Tag Archives: viking.Japan

Hokkaido: Taiwan’s Dairyland 北海道：台湾のデアリーランド

8 Nov

hichewmilkchocolatepoteto

Since I first arrived in Taiwan I have been amazed at the amount of snack foods bearing the name of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. It seems that certain Hokkaido meibutsu – especially milk, potatoes, and cantaloupe – are almost as well known in Taiwan as they are in Japan.

softcream

I have always been fond of the “Wisconsin of Japan” analogy to describe Hokkaido, but perhaps it is even fair to describe it as the Wisconsin of East Asia?

milkbread

That’s probably pushing it, but still; at least in Taiwan, Hokkaido means dairy!

cantaloupeicecream

Tokyo, Mon Amour? 東京、モナムール？

10 Sep

I’ve always loved Tokyo. Even before I’d been there, I loved it, and then I loved it even more once I finally got a chance to visit. And I loved it more still after I learned to read. Y’know in the beginning of “Manhattan,” when Woody Allen talks about how much he loves New York? Well, swap out “New York” for “Tokyo” (and maybe “George Gershwin” for “Pizzicato Five”) and that should give you a pretty good idea of how I feel about Japan’s eastern capital.

Needless to say, I’ve always wanted to live there. But on my last visit to Tokyo – on my very last vacation within Japan – I realized that I’m really glad I didn’t. Not that I could have – it is exceedingly rare for JETs to be placed any closer to Tokyo than Saitama – but I’m glad I wound up in Kitakyushu.

Actually, let me restate this: it would have been awesome to live in Tokyo, totally awesome, maybe too awesome. I would have been more than glad to have lived there, and if I ever go back to Japan, I would easily choose Tokyo over Kitakyushu. Because when you live in Tokyo, you’ve got it all – the food, the entertainment, the shopping, the art, the Japanese (or the English, if that’s your thing). It’s such an awesome city that there’s little reason to leave. And many foreigners living there seldom do.

Which is fine, and understandable. But it’s also sort of a shame. One of the things that makes Tokyo so great is that it’s almost nothing like the rest of Japan – but that’s also what makes the rest of Japan so great. I loved traveling around to smaller Japanese cities, with their quirky attractions and unique histories, and to the Japanese countryside, with its gorgeous scenery, quaint onsen towns, and delicious local foods.

It worries me to think that I may not have experienced Japan’s periphery if I had lived in Tokyo. I would have missed out on so very much. But Tokyo is massive, insane, constantly changing, and beautiful in a way, with infinite backstreets to explore and the best public transit system I’ve ever seen. It also has outstanding ramen, luxury cinemas, exciting beer bars, a diverse music scene, and hundreds of other “only in Tokyo” quirks. Once you grasp how much there is to do there – and that doesn’t take long – it becomes very hard to leave.

It was especially hard this time around. But I’m satisfied with my life in Japan; I feel I made the most of it. Someday I hope to go back – I’m still not done with Tokyo, and I’ve never been to Shikoku or northern Honshu – but for now, I’m just excited to move to England.

I’ll just have to make sure I get out of London every now and then.

Greetings from the Land of Higashikokubaru 東国原の国へようこそ

17 Aug

Since he was elected in January 2007, the governor of Miyazaki has unleashed a marketing blitzkrieg to inform the rest of Japan (especially the rest of Kyushu) about the southern prefecture’s gorgeous coastline, delicious chicken, and mysterious connection to Easter Island. His unwieldly name is Hideo Higashikokubaru, but most Japanese know him better as former comedian Sonomanma Higashi. Like most Japanese prefectures, Mr. Higashikokubaru employed a charming little mascot to promote tourism in Miyazaki; the twist is that he employed himself as that character, cleverly cashing in on his own celebrity.

So far, it has worked brilliantly. Mr. Higashikokubaru’s toothy grin is everywhere: on onigiri wrappers, adorning mangoes in supermarkets, on JR and JTB posters, in conbini windows, on bottles of shochu, and on countless bags of limited-edution junk food made in flavors of Miyazaki meibutsu. In Tokyo a couple weeks ago, his likeness was flying on a flag outside a curry shop – I’m not sure why. Just by sheer ubiquity of this weird little man’s infectiously happy countenance, my interest was piqued.

