Pan

[Tangent mode]It really is "Eastanah." The name is a pun on the English word "East" and the Malay word for palace, "Istana."[/tangent mode] You found roti canai crispy? Hmmm, well, not compared to the old-fashioned larger roti canai that used to be cooked in griddles on the streets of Kuala Lumpur back in the 70s, but I see your point. I find it more flaky than crispy, myself, though. I'm not sure I can address the crispiness quotient of murtabak, but from memory of last summer's murtabak in the night market in Kota Bharu, I'll describe it this way: It's rich meat- or banana-filled dumplings (I think some other variety like fish murtabak was available in one stand) fried over a griddle. I suppose the batter can be described as thin, and flaky rather than bready. I thought it was fine but a little too rich for me, and I preferred Ayam Percik and some of the dishes I could get over rice at that market. However, you're not in Kota Bharu and there's absolutely 0 chance you'll find an authentic [red-flag word, but it applies here] Ayam Percik in a country where the crucial fresh herbs don't exist. And while the ingredients for a fair simulacrum of a Kelantanese murtabak do exist in New York, if you end up underwhelmed, don't overlook the possibility that the fault may not lie in murtabaks as such, and that perhaps it's just that Eastanah may not be very good.

I didn't think about the idea that I'd have to clarify that we were flying Economy Class. I've never flown above Economy Class in my life, and I think if you're paying twice economy fare or more, they'd damn well better feed you like a king, because as far as I'm concerned, it would be tough for anything to make it really worth that kind of price increase for a few hours of my life, even if I had so much money that a few thousand here or there didn't matter much to my bank account. Then again, if I were on an expense account... As far as fish on airlines is concerned, I normally give it a very wide berth, but I kid you not about the total unfishiness of the fishballs - the one and only available main dish - on that China Southern flight. (My mother, who has a pretty hard-and-fast rule against eating fish anywhere, didn't eat the fishballs, but I feel sure she could have.)

You're right on the location of one of the vegetarian places. It's got kosher certification, so I'm positive there's no pig in its food. My mother did fine in China, eating duck, chicken, meatless vegetables, seafood and such (she's not kosher, and it's a long story that I'd like to tell you in person some time). But anyone who's really strict wouldn't eat anything that was cooked in the same pot that was used earlier for pork, and my mother did. However, there are a lot of Muslims in China. For example, they're clearly a large minority in Beijing, where there are a goodly number of Muslim eateries with Arabic inscriptions in evidence. I noticed on a map that part of Beijing province is actually an "autonomous Muslim county" or some such. I don't think it would be too hard to visit China and keep halal, though it would take some effort.

A couple of days ago, I completed a trip on United Airlines from JFK to SFO, then on Air China from SFO to PEK (Beijing), later on China Southern from PEK to Changchun and back to PEK, Air China/Shanghai from PEK to Shanghai-HongQiao, Air China from Shanghai-Pudong to SFO and UA back to JFK. I didn't eat any of the food provided on UA, instead having Katz's pastrami, cole slaw, and pickles (turkey sandwich for my mother) on the way from JFK to SFO. On the way back on UA, I slept for most of the flight and otherwise ate a sandwich of turkey, havarti, lettuce, and tomato on sourdough from the Boudin outlet in the SFO terminal. Take note of that name. Boudin makes tasty sandwiches on artisanal sourdough bread. Incidentally, my parents split on the quality of the airline food on the SFO-JFK flight, with my father liking it and my mother panning it. It didn't smell very good to me while I was trying to sleep, and I'm glad to report that no-one tried to wake me to see if I wanted any. I found that the food on the Chinese flights, while clearly falling short of the quality you'd expect in a cheap restaurant, was quite acceptable for airline food, with the exception of the SFO-PEK flight, when I was served an overly oily beef or chicken-noodle dish (I forget) that upset my stomach. From PEK to Changchun, we were fed absolutely unfishy fishballs with rice. I also ate a packet of preserved vegetables with some of the rice. Also included in the meal was a decent roll and some gelatinous pineapple jam which wasn't half bad. Changchun-PEK wasn't a meal flight, and only drinks and peanuts were offered (good peanuts, though). On the PEK-HongQiao flight, we were asked "rice or noodles?" Rice came with pork, noodles with beef. The beef noodles were somewhat tasty. I chose not to eat the roll or cake and gave them to the somewhat elderly woman behind me, who was flying for the first time and was very happy with the gift. On the Pudong-SFO flight, we had a choice of "porridge" (a rather viscous combination of rice and beans) or a "Western breakfast" of what I guess you'd call a plain omelette (fried eggs with mixed-up yolks and whites) with a piece of ham. I was warned that the porridge was tasteless, so I ordered the eggs and ham and was satisfied. I forget what the side dishes were. Also, all of the tea we were offered was good Chinese jasmine tea, none of that Lipton teabag bullshit. Plus, a bottle of beer was free for those who wanted it (like my brother). To sum up, whatever problems Chinese airlines have (and they do have problems), they seem not to have learned from American airlines that it's best to offer total crap or nothing in place of actual food. And I hope they never do.

