mmm-yoso – Page 350 – As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.

(Yet another) Kalbi Recipe

July 28, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Yes, I know I have not one, but two of these already. I did notice that it was four years between the first and second. And heck, guess what? It's been another four years already. So I guess it's just about the time again……

Actually, it was an email from frequent commenter (and hopefully reader) "Soo" that sent me down this road. It was a simple question about Kalbi, which made me realize that I hadn't made it in a while. I'd been wanting to try a different version and this seemed like a great time to do it.

So I bought some meat……..

And the other ingredient, a new one……Sierra Mist. I'd been hearing about folks using lemon lime soda in their kalbi for quite a while. It's supposed to help tenderize the meat….though like most of everything else, I'm not sure how true that is. I believe it was Thomas Keller who debunked the acid as tenderizer theory. Yes, who am I to say this wouldn't work or taste good?

Still, the addition of other acids (i.e. mirin) and the standard Asian Pear which has the enzyme papain which does indeed break down protein. I know something about that since I had two chymopapain injections when I was younger. Though too much papain can make your meat really mushy.

Anyway, I started with a baseline, and just built on it by taste of the marinade. One big change in how I make this. I now grate everything by hand. A couple of years back I decided not to use the food processor/blender for this anymore. It was whipping in too much air, adding too much heat, making the marinade taste a bit different for me.

Enough of that; here's Kalbi Three:

Kalbi Three:

1 cup Aloha Shoyu
12 ounces Sierra Mist or Sprite
¼ cup mirin
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup grated Asian Pear
½ cup grated onion
2 Tb minced or grated garlic
3 Tb Malt Syrup
1 Tb sesame oil

– Combine all ingredients.
– Marinade ribs overnight

The flavor was more light and fruity than sweet. Even though I used Haeundae cut, Angus beef ribs, these were on the chewy side. Still, the Missus enjoyed the flavor. I need to do a taste-off of my various recipes with the addition of one that does a milk marinade for tenderizing first. I've heard a couple of "my grandma's kalbi recipe" stories of milk being used to tenderize the beef. Anyone know of this?

Saturday Stuffs: Fu An Restaurant opening on Convoy, I-Sushi replaces Walmido

July 27, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi

Just a couple of quick things for a quiet Saturday.

Fu An Restaurant opening on Convoy:

Eater San Diego has been on top of this since BBQ Chicken closed. So now there's a sign, I heard the cuisine is……yes…..yet another Sichuan restaurant. I was told the owners are from LA, so hopefully they won't be cooking from the same playbook as other places in San Diego. I'm hopeful this will be much better than the last new Sichuan restaurant.

The address is:

4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

I-Sushi replaces Walmido:

It was "Yummy Yummy" who first mentioned this to me. This place quietly replaced Walmido a few weeks back. I asked if they still do the whole halibut sashimi and was told yes, except it no longer comes with all the side dishes.

Well, at least I get the answer to question, "U Sushi?"

I-Sushi
4367 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

It’s been a while week: Charley’s Famous Hamburgers (6.75 years later)

July 26, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! Kirk 's been writing a lot of posts lately and Cathy has a few contributions which can be part of "it's been a while week". This is one.

When Kirk mentioned that he had a lot of revisits he could write about, I knew exactly what he was talking about. I pretty much had posted on all 'new' places during His and The Missus' most recent vacation, yet The Mister and I have had our favorite places and rotation, which I just don't bother mentioning here again and again. When I saw Kirk hadn't posted on some places since 2007, I decided that a revisit of places I had posted on in 2011 would be 'too soon', so went back to the archives of this blog, when Kirk and The Missus went on their first 'blogcation' - It was in September/October of 2006 when I held down the blog for about three weeks, deleting spammers and contributing posts about what and where The Mister and I enjoyed eating.

One of those posts was about Charley's Famous Hamburgers, a small drive thru/walk up limited menu restaurant in Lemon Grove. It's still there -and has been there since 1973.

