Cheok Kee Braised Duck Rice - Singapore

Laziness, Personified
I recently quit my job, pulled stakes in Paris and settled in Singapore.  I tell myself I'm in early retirement and will repeat it like a mantra until my money runs out.  With little to worry about I anticipated a blog creativity burst that never arrived. Rather, I've become lazier.  I can easily pass a day without doing a whole lot.  For hours I ponder deep questions such as "should I swim before dinner or after?"   Then I stumbled into Cheok Kee, where they take the bones out of the duck for you.  These are the types of incremental improvements that can jolt a listless retiree back into the blogosphere.

Restoran West Lake - Kuala Lumpur

KL Hokkien Mee
Looks can be deceiving, my friends.  What appears to be a plate of fetid earthworms is in fact the famous Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Mee.  Thick yellow noodles, pork and specks of cabbage sauteed in a dark soya sauce over a charcoal fire.  Bits of deep fried pork fat lurk within, setting off a frantic chopstick battle royale that I lose time and again.  Dodo brought me to Restoran West Lake to show me how this dish is supposed to taste.  For reasons I cannot discern, it's miles better than the wan versions I've tried in Singapore.

Cindy - Singapore

Settling into the East Coast
When in Singapore, I usually stay in Serangoon but this time around I'm staying in the East Coast.  Not a great location for trains, so I'm figuring out all the bus routes but what an amazingly good location for food!  One of Dodo's friends took me to the LC hawker on Tanjong Katong Rd and there I discovered my dinner soul mate: kung pao chicken from a stall called Cindy.  It was spicy, artery-clogging love at first bite!

Tong Ah - Singapore

Now We're Talking...
All you fake toast spots, stand aside.  All you wannabe toast joints, get outta the way.  We're talking old school, throw back, analog, original toast, Chinatown-style.  I'd been spending too much time at lame, wan, watered down mall toast places and Ah Tong was the antidote.  There, sitting amongst the shophouses I downed stacks of perfectly made butter-sugared and kaya toasts and chased them with cups of dark, satisfying kopi.

Les Pâtes Vivantes II - Paris

It's Official, Happy Nouilles Takes em Out!
I'm a Zha Jiang fanatic.  If that doesn't mean something to you, it should.  We're talking hand-pulled noodles with ground pork and fermented soybean paste.  Maybe that doesn't sound enticing to you if you've never had it - think of it as a spicy, porky spaghetti.   Still doesn't sound good?  Seriously?  I cannot get enough of the stuff and in Paris, my favorite version is at Happy Nouilles, not Les Pâtes Vivantes.  I confirmed it with a visit to the latter's recently opened second outpost on Blvd St Germain.

Xi'an Famous Foods - Manhattan

Game, Set, Match!
You're unlikely to find a tastier, more satisfying batch of noodles than those served at Xi-an Famous Foods.  I was dumbstruck when I took my first bite of their "Savory Cumin Lamb Hand-Pulled Noodles."  I didn't think something could be this delicious.  These are giant, flat, ragged, hand torn noodles that you might not associate with Chinese cuisine, but alas, China is a big place.  Xi'an presents food from Shaanxi province in northwestern China.  Their noodles are spicier, heartier and more delicious than any I've ever had.

Baohaus - Manhattan

And the Old Shall Be Made New Again
Back in '92 I was working for a mis-Fortune 500 in a slim glass skyscraper in midtown.  I spent a lot of time at the firm's library trying to convince the manager that I was cooler than all the nerdburgers working there.  She usually waved me off but one day Miss Lopez said "ok, you wanna take me out - meet me at the Mexican spot on the corner of Stanton and Ludlow."  The pre-gentrification lower east side (LES) was another world entirely in those days (click here)  but when you're young and horny a pretty girl can make you walk through a dicey hood. Fast forward a couple decades and I'm sitting a block away at Baohaus munching on Taiwanese bao.  The LES has changed a lot but not enough to stanch the flow of memories.

Koon Kee - Singapore

Garage Farewell Dinner
As midnight approaches I realize how Cinderella must have felt. It's time to head back to Paris but I don't want to, I'd rather stay here with Dodo. We spent our last meal at Koon Kee where I was on the prowl for Beef Hor Fun, described to me as beef stew with flat noodles. Who coulda guessed that the prawn-paste fried chicken and the decor would steal the show.

Wah Lok - Singapore

Dim Sum Mea Culpa
I felt so bad I had to do something, but what? Send flowers? Chocolates? I was concerned about re-doubling the insult with an awkward apology. So, I consulted a Singaporean insider for advice. "Just take her for a nice meal, duh" said Puffin, disgusted by my stupidity. I left the choice to Puffin who set up a visit to Wah Lok, a Cantonese restaurant inside the Carlton Hotel.

Yue Hing - Hong Kong

Revisiting the Racist Chinese Toast Man
Two years ago I met my girlfriend-to-be at a boring meeting in Hong Kong. She was offering to bring a colleague of mine to a classic charcoal street stall for food and I invited myself along. I was interested to try some street food but was more interested in her. In my mind, Yue Hing was our first date. She'll laugh at this, no doubt - I was just an arrogant New Yorker that she had no interest in but I knew I was going to win her over.

