Nosh of Someone Else's Day: Soba

Recently I went with a Japanese friend to an apparently decent Soba restaurant. To me, Soba are noodles, which you can have fried or in soup like all other noodles. Which is all very well and good. But at the time I was gagging for KFC (so classy!) and therefore ordered kara-age (fried chicken). My Japanese friend seemed a little surprised. HE had ordered ONLY SOBA, with a little dipping sauce.

I had remembered another Japanese friend ordering similar at a different restaurant, and wondering where the rest of her meal was (perhaps she was on a diet?)

In fact Soba are noodles-to-be-appreciated in Japan. They are made from buckwheat (soba actually means 'buckwheat') and appreciated as a standalone dish for their delicate flavour, freshness... the time of season the wheat is harvested even makes a difference in flavour to the Soba connoisseur.

Anyway, I enjoyed my fried chicken like the gaijin* philistine I am! But perhaps next time I will venture for the healthier option...

This place even had its own soba-maker

*Gaijin (外人) = 'foreign person' ie non-Japanese

Soba image courtesy of importnoodles.com

The Hungry Ghost Festival

Just been for a trot around my new (temporary) neighbourhood. Tomorrow (Monday) is a public holiday, and there's a nice, relaxed vibe around this weekend... and a few celebrations...

Today is Hari Raya Puasa (Eid / end of Ramadan) (hence tomorrow's holiday*) and there were quite a few local Muslim families out in their Sunday best. Added to this, the Hungry Ghost Festival has just started for the Chinese community. I'd never heard of this one before.

This month is when the ghosts of the underworld come up to visit the living. They are not necessarily bad ghosts, just lost souls. And when they arrive they like a bit of nosh and entertainment. So the Chinese community are laying on a spread for them! Along the roadsides here are multiple food offerings, burned items and incense.

Today I saw a really big offering along Serangoon Road - an entire enclosure of 'papier mache' items including paper shoes, cars and lotus flowers, which are burned so that the dead can receive them as gifts. And in front of the enclosure lots of people offering incense, and (real) take-away meals. (I didn't take photos as it seemed a bit disrespectful!)

Also strewn around the neighbourhood have been tons of pretty embossed and printed papers - 'joss papers' - which are burned and offered up to the ghosts as a kind of money.



Joss papers were strewn all down our street last night!

In Singapore and Malaysia especially, community performances will be staged; everyone can go, but the front row of seats is left empty for the ghosts. Later on, I am told, there will be floating lotus lanterns set outside people's houses, to guide the ghosts home when they return to the underworld.

Both Buddhists and Taoists celebrate the Hungry Ghost Festival. O-bon is the equivalent festival in Japan.


* We are lucky to get the gamut of public holidays and religious festivals here - Christmas, Chinese New Year, Eid, Deepavali...!

A couple more strange 'English' terms

1. Cul-de-sac. (pron: cool de sack) Actually this one is French, but (like a few things) the British nicked it and it's now in our daily use! This refers usually to a road that has no 'end' - so when visiting, you just loop round and come back out. Cul de sacs are most commonly found in pre-designed residential areas in the UK. Here is my own stunning map of a cul-de-sac of eight houses, in a green suburb of London!

Example: "Our house is third on your left, it's in a cul-de-sac."

2. Gazumped. This means 'unfairly outbid at the last minute'. So you thought you were about to get something at an agreed price, then somebody else came in suddenly and took it by offering more money. It is most commonly used when referring to buying houses, but can refer to other sales situations too. It is generally not a nice thing to be gazumped, and implies an untrustworthy seller! I think the word might have originally come from Yiddish (more borrowing!)

Example: "We were about to buy that apartment on High Road, but we got gazumped."

A trip abroad for supper

So glamorous! Yes, we made a trip from Singapore to Malaysia just to try out a Japanese dinner!

OK, not quite as extreme as it sounds. Johore Bahru (in Malaysia) is just over the causeway from Singapore. You can get there in about 20 minutes on a bus from central Singapore - but it does require emigration / immigration of course.

We went on a Sunday afternoon, had a little wander around the town, and then settled down to an excellent Japanese dinner. There are, apparently, a lot of Japanese businessmen posted to Johore Bahru - which is a shipping hub. And where there is a market, there will be restaurants.

