Bermuda's finest

We just visited Bermuda where we stayed for 6 weeks. It was great catching up with friends and have a great time. Much of it with a F&B theme. I wrote this for my blog post on my Grey Nomad blog which you can find here, but it then occurred to me that it also relates to this blog too. However on rereading the original post, I did notice that I missed a couple of things out. I've put them in for this post which really is all about my favorite eating and drinking places in Bermuda. They certainly aren't the fanciest nor are they the most expensive, but being Bermuda, they are pretty expensive still.

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Being visitors, we spent a lot of time eating, drinking and being entertained. Both in people's homes and out and whilst my waistline expanded at a greater rate than my steely will evaporated, boy are things expensive. Noticeably so since last year.  For sure, we spend a lot of time during the course of the year in Penang, which is a lower cost environment, but really. On our first visit to a supermarket, we saw a cauliflower priced at $11.99. It has always been the way that local produce was expensive, but it didn't feel like this. On the other hand booze and beef in supermarkets aren't that expensive but put them into a restaurant and vroom! Apparently restaurants mark up wine a minimum 4 times these days so good luck with finding a $50 bottle of wine at a restaurant.

This said I did go through my list of favorite things to eat in Bermuda. Pretty much.

 i) Multi-grain roll with tuna fish and chopped egg, lettuce and tomato, butter on the bread and those cute little yellow peppers that go pop in the mouth.  Cost $13.95

Only from my friend Paul at Hickory Stick on Bermudiana Road in Clarendon House. I used to eat this sandwich probably three times a week when I was working just down the road. On the other days it would be Paul's fish cakes on Tuesdays and on the other day I'd go somewhere else. I know... traitor. Creature of habit...me? No way.

The Hickory Stick
Clarendon House
2 Bermudiana Road
Hamilton HM 11
Tel: (441) 292-1781

 ii) Beef patty. Cost $3.99

Quite a few places do patties but I found one of the nicest to be from Supermart on Front Street. Find them in the hot shelf near the whole chickens. One is not enough, two is too many. These are great hand held foods for maybe a morning after. On such days, an apple doesn't quite cut it.

The Supermart
125 Front Street
Hamilton HM 08
Tel: (441) 292-2064

 iii) Club sandwich with coleslaw. Cost $16.95

OK, with French fries!

Loads of places, some up market, do perfectly adequate club sandwiches but my favorite is at The Spot on Burnaby Hill. It may not be the best but I like it. You eat at the counter and get to drink their famous coffee which they generously refill whenever you want.

Spot Restaurant
6 Burnaby Street
Hamilton HM 12
Tel: (441) 292-6293

 iv) Bermuda fish sandwich. Layered pieces of fish, lettuce and tomato, butter on the white toasted bread, ketchup, tartar sauce and lots of hot sauce on top. Cost $19.50 for both Mahi Mahi and local fish such as Red Hind.

Mahi Mahi 

Many places do fish sandwiches, most aren't that good. The best tend to be in the least attractive looking places. Viv went to Woody's in Somerset and raved about it. I went on a search for a fish sandwich on a public holiday and found none of the best places open so had to settle for a very poor second best. However I was recommended to the Seaside Grill on North Shore next to the Clay House as the fish was purported to be really fresh. We went twice, the first being mahi mahi, the second and best time being when I had red hind. Boy, was that good.

Seaside Grill
81 North Shore Road
Devonshire
Tel: (441) 292-1241

 v) Liver and onions, maybe with bacon but always lots of gravy. Cost $29.95.

I really like liver from several places but finally settled on the Red Carpet on Reid Street which serves it with mashed potatoes, veggies and lashings of gravy. The maitre d' Chris asked me how I'd like it done... cooked of course. You don't have liver medium rare. It is the gravy that makes it for me and this was pretty terrific.

Red Carpet
37 Reid Street
Hamilton HM 11
Tel: (441) 292-6195

 vi) Linguine Vongole in white wine sauce. Cost $19.95 lunchtime, $26.95 dinner.

