David's Blog

A metal fork and a plastic knife? Did Chili's at the Atlanta airport run out of clean knives? Or are metal knives too dangerous like back in elementary school cafeterias.

Labels: food, georgia

Posted by David at 12:38 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Subway makes an effort to position itself as a healthy alternative to fast food. Which is why the concept of a drive-thru might give the wrong idea. Usually the kind of people who eat at Subway don't mind walking. Likewise, the kind of people that refuse to get out of the car for food, might not care for Subway. Maybe this is how they like it in South Carolina. Some kind of compromise with their doctors. "Veggies in my samich AND gettin out of my car!? That's asking a bit much, doc."

As you can see in the photo, the ordering process still involves choosing the items in your sandwich while they make it. It can't be much faster than just parking your damn car and walking in.

Labels: food, south carolina

Posted by David at 5:32 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

There wasn't enough Turkish food in Berlin. That's why I went to Poland. Dude, how low does your country's GDP have to be for you to seek out the greener pastures of eastern Europe? Word on the street in Istanbul is that the only thing Poles love more than kebab is non-catholic foreigners.

Labels: food, poland

Posted by David at 5:56 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The slightly more asian looking KFC colonel delivers! On a bicycle! So it's official...delivering their food creates less pollution than cooking their food, which is more than a raw vegan could say. I swore I saw a McDonalds motorcycle in Beijing but could not confirm if they deliver.

Labels: china, food, shanghai

Posted by David at 5:04 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Is there a tea shortage around here or something? C'mon this is silly.
Did I just walk into a restaurant or a dollhouse pawn shop?

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 3:51 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Perhaps I’ve discovered the origin of the term "corn beef"?

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 9:22 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It looked like a table of reusable clear ice packs, but upon closer inspection, no, it’s packaged jellyfish. I'll let you know how it tastes just as soon as I finish my bag of shrimp crackers.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 8:59 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Never saw an apple cut up like that before.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 12:58 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

No wonder this restaurant is so slow. It takes a whole crew of chefs to put your name on every grain of rice.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 1:39 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Shrimp flakes and prawn crackers. Proof that you can turn anything into a cracker.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 1:35 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Recognize this logo? Sure you do. It's Leymo Coffee. One sip and you'll be convinced; this coffee is leymo.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 1:17 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It's my favorite thing to look at but not eat. Various meats and small creatures on a stick.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 12:58 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I'm hotpot's newest fan. It was difficult getting the noodles out with chopsticks, but everything else was good. I'm quite certain I only ordered one dish, but the food kept coming. Fortunately the volume of food decreases upon boiling. I didn't touch the frozen bean curd. Would have been nice to know it's just tofu.

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 12:49 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I shouldn't complain because any translation is better than no translation. But obviously this was software translated and the result is the waiters are staring at me taking pictures of the menu. Let's see what culinary delights await:

These make no sense
"Morals is fallen in with stirring and mixing a dish greatly"

"Slippery sheep four treasures" and "Yan explode to distribute pellet". I stay away from anything that explodes and distributes pellets.


These do make sense. That's why they're funny.
"Chestnut clings to Chinese cabbage"

"Rake the beef strip"


At a different restaurant I discovered some more exotic dishes whose translations were correct, but worth sharing nonetheless:

Mmm...best appetizer ever. Three soy flavored duck heads.

or "Pig's ear in flavoring"

and for the champions, there's "Gold medal garlic flavored chicken". Remember, I warned you about the chicken heads.

if you're still hungry, everyone's favorite awaits. "Beijing style braised Turtle with pancake". What, you don't like pancakes?

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 2:34 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Order chicken in Beijing and you might just get the whole chicken. It's easy to suffer from animal head denial. But they've all got one, and you just have to confront it on your plate. The feet too. Chopsticks anyone?

Labels: beijing, china, food

Posted by David at 2:28 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

What I enjoy about travelling is being outside and seeing new places. Assuming the weather is good and there's something to look at, it's a shame to eat indoors. Some cities have a total lack of nice outdoor seating...I'm not talking about a private patio in the back. I mean, right on the street where people are walking by or where there's a nice view. The US is especially bad when it comes to outdoor drinking. I take every opportunity abroad to have a beer outside on a sunny day. Restaurants and bars in Australia use the outside space well. And if they can't setup tables outside, they'll just remove a wall so it feels outside. A completely open storefront. No door. Just wall to wall open to the street.
Brisbane especially has some nice outdoor eateries along the Queen Street pedestrian mall. They're not on one side of the street or another. They're right in the middle of it, like an island, where you can sit and look at everything.

