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Regional Chinese food has always been available in Hong Kong but not *all* of it has always been good and authentic. When I lived in HK 10 yrs ago we were hard pressed to find a Sichuan restaurant that had authentically fiery food (I remember mapo dofu completely devoid of huajiao)--- it was toned down to Hong Kong tastes. That's not the case now, and I think it's partly the result of increased mainland-to-Hong Kong migration, the growing number of mainland tourists in Hong Kong, the increased interest among Hong Kongers in all things mainland .... in general, the closer ties that have developed betw. Hong Kong and the rest of China since 1997. There's much more interest in Hong Kong now in foods of *all* the regions of China (not just the southern and eastern regions, where most of Hong Kong's original Chinese immigrants came from) than there was 10 yrs ago. You could see this sort of thing in China's larger cities earlier in the last decade. Good Sichuan food was pretty hard to find in Guangzhou in 1984. By 1994, however, there was a sufficient number of Sichuanese living in the Guangzhou area (and several Sichuan municipalities had established trade offices there) that it was not that difficult to find an authentic mapo dofu.

jokhm -- consider Dalian. Not much touristed but an interesting up-and-coming coastal city with a fair bit of architectural history still standing (for the time being, anyway). Dalian-ers are very friendly. And the food is great ... excellent and cheap seafood (oh those crabs!), delicious dumplings and noodles, corncakes. Dalian ren love garlic ... dipping sauce for dumplings is a slug of black vinegar with lots and lots of very roughly chopped garlic.

These are very common in Sichuan. When I lived in Chengdu they were known as hongyou shuijiao (red oil water dumplings). There was a shop behind the big Mao statue/exhibition hall that specialized in them .... my record was 10 bowls (they were small bowls). Lucky you, to have them so close at hand!!

Imarshal1 -- I have 2 favorite recipes from the China Moon book: the wild rice salad (yes it does use Sichuan peppercorns) and the cool noodle recipe -- something like orange-scented chili noodles? The major ingredient is one of her infused oils -- chili/black bean/orange peel. The black beans get slightly crispy as the oil cools ... very tasty. I also really liked the hot and sour veggies ... has black beans in it. But in general I found the recipes too fussy, and I sold the book several years ago. Unfortunately I neglected to copy the noodle and wild rice recipes first!

Ah Nan. Coincidence --- we went there after Pai as well (with a couple months in between). Incredibly beautiful and wonderful pple. We'll be back next yr for sure. Killer Isaan food in an alley off the main street (written up in the LP guide, actually). Fish laab with crackly fish skin.... Now back to Chinese food.... As for Guangdong ... you might search out some "authentic" versions of the old tried-and-true "Cantonese" dishes you'll get in Chinese restaurants in the west. I had an ethereal sweet and sour pork in Guangzhou about 15 yrs ago. One taste and I thought "Could this actually be the same dish that is a sweet, gloppy, sticky pile of mess when served at Chinese restaurants in the States?"

Hey jokhm, wish you'd posted a query before heading to Pai. I've never gotten sick travelling outside of Bangkok. And in fact in Pai we had several truly spectacular Isaan and northern Thai meals in Feb., at two small storefronts off the main backpacker street. The Isaan place closed early, at 4 or so, but the owner offered to do a special dinner for us on request, using whatever unusual herbs and veggies we brought back from the little afternoon market. It was amazing really --- these places were literally 1/2 block from the area you're referring to .... and absolutely absent of farang, and packed with Thais (and Chinese Thais who'd come down from the KMT village for lunch). We requested a jungle curry "spicy" and I didn't have to ask twice. In fact it almost killed me. I would gladly return to Pai just to spend a little more time at these places (we only had 3 days, that trip). Keep up the postings from China!!

I think "authenticity" in many cases implies the presence of one or more "key" ingredients. Mapo dofu made without haujiao (Sichuan pepper) is simply NOT mapo dofu, because the name of the dish itself describes the tingling sensation that the Sichuan peppercorn provides. It may be delicious, but please don't call it mapo dofu. Pasta carbonara without a cured pork product in it is not pasta carbonara. A hamburger made with pressed dofu and no meat is not a hamburber. Chocolate cake made with carob is carob cake, don't tell me it's chocolate cake. A Napolean is a dessert, not something layered with thinly sliced potatoes. I don't think this makes me a slave to authenticity.

