Moksi Alesi Strey...Third time's a charm!

First of all, my apologies for the tardiness of this blog. It is really way overdue.

 

It's for the 3rd year that SCA (Suriname Chef's Association) has organized Moksi Alesi Strey. And once again I had the honor to be part of the tasting committee. When I arrived at the scene around 11:30, I immediately see and feel the difference. It looks a bit busier(however mostly set-up crew), but there lies a certain excitement in the air. Most tents were already pretty busy preparing and setting up or decorating their stand.

Some of the nice additions are the stand of TOK and Soeng Ngie. TOK came with their own farm-themed promo girls and I heard their group had the best team spirit. And Soeng Ngie,....they always seem to stand out. With their SRD 5,- meals or maybe it's the yellow color and it surely is because Mr. Micle Fung himself is a great promoter, they attract many people to their stand.

What makes this year more fun are the extra's. There was a Harley Davidson showcase, a Zundapp showcase and Classic Cars showcase (which had only 3 cars though) with other entertainment to keep the visitors entertained.

As part of the tasting team, we were not allowed to be outside where the participants were busy preparing their creation. But it's unavoidable while walking to the location, I have caught some sneak peeks. So, I actually have some idea who participated, but I don't have the whole list. I actually only know the top 3 and I've seen the best decorated stand. They really stood out with their green-decorated stand with nice centerpieces. However I'm not responsible for that part, but I was kinda rooting for them to win the 'best decorated stand' part.


This year, the table for the tasting judges was prepared professionally. A nice decorated table with glasses and jugs of water. The only thing that was still missing was the plates.


This year the participants were fairly on time. One after one the creations came in and we were trying our best effort to distinguish the best out of 8.

The first one that came in was number 1.

The portion size looked like one for a kid. Not many effort on garnishing the plate or making it more appealing.  It really looked like a plate at home that I scooped out of the pan myself. Not all beans were cooked thoroughly. When it comes to flavor, it has one that you'd expect. Nothing impressive.

The second was number 5.
They send in two creations: one with bulgur and one with mackerel.


The presentation of this one is superb. The plating, the colors used, it makes it appealing to watch. But they should probably think it through for the next time. However people believe Chinese eat rice with chopsticks, but that's mostly out of a bowl. Out of a plate, it's not that efficient. Still, the colorful wrapped chopsticks gave color to the creations.

We had to choose between the best out of the two creations. Since the rice tasted burned and undercooked, we chose to judge the bulgur version. However that one is also just between undercooked and done. Or maybe that's how bulgur should taste like? The taste was ok, but we were actually discussing that if you had to sell a portion of the mackerel moksi alesi, how much should you charge? Such a big piece will be quite expensive.

The third that came in was number 4.
 
The presentation was a bit funny. It looked as if they took half the portion and that was how they wanted to present it. At the first bite it gives you a feeling that they burned the rice heavily. After analyzing it all, it appears to be charcoal cooking. It has a smoky flavor. The pieces of chicken in it were too big. If they're gonna mix it in the rice, the pieces should be smaller and if they wanted to put big pieces of meat, they should've just put it on the side. They used eggplant as their ingredient, which was a bit hard to find in the rice.

The fourth came in was number 3.
 
This gave it some thought about presenting their plate.
Unfortunately this was a moksi alesi competition, because if it was fish competition, they'd have won. As I've mentioned so often, I'm not so fond of fish. But this was really wonderful!! The fish was still crispy, a bit sweet and sour flavor, not too greasy as normally fried fish would be. Their rice was too soft, but flavor was ok.

The fifth came in was number 6.
 
They presented their moksi alesi in a hollowed small pineapple, which looks presentable.
And if I see a creation in a hollowed pineapple, I'd expect the pineapple to be one of the used ingredients. But we couldn't detect it anywhere. It tasted ok, but nothing impressive.

The sixth came in was number 8.
 
