Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Before I moved back to Australia permanently (and a life based around work and reality tv shows), I was treated to a final family farewell feast.

Unlike the family feasts on SBS*, at my Chinese family feasts no one is slaving over a hot stove. Here you do not learn to cook. That is for the kitchen staff at the Chinese restaurant you have chosen and inevitably have vouchers for. Here one learns to eat and possibly dispute the bill.

Ten courses...two tables...four hours.....lots of tea

We started with soup. I think it was crab (no shark fins anymore....seems my family has decided to shun the delicacy)

Goose feet noodles





Fish Cakes


Peking Duck




Fish with preserved ginger and plums (Chinese umeboshi style)


Sizzling prawns with spring onion, garlic and corriander


ummmm...can't remember


Minced Peking duck as a side with congee



congee also accompanied by stir fried veges and omelette...just count those dipping sauces


Dessert...sweet plus cripsy biscuit thingy


Family portrait


It was a very sweet farewell dinner. For a family which by culture I would not describe as particularly expressive of their emotions it was quite an overwhelming display of affection. I was laden with compliments and gifts. My aunties all hugged me and my uncles passed on some of my late Ama's jewellery. One of my cousin's searching for something nice to say told me I had a lovely voice. I left feeling sad to leave them all behind.

*Oh and also, if you happen to be reading this and work for SBS I have a crossover reality show idea for you - My Family Feast meets Border Control. Large ethnic families have to try and make it into Australia with all the authentic ingredients they can without having them all confiscated by customs....the family with the least number of substitutes wins!!!!

I was reading American Vogue on the train back home on Friday. It's a guilty habit. It started with Mr. Steingarten's food column (which by the way does not appear in every issue, in case you thought of subscribing). And in the last year or so, I started to enjoy looking at the pictures. The fashion editors really do not do such a bad job, considering they are as ancient as the hills.
It's not that I think you can't be older and stylish (thank god for Lynn Yaeger, the Village Voice's very own Isabella Blow, who's also one of my favourite writers). But how can you take someone with a name like 'Grace Coddington' seriously, especially when she appears in the magazine looking like death warmed up and clutching fluffy orange feline relics?

Of course, every single issue also sports at least one story that makes you want to become the unibomber of Saks (e.g. their younger editors talking about 'investment' handbags at $3000 in a story about thrifty shopping, and photographed in improbable Manhattan abodes. At least Lynn Yaeger favours Orchard St knock-offs).

But what really made me sick, in an issue that was grudgingly fluttering a tinted eyelash at the downtrodden economy, was their ridiculous collection of 'budget friendly' shopping tips (i.e. under $500), which included Pilates sessions for $160 each because they're so worth it for your priceless body,
and this dieting tip:
"Thinking of your last meal has been proven to stave off hunger pangs."

Jesus christ.
One can't help but imagine Grace Coddington being gnawed at by orange cats as she eats her two-tablespoons of egg white for breakfast and dabs La Prairie fish caviar under her eyes.

Anyway, right now you can download Jeffrey Steingarten's guide to Beijing restaurants, which could be worth grabbing while it's still on the Vogue site. Just in case you find yourself pawning your investment hand bag for a trip to eat succulent duck fat in Beijing. You never know.

Speaking of ducks, we of course had to have an Empress Garden Peking Duck back in AK. I've been around the world (well Asia anyway) and I've never found a better duck meal, despite once being told by a Chinese concierge in Beijing that "duck meal is duck meal" when we enquired where to get the best duck in Beijing. How wrong she was.

In my books, Empress Garden still cooks up the best duck meal I've ever had, despite being a million miles away from Beijing. There are several notable qualities that I especially like about the Empress Garden duck. First is that they cut the skin and a little of the moist and tender flesh for the peking rolls. Most places around Asia, including Beijing, cut only the crispy skin, but having a small slither of duck meat accompany the skin into the pancake and down your gullet is much more satisfying.

In addition, the following duck creations made from the left over flesh and bones are excellent, so good that they definitely compete with the first succulent pancake offering. Although there are several options for the two other duck dishes that follow from the pancakes, we always order the sang choi bao option (duck mince with crispy iceberg lettuce leaves) and the salt and pepper fried bones. The salt and pepper fried bones are one of life's true pleasures. I'm not shitting you. Think crispy kentucky fried duck with asian flavours but yummier and you're on the right track.

For the last few years my father-in-law has talked at length about the famous "duck noodles" of Saint Louis, Bangkok. He has promised many a time to take Maytel and myself there to try a bowl, we came very close to sampling these mystical noodles a few months back but our attempts failed as the shop was closed and we had to settle for an excellent bowl of fish ball noodles .

As with all good vendors in Bangkok THEY choose when to open.

