♥ Clam Chowder

CCCP - clam chowder care package

Recently, my husband returned from a business trip in San Francisco and he had a “care package” (also called pasalubong by Filipinos) for me which was kindly prepared by our aunty and uncle. It had many of my favourite American treats i.e. Hershey, Cookies n Cream, Ghirardelli chocolate but one particular treat that I absolutely loved was enclosed – Clam Chowder (New England style). I type these 2 words with a big smile on my face. I thought to open 1 of the cans today as I thought of how much I want to on holidays again. Clam Chowder is a comfort food for me. Okay, so it’s not fresh because it’s come from out of a tin can and it didn’t come in the sourdough bread which it can also be served in but it’s the next best thing as this soup is pretty much unheard of in this city. I followed the cooking instructions, which was pretty much just heating it in the microwave or over the stovetop, I chose the latter as it felt more “cooked” that way...hehehe. I took my first bite and by golly it hit the spot! Warm and delicious, it was pretty much happiness in a soup bowl. As you can tell, I am ga-ga over clam ch-ch-chowder! ;)

For those of you who haven’t tried it, New England clam chowder is a cream-based chowder generally made with potatoes, onion, bacon, flour and of course clams. It’s served either in a normal ceramic bowl or a sourdough bread bowl with sea biscuits or lightly salted crackers to give it a bit of a crunch.

Now, the best clam chowders that I’ve tried were from the following places (in no particular order):

1.      Sky City Restaurant at the Space Needle. Seattle, Washington.

2.      Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Boston, Massachusetts.

3.      Pier 39. San Francisco, California.

4.      Bubba Gump Shrimp Co in Times Square. New York, New York.

Sky City Restaurant at the Space Needle. 

Seattle, Washington.

Note: it was THAT good that after one bite I completely forgot to take a picture of the clam chowder. 

Faneuil Hall Marketplace. 

Boston, Massachusetts.

 Pier 39. 

San Francisco, California.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co in Times Square. 

New York, New York.

So the next time you’re in one of the cities listed above, you must check out these places and order a New England clam chowder. You won’t be disappointed, well I hope not anyway because I wasn’t.

As you can see I haven’t listed any places in Sydney or in Australia for that matter, unfortunately we don’t have any here, well not in any of the seafood restaurants that I’ve been to. If you do know of a place in Sydney or in Australia, please leave a comment and let us know, as we would love to check it out. Actually, if you know of another place anywhere in the world that serves really good clam chowder please share that too so that we can check it out the next time we’re on that side of the globe - my heart always flutters for a hearty clam chowder!