Bagan - Day 1

Out of the 5 days spent in Myanmar, I decided to spend 2 days here, in Bagan, because of the amazing views and the more than 2,000 temples and pagodas. Also, I wanted to try foods in other areas because foods in a big city like Yangon can be less traditional.

After enjoying the fantastic views of Bagan, I went to a local restaurant that the guide recommended (after I assured him that I didn't want a touristy restaurant...). I was happy to see many local people and some monks at the restaurant.

There was no menu in this restaurant. They brought a bunch of small dishes. The portion was like a Korean restaurant's side dishes (banchan) but it included main dishes and different types of curries. Below are the pictures of each dishes. It's only $5 or so per person; an amazing deal...

Fried fish and roasted pork (pretty dry but tasty)

Braised chicken

Braised pork belly (some pieces are pure fat..)

 

Shallot and chili tossed with some paste (probably coarse sesame paste?)

Black bean paste

Chili

 

Tomato sauce

Stewed green beans

Some sort of squash

 

Cauliflower

 

 Bitter melon

 

Side veggies. The purple one is eggplant. It was my first time having raw eggplant. It was pretty sweet.

Complimentary soup, tasty but don't know what it was..

Laphet thoke (more traditional style of tea leaf salad - laphet thoke is served as tea snack in central Myanmar)

Dessert - Palm sugar and tamarind candy

 

After lunch, the guide brought me to the hotel because the afternoon was too warm for sightseeing. Around 4:00 I restarted the tour, then went to a restaurant nearby that the guide recommended. As soon as I was seated, the server brought peanuts. The guide had told me that Bagan is very dry unlike the rest of the Myanmar. So, the local specialty foods are peanuts and sesame. So, these must be the local peanuts.

Throughout the stay in Myanmar, I had this beer a lot. It's a typical lager, rather light. So, I was having this instead of water...

 

Most curries in Myanmar are pre-cooked. However, it seems this restaurant serves freshly cooked curries. The fish in the curry below was very moist and tender. Other fish curries were very dry. On the other hand, the black bean and pork curry (second picture) was rather dry...

 

 





 

There are two salads that I had: laphet thoke and tamarind leaf salad. Laphet thoke is the style that I would usually recognize as "tea leaf salad" at Burmese restaurants in the US. And this is a salad. The difference is this is a bit saltier. It seems local people eat this with white rice, that's why... The tamarind leaf salad was something to remember. First of all, this was my first time having fresh tamarind leaves and I don't think I can get them in the US. It was tossed in some creamy dressing. It tasted like mayonnaise but I think this was sesame paste. Very refreshing.

 

 

Again, the dessert was palm sugar and tamarind. This time, the tamarind was shaped into thin and small disks and wrapped by white paper. They were accompanied by cut watermelon.



 

 This is the end of day 1 in Bagan. I can't wait for the 2nd day!

Myanmar - Yangon

Finally, my next foodie trip!

After a long layover in Tokyo, Japan and an overnight stay in Bangkok, Thailand, I'm finally in Yangon, Myanmar. The recent Burmese food boom brought me over here.

My first meal in Myanmar is a cafeteria style lunch. Tons of food inside & out. I was a bit scared of trying the food outside the restaurant although it looked very good....

Here are the dishes inside the restaurant. At least 15 kinds of curry/stew. Great view...

This is a complimentary boiled veggie tray. I had never seen some of the veggies. The dipping sauce in the center is fish paste and chili. It's quite salty but very yummy.

 

 

Ground chicken with lemongrass stick

                                       

Fish Curry

Beef Curry

Pork and bamboo shoot curry

Mutton Curry - not gamey at all

 

Complimentary dessert - probably some sort of rice cake topped with shredded coconut. Like most  Asian desserts, it wasn't very sweet... I wish it was a bit sweeter.

 

 

The dinner was at a big boat on the lake. It was arranged by the tour guide. As I expected, the foods were selected to please various tourists so that there were very few Myanmar (Burmese) foods to choose from. Here's one I was fond of. Very simple yet unique. I liked it a lot!

Crispy rice/tapioca flour crepe with palm sugar syrup and shredded coconut inside.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Bagan, early in the morning. I have to get up at 4:00....

