A bit more posh is Kin’s Kitchen (g: W Square; n.b. searching “Kin’s Kitchen” on google gives wrong location; lost a 1 star). Start with a cool Pig Kidney in Sesame Sauce (68 HKD) and end with a Smoked Chicken (170HKD) with complicated burnt flavours.

That will take you to Lan Fong Yuen (g: Lan Fong Yuen; n.b. Google Maps says it is permanently closed but it is not), an authentic breakfast spot with the best Milk Tea and French Toast, Chinese style. This famous vestige of Hong Kong culture was recreated in the art museum mentioned above. 

Finally, the 15th best restaurant in Asia, Bo Innovation (g: Bo Innovation) is French with Chinese inspirations. It has three stars. There, one mainland couple, which I mistook for Canadian because of their Roots paraphernalia, was busily taking photos. The lunch is affordable at 288 HKD and includes a selection of dim sum, a main course and a dessert. 

Begin with a choice of two dim sum. The cauliflower is puréed but not too finely so that it resembles a creamy risotto (or congee, if you please). It sits in a fine black truffle duck jus, a nice forward flavour to contrast the cauliflower. A second appetizer is a play on the classic Cantonese dish Cheung fan, a rice noodle roll. Instead of the usual sloppy, flimsy pedestrian dish, it is finely portioned and again, smothered in black truffle. The main is a sliver of pigeon breast and leg. The pairing of chicken liver that appears almost magically inside the breast with the similarly fragrant shitake mushroom is spectacular. Dessert is the weakest part - too sweet and too busy. Otherwise, a truly innovative meal deserving of three stars.

Cauliflower Risotto, black truffle, duck jus

Black Truffle “cheung fun”

Pigeon stuffed with Chinese liver sausage, shitake mushroom cake, chicken jus infused with sour plum

Taro Ice Cream, Watermelon Jelly, Spicy white chocolate

For a more authentic Hong Kong experience, get the squid ink pasta at Tung Po (g: Tung Po Seafood Restaurant) - just don’t look under the table, look for bugs or pay attention to the waiters. 

Hong Kong is the easiest place to rack up Michelin stars. For a cheap one-star, there is One Dim Sum (g: 一點心; multiple locations; 15-30 HDK a plate). Arriving a few minutes before opening time at 11am should secure a spot. The food is nothing revolutionary – but it is perfectly executed. 

The food culture in Singapore is notably strong. As already seen, there is no shortage of things to gorge oneself on. For something posh, consider Candlenut, a well-received restaurant that serves Peranakan cuisine, a mixture of Chinese and Malaysian cuisine. There is an extensive non-alcoholic drinks list (common in these parts because of the high taxes placed on on alcohol) which includes barley milk, a therapeutic, coconut-like drink. The food included shrimp and radish in crunch cups, whole fish topped with a spicy sauce, and a notably dark chicken curry. The sweet potato leaf sautéed in garlic was light, flavour-packed and aromatic. Finally, the best part of the meal was home-made chocolate ice cream, exceptionally dark, topped with more Valrhona chocolate and crunch (~80 SGD for two).

Now, moving to foodie-level, go to Tippling Club, which has a 42 SGD lunch - a steal for the top 50 Asian Restaurant that it is. It feels modern and bustling, complete with an open kitchen where chefs meticulously fashion and plate dishes and touches of cool like an oil-pack to rest cutlery on. The meal begins with a few amuse-bouches - a warm curry soup, peppers with a soy wasabi paste (eaten with giant tweezers) and a clear tomato ‘soup’ slurped with a straw with basil paste inside. The show really begins with the appetizer - salmon ‘confit’ with enough components to look like a futuristic Singaporean garden. For the main, another perfectly cooked fish, this time a Barramundi topped with celery, green curry purée, an emulsion and an eggplant chip. The fish is dense with a light flavour, and the greenery is just strong enough to pick up the oils of the fish. It’s all good for the "23rd Best Restaurant in Asia”, except the 8 SGD ginger ale (which I inadvertently ordered two).

A final stop for food should be Dempsey Hill, a happening area a little out of town. Most famous there is Samy’s Curry, a large Indian affair with food survey on a lotus leaf placemat. It’s some stunning curry, for a cheap price (~20 SGD for one).

Cha’s Restaurant has better tea than most of the Hong Kong (~15 RMB, 2.62 CAD). The Iced Milk Tea is made with tea infused ice cubes and is so flavour-packed that it almost resembles an iced latte. The Iced Lemon Tea is similarly refreshing. Here, the main attraction is the smoked chicken - a simple dish of sliced skin-on chicken that turns out to be a juicy mouth-popping experience (~50 RMB, 8.74 CAD).

