6 posts tagged “cuisine”

If you can’t get Japanese food during your stay in Auckland, the airport (the domestic terminal) is your next best bet. Hayama does a good wakame udon for under NZ$10.

Hayama Sushi Bar

Your food is ready

Nobody looks after you food-wise better than Chef Adil Khan of Shanti Home. My first made-in-India Indian breakfast was this, a masala omelette. This was cooked up when I said I was in a rush and had about 15 minutes. Well, they made it in five and delivered it, room service:

Shanti Home masala omelette

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Fruit for breakfast

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Since India has been extremely kind to me—the people here are amazing—I owe it to this nation to bust a few stereotypes.
   First, the food. It is excellent and in two days I have had no problems with my tummy. ‘Delhi belly’ is a cruel stereotype that I was given by some friends prior to my departure, though I knew instinctively it was cobblers. The same rule applies here as everywhere else: if you are careful about what you stick in your mouth, you are fine. People do know that in rural areas things can be tougher. Nevertheless, I can make this conclusion: Indian food is fab and way better than expat Indian restaurants.
   Secondly, this is certainly not a backward country, and anyone who has read books such as The World Is Flat would know that. Here I am, surfing on wifi, and at speeds and with connectivity better than what I might find in other parts of the world, and that includes New Zealand. There is a rich–poor gap and that does mean some poverty but that also generates invention. I saw booksellers yesterday with used books alongside new ones; we should be copying some of the recycling efforts that Indians undertake every day.
   If your impression of an Indian car park is old colonial hand-me-downs, think again: the Daewoo Lacetti (Chevrolet Optra) is newer than what many countries sell, including Australia and New Zealand:

Chevrolet Optra facelift

 
My friend and distant relative May Yan contributed to this new book on Chinese cuisine, called Eating Stories: a Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck. It’s important for those of us in the diaspora not to lose some of our good eating habits and knowledge about traditional cuisine, and to be able to pass them on to the next generation. The way May described this book, it’s the sort of thing that I would regard as vital for my own well-being!

I have learned that the posh French do not say, ‘Bon appetit.’ I will keep saying it, since I am not a posh Frenchman. But do remember this next time you dine with those aristocratic types, such as my friend Count de Money and those of that ilk.

So far so good down here in Dunedin. The speech went well, and I had a lovely lunch at Bacchus, sampling its Waitake River salmon (very fine, and probably the best I have tasted this side of the Equator). Today will be a busy day, interviewing three to four designers and registering the photographers.
   First night’s dodgy MSG-laden food sucked though, and led to a night of insomnia (due to an allergy). Will just have to stay clear of Chinese food in this city as well.
   Why can’t these Chinese restaurants realize that MSG has no place in real Chinese cuisine? Or, if they are going to stick it in, give us a warning. There are a lot of people out there with an allergy. One friend of mine even carries around an injection of adrenaline in her handbag in case some dodgy bastard doesn’t tell her that there’s MSG in the food.