The presentation gave me a feeling I was at someone's house party. Maybe it's the plate or the plastic wrapped utensils or the plastic wrapped creation, that was what I first thought about when I saw that. And there was even a mint for after the meal.

This one came with 3 types of sambal (def: hot relish made with fruit or veggie): smoked fish, liver and shrimp. That tasted sooo good!! Unfortunately for their undercooked, burned rice and lack of flavor. Maybe the idea was that you eat the tasteless rice with the sambal, so that every bite has a different flavor? But nobody likes undercooked AND burned rice.

The seventh was number 7.
 
The presentation of the dish was full of lettuce. It made it look like a moksi alesi salad. The fish fritter tasted good, but here the rice was also undercooked and burned.

The final dish coming in was number 2.
 
\The presentation was simple, but presentable. What surprised me the most is how good the beansprout (tjapar) was in the moksi alesi. It gave the dish a certain crisp to the overall texture. It tasted quite good, however it looked so blend.


my fellow tasting judges

The scores of both the floor judges and the taste judges combined gave the following winners:
 

1. number 5 creation-> Thuksa
2. number 2 creation-> Kirpalani
3. number 6 creation -> The Next Gen

The best decorated stand was also The Next Gen, as I hoped it would.
 

Overall, the creations were ok, but none of them really impressed me. However two of those participants did show some creativity of adding eggplant and beansprout, but why not make one with bitter tomato mixed in it? or all the veggies instead of on the side mixed in the rice. Maybe I'm getting more demanding, but I think I really want to be impressed!! A dish that makes me only close my eyes and already can taste the flavor and can't wait to harass the participant to make it again...

Hotpot: a harmonious get-together

Hotpot, Da Bin Lo, Shabu Shabu, Chinese fondue- all means the same thing. In Suriname, it started as a new concept years ago and their initial target market probably was the Chinese community, but through the years more and more non-Chinese locals have learned to appreciate this concept.

For those who are not common with this concept yet:

With hotpot, you get a pot of stock/soup base of your choice on top of a range in the middle of the table. You can order whatever ingredients you'd like to put in your soup/stock and you eat it with your choice of sauce.

In Suriname, the two most common sauces are the soy sauce and the peanut sauce. In New  York for instance, there is a sauce stand where you can create your own sauce.

To come back to hotpot in Suriname, hotpot restaurants has been popping up like crazy. In north, you have nearly one in every corner. In this blog, I'll mention 3 that I've experienced: Squeezy, Ma La Xiang and Lucky Twins.

Squeezy is, I believe, the very first hot pot restaurant. They used to be located at Combeweg and has recently moved to their new location at plutostraat, which is both in location and in building a way better choice.

What I like about this restaurant is that it appears very clean, has sufficient parking space and there are always guests.( to not feel awkwardly alone) Their portions are not that big, so you can order more choices. And for extra privacy, you can always ask for a room.

Ma La Xiang is on the other street of the bridge. I've remembered it as the first hotpot restaurant I've visited after a night out. It was already 2-3 o'clock in the morning, so most places were already closed and they were actually near closing, but we could still get served.

What I like about this place is their tofu skin and their dumplings. Their tofu skin is not so thin as the other places and their dumplings are home made, so you can guarantee a fresh batch. Their portions are bigger, so even if you might order the same dishes, the bill at the end will be higher.

Lucky Twins is more known for their a la carte menu, but they also have hotpot in their menu. Till now, they have not really been pushing this concept. For some time now, you can have the option to have your own single pot, which is more convenient for people, who doesn't like people touching their food. But maybe because I'm not used to going there for it, it kinda slips my mind whenever I feel like going for  hotpot.

This hotpot concept has a different feel to it. It kinda creates a harmonious get-together, where everyone can simmer their own ingredients in the stock. Some might not like the idea of everybody going in the pot with their own chopsticks, but that's why there's a ladle and a straining ladle to ease up getting your own stuff out of the soup. And however most people don't do it, but the soup is also for consumption. And with this, it's the more the merrier and the more dishes you can order.

