Puerco Pibil III: The Return of the Puerco

After last episode's follies and an amusing assault to the oral orifice to one of my friends (you know who you are, lol), we once again decided to try our hands at the puerco pibil. This time we decided to tweak it a bit more - still aiming to find that definitive version that we can settle on calling "the best."

We decided to change a few things this time, such as using only 3 instead of 4 habaneros (everything of the pepper still included), doubling the vinegar (more on this later), and most importantly - marinating the mixture overnight.

After a quick jaunt at two different groceries for needed supplies, we immediately got down to work. We were already out of achiote seeds and vinegar, so we went and got those (among other things). When we got back and were measuring the vinegar, we realized that we had been using only half the allotted vinegar - the measuring cup we used had this random line in the middle which we thought the past two times we made it that that signified 1/2 cup. Apparently we've been doing 1/4 cup. Sheesh.

Everything was prepared and we lovingly decided to use my friends' parents' other coffee bean grinder. The old we were using had too many of the spices left over since it was more geared towards plain ye olde coffee beans. We decided to use the other one that, coincidentally, my friends got for their parents since we wanted to use the original grinder for spices.

This new bean grinder worked better and we ended up with less spice lost... and the less spice we lose, the more spice we can flavor the pork with. Which we really needed since, this time, we used up all 8lbs of the pork.

We decided to poke the meat with holes from a fork just so that the sauce will permeate the meat better when we marinate it. Choosing to marinate it overnight was a very hard decision for us since we pretty much wanted to devour it right then and there (after cooking it, of course).

[End scene one. Cut to next day, begin scene two]

I only had one class in the morning, from 800 to 950, so right after it finished I went straight to my friends' house. They had put the dish in the oven to cook around 7ish and was due to be done around 11. Sweet. I had about an extra hour to burn so I spent that hanging around there, waiting for our other friends to arrive.

We left it to sit in the oven a bit longer after it dinged (it being the oven, not the dish) just to let it rest and absorb some of the sauce. After a bit of time, we came downstairs and... pounced on the pig.

It was a bit more flavorful this time. The smell during the cooking process was also.. milder? compared to the previous versions. It still had a pretty good kick, even with just 3 peppers. I assume it was able to absorb the flavor more because of the overnight marination. By the way, my friend can testify to that (aforementioned assaulted person). And if you'd like to know, he also learned his lesson this time by jumping for water instead of drinking soda. Good job, dude. Oh, and in case any of you were wondering - we only had a splash of tequila. They... fervently refused my requests to add another "splash."

I think we'll keep it to 3 habaneros next time since it still delivered a pretty good kick without being too tame or overpowering. We also decided to marinate it a couple of hours at least instead of just minutes for optimum absorption of sauce.

-=-

So, if you decide to make puerco pibil... should you do it this way?

Take a look. I'll let you guys decide for yourself.

Taken right after being taken out of the oven. The liquids and solids had separated leaving a clear layer of oil on top and the heavier spices and whatnot beneath it. Don't they look like pork islands surrounded by beaches of crystal clear oil?

Cut into smaller cubes and served again over plain white rice with a bit of the sauce drizzled for more flavor made for a very filling lunch.

I was told that the pork had absorbed most of the liquid by the time it was taken out in the morning leaving only a thick reddish paste on the meat. Also, since the moisture was absorbed entirely and not lost, the pork was able to remain tender during the time of cooking. And tender it very much was.

- West




PS.
Don't forget the

The Taco Fiasco: Breakfast Tacos... and then some

A whole lotta some.

-=-

Prologue:

Yesterday evening I was able to try out another recipe from the 10 minute cooking school (where I learned how to cook the puerco pibil) - the "Sin City Breakfast Tacos." Very fitting during those times when it's too late to have a big meal but it's too early for breakfast, these tacos will definitely leave you wanting more. Not to mention leaving more of a mess than the previous dish. This one consists of homemade flour tortillas and an option of 2 fillings for the tacos; one is potato and egg while the other is a mixture of corn tortillas, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, onions, and egg.

