Well that's it for my travels. It's been an amazing experience and I'm far from happy to be back in England. Most of the trip's food was great, and low points were still pretty damn good, but there were definitely some winners and losers so I'd thought I'd put them down for posterity. I've decided to rate the countries as far as their food goes and then give my favourite dishes too. I was thinking of ranking the latter too but after weeks of thinking about it I still can't really decide an order. As such whilst the countries are from best to worst the dishes are just my ten favourites in no particular order.
Country Competition
1) China
There's no doubt in my mind on this one, whilst some lower places were a bit harder to decide. It's a tad unfair too as China's bigger than the rest of the countries put together. Unfair or not though it wins, there's just so much variety, from the familiar to the unexpected, hardly a day went by without something amazing being eaten. Even after two months there I feel I need another six months to finish exploring.
2) Vietnam
Whilst it may not have the breadth of China's food Vietnam excelled in freshness of flavour and throwing up lots of surprises. The combination of salty fish sauce and sour lime juice is perfect for my palate and it's in everything. The popularity of Vietnamese food in the UK deserves to be as popular as it is in my little bit of East London.
3) Malaysia
Where Malaysia excels is with its meeting of cultures. The three big ethnic groups - Malay, Chinese and Indian - all contribute to a breadth of cuisine way beyond what should be expected from a country that size.
4) Thailand
My first couple of weeks in Thailand were a big let down when it came to food. I was expecting big things from it but the country is so developed from a tourist point of view that I think if you stick to the usual destinations - Chiang Mai and southern islands - you're rewarded with pretty generic, low grade food that's made not to offend Westerners over anything else.
I finished the trip with a few days in Bangkok though, where I made a big effort to eat on the street and away from tourist locations, and I was rewarded with the interesting food I'd been searching for - fiery, sour soups and curries, fermented crab salads and bags of fried pork and sticky rice. Whilst not doing enough to lift Thailand from fourth place it definitely saved my opinion of it.
5) Indonesia
Like Thailand, Indonesia suffered by my staying on a pretty touristy beach were the restaurants consisted of the places that happened to be on the beach when it started getting popular, rather than people who could actually cook.
A couple of days on mopeds and another in Banda Aceh threw up some decent dishes though that left me hungry to learn more. Luckily I bought a cook book there, I just need to learn Indonesian/Malay now so I can read it.
6) Cambodia
Cambodia - particularly Phnom Penh and Siem Reap - is currently suffering from too many expats and tourists which have led to too many expensive and Westerner friendly restaurants.
Kep and Battambang did throw up some nice street food but not enough to save it from the wooden spoon.
1) Pan Mee (Malaysia)
Whilst this list is in no particular order if I had to give a first place it would be this. Freshly made noodles, minced pork and crispy fried anchovies form the base this amazing dish with some chili sauce and - if you're lucky - a softly poached egg finishing the dry version and some stock completing the soup.
Hopefully a trip around the oriental supermarkets of London will throw up the required ikan bilis (dried anchovies) so I can attempt to mimic this at home.
2) Pork Mee (Malaysia)
3) Thai Sausages (Thailand)
Thailand may have managed a measly 4th place in the country competition but these were a winner. Strong flavours and interesting additions like rice & rice noodles caused a soured flavour to develop.
4) Tian Shui Mian (China)
5) Chinese Hamburger
These had always grabbed my attention in Fuchsia Dunlop's books and the real thing didn't disappoint. The meat filling may be a plain one but when you start pairing them with red oil or seaweed and mushroom they're transformed.
7) Baozi (everywhere)
I'm sure most people have had Char Sui Bao - soft white steamed buns filled with barbecued pork - but the bun/bao doesn't need to stop here. Laos, Thailand and Cambodia did a filling revolving around minced pork, shredded wood ear mushroom and a hardboiled egg, frequently a quail's egg, that was very good. As was frequently the case China excelled though - minced pork with salty dried shrimp; pork and spring onion; shredded mushroom; spiced potato; pork, shrimp and quail's egg to name a few. So good that even though I ate them more than any other food I never had them long enough to photo and blog.
Fried egg, luncheon meat and beef, a bathing of stock mingling with the runny egg yolk and soaking in to a crisp baguette. Shouldn't be too hard to mimic at home.
10) Com Tam (Vietnam)
With barbecued pork chop, pork terrine, pork skin and rice all pepped up with the salty, chili-laden nuoc cham this was always going to be a winner and that's before you've added a bowl of soup and a 30p price tag.
Country Competition
1) China
There's no doubt in my mind on this one, whilst some lower places were a bit harder to decide. It's a tad unfair too as China's bigger than the rest of the countries put together. Unfair or not though it wins, there's just so much variety, from the familiar to the unexpected, hardly a day went by without something amazing being eaten. Even after two months there I feel I need another six months to finish exploring.
2) Vietnam
Whilst it may not have the breadth of China's food Vietnam excelled in freshness of flavour and throwing up lots of surprises. The combination of salty fish sauce and sour lime juice is perfect for my palate and it's in everything. The popularity of Vietnamese food in the UK deserves to be as popular as it is in my little bit of East London.
3) Malaysia
Where Malaysia excels is with its meeting of cultures. The three big ethnic groups - Malay, Chinese and Indian - all contribute to a breadth of cuisine way beyond what should be expected from a country that size.
4) Thailand
My first couple of weeks in Thailand were a big let down when it came to food. I was expecting big things from it but the country is so developed from a tourist point of view that I think if you stick to the usual destinations - Chiang Mai and southern islands - you're rewarded with pretty generic, low grade food that's made not to offend Westerners over anything else.