I am not sure how much of JB we covered off in our afternoon, but it's not a large place, and not at all modern like Singapore, KL or even Seremban in Malaysia (think 'Basingstoke' UK)! To me, it had a different vibe from other Malaysian towns I've visited, which I quite enjoyed.  There are malls (of course); a thriving Little India part, where there were Hindu festivities; run-down backstreets with great old signage etc. And there was warm evening sun, spiky palms.. overall JB oddly reminded me more of a relaxed but unglamorous port in maybe Turkey or Spain! See what you think... (Blogger won't format pix but you can click for a slideshow view).

Anyway, back to the food. My (Singapore-posted) Japanese friends had booked a restaurant famous for home-cooked style Japanese nosh. So not sushi or the more obvious Japanese items, but many little bowls of deliciously prepared vegetables, meats, pickles.. with staples of chawanmushi, rice, miso soup.

Personal highlights:
Gobou - a yummy selection of tender chicken pieces, burdock, carrot? mushroom? in a tasty, light gravy
Okara - slightly dry/powdery ground-up soybean, here with other vegetable bits - altogether with a very delicious sweet, nutty flavour
Pickles - there were several pickle elements throughout the meal, but these starters (pictured above left) were particularly nice. I don't know what was pickled to make them (my friends suggested perhaps turnip?) but they were excellent!

Nosh of the Day: Tororo

Today I tried Tororo. Actually grated Japanese yam, it initially resembles a small bowl of porridge. In fact, you mix it up with a little soy sauce and have it on rice. To me, the consistency has similarities to the 'slimy sauce' part of natto* (a kind of raw egg-white effect). But it is far more palatable than natto, and has no smell! In fact it almost had no flavour (apart from the added soy) but kinda nice texture on rice :)

Apparently this variety is the only one of the yam family that can be eaten uncooked.

* My Japanese friend completely disagreed with this, but honestly, we don't have many slimy-effect foods in Europe, so perhaps they all seem similar to me!

Civet Cat Coffee - THE TRIAL

Yes, the one you have all been waiting for!! (Perhaps)

Very fortunately a friend's colleague's husband (are you following?) imports Kopi Luwak (Civet Cat Coffee). So he managed to get a sample for us to try.

To recap briefly, Kopi Luwak is 1) made from coffee beans that have been eaten and pooped by a Civet Cat. 2) extortionately expensive if you buy it in shops.

We don't have any fancy coffee-making equipment here in Singapore. I have a nice Italian number in London, but it was definitely not included in my 30kg baggage allowance! Instead another friend bought some nifty Vietnamese style coffee makers. Just put in the ground beans, push down the strainer, add hot water and wait for it to drip through.

Ground Kopi Luwak has a pleasant smell. Quite strong, quite earthy. The powder was mid-brown and looks similar to other decent roasts as far as I could tell. You will be very relieved to hear that it neither smells of, nor resembles, poop! Apparently there are two versions available now: the real 'expelled' version, and a version that has been treated to simulate the chemical reactions of the cat's gut.. without the cat. Ours was apparently the original.

The brew: we drank it black first. The flavour is strong and woody / charcoaly, but it does not have the acid kick that you'd expect from strong black coffee. It was smooth and a little nutty. Not bad at all. I'm not used to drinking coffee without milk and sugar, but I'm still not sure I would spend SG$30 / £15 on a cup of it. It is definitely worth a try if you can find it more cheaply, however!

Round 2: the control. As a 'compare and contrast' our friend also bought some good quality Vietnamese coffee with him. I had not realised this in the UK, but Vietnam is famous for its coffee culture and roasts.

I had a sip / sniff of this black. The aroma was lovely - strong but fragrant, less woody than the Luwak, maybe a bit more fruity! And the straight brew had an acidity that I would expect. Then we had it with traditional sweetened condensed milk. I like sweet, milky coffee, so it is possibly no suprise that I preferred this version! In fact I liked it a lot compared to several other coffees I have tried with milk and sugar (Italian, Javanese etc)

After this we tried the tiny remainder of the Kopi Luwak with sweetened condensed milk. Sadly it was not really enough to get the full experience of the coffee - but I think I preferred this to the 'unadorned' version. This is just personal preference of course.

So if you get a chance to try either of these delicious coffees, I would maybe recommend taking it black, and then adding a little bit of milk at a time until you reach the taste you like.

Olympics Ceremony 2012

Yep it was on at about 3am here in East Asia. But you can catch the full footage here! Blogger won't let me embed today. So here's the link: Enjoy! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4As0e4de-rI