Charley's was and still is a regular stop when in the area. It's so very familiar, with a consistent quality and low price point.

Until I looked at my post from October 2006, I didn't realize that the menu (as well as the menu prices) is close to unchanged after all this time.

Well I do like consistency.

The Mister and I needed to 'research' what could possibly be different; what has changed since 2006.

The outdoor tables next to the drive thru are the same.

The covered seating (three picnic benches and overhead lighting) is still there, as well as the 125/54/94 freeway overpass.

One item I sometimes order here is the BLT ($3.69) The same thick, perfectly cooked, flavorful bacon that Charley's is known for…BUT only five slices (instead of six slices in 2006)-a bow to inflation. Still, it's a lot of bacon and the sandwich(served on a lightly toasted sesame seeded bun) is a really good deal. As always, shredded lettuce is used liberally at Charley's.

Something I hadn't posted that first time, but tend to order when needing a quick meal, is the basic grilled cheese ($1.79)…white bread, American cheese in a good amount, grilled on the flat top resulting in a crispy edged wonderfully simple, basic and good sandwich. (I must confess if the BLT is ordered, I pull out a slice of bacon to put between the pried open goopy mess of the grilled cheese sandwich) (a side order of three slices of bacon is $1.59…and, yes, I have considered the possibility of that being an order).

The chili cheese fries (small, $2.89) are exactly the same. Crispy, thin standard fries topped with melted cheese and a bean based nice flavored (not too spicy hot) chili. Everything is made to order here, so the fries are always good in that sense.

See those fried apple pies? $1.29 each or two for $2. FRIED to order. So good.

If you are so inclined, the carmel apple pie shake ($3.09) is not a conglomoration of odd syrups mixed to achieve an apple pie flavor; it is made with one of these cooked pies blended with vanilla ice milk…so you get crusty bits of pie dough stuck in your straw, along with chunks of apples. The banana shake is made with a real banana and the peanut butter shake is made with real peanut butter. {The other (less expensive) shakes (the ones you can order in size small or large) are made with syrups}.

The onion rings ($2.09 ) however, have changed and are no longer the individually breaded and fried rings of days gone by. The interior is the mushy mess of chopped onion…I'd forgotten the reason I stopped ordering these a while ago…

The kabob is what keeps me coming back. This is the double kabob with bacon ($5.49) cut in half. On a flat non-pocketed pita are two semi-thick slices of seasoned ground beef surrounding melted cheese and more of that thick, good flavored bacon. The rest of the sandwich is unique yet simple- mayonnaise, shredded lettuce, tomato AND sliced/chopped green peppers with sliced radishes. The flavor combination is just right; always was, still is. {as a side note, you can order a single kabob sandwich and either with or without bacon}

The double cheese hamburger ($3.39). Pretty much it's the same; maybe not as good as I remember; maybe my tastes have changed. Still, it's tasty, with hand formed coarse ground beef patties cooked on the flat top, achieving a nice char. The American cheese is something I never overly cared for and it doesn't matter to me..the toppings (again, the shredded lettuce as well as sliced onion and tomato along with mayonnaise) are always fresh and complimented by the lightly toasted sesame seed topped bun.

It was fun to be able to look back at my 'early days' of blogging and fun to go back to Charley's-with the 'new' freeway junction, we aren't regularly taking those side roads unless there's backed up traffic.

Charley's Famous Burgers (kabobs and shakes) 8213 Broadway, Lemon Grove 91945 (619)460-2690 Open 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.

It’s been a while week: Tita’s Kitchenette

July 25, 2013 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

Everybody know's Tita's right? I mean, really, it's an establishment here in San Diego. Cynthia "aka" Tita, has created a little kingdom for herself here in San Diego, now with a couple of places on Plaza Boulevard. Many folks, myself included brave the crowds to stand in line and pick out the "turo turo" favorites from the ever replenished steam table, beef mechado, adobo, tortang talong….. As I mentioned in my first post back in 2005 and other posts, I've yet to be able to polish off an entire plate from the place in a single sitting. The portions are huge and in terms of value, it's good. But over the years, I've been going less and less. The lousy attitude of the workers, in addition to not really going after quantity anymore, means that I really haven't gotten a meal there in quite a while.

