YAKINIKU JUMBO

On our last evening in Tokyo, we ventured out to Shirokane in the southern end of Minato for an early dinner at Yakiniku Jumbo.  This yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant only serves A5 Black Wagyu which is the highest quality of Japanese beef.  The place is simply decorated with wooden booths and tables with a built-in grill in the center.  Reservations are recommended as the place fills up quickly as soon as they open at 5:00 p.m. and tables are allocated every two hours so we were gently ushered out at 6:30 so they could reset for the next batch of diners.

Different cuts are available on the menu from traditional cuts like short-plate kalbi and the loin to higher-priced prime cuts like shoulder and rib-eye plus sirloin which is only served in extra thin sukiyaki slices and served with a raw egg dip.  There's also a large selection of offal: beef tongue, intestine and stomach as well as pork womb (not really sure what that is) along with the more usual pork cheek and pork loin.  Specialties include Korean-style beef tartare and raw beef heart sashimi.  A few salads, kimchi and some vegetables (pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, mushroom, onion, carrot and shishito pepper) to be cooked on the grill is all there is for vegetarians.  Aside from steamed rice in small (individual), to medium or large (family-size) portions, they have two special rice dishes cooked in hot stone bowl: the traditional bibimbap topped with vegetables and a raw egg or the unusual Wagyu garlic rice version which is topped with a mound hand-chopped raw Wagyu beef and raw garlic which is mixed into the hot rice and continues to cook in the super hot stone bowl sort of like an instant extra-delicious premium fried rice.  Desserts are limited to Hokkaido soft-serve milk flavored ice cream or sherbet.

We  ordered both beef and pork, a green salad of lettuce in a sesame soy dressing, assorted vegetables and both the bibimbap and the Wagyu garlic rice.  The meat was melt-in-the-mouth tender with the marbled fat making every mouthful a pleasure.  The kids enjoyed it as well as we did and we ended up ordering more meat as the first plates went by way quicker than we expected.  Our server was a friendly California-raised Japanese surfer dude, making it the only meal we had in Tokyo where we could communicate easily with the person assigned to our table.  After a fantastic meal, we skipped dessert and instead took a short walk along the pedestrian street of the quiet residential area of Shirokane before heading back to the hotel.  Out of all our meals in Japan, yakiniku was the one that appealed to the whole family even if they only served one type of food: meat on the grill.  My Argentine husband got his meat fix and the kids and I all enjoyed the simple dinner of quality grilled meat and rice.  Looks like they have a partner restaurant in Singapore Yakiniku Yazawa which we are now eager to try for our Sunday family dinner out.

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Yakiniku Jumbo

Dai-ichi Azabu Bldg. 1F, 3-1-1 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Tel. 03-5795-4129

Open daily 5:00 p.m. to midnight (Closed 31 December to 2 January)

YOSHIMATSU

After a morning spent shopping for children's presents at Hakuhinkan Toy Park, Tokyo's version of Toys'R'Us, Rumi and I were escorted by the shop's owner to his favorite tempura restaurants a few blocks away.  Just off Ginza, in a back alley was an unmarked sliding door which led to my best lunch in Tokyo.  One of those memorable meals that magically combines a sense of place with delicious food and hilarious company.

Rumi and I entered the simple room with just a seven-seat counter in the center lined by blond wood walls - no decorations or music and no chef.  We were offered something to drink by the kimono-clad server - Rumi ordered a cold beer for us to share and this was served with a small plate of cold silken tofu.  While we waited to see what would happen, the unsmiling chef came in from the kitchen, nodded his head to us and quietly approached his large bubbling vat of oil carrying with him several bamboo baskets filled with all sorts of seafood and vegetables.  He gave us three tiny plates with grated radish, a bit of lemon juice and some fine salt then, the show began.

As this was a tempura restaurant, all the food that the chef prepared was first dipped in a light ice-cold batter then deep-fried.  First came a single block of soft tofu - hot and silky soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside.  As soon as we had gobbled this up, the chef would fry the next morsel: lotus root followed by sweet shrimp, asparagus then young corn and a small bundle of thin green beans.  Halfway through the meal, the chef could see the glazed look in our eyes and hear the oohing and aching after every bite and finally, a flicker of a smile finally appeared on his face.  Next up was a quail egg, a scallop, some white fish, shiso leaf, several more tiny sweet shrimp and finally a small plate of pickles and served with the traditional last course, a bowl of cooked short-grain rice in which the chef had poured some green tea and topped it with a delicate prawn fritter.  By this time, the chef was chatting with us and telling us about how he loves what he does and that although, Michelin wanted to list him, he asked them not to as he wanted to keep his restaurant small and as is and just keep cooking the food he loves to do.  Lunch lasted a couple of hours and ended with some lemon jelly and green tea.  We left the restaurant with a full belly, smiles on our faces and a hand-wrapped onigiri gift from the chef.  Tempura will never taste the same again.  That's what happens when one visits Japan, all the other previous Japanese meals start to pale in comparison.

