Travel PhooD: Going Greek

So it’s been a while since any of us have checked in and since I have to finish a talk for a conference next week, it’s naturally the perfect time to post about my adventures in Greece.  I was there in April this year with a friend, travelling from Athens to Naxos, Santorini, and Crete, before returning to Athens.  Expectations were relatively high to begin with – I love Mediterranean food (well, all food in general) – and we were travelling over Easter, so we were off, with open minds and empty stomachs…

Our flight landed at 2am and we had a very interesting, stray-dog laden walk to the hostel.  Not much on the food front on the first night, but the orange trees lining the streets gave off the most incredible scent.  Alas, the oranges were not for eating but rather to throw at the police…

Our tour guide, whose name now escapes me – Yannis? – let us have lunch at Monastiraki.  Yes, it’s very touristy, but we were hot, hungry, and short on time.  We both had a souvlaki pita at Thanassis and I’d have to say, in retrospect, it was probably one of the best things I ate in Greece.  I had some pretty amazing food but I can still remember the juicy texture of the souvlaki after 4 months.  YUM.  Hands down, best investment of 2€ the whole day.  We couldn’t get enough of it, so we went back for dinner and had moussaka and a large Greek salad with pita and tzatziki.  Everything was fresh and fantastic, and the salad had the most generous piece of cheese I’ve ever seen on any salad.

Two days later, we boarded a late afternoon ferry for the island of Naxos.  I had pretty low expectations, I must admit – I’d never heard of it.  Now that I’m wiser, I can highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend that you visit!  What an amazing place!  We arrived shortly before midnight and people running off the ferry and whisked away into cars headed to (orthodox) Easter midnight mass.  Firecrackers everywhere!  Our driver from A1 Soula Hotel dropped us off at his church (so nice of him!) so we got to watch the festivities for a bit.  The next day was Easter Sunday, so I woke up with absolute determination that I was going to have roasted lamb for dinner.

We woke up bright and early on Easter Sunday and took a walk along the St. George Beach and in town.  Somewhere along the way, we ran into the lovely Sunni, whom we’d met the night before because we were picked up at the same time from the ferry.  After a full-day photo tour of the island, we sat down for coffee at one of the cafes along the harbor and indulged in some dessert – kadaifi, moist orange cake, and a cream horn. We later met Jeff (?) from the States and the four of us went to dinner together.  Our server was a bit standoffish, but the owner/promoter was really charming and I’d promised him earlier that we’d go back and try his roasted lamb.  Joanne and I both had it, Sunni had roasted vegetables (a-MAZ-ing), and Jeff had a large salad.  The lamb was crispy, fatty, and just…fantastic.  They even gave us four red eggs – you’re supposed to knock your egg against everyone else’s and the last person with an intact egg wins.  Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to try the local liquer, kitron.

The next morning saw us off to Santorini, where there was more souvlaki-ing at Lucky’s, along the main boulevard through Fira, ice cream waffles at Perissa beach, and a nice dinner at Mama’s House – stuffed peppers and catch of the day.  A sailing trip to the volcano took us out to Restaurant Tonia on the island of Therasia before we headed off to Crete.

The ferry ride from Santorini to Crete was by far the most horrifying boat ride I have ever been on.  It was even worse than the sometimes-sketchy ferry ride between Hong Kong and Macau, where the ferry tends to skip over the waves.  No, this was probably 100x worse.  There’s nothing like the feeling of dread when you see massive 4 m waves rolling toward your boat as you’re trying to navigate through a storm – yay, window seat!  Now, the Greeks have been sailing for millennia, so I figured they wouldn’t have tried to sail through this thing if they thought it was dangerous…but I couldn’t help feeling that there was a very real chance we could all drown in the Aegean Sea.  Needless to say, we were in no mood to eat when we arrived in Heraklion.

