Something about Sushi
Traditionally it will take seven to ten years to train a Japanese sushi chef. The Japanese have a high standard for sushi requirements, an apprentice chef will spend the first couple of years just to housekeeping around the kitchen, then a few more years learning how to prepare rice and no student could advance the next step until they can do the rice perfectly.
There are many so called sushi chef outside Japan never really trained and they are always missing a few things and it is easy to spot. First, they don’t clean their chopping board and the knife after they cut the fish; second, they should have different knifes to cut different fishes; and they will never smoke when break time, because the smell of the cigarette on the hands may affect the taste of the fish.
How do you know a good sushi restaurant? Beside check out the chef - see how he is handling the fish and rice, also check out the toilet - good chef cares about the hygiene and will never allow a dirty toilet in the restaurant, because they also use the same toliet when they need to go. If the toilet is not clean then imagine what they are serving you with their hands, so if you happen to be in one of those, do not eat there.
I have read it somewhere about some Japanese sushi master, when they go in to the restaurant kitchen, the very first thing they will do is to taste and smell the tap water, because if the water has bad taste or smell, then it will be waste of time to make the sushi because it will affect the fresh ingredients. Surely in some cities, such as New York, Barcelona, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Moscow, etc the tap water is filled with high level of chlorine and with rusty pipes, so the water there is the major issue as it has strong odor. A good sushi restaurant must be equipped with water purifier.
Some people don’t know the different between sushi and sashimi. Sushi are the ones with rice and those ones with a slice of raw fish on top of the rice called Nigiri. How do you spot a good sushi? The balance between the rice and the fish is important (it can not be too much or too less rice), but the taste of the rice is the soul of sushi, if the rice tastes bad then it will ruin it, even the best fish can’t make it better. A good sushi chef will insist to use Japanese rice because its texture and taste are very different than others, the good sushi should not be sticky and wet, can not be hard and dry. Good sushi rice has the fregrance of the mixture of the rice and vinegar, something between sweet and a touch of sour.
Sashimi is raw fish slice. A good old traditional Japanese restaurant in Japan almost never serve salmon because they consider it as a cheap fish, but modern sushi places don’t care because its profitable and easy to get the supply, but also many people these days just don't know any better. I think there are much more fishes that taste better than salmon, such as yellow tail, Tuna's belly and white trevalley etc, You have to start with the best to train yourself to have a good taste, I suggest you go to the best sushi restaurant in your city, order the tuna fish belly then use it as the standard, then you will learn the difference between good and bad taste and texture. Yes, it will be pricy, but that's part of the game. To experience good food in the good restaurant will leave you a memory of a life time, so it will be well worth it.
Here is the list of the usual suspect of Sashimi or Nigiri:
akami maguro (red tuna), ohtoro maguro (expensive tuna with fat – toro means the belly meat of a tuna fish), aji (horse mackerel, often topped with chopped scallions and grated ginger), hamachi (yellow tail), ikura (salmon roe), isaki (similar taste to yellow tail), ika (squid), tako (octopus), anago (salt water eel), unagi (barbecued eel), shima-aji (white trevally), ama ebi (shrimp), kurodai (snapper), hotategai (scallop) and uni (sea urchin).
In Japan they sell Fugu (Puffer Fish) in super markets, the liver of this fish has poison and it can kill very fast if you eat it wrong way, so cutting this fish has to be extremely experienced, the chef has to cut the fish really quickly before it puffed and know exactly where to cut, if he accidentally cuts the liver, then the poison will be spread to the whole fish. Since I am not sure if the person who cuts the Fugu is well trained, so better to go to some famous shop to have it, even tho they say, its poison is so deadly, will kill so fast, you will die with a smile because the fish is so tasty.
Almost every Vietnamese restaurants around the world has this beef broth rice noodle - Phở, but not everyone is good. Some are trying to make it good but it doesn’t work. Some of us try to do it at home, also doesn’t work. But you say “it’s such a simple dish?" Let me tell you, it might look simple but to make a good Phở, first you need to taste the best. Good cook needs to know what is a good taste, meaning - to know how to eat, without knowing the best what can they compare it to? To try a good bowl of Pho, I will suggest to start with the famous shops in Hong Kong, Australia, or if you are in Europe there are a couple of Vietnamese places in Paris that are pretty good.
I have tried many Vietnamese restaurants in many cities in many countries, and got disappointed almost every time and the worst Pho I tasted was in Barcelona, a place called BUN BO - their soup taste like a soap water, they sliced the beef too thick and tough, the rice noodle just way under cook, that’s a big No, rice noodle should be like silk, not al dente because it is not a spaghetti. I guess someone who cooked this never tried a good Phở.
