Viet World Kitchen

Tokyo Travel Tips & Pretty Good Number One eBook Giveaway

Soon after Asian Tofu was released last year, Matthew Amster-Burton tweeted that he’d used the book to make fresh yuba tofu skin. He went a couple of rounds with it and then told me that the DIY yuba experience was good preparation for his trip to Japan. I was both flattered and surprised because there are so many wonderful things to eat in Japan and Matthew, a talented writer based in Seattle, was extra keen on tofu.

As it turned out, Matthew had a purpose. He and his wife, Laurie, and eight-year-old daughter, Iris, spent a month in Tokyo last summer. They rented a one-room apartment about the size of a single-car garage and ventured out on daily eating adventures.

Matthew recounted their experiences in his new book, Pretty Good Number One, a fast-paced, rollicking work that’s chock full of delicious humor and insights. Reading the ebook at bedtime was my way of reliving and deepening my understanding of Tokyo. I’d gone there in 2010 to research tofu and a number of the places I visited and food people I know are part of Matthew’s book. I was honored to be the lead on his tofu chapter.

Matthew’s vivid and spot-on description of Tokyo led me to spend a few hours reviewing photos from my Tokyo trip. They’re part of the collages on this post. The book was such a terrific read that I had to ask Matthew a few questions about his work and of course, what to do and where to eat in Tokyo.

Whet your appetite below and then enter the giveaway. There are three (3) copies of the book available!

Vietnamese Street Food Tips and Cookbook Giveaway

In 2010 when I was in Hanoi on a press trip, I met Tracey Lister, an Australian expat with active passion about Vietnamese food. She’d been living in Vietnam’s capitol for many years, exploring the food scene then writing about it as well as  running the Hanoi Cooking Centre, a terrific place to take classes. She has a quiet curiosity about food and is highly observant – traits that she poured into her latest book, Vietnamese Street Food.

She authored the charming book with her husband, Andreas Pohl. The location photography gives a true sense being in Vietnam. It’s a book that anyone who’s traveled to Vietnam should have, not just as a keepsake but to cook from. It’s also terrific for armchair travelers and cooks. Many people are interested in street food nowadays so I asked Tracey to share her thoughts and expert advice on what to eat in Hanoi.

Rethinking Tofu and Miso with Bourdain and Chang’s “The Mind of a Chef”

“When someone doesn’t like tofu or they feel like that it’s gross, I immediately assume that they’re some hardcore neo-conservative,” says David Chang, the chef and owner of the Momofuku restaurant group. Chang makes that provocative statement partway through the soy episode of The Mind of a Chef, a new PBS food and travel series produced and narrated by Anthony Bourdain.

Unlike many of the modern cooking shows, this one is punctuated by jokes (Chang says fart twice in this episode), profanity, and traditional as well as innovative cooking techniques. There is no loud screaming or overly staged dramatic situations. It’s as if you’re hanging out with Chang. The shows are smart.

I was planning to post a Burmese tofu recipe when I read a tweet from Xena N (@bowlfulofcomfor) about the segment. I stopped what I was doing and watched. In 23 minutes, the soy episode of The Mind of a Chef touches on a whole host of issues related to food, culture, and society. 

At the core, Bourdain and Chang say to viewers: Don’t think of tofu and miso simply as what vegetarians order instead of a steak. They are more than that. Here’s the full episode, available until December 22, 2012 on PBS.org:

Ippudo Ramen in NYC

My friend and food stylist Karen Stylist never fails to surprise me. On set, her nickname is “Ninja.” She’s quiet and stealthy, coming up with thoughtful nuances that make a shot. We’ve worked together on about six projects. For our New York City trip, she had a little hit list or restaurants, and Ippudo Ramen was on it.

Karen is singular in her resolve so I rarely mess with her. Plus she does her homework. Ippudo Ramen is a carefully styled Japan-export with only one outlet in the States – in New York’s East Village. We had to go.

All week long, we planned our meals around our business appointments. However, for Ippudo Ramen, I ditched my conference so we could easily snag two seats for lunch. That Sunday afternoon, the wait was 30 minutes for the two of us. Larger parties had to wait at least an hour.

We only had room for two bowls of ramen and opted for the “special” of kasana black ramen made with a rich pork and chicken broth. (The “black” refers to black fermented garlic.) The other was shiromaru hakata ramen. “Hakata is where tonkotsu [milky rich pork broth that’s so popular these days] came from. If they say Hakata, it’s a promise of purity. I have to try it,” Karen said. And so we did.

Before getting into nitty gritty, a sense of the place. Ippudo Ramen is carefully styled and ultra cool. Note the pants on the guy in the photo above. (It was dark and Karen had to shoot quick, hence the quality.) Fooling around with my iPhone, I made this little movie from our ramen lunch:

Good Asian Eats in NYC

It’s taken me nearly a week to fully recover from the week spent in New York City. I was there for a packed schedule of conference sessions, meetings, and good food. New York over-stimulates your senses the moment you set foot outside. 

Food stylist Karen Shinto and I rented an apartment in the Gramercy Park area, located a couple of blocks away from the Flatiron building. (That's us above, famished enough to eat the Flatiron. Just kidding.) While we did graze at nearby Eataly, the Italian food emporium endorsed by Mario Batali, most of our meals were at Asian restaurants and snack shops. It was fabulously fun, inexpensive and overall very tasty. Here’s a recap: 

Rhong Tiam Express – Our apartment was right next to this popular spot on East 21st. Karen and I had flown red eye flights so we somewhat discombobulated on our first day in the city. After settling into the apartment and going to Trader Joe’s for provisions, we needed lunch. Something spicy and jarring to jolt us from jet lag. We scanned the Rhong Tiam menu and ordered so much food that we couldn’t finish most of it.

The outstanding dish was fried yucca. The relatively light, wonderfully crisp pieces were accompanied by a Sriracha-like spicy mayonnaise. The khao soi noodle soup was gentrified with chicken breast but there was enough complex heat to satisfy. I still think about those yucca sticks, wondering how they got the starchy tuber so light...

Banh Mi Saigon – A couple of years ago, this favorite banh mi shop in Chinatown, NYC, relocated to Grand Street. Their lease  had run out, the man behind the counter told me. I recognized the name of the joint but wasn’t sure because of the new location. The clue was the jewelry case, which they had at the original spot on Mott.