mmm-yoso – Page 254

Chef Chin revisited

August 7, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

**** Chef Chin has closed

Well, sort of……. I've posted on this place when it was just Chin's on Convoy. I actually had dinner here after the name change which was….well, ok. It was too dark and my photos never came out. A few weeks ago, feeling the need for some Niu Rou Mian, I decided on revisiting.

Even though it was pretty hot out, I just needed some NRM.

I don't know if it was bad timing, or if it was the "b" team in action, but this wasn't even close to what I had here before. Sorely lacking beef flavor, this was very salty, missing the nice kick I had in previous versions. The beef was fine, moist and tender, but those noodles were terrible. I was never the biggest fan of the noodles here, which are passable when prepared well, but when overcooked and mushy……

I ordered the fried pork chop, which was even worse than the NRM.

Greasy, soggy, and too salty….I think I'll leave it at that.

After this visit, I wondered if it had just been a bad day. I'd been craving Shanghai style cold dishes and with all the hot weather, it just seemed like the right time to try again….this time with my buddy "R" along for the ride.

We started with the Wined Chicken, which was pretty good.

The texture was spot on, the mildly cured texture, not too salty, and without the overly boozy, sometimes bitter flavor of too much Shaoxing, this was a decent rendition of the classic "Su Cai" dish.

The five spice beef was nicely flavored, not too sweet, which this type of cuisine can be.

If it were just a bit more tender I would have enjoyed it more.

The cold roasted duck's flavor was much better than what I've had here in the past. The nice sweet-soy flavor came through nicely.

Nice duck flavor, combined with a toothsome, but not too tough duck, made this the best dish of the day.

I'm glad the duck and chicken came through with flying colors, because the Wuxi Spareribs, a dish that's usually pretty good here was terrible.

Usually, I'm complaining that they make make it much too sweet here. But this time it really lacked flavor….the sauce was very bland. Combine that with gloppy gooeyness, sometimes a mild plus when sauces tend to be heavily flavored just made this a mediocre dish at best. The spareribs really lacked flavor, though they weren't too tough. Bummer, because this was possibly my favorite here.

At least my second meal was better than my first. If it gets terribly hot, I might just head back…..I'm hoping those spareribs are much better. The lunchtime crowd here is quite diverse, mostly made up of folks ordering the "ABC" style dishes, perhaps that's why the NRM wasn't very good?

Chef Chin
4433 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Roadtrip: Ha Noi Avenue – Westminster

August 6, 2014 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Ha Noi Avenue has closed

Last weekend, the Missus really wanted to drop by Portola Coffee Labs…..She has become a real coffee nerd. She's got all the gear to make pour-over coffee…..

Anyway, on the way down to the OC we started getting hungry. This gave us the perfect chance to check out a place I'd been wanting to try for a while; Ha Noi Avenue.

We really don't get to this end of Westminster Boulevard very often and I was hankering for some Bun Cha.

As with many businesses, this was obviously some kind of fast food joint….you could still see the drive thru lane and speaker board outside. The restaurant isn't very large, but is quite clean. Most of the customers were in rather large groups…families. And all were eating just about the same thing; Bun Cha, Cha Ca Thang Long, and Banh Tom, all the trappings of Northern Vietnamese Food.

I read of some instances where service was lacking, but we didn't experience any of that….in fact, the guy serving us was kind of, well jovial in a way. When we placed our order, he smiled gave us the "thumbs up" and said, "good….good!" Apparently he approved.

Fairly soon our table was loaded up; three plates of bun, two large baskets of herbs and greens, the pickled papaya and carrots in fish sauce, mam tom, nuoc mam cham, Banh Trang Me…..

Just the fragrance of the bun cha took us back to Bun Cha Dak Kim in Hanoi. While it was not nearly as good…..it was good enough. All the base flavors were there; the ground pork patty was a bit on the large size and not quite as tender, but the flavors, salty-sweet-savory-porky were just what the doctor ordered.

On another note, the bun here was perfectly prepared….just the right texture for me; not overly sticky or mushy.

When I saw Nem Cua Bể (crab spring rolls) on the menu, I had ot have it.