Labels: australia, brisbane, food

Posted by David at 3:47 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Every now and then you find yourself not busy with a beer, a camera, and a nice view. Which leads to only one thing. Starting in Dubai, I'm in the habit of taking a picture of an alcoholic beverage overlooking a view. That's about as artsy as I can get. At first I thought of it as a still life with a nice background. But the drink has a more active role. It's not that I'm observing the drink and the view. It’s about the drink’s view. I'm merely capturing the moment.

Here’s Byron Bay. The restaraunt is called Balcony. It's mostly outdoor seating on a very large balcony overlooking the main intersection of Byron Bay. No street lights here. This roundabout is as busy as it gets. You can't stare at the cars too long... it'll make you dizzy. I watched a few big rig barely make it thru a 270 degree turn. The food was really good but took forever. With a view like this, why rush?


Here's Brisbane. On the South Bank near Street's Beach. Outdoor seating along a public walkway gives you plenty to look at. This is a scooner of beer. Not to be confused with someone from Oklahoma. It's their version of a pint, only it's slightly larger than a pint, but it's not a standard unit of measure. The volume of a scooner can vary depending where in Australia you are. I'm told they get smaller the more north you go.


Another from Brisbane. The West End neighborhood. The area reminded me a lot of LA around Venice or Santa Monica. I guess this isn't much of a view. Let's call it an urban landscape. At a Chinese restaurant, gotta have a TsingTao.

Labels: australia, brisbane, food

Posted by David at 12:29 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This picture is not special. Every restaurant states prominently that they are licensed. Why? As opposed to an unlicensed restaurant? Can we just make the assumption that all restaurants are licensed and if any exist without a license, there is a government agency shutting them down? My doctor is licensed... I hope. There is no sign outside his office or the hospital stating so, but I have a reasonable expectation that unlicensed doctors don’t stay in business very long.

Labels: australia, brisbane, food

Posted by David at 11:31 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I don’t know if this is everywhere in Australia, but every hotel I stayed at (they all had refrigerators) came with a container of milk…one of those single serving cartons, as if it were one of the expected hotel amenities like soap and shampoo.
Milk seems odd. What am I supposed to do with it? Can I exchange it for soy milk? Is it for adding to coffee? Is it to warm up and drink so I have a good night’s sleep? Maybe it's a welcoming symbol?
At one hotel it was given to me upon check in.
Here’s your key. Here’s your milk.
Um, yeah, just the key will be fine. Weird Australians.

Labels: australia, food, hotel

Posted by David at 11:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Food in America usually has it's own characters like Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam. The marketing team for Kellogg's Australia thought muesli bars would sell better if they teamed up with the Simpsons. Maybe one of Rupert Murdoch's offspring works there. Each of the Simpson's has its own flavor. Homer's Choc Chip. Bart is Choc Malt. Choc is the proper abbreviation of chocolate. Any word longer than one syllable is highly frowned upon. What's malt?
I'm used to granola bars. But you won't see the word "granola" anywhere. Australians take after their european heritage. It's all about muesli. At least Bart's not promoting Butterfinger.

Labels: australia, food

Posted by David at 2:06 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A stark contrast to Dubai's $21 Mojito, is Shenzhen's $7 dinner. I wasn't trying to save a buck. I went to a decent restaurant. I had a chicken and fried rice entree, a plate of sushi, and a large bottle of my new favorite beer, Tsing Tao. I didn't have to leave a tip, but the meal was so cheap and I'm so generous, I did anyway and still didn't break $7 (around 50 yuan). In Hong Kong, for $7, all I got was the Tsing Tao;( None of the waitresses spoke english, but the menus had pictures and another customer helped translate. I liked it so much I went back there again the next day.

In general I stay away from big brands while abroad. I didn't travel around the world for something I can get in the US. But I succumbed to the Pizza Hut figuring they had english menus and I was tired of playing menu charades. Translation mistakes are quite common. Usually it's a conjugation error. This Pizza Hut serves "interesting and exotica pizzas":

Labels: china, food, shenzhen

Posted by David at 6:36 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Technically the title of this blog should be "Food I Never Saw Before Part 3", but I can't pass up writing "octopus on a stick" as much as possible.

Taipei has a tremendous variety of food. I ended up eating Japanese food a lot. There's so many options for good food and it doesn't have to be expensive. I'll try to break down the various options. First you have restaurants with storefronts along the street like you'd see anywhere else. My favorite was an all you can eat BBQ. The trays of raw meat just kept on coming. I rediscovered the carnivore inside me. Why eat vegetables when there's all this meat?