Of course, there were a few other factors that played into my decision to take a trip down there – and I went during my frenzied ramen-binging, apartment-cleaning, guidebook-designing, perfectly-useful-kitchenware-discarding final week in Japan, no less. In March, a close friend of mine rode his bike there to visit his family and participate in the Miyazaki Marathon – in which he ran next to Mr. Higashikokubaru himself! He had a fine time and made Miyazaki sound pretty sweet. So naturally I was excited to go to the Miyazaki JET beach party held in late May; but that fell through due to rain. And finally, I dipped into Oita for the first weekend in July, so by that time I had been to every prefecture in Kyushu – except Miyazaki. I felt that it just would have been such a shame not to go.

And I felt that way even more so after actually going there. But before I get into the awesomeness of Miyazaki itself, I want to talk about the awesomeness of the bus I took down there. It was an overnight bus called the Phoenix, operated by Miyazaki Kōtsū from Fukuoka to Miyazaki. I expected it to be a typical coach: bumpy, loud, uncomfortable, and cramped. But I was wrong. There were only three seats in each row, with an aisle between each seat; the seats themselves were quite wide, and they unfolded and reclined in a variety of delightfully sleep-inducing ways. Thick curtains blocked out any trace of light, and the ride was so smooth and quiet that when I awoke, I thought the bus had come to a stop. And not only was it awesome, it was a bargain! I reserved my tickets with the SunQ Pass, which cost only ¥10,000 and allowed me to ride any bus in Kyushu for three days! So that’s my osusume if you’re day-tripping to Miyazaki from Fukuoka.

I got in at about 7:00 in the morning, so I had lots of time to enjoy myself before my return bus left at 11:00 that night. After picking up a dry, chewy breakfast of famous Miyazaki smoked chicken (again, with Mr. Higashikokubaru’s face on them), I hopped on a bus to Aoshima, site of the Miyazaki JET beach party and the Devil’s Washboard 鬼の洗濯板, a bizarre, visually striking formation of volcanic rocks lined up into neat parallel rows by the movement of the waves.

The beach was beautiful, but shortly after I got there, it started to rain. I took cover under a palm tree and watched cute little crabs scuttle by, clicking across a confetti of sand, stone, and crushed shells. It reminded me of Thailand.


Soon I had had enough of the rain, and took refuge in an omiyage stand. Just as I was about to board the bus again, the rain stopped – a good thing, because my next destination was outdoors, as well. In the now-sunny skies, I took in beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean, puncuated by fishing boats, rock formations like that of the Devil’s Washboard, and inns advertising lobster dinners. After about 30 minutes, I had arrived at Sun Messe Nichinan サンメッセ日南, home to the famous Miyazaki Moai.

It was cool to see the Moai. It was ridiculous, yes, but it was also cool. If the informational placards told the truth, then they are the only life-size Moai replicas that the government of Easter Island has allowed to be built outside the island itself. And it will be quite a while before I make it to Easter Island, so I just basked in the uniqueness of it all and gleefully took photos like any good tourist would. It was a beautiful day.

It was a hot day, too, so I ducked into the air-conditioned Moai museum, then had some hyūganatsu kakigōri, and then left a bit earlier than I planned because I wanted to get away from the weird guy from Hiroshima who kept following me around. On the way out, I snapped a photo of a Higashikokubaru Moai on my keitai and sent it to a friend, who replied that it was “kimoi” (creepy).

As I was waiting for the bus back to Miyazaki City, a woman pulled over and offered me a ride. I wasn’t even hitchhiking! I was reminded of the hospitality I received on my first visits to Tokyo and Kumamoto. I declined, however, because I was looking forward to listening to my special Miyazaki playlist on the hour-long bus ride back. When I got in, I grabbed a quick lunch of chicken nanban チキン南蛮 – a local specialty of fried chicken topped with a vinegar-based dressing and tartar sauce. The name literally means “barbarian chicken,” and I wonder if the prototype for it was originally introduced by European missionaries and traders, who were originally called barbarians and were known for eating a lot of fried food and vinegar. Anyway, it was delicious – fresh from the fryer with a tempura crunch, juicy with vinegar to counteract the oil, and slathered with tartar sauce to counteract the vinegar. Certainly several notches above the sodden mess I was used to from Hokka Hokka Tei (though I like theirs, too).

After that I settled in for another sixty-minute bus excursion to Shusen no Mori 酒泉の杜 (literally “forest of liquor springs”) – a glorious tourist complex near Miyazaki’s border with Kagoshima in a rural town called Aya. Shusen no Mori was built by the adjacent Unkai buckwheat shochu distillery, but the fun does not stop there; on the multi-acre land there is a hotel, an onsen, a winery, a brewery, a one-stop shop for Miyazaki omiyage, and a shochu gallery, where customers are given free reign to sample any number of dozens of varieties of shochu – plus sake, liqueur, and truly awful attempts at wine.