While not nearly as flavorful as #1 Hang Manh, lacking in the amount of savory flavors (crab) and not as light as I prefer, this was still not bad. Crisp, molten, and lovely with lettuce and a dunk in the nuoc mam cham.

The only real clunker was the Cha Ca Thang Long.

The fish, while moist was very bland. We've gotten used to all the flavors from Song Long's version of Cha Ca, amking this seem puny and missing some parts we enjoy like the fried shallots and peanuts. The mam nem was really watered down and weak. We'll pass on this next time and go for the Banh Tom instead.

And yes; there will be a next time. Funny thing, even though the signs say "pho" not one single customer (all Vietnamese) was having it.

Ha Noi Avenue
8432 Westminster Blvd
Westminster, CA 92683
Hours:
Wed – Mon 830am – 830pm

It's kind of nice to have all these options if we want a breakfast/lunch, we can go with the Cha Ca Thang Long at Song Long which opens at 9, or some Hue favorites at Ngu Binh which also opens at 9, or if we're in the mood for Banh Cuon we can go to Pho Tau Bay which opens at 8……

In the end, the missus got Her coffee beans at Portola, I got a cup of Kyoto Drip cold brew. And we got a nice little trip down memory lane. To a place crowded wall to wall with people, steep and skinny stairs leading up to an almost communal dining area, at #1 Hang Manh…….

It was wonderful taking that trip in my mind, down the dusty streets, dodging motorbikes, and eating like crazy in edgy Hanoi…..

I think it might almost be time for another trip…..

Turo Turo Tuesday: Doing some “research” edition R&B Filipino Cuisine and Manila Fast Food and Desserts

August 5, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

Recently, "YummyYummy" who had her first real exposure to Filipino Food at Kamayan Night at Villa Manila asked me which turo-turo (point-point) place made the better lechon kawali and sisig in the Mira Mesa area; R&B or Manila Fast Foods. While I do believe that timing factors in with regards those two dishes, especially the lechon kawali, I felt up for the challenge….hey, it's deep fried pork, who wouldn't be up for it? At it's most basic, lechon kawali is simply pork belly that has been simmered in water with perhaps some bay leaf and peppercorns, cooled, seasoned, then deep fried. Still, there was quite a difference in the versions served at R&B and MFF, especially with regards to the lechon sauce.

Anyway, without further ado, here goes…..

R & B Filipino Cuisine:

The lechon kawali here has wavered substantially during my past visits. So what would happen this time?

The lechon was probably the best I've had at R&B. It's a bit on the drier side, but not dried out. I think time was on my side this time around. The skin was crisp, though it seemed a bit over-fried. I even enjoyed the lechon sauce, which was less bitter than I recalled, also having a mild sweetness to it. The sisig was good, a nice balance of sour and spicy, though there were some hard and chewy bits in it. Again, probably the best I've had here.

You know, after all these years, I'm waiting to try the hamonado……

R & B Filipino Cuisine
11257 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Manila Fast Food and Desserts:

So, I've also had mixed results here as well, though I think MFF has been the more consistent of the two.

So, what did I like? Well, my goodness, these were some pretty hefty pieces of pork….it had just come out of the kitchen and were very moist. As you can see, there are no complaints regarding the fat being rendered off (though I'd say that isn't a bad thing). The skin was a bit too hard and man, this was fatty. Yet it was quite enjoyable in that "this was nice, but I'm glad we're not having this again for a while" kind of way. Not as seasoned as R&B, but much more moist and decadent. Not a big fan of the lechon sauce this time around as it tasted watered down…..though the pork was not.

The sisig was much more mild than I recall, though the texture was good. For me, it needed at bit more spice and vinegar, but was very tender and moist without being mushy.

The folks here have always been really friendly….I've been cutting down on rice and carbs, the gentleman who served me was very funny as we determined the amount of rice I wanted. In the end, I was declared, "you can't be Fiilipino"…. which they found funny. But ,they did go easy on the rice for me. The folks here are really friendly and nice.

Manila Fast Food and Desserts
8979 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

So there you go "YY", it's all about timing and what you enjoy….part of the fun is figuring that all out!