In my opinion, Phở is a dish that can’t really be cooked at home, no matter how many recipe book you read, it’s just doesn’t taste the same. The reason is because to do a authentic Pho, you need a very big pot like a Barrel and you have to put like 30kg of beef brisket and different cut of beef and 20kg cow bone in there, since cow bone will taste bitter and smelly when you boil it for a long time, so to balance the taste and make the beef broth sweeter, you will also need to put chicken bone and fish bone with all the spices such as: pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cumin, dried tangerine peel, whole garlic, onion, lemongrass, etc.
I know some places even put in liquorice. Some say to boil the borth for more than 6 to 8 hours, some people told me to boil it for 24 hours, maybe they are both right, but one thing I am sure is this broth has to be clear and the taste has to be complex and thick. It's not just a simple beef broth, but everything in that bowl should taste like a Vietnamese Christmas. I heard the word “ Pho” came from the word Phoenix, I don’t know how true is that, but a good taste of soup does make you feel re-born.
Most common way to serve Phở is with beef. Slice the beef really thin and let the broth get thru the beef when serve. Or serve the beef half cooked in the bowl. Some like it more luxury is what it called “special” Phở with beef balls, beef trips, etc.
If you eat at the shop they must give you a basket of garnish to go with it, such as basil, laska leaves, Chinese coriander, Mexican coriander, bean sprouts, lemon or lime wedges and red chili. When a bowl of Phở is in front of you, smell the fragrance, drink the soup, put in the garnish and add the sauce if you like and usually there are three different sauce on the table, they are hoisin sauce, Huy Fong Sriracha sauce and Vietnamese fish sauce. You also need to know that only rice noodle serve with beef or chicken can be called Phở.
A good bowl of Phở is an addiction for life and a journey, I do not exaggerate. Almost every Vietnamese restaurants around the world has Phở, but not everyone is good, so keep searching and welcome to the world of Phở. If you are still insisting to make it at home, then buy the biggest pot.
Best Phở
Australia:
Melbourne
Pho Dzung Restaurant, 208 Victoria St Richmond Victoria
Miss Chu, 297 Exhibition St Shop 2 Melbourne Victoria
Brisbane
Trang Vietnamese And Chinese Restaurant , 59 Hardgrave Rd ,West End Queensland
Pho Hoang Gia, 146 Wickham St Fortitude Valley Queensland
France:
Le Kok, 129 avenue de Choisy 13e Quartier Chinois, Paris
Pho 14, 129 avenue de Choisy, Quartier Chinois, Paris
Hong Kong:
Lo Chiu, 10-12 Hillwood Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Nha Trang, 88 Wellington Street, Hong Kong
Share My Restaurant
Going out dinning was part of my life, the time I spent with my father in the restaurants more than I spent with him at home, most restaurants and hotels staff can call me by name, I knew the hidden exits in different hotels, I could walk into a kitchen of a some restaurants and get the ice cream or the cake for myself. I talked to chefs and sometime I learnt from them because I was bored, it was Italian restaurant where I learnt to poach my first egg the chefs and waiters became my friends. That’s why one of my dream growing up beside making movie is to have my own hotel and a restaurant, but if I open a restaurant, what should it be? How about an international place with famous dishes from different countries?
Sushi is a must, Japanese food has been
very popular over the years all over the world but I have noticed there aren’t
many of them are authentic. I must find a good sushi chef and he is not limited
to sushi but the traditional Japanese menu. I am not a big fan of fusion
Japanese, to me they are just people who can’t do the real Japanese well.
Then what about Thai? I always love Thai
food, the chili, hot and sour and the green curry, the smell of coconut and
lime and shrimp paste. At home when I have dinner party I always love to serve
a seafood green curry in a whole pumpkin. First you make a lid on the top of
the pumpkin by cutting around the stem with a angle. Make sure the opening is
large enough to work within. Then remove the seeds and fibers with a metal
spoon. Brush the outside of the pumpkin and the lid with butter or vegetable
oil around a casserole dish large enough to hold the pumpkin Then bake
the pumpkin for about 30 minutes until it is half soft. Remove the pumpkin from
the oven, and gently scrape some of the flesh into the curry mixture. Puree
with blender, combine the puree, onion, curry paste, chicken broth, brown sugar and
lime juice coconut cream and cook it altogether then put it in the hollow
pumpkin. Replace the lid of the pumpkin to cover. Bake for an other half an hour.
Serve immediately once it is done.This is a easy and impressive dish to treat
your dinner guest and it tastes very good, especially for winter. Doing Thai food
has to be spicy, many places adjusted the taste for the customer, that is a
big no no. Thai food needs to be exciting like Bangkok.