Later at night, go to Mr. and Mrs. Bund for the most pretentious drunk food you can find. It’s one of Asia’s best restaurants in the French style. The late-night menu mirrors the lunch menu – 200 to 250 RMB for a set course. Begin with a mushroom arugula salad served table side, where the pungent flavours and smells of the mushrooms accentuate the peppery arugula. Next, have a tuna tartare, topped with a slimy mayo and the first fries I’ve had in a month. Finally, three slices of pomelo fruit - a drier, sweeter cousin of the grapefruit - dipped in a sweet sauce with rocket powder if you please. 

An excellent lunch spot is Jian Guo 328 (g: Jian Guo 328 or 328 Jianguo West Rd). It’s a tiny, homey place that stays true southern Chinese cuisine. At this point, it’s clear that Shanghai is different. Even these small shops are tasteful and clean - a hard sight to find in the rest of China. The best thing here is actually its home-made iced tea - a similar concoction as the traditional lemon iced tea, but quite a bit sweeter and less lemony. Another treat is the sticky rice in dried date, a traditional dried fruit eaten in these parts. But the sticky rice is a chewy thing to run through your teeth (~150 RMB for two). 

For some high-end dining, make a reservation at FU1015 (g: 福 1015 or 1015 Yu Yuan Lu), another top 50 restaurant with a minimum expenditure of 800RMB. We were put in a private room with a dedicated server and ensuite bathroom. The experience is quite special, starting when you walk into a mansion with no signs (it has a Casa-like feel). They suggest a tasting menu, though it’s essentially à la carte - the prices just need to add to more than 800 RMB. I would recommend requesting the menu and picking for yourself. For example, they gave us a sea cucumber - an ugly creature not for the faint of heart. It alone was 300RMB, and rather pointless. There were some memorable dishes - soy milk ice cream with crispy youtiao - a prescient mix of Chinese flavours in a western dessert. The black cod was a nice, oily contrast with the austere pieces of egg white. The cold dishes were interesting too - soy flavoured fried carp, a bamboo shoot with the consistency of cucumber, foie gras coated in orange. On the other hand, some of the dishes lacked inspiration, or sometimes common sense. A bowl of blueberries and cherries were plopped on a bed of ice. The roasted pork was like all the others I’ve had in China. And a weird stick of bread rested on a gargantuan prawn.

But the real reason one goes to Taichung is to eat at Le Mout, a French master restaurant headed by a female chef with a stunning C.V. By Taiwan standards, it is expensive - $3500 NTD for a full course. The explanation of the name is given in the menu: “Le vin se fait à partir d’un moût. Et le rêve, il se fait à partir d’ici….” The setting is gorgeous - a three-storey restaurant with all the finishings to match any three star in France. The meal begins with a nicoise “pizza”, a little bite-size calzone that bursts in tomato flavour, and a lobster jelly. For amuse bouche, you are surprised with one of two excellent plates. The heavier one is a coffee flavoured creme-brulée that could have easily come at the end of the meal; however, it works at the start as a strong palette cleanser. The tuna tartare is more neutral in flavour - specks of dill paired with the crunchiness of toast. It is a first indication of the artistic merits of plating to be seen in the rest of the meal.

The showstopper occurs early. It is named “nature’s beauty,” a gourmet interpretation of an egg splattered against a black canvas. The height achieved by this dish is like that of the grandmasters in the Basque country: the egg whites and shell are reconstructed using edible ingredients - cream and sugar. The focal point is the egg yolk, which is real. It is a beautiful sunny orange colour, and bursts upon contact. The beautiful display seems like a waste to mess up, but the mixed result is a tasty manifestation of the chicken. In particular, a homemade granola and the just-cracked faux-egg shell soak up all the lovely juices from the egg yolk.

The “walk in the forest” continues with the sweetbread, itself looking like a bucolic area of resplendent shrubbery. The key ingredient is the shallot-leek sauce that acts as an acidic counterbalance to the fatty sweetbread. A trio of lamb comes next - some fatty belly from a farm close by, some loin and some slices mixed in a salad. The only special part was the black bean hummus, a beautiful paste that brings out the softness of the lamb loin. 

The best part of the meal is the foie gras. It’s a beautifully cooked piece - crispy on the outside and mellow on the inside. However it only looks like a spectator, tipping into the pond of Chinese “Toon” (a nutty celery flavour), with edible flowers and wild mushrooms as foliage. A few more well-made courses and finally a chilled tomato soup - sweet so that it counts as dessert, paired with sweet soybean (“Doujiang”) ice cream. Excellent. The entire meal can be considered at the highest end of French cuisine and therefore of all gastronomical experiences in the world. It fulfills the three-star definition - worth a special trip to an off-the-path city in Taiwan.