The onsen was fantastic, offering a smörgåsbord of different kinds of baths; my favorites were the sake bath, which really had a nice smell of booze, and the electric bath, which delivered the somewhat disconcerting and somewhat wonderful sensation of a low-voltage electric current passing through your body.

After rehydrating myself and cutting my foot on the corner of a step, I moseyed over to the shochu gallery, where I tried four kinds of wine (all of them undrinkable or borderline-undrinkable), a few tasty sakes and liqueurs (including one made from hyūganatsu!), and fifteen or so different shochu. I got to sample one variety that had always intrigued me: Mayan no Tsubuyaki, or “Mumblings of an Old Man.” I didn’t like it very much – it was a bit too rough, I thought, like something a mumbliing old man might drink – but I’m glad I got to try it.

I then stumbled across to the omiyage center, where I picked up some hyūganatsu sweets and Miyazaki chicken chips for my taiko group. After that I had a few beers from the on-site brewery – much better than the wine – and then went back to Miyazaki City, hungry for dinner.

I ate at a place called Dogenka Sentoi-kan どげんせんとい館, which I chose more or less because they offered a free pint of Hideji lager if you mention their website. The name of the place means something in Miyazaki dialect that I don’t understand, befitting their dedication to local food and culture. I ordered the Miyazaki jidokko omakase course, which, among many other things, included famous Miyazaki grilled chicken. The method of preparation was as inscrutable to me as the name of the restaurant, but I understand that Miyazaki chicken is grilled in a basket, and the texture is meant to be springy – or even crunchy. Springy it was – but it was also ebulliently juicy and tender at the same time. Its flavor was thick with charcoal smoke, and I was sad when I discovered I had eaten it all.

By this time I was pretty drunk on shochu and Miyazaki craft beer, and pretty sated with chicken (I just realized now that I had chicken for all three meals that day). So I walked around what appeared to be the remnants of a festival downtown, then headed back to the bus center. Inevitably, I got lost on the way there; the cabbie who eventually picked me up was friendly, though he insisted that I have a piece of gum after I initially declined his offer. “I offer it to everybody,” he explained, as if aware that I was worried that I had bad breath.

Then It was back on the Phoenix for another restful trip. Back in Kurosaki, I stopped at a conbini for something to drink, and I spotted Mr. Higashikokubaru’s balding, jovial face yet again on a packet of candy. This time, I smiled knowingly back at him.

An Introduction to Ramen (In Fukuoka Prefecture) （福岡県の）拉麺入門

14 Jun gogyo

This is an article I’ve been working on for FukuokaJET.com, a resource website made for JETs living in Fukuoka prefecture, especially new recruits. The information here focuses on Fukuoka, but I think it’s a fairly good survey of the major ramen styles for anybody who’s interested.

Tonkotsu (Pork Bone) 豚骨・とんこつ

Tonkotsu ramen is the richest of the four main ramen broth varieties, and the ramen for which Fukuoka is famous. The greyish white soup is made by boiling pork bones, fat, and collagen over high heat for hours on end, suffusing the broth with a hearty pork flavor and a creamy consistency that rivals milk or melted butter or gravy (depending on the shop). Most shops, but not all, blend this pork broth with a small amount of chicken and vegetable stock and/or soy sauce. The original tonkotsu ramen, from Kurume, actually has a small amount of powdered bone and marrow in the broth, giving it an even stronger pork taste, chalky texture, and characteristic “stink.” Hakata-style tonkotsu generally does not contain bone and is characterized by thin, straight noodles that can be ordered to the firmness of your choice. Another characteristic of tonkotsu ramen shops in the Fukuoka area is kaedama 替玉, an extra helping of noodles that customers can order after they’ve slurped away the original serving. Typical tonkotsu toppings include red pickled ginger, green onions, and tree ears, along with the standard chāshū (sliced pork). Some shops also provide customers with minced garlic or even whole garlic cloves and garlic presses so they can give their soup the freshest garlic flavor possible. Currently the latest trend in tonkotsu toppings is māyu マー油, a blackish, aromatic oil made from charred crushed garlic. As ingredients and methods vary from shop to shop, it is said that no two bowls of Hakata ramen are alike, so try as many as you can!