Only one place did linguine vongole properly so far as I saw it, and that place was Portofino's on Bermudiana Street. Note the WAS, for a few years ago quality fell sharply as management moved a little and some chefs left for pastures new. Scroll forward a few more years and for some reason, maybe old times sake, I went back and had this dish. It was fabulous. So much so I raved about it to Viv and we returned and she had it too... and also raved about it. So it seems like they've rediscovered their mojo along with the refurbished premises, and both together made for an enjoyable time. Second time around we went for dinner when service was pretty poor but the food did hold up. I didn't try my other favorite from this restaurant which is linguine vongole with red wine sauce but NO SHELLS. Next time.

Portofino's
20 Bermudiana Road
Hamilton HM 11
Tel: (441) 292-2375

 vii) Auntie Blanche's cherry and walnut cake. 

This is almost undescribable as it is so sublime. Traditional Bermuda cakes are rum cakes, Christmas cakes laced with rum, mince pies and somewhere along the line fruit cakes the king of which is the cherry and walnut cake. Our old neighbors Blanche and Brenda were great bakers and fine exponents. Blanche in particular did wonderful cherry and walnut cake. She once told me that her secret was the gin she soaked the fruit in. Others are much dryer but Blanche's are moist and simply lovely. She only made these cakes at Christmas time as she would soak fruit in their respective booze for a month or two before and make them a couple of weeks or so before the big day. More latterly she would make cakes ostensibly for me as I am a fanatic about them. As she has become older, these occasions have grown fewer but a week or so ago, she made me a beautiful cake. Simply lovely. Thanks Auntie Blanche!

What a steamboat!

I wish I remembered the name of the steamboat restaurant that a group of 10 went to a couple of weeks ago now as part of our eating extravaganza. It is on the top floor of the Vantage Mall on Jalan Tanjung Tokong heading out of Georgetown in the direction of Tanjung Bunga, on the right. Top floor and right at the very right hand end of the mall. Sorry, that's the best I can do for now. However, I will return and make sure I grab a card or something so I can report more accurately its name and precise location.

It is worth it for the place is great. Really great.

It could be the fact that it is something that is really unique, well to me anyway, so I will take a little time to describe it all in detail. (Others have very probably done this and more professionally that I will but I don't think they will do it this way).

This is the steamboat thing. In the centre of the round table is a recessed upside down dome under which is a gas ring (there is a big gas cylinder under the table that the waiter turned on and off) which heats it up. Into this dome shaped thing you dump...

... this time anyway, chicken or veggie broth and chopped up chicken. Turn the gas ring on and replace the holed round thing that you can see in the picture above on the left. It fits.

Next, order loads of stuff. The group of 10 left this arduous task to Lisa (from before), Lye Hock and Kee who between them ordered gargantuan amounts of food only partially shown on the trolley that the waiter brought over, He brought over many other dishes and trolleys before the meal was over, but this was the first.

First up was barbecued, well actually steamed chicken buns in the format of char siu bau. As this is a no pork restaurant, no surprise here and the buns were very nice indeed.

Next up was chicken and steamed veggies before the fishy stuff kicked in...

Big shrimps... 

Little clams marinated in garlic...

Scallops also marinated in garlic and coriander...

Amazing HUGE clams also marinated with coriander, garlic and a little ginger. This was a very strong middle order! I hadn't seen clams that big before and they were so sweet and tasty.

After a little breather came the fish ball/duck/squid combo... remember all the juices from these dishes were seeping into the porridge happily bubbling away underneath added to which the waiter who came with new dishes and took away the debris, would always scrape the food debris into the pot below and give it a jolly stir...

After the shellfish came the veggie mix, greens and mushrooms before the piece de la resistance...

The steamed fish was fresh tilapia according to the waiter with various chillies, scallions, chives, garlic and lemon/lime juice... probably limes on reflection as they are everywhere whilst lemons aren't so prevalent. Whatever, it was delicious and the juices kept on dripping into the bubbling vat below...

Then it was ready. The waiter scraped the fish remnants into the bubbling mass, stirred vigorously for a bit, added some white liquid (more broth I think) and then on top some scallions, coriander and chopped ginger. Very artistic...and yummy too. I had 4 bowls. It was incredible!

