An evening with the Gothenburg Culinary Team West of Sweden

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro at Trubaduren with the Gothenburg Culinary Team, 2010.

At dinner, presented by the Gothenburg Culinary Team at the restaurant Trubaduren, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

With the upcoming Culinary World Cup in November 2010, in Luxembourg in mind the Gothenburg Culinary Team invited friends and members of two culinary interest groups to a three course dinner event during this last weekend.

Mingle session, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro and Manager of the Gothenburg Culinary Team, Ronny Spetz.

Ronny Spetz, Team Manager, welcoming guests to the mingle session.

The atmosphere at the mingle session was as usual relaxed and friendly. The autumn air outside with its light drizzle coupled with a chilled white Champagne prior to dinner heightened our expectations of an upcoming display of culinary artistry.

Members of the Swedish Chefs Association, and members of the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, Trubaduren, Gothenburg.

Mingle session before dinner

It was during the mingle session prior to dinner that guests got to meet two managers of the Gothenburg Culinary Team, various board members of their own mother organization that is the Western Swedish Chefs Association (SKF), and members and friends of the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy (VGAK). The discussions bounced lightheartedly and passionately between topics about what’s current and coming in the culinary world, and not the least what was to be served for dinner that evening.
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Swedish west coast autumn plums and crab fishing

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Early autumn, we had the pleasure to see as our guests, a group of Singaporean students, who were out to explore our nook of the western Swedish archipelago. Some were to stay in Gothenburg within their exchange program, some were to leave for their stay in Italy.

The group met for lunch, after which we all went out in the garden to have our dessert straight from our trees and bushes. Autumn is the ideal harvest time for most fruits and berries in Sweden and pleasantly enough, we had plenty to offer of red currants and plums. The plums, being big, sweet and juicy, turned out to be something of a favourite!

Red currant picking, Swedish west coast.

Before taking a walk to the beach, some red currant picking in the garden and eaten straight from a branch without being packaged and wrapped in plastic first. A nice alternative to city-living.
Photo © Ryan Chung, J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Plum picking, Swedish west coast.

Plum picking and enjoying the harvest.

Matt with plums, Cheryl and Ryan in background.

Matt with a handful (or two) of plum picks.

plums

Plums.

Crab fishing, Swedish west coast.

Learning to crab fish.

Near our place is a neat and well protected bathing beach with a solid, rocky pier to break the waves. This beachside haven creates a shelter for small children and accompanying adults, who prefer warm and shallow to deep and cold water.

Along this pier is a favourite crab fish spot for both children and grown-ups alike. All it takes is a string and an opened clam in the end of the string, and most any crab will climb on board and refusing to let go, will follow the string up. Usually the “catch” is just toppled back into the sea at the end of the day since the crabs are considered too small for eating anyway. Somehow it appears as if there’s developed an established agreement on how to run this show. The crabs get to eat ready opened clams, and in return they agree on being lifted in and out of the water during the day by small children. All parties seem to be ok with this arrangement.
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A Swedish late summer BBQ

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singlepit

Swedish west coast late summer BBQ. Kebabs on the grill, cubes of marinated meat with cut up vegetables on skewers.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

For as long as I can remember, my life has been punctuated with barbeque events as something to look forward to and a weekend thing to do in Singapore. Needless to say, it’s one of those events that I so desperately miss when not in Singapore, especially the East Coast beachside barbeque where friends and family would toss on the grill, a variety of marinated meats and seafood.

In Singapore, barbeques are most often causal events with everyone in standard shorts and tees or alternatively, swimwear and wrapped around beach towels. Paper plates, plastic cups, and plastic forks and knives (if we even bothered using these and not eat with our fingers instead!) are the norm at these events. And of course, paper towels to clean up.

Then in most of my Singaporean experience, there’s always the general chaos of who’s mending the grill pits. In my family, it was more or less ‘to each their own’, so like the steamboat around the table, you look after whatever you’ve put on the grill yourself and there isn’t one grill master to see that things don’t burn. And things eventually always end up burnt, but we’ve all come to expect this and it would hardly be a heartwarming barbeque event without charred food. In fact, it was only when I arrived in Sweden that I realized that barbequed food is not synonymous with burnt food, but there were techniques to apply that would render succulently grilled meats served to the table.

Satay making, Sweden.

Amused in the midst of chit-chat, making Singaporean style satay sticks to go with the warmed and waiting peanut sauce.