To also get another point of view, I'd like to suggest a post from a fellow blogger:
http://www.jeanluc.sr/restaurant-suriname-squeezy-hot-pot-restaurant/ 

B-day dinner at Bistro Don Julio!

For some time now, people have already been talking about this place. They all have one opinion in common:' great food, but pricey'. Since it was for a birthday celebration, I thought 'let's give it a shot!'. I made my reservations up front, which at the end was not even needed. We were one of the few tables occupied, which for me means 'better service'.

Great Service!!
So I don't know if service is normally this good, but everyone was very attentive. The birthday boy got all kinds of congratulations with his b-day and everyone seems to be communicated about this. The waiters were really professional in that they do share the specials of the day, the choices of game and fish of the day. Drinks came on time and the order in which the food got served was like I'd expect from a quality service restaurant. Wine got poured timely whenever our glasses were nearly empty. I was suppose to choose a dessert, so that they can do a birthday thing, but the birthday boy already felt that would happen and said he'd prefer not to, so I didn't do anything about it.

The food


Before my visit, I already asked around what's good. Some people tell me the T-bone, some say the pasta's, but since I was really in the mood for MEAT (when don't I, right?) the choice was made for a T-bone and a rib-eye. Instead of appetizers we chose to order something from the tapas menu. Since it was a birthday celebration, we got the garlic bread as a gift and we also ordered the Bang Bang and tapenade. One thing I gotta admit, they do love fresh ingredients. The bread was drenched in the garlic butter, which was flavorful and moist, but still has the crunchiness in the bread. The bang bang and the tapenade were really good. The birthday boy even said that he'd even prefer this above salmon. Since we had to wait for the wine, we did let the meat sit for a while after it got served. So my rib-eye was a bit towards medium, but I could still taste the juiciness and the awesome flavor of grilled steak. The mushroom sauce really complements it. The T-bone was the right temperature, but the texture of the meat was a bit on the rough side. I believe not enough marbling in the meat. The pepper sauce was ok, but not impressive. And when I told the owner about the T-bone texture, he assured me he's gonna research where the problem might be.




The place
The restaurant has an indoor and outdoor area. The indoor is created as a bar area, where people can sit back and relax, have a drink and a very chillax atmosphere. Outdoor, there are tables lined up in both the patio and the garden area. What I do like about the place is that it has a cozy feeling, with all the greens and paintings/pictures on the outer wall of the house. What needs some improvement are:
- ventilation. they did put fans around the place, but it was still a bit hot. And for so few tables and I was already sweating, I don't want to imagine when it's crowded.
- music. There's music indoor, but outdoor it's a bit quiet. Great for talking, but matching background music would create a better atmosphere.
- décor. I'm not that fond of the Christmas light and the ornaments. Maybe they're early for Christmas. I understand that they'd like to create an obvious line between patio and garden. I have no idea what they can use yet, but maybe a wooden carved wall or so?

Overall, I had a great experience with the attentive staff, the juicy rib-eye and an expected check. However people say it's expensive, I believe the prices are still affordable (and no, I'm not rich). However the prices of wine and pasta are a bit steep, but all other prices are really do-able. 100 srd (less than $30,-) for a big piece of rib-eye.....I'd pay it any time I'd crave for one.

For those who'd like to check the place out, they have a website:
http://bistrodonjulio.com/

Fundraising dinner: chefs on a mission

Wednesday night I went to a fundraising dinner of the newly graduated chefs from SHTTC. The whole initiative lies with the 'new' chefs. They have to organize the event, purchase the ingredients and cook the meal. The only thing they got some assistance was with the dining room: music, waiting duties and bussing the tables.

The sole purpose of these series(more to come) of fundraising dinners is so that this group can gain international experience and knowledge by doing their internship in Trinidad & Tobago. As an ex-intern, I can say that it is a great opportunity to gain great knowledge and obtain valuable life lessons.
That's why I'm totally supporting this cause. I see it as supporting better dining experiences in the future. For those, who would like to support them by donating, please call SHTTC (499741) or one of the students Kimberley Nurse (8989140).