Bun Mam Monday – Com Tam Nhu Y

August 4, 2014 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

As the clouds and humidity swirled on into San Diego….with the weather turning slightly monsoon-like, with rain falling in August, my thoughts suddenly turned to Bun Mam. I'm not sure why, but that funky, fermented-fish based umami bomb broth called to me. So I decided to check out Com Tam Nhu Y, which, if you're keeping score, used to be Nhu Y, then, having been sold, became Com Tam Thuan Kieu, not to be confused with Com Tam Thuan Kieu for a blink of the eye….only to become Com Tam Nhu Y, not to be mistaken for Pho Nhu Y in Clairemont, opened by the former owner of Nhu Y. Really….can you say soap opera in the making? Who needs "Real Housewives of xxxxx", when you can have "Noodleshop Stories of San Diego"?

Well, whatever…..I was here for the soup……

The last itme I visited, I thought the broth had taken a turn to a lighter and an almost sweeter soup. Well…..it was back to the good 'ol Nhu Y broth on this visit. Dark and funky, it was raised by the squeeze of lime and the melange of herbs to cut the thickness of the broth. It was also a bit more spicy…….like a broth that had been steeping for a while. This is one of the few soups that can overcome the rather muddy flavor of low grade catfish……you take in the smooth and buttery texture of the fish.

The stuffed jalapeno really didn't do much for me and the shrimp were slightly over-cooked, but I knew what makes this dish tick….that really rich and funky broth. This was actually pretty close to what I had recently at Nhu Y Clairemont and I didn't have to wait until after 3pm to order it. Though that Hispanic couple who came in and sat behind me, then moved after my soup arrived may want that 3pm rule implemented here….hey, this ain't your neighborhood or restaurant, sometimes you might want to experience real life….. and real food….

Com Tam Nhu Y
4712 El Cajon Blvd Ste A
San Diego, CA 92115

Saturday Stuffs: A Gift from a Friend, How does our garden grow, and Cooking at Catalina Offshore

August 2, 2014 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

Glico Beef Curry Lee X 20:

A few weeks ago I received an email from FOY and fellow food blogger Dennis, whom you might know from his wonderful blog – A Radiused Corner. He told me he was sending me some nice and spicy curry he brought back from his recent trip. How thoughtful! A few days later a package arrived….it was the curry.

A couple of days later, it was cool enough for me to try and eat this. I simply heated in the typical way and served it over rice. Not having any pickled ginger, I garnished with some of our piclekd onions.

I loved the "nose", you could tell there was some heat involved. Overall, I liked the heat, it was enough to get the sweat going a bit, but not in an uncomfortable way….it did slowly build, but was nicely buffered by the creaminess of the curry. This was quite nice. I'm almost tempted to chop up some ghost peppers into some curry next time!

Thanks Dennis! This was so very thoughtful!

If you'd like to read Dennis's experience with the X30 – made with Moruga Scorpion Peppers, you can read Dennis's post here.

How does our garden grow:

So here's our garden update.

So, this is usually when the chilies start really doing well. But we've been most impressed with the okra. The plants look really fragile and delicate. We've got 6 plants and I don't think they're growing right in our raised bed, we're only getting about 4-5 okra ready to be picked at a time. But man, those fruits are quite robust!

Meanwhile, the chilies are starting to give off quite a bit of fruit. This year though, the ghost peppers aren't quite as burning hot as last year….they seem to be very fragrant…much more fruity than last year. We've been using them in stir-fries. Not sure why it's not as spicy. Could it be the padrons and shishitos close by? Is there some cross-pollination that's affecting the peppers? Or has the weather been too cool overall? Who knows.

Now, I know folks have been curious about these…..

The Moruga Scorion Peppers. These are pretty straight forward spicy, mildy fruity, with a burn that lasts about 15 minutes. I have a feeling that our scorpion peppers aren't quite as spicy as they should be either. Still, there is a burn.

And it is quite a bit more spicy than the Bhut Jolokia.

So we've been playing around with peppers….mostly using them in various stir fry dishes for the Missus. The Red Habaneros are not bad, a nice buzz, not sustained very long.

Recently, after two years of asking (nagging), the Missus got Her patio set. I gotta say, I'm really enjoying it as well. Here's my favorite past time on a typical evening.

We don't have the most beautiful backyard….but there's something serene about looking over our plants as the day ends and things start cooling down.