Now this is with a couple of caveats. My good friend MG will get me lunch from there once in a while. Also, I dropped by looking for sisig as I mentioned in this post. Why sisig? Well, my recollection was that Tita's sisig just wasn't very good. In fact, when FOY (Friend of Yoso) and fellow food blogger Kirbie did a post about Tita's which included the sisig in 2009, "MrM"(I hope you're doing well) and myself commented on how bad the sisig was at Tita's. To me it just wasn't the thing you ordered there. And yet…….Tita's was on one of those food shows and the sisig there blew up….suddenly, folks were saying how good it was. At first I was kind of irked because changing the recipe for the purpose of publicity is basically admitting that you knew your sisig wasn't very good all these years and you did nothing about it. Whatevers. The strange thing about the lousy service at Tita's…..I'm glad I don't speak Tagalog, because the body language and facial expressions of some of the workers makes me really happy to not understand what they're saying…on the other hand, I've met "Tita" a couple of times and she was the nicest person. Go figure…..

So I finally hit paydirt a couple of weeks ago and actually got sisig. First I need to clear some things up. If someone got off the plane from Pampanga this morning and hit up a couple spots for sisig in San Diego, they' be wondering "what the heck?" What we have here is basically use of leftover lechon kawale, not the delici-yoso pig head and parts that make up traditional sisig. Still, when done well, it's porky goodness.

The photo above in a nutshell goes a long way in explaining Tita's popularity. You can easily feed two, or maybe two and a half with this $7 plate of food.

I chose the pork adobo because it just came out of the kitchen and was steaming hot. It was decent, sour enough, salty, not overly tough, especially at this price point. Maybe lacking in the black pepper department a bit.

The sisig on the other hand was as bad as the version I had in 2002, except not as soupy.

Not enough salt, sour, spice, very waxy and greasy in texture. All the benefits of using leftover lechon kawale lost in it's sogginess. Throw in the below lukewarm temperature and this just wasn't my thing. Which has me scratching my head….this can't be what folks have been raving about since Andrew Zimmern "tweeted" about it – "Tita's sisig, best I have ever tasted . San Diego Philippine food is crazy good".

You want bang-for-the-buck to feed your starving student, Tita's is it. You want good sisig? If this is an indication, I don't think Tita's is it. There are a good number of dishes they do make which are better…. I'm wondering if they still make the pancit palabok to order?

Tita's Kitchenette
2720 East Plaza Boulevard
National City, CA 91950

It’s been a while week: Asia Cafe seven years later……

July 24, 2013 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants

**** Asia Cafe has closed

Seven years….my goodness. Asia Cafe….aaah, yes, it's been a while, over seven years since my last post if I recall. This wonderful little mom-and-pop-shop once held a place in our rotation and I'm not sure how it just kind of slipped off. Perhaps it was our trip to Laos and our experiencing the depth of the cuisine, the sour-bitter-salty vibrant cuisine. Or maybe it was Vientiane Thai-Laos in Garden Grove that did it. I'm not sure. Even though I haven't posted on this place for a while, I've gone back to Asia Cafe a couple of times, though not for at least about five years or so. So I'd say a revisit post was more than warranted.

If there's comfort in the familiar; Asia Cafe surely hit the mark for us. Not many changes, new banquet style chairs, fresher paint perhaps, and it seemed a lot cleaner than I remembered.

The menu looked to be the same rather worn menu and we decided to order items we enjoyed on previous visits. It had been so long since we visited that the husband and wife who run the place no longer remembered us, which suited us just fine.

Things started off with the Yum Asia; a seafood salad of sorts.

This struck us as being a mere shadow of it's former self. The dressing was extremely sweet, throwing the whole balance of the dish off-kilter. Not enough lime or fish sauce and without a doubt not enough heat. Perhaps we were getting the "gringo" treatment after not returning here after so many years?