Farm House - Hong Kong

Knowing Someone Who Owns Something, etc.
Puffin's colleague's uncle owns this place, a Cantonese classy restaurant with a special meal that really got me excited. It doesn't look like much does it? A chicken drumstick with a bit of tin foil so your fingers don't get greasy. But, hang on, it's not all about skin-deep beauty, there is something special on the inside....

Tai Cheong Bakery - Hong Kong

Egg Custard Tarts - So Good, they Gotta Be Bad...
Wow! That is all I can say. These little suckers are truly addictive. I've had three or four since I arrived. Luckily for me I'm close to a branch of the famous Tai Cheong bakery, where I can load up whenever I feel like it. They're deceptively simple: eggs, sugar, evaporated milk and a bit of vanilla baked in a flour-based pie shell. They're best eaten right out of the oven - you can barely pick them up without their breaking into pieces.

Se Wong Yee - Hong Kong

Snake Soup and Liver Sausages Anyone?
I was promised roast goose, was hoping for roast goose and had a taste for roast goose. So, when we arrived and I learned that Se Wong Yee's signature dish is snake soup I felt torn. Not because I like snake soup but because I've never had it. Haven't had roast goose either. Coin toss! Ok, actually, it wasn't that close - I went for the goose. Sorry folks. I think I made the right choice, tastebuds-wise.

Tasty (IFC) Congee & Noodle Wontun Shop - Hong Kong

The HK Welcome Lunch
One of the nice things about being in Asia is not having to select or order food. Unlike Paris, where I have to translate and describe the menu, here in Hong Kong I lay back in the cut like a mafia don and have the Puffin take care of everything. Oh, and if I keep eating like I've been, I am going to be fat like a mafia don soon. Anyway, I will worry about that later, back to the food. I'd not tried Zha Liang before but man am I a convert! It's a fried dough cruller wrapped with wonton skin and dipped in soy sauce. A really nice contrast in texture and an instant "add to my global favorite food list."

Le Céleste Gourmand - Paris

This is Sichuan, Bitches!
Who comes to Paris and eats Chinese? Me, that's who. Forget that bland French food once in a while and take a walk on the spicy side. I talked three of my colleagues into it and they sweated their way to happiness. One is a doubting Indian who mopped his brow and smiled at me as he chewed. Top, for me, were these juicy chunks of chicken - maybe the juiciest chicken I've ever had. These were only mildy spicy, which was a good way to start off the night.

Eton - Brooklyn

Holy Juicy Dumplings, Batman!
I should no longer be surprised. I mean, come on - the best cheeseburger I've ever had was in Tokyo. Still, I was shocked at how juicy and delicious the dumplings were at Eton, a hole in the wall spot smack in the middle of leafy, brownstone Brooklyn. You can get good dumplings off Smith Street in Brooklyn? Yes, you actually can.

Shan Goût - Paris

One Foot in China, the Other in France
As suggested by its name, a melding of Chinese and French that could be translated "Tasty Meal", Shan Goût is a fusion of two cuisines. I'd describe it as de-fanged Sichuan with a French accent. Case in point the Dan Dan noodles, which had a pleasingly tender texture but lacked bite. I had to adjust my expectations, this is neither a Sichuan nor a Chinese restaurant. Once I did, I began to enjoy it more.

Mirama - Paris

Cantonese in St. Michel
Just returned from two weeks in SE Asia and am not quite ready for the French diet. So, how about a bit of Cantonese in the city of lights? Mirama is a small, no frills restaurant in the 5th, just a few steps from Notre Dame. I try to avoid this area like I would a Jehovah Witness ringing my doorbell. However, a Chimerican colleague recommended the place for its duck so I fetched my eurotrash scarf and my bus pass and jumped on the 47.

Ah Seah Teochew Porridge - Singapore

Getting Ethnic with Uncle
Singapore is a melting pot - it has four official languages: Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil. The population is 75% Chinese and a large portion of that 75% are Hokkien or Teochew, two groups who trace their ancestry to southern Fujian province (just opposite Taiwan.) The former is the official coffeeshop language - one of my first Singapore food lessons was learning to order coffee in Hokkien. The other thing I learned is that Puffin is a pure Teochew and her uncle is a proud Teochew eater. He took me for some Teochew comfort food: porridge.

Jalan Hock Chye - Singapore

No Brainer - It's Got "Economic" in Its Name
I'm a stingy bastard so by nature I get excited when I can eat well for next to nothing. One of my favorited dishes in Singapore is called Economic Bee Hoon. It's brilliant. It's a cheap man's dream - a tasty noodle dish that in its simplest form costs about 75 cents. As you add extras, like the fried egg and fish cake below, it gets a bit costlier - about 2 bucks. I'll type that again - two US dollars! I'm excited all over again - so cheap yet so delicious.