I finished the trip with a few days in Bangkok though, where I made a big effort to eat on the street and away from tourist locations, and I was rewarded with the interesting food I'd been searching for - fiery, sour soups and curries, fermented crab salads and bags of fried pork and sticky rice. Whilst not doing enough to lift Thailand from fourth place it definitely saved my opinion of it.
5) Indonesia
Like Thailand, Indonesia suffered by my staying on a pretty touristy beach were the restaurants consisted of the places that happened to be on the beach when it started getting popular, rather than people who could actually cook.
A couple of days on mopeds and another in Banda Aceh threw up some decent dishes though that left me hungry to learn more. Luckily I bought a cook book there, I just need to learn Indonesian/Malay now so I can read it.
6) Cambodia
Cambodia - particularly Phnom Penh and Siem Reap - is currently suffering from too many expats and tourists which have led to too many expensive and Westerner friendly restaurants.
Kep and Battambang did throw up some nice street food but not enough to save it from the wooden spoon.
Dishes
1) Pan Mee (Malaysia)
Whilst this list is in no particular order if I had to give a first place it would be this. Freshly made noodles, minced pork and crispy fried anchovies form the base this amazing dish with some chili sauce and - if you're lucky - a softly poached egg finishing the dry version and some stock completing the soup.
Hopefully a trip around the oriental supermarkets of London will throw up the required ikan bilis (dried anchovies) so I can attempt to mimic this at home.
2) Pork Mee (Malaysia)
Such a simple combination of ingredients - noodles, pig, stock and maybe an egg - yet so good. Obviously the stock needs to be a flavoursome one and your pork can't be that insipid, overly lean stuff you buy in the supermarket over here but as long as your ingredients are good quality this dish is a winner.
3) Thai Sausages (Thailand)
Thailand may have managed a measly 4th place in the country competition but these were a winner. Strong flavours and interesting additions like rice & rice noodles caused a soured flavour to develop.
4) Tian Shui Mian (China)
Thick, chewy wheat noodles bathed in sweet, sticky, salty, spicy, numbing sauce all served at room temperature. Strange but beyond good.
5) Chinese Hamburger
Braised pork belly chopped and in a pitta-like bread. Nothing more needs to be said.
6) Sichuan Crescent Dumplings (China)These had always grabbed my attention in Fuchsia Dunlop's books and the real thing didn't disappoint. The meat filling may be a plain one but when you start pairing them with red oil or seaweed and mushroom they're transformed.
7) Baozi (everywhere)
I'm sure most people have had Char Sui Bao - soft white steamed buns filled with barbecued pork - but the bun/bao doesn't need to stop here. Laos, Thailand and Cambodia did a filling revolving around minced pork, shredded wood ear mushroom and a hardboiled egg, frequently a quail's egg, that was very good. As was frequently the case China excelled though - minced pork with salty dried shrimp; pork and spring onion; shredded mushroom; spiced potato; pork, shrimp and quail's egg to name a few. So good that even though I ate them more than any other food I never had them long enough to photo and blog.
8) Mi Fen (China)
The simple things are often the best. Rice noodles with crunchy preserved vegetables, a variety of chili and as much stock as you want. Truly a delight.
Fried egg, luncheon meat and beef, a bathing of stock mingling with the runny egg yolk and soaking in to a crisp baguette. Shouldn't be too hard to mimic at home.
10) Com Tam (Vietnam)
With barbecued pork chop, pork terrine, pork skin and rice all pepped up with the salty, chili-laden nuoc cham this was always going to be a winner and that's before you've added a bowl of soup and a 30p price tag.
Josh,
I am indeed sad to see your adventure end! But you did make it a pleasure to those who followed your journal - many thanks.
You are obviously a man who knows and enjoys food, and approaches it with such a positive attitude that your rewards are guaranteed. At the risk of offending, I am surprised that your "food" sensitivity/knowledge/attitude resides in a resident of Great Britain - however, I would also immediately say that I'd even be more amazed if you had been an American!
Thank you again, my friend, for a delightful several months (BTW, how is it that you, an obviously young guy, can afford such an extended holiday?). I now wish you well as you attempt to readjust back into the life you left for your adventure.
Cheers,
john murren
Posted by: drfugawe | November 19, 2009 at 01:18 AM
Please accept my sincere condolences on returning to UK :D
Posted by: Lola | November 19, 2009 at 12:19 PM
John - glad you enjoyed it. As bad as some people are over here we've still got a reasonable number of people with a decent attitude to food. I'm 32 so I've had a little while to save up, plus being a finance worker the pay's quite good. Think I may struggle to find work now though. Oops.
Lola - thank you. I'm not sure I can handle being back here. Job market's looking crap so I'm already looking into going back to China next year. Will have to work this time though but a year of teaching English should allow plenty of time and money to explore the rest of the country and its food.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | November 19, 2009 at 03:11 PM
Hi Josh,
It has been great reading about your adventures. Thanks for sharing it all and welcome home.
Posted by: Luca | November 19, 2009 at 03:14 PM
I imagine Phnom Penh looks a little different today
compared with 35 years ago :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/photoblog/2009/08/photojournalism_today.html
Posted by: cmsd2 | November 20, 2009 at 09:42 AM
Thanks Luca
Amazing photos cmsd2. It's definitely changed. I became obsessed with the Cambodian Holocaust whilst I was there and read many books on the subject. It's really interesting to put a picture to all those words.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | November 20, 2009 at 09:53 AM