2013 Follow Me Foodie Favourites & Yearblog
Follow Me Foodie Favourites, BEST of, Memories & Recap of 2013!
Happy New Year! Hope everyone enjoyed their time with family, friends, and of course great food. I know I certainly did.
It was actually the first time since starting Follow Me Foodie in July 2009 that I’ve managed to ease up on the blog and not stress out about not working through the holidays. I used to feel really guilty about it and there is still a lot of self-pressure, but I don’t want to lose the enjoyment of blogging and life outside of it. The benefits of working for yourself is working on your own time, but that also just means working all the time. The idea of the 4 hour work week is still quite foreign to me especially since I’ve really blurred the lines between work, passion and pleasure. A bit taboo for many, but I can’t imagine it any other way.
Wow. 2013 flew by and the last quarter of it was intense with traveling. This year Follow Me Foodie included Follow Me Foodie to Toronto, Follow Me Foodie to Lummi Island (twice), Follow Me Foodie to San Francisco (twice), Follow Me Foodie to Tofino, Follow Me Foodie to Seattle, Follow Me Foodie to Whistler, Follow Me Foodie to Calgary, Follow Me Foodie to the Yukon Territories, Follow Me Foodie to Hong Kong (Round 3), Follow Me Foodie to Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto), and Follow Me Foodie to Mexico (Mexico City and Oaxaca) (Mexico posts will launch soon). I never anticipated any of this happening, but am very grateful of the opportunities to explore food internationally. Just like I said in Follow Me Foodie Favourites, BEST of, Memories & Recap of 2012, the more I travel, the more I try, the more I read, the more I learn, and the more I know I’ll never know everything about food.
This “Follow Me Foodie” adventure is addicting and often delicious, however it’s gone beyond finding the so-called “best dish” in every city, it’s the learning experience and journey getting there I’ve enjoyed most. Of course, there are still those epic moments when I come across a dish I can’t forget, and those deserve to be highlighted, so that’s what I’m doing.
Welcome to my Follow Me Foodie Favourites & Best of 2013! This is a recap and yearbook/yearblog of the BEST Follow Me Foodie Food/Moments in 2013.
NOTE: It’s not necessarily “THE BEST“ (read my rant on “the best” here). Food is personal and I can only discover so much in a year. “The best” is relative to what I have tried, which is definitely not everything. These are just some worth mentioning. It’s more of a 2013 recap/summary and all experiences are from 2013 only. I’ll say “the best” just because I’m weak and want to align with every other “best of 2013″ list out there.
Top 50 Most Memorable/BEST Restaurant Dishes Internationally/Globally
Follow Me Foodie travels in 2013 was amazing and I’m grateful for every trip! As much as I love exploring food in my home city (Vancouver), you can’t learn it all in one place.
The relationship between food and culture is fascinating and it’s one of the most important things when understanding a dish. Trying food from other countries helps build the palate and I get the most education when I’m at the source. It is one of the biggest rewards and I always feel like a fish out of water every time I leave a place. There is always so much more to learn and discover and I would revisit every place I went to this year.
Here are my top 50 restaurant dishes during my Follow Me Foodie travels in 2013. Again, not necessarily “the best”, but very memorable.
PS: Being from Vancouver, BC, some of the following dishes are from other Canadian provinces and therefore not “international” or “global”, but they could be for you depending on where you’re reading from.
Listed in no particular order. Based on the menu item, not the restaurant.