Cooking at Catalina Offshore:

So, I'm not sure when Tommy realized that I have a food blog. I'm pretty sure he knew this for a while, but it got really funny when a food blogger had mentioned "Kirk"….who Tommy knew as "yeah, he just comes in here and buys fish every week." But the one thing that gave Tommy some leverage was being called the "grandfather of food bloggers in San Diego". I'm flattered and all (Faye), but man, you just gave Tommy a response…."Hey Mister Grumpy, what's up"…… "Not much Grandpa, what's happening with you..he, he, he…." I love you Faye, but man, did you have to go and do that…….

Anyway, Tommy had been wondering for a while what the heck I was doing buying that salmon every week. There was always better salmon available, but I always went with the Scottish….. when I described to him that I was smoking salmon every week for the Missus, he thought it was quite an effort. When I told him it only really took about 25-35 minutes to do he was intrigued.

Which led me to bringing my now 9 year old Cameron Stove Top Smoker and smoking some salmon.

No, it isn't being filmed……..so you won't find this on Catalina's Youtube Channel.

I mean really….do you want to watch smoke wafting up from a stovetop smoker for 30 minutes?

The one really interesting thing was that Tommy told me when I arrived that Sam the Cooking Guy was doing a demo at 10. No big deal since it was 8 am and I could get this done in like 40 minutes total….Tommy was not a believer.

He is now……. I put out some baquette slices, dill mustard, dill creme fraiche. Spoke to a couple of customers and got out of Dodge. I'd say Tommy is a believer….he now has his own Cameron Stovetop smoker. Sorry to say I didn't take a photo of the end product, maybe next time I will… Tommy told me that we'd (I'd) be doing this again…. Not sure when. We'll see….. Cooking with good ingredients isn't very difficult.

Thanks Tommy….and yes, even you too Faye….. I think.

Symi, Greece: Dinner along Pedi Beach

August 1, 2014 mmm-yoso Greece, Greek Food, Symi, Travel

It gets a bit hot in the afternoons on Symi. Folks fill their time by catching the water taxi, finding a beach, getting some sun, or taking a nice little nap like us.

Waking up to a view like this ain't too shabby…..

We especially needed a nap after the filling lunch we had earlier. After waking we just hung around the area, taking a seat in front of the tiny store on the waterfront, watching the locals return after work, socializing……. the pace is truly slow and laid back here.

So while the interior of the hotel seemed a but drab, with a certain amount of "geriatricness" to it, it was all balanced out by the rather sedate surroundings.

Earlier in the day, while taking our walk, we noticed this covered "pier". There were tables and chairs set-up making it look like a make-shift a fresco dining area.

We initially had thought of heading back to Gialos for dinner, but decided to walk on over to the pier, to find all the tables made up and a grill heated and ready to go. We thought this would make for a really nice dinner.

After all, there was no one else around except us, the staff, and most of all, the view.

There was a certain stillness, as if time stands still here on Pedi Beach, barely a whisper of a breeze.

The menu was full of Greek Isle standards, grilled seafood and kebabs. The cooked food, drinks, and other items came from the building across the street. The grilled food….from well, the grill of course.

We started with the eggplant, which was nicely seasoned, with a bit more umph than the usual…. the folks running the grill looked Turkish. I may be wrong, but considering the fact that Rhodes is about an hour ferry trip from Mamaris and Symi just a short ride from Rhodes…..

The one item I got excited about on the menu were the Symi Shrimp.

Even though I'd had almost two full plates to myself earlier in the day, I just wanted more. Simply seasoned with salt and pepper, these had the condensed shrimp flavor….think of the intense savoriness of dried shrimp, in a sweet, light, and crunchy form. These were so good.

The grilled octopus looked tough, but wasn't bad by any means.

We threw in the towel after this…..we'd had quite a meal for lunch and this filled us up.

Things were nicely finished by the complementary fruit plate.

By now, several of the tables were taken, which was our que to head back to the room.

The moon was rising over the mountains and we took our sweet time walking back to the room.

