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the mixed race experience

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5 Meals to Try in Asia — Half+Half Travel

For the past 4 weeks, I spent time traveling throughout Southeast Asia and Japan looking for 5 meals to try in Asia. I ate all the food I could, took pictures, and explored to my heart’s content. I’ve spent many hours since contemplating this post — assuming a normal pace of 3 meals a day, I would have had roughly 84 meals during my travels.

I had been planning this trip for few months before I left my job and set off to the following places:

Tokyo, Japan
Puerta Princessa, Philippines
Singapore
Bangkok, Thailand
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Without further ado, these top 5 meals of 2018 in Southeast Asia.

1. Yakiniku (焼き肉)

Everyone can join in on Yakiniku night!

Here’s a big meat assortment that was eaten quickly by our group.

Throughout Japanese cuisine there is a common thread that good ingredients make food better. This rings true, especially with yakiniku. The simple meal got its start following the Meiji Restoration when eating beef was legalized in 1871. After beef was legal and abundant, yakiniku became a blue-collar staple and was thought to have been invented on Hokkaido island. In modern times, you can really see how Korean food has influenced yakiniku around the country and is becoming much more familiar to the Korean BBQ that is found in America.

Yakiniku Kochikaru, located in Higashi Murayama, had mostly Korean BBQ staples featuring specially marinated meats like bulgogi and galbi. At its core, yakiniku is barbecue — thinly sliced pieces of meat, grilled at your table and eaten with sauce (usually fermented beans, soy, or sesame oil with salt). Leafy greens are also served to wrap around the meat with any other banchan included. It’s simple but requires high-quality meats to take this dish to another level.

Our hosts ordered for us and we dined on beef tenderloin, beef tongue, and wagyu beef. Soondubu, kimchi, and banchan were also ordered, giving us different tastes to cut through the richness of the fatty beef. We rounded out the meal with a few hi-balls (whiskey and soda) and we waddled out of the restaurant.

As you can see, we loved the food! The meat was well marbled creating bites of beef that were melt-in-your-mouth good (A5-grade wagyu beef!). The simplicity, quality, and the atmosphere of the meal combined to make this meal my favorite of the trip.

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Yakiniku Kochikaru (焼肉コチカル)
Sakaecho Higashimurayama Tokyo, 東京都東村山市栄町 2-25-14

2. Black Pepper Crab (黑胡椒螃蟹)

Julie and I, loving on some crab!

Singapore is a wonderful country that has the benefit of being in the center of some amazing culinary hotspots. China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and a large number of expats from around the world help to create a wonderful food culture unlike any place in the world. One of the most popular pastimes of Singaporeans is to eat food, so you know it’s a serious business.

A friend took me to Por Kee Eating House after talking about their black pepper crab non-stop. So we brought our own bottle of wine and ordered a massive serving of the crab. The entire crab was broken down and each inch of the crustacean was coated with a dark black pepper sauce. After a few bites, my lips started on a constant burn that was right on the edge of too much spice. The crab meat was sweet and worth running the risk of getting fiery sauce on your favorite shirt. The restaurant provided wet napkins and a small dish of water to clean your hands after the dirty work was done.

Along with the crab, we ate bean curd with mushrooms in a brown gravy and broccoli in brown sauce. The meal was rounded out by an extremely Singaporean dish, Cereal Shrimp. The shrimp was coated in a sweet and crunchy cereal, deep-fried to perfection. The combo of a sweet coating with the briny shrimp made for a knockout combination. The pepper crab was the highlight of the meal but the supporting cast made this meal jump to my top 5.

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Por Kee Eating House
69 Seng Poh Lane, #01-02, Singapore, Singapore 160069

3. Yakitori (焼鳥)

Tsukune from Torihiko

Chicken thigh wrapped in skin.

Another meal that stays true to the Japanese food philosophy that quality ingredients makes for unforgettable food has made it’s way on the list. Yakitori is grilled chicken parts that are cooked meticulously over special Japanese charcoal (binchotan). Yakitori deserves its own dedicated restaurant, and unfortunately, there are no places like this in Seattle. (Please tell me I’m wrong, but to my knowledge, there are no places in Seattle proper or north of the city.)

This was our first meal for our vacation, and we opted for the omakase (chef’s selection). We were greeted by a chicken sashimi, and reluctantly took our first bite in Japan and started our 7-course meal (more on the chicken sashimi in a future post!). The sashimi was much better than I expected and things got more delicious from there. Our first skewer was a chicken meatball the size of a corndog, and one of the juiciest meatballs I’ve ever eaten. This was followed up by chicken thighs wrapped in crispy skin, then liver, gizzards, wings that were carefully cut open, breast, heart, with a mix of salads and sides. The meal was delicious but I had to skip out on the liver, I know that purists will say that the chicken liver is the most valuable but I just can’t do liver! It was a nice trade though, Miko ate my liver and I ate her gizzards.

