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Dear
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| It’s perhaps unflattering that Baltimore’s downtown skyline has long been dominated by a huge Bromo-Seltzer tower. If you fear this is a harbinger of the local food, hardly. Globetrotting to Maryland’s largest city, we were enchanted by the still-vibrant local markets of yesteryear in this most northern of southern cities. Despite the frenetic tourism around the Inner Harbor and trendy Fells Point, the city’s pace is lackadaisical. |
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| Alas, many neighborhoods remain “transitional” some 20 years after other American cities gentrified. Plus, Baltimore has steadily lost population over the past 50 years. So recently the city launched an “immigrate to Baltimore” campaign, and judging from the myriad eastern European accents we encountered in every taxi, the plan seems to be working. The new ethnic influx will no doubt change the face of its southern eating habits as well. But there will always be crab. And more crab. In spring, the mallets are out for cracked blue crab, and by mid summer restaurants feature soft shell crabs, just moulting and more cartilage then meaty. Locals like them simply flour-dusted and sauteed, but out-of-towners tend to play with crisp tempura batters. And on a non-foodie post note, the city's American Visionary Art Museum is one of the world’s most imaginative, clever and inspirational collections we’ve chanced upon. read our complete take on Baltimore. |
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| Space is filling for our next Globetrotting Gourmet® Feasts & Festivals tour to the archaeological sites of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, 5-19 Nov. |
| This is a rare chance to personally taste and contrast the foods of four different countries of Southeast Asia, while experiencing the historic splendour of these Unesco-designated world heritage locations. We can only hold our prices until American Labor Day (first Monday in Sept.), then prices rise on a space available-only basis. This is a fantastic small-group tour full of colourful markets and scenery, plus GREAT food. Highlights include the ruins of Angkor Wat and its giant complex of associate temples near the tiny town of Siem Reap in Cambodia; the royal capital of Luang Prabang nestled in the mountains of Laos – it’s often called “Asia’s Shangri-La”; and the 13th century ruins of imperial Sukhothai in Thailand. We now substitute Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) instead of central Vietnam, which we originally advertised. HCM City is a great place foe all your pre-holiday shopping, plus home to Vietnam’s most exclusive restaurants. To paraphrase the nursery rhyme, Saigon cuisine is sugar and spice and everything nice. Read our day by day itinerary at www.asianfoodtours.com and join us for a trip of a lifetime. A portion of our proceeds are donated to furthering sustainable agriculture methods in the Mekong region. We are also accepting redundant (but functioning) laptop computers for rural schools in the region. Contact us for more information: info@globetrottinggourmet.com |
| The elephant rodeo of Surin is famed throughout Thailand, and we are excited to include this as an optional post tour addition, from 19-21 Nov. Thailand’s remote Isan region is home to many of the world’s best preserved Khmer temples, and we include stops at little visited Khao Prah Wirhan, and magnificient Phanom Rung – believed to be the prototype of Angkor Wat. Isan is also home to some of Thailand’s most delicious dishes, from grilled baby gai yang chicken, to green papaya salad, and myriad “jeaow” sauces served with raw vegetables and sticky rice. |
 “Charging up” is the new catch call at hotels these days. A friend running an upmarket B&B informs us that trade seminars encourage the principal – from an extra charge for mid morning check in, to more money for softer pillows. Get ready for the consumer back lash. On a recent stay at the Victoria Hoi An in Vietnam, we were incredulously asked to pay US$5 for a bucket of ice to accompany our room service dinner. “But I’m drinking from your minibar!“ I shrieked. We’d love to hear your own feelings on the subject…. On a recent stay at Baltimore’s Marriott Waterfront, we were appalled by their $3 per day charge for the in-room safe. Here’s looking forward to the day when a clever liability lawyer catches them for not supplying theft-free rooms. To be fair, the Marriott more than compensated by posting me back a forgotten camera battery charger. Not only that, they sent it return-courier free. In this age when hotels are being encouraged to “charge up” for everything, this is the sort of service that will bring us back. |
Formerly known as Sian or Chang-An, Xi’an is home to China’s famed terra cotta warriors. But prior to its archaeological discovery – which has only been open to the public since 1979 – Xi’an’s local cuisine evolved through its hub status on the Silk Road, feeding throngs of merchants and traders with cha dian tea house snacks. Our favourite is tea poured piping hot a by a skilled la cha shifu, or tea server, from a copper kettle with a metre-long spout. For those wanting a more rarefied experience, we feasted on great Shaanxi cuisine at the deliciously smart Silk Road restaurant in Singapore’s Amara Hotel, literally gulping down pan fried cod fillets, baby octopus with a spicy fermented bean paste, and the local Xi’an pork “burger”. singapore.amarahotels.com We savoured the food experience so much we ‘ve booked passage to Xi’an on “Asia’s boutique airline” Bangkok Airways, which now flies direct twice weekly from the Thai cities of Chiang Mai and Bangkok. www.bangkokair.com/xian.htm
For more on Xi’an, read on..... |
