Katana-Ya
430 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA

On our first night in San Francisco, after the FoodBuzz welcome reception street food fare, we were driven back to a hotel near Union Square. While everybody was walking back their to the hotel, I noticed a restaurant that I thought “just for kicks, this might be interesting for us to try!” The following night, while waiting for the gala dinner and seemingly seemed to be taking forever, I was telling the “gang” (as in TS/JS, Mijune and Sherman) that if dinner didn’t star by 8:00 p.m. (officially the invite was for 7:00 p.m.), I might as well go back to the hotel as I was tired already, a bit grumpy (OK, grumpier than usual). Wait! What about the food? Hey, food is always in the radar and Katana-Ya, that said restaurant, was on the way back to the hotel! Given I wrote about the dinner, that means we were let in before 8:00 p.m. which means we had to see if there was space/time to go there. And, actually we did! Since our flight back to Vancouver was in the late afternoon, I agreed with Sherman to meet way past the lunch rush crowd for a last lunch before taking the BART (hence, to the airport) and back to Vancouver…

Why so much push for Katana-Ya? I thought it would be a good comparison point for two things: (a) Despite it wasn’t the “best” ramen place in San Francisco (as was told to us during the Incanto dinner), at least it was “good enough” according to Yelp, and (b) more importantly… How it is compared to Vancouver offerings considering all the options around (Santouka, Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo, Benkei, Menya, the recently opened Sanpachi, among others)? Anyway, back to this adventure, Sherman arrived before me and, thanks to really good timing, he was able to secure the only table with access to natural light. Thanks a lot for this, man!

Given it was only two of us (Sherman, I and what army???), we had to be careful as for what dishes to choose. After all, we might not be coming back for a full year (that is assuming we would)! So, to plan things “safe”, we went overboard and order probably a couple too many dishes! Said that, we start off with…

WTF?! Salad? With Sashimi? Well, I might have given a red herring here. If you look closely at the sign at the entrance, it says “sushi”. So, Katana-Ya is not necessarily a ramen specific place so we thought we might try dishes like this. Having said that, it was, the dish was good and bad: some of the pieces were quite decent (hamachi, et al), some were as expected (shrimp, given it was cooked) but, oddly, the one that failed in an epic way was the salmon which didn’t have a “fresh” feeling. The dressing for the salad actually worked quite well as it gave some saltiness, acidity and sweetness at the same time. This would certainly a salad I would order again; however, not for myself, instead, to share.

OK, given that push for ramen, we had to end up ordering one, right? So, given we would only order one, to play it “safe”, we ordered their name sake bowl of noodles called Katanaya Ramen, which at $13, includes “corn, fried chicken, fried potsticker, seaweed, scallion, BBQ pork & boiled egg“. They might have as well called it everything but the kitchen sink!

There were a couple of things that we observed right away and thought failed miserably: fried, crispy items in broth is a no-no. So, in this case, we rushed to take out the pieces of chicken and pot stickers as, otherwise, it would have ended up soggy. And actually that was a good idea, as by themselves, the chicken was good enough; the pot stickers, while nice and resembling the Korean fried mandu, was slightly chewy. The rest of the components (pork included) made it comparable to several of the noodle shops found here so not complains, though I am sure some will “complain” the egg is hard boiled rather than soft centre. As for the broth (here, shio)… Well, I will have to say it was good but Santouka it wasn’t. So, from a ramen-ya perspective, it is a good option but one has to wonder about the price. At $13 (<– US Dollars here!), in Vancouver, of course, the direct comparison would be, again, Santouka’s pork jowl and, Katana-Ya would be considered below par. Of course, I am in an oranges/apple comparison so, from that perspective, I will leave it at that.

What?! Curry as well? Well, before anybody starts jumping into conclusions, Benkei has been offering curries as well and the recently opened Sanpachi has donburi in their menu (though currently “coming soon”). What does that mean? Well, just because it says sushi outside (which technically Katana-Ya does not list itself as), it does not mean they can’t offer other dishes, provided they can execute it well.

