Taiwanese black pepper flavoured cake @ 南城北市

胡椒餅 (wu jiu beng) black pepper cake is a taiwanese snack composed of meat marinated with sugar, soy sauce, black pepper, and scallions encased in a large, flaky biscuit-like pastry, the pastry is not leavened with yeast.

On first bite of the cake, it was hard and flaky, similar to the wife cake, but harder.

Then inside it was filled with aromatic spring onions and rich sauce, but not dripping out.

Overall, the dryness of the pastry and sesame covered top was compensated by the filling inside the cake which was moist.

If the pepper wasnt that strong, it would taste better, all I could taste was the bitterness from the pepper.

 

 

Basil & black pepper flavoured wings @ Burger king

I have always liked basil, so when Burger King came out with the new basil and black pepper chicken drumettes, I had to try it.

Basically Burger King have used their usual spicy drumettes and smothered it with black pepper and basil.
The original spices of the drummette combined with black pepper makes it even more hot.

The basil was different to the one I was expecting, which led me to find out there are so many different types of Basil.
The type used here is the one used in Asian cuisine and not in the Italian cuisine.

Basil world confusion:

As a european, Basil just means Basil, the one that is used in Pasta and Italian dishes, however when you come over to Asia they have a different species of Basil.
The confusion starts here, the basil usually found in Europe is classified as sweet basil [lor lacque 甜羅勒 ]
and the one the asians use is Thai Basil which is called goa chang tap 九層塔 in Chinese, but the Thai's call is gum but woon 金不換

In a earlier review, there was also confusion between BASIL羅勒 and JAPANESE BASIL - Perilla 紫蘇葉[JIE SO]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perilla

So anyway, the one that I tasted in the chicken wings was the Thai Basil (goa chang tap).

 

 

You will know....???? @ 陸金記瓜子大王

I am not keen on Chinese snacks, so I did'nt try the dried nuts and fruits.

However, saw some interesting pastries in the cabinet, so tried those.

There were two types that both cost $2 each.

One was round in shape, the other was long and round.
The round one was called "yaat hau so" (bitesized puff), and the long one was called "muck dim so" (wheat dot puff).

 

 

I just knew they were both savoury, so asked them what the different was, and they said the round one was made with sesame, and the long one was made of spring onions and sesame.
To be honest, I do not like sesame, but I like sesame oil.
I feel that sesame dosnt have a function apart from its crunchy texture.
It also comes out of the digestive track undigested!
But anyway tried it for fun.

After paying, they asked me if I have tried it before, and of course I had'nt because if I had, I would know what they were.

Anyway, after replying no, the person at the shop said "After eating it, you will know (sick goh lei wui ji)"
I was left dazzled, what will I know...........?????
Did I miss out any words in his sentence??

So........
I will know its delicious??
I will know my future??
I will know my what??
Hmmm very interesting!!

Maybe its a Chinese fortune puff instead of a fortune cookie.

Anyway, the answer, the answer from the snack!

I broke the puff in half to take a picture, amazingly, I couldnt see any whole sesame seeds which was good because I dont like them.
As for the spring onions, there was one piece in it.
The dot must be the pink ink dot at the top of the puff.

 

 

I tried eating it, and was surprised the filling inside was grounded so finely that it was velvety.
The texture was similar to those chinese peanut things, that are dry, sandy and velvety.
Althought the spring onions couldnt be seen, you could really taste it.
If it was less salty it would taste better, and they should be eaten fresh before the oil flavour takes over.
So the answer I got was......
I ate a puff, and I could taste real spring onions~

McD's McPepper beef burger 2011

This year McD’s has launched a re-run of some of its special edition burgers, which include: the shogun, McPepper and McRibs.
I have already tried the McPepper before but decided to try it again for this year.
I got the double patty, it was filled with lots of diced onions and black pepper gravy.
The beef was tasteless but the black pepper was very strong and prominent.
The only disappointment this year was the shake shake seasoning did not come with the meal, you have to pay $2 for it or order the larger size set meal.