Yauatcha

By now, you all know that I am fascinated by all-things Alan Yau (and Michael's OK with that - I'm sure he thinks a fascination with Alan Yau is better than an obsession with Edward Cullin... although I'm just about getting there! Perhaps I'll write more on that later :)

We make it a point to try at least 2 new restaurants per week, which isn't too difficult since most every restaurant in London is new to us! And while some have been good, most were not anything to write home about. The one thing London has gotten right however, is dim sum. I'm not a dim sum connoisseur by any means, but I have had my fair of dim sum and I have to say, London does it like no other. Its Top 10 include Royal China, New World, Imperial China, and Pearl Liang, all of which were divine in their own right but (cue the music)... Yauatcha, a Michelin-starred tea house (and dim sum restaurant), created by Alan Yau (who else) takes it to a whole new level!!!

Michael and I went to here last weekend to try their dim sum for the first time and we were quite impressed, particularly with their prawn & chive dumpling (above), their lotus leaf rice (though the rice wasn't as sticky as I was use to - not a bad thing, but it was very fragrant of... well, lotus leaf! Isn't that how it should be?! I could certainly get use to less-sticky-lotus-leaf-smelling-rice) and I even devoured the turnip cake (I don't even like turnip)!

I had actually already stopped by Yauatcha with Kariley and friends last year for just tea and dessert, but was smitten with it right away and wouldn't shut up about it, which is why I think Michael gave in :) In the front of the restaurant is an inviting pastry counter with some of the most simple, yet delectable desserts you've ever seen. In addition to its high-end teas and desserts, Yauatcha also has an exquisite chocolate selection. You can sit upstairs or downstairs, but downstairs is the place to be - it's romantic, fun, and mysterious since the lighting is designed to make you feel like you're sitting under the stars.
We barely had room for dessert, but after we each ran up and down the stairs to goggle at the dessert counter, we decided to go for it. I mean, look at their macaroons!!!... how could anyone resist!!!We tried the citron tart - those brown nuggets are actually sparkly-dipped marshmallows!

Anyone who comes to London for a visit should definitely swing by Yauatcha, if not for dim sum, then at the very least, for tea. They have hot tea, iced tea, tea smoothies, and tea cocktails - and not in the cheesy we're-trying-too-hard-to-be-different-and-start-a-fad kind of tea either! Think, classy-but-giggly-fun tea!

Next Alan Yau hot-spot, Hakkasan!

Quote of the Day

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.

-OSCAR WILDE

My Soul, My Liver

On our last night in Istanbul, we decided to have an authentic old school Turkish dinner. Canim Cigerim Ilhan Usta (translates to "my soul, my liver") is this place that specializes in grilled liver! It's served with herbs (corriander, mint, razorishy herb whatever it is called), spicy tomato sauce, grilled vegetables, and turkish equivalant to banh trang (rice paper). 

They also have chicken or beef if offal isn't your (or in this case, Yen's) thing although the liver is the house specialty.

So apparently (by Yen's count) they give you 10 skewers of meat each and Yen only had 6 in total. Somehow I managed to eat all ten of my skewers. Two of hers in the beginning and then two more of hers at the end when she got sick of it. So all in all, I had 14 skewers? 

14 skewers!!! All washed down with Ayran. 

So lets reflect on this. 14 skewers of meat. 10 of those comprised of liver. All accompanied by spicy tomato sauce. Washed down with a salted yogurt water beverage. 

Let's just say this, I got more toxic assets than a government assisted bank.

Yen certainly didn't appreciate the aftermath of my body trying to digest all that either. 

Day 5: Turkish Bath

According to our guidebook, it is not "advisable" for anyone to leave Istanbul without having a Turkish bath or Hamami as they call it, so on our last day, we headed to Çemberlitaş Hamamı, one of the most beautiful and a highly recommended baths in the city, located in a building dating back to 1584.