And, as for this one, in a typical American way, the katsu curry bowl was large. Extremely large. So large that even the two of us didn’t manage to finish the salad, bowl of ramen and this rice bowl. Then again, size isn’t everything but taste. As for this one, I appreciate the fact they didn’t pour the curry sauce on top of the cutlet but put it on the size. This is because we found out it was nicely friend and, in fact, still slightly juicy. The curry sauce was the typical Japanese style curry, though it didn’t have that Glico feel to it plus it had a light nice spicy kick. As for the rice, fortunately, it was your typical Japanese style.

Yup, having sushi outside meant we had order one, this time in the form of a roll, the Hawaiian roll: Spicy salmon, tuna, butter fish & BBQ eel. At $13.50, it might be borderline on the expensive side compared to some offering/places in Vancouver. But, again, this ain’t Vancouver… One thing that should be noted about this offering is that this is a “spicy” roll and that’s what the creamy sauce on the side is: It game some hot kick to it.

In general, the roll falls in the category of “OK”: the rice could have been “better” as in having more vinegar and cooked differently (in some instances, had a slight “bite”). Now, that does not necessarily means it is below par: some of the mass produced “sushi” places in Vancouver would have offered such type of rice. As for the fish used, for the most part, it still had a bit of hit/miss mentioned above regarding their salad. So, it wasn’t bad but, given what I am used here in Vancouver, it might be borderline average to good.

After we finish the meal, we could barely move from our table. We thought we won’t be served that much food but, then again, I should have known considering this located in the US. As for the food served, I will have to say that it was better than what we though. While some parts of certain dishes went sideways, what I won’t deny is that it didn’t necessarily fail. In fact, everything served was at least par with similar specialist shops in Vancouver. So, from that perspective, I will have to tip my hat. Would I come back? Certainly I would, with the caveat there are still other places I still have to visit first.

Alligator Soul
3121 Broadway
Everett, WA

If there is one thing I can say I am proud of is that I listen to my readers. From minor layout changes and, most importantly, suggestions: If you have something to say, as long as it makes sense, it is not burdensome and does not go against my code of ethics, it is pretty much fair game. That’s why I was quite excited when reader jlomein, in my Southern Kitchen post wrote the following:

Next time you’re in Washington you should check out Alligator Soul in Everett. It’s my favourite southern restaurant by far.

Well, that suggestion was quite interesting so why not! As a result, in the last trip through Everett, I decided to drop by to have a taste of Cajun/creole.

When I arrived, it was way past noon so it wasn’t a surprise the restaurant had only a couple of other customers. However, what surprised me was that more customers kept coming in. After been seated to a table near the window (for natural sunlight), it was a matter of checking what to order. Originally, I had po’boy in my head; however, I wanted something more heavy and po’boy won’t have cut it. Actually, I had a second reason I wanted a po’boy: That was the only option during lunch time for alligator meat! So, moving on, instead, I ordered…

Green fried tomato, served with a (Louisiana) remoulade. The green tomatoes were coated first in a mix which includes cornmeal and then fried. The resulting morsels were crispy in the outside and soft, almost mushy, in the inside. However, there wasn’t much of a distinguishable tomato-ey taste (not even heirloom tomato taste). The remoulade, though, managed to salvage it as it produced some spiciness to the dish.

