food

Vancouver for the holidays

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Almost eight months later, I have a vivid, yet simple memory. My wife and I were in the Calgary airport on Christmas night enroute to Vancouver for a short vacation. We were happy to be getting away to a favourite city for a few days and to be able to exchange our Saskatoon parkas for lighter rain jackets as we escaped from a prairie winter. My memory now of that night, through a prism of a pandemic that has grounded my traveling in 2020, is just of the simple, unadulterated happiness I get from traveling. As we sat waiting for our flight on to Vancouver, sharing a snack to tide us over before a very late night McDonalds run after we landed, I remember feeling at peace. And I wonder when I’ll be able to enjoy sitting in an airport again.

More than just sitting in an airport, I’m looking forward to eating and drinking in public establishments around the world again. On Boxing Day morning, as soon as it opened, I wandered into La Taqueria Pinche Taco Shop, one of a number of “must visit” places every time I’m in Vancouver.

La Taqueria Pinche Taco Shop

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The happiest place on earth

/ Greg / 1 Comment

At some point in the spring of 2019 I watched an episode of the Netflix series “Street Food” centered on Osaka and the story of Toyo and his izakaya. I was transfixed by all of the food featured on that show, but the memory of Toyo’s tiny, open air bar stuck in my mind. I immediately wanted to visit it. Fast forward to June, and when I was planning my big trip for the year, the izakaya, Toyo himself, and the amazing food wouldn’t leave my mind. I ended up buying plane tickets to Japan and planned to fly home out of Osaka so I could visit Izakaya Toyo.

Sometimes the ideas of things surpass their reality. But not in this case. On my last day in Osaka, knowing how popular this little bar is, I walked past more than an hour before opening and gave Toyo a wave that he returned before returning to preparing his humble restaurant.

Izakaya Toyo

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The reason for the trip

/ Greg / 1 Comment

I had a decision to make – where to go on a two week solo trip in October? As I sat in an airport in June waiting for a delayed flight home, I started piecing together possible trips and scouting airfares. While I kept looking at a wide variety of locations – Chile, Ireland, Spain, Belgium – I kept coming back to Japan. Although those other locations strongly appealed to me, I ended up selecting Japan for two main reasons. First, it scared me a bit (in a good way). And secondly, and most importantly, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the food I could try. When I finally bought my airline ticket, this trip was already on its way to being a two-week long foodie adventure in the making.

Over the trip, I ate ridiculously well. Some I’ve written about already, like a higher-end sushi experience in Tokyo. For as much as I enjoy a fancy meal, I’m also a sucker for a more approachable feast, and on my first full day in Tokyo I made a beeline to a recommended conveyor belt sushi place. The idea of delicious sushi passing before me was perfect as I was jetlagged and starving, and over the course of an hour I put away a hefty amount of delicious sushi. It was a good start to my eating adventures.

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My Tokyo omakase experience

/ Greg / 2 Comments

While I was in the process of planning my trip to Japan, the most common question I received was along the lines of “Are you planning any big sushi meals?” My answer to that was always a resounding yes, and while I was in Japan, I did indeed enjoy quite a bit of sushi over my two weeks there. One thing I spent an inordinate amount of time researching for my trip was where to have one blowout omakase experience. I wanted something very high quality, but not super formal or regimented. I wanted something where I would feel welcomed as a foreigner, but where I’d be dining with mostly locals.

I hit the jackpot. Sushi Saisho in the Ginza neighbourhood of Tokyo ticked all those boxes. And it did, mostly because of the sushi master himself, Saisho.

Sushi Saisho

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A change of plans

/ Greg / 2 Comments

When my wife was unexpectedly able to join me on my trip to Chicago, it turned a baseball trip into a restaurant exploration trip pretty quickly. My original plans called for a lot of ballpark food and craft beer, but I was thrilled to spin those plans on a dime and make each evening about heading out on the town in search of deliciousness.

With the last minute nature of our new plans, we used points to get my wife into Chicago flying a different route and airline than was I. When we parted ways at the Saskatoon airport, she didn’t yet have a seat assignment, so we weren’t sure if we’d actually meet up in Chicago. In light of that, we kept our dinner plans simple – at Fisk & Co, a hotel bar in the loop, for some seafood and (surprise, surprise) craft beer for me. It ended up being a great choice. She did make it into Chicago, and our first order of business was crushing some oysters. Delicious!

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A mostly East Austin visit

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Luckily for me, this was my second visit to Austin. On my first a few years back, I had plenty of time to check out all that Austin has to offer. I had seen and experienced enough to know where I’d focus my very limited time on this past visit – food and craft beer. While I’ll need a third visit to Austin to make my first pilgrimage to Franklin Barbecue, I did manage to get to another of the city’s best reviewed barbecue joints. In East Austin, about a fifteen minute walk from where I was staying sat La Barbecue, a perfect amalgamation of restaurant, craft beer store and tap room. A real slice of heaven for someone like me.

La Barbecue

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The famous Porto sandwich (and more)

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I’ll remember Portugal for a lot of things. The coastal vibe of Nazaré. The beauty of Lisbon, especially as seen from atop one of its many hills. The old world charm of Coimbra. But most of all, I’ll remember Portugal for its food and drink. This trip ended up being one of the best in terms of eating that my wife and I have ever taken.

The three days we spent in Porto at the end of the trip capped off our eating adventures in a wonderful fashion. On night one, we saddled up to the bar at Cantinho do Avillez and let the bartender do his magic with cocktail creations through the evening. This was a very wise choice.

Cantinho do Avillez

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A day in Coimbra

/ Greg / 1 Comment

On our journey north through Portugal toward our final destination of Porto, we stopped for a lovely twenty four hour stay in Coimbra. The main draw was to wander around its medieval old town and to explore the University of Coimbra. I’m glad we decided to spend a night here rather than just making it a day trip spot as we ended up having our favourite meal of the trip (and that’s saying something).

Our luck with the weather in Portugal continued unabated for our day in Coimbra. It is a beautiful town from any angle, but especially so from the point of view of the Mondego River.

Coimbra

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Delicacies in Lisbon

/ Greg / 2 Comments

In thinking back on the close to one week we spent in Lisbon last fall, the first thing that comes to mind is the food. While we did not explicitly plan for Lisbon to be a dominant foodie experience, we had a host of amazing meals, dishes and drinks scattered around the city. One meal was so good, I even just wrote about it separately so I could attempt to do it justice.

So, here goes for a tour through our Lisbon eating experiences…

Night one, slightly jet legged and craving an early to bed evening, we arrived at Cantinho do Avillez at the almost ridiculous hour (for Portugal, or for anyone under the age of 73) of 4:30 for dinner. What a great start to our stay in Lisbon. Olives, a baked cheese dish and some local pork sausage got us off to an amazing start.

Cantinho do Avillez

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