Tummy pleasing Korean meals in Han Mi

Welcome to Han Mi Korean Restaurant, in the mean time I opted this one as my favorite Korean Restaurant in Hamburg. This is the place where I love to bring people who wants to eat good & authentic Korean food. I've brought my cousin, my brother, visiting friends, colleagues to this restaurant and every time we were satisfied and went out with full tummies and happy faces. 

The restaurant is clean, spacey and furnished to be functional. The hallway is decorated with real size Korean gochujang/doenjang jars and I like these small details, which make feel you step into the world of Korean Drama "Dae Jang Gum". Once in early spring, they even prepare pots of cherry twigs which started to budding and gives such an east Asian atmosphere to the dining room. The young Korean waitress are not very chatty and exceptionally friendly but they function and work hard to run to the kitchen for extra order of kim chi and other ban chans. Be warned though that the chef took his sweet time to cook and because they often have full house, which meant 20 minutes of waiting time should be included to your dinner time.

My constant companion for my every Korean meal, a bottle of makgeolli "fermented rice wine". After the K-Drama Cinderalla Sister, everywhere we went my K-Drama addict cousin, Lei and me always order makgeolli, we both like it, taste sweet, mildly alcoholic and there's a distinct taste of fermentation. I love that they serve their Makgeolli in such a pretty cup, makes the whole drinking process more lady like.

The Ban Chan ... Like in every respectable Korean Restaurant: no charge on ban chan and it's free refill for everything. Their Kim Chi is very good; fresh, right mixture of sourness & saltniness and I loveee the deep fried aubergine ... you see the golden thingy in the right corner? that's the goodies, It was crisp in the outside and so soft and pillowy inside. It's deep fried without being oily and with just a hint of soy sauce, I can only eat this thing the whole night. I ask the waitress to give me refill all the time and I can still eat more of them.

Now the main dishes:
Hae Mul Pa Jeon, definitively one of the best pa jeon I've ever ate

Hae Mul Jigae ... a very good Jigae with a clear looking and tasting broth ... very soothing & warming in cold days

Kimchi Bokkeum ... stir fried pork belly with kimchi and cold tofu as topping ...

What is a Korean meal without the barbeque : we opted for a mixture of samgyeopsal and beef
look at the marbling of the beef ... makes a very buttery and tender grilled beef

to compensate such a orgie of meat ... here is the bed of salad

A serving of their L.A. Galbi ... a sweetish and charred beef rips ... my hubby wolf down more 
than half of this goodies and wanted to lick the plate clean

I save the best for the last, here's my favourite Jigae : Sundubu Jigae (Soft tofu stew with seafood and an egg) ... It came to the table, piping hot and still bubbling, spicy, tons of sea food combined with soft tofu and the surprise is when you got a set egg in the bottom of the bowl. After you tried Han Mi Jigae I can surely say other Sundubu Jigae pale in comparison. At least that happens with me. So please folks, Order this baby and I hope you will also find this jigaee is their champion.

The meals in han mi are always very good and you can see that many Koreans also patron this restaurant. They are surely not cheap but acceptable, a meal range around 10 - 20 Euro. But the meals are always satisfactory and I will always come back and I will gladly recommend this one to others.

Han Mi

Rentzelstraße 36
20416 Hamburg
U3/U2 Schlump 

Zhong Hua Chinese Breakfast

I'm so excited! I found a real Chinese breakfast in Hamburg and it's WARM!! I exclaim on warm because we Asian like to eat warm meals three times daily. All my German friends are shocked when they hear about this. But trust me, my mom can't even imagine getting into bed without warm meal in the tummy.

Anyway back to my breakfast. Traditionally, Chinese breakfast consists of a bowl of warm soy bean milk (dou jiang) and a stick of cruller / Chinese Doughnut / You Tiao (it is pretty much deep fried dough, sorta like the Spanish Churro). Trust me the combination of oily and crunchy deep fried dough with the sweet and milky soy bean milk is a match made in heaven.

Accompanying the you tiao and dou jiang is a veggie and mushroom bao. The bao are doughy but plump and quite good. The filling is also well executed.

Chinese Chives and pork guo tie (pot stickers). The guo tie was alright. The skin was way too thick for my liking. But the northern Chinese love their pot stickers thick. So, probably these pot stickers might be made by a northern Chinese Chef.

the stuffings of the guo tie

The best part of the breakfast is these side dishes:

liang ban wan nian qing 萬年青, it's actually a type of veggie that tastes a lot like spinach. All my family members love this veggie. It feels good to munch on something green after all that dough. 

xue cai mao dou 雪菜毛豆

Edamame and some salty greens. An all time favourite. The nuttines of the edamame with the  salty greens made an awesome combination. On top of that, each of these little saucers side dishes costs only 1 euro.