 

Back in the US

I'm back in the US now. The first thing I did was check my weight... I was expecting to gain at least 10 lbs. But it was the same weight thanks to one major food poisoning and two minor stomach problems. Once in Spain, which we assume was caused by one of the pinchos (we don't know how long the pinchos were sitting at the counter) and twice in Morocco. The major one, we assume, was caused by ice in a drink. We were told the water in Marrakesh was drinkable because it's highly chlorinated. But some parasites are chlorine resistant. Luckily we had medicine for that parasite. The second one, we believe was caused by the local sweets that we had on the way to the Atlas. There was a creamy/buttery frosting on top. I was a bit scared to try it because it wasn't very sweet (super sweet stuff is safer because sugar can be a preservative). And later in the evening, we had some stomach problems...

But I have no regrets. No risk, no reward!!


Here is the report on the sweets I bought.


Macaron (Pierre Herme)

The crust was very flaky and a little less filling than Laduree (the one I went to with the chocolate and pastry tasting tour in Paris). I think the ratio between shell and filling was perfect. Like the guide said, the flavors were more creative but not crazy. I like Pierre Herme better than Laduree.

Chocolate - Laurent Gerbaud

This is one of the two Belgian chocolates I bought. Lots of dried fruits and nuts. The chocolate itself was dark and hard chocolate. I thought some of the salt on the nuts was a bit too much. I wonder whether they didn't have an option of unsalted nuts?

Chocolate - Pierre Mancolini

This is another Belgian chocolate. The 4 pieces in the middle are their standard chocolate, surrounded by ones with different cacao from various regions, such as Cuba, Venezuela, Java and Madagascar. It was interesting to compare chocolates with cacao from different origins.  

Chocolate - La Maison du Chocolat

This is the one I went to with the tasting tour. Because I liked it, I got a box to bring back. And I believe this is the best chocolate among the three I brought back. The chocolate outside is very rich and creamy and the filling is very rich as well. The chocolate and filling complement each other well. However, these pieces didn't taste as good as what I tasted on the tour. It seemed that these are a bit older, probably because this is prepackaged. Next time, I'll pick the chocolates from the counter and have them make a box for me. But these are still very good.

I can't believe my foodie trip is over. Usually vacation time flies so quickly. Because this trip was full of events, I feel like I was traveling for much longer. I was trying to write my experience as much as possible in this blog but I'm sure I missed some of it.

I planned this trip in order to broaden my culinary views. Every country I visited gave me valuable experience. But Morocco was an extraordinarily special place. Everything was so different and every minute was so worthwhile. I have to say that it was the highlight of this entire trip. There are lots of other parts of world with interesting cuisines, and I'm confident that I will visit many of them some day. When I do, I'll have more experiences to share through this blog.

Brussels, Belgium

I can't believe it! I got on the train to Brussels. It was a fast train called Thalys. The train left on time. However, I noticed the train stopped many times. Then, I heard an announcement saying that the train has a mechanical problem. I had about 45 minutes to spare in Brussels in case I couldn't easily find the meeting point for the chocolate workshop tour. However the train arrived 1 hour and 20 minutes late.... So, I couldn't make it to the workshop. Fortunately, I didn't pre-pay for it. But what could I do now??

I had another reason to come to Brussels: the beer. A friend of mine told me about a brewery in Brussels (yes, Belgian beer!). But I didn't need 8.5 hours for just a brewery. Because the workshop was supposed to take 4 hours, I didn't do any other research on Brussels.

I found a café with free wifi and found places for Belgian waffles and chocolate.


I was expecting to see Belgian waffle stands everywhere. But I didn't see any. Even the café that I went to for wifi didn't have any waffles. Anyway, I arrived at the Belgian waffle place that I found online....

What's this??? It looked so touristy.... And this was in the middle of a very touristy area.. I tried one anyway and it was horrible. Maybe Belgian waffles are supposed to be eaten at home? Or is this food that became overly popular outside Belgium?

After I explored the city, I went to a couple of chocolatiers that I found online.

                                                                    Laurent Gerbaud

Pierre Mancolini. 

I saw a group of people who looked like they were part of a chocolate tour. Is this the one I was supposed to join?? Anyway, I got an assortment with their standard chocolate along with other chocolate with cacao from various countries. They were all simple chocolate without any ganache or nuts. So, I thought this would be the perfect way to compare cacaos from different countries.