Michael wasn't keen on the idea, but thought it'd be worth a shot. I opted for a basic bath and oil massage package, while he got just a basic bath. Men and women bathe in completely different chambers and what happens is, you strip down, get butt nekkid and a busty old woman (burly old man in Mike's case) scrubs you down. It's some serious scrubbin' as you can actually see the dirt from your skin on the sponge. I had really been looking forward to the experience, which is why I saved it for the last day of our trip and went in there with high spirits.

The baths are extremely steamy, hot and super packed. Everyone walks in a bit confused at first, because it's just a large room, with a huge marble slab in the middle, which you lay on, and wait for your turn to be bathed (with all your glory hanging out for everyone to see - I saw lots' of "shapes and sizes" if you know what I mean). Some people who were lucky and were laying in the right spot at the right time, got bathed right away. It looked like the average wait time was about 5 to 15 minutes. But I sat there nearly unnoticed for over an hour! Imagine sitting in a strange, stuffy sauna, alone, with a bunch of nekkid women yelling in a language you don't understand, while you ponder whether the marble slab you're jewels have been resting on have ever been sanitized... for an hour! Two American women who seemed lost, walked into the chamber and asked me if I had been bathed already because I was drenched in sweat. I wonder if they noticed I was feeling sorry for myself and near tears because I thought I was going to pass out from dehydration.

After that hour, a woman finally notices that I still hadn't been bathed and went outside to pull in another woman, who didn't seem to be too happy as they were screaming at each other in Turkish. I'm assuming the woman she pulled in was on break and didn't want to be bothered to bathe me. She made it apparent too as she took her frustrations out on me and I got a very half @ss scrub and mediocre hairwash, that lasted for about 4 minutes total - while I had just spent an hour watching all these other women getting luxurious body scrubs that lasted for about 15-20 minutes and head massage during their shampoo! It's not like I could have even said anything about it since people conveniently don't speak English when you want to make a complaint.

She then wisked me off to my oil massage, which was the most stressful massage I have ever had in my life. I came out of that bath dirtier, oilier, and more tensed than I had going in. Michael was waiting for me in the common room, fresh faced, relaxed and clean. He greeted me with a smile, while I did everything I could to not to grind my teeth. After all, it wasn't his fault I paid 95 lira for torture-in-a-sauna... while he paid half the price for an attendant assigned solely to him, got a 40 minute scrub, back massage and a bonus back-crack free-of-charge!!! Isn't that just the bollucks?!.. he didn't even want a Turkish bath, but ended up having a way better experience than me! I suppose if it wasn't for that long, miserable, unexpected wait, it would have been a lot more enjoyable. In hindsight, I'm really glad we did it... though we found out from my boss later, that him and his wife went to a luxurious bath and paid only 15 lira each - oiiii.

Here are some pictures of our last day in Istanbul (pre-bath... we couldn't bring cameras inside the bath) where we walked by some remaining sights.

In front of Topkapi Palace

Baklava

When I had my first baklava years ago, I didn't like it at all... I thought it was way too sweet, even for my tastes! Baklava, a Turkish specialty, is an extremely rich, sweet pastry made of crispy layers, filled with nuts, and then drenched in syrup or honey. I thought I'd give it another shot this time around and developed a super-sonic sweet tooth (version 2.0 of my already sweet tooth :) and it was love at 1st bite! From then on, I could not walk by a pastry shop / window display of baclava without stopping to buy at least a few for the road.

The one with the green topping (first picture above & below) seems to be the most popular one and is made with pistachios. And the nuts wrapped in crispy noodles is really yummy!
But this remaining one was gross... couldn't waste the walnut though :P
This peanut brittle looking thing was ridiculously good too!.. wonder what they put in it?
Later in the trip, I discovered this pistachio-CHOCOLATE one... my faaaaavorite!

Homer Simpson style... "Ummm... baklavaaa..."