Zhong you bing : The green scallion pancake. It's alright but definitely not the best out there. 

To conclude this post. Zhong hua is a great place to eat some authentic Chinese breakfast. Their pot stickers and green scallion pancake probably aren't the best, but the crullers and the soy milk are very good. And they're fairly decent priced! The crullers cost only 1 euro and the soy milk cost only 1,50 euro. It's dirt cheap! And they totally won me over with the very well done side dishes. Moreover there are other stuff in the menu which sounds interesting like the salty soy milk and the knife-cut noodles.  I'll definitely be going back very soon. If you see me in the restaurant. Don't forget to say hello to me. 

Zhong Hua 

Wandsbeker Markstraße 157

22041 Hamburg

U1 - Wandsbek Markt

First Post in 2012

Happy New Year 2012!!!

Hubby, me and a bunch of other friends were invited to an old and new party by Pangky and Nuke with their little boy. And boy did I have a good time! Their home are so comfy and neat. Both of them were such gracious hosts. They made sure that everyone had more than enough food on their plates, brewed coffee for those who need coffee to stay awake till midnight, greeted and made sure that everyone had a good time. Nuke is such a gifted cook. She cooked Indonesian food with so much love and spices. Her food will make every oversea Indonesians cry with tears of happiness.

It was decided that the party was to be a Pot-Luck. But, Nuke herself prepared 4 different dishes all by herself! Just like any other party hosted by Indonesians, the food were in abundance. When I say abundance, I meant abundance. There were about 30 people attending the party and by the end of the night, there were still so many food left that all the guests were able to take back some leftovers home! 

And here is our feast for the night.

The table from another angle

Nuke's homemade siomay. They're filled with shrimps and chicken and typically eaten with spicy peanut sauce. They were so good that I gobbled two portion.

Nuke's home made Indonesian meat balls a.k.a Bakso. They're so bouncy and springy and beefy, just like if  you ordered it from "Bakso Stall in Jakarta"

Nuke's Sosis Solo. Rolled up pancake filled with minced beef and cheese.  

Nuke's Tuna Puff Pastry. This was left almost untouched. Everyone is concentrating on other yummy treats.

My contribution for the night:

Beef empal with fresh veggies and sambal

Annika's vegetarian spring rolls and veggie fritters

Maria Angelina's Venezuelan Pan de Jamon

Yes, it is the same bread she made for the Christmas goose dinner.

Andi's Cassava Dessert

Sweet gooey white cassava with some coconut milk 

There were more food than those listed above, I just sorta got lost in the food once I started eating. For the sake of completion here is the list of the food:

• Dian and Monic's fried tempeh and tempeh in chili sauce
• Irene's Risoles: deep fried pancake rolls filled with chicken and veggies
• Andi's Es Campur
• Birgit's Cream Cake
• Annika's Berliner
• Wati's Puff Pastry

So that's how I spent my last night of 2011 and the first day of 2012: in abundance of food. I hope that it's a sign for more good food I'm gonna get in 2012. 

Have a good upcoming year everyone! 

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry (belated) Christmas everyone!! 

I know my blog has been extremely quiet these past couple of months. But I have good reasons! I'm still busy decorating my new home, my parents were here for the summer holiday, then I went to China (the pictures and stories are coming, after I'm done editing them :P). 

So far, it's been a mild winter and no white Christmas at all. Take a look at my Christmas pictures from last year! I can still remember how cold it was  and how the snow blanketed the whole city. But it's been raining the whole weekend instead: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and boxing day or as the German call it: the Second Christmas Day, all rainy days. If you ask me, I don't think it's necessary to have a white Christmas. I don't mind a rainy Christmas, but it would've been nice if it snowed. 

This year I prepared a very traditional Christmas dinner. It's Gansebraten mit Rotkohl und Klöße. It means baked goose with red cabbage and potato dumplings. Obviously, a whole goose is way too much for two persons, so we invited some friends over for Christmas Eve dinner (A quick thanks to Maria Angelina for the lovely traditional Venezuelan Christmas bread a.k.a Pan de Jamon). Maria told us that this bread is so Venezuelan that once she smells it she would think of home. Isn't it funny that people tend to link food and memories of childhood together?  Anyway, back to the Pan de Jamon, it was an instant hit among us. The freshly baked bread were filled with olives, raisins and ham. So it was sweet and savoury at the same time, They were so good that we gobbled up almost the whole bread amongst the five of us. Please forgive me for forgetting to take a picture of such a photogenic dish. You see, the bread are made of layered goodness, and I swear to you, it will make a great picture! If you are curios, please google it. I can guarantee that you'll find some amazing pictures. 

Back to the goose! It is the main star of the evening anyway :p Here is hubby's portion: the goose drumstick with all the side dishes. He just wanted one Kloß because we were busy stuffing ourselves with the appetizer before and by the time the main meal were ready, we were already half full. 