As a former (long ago) Chengdu resident and, as a result, life-long addict of Sichuan cuisine, I beg of you .... please post your Chengdu food (especially street food) experiences! It's been 5 yrs since my last visit but hope to make a quick trip this fall....

"Naem" is the name of this type of sausage, the uncooked fermented type. ("Saikrawk" means sausage in general --- saikrawk Isaan = Isaan style sausage). The original poster mistakenly used "nam" which means water. The "ae" in "naem" is pronounced a bit like the "e" in "bet", but with the tongue closer to the pallet and mouth pulled to the sides. There's no "nam" that rhymes with lamb .... there's no hard, short "lamb"-like A in Thai. Though the "ae" in naem is somewhere between the "e" in bet and the "a" in lamb. Come to think of it, position your mouth and tongue to say "a" as in "lamb" but try to say "e" as in "bet" instead --- that's a Thai "ae". Confused yet? The problem with transliterating Thai is there is no agreed-upon system, as with pinyin and Mandarin. "Sod" (sometimes transliterated at "sot" or "sodt") means fresh or uncooked. Kao tod (alternatively khao toot, khao tawt, khao tawdt -- the "o" rhymes with "yawn" not "no" or "not) means fried or deep-fried (but not stir-fried, which is "phat") rice (khao=rice, tawt=fried, deep fried).

I would recommend that you *not* combine a trip to Aw taw Kaw with a Chatuchak visit. Chatuchak is overwhelming, and extremely hot (esp this time of yr!) --- you'll be too sweaty and tired to enjoy Aw Taw Kaw. Get there by 10am, prepare to roam and observe before diving in to sample. And weekdays are best -- when the place is quieter, a bit less crowded and less frenetic. It's not hard to find ... any taxi driver in Bangkok will know "Dalat Aw Taw Kaw." Khanom Chine in MBK center (first floor, near the Patumwan hotel) for khanom jeen --- an upscale, but spicy and authentic version. Few farang sample this dish when they are in Thailand, even though it's one of the best noodle dishes, IMO.

It's been 6 yrs since I was in Guilin and Yangshuo and China changes so fast. But on the off chance that either of these places are still there ... a fantastic Hunan place in Guilin. It was well-known, we asked about it around our hotel and were easily directed there. If it's still there someone will be able to direct you. Near the Holiday Inn, not huge and not banquet-fancy, with pictures of Mao on all the walls. I remember fupi lajiao (fried whole fresh chili peppers), a stir-fry of bacon or other smoked pork with lots of cumin, and, on a night when my husband was very sick with a cold, a deliciously restorative medicinal soup of black chicken and herbs. In Yangshuo, we ate all our dinners at a night market that set up in an empty lot next to the most "upmarket" hotel in town (at that time), a Chinese-run "resort" hotel. Things like pork or chicken stir-fried with sugar snap peas, mushroom dishes, greens. Obviously not fancy, but tasty home-cooked fare with the best seasonal veggies. I would definately not skip Guilin. I think almost any Chinese city is worth a stop for a look around ... and then you can take the boat to Yangshuo and take in all the beautiful scenery.

I've just remembered that abt a yr ago I had in Saigon what you describe but with a difference -- the filling was fish not meat. In fact it was sort of like a rice-covered rubbery fish ball, deep-fried. The crisp rice part was tasty, the fish ball was, well rubbery and sort of tasteless (which is probably why the dish was buried in my memory). This was at a restaurant run by Chinese Vietnamese. Just bec. something appears on a Viet menu doesn't mean it's an (originally) Vietnamese dish. There are tons of Chs immigrants here and a fair amount of borrowing/adapting from Chinese cuisine (eg. quiet a lot of Viet stir-fry dishes are of Chinese origin), as you'll find in the rest of SE Asia. Chien, with the inverted "v" over the e, means "fried". Com chien=fried rice, nep chien= fried glutinous rice.

try inquiring on the China section...

I've not encountered these in Vietnam and since you're dipping sauce is soy/black vinegar I would suspect Chinese origin. I have had something similar in Shanghai, the name of the dish translated as something like "pearl balls".....