360

On the Saturday night of our trip, Michael and I had dinner at 360, a restaurant-nightclub, known for its supposed "knock-out" views of the city, but we didn't even go out on the terrace to see the views because it was too cold! We did listen to some awesome, live, old-school Tina Turner beats though (big wheels keep on turning, anyone?). The place was cool, but a lot of ex-pats and tourists. Judging from the crowd and the pricey drinks (if you thought London was expensive, think again), we forgot we were in Istanbul!..

... Until we ran into our boss, Amir from London! Yup, that's our CEO.
Ok, ok, so we didn't run into him - we found out right before we left, that him and his wife were also coming to Istanbul the same weekend to visit her family, so he called to meet up. Here we thought we were getting away from work! What a small world!

Despite it all, I had a great time... as always!!!

Day 4: Identity Crisis at the Mosques

Michael and I don't spend too much time sightseeing during our travels (we prefer spending our days eating and drinking :) but we do try to make a small effort to at least see the main sights (usually towards the end of our trip), even if its from a distance! So on the 4th day, we headed to an area called Sultanahmet, which was the heart of the Ottoman Empire and as such, was where the emperors and sultans lived and built these grand places of worship (called mosques) and thus, became a major hot spot for tourists.

As we flew into Istanbul the first day, we noticed many mosques (large and small)... but the most impressive of them all, is the Blue Mosque (pictured above and below), which was built by Sultan Ahmet I between 1603-1617 that would surpass its rival Aya Sofya (above right).

Aya Sofya (below)

Out of all the monuments, we actually went into this one here - the Basilica Cistern (right & below). Built in 532 AD, it's the largest surviving cistern and at one point, held 80,000 cubic meters of water, delivered via 20km of aqueducts from a reservoir near the Black Sea!


Hey, lookie what I had to pee in at the mosques!... just like Vietnam!!! AND I had to pay!

In a previous entry, I mentioned that most Turks figured we were Japanese. I discovered on this trip that I had an identity crisis. When I lived in New York and people asked where I was from, I could easily say I was from Portland. When I traveled out of the country from New York, I just said I was from New York (to avoid having to explain, "... Portland... Oregon?... you know, on the West Coast of the U.S?... above California?... no? How about below Washington?!"). Although I did feel guilty at times for not giving props to Portland. Then when I moved to London, the answer (to colleagues mainly) was, "Yea, I just recently moved from New York, but I'm really from Oregon." More blank stares, but ehh.

But now that I travel from London and people ask "Where you from?" I almost want to be like, "What do you mean where am I from? Where am I from most recently? Or where am I originally from? Could you please be more specific? Or better yet, be more politically correct?!!" Initially, I would answer simply, "I'm from the states," but they're never happy with that answer and would insist, "Really? No, I mean, where are you frooooom?" Experience tells me now that most people mean, "What's your background?" If they had asked it like that, I'd be happy to answer, "Vietnamese!" but they don't! Nonetheless, to avoid useless banter, Michael and I have recently resorted to just responding to the question of, "Where are you from?" with a simple, "Vietnam." It's just easier!

Man, if we tell enough people during our travels that were actually from Vietnam, they'd probably think everyone from Vietnam spoke American! So here's a funny story (this actually also happened to me, Tram, & Lydia while were in Rome last year, but we never really figured out why :)

So while Michael was taking pictures of the mosques, I sat down on a step to rest. Before my butt even hit the marble, 15 or 20 early-teenage school kids gathered around and asked to have their picture taken with me! They asked me to take off my sunglasses, then one by one, they took turns having their picture taken with me. They wanted Michael in it too, but he was shy and ducked away. Unsure of what was going on, I felt flattered at first (like a movie star!... or Mickey Mouse :) but then I realized they must have thought I was Japanese! So I said to a girl, "Where are you guys from?" I figured they were on a field-trip from some really far away country with little tourism and thus, little chance of seeing tourists. Do you know what she replied? "My name is Elif... And I'm from Turkey!"

TURKEY???!!!

Then she said, "You can speak English???!!" OMG. I felt like an imposter! So I got up, thanked them and walked off. But they managed to find Michael and started swarming around him, asking him to take his sunglasses off too (to see his almond-shaped eyes, I bet :) and once more, they all took turns taking pictures with him as well!