Roasted Goose with Klöße and red cabbage

The goose was wonderful. Its skin was crispy and its meat tender. For those who has never eaten goose before, please do try it. I was really surprised when I first had it and at how much I enjoyed it. I first thought that goose would be similar to duck. I have never preferred duck over milder poultry such as chicken and turkey because of its intense smell. But the goose, my gosh the goose is wonderful! And with the combination of the sweet and sour red cabbage, it just taste amazing. The plump and the al dente Klöße (am I even allowed to use "al dente" to describe non noodle food?) also added greatly to the meal. Anyway you got what I mean. This Christmas dinner is officially one of our favorite Christmas meal of all time. Hubby was so excited that he pre-ordered his next Christmas meal right away. 

Last but not least, since there's no snow this year, let me treat you to a picture of the Christmas decorations from Hamburg central station.

So again,

dear all,

Merry Christmas 2011

Greetings from Hamburg

Meister Lo Nudelhaus

A real Taiwanese beef noodle soup made by native Taiwanese right here in Hamburg. A dream  come true. Very friendly and chatty Taiwanese, may I add. Their presence makes the dining experience in this small unimpressive shop feels like having a dinner by a relative. The restaurant is small but cozy and clean. 

Their menu is quite simple, they have different types of noodles soup such as beef noodle soup, beef goulasch noodle soup and tan tan noodle. They also offer some rice dishes, different dumplings and some cold plate.

For appetizer they give us not only one but two FREE appetizers, okay the portion for the appetizer is small but hey it's free and they are so tasty that I can easily gobble them down in minutes. On that day we got 

Carrot salad with bean curd stripes

and cold sweet sour garlicky cukes 

Beef Noodle Soup is the national dish in Taiwan so what else should I order? Of course the Beef Noodle Soup. I must say the beef noodle soup is excellent. the soup is clear and tastes beefy broth and not crowded with various spices and soy sauce. The beef chunks are tender and meaty and a bowl cost € 6.50.

Just Tea Bubble Tea Hamburg

So, I heard from my friend via Facebook that Hamburg has its own Bubble Tea!! I challenge you to imagine my reaction (I pretty much shout at her wall, begging her to share the address of the shop). 

From what I heard, this shop just opened a year ago. The shop itself is really small with only 6 stools. Actually, the main fare of the shop itself is not boba tea but an AYCE (All You Can Eat) Sushi restaurant. So in practice, you can order bubble tea while eating your sushi. Sushi and bubble tea? Personally, I think it's a weird combination. But again think of it as an interracial marriage. Why not? There are many here in Hamburg. Anyway, I went there on a Saturday noon, there was no queue but there were a lot of customers traffic, so it seemed like business is good.

My friend, Beth, and I, each ordered a glass. The left one is the original bubble tea and right one is the yam bubble tea, my all time favorite. It tasted great, exactly as how a yam milk tea should taste. They need to improve the taste of the boba though. But I'm not complaining I'll be back for sure. And even better, they didn't charge extra for the yam flavored bubble tea, unlike Boboq in Berlin. 

KimZen Korean Restaurant

I just learned that Sternschanze is the "hip" part of Hamburg. If you are young, cool, chic and probably working in the advertising or fashion industry, chance are this is your turf. Bars and Cafes  littered the roads. Small shops where owner sell hand-made and self selected products. Apple store. You got the Idea?

I passed through KimZen while walking around the area with Linda. I checked their menu and prices, and they're very reasonable, around 5 - 10 euro for a dish. Afterwards, we googled some reviews on the place, and Linda & Co. including me decided to try this place.

The waiter was Korean, but he speaks perfect German. We also saw a Korean Ahjumma cooking in the kitchen. But beware, the Ahjumma took her sweet time to cook. Nevertheless, the menu is impressive. They have Bibimbap, Kimchi Jigaee, Kimbap, Jajang Myun, you name it.  All typical Korean dishes are in the menu. The biggest beef I just have to mention though, is that they charged us for the ban chan. They cost around  1 - 3 € for a plate of Ban Chan. I'm so used to Arirang in Berlin who serve 4 Ban Chans for free. I'm appalled!

Jajangmyun cost around 6 euro. It was a very small portion and it only came with some cucumbers as topping. Not impressive, in fact, eating this only made me crave Tian Fu's Zha Jiang Mian in Berlin. 

The priciest dish of the day was Bibimbap in hot stone (8 €). Hot Stone?? More like hot ware, which is the same dish they used to serve Kimchi Jigaee. However, the pork slices were tender and flavorful. But it lacked the sunny-side-up egg, which I think is an important part of the dish.

