Lyrical Lemongrass writes: “Welcome back,” he said. It was a Saturday evening, and I was chuckling to myself when his words interrupted my reverie. “Whatever for?” I asked. “You’re back.” He smiled. “So we’re going to Prime to celebrate.” “Back? I never went anywhere.” I looked hard for the bump on his head where he would have knocked his head on the cangkul. “I thought I had lost you this past week.  You were turning into a grumpy little thing and your language had become quite colourful,” he said. He was right.  I had turned into a grouch. A grumpy cynical grouch. It ... read more

© Lyrical Lemongrass | original post at http://awhiffoflemongrass.blogspot.com/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: A strange title for a post, perhaps, but when I started researching my article on yu sheng I had trouble finding anyone to describe for me their ideal version. Most Malaysians and Singaporeans, it seems, are somewhat indifferent to this dish that is so integral to Chinese New Year in Malaysia and Singapore. Yes, it's lucky and yes, it should be a part of any New Year banquet, but the consensus seemed to be that it rarely inspires cravings. And I know why. Most versions of yu sheng are, to my palate at least, gloppy, overly sweet piles of unidentifiable ingredients with little discernable flavor, a dish of vegetables and fish (yu sheng ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: It's been almost ten years since we last lived in China, and seven since I last visited. Still, there's something about Chinatowns that always say 'home'. So, when we travel to Southeast Asian cities we invariably find ourselves in one. It's curiosity, partly - how does Binondo (Manila's Chinatown) compare to Yaowarot (Bangkok's)? How does it compare to China? Sometimes it's the caffeine factor - Chinatown coffee shops often have the best coffee. And there's that matter of feeling at home, like we always did in China, even when living there seemed like a royal pain. When we're overwhelmed by an unfamiliar city it's comforting to spend a couple of hours in an area where ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: A few days before we left for Saigon, I poured the last of the 5 pounds of Vietnamese black pepper that had moved with us to Malaysia in 2005 into our pepper grinder. This was not a coincidence. Did we return to Saigon just to restore our stock of Vietnamese pepper? I wouldn't say that, exactly. We knew we'd go before the end of the year. As October passed and our stash shrank, well ... it just seemed like a good time to make plane reservations. Vietnam isn't the country that comes to mind when gourmets start talking black pepper. It's all Tellicherry this and Sarawak that; if a pepper-loving foodie really wants to impress her ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: In Vietnamese cities one must be alert to the existence of hidden culinary delights - dishes cooked in kitchens and served from stalls all but invisible to the untrained eye. Working Saigon's Tan Dinh market one recent morning, we're made aware of the existence of one such enterprise when a tray-bearing woman emerges from behind the vegetable stall Dave is photographing. We eye the gorgeous orange-tinted soup noodes balanced on her shoulder, and then crane our necks to peer behind the stall. Sure enough, people are eating back there. From the looks of those noodles, investigation is warranted. A man, his wife, and ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Lyrical Lemongrass writes: 1. My life has always been about 3 guesses. For 18 years of our lives (7 spent married), we'd been playing the guessing game. "What's for dinner tonight, dear?" "I'll give you 3 guesses." "What movie are we watching?" "3 guesses before the next ad comes on!" "What car are you buying?" "Guess lah." Well, you get the idea. However, sometimes, the guessing game backfires. "Where are we going tonight?" "Guess." He keeps me in the dark. I make my guess, and dress in a nice smart casual outfit and meet him after work. That's when I spy loads of elegant looking people dressed to the nines in Choo and Blahnik, dripping with jewels. "Fock man. You could have told ... read more

© Lyrical Lemongrass | original post at http://awhiffoflemongrass.blogspot.com/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Philippine cuisine is Southeast Asia's most under-appreciated (except by Filipinos); it's probably for this reason that Salcedo Market, a once-a-week outdoor affair in Makati, Manila's business district, is so little known. Were Salcedo - a juried collection of stalls offering a bounty of Philippine regional (and some international) foods - located in Singapore or Bangkok or Saigon it be known to Southeast Asia-bound globe-trotting foodies. Instead it's bounty is left to the purvey of mostly locals, expats, and the occasional tourist. On this day Dave and I've come to Salcedo in search of neither lechon nor piaya (though we'll end up sampling plenty of each), ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: We've walked by this place at least fifty times. Padang is a smallish town, easily done on foot. Soto Simpang Karya sits at one corner of the roughly triangular route we trod several times a day from guesthouse to market to seaside and back again. Open morning to late at night, it's always fronted by a solid row of motorcycles, doing a steady business. When we pass the place we slow a bit, and Dave says, 'We gotta try that place.' I say, 'That must be some tasty soto.' And we keep walking. It's hard to get excited about soto, a brothy meat dish found, in a ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Many of Kuching's decades-old shop houses accomodate decades-long residents. Chinatown (the clutch of guest houses at one end of Carpenter Street notwithstanding) is still chockabloc with small businesses (a tinsmith, a coffin maker), coffeeshops, and multi generation-run eateries. And though some of the colorful shop houses on Jalan Padungan, near the western end of the city's riverfront promenade, have been transformed into smart bars and cafes, others still house unassuming family-run food enterprises. Worn wooden trays laden with irregularly shaped coils of golden noodles alerted us to the presence of one such business, Seng Ngee Foh. We'd walked past the shop's quietly anonymous Jalan Pandungan front with ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Unless you want to come off as a tourist, that is (not that we'll ever be mistaken for locals). Malaysia is the land of laksas. There's laksa assam and curry laksa, Johor laksa and laksa utara. And Sarawak laksa, which in Sarawak is known simply as 'laksa'. Local-style laksa rules in Kuching; cruising around the small city's streets, we didn't see a single hawker offering any kind of laksa other than, well, laksa. That's fine with us, because in Kuching we can - and did - eat laksa day after day. Coconut milk-based Sarawak-style laksa gravy incorporates a spice paste made from belacan, lemongrass, galangal, coriander, chile, and black pepper, ... read more

© Robyn Eckhardt (article) and David Hagerman (photographs) | original post at http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/
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