Restaurant Food Showcase – June 2021
I’ve been on an Asian food tear recently, and by Asian I mean the entire continent. I love Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indian food. I love the spices, vegetables, rice, noodles, and subtlety of it. Here are some recent dishes and I’ve enjoyed them at. All of these came from local restaurants.
Korean Style Seafood Ramen
Ramen noodles helped me survive my first year of living on my own. Just about everyday I’d microwave some water, slap some noodles and the seasoning packet in, and eat them in under five minutes. Sometimes I’d throw an egg in when my budget allowed such luxuries, but for the most part it was a daily sustenance type of thing. After that year I pretty much gave up eating ramen. I just couldn’t stand them anymore. I still kept eating them on my backpacking adventures just because they are so easy to cook with a simple stove, but other than that I was pretty wore out on them.
I’ve really come to enjoy them again after discovering Korean style ramen, which is like Japanese style but much spicier. Typically I get the beef version, but below is the seafood offering. I spent a full day at the pool before enjoying these, so I ordered extra noodles, which is why there is much of it in here.
Indian Lamb Biryani
I love basmati rice and lamb, and combining the two is absolutely delicious in my opinion. My favorite lamb dish of all time is Lamb Rogan Josh, partially because my name is in it, and partially because the flavor is so pungent. Lamb biryani is a more relaxed dish, perfect for just stuffing your belly. I ate this entire serving in one sitting and did not regret it one bit.
Lamb is so good, I am curious why we don’t see it more in American cuisine. Maybe because it has more flavor than beef, chicken, or pork, which are easily mass produced here. I find it more tender than chicken definitely, and I’ve not had a tough piece like you can get with beef if you simmer it at a high heat. I do love rice though, so throw in any protein and I’ll gladly eat it up, but for whatever reason I think lamb pairs the best with it.
Chinese Dim Sum
My oldest son wanted to eat like they do in “Kung Fu Panda” so we found a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant. Not surprisingly he wasn’t a fan, but I did make out with some new favorites. This was my first time ever eating this way. You order piece meal like you do sushi, and everything kind of comes out in one long procession where people can choose various pieces to eat. We went the full board with both boiled and steamed dumplings and a few other samplings. My favorite was fried smelt with peppers. It seemed like the oddest thing on the menu so of course I ordered it. I am a fan!
Would I try it again? I’m not sure, I’ve not spent over a hundred dollars at a Chinese restaurant before and I’m not sure I would again. But if I do I’d probably order more dumplings and not a big finale ending meal.
Wusubi Roll
Finally, I got to try a wusubi roll. I am only vaguely familiar with Hawaiian and Pacific Islander cuisine. I do know that Spam plays a roll in it though. I recently discovered a Hawaiian food truck and they had these for sale. I won’t write and say they’re out of this world. It is literally a slice of Spam wrapped in sushi rice and seaweed.
I will say that I think it’s the perfect backpacker food in my opinion. Maybe drop one or two of these into your pack for your first day on the trail, or maybe just when you’re going out for a day hike. Nutritionally I think they’ve got just about everything you need for an active day. There’s salt, fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Although I don’t see a lot of value in them culinary wise I do see the vast utility value in them. I honestly might learn how to make these in the future if I ever get a chance to hit the trails again.
