Restaurant review: Quan An Ngon, Vietnamese cuisine, Hanoi

June 19, 2010

Even before I discovered Luke Nguyen fabulous Vietnamese cookery book “The Songs of Sapa”, I was a fan of the countries splendid cuisine.

When we walked out of our hotel, we passed by a very busy eatery, full of life, people and somehow a very inviting atmosphere. Well, let’s have dinner there! And in we walked. We were seated at a table with other guests, a Vietnamese family.

“Quan An Ngon” was written on the menu, which was brought to us by friendly waiters (who do not speak much English). So that must be the name of the place, I thought. We browsed through it and ordered some “recognizable” dishes: a fish (mackerel), some dofu/tofu and some green mango salad. I also had some buns, Chinese style, where they are called “mantou” with sweet milk. The drink of our choice was a cool Hanoi Beer.

Delicious mackerel

Green mango salad with peanuts

Dried dofu/tofu with dipp

Hanoi Beer

“Quan An Ngon” traditional Vietnamese restaurant has a large garden part where one can sit outside under tarpaulins but also the inner part of the restaurant, housed in a colonial style building is very appealing and attractive. The cooking is conducted in a kind of roofed “out houses” surrounding the courtyard. I could not resist to take some photos.

The outhouse kitchen

More outhouse kitchen

Lots of happy eaters

The place is usually packed with people, groups of young women, families but many below the age of 30 I would say. We were definitely having a negative impact on the median age of the customers. It’s a noisy place with a lot to look at. Especially for a foreigner who does not have much time to look around it is just a great place to get a feeling of Hanoi and it’s people. I highly recommend a visit.

The price level is modest. We ate for about 120.000 Dong per person. Needless to say, the very next day we went back for another fill of delicious Vietnamese food.

Address:
Quan An Ngon
18 Phan Boi Chau,
Hoàn Kiếm,
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel.: +84 4 39428162
E-mail: ngonhanoi@vnn.vn i

Directions: Between Ly Thuong Kiet and Hai Ba Trung, one block East of Le Duan.

PS: When writing this story, I found that Quan An Ngon is a kind of a chain restaurant with dependencies also in Ho Chi Minh City.

The restaurant reviews on the internet are not all good. Especially seasoned Vietnam travelers seem to be disgusted somehow and feel that on the street proper, the food is tastier even if less “safe”.

Well, the fact that Quan An Ngon is full with Vietnamese people (my guess 90% of the customers) suggest otherwise.

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The Peach Farmer of La La Mountain

June 16, 2010

Peaches of La La Mountain

We were heading to Fuxing district on La La mountain, near Daxi county just about a three hours drive from Taoyuan. We all met at the shrine to the memory of former president Jiang Jie-she (Chiang Kaicheck) in Daxi. There was also a fruit and vegetable market and this is were Mr. Chen Long-gui has a stall to sell his peaches. His daughter Ajoan was already waiting for us and off we went.

Fruit stalls near the shrine in Daxi

Prof. Jim Riddell, Prof. Yen Ai-ching and me

The winding road lead us up into the La La mountains, a region inhabited since “time immemorial” by the aboriginal tribe of the Atayal. After about two hours we reached the small hamlet where Mr. Chen Long-gui and his family resided. we met at a small local restaurant were we had a delicious lunch. We were a large group, as you can see from the photo below.

Mr Chen, the peach farmer (in red shirt), and our group

After we had our fill and the stomachs were satisfied, we headed for the home of the Chen family. Mr. Chen is Mr. Peach, because he was the first to introduce the cultivation of peach trees to this area. Today he has about 300 trees planted on the hillsides at about 2000 m above sea level.

Harvested peaches

Packing of the fruit for sale

Prof. Yen and farmer Chen and his wife and the appreciation for outstanding performance

We had tee in the Chen family home where we also discussed land, agricultural, economic and cultural issues in a very relaxed atmosphere. because of the heavy rain, we could not go out and see the fruit orchard and the trees. We tasted some of the fruit of the early harvest. As you can see, all work is done by hand. Apart from the peach trees Mr. Chen is growing vegetables for home consumption and sale. he is also a minister of the local church. In parting we wished him plentiful harvests and good prices for his crop. We have to come back. I was told that there are breathtaking views to enjoy from Mr. Chen’s home and his village. But the weather of the La La mountains had no mercy with us that day.

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La Domenica – A Tuscan feast with Tuscan wine

June 13, 2010

Jamie Oliver’s Italy

It was high time for some beautiful Italian food after my culinary peregrinations in Taiwan, especially since I am in the process of packing my suitcase again. I will be in Vietnam for the next two weeks and explore some of the foods in Hanoi and Saigon.

I am a lover of pasta, any pasta. Based on a recipe from the Jamie Oliver Italy book, we set out on a “fusilli con rague”. Imagine a sauce thick with the flavours of beef rosemary and tomatoes simmering on the kitchen stove for hours.

Our favorite Prosecco so that the waiting was bearable

The table waiting for the pasta

Voila: the pasta

It was delicious, just what I needed, earthy and robust, rooted in the peasant traditions of Italy.

