rabidog's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
PHL - Blue Sage chef coming to Philadelphia
yay! that's good news for me! root had poor reviews from the start... but this area gets better every day! there have been a couple places (jose's burritos, sazon, that thai place) that have been there as long as i've been in the area (4 years) but in the last couple years places like osteria, the prohibition taproom and the institute are really helping this area come along. plus, it's a great area to avoid the weekend crowds (maybe i should let y'all keep thinking it's a no-man's land to keep it that way!! :)
Chowhound Post
Please help finalize Philly list!! (Researched)
it sounds like you have a nice list put together.
don't feel too bad about not being able to afford osteria. modo mio is about a thousand times better! i was just there a couple weeks ago and you must have reservations!! i thought i'd be safe walking in around 9 on a thursday... not so much :) it's a popular place, and for good reason (and tiny!). i stuck to a total seafood-based turista menu on my last visit. great value, and the flavors of EVERYthing were spot-on.
brunches: i second estelle, and i'll add on another rec: cafe lift, on 13th. fritattas like you wouldn't believe. other than that, kinda similar menu and feel as estelle, and also in that weird "loft-district" block between callowhill and spring garden.
now that i've mentioned cafe lift, i feel compelled to mention their sister pub across the street: the prohibition taproom. this place is seriously excellent, and a great place to go on a weekend night to (kinda) avoid the crowds. i say kinda cause it's been getting popular lately. the local beer selection is wonderful there, and the food is out of this world. the fried green beans are a must. i just had the frisee salad, which came with buttery potatoes and a truffle vinaigrette that nearly had me in tears, it was so good. i really, really, really love that place. and if you're coming to philly, you've really got to sample some of the local beers, which you can do here for sure!
zahav: i go here once a week for happy hour, which sounds excessive, but it's NOT, because their happy hour rocks. as far as i know, you have to sit at the bar to get it. but wines are all $3 off (and there's a really great pinotage on the HH menu) and a small-size hummus is $4. can't beat that. the new mushroom hummus on the menu is to die for. agreed that you've gotta get the crispy haloumi - yummy and salty atop a crushed date paste - perfect sweet/salty combo. also the fried cauliflower - DEFinitely don't skip that... perfectly braised and set atop an herbed yogurt sauce (i think)... it's perfect. you can probably split those three things with one other person and be stuffed. but it would be a shame to leave this place without trying dessert. desserts (and all plates for that matter) run small, but are packed with flavor. my favorite (a yogurt ice cream with tiny chopped melon bits and paper-thin cucumber slivers) unfortunately left the menu with the warm weather, but there are some nice warm pear desserts & such. i've never gone wrong with dessert here. happy hour is 5-7pm, weekdays. every wednesday (except this one, heading out of town) you'll find me perched at the bar eating everything i've mentioned above. :)
re: rangoon... agreed on the firecracker lentil fritters... but generally speaking, on recent trips i've been underwhelmed by the OVERwhelming amount of fried items! several times now we've ordered much of the app menu to share and even though the base ingredient may differ, the taste is often the same between dishes. also, many of the entrees have more of a thai feel than burmese (tho after spending some time in both countries recently, i can't say that's a bad thing :)
finally, get a strawberry lemonade with that pretzel. and make sure you do it on a day when the amish are in the market! saturday is a real blast to forge your way through the crowds.
anyway, enjoy philly! i hope you report back on your ambitious trip! make sure to schedule some naps in there :)
Chowhound Post
Updates (2009) on Indian restaurants in Philly area
ah, i have nothing to contribute except to say this thread makes me miss working in that area and having a car. i haven't been to any of these wonderful places in a year now, as it was one year ago today i was laid off. where does the time go?! great reviews, felafelboy; always appreciated!!!
Chowhound Post
The best authentic pizza in the Philly area
gonna have to agree with you on the bertucci's. it's in my top 5 favorite pies in the phila area.
Chowhound Post
indian buffet!
hi all, philadelphia hound here, going to be in manhattan this weekend and want THE BEST indian buffet manhattan has to offer. been to chola, it was decent, is there anything better? i am definitely craving some north indian dishes but am wouldn't be opposed to a place with a few south indian treats peppering the buffet, too. is there any place with tandoori vegetables/paneer on the buffet? a chaat buffet? really good paneer tikka masala and malai koftas welcome, too. thanks all!!
