Street Noodles - Taipei

Back to the Streets for Eats
Bouncing around the globe, trailing crumbs in my wake, I land in Taipei with the cutesie on my arm.  I feel confident, worldly, hungry.  We take down a batch of street noodles like two pros, she with the order, me with the mouth.  Well, ok, she with her big mouth too!

Roti Canai - Kuala Lumpur

Waking Up with Street Breakfast
Dating a superstar has its perks - getting a lot of sleep isn't one of them.  She often learns about her big-shot meetings the day before and then puts on her sweetest, squeeky-mouse voice "You wanna go KL, baaaaaaaaaaaaaabe?"  At 5:45am today I wasn't sure why I'd agreed.  We caught the 7am flight and just a few hrs later, sitting at a street stall in the warmth, I was glad I did.  The spicy sauce served with the Roti Canai here is just what you need to get the blood platelets flowing again.

The Kid Survives - Bangkok

Steel Stomach Prevails
Now that I'm safely back in Singapore, I'm bragging.  Puffing out my chest, lording it over the Dodo, aka "weak link."  I survived all the street food: the street meat sausages, deep-fried bananas, runny egged rice bowls, wok-fried spicy pork, buttered charcoal bread and iced coffee.  My only regret?  Not going for some deep-fried crickets when I had the chance.  Next time....

Victim One of Two - Bangkok

Was it the Street Breakfast?
We're hardcore street eaters.  We know we'll eventually pay.  Rather, I know I will eventually pay - I've a much weaker stomach.  So, it came as a surprise that Dodo got knocked out of the game this morning.  It's hard to say what did it.  Was it the pork porridge she had for breakfast?  It looked pretty good coming out of the bag, into the bowl. 

Sukhumvit Soi 38 - Bangkok

Street Food for Dummies
As luck would have it, we are staying just two map dots away on the skytrain from a nice eating street, Sukhumvit Soi 38.  The nice thing about the street is that the vendors have picture menus with English translations.  So, instead of ordering like a mime, pointing at unknown foods and making thumbs up signs, all I had to do was use my finger to point at a picture.  First up - fried chicken chunks with rice.  Not quite as good as the chicken we had on Day One, but not bad at all.

Street Food - Bangkok

Bangkok, I've Missed You
It's been two eventful years.  Though it's not obvious to this visitor, there were riots and floods and a change of government since my last visit.  Mostly, it looks like it did.  There is still a gentle thrum to this large metropolis with its tree-shaded lanes and famed street stalls.  It's a city that is easy to fall in love with.  Let's call it an affair, since I'm here for just a few days.  It's not a coincidence that the first foray involved both pork and egg, two of my favorite food groups.

Hakata Yatai - Fukuoka, Japan

My Best Experience in Fukuoka
Fukuoka is known for ramen, but they also have famed street stalls called Yatai.  They're no larger than a picnic table and you sit elbow to elbow on attached wooden benches and gobble freshly made, tasty street food.  We happened into this one as we got lost trying to find our hotel and came back for dinner.  Dodo dragged her feet a bit - she mumbled about not immediately getting to eat ramen.  After a few bites she stopped complaining.  Every thing we ate was good, especially the tightly rolled tamago, dolloped with a local delicacy - Mentaiko, a marinated pollock roe.

Mexicue - Manhattan

More Manhattan Truck Love
If you ask me "Mac or PC?" I'll smile and answer "both."  It's not because I'm a smartass (though that helps) - I simply don't buy into the question.  On my travels I've learned that everyone thinks their country's food is the best.  Regardless the location, there's pressure to side with the locals.  With an open mind you can find good (and bad) in each country.  On my food continuum, the NYC lunch truck is closer in spirit to the Singapore hawker than the Parisian two hour wine-soaked lunch.  If you've tried the Mexicue truck you know what I mean - they serve-up quick yet excellent barbecued meats in taco and sandwich form.

Bian Dang - Manhattan

Trading Abe for Chops
Some crazy people were slinging chops from a van for only five bucks today.  I saw em driving down Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn on Saturday and jotted the name down - Bian Dang.  Pure luck - they parked a block from the job today so I donned the snorkel parka, waited in line and traded over a fiver.  In return, they gave me a filling two chop lunch that included rice, pork sauce and greens.     

Tong Hua Jie Night Market - Taipei

Closing it Out in Style
Mom, I apologize in advance for the double negative because in Taipei you cannot not go to a night market.  We opted for the less touristy Tong Hua Jie rather than Shihlin.  Special thanks to Nicholas of My Inner Fatty for giving me a heads up on this - a pork sausage sitting in a small rice canoe.  How they fashioned a bun from rice, I can't figure out, I just know the combo works. 

