Back from London and tired from bland British food, Hope had only one request when I asked her where she wanted to go out for lunch.  “I need some SPICE!”, she pleaded.  Somehow I managed to convince Hope and Davis to wake up early on a cold day and venture into the inner depths of Queens for a taste of Sichuan cuisine.

I wanted to ensure a good meal for their inaugural visit to Flushing, so I consulted with our friend Gary for some recommendations.  “What should I order?” I texted him.  An hour later, I got an email listing with instructions on what to order, divided into “cold apps” and “main dishes”.  One of the main dishes included one that was mysteriously called “enhanced pork”, which we sadly didn’t order.  I guess that’s for next time.  Just as I was closing the email, my eyes caught a glimpse of the last sentence — a few words of caution indicated by an asterisk:

*beware of the stinky tofu!  smells like someone stepped in dog shit

Taking Gary’s suggestions — and warning — into consideration, we picked out a bunch of dishes to try and share.  We started out with some cold appetizers, which were laid out in the display case towards the front of the restaurant.  This part of the ordering process was easy. I simply pointed and said “this one” with my limited Mandarin vocabulary.

Shredded fried bean curd with celery drizzled with garlicky sesame oil.

Having grown up eating beef ligaments with hot chili oil, a staple at restaurants serving Northern Chinese cuisine, I am accustomed to the texture and taste of them.  Served cold with a dense but chewy texture, the beef tendon accompanied by chili oil is not immediately spicy, although if you start eating mouthfuls of tendon the spiciness can start to creep up on you.  Although I’ve grown to like this taste and texture, Hope and Davis were not as fond of it, admitting that this was their least favorite dish.

Bamboo shoots with chili oil had a crunchy texture and nutty flavor.

Tea smoked duck with Hoisin sauce came with a crunchy skin and a beautifully smoky taste that was complimented by the hoisin sauce and scallion shreds.

The dry sauteed stringbeans were stir-fried in super high heat from wok cooking, (in Chinese the term is literally translated into “wok air”) browning the garlic and creating had a crisp crunchy exterior while maintaining the beans’ juiciness.

Submerged in a healthy amount of chili oil and fresh chilies, the fish fillet in fresh hot pepper was perfectly cooked and spiced with plenty of Sichuan peppers and spices.  Most of the hot chilies were hidden in the middle of the dish, which were intended to be stirred in.  Instead, we just worked our way towards the middle, each piece getting hotter and hotter.

Sichuan spiciness is different from that of salsa or curry, so even the spicier middle parts of the dish were not painfully spicy. Rather, these dishes are mildly hot and flavorfully spicy, which will at most make you feel a bit flushed and produce a few drops of perspiration but not dole out a full, mouth-on-fire sensation like that of strong Indian curries such as Vindaloo.

Last but not least were the peanut butter sweet sticky rice balls — a special request by Hope, who immediately was drawn to the peanut butter component (this came as no surprise; some of our favorite snacks freshman year consisted of bananas smothered with spoonfuls of peanut butter. Yes, I had a wholesale-sized jar of Skippy peanut butter from Costco).

These black sesame-filled glutinous rice balls were powdered with sugar and drizzled with a peanut butter sauce. Though I did find that they were not as hot (temperature-wise) as I’d like them to be.

Davis contemplatively ate his sticky rice ball..

Across the table, Hope took an unorthodox approach — eating it on an upside down spoon while simultaneously texting on her Blackberry.

Slurp

Although I am a seasoned eater of sticky rice balls and a self-professed lover of all things made from glutinous rice, I somehow encountered more difficulty eating them than both Hope and Davis.  Simply put, laughing and eating is a lethal combination. In this case, it resulted in a black sesame explosion that spilled into my spoon and onto my face.

Meanwhile, amidst all the sticky rice ball commotion, the staff sat at the table next to us, calmly unpacking and prepping a mountain of Chinese celery straight from the crate.

Spicy & Tasty
37-09 Prince Street, 1H
Flushing, NY 11354
718-359-1601

This is going to be my third time in Van Gogh Is Bipolar in the span of three weeks. My cousin Ashley introduced me to this small, beautiful hole in the wall when I was down in the dumps some two weeks ago, and the cafe’s pebbly courtyard, the violet fairy lights and a perfect cup of tea was the best defiance to a thoroughly rough day.

photo: Regina Belmonte

photo: Regina Belmonte

Located in 154 Maginhawa St. (a lovely street dotted with interesting cafes, antique shops, kitschy stores and small eateries), Van Gogh Is Bipolar is the brainchild – or in this case, the love child of Jetro – photographer, artist, and now cook and restaurant owner. Lovely how this amalgamation of things root themselves in the heart of the person- art and food, they are sensual things, but more importantly they are essential things.

