years have passed since I moved to Tokyo. Even weirder is that I’ve spent 5 of the last 10 years in Japan. Sometimes I wonder whether I’d be a different person if I’d stayed in Australia? Or chosen a different country altogether? Like, am I now 1% culturally Japanese? Either way, this place has dug its heels in—it will always be an intrinsic part of my identity and my home away from home.

But, here I am, leaving again, and I think this time’s my last. After a 15-year battle of the heart, Japan has finally been defeated. Australia wins for a mixed bag of reasons including its informal culture, self-deprecating tendencies, active citizenry and multicultural make-up. But most of all, it wins because I feel like I belong—there, I know where I am and how I fit, and I truly feel at home.

Moving country is always an emotional rollercoaster ride; at the moment, sad, happy, excited and nervous are on constant rotation. Thankfully, I have work to distract me, as well as this blog post—which is also a welcome opportunity to reminisce and capture some of my best memories for all eternity.

So, after 2 years in this crazy city, here are my top 20 favorite things to do:

Eat a Sunday breakfast of cake from Sunday Bake Shop
Sip cocktails at Kinfolk Lounge or Bar Trench
Check out the latest exhibition at the Mori Art Museum
Down a Gibraltar coffee at Amameria or a macchiato at Fuglen
Boogie to sweet rockabilly tunes at a Little Elvis gig
Picnic in Yoyogi Park (with fresh bread from Tarui Bakery in nearby Sangubashi)
Impress visitors at the New York Bar at the Park Hyatt Tokyo.
Stock up on magazines from home at Daikanyama T-Site
Delight in the simplicity of soba at Fujita
Enjoy Taiyo’s tonkatsu—the best in Tokyo
Avoid crowded trains by biking EVERYWHERE
Find exactly what I’m looking for at Tokyu Hands
Bump shoulders with Tokyo’s elite in Isetan’s depachika and purchase at least one fancy cake/onigiri/bento
Get a haircut by Chie at Watanabe
Snag second-hand designer bargains at Ragtag Shibuya
Escape to France at Au Temps Jadis
Travel back in time with Hashiya Hatagaya’s salted cod roe and squid spaghetti
Pick up a fresh sushi bento at Umegaoka Sushi no MIDORI-SOHONTEN to eat while watching skateboarders at Miyashita Koen
Be captivated by the Koenji Awaodori, Tokyo’s most spectacular summer festival
Relish the heavenly combination of piping hot yakitori (grilled chicken) and cold draught beer (Miyazaki Shoten is a recent great discovery)

Thank you, Tokyo. I’m glad I had the chance to know you better. I can’t wait to return as a tourist, this list in hand, and take a walk down memory lane.

Off the Grid Picnic in the Presidio

Summertime has arrived in San Francisco and there’s no better way to spend a warm summer day than in the sun, surrounded by friends, music, and good food. Lucky for us, the team at Off the Grid recently began a new event that includes all of the above, Off the Grid Picnic in the Presidio. This giant picnic takes place every Sunday (rain or shine) from 11AM – 4PM from now until October.

Photo originally posted at http://offthegridsf.com/picnic

Much like the original Off the Grid events, Off the Grid Picnic is, at its core, a food-centric experience. Unlike other Off the Grid events, however, it is not limited to “mobile vendors” (read: food trucks), opening it up to participation from some of San Francisco’s best restaurants. Organic Mexican fare from Nopalito, artisan sausages from Rosamunde, wood-fired pizzas from Del Popolo, sustainable sushi from Tataki, delectable ice cream from Humphry Slocombe, you can almost literally taste all of the variety and pride in ingredients that San Francisco has to offer in one place.

Wood-fired Pizza Margherita from Del Popolo

For those that would rather put together their own picnic lunch, just across the lawn is an equally enticing farmers’ market. The market hosts a number of local farms, which offer up a variety of fresh, seasonal fruits, vegetables, nuts, dairy, and even chocolate.

Food aside, Off the Grid Picnic’s best asset is the atmosphere – a wide open expanse of sun-soaked lawn with views of the water, set inside San Francisco’s historic Presidio Park. A DJ spins some background music, while wagons selling “Mimosa Kits” and “Bloody Mary Kits” weave through the lawn, enticing attendees to stay out and enjoy the day. The Picnic is both a family-friendly and dog-friendly event (which is rare to come across in the city) that is well-worth the trip.