Yetty, you could always go to a vegetarian restaurant. I don't know how good they are, but surely, they don't use any animal fat in their cooking. Otherwise, you could always ask if any pork or pork fat was used and decide whether to take "no" (if given) for an answer. My mother doesn't eat pig and we asked "you mei you zhu rou" ("is there pork") a lot in China. I think they were truthful with us, sometimes saying "yi diar" ("a little").

Yeah, it was interesting and fun!

I have to say I never loved buah salak, but it is common in Sumatra, as I recall.

[Edit: I'm referring to Li Qun here, not Quan Ju De! Sorry for the confusion! Li Qun has one location that's hard for cab drivers to find but clearly on tour bus routes. Quan Ju De is a chain with a fair number of branches around town. In the end, we didn't go to either.] We took a cab to the vicinity of Quan Ju De [Edit: That was Li Qun] (for which we made reservations the same day) and saw that an entire tour bus load of Americans was heading for it. We beat a quick retreat and headed to the restaurant a mile or so from the Novotel that we had spotted several times from cabs as attractive and full of customers. (We knew enough Putonghua to give the driver directions for how to get there.) The latter restaurant was indeed full of convivial Chinese customers, not a Westerner in sight, but they did have an English-language menu and the waitstaff were very helpful. We had two excellent meals there, including some terrific Beijing duck the first time. Perhaps my brother will remember the name of the street it's on, but that's not that helpful. I hope he is able to recover a set of pictures I took there, including one of their card. Qing, I found the food at the night food fair (market, whatever) to be overly greasy. It was also disappointing to me that so many of the booths served exactly the same thing, and the fact that that thing was in many cases scorpions didn't impress me. Compared to the variety of delicious food at the night market in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, a way smaller city, it was nothing at all. As for sanitation, remember that raw vegetables are a danger because nightsoil (human waste) is used as fertilizer in China and visitors' immune systems are not used to the local bacteria. That combined with the uncertainty that everything is really cooked through (my vegetable dumplings were lukewarm and even after being returned and heated further they weren't exactly piping hot) constitutes a sanitation/health concern for visitors. As for price controls, they don't apply to the man who gave me a free sample, explained that something cost 3 RMB and then, when I ordered two portions (liange), gave me a quintuple portion that cost 15 RMB. I didn't care enough to attempt to argue - with my tenuous Putonghua - but didn't like such sharp trading practices.

Yeah, I know that area. FYI, there are many hutongs. Hutong=alley. You are north of the Forbidden City and west of Beihai Park. Actually, you're close and probably walking distance from the Li Family Restaurant, so make reservations as soon as you can upon arriving. Surprisingly, though, we were able to make reservations for the next day. I'll check that site to see what's listed. The Novotel Peace Hotel, where I stayed, is west of the Forbidden City and quite close to the pedestrian zone of Wangfujing St. We found a very good restaurant in that general vicinity but I don't think I'll be able to identify it unless the photos I took of it are recovered. Their card was in Chinese only, and I don't remember the address.

Where will you be staying in Beijing? As for the Li Family Restaurant, I've uploaded the photos to my PC, but I think I'll need my family's help to remember some of the dishes, as I took no notes.

We understand that it used to be on the 3rd floor of a restaurant complex. I believe the lower two floors served French cuisine or something. However, the listing was in the "50 Most Memorable" guide, and my brother in San Francisco has that, so I can't give you the former address or add any other information.

Spanish for Sherry. Thanks for the report!

