Pan

We'll probably get some input from Malaysians, but I am guessing that, because Malaysian cuisine -- and especially East-Coast cuisine -- has been suffused with Thai influence in the last x number of years, lemongrass is probably being used more in Malaysia nowadays. As I recall, my parents recognized the lemongrass from photos they had seen, and they had to tell our landlady that it was good to eat. Her chicken soup was good without the lemongrass, too, however. Very tasty blend of spices, good village chicken (yardbirds that were always truly free-range and organic, never fenced in).

There was lemongrass growing in the side yard of the house we rented in rural Terengganu, Malaysia from 1975-77. Our landlady/cook (yes, she had both roles) made so much chicken soup with lemongrass that we snipped all the usable grass in a few weeks, and that was it. As I recall, she also used finely minced shallots and a mix of aromatic spices (probably including fresh turmeric) and finely minced fresh ginger. I don't believe there was any hot pepper in the soup, which had a layer of fat but was very soothing, like chicken soup should be. Oh yes, I think there were daikons (lobak) in the soup. Oddly enough, the locals didn't seem to be using lemongrass much in those days.

Great documentation, Peter! Definitely not what I'd think of in connection with Bangkok.

Sadly, no. I have had beef xiaolongbao before and rather disliked them.[...] ← Are those made by Muslims? Speaking of which, Pam, your relatives should be patronizing halal Muslim establishments in Beijing, of which there are more than a few.

I find this discussion interesting. One thing I love about California is that they always give free refills of tea, including more ice for your refill of ice tea. In New York, I never expect a refill to be free and I've found that free refills are very exceptional in New York. Perhaps that's because I seldom eat at very expensive restaurants.

Hi, Danielle. I just caught up with your blog. I'm enjoying it. I've been to Chicago twice - in 1988 and 1997. I really like Chicago (except in February - brrrrrrrrr!). Fabulous museums and nice architecture. I ate well there, too.

Nah, it was from the walking! Thanks. I really enjoyed this report. I've been to Beaune. It's beautiful, and the Hotel-Dieu is most impressive! I didn't stay there, though. I think the reason my family didn't stay there was that it would have been expensive. Beaune seemed like a very prosperous city. Did you visit Chablis?

Green -- don't overlook green apples. Honeydew is also possible.

The one traditional Malaysian banana snack food JustKay didn't mention is pisang goreng -- i.e., fried bananas. The Malaysian version is to fry the bananas whole. The Carribean method is to fry them already cut up. Both methods are good. I had a really delicious dessert many years ago at a Cuban restaurant called Bayamo, which was on Broadway around Great Jones or so. It was fried plantains flambeed in rum, with dulce de leche ice cream (made in-house long before Haagen-Dazs started making that flavor). You could do the same thing with bananas in quantity, have a party, and get people to bring more rum so that you could flambee more of them. Or just fry a large number of them and have a party.

I had some very tasty Soy Sauce Chicken at Wing Shoon tonight. Wing Shoon is a Cantonese restaurant on the eastern fringes of Manhattan's Chinatown.

For a shrimp component in your dessert, how about shrimp chips which are sweet instead of salty? Something like that might work.

Congratulations for what looks like a very successful feast!

I have a thought for you. Harmony Palace, 94 Mott St. (just north of Canal, east side of the street), (212) 226-6603, holds banquets all the time. They're also known for dim sum, but I think it would be fun to reserve it for your full complement and have a Cantonese dinner banquet there. I haven't been to Harmony Palace for a while, but they have a very longstanding reputation for excellent banquet food (better than their dim sum), and clearly uphold it, because so many Chinese weddings and communal functions take place there. It's a big eating hall and has a classic Chinatown feel that I think high school students would enjoy. To give yourself some idea of what it looks like inside, you can look at this page and click on the "Dinner in Chinatown" photos. They're a little washed out in places, but should at least give you some general sense of the place. Reserving space for 40 would not fill the room by any stretch. If you want to do this, call as far in advance as possible, because the place is often rented out in totality for large functions.