Then you have some indoor food courts like at a mall. It can be a court of separate restaurants or a court of cafeteria style options with a shared seating area. The immediate observation is that everyone involved in the food industry is wearing gloves and masks. Yay for hygiene. The gloves, I like, but the face mask instilled a sense more of fear than safety. Woah there buddy, if you need a hospital mask, maybe I don't want you to prepare my food. Or, if you're wearing a mask, do you know something about this food I don't? I have to say, thankfully, my stomach had no unwanted surprises.

Next on our hierarchy are small vendors which I don't know an english word for. They're not pushing a cart or with a hot dog stand. The have permanent fixed locations either along the pedestrian night markets or on the ground floor in the busy parts of town. They're usually a mom and pop operation. Mom cooking some stew in a big pot in the back. Pop serving over the counter as people line up on the sidewalk. At lunch time, the sidewalks get crowded. Everyone goes to his favorite vendor, each of whom has a very specific menu. Like the In-N-Out model. Ordering goes quick, there's only one or two items, it's good quality food, and it's cheap. Occasionally there's a few chairs or a table, but generally people just walk up, get the food, and go. Convenience and time seem to be important. No long lunch breaks around here.

I only saw one small supermarket in 5 days in Taipei. I was like, where do all these people buy food? I'm convinced there are markets somewhere, but part of the answer is people out eat all the time. Why buy raw goods and cook when it's faster and maybe even cheaper to buy it already made? Initially I was suspicious of street vendors, but the fact is, they rely on repeat customers, the food is fresh, and you can see their entire storage and production process. Far shadier things can occur in a restaurant.

Lastly, in our food options, is the portable food stand/cart. One that I partook in sold slabs of fried chicken. I don't know exactly what part of a chicken it was. No bones, no skin, not a breast, but not ground either. Somehow they made a slab of boneless fried chicken. It was good. There's also drinks that come in a small bag instead of a cup. The strap of the bag hangs on your wrist and you drink from a straw. It leaves the hand free. Don't grab the bag or the drink squirts out!

You also might see someone holding a stick, biting an octopus that has been impaled on it. Don't they look so tasty in a big pile like this? This is a crowd favorite. Mmm....octopus on a stick.

From Taiwan

On a more pleasant note, how about an apple on a stick? Wouldn't you like to eat an apple cut into a spiral and elongated? Very creative. Extra points for presentation.


This as all very eco-friendly. The food is not grown far from where it's sold. There's not much useless packaging, and global food chains don't dominate. Despite the west's best marketing efforts, people still really like their local food and I'll mourn the day a Taiwanese child asks for McDonalds, unless of course, they roll out the new McOctopus-on-a-stick.

While writing this post, I discovered this webpage which has a lot of good info and pictures about food in Taiwan.

Labels: food, taiwan

Posted by David at 11:00 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This fruit was pretty popular in Macau. I asked the name of it but couldn't remember. It looks like a cross between a pineapple and a porcupine. Covered in sharp spikes but cut it open and there's normal fruit inside.


Mmm...sheets of meat. I don't know what animal this is. Probably pigs. Meat sold by the sheet, sitting in stacks along the street. I don't know how it's prepared or maybe people just bite into it. Either way, not appetizing.


Yes, I've seen eggs before, but I haven't seen them stacked in a pile like you'd find loose apples and oranges. I guess this works well for people who don't want to buy a whole dozen, but what if you do? Are you just carrying a bag with 12 eggs? Seems a little fragile to just carry around without the cardboard cartons.

Labels: food, macau

Posted by David at 3:57 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Wherever I go, I seem to always take pictures of dead fish. There's just such a wide variety. Always something I haven't seen before. The open markets in Hong Kong were a new experience. First off, it's very hot and humid and combined with dead animals, it doesn't add up to a pleasant smell. There are some signs reminding people about food safety, but refrigeration is still very undervalued. The solution is buy it fresh. So fresh, you saw it alive. The picture below shows a fish vendor. There's some shallow tanks where the fish swim around, and when the customer picks it out, they toss it back to the guy with the knife, and 3 seconds later it's gutted and in your bag.
  
There was also a vendor with cages and live chickens near the cart with dead chickens. Fortunately I didn't see them kill any chickens. The other interesting thing is that chickens and ducks, even when you buy it at a supermarket, still have their heads on. The long neck is turned back and the head is tucked under the wing, so the packaging looks the same except you got this chicken head pointing up behind the wing. I guess I don't like to be reminded that what I'm buying was an animal and that it had a head. I can also assume the head stays with it because people like eating it. Which made me wonder...what happens to all the chicken heads in the US? Cat food anyone?

Labels: food, hong kong

Posted by David at 1:07 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

We've got Safeway Select, europeans have Euroshopper. There's nothing wrong with the off-brands. They're cheaper, but at least they choose a name that doesn't imply a lack of quality.
In a Wellcome (the most common supermarket chain in Hong Kong) you might want to blame the marketing team for the lackluster sales of "No Frills" peanut butter.

