Evil Hard Rock Cafe Dubai

When I was just about a couple of months in Dubai, I once visited the Hard Rock Cafe Dubai, along Sheik Zayed road, not far away from the Dubai Marina. It's an obvious landmark and - so I experienced - not easy to reach through that labyrinth of highways curling around it. I passed it several times from close by but not able to reach it. A bit later I found out you can only reach it one way off the highway in direction Jebel Ali. Once inside I heard why.

An early image, no highway nearby...

The Hard Rock cafe was among the first buildings around Marina and in the early days one had to drive for nearly an hour to reach it from downtown Burj Dubai. The Hard Rock cafe was nearly in the middle of the dessert since about 1998. Pre-historic times for Dubai...

Now the first plot of the mystical Dubai Thriller is in the making, we need symbolic if not dramatic landmarks for the story, and what would do it better than this now deserted iconic building which hundreds of thousands residents have seen and visited in the last decade. Its true, the Hard Rock cafe closed just a few weeks after my visit. I ordered a Hard Rock burger and a cola, yep, alcohol was banned since the adjacent Palm Hotel had been closed down. 'That's how we lost our license', a depressed waiter told me.

Save the planet? Better read the thriller once written!

Our thriller will contain quite some supernatural features which will hassle our heroes, and it might be very possible that a part of the evil powers will hide away within the deserted Hard Rock Cafe, with its Globe on the top of the tower, symbolizing world domination. Interesting facts by the way are the words 'Amnesia' on the side of the building. And what to say about this site stating that the Atlantis club was once right beside the Hard Rock cafe. That's how it goes more often, that things are coming way beyond coincidence... I better hurry up writing before someone else taps this story out of the current zeitgeist...

Parsley is my fave herb of the moment!

since my mother bought a bunch of parsley the other day, i have been playing around its fresh, distinct taste to create some recipes of my own version. Yesterday, I sauteed jackfruit seeds then plated it with some scrambled eggs. And today, with some inspiration from what we  -tet and I-  ate back in april in boracay @ ARIA restaurant, I made my own version of prosciutto…

here's what we had @ ARIA:

and here's what I made. 

I am not blowing my own horn, but I could say this might actually topple the ARIA version, I used the freshest of mangos and the earthiest potatoes, although I didn't use parma ham, our local version isn't bad at all. Then i drizzled it with herbed and melted butter, spiced with just the right amount of bite courtesy of some chopped red chilies….et voila!… mango prosciutto ala jay served with herbed potatoes and over filling with tender-loving care…too bad Tet is not here to try it, but it's always nice to eat with your love ones, hence, I made three beautiful plates of my dish to share with my dear daddy and my loving mommy…

cheers everyone!!! And always enjoy a good meal with your love ones.

-eat well,live well and be merry!

Preview on a Dubai thriller

Already a couple of weeks we - Tet Paxon - are active on this blog in writing about food, entertainment, traveling and all you can consume. Although its too early (and too complex) to explain the full concept of Romantica Incognita, a part of the truth is that this site is being created as a warming up for writing a novel, more precise, a thriller.

This idea is already dating back as early as half December 2009, and since then not a lot has been done to materialize the book. In fact, nothing has been done besides a couple of meetings, one in Dubai and one in Philippines, to explore the plot and a handful of pages with notes. That now has to change, and today I stood suddenly once again face to face with the object that triggered the thriller initiative late last year...

This morning I was downstairs at The Walk, to buy a newspaper and a coffee, when my attention was grabbed again by this awesome and thrilling car which can be spotted sometimes at the streets of Dubai. It was not just excitement, but also a deeper mysterious thought about who is inside the car. This intrigued me from the first moment, as the windows are tanned darker than any other car in town. You are simply not able to see through it.

The other fact is that it is not a regular limousine, but a weird one, as the model is a Hummer, very odd, would this car be able to drive off road? What kind of special features would be inside it? Was it just one person, a whole family or... was it something else that was hidden in this extraordinary vehicle?