Many of Hakata’s ubiquitous yatai 屋台 (street stalls) sell tonkotsu ramen, often with side dishes like gyoza and fried rice. Yatai advertising Nagahama 長浜 ramen are some of the most popular, as the Nagahama style – named for the working-class area northwest of Tenjin – is a bit lighter than basic Hakata ramen.

Where to try it in Fukuoka:

Ippūdō (Original Daimyō Shop) 一風堂大名本店
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Daimyō 1-13-14
092-771-0880
11:00-02:00, Sundays and holidays 11:00-24:00
Recommended ramen: Akamaru Kasane-aji 赤丸かさね味 (¥800), Kiwami Shin’aji 極新味 (¥1300)

Isshin Furan 一心不乱
(Original Shop)
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Daimyō 2-6-5
Tenjin Nishi-dōri-kan 1F
092-733-3768
11:00-02:00, Sundays and holidays 11:00-24:00
(Canal City Shop)
Fukuoka City Hakata-ku Sumiyoshi 1-2
Hakata Canal City 5F, Ramen Stadium
092-271-5166
11:00-23:00
Recommended ramen: Kuro no Koku Tonkotsu Ramen 黒のコクとんこつラーメン (¥600)

Taihō 大砲
(Original Shop)
Kurume City Tōrihoka-machi 11-8
0942-33-6695
11:00-21:00; closed every second and fourth Thursday of the month
(Tenjin Imaizumi Shop)
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Imaizumi 1-23-8
093-738-3277
11:00-23:00
Recommended ramen: Ramen ラーメン (¥480), Mukashi Ramen 昔ラーメン (¥500)

Tōyōken 東洋軒
Kitakyushu City Kokurakita-ku Kogane-machi 1-4-30
093-931-0095
11:00-15:00, 16:00-21:30; closed Wednesday
Recommended ramen: Wantan-men ワンタンメン (¥700)

Ajisen 味千拉麺
Fukuoka City Higashi-ku Hakozaki 5-1-8
Rakuichi Kaidō Shopping Center
092-632-6212
11:00-02:00; Friday and Saturday 11:00-03:00
Recommended ramen: Paikū-men パイクー麺 (¥850)

Tonkotsu-based wantanmen from Toyoken.

Shōyu (Soy Sauce) 醤油・正油・しょうゆ

Shōyu ramen is the most traditional variety, with its roots in the Chinese immigrant community of Yokohama. The broth is typically brown and clear, based on a chicken and vegetable (or sometimes fish or beef) stock with plenty of soy sauce added for a soup that’s tangy, salty, and savory yet still fairly light on the palate. Shōyu ramen usually has curly noodles rather than straight ones, but this is not always the case. It is often adorned with marinated bamboo shoots (menma 麺媽), green onions, kamaboko (fish cakes), nori (seaweed), boiled eggs, bean sprouts and/or black pepper; occasionally the soup will also contain chili oil or Chinese spices, and some shops serve sliced beef instead of the usual chāshū. Shōyu ramen is ubiquitous around Tokyo and Yokohama, but in Fukuoka it is not as popular as the hometown favorite, tonkotsu. Still, there are several shops across the prefecture that serve a good bowl of shōyu ramen – some richer than usual to cater to local tastes.

Where to try it in Fukuoka:

Fujiō 藤王
Kitakyushu City Kokurakita-ku Uo-machi 2-4-18
New Fukusuke Building 2F
093-511-2800
11:00-20:00 (last order 19:30); closed every third Wednesday of the month
Recommended ramen: Chūka Soba 中華そば (¥530)

Ranshū 蘭州
Kitakyushu City Kokurakita-ku Furusenba-machi 5-21-103
093-531-6999
11:30-14:00, 19:00-24:00; closed Sunday and closed for lunch on Wednesday
Recommended ramen: Yakuzen Ramen 薬膳ラーメン (¥500)

Chūka Soba Gōya 中華そば郷家
(Original Shop)
Fukuoka City Minami-ku Terazuka 1-26-7
092-541-0266
11:00-20:30 or until the soup is gone, Sundays and holidays 11:00-20:00; closed Wednesday or the following day if Wednesday is a holiday
(Tenjin Shop)
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Watanabe-dōri 5-25-11
092-713-1333
11:00-23:00, Sundays and holidays 11:00-22:00; closed Wednesday
Recommended ramen: Karanegi Ramen 辛ねぎらーめん (¥650)

Mengekijō Gen’ei 麺劇場　玄瑛
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Yakuin 2-16-3
092-732-6100
11:30-14:30, 18:00-24:30, Sundays and holidays 11:30-22:00
Recommended ramen: (Ushio-kaori) Shōyu Ramen (潮薫)醤油拉麺 (¥800)

Shoyu ramen with spinach and egg from Fujio.