Preparation took more time than the puerco pibil. It was our first time trying this dish out and while the list of ingredients wasn't too many or too unusual, it definitely took a lot more time after acquisition of said ingredients to actually prepare and cook the dish. As before we had 6 able-bodied workers, well.. maybe except for one.. (just kidding dude) cranking out and working on different parts of the dish. Anyway, for your cooking pleasure I traded in a kidney and many hours of my day to transcribe the recipe (btw, here's the video).

-=-

The Recipe: (what's supposed to happen)

Homemade flour tortillas - you certainly don't have to make homemade ones though they certainly are better (if you do it right, that is):

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup butter or lard (or half of each)
3/4 cup warm water (or hot if you used lard)

Knead the mixture in either a stand mixer, electric mixer, or just your hands, making sure to crumble the fat (either butter or lard or both) into the flour. Partition the resulting clump into 8-10 golf ball sized pieces and set aside covered with a cloth dampened with warm water. Let rest for 20 minutes.

Potato and Egg:

corn oil
2 potatoes
3 eggs
milk
salt and pepper

Peel, cut, and dice the potatoes into medium-to-small cubes. Fry them in a pan using corn oil in medium to medium-high heat. Season with some salt and pepper while cooking . We'll come back to the eggs and whatnot later.

Meanwhile, preheat a teflon pan at medium high heat. If 20 minutes have passed, take the flour tortillas balls, flatten them, then roll out into discs using a baking pin. In the first pan, take out the potatoes, season with salt and pepper, then set aside.

Vegetable and Egg variation:

corn tortillas
jalapeno
tomato
onion
3 eggs
milk
salt and pepper

Dice the corn tortillas and fry them in the oil from the potatoes until they're crispy but not burnt. When those are done, take them out, and drain the pan, then put in the diced jalapeno, tomato, and onion. Cook them down for a few minutes.

Now back to the teflon pan. Roll the flour tortilla balls one more time then plop them onto the pan. Let sit on that side for about 8 seconds then flip over. If the pan is hot enough, there should be some coloration. Leave on new side for about 1-1 1/2 minutes. If bubbles start to form... let them. It just means that the baking powder is working (and that you didn't accidentally put baking soda).

After a minute or so, flip the flour tortilla discs over. Prepare a towel or a tortilla holder with a towel inside to... hold the tortillas and keep them warm. Remove the variation mixture from the other pan and add some butter. Remember all those eggs? Now we can come back to 'em.

In one bowl, crack open 3 eggs, add in a splash of milk (just a normal splash, not my sorta splash), and beat. Pour into the pan then add the potatoes you cooked earlier - let settle for a while, then mix. It should come out to look like scrambled eggs with potatoes. Season then set aside.

Break open the eggs, add another splash of milk, then beat. In another pan (or the same pan if you're a patient person), add some butter, the egg mixture, the variation mixture you fried earlier, then the diced and fried corn tortillas. Let sit for a while then mix. The outcome should look the same as the potato and egg mixture (but without the potatoes, obviously). Season then set aside.

Now take that flour tortilla you made ("yay!" if it came out well, "@#$%" if not) and stuff it with your chosen mixture.

Enjoy!

-=-

Or not.

Our Version: (what actually happened...)

Well, we did enjoy making it but, as it was our first time making such a complicated (I'm just trying to make myself feel better, it's actually quite easy) dish, we messed up a couple of times along the way. We didn't really do any other sort of research aside from watching the video a few times to get the basic order of the recipe and also the ingredients, so, while it's pretty accurate, it's also a bit vague in other areas - number of potatoes, the vegetables, number of people it serves, etc.

First off, due to our excellent planning, we ended up being hours late. Not that that was a big deal since the meal can be eaten at any time of the day, but still. All we had to go by was the most basic list derived from the video and we didn't know where anything was in the kitchen - ingredients we had, ingredients we needed, tools, pans, etc.

Three of us set off to make an inventory of things we had so we could derive the things we needed. Turns out we were missing a whole bunch of things, from equipment to actual food and ingredients. So after that, while the original three went off into the wild to forage for stuff, the remaining three went to look for some sort of big flat skillet with which to cook them tortillas on.