Le Mout. 3500 NTD

Aperitivo [Nicoise pizza, lobster jelly]

Amuse-bouche [Coffee Creme-brulée, potato chip / Tuna tartare with toast, dill oyster sauce]

Nature's Beauty. Organic Silken Hen’s Egg, Cream of white Chicken Stew, Homemade Granola, Chicken Skin, Split Chicken Jus

Double Consummé, Roasted Mushroom and Fine Herbs

Sweetbread, Caramelized Brussel Sprouts, Sour Onion, Porcini Foam, Shallot-Leek Sauce

Duck Foie Gras “Promenade dans le Bois,” Wild Mushrooms and Toon

Halibut, Flourless Squid Ink Gnocchi, Seaweed Butter, Calamari, Thai Inspired Shellfish Fumet

Tai Tung Guan Shan Lamb Belly, New Zealand Smoked Lamb Loin, Nashi Pear, Beetroot, Fermented Black Garlic & Black Bean Hummus, Warm Rice Salad

Éclair de Bleu d’Auvergne, Sweet Bordelaise Sauce and Hazelnut Butter

Tomato, White Coco Bean and Black Sugar

Mignardise

For dinner, the nightly festivities occur at Dotonbori. There, you must have street-side Takoyaki - fried octopus balls. Then step into a place that makes fried pancakes (maybe Mizuno, g: 1-4-15 Dotonbori) filled with whatever you want. They’re made in front of you so they’re fun to watch, if not entirely good. The real prize is at Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M (g: Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M), which has a small shop in a minor artery of the Dotonbori. It is the most lavish form of Korean barbecue using Matsuaka beef. Notice Osaka is a stone throw from Kobe. This is the prized beef that drinks beer and gets massages. The result is deliciously marbled cuts of beef, sliced thin like sashimi. You then flash cook it on charcoal to blue rare and savour the bursting flavours. This time we had a sampling (2500 JPY/person) that took us through cuts of loin, shoulder and sirloin. They don’t sound like the best cuts, but on this quality of beef, it doesn’t matter.

For sushi, attend Endo Sushi breakfast near the fish market (g: 中央市場 ゑんどう or search Endo Sushi and pick the one on the river). On one side you can see all the stalls of fish being sold to discerning sushi chefs (and some gruesome remains); on the other, eat that same fish in some of the best sushi in the world. There are four sets to choose from, each about 1000 JPY, and you can order à la carte. The essential Japanese specialty is tuna belly, a melt in the mouth fatty sensation not to be missed. 

At night, the area near the river close to Gion Shijo station has the stereotypically Japanese sights. Many streets hug the many canals that run off from the river - all very picturesque. For lanterns go to Pontocho-dori (g: Pontocho; go to where the red dots are) - lanterns and for Geishas go to Shirakawa Minami-dori (g: Shirakawa Minami-dori). The best restaurants are also found on tiny streets around this area. For yakitori, there is Wabiya Restaurant (g: Wabiya; choose the one near Sanjo station). In true Japanese fashion, the restaurant seats a row of guests (maybe 8 people) and there are two chefs/servers who also do the entertaining. The restaurant provides the quintessential Japanese after work experience, a little like going to a bar except the chefs do the introductions. I couldn’t tell what they were telling the other people about us except that we are from Canada. These yakatori restaurants put various parts of a chicken on a stick. On the menu were liver, gizzards, neck, skin and breast. In each case the skewers flew right off the grill, exploding in juiciness and flavour (3200 JPY / person).

At Karyo (g: 祇園迦陵 or 570-235 Gionmachi), shoes comes off and ten courses of traditional Japanese food is served. The courses are usually structured as: cold dishes, soup, raw fish, cooked dishes (mains), rice, dessert. The dinner starts on a mediocre note, really taking off with the grilled grunt topped with sea urchin. The fish itself was of the dry and firm type, itself lacking the flavour expertly provided by the unctuous sea urchin. Then a wonderful cut of pork. It is simmered but still full of mouthwatering flavour accentuated by the dollop of “mayo” on top. But perhaps the best part of this was the soft half of eggplant, swimming in the lightly-flavoured broth. The meal dies down again, with few inventive dishes, until the dessert - a wonderful tripartite of Japanese creme brulée, green tea ice cream and sesame cake. Each is interesting in its own right - the creme brulée was wonderfully bitter, the ice cream resembled a sorbet and the sesame flavour popped in the cake. Together, they finished the meal excellently. 

