February 2024 - Pale Ale Travel

Why Kushikatsu Should Be on Your Osaka Eating Bucket List

February 26, 2024February 26, 2024Asia, Food, Japan BigBody Leave a Comment

If you couldn’t already tell by my name ‘Big Body’, there are several types of foods that took me from just a slightly plump little boy to the hulking, bipedal Sasquatch-lookalike (but more like that one from the famous blurry Sasquatch video), the main culprit being fried food. While I’ve dialed my fried food consumption back over the years, I’ve still been known to crush a KFC family bucket in a dark corner of my apartment similar to Gollum in Lord of the Rings when he savagely tears into a fish after catching it. My precious….11 herbs and spices.

So you can imagine my excitement when I learned of a popular deep-fried dish called ‘Kushikatsu’ that was said to be at the heart of Osakan identity, having first originated as an affordable, filling, and quick meal for Osaka’s blue-collar workers in the early 1900s. During my three months living in Japan, kushikatsu became somewhat of a regular occurrence and/or stop on a big night out to fuel up (in both liquid and solid form), without breaking the bank.

Forget tempura. You’re in the world of kushikatsu now.

Below, I’ll walk you through what exactly kushikatsu is, a little history behind it and why it’s beloved in the Kansai region, the one faux pas you shouldn’t commit while eating it, and a bit about an unforgettable kushikatsu omakase experience that I booked several weeks in advance along with a must-try kushikatsu staple and chain in Osaka.

4 of the Best Running Routes in Osaka to Get Your Miles in

February 21, 2024February 22, 2024Asia, Japan, Travel BigBody Leave a Comment

You might not know this based on my name, ‘Big Body’, however, Big Body has always been a runner at heart. It started back in my sophomore year of high school when I was nicknamed ‘Taco’, thanks to a love for 89-cent tacos from Taco Bell and a portly frame. I think based on my bodacious thighs and round face, “Double Stuffed Burrito” may have been a more fitting nickname. Several soccer teammates of mine started a running club so that I could slim up and ask my high school crush to semi-formal.

The running club’s name? G.T.S. – Get. Taco. Sexy. We would run 5 km, two to three times per week, with the membership swelling from just several of us to over 10 runners at our peak. It worked and I stuffed my slightly less plump frame into an off-the-rack suit from Men’s Wearhouse to boogie the night away with my Catholic school queen. Since then, I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with running, logging anywhere from 0 to 2500 kilometers per year (at one point, going two years without any movement) – after which I resembled the love child of a Bulgarian powerlifter and John Candy.

I moved to Osaka at the height of my runner’s journey and was eager to see what the city had to offer. From my first night run around Osaka Castle to the interweaving, scenic paths along Osaka’s riverside, lush and manicured parks, and historic, vibrant temple runs, I was hooked. Osaka’s sheer number of accessible running routes (in and around the city), geared towards novices, seasoned runners, and everyone in between lays an inclusive foundation for one of the best running communities I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing.

This isn’t an article that lays out the route down to every turn and marker. However, I’ll provide as much information as possible (including my Strava maps). Here are four of the best runs in Osaka that were a part of my daily routine while living in ‘Japan’s Kitchen’.

The Medium-Rare Letter: Burger Shaming at Eggslut in Causeway Bay

February 14, 2024March 26, 2024Asia, Food, Hong Kong BigBody Leave a Comment

I may be very well late to the game with this one. But I still don’t have an iPhone, I’ve never posted an Instagram story (and am not really sure how), and like Dr. Dre (aka Dre Brickhard the Mechanic) I still rock my khakis with a cuff and a crease (“still the beats bang, still doing my thing, since I left ain’t too much changed”).

As a mindless, YouTube food show fiend, I was no stranger to an infamous L.A. breakfast sandwich and burger restaurant that, in name, appearance, and taste, appeals to both the gastronomic and prurient interests of generations cursed by crippling social media addictions and narcissism. I mean, with a name like ‘Eggslut’, it was set to catch your attention no matter what – even for those who take qualms with the crassness of its etymology.

That’s ‘Marketing 101’ right there.

I didn’t take as long as I did to patronize this promiscuous chicken restaurant because of any sort of moral high ground or pseudo-intellectual protest against social media self-aggrandizing, I just simply didn’t know that there was a location in Hong Kong. So, when I found out there was a (relatively) recently opened branch in Causeway Bay, I clucked with excitement and knew I better taste it before the sky inevitably falls.

On the second day of Chinese New Year, after a quick gym sesh, I kept my smelly running shoes on and chicken ran out to this former fishing town turned densely populated mini-city of consumeristic tribalism to see if Eggslut’s burger was just fowl or actually foul.