The cafe is not meant for big crowds or loud crowds, for that matter. While it presents itself in a casual, laid back way (one must slip off their shoes at the doorway and pad around in their socked or bare feet) you can tell that this is a place where the gleam and glint of life come to nestle themselves between potent conversations.

Amidst art-work laden walls (this month it is Jason Moss’ figurations from the period before “he killed his passion for hate”), warm wooden floors, and a shamelessly ornate chandelier, there are stories to be told. It was just some time ago when a man proposed to a woman within the walls of the place.

So why ‘Van Gogh Is Bipolar’? It is undeniable how suggestive a title like this can be. Drawing from art and the psychological, one could go on for hours and hours sifting through the principle and philosophies (because there are things to be talked about) behind cerebral, sometimes abstract, things and their power to put more meaning into the concrete and simple, in this case, food.

The menu of Van Gogh is perplexing yet magnetic, there are little blurbs and stories to be read about the principle behind being bipolar, and the names of the dishes are a delight to read. Interestingly, all the names used to title Van Gogh’s dishes are bipolar people in real life.

I recently got to taste the President Clinton’s Manic Depressive Meal (Australian Lamb Chops with Black Mountain Rice and a garden salad for 255 PHP, roughly 6 USD ). Jetro had put in a special chili-kick when he asked me if I liked things ma-anghang (translation: spicy- I love anything spicy). The lamb was served atop a mound of black rice which was on top lettuce leaves, apple and tomato discs with chili powder. On the side were two sauces, a fish sauce to flavor the rice if desired, and a sweet, dark salty sauce to accompany the lamb. The salad was drizzled with honey and really brought the kaleidoscope of flavors together.

The lamb was nicely cooked and my favorite part was that the fat was not bland, and was in fact very very flavorful. I also liked that despite possessing a number of flavor layers in the dish (spicy, salty, sweet), it did not overwhelm the taste of the lamb – I like biting into a piece of lamb and actually tasting lamb and not just the seasonings and marinades used. The dish was satisfying in every sense, however I could not get enough of that sweet sauce and the black mountain rice!

It is good to end a meal at Van Gogh with a dessert (Mel Gibson’s Darkest Sin- a vodka shooter w honey, dark chocolate, an almond and other yummy, sexy things or sinful homemade silvanas). BUT. It is also highly recommendable to end it with a cup of tea. I find that a trip to Van Gogh is never complete without a hot cup of tea.

photo: Regina Belmonte

photo: Regina Belmonte

Van Gogh’s gem (amidst other gems) are their teas – at least it is the thing that most attracted me, being a self professed tea fiend. There’s something seductive and clandestine about tea. Perhaps it is in the slowness of the process, the steeping and extraction of things we can’t see with a naked eye and then allowing such mystery to enter into our bodies and interact with our make up.

The teas served revolve around the same idea the cafe is built upon – moods. The ingredients (which are all organic!) used in every dish on the menu is made to balance out the chemicals in the body to translate the individual’s mood into something positive through a dash of dopamine, serotonin or perhaps a teaspoon or two of endorphins? The teas (which are all locally grown in a farm in Isabel) are prime illustrations of this.

Each tea in the Van Gogh collection falls into a certain mood category- extra upper (my favorite), upper, light chill, happy chill, soothing and extra calming. I am partial to excitability and giddiness, so I have always chosen the Spanish Plum tea which is sour and pungent in a gorgeous amber color. In addition to the personalization of your tea, you get to pick a teapot of your choice. I am bad with choosing from a plethora of pretty things – I could take hours looking at Jethro’s teapots and examining them one by one, waiting for a certain teapot to spark out at me. But I don’t do this, I figure Van Gogh is a place I will frequent enough that perhaps I will be able to share some time with each one of them.

