Tottori inspired dishes

It was an honor attending a luncheon at Bishoku Club Yoshida because the governor of Tottori was there.
This event was jointly hosted by 日本鳥取縣、JA全農鳥取 and 株式會社Dole.
I had the set menu which has dishes made with ingredients from Tottori.
[Since my visit, there have been changes to the menu]
Tottori is famous for pears, Pink Curry and Manga.

Before the food came, the governor Shinji Hirai showcased products and mascots from Tottori.
He showed us three pears: 二十世紀梨 20th Century Pear , 夏姬梨 Natsuhime and 新甘泉 Shinkansen with a cute mascot.
Manga is a big thing in Tottori because many cartoonists grew up there so there are lots of museums and bronze manga statues.

The Pink Soy sauce and Pink curry were interesting. The pink curry was on the internet a while ago so I was really lucky it was on the menu.
As well as the curry, they also had the 20th Century Pear on the menu.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Pear and vegetables salad:



The vegetables came with sauce but they didn't need it because they were just crisp and sweet.
It was my first time trying raw aubergine and it is surprisingly sweet, not to mention the star of the show which are the crisp and sweet pear chunks.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Marinated sliced squid with diced bean-curd:

The marinated squids were salty and springy, great with beer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
3 Kinds of Yam (Jelly style, Yam steak and marinated by Lemon vinegar):




My favourite was the Yam in jelly because is was crisp and had a viscous texture.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Dried firely squid charcoal grill:




The squids were really nice because they become aromatic and tasty after they were grilled.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
dried rosy seabass with pink soy sauce and cooked vegetables:




The delicate and silky rosy seabass was paired with this stunning pink soy sauce from Tottori.
華貴婦人のピンク醤油, or Hanakifujin no Pink Shoyu, means  “Flower Lady’s Pink Soy Sauce”.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
"zuwai" crab leg and crab miso charcoal grill:






The crab roe was rich and delicious with the rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
2 kinds of curry (pink and traditional flavour) with rice:




I was so glad they had this because it was on the news last year, see link below.

Basically it is vegetarian and tastes like Japanese curry with a good degree of spiciness.
ブリリアントアソシエイツ株式会社
http://www.allure-ba.com/brilliant/pink/
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/10/03/tottori-prefectures-special-curry-is-pretty-in-pink-fiery-in-the-belly/
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Pear compote:

Finished with this crisp and sweet fruit compote!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Nashi liquer :



For drinks we had Nashi liquer which is sweet and addictive because it is almost like drinking pure pear juice with an alcoholic kick to it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Here are photos of the governor Shinji Hirai showcasing highlights from Tottori.

Tottori mascot:

For Tottori fans, EGL are doing tours to tottori:

http://www.egltours.com/travel/travel/blog/index.jsp?p=tottori.html

There are also cooking classes by ABC to make French style pear tarts and pear jam using the 20th Century pear.:
http://abc-cooking.com.hk/news/abc-x-tottori-1day-lesson-limited-edition

These pears can also be bought at TASTE, GREAT and AEON supermarket:

Lunch at Tai O Crossing Boat Restaurant

It was an honour and a pleasure to join the Tai O food tour held by Tai O Heritage hotel because we got to try different joints in the lanes of Tai O.
Tai O is a lovely town on water which is themed as a Chinese Venetian with stilt houses on water.
They are also famous for fermented prawn paste.
I go to Tai O frequently because there are so many joints to eat with a good variety of snacks but I have never had a meal in these restaurants because I am usually full by then.

Tai O Crossing Boat Restaurant is a restaurant that I have bookmarked to go for the steamed rice with dried seafood.

Here was what we had:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Steamed rice with dried seafood:

I call this the Chinese paella which is sooooooooo yummy because the rice has absorbed all the flavours from the dried seafood especially the dried squid!~
This rice is damn delicious so leave some room for it which is hard because there are so many other temptations at Tai O!!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Tofu and vegetable soup:

This is an amazing soup because the taste is light and there is no msg!
It was pure goodness in it with tofu, tomatoes and seaweed.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Squid cakes:

Springy and delicious.
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Roast goose:

I love goose but I can't eat goose anymore because I get acne after eating it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
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It makes sense at Eighty Sense

Tried to go here a few months ago but there were too many people.

A few days ago I found out that they had the sweet purple potato mantau burgers with sweet purple potato mash so I decided to try it out.
There are three choices in the purple series: pork cutlet, chicken and beef patty.

I was so lucky because there was no queue.
My friend got the pork and as I didn't want to eat meat, I asked for egg and it was sooooooooooooooooooooo coooooooooooooooooooool they were able to do it for me.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
sweet purple potato pork cutlet mantau burger:


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
sweet purple potato scrambled egg mantau burger:


This was bloody amazing! The scrambled egg was light and fluffy and it tasted really nice with the sweet potato mash and lettuce but it was a bit difficult to eat because the egg was quite sloppy.
Anyway, it was simply delicious because it tasted natrual and they didn't put any other sauces which would have ruined it.
After I finished the burger I realized they do omelettes and cheese omelettes which would also taste great, so next time I hope they can do me a cheese omelette one.
I would also like to try one without the meat and it would be totally vegetarian.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
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The bill: $48
Service: OK
Service charge: no
Yummy factor: good
English Menu: Yes
Air Conditioning: no
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Kam Kee Cafe Chinese ham mooncakes 2015

I have a friend who lives nearby this Kam Kee Cafe so got a box of mooncakes by Kam Kee and took it to her place.

If you are too lazy to carry the box, you can also buy vouchers so the recipient can collect!!


The box is quite cute and old fashioned.


Anyway, the person who I gave it to said it was 大個裝．味道好香．有咬感．有金華火腿味!!

Inexpensive but only one item tasted good at 春心點心專門店

Randomly came here and was greeted by a moody waitor who was not that polite.
He still had an atitude problem when I left and paid because he just slammed the change on the table.

Anyway, sat down and ticked the stuff I wanted and was given the bill where I noticed there was a $3 for the tea but no tea was on the table so I had to ask for it.

Although I don't like their standard pu'er tea, it was nice and hot.
There was a 12% discount because I went there during 2:30-6pm, so all the stuff below came to $88 but only the congee was good.

The dishes came quickly.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Lotus leaf wrapped rice in abalone sauce:

The glutinous rice came first but it was rather hard and barely hot.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Salted pork and preserved veg congee:

Then came the congee which tasted the best because the preserved vegetables were tasty and the salted pork was fresh.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Vegetarian beancurd rolls:


The beancurd rolls were hard and oily and you could taste the oil was rather old.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
egg crisps:

The egg crisps were not that good because the oil was old.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Dried shrimp and spring onion rice rolls:

The rice rolls were weird, tasteless and oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
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The bill: $88


Service: crap
Service charge: no
Yummy factor: Could be better
Napkins provided: no
Toilets: no
Glass of water provided: compulsory $3 tea
English Menu: Yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
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