Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian

Final set of pictures from Spain.

Fried bacalao from Casa Labra at Madrid.

We went to La Bouqueria right after we arrived in Barcelona...

... and stumbled into El Quim. The wild mushroom were quite good.

However, what stole the show were the small cigalas which were still alive on display counter. These little briny jewels were flamed in brandy.

Another notable meal in Barcelona was at Kaiku on the Barceloneta seafront. When in Spain one automatically craves for paella but the truth is that authentic paella is from Valencia and most of the examples you find elsewhere are but lame imitations. The rice dishes at Kaiku are technically arroz but they still did well to quell my paella craving.

Arroz Negro con Sepia - the pearly smoked bomba rice cooked in squid ink is quite tasty.

Fideuà - pasta stewed in stock on a paella pan.

Buying Jamón Ibérico from the famed Jamonissimo.

The next destination is the food paradise of San Sebastian/Donostia. In the first morning we visited the Mercado el Bretxa. Unfortunately we had neither the time nor the kitchen to cook in.

Large cigalas are more pricy than lobsters.

Pintxos at La Cuchara de San Telmo.

Giant scallops with Iberian Bacon - cooked through but not tough at all. The texture of these scallops are markedly different from the Japanese scallops imported here - they were significantly more muscular and robust.

Kokotxas or hake throats in pil-pil sauce might not be for everyone but is a definite winner for me. The sauce is full of natural gelatin.

A massive lobe of foie gras on applesauce - nothing quite like pan fried fresh foie. I wish I had more!

Carrillera (beef cheeks) stewed till fork tender in local Rioja. Yum!

Arrive early if you want to beat the crowd!

Other pintxos at San Sebastian. This is from Bar Goiz Argui just outside the market.

Dionne's breakfast on the left, mine on the right. Mine was a phenomenal combination of ham, hard-cooked egg, roasted pepper, crab in mayonnaise, an anchovy fillet and olive oil. It was the best pintxo bite I had.

I think these were from Bar Gandarias.

And these from A Fuego Negro.

Fried tomato 'soup'. I frankly don't get it.

More bacalao.

Iron Chef Recipes – Cabbage, Scallops and Foie Gras Risotto

Iron Chef is the greatest culinary show ever produced. Even till this day, I can think of no cooking programme that approaches close to it the skills and techniques you can pick up by watching battles between real chefs using all the imaginable tricks up their sleeves to win. Unlike in scripted programmes where everything is nice and easy and the results are always perfect, Iron Chef is raw, every mistake and miscalculation is immediately apparent. Also to its benefit is that Iron Chef predates the age of avant garde molecular cuisine which I am apathetic towards. I first got interested in cuisine watching Iron Chef and I cannot imagine a better start. Visit ironcheffans.info to download episodes.

Here is a rough recreation of Challenger Hiromi Yamada’s dish in Battle Cabbage (217) – a Cabbage, Scallops and Foie Gras Risotto.


The risotto I made this time is one of my best so far after many experiments. Here’s what I learnt:
1. Use more onions that you think you need, they add sweetness and lightness to the risotto.
2. Cook slowly on low heat and stir gently. To diffuse the heat evenly, the pot was placed over a thick carbon steel pan. Towards the end, check the doneness frequently and remove just before al dente.
3. Don’t be shy with the seasoning. Also, for risotto I tend to use white pepper instead of black.
4. For a wetter risotto, add more stock and then thicken with cream/mascarpone cheese. I find that the rice alone has insufficient starch to make a creamy but wet (as in the liquid to rice ratio) risotto.
With these tricks, combined with the basic techniques which are left as an exercise to the reader (inside joke, by the way) to discover, you can apply it to any variation of risotto dishes.


The scallops are large frozen Hokkaido ones which can be found at the more upscale supermarkets. They were done in a ghetto sous vide (under vacuum) style. I never thought that I would have the need to sous vide anything until my repeated frustrations with controlling the doneness of scallops. The molluscs were bagged in a small ziplock and immersed in a large insulated mug of water at 56 ˚C (some people go as low as 50 ˚C ) for 30 minutes. Check out the results for yourself.

Brocollini Duo

Here's a duo of brocollini efforts. First up is a simple breakfast of lengths of brocollini and woodwillow mushrooms pan roasted with a soft boiled egg for dipping on the side.


The next day, I made a risotto with the the stem diced and mixed in the rice, the heads roasted and a few whittles of raw brocollini stem. For texture, there were parmesan chips and crisp pancetta.

A Modest Grill

My modest attempt at some yakitori after inspiration from Kushigin.

Chicken wings turned out to be more satay-style bbq than yakitori. No idea why.


The yaki onigiri turned out quite well - sticky but not mushy rice.


Last up was a flash-grilled prawn in miso soup.