I think Tissue is talking about khanom kuap .... jellyish rice flour bottom topped with thick coconut cream, steamed in small shallow saucers. Khanom krok are the crispy-bottomed, coconut cream-filled Thai sweets cooked in a metal pan with indentations. Perhaps while you're at it you'll want to try some other banh as well ... I'm particularly enamored of the translucent folded banh with a whole shrimp inside (maybe Andrea can supply the name?). Great texture, what with the crunchy shrimp shell and all.

Thanks for trying Crota, despite its distinct lack of Gambero Rosso and Michelin qualifications. Your description brought a smile to my face, you captured the essence of the place perfectly. Every visit has for us has been memorable in the sort of way you describe. Can't wait to go back. Wouldn't mind reading a bit about the cycling in Piemonte (weave some more food details in to make it legit for the board ).......

Since you are staying primarily in resorts (too bad you're not stopping in Penang!) I would suggest you dedicate yourselves nearly entirely to hawker foods or casual eateries, maybe one "true" restaurant meal, while in KL. I made good use of the thread Pan provides a link to for a trip to KL last fall. If I had two days, 3 meals per day in KL (I think I mention most of these in my post near the end of the thread): Breakfast one: nasi lemak, a must-have in Malaysia! Lunch one: dim sum at Xin restaurant (some of the best dim sum I've ever had ... and I used to live in Hong Kong) Dinner one: hawker stalls near Petaling Jaya. Would have to be BBQ sambal seafood and chicken clay pot. Breakfast two: freshly-made roti and daal followed by some tasty Indian sweets Lunch two: stir-fried Hokkien mee noodles or char guaytiaow at a hawker stall OR Hainan chicken rice Dinner two: Nonya food somewhere --- this is one thing we didn't get to on our trip

Paula, thanks for the link. My stomach is rumbling after your description of the stuffed zucchini. I remember yr Saveur article on Armenian Turkish food in SE Turkey (and the recipe for lamb/garlic shoot/yogurt soup) from a few yrs back. I've not yet made it that part of Turkey.... though we are headed to Turkey's NE and E. Black Sea coast in Sept and I am happily anticipating lots of panfried cornmeal-crusted trout, collard soup, Laz pastries, and cornbread with fresh churned butter and honey.

I know this thread is abt Milo, but I've often wondered similarly abt the strange appeal of Spam in E Asia. (I don't think it's as popular in SE Asia, am I right?)

If you don't have an aversion to conjugations (some folks do) then I don't think Turkish is too hard. No harder than, say, French. Strangely enough it has many elements in common with Japanese too. But I've found the very best motivator for language learning is food! I began studying Turkish with a tutor, then kept at it at univ level for 3 yrs -- all after my first trip to Turkey, when I fell in love with the place, its pple, and its food, and wanted to be able to eat better on my next trip back. There is a great Turkish language website -- but I haven't visited in a couple yrs. Try googling "Turkish language", that's how I used to find it. It had lots of colloquialisms, "fun" stuff, pronunciation help, grammar tidbits, etc. I really like Turkish music and listening to CDs has helped alot. Paula, where would one search for the *regional* Turkish cookbooks that you mention? In bookstores or....?

Just to read recipes (and not any background discussion)? Not that difficult (relative to other languages). Verbs in Turkish are conjugated, much like French etc., so you need to have enough Turkish to recognize verb stems. I could read recipes after a year (1 elementary course), *with* a dictionary of course, and SLOWLY....

Definately Classical Turkish Cooking, or Ayla Algar's other (forgot the name). I may be a bit biased as she was my Turkish teacher --- but I've made lots of fantastic meals out of that book. Wolfert's Mediterranean Grains and Greens (or Greens and Grains?) also has a lot of great Turkish recipes.

Your major problem will be finding the naem (sour sausage) --- unless you have some very well-stocked Thai grocery stores nearby. I think that Thompson's Thai Food may have a recipe for it, if you want to try it at home.

Khmer Kitchen in Siem Reap is a must. Homestyle Khmer cooking, absolutely delicious. All the tuk-tuk drivers know where it is (near the market) and the folks at our hotel did too (Pansea) so you should be able to track it down. We had two wonderful, memorable meals there. You may wait a while for your food but it's worth it.

In Sapporo, a visit to the Sapporo brewery would also be in order. Lots of great kitschy souvenirs in the gift shop. The restaurant serves Mongolian hot pot.