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Yoshimatsu
*Open for lunch and dinner
*I promised the chef not to publish the location, so please email me at: gourmettraveller@gmail.com for the address

TORISHIGE

My friend Rumi recommended this traditional yakitori restaurant, one of the oldest in Tokyo with over 80 years of mastering the art of grilled skewered chicken.  What started out in 1931 as a simple food stall located behind the Kabuki theater, quickly became a favorite of the Kabuki actors and theater crowd which then prompted the owners to make it into a restaurant in 1939.  It moved to its' current Ginza spot in 1958 and has been run by the same family for three generations.  Torishige is not the usual elbow-to-elbow, crowded, smoky and noisy yakitori joint (there are other places to experience that) but a simple refined version frequented by locals and concentrating on the grilled chicken and not so much on the ambiance.

On the mid-week evening that we visited Torishige, I was the only female in the whole packed restaurant.  We were seated in the middle of the counter, not too close to the grill but close enough for us to watch the chef pay close attention to dozens of skewers laid out on a narrow grill filled with hot coals.  We decided to order the Jidori menu (4800 yen - around $45) for 8 sticks with soup and rice.  We didn't have long to wait as the skewers started to be come straight from the smoky grill - aigamo (duck), tebasaki (flat wing tip), aigamo shimeji (brown beech mushroom rolled by sliced duck), tsukune (chicken meatballs) and chunks of jidori (free-range chicken) with leeks - all savoury bites of perfectly char-grilled poultry.  The set menu also included the chestnut like-ginnan (ginkgo nuts), asparagus or Shiitake mushrooms (we ordered one of each so we could have both), and kimo (chicken liver) that we asked them to substitute for shishito peppers.  By the time the famous curried rice and chicken broth were brought, we were too full to finish either and just and had a taste of each. Another wonderful dinner which explains why Tokyo is on every foodies' must-go list.

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Torishige
6-9-15 Ginza

Chuo-ku, Tokyo
TEL: +81 3 3571 8372

*Open for lunch Mondays to Fridays 11:30 - 14:00
*Dinner Mondays to Fridays 17:00 - 22:00 (Last call 21:15)
*Saturday 16:00 - 21:00 (Last call 20:30)
*Closed Sunday and National holidays

ENCANTO BEACH CLUB, BAR AND GRILL

Encanto is the beach club and restaurant of the Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve.  Located away from the arrival pavilion and main pool and Positivo Sandbar, the open-air beach complex has a large pool, sun loungers, cabanas and a main restaurant serving both lunch and dinner.

At midday, there is menu of lunch classics - sandwiches, wraps, tacos, salads and pizzas and for dinner, the menu changes to Asian-inspired hot and cold appetizers along with several grilled items and sides.

For lunch, I've eaten almost everything on the menu - the blackened fish tacos are my favorite along with their freshly made tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa.  There's a good ceasar salad which can be ordered with churrasco (skirt steak), shrimp or chicken or the large kobe beef burger with Parmesan fries.

For dinner, we often order several appetizers to share and make a meal of that.  From the cold selection, don't miss the green papaya salad and the snapper ceviche while from the hot selection, my favorites are crispy yellow tail snapper with ginger sauce and the soy honey glazed Berkshire pork belly.  I've also had a simply grilled Atlantic salmon with green asparagus and the irresistible garlic fries.  Since the menus at lunch and dinner are so different, it's like eating in a different restaurant every time.  I prefer the dinner menu which is more creative and modern but that's just me.

Desserts are also different at lunch and dinner.  Don't miss the giant ice cream sundae for lunch and for dinner, try one of the Asian-inspired desserts like the banana spring rolls with a caramel dip or the coconut-flavored rice pudding.
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Encanto Beach Club Bar and Grill
at the Dorado Beach, a Ritz Carlton Reserve
100 Dorado Beach Drive
Dorado PR 00646
Telephone: +1 787278 7232
*Open daily for lunch and dinner.

ZUMA

The last time I ate in Zuma was in London, the first one of many Zumas that have since opened all over the world so when I heard that they had opened a Miami outpost, I had to go back and see if Zuma had changed.

First was trying to get a reservation.  Although Zuma is listed in Open Table, it was impossible to get a booking as all the times I chose for dinner (7:00, 7:30, or 8:00) were showing up as booked already.  In the end, I had to call their dedicated reservations number and after several minutes on hold, I was finally able to book a table for dinner on a Thursday evening.

