Sweet japanese snacks

Everytime I'm in Taiwan I'll bring back some sweets to Vienna. Some of those sweets are japanese. You'll probably heard of Pocky (of which I love the Strawberry taste), but here I'll present you a few other interesting things. First there are many versions of Pocky, below is a vanilla/raisin coated kinda Pocky (named Fran, I guess... I'm not too sure as I can't read japanese and they sometimes have funny translations). Well, the taste was not that appealing. I liked the chocolate/nuts coated version better.

The following are favorites though. KitKat is pretty much global, but we only have the milk chocolate, white chocolate and chunky version (besides a cherry KitKat in a japanese store). I was surprised to find a 'Muscat of Alexandria' and 'Berry' version.

The berry one looks like white and pale pink chocolate marbled together. They taste sweet like white chocolate with a well balance berry flavor (a bit artificial, but I like it).

The grape version is pale green, again they are only sweet, nothing sour to detect. Now the taste is, what I always expect green grapes to taste like. This KitKat also have an artificial flavor (as I cannot remember having tasted such delicious grapes without a hint of sourness), but I adore it! Too bad they are not widely available in Taiwan and I didn't see them in September (but did in December 08 and February this year). If anyone knows they're permanent in Japan please write in the comments... I'd be relieved.

Oh, btw the background of the grape KitKats is a box of Lindt chocolates... had some yummy stuff in it.

What business class tastes like

I usually fly tuna-can, or also called Economy Class as the price difference can buy you some nice things. However, I recently got enough miles to upgrade my ticket. Of course I had to take pics of the meal, wondering whether it would really be better than economy class... FYI it is the Premium Laurel Class by EVA Airlines. Route was Taipei to Vienna via Bangkok.
Let's start with the refreshment (Taipei - Bangkok):

First we have an appetizer of smoked salmon with paté, some kinda mushroom and salad. The salmon tasted like the stuff you get in supermarket, okay, but nothing special. The paté was kind of bad, some weird combination of ham and cheese I think. And I forgot how the mushrooms tasted...
Then comes the main dish I ordered online. It's grilled seafood on a rosemary skewer. The sides are salad with walnuts and mango rice in red pepper. The seafood was again, ok to mediocre tasting, it certainly didn't had the taste of freshly grilled food and the consistency were meh, just... meh lol. The sides were also ok, but nothing more.
The dessert consisted of fresh fruit which was nice, but I had hopes for some real dessert (even in tuna can you get a dessert besides fruit).
After that came the stopover in Bangkok. The lounge was pretty much empty and offered some refreshments. Then off again to Vienna we got dinner. It startet with a kind of mushroom/veggiesoup which actually tasted good. On the top right you also see a cup of hot chocolate. Gotta say it's very creamy and rich. So order one if you have the chance.
The main dish is again, pre-ordered. It's lamb with pepper crust, mashed potatoes and vegetables. The lamb was too dry and usually I prefer my meat rare (almost raw would be a better description haha). Besides the dryness the taste of the pepper was also overwhelming. The sauteed onion actually improved the taste, when I took a bite with meat and onion. Veggies were so so and the mashed potatoes were also kinda boring. The dinner finishes off with fruit again. The red grapes were actually nice. Sweet, firm and with flavor (it's a miracle nowadays to find flavorful grapes in Austria...).

Now the last course: breakfast. Came after a long stay in the dark watching movies/trying to fall asleep. Even though Biz class offers much more space and an almost flat 'bed' it's still kinda uncomfortable and I never get over the noise.

So here we have a congee with mixed sides. Pork floss, egg, bamboo, ham, some veggy I can't identify, mee-tee and pickled cucumber.
The breakfast was quite good (I also don't think you can do much wrong with congee). I didn't bother to make another fruit image, but you get an idea what I had for dessert lol.

Well, what can I say besides: you pay (I didn't pay, at least not directly lol) for better service, better looking dishes and more choice. That's about the food side. None of the meals knocked me off my feet, nor can they compete with dishes 'on earth'. So the food isn't worth it to book biz class (surprise surprise), however, the service, lounges, space and being priviledged all the time was pretty cool. If I have too much money one day I'd actually pay for biz class. Until then, accumulating miles by flying tuna.

Overall rating of food: 6.5/10, should say it all after my raves.