The Swedish barbeque is casual by Swedish norms but compared to Singapore, it would come across as slightly more formal, with proper designated seating places for everyone, and the use of porcelain plates, with proper glasses and coffee mugs. Serving the grilled food with red or white wine is not uncommon and there’s generally less movement of people between the grill pits and the dining table. There’s indeed a grill master, and no chaos whatsoever.
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Windy!

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, highpoint, Swedish west coast.

Battling the wind!
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, high point, Swedish west coast hp1.

One of our favourite things to do, is to go out taking pictures when the weather turns really dramatic. There was no real storm today as there can sometimes be along the Swedish west coast, but it was certainly WINDY! Us picking the highest available viewpoint of course brought out some extra shows of temperament among the local pagan weather gods.
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The Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Macau

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Facade to St. Paul's ruins, Macau.

The facade of Ruínas de São Paulo or the Ruins of St. Paul’s, Macau’s historic landmark that attests their Portuguese heritage.
Photo © C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

In today’s modern Macau, it is difficult to find any trace that Macau had set out its life as a western outpost in Asia, as a matter of fact together with Malacca as one of the oldest. Macau is also one of the most visible reminders of the fact that it was actually the Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz who in 1488 discovered a sea route to China and that Great Britain, still so present in today’s Singapore, arrived centuries later in the Far East.

Today Macau has been given back to Chinese administration, however the remnants of Portuguese culture is deeply instilled in the food, culture and architecture of Macau. During my recent visit, one of my ‘most important places of interest’ was the Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral. To find my way there was a mixed experience.

The Ruins of St. Paul is constantly filled with people, so walking from Senate Square in the direction of the Macao Museum would be one of the most convenient means of getting there. Even when driving, we parked some 400m away and walked.

Parking meters, Macau.

Parking meters is the system in Macau when parking along the streets.

Scooters and motorcycles, common mode of transport, Macau.

Scooters, a common sight and mode of transport.

Narrow street, Macau.

All the better to navigate these older, narrow streets.

Parking meters are the system in Macau, if you’re driving and you’ll also notice a fair bit of scooters and small motorcycles on the roads, which are excellent vehicles to navigate the narrower streets of the region.

The Ruins of St. Paul is today what is left of a Portuguese Jesuit cathedral that was accidentally destroyed by fire in the early 1800s. Dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle, it was in the 1600s, a collegiate church that the Jesuits used to house those of their society who were on their way to Japan, via Macau. These ruins are one of the region’s most historic landmarks and enlisted as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Site in 2005.
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360 Café at Largo da Torre de Macau

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Torre Panorâmica, Macau Sky Tower from the highway, Macau.

Torre Panorâmica or Macau Sky Tower, one of the region’s landmarks with the world’s highest bungee jump point from its outer rim at 233 m. A thrill to all Evel Knievels out there, and certainly not for the faint hearted!
Photo © C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Driving along the highway, Macau’s Sky Tower looked akin to Seattle’s Space Needle, though at 338 meters, it stands considerably higher than Seattle’s landmark. Both structures halfway across the globe, have a revolving restaurant at the top and it was there, at 360 Café that we were headed to have lunch.

Torre Panorâmica, Macau Sky Tower, elevator to the 60th floor, 360 Café.

360 at 60.

Having never been to Macau or dined at such an altitude, I hardly knew what to expect. The enthusiastic discussions between well-meaning and highly adventurous relatives on bungee jumping after lunch made me think twice about having lunch at all, wondering which was worse, never having bungee jumped at all or contemplating bungee jumping after downing lunch.

My quiet reservations about eating at 360 Café lifted however, when on the 60th floor, I stepped out of the elevator and was greeted by the most delectable spread of cookies, cakes, jellies and fruits – the dessert table laid just where the elevator entrances were.

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Through the backstreets of Macau to Margaret’s Café e Nata

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The Grand Lisboa as seen from the fortress, Macau.

A view of Macau today with the towering Grand Lisboa as seen from Monte Forte.
Photo © C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

When in Macau, what hits you first are the ostentatious buildings, mostly casinos to attract all sorts of tourists. And some people frequent Macau with what I find in slight irony for masochistic reasons, the gamblers for a purpose and the non-gamblers for the sheer delight to revel in what they are not.

But Macau, rich in its history and currently known for its distinctive blend of Portuguese-Chinese culture ingrained into the administrative and education system of the region, is also known for its food.

Café e Nata, Macau for Portuguese egg tarts.

Highly reviewed and written about, though more difficult to locate for first timers in Macau.

In this post is a discovery of some of the most sumptuous Portuguese egg tarts in Macau, tucked away in a highly unlikely corner of the region in Gum Loi Building – Margaret’s Café e Nata.