The venue for this dinner was the dining room at the training center. At weekends it's rented out for 'de Vliegende Hollander' as a restaurant. The place is colorful and a bit too bright for such a dinner. Ok, let's go to the menu right away:

As an appetizer, we were served:

Smoked Bang Bang filet on a bed of greens, with a honey mustard dressing

 

It looks fresh and it tastes fresh. Normally, I'm not really fond of fish, but the sweetness of the dressing and the smokiness of the bang bang went really well. I could use some more bang bang though, but that's probably because I'm not such a salad-eater. (Meat, meat, meat!!!)

Our soup was:

Mushroom soup

The soup reminds me of the potato cream with truffles soup I had at Papiamento restaurant.(see culinary-tour-aruba-papillon-restaurant). The creaminess, the flavor, but I'd love it more if the texture would be a bit thicker.

For the entrée, the choice was between tenderloin and chicken breast and my choice was of course....Tenderloin!! There was a typo in the menu, but it should be:

Grilled tenderloin, parmesan cheese potato puree and a mix of veggies

My dining partners chose for medium and medium-rare temperature and so our order came as last.

For those who might get upset in such situations, just understand that chefs will always try to have everyone at one table eat at the same time, so since it's a pre-fixed menu, they will try to serve the courses to everyone in the room at the same time. What could've happened is that most of the diners chose either well-done or medium well, which takes a longer cooking time than medium or medium rare. So if you go to such dinner and you want to get your steak first, choose medium well (preferably) or if you really hate any pinkness, well-done.

My medium steak was grilled really well. I have to say this: the chefs are really skilled. When it comes to techniques, they really grabbed it. I mean, course after course, I've tasted skilled hands on the dishes. Maybe I'm expecting a bit too much, but I had hoped for new creations, something out of the ordinary or getting swept from my feet by the dishes, which I didn't. But on the other hand, I do understand that they are showing what they've learned at school, which they did exceptionally well. The dishes are done better than most of the restaurants in Suriname, so maybe some of the 'existing' chefs need a refreshing course?

For dessert, we got 'Borgoe Flan'.

I gotta apologize, since while eating this we were so in discussion that I actually forgot to focus on what I eat. What I know was that it wasn't bad, but it didn't impress me either. Otherwise, I'd sure notice anything about it.

The wine for the evening was: 35 degrees South

I gotta admit that the wine tasted better than I thought.
The mouth feel is a bit coarse, but not too sweet and not too dry.
Easy to drink.









Some areas can use some improvement:
- Welcoming & seating the guests: It was a bit awkward walking in an area and not knowing what to do.
- Dim the lights to create an ambiance
- Music was nearly non-existent since everyone was so loudly talking. It might be handy to have speakers in all the corners of the dining room. And it'd be recommended to have more suitable music than guns 'n roses. Don't get me wrong, I like guns 'n roses, just not while dining.
- better wine glasses: I understand that it probably comes with the dining room, but drinking wine out of a port-glass just doesn't give the wine the right credit.
- Coffee. I don't mind to pay for it, but it'd go really nice with the flan.

What I do like about the evening:
- the introduction of the 'chefs'. It's always nice to know who's behind the masterpieces, but they should try to get more confident standing in front of a group.
- Kimberley Nurse. She showed that she's more than just a chef. She was the MC, the socializer and the problem-solver. However everyone tries to avoid it, but things will go wrong at events. The important thing is how to deal with it.

For the price of SRD 75,- per person, we were served more than we expected ( 4 courses, non-alcoholic beverages and wine). That's the price one might need to pay for only that piece of steak, so for the next event, make sure to BE THERE.

 * All pictures are with the compliments of The Victuals Blog*

Culinary tour: New York- BBQ block party

New York, also known as the Big Apple. However I've been here several times already, but it's always nice to be here again. The only difference compared to the first time was that I knew what to expect and I had the knowledge of the Metro system.