Xiao Xiang

My first official Hamburg post. I'm so excited!! Let me start with some background info on Hamburg, it's the second largest city in Germany. And even though the distance from Hamburg to the sea is around 80 km, it's the third most important port in Europe. Here, you can see the people's love for sea food marked by the abundance of fish monger and supermarkets which offer tons of sea food - smoked eel, smoked salmon and my newly discovered favorite food, "nordseekrabben brot", which litterally means "nord sea brown shrimps on bread roll".  I ate one in our research center's cafeteria and I'm in love. I'll write about it in my next post. In the mean time let me start with this gem.

Xiao Xiang makes me feels back like I'm back in Asia and home. It's located on a quiet side road. I'm pretty sure no one even gave a second look at this unimpressive tiny restaurant. The only way you'll find this place is when you received a specific direction on how to get there, like I did (kinda reminds me of Pirates of Caribbean, a place that can only be found by those who know where it is lol). The restaurant is so simple with yellow paper napkins everywhere, hand written colorful menu pasted on walls. It only has two big tables for bigger parties and 5 smaller tables which can seat 4 people. I love that they don't have extravagant decorations, it makes the restaurant feels more homely. And with that, don't expect the service and cleanliness to be that  of a high end restaurant. Still I love this place. It felt like those restaurants in Hong Kong that forces you to share a table with strangers when they're full. Complete with oldies music from Teresa Teng blaring from the DVD Player. Yes I said DVD. Hey, if someone wants to jump in for a karaoke, they have the MV in full force.  

Anyway, we start with a pot of soup. The cook / owner came from Hong Kong where they have the custom of drinking double boiled soup. Trust me the Cantonese knows their double boiled soup. For those who are unfamiliar with this, check it in wikipedia. If you're lazy, it basically means that the soups are boiled until all the flavour and umami from the veggies are transferred to the soup. A perfectly tasty soup for a cold night out. Btw they also give the soup for free!! That's one ticket to win a place in my heart.

What is Cantonese food without tasty dim sum? Xiao Xiang's Dim Sum are probably one of the best I've had. My favorite is "har gao" with chinese chives. Look at that translucent Har Gao dough. That's exactly how a har gao should be

Hamburger

Dear Laupheim,

Thank you for the short-yet-wonderful liaison that we shared. You showed me the beauty of nature, the solitude of living near a cornfield, the joy of waking up to the smell of pig's dung, the enjoyment of picking berries from the garden and the charm of being close to mother's nature. But, no matter how wonderful the time that we had was, I'm so sorry to have to hurt you and say: "so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu". It's not you, it's me. Because deep in my heart I'm a city girl through and through and even though you have your own allure, I have to answer my calling. Good bye for now.

Love,

Mel Chan

---

Dear Hamburg,

First of all, hello. Second, please don't disappoint me. I have such a high hope on you. I'm excited and I look forward to our nightly tours on Sternschanze, our Sunday mornings stroll at the fish market, our hunts for the best Nordseekrabbensalat and our visits to Tim Mälzer & Cornelia Polletto's restaurants. But most of all, I'm super excited to explore the various authentic Asian Restaurants you have to offer.

sincerely,

a new Hamburgerin

---

Dear faithful reader,

it's official! I'm leaving Laupheim and moving to Hamburg. I am starting a job at Beiersdorf, the company who produces Nivea, Eucerin, Hansaplast, etc. I'm excited for this new challenge, the new city and the many many good restaurants out there, waiting to be discovered. Please bear with my absence for a little bit more. I need some time to settle down for my new job and the new environment. But be sure to tune in soon, for I'll be starting to write about Hamburg's Asian Restaurants a.s.a.p.

In the mean time please enjoy this picture of Labskaus or scouse (as they call it in liverpool)

From Craving for Food in Germany

Greetings from windy Hamburg

Yoli Frozen Yogurt

Fit to this weekend summerly weather. Here is a post about something icy.

Back at home, Frozen yoghurt is such a rave, in every sour sally and red mango there are lines of customers waiting for the frozen yoghurt. As I'm an extremely food curios person, I tried frozen yoghurts from both stores. It was good but overpriced and I can't understand the rave. It just some ice cream similar texture stuff with some fresh fruits.

So the first frozen yogurt shop in Berlin opened up in Mitte, I was wondering whether it will better than the on I tried at home.

The interior of the yoli frozen yogurt, the maschine on bottom left is the tap for the frozen yoghurt.



a small frozen yoghurt with two toppings, fresh strawberries and pistachio sauce.


My verdict? The frozen yoghurt taste like a frozen yoghurt taste cold, sour & creamy, it tastes better with combination of fruity strawberries and sweet & nutty pistachio sauce. But honestly saying, frozen yoghurt never impress me much and it didn't impress me this time either.

Yoli Frozen Yogurt
Invalidenstrasse 112
Berlin Mitte
www.yoli-berlin.de