Chowhound Post
The best authentic pizza in the Philly area
barry, have you tried stella out? i've got to give them a thumbs up based on my lone experience. we went in JUST as the last couple was walking out, but they agreed to seat us, and i offered up that we'd be quick. got the margherita, fennel and olive and pepperoni pies. only one i didn't try was the pepperoni (vegetarian) but the other two were pretty fabulous. incredibly thin, not soggy, good sauce on the margherita. i'd like to visit again and try some more, but i'm happy with them so far. a little pricey, but good.
Chowhound Post
DANGEROUS DINING AT PENANG!
wow, me too!!!
i am part of a group that CALLS themselves the dangerous dining club, but really it's just a group of former colleagues who get together once a month for wine and food, but never too too far off the beaten path. last month we went to JNA culinary institute (blech). i'd love to meet up with something a little more... well... dangerous. :)
for what it's worth - i run a film group and have entirely too much on my own plate to start up a DDC, but if one does get started, i highly recommend facebook as an excellent venue to discuss and set up events. that's what i use for my film group. works wonderfully. please let me know if any ambitious souls start something up!
-brynn
rabidog@gmail.com
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
wow, many thanks!!!
for what it's worth - if you can get the time off, it's a totally do-able trip - most days through pakistan, bangladesh and myanmar, it was hard to spend $4 a day. china, thailand, nepal and india were a bit more expensive, but for the most part i was averaging between $2 and $10 USD per day, and that includes EVERYthing (granted, i looked for bottom-of-the-barrel lodging and transportation, and ate mostly street food). flights and visas aside it was a fairly sustainable trip, renting out rooms in my house to cover my expenses. it was SO worth it. the food in thailand --- well, i can't find anything here remotely like it. not even in the same ballpark. that squid... i can taste it like it was yesterday!!!
really want to do central and south america next year!
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
after MUCH procrastination, i've finally finished my pictures from the trip. though they're not separate from the rest, there are plenty of food pix peppered in this set! http://picasaweb.google.com/rabidog/A...
...now i wanna go back. :( the thai food pictures make me miss my trip the most. i am totally a squid addict now.
Story Comment
Vegetarians at a Barbecue
lifelong vegetarian here (well, pescatarian technically)... what's wrong with the chip burger? i quite enjoy it. all the fixins + potato chips. if my hosts go out of their way to make me a veggie burger (i'd certainly never ask) i find it sweet of them, and i certainly don't mind what area of the grill it goes on. BYOG(rill)? eh... it's best not to forget you're a guest in someone else's home. depends on how well you know the hosts i suppose. if it were family i wouldn't mind, but then again, my entire family is vegetarian. :)
as far as meat-eaters coming to my house... i am certainly not opposed to serving meat in my home, it's just that when i entertain i tend to make recipes i KNOW i do well, so well i could make them blindfolded. and i just don't have any experience cooking meat; i wouldn't be comfortable hoping i got the temperatures right and whatnot. i hosted a pumpkin carving party last weekend with all sorts of autumn-themed vegetarian goodies; no complaints from the carnivorous guests. i made sure to compensate by having all their favorite drinks on hand. :)
Chowhound Post
Out of the Way Philly Restaurants I Like
went there last night. this place is consistently yummy. first of all, you get an absolute mountain of food, all of it good. those sweet plantains... those are to die for. i had the shrimp in a red spicy sauce... comes with rice, black bean soup... solid food there.
Chowhound Post
The best authentic pizza in the Philly area
ah, good call.
had a pizza sorta week this week.
ordered that tomato pie with moz from trios a few more times - it's truly one of my favorite pies i think largely in part due to the sauce... chunky tomatoes, not sweet AT all. i think i'm actually going for one tonite.
went back to mix in rittenhouse, a place i liked earlier. got a caper and kalamata olive pie (was in a salty mood). it was horrible and soggy. i don't know what happened there. used to quite like that place.
got a margarita pie from zios in center city... meh. totally average, sauce was too sweet for me.