And so a story was growing around the Hummer limo, and later the limo became part of a wider plot, which is taking place in modern day Dubai. Now we can't say a lot yet, as the story is about to be written in the remaining part of the year, but on this blog the early birds who can find it, will be able to learn more about the coming book and find some of the backgrounds of the story.

Now, to make it all a bit more interesting, we will hand-out to the the first five person who put a supportive comment on this blog - or any blog regarding the novel -  a signed copy of this thriller which title is not yet known. The release date is scheduled somewhere in the year 2011.

The next five signed copies, with a personal message, will be sent to those who will be the most active contributor at this blog (and our facebook and twitter account) to help this project moving forward. Yes, we will be definitely more productive when support is kicking in!

Finally, there will be another 15 signed copies to be sent to our supporters for reasons yet unknown, and to be announced during the coming year, but the fact remains, 25/25 signed copies will be handed out ultimately.

With the publication in a few minutes of this first blog regarding the 'yet-to-be-written-thriller' we are happy to have started the project publicly, and besides a natural motivator, we hope that the public pressure following on the blogs comments (!) will push us at the keyboard as a daily routine.

With regards,

Tet Paxon

CHi the spa

after spending hours running around SM cebu searching for an xd card- as most shops sell only sd- and picking-up our laundry, we got back in our hotel dead tired. So we- tet and I- decided that we needed/deserved some pampering. So we decided to book an appointment to the in-house spa of Shangri La...CHi.







The whole place is “tranquility” translated into architecture. It’s a village composed of small garden suites with individual changing rooms and massage rooms. We opted for a traditional Philippine “hilot” package. It’s an hour and a half full body pampering. And boy-oh-boy, it was truly a bliss!!!... After the “hilot” we were both smelling good enough to eat because of the coconut oil used, and since we can’t eat each other in CHi, we just decided to eat @ CHi as they also have an in-house chef that serves “tranquil foods”.








We both ordered the set menus, Tet’s was “elements of fire”, while I ordered for “elements of water”. We were first served with vegetable crudités with some garlic/lemon dip...(i’m not a big veggie fun, but the veggies are just so fresh, they’re very sweet that I actually liked them..)








then we were served with our main dishes: Tet’s dish was thin tuna slices on a bed of veggies, and mine was spiced sea bass on a bed of pineapple salad...my dish was a perfect marriage of the spiciness of the sea bass and the freshness of the pineapple-every bite the pineapple just bursted in my mouth, it’s the gastronomical equivalent of a cool breeze in a summer afternoon...the sea bass was so fresh it was as if the sea was put on a plate.













To clench our thirst we had a concoction of watermelon and kiwi shake..it’s summer in a glass...totally refreshing!!!!and a perfect ending in a totally relaxing and rejuvenating CHi experience ...


and so we decided to walk back to our room...so I could finally have my coconut flavored dessert....(*naughty wink, slurp!)...


cheers!!!

-eat well; live well and be merry!!!

Over serving in Tecom

This afternoon I had a brief lunch and decided not to walk to The Greens, where I usually go, but the other way into Tecom, the new office quarter which is halfway to be completed. Its an area with quite a few hotels and plenty of towers for residents and offices. Sometimes you ask yourself, will it all be filled in Dubai? Will this all be used? It looks like, cause any finished building seem to be occupied in no time.



Right around the corner where I work is a hotel - sorry, forgot the name - finished and there is an 'all day open restaurant' so good to have a brief visit for a simple lunch. It is not a fancy 5 star hotel, more a sober business hotel for the average visitor. The restaurant looked quite plain and even before I entered the doors I heard the well known Dubai phrase 'Hello sir, welcome' from an Asian lady.

There were only two other tables occupied where servers where posting and it was directly clear to me, that this lady would not let me unserved during my stay. That is what happens in hotels which are just opened, those irritating over motivated waiters who just hit the ground in Dubai and totally excited by their new job. This enthusiasm will be tempered over the months, and I decided to speed up the process a little but...