Our appetites returned the next day and we went out for lunch at Mouragio Maria in Rethymno, which I noticed actually has a lot of bad reviews online.  The waiter in front is really slimy, so I can relate a bit, but since it was off-season, they didn’t try to pressure us into having fish (though they did lie about the free drinks – good thing we didn’t order anything other than the one bottle of water) and let us sit there for as long as we wanted.  We had a Cretian salad, stuffed peppers, and meatballs, and the bill came out to be 40-50€, I think.  Pricey, for sure, but it was worth it for the view.  Would I go again, though?  Probably not.

We were on the overnight ferry back to Athens, which was a relatively painless night, and spent our last day in Greece eating more souvlaki at Othanassis, running into our Argentinian friends (whom we’d met by chance twice on two different islands on the trip), and having dinner at Oinomageirio to Paradosiakό in Plaka.  What an amazing end to the trip – grilled halloumi, seafood risotto and deep-fried fish with roasted garlic spread.  Highly recommend this place!

Were my expectations of Greece fulfilled?  It’s a hearty YES from me.  Friends, do yourself (and the Greeks, given the current economic situation) a favour and book your next vacation to Greece.  If you’re not dazzled by the crystal clear blue seas and friendly people, you can always occupy yourself with ouzo and wonderful food.

Next stop: Istanbul!

Thanassis: Mitropoleos 69, Monastiraki, Athens

Oinomageirio to Paradosiakό: Voulis 44A, Plaka, Athens

Lucky’s Souvlakis: Fira

Mama’s House: Main Square, Fira

 

We came, we saw, we drank beer…

Veni, vidi, vici.  We came, we saw, we conquered.

This is the apt aphorism for last Spring’s impromptu beer run to Sint-Sixtus monastery in Westvleteren—home of the world’s rarest (and tastiest) beer, the Trappist ale Westvleteren 12.

It was amusing, it was epic, it was hilarious and burp-inducing. This is what usually happens when a small band of beer lovin’ grad students (hi, Kookie and Janet!) and a willing Japanese postdoc, all from Germany, who decided to rent a car and cross two country borders (Luxembourg and Belgium), pick up another grad student from Leuven (me!) and drive all the way to a faraway pocket of polderland in West Flanders.

We saw cows along the way.

Since it’s a Trappist abbey, no visitors were allowed inside the premises, except at the beer house (located outside the abbey walls) and the visitors’ center/café “In de Vrede” (Dutch, “in peace”, referring to being “in the shadows of a monastery”).

Instead of narrating everything, I’ll just post photos, with some captions.

The abbey in the map!

Inside "In de Vrede" cafe / visitors' center

Simple monks’ fare in the cafe

 

The abbey gate

The abbey facade

Beer drive-thru!

Lining up to claim the case of beer

 

The Westvleteren 12 was the beer produced that day. We were lucky!

The beautiful beers! Left, Westvleteren 8 (a sprightlier sister to Westie 12), and the Westvleteren blond (nicely bitter)

But one thing worth noting (aside from their beers, which you can get at the café in degustation boxes) is the café’s signature item—coupe “In de Vrede”, which is a scoop of Westvleteren 12 ice cream (yes, beer ice cream!) with chopped nuts, a tiny merangue and whipped cream, served in a beer goblet with the insignia of the abbey.  Now, before you get weirded out by the idea of beer ice cream, let me assure you—it actually works!  As I’ve reviewed this beer before, the Westvleteren 12 is a heavy-bodied beer, rich with the flavor of roasted nuts and toasted caramel, possibly a hint of vanilla.  The sweet and nutty notes meld well with milk and cream, thus making the idea “beer-flavored ice cream” a real thing.

I scream for beer ice cream!

The only tedious thing about the beer run is that it’s a 2 hour drive. Long, in Belgian standards. But for a degustation box of the rarest beers in the world, and a goblet of that ice cream…the trip’s worth it!

Goodies!

 

Santé! The PhDJ Girls conquered Westvleteren!

(Photos courtesy of Janet and myself.)