We arrived in Zuma slightly late for our booking as we missed the entrance to the Epic Hotel and ended up parking further down the road at the Epic Residences then just walking over.  As soon as we got to the entrance, we were told that we would have to vacate our table at 9:00 sharp.  So far, nothing had changed.

The restaurant was packed as usual with loud music and lots of groups squeezed into tables with hardly any room to get through.  Interiors are similar to the one in London but instead of a large open space, it was an oddly-shaped room with a smaller bar near the entrance and tables cramped close together.  (We should have indicated that we'd rather sit at the sushi bar which was empty).

Our server coming forward immediately with the menus and the drink list and asking if we'd like some edamame to start.  While we munched on the edamame, we studied the menu and decided on sharing several dishes along with a glass each of Sancerre and Sauvignon Blanc.  We started on some miso soup then a small sashimi plate of three types of fish: salmon, tuna and hamachi.  This was followed by some spicy tuna roll - crispy, spicy sesame seed studded rice rolls filled with tuna and avocado.

We then had four dishes from the robatayaki (grill): beef skewers with shishito pepper and chili soy, yakitori boneless chicken thighs and leeks, grilled spiced sweet potato and miso-flavored eggplant along with the five-piece tiger prawn tempura.  For dessert, we shared a sorbet selection: three scoops of homemade fruit sorbet: yuzu, mango and lychee.

As in London, dinner was delicious and service was seamless but the feeling of being rushed through the meal is always present along with the surprising add-on 18% service charge.  So far, so typical.  Diner at Zuma is good Japanese food mixed with people watching and a club-like atmosphere.  Next time, it might be better to persevere with booking a table at Naoe where I hear the food is even better and one is never rushed through dinner.
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ZUMA
at the Epic Hotel
270 Biscayne Blvd. Way
Miami FL 33131
Telephone: +1 305 577 0277
*Open daily for dinner.  Lunch Mondays to Saturdays. Brunch on Sundays.

SHINSENGUMI

After the night flight from Hong Kong, I arrived in LAX on a Monday evening in late November and was met by my sister and my brother-in-law's younger brother.  I had promised them dinner and we went straight to Shinsengumi , a yakitori restaurant they had been raving about.  (Though not technically in laguna beach, this branch was the closest on our way home so that's where we went).

We got to the restaurant about 10:00 p.m. and surprisingly, the place was still pretty full and the next-door ramen place still had a queue of diners outside waiting to have noodles.  The place is small with a few tables near the entrance and a large counter that takes up most of the space where the grill is located and where several diners were still busy with their dinner.

 

We settled into a booth right by the entrance and were given the robata list where we could pencil in our orders directly.  Initially, we just ordered one stick each thinking that each order had two or three skewers but when the food arrived and it was just one skewer per order, we ordered a second round of yakitori.  The food came quickly, hot off the grill.  We had chicken skin, chicken thighs with green onion both in salt and with special house sauce, chicken wings, quail eggs, Washu beef, pork belly, and chicken meatballs.  We also ordered a small tuna sashimi, tofu agedashi and fried octopus to share with hot green tea.  The yakitori was flavorful and as it was after 10:00 p.m., it was Yakitori happy hour so most of the skewers were priced at $1.50 each instead of the usual $2.00 to $3.50 making our dinner for three very affordable.  It was a really good meal to welcome my arrival in the States.

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Shinsengumi Robata and Yakitori
18315 Brookhurst Street, #1
(Promenade Shopping Center)
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Telephone: +1 (714) 962-8952
*Open for lunch Mondays to Fridays, 11:30 to 2:00 p.m. (Ramen only)
*Open for dinner daily from 6:00 to 11:30 p.m. 


*Other branches in Gardena, Monterey Park and Rosemead and also in Tokyo.

Buenos Aires: A few of my favorite things

Artesania Argentina

Arandu - Avenida Ayacucho, 1924, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4800 1575)

Right smack in the tony neighborhood of Recoleta, Arandu has been in business since 1987 producing high quality traditional Argentinean arts and crafts.  From belts to ponchos, alpargatas to boots and all sorts of leather goods, pewter items to silverware, carriages to saddles and even clothes, are all beautifully displayed at their multi-story boutique close to the Alvear Hotel.  They have several branches in the city but it's this particular location that is often visited by celebrities and tourists in search of a souvenir or made-to-order equestrian equipment. 

Best buy: gaucho-inspired belt or alpargatas for less than US$20.

