Blantyre, Malawi - Chambo at it's best. When I was walking around downtown, there is an open market that people sell various items. As I was meandering through the market, I came across their "food court" if you will. Now, it's mainly little shacks were people fry up fish (Chambo) or chips (fries). So, I found this one gentleman who fried up the fish you see. The size is about as big as my palm of my hand, so it's pretty small. It tastes very similar to fried smelt. It has very little meat, very crunchy, but tasty! He also gave me some salt to sprinkle onto the fish for more flavor, which also complimented the batter. I thought this was going to be pretty spicy, but it actually wasn't spicy at all. I was mostly worried about how long it was sitting out, but after I ate it, it was ok. Enjoy!

Blantyre, Malawi - One of the great things on my Malawi trip was that the professor with which we stay, had a cook named Simoni. He made all different sorts of dishes and would even attempt to make new dishes if you were willing to teach him. On other occasions, he would make his own style dishes and this is one of them. It is called Sobo Chicken. It is chicken marinated in different spices and in a broth, but he would not reveal his recipe. All he told me was that it had Chili spice and other variety of spices in it. MMMM. The dish is also cooked with raisins, so it gives the whole dish a wonderful sweat flavor and it compliments the chili spice very well to help calm down the kick that it had. If you can find a good recipe or have someone make it for you, Enjoy!

Dedza, Malawi - Another cultural influence in Malawi is Indian. There are several dishes you'll find with curry and a little kick. Well, the first picture is Poppadom, it is an Indian wafer or sometimes describes as a cracker or flatbred. It is made with lenitl, chickpea, black gram, or rice flour topped with tomatoes and mangos. It was nice and lite, with fresh fruits, and surprising, it had a little spicy kick to it. If you get a chance to go to the Pottery Lodge in Dedza, try it out. The second dish is another appetizer, deviled eggs. Actually, it turned out to be just that and nothing special, so I don't recommend it. The last picture is of the main dish, Chicken Curry. It turned out to be a lot more chicken curry than I noticed from the looks of it because there was actually more underneath the rice. Overall the dish was good, but they added an interesting ingredient, sugar on top. I didn't expect it and I'm not sure why, but it made the dish a little more sweet. I also ordered it spicy level of Hot, but I didn't think it had a strong kick. I may have noticed that it had something, but it definitely wasn't hot. If I had the chance of being there again, I would try something else. Enjoy!

Johannesburg, South Africa - I had the fortunate opportunity to have my flight canceled in Johannesburg and Air Malawi put me up for the night at their guest house. In addition, they took me out for dinner and went to a great seafood restaurant called Ocean Basket. The seafood is fresh and delicious. You can also see the English influence as well. I first started with some simple bread they bring to the table, but what is special is the minced garlic and jalapeno peppers that compliment it. It is very customary to smear the garlic and peppers on the bread, giving it a strong flavor with a kick. It was awesome and spicy! Then the main course is called the Seafood Platter that comes with prawns, squid, cod, muscles, and fries. The cod and muscles were prepared very well in a lite olive oil and garlic, but the best part of the dish was the prawns and squid. The prawns are always interesting to eat, especially when they look back at you. It has a delicious shrimpy flavor, but not as strong. I heard you can eat the head, but I chose not to. The squid was by far the best part of the dish. They were prepared to perfection; soft and packed with flavor. I ate every piece of the squid and wanted more! Enjoy!

Blantyre, Malawi (Africa) - Malawi was a British colony and gained their independence in 1964. Therefore, you could guess that there is a lot of British influence in their food. This is Chambo and Chips with a side of "coleslaw" from Hollywood Cafe. Chambo is Chechewa for fish. It's a generic term, so you really could get any fish when you order it. It is usually served whole like in the picture, but sometimes you can have it served also opened. In this case, it would be sliced down the middle and the fish would be open like a book, but still whole. Many times it is deep fried with some very basic seasoning. Because it's also a very cheap dish, you can tell that you don't get a big piece of fish with lots of meat on it. It's fairly small, but enough to tie you over. The chips are just like french fries, but not as long and skinny. They are prepared in the same manner. The coleslaw is really just shredded cabbage with some carrots and they give you oil and vinegar to sprinkle onto the salad. In one way, it's much healthier. The chambo is not bad, a little greasy and hard to eat, but not bad. Enjoy!