Chowhound Post
The best authentic pizza in the Philly area
first, i totally agree with you about eating the marra's pie there and not taking it out... why is that?!
i've gotten totally, impossibly hooked on the crushed-tomato style of sauce lately, particularly because i was sick over overly-sweet sauces and it's pretty hard to mess up just crushed/stewed tomatoes. two hits for me have been the margherita at dock st brewery (is that sage seasoning the tomatoes? it's really good) and the thin crust rectangle pie with chunky tomatoes & mozz at trio's trattoria on girard ave (between 3rd and 4th - fairly new). i've been all about the pizza lately. tonight was definitely a pizza and beer night at the rabidog house - just about polished off the trio's rectangle pie. actually, i'm heading to the kitchen for a midnite snack right about now... :)
Chowhound Post
Out of the Way Philly Restaurants I Like
good stuff. i've been rather broke lately so haven't gotten out as much as i would like to (and therefore haven't been around here much to tempt me!)... but i was strolling around south philly maybe the sunday before last, and there was a neat mexican festival in the field at 4th and washington. a lot of the little taquerias had stalls set up, but then there were a few stalls set up by families. one lady made me something i can only attempt to describe: first she flattened two corn tortillas on the thicker side, put some beans between them, slapped them together, placed them on the grill. when it was done she put all sorts of toppings on it - cactus salad, crumbly mexican cheese (don't know if it's cotija or chihuahua - i always mix the two up) and some tomatoes and onions and all. though it was thoroughly messy to eat, it was delicious and unlike anything i've ever had. cool little festival to stumble upon. there were tacos al pastor and jarritos sodas aplenty.
sorry i don't have any more permanent fixtures to contribute for ya. i'll work on it. oh, well if you want an old one - there was that little cafeteria in the islamic school up at germantown and jefferson that serves some of the best damn felafel in the city, but that's only for lunch on weekdays. haven't been there since the winter though.
Chowhound Post
philly, can you please catch me up?
p.s. was it just me, or has the reading terminal market undergone some SERIOUS changes the past couple months?! i almost couldn't find the smoothie place the other day, it looked so different. i almost panicked that it was gone.
Chowhound Post
Best Foods at Reading Terminal Market
i usually like to balance out a buttery amish pretzel with the juice bar's (across from le bus) orange + banana + strawberry smoothie. then my world is balanced and delicious and i don't feel too guilty. :)
Chowhound Post
philly, can you please catch me up?
goodness! this i must try!!! i did notice leila while walking around the other day and the menu looks fabulous. unfortunately i'd just consumed a govinda's hoagie ten minutes prior and was unable to indulge!
did anyone notice the south st mama's now goes by a different name? menu looks the same... new owners or same?
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
ah ha! good to know - thanks. yep, what you describe sounds EXACTLY like what i had.
ah, i'm home now, and taking the train from NYC back to philly was NOTHING like the indian rails. how i am going to miss extending an arm out the window and retracting it with a fistful of yummy treats. nothing like it on an amtrak. the bar car, though i do appreciate it for what it is, would definitely benefit from a little spicing up of the menu!
Chowhound Post
philly, can you please catch me up?
hahah it sounds like it's due for a visit!!! what's great there? BYOB ?
Chowhound Post
philly, can you please catch me up?
thanks for the warm welcome!! it's GREAT to be back in philly. i've spent the past few days hosting my dad who's visiting from DC, and we've spent the past few days walking around non stop, taking in all the new places and noticing what's closed. otolith on girard seems to have vanished. and in that former let's wok/el wingador/curbside chef place there is a new pizza joint with a fancy name. in between jetlag naps i've managed to make it out to a few old favorites that i was craving: govinda's, pagoda noodle cafe, cafe lift... working on the rest...
i also went to the new beer garden at silk city, and it's pretty decent! cool space definitely. had the flounder sandwich which was great. ahhh deep fried fish (also what i'm planning on ordering whenever i make it up to swift half)... i have missed you so!!!
Chowhound Post
philly, can you please catch me up?
hi philly hounds!!! i've missed this board & all my favorite restaurants so! i've been away for the last 3 months (the story of why can be found on a recent thread within my chow profile... been on an asia chow tour!), and i'm returning on july 9th to hopefully a whole new dining scene (and hopefully my old favorites, too)... i know that specifically, in northern liberties where i am, a ton of stuff has opened recently in the piazza which i have not yet seen since midway through its construction. and i think i heard word about a diner, the silk city beer garden, and an asian place? what's new in philly the past few months? most importantly what's good? (sorry, i just can't seem to get through the 1,000,000 pages of posts since i left off so i'm lazily asking you all to summarize it for me!!!) where should my first few new-place meals be? for sure, i'll be making the rounds of my old favorites... i'm making a reservation for the first sunday available at little fish, dragging a friend or two to melograno and modo mio and the prohibition taproom and interviewing potential roommates over brunches at the standard tap and north third. oh, man, and a proper coffee at higher grounds... oooh i'm so excited!!!!
happy 4th!!