Skip forward several moments to a huge onion (shown with the silhouette of a dog and human, to scale), a 5 lb sack of small potatoes, lard, milk, butter, baking powder, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and an electric hand mixer from two stores (we got only the hand mixer at the second store)... and we were ready to cook. We took a while shopping because we only picked the cheapest of the ingredients (including the mixer which was $6.99) with the total spent amounting to about ~USD30. And so with that we headed home, our spirits high and our temperature somewhat low, as it was a bit of a chilly night.

After getting home, we got right down to business - preparation of ingredients and tools, bustin' out stuff (yes, including the hand mixer), delegating tasks... Everybody did their parts - two fiddling with making the flour tortillas, two fiddling with the other ingredients, one peeling the potatoes and cutting them, and lastly, I myself chopping up the vegetables.

The first mix of the flour tortilla dough was either too dry or too wet. After it finally seemed right, too much flour... I repeat, TOO MUCH FLOUR, was used on the board where the dough was rolled out. In frying it, the first batch tasted more like flour with a side of something in a vague shape of a flat circle than an actual tortilla. The incoming batches were quickly rectified but not before I became nauseated just from one or two tortillas (this was after the preliminary batch of the potatoes-and-eggs were cooked). Anyway, check out the amount of flour on these tortillas:

Also, after when time came to roll out the dough... we realized we didn't have a rolling pin.

But, fear not! Ghetto ingenuity prevails! Here you see us using a silver cookie container. I do believe my friend went back to using his hands. He said that it felt weird and it was too hollow to be that efficient.

No, the designs didn't transfer into the dough, unfortunately enough. Might've distracted us from all the freaking flour covering the tortilla. Speaking of which, we didn't immediately find that flat pan for cooking the tortillas (when we found it we ended up cooking/heating around 5 at a time) so we had to make do with a small circular pan. Also, since it wasn't preheated, it took quite a while for the first ever [flour-smothered] tortilla to come out. We already had a plate of the fillings waiting, haha. By the way... now that I think about it, it might've taken longer to cook because it of the thick flour-shield™ protecting it from the flames. One of the tortillas actually had visible colonies of flour still on it after cooking.

Anyway, a... slight miscalculation regarding the potatoes yielded about 2+ full plates of the potato-and-egg mixture. Whoever thought 5 lbs of the tuber would feed 6-8 people was insane. (hint: not me) Sure, we weren't expecting other things to be cooked (like the vegetable-and-egg variation or more food in the latter part of the evening), but still. 5 lbs for 6 people?

The potatoes and egg mixture.

The vegetable yield was enormous as well, with 1 enormous onion diced, 4 medium tomatoes sliced, and a couple jalapenos chopped up equaling about 3 medium bowls of ingredients. Add to that several slices of corn tortillas cut up into small squares and fried and also the eggs and... well, we ended up with a boatload of potatoes and vegetables and not enough egg or tortillas. In the end we totaled about 4 plates - 2 plates each of the potato-and-egg mixture and vegetable-and-egg variation. And about a handful of the homemade flour tortillas. We actually had to resort to heating up the corn tortillas we bought and using those, which wasn't that bad.

The vegetables, corn tortillas, and egg mixture.

Also factoring in the fact that the corn tortillas didn't have any extra FLOUR made it somewhat the better choice over the flour-enriched flour tortillas. As one of my friends said after shoveling potatoes and egg into the flour tortilla and trying it... "all I could taste was the flour!" Hey, at least he was able to comment. I just ended up with a funky feeling in the stomach.

My friends' parents came home in the middle of our struggle and their dad, after his initial outburst regarding the mess we had made, went straight to a cabinet and took out... oh would you look at that... an electric hand mixer! Apparently, in our hasty search earlier, we neglected to check for an already existing electric hand mixer. Neglected? It's more like we were looking for something else (the flat skillet or pan) and it just didn't register in our minds that there was an electric hand mixer already in existence in their household.

