World Foodie Guide

Although I’ve stopped blogging, I thought I would write a short(ish) post about Vancouver, where the vegetarian husband and I spent a week in late September. Given that we ate so well there, it would be remiss of me not to pass on my eating recommendations to fellow travellers. Although I have favourited all my Vancouver tweets, a tweet just isn’t enough to describe a fantastic experience. Please excuse the lack of food photos, as I hadn’t planned on blogging about Vancouver’s culinary delights.

We were staying with good friends in West Vancouver, so I left London with only one restaurant booked, as I knew our hosts would know where to take us. Of course, I couldn’t resist doing some research beforehand, drawing up a mini wishlist. Given that we also went to Victoria and Whistler during this one week trip, plus two evenings of home-cooked meals, there weren’t actually that many meals slots left. Nevertheless, I think we did rather well! So here are my recommendations, in no particular order.

12 Highlights:

• Japadog – I nearly couldn’t fit in a Japadog due to our busy schedule, but fortunately we found time one afternoon when we hadn’t yet had lunch, and our friends took us to one of Japadog’s several stands. As we were ‘off-peak’, we missed the queue but while we were waiting for our Japadogs to be prepared, the queue behind us just grew and grew. I wolfed down the Okonomi ($6.25) – bonito flakes, fried cabbage, Japanese mayonnaise and special okonomiyaki sauce on a sizzling, juicy kurobuta pork sausage. The others had vegetarian Japadogs which were also amazing. We’ve since recreated our own versions at home (bring on the Japadog parties!)

• Vij’s – this seemed to be a ‘must visit’ Vancouver restaurant, according to my research, but I was initially put off by the stories of 2 hour long queues, confirmed by our friends who are regulars and know Vij. However, we all turned up at 17.25 on a Tuesday (five minutes before the doors opened), mentally prepared for a long wait, and got a table for five immediately. The complimentary hot snacks kept arriving as the servers circled the dining room with their bowls and platters, and everything on the menu was scrumptious, including my lamb popsicles (lamb chops). Vegetarians will also be delighted at Vij’s! And if you can’t bear to wait, there is also Rangoli next door, a more casual version of Vij’s and does takeaway too

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Tags: Canada, dining out, food, food & travel, restaurants, travel, traveleating, Vancouver

I’m back briefly to let you all know about my latest project, a small 80 page photobook called a ‘traveleating’ journal: japan, based on my three Japan posts from the trip last November. It was so much fun putting this together and I relived the entire trip during the editing process. I received plenty of help from vegetarian husband Garson Byer, who also let me use some of his photos.

The book is for sale at the Blurb bookstore for £14.45 (excluding shipping) and you can preview the first 15 pages by clicking on the image above. All profits from the sale of each book (the profit for a soft cover copy is £1.50) will be sent to Beijing-based charity Crazy Bake, which is run by an old friend of mine. Mentally challenged patients are taught to bake bread for sale, and the money that they raise helps them to become more self-sufficient.

Please help by telling friends and family. I’d like to raise as much money for Crazy Bake as possible…

Thank you!

Helen Yuet Ling Pang

Tags: food, food & travel, Japan, Japanese, travel, travel tips, traveleating

I decided on my last day in Japan to retire from food blogging. I’ve been blogging intensively for over two years and have reached the point where I’m mentally very tired and would like to do something different. I have loved writing about food, sharing my eating experiences and most of all learning from readers, whether it’s a suggestion for preparing a dish or a restaurant recommendation. I’ve also immensely enjoyed meeting, both online and face to face, like-minded people who are passionate about food. If it weren’t for my fantastic readers, I would have stopped a long time ago.

Writing the final lines of the Tokyo post was difficult, and I felt a mixture of emotions – sadness that it was my last proper post and also relief that it was my last proper post. My blog has dominated my life for its entire existence and I suppose I always assumed that I would just continue with it. People have suggested writing fewer posts or only writing when I travel, but I’m an all or nothing person. I either have to blog as much as I have done or stop completely. There’s no middle road for me. However, I’ll keep World Foodie Guide live for as long as possible and try to answer as many comments as I can.

As for me, I’ll continue to learn about photography, travel (25 Food & Travel Destinations) and perhaps even write a historical novel. The husband will be able to eat food that doesn’t need to be photographed first and the cats will have more of my attention. And of course I’ll still be enjoying my food!

Thank you to each and every one of you for reading…

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: cookery, cooking, dining out, food, food & travel, recipes, restaurant review, restaurants, travel, traveleating

We spent six days in Tokyo between various trips to Kyoto (see Kyoto Tales), Numazu and visiting the Jigokudani snow monkeys in the Japan Alps (see Snow Monkeys & Soba Noodles). As this was my fifth time in Tokyo, I chose to concentrate on my favourite places, as well as visit a few areas new to me…

Trip 1: Tsukiji – breakfast – Hamarikyu Garden – Sumida River trip – Asakusa – lunch – Kappabashi-dori

This was my first visit to Tsukiji fish market, although I came very close to going on my last trip. Before the jetlag wore off, I decided on an early morning outing to this gigantic wholesale market, which has been in its current location since the 1923 earthquake. Even with jetlag, I knew it would be impossible for us to arrive for 5am, but 6.05 was a respectable enough start! Countless varieties of seafood were on sale at the hundreds and hundreds of stalls and the sheer volume was overwhelming. We also had to be alert at all times to avoid the numerous mini forklift vehicles scooting up and down the aisles at top speed. The people at Tsukiji can be brusque, but they are there to earn a living, rather than accommodate tourists. A friendly ‘ohaiyo gozaimasu‘ works wonders and one vendor even drew me a little map to direct us to the sushi bars. These are located near the other shops and stalls that sell all manner of food produce from pickles to cutlery (and divine matcha ice cream!) and which are just as interesting as the main fish market itself.