New York can be overwhelming to some, exciting to some and too cold for some. But for me, it is a city full of things to see, things to eat and things to do. The first several times, I've seen most of the sights already: Statue of Liberty (from all kinds of angles), Central Park and all those attractions. For me, this trip is a culinary one. (hmm...aren't most of mine?)

The first night we arrived, it was already past 11pm.  We stayed at a friend's house in Queens and however New York is known as the city that never sleeps, but according to my friend, most food places are already closed in the neighborhood except for one: White Castle.

It's my first time in White Castle and the experience was a bit funny. There was a lady, who apparently is spanish-speaking and she didn't really understand what I was saying. Since the menu was broad and it was my first time, I was not sure what my options were. So I was more like asking for her suggestion, but seems like she was really there to just take the order and that's it. However she did her best, but we couldn't really understand each other that clearly.

The burgers are really small and probably that's why the price was also affordable.

When I was still in Suriname, I already did some research. Of course, there are many sites to do that, but I kept coming back to this one: Nifty NYC. They have a listing of ongoing and upcoming events and even mark down the free and cheap stuff you can do.

So one of those things I looked up is the annual BBQ block party at Madison Square Park. Traffic around that area will be blocked or diverted for that weekend (it's a 2-day event). We were there one day before the event and people were already setting up their BBQ sets, some were already working on their briskets. The day of the event we went there around 12 - 1pm and it was sooo crowded. People in every corner in any of those queues. So the idea was to split the group and we'll meet up after we got what we stood in line for. And what I saw most people do is they queue up for one thing and when they got their item, they will eat while standing in line for the next one. There were several long lines, but one of them we were told is selling pie and if you see the queue up, you're convinced their pie must the best one there is. After the first queue up, we kinda had enough of the sun and the lots and lots of people. But it was a really nice event. There were bands playing and to prevent riots from breaking out, an area was demarcated for alcohol consumption. There were also many picnickers, who came prepared with their blankets and stuff. It kinda give me a feeling of the end-of-the-year celebration in Suriname. Everybody was having a good time: people talking and laughing, enjoying good food. Anyway, you'd of course like to know what I tried:

 Dinosaur BBQ

- BBQ brisket sandwich with pickled onion & jalapeno relish, served with BBQ beans-

The brisket is full of flavors, with a sweet tint and very soft. Actually come to think of it, the beans were also on the sweet side.


Baker's Ribs
- St. Louise Style Ribs -
The ribs were so juicy...and great flavor. Only thinking of it makes me drool.

And the fun of it all, you see the people working on the items while standing in line. You could see how the brisket comes out of the smoker, on the table, get cut slice by slice and then put on your bun. So while standing in line, you could already work up quite an appetite. But after the first run, it was a bit less interesting to stand under the heat of the sun for about 15 minutes to half an hour for just one item.



This is an annual event, so if you happen to be in New York beginning of June, look up the dates at their site.

Culinary tour: one day tour in Houston, Texas

 

However I planned about a week's stay in Houston, Texas, we had hardly any time to really enjoy what the place has to offer. For one, we were there for a wedding. And second, we were dependent on someone to bring us any where.

Although the weather is hot, every thing seems nice and quiet, all places are a bit far from each other. Time seems to pass by faster than anywhere else, since travelling from one place to another is about one hour.

And finally the day before our departure, we got a culinary tour from our friend Steven, who is now sous chef. One advantage of touring with a chef is that you're assured of great food. And to top it off, he likes to try new things too.

So, our first stop was: Blacksmith

It is a café downtown, where we went for a cup of coffee. The place is small, but the service was excellent. From the cashier to the counter, I was given a big smile and it kinda felt as if they care. Their niche is that they have their own coffee beans and you can have your coffee and pastries, but also buy packages of coffee beans to enjoy it at home.

