The lunar, Chinese, new year is February 17 to March 3 this year. Here is a memory of eating Chinese hotpot last year.
The OG (original gangster — a name from the 1970s for the “original”) of hot pot is a place called Hai Di Lao.
We ordered too much.
The first Hai Di Lao restaurant was opened in Sichuan, China, in 1994. Now it is a global chain with over 1,000 locations. When in Flushing, New York, we had to go.
Selection of meats.
First, even if you think you can hack spicy, go lower. We got the spiciest and the pain for the next, sleepless, 12 hours was not worth it. Never again (I hope I remember this next time!).
More stuff, from lotus root, tofu skin, dumplings, etc.
Second, make a reservation. The location in Flushing is massive. We were at table 89. The place is fun for families and there are treats in the waiting room (fresh soy milk! wowza).
Multi level swinging shelves.
Third, remember that you can order more… don’t go all out first time round. Remember to order the hand pulled noodles so that you get some good video of the guy spinning around and flipping noodles at you like a lasso.
Chicken skin.
Fourth, enjoy the aprons. It helps with the mess (and drooling?).
My dipping sauce bowl.
As you may know, sichuan peppercorns and other chiles are addictive. So while I enjoyed the spicy hot pot, I could not sleep that night and the pain in my tummy was too much.
A final note on OG. I always thinks it stands for original goat.
Do you love the Southwest of the USA? But wish it was in South Africa? Then you are in luck! Here are some of the things to do in Clarens, South Africa. The Golden Gate National Park is right there, and this town is near Lesotho, so it makes for a good stopping point. The area has a frontier, southwest USA, feel to it. It’s about fours from Pretoria.
Golden Gate Park.
Cheese tasting at Baris: This farm cheese shop is so fun. Go for lunch and order a cheese tasting.
Cheese tasting platter at Baris.
Hiking: This is the real reason many people visit this area.
Gorgeous sunset in Golden Gate Park.
Gin tasting: At Clarens Brewery, they have a gin store, Junipers Craft Gin Bar, and they do tastings (plus they have some yummy food including their ‘chips’ or fries and they have Bunny Chow, a curry-in-a-loaf-of-bread specialty of South Africa.
View over my Bunny Chow.
Shopping: Lots of artwork, souvenirs, cards, clothes, and gin. I almost bought paintings by this local artist, Johan Smith. There are other cute shops including the Purple Onion. Make sure to check them all out. They are all next to each other. Everything from art, fudge, cards, shoes, clothes, and antiques.
Clarens has a Southwest wild west feel.
Entertainment: This town has live entertainment including a local guy who is famous in this local town.
Old timey feel at Purple Onion.
Eating: Surprisingly good restaurants for such a small town. The Italian one, Bocca di Lupo, run by a guy from Bologna, is divine. Excellent pizza and pasta.
Spicy spaghetti.
Sleeping: You can stay in a castle. I stayed at the Protea, a Marriott hotel because it was about four minutes downhill by food from the Clarens square with the shops and restaurants. Made for an easy commute after shopping or eating.
The shop at Highland Brew.
Outside of the town of Clarens, there are other things to do and see. Other than the cheese place, there is also a dinosaur center. If you want another cafe with views of the mountains and hiking areas, check out Highland Brew. It has food and drink, plus a shop selling jam and coffee.
How is it possible? I went to a Chinese restaurant with no rice on the menu. China is huge and the food is diverse. In many areas, rice is not the staple food.
The restaurant I went to is called North West Chinese Food. It’s located in College Park in Maryland. The restaurant serves only noodle dishes. Some of them were quite spicy. One of their specialties is knife cut noodles. See them in the first photo.
But, because of demand, the owner is opening another restaurant which will feature dishes with rice.
The vibe at Very Fresh Noodles is Hollywood Chinese.
We went on a quest. To find good Chinese food. We went out to Queens. We did not need to. We found it in Chelsea. We found really good freshly pulled noodles in Chelsea at Chelsea Market.
Chelsea Market is a whole city block at 7th 9th Avenue. It is a food hall, restaurant venue, market, shopping center, and television studio. All owned by Google. I just wish they would put more toilets around the place.
The line to order is about 15 minutes at this point.
The Very Fresh Noodle restaurant makes excellent food. EXCELLENT. Their Dan Dan noodles were spicy, numbing, complex, and classy. Their noodles with lamb in cumin sauce was also really good. We made the mistake of not thoroughly mixing the noodle dishes. The sauces are so complex and mostly at the bottom that one needs to mix it well to get the full aroma and array of the sauce.