 

Travel PhooD: Guinness in the Water

It was Easter weekend, and I was off on a jet plane (after a security mishap at Frankfurt International) to Dublin, Ireland, where I was to meet my good friend Lolli for a weekend of Irish revelry (and, for me, a whole weekend of English).

Ireland has a huge pub culture; Dublin’s Temple Bar (not actually a bar, but a district) sees thousands of people a night wandering in and out of the various bars on the street.  Often, the bars are packed to the gills, and the party spills out onto the street.  It’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat, and you can wash it all down with a pint of homegrown Guinness.  Guinness was first brewed in Dublin in 1759, when Arthur Guinness opened up the St. James’s Gate Brewery.  Guinness has gone on to become the world’s best-selling stout and is the most popular alcoholic drink in Ireland.  Fun fact: Student’s t-test was invented by William Sealy Gosset, a statistician who worked for Guinness in quality control and product improvement.

Guinness flowing on the Guinness estate...

But it’s not just about the Guinness.  Irish food is hearty and filling, much like German food.  The cuisine is heavily potato-based, which would explain why the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-52 caused a 25% decrease of Ireland’s population, either through death or emigration.  There’s also lots of beef and lamb, given the rolling hills and plentiful green grass available for grazing.  So what happens when you combine Guinness, potato, and beef (+ carrots + onions + garlic + parsley)?

Yum.  I had this for dinner at Quay’s Restaurant in Temple Bar.  Very filling, so I honestly didn’t need the mash on the side, but it was a nice thought.  Lolli had sausages and coddle (onions, rashers, and, of course, potatoes), which was also delicious, but looked decidedly phallic.

Sausage and coddle...

The appetisers were probably the most “interesting” part of the meal – I ordered a goat cheese and blood pudding salad, while Lolli had a boxty (potato pancake-like).  In all respects, the salad was delicious, the goat cheese warm and creamy, but I just couldn’t stomach the blood pudding, regardless of how crunchy and salty it was.  Mental blockage fail.

Complete with black, crunchy blood pudding medallions

A boxty, much better

The next day saw us on our way out west to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher.  On the way there, our tour stopped for lunch in Doolin at Gus O’Connor’s Pub.  Quick meal, didn’t expect anything special, since there were about fifty of us crowded in there.  Pay first, food brought out later is the rule here, but, considering how many of us invaded their space in about the span of 1 minute, the service is lightning fast.

Lolli had a jacket potato with vegetable ratatouille and I had a tartlet made of St. Tola goat cheese and whiskey onion marmalade…hot damn, this was good.  Wasn’t expecting it, really, but the onions underneath that soft, warm baked cheese were incredibly caramelly and delicious.  I’m drooling just thinking about it.

All warm goat's cheese and caramelized onions...

And the weekend was over, just like that.  I bought a four-pack of Guinness to take home; have since used a can to make Guinness beef stew in my slow cooker (recipe up soon)!

Parting shot

Next trip: Belgium…

 

Oktoberfest Fare

Inside the Schützenzelt

Where: München, Germany

When: Annually, 16 days before and including the first Sunday of October

Prices

• 1 Maß beer = 8.80€
• 1/2 Bradhendl = 7.80€
• 1 Kaiserschmarrn = 12.10€

Oktoberfest brings together three of the most important aspects (at least in the eyes of foreigners) of Germany: beer, dirndls and lederhosen, and wurst (and other grilled and roasted forms of meat).  The Wiesn is one of the biggest festivals in the world, and starts 16 days before the first Sunday of October.

There are all sorts of types of food – mostly carnivorous – to try: Schweinebraten or Scheinehaxe (roast pork or roast pork knuckle), a variety of würstl (I like Käsekrainer, a cheese-stuffed sausage stuffed in a bun), Kasspatzn (Käsespatzle, see Kookie’s post here), Reiberdatschi (shredded potato pancakes), and Weißwurst (white veal sausage usually only eaten before noon for breakfast, also see here).

They roast whole oxen here...and then put up the name of the ox that they just roasted.

