Carmen Tapas Spanish Bar

Place: Carmen Tapas Spanish Bar. Sanlitun. Beijing.
Splurge (top to bottom): Assorted bread, spicy potatoes, anchovy & olives, tuna skewer, pork
liver terrine, beef & blue cheese, arroz de marisco (seafood paella) for two.

Yunnan hotpot

Place: Yunnan restaurant. Beijing.
Soup base: Tomato soup with lemon grass and native herbs (土著木蕃酸湯子母鍋).
Splurge: assorted meatballs (丸類組合), Tofu knot (通海豆腐結), Chashu
mushrooms (茶樹菇、雞腿菇), edible herbs (雲南野菜三拼), fried rice with black
fungi (黑三剁炒飯), Jinghong camellia chicken (景洪茶花雞).

Photo courtesy of: AC.

The most expensive beef noodle I've tasted: Master Kong Chef's Table

Place: Master Kong Chef's Table. Beijing.
Super Tender Beef Ribs Noodles.

These "super" tender beef ribs are simmered for 3+ hours in a
specially prepared beef broth (not stock, according to the restaurant
manager). The beef is soft and flavorful. On the nose, the meat gives
out an intense, burned-rib flavor. Upon mastication, the meat flourishes
with an animated release of multiple flavors, reminding me of melted
butter and grilled skirt steak. At 108 yuan, or 16 USD, a pop, this bowl
is an unusual menu item at Master Kong, which styles itself as a fast-food
joint where the average cost per head is 20 to 25 yuan. This bowl is
probably the most expensive bowl of beef noodle I've tasted. I can't say if
it's worth the money (it'll be difficult to convince me to go for it again out
of my own pocket), but it's worth the price for those who seek pomposity
and a sense of entitlement, if only for a few minutes -- plenty of onlookers
observed with marked curiosity, and envy, as I dug in.

Rating: 1 star to the Super Tender Beef Ribs Noodles.

Home: an international feast

Place: the best private kitchen in the world. Hong Kong.

Crab cakes, vegetarian curry, pomello salad with grilled scallops,
herb-infused focaccia bread, Thai-style Tom Yum Kung, braised goose
palm with fish maw, inaniwa noodles in abalone sauce and rib-braised
abalone, sauteed veal with caper cream sauce, roasted spring chicken
roll with asparagus and parma ham, potato gratin, risotto with porcini
mushroom and massive amounts of parmigiano, apple and berry crumble,
thousand-layer cake.

Needless to say, a meal like this is frequently dreamt of and rarely
savored. The execution speaks for itself.

He Hui's Met debut

A belated word of congratulations to the Shanghai-born He Hui (何慧) for booking her Met debut. As Aida, she is scheduled to sing opposite Salvatore Licitra's Radamès in Sonja Frisell's production in Spring 2010.

Home: hairy crab (2009 Part III)

Place: Home, Beijing.
Hairy crabs, with 30 y.o. Shaoxing wine (30年陳釀花雕酒).

Hairy crabs (大閘蟹), a diet-be-damned amount of crab roe, the final
damage, and the wine bottle.

Spicy fragrant pot

Place: TSX Family Restaurant. Beijing.
Spicy fragrant pot (麻辣香鍋), fungus salad with spicy chili oil (涼拌木耳),
rice-based cold noodles (香辣涼皮). Spicy fragrant pot is a kind of dried
hot pot made by stir-frying and mixing an assorted mix of meats and
veggies with spicy chilis and peppercorns. The effect is a pot of
heavenly, spice-infused madness with an explosion of textures, colors,
and flavors.

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Magic Flute

After a brief hiatus, opera returns to the NCPA's main stage with Mozart's Magic Flute, a co-production of the Centre, the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, and Opera Hong Kong. It is a work of multilingual art: Emanuel Schikaneder's German libretto, recitative in English, stage props with letter art in both languages (at the gate of Sarastro's temple, the words "Nature" and "Vernun"), and a good number of [improvised?] Chinese injected into the recitative (all by Papageno). The production team of Warren Mok, Chen Ping and Per Larsen adds conspicuous Chinese elements, including Papageno's Chinese hunter costume, a dragon to replace the serpent at the beginning of Act I, and twelve Chinese zodiac animals (with funky fluorescent heads and tails) to be called up by Tamino's flute.