8000 JPY / person

1.     Eggplant noodles / Grilled sillagnoid / Steamed abalone

2.     Japanese soup / tofu made of mugwort / Fried and boiled dagger tooth pick conger

3.     Sashimi (Fresh raw fish)

4.     ball-shaped sushi

5.     Grilled grunt with sea urchin / Butterbur cooked with soy sauce (!)

6.     Japanese simmered pork / small taro / small eggplant (!)

7.     Tofu of green peas / Asari clam & deep-fried tuna dressed with mustard / common freshwater goby sweented and boiled

8.     Fly lobster covered with rice crackers & onion  / egg soup

9.     Steamed rice

10. Karyo’s original dessert (creme brulée, green tea ice cream, sesame cake)

Go into the Tenryu temple garden and have lunch cross-legged at Tenryu-ji Shigetsu (g: Tenryu-ji and ask for the restaurant) for some vegetarian fare (3500 JPY/person). Then ride up north through little streets lined with rural buildings. It will evoke the most powerful reminiscences of the Miyazaki films you’ve watched. For me, Totoro and the Wind Rises come naturally. End the peaceful journey with a look at stone statues with all sorts of faces at Otagi Nenbutsu-ji (g: Otagi Nenbutsu-ji). The bike ride back into town is about 50 minutes. 

For breakfast, go to the Tsukiji Fish Market (g: Tsukiji Market). The line-up is about 2 hours if you arrive at 5am at Sushi Dai, the most famous of the line of sushi parlours in the area. In true Japanese style, the sushi is placed on the sushi counter in front of you as you sit in a narrow pass. The grinning sushi chef mutters the fish names in Japanese, English or Mandarin. “Don’t use the soy sauce,” he says. It’s already marinated, in traditional fashion. Notably, a beautifully marbled slice of fatty tuna, a huge cut of Spanish Mackerel where the ends touch the table, a simple snapper topped with salt and lime juice (2600 JPY - 7 pieces or 4000 JPY - 11 pieces). It is delicious but maybe not worth the wait. If you arrive at 5am, it might make better sense to go to Daiwa-Zushi, which gets a line by 6am. For the late birds, your breakfast will have to be at the many other sushi shops, which I’m sure are almost as good. 

Lunch might be had at Aoi Marushin (g: Aoi Marushin), a famed tempura restaurant (2200+ JPY for a set). Nearby is the busy, if touristy, Asakusa market and the  Asakusa Kannon Temple (g: Senso-ji).

For some curry, go to Pannya Curry house (g: Pannya; ~1000 / curry, no English menu).

Otherwise, slurp the best soba noodles in town at Sarashina Horii (g: Sarashina Horii; ~900 JPY for noodles) near Roppongi. Also, the teriyaki chicken, which tastes nothing like teriyaki as you or I know it, is not to be missed (600 JPY for chicken). That dish singlehandedly brought back growing up in the suburbs of Tokyo. 

Now, for some star-gazing, Tokyo has the most Michelin stars in the world - more than Paris. Yes, the standards are lower but Tokyo is still foodie-central. At Ishikawa (g: Ishikawa restaurant), keep in the 3-star region, master chef Ishikawa serves but four tables. The lengthy 10 or so course is in traditional Kaiseki fashion, beginning with cold dishes, some raw food, then mains, rice and dessert. The start is stellar. First, we see a cold, oily Sea Bream topped with a sour milt, all in a clam-like bowl. Then a few lightly deep-fried fish - head and tail - that is crunchy and bitter, accentuated by a sweet jelly sauce. Then a high-grade Waygu, perfectly pink, sitting on bamboo so that it rests outside of the clear broth. It seems like a way to ruin a good piece of beef - by putting it in soup. Instead, the beef retains its juicy flavour. The salmon sashimi, mainstream in North America, is so soft and fresh. The crab sashimi dish (from Hokkaido) is too mushy and mixed-up that it fails to be fine. The fish is explosive in soy flavour, with a nice crunchy skin against a crunchy sautéed Japanese cabbage. Unfortunately, the abalone and unagi, both in broth, fails to be interesting, though some of my disdain might be a personal agenda against watery mains. Furthermore, the unagi had quite a few bones still in it. But Ishikawa (who just came out to serve the rice) redeems himself with the dessert - a grapefruit dish sitting in coconut milk. It ends looking a bit like the meal started - orange condiments on white. The taste is completely different. Two grades of grapefruit - one soft yellow and another blushing pink, has the citrusy kick whereas the thick coconut milk gives the dish body. It is an unbelievable end to the meal.

Ishikawa. 3 stars. 20000 JPY dinner. Top 100 restaurants in the world.  