Following their dad's second outburst (regarding the mixer), he proceeded to cook a couple of things: deep-fried egg rolls and batches of empanadas (one had some sort of meat while the other had jalapeno and cheese). The empanadas had some sort of divine ability to retain heat and was impossible to eat without having to break open in half and waiting several hours minutes unless you're the type to gargle molten metal or even lava. Here's the total outcome of our endeavor*:

*Notice the ridiculous proportion of the fillings compared to the tortillas?

During our meal, my friend's dad discovered all our leftover ingredients - bushels of potatoes, diced onion, tomatoes, jalapenos, and corn tortillas and through nothing short of a miracle, combined it with their leftovers from the previous day into some new dish. As we looked at the resulting... thing, their mom nonchalantly told us that he was "recycling." The dish actually looked palatable. Unfortunately so, we were stuffed by then and ended up not trying any. I wonder if my friends ate it the next day...

I'm sure they still had some leftovers - the potato and egg mixture and vegetable and egg variation, not to mention a casserole dish full of the Recycled Ingredients dish - to deal with.

- West





Epilogue:
I hate FLOUR!

Puerco Pibil II: The Puerco Strikes Back

I was able to revisit the puerco pibil sooner than expected - yesterday evening. After a haphazard afternoon of planning, a dash to 4 different places, and a night of cooking and waiting (mostly waiting)... I now present to you the Puerco Pibil ver. 2:

This round of cooking was done with the same circle of friends and 3 more making for an even 6. With that many people, the tasks were not only evenly distributed but also executed faster. Also, knowing the ungodly amount of cooking time that went into this dish, we made sure to start earlier in the night.

We split up into two groups and headed towards the liquor store. Remember the tequila used in the video? This time we planned on acquiring the same tequila to try and replicate the recipe as closely as possible. The same brand of tequila was there but the one that was actually used was a tad bit too expensive at USD~90+ or so (it was a collector's bottle now), hence, we got the next one (newer bottle style); slightly smaller but still the closest to the actual thing, setting us back somewhere around USD~65-70. We also got beer - Stella Artois - for later.

Afterwards, my group first headed to a nearby supermarket to acquire annatto seeds, lemons, and habanero peppers, then to an asian market for the banana leaves. The other group went to another supermarket to buy the pork. They also bought some donut holes for us to munch on during that grueling 4 hour wait, not to mention to assuage our raging stomachs.

And then we got to work. Each of us, with our assigned tasks, went right down to business; some were assigned to the meat, some to the spices, and one to do the juicing. I myself chopped garlic and peppers. We threw the spices into the once-coffee-grinder-now-spice-grinder and made sure those were near obliterated. After that, we tossed everything else but the tequila into the blender to make that lovely lovely sauce. The top shot had camera flash while the bottom didn't, just to give you guys an idea of the resulting color.

We made sure to scrape the sides so that the spices won't be sticking since we might end up losing some of that awesome flavor (hey, we have no idea if that little bit of leftover mix will affect the flavor but it's the thought that counts, right?). And then we added about half a small glass of tequila, initially. We (I) added a bit more of a splash since we were using a bit more meat than what was in the recipe. Wasn't my intention to add.. that much of a splash.. psh, like I'd know about fluid dynamics and flow rate and whatnot. Anyway, what's important is that it turned out good.

This process was repeated a few more times - blend, scrape, blend, scrape. The concoction... it's a kick to the nose. Seriously - after we blended all the ingredients together, we opened the top of the blender and the whiff... the mixture of everything together hits you all at once; the spices (especially cumin), acidity of the lemon and orange juice, the tequila, and last but definitely the most prominent - the peppers.

This dish is gonna have a kick just like last time, but this time hopefully the usage of authentic (...and more) tequila will push the dish over the previous one's bar. We placed the meat-n-mixture into a large zip-top bag and made sure to shake it so that the sauce mix would cover every inch of the meat. We thawed the banana leaves, prepared the baking pan, shook the meat more, and then popped it into the oven.

Now, the real battle begins - waiting.

For FOUR hours.

