Question from Isela

Have you been to any interesting restaurants in Asia?


ANSWER: We have been to many interesting places to eat in Asia. I think what makes them interesting is the food that they serve although a couple have offered us different dining experiences. One of the first different experiences we had was when we visited Shanghai, China. It was a place called the Hot Pot (see photo), the Chinese friends that took us did all of the ordering for us and the wait staff brought over a large pot that had 2 sections filled with different broths. This pot was over a burner to heat the broth and then the wait staff brought us various raw meats and vegetables and we could choose the ones we wanted to cook ourselved in the broth. Then once the meat and vegetables are finished cooking, you fish them out with your chopsticks and dip them in a spicy peanut sauce. It was a fun experience and tasty!

My husband and I have grown fond of dim sum also. This is a type of Chinese dish that involves small individual portions of food, usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate (see photo). Dim sum is traditionally served at tea time (early afternoon) and is a perfect snack to hold you over before dinner. Dim sum can be many different things, but usually it's a steamed dumpling filled with either pork, shrimp, or vegetables and it's of course served with Chinese tea. In addition to the dumplings there's also buns filled with BBQ pork called Bau, rice noodles, meatballs, spare ribs, spring rolls, and chicken feet. The chicken feet are called Phoenix Talons and they are deep fried, then boiled, then marinated in a black bean sauce, then steamed; a lot of people eat chicken feet for breakfast, me personally I don't think they have enough meat on them (see photo). In addition, there are also cakes and pudding for dessert. Even though it's custom to eat dim sum at tea time or early in the morning, there are many restaurants who serve it for dinner as well.

Even though I've tried different foods since living in Asia, and have been to many restaurants, nothing beats a good hawker stall or hawker center. I've mentioned the numerous street peddlars here in Jakarta but in Malaysia, Singapore and Shanghai, they are called hawkers and an area where there are many hawkers it called a hawker center (see photo), in Jakarta they are called Warungs (wah-roongs). These are people who have been selling their food on the streets for generations and use their family's or village's recipes. Some of the best food I've had comes from these places. I haven't tried any yet in Jakarta, I'll wait until we move into our permanent house and then find one with good food and is somewhat clean.