If I talked about Bangkok, I have to mention Vietnam. And talk about Vietnamese food how can I not to talk about pho? The beef rice noodle soup, the best pho is addictive. People who never try it will never understand “its just a beef broth with rice noodles. What so special about it? Yes, you are right when you had a bad experience of pho but once you try the best. Like the one I had in Melbourne and Brisbane. You will right away fall in love with it. And then the taste will become part of your DNA, you can never go back . ..Melbourne? I thought you said its Vietnamese food?
Yes, actually there are a lot good Vietnamese restaurants in Australia because of the immigrate. Some of them were there since the 70’s. A good recipes with the best soup base ,good slices of beef and noodles serve with a little plate of Vietnamese mints/ basil, bean spout, chili and lime, squeeze a bit of lime juice and put a little bit of mints and bean spout in the soup, the aroma and the fragrance of all the good ingredients go straight to your nose with the steam, you taste the first slip of soup, that is not just food, it’s a spiritual journey and you think life is good. The most import part of pho is the broth and there are many recipes on and off the internet teaching you how to do the broth and believe me, if you follows them you will only fail. If you want to make it good, you have to first try the best soup and then keep trying until it tastes right, but I can tell you, if you only use beef bone to make the soup that is not enough, you have to at least do it with chicken bone and beef tongue as well and of coz with star arise and cinnamon etc? Just try it until you success, it will be fun and satisfy. The worse pho I have tried was in Barcelona. A place near Plaza Cathedral. The soup they do is tasteless, I rather have instant noodles.
If I talked about Bangkok, I have to mention Vietnam. And talk about Vietnamese food how can I not to talk about pho? The beef rice noodle soup, the best pho is addictive. People who never try it will never understand “its just a beef broth with rice noodles. What so special about it? Yes, you are right when you had a bad experience of pho but once you try the best. Like the one I had in Melbourne and Brisbane. You will right away fall in love with it. And then the taste will become part of your DNA, you can never go back . ..Melbourne? I thought you said its Vietnamese food?
Yes, actually there are a lot good Vietnamese restaurants in Australia because of the immigrate. Some of them were there since the 70’s. A good recipes with the best soup base ,good slices of beef and noodles serve with a little plate of Vietnamese mints/ basil, bean spout, chili and lime, squeeze a bit of lime juice and put a little bit of mints and bean spout in the soup, the aroma and the fragrance of all the good ingredients go straight to your nose with the steam, you taste the first slip of soup, that is not just food, it’s a spiritual journey and you think life is good. The most import part of pho is the broth and there are many recipes on and off the internet teaching you how to do the broth and believe me, if you follows them you will only fail. If you want to make it good, you have to first try the best soup and then keep trying until it tastes right, but I can tell you, if you only use beef bone to make the soup that is not enough, you have to at least do it with chicken bone and beef tongue as well and of coz with star arise and cinnamon etc? Just try it until you success, it will be fun and satisfy. The worse pho I have tried was in Barcelona. A place near Plaza Cathedral. The soup they do is tasteless, I rather have instant noodles.
There are so many different kind of curry. The sweet curry from Japan, the butter chicken from India and the coconut base
curry from Thailand, also curry from Malaysia, Singapore, even China .. one
day I should do a full curry dinner and everything will be made by curry from
different countries. My restaurant should have a curry section only catering
for curry lover? Curry lamb, curry fish head, curry chicken, curry beef ...red
... green ... yellow, curry everything. That will be fun and colorful.
Italian is all about the pasta. Many
places called themselves Italian restaurant but can’t even do it right , they
think if they just throw in some tomatoes, olive oil and vinegar then it will become
Italian food?
The perfect sauce should be made from gently squeezed fresh tomatoes, garlic carefully minced and olive oil pressed from the happiest little olives and set to gently simmer for hours. In the movie Goodfellas it showed you the mafia using razor blade to cut the garlic really thin ,I think that’s also a good way too if you have the time.
But if you don’t have enough time, then try sautéed some onions and garlic with some crushed tomatoes and a mix of dried herbs cooked for 25 minutes or so can also make it taste like an ancient family recipes, the pasta have to cooked right ,not too hard and not too soft as the Italian call it “al dente”. And no matter what don’t rinse the pasta, Italians never rinse their pasta.
The perfect Italian’s pasta dish it is the combination between noodles and sauce. Always put your pasta in the pan where your sauce is cooking, add a little bit of the pasta water from the pot in which you cooked your noodles. Cooking the pasta in the sauce let the sauce to coat and cook into the pasta rather than just sitting on top of the noodle, that are simple and logical steps but strangely many people have missed it, but many of them are so called chef as well.
