Maido- Lima, Peru

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If they have a small supply of uni, take it all screw everyone else

I have not really explored Nikkei food, which Japanese cuisine with Peruvian influence. There is a big Japanese community here and access to fresh seafood, there are Japanese restaurants all around here. Though I love Peru’s homage to all things pork, I decided to try Nikkei food one night, to lighten it up a bit. I decided to try Maido which I heard about and also, it was within walking distance from my hotel and trekking for two weeks, I was starting to get lazy. Opened by Mitsuharu Tsumura, it one of the hot spots to eat at. I got there early and by early I mean in Peruvian standards so like 7:45. I sat at the bar where I was ambushed by a over-eager host that honed in on my Gringo vibe and was trying to up sell me hard, to a point where I was about to get up and leave and get myself a pork sandwich. However, thankfully the chef himself took over and smoothed it all out. Realizing that the head chef was personally attending to me, I decided to just go straight nigiri style, I told him to give me a couple pieces of sushi, whatever you got, give me your best omakase style. He smiled and proceeded to feed me some tasty food.  

I got a little I guess amuse that was chunks of salmon, slices of cucumber in a tahini lke dressing. It was good and no one told me what it was, but I just took it and went with it.  I started off with a Uni and to my surprise, it was really good. It is less briny and “ocean” tasting than I had from other places but there is this crispness that is different from any other Uni I have eaten before.  Onto the sushi flight!

Bohemian NYC

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: places located behind butcher shops, are always good places to visit!

Bohemian is one of these restaurants that if it eating was a video game, you would have unlocked an achievement that actually takes effort to do, like knifing 5 commies in a row. Bohemian is a speakeasy restaurant that has a level of exclusiveness. Not Gossip Girl Lavo exclusiveness, just a bit of mysterious aurora to it. They do not accept walk-ins, reservations only and the number is not publicized. Getting the number either requires a sincere email to them or getting the number from someone already in the know but either way, it takes some effort but not really hard to do. I went the email route and found myself dining there the previous weekend. It is located down a side corridor next to the Japanese Premium Beef Shop. It leads to an opaque door that you have to ring the door bell in order to get in. I kind of was hoping for a little more effort, maybe a password, some riddles or a double dare challenge but this works too. 

Once you get past all the secrecy, you are lead into a suburban house sized living room. Actually, it is a living room basically, it has couched and low chairs and tables. Lack in size no doubt; there is a calm and relaxing atmosphere complete with an amazing skylight above. Apparently it used to be a Warhol space but you will not see cans of tomato soup here. The food is not strict Japanese fare, but it is all done with Japanese influence and style.

Take the vegetable fondue that we started off with, served with perfectly trimmed vegetables in a absurdly huge ice bucket, the fondue was more similar to a dressing. It was thin and light on the cheese but worked well with the vegetables. If you were expecting a cheese fondue that would keep you hearty and full in the Swiss Alps, you are going to be disappointed. Given I spent the day eating 'cue, I even needed a break from all that meat and this helped. Food after the jump!

Prince Katsu: Taiwan

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Does Prince Katsu share any lineage with Burger King?

I remember when this place first opened in the Breeze Center back when I came to Taiwan in like the 9th grade. The lines for this little Katsu place was ridiculous. It was like the line to Space Mountain, there was those stupid barriers and every few feet, there was a sign telling you how long you have to wait.

Thankfully, the lines have easily died down and there is not longer retarded waits for a sandwich. I have despite my Asian heritage, I have a very low tolerance and impatience for lines. Shake Shack is the closest I will make an exception, and even then, 10 minutes is about my wait time tolerance.

Prince Katsu I would suspect do great in the US because it revolves around all things fried and then stuffed into a sandwich. The most popular is the tonkatsu, the pork one and after so many years of not eating here, I wanted to see if things have changed and if it was still good.

The sandwich is a neat little package and almost reminds me of eating a cafeteria style sandwich, in its uniformed and modular appearance. The tonkatsu is still tasty and juicy and not greasy, a sign of a true master of the fried arts. The cabbage is crisp and crunchy and the addition of raw onions give it a nice spicy zing. Though people moved on to line up for newer things, Prince Katsu holds its own and still produces a tasty sandwich. This by the way, like most fried foods would most definitely, be great late night drunk food. Prince Katsu, look into this, you can thank me later for this idea with payment of a tasty sandwich or two.

Mos Burger

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Eating Mos Burger before getting on a plane is easily yield better results than eating White Castle before getting on the plane: sorry people I sat next to on a flight back from Chicago

One thing I am surprised when Western friends come back from Asia is their immediate love for Mos Burger. One of my friends that did a stint in Japan eyes would light up when he would talk about late night debauchery and talking about how Mos Burger was the perfect way to end the night. Though it is no Uncle Chang, this Japanese fast food chain is all over Taiwan and has been a staple final eat that I get at the Taoyuan Airport. What sets Mos Burger apart is not just their superior service and ridiculously comfortable seating, but their burgers that replace the buns with rice cakes. Though they do have a respectable “regular” burger it is the rice patty burgers that you have to get.