And my “main” dish: endless Jambalaya: All-you-can-eat dish of spicy tomato, rice, pork, chicken ‘n veggies, topped with andouille sausage, served with cornbread and corn salad. $9.95. While most of us will frown at the prospect of ordering an all-you-can-eat type dish (I mean to keep costs down, won’t they use the cheapest, most readily available components?), the resulting dish was… Wait, how about we go through the sides first? (Oh, on that note, yeah, it is on the creole side, not Cajun side…)

Corn salad. I would have been able to live without it. In a way, it had an odd acidic taste, something I found distracting. Not even the beans in it was able to make want to eat it. However, I do believe there might be a reason why it is made that way: Consumed with some rice (or the Jambalaya), it provides some additional taste contrast. It might not work with everybody so…

Cornbread. If it wasn’t because I was about to eat rice, I might have had it, too. Unlike a lot of similar cornbreads, the one here seemed to be made with a mix of cornmeal and flour. Regardless if it is true or false, the texture was different enough, not to mention the different additional ingredients added to the mix, like some chopped green onions, made it really noticeable. But, again, there is a limit of how much carbs I am willing to eat…

Moving to the main part of the dish, the Jambalaya… I am not sure what would be the best way to describe it, given that a lot of the dishes I have consumed here aren’t even closed to what I had here. Please don’t mention paella: While both are rice dishes, this one here was moistier (?). I.e., the rice was cooked through (and partially breaking them) and the tomato-like taste was quite noticeable here. You can eat it and it might go down really smooth. In fact, that issue of choking when eating rice too fast didn’t occur here! As for the meats, the pork and chicken there were slivers here and there. You could taste some of the other meats just that, in term of pieces, it simply was minimal… But, you know what? I don’t care about that, as the rice, again, was quite good. As for the andouille, I wished it was spicier but, otherwise, it served its purpose.

I will have to admit I really liked this rice dish and, for some reason, I really wanted to order seconds (I didn’t even finish the first plate!). However, it might be a good thing: had I been able to go for seconds, a third would have, as well been a possibility! My only regret on this visit is that I should have been there for dinner (seafood Jambalaya!) with others (more dishes!). But, given it is in Everett, just a couple more Kms south of Tulallip, a trip might be a possibility! So, yes, I would like to come back… jlomein, thanks a lot for this suggestion!

Nong’s Khao Man Gai
SW 10th and Alder Street
Portland, OR

In a way, it was doomed to happen. Given my (somewhat unfair?) comparison of street food from outside North American to the ones in North America, it was almost certain that I had to visit an Asian one for comparison sake. And that brought the eternal question of… Which one(s)? I mean, given that the US can be as multi-cultural as Canada and, in part, I didn’t want to disappoint, I kept looking and looking around. While searching in other sites (Urbanspoon included), all of them seemd to point to two locations: Koi Fusion, which served Tex-Mex dishes with a Korean twish (take that Roaming Dragon, you are NOT the first! ) and Nong’s Khao Man Gai, a cart that sells one and only one dish. While I am sure a lot of you would think that Koi Fusion would have been a better choice (due to a direct comparison with Roaming Dragon), the fact is that I wanted instead showcase what street food ought to be. And, in that case, Nong’s Khao Man Gai was a better option.

I was quite fortunate to go there on a sunny day. The days prior to my visit were a bit gloomy (nothing wrong with that) but a sunny day provides better light conditions! Now, I am not talking about direct sunlight – for comparison purposes, check the ones I took in Mississippi Marketplace (yesterday’s post), where all the pictures of the food were take in such conditions. I am referring to those where you have some form of natural shading to diffuse the light. And, hey, it was mild, it was sunny, what better conditions to be outside for lunch!

The good part was that I arrived at around 11:45 a.m. I parked a block away and could easily see them. What I wasn’t prepared was the line that already formed. C’mon, I know that a lot of people choose to go for lunch “early” to beat the lunch rush but this was starting to get ridiculous! Of course, it might be also due to the fact that Nong’s Khao Man Gai has a really interesting set of hours: while the opening hours were set to be at 10:00 a.m. on weekdays and 12:00 on Saturday, their closing time were not set. Rather, in a true Asian street food fashion, until you run out of ingredients! I guess that added another incentive to be there early enough.