Blantyre, Malawi (Africa) - That's correct. AFRICA! I had the fantastic and unique opportunity to go to Africa, Malawi, and try some basic and common, but also unique and extraordinary food. Here's my adventure. This is the most common indigenous food in Malawi. It is called Nsima from a restaurant called Temptations. It is pronounced N-Sea-Ma. Usually you order Nsima with either beef, chicken, or fish. I ordered mine with beef. It also comes with a small vegetable, which they call a relish. The actual Nsima is the mashed potato looking mounds. Nsima is made of ground maize and water. It has very little to no flavor, but what flavor it does have, it is like cream of wheat. Not the most appetizing thing to eat. Which is my Malawians have the meat portion with the vegetable. The beef is prepared in a slightly curry tomato sauce and the vegetable sauteed and similar to a spinach/celery. The way to eat this is by taking a little piece of meat and little piece of Nsima. Then a little piece of vegetable and Nsima. Since the Nsima doesn't have much flavor, you get most of it from the other pieces. Even though the meat and vegetable is a small portion, the Nsima is not and it just expands in your stomach. Since not everyone has money and food can be expensive for Malawians, Nsima is a fast, cheap (around $2), slightly nutritious, but a very filling dish that people don't have to eat much of the day later. I was very glad I tried it and although I enjoyed it, I probably wouldn't get it again if I had other choices. Enjoy!

Southfield, MI - A delicious desert after a fantastic meal at the Taste of Ethiopia. This is fried plantains in a homemade caramel sauce and you get the choice of either soy or regular vanilla ice cream. This was so delicious and I now get it every time I'm there. The dish is called Afo Plantain and definitely get it when you there. I had the soy ice cream it was delicious. It was very soft and a little icy, which really was very good. I couldn't tell the difference at all. Enjoy!

Oak Park, MI - Yet Thai food again! This is Nam Sod from Sukhothai. It's a cold salad and delicious. It's minced chicken on top of lettuce in a lightly sauteed lime sauce. It also had fresh tomato and cucumber. It's very very good. Enjoy!

Madison Heights, MI - This was great Vietnamese food. This is Pho Dac Biet from Thuy Trang. They have very authentic Vientamese food and it's delicious. If you have every had Pho soup, this is the Pho with everything. It has beef, tendons, meatballs, and tripe. It's a plethora of meat in a delicious beef broth with noodles, fresh bean sprouts, mint, jalopeno peppers, and green onions. It also comes with a side of hoisen sauce and Vietnamese chili paste to mix into the soup to make it sweet and hot! Mix it to your liking and enjoy every bite! It's a small little mom and pops place and it's fantastic! Enjoy!

Berkley, MI - Tasty food at Sweet Lorraines! A simple lunch at this place turns into a feast for the afternoon. I started with a dish I thought was slightly unusual, at least, not very common, Clam Ceasar Salad. I wasn't sure how the flavors were going to compliment each other, but it turned out very well. I would be very happy to order this again. In the center, was a fused parmesian cheese waffer-like piece and it was delicious. I'm not sure how they did that, but it was good. We then had two kinds of desert. The first picture is of a Cherry Chocolate Cheese Cake and the second is a Mix Berry Layered Cake. I would get both again, but the Cheese Cake stood out in my mind. The Mix Berry Layered Cake was very soft, moist, and abundant of berry flavor, but it was a little too much cake for me. On the other hand, the Cheese Cake was perfect. It had the perfect amount of cherry flavor that didn't overpower the chocolate flavor. Well done Sweet Lorraines! Enjoy!

West Bloomfield, MI - As I'm driving down Orchard Lake road, I see a sign for Bangladeshi food at Aladins. You know I won't pass that opportunity up. So, what you see is a variety of food from their lunch buffet. I found that their food is very similar to Indian food, however, no where near as spicy. I spoke to the owner and he said the biggest difference is the spicy level.

The first picture is of Shag Poneer (spinach-like dish), Cabbage and Onion Bhajji, and potatoes with a mint chutney. The second picture is of Dal soup, Lamb Curry, and Chana Shag. Lastly, the last picture is of Mango Chutney (almost looked like scrambled eggs, but great tasting), a syrup-like desert balls (very sweet), and a grainy-like ball desert. Enjoy!