I got a promotional burger that was filled with pork, ginger, scallions all in between 2 slabs of rice. It came with a side a fries and a drink which I went with iced black tea. There is pseudo-table service in which you grab a number and the food is brought out to you. Your burger is made to order and nothing is left sitting under heat lamps and simply put, fast food done right. 

It comes out piping hot and you would think that a “bun” made of just rice would taste bad and have questionable structural issues but surprisingly does not. The rice is actually pretty good and tender and firm enough to be eaten as a handheld treat. The pork was sliced into pieces and they went heavy on the ginger but overall, it was good and the addition of radish it added a nice crunch. The Fries were fine, good enough to finish. The burger reminds me of a Chinese lunch platter that was transformed into handheld food.

Though I started hitting up Mos Burger for pure novelty factors, I would not hesitate to eat here on a consistent basis. I mean, after I ate through everything else and was still hungry; sure I would hit up Mos Burger.

  

Chuko Ramen

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Though in Asia slurping is acceptable in ramen consumption, do not do it here, you kind of look like a dick and children will stare at you

Corner of Vanderbilt and Dean is Chuko. I went here for a quick lunch and though it has been opened for a while, people were constantly coming up to the door and window, just staring at it and looking into the place as if it was a zoo attraction. A couple of people did the, “eye shield” I call it and peered into the place which I do not understand why, it is not like the place is hard to see into because though small it is spacious and minimally decorated and everything was in plain sight.

Opened by former Morimoto cooks, Chuko is a ramen place. The menu is minimal they have their two choices for ramen and a number of sides/starters. For all you ramen nerds, people that read the first issue of Lucky Peach and watched Tampopo one too many times, the style of ramen that they have here is not just one style, one features a soy base based vegetarian broth and the other a miso based. I opted for the miso based ramen and you have a choice of meats either pork (Berkshire) or chicken. Mo' food after the jump!

JapaDog

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Wasabi mayo can vastly improve many things

so...glittery, happy I do not use hallucinogenic drugs

Everybody wants to open up a place in New York from bakeries, restaurant and even hotdog stands. Japadog, which started off in Vancouver as a simple hotdog stand has slowly building up their mini Japanese hotdog empire and opened its first brick and mortar location (at least from what I can tell from the website) in New York. Japadog will most likely be described by people as being, quirky or “East meets West” or the “F” word, fusion. But it is basically if you were going to sell hotdogs in Asia or Japan, this is what it would be like. Sure you can get a regular hotdog or other various meats in tube form here, but you can also get maybe some bonito flakes, seaweed and mayo on it too.  

Love Meat...resisting urge for sexual innuendo

The Japadog store front can be best described as loud. Brightly colored and because it just opened had a tinsel covered doorway. It looked like a Japanese bonsai team decorated it or a colorblind Cher fan but hey, it does attract attention. Their most popular is their Terimayo dog and various others but I guess in the rush to open this place up, only half the menu is available and the other half was labeled as “coming soon. I went with the Oroshi dog that was comprised of a bratwurst, freshly grated daikon and a “special” soya sauce and with a side of the butter and shoyu. It took a while for my dog and fries to get to me but they were making and cooking all the stuff to order, which is okay for now but if there is a rush, you are most likely going to have to wait a while. Check out the dog after the jump!

Recipe it up: Dorayaki

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I still don’t know what Doraemon is, but I would totally party with him

When I was little and we would visit Taiwan, Japanese cartoon dominated the airwaves and I would see the one cartoon, where this character Doraemon would go absolutely crazy for what I now know was dorayaki. I have no clue what the hell Doraemon is, and according to wiki, he is a robotic type of cat. The Japanese think up some CRAZY stuff. 

 WHAT ARE YOU!!

Anyways, I thought dorayaki were just chocolate cookie sandwiches and did not realize until I actually had one that they are suppose to be filled with red bean paste. I can not recall the first time I actually had them but I do know they were from the Japanese mega-supermarket Mitsuwa, but I remember the first one that I actually remembered what it tasted like and why these Japanese treats were awesome was in a 7-11 Tokyo.

Going abroad, I like to go to the convenience store, especially the 7-11 to see what they got, and the ones in Asia and in this case Japan has 10x better food than we do. They have cakes, rice balls, fish cakes, noodles, hot dogs that eating at a 7-11 I would be perfectly content (sorry, folks, haven’t found a 7-11 taquito abroad yet!). But, I bought a dorayaki and I downed it like a fat kid sneaking a Snickers bar at fat camp. This is essentially a whoopie pie and I will say that these are the origins of the whoopie pie (Sorry Maine). The pancake is fluffy and tender and the smooth red bean paste is a great contrast to the sweetness. 

Although red bean paste in the traditional way to fill these suckers, in the picture or variations, such as a custard, curd, sesame paste or in my I call, the “white trash” rendition, filled with Nutella and Fluff which taste awesome. I plan to make these in the spring when I start to abuse the ice cream maker. The firmness of the dorayaki makes it a great vessel for ice cream!

Recipe after the Jump