So, after I queued, I had a small wait and there was Nong herself taking orders in a heavily accented English. I will have to admit, for such a thin petite woman, she can certainly command the people inside that 8×8 cart! What was really hilarious though was what followed. At one time, she had to step away for a moment and her second was in charge of the kitchen. Well, nothing wrong with that. Except that is, they were talking in Spanish! Now, I am not being bias or stereotyped or anything. Instead, I will give them kudos. Despite all it is being said about them, you can’t deny they provide a huge percentage of the workforce, specially those that people otherwise won’t do. Now, I am not saying other race/ethnic groups do not do their part: just that the Latino community is more noticeable than the rest. And, the fact that Nong (according to the site, she is Thai) is another example that proves the case. And now, to the food!

First the drink. Now, I could have easily survived with some bottled water I have in the car (hint: always keep some bottles of water in the trunk of your car), I said “why not!”. So, here is their lychee drink. It was OK, not something I will necessarily be crazy about. At least, it wasn’t crazy sweet!

I mentioned above they serve one and only one dish. Here, their Khao Man Gai or, as Nong puts it, chicken and rice. If you have had Hainanese Chicken Rice, you pretty much have an idea of what to expect here. I apologize for not taking a picture of it in wrapped state (yup, it is not served in a container, just wrapped in butcher paper!). This is one of the few cases I was a bit too excited and opened it right away rather than take the picture first. And, while they serve only one dish, they do have some additions, like chicken liver (hey, you are cooking the whole chicken anyway. You might as well server everything!) and, on that day, fried chicken skin (alas, I didn’t noticed it until after I ordered). Also, they serve it in two sizes: a “regular” size and piset which is more of everything. I ended ordering the later.

The order came also with an order of soup on the side which is mostly a broth. It would be a bit difficult to me to describe it as I gulped it relatively fast. I know I was a glutton when I did it; however, I blame it to the fact I was partially choking myself while eating and the soup was closer than the lychee drink at that moment! (Yeah, shame on me). Still, it does follow the same lines my mom did whenever she prepared white cut chicken or Hainanese Chicken Rice: have a side soup along.

Now, back to the main dish. The cucumber I will have to say it was token, nothing wrong with that. If you choose not to eat it, well, nobody will say anything. The liver was dry as expected; however, it wasn’t extremely dry. Now, it is a bit of an acquired taste (probably “metallic” would be my best description) so, if you don’t like liver (and I am not talking foei gras), you will not like this. The good thing is that, if you don’t, just tell them and they will add more chicken!

I made mention above of Hainanese Chicken Rice and you can have an idea of what to expect, i.e. poached chicken. In my case, a direct comparison on my side can’t be avoided. For one, their dipping sauce was almost sweet (despite they mention it is spicy), which contrasts the often ginger-y, almost spicy tones of the dipping sauce used served with the Hainanese Chicken Rice. And despite I got two such sauce containers, I only used half of one – the chicken was good enough on its own. The chicken was tender and moist; however, I would have preferred the chicken a bit more rare. I know some of you might be looking at me strange right now. Rare chicken? Salmonella?! I am not saying rare in that sense, rather the chicken was cooked slightly past a certain point I prefer. I will assume it was done that way as a cover-your-ass safeguard in the case somebody does get sick. So, from that perspective, better safe than sorry approach work for me. Finally, the rice… Given that it is a staple for several Asian countries, different likes/dislikes have certainly developed depending on the region. For me, I have sort of a “depends on the dish I will be eating it with” but, in the case of Hainanese Chicken Rice, I prefer them slightly broken so that, when I put a piece of chicken dipped in the sauce on the rice, it can easily soak that sauce. Here, the rice was a bit more on the whole grain side. In fact, it still had a slight bite to it. Even then, the rice was quite fragrant and easily eaten. So, while not my top choice, it was still good.

