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Thanks for visiting us at Taste Melbourne.
Following is our current tgtgNewsletter on food travel, which you will now receive quarterly.
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Me le, or yak butter tea, is synonymous with Tibet.
It’s equally popular in China's Yunnan province, which encompasses the Tibetan Plateau’s eastern flank, and the mountain city of Zhongdian, or fabled Shangri-La. |
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 Typically made in a small butter churn, combining aged pu-erh tea, salt, raw egg and butter, the local Naxi tribal recipe also adds walnuts. It's frothed like a syllabub of old English and American yore. The fat keeps us warm explains our local guide. |
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Why Now is the Time to Visit Yunnan proclaimed the cover of the Wall Street Journal weekend supplement last month. Morrison and I couldn’t agree more! We have been deluged with keen interest in our upcoming Yunnan food tour, 12-22 January 2010. Populated by China’s largest number of minorities -- some 25 tribes + Han Chinese in all -- the cuisine here is diverse and tasty, renowned for its wild mushrooms and warming hot pots, hand-hammered in copper by Naxi artisans.
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| Early adventurers to the region invariably remarked tea and rancid butter in the same breath. They would be surprised at how fresh yak butter tastes these days -- although judging from the un-refrigerated mounds stashed behind the counter at many Lijiang grocery stores, locals still retain a fondness for aged ripe spread. |
| Regularly touted as China’s most beautiful province, and its capital city Kunming for eternal spring climate, Yunnan boasts the country’s bluest winter skies. Moreover, January is a great time to visit without domestic tourist hordes. As China is revving up for local New Year or Spring Festival, shopping choices are never better. The holiday is based on the lunar calendar, so dates change annually, and in 2010 it falls over Valentine’s Day. But its historic centers, Dali and Lijiang are the main reason for the provinces trendy foreign tourists. |
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| Lijiang is famous for netting a Unesco heritage site listing -- but in fact, there are three separate villages that equally secure the honour. By night, the restored city is a magnificent view of twinkling lights silhouetting ancient stone buildings. Neighboring mountain hamlets are little changed over hundreds of years, with rock and cobblestone paths heading vertically up the horizon. |
| Globetrotting Gourmet also have a great post-tour sale: We’ve secured an “impossible” deal from the luxury Banyan Tree properties in both Lijiang and up north in Zhongdian, otherwise known as Shangri-La. Consequently, we’ve moved our 10-day group to its 5-star plus property for final night gala dinner. PLUS a post tour package to wintery Zhongdian/Shangri-La, including two nights at their Ringha deluxe resort, plus a free bridging night in Lijiang. Reviewers rate it among the Top 10 resorts in all of China! |
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• PAVLOVA WARS |
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| Australia and New Zealand have long warred over who created this national dish -- basically a soft-centered meringue topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. New Zealand purists say kiwifruit is de rigueur, but in Oz drizzling passionfruit reigns. Australians long claimed the dish originated in 1935 by Bert Sachse of Perth’s Esplanade hotel, and named in honor of the Russian ballerina who toured the Antipodes in ’26, and again in '29. Now, Kiwi academic Helen Leach has uncovered two recipes dated 1929 and 1933 in NZ publications. Both are entitled “pavlova,” so this should settle the argument -- or at least until someone finds an even earlier Australian print |
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• CALANDAR |
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Sadly, it’s too late to attend Quick Bites: Design for Better Eating at Bangkok’s TCDC in the Emporium Shopping mall, which ran from April until June. Too short, we say, for such a delightful exhibit. |
| Thai Creative & Design Center’s shows are always clever, and this one based on the humble street cart, or hawker food. Every year, the street stalls of Bangkok generate a turnover of more than 54.7 billion baht, quelling the hunger and quenching the thirst of the city’s inhabitants. Behind them are some of the city’s most successful small business stores. |
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4-6 AUGUST:
On the other hand, there’s still time to register for Thai Food Heritage: Local to Global, Bangkok’s International Conference on Thai Studies, 4-6 Aug. Delightfully esoteric, topics range from Thai hot dog consumption in Israel, to salt trade amongst villages in the southern part of the Vientiane Plain, to discourses on how free trade agreements effect Thai-grown garlic consumption.
Online registration at enits_info@yahoo.com or www.enitschula.net with special room rates at hosting hotel Tawana. |
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JUNE 2010:
Globetrotting Gourmet is preparing a mid-year 2010 Thai tour, to the island paradises of Phuket and Samui, plus Chiang Mai in the kingdom’s north. We’re also going to the remote northeast, or Isan, for a regional food masterclass. This is our favorite region, both for its cookery and its ancient Khmer temples, plus of course, the friendliness of its citizenry.