Beside Italian, Chinese also do noodles. Noodles in the soup. Wonton soup or noodle without soup . Shanghainese or Beijing stir fired noodles or fired noodles with seafood or beef.., Singapore has Singapore rice noodles or maybe we can have Japanese ramen? Yakisoba? How about cold wheat or green tea noodles.
My restaurant will have fresh seafood in the big fish tank, if possible, so you can see all the sea food swimming. All you have to do is to tell the waiter which fish that you want and we will get it for you. Maybe I can even get a diver to catch the fish or pick up the lobster or sea urchin in front of you?
If you don’t like seafood you can try our meats? We have the best cut of meats from Japan, America and Australia. What about pork from Spain? You can have your choice of meat from different size and parts. Have you try Cow cheek or Iberian Pork Cheek? I will also serve you the best porterhouse steak with the perfect thickness like the one in Peter Luger and the Strip house in New York. Many restaurants serve their steak really thin in Spain and I still don’t understand why.
You can also have steak tartar and it will come with a small glass of port but I prefer the Korean taste - Yukhoe - made with: ground pepper, garlic, honey, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce. It tastes much better than the European one. You don’t like raw beef but don’t mind raw oysters? You are lucky because I have the best oyster bar in town, where you can see all the different oysters in front of you. Just pick and eat , you will see our oyster master to open a dozen of oysters within 3 minutes, it will be just like a show. So don’t forget the give the master your applause.
Burger, hotdog ,calms chowder from New York, how about some fried chicken from new Orleans too? Dumpling and Peking duck and all sort of dishes from China, lets not forget the French? Cassoulet, escargots, foie gras.
Maybe I should have one whole floor just for sweet food? Grill chicken wings, kebab, takoyaki, curry fish balls, fried squid, oyster omelette, pizza? Kind of like a Spanish tapas place? People can just sit at a bar table to order? A fresh fruit garden have all kind of fruit from different countries, all the fridges are designed like a real tree and farm so people have to pick up their apple from a “tree” ? Or watermelon from the “fram” ?
A rooftop barbecue and grill section you can have all the seafood and meats with all kind of bbq way. Why not to grill it yourself? We have more than 50 kinds of dipping sauces? You must find something you like.
Want to have something simple? How about sandwiches, we have different kind of bread you can chose from and we will do the best tuna sandwiches with tartar sauce? you don’t like tuna then you can have the roast beef with Coleman mustard instead. Still don’t like then I hope the roast chicken with avocado, cherry chutney or a roast pork with apple sauce and I am sure the Vietnamese pork pun will get your attention, don’t forget to order extra chili if you like it spicy. So much food already and you want something to drink?
How about a nice cold beer ? we brew our own beer and with the biggest selection from around the world. You have red wine from Italy and France and the white from New Zealand and Chile, Singapore Sling anyone? Yes. We do the best cocktail in town as well. Just watch how the bartender throwing the bottle at each other.
The perfect sauce should be made from gently squeezed fresh tomatoes, garlic carefully minced and olive oil pressed from the happiest little olives and set to gently simmer for hours. In the movie Goodfellas it showed you the mafia using razor blade to cut the garlic really thin ,I think that’s also a good way too if you have the time.
But if you don’t have enough time, then try sautéed some onions and garlic with some crushed tomatoes and a mix of dried herbs cooked for 25 minutes or so can also make it taste like an ancient family recipes, the pasta have to cooked right ,not too hard and not too soft as the Italian call it “al dente”. And no matter what don’t rinse the pasta, Italians never rinse their pasta.
The perfect Italian’s pasta dish it is the combination between noodles and sauce. Always put your pasta in the pan where your sauce is cooking, add a little bit of the pasta water from the pot in which you cooked your noodles. Cooking the pasta in the sauce let the sauce to coat and cook into the pasta rather than just sitting on top of the noodle, that are simple and logical steps but strangely many people have missed it, but many of them are so called chef as well.
Beside Italian, Chinese also do noodles. Noodles in the soup. Wonton soup or noodle without soup . Shanghainese or Beijing stir fired noodles or fired noodles with seafood or beef.., Singapore has Singapore rice noodles or maybe we can have Japanese ramen? Yakisoba? How about cold wheat or green tea noodles.
My restaurant will have fresh seafood in the big fish tank, if possible, so you can see all the sea food swimming. All you have to do is to tell the waiter which fish that you want and we will get it for you. Maybe I can even get a diver to catch the fish or pick up the lobster or sea urchin in front of you?