I wanted to sit - the chair was shifted under my bottom, I did not want to read anything and a newspaper was handed over. I read the menu, and the lady was reading with me over my shoulder. I ordered a drink, and questions were fired 'with or without ice, lemon? Water as well, still, sparkling, room temperature?' I ordered a caesar salad as well and she was running. In no time I had the salad, which was excellent by the way, and when the lady sensed that, I got every three minutes a question.

'Is the salad nice? Anything I can do for you? You want another drink? Are you sure you don't want the menu?' And in between these questions she was marching around the table and when the first glass was finished it disappeared in a flash and same happened when I still had the fork with the last piece of chicken in my hand, the empty plate was gone, and a menu on the same place. So I did put the fork and chicken on the menu... panic.

I decided at last not to break the high motivation, she better enjoys the time she still likes it, so I left the restaurant over served with a wink and a smile when the door was opened and from beneath a deep bow I heard, Thank you sir see you next time bye bye!'

A small story about the sisha

After more than two years in Egypt, I have learned to appreciate the sisha. Even since I stopped smoking cigarettes - now more than a year ago - I still do smoke a couple of sishas a week. Now, at the THCE THCE outlet just down stairs where I live, is a great place to do so. It also comes along with the lovely evenings here in Dubai, though its slowly getting too hot to sit outside...

To give you an of idea what I am talking about, a very brief history lesson:

In India in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542 - 1605 CE) Following the European introduction of tobacco to India, Hakim Abul Fateh Gilani a descendant of Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani came from Baghdad to India who was later a physician in the court of Mughal raised concerns after smoking tobacco became popular among Indian noblemen, and subsequently envisaged a system which allowed smoke to be passed through water. in order to be 'purified'. Gilani introduced the Hookah after Asad Beg, then ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar to take up smoking. Following popularity among noblemen, this new device from Arabia for smoking soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry. The Indian Hookah was designed differently from the Arabian Hookah or Shisha which was invented during the Abbasid Empire in Baghdad. They were different in shape and design.

I realize that smoking a sisha is not a very healthy activity, and though I stopped smoking, it seems that a couple of sisha is equal to 200 hundred cigarettes!

"The World Health Organisation has quashed the sisha myth, suggesting that smoking a sisha is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes. It also said that more research is needed into the link between the use of the waterpipe and several fatal illnesses.
An advisory note from the WHO says that smoking a sisha may expose the smoker to more smoke over a longer period of time than occurs when smoking cigarettes.Because smoking a hookah may take up to 80 minutes, the report suggests that the smoker is subjecting himself to as much smoke as somebody dragging on 100 cigarettes."

So what can I say about it? Basically everything is dangerous if you check your hobby+health in google. In fact life itself is dangerous, because from living, ultimately, you die. And so I really don't mind that much about all those researchers and scientists who make a living from telling us what to do and what not to do. How would the world look like if we all would follow their advises. I still like my sisha and so be it!

Onion soup

I like soup. And of all soups, I like onion soup the most. I am traveling the world for quite a while now and when dining out I have a this strange power forcing me to order onion soup as a starter when its on the menu. I even had moments I just had a deep sigh when I read 'French Onion Soup' at the menu, as I know that how long I even might stare and read, or even dictate myself all kind of nice starters, if the waiter finally ask me my order, I forget about all and just say... onion soup.

And so it happened last week exactly the same, when I had a lunch downstairs at The Walk; the boulevard where I live. I have the luxury to walk outside and encounter tens of restaurants within less then a 3 minute walk. The newest and also one of the closest is called Duo. No clue why Duo is called Duo restaurant. It serves all kind of food, from pizza till burrito and from kebab to hamburger. I am always a bit cautious whit these kind of restaurants which have an endless list of dishes as quality usually goes down equally. Just by time I wanted to skip this menu completely, I read the mysterious words 'French Onion Soup'. And I had no other choice to obey and sit down...

The onion soup arrived the table too quick. It was in the same time I need to put and heat something in a microwave. And I am truly convinced that microwaves should be forbidden in restaurant kitchens... The onion soup was coming in a country round bread, and was topped with a fistful of chopped Swiss cheese. I don't like that. I have a clear opinion on onion soup. And onion soup should have a piece of toasted bread on it. Now I had a onion soup within a piece of bread. And the Swiss cheese was just thrown into it.

