What does the visit of Chinese emissary Zhou Daguan to Angkor Wat in 1297, Khmer Rouge kidnappings and the recent landgrabbing of Okhna Ly Yong Phat in rural Sre Ambel, Cambodia have in common? Cambodian pepper: which is how I tenuously link them all together in this month’s Chile Pepper magazine (US). With photos from… Continue reading The found pepper of Cambodia
Kuala Terengganu Street Life
Walking into the monsoonal wind on the waterfront, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
Menu For Hope Winners
Did you win a portion of the Gut Feelings schwag auctioned off for Menu for Hope? Prize winners are after the jump.
The Wok Hei Economy
One of the great mysteries of eating in Penang is the economics of the hawker center. A group of vendors cluster around a kedai kopi, a cafe serving drinks and work almost independently of the cafe. Some pay rent, others are owned by the cafe, some seem to have agglomerated at a single point in… Continue reading The Wok Hei Economy
We look like ants from space.
After much tinkering over the New Year break, maps are go! See where I eat from space, as provided by Google. I’ll be updating posts with map coordinates where possible.
Triangulating Gurney Drive
Searing satay at Gurney Drive Hawker Center. Gurney Drive’s Hawker Center is a roughly triangular lot encircled (entriangled?) by the most diverse set of street food vendors that you’ll find anywhere in Malaysia, alongside the mudflat-facing promenade. The road was named after Sir Henry Gurney, Malaya’s High Commissioner whose brief reign ended in 1951 when… Continue reading Triangulating Gurney Drive
Choul Chnam Thmei: Cambodian is the New Thai
While I’ve been saying for what seems like years that Sihanoukville is the new Luanda, in one of its final posts of the year, Epicurious has announced that for 2008, Cambodian food will supplant Thai food. A triangulation between Vietnamese, Chinese, and Thai cooking, Cambodian’s emphasis on noodle dishes, curries, stir fries and prahok, the… Continue reading Choul Chnam Thmei: Cambodian is the New Thai
Assam Laksa: The power of sour
A few years in Southeast Asia has me captivated by sour. I literally can’t get enough tamarind paste. In Cambodia, I’d buy it by the kilo block from the Russian Market and suck the piquant pulp straight from the seeds whenever I felt like an overwhelming sour kick. Lunch without a sour Khmer soup was… Continue reading Assam Laksa: The power of sour