1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,840 Hi everyone, welcome to Potluck Food Talks. Today we're going to talk about food travel. 2 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:17,280 What's your approach on food travel? How do you plan a trip? For example, you get a ticket today 3 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:26,320 and you have to go for a week to Korea. What do you do? How do you plan that whole thing? 4 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:33,360 That's a good question. I actually do put a fair amount of research into it, right? So I don't just 5 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:39,440 go and hope for the best, which I also think is totally fine, right? But what I enjoy the most 6 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:47,440 when I go somewhere is I want to get out of the tourist areas straight away. One of my biggest 7 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:54,720 focuses when I am visiting somewhere is obviously the food, right? I want to go where the locals eat 8 00:00:54,720 --> 00:01:04,000 and I want to kind of dissolve into the environment and basically be unnoticeable, right? Like I am 9 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:10,240 part of the scenery. I just want to be one of the locals, right? As much as that's possible, right? 10 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,800 That's like not always possible. Obviously, especially when you're in Korea. When I'm in 11 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:21,920 Brussels, it's a little bit easier. I love this statement of Anthony Bourdain where he says, 12 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:29,840 don't be a tourist, be a traveler. I guess that implies respect for the local culture and not 13 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:36,000 behaving like a dick or behaving like you own the place. I recently saw this video of 14 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:45,200 so embarrassing, of a woman chasing a geisha in Kyoto to make a picture of her. Standing in front 15 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:52,400 of her with a camera and harassing her to make a picture as if it was a fucking safari, you know? 16 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:57,840 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that those kind of tourists should be deported immediately, you know? 17 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:03,280 Like go back to your fucking country, you know? Shot on sight. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. 18 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:11,040 Executed. We put out a flyer and it's a manhunt, you know? You see this person, it's free for all. 19 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:18,160 The purge is real. But I totally agree with you. This is very strange. I guess it's like 20 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:25,440 inherited racism in a way where people have a disassociation of the human aspect of people 21 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:30,400 when they're going to other countries. It's maybe a lack of education as a like education and sort 22 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,520 of like a multicultural education, you know? If you're like stuck in your community and then 23 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:41,280 suddenly you go out and it's a very like, especially when there's like a very obvious, you know, 24 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:47,920 difference in appearance and culture, right? That people don't really value that as much as they 25 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:53,520 would when facing something familiar. That's how I always kind of felt about that. When I see that, 26 00:02:53,520 --> 00:03:00,400 you see it often, especially Americans when going to Europe, you know? Yeah. It often feels like 27 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:06,640 they come and they're like, they're incredibly loud. They own the place. They're incredibly loud. 28 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:12,320 They talk like they feel like nobody can understand them anyway, right? Where we're sort of like, 29 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:16,640 everybody here speaks fucking English, you know, because we have a function, excuses. 30 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:22,480 It's like the stereotype that I've seen proven riots many, many times. Also with the British, 31 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:27,040 I grew up on the Canary Islands, right? The British would come to the Canary Islands 32 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:36,160 and be disastrous. My image of British people as a child was horrendous, right? Because I would only 33 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:46,080 see the like thick neck, overweight, kind of like St. George flag tattoo on their arm, like 10 o'clock 34 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:51,600 in the morning already had three pints and just kind of like walk up to the logos, look, hey, 35 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:57,520 where's the club, you know, and get into fights all the fucking time. Like they were horrible, 36 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,640 you know, just like urinating on the street, being super rude to everybody because they know 37 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,800 that it doesn't fucking matter. It doesn't matter how much they embarrass themselves. It doesn't 38 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,760 matter how rude they are. In a couple of days, they're going to be gone forever and nobody's 39 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:20,960 going to see them again. And it's very problematic. Going back to the travel topic, like I, same as 40 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,600 you, like for example, I'm planning a trip now to Japan. And for me, that's a like a very special 41 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:32,640 trip because I'm traveling just to eat, to learn, to generate content. So I'm actually planning this 42 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:40,400 truly. I first made like a checklist of traditional Japanese things that I love and that I've 43 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:46,640 taste and many of them cooked myself for my whole life. This is my first time to go going to Japan. 