Get your fill of the world’s best cuisine
If you’ve ever been to Colombia, you’ve had aborrajados. And if you didn’t, you weren’t doing it right.
It’s maybe the most delicious thing to come out of Colombia (although Pablo Escobar would say otherwise) and is relatively easy to make.
Colombian-American chef Anita Shepherd aught up with VICE’s food show Munchies to teach Westerners how to make this delicious street food recently.
If you can’t get to Colombia right now, this is the next best thing.
Japan have given us many gifts, especially in the world of food, and there’s probably no gift bigger than the gloriously delicious gift of sushi. And legendary Japanese chef Morimoto, of Iron Chef TV show fame, knows a thing or two about making sushi.
While many people would assume sushi to be the national dish of Japan, that title goes to Japanese Curry. In fact, Japan didn’t actually even invent sushi, with the dish originating in Southeast Asia.
Despite this, over the centuries they managed to absolutely perfect it…or so they thought, until Morimoto came along, who perfected it even more.
He recently caught up with VICE’s food show Munchies to teach Westerners how to make Japan’s epic dish.
Find out how – if you can’t get to Tokyo right now, this is the next best thing.
It’s the Spag Bol of the South East. There is no meal more synonymous with Thailand than Pad Thai (drool).
get lost doesn’t mind Thai food one bit, and frequently reminisces fondly over a trip to a truly special restaurant on the Thai/Cambodian border not so long ago.
While you’ll never be able to make a Pad Thai like the experts, it’s a relatively simple dish that everyone loves – a safe bet if you are trying to impress on date night.
Jet Tila is a renowned chef, whose family opened the first Thai restaraunt in the United States. He also holds the world record for the largest ever stir fry.
Courtesy of the Food Network, learn how to make a Pad Thai so god-damn delicious, you’ll think you’ve got some heritage there somewhere (you don’t).
Get in my belly.
4 tablespoons (60 ml) Thai fish sauce
4 tablespoons (50 g) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) bottled tamarind paste
1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon (15 ml) unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sweet paprika, for color (optional)
2 teaspoons chili sauce, such as Sriracha
3 to 4 cups medium-width rice sticks, soaked
Banana leaf, cut into circles, for plating (optional)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, such as canola, grapeseed or peanut oil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (95 g) Thai-style baked tofu, sliced
1 teaspoon dried shrimp
1/2 cup (95 g) chicken, cut into thin strips, 1-inch lengths
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons packaged salted turnip, minced
8 shrimp, peeled and cleaned
1 cup (240 g) bean sprouts
1/4 cup (50 g) dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed
3 to 4 garlic chives (or scallions), cut into 2-inch lengths on a bias
1 lime, cut for garnish
Let’s face it, airlines aren’t necessarily synonymous with great food. We’ve all picked and prodded at a funny looking dish on a plane before.
So if you can find some good food while you’ve got a stopover in between flights, you’re kicking goals.
Hub and Spoke is a hidden glass-house cafe located next to terminal 2 at Singapore’s Changi airport, one of the major transport hubs in Asia. The cafe’s name is actually a play on words – the hub representing Changi airport, the spokes the cities it connects.
They do both local and western foods – if you’ve got a hankering for something in particular, chances are they’ll have it – and are just as good at laksa and Nasi Lemak as they are at a rib-eye steak. Plus, of course, coffee to beat that jet lag.
They are pet-friendly, and there’s even little grassy spot outside to chill out on – an absolute luxury at an airport.
If you’ve got a stopover at Changi, or if you’re in Singapore for longer, this is the spot.
There’s plenty growing and going on in the Otways.
I mean sure, Victoria’s south-west has a diverse area of waterfalls, beaches, a rocky coastline and rainforests, plus mountain biking and surfing and plenty of swimming spots. But there’s a lot too eat too.
With plenty of farms and wineries, there’s no shortage of local produce for the thriving food scene to source from.
We’ve compiled five of the best local food and drink experiences that will leave you either very full, or very tipsy (or both):
The onset of summer means the onset of the berry season. Stop in at Pennyroyal Raspberry Farm and Cidery to pick a few ripe berries, and take them home with you. There’s raspberries blueberries, strawberries, currants, jostaberries, gooseberries and more, not all of which we’re familiar with. Treat yo self with an award-winning cider or berry gin afterward. You’ve earnt it.
O.K so Brae isn’t much of a secret. The Birregurra restaraunt is regularly ranked among the very, very (repeat: very) best in the entire world. There are also six luxury guest suites you can stay in, while local Otways produce features very heavily in the menu. If you haven’t been, you’ve just gotta go.
The Otways is littered with wineries. Blake’s Estate is less than a half-marathon away from the famous seaside town of Lorne, specialising in a Pinot Noir. Other worthy stop-ins include Brown Magpie, Dinny Goonan, Gosling Creek, Yeowarra Hill or Otway Estate. Spring is a great time to be at a winery but lets be honest, it’s always a good time to be at a winery.
They say all tracks in the Cape Otways National Park lead back to Forrest Brewing Company. Cartographically speaking we’re not sure how true that it is, but the great range of ales these independents produce is much easier to verify. Hard to find outside of Forrest, this microbrewery in a micro town is a great place to stop after a day of mountain-biking.