Appetizer. Sea Bream Milt, ‘Udo’ Mountain Vegetables, Daylily Leaf and Grilled Shiitake Mushroom with Grated White Radish

Deep-fried. Baby Ayu Fish with Minced Japanese Pepper Bud

Soup. Bamboo Shoot from Kyoto and Wagyu Confit

Sashimi. Cherry Salmon Garnished with Fresh Seaweed and Japanese Herbs

Horsehair Crab Topped with Crab Innards

Charcoal-grilled. Cutlass Fish and Spring Cabbage

Delicacy. Steamed Abalone and Turnip with a hint of Ginger

Hot Pot. Unagi Eel, Tofu and Seasonal Vegetables

Steamed Rice. Steamed Rice with Black Rock Fish and Fresh Ginger. Miso Soup and Pickled Vegetables

Dessert. Fresh Grape Fruits, Grapefruit Mousse. Crushed Rum Jelly and Coconut Milk

Google seems to think Les Creations de Narisawa (g: Les Creations de Narisawa) place is “permanently closed.” Quite the opposite. It’s thriving. Although it was recently bumped from first in Asia, it is still the place to be in Tokyo. Unlike the other culinary stars in the region, it is deeply rooted in the French style, though many of the ingredients and influences are no doubt Japanese. The dining room is strictly modern, with an open kitchen from which the well-built chef makes a few appearances. As soon as you enter, you notice a candle-looking contraption that holds what first appears to be a pate. Then you notice that the pate is actually growing. It isn’t until the first course arrives - some deep-fried Chiayu sweet fish, water soaked in cedar and some deep-fried burdock and wasabi leaves on fermented soy bean yogurt, and a bucolic arrangement of crunchy green crumbs - that the pate is actually revealed to be sourdough in the fermenting process. A blazing clay pot is fetched, some chestnut tee powder is added, and the “Bread of the Forest 2010” is cooking.

A pamphlet explains the concept - that “humans once lived in the forest” but have recently destroyed it. Therefore, the ingredients of the impending 10-course meal are all said to be sourced from the forest as well as the animals that feed on the forest. This theme is stereotypically Japanese (think Princess Mononoke) so the ideas are not exactly original. However, the execution is. The bread is just about finished cooking when a butter covered with herbs arrives, disguised to look like moss on a tree. The fresh bread is delicious - soft, creamy, with a hint of grapefruit. Then, a lightly seared sea mackerel is lovingly covered with japans herbs and colourful flowers, as an anchovy and garlic paste round out the dish. Together, it represents the “mountain and sea”. Then in a twist of cool, a white bowl from which a mystical white smoke arises is brought to the table-front. Of course the 2nd best restaurant in Asia would use liquid nitrogen. But the powder that rests in it looks exactly like ash, and disintegrates on contact with water. After all the show, which resembles a beautiful landscape of the seashore near a volcano site, is a perfectly cooked squid loaded with paprika flavours, neutralized by lemon and olive oil. 

At this point, you notice that only half of the meal has been served yet you will never look at food the same way again. The next few dishes lose the pazazz and focuses just on flavour. There is a in-shell langoustine under flower pedals, a steamy white asparagus under seaweed and clams, a perfectly tender porchetta - cooked on and off every 3 to 5 minutes in an onion sauce with Japanese root vegetables, and a crispy-skinned Alfonsino with green asparagus, potato and a caper sauce. The only criticism on these dishes is that they come out too slowly. The entire affair takes about three hours so kiss your afternoon in Tokyo goodbye. Of course, the wait is worth it, if only for the signature dish - “Sumi 2009” Omi beef: a “Waygu rump roast marinated in leek, basted in olive oils and then carbonized on the outside”. The beef is first brought out on a steel grate to look like a chunk of charcoal (“Sumi” is Japanese for charcoal). The effect is achieved by the arosé style, a French method that cooks via basting. It keeps the centre perfectly pink. The black powder rubs off and makes for an adventurous meal, especially in a red wine reduction that brings out the sweet meat. 

Dessert is special too. The first is a play on a salty dog, a British slang term used to describe sailers. It uses domestic Japanese grapefruits. They are of high quality and rare. Then yogurt ice cream, amaze sorbet (non alcoholic sake), mugwort mochi and strawberry sauce. I found the strawberry sauce to be a little overpowering and there was nothing too differentiated about this part of the meal. However, Narisawa would not leave us on a down note. Out came the proverbial three-storey cheese trolley, but with desserts of all varieties. In our stupor we got one of everything. There were lines of macarons and tiny French pastries for every sweet tooth. The best ones were the Japanese-influenced ones: a beautiful green tea mochi served in a spoon and a ball of rich, dark chocolate, coated in green tea powder. Needless to say this was a dining experience for the ages. Without a doubt in my mind, Narisawa is the best restaurant I have been to.

Narisawa. 2 stars. 12000 JPY Lunch. 2nd best restaurant in Asia / top 10 in the world

Spring Collection, 2014

Evolve with the Forest

“Bread of the Forest 2010”

Essense of the forest and Satoyama scenery

Chiayu, Sweet fish

Spring mountain and sea

“Ash 2009” Scene of the seashore

Langoustine. Garden

White asparagus. Clam

Kashu pork. Udo. Fuku.