44 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:53,360 So it's the first time I'm going to try the original thing, the real thing after having tried 45 00:04:53,360 --> 00:05:00,080 copies all my life, which is an interesting process in itself. I experienced that in Israel 46 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:06,800 when I tried like a hummus in a Lebanese restaurant and it was like, okay, I was getting the wrong 47 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,600 copy all my life. And suddenly this is the real thing and this has nothing to do with the hummus 48 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:18,080 you find in the West or in supermarkets or the ones you do at home with the chickpeas that you 49 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,720 find in the West. It's like a different thing starting with the chickpeas that are different. 50 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:28,720 And I guess like I will get many of those. So even though I've been to really Japanese restaurants 51 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:35,120 with Japanese chefs, I guess I had like a grasp of the real thing, but not the real thing. And for 52 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:42,400 me that's very, very exciting. So I've also been planning like a lot of places to go. Also, by the 53 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:49,120 way, I'll be recording and traveling with a co-traveler, Bernie from Canada, and I'll be 54 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:55,600 recording episodes on the way, like on the places we go, what we eat, what we try, what we think 55 00:05:55,600 --> 00:06:01,360 about and these kinds of things. So there's episodes on that coming because Japan is like a 56 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:09,600 very different country from any other, I guess. Also like maybe is the number one foodie destination 57 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:18,400 in the world. Maybe. One of them for sure. And for that reason I didn't know, but my friend Barry, 58 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,960 who lives there, he told me in advance, so we start making the bookings and he told me just like six 59 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:29,040 months in advance. And I leave everything for the last minute as I always do. So I was planning my 60 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:34,320 bookings like one and a half months in advance. Many of the places it's impossible. Everything was 61 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:40,960 booked until February. Like six months is a good time frame to do your bookings in many places, 62 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:49,040 especially the very good ones. I never saw so crazy booking policies and cancellation policies 63 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:54,480 as I've seen in Japan. I actually, I did a mistake and I booked for a place that I booked wrongly. 64 00:06:54,480 --> 00:07:00,640 I have to pay full price and I won't be able to visit it. If I cancel it, I have to pay anyway. 65 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:07,520 If I cancel one month in advance, I have to pay anyway. If I do a change like an allergy change 66 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:13,680 of whatever, I have to pay double price. And I think, yeah, for me, that's like too much. 67 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:22,320 For me, that's things that are non-rationally strict. For me, it's like way too much. Not being 68 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:29,280 able to cancel and get my money back 45 days in advance. For me, that's a little bit too crazy. 69 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,640 Yeah, it's very strict. I mean, Japan can be a very strict country in certain regards. 70 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:41,120 Don't wear any perfume, blah, blah, blah, etc. No alterations to the menu. A lot of the mission 71 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:46,560 stuff places will say like, not even mission stuff, but just general, like focused places. There will 72 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:54,560 be sort of like, if you have like preferences for your diet and allergies, etc., we recommend you 73 00:07:54,560 --> 00:08:00,880 to go somewhere else because we don't make any alterations to our food. Yeah, I saw that in 74 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:09,120 Cezanne, man, because I tried to book that Cezanne. True Michelin star place. Three now. Yeah, like 75 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:16,960 you told me to go there and a lot of people have told me that Japan is a very interesting place 76 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:26,240 to try Italian and French food, which is not my interest at all. I mean, not in my first trip, 77 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:32,400 I want to go like just 100% pure Japanese from Japan. I'm going to Mas, which is a Peruvian 78 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:38,640 restaurant, well, modern Peruvian. Maybe Peruvian is not the, I mean, it's Peruvian, but I would say 79 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:46,960 it's more like land and place kind of focus, like they focus on the territory. I know the chef, 80 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:51,760 I'll interview him. There's an episode on that coming as well, and I'll have a dinner there. 81 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:56,960 I had like a super nice experience in Central. This is a restaurant associated to Central in 82 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:03,280 Santiago, who is the chef. He is the first and only Venezuelan to have two Michelin stars and me 83 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:09,520 being from Venezuela. It's an interesting topic to interview him. That's the only booking I made 84 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:14,720 that is non-Japanese. Everything else is because there's so much and there are so many sub genres 85 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:22,240 of Japanese food. You have like tempuras, you have yakitori, kaiseki, shojin, oden, sushi, of course, 86 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:28,560 wagyu, you know, like so many different things that I want to catch them all, like with caimans, 87 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:37,760 you know. I would say though that you have to, at least there's some things that you have to do 88 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:44,400 because it is sort of like on the outside, it's not pure Japanese, but it is actually pure Japanese. 