Earlier in the day I'd taken a photo of a sign on one of the buildings. Perhaps this used to be a bakery? I thought about the sign as we walked back to our room. Thinking about that little slogan on the drawing, I made up my own version of it; "life is my cake……you have to take a bite and savor the sweetness and richness of it."

Not bad for someone who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, huh?

Revisits: The Spotted Cow and Gala Chicken

July 29, 2014 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Vietnamese Restaurants

Here are a couple of revisits for today.

The Spotted Cow:

**** The Spotted Cow has closed

When the Missus needs something from Zion Market on the weekend, I'll go right when they open. I really never paid much attention to the food court during these morning visits until I was a bit hungry one day and was surprised to see the Spotted Cow open for business.

I really hadn't been overly impressed on my previous visits, but being a bit hungry I thought it would a good time to try the food again. Instead of the items I had before, I decided to go with the "Mi"; egg noodle soup. The young man working was very nice and efficient. I was surprised to see all that cilantro and scallions floating at the top of my bowl.

The broth and the herbs was pretty much what I expected, lacking in savory flavors and salty (broth) and fairly sparse (herbs and veggies).

What really surprised me was the amount of char siu in this bowl….my goodness. Not the best pork, a bit light in flavor and some rather overly chewy bits. But for a $6.95 bowl of noodle soup, this was probably the most I've ever seen in a bowl of egg noodle soup.

A very generous amount of egg noodles as well…..prepared quite well.

This might be the way to go here if you need a quick bite. Not a place to go out of the way for….but if you're hungry at 9am in the morning and are shopping at Zion Market, this might be ok. If ok will fill the bill…..

Spotted Cow Viet Kitchen (in the Zion Market Food Court)
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, California 92111

Gala Chicken:

**** Zion Market has moved and Gala did not make the move with the market

One evening, the Missus needed me to pick something up from Zion on the way home from work.

Looking at the Gala K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) stand, I thought it would be a good chance to try the chicken again. It had been about a year since I tried the chicken here, they had just opened and I had hopes the execution was better.

I went for a regular order of wings ($7.99). I was told it would be about a 20 minute wait, so I went ahead and finished my shopping. By the time I was done, so were my wings. I went home and opened up my the styrofoam container.

The wings were still hot, the coating wasn't quite as crumbly as I recalled, and not greasy, though I still think the seasoning is on the bland side. The wing pieces were fine, but the drumettes kind of dry and tough. I turned over one of the pieces…..

Sigh…… If you read my earlier post, you might recall how the guy running the fryer kept poking and cutting into the chicken pieces during the cooking process. So the chicken is losing moisture, drying out….. I would think if your business is frying chicken and have been doing it for over a year, you'd know when it was done without having to cut into pieces.

That's it…. what more can I say? I think it's sad that a product would never hit full potential because of something like this. I also realize that it might not matter to you, but it does to me.

Gala Chicken
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd (Inside of Zion Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

Ly Heng Asian Restaurant

July 28, 2014 mmm-yoso Cambodian Restaurants and Cuisine, Vietnamese Restaurants

Back in January, I noticed that Hao Vi was gone, replaced by Ly Heng. I was intrigued so I decided to stop by for a some noodle soup.

The interior look basically the same…. it seems like a nice family is running the place now.

The menu looked overwhelmingly Vietnamese, having seen the writing on the window, I asked the nice young man where their family was from. It turns out that they are from Cambodia. So, Ly Heng is one of those hybrid noodle houses, like Trieu Chau and 777 which reflect the family's travels.

I wanted to try the Hu Tieu Nam Vang – Phnom Penh Noodles, but they only had a Banh Pho version on the menu – which I ordered.

Served with blanched bean sprouts, I found the broth to be a bit too salty for me. The noodles were overcooked as well.

There was a nice variety of protein items, but nothing really stood out.

The nice young man told me that they had just opened and would soon be adding more items to the menu. So I decided to wait a couple of months to return.

Flash forward a whole six months….Ly Heng had slipped my mind. One Friday evening, MrQ mentioned how much he missed Hao Vi…… which reminded me that I had always intended to return to Ly Heng.

Man, look at the grafitti on the sign…..why on earth would folks waste their time defacing a business's sign like that?

The same folks were running the place and there seemed to be a few more items on the menu. I took my time looking over the menu this time and found one of my favorite dishes; Beef Sate Noodles, which I ordered "dry".