Once Jetro and the rest of the Van Gogh staff finish steeping your tea, it is brought out to you (whether you are in the courtyard or inside the cafe), complete with a miniscule goblet of wild golden Palawan honey (to eliminate anxiety!) and inside the cup is a singular, perfect fresh mint leaf, grown especially in Jethro’s herb garden. The Spanish Plum tea is a beautiful complement to the dark sweetness of the honey and the slight cool surprise of the mint leaf. Next time, I am hoping to try their Banana tea. I have long had a penchant for a good banana smoothie and I think it is high-time I try the counterpart.

Bringing together a contemporary Filipino conscience to gourmet food and art, Van Gogh poses a stark innovative streak in Filipino cuisine and the concept of a space for creative dynamics to move in different tangible yet intimate ways:

it is through the steam rising from a hot cup of tea, the secret messages written on that lit red wall, the sketches of somber old men, the purple fairy lights by the window, the silent cat that ambles Van Gogh’s floors, and you — drinking it all in.

Van Gogh is Bipolar
154 H Maginhawa Street
Sikatuna Village, Quezon City
The Philippines
(02) 394.0188
0922.824.3051
0922.824.3052

***

photo: Triccie Baquiran

In the meantime, while you lucky ones are wrestling with your turkeys at home, I recommend taking a break from basting to watch a few episodes of Posh Nosh on Youtube — a British TV program on BBC recommended to me by Elsapeth, the nicest bonnet wearing, bespectacled lady and owner of Podunk, a homey little nook of a tearoom in the heart of the East Village.

Podunk is where butter is used unsparingly and cookies are sprinkled with love..and sugar.  Like a cross between an antique store and a cozy country house kitchen, a varying assortment of tea pots and children’s books populate the shelves, which sit beside the brightly painted wooden furniture and a sundry of knickknacks.  Entering the tiny tearoom, I was transported from the dark, rainy streets of New York City into a warm, familiar place.

Sweet and buttery Podunk goodness

It was after she overheard the food-centric conversation my friend Davis and I were having, over our a pot of cardamom and pepper chai and a tray of buttery cookies and scones, that she recommended Posh Nosh.  If you’re a fan of dry, British humor and a lover of food (which I assume is the case, since you’re reading this), check out the first episode below:

Posh Nosh (Episode 1)

Podunk
231 E. 5th St., New York, NY 10003
nr. Second Ave.
212-677-7722

I tasted my first tea cookie when my friend Tiffany started working at Amai Tea House (which is sadly now closed).  Amai’s tea cookies combined two of my favorite things—tea and cookies—so naturally they rank pretty high on my list of favorite edible things.  Having tried some of TWG‘s teas at a tea tasting at Dean & Deluca, I convinced TWG to supply some tea to serve at my launch party.  I decided I wanted to do more than simply serve tea as a drink.  So, not only did I serve the teas iced, I decided to make tea cookies to accompany the iced tea, for a mind-blowing total tea experience.

Inspired by the Amai Tea House tea cookie recipe, this would be a nice variation on the buttery confections traditionally served for British high tea. I used TWG’s Napoleon black tea and Geisha Blossom green tea.  The black tea cookies were a success, they had a bold tea flavor and the vanilla undertones of the Napoleon tea worked well in buttery cookie form.  I confess I messed up the green tea cookies.  I was a little too generous with the butter when making the green tea cookie dough, resulting in a big amoebic lump of unwieldy green tea cookie mush, which stubbornly refused to solidify into a proper dough consistency.  So, you will have to trust me on this, the black tea cookies taste better than the green tea cookies.  Aside from the butter catastrophe, I have used this recipe to make green tea cookies before, but they somehow always end up with a strange grassy taste.  If you choose to venture into green tea territory, opt for a powdery matcha green tea instead of the loose green tea.

This is a derivation from a Lovescool / Amai Tea House recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon loose tea (of your choice)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

Equipment:
Food processor

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Pulse the tea leaves in a food processor until the tea leaves are made very fine.
4. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the loose tea.
5. With a mixer, add the vanilla, water, and butter to the bowl and mix until dough is formed. Form the dough into a disk onto a piece of wax or parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. After it has firmed up, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2” thick.
6. Cut the dough with a small cookie cutter of whatever shape you like.
7. Toss each cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
8. Place the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes.
9. Remove them from the oven and then transfer to wire racks.

My friend Arlen loved the recipe, so I passed it to her, and she made an Earl Grey and Chamomile tea cookie. Check out her post about it on her blog La Bonbonniere.