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!