I think Joanna’s favourite was Leberkäs (corned beef and pork), while mine was definitely the Brathendl (roasted chicken).  These come in half-chicken portion right off the spit, and are still crispy-skinned on the outside, fatty and juicy on the inside, and really, REALLY hot.  The only real way to eat them is to just pull it apart with your hands – the stalls provide moist towelettes to clean your hands off after it’s all gone.

More than 700 million liters of beer are drunken each year at Oktoberfest.  For the occasion, the Munich breweries that participate in the festival – Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Hofbräu München, Hacker-Pschorr, and local favourite Augustiner – brew a special type of beer called Märzen.  This beer has a slightly higher alcohol content than most beers, a property that helped the beer keep for longer in the old days when there was no refrigeration and people weren’t allowed to brew beer in the summer (because of the risk of fire).

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

And of course, there isn’t only meat and beer served at the Wiesn.  For those that have a sweet tooth, there are also plenty of choices available.  Crepes, chocolate or sugar-coated fruit kebabs, gingerbread hearts (more for decoration than eating), and roasted candied nuts can be found every few feet.  Our friends also recommended that we try the Kaiserschmarrn at the Schützenzelt (literally, the Shooters Tent, one of Löwenbräu’s tents), which they said was the best Kaiserschmarrn at the festival.  An Austrian dessert, Kaiserschmarrn is fried pancake bits, usually served with some kind of sauce.  Ours came in a hot pan with caramelised raisins and toasted almond slivers and a dish of pflaumen sauce (plum sauce) in the middle.  Excellent when it’s just hot out of the oven and it’s just starting to get a little cold outside.

So, after an excellent Oktoberfest this year…who wants to come next year?

 

Herring in Amsterdam

Foodies have to try everything, right?  I’ve been travelling a lot this summer, and have been twice to Amsterdam in a month, so I felt it was finally time to try herring from a street stall.  Let me just note here that I don’t actually like raw fish very much (unless it’s smoked or sliced super thin) and only recently got over my sashimi-phobia, so my review of raw herring will probably be a bit biased.

One fine Sunday afternoon in Amsterdam after Dance Valley, David, Jeremy and I moseyed over to the floating Bloemenmarkt on the Singel canal to check out the flowers.  Surrounded by bright yellow waxed wheels of gouda and bucketfuls of tulip bulbs (fun fact: did you know the Dutch continue to donate 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada each year in thanks for their contribution to the liberation of Canada and sheltering of the Royal Family?), it seemed like a great opportunity to finally try herring.  Is it typically Dutch?  No idea.  Were there a lot of tourists?  Most definitely.

The herring itself was simple to order, and came with the option of having raw onions and/or mustard on top.  It’s sliced into bite-sized chunks and served with a cute Dutch flag, which also served as the eating utensil.  My first bite was alright – a little fishy, but still somewhat tasty.  The onions were a definite bonus and, in hindsight, I should have asked for the mustard as well.  It looked like standard raw fish, though I feel like it could have been more salty.  However, it was the texture that really threw me off.  There seemed to be a bit of a slimy film on the fish skin – I should have expected it, since it’s fish, after all.  It was a bit difficult to finish the whole thing, but I finally got through it.

So the question is – would I ever eat it again?  Probably not raw.  It might also be a good idea to have it in a bun (Broodje Haring) with the mustard; I’d imagine this would be a pretty tasty snack.  The place we went to also had other options; there’s a Broodje Garnalen for the not-so-adventerous…

 

Travel PhooD: Ladurée

Address: 75, Avenue des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris, France

Damage: 10€/8-piece boîte simple (1.25€/piece), 14.90€/8 pieces in a gift box, 5.90€/Mont Blanc

My discovery of Ladurée, one of Paris’ most well-known luxury pâtisseries, began much like my obsession with macarons themselves – suddenly and inexplicably, but a pleasant surprise.  Macarons are simply baked meringues made of almond flour, but the double-decker maracons, invented by Pierre Desfontaines of Ladurée in 1930, feature a creamy ganache centre sandwiched between two delicate meringue shells.  Today, Ladurée sells (according to Wiki) 15,000 of these babies a day – given the lineup Kookie and I encountered today (a nice balmy 23C in Paris), that’s not too hard to believe.