It's always a delight to have a cup of hot cappuccino to start the day, but receiving one with hearts on it warms not only your body and wake up your mind, but also warms up your heart. If you drink yours without sugar, the artwork should remain until the last drop. But I need sugar in mine, so I had to stir my coffee.

The coffee itself tasted totally different from what I'm used to. I've tried instant Coffees, Senseo & Nespresso Coffee and this was nothing like any that I've tried. It has an aftertaste of malt sugar or maltose syrup, what most Chinese use for the moon cakes.

We got there around 8:30 and it was already quite busy with people all over chitchatting and busying on their laptops. A stereotypical scene you would imagine of a coffee house.

According to this site, it is the best coffee house in Houston, Texas.

After my cup coffee, it was time for some breakfast. Our next stop was: Fat Bao.

For their menu, please check it out here.

Fat Bao is small in size and it opens around 11 am. It is an Asian fusion restaurant. The Bao is known as Chinese, some of the items are Japanese and some are Korean; all brought to you in their designed creations.
 
Our chef ordered the Fat fries, Fat Cauli & 3 different types of Bao. And since he knows we like it spicy, he also got some habanero sauce for us. However it could be spicier, but it was nice to know that there was at least something with that kind of heat.
 
The Fat fries are like loaded fries, but with Asian ingredients like cilantro, onion and bulgogi ( we chose for bulgogi). The Fat Cauli is deep-fried cauliflower with a curry twist. And then there's the Bao's. They all have a very rich flavor flavor and was surely worth our visit. We gulped these down with Japanese beer. Mine was very light and had a lychee aftertaste. I know it was probably not even noon, but hey,... I'm on vacay and 'it's 5 o'clock somewhere'.


However we only took some appetizers and small snacks, we were kinda full, so our next stop was 'The flying saucer' - a bar downtown. Probably we were not the only ones who were thinking 'happy hour', 'cause the place was quite busy for noon/afternoon. The place is decorated with saucers on the wall and at the bar, you can see all the different kinds of tap beer you can choose from and the bottled beers you can also try.

For beer lovers, this is surely a place to be. But one annoying thing for such a place, is to choose the beer you'd like to drink. To accommodate the guests, you're allowed to get a sample of the beer you'd like to taste. We try the special of the day, but it's not really something for any of us. And since they also have beer flights, we chose those. Beer flights are beer samplers. You get 5 different beers with each a small text about the beer. Since we're in Texas, I chose the Texas flight, the guys chose the Belgian flight. I did not like mine though. Most were either too acidic or too bitter. The guys did enjoy their Belgian flight though.


After we told the other guys about this place, we went to another branch at night. I had enough of the flights and just chose for the well-known Belgian Duvel.

 

 

The beer was really easy to drink, was not too light, but not too bitter either. I now understand why it's the favorite beer for most people.

 

 

Like I said, time passes by so fast in Houston. Before we knew it, it was already nearly 5 o'clock. It was time for our next tasting place: Arandas Taqueria. Since we seemed to be on a beer tasting tour too, we also ordered the Michelada. It has such a distinct flavor. You receive a cooled, salt-rimmed glass with what I believe is freshly squeezed lime and tomato juice already in it and you have to pour down the Modelo (Mexican lager beer) in it. It tasted salty, sour and different, but unfortunately not my kind of beer. Maybe because of my high expectations for Mexican food, the experience was a bit less than expected . It lacked spiciness and the flavor fullness.

 

We had planned to go to Taste of Texas to end the Houston tour, but our plans were unpleasantly disturbed by an invitation (apologies for the inviter, but we really wanted to try some Texan steak). We went for some Chinese instead.

But to end this tour with something worth remembering for, I'd also like to mention that Texas is the place to be for Vietnamese food. I went for Vietnamese twice. Once, we had some authentic Vietnamese snacks. And before we went to the airport, we went to a shop that only sells the Vietnamese Pho. There are only 2 sizes: small and large. So, since we were not that hungry we thought, a small should be do-able. Well....the size of the soup was so huge. No wonder they say 'Everything's bigger in Texas!'.