Tornado Potato!

Deep fried & things on a stick... 2 of my favorite food groups! While wandering through Insadong I spotted a Tornado Potato cart. It was a one-man show, taking a raw potato and feeding it through some fancy contraption where he was left with a spiral of starchy potato. One at a time, the whole thing was then carefully threaded onto a wooden stick. And then, the whole thing, stick and all, was placed in a vat of hot oil.



When the golden tornado emerged from the oil, it was left to rest a moment on the tray, before I was faced with the grueling decision of choosing a flavored salt. There was several flavors, but the Chilli and the Cheese flavors were what interested me. A quick dip of one half into the chilli salt, and the other into the cheese salt.



And there we have one stick full of deep fried, salty, crispy goodness from the streets of Seoul.

Bbopgi, honeycomb on a stick! Street food in Seoul

After a huge bibimbap for lunch, we make our way back to wander the walking street ... and I spot something from a distance. Sugar, on a stick - perfect!



Kids and adults alike are walking around with these things, each etched with a different hand drawn artwork. We make our way over to one of the bustling little street side stalls. They are making giant clumps of honeycomb, and then pressing them flat, piercing them with a stick for convenient eating-while-walking, and then etching the picture into the hot candy.



Apparently the idea is to eat around the shape without it breaking/cracking? I just ate the heck out of that sugar in one swift motion it was so good ... Will give the whole eating around the shape thing a go next time.

Cone of Chips; street-food in Marrakech

Way back last Spring on our holiday in Morocco, we were slightly startled when we went to withdraw money from Kim's bank account, and it wouldn't work! Then we tried mine, and my debit card had somehow long expired for my Australian bank account, without us realizing .... Herein lies the importance of traveling with various forms of currency. We of course had our credit cards to get us through, and always have some travelers cheques. We were then hustling around trying to find a currency exchange or bank that accepted travelers cheques (harder than you think in Morocco).

Time was ticking .... We needed some cash for small, daily transactions. We were running from bank to bank, trying to find one that would cash American Express cheques. When suddenly there was a major distraction,



A little street-side cart, with a small light dangling overhead and a whole glass cabinet full of fried potatoes. Thin, crisp, golden potatoes. We scrounge together a few coins, for this brief moment not worrying about tomorrow, or money for a cab home.. The crisps are simply scooped up in a simple paper cone... still warm, glistening in the afternoon sun with little diamonds of salt reflecting in the light.



..... now, back to finding a bank.

Nuts about Nutella

Ahhh, Italians do love their Nutella. Like the amazing idea of putting Nutella, sticks and a tea drink all in one convinient package - genius!

While in Tuscany we also spotted the first-of-many a jar of Nutella that was as big as Kim's head ... mmmmmmm, so much Nutella.



And after a night of eating over in Travestere district, we walk past a little crepe vendor. But what really grabbed my attention was all those Nutella jars ....



Having a crepe to smear it onto was just mere convenience, as walking around the streets of Rome with a jar of Nutella and a spoon might not be acceptable. Or maybe it would be?! There are plenty of options as far as additional toppings go, including nuts, coconut, banana & more, but I'm keeping it pure today ...



Ahh, Nutella love !!

Porky goodness at the end of Soi 11

Staying over the Sukumvit side of town meant a whole new world of discoveries. We found an awesome foot massage place a few soi's over, and conveniently we walked past a charcoal grill full of porky goodness so we always found ourselves stocking up just because .....

The charcoal grill would usually have a few fresh things sizzling away ...



but there was always the tray at the front that was piled with all sorts of pig, you just pick up the sticks you want, place them on the end of the grill to warm them up and you're away.



The chosen sticks would then be packed into a bag with chunks of cabbage, Thai herbs, scud chilli's and slices of fresh ginger.



A perfect walking snack on the way to another wonderful massage ...

Oh how I love Thai salads ...

On our walk back from Yong Lee we were contently full ... Until we spotted a hawker selling the delightful yam nam.



This is one of my most favorite Thai salads, fermented pork along with boiled pork skin is tossed with crispy red curry rice cakes, ginger, shallot, peanuts, lime, chilli and fish sauce.



Served along with it, a bag full of crunchy cabbage wedges, cucumber and a forest of Thai herbs. We sat back at the outdoor oasis at Suk 11 and enjoyed this tasty treat.



It was a fair effort, but we both much prefer the hawker we've found over the Phra Artit side of town and her flavour packed yam nam.

Samui's famous Khao Mon Gai

At Mike's birthday bash the end of the evening evolved into drinking games and magic tricks and all 'round craziness. Despite this Kim and I both recalled talking to some locals about an amazing khao mon gai stall that was supposed to be within walking distance of Kelli & Glenn's place. This is supposed to be 'the' place the locals travel to, from all over the island, for their fix of khao mon gai, or chicken rice.