We’re scouting destinations as we speak, so come along with Robert and Morrison to Thailand in June next year.
read on or register your interest here.....
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• RESTAURANTS BANGKOK |
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Argentinean beef in Thailand seems a bit incongruous, but we relished the juxtaposition at Bangkok’s King Power Pullman, when promoting The Argentine’s national day. Best was “Five Ways Beef” -- from tender fillet surf and turf to seared liver, cooked by creative chef Sylvain Royer. Tango dancers direct from Buenos Aires squared on the dance floor, reminiscent of a Xavier Cugat night club scenes from Hollywood Golden Years.
We adore the hotel’s Thursday night promotion at Wine Pub. One of the buzziest hotels bars in the City of Angels, its 5+5+1 counter buffet groans like a fancy Spanish bodega with cheeses and prosciutto (albeit, all with a French preference). Best yet are the prices. To draw customers, management minimally charges corkage -- just a few dollars per bottle, or enough to cover glass breakage. Even so, Thailand’s userous 278% import tax still makes even the cheapest bottle cost like gold. Choose 5 cheese, 5 cold cuts, and 1 bottle, for just 900 Baht/$27 net. Great value.
www.pullmanbangkokkingpower.com |
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• DREAM LUNCH |
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| Dream hotel on Sukhumvit soi 15 shows Bangkok at its trendy designer best. We were recently feted to a private luncheon at the hotel’s dining room -- über exclusive, considering the restaurant opened just for us over an otherwise closed lunch period! We were wooed by exec chef Sarawut Chingchai, and especially his pace-setting Caesar salad. It was extraordinary -- not only in taste, but especially execution. Shards of parmesan melted into cheese sculpture drizzled wiht a pesto dressing, all artfully displayed. (The romaine/coss lettuce could have been crisper.) We also feasted on succulent, super-jumbo prawns served in a potato rosti basket, deep fried crab patties moulded around humongous claws, and a mixed Thai seafood salad, Yam ruam mit. www.dreambkk.com If only management lowered vino prices down to Wine Pub levels, we’d be steady customers. |
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• BOOKS |
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| The series To Asia with Love -- one for each specific country -- differs from other travel guides, as it indulgently covers personal reflections and prized haunts of expats and cluey locals. |
| And what better advice than experiential favorites from the experts themselves? Not surprisingly, its subtitled A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur. As contributors to the Myanmar/Burma edition, we’re admittedly biased, but it’s well recommended!!! To Myanmar with Love, editor Morgan Edwardson. (If travelling to Bangkok, get your copy from Dasa Books on Sukhumvit Rd. ) www.thingsasianpress.com See also Press below. |
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We’re big fans of Hanoi-based chef Didier Corlou. So we quickly latched onto his latest contributions to A Gastronomic Journey series. In the Heart of Hanoi, and Halong Bay and the North-Eastern Sea now adorn our bookshelves -- or should we say, sit on our desk for ready reference. 5 Senses Press, available through www.verticale-hanoi.com or www.didiercorlou.com Our upcoming FoodTOUR, Northern Vietnam: Revolutionary Cuisine and Dining Revelry includes a market tour and cooking class hosted by Didier, plus dinner at his signature restaurant Verticale. |
| Beyond the Great Wall, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. |
| There’s scant books in English about Yunnan cookery, so we quickly took to this tome about China’s non-Han regions' minority cooking. Unfortunately, this book arrived too late for us to recommend in our upcoming Lonely Planet Mekong chapter Food & Drinks. Only quibble: its hefty coffee table-format size renders it unwieldily for kitchen cooking. Well researched and sumptuously photographed, it’s from the same authors as Hot Sour Salty Sweet, a like-sized tome on Southeast Asia. |
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• HOTEL RAVES |
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| What makes a 5 star hotel? Great beds top our list, certainly superior service, and fluent English speaking telephone operators. We also value a helpful concierge desk, ever ready to send us in the correct destination, as opposed to telling us where to go. Polite restaurant service, and speedy registration and check out also count. Which leads us to question why Bangkok’s Grand Millennium boasts a 5-star pedigree, as it provides few of the above. What rankles are soiled carpets, spotted furniture, master light switches that don’t work, and smells. |
| Barely 1 ½ years old, but already looking worse for wear, its exterior architecture on Sukhumvit soi Asoke arcs majestically skyward. But indoors, illogically designed windows make cleaning a deadly (or, apparently impossible) affair. Everything looked cloudy from our room, and worse from the atrium. Moreover, the building’s open court design renders upper level floors stiffing hot. On the plus side, its steam and sauna facilities are top notch. We’d consider going back, but for only half price, and 3 1/2 stars . www.millenniumhotels.com |
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Our favourite Bangkok haunt is undergoing a face life. Admittedly an older property, the Sofitel Centara Grand is located conveniently near the weekend Chautuchak market, plus the city’s best food stalls at Aw Taw Kaw.
