Zhong Hua Chinese Breakfast revisited

I've blogged about Zhong Hua a little while ago and I promised that I will go back for some of their other dishes. So I did! I wonder if it's ok to blog about the same place twice. But hey, there are some new dishes that might interest you. I did took some pictures already so why not put them on. 

Zhong Hua is actually not a restaurant specializing in authentic Chinese dishes. They are actually a typical Germanized Chinese Restaurant. They offer Buffet the whole day. I've taken a look at their buffet offering. They were the standard deep fried stuff with some reddish sweet and sour sauce. Definitely not my cup of tea. 

They only offer and prepare Chinese Breakfast every Saturday and Sunday. And as breakfast should be, they stop taking order after 2 pm. So for those who wanted these yummy stuff, wake up early! well, not so early I mean you can still come at 11 am, like I always do. 

As I've promised on my previous post. I ordered the salty soy milk.

Different than the sweet soy milk, the deep fried crullers are already cut into bite size and mixed into the soy milk. Accompanying the crullers are sea weed, small shrimps and chili oil. Hubby's comment are "hey, this taste nice." After a moment of thinking, exclaimed: "Similar to the Japanese soup!" My reactions were: "Hey it's two different stuff, no similarizing Japs and Chinese Cuisine." But I must say due to the seaweed which is wakame in Japanese. No wonder Hubby thinking that they are the same. 

I like them a lot. It's something different than the standard sweet soy milk which I'm accustomed to in south east Asia. But if I must make a choice between these two different variation. I might still prefer the standard sweet one. I blame it on my auto-pilot. People tend to go for the food they eat, during the time they grow up. I think there's a mechanism in human brain, which make food from childhood taste better or more vivid. I will use my Dad's phrase which is "gan qing chi" 感情吃 literally it means sentiment food. 

The second stuff we ordered is their Sheng Jian Bao (Pan Fried Bao)

The Baos are alright, plump and doughy, crispy at the bottom. The filling are generous. But I've eaten a lot better home made pan fried bao. 

Porridge with century egg and pork

Their porridge are a big dissapointment, of course the century egg is generous and the pork are also alright but the porridge itself is so tasteless that we need to keep pouring soy sauce into the porridge. And I hate dark porridge. I like my porridge to be watery and clear, with a very gingery and peppery after taste. IMHO I think I can make a better porridge than they do. 

But here is the dish which nail me right away. This is the knife cutted noodles with lamb pieces and tomato. I love this thing right away. The unshapely noodles are course and al dente. The soup are tomatoey and the lamb chunk are so tender and not gamey at all. With some spritz of black vinegar. I can eat the whole portion for me myself and be done with it. 

Zhong Hua

Wandsbeker Marktstraße 157

22041 Hamburg

U1 - Wandsbek Markt

Soft tofu stew at Kim Chi

Some of my friends raved about Kim Chi at Heussweg, which according to them made one hell tasty Sundubu Jigaee even better than the one from my favourite Han Mi. So it's been on my to-try-list for a very long time. I've been to Kim Chi for more than once, it just every time I look at their menu, I changed my mind in the last minute and order bbq pork or some other stuffs.

Last week I decided it's time to try the stew for lunch. I came early and officially the restaurant  was not even open yet but the cook which had start preparing some ban chan allowed me to wait in the restaurant. I happily looked around the menu, I always love browsing restaurant's menu, searching for something interesting to try for the next visit. 

Then the owner and the waitress came, they greeted me, must be surprised to see a hungry little Asian woman sitting in the corner, anyway without further ado I ordered the stew and in a short 10 minutes the food came.

Yummy yummy, I love Korean side dishes, there're so much to try. I was a very happy girl when I saw there're not only 4 or 5 but 7 different side dishes, from top: bean sprout, spinach, radish, potatoes, fish cake, ubiquitous kimchi and lastly green beans. My favourites this time are spicy bean sprout and the sweet and sour radish. 