Just up the road from the brewery in the punching-above-it’s-weight town of Forrest is Platypi Chocolate. Set in an idyllic location, all chocolates are hand made on-site, which is pretty cool. An indulgence.
What happens when two chefs that have worked in a swathe of iconic Melbourne restaurants decide to open a café that serves only sandwiches?
You get some darn good sandwiches, is what.
Hector’s Deli is fast becoming a legendary fixture of Melbourne’s inner-east. While its owners have worked at fine dining royalty like Attica, Stokehouse and more, here they have managed to maintain a focus on keeping things simple; an uncomplicated menu features no more than five or six sandwiches at any time, comprising of fairly standard combinations (HCT, schnitzel, fried mushroom).
Yet these sangas consist of fresh ingredients and are meticulously sculpted, so much that this café’s unusually residential setting often has queues snaking through the streets.
Get in early.
*Hector’s were bringing their delicious sangas to a new location in Coventry Street, South Melbourne, mid-year, only to be thwarted by the pandemic.
After some sleuthing on their Instagram it appears this is now scheduled for (COVID dependent) early October.
Svalbard, the archipelago between Norway and the North Pole, is the world’s northernmost a-lot-of-things. The world’s northernmost food and drink festival, Taste Svalbard, is one of these.
That description goes only some way to describing the uniqueness of this festival, held in Longyearbyen every year. With its location, Svalbard was always going to do their own thing when it came to cuisine.
Fresh and sustainably sourced fish, arctic cheese and beers from local breweries are all on the menu, and there’s also traditional local meals like reindeer soup and moose burger, both of which this writer will be reserving judgement on for now. There’s workshops, stalls, lectures and tastings as well.
While the food from this part of the world has a reputation for being delicious, there surely isn’t a food or drink festival set in more extraordinary surrounds. And as it’s held in October each year, on the cusp of winter, you can expect the Northern Lights to be doing their thing.
The views all around you at 9 Pyramids Lounge have been almost the same for 4,500 years, when the Pyramids of Giza were built to house royalty as they journeyed from earth to their place of eternal rest. Of course, the nine monumental tombs are now one of the most famous sights in the world and attract travellers from right across the globe.
When you think about it, it’s surprising it has taken this long for an entrepreneurial soul to figure out hungry, tired tourists might like a place to rest. Now this open-air restaurant, with its shaded areas and places to sit, all with epic views of one of the seven wonders of the world, offers a spot to take a load off.
It opens early, so stop for a spectacular sunrise breakfast, settle in for some lunch or simply relax after a day exploring. There are yoga and wellness sessions, too, because how could you not feel zen looking at all that?
Emirates’ love for eating out for breakfast is only exceeded by their love for brunch and two Aussie expats have satisfied both those needs in Dubai with their exquisite Melbourne-style cafe, Tom & Serg.
The first thing you notice when you walk in is the absence of the quintessential bearded and tattooed Fitzroy barista. From its hip decor to the pastries on display as you enter, you really have to pinch yourself to remember you’re not on Brunswick Street.
While you’d expect expats to be the cafe’s biggest customers, they’re not. The east-meets-west menu is a favourite with locals. Coffee beans are locally sourced and roasted and, the moment your espresso is placed in front of you, the thick crema means you know it’ll be good – Melbourne coffee good!
Try the masala fried eggs served on a bed of tandoori roasted cauliflower, chilli cashew nuts and green garlic oats. Aussie Benedict is also offered, as is smashed avo and Vegemite on hand-cut sourdough.
For lunch there is a more substantial menu that includes burgers, Moroccan chicken, risotto, tacos and plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. Be sure to leave room for the salted caramel French toast. Served with blueberry poached pear, crunchy pecan and lashings of cream, might just be the best French toast you’ve ever eaten. After you’ve satisfied your gluttonous urge wander over to the nearby arts precinct at Alserkal Avenue.
When you’ve been making one dish for 75 years, you’re sure to have it perfected. Tonkatsu Tonki in Tokyo is the epitome of understated eateries, with its white-clad chefs who prepare, while all the customers are watching, the three dishes they are famous for: pork cutlet in three different styles.
Breaded, deep-fried pork cutlets, known as tonkatsu, are a Japanese favourite, and Tonkatsu Tonki is the type of eatery people from all over Tokyo travel to. It’s not just the three types of pork – toasted tonkatsu, tonkatsu fillet and skewer tonkatsu – that sets this place apart. It’s the authenticity, the ambience, the customers crammed around the u-shaped bar, and the owner who remembers every order without jotting it down. Think Midnight Diner in Tokyo Stories.
What differentiates this tonkatsu from the rest of the pack is that the pork is not overcooked and chewy, but has a delicate, crispy outer layer with thick flavoursome juicy meat. The sauce is excellent, and the accompanying miso soup is to die for.
It’s often quite crowded, so you’ll be directed to a chair to wait before being shown to a spot at the bench surrounding the kitchen. It’s here you can really soak up the convivial atmosphere and process – the chef who covers the tonkatsu with flour, the cook who does the deep frying, another who cuts them up. Then there’s the chef who delicately places your tonkatsu on the plate. Watching this systematic flow is like watching the creation of art.
For between US$13 and US$19 you can have tonkatsu served with a piece of tomato, spicy wasabi and unlimited servings of sliced napa (cabbage) and rice. Wash it down with a bottle of Asahi and you’re night will be fulfilled.
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