Given the limited seats, when I got my order, I asked somebody who was seated by himself if I could join him. He certainly let me. At that point, the somewhat inquisitive nature of me kicked in and asked how he liked his. He said he really enjoyed it and the fact that he is new to the area (moved a couple of months later) but he has been coming here with certain frequency sort of tells me what I needed to know. And the long queues that was formed outside was just confirming it. To me, Nong’s Khao Man Gai does indeed showcase what I believe street food should be: One, probably two or three, dish(es) made well. Though, it wasn’t the cheapest meal (the regular is at $6, piset for $10), it is still relatively cheap given the amount of food provided and how good it was. For that reason, I will certainly come back without much hesitation (other than the ~650 Km drive from Vancouver to Portland).

Tomate y Amor
Calle 48 and Calle Uruguay
Panama City, Panama

When I went last year to Panama, there was a reason: the wedding of my friend Andrea and her now husband Enrique. If you look at the date of closely, you could easily find out it was around this time when they got married. So, more or less in their wedding anniversary, I took them to dinner. While Andrea was on holidays during those days, Enrique wasn’t. So, despite I was a bit of a foreigner (literally), I took the time to organize where and when. Originally, old schoolmate Jennifer was to join us but things happened and it was only Andrea, Enrique and me. The restaurant I chose? Tomate y Amor.

Even if you can’t read Spanish, if you speak/write/read a Romance language, you can easily guess Tomate is tomato. What about Amor? That is the Spanish word for love. According to one of the waiters, the tomato side of the name is because that ingredient adds to the overall taste to the food and love is the passion head chef Zana gives to each of the dishes. And I will have to say that, unlike a lot of chefs whose picture appear in the restaurant site, she is actually in the kitchen! (I was able to see here expediting the orders through a small window). In fact, by the end of our meal, she was making rounds and talking to the customers. When was the last time you experienced this?

Since I was on holidays, I arrived around 7:30 p.m., the time we originally planned the dinner for. If you have been long enough in Panama, one of those things that can really piss you off is how leisurely things work, not to mention the inefficiency. As, similar to what happened in Ten Bistro, I will have to admit that the service was top notch after I walked in. From guiding me to the table, timing, and so on. OK, it is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; however, compared to what I have been used to, service was pretty good! Anyway, while waiting for Andrea and Enrique, I ordered a drink.

I am not that much of a beer drinker; in fact, I seldom order drinks. Once in a while, I will open a bottle of wine (just to consume a glass and a half at most, the rest to be cooked) but that seldom happens. In this case, I ordered this drink because of its silly name: Green beer. Yes, it was indeed green. Makes me wonder if they missed the memo about St. Patty’s day already past… Anyway, either I have been building my tolerance or what but this is a really light beer. In fact, it tasted almost like a herbal soda. I won’t try to give any judgement about this drink given my lack of experience with alcohol.

Now, moving to the actual food. I offered to pay for the whole meal, again, given it was their anniversary. However, because of this fact, I have the odd suspicion they held back on the dishes to order. For example, Andrea was originally going to order a sandwich. A sandwich??? OK, she is thin (according to her, size 5/6?) but, c’mon, a sandwich??? I told them not to hold back – after all, last time, they paid for me… Regardless, after flying all the way, I won’t stop by ordering just the main dishes. So, we started with…

Patacón de pixbae. First, as a reminder of what is patacón, please check mi visit to Mi Ranchito. The twist here is that, instead of using green plantain, it uses a fruit called pixbae (colloquially pifa or piba). In its raw form, this fruit that resembles a miniature version of a young coconut. After it is boiled, that resulting fruit (smaller than a tennis ball) has a starchy, fibrous texture with a bit of a nutty, dry taste. Here, it was prepared with a twist by boiling it in salted water (and normally, it will end here), smashing it and then frying it lightly to crisp it. I will have to say this is quite an acquired taste and, in my case, given I have eaten pixbae in its “normal” iteration, I found it interesting but I will rather stick with the normal version.

Last week, I posted pictures of ceviche but intentionally skipped this one. Here, ceviche de corvina C’mon, you got to admit this looks GOOD!!! While the one I had in Mi Ranchito had a lot more of lime/lemon juice, here it was less marinated in the citric juices, hence it was more borderline a fish version of a steak tartare. In addition to the light citric taste, it also had a coconut taste to it. I won’t necessarily call it ceviche but, regardless, taste wise, it was good….

