Tag Archives: #cooking

Mingalaba – back this time from Yangon

10 Aug

After seven years in Berlin, where the foodie scene is more than well covered by German and international food enthusiasts, I have just arrived in Yangon, Myanmar. It is a melting pot of different food influences  – and I can’t wait to explore as many as possible. As I’m currently still camping in our flat, awaiting furniture and most importantly cooking utensils to arrive, I have started to explore the very broad and growing local and international restaurant scene, which I hope to share with you in the coming years. So if any of you out there have recommendations for restaurants, bars, cooking classes, market tours or anything else related to the Myanmar culinary world, please contact me.

Burmese tea leaf salad – lahpet 

This national dish and delicacy is made by fermenting just-picked tea leaves for several months underground. The fermented tea leaves are then mixed with fried crispy garlic, chili, lime juice and vegetable oil and topped with dried shrimps, roasted peanuts and/or fried beans, toasted sesame seeds. Depending on the mixture of the topping the salad always tastes different but with the unique flavor of the fermented tea. Here it is eaten in restaurants, as snacks and even sold in snack packs in supermarkets ready to mix together at home – something I will definitely try as long as I have no cooking utensils.

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The best tea leaf salad so far I had at “The Pansodan”, 106 Pansodan Road in Yangon, a wonderful brasserie in an old heritage building, that not only serves traditional local cuisine but as well great cocktails with a local twist such as Mandalay Spritz with Pomelo, Aperol and Mint or Tamarind Margaritas – Chiyars or cheers!

Tea leaf salad at The PansodanIMG_6901

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Back in Berlin – a city in chocolate fever, the best Schnitzel ever and recipe for warm potato and cucumber salad

21 Jul

We are back in Berlin – and for good, at least for the next years and besides being busy getting settled again, we are exploring our city on foot, discovering and rediscovering culinary options, delights and other sights.

Yesterday clearly was marked by the love for cocoa beans and chocolate, first visiting the famous Fassbender and Rausch store at Gendarmen Markt, not only selling the best ever pralines and chocolates, but as well displaying the most famous Berlin landmarks rebuild in chocolate:

 

This visit was followed by an all time kids favorite just around the corner – the Rittersport museum and shop, where you can design your own chocolate featuring all kinds of ingredients such as nuts, chilies, spices, sweets and more. While you wait for your chocolate bar to be ready to collect, you can stroll through the museum and shop, choosing from a huge variety of flavors and shapes:

 

 

After so many sweet stuff, some savory fare was what we needed. So what better than to go for the best Schnitzel ever, at least for sure in Berlin, not to offend any Austrian readers! So we had dinner at another Berlin institution – Lutter & Wegner at Gendarmenmarkt:

 

The Schnitzel came accompanied by this delicious potato and cucumber salad, here is the recipe for 4-6 as a side dish for meat or as part of a bbq buffet:

  • 1kg of potatoes, peeled and sliced
  • 1 large cucumber, peeled and finely sliced
  • 3 tbs white wine vinegar
  • 3 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 tbs mustard
  • 2tbs dill
  • salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes until not too soft. Allow to cool slightly and mix with mixture of vinegar, oil and mustard. Season with slat and pepper, mix with the cucumber and dill and serve warm. For a twist you can serve it with fried bacon bits.

 

 

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