And guess what? They even had Hu Tieu.

To be perfectly honest, the highlite of the meal was the pork bone soup, which, though a bit on the salty side hit the spot, as did all that tender pork. This was more of a rib than pork leg bone, which suited me just fine.

There were a couple of slices of fairly tender beef. The "sate" in this case was mainly peanut and chili paste, lacking the shallots and other flavors that add complexity to the sauce. I will say that it might be the spiciest sate I've had.

The portion of noodles was very generous, and it was prepared well, with a nice stretch and not mushy.

While I wish the menu was more diverse, it's heavy on Vietnamese style noodles dishes – thre are many places in the area that do it just as well or better, I'll probably return and try something else…. so long it has that pork soup!

Nice people and decent prices.

Ly Heng
4451 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Hours:
Thurs – Tues 8am – 8pm

Prague: Havelske Market, a walk along the Vltava River, and the Dancing House (Tančící dům)

July 26, 2014 mmm-yoso Beer, Czech Republic, Markets & Grocers, Prague, Travel

So what does one do after a hearty and filling lunch accompanied with a liter of beer? Well, think about what we'd be having for dinner of course!

Actually, we had quite a bit of leftovers and decided to drop a place we passed early in the morning.

So we decided to dodge the raindrops on the way back to the apartment and see what the place had to offer. Havelské Tržiště (Havel's Market) is the oldest market in Prague, dating back to the 13th century.

Two-thirds of the market stalls seem to be dedicated to souvenirs, which looked pretty inexpensive compared to other places. Stalls at the other end are dedicated to mostly fruit, with some vegetables.

We managed to find some good cherry tomatoes and lettuce for dinner.

Back at the apartment, we did most of our packing, we'd be headed out to our next stop in the morning. After a short nap we decided to take a nice walk along the Vltava River. I just love the buildings in Prague……there's no uniform nod to any one style, which makes each structure unique.

There are a couple of islands in the Vltava River, the largest being Slovanský ostrov. The island was gradually formed by deposits from mills in the area. It is a pretty good sized island.

There actually was an objective to all of this. The Missus wanted to see the building named the Dancing House (Tančící dům). This distinctive structure was designed by Vlado Milunić and a very familiar name – Frank Gehry. I've been to two Gehry designed structures, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, so this made it a nice trio.

I guess it does kind of look like a couple dancing, thus the nickname, "Fred and Ginger". Perhaps tilting your head a bit brings a bit more life to the structure?

Well, maybe not…..

Having reached our destination, it was time to head back…..at this point, the Missus decided that we should have a last beer in Prague. So we found Minipivovar U Medvídků, a microbrewery owned by Budvar

The place was packed, so we decided to just grab a couple of beers to have after dinner.

The Oldgott Barique Ležak 13° seemed to be a higher alcohol version of the "half and half", half dark, half pilsner. The aroma was on the sweet side, but the beer was woody and bitter, not my favorite combination.

The X33 was basically a doppelbock, kind of funky, almost sour scent, foamy, but with a mild fruity initial taste.

Hm. We were still looking for something in the Czech Republic we liked. And we'd sure keep trying until we found it!

Symi, Greece: Gialos Harbor, Taverna Trata, Pedi Beach

July 25, 2014 mmm-yoso Greece, Greek Food, Seafood, Symi, Travel

On most trips, I plan one "interesting" thing to do….I won't say it's off the beaten path (I'm still a tourist), or adventurous (look, this is me, right?) to do. Just something a bit, well, "interesting"….like spending the night in a tent (a "Four Star" tent mind you)in the Sahara, or hiking the Great Wall from one province to another, perhaps it's hiking the supposedly longest gorge in Europe, I'd even say some of the meals we've had filled the bill, whether at a restaurant or something lovingly made by the relative of a friend.

For our trip to Istanbul and Rhodes, I really wasn't sure what to do. So I started reading through things and the words, "the most beautiful harbor in the Greek Islands" popped out at me. The harbor is named Gialos and the Island Symi. Once the home to master ship builders…..the "Argo" the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts was supposedly built on Symi.

