Memorable meals

What makes meals memorable and talking you through some meals that give me the 💕 feels 💕

There is so much spectacular food in the world.

But what makes a meal memorable? What would your most memorable meal be? Would it be the best fine-dining restaurant you’ve ever been to? Or a cute little bar you serendipitously found in a random alley?

I did some quick math and calculated that I’ve had around 30,000 meals in my lifetime. 🤯 Yet, only a fraction of those meals were truly memorable.

So, what makes a meal memorable?

“Memorability” is a very subjective measure. For me, the most memorable meals are the ones that evoked thoughts and emotions bigger than “wow, this is absolutely delicious!” It goes beyond the food itself: it’s the people and conversations you have; the atmosphere and location; what it signified and what you learnt from that meal.

To illustrate this, let me show you 3 (and one bonus) of my most memorable meals (sorry, you’re going to be hungry by the end of this!)

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1. Standing restaurants in Osaka, Japan

After 12 hours of layovers and discomfort on our budget airline, we finally landed in Japan around 10pm. We were excited, exhausted and most urgently, starving.

Then we saw our saviour — this unassuming soba restaurant with vending machines at the front, right at the station where we got off. It was bustling with Japanese “salarymen” who looked like they just finished their shift — we knew it’d be a satisfying feed.

Cold soba with okra and a side of onigiri

Nankai Soba in Osaka is a Japanese standing restaurant (also known as “tachigui”), where you eat… standing up (duh). These restaurants are found across the busy streets of Japan, designed for people who are looking for a quick, satisfying bite.

Nankai Soba uses a vending machine system. You select your meal, pay and hand the ticket over to the chef behind the counter. After a few minutes of being in the country, this experience encapsulated a major part of Japan’s culture: convenience and efficiency.

Credit. You can see the vending machines & people standing with their bags still on their back!

I started working since it was legally possible. I wanted to earn money for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons (at the time) was to visit Japan. I was a hardcore weeb. Years later, I saved up enough to make this dream come true. That’s why, this meal was so surreal — I was finally in the country I dreamed of visiting since I was 13, with my own hard-earned money. 🥹

2. Taiwan night markets

Imagine walking around the quiet-ish (relative to other parts of Asia) streets of Taipei before you step into a street that throws your senses into overdrive. Beautiful, bright lights; sounds of people ordering and food prep; smells of freshly made Taiwanese specialties and all can see is a road of the never-ending road of stalls. To illustrate how small you would feel at this moment — Shilin Night Market has over 500 stalls!

Raohe St Night Market

What made this meal (or meals) special was the fact that I had absolutely no expectations. We bought what looks good and what drew the crowds in. And because everything was so cheap, I felt this sense of freedom, because I was no longer bounded by price.

There is nothing in the world quite like the night markets of Taiwan. These markets taught me how limitless food and culture can be and how much more there is for me to explore.

Freshly made mochi | Taiwanese pepper buns with beef | Little sausage with big sausage (yes, that's what it's called)

3. Chinese New Year celebrations & Mid Autumn Festival

I may have cheated and grouped these together, but both of these yearly celebrations give me the same type of 💕 feels 💕.

Every year, my family (and my in-laws, so double the fun!) celebrate Chinese New Year (around Jan or Feb) and Mid Autumn Festival (around August or September). These celebrations are centred around food, generosity and family — all my favourite things.

My mum’s cooking 🥰

Not only are amazing Chinese specialties guaranteed, but these celebrations are also some of the only things that help me connect with my culture as a 2nd generation immigrant. Even now, I am learning little traditions and customs that I hope to pass on to my future children. For example, in Chinese* culture, the dishes we eat during these celebrations are symbolic:

• Moon cakes, eaten during Mid Autumn Festival, symbolise family and harmony.

• Nian gao, eaten during Chinese New Year, symbolises prosperity or improvement year after year.

Nian gao (Chinese New Year cake) | Various snacks including moon cake for Mid Autumn Festival | Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves

To me, the photos above (all taken in different years in different households) symbolise love, family and harmony. 💜

*Note: I am aware that different provinces might celebrate with different dishes; my experience is based on Cantonese culture.

Bonus: where it all started — my first “brunch”

Let me take you back to the old days of the internet. Instagram still had that Polaroid-looking logo. Food bloggers on WordPress were still a thing. 🥲 This was also when Sydney’s cafe scene really started to kick off. Avocado on toast with an onsen egg and dukkah may be common in every cafe now… but not back then.

MMMMM dat coffee art 🤌

In 2013, places like Devon Cafe, Brewtown Newtown and Three Williams were pioneering the cafe scene. This was right before edible flowers started appearing on every damn dish on Instagram.

I don’t remember which cafe I tried first: Devon Cafe (in Surry Hills, which is now closed) or Brewtown Newtown, but that was when my love affair with food started. It inspired me to start food blogging and exploring the rest of Sydney (and the world!) to have more memorable meals.

Do you remember when cronuts were a thing?! Cross between croissant and a donut. 🤯

While I much prefer some delicious, cheap Chinese noodles to a $30 brunch now, the cafe scene kicked off my lifetime love for food.

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Here’s to having more memorable meals! 🥂

Writing this made me realise that I can have even more memorable meals if I could change one bad habit I have around food: reducing my expectations of what the food should taste like (based on price, reviews, descriptions etc.) and just enjoy the moment.

Hopefully this post has inspired to you try something new this week so that all of us can create more memories around food. 😊

I’m curious though, what are some of your most memorable meals? Leave a comment below!

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Sabbatical Highlights (Week 2)

Week 2 and I am still getting used to not having a schedule — so I made one, which kind of makes me stressed. So… I might adjust this for next week. This week, I:

• 📅 Settled into my routine of writing, exercise, cooking and errands. Surprisingly, I feel so busy.

• 🎨 I attended a Risograph printing class (a digital screen printing) with Daph, where we made our own cute prints! Unfortunately, my turned out horrific.

• ✍️ Started to draw on Procreate — something I’ve been intimidated to do. Hopefully can show you all by the end of the month!

• 🏝️ Lots and lots of travel planning… a post about this soon.

• 🛞 Unexpectedly learnt how to change a tire with my husband after my little brother popped it while learning to drive.