There are several locations around Paris, though the original one is near Place de Concorde, just off of Rue Saint-Honoré.  The one that I always visit, without fail, though, every time I’m in Paris is the Champs Elysée location – it’s the most easily accessible, and I don’t have to make an extra trip to get there (l’Arc de Triomphe is just up two or three blocks).

Ladurée sells much more than just macarons; they also do delicious flaky pastries and some gorgeous looking chocolates.  But let’s not kid ourselves – most people are here for the macarons.  There is a wide selection of core flavours – vanille, citron, pétales de rose, caramel, pistasche, among others – as well as some few season-specific flavours, such as noix de coco and menthe in the summer, and marrons and praliné in the winter.  The reason Ladurée is so famous for them (other than the fact that they did indeed invent this style) is that they are fantasically delicious.  The texture of the meringue is perfect – a crispy shell with a delicately chewy interior.  To feed my macaron addiction, I’ve had macarons the world over, but nothing compares to the first macaron I ever had from Ladurée (vanille, Christmas Day, 2007)…except other flavours from Ladurée.  So far, the only other place that comes close is Pierre Hermé, but I find the flavours a bit out-there sometimes (Ladurée is very tranditional).

As well as rotating flavours, the gift boxes also change their design every month.  This month features several mademoiselles wearing various Ladurée pastries – Camélia here is sporting a Saint-Honoré hat.

The other thing Ladurée is famous for is its desserts- Saint-Honoré, Religieuses, Divin, Ispahan, and Mont-Blanc.  You’re not allowed to take photos inside (of course, I didn’t know that when I took the pastry photo above), but it’s truly amazing to see all their desserts lined up behind the counter.  As a treat (ok, an extra treat), I bought a Mont-Blanc to take home (yes, on a 5-hour bus back to Saarbrücken.  Somehow, it survived).

I have yet to eat it, but I’m sure it will be delicious.  And I guess the next time I’m in Paris, we’ll get a review of Pierre Hermé (I have to try his signature Ispahan)!

 

Travel PhooD: Thomas Haas

City: Vancouver, Canada
Location: 998 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver; 2539 West Broadway Avenue, Vancouver
Eaten: Small hot chocolate and double-baked almond croissant
Damage: $11.08CAD

There used to be a bakery called sen5es that made gorgeous cakes in the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Vancouver.  Their head pastry chef, Thomas Haas, also did dessert consulting for the restaurant attached to the hotel, Diva at the Met (so, unsurprisingly, their desserts are also delicious!).  The Met started renovations a few years back and, as such, I didn’t ever get a chance to try any of their cakes.  However, I soon discovered (thanks to the internet) that Chef Haas also owned a bakery and chocolate shop out in North Vancouver – why not go straight to the source?

The trek out to North Vancouver was a rather long one, a good two hours one-way, so I always set aside an entire half day to go (it’s not somewhere you go on a whim unless you have a lot of free time).  I’d have to walk about 30 minutes from the nearest bus stop to the pastry shop, which was located at the end of a quiet industrial street – not exactly the place you’d expect to find a world-class chocolatier and pâtissier.

Thomas Haas is a fourth-generation pastry chef, whose great-grandfather opened the Café Konditorei Haas in Aichhalden bei Schramberg in the Schwarzwald (eng.: Black Forest) in Germany in 1918.  He is one of the top pastry chefs in Canada and has won a number of awards, and every time I go back to his shop, I’m so excited to try his chocolates.  So when I heard from my former professor at UBC that a second location in Kerrisdale had been opened, I absolutely had to go visit.

