Storytime
Raw and Rare: A Steak Tartare Expedition Across Continents
My earliest memories of tartare come from Venezuela, where my parents would take me to this restaurants where a waiter at the table served up this finely seasoned, slightly spicy raw meat mix. If there’s tartare on the menu, I’ll have it. It just makes sense to me. I don’t like the grotesque, ketchup-rich, soccer […]
The Mystery of Gong Fu Tea
My first time in Asia, and I found myself entering a traditional Chinese tea house, “The Chapter” in Singapore. The place felt like it came straight out of a Chinese fairy tale. Stairs led to a corridor with private chambers, each with individual tables for savoring fermented leaf broths and, why not, a bit of […]
Vietnamese Flavors from Berlin to Paris
I’ve never been to Vietnam, and I don’t know any famous Vietnamese chefs, except for Nguyen Thi Thanh, the lunch lady. In Venezuela, I grew up around Chinese and Japanese people to some extent, but I don’t recall connecting with people or restaurants from other Asian countries in the ’90s and early 2000s. My only […]
Boston’s Decadence
My friends from New York often tell me that I have a liking for Boston because it has a “European feel.” I’m not quite sure how to take that. Boston’s old colonial-style brick buildings, take you back to scenes of HBO’s ‘John Adams’ when it was the USA’s capital and the Boston Massacre occurred. But […]
Dewakan Dinner: Last Waltz in Kuala Lumpur
Finally, the big night at Dewakan. We arrived at the restaurant with our luggage; we would head straight to the airport afterward. Darren Teoh, a Malaysian-born chef with a rich Chinese-Indian family background, leads the restaurant. Darren has placed Dewakan on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019, a first for a Malaysian restaurant. After […]
Monday Lunch at Ibai
It was a regular Monday morning at the office, back in 2018 when Diego Prado came up to my desk and asked, “Do you have cash, like, a lot of cash?” Diego Prado is the most generous person I know when it comes to spending large amounts of money at a restaurant. He’s a risky […]
An Amazonian Private Chef’s Chronicle: Pt. 2 – Dancing with Death
Growing up in Caracas makes you tough, street-smart, and quick. Even more so now than when I was coming up. They say that the need for resources is the mother of invention. Training in Venezuelan restaurant kitchens is like getting a master’s degree in these qualities. My first job was at a French restaurant, and […]
An Amazonian Private Chef’s Chronicle:
My last trip to Venezuela, my home country, was in 2013. At that time, I had the chance to visit Autana-tepuy in the Amazonas state. We embarked on a boat journey where the guide and his two assistants took charge of cooking for the entire group. It was the first time I contemplated what seemed […]