The donut holes definitely helped with the starvation pangs as some of us either had a paltry lunch or none at all. We definitely hadn't had dinner yet. Still, waiting wasn't entirely about the hunger... it was also a mind game. We tried numerous things to pass the time - played a round or two of starcraft, chatted online, played Call of Duty 4 on Xbox live, slept, etc. As minutes turned into hours, that particular aroma emanating from the oven slowly - but certainly - permeated the entire house. Soon, there was nary a place to hide. It was everywhere. And just as we were stretched to the limits of our sanity... that sound, that lovely sound...

It rang from the kitchen, throughout the house, through our ears as if that was what it was especially made for, but no, just when you thought it had stopped, it would go on again, ringing from here to eternity, stretching until forever, the infernal summons from that dreaded machine... screaming, screaming into our very souls... "it is done." The herald of this once-welcomed-now-dreaded sound, the very vehicle of both our madness and salvation came upon us like Death stealing into the night, carrying another future inhabitant to his morose domain... It sounded very much like... an oven.

"ding!"

Oh, hey guys, the food's done!

We all scurried from our respective spots into the kitchen and stood at the mouth of the oven. We took it out and gently unwrapped the steaming hot delicacy. The 4-hour wait was definitely worth it: the meat was very tender and the sauce - delicious. We were all pretty much salivating ala Pavlov's dogs, so after procuring a sizeable spoon, we dug in.

More rice had been cooked, nearly the full pot, enough for all - and more - of us. We were expecting second servings and we definitely had them - this was awesome. Served over white rice moistened with some of the puerco pibil's sauce, it made for a really great dish. The taste wasn't entirely too different from the previous one though we did decide that it was better. The alcohol had already gone leaving only the flavor of the tequila. The kick was... well, still pretty good. One of my friends who was eating kept panting through the ordeal. On that cold night, I think he was even sweating.


After the pleasant ordeal, with our energies already being diverted to digesting this delight, we kicked back and relaxed. We talked about the dish, the complexities of the flavors, that special smell... One of my friends busted out the Stella Artois he bought earlier for us to try. I have never tried this beer before and am not an avid beer drinker (or even just drinker for that matter, ignoring the tequila-splash accident entirely), but as far as beer goes, it was pretty smooth.

I still hate beer though. Haha.

-=-
It's only been a day after I had it and already I'm craving more. As we get better at making the whole thing, we'll slowly start to try other variations. Next time we're thinking of using chicken. Pollo pibil, anyone?

- W

Wassant!

omg these little buggers are goooood! Comes in 2 flavours - Chocolate or Plain. They look like mini croissants, but they are not. No bigger than a baby's hand, these wassants are so soft, so yummy, a little sweet and sooo sooo goood! Must try!

Got it from Provence Bakery at SGD0.60 each.

- E

Puerco Pibil

December 18, 2008

I was introduced to this dish several weeks ago courtesy of my friends. They had seen it quite a while back, I believe, in the "extras" section of the dvd of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico." The dish itself is supposed to be the favorite of one of the characters (I have not seen the movie myself) and in one scene shoots a chef because of it. I don't know if he shot the guy 'cause the food was horrible or the dish he made was just that good.

The extra, "10 minute cooking school," from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, told us a bit about the history of the dish, the ingredients required to prepare it, and the procedure itself. We found the video uploaded in youtube, and for all you curious folks, THIS is the link. For your viewing pleasure, we made sure to take down the recipe (via repeated viewing and re-viewing of the video) from the video. By the way, another friend pointed it out to me that we didn't even have to do that; the recipe was already posted in the video info in the link. Oh... and I suppose we could've looked online, eh? I feel so futile...

-=-
5 Tablespoons whole annato seeds (or achiote, the plant or tree)
2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon peppercorns
8 whole allspice seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

Grind the above in a spice mill/coffee grinder. Make sure you have a separate grinder from your coffee, if you do have one for that since it'll make your coffee taste funky and vice versa with the spices. Also this is a good time to preheat your oven to 325 F.

2 habanero chilis, stems and seeds removed, chopped (or leave the stems and seeds intact for additional spice, you can also use more chilis)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 Tablespoons salt
8 cloves garlic
Juice of 5 lemons
Splash of good tequila

Combine the above with the spice mix in a blender, and puree.