In yet another evidence of the production's deference to the fluorescent plasticism of the 60s and 70s, the chorus in both acts carries fluorescent light sabers that remind me of Achim Freyer's Act I in Walkure. Some design elements are simple but effective: the chief temple is depicted by a piece of backdrop drapery with nothing but a simple printed circle, while the pyramid scene is decorated with another piece of drapery with an encircled triangle (the circle and triangle depicting, respectively, Sarastro's temple and the pyramid). Other designs are more elaborate, including the penultimate scene where Monostatos and the Queen are to slowly climb a flight of ascending stairs, only to be cast into eternal darkness with the stair prop moving sideways to stage right and lighting dimming to a ghostly effect. The glockenspiel prop is a little bit more curious, because instead of the more traditional handheld glock or tuned tam-tam, it is depicted more metaphorically with what looks like (at least from my balcony seat) a bronze sistrum or a muffed-up sleigh bell.

Mimma Briganti's Queen makes a spectacular entrance from above using wires and dazzles with a fantastic start to "O zittre nicht". In an ending that sadly mirrors her entrance, she crash lands (pun intended) by chicken scratching the high F. Even though she would end her evening by blowing her other four Fs in quite dramatic fashion in "Der Hölle Rache", the audience nevertheless appreciates her effort with a gracious round of applause. Eric Margiore's Tamino is too lightweight for NCPA's monstrous space, and is evidently overwhelmed by Inna Dukach's Pamina in the duet "Wir wandelten durch Feuersgluten" and in the quartet "Der, welcher...Beschwerden".

I always believe Magic Flute's dramatic crux rests with Papageno's comedic overtones, and in this respect baritone Brian Montgomery does not disappoint. He is sassy and funny, and is able to lid up lighting designer David Jacques' rather somber ambiance. In terms of singing, Montgomery's "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" sounds hesitant and tired (probably due to his need to climb up and down the set), but he fully redeems himself with a good-natured and well-sung "Pa-Pa-Pa".

Able to radiate Pamina's two distinct personalities --naive playfulness and pensive melancholy --Inna Dukach is perfect for the role and is the star of the evening. Her voice is deep, with a rounded vibrato -- listening to her is like pouring sweet honey over warm caprino while candle light flickers in an air of subtle evening lust. But I digress.

Mika Kares steals some of Dukach's stars with a commanding Sarastro, delivering "O Isis und Osiris" with plenty of regal power and paternal authority. Meanwhile, the three ladies are feisty and well-acted but sound at times disoriented and lacking tonal balance. Conductor Jari Hämäläinen frequently modulates his speed, with Queen's both arias running under tempo and "Der Arme kann..." running dramatically ahead -- with the latter's acceleration rewarding the audience with a more dramatic interchange among Tamino, Papageno, and the three ladies.

To be honest, it's hard for me to be awed by any contemporary Magic Flute production, and this one is no exception: it seems to me nearly impossible to cast for the production today --Magic Flute requires a bright leggiero tenor and a lyric soprano against a scintillating Queen and baritone who can both sing and act. (How about JDF, Fleming, Damrau and Pisaroni?) Nevertheless, I must admit this Magic Flute is still quite entertaining, with some interesting multicultural elements and a few laughs ("北京烤鴨", or Peking Duck making a cameo in Papageno's recitative) that make the evening seem shorter than it really is.

Calzone in Shanghai (Shanghai)

Place: NYSP. Tianzifang (田子坊) at Taikang Road. Shanghai.

A calzone with sausage, peppers, onions, and plenty of cheese. The
calzone isn't the best I have had, but it is sufficient for a soul
longing for a taste of the past. The marinara sauce is a little bland
but has good texture. The baked dough is crusty, thin and fresh, and
is baked just in time to yield some chew. When served piping hot, it
is the best anecdote for an otherwise dreary, rainy Shanghai day.

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Hairy crab (2009 Part II) (Shanghai)

Place: Liu Yuan (留園). Shanghai.
Male hairy crab (大閘蟹), braised pork (紅燒肉), and fish soup.

Hairy crab (2009 Part I) (Shanghai)

Place: Sincere Restaurant. Shanghai.

Male hairy crab (大閘蟹): before, and after consumption.

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Master Kong Chef

Place: Master Kong Chef (康師傅私房牛肉麵). Beijing.
Beef noodles with tomatoes and beef tendon (帶筋茄紅慢煨牛肉麵), string beans
with sesame and straw mushroom sauce (田園四季芝香拌).

Home: my first attempt at Chairman Mao's braised pork

Place: Home, Beijing.
Chairman Mao's red-braised pork (紅燒肉).

This is the same dish that the Chairman would ask his Hunan chefs to
cook for him while he was in Beijing. My attempt is partially a dedication
to the Republic's 60th anniversary, and partially an inspired response to
Han Sanping's film -- The Founding of A Republic, 《建國大業》 -- in which
the dish made a small but conspicuous cameo.

Home: pork knuckle, Chinese style

Place: A private kitchen, Beijing.
Chinese-style pork knuckle braised in dark soy sauce and rice wine.