Duvel

Damn. I knew I had forgotten something ... So sorry for not providing timely ideas, but I see that you are getting the best anyway In case you are not are not having an overly full schedule already, there would be three things you might want to consider: 1) "Omoide Yokocho" - a narrow, but very long street full of room-sized Japanese eateries: very local, very intimate. Yakitori, intestines, kushikatsu ... all good drinking food and to be consumed with copious amouns of shochu highballs or beer. If you cant decide, go to "Ucchan 25" (https://s.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13059673/top_amp/), and have the tongue sashimi, the giblet skewers or the motsunabe. They recently put out a homepage of the association (Shinjuku-omoide.com). 2) "Sekishin Tei" (www.newotani.co.jp/en/tokyo/restaurant/sekishin/) at the New Otani hotel has a fantastic Teppanyaki lunchset (~6000 JPY for the basic one). Wagyu, Ise ebi, hotate ... At night not affordable. The food is great, but the view over the garden is fantastic (www.newotani.co.jp/en/tokyo/garden/). 3) "Ebisu Yokocho" - similar to #1, but actually indoors (https://favy-jp.com/topics/1144). Very good for heavy drinking at night with izakaya-style food. The oden shop is great, and just right for the current temperatures. Make sure you do the salary man thing and buy a "one cup" sake at the Lawsons before heading to the subway ... If any specific question, please let me know (will be faster this time) Have fun ... I still have to wait three weeks for my next (business) trip to Tokyo. Itadakimasu !

After a bit of overindulgence in the last week (or month ? year ?) I have to cut back ... Low carb usually works best for me, so today cabbage-based “pizza” with mushrooms. It can’t fool you, but with a lot of toppings you get that pizza feeling on a neutral-tasting carrier. I accidentally browned it a bit too much, but decided that actually that is not a bad thing ...

That looks so yummy, @robirdstx! Exactly my kind of food ...

Fish sauce as salt substitute yields pretty similar results.

Dinner at a technical workshop in Nanjing ... I was allowed to select the dishes 😋 Some local veggie with sesame dressing Braised eggs and intestines (and ears) Century eggs in vinegar Shrimps with peas Shrimps with barley cooked in orange juice “Stinky” tofu Matsutake mushrooms Black pepper beef Pork in sweet bean sauce with steamed bread BBQ lamb ribs Spicy frog Pan-fried dumplings Fried mushrooms - their speciality Xiao Long Bao Crunchy potatoes Braised daikon Pork head terrine with aged vinegar

In an hour of need I used thinly sliced Mortadella once and found the result very pleasing ...

Salted egg yolk flavoured fried fish skin is THE hot item in Hong Kong right now. Most of them are quite good, also itheir potato cousins. Freeze dried egg yolk powder is not expensive ... There is only one way to find out, @liuzhou ...

Saltwd egg yolk as a flavour is usually yummy ...

Lanzhou Lamian in a industrial canteen in Nanjing. Setting is very 70’s, but the noodles are great ... The cook pulled all the noodles by hand upon order and dished out about 30 portions in 15 minutes. Very impressive. This is the “double meat / one egg” variety, enhanced by a generous spoon of chili oil sediment. The noodles had a great chew. Very satisfying (and cleared my sinuses) ...

Well, given that most guys in Europe can’t tell Shanxi and Shaanxi apart, I’d say close enough. I stick with my story 😋

Just think ! He must have given the Chinese some recipe in return for bringing all their noodle magic to Europe, no ..?

In a can !!!

Hahaha ... you think too much of me. No patience, no explanations - truth to be told: I was simply looking for an excuse to go again. And in that light - coming today again, three days in a row, the server greeted me with a smile and said “welcome back, sir” 🙄

Just to give you the full picture on the elusive “knori”, I went again yesterday. Today pickles (as mentioned yesterday) and fried chicken as starter. The “knori” picture is the seasonal speciality menu, featuring “Yokohama-inspired” Hakata ramen. In their view that’s adding a giant piece of braised and seared pork belly as well as blanched cabbage. The tonkotsu stock is double concentrated. I know you would ask how it co pared to the original so I just took the plunge: it’s very good. The double tonkotsu stock is outstanding and makes your lips stick with gelatine. The belly in one half inch chunk, sweet from the braising liquid and smoke from a hard sear. I might need to go back today ... Out of topic: On the way back I found a perfect xmas gift for my sister: sushi socks ...

Hahaha ... yes ! Now that you say it There was no nori, that what looks like nori is the menu ...

Yup. You can add fresh garlic puree into your hot soup to make it richer. Especially good with the miso ramen. Not so good with your wife. The other condiments are: Roasted sesame (in a grinder), shichimi togarashi, bean sprouts with chili peppers, pickled "snow vegetable" with spicy bean paste (tasted almost like Gochujang, which would make sense given the geography of Hakata), vinegar, chili oil. I am not so sure what "Knori" is - tried Google, but nothing substantial came up ...

Lunch at Ippudo, Admiralty branch. Hakata ramen, well executed with a very “porky” tonkotsu base, with plenty of condiments to taylor your soup. Came in a lunch set with a pork belly bun, which was a bit generic yet tasty nonetheless. They serve cold Roibos tea with the ramen, which worked actually pretty well. Overall a very satisfying lunch.

While cleaning up the dried goods shelf I found half a pound of chickpeas... Felafel with cucumber mint yoghurt. Lahmacun (to make a complete meal out of it) with parsley and lemon. Asahi - what else ...

OMG ... Have we just witnessed the birth of the Banh Mi Onigirazu ?

We have a branch in HK ... rare veal burger with blue cheese - yummy !

Or add starch...

I use my hairdryer to light my charcoal grill. I use it to loosen silicon gaskets. I use it to harden the papier-mâché works of my little son a bit faster ... I use toothpaste to polish watches. I use the daily newspaper to open beer bottles. I use Old Fashioneds to reduce the amount of ice cubes in my freezer ... If something works for things it wasn’t originally intended for, is it that bad to make use of it anyway ?

Did you switch it on ?

I am happy to help ... Where are you staying ?

I think we start to repeat the cycle then