Duvel

Better not come to continental Europe then ...

I did Yakitori tonight and am quite pleased with the results. Chicken thigh, skin removed and cut into cubes (more or less), marinated in soy sauce, mirin and a bit of roasted sesame oil (just long enough to absorb most of the liquid). Scewered onto bamboo scewers, vacuumed and SV at 165 F for 90 min. Taken directly out of the bag and charred over the open flame of my gas stove. Very satisfying result - tender, juicey, nice char. A keeper.

Very nice summary, @liuzhou. This accurately reflects my experiences with banquets in China* as well (though I wouldn’t be able to put it as eloquently). *except Xinjiang, of course, where things are just odd.

Hahaha ... no false modesty 😋 Part of today’s dinner was inspired by “Izakaya - the Japanese pub cookbook” by Mark Robinson. Give it a go - I’ve seen your meals; you will enjoy it ...

Seems I am a bit on a Japanese food spree recently (hello @Anna N) .. Tonight is movie night with the little one and we are watching “Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi” (“Spirited away”) from Studio Ghibli. In case you haven’t seen it yet, please do. One of the masterpieces of Hayao Miyazaki and very approachable. Fitting to the movie I prepared some Izakaya-style food: Cold tofu with sesame and ponzu. Aubergine agedashi. Cucumber tsukemono with shiso. Tamagoyaki. Cold soba with walnut tsuyu. Simmered daikon with pork-miso sauce. Yakitori (SV, then seared over the gas stove). All enjoyed with some sake. Oishii 😊

"Repetition" of Tuesdays Izasakya theme, this time a bit more refined ... "Okra" in Sai Pun, renowned for its carefully procured sake selection as well as Japanese food with a twist. For my wife and me: Brussel sprouts with raisins (unusual sweet & sour, my wife's favourite), Anago with foie gras ( lovely & very rich), roasted aged pigeon (quite gamey), dry-aged Wagyu tongue (from the daily specials, outstanding) and Karaage-style chicken sandwiched between purple sweet potato bread (very tasty and visually striking). Some sakes and Coedo draft beer. I wasn't stuffed, but surely satisfied ...

They look nice ! Did you presalt/salt them ? If so, did you you get those "gammon'-type texture and taste-effect ?

Fantastic ! Would you elaborate on dough and baking conditions ?

Now I want to see the resulting egg salad sandwiches, too !

Casual dinner with friends at the Okinawan Izakaya "Kinjiyo's" in Central, HK. Sashimi (selection of the day), fried octopus, tamagoyaki, stir fried pork with bitter melon, kitsune (minced chicken and cartilage), "German potato salad" and - of course - mentaiko ... Served with two different sakes as per Kinjiyo's recommendation. Nice !

Sunday night is pizza night - and today we were joined by a friend of my son and his parents, which extended “pizza night” to “whatever we have at home turned into some kind of tapas AND pizza night”. Roasted pumpkin with romesco sauce and pine nuts. Olives. Fuet (Catalan cured sausage). Tete de Moine. Guacamole. Truita de patatas. Postal crisps. Hummus. Pizza with mushrooms and peppered salami, Roman style ... Crumb-shot. A quite pleasant Chilean red, curtesy of our guests ... Full and happy 😋

Well, some of the items might have been for sharing - "sharing is caring" - and truth to be told the free-flow of Sapporo draft was also not primarily geared towards him. But he got his chicken wings 😉

Today is my son's name day or "saint", as per Catalan tradition. For my wife this equals his birthday, so we had presents, extra quality time and a nice dinner out ... Tonight thus "Gyu-Kaku", Japanese-Korean barbeque with plenty of choices, including my sons (current) favorite chicken wings. He was a happy camper (in a slightly awkward pose) and all of us enjoyed the fantastic view of HK islands skyline (and the food, of course) ...

I am a meat eater by heart, but if I could get all that imaginative food you dish out on a daily basis @shain, I doubt I would miss much ... Fantastic !

You know, @Anna N, it’s a courtesy to warn other members before posting hard core food porn. Especially when those members are slightly jet lagged and even more slightly hung over and would kill for a perfect poached egg right now ...

Comfort food was in order after a 12h intercontinental flight, so my son requested “Papa’s pizza” and I happily complied 😊 Mushrooms & Fuet (a Catalan cured sausage), baked Roman-style as I was too lazy to dish out individual pies ...

Lovely! Which ratios did you use ?

Well, MB is pretty much technique-oriented, so size really doesn’t matter here ...

Germans are creatures of habit ...

That looks great ... care to share your temperatures ?

I admire that as well @JoNorvelleWalker, very much so. And while I believe that freshly made dashi is far superior, I’d think that in Tsuyu the subtleties in flavour might get overpowered by the other ingredients. For me Tsuyu has very robust qualities, so instant dashi should do the trick. I’ll ask at work tomorrow, but I would assume most households use regularly one of the myriads of readily made and bottled versions of Tsuyu available here ...

It’s (sun-)dried fish (maybe mackerel, or smaller sea fish, even squid), ground to a fine powder. It has a very strong umami effect; think mushroom powder or - if the would exist - freeze-dried fish sauce ...

Surely that Bratwurst wouldn’t sustain me for long. So, upon returning to Tokyo station I headed down to the lower basement for Tokyo station’s Ramen Street, a collection of famous and semi-famous Ramen shops. I opted for Rokurinsha (of Chang’s “Mind of a chef” fame), arguably the best Tsukemen in Tokyo. Of course there was a queue... After 30 min or so I was placed and with the prepaid stamp purchased while waiting in line I got the classic Tsukemen. The noodles were thick, almost Udon-like, but with the typical Ramen bite and a slight yellowish hue. The broth was super concentrated, with Tamago, Menma and Chashu, as well a tiny square of nori with a heap full of fish powder for some extra Umami ... The leftover dipping sauce can be - upon request - augmented with extra fish broth and Yuzu salt, but I preferred just to drink it meat. Lovely second lunch - I might need to downsize my dinner plans 😋

Walking the main (shopping) street of Karuizawa I came across a shop selling DLG (German agricultural association)-awarded meat products. As a German I simply had to sample and ensure that quality standards have not eroded since 2006 ... They have not. It was a good Bratwurst, grilled perfectly to order and my poor balancing skills aside (which cause the sausage to roll over and smear the mustard everywhere) it was a quick and satisfying lunch ... As an interesting side note: They also sell Wasabi-flavoured Leberkäse ... should I give this a try at home 🤔 ?

A bit delayed as this was actually yesterday’s breakfast: Travelling by train in Japan means that you HAVE to buy (or bring) an “ekiben” or train lunch box. Large parts of Tokyo station are dedicated shops to provide you with any imaginable food, boxed neatly in any required portion size for taking to your trip. I opted for Tamagoyaki in 7 different flavours (classic, chestnut, chicken, chilli, seaweed, little fishes and something I already forgot). The classic one was rich and sweet and I found that the other flavours did not really stand a chance against the basic seasoning. That being said, they were tasty ... Out of curiousity I bought also the Green Curry Pan, which consisted of baked green tinted bread, filled with a thickened and very aromatic green Thai curry and topped with roasted shaved coconut. A heavenly cream mbination that I will try to replicate at home. Just before boarding the Shinkansen ‘‘tis would be the last chance to buy an ekiben, but as you could see I was already set ...