Troy, MI - I wish I knew of a local and authentic Japanese restaurant, but until then I went to Benihana, a nice chain. Even though a chain, they still have good food. First on the menu was a Dragon Roll, a crab and cucumber roll with eel on top. This was very delicious. The flavor of the eel was outstanding. Next, the entree was Seafood Diablo, shrimp, crawfish, crab, assorted vegetables, udon noodles, and in a special homemade spicy sauce. I thought overall, the dish was very good. I'm not sure if I would get it again. However, the udon noodles proved to be very complimentary in the dish. I didn't think it was as spicy as I thought it was going to be, not enough kick. Enjoy!

Troy, MI - These will make your taste buds dance! Both dishes are from Priya Indian Restaurant, the first one being Samosa and the second picture is of Ginger Chicken. The Samosa is vegetable samosa made with seasoned mashed potatoes and peas, then wrapped in a thin pastry dough. It usually comes with a dipping sauce that really helps to accentuate the flavor of the somosa. It's excellent and I usually get somosa every time I get Indian food. The entree is Ginger Chicken, boneless chicken sautéed in a zesty ginger garlic sauce. When you combined ginger and garlic, you get heaven. It did have a little kick, the dishes flavor is explosive. Not spicy, but filled with flavor that makes your taste buds want more. The chicken was cooked very well and was still extremely moist. Enjoy!

Troy, MI - Mouth watering yet? This is Seafood of the Angels from Kruse & Muer on Wilshire. The dish is as good as it looks. It was rough, but I forced myself to eat the whole thing. It is Maine Lobster, Gulf Shrimp, Crabmeat, Asparagus, Sweet Corn, Mushrooms & Angel Hair Pasta in a Champagne Cream. How could you go wrong with all of it together in this delicious medley. Enjoy!

Troy, MI - How beautiful! This is Fire Roasted Tomato Bisque from Kruse & Muer on Wilshire. They have excellent food and delicious soups, such as this. It is served with Buttery Puff Pastry Island that really helps in adding to the soup. I'm not sure what the swirl is made of, which I tried to reduplicate at home, but it failed miserably. Therefore, I'll just go come here for it instead. Enjoy!

Troy, MI - Vegetarians out there, here is a dish to salivate over. It is Roasted Vegetable Primavera in Tomato Herb Cream Sauce from Kruse & Muer. This is actually one of their creations to my liking, but it is suppose to be in a white wine sauce, but I thought I would try this in the Tomato Herb Cream Sauce that usually is on the Tortellini & Grilled Chicken ala Creme. I thought the cream sauce was very good, lite and not too heavy, and flavorful with the spices. The ingredients are Zucchini, Squash, Portobello Mushrooms, Purple Onion, Pine Nuts, Asparagus, with Boursin Cheese & Angel Hair Pasta. It's an excellent combination of vegetables that are cooked very well. Enjoy!

Troy, MI - Calling all chocolate lovers! This is a Flourless Chocolate Cake from Whole Foods market and it was worth making the blog. It was a very rich chocolate and very dense. I suppose the flourless part is what made it so dense, but it wasn't overwhelming. The mix between the cake and the chocolate coating around the cake made a perfect combination. The only problem now is that we had to eat the whole thing. I hate those kinds of problems. Enjoy!

Southfield, MI - I love Indian food. I can eat anything with curry, just load it on. Tandoori Chicken with a Mint Chutney side from Chettinad. This was at a "Tastefest", so they only offered this, but this was so good. The chicken was prepared very well, still moist and not dried out, even with it being prepared for a festival. The tandoori sauce is baked into the chicken which helps to keep the flavor consistent throughout the whole piece of the meat. The mint chutney is a perfect dipping sauce that helps to compliment the tandoori flavor. With fresh mint, it helps to clear the palette and allows you to experience the full flavor of tandoori. Enjoy!