Lecuona de Prat Artesanias - Pacheco de Melo 1967 - 1C, Recoleta (Telphone: +54 11 4803 0253)

In an apartment located in residential Recoleta is this amazing boutique of Maria del Pino Lecuona de Prat (a mouthful of a name) where one-of-a-kind pewter items from Salta are for sale. There are trays and soap dishes, bracelets and picture frames, ice buckets and tumblers, all of them handmade.  Prices are not cheap but this is a real find.  Call first for an appointment.

Best buy: pewter stirrup-shaped teaspoon with a handle covered in braided leather for about US$10.

30 Quarenta - Arroyo 890, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4326 1065)

Although not a shop that specializes in traditional Argentinean artifacts, this colorful store on Recoleta's chi-chi antique furniture and art gallery street Arroyo, is a delight.  Antique posters, old toys reworked as lamps, decorative pieces and furniture.  You'll be sure to find something you like and if friendly owner Miguel is there, have a chat with him to find out a bit more about his whimsical designs.

Helado (a.k.a ice cream)

Argentina competes with Italy for best artesanal gelatos with an excellent quality and innovative flavors.  There is always the original, classic Freddo (several locations, Delivery ) but our favorite is Un'Altra Volta (also several locations, Delivery 0810 88-VOLTA) for their creamy flavors and an incomparable chocolate amargo (bitter chocolate).

Best buy:  Mini cones at both places for US$1.20 for a sweet afternoon treat

Treats to try: 

• fried (not baked) empanadas - the best ones I've tried are at El Mirasol (see below)
• medialunas de grasa (made from lard) and medialunas de manteca (made from butter)
• tostados de jamon y queso at any cafe for breakfast or an afternoon snack
• cortadito - a slightly taller espresso macchiato

Recoleta

A stroll around the neighborhood of Recoleta, mainly on Avenida Alvear and Avenida Posadas where several fantastic examples of Belle-Epoque architecture are evident and where the city's most expensive designer boutiques, both local and imported ones, are located.  Watch out for the dog walkers as well - another interesting Buenos Aires feature.

El Mirasol - El Mirasol de La Recova, Posadas 1032 (Telephone: +54 11 4326 7322)

My two favorites on their menu and probably the best versions in the city.  Empanadas de carne - hot crispy, fried pastries filled with a delicious ground meat and spice mix and Mollejas de corazon (veal sweetbreads) - sliced thinly and grilled to perfection and enjoyed just with a spritz of lemon.

Best buy: A dozen empanadas to go or to delivered to your doorstep in a box.  Empanadas are about US$1.50 each.

Alpataco, vinos y cuero - Avenida Pte. M. Quintana 450, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4806 9637)

Good value and reasonably-priced, wines are good presents for friends or for your own cellar.  There are several wine stores in the city but this is one that we liked because of the friendly service and knowledgeable staff.  They have a well-edited selection of wines accompanied by wine accessories and beautiful leather products making it a one-of-a-kind store. Plus, they pack the wines in styrofoam cases ready to be checked in for a long flight and deliver to your apartment of hotel.

Best buy: a bottle of the typical Argentine white wine Torrontes for around US$15.

Aldo's Vinoteca - Moreno 372, San Telmo (Telephone: +54 11 5291 2380)

In out of the way San Telmo, this wine bar is paving the way to proper enjoyment of wines with it's policy of selling wines with retail shop prices in the restaurant to encourage diners to splash out on a good bottle of wine instead of ordering the usual cheaper wines by the glass. It's an idea that should be copied wordlwide.

Best buy: a plate of cured salmon (US$11) with a bottle of Torrontes (US$15).

Asado Argentino

Our last evening in Buenos Aires was spent with family at home and a typical Argentine Asado (barbecue meal) where it's all about the lighting up the grill early then waiting patiently for the wood to burn then when the embers fly and the wood is white-hot, the grill is cranked up and the super hot wood chunks are pushed underneath before the grill is lowered again and the meat is cooked.  We always start with some sausages - always chorizo, sometimes morcilla (blood sausage) followed by several cuts of meat.  This time there were costillas de cerdo  (pork ribs), asado de tira (beef short ribs) and  bife de lomo (tenderloin)  plus baked potatoes.  Along with the meats, there are always several salads: cherry tomatoes, hearts of palm and corn, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, a mixed green salad, and shredded carrots with shredded beets.  Several plates of meat and bottles of Malbec later and the desserts were served: a strawberry mousse, a chocolate tart and brownies.  It was a beautiful spring evening with family and a great way to end our two-week holiday.

* The photo above is an Asado Argentino that we did at our home in Bali last year.  Again, it's all about the grill and the wood used.  We had a makeshift grill propped up on the ground but we still used wood and did it the classic way.