It was all cooked right in front of our impatient faces, by a master chef and his two assistants. The smoke in the room, a few pints of lager, and the casual Japanese spoken around us added to the feelings of joy of being in Japan. Yakitori is the ultimate drinking food, and should be available everywhere that people love bar-b-cue and a libation.

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Torihiko (とり彦)
2 Chome-15-2 Kamiosaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo 141-0021, Japan

4. Kuy teav (គុយទាវ)

Kuy Teav, the cure for anything

One of my best friends (I’m talking about since 6 years old) showed me around Phnom Penh during the last leg of my trip. Her mom, an immigrant from Cambodia that fled during the war, was always cooking delicious food when I would visit. So on my first day in Phnom Penh and after my 3rd week of dealing with stomach issues (I’ll spare you the details), we headed to Malis for a comforting bowl of kuy teav .

I had never had kuy teav at my friends place, so this was an experience to learn more about Cambodian cuisine. The dish is a clear pork broth, with rice noodles, usually pork (loaf, minced or otherwise), fried garlic, cilantro, and green onions. The broth is slightly sweet and salty, but has light amounts of fat, making it a perfect meal for someone trying to get over a few weeks of stomach issues. My bowl, which had chicken instead of the pork, disappeared quickly and I understood why this breakfast dish is frequently sold out by midday. If you find yourself in Cambodia, wake up early and get yourself a bowl kuy teav.

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Malis
136 Preah Norodom Blvd (41), Phnom Penh 12301, Cambodia

5. Boodle Fight

Me and the Boodle Fight

Chicken Inasal, Mussels, Sea Beans, Bicol Express and more!

While many Filipino-Americans recognize and call this style of eating kamayan, most Filipinos will not recognize what meal you are talking about without more information. Kamayan directly translates to shake hands, but really speaks to the act of eating with your hands. Most Filipinos will recognize the term Boodle fight, and it might be the gateway meal that can introduce Filipino cuisine to hundreds of new fans.

Boodle fight has its origins in the military of the Philippines. When meals were served to soldiers, food was on banana leaves, on a large table. This was the great equalizer of the military, high ranking officials would join the low ranking soldiers at the table and all would eat with their hands. The fight came from the fact that you had to eat the same food served to dozens of hungry men, so in order to fill up, you had to fight for it!

This was my first boodle fight and while I had plenty of experience fighting off my hungry brothers growing up, I thankfully didn’t have to fight anyone for food. We met up with Miko’s family (12 or so people) and we feasted! I approached my pile of rice placed on the leaves and began to “fight” my way down the line of food. (Editor’s Note: we had to teach him the fine technique of eating with your hands first) Steamed mussels, Bicol express (spicy pork in coconut milk), grilled chicken, and shrimp were some of the food that was spread out on the length of the 3-foot long table. A cold San Miguel to wash down the delicious handfuls of food and I was happy. Somehow, eating with your hands makes the meal more enjoyable and much more casual to talk with your neighbors. It was a great way to meet family and I can’t wait for the next one!

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Haim Chicken Inato
294 Manalo Extension, Puerto Princesa, 5300 Palawan, Philippines

My trip through Japan and Southeast Asia reinforced every travel and food show I’ve ever seen, claiming that the best food could be found in there. Between the huge variety in barbecue and new ingredients that were completely foreign to me, I realized that this trip was not enough to scratch the surface!

What foods/places did I miss on my top 5? Let me know via

@halfandhalffood

@justinTaylorImages

@JeetJeetRibbyRibby

May 11, 2018 0 comment

Japanese Food Personal Story Travel

Ozoni (お雑煮)

written by Justin Inahara

Not gonna lie, Ozoni(お雑煮) was not always my favorite dish for Japanese new years. It was there, but sometimes other food would find it’s way to my plate before the traditional New Years soup. Every year I spend away from the family for New Years, I come to appreciate it more than ever. The dish has it’s roots in samurai history as an easy stew to make. 雑(zo) means “miscellaneous” or “mixed”, and the second, 煮(ni), means “simmer” or “boil”.

My grandma makes a Kanto style zoni that is light and simple. Made from clear miso soup which is flavored with bonito based dashi and soy sauce, it’s a simple dish that keeps your mochi easy to eat. Served with a big mochi and some mushrooms, simple but delicious. Last new year’s post about mochi meant we had lots to use up every year. Ozoni was a treat that I didn’t deserve!

Check out the rest of the spread for the Inahara New Years! Thanks to Miko (@yo_miko) for the photos and until next year!

Gobo (きんぴらごぼう | Burdock root)

Inari Zushi (いなり寿司)

Kuro-Mame ( 黒豆)

Mar-Far Chicken

January 2, 2018 0 comment

Japanese Food Personal Story Words

Japanese New Year’s Meal

written by Justin Inahara

The migration over to Southeast Portland on the first day of the year is something that I will always remember. There were the times when the grass was crunchy with ice, where all we brought was a pillow to nap after the meal, and other times where some people (…I won’t out them here) that were too hungover to take part in the best meal of the year. Regardless, New Year’s lunch at my grandparents place has been a constant in the years since I have been in this world.