Alfonsino. Green asparagus. Potato

“Sumi 2009” Omi beef

Salty Dog

Strawberry. Amazake. Mugwort

Then take a cab to Baedongbaji in Samcheong-dong (2000 KRW / person), where a bubbly mom welcomes you into her house (a hanok) and cooks a traditional Korean set lunch, full of pickled goods, noodles, carved meats and finishing with a bimbambap - a blazing stone bowl with some rice baked to the sides, coming off only when hot tea is poured in. It is ridiculously difficult to find and might require some pointing to get there.

The best food in town is no doubt at Jungsik (g: Jung Sik Dang), a top 50 restaurant in Asia. The menus are either five courses for 110,000 KRW (with choice) or a six-course set menu for 130,000 KRW. The procession begins with four amuse-bouches, all intricate and special, like half a quail egg topped with popcorn. The best dish perhaps comes at the beginning - an assortment of mushrooms dipped in truffle aioli and mixed with cheese. Course after course of expertly cooked dishes come through. Slices of raw tuna arranged like a rose petal, mixed in with quartered quail eggs, kimchi and sprinkled with a traditional seaweed powder. An octopus “salad” that focuses on huge chunks of octopus. A dice bowl mixed with roasted sweet seaweed and sizeable chunks of seared swordfish. The only mistake in the meal is the two fish dishes - one a snapper and the other a red bigeye (Priacanthidae), both cooked with brittle skin in sauce. One is too light and the other is too sour. The meats also leave something to be desired. The pork belly is expertly cooked but lacks effort, sitting isolated among an assortment of traditional Korean sides. The steak is tasty but lacks inspiration. At worst, it might be described as an American salad with add-on steak as an option. The Dosan Park was a well crafted dessert that brought back the forest imagery many Asian restaurants aspire to - a tree trunk is fashioned using layers of creamy chocolate, coconut and raspberry sorbet. The “cherry blossoms”, a mélange of all things strawberry turn out too sweet at times and sour at others. In review, it was a good meal but certainly lacks the triumphant signature of a top 50 restaurant.

110,000 KRW

Mushroom Quatorze. Truffle Aioli, Cheese

Sword fish. Roasted seaweed, cucumber kimchi

Red Big Eye Fish. Salted Hairtail, Vinaigrette

Crispy Pork Belly. Pickled Vegetables, Groundsel Herb

Dosan Park. Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Sorbet

130,000 KRW

Tuna. Seaweed Powder, Kimchi

Octopus. Chilli Pepper, Vinaigrette

Royal Bibimpap

I Like Snapper

Jungsik Steak

Cherry Blossoms

Some Korean barbecue is surely in order, perhaps at Arirang Folk Restaurant (g: Westin Choson; near). Some deliciously sweet and fatty short ribs (Kalbi) cooked table side (39,000 KRW) comes with more sides than you can imagine.

Nahm

1100 Set

Pineapple triangle topped with chilli, pork, peanut and prawn

Prawn and coconut      wafers with pickled ginger

Blue swimmer crab      with peanuts and pickled garlic on rice cakes

Green curry of chicken with thai eggplants and basil

Deep fried grouper with fish sauce

Salad of fresh river prawns with pork and asian pennywort

Thai dessert [mangosteen, lychee]

It begins with the amuse-bouche that is on everyone’s blog - a pineapple triangle (“Ma Hor”) topped with chilli, pork, peanut and prawn. I appreciate what Nahm is trying to do here. It stays true to Thai cooking and uses traditional ingredients and replicates traditional flavours. Unfortunately, as this amuse-bouche already shows, the cooking fails to push the envelope far enough. It’s just a ball of sweet on top of a sourish fruit. A few courses later, you wonder if anything interesting has happened. There is excellent, shattering crunch of the “coconut wafers” and a fresh salad of ginger and prawns inside. The rice cake offers much less texture discovery. Unfortunately, it is mostly downhill from here. The deep fried grouper is hopelessly dry, and again, boring. It amounts to a glorified deep-fried fish in vinegar. The green curry offers little new. The dessert is somewhat redemptive, especially the lychee soaked in a icy, sugary water. Unfortunately, the meal was far from the best meal in Asia. This experience reveals some telling things about the 50 best restaurants list. Most simply, it is one opinion as is mine. It is also dependent on mindset and experience. I went for lunch and could not order anything spicy. Perhaps the spicier dinner options are more inventive. For example, a guinea fowl comes highly recommended that was not on the prix-fixe. Maybe I ordered the wrong things or played it too safe. Furthermore, the top 50 restaurant guide might better be named the 50most talked about restaurants. It often rewards names that are controversial instead ones that are good by consensus. Nahm’s main controversy was how a white man could bring Thai food back to Thailand. After consulting other reviews from other bloggers, I am happy my concerns are echoed everywhere. There is no wow-factor. It leaves me wondering how this can be the best restaurant in Asia.