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
absolutely agree! in america, the bad is all we hear about but i'm not all too trusting of the media. for a million reasons, pakistan was definitely one of my top places and lahore one of my favorite cities ever - it truly IS the city that never sleeps; i think it even outdoes NYC. i found the food and arts scene there really vibrant. it was totally safe there and it's a shame many people in my country don't realize that... not to get off the food track too much, but statistically speaking i definitely feel safer there than in my own neighborhood in philadelphia, where the murder rate is astronomical, not to mention all the other crime! the country is so amazingly diverse - at least the parts i visited, from lahore to islamabad/rawalpindi, and then up the karakoram highway - where you can find apricot soup (did i write about that earlier? what a strange and tasty thing!) and some spectacular cherries. it's all so interesting, the people so friendly, i really with the US state dept would take down that little nastygram about discouraging all non-essential travel from their website. very glad i chose to ignore their advice. :)
in jodhpur, india, i got lost on my way to a bookstore and ended up at an omelette shop which apparently was turned into an omelette shop after being misrepresented in a lonely planet guide; it was previously a hotel (not sure how they mixed those two things up!). anyway, for years the guy's been making omelette sandwiches. i was wary at first, as i am of anything in the lonely planets, but surely enough it was a fabulous omelette sandwich. if anyone happens upon jodhpur they should make it a point to visit there! i signed their guestbook on 23 jun, which they'll make you do as well. :) the masala cheese omelette is really quite tasty and spicy... definitely one of the more memorable meals in india. i went back three times, twice in one day!!
i've found that i've actually sort of tired of paneer by now, so i've mostly switched over to lighter snack foods - pani puri, bhel puri and papads. i've had some decent things on the trains - here in the south (i'm now in mysore) you can get these odd chile-relleno-type things, served in a banana leaf and topped with an off-white curry sauce with black dots that i see often in the south. what is that?
today everything in india seems to be on strike due to hindu/muslim tensions but apparently it all reopens in a few hours... or at least i hope, because i'm starving. it'll be one of my last meals here... the next few days will mostly be spent on trains to trivandrum, where i'll fly home on the 9th. can't believe it's been 3 months already...!!! i promise i'll post back with food pictures shortly... towards the beginning of my trip i was really good about taking a picture of nearly every meal! lately i've been slacking off a bit.
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
thanks!! no, no blog yet... just a handritten journal (actually on to vol. 2 now!) of my traveling stories. and oh, some of the stories!! if i ever make a blog of them i'll post a link here.
though it took me forever and a few tears i fiiiinally was able to tear myself away from pakistan, particularly lahore, the city who won my heart with their chaman ice cream. i am back in india now - in pushkar, even though the lake is dry. the "special" lassi here is really quite special indeed... whew!!! tonight i'm celebrating the return to the land of all things vegetarian with a proper feast. think i'm up for some seriously garlicky naan and a nice paneer tikka masala! and a special lassi or two.
Chowhound Post
We Need a Bier Garten In This Town
i have been out of town for a couple months now, but when i left there was construction being done next to silk city at 5th and spring garden and the rumor at the time was that mark bee was to be opening a beer garden. any truth to that / has anything come of it?
and tho not a beer garden, supposedly the new yards site has opened for tours too? (i seem to have found my way onto their email list) has anyone been? goodness, i missssssss philly beer.
Chowhound Post
Falafel in Philly?
mmmm i'm going to add that to the list of places to visit when i return in mid-july!!! surprisingly i have not managed to run into any felafel in central asia yet. as i remember it, the best felafel in the city! muslim garb not required, and though it's a totally friendly environment you can expect to gather a few harmless stares. it's mostly just curious schoolkids. after that both mama's locations and the felafel cart are both pretty spectacular, and i'd rate saad's just below those. maoz would round out the bottom of the list for me - i agree with whoever posted that the felafel there's too dry. only thing about mama's - i definitely prefer their platters to their pitas. the hummus / tahini / felafel platter is wonderful. the mama's location at 6th and south has shawarma (though i have not tried it as a vegetarian) but the location at 20th and market is vegetarian only.
have not been to alyan's - a place i'll definitely have to check out!