The line to eat here is long but moves quickly. They have a few bar stools but otherwise, take the food outside or elsewhere. The thumping disco music, the red lights, and the neon signs all added to the clubby Oriental nightclub. The dishes are made in front of you and they call your number before the noodles go into the water. That way, you are ready when the noodles are ready.
Dan Dan Mien/noodles, cumin spiced lamb, and smashed cleaver cucumber salad. Make sure to toss well.
I would recommend Chelsea Market on a cold winter day. It is a magical world.
Tacos from a Honduran restaurant, Tacos Kings. Pork and beef (out of focus, but so well seasoned!).
It’s the new year and time for new fashions. The Italians are fashionable and this includes what type of food they eat. When not eating Italian food, they eat what is trendy.
A few years ago it was all about sushi. Last year, it was all about poke (but most of these places are not serving Hawaiian poke. They are serving stuff on a bowl of rice). My guess is that the next trend is the ever-loved-by-gringos: tex-mex. As I have mentioned before, wherever I go in the world, and no matter how yummy the food, someone will always ask me where they can find “Mexican food” and American Tex-Mex. I wrote about the top ten Mexican restaurants in Rome, back in 2020. Once I got to Rome, I asked my gringo friends and they told me which ones they recommended…
Tacos from Lu’um.
Pico’s,Vicolo della Renella 94, 00153 Rome Italy, in Trastevere has grown so much that they had to re-locate to a larger space further down the street. I like that this place has normal height tables. This restaurant was started by two Italian guys who had traveled to Mexico. Sometimes the cooks are American, Bangladeshi, Canadian, and Italian.
Jalapeno, Via Aurelia 483 (on the outside of the Inerio Market) is located on the outskirts of Rome so it’s not so easy to get there but the good thing is that there is a small shop next door where they sell Mexican food items.
La Cucaracha, Via Mocenigo 10, Prati: Is highly recommended.
Lu’um’s appetizer plate of nachos, meat, beans, etc.
Lu’um Mexican Bistrot, Via Agri 20 in Parioli. The owner lived in Mexico for a long time. He and his family decided to open a Mexican place in 2021. I found the tortillas to be overcooked but otherwise things seemed good. Once in a while there was a bite of spice.
Tacos Kings, Via degli Esqui 56: Is a new Honduran restaurant but you can still get really good nachos (addictively good) and guacamole. Really good prices too. Their tacos have only meat inside because the meat is fully marinated so does not need sauce, or lettuce, or anything… It was perhaps cheeky of me to lead off a photo of non-Mexican tacos, but of all the ones I have tried in researching for this article, theirs were the tastiest.
Nachos from Tacos Kings.
Pulgarcito, Piazza Attilio 41, Garbatella: This place is a bit far out but if you want a pupusa, then this is the only Salvadoran restaurant in Rome. They also make tacos but those were not as good as their “pasteles” which are deep fried corn pasties/empanadas.
Four pupusas.
Along with Lu’um, there appear to be a few new places to try:
La Punta Expendio de Agave, 4.4 stars.
Los Cabos APS Las Calaveras, 4.1 stars, Via di Monte. Testaccio, 91
Fiesta y Siesta, 4.2 stars, Via Nomentana 155
Guac smear is appearing everywhere, here at MiVa in Prati.
Along with the increase in “Mexican” restaurants, avocados are appearing on more and more menus. More Tex Mex products are available in stores as well. It will be nice when Italy grows avocados all along the peninsula and not just in Sicily.
Seen in a local grocery store.
I’m done with my research having had some fairly mediocre tacos along the way. But, I’ll be going back to Tacos Kings for another tamarind margarita and those corn tortillas.
I still think I’m allergic to the jungle. Here’s why. I went to the Amazon jungle in Peru and I was sick. The minute I was in the airport on my way out of the jungle, I got better. Heat allergy is called “heat urticaria” and I might have it. Actually, heat urticaria, is an allergy to heat above 109 F. This includes when the body reaches 109 degrees from steam rooms, hot showers, and spicy food! (And yes, there’s a condition where people are allergic to cold).
Chiles for sale in Bhutan.
Or it might have been that jungle vegetable salad I ate…
It took six months for her to smile. But, I find that sort of fascinating. The lady in the photo is not her but I liked her style.
Boxes of dried chiles.
When I moved to Bogota, I was told about the chile lady. It took me a long time to find her because Paloquemao market, while not immense, can be confusing because so many of the stalls look exactly alike. Now I know that she’s a right turn from Peter’s Chinese vegetable stall, located in the Chinese vegetable alley.
The Chile Lady was wearing a chile shirt last weekend.
There is also a “Mexican” stall but I usually get my chiles from the Chile Lady of Paloquemao.
