Burger and cocktails in Shanghai

Place: Park Hyatt, Shanghai.
Burger: The Burger, with cheese and bacon
Bun: sesame brioche, warmed but not toasted
Architecture: bun, bacon, cheddar cheese, beef, butter layer, bun; all
condiments on the side, including a pickled cucumber
Dressing: none.
Drinks: Bloody Mary, Margarita, Darroze 10-year Armagnac.
 
The patty was ordered medium but arrived at medium well. The mishap,
while not insignificant, was uncontroversial as it was masked by a
juicy patty, which exploded with flavors upon mastication. The butter
layer, which was well melted but not so much as to linger in a
pellucid state, added that extra beefy zing to accentuate the flavors
of the burger.
 
While the burger portion was just good enough for a healthy
mid-morning snack, the three cocktails, on the other hand, were not
for the faint-hearted. The Mary was excellent, with a strong initial
bite and a lingering vodka finish. The cracked pepper was so fresh
that if the alcohol didn't wake me up initially, the pungency of the piperine
certainly did. The Margarita showed that Park Hyatt would not skimp on
the alcohol, as a healthy portion of very aged Don Julio was liberally
mixed with fresh limes. The Armagnac had a sweet nose with a healthy
mix of flavors (orange peel, charred wood) and a caring finish, but
did not have that kind of strong, long-lasting aftertaste that I
expected from a Darroze.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Hainan Chicken Rice

Place: a private kitchen. Beijing.

Good chicken, excellent presentation.

Burger at Danger Doyle's

Place: Danger Doyle's, just off Workers Stadium East Gate, Beijing.
Burger: The Burger
Bun: soft brioche
Architecture: bun, cheese, patty, bacon, fried onions, cheese, bun;
lettuce on the side
Dressing: none.

 The patty was delivered medium with plenty of charred, smoky flavors.
The onions were fried and caramelized just enough to offer a subtle
sweetness to counterpoint the robustness of the charred proteins. The
cheese was listed in the menu as a mozzarella --an interesting and
rarely procured choice that caught my attention while browsing the
menu --but it tasted, at least on the day of my visit, like white
Cheddar...may be a Colby. Perhaps due to carmelization of the onions,
the composition was slightly sweeter than I'd like. Nevertheless, the
end result was a formidable pub grub and welcoming entry to Danger
Doyle's menu.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Japanese Ramen

Place: 丸金拉麵. Beijing.

Grilled eggplant, Japanese ramen with milky tonkotsu (pork bone
broth), chashu (sliced pork), and dried seaweed.
 
The ramen was just a little overdone, with a slight hint of the much
dreaded alcohol. The ni-tamago (half boiled egg) was just a little bit
underdone with the underside of the yolk being slightly runny. The
grilled eggplant was adequate but not spectacular; I suspect that it
was finished over smoke-less coal.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Japanese Pork Chop Rice

Place: 丸金拉麵. Beijing.

Japanese pork chop rice. I settled with this bowl after being told
that the ramen noodle shop ran out of...you guessed it...ramen and
soup. The pork chop batter was just a little bit over-seasoned (too
much pepper) than I would have liked, but the rest was sufficiently
charming with a welcoming balance among different flavors. Not quite
good enough for Omotesando, but good enough for Chaoyang.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Korean chicken soup with ginseng

Samgyetang, or chicken soup with Korean ginseng. The chicken is
stuffed with glutinous rice and slowly cooked in a broth of Korean
ginseng, jujube fruits, goji berries, ginger and garlic, and finished
off with freshly chopped scallions. The result is a nutritious, subtly
delicious broth with a soothing finish. Most importantly, it feels
like the gentle, self-healing touches of a loving mom when her child
was sick. Beijing.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Korean Gamjatang

Nakji bokum (spicy stir-fried octopus with veggies), gamjatang (pork
bone and potato soup with chili spices), fried rice in gamjatang
cast-iron pot.

 For the gamjatang, the body of the potatoes absorbs the meaty tones of
the pork bones and spines, while the inherent starch blunts the sharp
acidity and pungency of the chili spices, yielding a robust amalgam of
flavors on the palate. After the potatoes, bones, and much of the
liquid are consumed, leaving only bits and pieces of veggies in the
cast-iron pot, rice is then added and heated. When the rice starts to
form a nice crust on the inner wall of the cast-iron, it is removed
and promptly eaten. The crispy rice is optionally moistened by a bit
of spicy soup. The result is heavenly. Beijing, 2009.

See the full gallery on Posterous