See Nam Tok was also another dish we used to enjoy. A simple charred flank steak, well seasoned with a salty-bitter-sweet dipping sauce.

Slightly chewy, this was not bad and an improvement over the Yum Asia. They still do a decent job with this, though it was a bit too charred. The dipping sauce was extremely bitter. Now bitter flavors, as in "sweet makes you dizzy, but bitter makes you healthy", so lets get another spoonful of that water buffalo bile in our Koy or just another piece of Sa-Kahn, bark of the Piper Ribesoides. But this was no fun.

Asia Cafe had always made very good sticky rice and it was nice to know they still do. Perfect in texture, not overly sticky, but perfect for forming that all too important three-finger ball of rice. It had me wishing for some good Jeow (a type of dip) for dipping.

The one item that I thought Asia Cafe made better than anywhere else in San Diego was Nem Khao, one of my Desert Island Dishes.

When made well, this crispy rice salad is a symphony of flavors and textures. Crunch from the rice that is fried….rice are made into balls then fried. The external rice becomes crisp adding that great texture. Fermented sausage adds the sour-meaty layer and the rest is delivered by various seasonings…..places in San Diego, or even Vientiane Thai-Lao doesn't use a whole lot of coconut, but the best version I've had in Laos did. Strangely, this was ok, but not quite as good as I recalled. Not enough sour sausage, it was also missing that "umami" that I enjoyed. somewhere along the line, it seems a decision was made to make this as "crunchy" as possible, which messed up the glutinous and crunchy textures. The Missus doesn't always agree with me, but sadly, this time She did. This wasn't bad by any means, just not as good as it used to be for us. I could tell that this bothered Her as She kept mentioning how sad She felt about the Nam Khao for almost the entire following week.

In the end, the folks here were wonderful as always, the prices so reasonable, unfortunately the food seemed a mere shadow of it's former self. I'm not sure; maybe we were "gringo'd", but that never happened to us here before.

Asia Cafe
4710 Market St
San Diego, CA 92102

It’s been a while week: Sultan Kebab and Baklava revisited

July 23, 2013 mmm-yoso Turkish Food

Ah Sultan…..hard to believe we hadn't been back in over a year. There was a time when we'd make the 20+ mile drive each way a couple of times a week. Like Latin Chef, Sultan inspired us to travel to Turkey, which we loved. The food at Sultan was delicious enough, that it took two trips to Istanbul before we found a place where we thought every dish eclipsed Sultan. I guess the memories managed to last for over a year.

Sultan is a wonderful example of the benefits of blogging. We'd never have found the place were it not for FOY (Friend of Yoso") "KenB" (hope you're doing well), whose email got us to visit, and revisit, many times. One of other wonderful benefits and I'm sure other Food Bloggers will agree, is that once in a while we're contacted by Producers or Story Editors from various food shows and are able to share these wonderful mom-and-pop restaurants. I was lucky enough to be able suggest, along with many others I assume, Sultan along with the next two revisits I'll posting on, to those shows.

Finally, after over a year, we returned……..

We got there pretty early. This is a little mom-and-pop place, so when it gets busy, you just need to relax, and go with the flow.

The Missus and I decided to share a combination meze plate.

There is of course, those cooked to death green beans which the Missus loves. The patlican salata, smokey, with hints of cumin and oregano, antepezme (acili ezme), mildly spicy-tangy-sweet, the shakshuka with tasty potatoes, eggplant, and red pepper. Along with some lavas….sorry, forgot the photo, but hopefully you've read previous posts.

We also ordered the "mixed grill", Karisik Izgara, which is enough, along with the mezes, for the two of us.

We times things pretty well. You see, we've postulated that the cooking is much better during Ramadan, and this visit adds to that belief. The chicken kebab (tavuk sis) so tender and moist, full of flavor, the standard issue Urfa(ground beef) kebab, delicious and moist. Only the Kuzu Sis seemed a bit too mild, as in not gamey enough for us. The rice was fluffy the haydari (yogurt dip) seemed much more creamy than we recalled. In fact, this whole meal just seemed a step better than previous visits.