Golden Cake Vendor - Taipei

Pay Dirt, PB-Style!!
After just one bite I fantasized about hiring her to setup her stall outside my apartment.  I dreamt of opening my front door and yelling "two more peanut butter, please."  Moments later I'd bite into this freshly cooked cake with a vein of molten chunky peanut butter.

New Lane Street Vendors - Penang, Malaysia

Two for Two Heaven
Rarely does it go so perfectly. Pick out two things you love, get two perfectly lovely things delivered. So it was at the New Lane market, where we feasted on this plate of char siew pork and roasted duck. Every single bite was a fatty, smoky step towards the grave. But hey, you can't live forever.

Beng Chin Garden - Penang, Malaysia

A Surprisingly Near-Perfect Coffee Shop
After touring the nearby Kek Lok Si temple we were ready to chow. We picked this coffee shop at the bottom of the hill almost at random. In these parts a "coffee shop" is a collection of street vendors selling various foodstuffs as well as coffee. We weren't expecting too much but were pleasantly surprised, especially with the Char Kway Teow, literally "wok-fried rice-cake strips." It's so-called for the flat rice noodles that are fried at a high heat with lard, soy sauce, chili, shrimp paste, tamarind juice, prawns, cockles, bean sprouts and chives. It was smoky and slightly spicy and absolutely delicious. Best meal of the day, hands down.

Sugared, Buttered Toast Lady - Bangkok

Proving, Once Again, Simplicity is Best
Puffin spotted her from across the street, how I'm not sure. She was wedged into a tight row of street stalls that were much larger than hers. She was making what any of us could - buttered toast with some sugar sprinkled on top. Of course, hers tasted way better. Maybe it's the charcoal grilling. Or, perhaps it's the butter she uses. I don't know what made it so good, I just know I could eat it every day.

More Street Food - Bangkok

Revelatory Breakfast - Literally
What would you do? If you saw a monk sauntering around a hawker center in Bangkok, listening intently to each sales pitch, contemplating each plate carefully, then finally deciding, would you shadow his decision? It was obvious to me. He is far closer to Buddha than I.
Why resort to my usual breakfast guessing routine when a divine path shows itself?

Street Food - Jakarta

Yard Bird and More,,,
While walking between my hotel and Merdeka Square I noted a narrow food alley that was packed with people. The next day I brought Pingles there for some lunch. An Indonesian colleague of hers told her to steer clear of the street food. "They use street water to cook in!" she'd warned. It threw me for a second, but only a second. I didn't fly all the way here to get scared off so easily.

Street Meat - Prague

Now, That's a Dog!
Pingles had to hold it with two hands. We shared one, loaded it up with onions and mustard and some ketchup for her half. This Klobasy, like a Czech version of kielbasa, was charred nicely and had a good, spicy kick to it. The first bite was perfect - a crunchy casing that finally gave way to a juicy burst of meat.

Trdelnik Stall - Prague

Wooden Stake and a Fire...
We're on a short vacation in Prague and as always, our eyes are peeled for street food. As luck would have it for me, one of the first stalls we encountered was making a pastry called Trdelnik. It quite literally is dough on a wooden stake, roasted on an open flame and then sugared and spiced. It tasted like a snickerdoodle. Not too bad, not overwhelmingly good.

Bukit China Stalls - Malacca, Malaysia

The Mee Goreng Steals the Show
On our foodie road trip from Singapore to Melaka, Malaysia we made our first stop at Bukit China, just outside Malacca town. The word Bukit means hill in Malay, so literally we were stopping at the Chinese Hill, the bottom of which has some food stalls that sell various types of noodles. Pingle had been here before and was returning for the mee rebus, a boiled egg-noodle dish served with a gravy made from curry powder, potatoes, soy beans, dried shrimps and peanuts. Some boiled egg and sprouts were thrown into this version for good measure.

Red Hook Ballfields - Brooklyn

Pupusas for the Puffin
The Puff List is working. The Puff is here for her second visit and what better way to reintroduce her to the BK than to take her to for some Salvadoran pupusas at the Red Hook ball fields. I hear that Singaporeans have elevated street food to high art, so I know what you're thinking: this is a risky move. Thanks to the heads-up from Eating in Translation that this past weekend was the last of the season for the vendors. For those of you not in the know about the ball fields, check this out.