You'll also need banana leaves to line the pan with.

For meat you'll need about 5 pounds of pork butt, cut into 2-inch cubes. Put the pork into a large zip-top bag and combine with the earlier well-blended ingredients. Make sure you move the meat around so that it is all covered with the mixture. Line a 9x13 pan with banana leaves then add the pork with the mixture. Fold the banana leaves so it covers the pork, then cover it with foil; make sure the foil is snug and tight as you do not want any steam to escape. Now put it in the oven and bake for 4 hours. Afterwards, serve over white rice.

-=-

We made this dish at about 9 at night so... yeah, we were only able to taste the fruits of our labor past 1 in the morning. It was totally worth it - the pork, due to the long bake time, was totally tender. It had infused with all the flavors and turned out reddish-orange from spices we used. All three of us friends who made it had a fancy for spicy food. We decided to use 4 habanero chilis leaving the stems and seeds intact... it was pretty spicy. In the video, the tequila that was used looked like Casa Noble. We didn't have it on hand and just used Jose Cuervo. It was still delicious though we are looking to try and make the dish as authentic as possible next time. Definitely worth your while - doesn't require much preparation time, serves a decent group of people, a good conversation starter, and of course: it's pretty freaking good.

- W

Mr. Curry

January 02, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2nd day of the new year, had no mood to work so was already thinking of what to eat for dinner. Called up my friday friend (for some reason we always meet only on fridays) and we arranged to meet after work at Mr. Curry (Japanese style curry) in Central at Clarke Quay. They just opened a branch there and there's a 50% discount on certain items on the menu.

1st time I've heard of Mr. Curry, realised that it's part of the Waraku group. Explains why the exterior was done up in pretty much the same style as the other Waraku places with the wall filled with rows and rows of plastic food. But the inside decor of this one was much nicer that I expected.

We ordered a Shrimp Omelette Curry, a Bacon and Asparagus Spaghetti Curry Gratin, and a Kakiage Sandwich. A bit too much for the 2 of us, but all we left behind were the fries. Overall pretty decent food, presentation is very nice - the curry came in a separate claypot and had a cute little wooden ladle for you to spoon the sauce over your rice. There's a small side salad with every dish and they recommend using their mango dressing, which is a specialty I suppose. The food in general is a bit too salty, not sure if that's the standard.

Like all Warakus, it's a bit commercialised, so your crowd is anyone from overly excited teens to smartly dressed office workers to family and kids. There's one thing that always baffles my friday friend and me – no matter which branch of Waraku you go to, the noise level is...incredible. We used to wonder if it's the structure of the interior that traps noise or something but you can hear EVERYTHING. The conversation 2 tables away, the staff shouting "Irashaimase!", the clanging of utensils, voices over voices...it's incredible.

However, when you don't know where to go, Waraku can't get too wrong. There's a wide range of food, decor and food presentation is quite nice, everything else is not fantastic but not too shabby either. Because of the discount, friday friend and I forked out abt SGD10 each.

- E

Tim's Restaurant & Cafe

New Year's Eve, bunch of us long time friends got together and asked the "forever" question – "where to eat?" One of us recalled this place called Tim's Restaurant and Cafe, served Nepalese food along side western food like fish and chips. Never been there before, so why not?

Us lot can't exactly be fussed to get all fancy, so this was actually a pretty nice place for a casual dinner (even though it's NYE, who cares). Tucked in a corner of Toa Payoh, under those 4-storey HDBs (I later realised that they have been featured on HDB Taitais) the restaurant looks like your regular coffeeshop. Small, a little cramped, and oh so casual i bet that you can saunter in wearing your pjs and no one will bat an eyelid.

Anyways, its the food that matters. We had to wait about 10 mins for a table of 5+1, which was alright. We shared a Calamari and got a kid's meal (fish and chips) for the kiddo, came with a scoop of ice cream and oj.