To follow, some sweet potato cleansers ...

What a dinner. Friends said that restaurants like this were all over Malaysia. I don't know about that but this was a first for us. 

Vantage Mall is in Tanjung Tokong on the main road, E6 or Jalan Tanjung Tokong, heading out of Georgetown towards Tanjung Bunga and Batu Ferringi. The restaurant is on the top floor of the mall on the right hand side. Go there and enjoy!

Fried Fish Belly

"Have you ever eaten fried fish belly, Mark?" Lisa asked one day out of the blue. I said, as a matter of fact no I don't think so and as things go when Lisa is around, she, husband Ted and I headed off to find same after tennis one day at THE best place in Penang.

Tong Lek 8 Cafe

Sited in Georgetown, Tong Lek is one step up from a hawker stand but remains a typically comfortable, family style restaurant in the Penang way. Don't expect fancy wall coverings or padded seats is what I am trying to say. However, you can as in so many places BYOB.

Ted is an experienced dining companion so doesn't get in the way of ordering when Lisa is around and I chose very wisely to do the same. I did put my foot down in choice of my curry mee dish (noodle soup) and chose to have mine with minced pork. It was fantastic.

Curry see with minced pork

By the time it had arrived, so had the fried fish skin nibbles which would have been great with beer but were also just fine with the vino that we had brought along too.

Deep fried fish skin

Not sure what the fish was but the main catches hereabouts are either red snapper or tilapia (not farmed) but the skin was amazing.

Deep fried fish belly

I did smirk a bit when the fish belly arrived as the much vaunted dish is just the same as that served at Ye Olde Chippy on Southend sea front, except without the chips, vinegar and lashings of salt. Or newspaper. It wasn't cod or haddock of course, rather red snapper (identified by the skin) and was again really nice.

Isn't everything? I have certainly found it so.... well except for my durian experience which was in all honesty a shocker. 100% for sure the worst thing I have ever had in my mouth. But that wasn't here and will likely be dealt with in a scathing expose at some point or other in these pages.

Veggies, steamed chicken and Loh bak

There was just the three of us so Lisa didn't order that many dishes, however, it must be said that Tong Lek 8 Cafe is a definite keeper in the pantheon of eateries in Penang. Great food, very affordable and if you want my opinion THE best place I have found for Penang style (that is white sauce base) curry mee.

Tong Lek 8 Cafe
16 Jalan Lim Len Teng
10460 George Town
Penang

+60 (0) 16-490 7260

Eating can be hard work

As I sit here typing on my laptop in Bermuda, I am remembering some of the meals that Vivien and I enjoyed in Penang in that last frantic week before we left on our annual pilgrimage. Why frantic? Well, it was because Viv had been away in China for a couple of weeks before that and I was pretty much laid up with a sports injury as well meaning that our fairly usual ritual of tennis, beers and then dinner at some restaurant with 8 or 10 others hadn't happened for a while. So when Viv returned and I made my first foray back onto the court post-lay off, there seemed to be some sort of almost desperate need to catch up. And as we only had a week in between before we left for Bermuda, all those dinners had to be crammed into a very short period of time.

I know, 'had to' does imply some form of compulsion that of course was not the case but when people that you haven't seen for a while ask you how you are, buy you a beer and say those dangerous words 'what are your dinner plans tonight?' .... well it would be rude to do other than agree to whatever was taking place for that night.

But it was relentless.

Curry mee and fried fish belly

Steamboat

Fish restaurant

Korean

Champagne brunch

Japanese homestyle

See what I mean? The steamboat dinner was especially memorable not only for the food but also for the other stuff....

Doesn't show the whisky to finish!

If this wasn't enough, when we arrived in Toronto we went to our favorite steak restaurant for a fix of large chunks of red meat...

I need a rest.

Hat Yai Part 1

It has been a while since I last made a post but in this time we have decided to spend more time in Asia to travel and experience as much as we can... not only food wise but of course...

We chose Penang in Malaysia as our base and at some point I will write more about Penang but for this post will concentrate on a weekend we just had in Thailand, based around Hat Yai, the biggest town in the south of Thailand. The reason was tennis so we stayed at a sports resort that had tennis courts but spent dining time in Hat Yai which is the context of this post.