Taste of Gaggan 1800 Baht

Street Eats from India: Yogurt Chaat, Samosa, Spiced nuts in an edible plastic bag, pain puri

Viagra: Freshly shcuked oyster, spiced marinated apple and Yuzu chutney with lemon air

Sandwich: Foie gras mousse, onion water baguette, onion chutney and hazelnut candy

Down to Earth: Summer vegetables: asparagus, morels, mushrooms, artichokes with 62 degree C egg yolk and truffle, chill air

River King: Fresh water prawn grilled in a tandoor with a curry leaf infusion and mango chutney

Keema Pav (Lamb Ragout): Minced lamb curry with dehydrated tomato bread and chutney

Bong Connection: Red mullet in green chill herb marinade with Bengali mustard, sweet potato, all spice gel

British National Dish: Home-style chicken tikka masala accompanied by naan bread

Made in Japan: White sesame cake, wasabi ice cream and miso leaves

Divine: Fresh Mahachanok mango with cardamom ice cream, pistachio gnocchi and yogurt cookie

Dubbed “progressive Indian,” this experiment in molecular gastronomy is rated the best Indian restaurant in the world. Its only criticism might be that it isn’t very Indian. How is Foie gras even Asian at all? Yet from the first bite - a Yogurt Chaat with an raw egg consistency - you know the meal will be special. This amuse-bouche turns molecular, using techniques from Spain, giving the chaat a thin membrane. When it breaks, an eruption of traditional indian flavours break loose and serenade every point in the mouth. Fast forward to the controversial foie gras dish. the “baguette” is made of onion water - a foam that dissipates in your mouth, leaving just the succulent duck mousse. Then a perfectly cooked “62 degree” egg comes in a stone bowl with copious servings of mushrooms and truffles. The egg alone, the sunny yolk running lusciously, makes the dish. The meal continues to be interesting - with a good sense of humour too: one dish is named “Viagara,” presumably for the aphrodisiac in the oyster; another is named “British National Dish”, alluding to how the tikka masala chicken is more widely eaten than fish and chips. At time, the food feels almost too experimental. The pistachio gnocchi, for example, misses on flavour and the slobbering of concentrated mango feels anything but fine. And indeed, some dishes are not Indian at all. But perhaps that’s not the point (one dish is called “Made in Japan”). This menu is about Gaggan, the chef, who is adept at Indian cooking. But when he successfully puts in dishes from other cuisines, I am not complaining.

Issaya ~1300 Baht à la Carte

Yum Hua Plee: Banana blossom and heart of palm salad, crispy shallots and roasted peanuts a chill jam dressing

Gai aob: All natural Sankhaburi chicken “Issaya-spiced” rubbed and charcoal grilled 

Wok sautéed short grain rice with “Hed por”: Asian multi grains, shanghai mushrooms and garlic sprinkled with mushroom-scented oil

In an environment quite like Bo.lan, situated near a well-off gated community in a white mansion, Issaya Siamese Club comes right out of colonial times (though Thailand was never colonized). The most famous dish of them all - a salad with banana blossom and heart of palm with lots of nuts and strips of crispy shallots, is addictive. The ingredients seem like they are from another world, and to most of us, they are. Then, flaming whisky is poured over grilled chicken, rubbed with a strong but not spicy mix. It is a lot of chicken, best eaten with pot-sticking rice with mushrooms. The chicken starts off tender and juicy. After a while, it turns a bit dry but you’re done eating by then. Another fun dining experience, thanks to Thai cuisine.

srabra by kiin kiin ~ 1300 Baht à la Carte, lunch

Kaffir lime leaf scented lotus Root 

Prawn Cracker with Chilli tomato Dip [prawns, garlic, dried prawns, chill, tomato]

Soy roasted cashew nut meringe [soy sauce, sugar, cashew nut]

Frozen red curry [Red curry paste, lobster, lychee, lemon juice, chill, coriander, keffir lime, Lychee foam]

Tom Kha Soup with Quail and Sauteed mushrooms [Quail, mushrooms, tapioca, coconut milk, galangal] 