Perhaps time does make the heart grow fonder, or maybe we were just missing Istanbul? The reason is probably out of grasp, but that doesn't really matter. The point was, after having so many disappointing meals recently, this was the perfect meal, at the right time. Just what I needed. We gotta get back again soon……

Sultan Kebab & Baklava
131 Jamacha Road
El Cajon, CA 92019

It’s been a while week: Latin Chef 6 years later…….

July 22, 2013 mmm-yoso Latin American Cuisine, Peruvian Restaurants

I've been trying to restore my "restaurant mojo" since returning from vacation. After some not very good meals, I wondered how those places that used to be on our rotation was doing these days. So about two weeks ago, I decided to revisit a few that I haven't been to in a while. And so "It's been a while week" is born.

Latin Chef used to be a favorite of the Missus and I, we'd often visit several times a week. I could easily have credited the place with fueling the fire to visit Peru in 2007. It held a prominent place in our rotation at one time. But our enthusiasm eventually waned when the original chef moved back to Peru. And though I've visited a couple of times in 2011 and once early last year, the food on those visits was quite uneven. Part of what was missing for me was the presence of Freddy, the owner, a friendly, gracious, gentleman, who always had time to chat a bit. I'm sure he was around, but never on our visits, and the food seemed to suffer.

Still, the recent warm weather made it seem just right for some cebiche so I headed on over to Latin Chef.

And lo' and behold, who was waving at me from the window but Freddy! I hadn't seen him in at least four years. I had a seat and we caught up on things while I placed my order. While waiting for my food, Freddy sat down and we had a chat. Over the years, the menu had expanded to include Brazilian dishes, which I'd never had. Some folks attribute the uneven food to the addition of that side of the menu. When I asked Freddy about those dishes, he told me that without te Brazilian menu, they would not have survived the last three years. Enough with business….we chatted about how Peru has changed over the couple of years. It seems that everyone there now wants to be a chef! Maybe it's time to start planning another visit, eh? Though I was also told that prices have soared as well.

As Freddy served me my Anticuchos, he had to take leave to head out and shop.

I've always enjoyed the marinated beef heart at Latin Chef and I enjoyed this. Well prepared, with a nice chew but not too tough and rubbery, flavored with a mildly spicy chili-annatto marinade with a hint of acid I thought these were nice.

My cebiche pescado wasn't quite as good. First, no chanchita? That's almost a deal breaker for me as I love those toasted kernels of corn.

As much as I enjoy the bracing flavor of a good cebiche pescado, this was way too sour for me. I wouldn't be slurping up this leche de tigre (the cebiche marinade). The fish was under marinated for my taste, a bit too tough, as if the acid in the leche de tigre didn't have enough time. As for potatoes, it was a plain camote or sweet potato. Sadly, this was a far cry from the "vintage cebiche pescado" of Latin Chef's past:

Perhaps it was an off day. I'll probably be back to (finally) try some of the Brazilian dishes on the menu and maybe the cebiche pescado again. Hopefully, it'll be back to classic form.

Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Giving Chaba Thai a couple of lunchtime tries

July 21, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Thai Restaurants

Back in June (sheesh, we're almost to August already!), I mentioned that a new Thai Restaurant called Chaba Thai was taking the spot of Gyro N' Kabob Cafe, which in turn took the place of Aria Kabob. The place opened up pretty quickly a couple of weeks ago and since my office is close by, I decided to check them out for lunch.

The place has been given a mild face lift; brightened up a bit, paint job, stool, basic tables and banquet chairs, nothing fancy, but much brighter than the former places that occupied this spot. Overall, very fast casual in appearance.

The young ladies working here seemed quite friendly and after business. I was taking a look at the photos of the various dishes posted on the glass and was quickly shown a menu.

Unfortunately, the lunch menu consisted of typical, you choose the protein and preparation which is the standard for Thai restaurants in San Diego.