Complimentary bread and butter drizzled with balsamic vinegar. This was quite a nice touch. The bread was still warm and several types was offered. What really blew it was the butter drizzled with balsamic. Usually we have either butter or olive oil (this later one, usually with balsamic vinegar). However, they mixed it in this case. Normally it won’t be a big deal except the butter was soft and the balsamic vinegar taste was infused into the butter. Ah, the best of both worlds!

Spaghetti en salsa de tomate de la casa con albóndigas de carne angus or Spaghetti in house tomato sauce with angus beef meatballs. I will forgive Enrique for ordering this: his original thought was to order a steak but they ran out of it that day… So, in the end, he ordered spaghetti and meatballs. Truth is, I really wanted him to order something else. The dish wasn’t bad, just that… Well, it is a bit too simple of a dish. The pasta was cooked slightly past my preferred al dente level but, otherwise, it is what you would expect from it.

Risotto De Mariscos y Azafrán or Seafood and saffron risotto. As mentioned originally, Andrea wanted to go for a sandwich. I managed to convince her to order this dish instead, despite her hesitation. As for the dish itself, I know it is orange yellow. A bit too much orange yellow you might say… But, this is mainly thanks to the saffron. And, despite it is not that noticeable, it had a lot of small chunks of different type of seafood. The consistency was quite thick and creamy. If it didn’t know better, you could say it had cream in it! This was definitely a winner.

Once again, remember this picture?

Yes, it is a whole octopus! Or, as per their menu, grilled whole octopus, served with capers and potatoes. It was well cooked, with some bite in it but, by no means, chewy. A contrast from the one in Ten Bistro, yet good in its own ways. The octopus itself didn’t have an unique taste; however, the grill taste was there (which was also balanced a little bit by the mayo). A little bit of an acquired taste but worth a try.

Sorbeto de Maracuyá or passion fruit sorbet. Unlike most girls, I had to really push Andrea to order a dessert. In the end, we ordered this to share between the three of us. I am sure most people have had some form of passion fruit dish but a lot of times its taste is quite standard (similar to that of mango lassi where, regardless of the restaurant, it taste exactly the same). Here, it had a fragrant taste in it, plus it had acidic note. If you like passion fruit before, you will definitely like this; if not, you could still eat it without much complaining. The mint on top, well, just topped it!

While my visit to Ten Bistro was a look from a chef from afar taking a stab at local Panamanian ingredients, ultimately, my visit to Tomate y Amor is a look from a local chef taking a stab at the same ingredients but trying to make it with a more international twist. In the end, I believe it succeeded. Would I come back? If it wasn’t because I can only go to that many restaurants when I go to Panama, I would definitely do so.

Gyuu Don Ya
500 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

There has been times when I think we food bloggers are a dedicated group – a bit too dedicated at times. Like driving to +50 Km just for pizza or doing some cross border bakery delivery. Of course, these are long trips and, to prevent unnecessary frustrations, you would usually check if they are open and when they are open. But, how about a restaurant that was still under construction before the biggest party in Vancouver in recent history? I mean, given all the business opportunities during this time, would you try to make sure you would be open on time? In an odd way, that seemed to be the case with Gyuu Don Ya, the newest Japanese restaurant in the 500 block of Robson, which, culinary-wise ,one of the most interesting blocks in Downtown Vancouver, as it includes Falafel Maison, Viet Sub, Matoi Sushi, H-Mart, Beard’s Papa and so on.