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
thanks for the kind words Sam! It's truly been a trip i'm never going to forget. NO worries about the trains - a good part of my entertainment on the road comes from figuring out the odd policies of various gov'ts and what i can and can't do. the trains in myanmar were nothing compared to arriving at the end of the line in j&k india, which is udhampur - a train station situated in the mountains with NOTHING around - and finding my way to the nearest bus stand to try to catch a bus north to china, and after three hours of pointing at maps and trying to communicate in very limited hindi finding out you can't get there from here. so then i backtracked to jammu, where i was stranded for a few days when the trains were shut down because of violence in punjab, and ended up getting to china via pakistan therefore now having to shell out another $150USD for a new pakistan visa on my return, since my existing visa was only single-entry... whew!! you could say this entire trip has been an experience in getting totally lost, which i have actually come to enjoy!
lulubelle - it must be an amazing experience to live in bangladesh. i wasn't too bothered by any of the stares, and all the people that talked to me were so nice. i suppose it's not a place for a shy person to visit, because you will certainly be the center of attention there, as a westerner! i'd actually love to go back and visit cox's bazar, if i find extra time on my way back thru india.
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
yea, while cheese of varying types seems available pretty much everywhere i've been, i'm finding the traditional indian-style paneer makes a pretty clear cut line tracing the india border. i spent a week in lahore pakistan but didn't find any traditional paneer. as a vegetarian, the most fabulous thing about lahore has been the ICE CREAM! something i will admit to my chow friends only: on one particularly hot day in lahore, i had ice cream for breakfast, lunch AND a late dinner. my guest house there (the regal internet inn - highly recommended) was just across from 'ice cream street' home of the famous chaman's ice cream parlor. it's packed even at 3am. had some lovely peach sundaes there, as well as date milkshakes and pineapple juices and a very weird fruit juice that starts with an 'f' (can't recall its full name) whose first notes taste like sulfur, and then transition into a sugary-sweet berry taste. in my entire week there i didn't even manage to make it to 'food street' but i plan on heading back thru lahore in about 2 weeks and spending a few more days, and that will be first on my itinerary. i adore lahore!
currently i'm in kashgar china, after a looooong and mostly foodless bus journey up the karakoram highway. here i find myself a little sick from the altitude so i've only been able to stomach a tomato cucumber salad and some fried bananas. earlier, at a china border town i had a spaghetti-like noodle dish served up with some squash, green pepper and spicy oil. a few days before that i had stopped in gilgit, a lovely little mountain town where my guest house's menu was largely vegetarian (thank goodness! i've had enough dhal and chapati to last a lifetime) and i had a egg/tomato/onion curry with a chapati, and some tomatoes and cucumber with vinegar (very surprised at the abundance of cucumber in all of these countries).
at this point in my travel i think i've nearly hit the end of new places (everywhere between here and trivandrum, india where i catch my flight in mid-july will be more or less backtracking through places i've visited previously) so i think it's fairly safe to summarize my food experiences. my biggest surprise/regret of the trip is how little i've actually managed to eat. and i haven't even been unlucky enough to experience delhi belly! a combination of altitude sickness, violently rocky bus rides and weakness from the blazing heat of some of these places has rendered me unable to eat for in some cases days at a time. and at one point, after drinking well water for 3 days thru northern india i had a blazing hot fever and couldn't manage to eat anything but fruit for a week. at best i'm usually only able to get through one big meal a day (or lots of little ice cream meals!), so while i may be totally culturally overloaded, i'm really disappointed i didn't get to eat as much as i'd hoped. additionally, with the unavailability of land border crossings, pinpointing the cheese line has been virtually impossible. i couldn't get into myanmar by land, therefore had to fly from india to thailand to myanmar, back to thailand and back to india. and though i wasted many days dearly trying, i couldn't get from nepal to tibet or from jammu & kashmir india to china by land, either. tracing the india border is about as close as i could get. perhaps that IS the cheese line, then; perhaps merchants can't get their paneer across either. i was surprised by how drastically the culture and cuisine seems to change right at the borders i was able to cross, particularly from darjeeling into nepal and then nepal to northern india (i think uttar pradesh is where i entered back into india?).
