Host, Liverpool

Happy New Year, readers and we at 'Aroundtheworldin80dinners' Global Headquarters, Beijing, wish you all a prosperous 2010- even in these difficult times. To gauge to extent of the downturn, we sent our Manchester agents (Robert Hamilton and Angie Atmadjaja) to Liverpool. Our understanding is that it is an area largely devoid of employment, with only football, the Beatles and the infectious Scouse humour to keep the wolves from the door.
Our agents reported that, although Robert remains immune to the humour, they found both culinary excellence and pockets of culture free from 'fab four'references. At the Bluecoat Gallery they viewed the sound installations of Janek Schaefer, then lunched at a new fusion eatery, Host.

A tasty Indonesian chicken and shrimp rice was preceded by seared tuna and duck gyozas, and on a cold clear day, warmed up with glasses of tea. The interior was clean and modern, the service was as bright and breezy as the day.

Angie commented that some of the fusions didn't quite fuse though we agreed that it flavorsome and filling. We took our leave of the port more cultured and fuller than when we arrived. Certainly better off than than the City fans who arrived as we left.

Ning

Seasons Greetings, dear readers! As you've no doubt guessed that the feastive season is upon us once again- as if the drunken idiots wearing Santa hats and the anxious ridden faces of shoppers carrying Primark bags didn't alert you (tho the shoppers could be anytime of the year). As ever, the catering industry has moved into cheap but overpriced turkey meals for even drunker office workers mode and we at 'Aroundtheworldin80dinners' Global headquarters, Beijing (Manchester Branch) almost give up on finding a meal without a festive flavour. One such recent exception was a visit to the highly recommended Ning, in the Northern Quarter.

Ning serves great Malaysian and Thai food such as this tasty Mensummun curry, cooled only by a few ice cold Singha beers.

I went with the Chinese Film Forum, UK (Felicia, Ying, Xiaochen and me) and invited guests ( Shivani, Lucia, Dong and Steve) to celebrate our first Christmas as a group- watch out for forthcoming events!! It was a great evening and thanks to Felicia for organising it. It also marked the first of what I hope to be many CFFUK celebrations (hey, it worked for French Connection) and the first of many festive parties to follow...Merry Christmas to one and all.

Zouk

It's been a busy month for us at 'Aroundtheworldin80dinners' Global Headquarters, Beijing (Manchester Branch). We offer a Gold Standard Cultural Ambassador Service to other institutions. As part of the 'Visible Secrets:Hong Kong Women Filmmakers Festival'at the Cornerhouse, I was engaged to provide both my culinary and filmic knowledge to the visiting dignitaries. This meant many galas and premieres as well as the many celebratory dinners that attend such functions. Although, I suspect my actual duties didn't go beyond that of court jester.

One magnificent function was held at 'Zouk', a relatively new Asian restaurant and grill, serving tasty treats such as the succulent Tandoori chops


Jessey and Teresa

The occasion was to honour our esteemed guests from Hong Kong, Ivy Ho, Teresa Kwong and Jessey Shan. Both Ivy and Jessey gave us the pleasure of hosting the western premieres of their new films, "Claustrophobia"(Ivy Ho,2009) and "Lovers on the Road" (Jessey Tsang Tsiu Shan,2009) and both were excellent. Teresa showcased the marvelous 'Hong Kong Short Film Festival' that she runs and which I hope to attend one day.
The festival is now over and our guests have returned home, hopefully with many good memories and many new friendships. To them I say 'Ng Gui', you were 'Jan!!'.I ,too, returned home to find a strange fire breathing dragon in my kitchen- then I remembered, it was a cooker.

Eat Goody

Dear readers, as you will no doubt gather if you venture out to Oxford road, that the academic year has started. The congestion has only been added to by those pesky Tories, who have been heard loudly complaining about the lack of decent restaurants in our great, non-tory city. Not followers of 'Aroundtheworldin80dinners' then. They scurry back to whatever God forsaken holes they crawled out of today, hopefully never to darken our doorsteps again.
I have to say that around the University, they are nearly right. There is little in the way of good eats ('haochi' as they say in China). So I was happily surprised when I happened upon 'Eat Goody' on my very doorstep. Not a cannibalistic tribute to the late, sainted Jade, but a Korean fusion cafe. Though given the peccadilloes of Kim Il Jung, I'm always a little nervous when I see the words 'Korean' and 'fusion' in the same sentence.