If Michelin wouldn't even list more than five restaurants in Shanghai, they have their heads so completely up their nether quarters that they should NEVER put out any guides for China! Perhaps they wouldn't want to give a star to a restaurant that doesn't have the level of formality a one-star would provide in France, but there are Shanghainese restaurants in Shanghai with great food and reasonably comfortable accomodations, in rooms with nice decor, and surely these would deserve a listing. (Of course, I care a lot less about anything other than the food, but perhaps that's not Michelin's point of view.) Perhaps what we should conclude is that if you have an accurate impression of what Michelin would do with a guide for Shanghai, such a guide would be completely beside the point. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So if you go to Shanghai, you should spend most of your time eating delicious Shanghainese food. Right?

Most of these places have their own separate threads, I think, and there are also all the "THE BEST" threads - check out the linked list pinned at the top of this forum if you haven't already. You can also start a thread asking for specific kinds of recommendations. I'm sure people will be happy to offer helpful suggestions.

How about a good Burmese restaurant? There used to be a good one at Mingala and a passable one at Road to Mandalay - over 10 years ago. How about a restaurant specializing in the cuisine of the EAST Coast of the Malay Peninsula (Kota Bharu, etc.)? How about a real old-school Hungarian restaurant? How about a great _kosher_ pastrami place in Manhattan? How about a really good kosher dairy restaurant? How about a real Nicois restaurant that is inexpensive and serves the real stuff - soupe de poisson with really hot-peppery aioli, cheese, and croutons; daube; salade nicoise; etc. How about a Tunisian bakery? How about some delicious, fresh rambutan that don't cost their weight in gold? You know what? I'm glad for what we DO have, and we have to concede that for some things, you really need to travel.

Yeah, I was thinking Shanghai should receive consideration. Don't you think some people would also argue for Chengdu?

I had dinner for one at Shanghai Cafe tonight. I got the cold seaweed and vegetables dish and zhajiang mien. The seaweed dish is different from the cold seaweed at Yeah and other places that I used to go to (New Green Bo, Moon House): It's made with green and white seaweed and some cucumber, topped with sesame seeds and sesame oil, so it's more like a type of Japanese seaweed salad than the black seaweed that's served in the other places. It was good. The zhajiang mien was OK, with a strong sauce that was rather salty (perhaps a bit too salty) and somewhat sweet, with a touch of hot pepperiness. I prefer Yeah's version, overall. In my case, too, the check arrived while I was not nearly finished with my food (though with the remark "just for when you're ready") - something that if anything tends to cause me to spend more time before leaving, except that I respect the people who are waiting. I gave a good tip, anyway. I will come back and check out more of the menu. The place was well-patronized at around 7:30, and for whatever it's worth, easily 90% of the clientele was Chinese.

Well, I have you beat in at least ONE respect...

What a unique story! I look forward to the next installment.

My gastroenterologist told me simply to LIMIT intake of those things, not eliminate them from my diet. And the Protonix I take has enabled me to avoid any really terrible episodes. But I have to say that while there are some days when spicy Korean, Sichuan-style, or Malaysian food is fine for me, on other days, I have problems when I eat too much fat, drink too much alcohol, have too much hot pepper, etc. I'm still learning. Good luck! And you may find that you will be able to reintroduce some of these things in moderation after a while.

What is "chicken on a raft"? That just looks like bread toasted in the broiler with cheddar and mozzarella cheese to me (or is that an egg in the middle, or white cheddar?). Back to the pickled peaches, what is "savory"? Summer savory?

Looks like a Thai meat curry, but I can't identify the starch. I feel pretty certain it tasted good.

That whole menu sounds great, but I'm especially intrigued with the peaches with vinegar.

That's really interesting! So would drinks invented in the Prohibition Era require a hot jazz approach?