cheese aside, on the food front as a whole i think my best meals were the tandoor baby shark in goa, the squid + cucumber + egg + rice dishes made in woks by the street vendors in ban saen (sp?) thailand, the fresh fruit (particularly mangoes, and a golf-ball sized sweet fruit whose name i can't recall) in myanmar and thailand, the chana masala at the makeshift bus rest stops through uttar pradesh, a really spicy cauliflower curry in jammu, the ice creams and shakes in lahore, the cherries in the hunza valley (the apricots aren't quite ripe yet but that didn't stop me from eating a kilo on the road where no other food was available!). and the tea pretty much everywhere. the less memorable meals: definitely most things i ate in pyin-oo-lwin myanmar, where i wasn't really able to find any fresh ingredients, most of the dumbed-down thai food in the khao san road (touristy) area of bangkok, and though not untasty by any means, i'm definitely a bit through with the oily dhal dishes throughout the muslim areas. i think this beer-loving vegetarian has found the ultimate diet - a couple weeks in pakistan!! though it turned out to be my favorite country of the trip for non-culinary reasons (the music, the late nights, the beautiful mountains and rivers, the friendly people and most certainly the prices, which are dirt-cheap), i seem to have lost enough weight here to warrant a whole new wardrobe of tailored salwaar kameez!
first things i want upon returning to the states in mid-july: a mock-chicken-cheesesteak from govindas, a proper pizza (one that does not consist of a roti topped with masala paste and a handful of potato chips), salt-baked shrimp (yea, i know i'm in china, but in this western part of the country i can't seem to find it, and even if i did, this place is so landlocked i'm not sure if eating it would be such a good idea), and a yards ESA (philly beer) ...or six!!! i'd also like to find or make one of these little dosa grills i keep seeing over here (a large slightly concave metal surface atop a little terra cotta pot housing a fire pit, or in some cases gas piping for the fire), and set it up in my backyard for some interesting summer picnics!
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
yep, going there! actually meeting up with someone there who runs a foodie blog accessible thru lahore's wikitravel page, i think. i'm getting the proper lahore food tour! so excited to get there.
Chowhound Post
very curious about where the cheese ends in asia
ah, but i tried to take the train! i tried so hard! it was a total disaster combining miscommunications, old & therefore unacceptable US dollars, and total chaos and confusion at the train station!! i spent a whole day in yangon trying to book a train ticket to mandalay before giving up and taking a bus. i found it very strange that the govt-run railway system will not accept their own currency from a foreigner for a ticket, the kyat. myanmar was a wonderful, fascinating country with some of the friendliest people i'm convinced in the entire world. but the money situation there was very difficult! i didn't heed the warnings about bringing in new US bills and it is very true. i budgeted carefully but still ended up falling short on my last day in myanmar, and spent my last night on a sidewalk outside of the airport. :) ah well, it was memorable to say the least!!! while i loved the country overall, i do have to say i found the food... well, mostly repulsive. i didn't find paneer there. i did find one lovely dosa lady, whom i visited every day for lunch (sometimes two lunches) and studied very carefully how they are made. there were chickpeas, spices, salt, tomatoes, onion, coriander and some curious ingredient that looked and tasted a bit like romano cheese but i couldn't get that one translated so i'm not sure. also indulged nearly every day in the faludi at an ice cream parlor near my guest house in mandalay. faludi is a weird dessert soup featuring condensed milk, ice cream, tapiocas, shredded coconut and various other sweets (for philadelphians: there's something similar on the menu at rangoon). i loved it. aside from these two things, i ate a ton that was downright scary/old/oily. two of the staples of a burmese kitchen seem to be oil and scissors. nearly everything is deep-fried, and the sanitation (or lack thereof) is downright horrifying - this, coming from someone who's spent the last month in india! in pyin-oo-lwin, i visited a market that had me sworn off food for two entire days. it looked like there were mountains of black flies for sale, til you walked close enough to disturb them and have them swarm away to reveal piles of rotting meat and fish in the hot, HOT sun (and more times than not there is no power there, so forget refrigeration). the smell was horrifying. when i decided to return to food, i had an odd deep-fried pastry cut up with scissors, and placed in a bowl with condensed milk. burmese cereal. upon close inspection, i found ants baked into the pastry. i figured there's not much better to be found, so i ate it. later that day i ate a fish curry which was a disaster - the fish tasted downright ancient. i ate two bites, and even though i was just about out of money at this point i gave up on burmese cuisine. i spent my last 20 kyat on the world's best mango at a bus pit stop. i would recommend a diet of mango, faludi, dosas and myanmar lager beer for anyone visiting there.