On several occasions we tried to find it ..... the directions were a bit hazy (or at least our heads were) and we weren't having luck from the beach side or the road side. But one day, scooting through Bang Po beach, from the Na Thon side we spot an unassuming little place that had about 6 cars and a pile of scooters outside. We wanted to check it out regardless ..... but turns out this was the spot!



We walk in, there's some glass cabinets with the chickens hanging in all their glory, and some plastic tables down on the sand.



There's a cute little jar of firey vinegar / chilli sauce with a little dish of fresh chilli's and tiny garlic cloves acting as a lid.



There's also a stack of little ramekins, piled high, in a little wooden stand that intrigues us both.



2 plates of chicken rice soon distract us from the little tower and we dig in. The chicken is plump and juicy, sitting on top a beautifully fragrant rice, with a few slices of cucumber and a little dish of soy and ginger sauce. A small bowl of the chicken soup and it's a chicken-licious trifecta! I add a touch of the chilli vinegar to both my chicken and the soup. Mmm.



We notice everyone around seems to be enjoying a few of the little dishes that are piled up on the tables so we dive on in ....... on first glance it appears to be a cute little coconut custard.



Once we scoop in, it's apparant there is a layer of gooey pandanus custard underneath.



A fantastic finish to an incredible lunch. And all this, including 2 drinks, for under 100B.

Siripoca Khao Mon Gai
Bang Po Beach
Koh Samui, Thailand


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Thai night carnival, Koh Samui

A roaming dinner is always a good one. Especially when it's at a Thai night carnival. We park the car and walk down the side of the road, the cars and scooters being ushered with military precision around the hoards of people.



The first stop, sweet corn in a cup. The fresh, plump, steamed corn kernels are mixed in a bowl with a touch of salt, sugar, coconut and butter. We take our cup in hand and continue roaming ...



Mmm, meat on a stick. We spot a lady with a pile of sticks and are oh-so-happy to see it's nam, fermented pork and glutionus rice sausage on a stick. She flashes it over the charcoal as she prepares a little bag with whole scud chilli's, chunks of cabbage and sliced ginger. It's nice and smokey, from the charcoal, and has a nice sour tang. Mouthfuls of sausage are alternated with chunks of cabbage, ginger and chilli.



Another meat on stick, chunks of marinated pork, also grilled over charcoal, keeps us going for a few more minutes ...



We spot a guy grilling these very interesting looking flatbreads over open flame charcoal. We grab a bag to take home.



We finish off the walking adventure with some fried chicken legs and a bag of fried chicken skin. Mmm.



If only carnival food was this good, and this cheap, all over the world.

Kluay tod - deep fried banana's

On the walk back from the little Muslim stand after a big lunch, we often did not have room for banana's ... but that didn't mean we wouldn't buy them.  



She was there everyday, but the times would vary. Hand's of banana's piled up behind her, at all different stages of ripeness. She selects how many she's going to prepare that day (maybe based on how much batter she has in the giant bowl) and just fries away 'til there's nothing left.



We'd always see people waiting, as it takes a good 10 minutes to fry the banana's over medium heat. But when the locals are waiting for these 'nana's, we know we're onto a good thing.

She peels and slices banana's straight into the bowl of batter. The batter is made with coconut cream and is oh-so-very crispy and there's a few sesame seeds scattered through it. They bubble away in the giant wok until there is no more bubbles, a little drain and they're good to go. They are crispy, golden and aroy maak!



Somedays's we have the full intention of taking them home and enjoying them later, when we're not quite so full.



But they never seem to make it the whole way ....


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Oodles of Noodles ..

Wandering down the main street looking for something to eat we spot the little noodle cart. The little noodle cart we had tried to go to a few days prior early afternoon but he'd just arrived, and very kindly told us that it would take nearly 1 hour for his enormous pot of soup to boil before we could enjoy any noodles. It's now early evening, his soup must be hot.



We order 2 ba me muu daeng - yellow noodles with red pork. The noodle were coated with the oil from fried garlic, there was a generous amount of greens and then the paper thin slices of delicious red pork. There's a bowl of soup served to the side with corriander and daikon floating around a nice kick of white pepper.



Our tummies are happy but not quite fulfilled. Across the road we'd witnessed streams of locals pulling up on their scooters beside another cart, picking up bags of take-away. We go to investigate. It's one lady on the woks pumping out oodles of pad Thai.



There's a few little stools along the footpath and we're lucky enough to score ourselves a seat.