I'm sure folks that frequent Thai joints have their "baseline" dishes. One of mine is the deceivingly simple Pad See Ew, a simple stir fried rice noodle dish that is a lot harder to execute than one thinks. For me Pad See Ew determines the cook's skill with the wok and temperature. Achieving the balance of not overcooking the rice noodles and generating "wok hey" with the right proportion of sweet and salty shows experience and aptitude.

So I went with the Pad See Ew with Shrimp. Things started out kind of plus/minus. The salad with lunch is decent, a over-sweet "Thai-inspired" dressing, but the vegetables were fresh. That soup with coconut milk and cabbage was just plain insipid. I've been finding that this soup with lunch thing has lead to having some pretty nasty bowls recently, stuff I just have spoonful and can't finish.

Now for $7.95, I didn't expect anything like, say, Sab E Lee or Siam Nara. This is what I got…..

I really don't know what to say….but let me try. With regards to the shrimp, I didn't mind 41-50, which I kind of like in stir-fries, but these were overcooked and rubbery. Too long over not enough heat. There was also a bit of grittiness to them and a flavor that was edging on "off". Standard issue "Calabrese broccoli" was used instead of Chinese broccoli. The noodles were mushy and cooked without enough heat for too long (see the pattern). There wasn't enough savory, nor enough sweet, basically nothing but greasy, mushy, noodles.

This came with chicken wings that had very little flavor and a doughy batter, giving it a real greasy texture. The cream cheese won tons……..I won't even delve into that.

This was just kind of sad. I go into meals hoping and wishing for the best and it's always depressing to deal with nice folks who serve food that just seem to miss the mark.

Because of that, I decided to have another lunch at Chaba. Funny thing, I never bothered to turn over the lunch menu here. On that side of the menu is a different world of dishes; grilled pork neck, Thai jerky, and what I ended up ordering, the "Thai E-Sarn Sausage"….Issan Sausage ($5.95).

So this was the roundish "Sai Krok" I've encountered before. What really threw me off was the Japanese Benishoga – pickled ginger that was served with the dish. C'mon…really? I also prefer some cabbage rather than a single leaf of lettuce, but I've had it this way before. The sausage was too mushy for my taste, without enough sour-fermented flavor. It also seemed to be mostly rice. Sadly, this was the best item I've had here……

In a moment of indecision, I also ordered the "Combo Set" ($8.95), which featured BBQ Chicken and not apparent to me until after I ordered, BBQ Shrimp.

In all honesty, that insipid soup was better on this visit. This made me feel that perhaps things were going to be better this time around.

"Not so fast El Guapo!"

What I got was kind of strange and disturbing….the "BBQ Chicken" looked pan seared and like something I'd make at home. It had very little flavor. I love good Kai Yaang, so this was depressing.

The shrimp I was terrified of was cooked decently, but had little flavor.

The fried rice was actually not bad, but also needed a flavor injection.

It was kind of weird in a way. I felt like I was taken back to Thai restaurant food in the 80's, where restaurants were afraid of serving true, traditional flavors. Even in terms of "Ameri-Thai" this was a step backwards.

Contrary to what you might think, I take no joy in doing this post. Everytime I do a post that is less than positive, I get a couple of emails that suggest I do only "positive reviews". The problem with that being; I don't do "reviews", this is my little space where I post my opinions on what I/we ate. Secondly, I do wish the world was "butterflies and puppy dog tails", but it's not. Then there's those that usually start by marginalizing me, or calling me a name, then tell me something along the lines of, "if you have nothing good to say, you should say nothing at all." These folks I ask to start by setting the example first. Even more interesting, I'll get an email on a post like this one, telling me I know nothing about "REAL THAI FOOD LIKE IN THAILAND"……funny thing was; we'd just returned from Thailand…..go figure.

This is a place where I hoped that the food measured up to the warm service and sadly did not. I'm hoping things improve.