This next one doesn't say Cheerios. But that bumble bee and his honey nuts sure do look familiar. But what's this Kellogg's logo doing here? Does General Mills know about this? My hunch is this is a Chinese counterfeit.

Labels: food, hong kong

Posted by David at 1:02 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It's usually previously unknown animal based products that startle me. But what the hell is this? Maybe their strawberries need a haircut. Or maybe it's Rambutan!

Labels: food, hong kong

Posted by David at 11:53 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I like mojitos but bars and alcohol aren't so prevalent. Pretty much only available to foreigners in hotels and it ain't cheap. I dropped by the Jumeirah Emirates Towers to check out the view from the top.

From Dubai

On the 51st floor is Vu's bar. They offer many drinks including mocktails. A mojito without alcohol is $12 or a real one is $21. Hmm, either way I'll set a personal record, so give me the alcohol. It was a very good drink and the view was ok but could have been better. It looks smoggy but actually it's sand in the air. Since this building is so much higher than others you have to look down steeply to see anything. The angle of the windows doesn't make it any easier. This was literally the best photo I could take. I haven't decided whether to title it "Still life with mojito" or "Mojito enjoys the view". I'm sure the waitress would call it "Stupid White Guy's Photo #137"
   

Labels: dubai, food

Posted by David at 8:45 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I'm no expert on food, (except of course its consumption), but the presentational qualities (or lack thereof) at various restaurants in Stockholm did not go unnoticed. The first of these plates is perhaps the most atypical. I'll be the first to give a square plate a second chance, but to quote Alan Hale from an Andy Griffith episode "that's not even enough food to get skinny off of". After that meal, the only thing as empty as my stomach was my wallet. I don't know whether to applaud the sculpted mash potatoes or to accuse someone of dragging a spoon through it. FYI: The restaurant's name was "J". Shouldn't be too difficult to avoid.
The next three plates get no complaints. Looked good, tasted good, and served on circular plates. Not cheap, but nothing in Stockholm is. The last plate though, warrants explanation. My first impression was that this is a thin fila or tortilla-like dough with something wrapped inside. But on closer inspection I discovered it is a bag, and the trout filet I ordered was inside. A less skeptical person than I might have tried eating the bag. Why would you put it on a plate if it's not edible!?! Total lack of presentation.

Labels: food, restaurant, stockholm, sweden

Posted by David at 4:00 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Advertising has found its way into everything. In addition to all the usual places, it's on the back of receipts, it's in the box that Amazon shipped me, and AMD found space for their logo on Lance Armstrong's butt. I thought opportunities for signage were pretty much saturated. What else could exist that no one's thought of? ... Napkins! Every time you ever used a blank napkin to wipe your mouth, blow your nose, or whatever else you do with napkins, some corporation out there missed out on a perfectly good branding opportunity. And every eating establishment that ever provided free napkins, totally missed out on a subsidy. It's a win-win situation for everybody. But what does a Sony Vaio laptop have to do with food? At this restaurant, there were a couple Vaios near the entrance for people to play around with, so it's not totally irrelevant.

Labels: ads, finland, food, helsinki

Posted by David at 11:28 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

After being in Amsterdam for a month, I was not aware of any 11 story buildings. In a pancake flat city, surely something like that would be noticeable from everywhere. But there is one and a restaurant/club called Club 11 occupies the 11th floor. It's not exactly easy to find, but it's past the train station in the direction of the well known chinese boathouse restaurant. The 11 story building was used as a museum before and now looked like there wasn't much inside, and the outside didn't look too nice either. But sure enough as promised, there was a restaurant, with a pretty nice view of the train station and the river. You can't see most of the city because of another buildlng and construction cranes blocking the view, which is probably also why from the city, you can't really see this building. There was nothing special about the food, but worth a visit for its location.

Labels: amsterdam, food, netherlands

Posted by David at 5:35 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I'll be first in line to support the metric system in America. Can you tell me how many gallons are in a cubic foot? I didn't think so.

However I've discovered one case where using feet is best...Subway sandwiches. Trying to sell a 30 centimeter sub just doesn't make sense. Are you trying to say that you're a better value than the guy next door selling 29 centimeter subs? No. So if you can't say "foot long sub", do Europe a favor and sell a "whole" or a "half" just like every other baguette sandwich place.

Labels: food, netherlands, signs

Posted by David at 11:21 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Just one example of the many tasty things you can buy at various street markets around Amsterdam.

Labels: food, netherlands

Posted by David at 3:46 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post