Hazelnut Crusted Mazatlan Shrimp

Playa del Carmen, Mexico is a city that didn’t really even exist 15 years ago. It’s surrounded by jungle, now the city has been infiltrated by hundreds of hotels and even more restaurants, many of which serve stylish, contemporry food. Being that there was nothing here before and Cancun was never exactly a gastronomic hotspot, where do the chefs come from?
Gianpaolo Ferrera was born in the small Sicilian town of Ragusa. At 14 he began studying gastronomy in Palermo and soon set off around the region – Greece, France, and Switzerland. At 19 he began cooking in hotel restaurants in London, Melbourne, the Canary Islands, Madrid, and finally Cancun in 2004. Last month he opened Indigo Beach Club, a sleek beachside bar and restaurant and restaurant in the Balinese themed El Taj condo hotel project in the heart of Playa del Carmen.
Ferrara’s menu is follows his youth in Italy, his travels around the world, and his recent past in Mexico. Fresh beachside food like Passionfruit Ceviche, Thai style Tuna Sashimi, Crab Wantons, Lobster Tacos, and Red Tuna Tostados cooked pibil style (baked inside banana leaves). There are also heavier dishes like burgers and hand rolled tortellini, though the restaurant’s signature are the southern Italian style , thin crust pizzas from the their wood fired oven. They’re topped with things like shrimp and pesto.
Indigo Beach Club
Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya
Mexico
www.indigobeach.com.mx

RECIPE:
Gianpaolo Ferrera’s Hazelnut Crusted Mazatlan Shrimp (over mango and watercress salad with apple vinegar and pink pepper)
INGREDIENTS:
-8 Oz Mazatlan Red shrimp (any jumbo shrimp will work)
-2 Oz Hazelnuts, ground:
-4 Oz Tempura (1 egg, 1 cup spring water, 1 cup flour)
-1 Oz Watercress
-2 Oz Mango Ataulfo
-2 Tbs Apple Vinaigrette
-1 Tbs Balsamic vinegar
-Salt and pepper
-Vegetable Oil
PROCEDURE:
1.) Peel the shrimp carefully trying to keep intact the head and tail.
2.) Prepare a classic tempura with ice-cold spring water
3.) Season the shrimp with salt and pepper
4.) Dip in tempura and then “bread” with the grounded hazelnut.
5.) Put the shrimp freezer for at least 20 minutes
6.) Put shrimp direct from freezer into vegetable oil (2 inches deep) until the hazelnuts are golden brown
7.) Prepare a salad with watercress leaves pure and mango cubes of 1 cm, and season with apple vinegar.
8.) Place a single shrimp over salad, garnish with Balsamic vinegar and pink pepper.

Hong Kong's Evening Light Show

Paris may be known as the city of lights, but Hong Kong has got it beat when it comes to beams of illumination setting the harbour ablaze.  Known to be one of the most spectacular skylines in the world, Hong Kong boasts an impressive display of skyscrapers and it is none too humble to show them off every evening.
Having the world’s largest continuous light show every night at 8:00 Hong Kong’s skyline is ignited with lasers, neon lights, halogen lamps and every other sort of bulb that can illuminate the city.

We stayed in the Kowloon district, an area looking over Victoria Harbour at the vast skyscrapers of Hong Kong central.   At night, make your way down to the Hong Kong Cultural centre of Kowloon and set up your tripod by the clock tower.  Get there early as the crowds are fierce and photographers compete for the best vantage point.  It is here that you will see a fabulous display.
The light show itself is not an impressive piece of theatre, but to see the buildings light up in different colours and patterns is worth the pause in your evening events.
If you are staying in Hong Kong central on the North Side, make your way to the Star Ferry terminal and either go over to Kowloon or take a cruise for the night to watch the show from the centre of Victoria Harbour.   The show lasts for about a half an hour and it is completely free.

The Bank of China is the centerpiece of the show as it changes its diamond patterns of lights regularly flashing constantly to different colours, rhythms and shapes. I.M. Pei’s masterpiece is turned momentarily to a new age work of art.

Hong Kong is certainly more impressive at night, but it is worth a look around during the day as well.

We made our way up with the rest of the crowd to Victoria Peak.  The Peak Tram has been operating since the turn of the century and costs mere $36 HK Dollars for a return trip.  If you can handle the lines, it is worth going up to have a bird’s eye view of Hong Kong at 552 metres above the harbour.  You can even get your Christmas shopping in, as there is a massive mall and eateries at the top for a person to spend an entire day touring around.

There are hiking trails and biking trails too.  We saw the Hong Kong Adventure racing team working out on their mountain bikes and wished that we could take one for a spin ourselves.

Time was limited in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is expensive and we had to pack as much in as we could in the 3 short days that we were there.
As luck would have it, an outdoor festival was going on in Soho during our visit.  Soho used to be a run down old style apartment block, but in recent years it has had a facelift turning into a trendy eateries.  It boasts the world’s longest escalator. At 800 metres, it makes the hillside neighbourhood steps a non-issue for visitors and residents alike.
The escalators go up all day from 10:00 am to midnight, but are switched to the down positions for the morning rush hour.  It takes 20 minutes to ride it to the top, but you can hop on hop off at any time. As there are openings for every street.