Off the Grid Picnic

103 Montgomery St
San Francisco, CA 94129

Hours: Every Sunday 11AM – 4PM

Proper Xiaolongbao Eating

The biggest must-try in Taiwan is the Xiao Long Bao, which means soup steam dumplings. The most famous Xiaolongbao restaurant here is Ding Tai Fung, where you must cue in line for hours for a taste of this delicacy. Japanese tourists await anxiously in line with a guide book in their hand for the treat, which is often times the main point of their trip.

The characteristics of a great Xiaolongbao must include the hot soup that flows inside the dumpling, a very thin yet chewy skin, and tender meat filling inside. If half of your xiaolongbao’s skins are ripped when you receive the steamer, then the restaurant does not provide quality Xiaolongbao. Their skin should be firm enough to resist the pull.

1. The best part to pick up the Xiaolongbao is from the top, this way you can prevent accidentally poking it.

2. The next step is to dip the Xiaolongbao into the sauce, which is vinegar with ginger shreds. The ginger and vinegar complements it so it doesn’t taste as greasy.

3. Bite a little bit of the skin off. This is my recommendation when it is hot off the steamer. The soup might burn you if you put the whole thing inside your mouth. Put it on your spoon, bite a hole so the soup flows out onto the spoon, and eat it when it’s a tad bit cooler. After the third or fourth one I don’t go through with this procedure.

These two are different flavors. The one on the top is squash with shrimp, and the one on the bottom is the most common pork Xiaolongbao. The squash flavor has a lighter taste.

明月湯包 Min Yueh Soup Dumplings

Address: #40, Lane 171,Tung Hua Street, Taipei City

Telephone: 02-27338770

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Absinthe

On a beautiful sunny weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting up with two Herb & Lace contributors in the Bay Area while I’m staying in San Francisco. Last time Herb & Lace San Francisco organized a meet up the group went to Brenda’s for brunch, so this time we decided to change it up and rendezvous at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar for a late afternoon drink.

There was no way I would go to a bar called Absinthe and not try absinthe. I asked the bartender for a recommendation, and he asked a couple questions about my tolerance for licorice before pointing to his personal favorite. He prepared it the traditional way, with a special absinthe spoon on which sits a sugar cube. Ice water is then dripped over the sugar cube, evenly displacing into the absinthe and activating flavors and aroma in the spirit that you wouldn’t taste otherwise. It was an interesting process to watch, and a slow but steady build up that signaled the rest of the bar that I was ready to get drunk. While the sugar cube was disappearing with every drop of water that fell, the older couple that set next to us impishly asked if this is my first time having absinthe. I could tell they were reminiscing the mischievous times they individually had when they were under the spell of the green fairy.

As far as taste goes, it is probably now one of my favorite spirits (even though I haven’t had enough in my life for that statement to mean much). And boy, was it strong. But as I took more sips, it made me feel inexplicably fabulous, a surprising reaction that I think in a way explains why so much style happened during the Belle Époque when everyone couldn’t get enough of absinthe–and it was much stronger back then.

We then ordered some appetizers, all of which tasted divine. Isabelle had the Hawaiian White Shrimp with caramelized potato-prosciutto broth (it tasted as amazing as it looks below), while I tried the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio that was a delight to eat. Camilla ordered the fried chick peas and mixed olives, which were probably some of the best simple-foods-done-right that I’ve tried.

The setting was also perfect for our occasion. It was packed enough to feel social but not bothered, and quiet enough to have conversations without needing to shout. I had a wonderful time putting faces to the authors of blog posts I’ve been reading for the past year, and talking about everything from south of France to opinions on the academia world. Herb and Lace is a diverse and global community, and I think our meet up could not be more evident of that.

I have less than two weeks left in San Francisco and I am very grateful to have seen the city through a local’s perspective during this trip thanks to the insight shared on this blog by our Bay Area contributors. I look forward to meeting more Herb and Lace girls around the world, one city at a time!

Absinthe
398 Hayes Street (at Gough)
San Francisco, CA 94102
414-551-1590

Special thanks to Isabelle for the great photos.

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