Our homemade ozoni for New Year’s 2017

New Year’s in Japan is the most important traditional holiday. According to Shinto beliefs, a kami (god, 神) enters the house on the first day of the new year, therefore the home must be cleaned top to bottom in order to properly welcome the guest. The kami of New Years is not to be disturbed with noise from the kitchen for the first three days of the new year, so all of the cooking needed to be done before the holiday. Most businesses would be closed the first three days of the new year and people would take time off of work. This all combined for an extremely busy Juu-Nichi Gatsu (December, 十二月), with lots of preparation for the start of the year.

The osechi-ryori (おせち料理) is the traditional meal served on New Years, and is made up of symbolic and delicious food. Most of the foods are preserved with salts, vinegars and sugars to keep for the three days when cooking is frowned upon. Examples of these dishes include kuromame (sweetened black beans, 黒豆), kamaboko (boiled fish cake, かまぼこ), kurikinton (sweet potatoes and sweet chestnuts, 栗金とん), and ebi (prawns, えび). Each dish has its own meaning and purpose; Ebi is representative of an old person with a bent back and long hair signaling a long life. The characters for ‘kinton’ (金とん) in ‘kurikinton’ literally mean “group of gold” for a wish for lots of wealth and financial gains. Food holds a dear spot in the Japanese culture, especially on the most important holiday.

The Inahara Tradition

When it came to the Inahara Japanese New Year’s lunch, it was not as traditional as above. Myself being a yonsei (4th generation Japanese-American, 四世), a lot of the strict Shinto traditions gave way to more relaxed Japanese-American ideals. The most traditional part of our gathering was the food itself. It also happened that my grandmother and her family were excellent tsukemono (漬物) picklers and we got to enjoy gobo, fukujinzuke and sunomono (ごぼう, 福神漬, 酢の物). The meals featured salmon (usually), ebi, lots of rice, fresh fruits, noodles (chow mein), fried chicken, and ozoni (a traditional New Year’s soup, お雑煮).

Mochi before being prepared to eat

Ozoni is a clear dashi (seaweed & bonito broth, だし) soup that features mochi as the main star. Mochi has always held a very special spot in the Inahara family. My grandpa’s father was one of the larger producers of Japanese confections in the Portland area and was especially known for mochi. Mochi (餅) is a pounded rice cake, that has a chewy texture and is usually filled with sweetened bean paste.

The Inahara side of my family owned a Japanese confectionery store in the 1970s in Portland. Mikado was located on 20th and SE Powell and was run by Tetsunosuke ‘Tets’ Inahara and his wife Tei. Tets was trained in Japan as a professional confectioner and moved back from Ontario, Oregon after Public Proclimation No. 21 was announced. During the weeks building up to the new year, the family would converge and help turn 200 pounds of cooked rice into the delicious New Year’s treat. The mochi would make its way into 20-30 pound banana boxes and then to the local Buddhist churches that would prepare and feed it to their members.

Tetsunosuke and Tei with the mochi machine

After the Mikado closed, the family used to gather a few weeks before the New Years and spend the day making mochi. The process was more industrialized than the traditional manual hammer method thanks to a large machine that provided the manpower. About 20–25 of us would get together and watch as the older men would work in the machine, flipping the rice and wetting the mallet between each downfall of the large wooden block. Once a giant mochi ball had been formed we would split the 25 pound rice ball into smaller, individual-sized balls and start shaping them. The end result was an obscene amount of mochi, clothes covered in cornstarch, and a belly full of the delicious treat.

[Left] The Inahara kids watching uncle Toshio using the mochi machine [Right] Grandpa Yosh making mochi

As it happens, I have moved away from my hometown and the trip to Southeast Portland is much more difficult for me to make. I figured if I can’t be there then I might as well run my own New Year’s meal in Seattle. The New Year’s meal has always connected me with my Japanese family, but the invitation was extended to friends who have never experienced Japanese New Year’s meal. Like any great meal, it brings people together from every background and cooking this meal helps to keep an important tradition alive. Just like my grandparents who grew up in a country that forcibly removed a whole population of their people based on fear, the drive to keep traditions alive was more powerful than their circumstances. I am truly humbled by their sacrifices and courage to be themselves. To put family and friends at the center of their life, to use food as a way to love and building community around tradition.

Justin with the Inahara Grandparents (2016)

This is what Half+Half is about; navigating culture and diversity through the lens of food. I strongly believe that food has become the strongest way to identify someone. Most of the racial epithets used come from food that is commonly associated with their cultures. Within the cultures of food there is a huge amount of misunderstanding, appropriation and distrust—and we hope to offset that here at Half+Half. In my humble opinion the most important and powerful way to love someone is to feed them. So get in the kitchen, and let’s get to work—we have a lot of love to spread.

January 5, 2017 3 comments