Miso 味噌・みそ

Miso is a fairly recent development in ramen soup, a specialty of Hokkaido and northern Honshu that originated in the 1970s. Those familiar with miso soup from instant soup packets or sushi bars may expect miso ramen to be fairly light and healthy, but actually miso is second only to tonkotsu in terms of richness. Copious amounts of miso are blended with oily chicken or fish broth – and sometimes with tonkotsu or lard – to create a thick, nutty, slightly sweet and very hearty soup. Miso ramen broth tends to have a robust, tangy flavor, so it stands up to a variety flavorful toppings: spicy bean paste (tōbanjan 豆板醤), butter and corn, leeks, onions, bean sprouts, ground pork, cabbage, sesame seeds, white pepper, and chopped garlic are common. Noodles are typically thick, curly, and slightly chewy.

Where to try it in Fukuoka:

Sumire すみれ
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Imaizumi 1-3-1
TY Building Imaizumi 2F
092-741-4685
11:30-23:00; closed Tuesday
Recommended ramen: Miso Ramen 味噌ラーメン (¥780)

Hakata Mendokoro Takadaya 博多麺処 高田家
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Yakuin 2-2-28
092-716-0670
11:00-02:00 (last order 1:30), Sundays and holidays 11:00-23:00
Recommended ramen: Kogashi Miso Ramen 焦がし味噌ラーメン (¥800), Miso Butter Corn Men 味噌バターコーン麺 (¥850)

Kawabata Dosanko 川端どさんこ
Fukuoka City Hakata-ku Kamikawabata-machi 4-229
092-271-5255
11:15-19:55; closed Tuesday and every third Monday of the month
Recommended ramen: Tokusei Miso Ramen 特製味噌ラーメン (¥600)

Miso ramen with tripe.

Shio (Salt) 塩・しお

Ubiquitous in southern Hokkaido and Niigata but rare in Fukuoka, shio is the lightest ramen out there, a pale, clear, yellowish broth made from plenty of salt and any combination of chicken, vegetables, fish, and seaweed. Occasionally pork bones are also used, but they are not boiled as long as they are for tonkotsu ramen, so the soup remains light and clear. Shio is generally the healthiest kind of ramen; fat content tends to be low, and fresh vegetables like cabbage, leeks, onions, and bamboo shoots typically adorn the simple soup and curly noodles. Chāshū is sometimes swapped out for lean chicken meatballs, and pickled plums and kamaboko are popular toppings as well. However, some shops do add lard or oil to make the broth richer or offer a topping of butter and corn for a popular and similarly bad-for-you variation. Noodle texture and thickness varies among shio ramen, but they are usually straight rather than curly.

Where to try it in Fukuoka:

Shionoya 汐のや
Fukuoka City Hakata-ku Hakata Station Chūōgai 6-12
Yodobashi Camera 4
092-432-8171
11:00-22:30
Recommended ramen: Shio Ramen 塩ラーメン (¥600), Tokusei Shio Ramen 特製塩ラーメン (¥850)

Menya-sanshi 麺８−３４
Kitakyushu City Kokurakita-ku Muromachi 2-11-5
093-571-6634
11:30-16:00, 18:00-21:00; closed Tuesday
Recommended ramen: Shio Ramen 塩ラーメン (¥500), Tori Paitan 鶏白湯 (¥500)

Neo-Ramen ネオラーメン

Recently, chefs across the country have been getting increasingly creative with ramen. Some chefs play around with different kinds of broth, some employ unusual ingredients or cooking methods, and some simply push the limits of richness, flavor, and volume. These new ramen experiments are often called “neo-ramen” and include innovations such as: curry ramen, burnt ramen, black miso ramen, motsu ramen, chanpon-style ramen, yakisoba-style ramen, tonkotsu-fish stock blends, chili-infused noodles, and toppings like fried chicken, gelled pork broth, grilled chāshū, pork cutlets, pork collagen, shellfish, shark fin, yuzu peel, chawan mushi, and cheese. Some neo-ramen offerings are simply weird, but many are pleasantly surprising and genuinely delicious.