89 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,880 Like for example, you have to go eat a pizza. You have to go to a place like Studio Tawaki and eat 90 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:56,560 like a marinara pizza. You just have to, you know. For me, it's like going to like a good sushi place. 91 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:03,200 I'm actually also planning a trip to Japan in like next year, like middle of next year, 92 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:08,720 which is also the first time for me going back in 10 years. And I'm super excited for you, by the way, 93 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,680 because for me, my trip to Japan was really life-changing. So I'm really excited to hear 94 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:20,080 what you say. I was talking to the person I'm kind of planning to go with and I'm sort of like, 95 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:24,960 we're doing exactly what you're saying. So like, okay, what are the must-dos, right? And it's kind 96 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,960 of like not ending because you start, you're like, okay, well, we have to have sushi. It's no question. 97 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,600 We have to have good sushi. It's fucking no ending. It's incredible. We have to have yakitori and then 98 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,120 you go on, okay, well, you have to have ramen. You have to have soba. You have to have, well, 99 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:42,080 it would be nice to go to a udon place, but then you have to go to a yakiniku place, really, 100 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:48,560 because you have to do yakiniku. It's not ending. And then any of these, you have 150 options that 101 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:58,560 are all incredibly great. Exactly. All top of the top. I don't know. I can't believe that there are 102 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:03,920 yakitori places for 200 years, the omakase menu. And I'm like, really? 103 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:10,800 But this is something that was life-changing for me because I was very young when I went and 104 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:18,160 just like you, I already knew a lot about Japanese food, which is really cool to go to Japan. 105 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:23,760 And already have this like knowledge that you can apply. You know, you know what things are, 106 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:29,360 you know, and you know why tempura is great, for example, why tempura isn't just the frito misto, 107 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,680 right? But like for me, for example, I had this exact thing. I went to a yakitori place 108 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:39,120 and like my, and I was looking forward to it and I was excited, but my mind was fucking blown. 109 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:46,400 It was so good. And it really made me not just like question ingredients and blah. It just made 110 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:52,000 me question like the momentum of food and the preparation itself with it being grilled to the 111 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,880 certain point it gets placed in front of you. You take it, you eat it straight away. It's a 112 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:03,280 completely different impact, completely different. And then before I left, right? A few days before I 113 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:09,520 left my head chef at the time, he asked me, so like, what's your favorite tempura place? And I 114 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:15,360 was like, I didn't really get the time in my time here to go eat tempura. And he was like, 115 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:20,960 that's super unacceptable. Like, because I was like, well, you know, I was more focused on going 116 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:26,240 to like, high-seki places and sushi places and yakitori places. And I ate a lot of ramen and all 117 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:32,320 that some street food stuff. And he was like, no, you cannot leave Japan without having eaten real 118 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:37,520 tempura. Because for me, tempura, like it's very nice, but it wasn't like exciting, right? 119 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:45,600 And he took me to a tempura place. It has one Michelin star, it's called Mikawa. It has two 120 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:51,760 places in Tokyo. And it again, it completely blew my fucking mind. It was insane. Like I did not 121 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:57,360 know that tempura could be like that. The execution, the produce, the point of cooking, well, fried. 