Forrest Brown

Food Republic is a themed food court chain based in Singapore.

Awesome dumplings. There was a Din Tai Fung restaurant next to my hotel. It was’t really a goal, but I’ve now eaten at Din Tai Fung in four different countries.

I love crab legs, but the crab ramen was really kind of dull.

Here’s a lunch I had at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. It was really good, but the one thing that’s a bit strange is the food in the lower left corner, it’s raw chicken.

Fugu (Puffer-fish) is a Japanese delicacy that can be served a number of ways. What makes Fugu interesting is that the fish contains lethal amounts of poison and if prepared incorrectly can result in death to the person eating it. The poison is a very potent neurotoxin that paralyzes the muscles of the body while the person remains fully conscious and eventually they die from asphyxiation.

Because of the danger, chefs have to be licensed to prepare and sell Fugu.

I was actually a little disappointed by the Fugu. I expected a fish that could kill me would have a very exciting taste, but it was actually very mild and a bit boring.

When I was a little kid I loved to go to Shakey’s Pizza. So when I saw a Shakey’s in Japan I had to try it out. Even better was that it was an all you can eat buffet, which in Japan is strangely called a Viking Dinner. Lot’s of interesting pizza.

Japanese McDonald’s were having a special series of hamburgers called Big American Burgers. There were four different hamburgers and each hamburger was on sale for a month. While I was in Japan last month for the Hokkaido Photo Workshop, they were selling the Texas Burger, so I had to give one a try. As you can see from the photo, the reality vs. advertising was just a tiny, tiny bit different.