EL OBRERO

Bodegon El Obrero in La Boca has always been on our list of parilla restaurants to try.  Over the years, we had heard mixed reviews but we were still curious to go there, if only for it's reputation as being Boca Juniors players favorite restaurant and it's convenient location near La Bombonera, the iconic football stadium that is Boca Juniors home.  Opened in 1954, El Obrero has the claim to fame as being one of the oldest parrillas in town.

On a sunny Monday morning, the kids went off with their grandmother and cousin C to Temaiken, a large bio-park showcasing animals in their natural habitats, about an hour's drive away from the city.  We took advantage of the free day to have lunch at El Obrero and finally see what the fuss was all about.  The restaurant's facade is quite rundown and doesn't really invite passersby to walk in but once you enter the wooden doors, you are greeted by a floor-to-ceiling display of football memorabilia with one wall dedicated to football pennants from other teams and the facing wall filled with framed photos of football celebrities including lots of shots of the most famous Boca Junior player - Diego Maradona.  Surprisingly, the place is actually not as scruffy as it seems from the outside with it's white tablecloths and cozy wooden chairs.

The specialties are written on several chalkboards hung on the walls but we were also presented with a menu that had and English translation (a sure sign that the restaurant is now frequented by many tourists) along with a basket of bread.  The menu is varied and also includes several fish and seafood dishes which is not typical.  After having a look at the standard parilla items, we decided to have share a chorizo a la mariposa (split in the middle and "butterflied" so it cooks all the way through) and our favorite mollejas (sweetbreads) to start along with a simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes and thinly-sliced onions.

The starters were served soon after.  The chorizo was delicious - spicy, meaty and crispy both on the outside and on the inside and tucked into a split baguette-like roll, it was the perfect choripan (chorizo sandwich).  The mollejas were fine but were slice too thickly for our taste (The best mollejas are still at El Mirasol) making the sweetbreads quite chewy.  Squirted with  a bit of lemon juice though, they were okay.  Our shared main course came next - asado de tira, the classic Argentine cut of short ribs (which is like having spaghetti bolognese at an Italian restaurant) which was cooked perfectly and served with fantastic chimichurri (oregano, herbs and oil-based Argentine sauce for everything from the grill).  The meat was disappointingly greasy and gristly with not much on the bone.  Worse were the accompanying fried sweet potatoes we ordered which were undercooked and hard as coins.  We ate what we could and settled for a shared espresso for dessert then waited for our radio taxi (it's unadvisable to walk around outside and hail a cab on the street).  Was it worth the trek to dingy and dangerous La Boca?  Not really.  After a Boca Juniors winning match though, it might be the place to stop for dinner and celebrate with some die-hard Boca fans.

________________________________

El Obrero

Agustin Caffarena 64

La Boca, Buenos Aires

Telephone: +54 11 4362 9912

SIP SUNSET GRILL

When a new restaurant opens in Bali, we make it a point to try it right away and see what it's like.  SIP Sunset Grill is the new concept from fun and friendly French sommelier/restaurateur Christian Vanneque of SIP Wine Bar in Seminyak.  This time, he has opened a larger restaurant with the usual reasonably-priced wines.  Managing the place is another "Frenchie" Eric Guth who has worked at several hotels and was the opening F&B director of the Bulgari Bali.

The restaurant is cozy with leather banquettes lining the room, brick walls and lots of natural light.  There is a large bar at the front with a few cocktail tables and a separate private dining room in the glassed-in wine cellar.  The kitchen is visible from the dining room with the large grill as the focal point.  They also have an outdoor area with several tables and a vertical garden.  The location on the Sunset road and ample parking out front makes it very accessible even to those coming from Nusa Dua, the Bukit or Sanur. There is also a glassed-in bullet proof display case where the most expensive bottle of white wine is kept - the 1811 Chateau d'Yquem that Christian purchased at auction for £75,000  (around US$122,000) - see photo below.

The menu at SIP Sunset Grill is simple with less items compared to SIP Wine Bar.  A few starters and salads then from the grill, several cuts of meat (sirloin, rib-eye, tenderloin, pork chop, chicken breast), fish (catch of the day, salmon) and a grilled seafood plate.  For lunch, there is a very reasonably-priced two course set menu for 85000++ IDR (with taxes, around US$12) with a choice of starter and main or main and dessert.  For lunch one day,  A had the set lunch - a delicious starter of leeks vinaigrette followed by the chicken vol au vent - chicken and mushrooms in a gravy served in a puff pastry case.  I chose two starters for my lunch - the Salade Nicoise a la SIP which came with the grilled tuna with roasted peppers over bread on one side, and the salad greens and quail eggs on the other.  For my main course, I had the seafood vol au vent - squid and prawns in a saffron sauce which also came in a puff pastry case.  We shared the strawberry and meringue dessert and finished off with espressos.