I've always liked pasta and meatballs - ever since I was a young kid, at any rate. My mother used to make them and my father still does from time to time, whether or not my folks have company. My parents have used Adda Boni's classic 1950s cookbook Il Talismano della Cucina (in an English-language edition put out by Ronzoni and plugging their products) for inspiration. Back in the day, Ronzoni or Buitoni (I preferred the consistent texture of the latter, but they were usually more expensive at the local Sloan's supermarket) dry pasta was the standby, and my preferred types of pasta were ziti or mostaccioli rigati, occasionally farfalle. The sauce was made by frying garlic and onions in olive oil, adding canned imported Italian whole tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and dried basil and oregano (fresh basil wasn't so easily available in the west 90s of Manhattan in the early 70s), and finally, red wine (cheap stuff like Almaden was used in those days but it was still a crucial ingredient). The meatballs were made by mixing chopped meat like chuck with eggs, soaked bread, salt, pepper, I think rosemary and Italian parsley, and cinammon. It's possible I have omitted some steps, and I think that there was some celery in the sauce. Anyway, nowadays, my father often uses some decent sauce from a place like Citarella as a starter but greatly improves it with organic canned tomatoes, fresh herbs, decent white wine (red wine has some chemical in it that he can't ingest for health reasons), freshly-ground pepper, etc. He also often uses store-bought fresh pasta nowadays. And the pregrated stuff with Sodium Propionate as a preservative was banished from my parents' apartment some ways back in the 70s when they had more disposable income. High-quality parmigiano reggiano and romano is grated to taste with the grater.

What brand does your father use? I don't remember, Edward. Whatever I got in my local Bangladeshi store, probably.

My dinner at the Li Family Restaurant in Beijing about a week and a half ago might have been the best meal of my life. Stay tuned to the China Forum for an upcoming report on it. [Edit: Here's the report.]

Qing, I didn't see internet cafes in Beijing. I'm sure there were some around, but they clearly weren't as evident as they were in Kuala Lumpur. In Shanghai, I did happen upon an internet center close to the hotel I was staying at, but it hardly seemed a worthwhile use of my time to check email the day before I returned home. Yes, the Novotel Peace is near Wangfujing. What food fair? Do you mean the night market or something else? I was underwhelmed with the night market but did enjoy two dumpling restaurants near there, both of which I plan on posting about in time.

I think "it's in SoHo" is sufficient to answer that question.

Thanks, Roz. I knew about the dumpling place (though I haven't tried their food), but somehow, the hummus place eluded my eye.

Hmmm...well, don't overlook the idea that you might have to go to Kota Bharu to get really good murtabak. They're kind of fatty, though.

The place I'm thinking of has the review taped to its wall, visible to passers-by. A theme of the review was Korean hangover cures.

All in good time, Lisa. Congratulations on the teething baby. (Hey, it's a milestone in your baby's life.)

Yes, you certainly will be wasting your time. Do I love the San Gennaro festival on Mulberry or hate it? Neither, I suppose. I just feel totally indifferent toward it. I've seen the Macy's 4th of July fireworks many times but find them exciting every time, partly because there's always something new in the show. By contrast, I've seen the San Gennaro festival a few times and now consider it a nullity. That said, I can still enjoy watching people try to press down hard enough to get a ball to hit a bell...

Definitely available free of charge through most public library systems (it may take an inter-library loan request to get it). Problem? It's on microfiche. We'll someone with really good eyes not to mention plenty of patience and loads of time to spare. I surely don't have the time or inclination to do this project, but I can't imagine a library that has microfiches or/and microfilms but no machine that magnifies them for the viewer. Anyone in New York who wants to take on this task will probably spend a lot of time on the 3rd floor of the 42 St. research library. The only problem I foresee is that photocopying from microfiches is expensive, and that combined with round-trip subway rides is considerably more than $1 per article. [Edit: Well, perhaps not if the volunteer spends hours per visit, but still.] And I can't foresee any library lending microfiches/-films for use outside the library.

I'm glad you mentioned East Asia. I was thinking of the great restaurant I ate at in a mall in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, while reading this thread. But as for that building, one of the reasons it has such good views is that it's probably one of the few high places where you can't see the Time Warner Building. So my objections go beyond ambivalent feelings toward malls vs. individual stores.

Verdict: #31 was too fibrous (I ate it anyway for the fiber), but #87 is delicious. Yes, it's definitely easily good enough to become my standby Chinese delivery place, leaving all the preexisting mediocre East Village Chinese places way back in the dust.