Cheese please

When I'm not drooling over butterfish or other seafood, I crave pizza, or cheese. The last is best presented in the Meierei im Stadtpark, located below Austria's best rated Restaurant 'Steirereck'. I've been to the Meierei twice now, everytime delighted by the varieties of cheese they offer. The first time I went with my bf (again, I rarely eat out on my own if I don't have to) and he actually had the cheese plate while I tasted a breakfast menu. The menu was good, but... I wished I had his cheese plate lol. He got the 'Best of Austria' variation with 6 pieces of different cheese and fresh bread (~4 pieces of dark bread with pumpkin seeds and a white baguette like bread, both very delicious). The cheese was served with roasted, salted pumpkin seeds and fragrant figue jam. I was surprised how well it all goes together, try some cheese on bread with jam and pumpkin seeds, it's just... WOW ^^ The highlight of the plate was the 'Kuhkracher', a blue cheese which is discribed as fruity, but tangy too. And boy are they right! It starts out fruity, then the strong taste takes over and explodes in your mouth. It's also very nice with the jam and seeds... so the Kuhkracher is on my all-time-favorite-cheese list.

The second time we went I got the 'Strongest of France' plate for 2... Out of the 10 varieties I have 3 favorites, which I'll take with the Kuhkracher on a custom plate next time.

Pictured below is Brie de Meaux. Usually brie is a bit boring, but this one isn't, at all...

Here we got a Reblochon de Savoie, nice intensity and flavor, very yummy on bread
Last but not least, my favorite... as you can see it was already gone when photographed :P
Le cabri ariégeois or also called chevre fermier. It's very soft, so it spreads like molten cheese all over your plate...

Interestingly the strongest cheese of the French plate wasn't as fascinating as the Austrian Kuhkracher. It was surely strong and very salty, but it didn't had the complexity of the Kuhkracher. All in all it was an interesting plate, giving me 3 new favorites. And btw. I wasn't able to finish the plate even with my bf. A person could eat at it around 5 times... together with bread.

Oh and before I forget: the Meierei also offers delicious milk variations. I tried the hot Tonka bean milk, which is sweet and reminds me a bit of Vanilla, but with a warmer touch. My bf had the chocolate milk with orange peel and ginger... absolutely amazing! It's hot chocolate with a spicy twist and added taste complexity.

So we'll finish with the price and a verdict again.

- 25€ Strongest of France (or 12,50 per person as it's a plate for two, 10 pieces of different

cheese)

- 8,90€ Best of Austria (6 pieces for one person)

- 4,50€ Hot chocolate

- 2,80€ Tonka bean milk

So based on the cheese and hot chocolate combination: 9.5/10

Overall rating: 8/10 (less points for small amounts of some dishes such as desserts, and average quality menus with too high prices)

My final verdict: you have to go there if you like cheese, especially strong ones. They are stored at the right temperature and served with delicious jam, pumpkin seeds and fresh, crispy bread. Also try the hot chocolate! I'll definitely go there again.

Found you again...

my beloved SWORDFISH/BUTTERFISH/KANJIKI!!! Ever since leaving Singapore I was wondering whether I'd be able to find that juicy, delicious fish again. Today I tried DOTS Experimental Sushi on Mariahilferstraße 103 (take U3 to Zieglergasse). I read good reviews about it somewhere and randomly looked on their menu online. Then I found their Kanjiki Sushi, which they translate to butterfish (but Kanjiki is known to me as swordfish from Singapore). Had to try it of course...

Sorry for the crappy pics, but I always forget to take my camera with me when eating out so here are some from my phone. This is the part where we were sitting:
And the following pic is a plate of all the sushi we ordered. On the left are butterfish maki, top middle are butterfish nigiri (both make the small Butterfish-Set). Top right is crispy chicken maki from my bf and on the bottom we have Rainbow bombs.

As the title suggests: the butterfish was sooo delicious, similar to Sakae Kajiki and better than the supermarket swordfish blocks. Next time I'll definitely get the big Mix set (more maki and nigiri PLUS sashimi!). Of course my favorites were the big nigiri pieces, even though the rice was a bit more sour than what I'm used to. Slightly overwhelming the fish, but won't stop me from getting their butterfish again and again and... maybe I should just order a big block of butterfish. My second favorite are the butterfish makis, nicely balanced with surimi, avocado and sesame crust. Then came the crispy chicken maki, they were nice, but nothing too exciting as I like fish more in sushi. The last place goes to the Rainbow Bombs, too much rice, too little, well decoration: fine fish and avocado slices topped with fish roe.