  

I also went with a friend last week but this time we didn't have the set menu.  She had two starters - the Nicoise salad and the scallop raviolis while I had the tuna carpaccio and the grilled chicken with tarragon sauce.  Light lunches which we chose especially so we could share two desserts - a creme caramel and the honey souffle.

On another occasion, we went for dinner and A had the two-fish terrine to start while I had the tuna carpaccio.  For our main courses, A had the pork chop from the serious cuts section of the menu which has larger cuts of meat, while I had the classic Entrecote-frites-Bearnaise.  We all shared several desserts - the extra sweet honey souffle, a dark bitter chocolate mousse, a decadent rum-infused Baba au rhum and the strawberry Arlette - a millefeuille filled with whipped cream and strawberries.

SIP Sunset Grill will go on my safe list as the type of restaurant that you can go to with the kids on the weekend or with friends for a quick lunch mid-week.  The food is simple, the prices are reasonable, the service friendly and the wines on their list well-chosen - everything needed for a good restaurant.  They're still on their first month since opening so expect a few minor glitches (like the bills getting mixed up) but I'm sure they'll get that sorted out sooner rather than later.  It's another great addition to the island's growing number of more casual restaurants and with both Christian and Eric at the helm, it should become one of Bali's best.

P.D.  14 November 2011
Since posting this, there have been a few changes at SIP Sunset.  Manager Eric has left and a new French chef, Karim Hassene, has taken over the kitchen revamping the menu and adding on several new and improved dishes while still keeping the spirit of their French-influenced grill menu. I was there for a recent dinner and was impressed by what I ate: a red pepper carpaccio with a crispy goat-cheese croquette, salmon teriyaki with roesti, pumkin ravioli with tomato concasee and a simple grilled tenderloin this time with thin-homemade fries and a side sauce of chimichurri.  Now, I'm ready to go back for several more meals and eat my way through their new menu.

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SIP Sunset Grill

Sunset Road 88X

Seminyak 80361

Bali, Indonesia

Telephone: +62 361 847 5830 or 31

*Open daily for lunch and dinner.  Kitchen serves food till late.

AKANOYA ROBATAYAKI

Counter seating with fresh produce on display

Finding a good restaurant in bustling Singapore isn't difficult as there are many to go to.  We were eager to try one of the newly-opened ones at the Marina Bay Sands but opted for something completely different at the last minute as our son decided to come along and make our diner a deux to a diner a trois.

Akanoya Robatayaki at the Orchard Parade hotel is a counter-seating restaurant where all sorts of fish, meat, seafood and vegetables are cooked on a robata (a Japanese-style charcoal grill) right in front of the diners.  There are three large counter/display areas and we were seated at the corner of one making conversation much easier.

Robatayaki are an interactive dining experience.  There is no menu.  You choose your food from the produce on display and then the servers then call out your order very loudly while the chefs standing behind the counter, acknowledge each order as it's shouted out - a very noisy but fun atmosphere. 

Some of the many little dishes we had

As soon as the orders are called out, the chef gets busy by picking out from the market-style display the ingredients he will need to cook.  We had asked for many different items, all grilled and mostly skewered, and decided to share them between us.  While we waited for the food to be grilled, we were served a small starter of lotus root and a slab of cold tofu.  Both were delicious and a good omen for what was to come.

Then the food starting coming.  There was tontoro kushi (slightly crispy yet juicy chunks of black pork),  tebasaki (chicken wings) and yaki tori (boneless chicken thighs), tori tsukune (ground chicken meatballs served with a raw egg yolk and soy sauce for dipping) and the shockingly expensive marbled melt-in-the-mouth wagyu beef.  For vegetables, we had  beinasu dengaku (miso-slathered aubergine), , satsumaimo (tiny sweet potatoes), peko rosu (tiny red-skinned onions).  For seafood there were a few kuruma ebi (Imperial prawns) and a hokkigai (extra large Japanese clam).  The food came in random order and were placed on top of a long-handled wooden paddle before being served directly from the grill to us.  Great fun, convenient and also piping-hot.  Several iced green teas later and we were done.  After a small plate of slice fruit, we reluctantly gave up our prime seats and left the restaurant.  Our wallets were much lighter, our bellies full and most importantly, umami was experienced.

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Akanoya Robatayaki

Ground floor, Orchard Parade Hotel

1 Tanglin road

Singapore

Telephone: +65 6732 1866

*Open daily for dinner from 6:30 till 1 a.m. (last orders at 12:30).