Though I really love Haas chocolates (my favourite is the vanilla with smoked Hawaiian sea salt chocolate caramel, but do try them all), the star of his pastry case has to be the double-baked almond croissant.  Out of all the croissants I’ve eaten anywhere in the world (and I’ve eaten a lot more than I care to remember), this has to be the best one.  Yes, the BEST one.  Better than Paul, better than Ladurée – I’ve never had a croissant like it before.  The outside is incredibly golden and flaky, smothered in thinly-sliced toasted almonds and a light dusting of powdered sugar; inside is a soft, sweet almond filling.  You can tell they don’t skimp on the butter with every delicious, crispy bite.

The hot chocolate was rich and silky dark chocolate with a thick layer of foam and a cocoa powder heard dusted on top.  An excellent accompaniment to any of the desserts, but together with the croissant, it was a little too much for one person.  I still felt really full four hours later.  A better idea would be to go with friend, get two hot chocolates, and split a croissant.  You’ll also feel slightly less guilty if you decide to try a second dessert. =)

The Kerrisdale location is a little more spacious and has more seating, but I still think the chocolate selection is better at the original North Vancouver location.  If you’re lucky, you might even seen Chef Haas himself!

 

Travel PhooD: Breakfast at Medina’s

City: Vancouver, Canada
Location: 556 Beatty Street, Crosstown
Eaten: Soft-boiled egg, bacon, and Belgian waffle with white chocolate pistachio rosewater sauce
Damage: $12CAD + tax

David N. (who treated me to breakfast – thanks, honey!) and I like to joke that Medina represents everything that is simultaneously great and absolutely wrong about Vancouver.  Located in Crosstown, a bit of a developing (read: gentrifying) neighbourhood sandwiched between the affluent Downtown core and homeless/prostitution/drug-riddled Downtown Eastside, and next door to our old first-year dinner hangout, Chambar, Medina looks like a typical Vancouver café from the first step inside.  The glass windows run from about three feet off the ground up to the vaulted ceiling, and single light bulbs hang from the ceiling.  The bar sits on the right side, the espresso machine waiting, with a few stools lined up at the counter.  Along the opposite wall (brick, of course) runs a padded bench behind lacquered wood tables.  The restaurant itself is narrow, but long – typical, because Vancouver retail lots seem to be becoming increasingly disproportionately rectangular (window space must be a premium!).

Bacon and eggs, Medina-style

The food at Medina’s is quite good – in addition to the typical eggs-bacon-fruit fare (which, as I will explain later, is not all so typical after all), there are brunch specials like Les Boulettes (2 poached eggs, spicy Moroccan meatballs, cilantro, hummus cucumber tomato salad and a piece of grilled focaccia) and the Fricasse (2 fried eggs on braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, carmelized onions, arugula and smoked applewood cheddar with grilled focaccia, both descriptions from Medina’s website!), which I can both heartily recommend, as we tried them the last time I was in Vancouver.  Their waffles are slightly crispy with a soft inside, with additional sauces on the side (ranging from classic mixed berry compote and fig orange marmalade to the more adventurous milk chocolate lavender and white chocolate pistachio rosewater).

Ever wonder what $1.25/slice bacon looks like? You're looking at it.

I said I’d say something about the bacon, so here it is.  If there’s one dish that really just embodies why exactly I would call Medina’s just plain wrong sometimes, it’s this one.  First of all, four strips of bacon shouldn’t cost $5CAD.  Ever.  Granted, it was really good bacon, but that’s not the point.  Secondly, this ain’t no Average Joe rasher, no sir – this is thick-cut, farmers-style bacon.  And lastly, it’s served on a square white plate with – get this – a drizzle of balsamic on the side.  Too much, perhaps?

Overall, Medina’s is a good place to sit down once in a while and have a chat with some friends over breakfast or brunch.  The food is good, but it definitely won’t be cheap (if you are looking for cheap breakfast food, Denny’s is both cheap and filling – Grand Slam, anyone?).  The service is attentive, but the place really isn’t all that big, anyway.  I’d come here again, but only once every few weeks as a nice treat!

 

Travel PhooD: beard papa’s

City: All over!