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| Pho is arguably Vietnam’s most famous dish, with one French chef we know lauding it as both “the best soup in the world,” and “the pride of a nation.” When we hosted our food group to Vietnam last April, the tour began with a “pho crawl” – similar to a pub crawl, but here we drooled over Hanoi’s deliciously robust noodle soup. Pronounced like the French pot au feu, questions remain as to pho’s origin, with an EU commission meeting to debate this very topic. Fittingly to its origin, the country’s best pho is in Hanoi. And the winner for best in Hanoi? #42 Nha Chung, although there is a close second at #49 Bat Dan Street. |
The basis to good pho is its stock. Our own secret is a large oval spice known variously as brown cardamom or “bastard cardamom.” For convenience, we’ve also discovered a pre-mixed spice bag from Pho Pasteur, available in select Asian food markets. While beef and chicken are the most common, there is a plethora of pho dishes to choose from, including chicken and pork. Pho xao is a dry pho, without soupy broth, stir fried with mustard greens, then topped with brown sauce. Because this revered soup is considered an everyday meal, it is not served during parties, wedding or other celebrations. FOR MORE ON PHO, READ ON |
 Food loving travellers to this part of the world will particularly whet their appetite over cha ca turmeric chicken from Hanoi, and Saigon’s signature dishes of caramel fish and banh xeo sizzling rice crepes. While on tour in April, we chanced upon some of the country’s best nuoc mam fish sauce, from Nha Trang on the south central coast, to Pan Thiet further south, and especially the far south island of Phu Quoc. We also sampled a very rare fleur de sel of nuoc mam, scraped from salty-flaked top of maturing fish sauce. We tried it on gravlax salt-and sugar cured salmon, substituting cilantro (fresh coriander) for the dill classically used. Delicious. |
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| Also while organizing our latest group tour there, Vietnam was in the throes of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu. As every French student learns, 7 May, 1954 is the date the Vietnamese defeated the French in the country’s decisive battle to end colonialism. After a 56 day siege, the Viet Minh outmanoeuvred the French troops by digging extensive tunnels into the area, and launching wave after wave of attacks. Finally, one of the world’s most decisive battles was over, but at the cost of 25,000 Vietnamese lives and 3,000 French souls. Surprisingly, this defeat took place several days after French and Vietnamese delegates had already begun meeting in Geneva to negotiate the end of colonial rule. This victory hastened France’s withdrawal, and ensured favourable terms for Vietnam, although a year later the country divided into North and South. The rest is history…. |
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In the 1990s Vietnam began opening its borders to both tourism and investment, in a policy of Doi Moi. It was not until 1994, however, that the US lifted its remaining trade embargo against its former enemy. |
| FOR OUR COMPLETE STORY, CLICK HERE |
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On the press front, Robert and Morrison’s tour to Vietnam in March-April was featured in a full-page colour article by Karen Milliner, editor of Good Life, the lifestyle colour supplement of the Brisbane Courier-Mail in Australia. Her article in the 18 May issue can be sourced directly here.
Cherry Ripe, Australia’s most awarded food journalist, also came along in April, and her article runs in the national newspaper, The Australian. We must be doing something right, for journos are notoriously hard to please… Robert was also profiled as this quarter’s “Celebrity Chef” for Club Ingham, a recipe club newsletter for chicken aficionados. Robert co-hosted a professional workshop with seafood supremo John Susman at a recent International Catering and Trade Fair, complementing soy sauce varieties with different grades of sashimi. And the way to detect good sashimi? Silky translucence and touch. Rub your fingers together to discern a light oil or glycerine-like feel. Afterwards, your fingers shouldn’t smell strongly fishy. Surprisingly, at optimum conditions, quality sashimi lasts as long as 10 days.
If you are planning a trip to America’s west coast in mid September, join Robert and Morrison at The Willows near Medford in southern Oregon. Two days of Thai, Vietnamese and Southeastern Asian cooking, 18 19 Sept, in a beautiful setting, and close to the Ashland Shakespeare festival as well. More information at www.cookatthewillows.com Robert and Morrison were given great praise by travel editor Judith Elen of The Australian newspaper, when she included our upcoming Feasts & Festivals tour as one of the top picks this coming season! For her article, click here. |
Finally, we ‘ve had many requests to organize an Australian food tour in the near future. Tentative dates are mid March, 2005, starting and ending in Sydney, and including Melbourne, Adelaide and a town like Alice, smack in the Red Centre. Let us know if you are interested, and we will email you updates. EMAIL HERE. |
Cheers,
Robert & Morrison |
| View highlights on our past FoodTOUR through Vietnam here. |
| North American participants now have the option of reserving directly with us on the website, or through Mary North Travel in Seattle: rochelle@marynorth.com Our tour is priced on a land-content basis (but including internal Asian airfares), meaning that you arrange your own overseas flights from your country of origin– arriving early and departing late from Bangkok, as you wish. Participants on our tours regularly use mileage points to either book passage, or to upgrade. |
In our next issue: Laos; Angkor Wat; Shakespeare's Ashland |
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