I couldn't resist the lobster with pan seared dory, father of the kid got the Rack of Lamb, mother of the kid knew that the kid wouldn't finish her food so refrained from ordering, friend#1 took the NYE's special - mushroom soup, 2 scallops in their shells (appetizers), lobster with pan grilled seabass (main), bread & butter pudding and coffee or tea, and friend #2 got the grilled salmon with cajun sauce.

The total came up to about SGD75 with no GST and no service charge. Granted, ended up none of us ate anything remotely Nepalese, but hey, all the more reason to go back to try the chicken and sausage grill, samosas, pakoras..oh, and the momo.

- E

Jun's

December 18, 2008

I decided to visit this Korean restaurant called "Jun's" again (my second visit) to try other things in the menu. In our previous visit my friends and I found that the place served pretty cheap Korean fare. Years ago in one of our food trips we stumbled upon another Korean restaurant and... well, I still feel like I was robbed. Don't get me wrong, the food was great, just that the place was so expensive! And no, I didn't wander into a random fancy restaurant in a drunken stupor.

I ordered a plate of fried rice while my friends had spicy seafood soup and spicy squid. One of my friends also ordered spicy tuna sushi, which arrived shortly. There were 8 pieces in total. The set came with the customary green clump of wasabi on one side and the pale ginger on another. Looks good, right? *drool... They had a pretty good selection of sushi, anything from the basic rolls of rice and fish to the fancier ones which might be deep fried and/or carrying more ingredients.

After several minutes, our food came along with a couple of side dishes (from the right): cubes of tofu in soy sauce, mung bean sprouts in some liquid, kimchi, sliced zucchini with pepper flakes, and sweetened bananas or yams or something. sweetness made for good balance against the spicy dishes.

I had seafood fried rice which had mussels (sans shells), small shrimp, and squid tentacles. At least... those were the bits of seafood I could discern. It also came with the usual fried rice ingredients, yes, including the rice. While it didn't taste bad, I would definitely try something else with my next visit. It was still a pretty positive experience that I tried this dish, just that I'd rather have something else next time. It might have been better if I tried it with another dish vs. eating the fried rice by itself.

The spicy squid dish of my friend was quite delicious. It had squid tentacles, red and green bell peppers, zucchini slices, chili, carrots, and onions. The sauce was probably made with some spicy sesame oil or something, among various other spices.

My other friend's bowl of sizzling hot (and spicy) seafood soup came next. It was served in a clay or metallic pot and came with a bowl of rice. I believe it had shrimp, tofu, ... okay, I don't remember anymore. I have not tried any of their soups yet (my first visit entailed me trying their spicy pork bowl... which was good) and might just try it next time.

All the food we ordered were spicy. Hey, we were itchin' for a hot time seeing as how it was quite cold and yeah, there was still snow outside (this was the day after a freak snowfall happened in Las Vegas). Mine wasn't spicy at all though I did ask the lady if she could sneak in some hot sauce or something while they were cooking it, haha. My friends had several pauses while they were eating and by the end both were a tad bit teary-eyed. That stuff hit the spot though, oh yeah.

If ever you guys pass by Vegas and are looking for cheap but excellent food... this is your place. I still have yet to try their other dishes (galbi, soup, fried rice, bowls, sushi, etc.). I know I'll be passing by again soon.

- W

Welcome!

As you may guess, it'll mostly be about our forays into the food realm as viewed from two people's eyes. And no, they won't always be about the same thing from two people - in fact, it's more probable that it'll mostly be about 2 different things from 2 different people's points of view.

I'm W, and I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm armed with a Canon PowerShot SD 790 IS Digital Elph camera (or in rarer cases where I forget my hand camera, I'll be using my phone camera) and I'll be using that to capture images. These are all coming from a complete amateur so... have mercy? Haha.

We'll be writing about our experiences regarding food and of course, the food itself. Anyway, we've already taken pictures even before this place was established so some of the posts might have weird dates on them or something.

Hope you enjoy!
- W

We both like eating, (who doesnt??) and it started out with showing each other what we had for dinner etc. since, yeah, W is in Vegas, and myself - E, is in Singapore. more often than not, we'd be going "Ooooo, THAT looks good!" so yeah, here's our ongoing compilation and have fun!
- E