Southfield, MI - Korean, one of my favorites! The New Souel Garden was one of the first Korean restaurants that really had me sold on Korean food. After several dishes there, it has now become one of my favorite types of food. Korean dishes are usually eaten with multiple little side dishes, seen in the first picture. The dish on the far left and in the center is spicy cabbage known as Kimchi. The top two right hand bowls are bean sprouts prepared differently. The bottom right bowl is of sauteed spinach, and in the bottom left is spicy radish. You eat just a little of one or a few of these with your main course in each bite. It gives the main course enormous flavor and really helps to compliment the flavors of each one. The main dish is called Daeji Gui (sliced and marinated pork), which was fantastic because it basically tasted like bacon. It was like having a plate of bacon. You take a piece of lettuce, add some of the pork, then pick which side you would like and enjoy. I highly recommend it, if you don't mind salty dishes. It was a bit salty, but I'll take it! Enjoy!

Seaside, CA - How would you like to eat at a restaurant called Pho King? Now say it fast! Yeah, I had to eat there too. It is a Vietnamese restaurant and the only thing I had the opportunity to eat, unfortunately, was their Spring Roll. It is a roll in a steamed noodle wrap, with fresh cucumbers, lettuce, mint (this gives it a great kick), and shrimp. It usually comes with either peanut sauce or some kind of sweet & sour fish sauce. It was actually smaller than other places, but just as good. I heard this place gets pretty popular due to their clever name. They even sell T-Shirts with their name on it, but I went there for the food. They were also very accommodating because I arrived before they were suppose to open and still made the rolls for me. Enjoy!

Royal Oak, MI - Beirut Palace is a very good Lebanese restaurant in downtown Royal Oak. I had their Mango Juice and their Beef over Hummus plate. My favorite fruit are Mangos, so I had to get that. I'm not sure if it is fresh like the other fruit or vegetable drinks, but it was still very good. I had to stop myself from drinking it to quickly. The Beef over Hummus was also excellent. The beef was well seasoned and the hummus complimented the beef very well. They create a wonderful synergy of flavors. The beef is also cooked with a few pine nuts that are grilled, which also give it a slight nutty flavor. However, the potatoes, they were just potatoes. Nothing special, I would stay focused on the beef and hummus.

If you're really adventures, at this restaurant, they have Lamb Brain. If you try it, take a picture for me and let me know how it is. I'm very interested in hearing about it. I made a promise I wouldn't get it, but if I didn't I would have definitely try it out. Enjoy!

Royal Oak, MI - I've gone to Red Coat Tavern several times for their delicious burgers and phenomenal selection of excellent beer. However, we rarely get desert there. Why? We broke the glass ceiling and took the plunge. The first picture is of Hot Fudge Cream Puff, which turned out to be very good. It is an ice cream puff with vanilla ice cream, then smothered in hot fudge. It was very good, but not excellent. It was a little difficult to eat because of the puff part, but otherwise, a good standard dessert. Its a good thing we had chosen a second dessert and had the Ice Cream Burger. Basically a fantastic ice cream cookie sandwich. The cookies were not as soft as I hoped, but once it started to thaw, delicious. It was covered in chocolate and caramel with vanilla ice cream. When you go, get it, you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!

Boston, MA - I'm working around downtown Boston looking for a place to eat with my colleague. More or less wandering around, taking in the place, when we accidently found ourselves in China Town. Alright, we'll find a place to eat here. It was recommended to check out May's Cake House, which was one of the below ground little bakeries. We never would have found it on our own. It was worth it. There's nothing better than Dim Sum for breakfast. I know the pictures are terrible, but bear with me on this. The first picture is a sesame ball, deep fried rice cake with sweet mashed black beans in the middle, which was completely unexpected, but very good. That's right, black beans. I had no idea what it was until my friend in NY told me about it. It complimented the race cake very well.

The next picture is of a Chinese sausage dim sum. It was interesting, but just ok. It was a very doughy type bun with a ordinary sausage in the middle. It was better than the picture, I swear, but I wouldn't get it again.

The last was the best of the three. It was a very large doughy outside, with chicken and egg in the middle. The really nice touch to it was that it had a full shiitake mushroom on top of the chicken and egg in the middle. The only part that wasn't too good was how much dough was used on the outside. Other than that, very good, I would definitely get again. Enjoy!