So what does it cost? Since I didn't take the receipt with me I can't give you the exact cent amounts, but you'll get an idea. Oh, and you better take some cash with you, in case their card reader breaks down like today... inconvenient, but whatever, the butterfish is good enough... and our waiter was nice too. I went there at an incovenient time (they were just opening and preparing) waiters were eating, but our waiter immediately served us leaving his food when we entered ^^ that's great service (if it was me I'd be annoyed that I had to stop eating, even for one minute lol).

Oh well, writing too much, here are the prices:

- 13,90€ for small Kajiki set (4 makis, 6 nigiris, yeah one's missing from pic as I already devoured it)

- 8,90€ for crispy chicken maki (8 pieces)

- 4,50€ for Rainbow Bombs (4 pieces)

- 5€ for Lychee Soda (actually one can of Lychee juice and some soda to mix yourself lol, a bit overpriced)2

- 2,40€ per person cover charge

My bf also ordered some spring rolls (served with sauce and a little salad with sweet dressing, tasted like fresh blueberries) and ice tea, but I have no clue how much they were.

So the final verdict:

A bit pricey for sushi in Austria, BUT depending on your dish/taste well worth it's price! A certain sushi chain in Vienna costs only a little less, but already delivers mediocre food. So for now DOTS is my first choice when it comes to Sushi in Vienna.

DOTS also have other Asian style dishes, which cost around 9-20€ per main dish (curry, tepanyaki...). But I think the next few times I go there it will be for some kind of fish lol.

So my rating for my buttefish set is 9/10.

Overall rating (including service, atmosphere): 8/10

Now to something Austrian. My very favorite cooking book (source: libri.de)

Of course it's all German... what I love about it are the many basic recipes for standard Austrian cuisine. It's not only recipes, but they give you an idea of what goes together and how things have to be prepared. In brief: they spark up your creativity (at least of cooking beginners like me). I haven't even tried the majority of recipes yet, but those I've tried almost always turned out well and are staples in my kitchen now (the exception is some cake that ended up with too much egg...).

The place with the worst Tom Yum...

is also a place with... ok not the worst Sushi, but let's say a bit overpriced for what you get. I'm talking about Akakiko. It's the Austrian Sushi-fastfoodchain which is pretty much everywhere.
This pic is from years ago, back when I just moved to Vienna and didn't know any better place. The pictured set costs 6,99€, with wasabi, soy sauce and chopsticks. For 12€ you can have decent running sushi... more choice and such. But well, I've never eaten such a good sushi like in Tokyo... no surprise there. However, I have to admit that I haven't been to Vienna's best sushi place 'Unkai' in the Grand Hotel yet, as their prices do scare me a bit. My curiosity will certainly lead me there someday. For now my next sushi-place-to-try is Dots in Mariahilferstraße, they have a butterfish set, which sounds like it could be my beloved swordfish (kajiki) that I learnt to love in Singapore (Sakae Sushi! You got me addicted to delicious, juicy swordfish!).

Oh and to mention the Tom Yum, it actually tasted like a base for 'Gulasch', a hungarian specialty which I usually like. Just not as pseudo-Tom Yum that lacks certain other tastes and ingredients. When it comes to Thai Food I think I'll stick to the 'Bangkok', which is always full, a bit expensive, but has nice Phad Thai.

The birth of...

a food blog centered about stuff available in Vienna, Austria and wherever I'm travelling to. I enjoy eating out, discovering the best of the best, the budget-friendly, and recipes for home cooking as well as tasty things from supermarkets.

Why am I doing another food blog? - Yesterday I got the worst Tom Yum ever and felt an obligation to tell the world... but it's also a place to share the best and the mediocre. So you, my readers will know what you get, where to get it and how much you have to spent.

Since I'm located in Austria, you will get your fair share of Austrian Cuisine, European dishes in general, but also Asian stuff since I'm originally from Taiwan and spent 4 months on exchange in Singapore.

Be prepared for loads of pictures, reviews, recipes and recommendations. Until then... see ya soon!