*Reservations highly recommended

FERVOR

Scenes from Fervor, clockwise from top left: cutlery chandelier, the bar, signage, red menu.

Being back in Buenos Aires is like being back home (my second home, that is) and is always a pleasure to visit even for just a week.  On this trip, we had our first Sunday lunch at our all-time favorite parrilla - El Mirasol.  As always, it was packed with families enjoying the grilled meat and convivial atmosphere.

On Monday evening, my Mother-in-law invited us to try Fervor, a relatively new parrilla for dinner located on Posadas street right smack in the middle of chi-chi Recoleta.  Fervor is owned by the same people who run the Italian restaurant Sottovoce (another one we regularly visit and where we had dinner on Sunday evening).  The restaurant is right beside a street-side flower stall which makes the entrance colorful.  Interiors are bistro-like and done up in red (velvet curtains, menu covers, leather banquettes) and black (chairs and tiled floors) with an interesting tiered chandelier made up of cutlery hanging upside down (good thing there were only spoons and forks as sitting underneath knives would have been too risky).  The menu is simple - charcoal grilled meat obviously but also fish and seafood which is quite unusual in meat-centric Argentina, but a nice change for non-carnivores.

The place was half-empty when we arrived at around eight.  We were seated in a banquette on the lower floor (the place to be) and were in a cozy corner table which afforded us a view of the entire room and lots of people watching.  After looking at the menus, my two Porteño companions (A and his mom, An) ordered lenguado (sole) and brochette de langostinos (prawns).  I, on the other hand, couldn't resist another chance to eat Argentine beef and chose the 400 gram ojo de bije (rib-eye), medium rare.  Two side dishes that we would share were also ordered - an arugula salad and some Provencal french fries along with a half bottle of Malbec.

Slowly, the place started to fill up with an older, international crowd, although there were also quite a few locals and for a Monday evening, it was pretty packed.  By the time our dinner was served, there was hardly a table free and the atmosphere was quite lively - noisy with cutlery and glasses clinking and lots of diners tucking into large hunks of meat.  A bowl of assorted bread was set down on the table along with some sauces - chimicurri and salsa criolla for the meat and a trio of sauces for the fish - tartar, lemon and a slightly reddish spicy one.  The portions were good - more than a dozen grilled prawns on an oval plate, a slab of striped-from-the-grill fish with a wedge of lemon and a marbled slab of charred rib-eye.  The salad was bitter and sour with the lemon dressing and the fries were a mound of hot, crunchy, garlicky goodness - the perfect accompaniment to my steak.

I thought that I would never be able to get through that piece of meat but I managed to eat it all and just give A a couple of bites to taste.  For dessert, I had some homemade ice cream - dulce de leche and chocolate for me and A and the almendrado for An.  The ice creams were creamy and delicious and the almendrado was a tasty discovery for me - crema americana (a typical Argentine ice cream flavor of frozen cream) studded with crushed toasted almonds.  The usual espressos to end the meal and a quick walk up the street to catch a cab home.  Fervor was the first new Buenos Aires restaurant we tried on this visit and the second best meal I had on this trip (the first was Michael's in Miami).  I hope that on our next visit, more new restaurants like Fervor crop up on the scene, where the design and atmosphere is the same level as the food being served.

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Fervor

Posadas 1519

Recoleta

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Telephone: +54 11 4804 4944

*Open daily for lunch and dinner. Reservations recommended

EL RELINGUE

Summer is almost over and with it also comes the end of Sotogrande's polo season. We went to see the semi-finals of the Copa de Oro Jaeger Le Coultre between Ayala and Las Monjitas, with the latter winning 14 to 7. The atmosphere at the Santa Maria Polo Club was like a chic village fete with tents selling leather and polo-related goods like La Martina, Hackett plus others from sponsors such as Nespresso, Taittinger, and Bacardi. After the game, we decided to have dinner nearby before heading back home.

A friend had recommended a new restaurant right by the polo grounds - El Cancha II but we weren't sure where it was so we went to the Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro right by the church, to another place that I had heard about from someone who left a comment on my blog ages ago. El Relingue is an Argentine grill restaurant (which seems to be the concept of most Sotogrande restaurants catering to the many Argentines who live and work for polo year-round), with a lovely outdoor terrace area and a cozy dining room flanked by large windows overlooking the plaza mayor (main square).

The menu is basically different cuts of beef and pork cooked on a wood-burning open grill accompanied by a selection of salads and sides (potatoes in several ways, spinach etc) plus a few Italian dishes that Argentines love, like raviolis and milanesas. We hardly glanced at the menu because we already knew what we were going to have.

