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Sunday, October 08, 2006

Food Fetish

Uptill now i always thought i was hardly adventurous when it came to trying out different cuisines. The easy excuse was being a vegetarian.
But in Hong Kong, although the choices are limited for a vegetarian, i have learnt to try my hand at different cuisines. So here goes the experience.


Itadakimasu - Japan
SUSHI is a packing of fish with rice.As the fish ferments, the rice produced a lactic acid which in turn caused the pickling of the pressed fish. Ofcourse there are vegetarian alternatives to this ancient culinary art. What we had in a Jap restaurant, is an egg sushi and a cucumber sushi.Apparently these days Sushi is customised and vinegar is added to the sushi rice to produce a pleasant flavour of tartness. Along with Sushi one gets a WASABI Sauce. I say simply beware of this. Extremely pungent, this is the Japanese horseraddish. Unmindful of its flavour i simply ate a chopstick full and in a second my nose was hanging free of my face. It took me a full minute to recover.

Bon appetit THAI.
We walked into a Thai restaurant the other day and was simply taken aback by the ambience. It was pleasant, most restaurants in Hong Kong are noisy and cluttery.
We first explained to the proprietor that we were vegetarians. He was eager to please.The first dish that arrived was scrambled eggs with bitter gourd. One mustn't think of this as a weird combination. Its sinfully delicious.
The main course had the THAI GREEN CURRY and steamed rice. Although many of you would have had this in India, what we had was exquisite. The blend of the coconut milk with the vegetables was just perfect. We almost licked the bowl of the curry.
I was simply bowled over by Thai cuisine.

Sihk Faahn - CHINA
This is the what i eat most of the time. There are some specialites in Chinese cuisine too.
I will start with MOON CAKE. This is a special chinese dessert made during the mid-autumn festival.They are round or rectangular shaped pastries.The egg yolk in the center signifies the moon.(Its a full moon day during which the autumn festival is celebrated.)Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony" as well as the name of the bakery and filling in the moon cake. Imprints of a moon, a woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit may surround the characters for additional decoration.
As part of the chinese cuisine we get many rice paste dishes similar to idiappam in india. Except that they have a samosa kind of shape and are filled with sauteed vegetables and spring onion. Delicious.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

East meets West - Welcome to Hong Kong

When i stepped foot in Hong Kong, i dint quite expect to see what i saw.
Yes Hong Kong reminds me so much of Bangalore - Concrete Jungles, mind-blowing traffic, N+1 Shopping malls and an almost oblivious crowd.

When we were on the way to the hotel from the airport in the express we saw a few apartments that would have put Indian Puravankaras and Brigade Groups to shame.


For the first few days everything around me was moving in a fast forward pace. People here walk, eat, work and talk at an amazingly rapid pace. Am not speaking relatively mind it.

We even got lost one day while trying to get out of their metros and a kind lady helped us with a map 45 minutes later since we couldn't stop anyone to ask for directions.

The people here dress similar to the Europeans but the streets are crowded and noisy and makes you feel right at home.


Dal fry and rice in Hong Kong. Yeah you can have it anywhere in the world these days so why not in the dragon country? We found a Kashmir Curry place although i tasted Thai, Japanese and Chinese Cuisine first.

Tommorrow is the Autumn Festival a kind of a family reunion day - Thanksgiving. They have a dragon show and a lantern festival from morning to midnight. This is the Discover Hong Kong 2006 special.

Am all set to party so let the show begin.

A Great Way To Fly

People who have travelled through Singapore Airlines would definetly agree with me that it is a great way to fly.

The staff are amiable and dont frown on you when you ask for an extra glass of water.
I had some bitter experiences flying Lufthansa and i wasnt cashing on all the free beer mind it!! Just one cup of water.

Anyways, singapore airlines had me enthralled from start to finsh.

They have more leg space in their aircrafts. They even give you a vanity pouch with socks and a tooth kit.

You have menu cards for supper and lunch and the food is good. Its not like dining in Sahibs sindh sultans but what more do you want when your amidst clouds.
They screen some really good movies on air. I managed to watch Break-up and The devil wears Prada on air.

All in all am totally looking forward to flying Singapore Airlines on my way back.

Thumbs up to them!!