As my father in-law's partner is out of town and mine is getting wasted on sake in another country, we have had extra time to hang out and bond (meat eating is usually what we base our outings around) so finally after three years, I got to eat the duck noodles of St Louis.



Is the guy in the white shirt praying to that roasted duck? Most likely.






No verbal orders are allowed. You have to write it all down, even the little things like to have bean shoots or not. An excellent strategy to keep out those pesky foreigners. So you will need the assistance of your Thai partner or friends unless of course you are Thai or some super nerd who knows how to write Thai (ahem) otherwise sorry no noodle for you!


Plate of braised livers and gizzards, pretty good.


"3 year duck noodles"

They were worth the wait a yummy scented broth with super tender and flavoursome duck and perfectly cooked noodles with bean shoots of course.



Pepsi, grease cutter.

When I posted about this great Isaan restaurant deep in the Thai suburbs.

I forgot to include photos - so here they are...

The restauranteur is a big Liverpool fan, thus the table cloths....

Som Tum


Salt Baked Fresh Water Fish


Which they serve with this delicious and morish chili sauce


Duck Larb


Ubiquitous Thai BBQ Prawns


Achingly Hot Lemon Grass Salad


Isaan BBQ Chicken....mmmmmmmmmmmm


Isaan BBQ chicken is one of my favourite dishes....it's pretty easy to do at home, but you need a scrawny chicken that is full of flavour, not a big fat roasting chicken that you get in most western supermarkets

once you find your scrawny chicken, marinade it in fish sauce, garlic, coriander root, and white pepper.

and then serve with a dipping sauce made of the following ingredients

Dry roasted (with both fresh lime leaf and galangal) and then crushed sticky rice
chili powder
spring onion
shallots minced
fish sauce
lime juice
chicken powder (nitnoy meaning little bit)
sugar (nitnoy)
water (nitnoy)

Speaking of fried chicken.....here is the tip on cooking fried chicken by Paul Prudhomme, a personal food hero of mine introduced to me by my very good friend J.lord (whom is the personal chef for one of Australias wealthiest men, but thats a story for another day, especially when it comes to the eating of fried chicken, oh and spitting in peoples food, yes some chefs will do that if they are pushed too far).

Magic Fried chicken

Chef Paul is what he eats and that is fat. Yes he loves his fat, and he loves a good muff - Muffaletta sandwich that is

If you look closely at the video of Paul making a Muff sandwich, you might notice that he is sitting. That's because he's so fat that he can't stand anymore and has to get around on a motorised chair

Now that's what I call dedication to your work


(The above shot was back in the day when he was still able to walk)

But who could help themselves, his renoun famous cajun cuisine is so famous that people line up every day outside his restuarant in Louisiana just to try it

I once had a conversation with a chef who worked with him. Apparently the man has the most amazing palate, he can actually taste exactly where a cook has deviated from his recipe. For example you might have used corn oil in a gumbo and not grapeseed, things of that nature. Kinda like the difference between Anchor butter and Fernleaf, anyway trust me his gullet is kickass.

Not that he is beyond making the odd mistake from time to time, for example, wiki details his failed attempts to hook the general public on south american mouse meat, yes cute sweet little....mouse meat



But occasionally he gets it very very right. His legacy to the world will most likely be the Turkducken a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.....

Although Hugh Fearnlywhittingstall (we love him) has gone several better and invented the....turgoduckmaguikenantidgeonck

Paul will always remain as the originator

Paul Prudhome

We salute you

Dear Maytel

I wonder how does one measure the level of enjoyment when it comes to food and the sensation one can get or rather the level of enjoyment. May be it is the lust after pleasure in the final analysis after all.

Anyway, Saro, my 74 years old golfing companion from Thailand. He is in Auckland for another week or so. Last night we went to Pearl Garden at my insistence, purely for the Drunken Chicken and cold beer. It is still the best choice so far for that dish. Other dishes at this restaurant is pretty average. I can categorically make a bold statement that in the whole of Bangkok, I have not yet discovered any place with better Drunken Chicken then my New Market Pearl Garden. Saro agreed with me. Stan Ma, another golfing buddy of our, a Chinese master chef originally from Hong Kong reckons that his Drunken Chicken is better. I have yet to try his cooking.

In the middle class society of Auckland, there is no need for the stuck up elitism to enjoy one truly near a ten point mark Drunken Chicken. I had lunch at the Oriental's Bistro before this trip, I thought the food was pretty average. Maybe it is more like trying to rate the quality of green curry chicken as prepared by a European chef. Somehow the fois gras did not taste all that great.

Likewise, when I was up in Hong Kong, Anne and I were invited out to a Pekineses Restaurant by my Uncles and Aunts. The Peking Duck at the restaurant was supposed to be pretty good by Hong Kong standard. Honestly, I thought it was not as good as the Empress Garden's

Love Dad


(he doesn't know I posted this, names have been changed, excuse the english)