My favourite of the restaurants in Bangkok, not least because of its preference for the modern. It is an offshoot of Kiin Kiin (Copenhagen), the only Thai restaurant to have a michelin star. Srabra is in the ritzy Kapensky hotel in Siam square, as ‘downtown’ as it gets. And in Bangkok, you can eat at a fraction of the price in Copenhagen. To start are three amuse-bouches. A crunchy deep-fried lotus root sprinkled with sugar. A prawn cracker dipped in a airy but defined tomato paste. Finally a sweet and salty piece of soy cashew meringue. To begin, a modern take on the widely eaten red curry. Except it is frozen. Giant pieces of lobster in a lemon juice share a helmet-shaped bowl with a scoop of red curry ice cream. The “inside” of the bowl is filled with liquid nitrogen, which regulates the temperature of the curry and more importantly, looks cool. Between the liquid nitrogen and the lychee foam, it feels a bit like digging for treasure in some ancient hot-spring. The prize is curry-soaked lobster, in a cool sauce - a perfect antidote for the heat. The next dish is just as heavenly. It is a (again) modern take on the traditional Tom Kha (Coconut) soup. Instead of chicken, a tender quail is used, sitting with mushrooms and tapioca. The beauty of this dish is how defined each of the strips of ingredients (either quail or mushroom) are, each maintaining its own flavour and pairing together perfectly. The coconut milk with hints of galangal (a ginger) does not ruin the integrity of the quail as if the quail is water-proof. Instead, the sauce adds a gentle, milky touch. This is an inspired meal.

Bo.lan balance 1980 Baht

Welcome Drink - Chilled Lemongrass & Pandanus.

Ya dong grachai dum served with sour fruits

Bo.lan amuse bouche

Single plate of the day - prawn

Salad of chicken, pork & prawn with grilled banana blossom served with chill dressing

Central-plain chill relish of Andaman shrimp paste and acacia leaf omelet & local greens

Quail

Green curry of “KU” beef

Bo.lan clear soup

Bo.lan dessert du jour

Petit fours to accompany your cup of Bo.lan blend

Bo.lan blend: Chiang Mai tea with spices, mint, ginger & honey

Bo.lan is the most traditional of the five, serving course after course of traditional Thai fare. As you step out of the humid Thai climate and enter into this nice cottagey restaurant, you are given a refreshing welcome drink - a Chilled Lemongrass & Pandanus water. The main ingredient is the extract from the Pandanus flower, which is a bit like coconut - sweet and nutty. Then another two drinks come as part of the set course. The “whisky” is much too boozy but another serving of Pandanus water is again, refreshing. There was also an odd selection of sour fruits that were much too sour and chilli crumble and salt that didn’t seems to be useful. Five amuse-bouches, are served. Many follow the sweet-stuff on weird Thai fruit formula. Most of them work - the succulent ramboutin fruit topped with a chewy prawn. Using the amuse-bouches, the restaurant solicits your spiciness tolerance. Apparently, I was intolerant. The set menu appropriately caters to the uninitiated like me - not by putting less spice in a dish, but rather by making a new dish together. I was that the dishes were not being changed or compromised because of a personal weakness. After a final starter of chilli relish with a omelette inside a “acacia” leaf, the real onslaught begins - salad, soup, curry, rice - all served together. It is a mountain of food and choosing what to try next is mentally difficult. It turns out to be a lot of fun. Picking apart the dense quail with your fingers while pouring green curry over the brown rice, and of course digging into the traditional thai salad - full of coriander and sweet and sour sauce. The food itself is top notch, though the point of this meal is not to deconstruct or necessarily push the boundaries. It is traditional Thai recipes cooked properly with good ingredients. More importantly, Bo.lan is a comfortable experience with thoughtful service and lots of food to eat.

Beijing is the only place in memory where you should not eat like a local. Go to the tourist traps because the general restaurant is a trap and tourists demand better food and service than the populous. For peking duck, go to Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant (g: Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant; many locations), preferably the one on Jinbao road. It serves a mouth-watering duck that is less oily than its competitors (~150RMB, half). Also, get the sweet and satisfying eggplant tower (~50RMB). They also have a good beer selection, including some German ones.

For straight-up Chinese food, go to Dali Courtyard (g: Dali Courtyard; ~150 RMB / person set). It is close to Nanluoguxiang (g: nanluoguxiang), a pedestrian street that has everything but most importantly a famous milk custard (g: 文宇奶酪店). The actual restaurant is a beautiful courtyard in one of the back alleys (a “hutong”) of Beijing. It is served in carte-blanche style. A procession of beautifully cooked food comes. It is, no doubt, the best mainland Chinese food on the trip. For example, a fresh frisée salad in a weighty and full-bodied Chinese vinaigrette. Southeast Asian influences come in often: the mint in the tofu skin and lemongrass in the flattened and crispy Tilapia, and crispy seaweed on some prawns. Some dishes are deeply rooted in Chinese cuisine – like the Kung Pao Chicken. Another excellent touch is the tasty homemade drinks – a lemonade and an iced tea – that are unfound in the rest of China. Yes, everyone here is a foreigner here – but that’s what makes it good.