Text 10544, 64 rader
Skriven 2011-05-09 00:09:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: my recent trip 304
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Xian Famous Foods, Flushing Mall - the clientele at this
mall is 95% Asiatic; the only thing that distinguishes it
from its brethren in Singapore is that in Singapore you
get way more white people. So when Bourdain did a show in
New York, this is one of the places he went, for a lamb
sandwich ($3) I'm told, which blew out his sinuses. For
twice that I got spicy cumin lamb on hand-pulled noodles -
the same lamb, but on homemade pasta that I thought could
have been pulled a couple more times. The lamb is cut very
thin (almost like Philly cheese steak) and sauteed with
celery, garlic, coriander, scallions, cabbage, and of course
lots of cumin, hot pepper, and salt. Tastes a lot like chili
- like my chili, to be more specific, except not nearly hot
enough. Also, no beer, whereas the vast majority of such
food courts in Singapore have roving runners who offer Tiger
- a strange version of waiter service, no tipping, though.

==

Another dinner with Lilli. I'd wanted to go to Spicy &
Tasty or Sentosa, which flank Niu Rou Mian, but she
wanted to join me, and we determined that there was not
much she could eat at either place, so we ended up at
39 Corner, a block down on the other side, which bills
itself as "a taste of Taiwan in Queens." As this cuisine
is mild but flavorful, I thought it would be approachable
and appropriate. The clientele is an interesting mix from
down and outs, to local families, to adventurous white
folk, to those roving bands of Chinese teenage girls who
love to eat and chatter and practice for becoming old
Chinese ladies, to us. On the menu I spied one of my most
beloved dishes, Taiwan braised pork belly with spinach,
and one thing Lilli is good at is consuming fatty pork
products; to balance this we got chicken with basil on
rice. The pork was almost perfect - some pieces a little
too lean for my taste -, done much the same way I used to
do ti pang (ti pon - braised shoulder or fresh ham),
braised in thin and sweet soy with garlic, star anise,
and other aromatics, then served over wilted spinach in
sesame oil. I enjoyed the chicken as well - a large
number of drumsticks hacked up and cooked with basil
in vegetable quantity, rice wine, lots of ginger, some
scallion, and a bit of sugar and soy. Perhaps it was a
bit sweet, but it was really quite like what I have eaten
in central Taiwan. This I ordered as a rice plate, knowing
that there would be rice enough for two just with this
dish ($8); the pork I deliberately ordered as a platter
($13) - but it too came with rice; the only difference was
that on the rice plate there was main dish and rice; the
big dish had just the main dish on the plate with a separate
bowl for the rice, so almost twice as much food. A pound of
chicken (with bone) and a pound of rice versus almost two
pounds of pork and a pound of rice. We went back with as
much as we had eaten. The tea here, by the way, was decent.

Taiwan beer is very floral but otherwise a decent lager.
With a 24 oz bottle of this, our meal cost just under $30
all in and provided two full meals next day (I had to
struggle to make room in my luggage for these, but they
were worth it).

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