What about the wine? I bought a bottle of Italian wine from my favourite wine shop in Taoyuan just across from the International Center for Land Policy Studies and Training (ICLPST). Nothing special, but decent. It was a bottle of ‘2007 Chianti D.O.C.G.’ by Melini, one of the best wine makers of Tuscany.

In wine reviews it gets three, sometimes four, out of five stars. It has about 13.5 % alcohol and costs between US$ 8 to 12. This young Chianti is a solid wine for every day, with good fruit flavours, medium bodied with a long finish. It went very well with the pasta.

PS: The good news is that in July we will be in Rome and Florence with ample opportunity to taste many Tuscan wines.

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Taiwanese delicacies: Yu Tou Guo (芋 頭 粿)

June 12, 2010

“Yu Tou Guo” 芋 頭 粿 on display in Lugang, Tainwan

How “Yu Tou Guo” 芋 頭 粿 is made on the street

While walking the streets of Lugang the other day, I observed women making a strange dish. I took some photos and asked my friend Chimei the next day what it was. “Yu Tou Guo” (芋 頭 粿) was the result. Well, what is it, you might ask.

It seems Yu Tou Guo (芋 頭 粿) is made from taro, a tropical root vegetable. It is a kind of steamed taro cake, stuffed with some filling. I saw the women doing it, but did not ask because this stall was very busy. I will have to find out what the filling is made of. I did not dare buying one since it looked raw and not ready for consumption. All the buyers took it away, nobody ate from it on the spot. I will have to find out more and give it a try next time.

PS: My Chinese dictionary gave me another combination for “Taro” in the simplified character form. But since I was in Taiwan, where the “full” Chinese characters are used, I guess that what Chimei scribbled on a piece of paper for me was correct.

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Delicacies from Lugang 鹿港, Taiwan

June 10, 2010

Matsu Tempel in Lugang 鹿港, Taiwan

The Matsu Tempel and it’s surroundings in Lugang 鹿港 are very crowed places. People from near and far visit the historic center of this harbour city in central Taiwan. Lugang has lot’s of interesting things to offer, among them some Taiwanese food specialties which you should not miss.

These you can enjoy in one of the many street eateries like the one below just opposite the entrance to the magnificent temple.

A typical street eatery

One such delicacy of Lugang is called “e-a zen” in Taiwanese, a kind of omelet made of eggs and oysters, with starch from sweet potatoes. Lettuce is also added. Finally a sauce is added whose composition is usually a trade secret. Every family has it’s own recipe but the liquid consists, among others, of soja and miso sauce, sweat chili and other ingredients.

The photo shows how “e-a zen” is prepared

“e-a zen” ready to be eaten

Oyster soup with ginger

My friend Jim after the oyster feast

We had also oyster soup with the “e-a zen”, the oyster omelet. If you do not like oysters this is not a meal for you. But if you do, the two dishes are “heaven on a stick”. What a wonderful explosive experience for your taste buds. Incredible. Delicious. A must if you travel in central Taiwan.

We enjoyed the open air atmosphere where we shared a table with a Taiwanese couple. The son of the owner, very business like at the tender age of 10, waited on us, brought us chairs and the necessary eating implements. He also managed brilliantly our messy ordering in improvised Mandarin.

We washed the food down with a cold Taiwan beer. The place and the food were a great choice. Go and do it yourself.

Taiwan Beer

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Food heaven at Bangles in Taoyuan

June 7, 2010

A Hamburger and a Kronenbourg beer

After all this very delicious Chinese food here in Taiwan, my taste buds needed a break, so my friend Jim and I, we decided to go out to an eatery called Bangles, a hamburger restaurant in Taoyuan with waiters in cowboy costumes, and have a “decadent” Hamburger or something like it. This was very nice indeed. The service in Bangle is very friendly, the atmoshere pleasant, the food tasty and the beer is very decent.

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Delicious streetfood in 鹿港 (Lugang), Taiwan

June 6, 2010

I had the chance to visit the former port city of 鹿港 (Lugang) near Changsha and Taichung on Taiwan. We were lucky that it did not rain. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. The historic centre attracts a lot of visitors. The main attraction of the town is it’s temple dedicated to the Taoist goddess of the sea, “Matsu”. All kinds of good are for sale including delicious traditional snacks. The squid below was one of them.

Squid on the street barbecue

Small and large specimen for the hungry passers by

Needless to say, we had a great day. Tomorrow. I’ll show you more of this scenic spot in the middle of this splendid island.

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Schanghai: The new Bund at night

May 28, 2010

The Bund at night from the terrace of “M on the Bund”

Shanghai has seen a tremendous development over the last 10 years. Last year when I visit the “Paris of the East”, as Shanghai used to be called, its famous “Bund” was still closed for renovations. With the World Expo came also the re-opening of this part of the metropolis which presents itself in a new incarnation.