after myanmar i did another week in thailand: bangkok, ko samet, baen sang and chon buri. got distracted by the clear waters and delicious squid of ko samet and ended up running out of time and not visiting chiang mai. thailand on the whole has been my least favorite country of the trip so far, which is surprising because i'd assumed it would be my favorite. not that thais aren't nice, but compared to the other countries i visited i found them colder. things were expensive, and there are so many dishonest people there. taxi drivers trying to change their fares on you halfway through the trip, that sort of crap. one cab driver insists and when i refuse, he kicks me out of his cab in a totally unfamiliar neighborhood. bangkok was the worst experience for me; i ended up abandoning my guest house and catching a bus to ko samet. i rented a little tent and a scooter in ko samet and steered clear of people for 3 days and spent my time eating squid and mangoes. nearly every place i went, though not terribly expensive, really skimped on the seafood portions. in chon buri (really not any sort of vacation destination! an industrial thai city) i had one of my best meals at a wok stand next to the bus terminal - a sort of pad kee mao with squid and egg. also had an odd egg/rice/cucumber/chili pepper/peanut sauce dish from a place with no menu (you just point at stuff). in baen sang (sp?), a filthy little beach / popular thai weekend spot which reminds me of atlantic city in NJ had some more pretty yummy seafood + egg + rice + cucumber from people w/ woks set up under the palm trees on the beach. also had some fabulous mango and pineapple in thailand. and fruit shakes. carrot + banana + strawberry reminded me of the juice stand back at the reading terminal market in philadelphia. :)
after thailand i headed back to kolkata, a city i ended up falling in love with (so much so i have extended my return to the USA out another 5 weeks til mid-july in order to spend some more time there). the people were charming, the city was very easy to navigate via mini-bus and train, and the food was excellent. there is paneer!!! my best meal: a mysterious paneer paratha-burrito thinger from a street stand for Rs/20. i have no idea what that is called (they didn't speak english) but it was so so good. i think this was on or near park street near the subway stop.
from kolkata i caught a series of buses through bangladesh, which is in the running for my favorite country of this whole trip. there's a TON of meat in this country, so i haven't found much i can eat other than dal and roti, but it's been damn good dal and roti. no alcohol (at least not readily available) in this country, and with nothing to take the edge off it can be a difficult place to travel through at times because the poverty/working conditions/pollution can be pretty shocking - not to mention the crowd of people that gather around you any time you open your mouth in bangladesh. return a hello to a passerby, and 40-some people will swarm around you in a circle, staring, waiting for you to make your next move. i felt like the circus in bangladesh. but that weirdness aside, those that could speak english (or at least could communicate via sign language) could not possibly be friendlier. it's seriously a country that takes care of its tourists and expects nothing in return. i was in awe. cab drivers don't rip you off, there's no need to negotiate prices at the guest houses, and it's downright impossible to spend any money there because at every turn, a stranger will step up to buy you pineapples, a cup of tea, dinner, pay your cab fare back to the hotel --- and they insist. the bus assistants will take you on cabs thru town to catch your connecting bus, then relay instructions to the next bus assistant. though my phone's gps doesn't work here, it's virtually impossible to get lost. as charming as the people are, travel is so intense thru bangladesh and i don't think i stayed in dhaka or chittagong really long enough to get a feel for the cuisine. if i feel up to it, i might try to return now at the end of my trip for a few more days.
i dipped back into india, thru darjeeling, and ended up in kathmandu, nepal, where i am right now. lots and lots of cauliflower here. some excellent chaat and pani puri and salted hard boiled eggs. some chow mein and curries and an odd but good spicy lentil soup. but i learned you'd better eat by 8 or 9, because the city virtually shuts down soon afterwards and actually becomes fairly scary (this coming from a philadelphian!). i found out why they lock the gates of my guest house after dark! i have not managed to have a momo yet, but i'm going to track that down for a late lunch today before catching a 5-day series of buses and trains that in a roundabout way (skirting tibet) will eventually leave me in kashgar, china (i really want to take the karakoram highway to islamabad; crossing my fingers all those borders are open).
Chowhound Post
Anyone looking for Bobbi's Hummus?
i just learned this stuff is made in that scary little inwards-facing shopping center at 5th + spring garden.
almanac at 4th + poplar carried it last time i checked.