Chaba Thai Kitchen
8010 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Lisbon Day 3: Belem – Monument to the Discoveries(Padrão dos Descobrimentos) and lunch at Restaurante Rosa dos Mares

July 20, 2013 mmm-yoso Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Seafood, Travel

Right across the street from the Monastery de Jeronimos is Praca do Imperio, a large well manicured public square that features a beautiful fountain and a nice view of the monastery.

Heading toward the water and crossing under Avenida de Brasilia, you get to the waterfront. You really can't miss Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Monument to the Discoveries, which celebrates Portugal's glory during the Age of Discovery. This was where all those great sailing ships left from.

Originally, a temporary structure was built on this spot for the 1940 World's Fair. That structure was demolished in 1943. In 1958, a permanent structure was planned and in 1960, marking the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, the structure was completed.

By the way, that's Henry the Navigator leading the way at the point of the structure.

There are 33 figures total on the structure's West and East sides, which include Vasco da Gama, Alfonso the V, and Ferdinand Magellan. Sad, but true story of a recent conversation with a rather young, but highly educated young man. Chatting about our vacation, I mentioned the Age of Discovery; total blank look. I finally said, "you know Magellan, right?" "Of course, he's the person who invented the GPS, right?" Sigh…….

Anyway, Henry the Navigator is holding a sailing ship in his hands…….

It costs a couple of Euros to catch the elevator almost all the way to the top. You walk a couple of flights from there. It's a tight squeeze, but the view is wonderful. The photo of Jerónimos Monastery in my previous post was taken from there.

Here's another panoramic shot of Lisbon and the "25th of April" Bridge in the background (click to enlarge).

We had planned on taking the short ferry ride across the river to Porto Brandao, but having just missed the boat, we decided to just catch the trolley back to Central Lisbon to get something to eat. While walking to the trolley stop we noticed a promising looking restaurant called Restaurante Rosa dos Mares.

The server was very friendly and nice and there was a mix of tourists and locals in the shop. It was interesting, the locals ate in the back of the place while the tourists ate in the front.

The prices really weren't bad and of course the Missus wanted more sardines.

The Missus started with, duh, Caldo Verde (E 1.25), which She enjoyed….though I don't think She's ever met a bowl of Caldo Verde She didn't like!

For some reason, She really took to this simple potato thickened soup with greens.

Of course no real meal is complete without some Vinho Verde, right?

She also got here Sardinas Assadas, grilled sardines (E 6).

These were nicely done, better than what we had at Super Mario's. Moist, nice oil, rich, but not too fishy, good grilled flavor. There's something about the potatoes in Portugal…..it seemed like they had a more intense flavor. Maybe it was just being on vacation.

I got something called Bacalhao Rosa dos Mares (E 12).

Like they say, there's a recipe for Bacalhau for every meal of every day of the week. This was another one for the books. Basically nicely fried bacalhau topped withonions and peppers caramelized in vinegar. A tad too sweet for me, but the texture of the fish was nice and it wasn't too salty. The service was friendly, the Server helpful, and the food not bad.

Restaurante Rosa dos Mares
Rua de Belem 2-4
Lisbon, Portugal

After lunch we headed back to central Lisbon, getting off at Praca do Comerico and taking a walk back to our room/apartment.

As with all trips to large cities, Lisbon had seemed so large upon our arrival, but was shrinking as every day passed. Still, we weren't too sure we'd be able to to find the restaurant where we'd be having dinner, which was located in the tiny, winding, streets of Alfama. One last meal in Lisbon before heading on to our next stop.