Also close to the city’s old airport, and surprisingly fast travel to the new one at Suvarnabhumi. But why do we like it so? it’s seven restaurants help, plus direct walk to the vast Central shopping plaza and department store, plus others nearby. Now this 5-star residence is really pulling out the plugs with a massive renovation. All rooms totally gutted, and re-designed from scratch. (We hear the popular shopping mall is soon to follow.) www.sofitel.com |
| Also recently renovated is one of Bangkok’s oldest institutions, The Ambassador. With some 750 rooms tucked in three separate wings (including two towers), the place is mammoth. Located on Sukhumvit soi 11, its mega convenient (and near Bed Supper Club for anyone wanting to sup chef Paul Hutt’s fine dining menu while reclining on pillows over a lap tray). Recent renovations bring the property up to contemporary standards, and the rooms large, but the entry lobby difficult for taxis to find. New bathrooms are spartan white like a hospital, and internet rates steep -- especially considering 2- and 3-star joints regularly provide in-room connections free these days. Best value are the suites, where hefty discounts now apply. The Ambassador is scheduled to become an Accor property later this year, so expect a new Mercure or Novotel moniker soon. www.amtel.co.th |
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Even better value are the 9th and 10th executive level floors of Unico Grande Silom hotel. Formerly the Tower Inn, this time warp from the 70s still hosts a roof top pool and beer garden, but skip all the other floors. The recently revamped deluxe rooms on these two levels (only) are luxuriously massive, with balcony and free internet and DVD players, to boot. Hate the miniscule bathrooms lacking exhaust fans, food is awful, and the down-market clientele has got to be seen to be believed. But minibar prices are cheap, and we consider it a favored haunt for it’s room size, price and location. unicograndesilom.com |
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• PRESS |
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Robert’s May/June article Gastronomic Innovation -- Thai Culinary Art runs on TAT Newsoroom
http://www.tatnews.org/emagazine/4363.asp
The website provides news and features articles for journalists seeking background info on Thai subjects, and is well worth checking out the next time you travel to the kingdom. |
Previous articles on site, by Robert or Morrison, include Isaan On My Mind Khon Kaen — The Crossroads of Thailand’s Northeast
http://www.tatnews.org/emagazine/3763.asp |
Handwoven Heritage
Isaan Textiles – An Undervalued Craft with a Potentially Lucrative Future
http://www.tatnews.org/emagazine/3773.asp |
| Robert & Morrison contributed articles in To Myanmar with Love. The book was officially released in late April. Robert’s chapters include two on his favorite hotel, The Strand, plus others on Burmese cookbooks and traditional restaurant eating. Morrison’s article features Thangyan water festival, held annually in April. |
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| Robert and Morrison soon host their upcoming tour, Northern Vietnam: Revolutionary Cuisine and Culinary Revelry, 12-22 July. We’re including a full day with Didier Corlou, and for those who want to know more about this celebrity chef |
| read the Time magazine article. http://www.time.com/ Plus his more recent Paris Match feature: Didier flies to Salzburg, Austria next as guest chef at prestigious Hangar-7 in September. |
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• MISCELLANY |
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| Tourism is like fire.....you can cook your dinner on it, but if you are not careful it will burn your house down. Globetrotting Gourmet is committed to sustainable tourism and responsible travel, so laud the goals of whl.travel newsletter. The blog shares insider travel tips about emerging and established destinations. whl.travel.com |
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| We’ve long pondered why train travel fails to excite North Americans. Probably the quality of track and service. Not to mention speed, or lack of… So we’re delighted to hear fast track travel is back on the agenda. Alas, the first round of American Recovery & Reinvestment Act grants won’t be awarded until mid-September, so don’t expect quick action. High-speed rail can reduce traffic congestion and link up with light rail, subways and buses to make travel more convenient and our communities more liveable, says US transport chief Ray Ray LaHood. |
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| Visit us at The Sydney Good Food & Wine Show this weekend July 3-5 at the Exhibition Centre Darling Harbour Sydney. We will have some very special prices just for the Show, so come & see us. read more information about the show |
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| • UPCOMING FoodTOURS |
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| Join us for a gastronomic adventure of a lifetime |
| Northern Vietnam July 12-22, 2009 |
China's Yunnan province January 12-22 2010
& Shangri-La post tour 22-25 January |
Thailand June 2010
Phuket, Samui, Chiang Mai & Isan province |
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| further details on www.asianfoodtours.com |
Cheers,
Robert & Morrison |
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