Moroccan Style @ Mamounia Lounge Mayfair

Back in November, I received an invite to sample the newly refurbished Mounima Lounge in Mayfair, but Christmas time in the travel industry includes having to go to many Airline and Hotel parties, oh how I tire of them… Yeah right….

Sunday Roast and Beer @ The North Pole

Renovated and reopened last year and renamed the North Pole, this craft beer pub with over 22 beers and ciders on draught and more again in bottles behind the bar, this is slowly becoming my new hangout.

Posh Chicken and Chips

Mark Hix, some would say is a man with his finger on the pulse, knowing exactly what the paying punters want and gladly gives it to them at a price, especially the suited and booted.

An Invitation for some local French Food

We were lucky enough to be invited to the 1^st anniversary party of the Angel branch of Cote a few weeks ago.

It was a great fun night and a chance to meet the guys behind this ever growing chain of French Bistro style neighborhood restaurants.

Guizhou Province - Xijiang, Basha and Zhaoxing

We’ve never been to Guizhou before, it’s pretty much off any tourist trail in this part of China, especially for first timers who bypass it to/from Xi’an/Guilin and vice versa.

But it is defiantly well worth a detour. It’s one of the poorest provinces in China, roads are bad and poorly maintained, villages are far apart and a little isolated. But this makes the end result so much better. Plus there are a lot of minority villages here, which was the whole reason for coming.

Our wonderful hosts saw us off at the kind of bus stop in Hongjiang for the one hour trip to Huaihua, where we caught the train to Kaili, laden with fruit and warm goodbyes we were ready for our next adventure.

Luckily in Huaihua, we had enough time to grab some noodle soup from a small eatery close to the station. As with a lot of cheap places in China, they were using the same thin mass produced and cheap rice noodles. Not so yummy, but the stocks were always good.  As with everywhere in the world, food around train stations is nothing to write home about, but I am a people watcher and these places provide me ample opportunity for me to indulge in this past time.

When we first went to China over 10 years ago I don’t remember the shear quantity of small eateries that there are here today, or maybe I just never paid as much attention to it as I do today. But I’m happy for it.

There is nothing special about Kaili, apart form it is a good base for visiting the minority villages in the area.

It does however have an awesome night market, which thankfully stretched up the street adjacent to our hotel. This was a good place to get some cheap eats and watch the world go by. We ate well that night.

The journey to Xijiang, one of the largest Miao villages in China is pretty amazing. Roads that wind their way up and down and around mountains, giving you excellent views of the countryside below, as long as you don’t suffer from car sickness that is.

The inhabitants of this village or small town have made a very good job of restoring parts of the village, although a simple stroll from the main clean street will bring you to the real Xijiang.

Just wandering around the less developed part brings up many surprises and we met many a lovely person, who were probably wondering why two foreigners were in this part of town when everyone else was down below in the nice clean part.

Surrounding the village are rice fields and rivers, which mean that food is in good, supply here.

Guizhou is not known for its culinary delights, but it does have a sour fish soup called Suantangyu (酸汤鱼).

Quite by chance we managed to try this here at a small eatery on the main street. Quite by accident we had two perfectly innocent fish killed for our enjoyment. The chef even brought them through the front of his small joint to show us, still wriggling in the blue plastic bag before he knocked them on the head and begun chopping them up for the pot.

Suantangyu is basically a hotpot with a sour stock. The fish were already simmering away in the cauldron of fire when it was brought to our table, and we only had to add the other ingredients as and when required. Rice was served separately and made a great vessel for soaking up the delicious stock.

It wasn’t the best meal we had on this trip but it was one of the more interesting ones, the sour notes of the stock were from the tomatoes and were rather a surprise. I’ve never used the good old tom as a souring gent before. Interesting.

Xijiang like other minority villages include in the entrance fee a cultural performance. This one was really like no other except this particular group of Miao have a very bizarre duck dance. Sadly I do not have any video evidence of this, a shame as it was really funny. But with them grabbing people from the audience to make fools of them, we left pretty quickly, as being the only two non Chinese we knew where this was heading. I found a video of a similar thing here. Enjoy.

The road trip to Conjiang was long and dull. We followed the river, but passing through what seemed like an endless building site for 6 hours was not very fun at all.

Basha itself is an interesting village. It’s only 7km’s uphill from Conjiang, but it could be several centuries away.

It’s an amazing place, the people still live and dress as they have always done. They are clinging onto their culture here with full force. Thankfully.

With luck we met up again with a Chinese couple on the bus, who we met in Xijiang briefly. For the life of me I cannot remember their names, but they were pretty cool, except he had this thing that he didn’t like westerners because we called Tibet, Tibet and not Xizang, as it is called in Chinese. But apart from that we were aok. They were to be our translators for the next few days. And boy were we glad to have them.

They basically found us all somewhere to sleep and had arranged dinner for us as well in a simple hostel in the village.

Today another animal bit the dust before our very eyes. This time a chicken. I’m pretty sure it knew it was getting to the end of its time. It must have seen some of his mates or loved ones go into the pot over the last few months, that his all was resigned to it. It was quick and I’m sure it felt no pain as the cook wrung its neck.

