Categories
foooood in malaysia traveling

buka puasa, breaking fast

tentage for breaking fast

so there we were, in the middle of rows of tables. kampung baru, the same area that was deserted during the whole day is now busy with life. people all around us, sitting on these tables, food steaming in front of them, colorful plastic glasses filled with iced colorful drinks. but no one is eating, not even the kids who stare at the food with hungry and impatient eyes. there is rain outside the improvised tents that cover this canteen and it is getting darker.

breaking fast time

at 7:15, a chant on tv, subtitled in arabic. on the radio as well, a man prays in a mixture of praying and singing. and as soon as they stop, the feast starts. in the whole country.

friends and snacks!

Categories
foooood in china

remember the kumquats?

last time i went to portugal, my parents proudly showed me the progress of their “tiny clementina’s tree”. it’s a cute little tree that they purchased way before i came to china, but to which i never paid much attention. and it turns out that it wasn’t clementines that tree was growing – it was kumquats!! lots of them! i was in shock, and incredibly happy to be putting my new asian knowledge to work! :)

but this, i think, is something we don’t see in portugal (or europe) so often. they’re called pomelo, or youzi (柚子) in mandarin.

pomelo peeling

in china they’re on display on every supermarket (both fresh and candied) or street fruit stand and they look like green-yellowish oversized lemons (hence their latin name, citrus maxima). inside, there’s a really thick rind that you need to remove completely to reach the juicy pulp.

inside!

they taste not as tart as lemon, and not as sweet as an orange, but with hints of both… it’s probably closer to grapefruit, now that i think about it, only sweeter. and oh-so-adictive!!
give it a try if you find it around!

ready

on the next episode of china fruit series, the mini-mango! stay tuned! :P

Categories
foooood

haya’s mediterranean cuisine

mediterranean food has a soft spot in our hearts, since it can bring up the nostalgy of discovering “home away from home”, through food. being portuguese, we lean towards the western side of the mediterranean style (say olive oil, tomatos, fish) whereas haya’s food is more of the eastern-mediterranean variety (turkish style, falafels, hummus, kebabs). and that’s ok – i have yet to meet a southern european dish that i didn’t like. :)

we had latkes (which i had been meaning to try since seeing matt’s yummylicious pictures), two kinds of kebab and their mini-apple pie. all very yummy. oh, and the peach juice they have there reminds me of our portuguese compal, which is more than enough to keep this girl happy.

anyway, some the pictures:

kebab   apple pie!

latkes   kebab

the only thing i don’t like at haya’s is the service. i’m not very picky about these things, but the waiters seem to always forget something and then pretend we’re not there… a bit annoying.

the reason we keep crossing half the city to come here? just the food. it’s good, and you should definitely give it a go, if you’re into mediterranean cuisine.

IMG_1258
info:
haya’s mediterranean cuisine + bakery
415 Dagu Lu
near Chengdu Nan Lu
shanghai


Categories
foooood in china

wagas

the wagas we usually go to, on nanjing road, is a small cozy place hidden down on the basement of citic square (a rather expensive looking mall). don’t let the location or the (fake?) eames chairs + fancy wallpaper scare you though, the place is good – the kind of restaurant you wish for on a weeknight, to just wind down in a comfortable surrounding, with good food.

w23

yesterday, i had the roasted pumpkin spaguetti, with spinach, pinenuts and feta cheese, and p. chose the pasta du jour, a bacon, asparagus and cream mix. for drinks, we always choose the same here: the honey-ginger-lemon tea for me and the indian spiced tea (kind of chai) for him. now look at that:

indian spiced tea   ginger, lemon and honey tea

roasted pumpkin pasta   bacon and asparagus pasta

doesn’t everything look so yummy and colorful? easy, relaxed food for uncomplicated dinners, i say!
they also have quite a selection of wraps, salads, smoothies, muffins and all kinds of healthy food. oh and illy coffee… and discounts on evenings and breakfasts… and free wi-fi… and quick friendly service…

wagas6
info:
wagas
LG12A, citic square,
1168 nanjing xi road
near jiangning road

ps – we were introduced to wagas by some portuguese friends in our early weeks in shanghai, and i think the experience was nothing less of a turning point in our dining routines. this was probably the first restaurant where we realised that dining out well, affordingly and in a nice environment was not difficult in shanghai – we had probably just been searching in the the wrong places.

since then, we haven’t looked back on our plan to test-taste as many restaurants as possible (well, within our budget anyway). this series of posts has only made me more curious to try new places and spread these flavours and sights to the world out there. i’m in full blogger-reporter mode here, happy, excited and inspired. :)

today as we were leaving to work, i saw p. looking for some cables on our cables nest/bucket. “what are you looking for?”, i asked. “the camera battery charger”, he said. “you don’t want to run out of battery when we go out for dinner, do you?”

:) :) :)

Categories
foooood in china

ginger café

today was my second time on ginger café, a little cozy place tucked away on the end of a little tunnel on fuxing road.

lemongrass, mint and orange tea


the drinks in this place are quite something. i had a lemongrass, orange and mint tea which was delicious, and i’ve had their ginger and honey tea before – strong, but oh so good!

the menu has a wide range of dishes and a quite a few are vegetarian. my little portion of spinach and pumpkin quiche looked a bit disappointing though, but p.’s spicy chouriço pasta was well served. both tasted good.

pumpkin and spinach quiche   chouriço pasta


overall, i feel this is more the kind of place that you go for mid-afternoon drinks, or to read a book while sipping on a latte. the bright walls and the decoration have a sort of “asian treasure-chest” ambience to it, quite inviting for a nice chat on a rainy sunday…

at ginger café

info:
Ginger
299 Fuxing Xi Lu, No. 1
near Huashan Lu
(there’s free wi-fi, but we didn’t get the chance to take our laptops out – it was quite crowded).