Damage:  $9CAD/half-dozen, $1.75 each

With a name like beard papa’s, one wouldn’t really guess that this was a cream puff chain.  However, this popular cream puff shop has expanded far beyond its Japanese roots, to Vancouver, New York, Sydney, and even London (on Oxford Street).

Is it called Beard Papa's because his head looks like the cream puffs (or the other way around)?

There’s more than cream puffs for sale – they also offer cheesecake sticks and chocolate fondant – but the real stars are definitely those giant cream puffs.  About the size of a small fist, these treats have a flaky outer shell with a freshly-piped creamy filling more akin to custard than whipped cream (though it’s a mix of both) – guaranteed to change your view on cream puffs.  In addition to the classic vanilla flavour, they also offer several specialty flavours in rotation: caramel, strawberry, chocolate, and my personal favourite, green tea.

Mmmm, green tea

A more conventional flavour, caramel

 

Travel PhooD: Japadog

City: Vancouver, Canada

Location: Burrard and Smithe; Burrard and Pender; 530 Robson St. (coming soon)

Damage: $6.25CAD for one Okonomi hot dog

The Japadog stand is somewhat of a Vancouver institution.  What started out as a creative twist to regular street vendor hot dogs has become so popular in recent years, they’ve actually been able to set up a second location, and are opening a store on Robson street by the Central Library (who’d ever heard of a chain hotdog stand?!).  And it just keeps getting more popular – what recession?

I think I picked the wrong day to come (I'm halfway through the queue)...

Japadogs are essentially normal hot dogs – the kind you would buy from any stand on Robson St./Burrard St./etc. – with Japanese toppings.  In 2005, Noriki Tamura, the owner of Japadog, wanted to open a street food stand.  However, due to archaic Vancouver by-laws, only pre-cooked, ready-to-eat foods are allowed to be sold, which basically means no crêpes, no curry fish balls…heck, I’m not even too sure fries are ok.  Probably not.

So basically…you can sell hot dogs.  But there are so many hot dog stands in Vancouver already (since no one can sell anything else!); how do you attract customers to yours?  The answer – make unique toppings that would appeal to locals and tourists alike.  Throw in a few colourful signs and cute Japanese service (read: lots of quick bowing and ‘お好みです！プリズインジョイー！/Okonomi desu!  Pureesu enjoy!’ – they’re so polite! ♥♥♥) and voilà! – Japadog was born.

I’ve visited quite Japadog a number of times, mostly when I feel adventurous or particularly Vancouver-y.  Japadog is rather popular, so most days, the queue is about 15 minutes long.  On a sunny day, be prepared to wait almost an hour!  If the queue is especially long and you’re starving, drink something while waiting in line – it can be slow torture, because the closer you get, the more the tantalising the smell gets, gently teasing your olfactory senses until you get to the front of the line…

…only to order and go and stand in the pick-up line (cruel, eh?).  But from here, you can see how they make the toppings!  First-timers normally get the Terimayo – a beef sausage dressed in Japanese mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce with shredded nori (dried seaweed).  However, since I’m not the biggest fan of teriyaki sauce, I prefer the Okonomi – pork sausage with fried cabbage, okonomiyaki sauce (just a bit) and Japanese mayo, topped with bonito flakes.  There’s also the Oroshi – a generous scoop of grated radish on top of a pork sausage with green onions and soy sauce – and the Ume – raw red onions on a pork sausage with ume (plum) sauce.  There’s even an Edamame version – Edamame beans packed inside a sliced pork sausage – but I have yet to try it.

Here’s another thing I discovered here – wasabi (deu.: Meerrettich) mayonnaise is fantastic.  Its pleasant light green colour, coupled with its subtle kick of hotness, almost ensures that I will never again be satisfied with regular Japanese mayo.

I have to admit, Japadog is not exactly the cheapest hot dog you’ll ever have, or perhaps even the tastiest.  It is, however, an interesting experience definitely worth checking out!