As you would be able to read in the Falafel Maison and A Cafe post, I tried several times to go to Gyuu Don Ya, despite I wasn’t sure if it was open or not. In a way, I had to take that long walk since I could find a phone number to call and check. Eventually, I was able to get there what seemed to be opening day (if not, one day after). After arriving, chaos ensured. Now, to those who do not remember, Gyuu Don Ya is located in the same spot as breakfast spot/diner (which name fails I fail to remember). I didn’t get to eat in; however, seeing from outside, there were booths as well as a long row of stools. However, during remodeling, something went sideways because, rather than keeping those booths, somehow they decided to make two rows of stools and two, two seater tables at the end. Normally, this is not something I would care much about: As long as I can get seated and order (and receive) my food, I should be good.

However, that wasn’t really the case in Gyuu Don Ya. After walking in, you have to check with a waitress who is directing the “traffic” of customers, i.e., if you are ordering to go or eat in. For the most part, that should work fine, if it wasn’t because everybody is waiting in line in an area less than 7 or so square metres. This is for both customers waiting for their takeout order and those who are waiting for a table. To compound to the problem, the space between the stools is only enough for one person to walk by. Translation: if there is somebody walking your way, one person will have to yield to the other, else, that will be a deadlock…

Now, putting all that aside, to what I went for: the food… Their specialty, or, actually, about the only item they sell, is rice bowls. They have a “regular” beef bowl, short rib bowl, chicken bowl, curry bowl and veggie bowl. Prices can go as low as $5 for the small beef bowl, (usually) an additional $1 will make it large and an additional toonie will give you a small “salad” and miso soup. On my first visit (yes, in an odd twist, I went more than once), I ordered their large beef bowl in a meal, which meant the damage would be $7.95. And here it is:

I am not sure if I was expecting too much or some wacky expectations. In my case, my mom makes something similar where she would marinate some minced meat, add it on top of the rice while about 90% cooked, cover to finish cooking and then add a beaten egg, again, just to finish cooking. Served with some side vegetables and you have meal. And, then again, you can compare to what I had in Donburiya or Sushi Bento Express. Regardless, in this case, while visually was good, I thought it lacked substance. How so? The rice was quite good but the meat on top was somewhat of a let down. Unlike the iterations/versions/variants mentioned above, in Gyuu Don Ya’s case, the beef was almost devoid of any flavour. In the end, I couldn’t help myself and had to add some soy sauce (something that might cause some people cringe).

What the hell happened, I thought myself. How can people mess with something so simple? So, to double check if I didn’t order the “wrong thing” (unlikely, given this is the one they in their signs outside), I went another day, just to find a “close today” sign (ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!). And subsequent trips lead to visit to different restaurants in the area (as mentioned above, Falafel Maisson and A Cafe). Finally, on another day, when I knew for certain it was open, I checked with PO (whom have become a partner in crime for this eating trips) and went one more time. Despite my “warnings” about my previous experience with the beef bowl, PO decided to order it anyway.

His thoughts? The same I had and, in the end, he had to add some soy sauce. As for myself…

Kimchi side

I ordered the short rib bowl as it looked quite good in the menu; however, visually, it was almost the same as the beef bowl. However, the meat had some particular burnt taste to it. No, it wasn’t your BBQ or charcoal type, instead, it was a somewhat smoked type. As for the rice, I won’t complain, it was good. Fortunately, there was some sauce in it so soy sauce wasn’t necessary

At that point, I couldn’t help myself shake my head. Was I missing the point or overlooking something? So, in a third time is the charm, I went there ONCE MORE and ordered their curry bowl.

Red potato salad

In a way, this was supposed to be mark or break bowl for me and it failed. Now, I am not sure if there was a lost in translation issue (I ordered large and was given a small) and I also asked for chicken (which is usually an extra $1.50). If that was indeed the bowl I received, there were only 4 pieces of chicken. Yup, you go that only four pieces! It actually tasted good but, in the end, I didn’t think it was worth it. But, that aside, how was the curry? In terms of Japanese curry, it was an epic fail. Normally, it would be more on the lines of a gravy but, here, it was more on the lines of a thin sauce. Furthermore, I didn’t taste anything that remotely resemble a curry.