Now we could have easily just done a day trip….but I decided why not stay on this island with a population of 2500….and not even in the main city, but on the other side of the island….in a little fishing village named Pedi Beach? Which is how we took the ferry and arrived on the island of Symi with a boat load of day-trippers.

When they say that Gialos Harbor is the most beautiful in the Greek Islands, they aren't kidding….

The vivid colored buildings lining the mountains contrasts with the blue waters in the harbor to create a dramatic and romantic backdrop. The clock tower, named Roloi guards the harbor.

After disembarking the boat, we wandered a bit looking for the "bus" to take us to Pedi beach, eventually finding it near the South side of the harbor. We were off to Pedi Beach…..

The bus actually drives on the side of the harbor, right along the deep blue Mediterranean,which is a bit disconcerting as it looks like you'll be treading water at any moment. It then maneuvered it's way up then down the winding roads of mountain, some that seemed scarcely wide enough to hold the bus. At the end of the line you end up at Pedi Beach and if you're staying there, the Pedi Beach Hotel.

The Missus took a look around; all the occupants seemed to be older couples, many of which were tanning on the lounges in front of the hotel or couples with kids……asking me, "so, this is where we're staying huh?"

And the actual "beach" seemed to be a tiny spit of something…which wasn't quite sand about 10 yards long in front of the hotel. "So, this is the beach, huh?"

And yet; there was something quite idyllic about this place….. in spite of all the people there was a kind of quiet.

I'd gotten us a superior room, which had a wonderful view of the harbor. You had no choice but to decompress looking out from the deck.

We'd definitely get in a quiet night here, but that would have to wait, as we unloaded and the Missus decided we'd head back to Gialos for lunch.

We caught the bus back and had them drop us at the top of mountain. We'd walk down taking in the view of Gialos Harbor all the way.

I'd say this might be the most beautiful harbor in the Greek Isles, what do you think?

We wandered about peeking into the tavernas that dotted the harbor. Most were rather uninspiring….mostly expensive tourist fare.

For some reason, it was this little taverna a bit away from the water's edge near all the jewelry shops, that caught our attention. Named Taverna Trata (Trawler), maybe it was the little rough around the edges look of the place, perhaps it was the two tables of what looked like locals eating here. But something drew us to the place.

It did have the look of many of the other tourist type tavernas, with plates of prepped ready-to-go-in-a-minute seafood dishes.

But the place was just a bit more quiet and relaxed, so we decided to have lunch here….

This is Greece, right? So of course we started things off with some of the house wine…it was pretty warm so we went with the house white, dutifully delivered in the standard tin cup.

We started off with the house version of Eggplant Salad. Not bad, lots of garlic flavor, better than we expected. This seemed to revive us in a way.

The Missus is a big fan of Horta, the boiled wild greens.

This was nice, not over done and mushy, still a bit firm, lightly seasoned, quite good with a squeeze of lemon.

At this point we decided to veer away from the standards. The next thing I saw on the menu was sea urchin….you know how I love my uni (that still kinda sounds wrong all these years later). I was curious to see how this was served.

I was interested in how Mediterranean Urchin would taste. These were small, a very bright, almost orange color. Doused in olive oil, the flavor was more briney than I was used too….not quite as sweet as well. The texture was much more mushy….

Then came something both the Missus and I had heard about, Symi Shrimp.

These tiny shrimp are a local delicacy in Symi and now I know why. The shells are thin, but firm and really crisps up nicely. The shrimp have an amazing, almost condensed shrimp flavor and sweetness. Seasoned simply with salt and pepper, man, these were so good, you just pop them in your mouth and crunch away to your hearts content.

The Eggplant Imam, stuffed eggplant had nice seasoning.

The tanginess from the tomato paste, nice black pepper, onions adding a bit of crunch and sweet-pungency. Though the skin was really tough, the flavors were nice.

And for dessert???? Are you kidding me? Another plate of Symi Shrimp of course!

The tall, husky, fellow running the front of the house was a man of few words, but very nice…..he laughed when we ordered more Symi Shrimp, "very good….very good, huh?"

Very good indeed!

Taverna Trata
Near the bottom of the Kali Strata steps
Gialos, Greece

Mission completed, we headed back to Pedi Beach. It was time for a nap!