I had dinner with an old friend on the terrace of the South Beauty restaurant 俏江南 overlooking the Huangpu river on the 10th floor of the Super Brand Mall in Pudong. The terrace offers a splendid view at night. South Beauty is a chain restaurant with dependencies in the capital Beijing and other provinces. It is seen as one of best Sichuan food restaurants in Pudong and Shanghai. The food was good, but we ordered too much of it. We were rather late and the service was friendly but quite slow. But I liked the food. In internet reviews South Beauty received varying reviews. Some rank it 57th of the 320 restaurants in Shanghai, other see it as 100. Some reviewers see the quality as 3.5 out of 5, others rank it 8 of 10.

After our meal, we crossed to the other side of town. because it was late, we had to take a taxi but there is a tunnel under the Huangpu river which is spectacular transportation. If in Shanghai you should try it, instead of a taxi. our object was the terrace of another landmark of Shanghai’s nightlife: M on the Bund.

I had visited it’s sister restaurant, Capital M in Beijing a couple of months ago. The terrace is wonderful and the new Bund presents itself as it always did: in great style. The Glamour Bar, one floor below M on the Bund and run by the same owner, is the place to have what we German’s call “Absacker”, a night cap.

Opened in January 1999 M on the Bund is located in the Nissin Shipping building which was built in 1921, the same year the Communist Party of China was founded (also in Shanghai). The Miele Guide ranks the restaurant as one among the top 20 in Asia! That’s quite an achievement.

The picture above gives you and idea of the views. The place to be, I guess.

Address:
South Beauty
10/F Super Brand Mall, 168 Lujiazui Lu,
陆家嘴西路168号正大广场10楼
Pudong, Shanghai
Tel.: 5047 1817

M on the Bund
7/F, No.5 The Bund ( corner of Guangdong Lu )
Shanghai 200002 China
中国上海市外滩广东路20号7楼
邮编 200002
Tel (86 -21) 6350-9988
Fax (86-21) 6322-0099

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Australian barbecue

May 24, 2010

What do you do if there is a curfew at night? You celebrate in the daytime and this is what we did. We invited two families with their children and the 13 of us had a great time last Saturday. Starting at 1 pm gives you plenty of time, and we love it if our table can be put to good use.

We can easily sit 12 persons, and I just sneaked in on the corner. As it is Australian custom, the man has to operate the barbecue, and that’s what I did. My Weber is doing a great job. The recipes came from Italy though. I had a large piece of pork which we prepared the Italian way as “majale al rosto”. Moreover, we had, Italian “spiedini”, skewers consisting of spicy sausages, beef, bacon and sage leaves between them. All delicious stuff.

Seven teenagers and six adults around one table

And what comes at the end of an Australian barbecue? Right a pavlova, the wonderful and delicious, classical Australian dessert, especially if it has 40 Celsius outside.

Pavlova

We drank mostly beer but had also a couple of bottles of ‘2008 Yering Chardonnay’ from the oldest vineyard in the Yarra Valley, which they “flog” in our local supermarket at the moment (but which still costs about 12 EURO/bottle).

What a jolly good time we had.

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Restaurant review: Weinhaus Spielberg, Randersacker/Franconia

May 13, 2010

Randersacker

The settlement of Randersacker, Franconia

One of my favourite wine regions in Germany is Franconia. My maternal grandparents came from this part of the country. My grandfather, Hans Heinrich Schuessler, was the man who introduce me to the pleasures and the mystery of grape wine. He was a native of Reichenberg, a small hamlet just south of the city Wuerzburg, the capital of the region. Randersacker is situated at the opposite side (from Reichenberg) of the Main river. We visited the place while touring Germany some time ago.

Spielberg1

The inscription on the Bocksbeutel bottle reads: In vino veritas

The market town of Randersacker was first mentioned in a historical record in 779 AC. The historical centre of the town, though small, is quite nice and worth visiting. We were on our way back to Wuerzburg but wanted to have dinner at Weinhaus Spielberg.

Franconia produces outstanding wines, mostly Sylvaner/Silvaner but I like also the Riesling wines. It’s speciality is the Bocksbeutel, a wine bottle in the form of an ellipsoid. This is what we came for when we selected Weinhaus Spielberg as our target.

Spielberg2

A coaster of Weinhaus Spielberg

Weinhaus Spielberg is a traditional country inn where solid German food and good local wines are served. We ordered some local specialities, especially typical Franconian dishes. The two pictures below might give you an idea what food I have in mind. We had the house wine with the food, a very refreshing, young and delicious Silvaner.

Spielberg4

Spielberg3

The service is very efficient, the waiters are friendly and very helpful. At times the Weinhaus is very busy. However, there is no need to fret, you will highly satisfied with what you will get. My credo: visit the place yourself, and see with your own eyes, taste with your own taste buds and have fun in Franconia.

Address:
Weinhaus Spielberg
Stefanie Sokoll
Lurzengasse 3
97236 Randersacker

Tel.: +49-931 / 708391
Fax: +49-931 / 709957
E-Mail: Spielberg-AS@t-online.de
www.weinhaus-zum-spielberg.de

Opening hours:
Monday – Sunday: 11 – 24 h
Friday: open from 17.00 h
closed: Thursday

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