Boston, MA - I never start an entry with a picture of the place, but this one had to. This is the Union Oyster House in downtown Boston. It is known to be the oldest restaurant in the US. It's surprisingly larger than you think from the outside. No surprise, they are known for their seafood and I had to experience it. To begin, I had to have their homemade fresh claim chowder. It was so full of flavor, I couldn't believe it. It had huge chunks of claims in it. You couldn't miss it. For an entree, I had the Broiled Seafood Platter. Our server recommended I try that to get the full experience of their food. It came with swordfish, salmon, scallops, scrod, and shrimp. I was very satisfied with the salmon and shrimp. They were prepared very well and had excellent flavor. This was the first time I had scrod, so I didn't know what to expect. It was a very soft flavored fish, similar to cod where there's not a whole lot to experience. Therefore, I couldn't say if it was great or not. The swordfish was decent, but not the best. It was prepared probably too well for my taste. Lastly, the scallops were delicious. They were certainly my favorite part of the plate and had only hoped that the plate had more. They were prepared perfectly and seasoned excellently. If you get a chance to go, GO! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the food. Enjoy!

Birmingham, MI - I thought I would try a new sushi place called Tokyo Sushi. As you can see, I helped myself to their menu and ordered a few things. The first picture is Edamame, soy beans steamed with some salt on them. I can eat a whole bowl of these, it's so good. The next picture is of ginger salad, which I wish they would just give me a bowl of the ginger salad dressing. That's really what I love in that dish, that dressing is so good! Lastly, the sushi tolls are spicy tuna, crab with egg and pickle, and smoked salmon. All three rolls were very good, but my least favorite was the crab one. Not a whole lot of flavor, so I would stick to the rest of them. Enjoy!

Royal Oak, MI - This is no ordinary burger. This is the Piedmontese burger from Red Coat Tavern. Red Coat is, in my opinion, one of the best burger places in the area, and it's a great English pub for fantastic beer. The Piedmontese is advertised on their menu as "...a healthy alternative to our traditional burger. ...the burgers are lower in fat, calories, and cholesterol than either chicken or salmon." I've had both the regular and Piedmontese and you can't taste the difference at all, so go the healthier route! On this burger, I had lettuce, tomato, sauteed mushrooms, either special mayonnaise sauce, and BBQ sauce. You have the selection of 24 different items to get on your burger. It's fantastic! It's a must. Enjoy!

Royal Oak, MI - A day at the English pub. Well this is Caribbean-Style Seafood Chowder and the Cornwallis from the Red Coat Tavern. This is one of the best English Pub like places I've found so far. The seafood chowder was very good with fresh crawfish, shrimp, and clams in a Caribbean jerk style broth. Excellent, definitely try it. The Cornwallis is the "Reuben" if-you-will. It is corn-beef with sauerkraut, on Russian dressing, with cheddar cheese (normally Swiss, but I don't like it), on rye bread. If you're a meat eater, get it, you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!

Birmingham, MI - BREAKFAST! The only place I've been able to find belly lox was in New York. However, I finally found a place here in Birmingham MI that sells it, Papa Joes Market. Belly lox is similar to nova, except that it has more flavor and is very salty. Prepare to drink lots of water after a few slices. However, I wasn't completely impressed with Papa Joes' cut. It tasted similar to nova, but I later saw that they butcher labeled my package wrong. So, I'll give them one more shot and see if it really tastes like New York or not. I'll let you know. Enjoy!

Birmingham, MI - What is that? That's what I asked myself when my cousin served this for the first time to me. It's a delicious ice cream treat. It is called Bubbies, which are Hawaiian and I purchased it at Papa Joes Market. It's basically a rice cake shell and vanilla ice cream inside. It's quite good, but the texture is pretty interesting. The first time I had it, I wasn't expecting the rice cake shell. Definitely try it out! Enjoy!

Philadelphia, PA - This is no ordinary pretzel. I picked this up at a little food stand in the Philly Airport. It's a great tasting pretzel that is cinnamon covered and, the best of all, apple filled. It's a huge pretzel as well. It's served warm and man it was great. Enjoy!

Birmingham, MI - Armenian festivals, they should have good food there! Birmingham recently had an Armenian festival and one of the food vendors had Armenian food. Top left is hummus (it was a standard flavor, very good), top right is tabouli (standard, very good), bottom left is cheese pie (first time having this. It is a flaky pastry with lots of great cheese inside. Lots of middle eastern restaurants have this as well), and lastly, bottom right is lahmajun (the reason I got the dish. It's similar to a meat pizza, if you will. It has some meat on top of sauce and small crust. It has an interesting flavor, one that I've never had before). Great music at the festival as well! Enjoy!