Here’s what I found.

I Narrowly Escaped Death at a Fugu Restaurant in Osaka

February 11, 2024March 5, 2024Asia, Food, Japan BigBody Leave a Comment

I kind of feel like Blake Lively in her opening monologue of that underwhelming 2012 action-thriller, Savages, when she stonerishly says, “Just because I’m telling you this story doesn’t mean I’m alive at the end of it. This could all be pre-~~recorded~~ written and I could be ~~talking~~ writing to you from the bottom of the ocean.” You know, minus the Mexican Cartel, Salma Hayek (and Benicio del Toro), and strange (and steamy) sexual throuple with a Navy Seal and marijuana grower.

Fugu (aka pufferfish) is one of those foods that you hear ~~nonchalantly~~ condescendingly tossed around in conversation, by the likes of that one couple friend who always seems to fly Cathay business to Japan, Bali, or whatever nearby Asian destination needs to be ticked off their gastronomic checklist. It’s a delicacy. It’s divisive. It’s (allegedly) deadly.

I had to find out for myself whether a “dance with the devil” (Immortal Technique-style) was in my immediate future and decided to tempt fate. So, I threw my finest Orix Buffaloes baseball jersey and stretch-fit jeans on and headed to a fugu restaurant just 15 minutes to the west of Osaka Castle (in Osaka Japan, of course) to check it out for myself.

Read on to find out if I survived or if I’m writing this from the bottom of the ocean with Blake and Amelia Earhart. I’ll also explain what fugu actually is and why it should be on your radar should you make a trip over to Japan.

Ballin’ on a Brisket in Sai Kung: Rossi’s Pizza & Smoked Meats

February 9, 2024February 9, 2024Asia, Food, Hong Kong BigBody Leave a Comment

At first, I had written several paragraphs on how brisket was at the heart of the American identity. Frankly, it was superfluous. I took a step back, looked at my scraggly Scorcese eyebrows in the mirror, and realized that brisket is a universal language and that there was no need to complicate great food with patriotism, geopolitics, and intersectional social justice.

In Asia, you can find BBQ. Can you find great BBQ? Not often. And when you do, there’s a high probability that whatever restaurant it is, doesn’t serve brisket. There’s a labor of love and a high margin of error when it comes to smoking it, primarily due to space and time (sung like Mos Def in ‘Travelin’ Man’) requirements.

Having lived in Hong Kong for over six years now (and experienced the city at various stages of its political decline), there has been very little in terms of reliable, high-quality BBQ. Sure, you can get a rack of ribs and some cornbread, and it feels familiar – but how often do you walk away actually (a) full, (b) satisfied, (c) not broke, and (d) feeling it was done proper justice? Rarely.

But then I ate at Rossi’s Pizza and Smoked Meats in Sai Kung. And to quote my dawg T-Pain on Maino’s hit song, ‘All the Above’. Rossi’s checked off…All. The. Above. I always naively assumed that the apex of Western cuisine in Hong Kong was typically situated on Hong Kong Island (or in the likes of one of the five-star hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui). But this article is written to shatter that misconception and to cartoon Batman-slap myself back into reality.

I Tested the All You Can Eat & Drink Limit at Aqua’s Free-Flow Weekend Brunch

February 4, 2024April 23, 2024Asia, Food, Hong Kong BigBody Leave a Comment

“If the limit never approaches anything, the limit does not exist.” – Mean Girls

There isn’t any institution or activity in Hong Kong that strikes both fear and joy into the hearts of chubby, balding, expat bankers and social media marketing evangelists (who create day-in-the-life TikTok reels) quite like the free-flow brunch. And very much like Mark Mcguire and Sammy Sosa of the infamous home run battle in the summer of ‘98, there are only two real names: Aqua and Zuma.

Considering I’ve already written about Zuma’s free-flow brunch and sung its praises, it was only time that I ponied up and made my way across the Harbor to its Darkside (Kowloon) counterpart – Aqua – to test the free-flow food and booze brunch limit and capture the love (and attention) of the dreamy Aaron Samuels from calculus.

So, I gathered a gaggle of Frenchmen (Mes frères – aka ‘The Revolution’), threw on the one nice outfit that I own (no, not my ‘Official Bikini Inspector’ t-shirt), made sure I was in bed by 9:30 PM the previous night, and Steamboat Willie strutted (only using this reference because the copyright is in the public domain now) my way over to Tsim Sha Tsui for I day I wouldn’t forget, or remember, or forget, or remember…