122 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:03,680 Just crazy. And you can talk about it, but this perfection and simplicity, you have to experience 123 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:12,240 it. That's so exciting, man. Well, what I do when I travel, I mean, Japan is a very specific and 124 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:20,720 special destination, but usually what I always do is that I go to different guides, different sources, 125 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:26,480 especially the best source is always the recommendations from people, locals or people 126 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:34,080 that have traveled there that know how to eat. And then when I have like this list of places, 127 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:40,000 I pin them on Google maps. So I have already my Google map with all these dots where I know. 128 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:45,760 So because there will be times that we are in the middle of whatever and you need to find a 129 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:51,040 place just at hand that it's near is to have lunch, you know, because it's not that you're 130 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:56,240 going to have bookings for the three meals of the day for the whole trip. You also have to have some 131 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:01,840 flexibility, right? And then at some point you're just looking on Google maps and it's good to have 132 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:07,360 already like your places. Okay, look, there is something near here that I already look for 133 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:17,120 because I think something that is really like sad and a waste of everything is having a bad meal 134 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:22,800 in a trip. If you're in a nice food destination. And it's so easy to happen. It's so easy to happen. 135 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:31,920 Yeah, exactly. That happened to me when I was in Bolzano and in South Tyrol, this Austrian, 136 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:37,600 Germanic, Italian. I mean, this place, I think it was listed in the Michelin guide or something. 137 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:45,200 And I wondered for me, it was like, meh, you know, like, not exciting. And not bad, not bad. But 138 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,960 not like, you know, when you're looking for this regional cuisine, something that you can't find 139 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:56,800 anywhere else and it's super different and exciting and tasty. And I didn't find any of that because 140 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:03,440 I didn't have a recommendation from a local. So then there's something that I started doing 141 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:09,840 recently because also for the main reason is because I became a food tour guide, but I'm 142 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:16,320 starting to take food tours when I travel. Because it's also like, I won't do that because I was with 143 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:23,760 the mentality of, ah, I'll just find the places and go. But now, first of all, also to learn from 144 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:29,360 others, it's always good if you have like an activity or a profession to see how others do it. 145 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:38,800 But also I find the value in it. Like, for example, if someone goes to San Sebastian, 146 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:45,200 I'll save them a lot of time, you know, like you can eat all the places and then decide which are 147 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:51,200 the best ones. I'll take you directly to the best ones, you know, you can book on potluckfoodtours.com 148 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:58,320 Do it. If you're coming to San Sebastian, just book a tour with me. It totally makes sense, 149 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:03,040 you know, like, and I would consider doing the same thing if like, if I would go to Japan, 150 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,640 you know, and I had somebody, I would call myself like, okay, this person knows what they're talking 151 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:12,400 about. It saves you a lot of time, probably money also. Well, I mean, you spent the money on the 152 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:18,640 tour, right? But like so much effort and you know, you can have the ease of mind that you know, 153 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:23,120 because you can have really shit food in San Sebastian also, right? Like you can go to the 154 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:31,120 Par de Vieja and have things that are, well, not shit, but like, underwhelming. If you go to the 155 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:36,720 wrong place, you get the wrong stuff. And you're like, well, this is, I mean, fine. But well, 156 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:44,320 what I always say, I really believe so, is that in San Sebastian, everything will be at least good. 157 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,680 Like it's very hard that you find something that is bad. I've had things that work, 158 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:56,000 that work a little bit. I mean, for me, like, especially in Par de... I mean, yes, there are, 159 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,480 but I mean, you have to do something really wrong, you know, like if you're going to like a very 160 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:06,480 suspicious, for example, I went to a new Mexican place that opened and I was like, that was... 161 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:12,160 It was not okay. First of all, Mexican place in Old Town. Second, it recently opened, like two 162 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:18,400 red flags, you know, like it was, I was hungry, man. What can I say? Talking about Mexicans, 163 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:26,080 and I wanted to bring this out. Like, dude, like that thing we had from in Copenhagen was shit. 164 00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:33,360 Oh yeah. Those tacos we had, man. Yeah, really disappointing. Yeah. We were at this market. This 165 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:40,480 was one of the Sanchez places and the guy, we were filming, like the cooking and the guy worked. 166 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:45,280 There's no filming allowed and I have my image rights and I don't want to appear on camera, 167 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:50,800 something like that. And we're like, okay, take it easy. Then we had like three tacos for 60 euros. 