We had an empanada de carne (meat pie) each and were so glad that we did. Both arrived hot and deep-fried with a crispy crust and filled with oregano-flavored ground meat. Eaten with just a bit of salsa chimichurri, it was heaven in hot, little bites.

This was followed by a chorizo criollo (Argentine pork sausage) for myself and morcilla (blood sausage) for A. Both were very good but the morcilla should have stayed on the grill a while longer because it was hot on the outside but cold on the inside. A simple salad of tomatoes, red onions and lettuce was served with our main course: asado de tira (short ribs) for A and costillitas de cerdo (baby-back ribs) for me. We split the two so we could have a pork and beef ribs combination which we ate with a plate of fries and the salad. The meat was very good and all it needed was a bit of salsa chimichurri. We were already quite full but couldn't resist having the traditional dessert of panqueque con dulce de leche (caramel-filled crepes). El Relingue proved to be a pleasant surprise and a fantastic new find. It was such a treat that we're already looking forward to going again for another good meal.

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El Relingue

Edif. Plaza Mayor

Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro

Sotogrande, Cadiz

+34 956 69 51 68

Argentinean Dinner

Last night, we invited our next-door neighbors M & A and kids over for dinner. They had prepared a traditional Iranian meal for us a few weeks back and we decided to do an Argentinean dinner to reciprocate. After a week of careful planning - recipe research (from my mother-in-law), looking for ingredients all around Marbella and making do with our Weber grill instead of a parrilla (Argentine grill), we managed to re-create a near-authentic (at least food wise) experience for them.

As most Argentine meals are rustic outdoor set-ups where a large wooden table is set right beside the grill in a shady area of the garden, we opened all our sliding doors to let the outside in and first had aperitifs and appetizers on the terrace followed by the asado (grilled meat bien sur) indoors at sundown which is around half past nine anyway. The table was set with a place mat, a square plate, simple cutlery - forks and Laguiole steak knives, a linen napkin and some rosemary plants in terra-cotta pots as centerpieces.

To start we had empanadas de choclo (corn) y empanadas de carne (mince) along with Provoleta (grilled Provolone cheese) and chunks of baguette. The fried empanadas (we prefer these to the baked ones) were hot and crispy on the outside - the meat ones were either dipped in a bit of sugar or eaten with salsa chimichurri (oregano-based sauce for grilled meat) while the corn ones were eaten plain.

As soon as the appetizers were finished and the grill was ready, A prepared the three cuts of meat: entraña (skirt steak), asado de tira (short ribs) and bife de costilla (T-bone or Porterhouse steak). As we don't have a proper parrilla (grill) which can be lowered and raised depending on the heat of the coals, it was more difficult to ensure that the meat stayed red and juicy on the outside while not completely burning the outside. The grill sparked up with flames a few times but my Argentine husband managed to keep the flames to a minimum and cook the meat to medium-rare. We had two salads with the meats: a beet-carrot-egg salad and sort of a Waldorf salad of celery, apple, pear and walnut - both popular in Argentina. We also had some papas rejilla (crisscut fries) which are similar to potato chips to accompany the meat. I didn't have time to drop by the wine store in Marbella and see what Argentine wines they had so instead of the traditional malbec, we had an excellent Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero.

After dinner, we went back to the terrace for more conversation and to wait a but before the extra-sweet dessert we were going to have - mousse de dulce de leche (caramelized milk mousse). Much-needed espressos followed until we realized it was past midnight and time for the kids to go to bed.

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Salsa Chimichurri

• 1 Tbsp. oregano, crushed (fresh is better but dried works fine as well)
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, crush the leaves
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp. ground red chili flakes or to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil (if you want a milder flavor, use vegetable oil)

Soak all ingredients in the vinegar and water. Leave for at least an hour then add the oil. Adjust seasoning and serve with meat empanadas and grilled meat.

*If you're in a rush, get some of the ready-mixed dry chimichurri herbs that you add water and vinegar to, set aside for an hour or so, add oil and it's ready. I've used this many times and the result is very good.

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Mousse de Dulce de Leche

• 1 bottle of Dulce de Leche (about 454 grams) - buy the best that you can find. (*I use either La Salamandra or Havanna)
• 454 grams of whipped cream (in other words, equal amount of whipped cream and dulce de leche)
• Crushed meringues
• Walnuts

Crush the meringues and line the bottom of a large bowl, a serving dish or any container that you would like to present the mousse in Whip the cream until stiff. Add a dollop of dulce de leche to the whipped cream and whisk in. Gently fold in the rest of the dulce de leche. Make sure that the two are mixed together. Transfer into container then chill in the fridge for at least a few hours or better yet, overnight. When the mousse is solid, top with a few walnuts. Serve very cold.