Oh man, where to begin?

As long as I remember, I liked food. As both of my grandparents had small farms, I knew where vegetables, fruits, and meat come from and how much work goes into having a meal on the table.

And since college, I have had no choice but to cook for myself and others. Eating well was expensive, and eating trash was hell. But knowing the true value of the produce that goes into a meal, I enjoyed turning that into something tasty, and well, I still like to cook.

To this day, I still like to improve my technique (20+ cookbooks and 3 stacks of cooking magazines in my flat, plus 30+ e-books are my witnesses), and consider a bad meal an insult to the produce

What are my favourite places?

It really depends on where I am, and what do I crave.

It could be a 3-ingredient Roman pasta with extra guanciale. Filipino Pork and Peas from a great guy, and James Beard Award semifinalist Sheldon Simeon. A three-Michelin-starred multi-course dinner with a great combination of flavours and textures. A salt beef beigel with English mustard and pickles. A great teriyaki spam musubi made with koshihikari rice. A potato fry bread with sour cream and cheese.

What ties them together, I guess, is that all these places had their food well executed.

What do I cook the most?

Thanks to my upbringing, it’s mostly potatoes and stews. Many times, it’s even a Hungarian potato stew!

Joking aside, I think braising meats and vegetables in a liquid brings out the most flavour out of its elements and lets you layer the taste of the dish. In some cases, though, I just let the produce shine. A grass-fed beef steak or a quick Italian pasta recipe relies on the quality of the ingredients; dressing it up is counterproductive.