Follow Me Foodie to Toronto
1. Buca Osteria & Enoteca – Bigoli – Hand-cranked duck egg pasta with duck leg, offal ragu
2. Buca Osteria & Enoteca – Sugared eggplant, chocolate and blood orange tart
3. Grand Electric – Pozole
4. Edulis – Glazed Sweetbreads, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Fried Almonds, Celeraic Purée
5. Canoe – Seared Foie Gras – Seaside Blueberries, Ontario Peanuts, Toasted Bulrush Brioche
6. Bosk – Warm Bread Pudding, butterscotch ice cream, bourbon and apricot gel, pecan streusel
Follow Me Foodie to Calgary
7. NOtaBLE – Crispy potato rolls, rotisserie pork, Jalapeño Jack cheese, Ranch dip, salsa verde
8. NOtaBLE – Ravioli of confit chicken, roast mushrooms & Boursin cheese
9. Basil Ultimate Pho – Pho Sate Bo with rare beef drizzled with beef tallow oil
10. Teatro – Tiramisu
Follow Me Foodie to Tofino
11. SoBo Restaurant – Broiled oyster, salmon bacon, miso mayo
12. SoBo Restaurant – Cibolo Shrimp, cayenne tequila sauce, blue cheese, blue claire sauce, lettuce
Follow Me Foodie to Whistler
Follow Me Foodie to the Yukon Territories
Follow Me Foodie to Lummi Island
13. The Willows Inn – Smoked Sockeye Salmon
14. The Willows Inn – Hearth Bread with Pan Drippings
15. The Willows Inn – Crispy Crepe with Salmon Roe
16. The Willows Inn – Chicken with smoked oyster, currants and lavender by Grant Achatz
Follow Me Foodie to Seattle
17. Sitka & Spruce – Roasted eggplant, tomato, pine nuts & toast with a poached egg
18. Sitka & Spruce – Marinated squash, basil, mustard greens & pumpkin seeds
19. Canlis – Ham & Eggs – Leek ash lonza, soft-poached quail egg, and fermented buttermilk
20. Canlis – Mille-Feuille – Milk chocolate, bananas, caramel, and peanut butter
21. Crumble & Flake – Pistachio Croissant
22. Paseo – Caribbean Roast Pork Sandwich
23. Spur Gastropub – Tagliatelle, duck egg, oyster mushroom, pine nut
24. La Taqueria (San Francisco) – Lengua Taco Dorados Style
Follow Me Foodie to San Francisco
25. benu – Lobster Coral Xiao Long Bao
26. Aziza – Almond-Honey Semifreddo, Rhubarb, Hibiscus
27. State Bird Provisions – Hamachi-avocado seaweed crostini
28. State Bird Provisions – Pork belly citrus salad
29. Pete’s Barbeque – BBQ Chicken
30. Rich Table – Marinated Octopus, Chimichurri, new potatoes
31. Crustacean – Garlic Noodles and Signature Roasted Crab
32. Mission Chinese Food – Thrice Cooked Bacon and Rice Cakes
Follow Me Foodie to Hong Kong
33. Summer Palace at Island Shangri-La – Peking Duck
34. Bo Innovation – SAGA-GYU BEEF – truffled tendon, chinese chive, daikon, aromatic bouillon
35. Bo Innovation – PETIT FOURS – 8 TREASURES
36. Catalunya – Foie and Black Truffle “Canelon” – Veal and chicken in a crepe with cheese sauce
Follow Me Foodie to Japan (Tokyo & Kyoto)
Follow Me Foodie to Tokyo
Follow Me Foodie to Kyoto
37. Catalunya – Jamón Ibérico Croquette
38. Kozue at Park Hyatt Hotel – Assorted Seasonal Delicacies – Bonito sushi, salted ayu fish innards, simmered chestnuts, grilled mountain trout, simmered tomato, minced chicken, walnuts sticky rice ball, mashed green soy beans, vegetables with bean curd, taro potato
39. Kozue at Park Hyatt Hotel – Sukiyaki – Hasama beef sirlpoin, matsutake mushrooms, leeks, wheat gluten, sweet soy sauce, soft boiled egg
40. Piacere at Shangri-La Tokyo – Leek and taleggio cheese risotto with Japanese uni
41. Rokurinsha – Tsukemen ramen
42. Ishibekoji Kamikura – Assorted seasonal delicacies: Uni and scallop, Shiitake mushroom soaked in fish innards, Cured chicken egg in miso and kombu, Japanese candied caramel chestnut, Fugu fish skin mixed with anko innards, Grilled Needle fish with Karasumi cured egg yolk, and Mizuna vegetable and mushroom salad with miso dressing
43. Sushi Kanesaka – 10 day aged Chu-Toro (from Oma) Nigiri
44. Sushi Kanesaka – Kanesaka Tamago (brined in shrimp stock and dashi)
Follow Me Foodie to Mexico (Mexico City & Oaxaca)
45. Restaurante Pujol – Sea bass ceviche blue corn taco, bean puree, habanero and oregano salsa & Hoja Santa herb
46. Restaurante Pujol – Mother Mole – cooked for 250 days with 26 ingredients including: chilies, cocoa, cinnamon, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, cumin, coriander, plantains etc. on tortilla
47. Nicos Restaurante – Consomé a los aromas del campo (Juliana Soup – Mexican vegetable broth)
48. Mezquite – Pancita/Menudi Red Chili Pepper and Beef Tripe Soup
49. Sud 777 – Black bean soup, dried blood sausage, calamari and chicharrón
50. Pitiona – Shrimp ceviche, corn nuts, pumpkin seeds, chili, shrimp & garlic oil, watermelon, Serrano gel
See my posts for:
Top 24 Most Memorable/BEST SAVOURY DISHES in Vancouver
Top 24 Most Memorable/BEST Desserts & Baked Goods in Vancouver
Coming soon!
“The Best of” Follow Me Foodie Adventures/Moments/Posts of 2013