Where to try it in Fukuoka:

Gogyō 五行
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Imaizumi 1-18-26
092-735-4152
11:30-02:00; Sundays and holidays 11:30-01:00
Recommended ramen: Kogashi Miso Men 焦がし味噌麺, Kogashi Shōyu Men 焦がし醤油麺 (¥850 each, ¥1000 during dinner hours)

Chururu Chu-ra ちゅるるちゅーら
Kitakyushu City Yahatanishi-ku Satonaka 1-6-10
093-611-2666
11:30-22:00, Tuesday until 15:00
Recommended ramen: Tonkotsu Otoko-aji Chā-churu Hige-jī 豚骨男味チャーちゅるヒゲじい (¥950), Gyokai Tonkotsu Aka-māyu Churu-chura 魚介豚骨赤マー油ちゅるチュラ (¥600), Gyokai Tonkotsu Churu-chura 魚介豚骨ちゅるチュラ (¥600)

Fūgen 風玄
Kitakyushu City Yahatanishi-ku Yatsue 5-3-18
093-691-1141
11:00-23:00
Recommended ramen: Tomato Ramen with Garlic Toast とまとラーメンガーリックトースト付 (¥750), Yahata Red 八幡レッド (¥700)

Menmi 麺美
Kitakyushu City Moji-ku Minato-machi 5-1
Kaikyō Plaza East Building 1F
093-321-3020
11:00-20:00
Recommended ramen: Crab Ramen かにラーメン (¥1000), Mentaiko Ramen 明太子ラーメン (¥1000)

La-men House Shōmaru LA-麺HOUSE 将丸
Fukuoka City Chūō-ku Maizuru 1-8-2-1
092-714-3939
11:30-14:00, 19:00-03:00
Recommended ramen: Kuro La-men 黒LA-麺 (¥550), Wa La-men 和LA-麺 (¥550), Shōmaru SP 将丸SP (¥950)

Burnt shoyu ramen at Gogyo.

Hiyashi Chūka, Reimen, and Tsukemen 冷やし中華、冷麺、つけ麺・つけめん

To attract more customers during the sweltering summer months, many ramen shops offer chilled noodle dishes called hiyashi chūka, reimen, or tsukemen. Hiyashi chūka and reimen (literally “chilled Chinese” and “cold noodles,” respectively) are blanket terms for any cold noodle dish, but they usually refer to a ramen-like cold soup of noodles and fresh vegetables in a thin, usually soy sauce-based broth. Tsukemen specifically refers to a salad-like dish inspired by zaru soba (cold buckwheat noodles) consisting of cooked, cold noodles, julienned chāshū, vegetables, and egg that customers dip in a cold sauce, often based on the shop’s ramen stock. Cold noodles are usually available starting in May or June until the end of September, but some ramen shops sell them year round; many Korean restaurants are also reliable sources for tasty, refreshing reimen.

Foie Gras フォアグラー

1 May

In my recent post about all the yummy stuff I ate in Tokyo, I refrained from discussing my appetizer at Les Saisons on account that I thought it was so good it deserved its own post. The appetizer was seared goose foie gras with warm strawberries and a spritz of twenty-five-year-old Balsamic vinegar, garnished with a fragile ring of crispy batter.

On the menu, it didn’t sound that amazing to me. I mostly just wanted to get foie gras because I didn’t know when I’d be able to have it again. I had had foie gras before – only once, if memory serves, at a Belgian restaurant in Hong Kong – and I must say, I was underwhelmed. Or at least, after having had this particular foie gras, the stuff I had before seems, in retrospect, incredibly underwhelming

This foie gras was like nothing I had ever tasted before. It was like eating softened butter, or a warm custard of heavy cream, encased in a carbonized, perfectly firm skin; the foie gras was solid, and structured, and yet the way it melted upon my tongue suggested Swiss milk chocolate. The flavor was unfathomably deep: silky, mellow, fatty sweetness washed over the inherent earthiness of liver. Satiny pâté, tender chāshū, luscious ōtoro, all synthesized in this one, supple masterpiece.

It sounds heavy, and it was. Nevertheless, it was dangerously easy to eat, somehow light and delicate in spite of its richness. The strawberries and vinegar (I hesitate to call it vinegar; after a quarter of a century, it is much more like syrup) provided a pleasant twang, a flicker of sweetness and mild sourness to contrast and focus the fat-packed liver. But in my opinion, the foie gras hardly needed any accompaniment – it was just that good.

The whole thing nearly made me weep. And I believe that is the first time food has ever made me feel that way.

I should move to France.

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