As it turned out 'Eat Goody' is an excellent eatery, serving Korean goodies not normally found in Manchester. Such as the tasty chicken chili stew you see above, also beef bulgugi, bibimbaps, dupbaps and kimchi juns to a discerning University clientele seeking sanctuary from the usual pizza and kebab joints the infest the area.

I went with my colleague and 'hanyu laoshi', Qi (Chinese teacher), who appeared to enjoy her chicken ramen with gusto. We both agreed it was indeed 'haochi, hen haochi!'.

Azad Manzil

Despite a strict code of conduct here at 'ATWIED' Global Headquarters, Beijing, our worldwide network of highly paid operatives (application form on request) are only human and as such, have been known to commit the odd sin. Unlike our overpaid, underworked and corrupt MPs, 'ATWIED' agents have their expences examined to the point of torture but ,as mentioned in the last post, we are guilty of minor sins like omission and now another, the sin of return! While some of our more religious readers might be choking on their communion wine, we are aware that 'return' isn't even an eleventh comandment. However, during a minute audit and review of policies and procedures after customer complaints about 'ATWIED's failure to deliver a reliable and regular service, we found that this systemic failure was down to one factor. Put simply, our operatives (you know who you are- Robert Hamilton) have been returning, time and time again, to restaurants already crossed off our global list of eateries.To managment's horror, it was even found that they returned to restaurants not on the list or to countries already 'red-dotted'. Such as Manzil's of Chorlton. During an interrogation (tough enough to make the CIA blush) our Manchester agent confessed to going back to Manzil's having discovered their Wednesday night 'Bangladeshi Tapas' menu (6-9pm). After several hours under the spotlight, he broke down in pain and tears admitting the the short tapas menu of reasonably priced Chicken Desi or Bangdladesi Fish Aloo too good to resist.

We at 'ATWIED' Global Headquarters, Beijing, shall endeavour to ensure that this disreputable practice ceases to continue, despite the excellence of the food and staff of unscrupulous restaurants like Manzil. It will be added to our list of proscribed establishments such as Red Chilli, Tai Wu, Al Jazera, Turkish Deilght, Samsi, Aladdin, Great Kathmandu.....

Yadgar Cafe

Of the seven deadly sins, the sin of omission is not there. I mention this as I was planting my red dot on Syria to mark my 50th meal (see previous post) there was no such dot on Pakistan. Given the ubuquity of the food from the sub-continent in Manchester, such an omission is a sin indeed. To make up for this grievous oversight, we at 'Aroundtheworldin80dinners Global Enterprises (Beijing) PLC' will bring you 2 reports from Pakistan with no expence spared. The first is from the Yadgar Cafe, a rememant from the ragtrade in the increasingly trendy Northern Quarter. I have been going to the Yadgar for more years than I care to remember for the authentic taste of Asia, as the Curry mile catered for Anglo-Indian (usually drunk) palates.

I always have the Aloo Gobi, as genuine a dish you'll find this side of Lahore and a firm favourite with us at 'ATWIED'(Beijing) PLC. My next visit is to an upmarket joint in the 'Mile' that too claims Pakistani authenticity. To be continued.....

50th Meal Celebration Commemorative Edition

Welcome, valued readers, to the '50th Meal Celebration Commemorative Edition'. It's been two years since the founding of 'Aroundtheworldin80dinners Global Enterprises (Beijing) PLC' and we have reached a milestone, our fiftieth meal. To mark such a momentous occasion, I took the entire staff to 'Moonlight' in Rusholme for a celebratory ice cream. Mmmmm!

While not as romantic as Lindy's on Route 66, we had a wonderful time and look forward to continuing our exploration of the culinary landscape of Manchester and beyond until we reach the magic '80'. We also continue to lose pounds (£) and gain a few (lbs).