168 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:56,320 And I mean, okay, yeah, it's Copenhagen and those are the prices there. But I find it to be 169 00:17:56,320 --> 00:18:03,120 unacceptable that this place is opened by such a respected chef and that I have in a super simple 170 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:09,200 taco place in the Gia and San Sebastian, which is like a non-pretentious place at all, thinks way 171 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:17,280 better for way less money. For me, that's just crap. Like for me, that was one of the down, 172 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,680 I would say maybe the worst dish we had in Copenhagen was that one. 173 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,480 I would agree. It was by far for me, the worst thing that we ate on the Copenhagen trip. Like 174 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:31,840 even it is very harsh to say, but even like the like 7-Eleven hot dogs late at night were better 175 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:37,840 because of the experience and stuff, you know, the service was super shit. Also the tacos, 176 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:42,320 they were very underwhelming. It wasn't like we expected something amazing and we got something 177 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:51,840 that's just good. It was very substandard. And I guess that's the difficulty when you branch out 178 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:56,800 and you do like food markets and stuff, like holding the quality, but it's just the important 179 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:06,320 thing that you have to do. Yeah. And also this guy, you know, confronting us because we were 180 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:12,240 filming. It's not that we were like with TV equipment. It's totally fine. It's totally fine 181 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,320 that he says that he doesn't want to be filmed. It's just the way that he did it, right? And we 182 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:21,440 weren't actively filming him, right? You know, he was making the point, yeah, it's not allowed to 183 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:26,560 film in the market. And we were sort of like, well, okay. He was like, there's signs everywhere. And 184 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,440 we were sort of like, well, we definitely did not see the signs. And I mean, afterwards we looked 185 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:35,280 around, right? And we didn't see any sign. Yeah, exactly. There were no signs. This guy didn't 186 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:40,240 want it to be filmed. And he made like a whole drama about it. Look, I've been in the same 187 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:46,560 situation, you know, I've also had people come to the kitchen and start filming me. And I said, 188 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:51,360 excuse me, but if you're going to start filming me, it would be nice if you at least asked my 189 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:57,840 permission, you know, what's, I'm not an animal in a zoo, right? But it's just ways of doing it, 190 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:04,080 right? Yeah, exactly. I mean, like also when we went to Popple, by the way, in the veganism episode, 191 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:09,520 we didn't mention the vegan burger. We had a Popple. That shit was amazing. You remember it 192 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:17,920 was like this pressed mushroom. Maline's main mushroom. Yeah. That was so good. Popple in 193 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:24,640 general was just, I think for me, that was the surprise of the trip, honestly, because the 194 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:31,600 burgers, they were very nice, but we expected that, right? From the beef burger to the monkfish 195 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:37,200 burger was my favorite, honestly. The monkfish burger was so nice. Yeah. They were just very 196 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:42,080 surprising. You know, like I wasn't expecting, you know, having like burgers with very crazy 197 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:47,680 fermented sauces. That was kind of like my expectation. But then we had like this crazy 198 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:53,440 monkfish thing, this crazy vegan burger. Super nice. All the small side dishes, they were just 199 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:58,320 fucking nice. You could just take the side dishes, put them in any sort of wine bar in London, 200 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:04,240 in Berlin, in Paris. And you know, like there would be a hit. Those little fjord shrimps with 201 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:11,280 the rose powder and whatever, and the lemon, you know, the little like grilled vegetable leaves to 202 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:15,760 drag through the sauce, you know, the dessert. I really loved all of it. The service was super 203 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:21,040 nice. The place was beautiful and simple. One of these guys came to us and they told us, 204 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:27,040 well, there's no problem with you guys filming us. We'll have a contract that we can be filmed 205 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:33,760 for marketing purposes. You just can't film the guests. I mean, that's perfectly logical. 206 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:40,480 I also understand that if you're working like in just a market taco place and you don't want to 207 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,480 sign something like that and you don't want to be filmed, that's fine. You know, like, 208 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:52,560 dude, I went yesterday to a Korean place here in Barcelona. And Korea for me is like a next 209 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:59,600 thing that I want to explore way more, Korean food in general, because there are so many things 210 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:06,800 that I don't know that are so amazing. There is this thing here in Barcelona or in Catalonia that 211 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:13,520 is called the Association of Koreans. And they have their own, it's not like a Michelin star, 212 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:19,520 but it's just like a seal, you know, like approved by the Korean association. So like it's an 213 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:26,960 authentic restaurant. And I've seen in a couple of restaurants and I had many things. I have like 214 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:36,560 this dumplings, I had fried chicken, but I would say the surprise was a tteokbokki. 