Lisbon Day 3: Belem – Casa Pasties de Belem and the Monastery of Jeronimos

July 19, 2013 mmm-yoso Desserts, Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

On our third day in Lisbon we took a little trip to Bethlehem, no not that Bethlehem, or even that Bethlehem…… Santa Maria de Belem, or just Belem is a district of Lisbon. Belem is translated as Bethlehem in Portuguese, but don't let the name fool you, it's not some quaint Biblical village. Rather , this is where the great explorers during the Age of Discovery, Ferdinand Magellan and Vasco de Gama set sail. Belem district is beset by museums, a large garden, and monuments galore. It is about three miles from downtown Lisbon, so hoofing it would be a bit far; even for the Missus. The Missus unable to resist a "good deal", decided that Sunday would be the day to go since admission to the museums are free on that day. I'm usually a bit wary of large crowds, but didn't want to miss stuff like this:

Or this (click on them to enlarge):

So we made sure to get to the #15B trolley stop at Praca de Figueira rather early, in relative terms since Jeronimos Monastery doesn't open until 10. We're glad that we caught the trolley from Praca de Figueria. By the time the trolley made it to Praca do Comercio it was packed solid and just skipped the stop with a crowd of unhappy people waiting.

Getting off the trolley in front of the Monastery de Jeronimos, we didn't enter right away, instead we walked over a block to the place I really wanted to visit, the legendary Casa Pastéis de Belém. If you're after the "original" Pastel de Nata, which you should call Pasties de Belem here, or be lynched, you need to visit Casa Pastéis de Belém. According to the story, the original pasties de Belem recipe was created by two nuns in Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (Monastery of Jeronimos) and only served in the monastery until 1837 when this shop was established several priests. Since Belem was a central port, the fame of these egg tarts spread to all the Portuguese colonies across the world. If you know my twisted priorities, you'd understand how important it was to check this place out.

Since it was still before the 10 o'clock hour, when all the tourists and visitors would be hitting the area for free admission day, the place was buzzing but not crazy. We decided to do the "local thing" for a quick bite; order at the counter, then move over and eat at the counter standing up, which we'd grown fond of.

While waiting for our espresso and pasteis de Belem I took a walk around the rather maze0like interior of the shop.

Returning to the Missus we had a funny moment; the gentleman to the right in in the photo above was having some pasties with his wife. His wife grabbed the shaker of cinnamon and shook out a mushroom cloud of it on her pastry, causing the gentleman to cough and give her a rather dirty look. The woman could only laugh in amusement. He looked at me, I could only laugh and make the sound "poof", making the motion like a bomb exploding….he shook his head and laughed.

So how were these? Without a doubt the best we had on the entire trip! The pastry was served warm. Even though I read that it should be served cold; I disagree, these were wonderful warm. The crust was light and crisp, the custard wasn't too sweet and was relatively light….it seemed just perfect with a sprinkle (not a mushroom cloud) of cinnamon on it.

There's a reason this place goes through 10,000 a day and locals and tourists alike stand in line for these….they are delici-yoso!

Like most "legendary/cult" favorites there are stories about the the recipe. Supposedly this recipe is a closely held secret, known by only three people. According to Leite's Culinaria, the custard is made in a locked room! Unlike other places we've tried with "secret kitchens/recipes" (i.e. Crustacean) this place delivered. Business was really picking up when we left.

Casa Pastéis de Belém
Rua de Belem 84
Lisbon, Portugal

After this, I was ready to get on that trolley and head back to Lisbon proper….but of course, we weren't leaving without seeing the Jerónimos Monastery.

If you're a fan of ornate and elaborate Manueline Architecture, there's no better example than Jerónimos Monastery.

I recall walking the arched walkways in awe. Eventually, it just seemed like so much excess, just over-the-top……then the Missus looked at me and said, "somebody had to pay for this….." Which was true, the monastery was funded with a 5% tax on commerce from Asia and the Orient.

I will say that the place is one big photo opportunity.

I did want to see the main chapel for one main reason. It was Sunday so services were being held. They did a nice job of handling things. We stood in line and some really nice attendants let us in a few at a time.

The interior of the main chapel is quite ornate. There was one thing I wanted to see. The great explorer, Vasco da Gama is buried here. His tomb is located in the lower choir area.

I remember writing a paper on Vasco da Gama when in elementary school, so this was one of those "meeting history" moments for me.

There's a bunch of museums in the area, but this was all we came to see. We had made some additional plans though…..

Stay tuned.