The main attraction is of course the stew. For those unfamiliar with Korean cuisine. Sundubu Jigaee is a soft tofu stew with some seafood, it should be served bubbling hot and while bubbling an egg is cracked into the soup, resulting in a soft and silky pouched egg. Hot and spicy, along with some seafood there're soft tofu which just melt in the mouth.

and here is one with the treasure, the yolk

I must say the best part of the meal is actually the ban chan (side dishes). The stew itself is alright, spicy and hot, but it's definitely some frozen sea food. I don't mind frozen one, I mean we are in Germany and not in Korea or some island with stock of endless fresh seafood. but still there are only countable tiny pieces of shrimps, squid and mussels. The rest are chunks of tofu. 

It was still a good meal, it just I came with an extremely high expectation and expected something which will blow my mind off. In the end I was happy with the side dishes but the stew didn't impress me. 

Kim Chi

Heussweg 10

20257 Hamburg

Hoang Mai a true gem

Hey there, how are you? I hope you missed me. In case you are wondering, I do miss you!!! After such a long long long hiatus. I finally decided that I love to blog and still want to write and take pictures of tasty foods and meals. So without long intro here goes my first post in 2013.

The weather is uncomfortably cold and rainy, I can accept it if it's october or even september but it's in the end of May, where's sunny spring? Anyway what food do I crave for when it's rainy and cold? A bowl of warm pho of course! Funny thing is, I've never been a fan of pho, I just felt that it's a boring dish. It's nothing more than plain beef broth with some beef slices and herbs. But there are days, when clear beefy broth is a must have, especially for sick days or days like these! 


Fortunately, I know a good place that serve authentic Pho whenever my craving hits - Hoang Mai. Every Sunday for Brunch time, you will find Vietnamese families spending their time here. Don't expect a pretty decorated chic cafe. This place is merely a square room filled with basic tables and chairs, just functional enough for anyone who wishes to eat in. But if you can forgive their interior, you are going to get food as if it's made in Chiang Mai.

The Pho you see here comes with the complimentary fresh herbs, bean sprouts, and the freshly sliced bird eye chillies. The golden stuff at the top left is quẩy, Vietnamese style cruller, which is shorter than the Chinese variety. If you wonder what is this cruller doing near a bowl of Pho, it's because I love to dip crullers into soup. There's just something about eating deep fried food that has soaked all the goodness of a soup. Either way, a koay in pho is really nice to have. Anyway, I digress, back to the pho! Notice the pinkiness of the meat! I don't need to tell you that the meat are really tender! ... mmmmhhhh

Hubby was craving for Bun Cha instead (like the one in Dong Xuan Center in Berlin). So he ordered rice noodles with deep fried spring rolls and deep fried Vietnamese pork sausage instead of pork belly. I tasted some of the rice noodles. They were ok. But, the deep fried spring rolls were heavenly. It's peppery and porky, and soo crispy that you got that satisfying "crunch" when you bite into it. 

We also ordered shrimps summer rolls as side dishes.

Each roll has 3 shrimps, some rice noodles, salads and herbs. The size of the shrimps were huge for the price that we are paying. It was fresh and cold, and dipped with the hoisin sauce, it was perfect.

The best part of the meal is *drum rolls* Dessert!
The dessert is a combination of different Asian Jello like Cendol, Cincau, red beans, green beans, yellow beans and nata de coco. The Vietnamese have different terms for all these jello, but I only know the Indonesian names. The mixture of all these goodies are topped with coconut milk and lots of ice. Exactly how we do dessert in Asian. Come say it together with me. ..... Yummmmyyyy .... 

Because it was so good, here is a picture of the dessert again: but after all the goodies are mixed up.

No I'm not finished yet, I save the best for the last. Are you ready? Everything that we ate only cost around 5 euro, yes 5 euro all those beef and shrimps and the drink/dessert cost 1,50. So what are you waiting for? Get into the U-Bahn & Bus, Go there right away :P ... But make sure you  pay attention to their opening hours.

One more interesting tidbit. There's a Vietnamese supermarket right next to Hoang Mai (in fact, they are connected with an indoor door). When you're there, don't forget to buy their tasty vietnamese baos. They cost 1,50 euro each but they're huge and filled with generous portion of minced pork, egg and vermicelli.  

Hoang Mai

Öjendorfer Damm 42
22043 Hamburg

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.