Weird Fish in the Mission District

A vegetarian friend in the Bay Area recommended that we go to Weird Fish in the Mission District for lunch for something typically Californian (think fresh, fresh, fresh) and on a budget. The menu pleases non-vegetarian and vegetarians alike with a variety of options, including vegan ones. Even better, Weird Fish takes on the principles of eating local and sustainable and even tries to farm most of its own produce.

Weird Fish has a cozy little space on Mission Street. It is a bit reminiscent of being on a bright ship without all that pirate cheesiness. The decorative details show an appreciation for local art and the music is pretty good. If you look closely at the artwork above the kitchen area, you can spot a little vented window where the office presumably is. Only when someone is up there moving around do you actually notice. Very sneaky.

The veggie tacos had sweet potato (for that day), mango salsa, slaw, and vegan crema. The bright colors jump out immediately evoking thoughts of the peak of freshness personified is about to be consumed. The sweet potato was prepared in a way that brought out the girth of its savory qualities. There was no skimping with ingredients to build the taco. However light it tasted, the veggie tacos were surprisingly filling for its size.

The Seitan N Chips plate had soy battered house seitan with housemade fries, vegan tartar, and slaw. Seitan, "wheat gluten," "gluten meat," or "wheat meat" is made from wheat starch or vial wheat gluten and washing away the starches leaving only an elastic mass that is insoluble high-protein gluten. It becomes similar to the look and texture of meat when cooked, serving as an alternative substitute to tofu. Different textures can be achieved and it can be flavored a variety of ways. Seitan was first developed in China and is popular among Southeast Asian countries. Those who require a glut-free diet be warned though gluten-free seitan is available. The pieces of fried seitan were just huge though the batter coating could allow one to easily mistake it for true fish. The seitan substitute for fish was mildly flavored, though slightly more chewy than anticipated. The texture was that of a solid piece of moist fish rather than being flaky or over-cooked and dry. The red cabbage slaw added some bite and contrast to the fried seitan. The chips were newly fried, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Veggie Tacos and Seitan N Chips
The weird fish that is not really fish at Weird Fish sets this restaurant apart. For every fish dish there is an alternative answer to it on the menu. Amazing. One can definitely appreciate this balance.

Weird Fish. 2193 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States. Tel: +1.415.863.4744. Closed Sundays. WeirdFishSF.com.

glo London Shanghai Giant Lemon Meringues

Whilst living in London, I was introduced to the giant meringues in plain, raspberry, and chocolate piled high at the bakery entrance on the ground floor of Whole Foods on Kensington High Street. The meringues were as large as a small, round bread loaf and hardly colored with a hard, crisp exterior and a soft, sticky interior. Some may consider the meringue flavorless sugar, but the egg whites carry its own subtle flavor should you take the time to look and appreciate it. The way the meringue would melt against the heat of the tongue was wondrous.

Apparently, there are three different types of meringues (and unfortunately I lack the baking knowledge to know which method was used to create the giang meringues): French meringue (hard) with its delicate texture is made by adding sugar in stages to beaten egg whites before being baked or poached, Italian meringue (soft) uses a hot sugar and water syrup at soft-ball stage to "cook" the egg whites while beating making it the most stable type of meringue; and Swiss meringue (hard), which has a firmer texture than French meringue, where the egg whites and sugar are beaten over a double-boiler. The hard meringues are baked at extremely low temperatures to draw out the moisture and not color the meringues. When the temperature is too warm, the sugars will crystalize and color the meringue or the outside of the meringue will set before the inside, creating that hard-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside effect.

Baker and Spice's Anfu Lu location started selling chocolate meringues sprinkled with raw, sliced almonds. It would have been nice with a little more variety of flavor, but you could get your giant meringue fix here.

A few months ago, glo London Bakery finally opened on the ground floor of the glo London complex on Wulumuqi Nan Lu. Their meringue selection looked more promising with a giant lemon variety and a chocolate one that was overpowered by thick ribbons of chocolate (the meringue should be tasted as well!). The lemon meringue is decorated with fine shavings of lemon and lime zests, which is also on the inside of the meringue when it is cracked open. There is a hole in the giant meringue when it is split in half. The meringues first had a crisp outside and soft inside with bits of lemon and lime zest adding a nice tartness to the sticky soft interior. Over time and many visits, the meringues have been cooked longer and are slightly browned at the bottom, perhaps to avoid the soft interior for a perfectly hard, giant meringue. Personally, I kind of miss the gooeyness found encased in hard meringue. The lemon meringue is not overpowered by citrus flavors and is light and enjoyable.


glo London. 1 Wulumuqi Lu (by Dongping lu) / 乌鲁木齐路1号 (近东平路), Shanghai 200031, China. Tel: +86 21 6466 6565. glolondon.com

Reberg Beer - Locally Brewed in Shanghai

If Harry Potter was really drinking butterbeer, the favored drink in the wizarding world of magic, he would be drinking Reberg light. One whiff of the Reberg light beer and the aroma of butter immediately warms your nose. Whoa, butterbeer come to life in the Muggle world. It also has notes of sweet bread (not the meaty kind), hazelnut, caramel, and a hint of butterscotch, though not at all too sweet or sugary. The beer is full in your mouth, but not too filling for your stomach. Reberg is a German-style beer brewed an hour outside the center of Shanghai, China, and comes in a light and dark variety. The beer is kept in a special metal cannister with seal as it has so much carbonation it would blow the top off a regular beer bottle. It does not have a long shelf-life as it is good for only seven days, but is best drank the first three days before it starts to sour a little. Therefore, Reberg would be difficult to find this beer at your local store since stocking it would be difficult. This is quite unfortunate, but it is available at Madison for 38RMB a bottle for both the light and dark variety (both pictured with the use of a friend's camera phone). Since it is brewed locally, it is considerably cheaper than imported craft beers, but not as cheap as Tsing-Tao or Suntory.

J.K. Rowling claimed in a Bon Appetit interview (2002) that she "imagined it to taste like a bit less-sickly butterscotch." Most recipes found online use cream soda, butterscotch, and butter, which seems really rich and too sugary or closer to sickenly sweet. The books also indicate that butterbeer has the power to get house-elves drunk or dependent on and can lower inhibitions of humans, just as the alcohol content in beer is able to.

Reberg. www.rebergbeer.com