So, this is one of those really strange instances where I tried my best and went several times to a restaurant, ordered different dishes just to make sure I covered all the bases. In the end… I don’t feel it delivered, specially if I compare it to other places that offer similar dishes. And, then, again, that “long” walk, while good, didn’t really help my assessment. So, to me, it is a pass…

For as far as I can remember, my parents have told me a bit too much time on my hands is a bad thing. While I don’t remember doing any mischief nor they giving too much to keep myself busy (a contradiction in a way), they almost keep a check on what I was doing. Of course, I don’t live with them anymore yet that constant checking have made me self-conscious whenever I have a bit of extra time. Due to the crazy weather we had on the last couple of weeks, I did not go out that much and, yup, I had a bit of time. So, why not cook?

One dish I particularly liked to eat in Panama is arroz con pollo, literally, chicken rice. I never managed to master the Panamanian version of the recipe, mainly due to myself messing the proportion of some of the ingredients; my “version” usually ends up something on the lines of Spanish rice.

Still, the end result is quite good or so the people have tried it says… And here is my recipe.

First, the ingredients.

• 2 cups of rice. I used long grain basmati brown rice but you can use any rice.
• 8 pieces of chicken. I used tights because I like them more than breast.
• Medium onion, diced.
• Garlic, minced.
• Water/broth/stock.
• Tomato paste. (Optional, I usually use it; otherwise, it won’t be Spanish rice like!).

Notice that, for the liquid, I did not specify the amount. The reason is that, in my experience, how much liquid depends on the type of grain and how “old” is the rice. It can go anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1. In my case, I used 2:1, i.e., 2 cups of liquid per cup of rice. Also, I used stock because I had some left-over but you can use almost any liquid. In fact, once I used some diced tomato (with the “juice” as liquid). Of course, in this case, I skipped the tomato paste.

Finally, notice I mentioned I used brown rice. To those who have cooked it, knows it is a bit trickier to cook than regular, white rice. Though this recipe is for brown rice, I will add notes on how to do it with regular rice.

So here is the recipe:

First, start by putting the liquid on medium heat and pre-heat the oven at 375F (if not using rice cooker). Then,

Season the chicken with salt and pepper (had my mother did this, she would have marinated it in corn starch, oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper and slices of ginger first). Once done, brown them in a hot cast-iron pot with some peanut oil. If cooking white rice in a rice cooker, you can do this step in a skillet.

Once browned (if using a rice cooker, rather than just browning, cook it a little bit more), put them aside. Remove excess fat, add a bit more of oil, onions and cook them. Half-way, add the ginger and cook them, stirring constantly until semi-translucent.

Add the rice and let it cook, stirring constantly. The idea here is to brown the rice. Do NOT leave it unattended as it might burn the rice! Anyway, if using tomato paste, add it after the rice is brown and, again, stir it.

Hopefully, at this point, the liquid should be boiling. If so, pour it into the pot with the rice mix. Be careful here, as the contact of the liquid with the pot will cause it to “burst”. Keep on stirring until it has “distributed”. Once done, add back the pieces of chicken, cover and put it in the pre-heated oven for around 40 to 50 minutes.

Of course, if doing it in a rice cooker, transfer the rice mix into it, place the chicken, add the liquid and cook as per instructions. That’s the reason why, if you are using a rice cooker, you should not just brown the chicken. Depending on the rice-cooker, it should be done in around 20 minutes but the chicken might not be completely cooked through.

40 minutes later and this is what we have! (Cook a bit more if you prefer “drier” rice). To serve, first removed the chicken and added some optional sweet peas previously thawed. Mixed them well and serve. In my case, while pre-heating the oven, I added some beets, which I then served along with the rice.

Of course, 2 cups of uncooked rice yields a lot of cooked rice. I had enough left-over for at least 3 other meals. However, you can easily scale back by cooking 1 cup rather than 2 (in that case, of course, proportionally scale the rest of the ingredients). And, there you go!