I cannot remember what we ate, but there were a lot of dishes all cooked in the local style we were told. The chicken tasted lovely and it had lived a good life to provide us with a good evening. It would have been proud.

Basha is one weird place. As I said it has a feel about it of being centuries old. It is one of the last remaining villages in China where the men are allowed to carry guns. The ancient rifles are carried with pride over the shoulder, although I am really not sure how effective they are these days, as I’m sure they are just for show. But this is China so anything is possible.

The village below is still how I imagined it was 100 years ago, except for the sight of electricity and satellite dishes not much has changed.

The people still wear their traditional clothes, even the men, which is a big surprise, as I’ve found it’s normally only the women who keep to their traditional dress. But not here. 

Most of the men still have their hair long as they used to have in Imperial China. It was good to see that modernization was being kept in check here.

Zhaoxing is by far the most quintessential minority village in China. The largest group are the Dong and they lead a lovely life here in this relaxing town.

The town has a couple of large streams running through it, with wooden houses and shops either side, with bridges to cross and wooden Drum Towers to see it is peace in China. If you can ever imagine such a thing.

Slowly this will change with the opening of a new motorway in the hills above Zhaoxing and several miles away a new train line is being built.

One day soon this small peaceful village will see more tourists, progress and will loose its charm, but for now it is a sheer delight.

The villages surrounding the town are well worth the hike. An hour or so will bring you to a couple of villages where the only people you will encounter during the day are the scores of children and the old people watching over them.

Zhaoxing was one of the highlights of our trip to China, not a lot happened there, but this we liked. Its minor isolation has kept the peacefulness preserved, but with everything in China today, progress is forever advancing at a furious rate.

We loved Guizhou and really want to return here one day. Not sure when that will be but soon. Next stop Guangxi.

Foto Friday # 35

This chicken shop had some genius ways of displaying their wares. Best thing of all was the plucking machine they had out back. Brilliant.

Pho - Is it just a Noodle Soup ?

Pho, is with out doubt the national dish of Vietnam. It is a bowl of white noodles served in a clear beef stock. In Hanoi, it seemed to have taken on obsessional status. They seem to have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am sure there are people who eat it 3 times a day, everyday. It comes in many different variants, the most popular is Pho Bo, or Beef Pho. thin cuts of beef, like brisket, flank or steak. Although Pho Ga, Chicken Pho is pretty good also. You can make it with anything really, intestines and other offal are popular. 

The stock is made in the usual way of simmering beef bones, with roasted veg and spices for several hours till you have a stock to die for. This is really the backbone of a good Pho. Without a good stock it would be just a beef noodle soup, as you get in some Chinese restaurants. The noodles people use are always fresh white ones. No self respecting Pho seller would use anything else. 

The noodles are put in the bowl first, then the stock is added, and finally before it is served a garnish is added. This seems to differ from shop to shop, maker to maker. This is what sets some apart from others. Mostly spring onions, coriander leaves, basil, bean sprouts are used. We had one today off a lady who sprinkled crushed peanuts on top. Yummy. Depending on the shop you will also get served a dish of other herbs to add at your will, like mint, and a few I have never seen before. You always get a bowl of lime wedges, chilli sauce, chilli slices and fish sauce to add as well. I am in favour of a little more heat to my Pho, but only after I have tasted a bit already. I like to see how good their stock is before I pep it up a bit. Phở is pronounced with a falling-rising tone in Vietnamese, as if asking a question in English. It is therefore pronounced as FUH? But I try my best to say it properly, I think I am generally understood though. Especially when asking for Pho in a Pho shop. Kinda obvious what I want. 

Pho originated in Northern Vietnam, and only spread to the rest of Vietnam in the mid 1950's, after the division of the country. The Northerners who did not want to be under communist rule headed South and took Pho with them. Noone is sure how it came about, maybe from the French and their stock making skills, or it was created out of the scraps that the people could afford. Similar to all good peasant dishes. Their are also those who say it was came from China, but the Vietnamese, I am sure would kill anyone who said it was that. They still hate the Chinese. Not surprising after 1,000 years of rule. 

Some of the best Pho I have had here in Vietnam, has actually came from a chain. Pho 24. It's a clean, trendy place, but lacks atmosphere of your smaller family run business. Other good ones have been at Pho 2000 in Saigon. In Hanoi, the best Pho is where the crowds are, and these places are small family run. They do not look much, you sit on small plastic chairs at small tables. You have to wipe the chopstix and spoon before using them. So if I see a shop with a lot of local people, then 99 times out of a 100 it has to be good Pho. and until now, this has never failed me. 

Pho connesueurs, will say that the best Pho is from the north, and the southern style from Saigon, is somewhat sweeter. Pho Hue style contains bits of offal, like steamed blood. Yum, yum.  This what Lina was eating in Saigon, when that chilli tried to kill me, but as it was Pho, I forgave it. 

To say wether Ramen noodles are better than Pho is a question I am avoiding. Lets just say I am addicted to both, and lets leave it at that shall we.