I thought the café unlikely because of the manner in which I found it. Bundled in a car by relatives and driven to a nearby parking area that wasn’t exactly nearby after all, we walked through busy main streets, crossed several large junctions where the golden glint of the Grand Lisboa loomed large before us, not to be missed by anyone and as if out of nowhere, shuffled into a back alley that though sunny, looked the complete opposite of all that glittered in Macau.
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Ben and Larry’s in Singapore, thinking outside the ice-cream box

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro and Ben Chung, owner of Blic's homemade ice-cream parlour in Tampines, Singapore

With Ben Chung, part owner of Blic (Ben and Larry’s Ice-Cream) ice-cream parlour at Tampines, Singapore
Photo © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Tucked away in the cozy heartland of Tampines in Singapore, not too far from Tampines SAFRA, I was surprised to find an ice-cream parlour with a sleek orange and cream interior called Blic. Following my instincts in finding good ice-cream, I went in. The place served up authentic homemade ice-cream and sorbets without preservatives, artificial flavours or fillers – a pure food philosophy that was right after my heart!

Ben Chung of Blic (Ben and Larry’s Ice Cream) is the creative force behind Blic and has created more than 40 ice-cream flavours of which some 20 flavours are rotatingly available at the counter at any one time.

Sea Salt Malt, Kahlua Cookies Caramel and Tiramisu from Blic, Singapore.

That gorgeous melt! Seasalt Malt, Kahlua Cookies Caramel and Tiramisù.

Ben’s first original creation was Seasalt Malt, inspired by Japanese ice-cream parlours and a variation of a popular Japanese Seasalt Caramel he once tried.

Personally, I have to admit I’m not too adventurous when it comes to ice-cream flavours, preferring all my life to stick with dark chocolate, rum and raisin and coffee flavours. Then several years ago when sushi bars were becoming popular and established in Singapore, I tried Matcha or green tea ice-cream which I thought was radical! I’ve personally never tasted an ice-cream flavour that was sweet-salty as in this Seasalt Malt flavour, so this was a first! Another first was Kahlua Cookies and Caramel, where I’ve only ever tried the conservative Cookies and Cream flavour prior to my visit to Blic.
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Swedish westcoast archipelago

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Swedish westcoast 1

In a moss green maxi halter dress along the Swedish westcoast archipelago.
Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

I was greeted by a tepid tropical rainstorm when I landed, the weather being unusually warm and playful even as Swedish summers go. It felt surreal that I didn’t need to put on any cardigan on my way home.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Swedish westcoast 2

After the hectic weeks spent in Singapore at the heart of Asia, where everything seemed to move at double speed, being back in Sweden offered an instant breather. For one thing, you can sit and watch the sail boats go by without having a need to know where they’re off to or when they’ll return.
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Dim Sum that touches your heart, in Hong Kong

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Steamed eggyolk buns, dim sum or yam cha in Hong Kong.

Steamed egg yolk buns, New Star Restaurant, Hong Kong.
Photo © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

I’ve far too often heard that Hong Kong has the best dim sum, so I was naturally excited about being in Hong Kong if only for the food.

But when in Hong Kong, like its so many shopping establishments, you’re confronted with so many eateries and interesting food choices that finding the recommended dim sum spots doesn’t even occur to you. You’ll find yourself pulled by interesting sights and smells to various foods on display, not the least amusing is watching people enjoy their meals standing at street corners, oblivious to heavy traffic not two feet from them. People stand and eat with the current rain on their shoulders, playfully dampening their fresh clothes and all of this plus the noise of the traffic and the rush of footsteps from others, makes you as a visitor want to get in on the act too – go completely local and tuck into some interesting food, standing in mud puddles and all.

Steamed meat dumplings, dim sum, Hong Kong.

Steamed meat dumplings.

Charsiew pau, dim sum, Hong Kong.

Char siew bao.

After the first rush of excitement and confusion with authentic Hong Kong cuisine, I set about to find the Guide Michelin star dim sum restaurant, Tim Ho Wan (添好運點心專門店) which means “Add Good Luck” at Tsui Yuen Mansion, Kwong Wa St, Mong Kok. The place is notoriously tiny in seating capacity and has been described as literally, a hole-in-wall place to eat. Well, suffice to say, without much planning this time around for Hong Kong and worse, without a map, I didn’t manage to find that place but ended up at New Star Seafood Restaurant along Stewart Road that, to my serendipitous discovery, had some truly awesome dim sum!
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