Ok, so I just went on a tangent... but what's a blog for if I can't even go off on one of my tangents? :)

KFC Hot Wings... All Around the World

Many of you may know that I am a huge, huge fan of fried chicken... not neccessarily at KFC (I prefer Popeyes). In fact, KFC sometimes skeeves me out, but I do love their hot wings!

Michael and I don't typically like to eat at American chains when we travel, but over the years, we've made an exception for KFC. It all started when we were in St. Martin during our first vacation together in May 2007. We rented a car to drive around the island, and I got hungry (as expected) but we just had lunch! All of a sudden, KFC appeared out of nowhere!... and it had a drive-thru! It was like KFC heard my dilemma... and it was the perfect thing to hold me over until dinner.

Then my first time in Germany that same year, as we were driving to Michael's cousin's house in Nuremburg from the airport, the first familiar thing I saw was KFC!... but we didn't have time to stop over. I am still kicking myself for not speaking up that day. Luckily, when we were in Prague a few nights later, the opportunity came again when KFC was the only thing opened when we arrived late. Anh La, Kathy, & Duong (Michael goes without saying :) were all down for KFC, so I think we bought at least 40 wings :) maybe even 60!

It was sooooooo yummy and (as always) hit the spot... that the next morning, while waiting for everyone to get ready, Anh La, Michael and I settled for cold, left over hot wings!..

... and would you believe, it was still just as good as the night before!?? lol

From then on, it became a tradition for us when we traveled - if we saw a KFC, we'd stop by at some point to try their hot wings. The chicken is different in every country, ya know?! Below is Michael (with his chicken claws) testing it out in Ibiza, Spain last year...

And if I remember correctly, none of these countries had KFC hot sauce - wth??!! But the best KFC hot wings we have ever had, hands-down (so far), was more recently in Istanbul. It was seasoned so well already, it didn't even need hot sauce!

Funny thing we just realized... we've never had KFC hot wings together in Portland, New York, or London! I guess we never thought of it... we'll just have to check London off our list this weekend! We'll keep you guys posted :)

Day 3 On the Bosphorus + Snacks & Tea

The Bosphorus (the narrowest straight in the world that's used for international navigation - whatever that means - I got it off Wiki again :), is the body of water that separates the European and Asian side of Istanbul. We had planned on taking a day-long excursion, which would mean getting off on the other side for some exploring, but we couldn't be bothered to wake up early enough since that particular ferry leaves at 10:35 AM!... hey, we're on vacation!!!

So instead, we slept in, grabbed a quick coffee and simit (yummy sesame-encrusted bread ring, which tastes like Vietnamese banh tieu) and jumped on the 1PM ferry, which took us for a quick 2-hour cruise to soak in the sights. The docks at Eminonu, are famous for its fish sandwiches cooked on these crazily-bobbing boats tied to the quay (just looking at the boat would make you sea sick - I don't know how they cooked on there)!

Yea! Fish sammy! "Seeeeeeaafood!"

Off the boat for some grilled corn... which turned out really stale =P

Then back to our neighborhood to chill out at a cool shisha bar. But before that, a pit stop at the nearby seafood joint for some deep fried mussels (on a stick)! YUUUUUM. I love deep fried (anything, really) MUSSELS!!!

We made friends with the guys who served us... after they too, spent 10 minutes guessing which country we were from :)

I thought it'd be fun to play chess, but Michael kicked my butt in about 2 minutes and 4 moves.

Hookah!!!

Afterwards, we swung by KFC for our tradition of international hot wings (stay tuned for that)!

Quick nap at the hotel... and off to dinner! But first, drinks at a lovely outdoor bar. Our guidebook said to keep a look-out for vendors who sold almonds-on-ice, so I thought were the luckiest couple in the world when a guy wandered by our table selling them. Feeling tipsy, I excitedly bought some without asking how much, ended up getting ripped off... but eh, it's vacation!!!