The full itinerary. Hat Yai to Songkhala is at the top

On the day we left the resort and before we checked into a downtown Hat Yai hotel called Lee Gardens Plaza (awful incidentally), we drove out of town and headed... well wherever. It turned out to be northish according to Google Maps and towards Songkhala proper. Took about 30 minutes all told. Maybe more but not much.

Sirada Restaurant

The restaurant was on the lake shore and overlooked a multitude of fish farms which are very numerous in Thailand. The menu unsurprisingly was local and 100% devoted to seafood.  As not very many tourists come this way, the clientele is mostly Thais and local Asian tourists as in fact we were, from Malaysia.

Given that there were 40 of us, it was 10 to a table and one person or maybe two took it upon themselves to order the dishes. Typical of Asia is that the dishes arrive when they are ready, not necessarily in order so we had them as they came... which was totally fine by me of course.  One of our table took it upon himself to make sure we didn't run out of Tiger beers so we had plenty to keep us occupied.

Appetizer: fresh betel nut leaves wrapped into cone shape if you can then stuff noodles, dried shrimp, peanuts, anchovies, chillies inside and pop the whole lot into your mouth. Mass of flavors

Small shrimp drying in the sun. Much of the chilli here uses dried shrimp as a base

Grinding spices freshly

Deep fried fish

Grilled squid with lots and lots of chillies

Fresh greens sautéed with garlic

Scallops and asparagus

Omelette with chili

Fish stew stuffed into coconut. Lots of different fishes  plus of course chili

Deep fried minced shrimp rings... really good!

Piece de la resistance... steamed fish in broth. Eat with rice. Think this is fresh tilapia

What a feast! I certainly didn't need any dinner that night... but of course just had to. But that's another story.

Best thing was steamed fish, fried fish and the fried shrimp rings. Worked out to be 500 baht per head including quite a lot of beers... approx $15 USD per person. Try and find that in San Francisco!

Hey Presto, Pesto!

I was off last Wednesday and was wondering what to do with the herbs in the garden that I'd grown.  I'd planted mint, sage, parsley and basil ages ago and throughout the miserable winter all I could see were a few straggly shoots of hopeful herbs (I hoped) trying to get going.

The sage was soaked in one downpour so was particularly weakened.  The mint I'd used for Mojito's as soon as I saw a shoot so I think in protest was going on something of a go slow and whilst I'd never had any luck with parsley before, my basil had grown like weeds.  Not this time.  It was the parsley that suddenly took off and threatened to engulf its neighbors.

Parsley run amok

I'd planted the herbs in their own individual wine boxes and filled that with potting soil hoping that way they'd have a chance to grow as our regular soil is so poor here.  And now the parsley was on a takeover of the mint next door but as I'd planted a geranium (for some reason I thought was good at the time) in the middle, it in its turn was spreading everywhere too.  Chaos ruled so I had to harvest now before it all went haywire.

Not bushy like it should be but the Basil grew into little trees before harvesting.  I've planted more now so we'll see how that goes.

As we had some pine nuts in the fridge, I immediately thought Hey Pesto!  Sorry, bad pun.  And as I'd not used my big mixer in a while, I thought lets give it all a go.  I checked a recipe on the internet but totally ignored the quantities as I thought I'd just fill up the mixer and push the button and see what happened.

It turned out so well that I thought what could I smear it onto and came across some nice thick pork chops in the fridge, so hey presto there we went!

Here's the recipe.  Ingredients only so do guess the quantities like I did!

• Parsley (lots)
• Basil (lots)
• Pine Nuts -- 1 carton
• Garlic -- quite a lot as I like garlic
• Lemon juice -- I used 2 or was it 3 whole lemons?  Hmm.
• Olive oil -- again quite a bit but as it turned out quite dry, I think I may not have used quite enough.  You can always add more later though as you only need a couple of table spoons with a plate of pasta.
• Salt and Pepper

Looking at the recipe again, swap pine nuts and basil for mayo and anchovies and you've got Caesar Salad dressing.