If you don’t like seafood you can try our meats? We have the best cut of meats from Japan, America and Australia. What about pork from Spain? You can have your choice of meat from different size and parts. Have you try Cow cheek or Iberian Pork Cheek? I will also serve you the best porterhouse steak with the perfect thickness like the one in Peter Luger and the Strip house in New York. Many restaurants serve their steak really thin in Spain and I still don’t understand why.
You can also have steak tartar and it will come with a small glass of port but I prefer the Korean taste - Yukhoe - made with: ground pepper, garlic, honey, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce. It tastes much better than the European one. You don’t like raw beef but don’t mind raw oysters? You are lucky because I have the best oyster bar in town, where you can see all the different oysters in front of you. Just pick and eat , you will see our oyster master to open a dozen of oysters within 3 minutes, it will be just like a show. So don’t forget the give the master your applause.
Burger, hotdog ,calms chowder from New York, how about some fried chicken from new Orleans too? Dumpling and Peking duck and all sort of dishes from China, lets not forget the French? Cassoulet, escargots, foie gras.
Maybe I should have one whole floor just for sweet food? Grill chicken wings, kebab, takoyaki, curry fish balls, fried squid, oyster omelette, pizza? Kind of like a Spanish tapas place? People can just sit at a bar table to order? A fresh fruit garden have all kind of fruit from different countries, all the fridges are designed like a real tree and farm so people have to pick up their apple from a “tree” ? Or watermelon from the “fram” ?
A rooftop barbecue and grill section you can have all the seafood and meats with all kind of bbq way. Why not to grill it yourself? We have more than 50 kinds of dipping sauces? You must find something you like.
Want to have something simple? How about sandwiches, we have different kind of bread you can chose from and we will do the best tuna sandwiches with tartar sauce? you don’t like tuna then you can have the roast beef with Coleman mustard instead. Still don’t like then I hope the roast chicken with avocado, cherry chutney or a roast pork with apple sauce and I am sure the Vietnamese pork pun will get your attention, don’t forget to order extra chili if you like it spicy. So much food already and you want something to drink?
How about a nice cold beer ? we brew our own beer and with the biggest selection from around the world. You have red wine from Italy and France and the white from New Zealand and Chile, Singapore Sling anyone? Yes. We do the best cocktail in town as well. Just watch how the bartender throwing the bottle at each other.
My
restaurant will be so big, it’s like a food amusement park! everyone come in
and enjoy what ever they like. I think 7 floors should be enough but basement
is a room for family and kids so they can have their dessert? There are so
many different kind of food. I didn’t tell you about the Hainanese chicken rice
or Teppanyaki, the German roast pork or Ukrainian borsch and Caviar from iran,
oh I forgot to tell you the Satay I like, why not try the new dish we have from
Hungry? We also have the best chocolate, what about the fresh… ??
Hey, Peter, you are out of control, you wrote just a long blog about your restaurant is kind of silly ,besides, who can have such a big restaurant and have so much food in one place? Do you know how much money you have to invest and how many people you need to hire? And how much you are going to charge people? what if too many people to come how are you going to control it?
Yes , you are right. I believe to make a good restaurant, the best way is to keep it affordable but affordable doesn’t mean low quality, and decoration has to be really nice and clear, a modern look with comfortable seats and setting, keep the menu small, but when I say small it means it will have the best that chef can offer, with well trained stuff and good wine and dessert, I also know, to have such food amusement park is almost impossible but you never try you never know . Every good thing started with a dream, so writing about it, is my first step. If I cant even write about my dream, then why should I have this blog for? so, tell me your ideal restaurant and your favorite food or we can swap recipes and we can connect because one of the best thing about eating is sharing.
Thank you for reading
Hey, Peter, you are out of control, you wrote just a long blog about your restaurant is kind of silly ,besides, who can have such a big restaurant and have so much food in one place? Do you know how much money you have to invest and how many people you need to hire? And how much you are going to charge people? what if too many people to come how are you going to control it?
Yes , you are right. I believe to make a good restaurant, the best way is to keep it affordable but affordable doesn’t mean low quality, and decoration has to be really nice and clear, a modern look with comfortable seats and setting, keep the menu small, but when I say small it means it will have the best that chef can offer, with well trained stuff and good wine and dessert, I also know, to have such food amusement park is almost impossible but you never try you never know . Every good thing started with a dream, so writing about it, is my first step. If I cant even write about my dream, then why should I have this blog for? so, tell me your ideal restaurant and your favorite food or we can swap recipes and we can connect because one of the best thing about eating is sharing.
Thank you for reading
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