The noodles arrive, a mountain of this rice noodles wok fried to a deep golden caramel with loads of tamarind, chilli, peanuts, tofu, egg, garlic chives, dried shrimp and plump fresh ones. A little plate sits to the side with bean sprouts, lime and more garlic chives.



As we're sitting enjoying our noodles another scooter pulls up selling something that will be a first for us ... (Post to follow)


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All these years on, we can still get a pad sii eew in the same spot

We'd looked for it on our way to Muslim Food for a few days, as years ago when we first came to Kamala, on the headland end of the beach, parked alongside the road, was another lunch favorite. There was a scooter with a cabinet full of fresh fruit and giant bottles of soft drink, and sitting on the side, a wok and an esky filled with whatever she'd obtained at the markets that morning. We were kind of not expecting to see her, it had been a while, and she was a completely mobile restaurant. But, on our way for lunch one day, shock!, she's set up. In exactly the same spot. (Must have had a few days off for Songkran).



Years ago when we came here, pad sii eew gai was our lunch of choice, and today's no different. She takes some gail lan from the esky and chops it up. This gets fried in the wok with chicken, garlic and sweet soy and then big rice noodles are added. A good raining of dried chilli flakes and we're good to go.



We do notice the absence of egg today, but, they were probably out by the time she got to the market.


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The 2nd Sin, Hanoi

We're in Hanoi right? Right. They have a great tradition of French cuisine right? Right. They are the true originators of fusion cuisine right? Right. Which is why we have turned to the web in search of some guidance from above to help find a fabled dish... The Vietnamese creme caramel, we've yet to see one in our daily fossicking. A quick search and thanks to stickyrice's photos we're sure this is what we want .. the picture looks glorious. Easy enough then, just take the address and walk to the place, it's in the old city so shouldn't be to far, or so we thought...... you see Hang Than isn't on any of the maps we have, we looked and looked at the maps, researched the web again and again only to find more tantalising blurbs of the greatness of this caramel and more vague directions, so once again it's back to Cafe Hue for some more local wisdom. As soon as we said where we wanted to go they knew the place and as fast as you could say 'two iced weasels to go please' we were off.

What follows next is a tale of savage gluttony, be warned.....

We follow the directions that lead us to Hang Than (it is there, just not named on our maps) then we see it, a small doorway with a cake stand out side, (don't be put off buy the cakes we weren't that impressed with the look of them either but that's not what your here for). We take a sit on one of the many microstools that litter this section of the side walk and ask for the kem caramel. It takes about fifteen seconds to arrive and really is a thing of beauty ... you could just sit and stare into it's glossy surface for hours, it's the kinda dessert you take home to meet your parents.

We gently probe our spoons into it's surface and a small creme glacier sheers off from the side to drop in to the caramel sea pooled around it...

Lifted into our mouths we have one of those moments where angels sing and the world evaporates away from you. Our whole world became the silky creme, the perfectly balanced bitter sweet caramel for a second time stopped and we were in heaven. And then all snapped back into sharp focus and spoons were dueled sword like and with quite some savagery to get at the remains of the custard. No really, it was that good! So what else have you got hidden away ?? we managed to get across. Next in quick succession we had a set yogurt laced with a jellied mango pudding..



a drinking yogurt with sticky black rice..



and a pannacotta...



All fantastic but we couldn't stop our mind from straying back to the caramel in the end we had to round off our binge with another. We then had to face the walk home heads swimming with endorphins and dairy overload, it's an interesting mix. As we walked past Cafe Hue the enquiries came did we find it? Yes. Did we think it was good? Yup. Did we go to the bun cha place opposite? Bun Cha? Fantastic, an excuse to be back on the same street tomorrow. Now if you'll please excuse us we have some serious lying down to do.

Duong Hoa Kem Caramen
29 Hang Than St
Hanoi

Wandering Rice Ball ..., Hanoi

Tired of walking and looking for any excuse to stop we pulled in at this amazing curb side eatery. This woman had the traditional carrying yoke with two baskets .. one full with the goodies, the other her kitchen but (and this is where it gets really cool) insted of simple banana leaf, newspaper or bamboo skewers for her fare she had little porcelin plates and polished silver cutlery. She had small steamed sticky rice flour dumplings filled with caramel pork and roast peanut topped with a smattering of sesame seeds, which were delicious, but to then have them placed on a small plate and have some cutlery appear.....well we were astounded.

As soon as we were done the plate and forks went into the dirty dishes container under the kitchen and she was back on the move. As we watched she got about fifty meters before some one esle had flagged her down. My only gripe is since she's so mobile how the hell are we going to find her again????



Rice ball lady
Some where in Hanoi
Open ???