This causes an ergonomically problem. The cheese was in an advanced state of melting and so each spoon of soup I wanted to get out of the bread, delivered me an embarrassing amount and length of cheese strings, which would not break, not even if I moved the spoon to shoulder height! If you move back its not possible to get the strings in the bread anymore, so I was only making the whole mess more messier. To make thing worse, the onion soup was not bright, because the cook had put too much weird ingredients into it. Look, the art of onion soup is to make it all at great taste with water, onions, salt and pepper. The only fancy part is the toasted bread and okay, play a bit around with the cheese.

Let me keep it short. Halfway my starter I had the idea I was eating brown fluid with elastic jelly out of a ancient - once trendy - Gucci bag. I could not finish it anymore. It was definitely the worst onion soup ever, maybe just in lead of that bucket of garbage what I ate in Rotterdam one day, when a used plaster appeared from beneath the bread... DUO restaurant will not be visited for a SECOND time.

Filipinos crave for fine-dining

Last sunday, it was Mother’s day, so when my sister and my brother in-law went home yesterday to cast her vote-yes, it’s election day yesterday in the third world...-she brought along a box of MANGO CASHEW roll from red ribbon...yum...

it’s a sponge cake drowned with ice-cream-like icing, topped with mango spots and cashews, i’m in love ( i know, it doesn't look very nice in this photo, but it's totally yummy)....




so by 3pm yesterday, my sister went to her designated precinct, i joined just to observe things.Along the way to the precinct, there were food kiosks scattered selling all sorts of foods, foods that my dear friend Tet loves (..haha..). There were isaw ( grilled chicken intestines), balut (duck embryo), peanuts, coolers and a mish-mash of street food treats. I was tempted by the emanating smell coming from the fish ball vendor so I stopped by and took a few balls, i drowned it with spicy sauce and it was sublime...my tongue is burning from the hotness of the fish balls (straight from boiling oil) and the spiciness of the sauce, and I was enjoying every second it was teasing my taste buds. ( although the sight was not to behold, as there were torn posters and flyers everywhere, rubbish from the ongoing elections, from the same rubbish people which names and pictures appear on the posters and flyers...)





So my sister had casted her vote, she did her share for electing the next leader of our country, as for me... nothing, as I did not vote for two reasons. First, I had to do extra paper works just to get my name back on the voter’s list again, i’m too lazy to do that. And second and actually the main reason, I don't give a damn! (to the candidates and not to my country)...I know you would tell me that I did not vote, hence I have no rights to complain. But my hopes are soaring, and I strongly believe that there is still a chance for my dear motherland. So whoever gets to be seated on the big presidential chair, I just hope he does not leave a bad taste on every Filipinos mouth. Because for the past decades, Filipinos have been suffering from a totally corrupt government, its like eating a rotten dish everyday of our lives. And its high-time that Filipinos experience of eating a bad dish everyday would be replaced with a fine-dining experience. Filipinos are tired of having a political diarrhea everyday. Filipinos want to have well-prepared, high-quality meal...now!!!!.....

so....foie gras, anyone???...

P.S.

as of 4 pm Philippine time, already 3 presidential candidates conceded defeat. This guy is taking the lead.



hey buddy, remember the drink that you had in Cafe Havana, the "yellow ribbon"???.... Well, at least you had your share in the elections Tet, even if it was only through an alcoholic drink...cheers!!!


-eat well, live well and be merry!!!!

Old clothes

We are in Manila, in a quarter called Malate, and don’t ask me where that exactly is, cause after two days in this mega city it could have been anywhere. I can’t really get a picture of how to define this metropole.

We go dining out and it’s only a stone throw from our hotel pensionne Malate to the nearest restaurant Cafe Havanna, a Cuban bar-restaurant. It turns out to be a historic night as it is here where we come at the idea to start this blog with main topic food, beverages, entertainment and everything you can consume in a lifetime.