Kushigin 串銀炭火燒

Cuppage Plaza and the adjoining Orchard Plaza are veritable treasure troves of Japanese entertainment. The congregation of Japanese KTVs naturally drew the opening of several authentic restaurants to serve the homesick expats. I have only been and returned several times to Kushigin (串銀炭火燒) and am seldom disappointed with the food. The atmosphere is wonderful too, just last evening we were the only 4 of about 6 locals in a restaurant packed full of Japanese working men (exclusively men, somehow) looking to wind down... on a Monday night.

Surprisingly, the tebasaki (chicken wings) were the first to arrive. They usually take quite long but I guess these were already started before I placed my order. So what’s so special about them? These dainty little fellows are obviously not from the usual breed of chicken. They are devoid of the excess fat under the skin which lends to a satisfying crunch as you bite in and a burst of hot chicken juices and fat embedded between the skin and meat.


Not pictured were the grilled chicken skin and the liver. The liver can be a hit or miss affair. Today, I thought it spent a few seconds too many over the coals. However, when the chef gets the window just right, meltingly tender chicken liver is just as decadent as foie gras. Unfortunately, they ran out of bonjiri (chicken arse) this time. I highly recommend that you abandon your inhibitions and give that arse a chance.

The grilled negi (leek) and negi (eggplant) are also my perennial favourites but they fell somewhat short of their mark today. The leek was a little stringy and the pieces of eggplant were too small for sufficient impact. Still, they remained sweet and juicy. I quite like the balance of flavours by the sharp salty soy and stinging grated ginger.


Asparagus Maki is somewhat of a misnomer, I feel. In this case, the asparagus clearly plays a supporting role behind the smoky and crispy pork belly. Full marks for the meat, but the young asparagus lacked definition.


I forgot to picture the Mini Tomato Maki, scoffing down the little balls of fire as soon as they were set down on the table. Here’s my recommended eating method: pop in mouth and bite softly until the tomato juice just trickles out. Slowly savour until you can stand the heat then chew. Unlike the asparagus, the tomato is unmistakably the star here.

The Shishamo was Ivan’s order but I was surprised by how well it turned out. The last few times I have ordered any fish (an Ayu and a Saba comes to mind), they have been way overcooked for my taste. The Shishamo stood well under the grill and the eggs were quite creamy.



Last up was the slightly unusual but delicious Grilled Fried Tofu. The crunchy smoky crust gives way to smooth tofu. Again the combination of grated ginger and soy works well.


The order in which in your dishes emerge can be hilariously random sometimes but in all, a great start to the week after a weekend struggling with quantum mechanics assignments.

Pork Belly Rice

Here's something I done quite long ago but never posted. It’s a sort of Chinese-Japanese fusion. The pork belly pieces marinated generously in dark soy were browned on a low fire together with garlic, ginger and galangal for a long time to develop the caramelized flavours. At this point, you can just add water and then stew for a classic down-to-earth soy-stewed meat. However, I deglazed with mirin for sweetness and then added a light dashi stock for the Japanese twist. Towards the end, sweated onions were thrown in and cooked for a few minutes. Thinly sliced negi and ginger helps counter the richness.

Winter 2009 - Japan - Shunju Mishuku

The Shunju chain of restaurants was recommended while I was searching for a destination for a fancy multi-course dinner below my 10,000 yen budget. I arrived early at the Mishuku branch in Shibuya and was given a spacious counter seat in front of the sashimi station with the head chef working in front of me. They had an English menu from which I selected the 8,000 yen set dinner.


The first course was a selection of seasonal vegetables and salads arranged on a large basket – sort of a salad bar that was brought your side. I didn’t think much of it at first and only picked little sampling of each. Damn, was I mistaken! The cabbage, simply washed and cut, was crunchy and full of natural sugars. Also noteworthy were the boiled spinach which was tender yet not overcooked at all and the sweet potatoes which tasted like candies. Luckily I managed to convey the message to the waiter that I would like to have a second helping of the course which they gladly obliged.


Next was a sashimi platter with Chu Toro, Kampachi, Tako (Octopus), Tai (Snapper) and fresh wasabi. On the side of the Tako are pieces of suckers that had an interesting texture. The Tai, known as King of Snapper, was in its winter prime with the flavourful fleshing tasting almost milky and the Chu Toro, which I suspect was lightly cured on Konbu, was unctuous and buttery.


The third course combined a piece of deep fried Anglerfish liver and Daikon in a Yuzu soy broth. The rich and slightly powdery liver was perfectly matched by the sweet and juicy radish with the broth binding both elements with the fragrance of Yuzu.


Charcoal grilled duck, which was the main meat course was the only let down of the meal. The duck, which was imported, was cooked appropriately rare but retained an unpleasing livery taste.


The final savoury course was oyster rice cooked with broth in a tradition cast iron pot. Much like a claypot, this method enabled the bottom layer of rice to char a little and add an extra dimension to the already flavourful rice.



Dessert was a pear sorbet with pear jelly.