My sushi breakfast was a welcome respite from the manic hustle and bustle of the fish market. The husband went for a wander while I chose a place with no queue. I wasn’t prepared to queue for my food nor make him wait two hours for me. My opinion is that the fish is equally fresh no matter where you eat it at Tsukiji, so why follow the hordes of tourists? I sat with three Japanese people at the small counter facing my extremely friendly and entertaining sushi chef, who was most proud of his creations, and loved being photographed too. My breakfast cost ?2600 (£18) and was worth every yen. I left my sushi bar feeling very pleased with myself, especially as there were ridiculously long queues outside certain establishments by 7.45am.

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Tags: dining out, food, food & travel, Japan, Japanese, Japanese food, restaurant review, restaurants, Tokyo, travel, travel tips, traveleating

After travelling to see the Jigokudani snow monkeys (see Snow Monkeys and Soba Noodles) in the Japan Alps, we returned to Yokohama to repack our bags before leaving early the next morning for Kyoto, Japan’s old imperial capital.

Planning the three days was harder than I thought. I had to drop many of the items on my wishlist, including day trips to nearby Osaka and Nara. It would also have been wonderful to spend the night at the Buddhist temple on Koyasan (a World Heritage site) and sample shojin-ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine). Most of all, I wanted to return to Kobe, where I had one of the most memorable meals of my entire life, a simple but spectacular dish of Kobe beef. In the end though, rather than rushing about trying to fit in multiple locations, I decided to plan a relaxing three day stay in Kyoto. It’s easy to forget how exhausting travelling can be.

Kyoto Day 1:

Arashiyama is a renowned area of natural beauty to the west of Kyoto and popular in the autumn for viewing the changing leaf colours. Best of all, it’s just a 15 minute train journey from Kyoto station. As the ryokan check-in time wasn’t until 2pm, I thought it would be a good idea to arrive at Kyoto station, leave our bags in coin lockers and head out to see the famous symbol of Arashiyama, Togetsu-kyo, the wooden (and concrete) ‘Moon Crossing Bridge’, and wander through the bamboo forest.

I had planned a shojin-ryori lunch at Tenryu-ji Temple (?3000, ?5000 & ?7000 set lunch menus, plus a ?500 admission fee to the temple grounds), however they were fully booked when my friend called to make a booking a month in advance. I then briefly considered Nishiki and their kaiseki bento lunch box as well as Sagano for their yudofu (Kitcho, with its recently awarded three Michelin stars, offered unaffordable kaiseki at ?35-40000 /£232 – £265 (prices from a few years ago)). In the end, I decided to just turn up and see…

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Tags: dining out, food, food & travel, Japan, Japanese, Japanese food, Kyoto, restaurants, travel, traveleating, vegetarian

Background:

Charmaine from tasty treats! and I visited Italian eaterie Bocca di Lupo back in January, not long after it opened. For some reason, we ordered from their One Dish Meals menu rather than trying various small-sized plates of food. I’ve regretted this ever since, so when Caitlin from Vinoteca and her partner wanted to eat there, a plan was set for dinner. Since my first visit, many friends and food bloggers have eaten at Bocca di Lupo and most have had positive experiences, so I was keen to try some of the other dishes.

Tip:

If you like kitchen action, then the chef’s counter is the place to be. It’s very long, but only a few of the seats directly face the kitchen, while the rest face the bar, so bear this in mind when you book. I sat right in front of the second chef David Cook as Jacob Kennedy wasn’t there, so I could see all the finished dishes being handed over (there was an impressive dish of foccacia with spleen & lungs simmered in lard and smoked ricotta) which helped us to identify what to order.

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Tags: Bocca di Lupo, dining out, food, food & travel, Italian, London, restaurant review, restaurants, traveleating

Thanks to Tess’ Japanese Kitchen, who passed the Brilliante Weblog Premio 2008 Award onto me. I feel really honoured! It’s the third award I’ve received in the last couple of months…

Here are the 7 colleagues I’m going to pass the award onto:

• Aapplemint - I love the photos, recipes and health tips, especially the one on honey & cinnamon

• An American in London – great restaurant reviews from London and abroad

• Appetite for China – I’ve learned lots about where to eat in Beijing from Diana

• Fotocuisine – the stunning food photos have inspired me to buy my new camera

• Londonelicious – excellent resource for London restaurant reviews

• Tamarind and Thyme – for great recipes and restaurant reviews

• We Are Never Full – one of the first food blogs I came across, and as brilliant as ever

And the rules, for those who accept this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog
2. Link to the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: awards, food, traveleating