The menu is a mystery to me as I don’t speak Spanish, but luckily Jay is a bit better skilled in this language. The hot starters are called Tapas Calientes, and with my travelers experience I recognize Gambas Fritos as fried shrimps. When it’s in front of me I find out that the shrimps are crispy fried on a bed of green chillies and yes, hot they are. I love it!

Jay is more adventurous and let himself serve Almejias al Ajillo, fresh clams still in the shells baked in garlic butter, which he slurps out of the shells. Although we just decided to share our culinary experiences with the rest of the world, we forgot to take pictures of the dishes, probably because we are temporarily in food heaven. Both starters are wonderful. It’s unexpected, and the best ones we have eaten so far this trip through the Philippines.

While we flush away the last clams and gambas with the national San Miguel beer, the mains are being served. Let me tell something here about the ambience. We are sitting in a Cuban restaurant, red colors dominate and Caribean music arrives through the archways and fills the establishment. At the wall many pictures of Cuba, the unavoidable old timers and a drawing of a man looking like Louis Prima, which says nothing to Jay. Actually also not much to me, I remember his face from an old elpee record decades ago. Jay thinks the man looks more like Salvador Dali, based on the thin lined mustache and I guess he might be closer to the truth...

We are sitting at the window with a view on a busy street. Two bimbo’s are drawing our attention at not more then a couple of meters away from us. They move their tongues in a sensual way over their lips, with their heads slightly turned over the shoulders. “They are tranvestites”, says Jay convinced, while turning the green Fettucine with salmon around his fork. “Excellent” he says. I guess he mentions his dish. I have my doubts about the girls, they look too real to me.

I have ordered old clothes, Ropa Vieja in Spanish, a traditional dish consisting out of shredded beef stew in tomato, onions and spices. It’s absolutely great and goes along very well with Moros y Christianos, a Cuban style rice with black beans and fried platanos, which I can identify as green pees. I nearly eat my fingers along with it. Both mains are of great taste and well balanced in spices and vegetables.

The girls have left the scene due to a lack of attention, but suddenly a street kid looks at table height through the window at our food. It feels a bit embarrassing. Maybe he looks every evening to what people eat here. Food he can only dream of. He is not asking for money or anything else, but for a minute he only stares at the plates and how we consume it. That minute takes longer then any minute before.

“Still some space for a dessert?” I ask. Jay is negative. “We can share one”, he suggests, and so it will be. I decide to go for the Banana Republic, cause that's where I am (Cuba!). I like the name more than the description, which reads 'a crusty pastry with Cuban style platanos and vanilla ice'. Better that we have shared it, as it is a pizza size dessert though tasteful without the usual overdose of sugar. Now we can taste the banana flakes on warm pastry, where a couple of vanila ice coups are slowly melting away.

We conclude that this three course meal has a high standard. We have not agreed on a scoring system, but this wonderful satisfying meal will be the measure of all other stuff we eat, together or separated. I would say that all dishes were higher than an eight out of ten. And I am pretty sure that this will not be easy met, especially when realizing that this was not high dining, though rather a simple restaurant. At least we had the feeling of high dining. The line on the back site of the menu gives the best explanation:

Cafe Havana in Manila: Cuban style of cooking is simple in concept but complex in flavor.

Epilogue:

We pay the bill and are heading for the hotel, but suddenly a tropical rain shower hits the streets of Manila. People hide away nervously. “Stop”, says Jay, “It’s the first rain of the year, it is acid rain!” There is no other way than going back in Cafe Havana and hit the bar. I take the last one of six different cocktails, the Yellow Ribbon. The bartender marks a dot at the poster at the bar. It’s the most popular cocktail; all the six cocktails represent a presidents candidate for the upcoming elections in the Philippines. It’s based on pineapple, rum and vodka. It’s good to know that I was able to have my vote in this fantastic 7000+ island archipelago. And Cuba is now favorite for visiting and one day we will to explore its culinary wonders as well. Cheers!