This is Not a Food Blog, But...

My cousin Peng sent me an email saying he's just landed in Chicago and he's there for a cancer conference. So, being the sucker for foodie hype that I am, I googled a Ken Hom column that I saw in the FT a couple of days ago in whichHom mentioned a Singapore chef who's all the rage in Chicago right now. So, at some point, Peng'll be having dinner at Shanghai Terrace at the Peninsula Hotel.

I've been having some incredible food lately.

A week ago my friends and I stumbled into Yanqing's Shanghainese kitchen cuz the tables at Sun Japanese Restaurant next door were all filled. (No reservations on a Friday night? What was I SMOKING!) The service wasn't so hot. I think one of their gas burners was down so the food took forever. We were there for almost TWO HOURS. But the food was really, REALLY good. The xiaolong bao was soupy and delicate, and not oily. The steamed/ fried buns were fluffy, and the black pepper beef - which I used to think was a guai lo dish was really tender.

Then I spent most of last week in Beijing, where we had some really good food in Made In China at the Hyatt. it's kinda modern Chinese cuisine, with these semi-open kitchens. Kinda looked like Mezza9 at the Singapore Hyatt, but the food was 20 times better, at the same prices. Our favourite was the Beijing Duck.

My other favourite BJ Duck place in Beijing is Da Dong. My friend Yvonne took me there and we could only get into the 5 30pm slot. ("As long as you're out by 6 30pm"). I confess I haven't been to Chuan Ju De - which even the cab drivers were telling me about, but Da Dong had the best pancakes I've ever had...and a really crispy, yummy duck skin.

And finally, for dinner last Wednesday, we went to the Courtyard restaurant right next to Forbidden City. If you get a table next to the window, you can actually look into the moat surrounding the Forbideen City. My Filipino reporter told our waiter, in Mandarin, that he looked like Yao Ning. Our waiter responded in English that other diners have told him the same thing.

I also bumped into my friend Christina there. We worked together 10 years ago in Singapore, then she moved to HK and then to NY. Last time I saw her, in NY, we went to Gramercy Tavern. Christina now lives in NY but goes to BJ a lot.

So, I'm back home and I decided to cook my own lunch Saturday. There were chicken legs in the fridge, so I marinated them with five spice powder, salt and pepper. Then I fried an onion and some garlic, and fennel in an oven proof pan. Fried the chicken, skin on, on moderately high heat. After the skin browned, I added some sun dried tomatoes and baby asparaus. Put the entire thing into the oven at almost max heat for twenty minutes. It was actually quite yummy.

And now I've gotta go to the dishes. But first, there's some lychee martini ice cream from Daily Scoop calling my name.