Escalators in Soho cover 800 metres

The outdoor festival felt as if we were in New York City as opposed to the Far East.  Cirque du Soleil was performing, jugglers walked through the cobblestone streets, Opera Singers serenaded us as we ate our Cuban food and enjoyed a discounted glass of wine due to it being wine month in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong a World City

The weather was perfect at a balmy 28?C, the sun was shining through the smog and we could almost see completely blue skies.  Yes, I think that we could live in Hong Kong. Now if only we had jobs suited to the high lifestyle that so many people seem to live.  Hong Kong is one of the most vibrant cities we have ever visited.  It has a modern cosmopolitan feel, but if you look hard enough, you can find pockets of its rich history.

We ended our time in Hong Kong with a visit to the Man Mo Temple.  Known for its coils of incense hanging from the ceiling, it makes for an interesting photo opportunity – even though there are signs stating clearly “No Photos Allowed Inside.”  We joined the rest of the Chinese tourists that were happily snapping away.  At first we weren’t sure if we should take any photos, but when we saw everyone inside blatantly taking them right in front of the staff, we decided that it would be all right.

Man Mo temple is greatly significant in the community.  Under the management of the Tung Wa group, it subsidizes recurring expenses in the community.  Using the surplus from the Man Mo Temple and 12 other temples in the Hong Kong district, it offers a wide range of medical, educational and community services in 223 centres around the city of Hong Kong.
With funding from the Man Mo temple originally, Tung Wa started the first free school in Hong Kong in 1880 and has expanded to 52 schools today offering free education to underprivileged students.
I thought that we would simply be visiting yet another temple in our travels, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the great work that the Man Mo Temple has done.

We spent 3 delightful days in Hong Kong and could have easily stayed longer.  We even managed to buy a brand new tri pod for Dave at the highly recommended camera store Echo Photo and Audio LTD on Hankow Road in Kowloon.  They were excellent to work with and saved us over $50 Canadian had we bought it at home.
We managed to do it all during our short time in Hong Kong, we shopped, we ate we saw the sites.  We look forward to going back one day when we have the time and funds to truly appreciate everything that it has to offer.

La Cabrera (Buenos Aires)

While there is some debate over this, both in Buenos Aires and out, most critics point to two parillas, or steakhouses, for the best meat in the city. Cabaña Las Lilas in Puerto Madero is the flashier, more expensive, and harder to get into of the two restaurants, though I’m still going with La Cabrera, with two nearly side by side restaurants in Palermo Soho, as the best steakhouse in Buenos Aires.

It’s hard not to find good beef anywhere in Argentina. In Buenos Aires there are a dozen top steakhouses that would rank among the best anywhere in the world and hundreds of fine parillas in the city. When I arrive at 11pm for dinner there is a line out the door and several well-dressed couples are sipping champagne on the sidewalk. I put my name in and the hostess pours me a glass too. Before I finish she mentions that they have a table opening up at their other restaurant down the street, La Cabrera Norte.

“Where down the street?” I ask.

“Right over there,” she points.

It was literally a few buildings down and I could see others holding glasses of champagne in front. I walked over and after a few minutes they showed me in. What is it about Argentine beef that makes it so special. First of all, the beef is grass fed, not corn or grain fed. Hormones are rare too. It comes from vast prairies that cover much of the country and extend all the way until the ends of Patagonia. I have a theory that any sort of ingredient taste better when it is raised or grown in a beautiful place. The more natural and far away from the things of man the better. This would be a big plus for Argentine beef if my theory proves true.

It was just me dining that night, so I had to pass on the morcilla (blood sausage), mollejas (sweetbreads), provoleta de queso de cabra (grilled goat cheese), chorizo, or any of the other appetizers and instead just focus on the meat and the many accompanying sides. Though the Bife de Chorizo (Sirloin Strip steak) was tempting, I order the Ojo de Bife, or the rib eye, or the Longissimus dorsi muscle. I ordered it medium rare and it came full of fatty, buttery flavor. There was just a bit of char. I’ve had more expensive cuts, Wagyu, Kobe, you name it, but La Cabrera’s Ojo de Bife ranks right up there at the top. Every other cut of the cow (or pig or lamb or chicken) is offered too.

“To try the meat with different flavors,” my waiter said to me in English as I stared at the 13 different little sides he brought out. There was Butternut squash puree, mashed pumpkin with raisins, beet purée, sun dried tomatoes, white beans, caramelized onions, baked pearl onions in red wine, and several others. I could have just eaten the sides and have been full. After each bite of meat I would sample one of the sides and the combination produced something new and exciting. This was meat in a whole new light. New earthy, deep, and smoky flavors came out. Malbec only made it better.

With decent bottles of wine being so inexpensive in restaurants in Argentina, most don’t have a wide selection of wines by the glass. While La Cabrera’s selection isn’t extensive, they do offer three levels of wines (a reserve, middle, & standard). I started off with the reserve, the very drinkable; smoky, smooth Trapiche Malbec Fond de Cave 2008. Then finished with a Septima Malbec.

After my meal the waiter plopped a lollypop tree on my table. I would have walked away smiling without it.