215 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:38,800 The little rice cakes, huh? 216 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:45,120 Yeah, these rice cakes that are called taeok. And these were like in a sauce that was kind of fish 217 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:49,520 with gochujang, a little bit spicy, but for me the crazy thing and that was like really 218 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:56,720 the surprising thing. It was gratinated with cheese. And for me cheese in Asian food is like 219 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:04,480 a surprise. They also like as a starter by the house, they sent us as a gift a little salad, 220 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:12,240 which had like, I mean, when I say salad, I mean tomato, lettuce, an onion with a very simple 221 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:18,800 dressing, you know, like Korean vinegar and oil and salt. That was it. And it has grated cheese 222 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:25,920 on top. And I was like, okay, this was unexpected, you know? But this thing, because this 223 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:31,840 is rice cakes, they're like, I don't know how to describe them. These are like long gnocchi's 224 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:40,640 udon kind of thing. Like this little, they're like the size of a thumb finger and the texture was so 225 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:45,920 fucking nice. They were like gnocchi's like so nice, man. I really love that one. Yeah, for example, 226 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:53,120 Korea. Korea is a place that if I would go to Korea, I would do my list of dishes that I want to try. 227 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:59,680 I would go to a map, paint the things I would ask my Korean friends. I would like build like a whole 228 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:06,400 schedule of destinations. That's the way I would do it. Yeah, I would also look at the neighborhoods 229 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,720 and get a little bit informed about what is going on in what neighborhoods just in a broad sense. 230 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:16,880 Sometimes it doesn't really work. Sometimes it's a little bit difficult, but you know, often it's 231 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:23,440 very useful. Like for example, like take the, I can think of lots of examples, you know, San Sebastian, 232 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:28,000 right? You can say, okay, there's Gross, there's Partheberer, blah, blah, blah. You have a little 233 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:34,000 bit of an idea. Paris, right? The Aarhus, the Rondes Malls. What's going on in which one, you know, 234 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000 because there's some that are like a little bit more in this cultural direction, that cultural 235 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:43,680 direction Berlin, Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, you know, whatever. Do you go west? Do you go east? 236 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:48,880 You're a little bit informed. Tokyo, so you know, Ginza, right? You know what, like what is 237 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:56,160 happening in Ginza. You know what's happening in Omotesando. Like you have a little bit of a broad 238 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,800 idea. This is a very rich area, very fancy area with high level restaurants. It's more like a 239 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:09,680 neighborhood area. This is a drinking area. And that helps a lot also. And I also often, you know, 240 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:14,640 I mean like a little ritual that I have, I will try to find an old Anthony Bourdain episode about 241 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:21,760 the place and I'll see what he did, you know. Yeah, that's always a good one. I have a lot of 242 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:29,680 powers at Consul-Saint-Sebastian that they get to tour with me. They do that. They saw when I bring 243 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,600 them to some places, they're like, oh, Anthony Bourdain was in this place and so on and so 244 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:41,040 on. Yeah. Also something I didn't mention about tours and tour guides. They always add like a 245 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:47,840 layer of context that it's very hard for you to find out yourself by yourself, you know, like, 246 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:54,320 and I know that because I do that. And I guess that's what I expect. I'm having a trip to 247 00:25:55,040 --> 00:26:00,240 Portugal next week and I took a food tour, you know, because I, like I said, I want to learn 248 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,880 from other professionals that are doing the same. Like I said, like there's always this 249 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:10,000 history context that of course you can read it yourself, but at the end of the day, 250 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:15,920 you know, like you pay someone else to do the work for you or to make it easier for you in general. 251 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:21,760 Like, of course you can find all the restaurants, Google the restaurants, look for the reviews, 252 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,240 which is the best dish in each restaurant and also to read some history or you can 253 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,560 save a lot of time and just let someone else do that for you.