Then, I headed to the brewery, Cantillon. I tried one of their major beers, called Gueuze, which is a lambic beer. To be honest, I didn't know much about Belgian beer. But it is sour!!! And it has some distinctive fermented flavor, that reminds me of the sidra that I had in the Basque region. Sidra is a traditional apple cider in the Basque region. I had it once when I was there and I would say that's an acquired taste...

After I came back to Paris, I did the last of my shopping because I'm leaving for the US tomorrow morning.


First, I went back to La Maison du Chocolat where I went yesterday on the chocolate tasting tour. I really liked their chocolate. Yes, I can get it in the US., but the only location is in New York. I don't want to fly 6 hours to get this chocolate...

Then, I went to a macaron shop that the tour guide mentioned yesterday. He said Pierre Herman has more creative flavors so I wanted to get some. He said all macarons should be consumed within 48 hours because the crust gets soggier after that. But because I'm leaving tomorrow morning, I think I can still enjoy them when I'm back in the US.

I will give the report of all the sweets (in boxes) once I'm back in the US.


I'm leaving for the US tomorrow morning...

Chocolate tasting

I was hungry. But because I knew I was going to join the chocolate and pastry tour soon, I didn't want to have a real meal. So, I decided to have a snack at a café. I ordered a glass of beer and some pate - like stuff. The beer came with a slice of lemon. Other than Corona with lime, France is the only country (that I've been to) that serves beer with lemon (or lime). It was a good addition for such a warm day.

I thought I ordered a tomato tart. But I got this pate-like stuff. It consists of three layers and aspic (jelly) on top. The bottom green layer tasted basil. I wasn't sure about the middle layer. I thought the top layer was tomato but it didn't taste like tomato. Probably carrot? But it came with tomato sauce underneath. So, there is some tomato on the plate. I don't think they brought the wrong dish. I guess I misread the menu.

                                                                   Very nice presentation


Now it was time for chocolate and pastry tasting. There were about 10 people so we were split into two groups (we had two guides). Our guide spoke English, Spanish and Japanese fluently (isn't that amazing?).

Our first stop was a bakery called Poilane. They specialize in dome shaped bread. I asked the guide if there's any specific name for this type of bread. He said there isn't a specific name because it's purely a specialty of this bakery. We tasted the bread and it was like brown sour dough bread.

The guide told us that this bakery was Salvador Dali's favorite. Dali designed a chandelier made out of bread for them. Because the breads don't last that long, the bakery replaces the bread once in a while. But the frame inside is Dali's design. Here it is.

The next stop is a chocolatier, called La Maison du Chocolat. Outside France, they have branches in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

             Amazing view. I could only pick one piece for tasting so I chose hazelnut. Very gooood!

Also, the let us taste their two kinds of éclairs, chocolate and caramel.

 No, I didn't eat all of it. Just one piece for each per person. But that was enough. Very rich! The filling was so thick and heavy that I'm not sure if I could finish the whole thing. But it was so decadent....

So far, we had a slice of bread, some cookies, a piece of chocolate and two small pieces of éclair. It doesn't seem a lot but we needed a break with some water because they were so rich. The guide took us to a church before going to the next stop.


It's time for macarons. The guide took us to one of the most famous macaron shops, called Laduree. He thinks this is the best macaron if you are looking for something simple. He mentioned Pierre Herme if you like more creative flavors.

The guide said French macarons have more filling because French people like things rich. Yes, he is right. I tried orange blossom. The filling seem to be at least 50% more than what I'm used to.


The next stop was chewy caramel candy (I forgot to write down the name...)

I tried salted caramel, which is their specialty, and orange ginger. The salted caramel is really "salted". You can really tasted salt in this caramel.


The last stop was a chocolatier called Maison Georges Larnicol. The patissier is from the Brittany region of France and you could see the Brittany flags or the colors of the flags inside the store. There were many chocolate sculptures displayed in the store.

While they sell many beautiful sculptures like these, their chocolates are sold in bulk like a candy store. You just grab a plastic bag and put whatever you want in the bag. I chose simple dark chocolate and chopped almond, orange peel & dark chocolate balls. They tasted simple but great. Also, they sell white chocolate while many chocolatiers in France do not consider white chocolate as "chocolate". I guess the owner must be more casual and less "classy".

I had enough sweets but I decided to make a day trip to Brussels, Belgium for a chocolate workshop tomorrow. I'd love to see if there are any differences between French chocolate and Belgian chocolate.