Thse Asian Dishes Will Rock Your Style Buds

Whilst neither people grew up in Asia and we didn’t discuss with the continent till we have been way past our adolescence, we’ve shared a keenness for Asian delicacies relationship again years earlier than we met in 2006.

No longer unusually, Chinese language meals was once our advent to the fantastic international of Asian meals. No longer handiest did we each develop up consuming Chinese language feasts on Christmas Eve maximum years, however Daryl’s mother took issues to the following degree via frequently whipping up dinner with a wok all the ones years in the past.

Rapid ahead to the current and we’re proud to have traveled slightly broadly in wallet of Asia each one by one and in combination.

Whilst maximum of our time so far has been targeted in Southeast Asia, we’ve additionally visited quite a lot of international locations in East Asia and South Asia. Whilst Mindi solo traveled to Asia two times earlier than we met, our first {couples} commute to Asia concerned us traversing China for a month in 2009 all through the H1N1 epidemic. As though touring to China wasn’t sufficient of a problem!

A lot of our infatuation with Asia is rooted within the continent’s attention-grabbing historical past and colourful cultural traditions. Let’s face it – seeing websites just like the Nice Wall of China, Sri Lanka’s Sigiriya and the Taj Mahal are bucket record pieces for plenty of together with us. However, on the finish of the day, they’re no longer the principle causes we stay returning to Asia.

That explanation why is the meals in Asia.

We like Asia meals favorites to the purpose of obsession. We like consuming Asian meals on the supply, in towns around the globe and in our personal kitchen.

Cooking Asian meals at house is a slightly new building. We now consume dishes like hunan rooster and Thai panang curry noodles with meat sauce at house always. Because it seems, we’re ready to supply a myriad of Asian substances at more than one markets close to our Lisbon house, which isn’t the similar as consuming them in Asia, nevertheless it’s nonetheless beautiful excellent.

As many of us wallowed in melancholy all through 2020 and others discovered new languages, Daryl put his center and soul into mastering the artwork of Asian cooking. No longer handiest did he compile a pantry full of a melange of sauces and spices, however he additionally bought 3 other woks till he discovered the fitting one.

Mindi was once satisfied to be his muse all through a finding out curve that’s proceeding to conform over the years. Her praise was once to consume quite a lot of Asian meals at house.

After we’re no longer consuming Asian meals, we’re frequently enthusiastic about our favourite dishes and the way and the place we will be able to consume them subsequent. A lot of our time is targeted at the following international locations the place we’ve visited at least one time and in some circumstances a large number of occasions:

Learn on to find our 41 favourite dishes in those 12 Asian international locations. They’re the dishes that we dream about, search out each close to and some distance, try to cook dinner at house and suggest that you simply check out in both Asia or in your house the city.

Amok is one the ones dishes that’s each richly sumptuous and comforting on the identical time. It’s additionally a dish with a historical past that strains again to the Khmer Empire each in Siem Reap and in the remainder of Cambodia.

To arrange amok, Cambodians cook dinner proteins casserole-style with broth and coconut milk in a molded banana leaf bowl. A mild, creamy, nearly pudding-like texture develops because the liquids evaporate and solidify. In eating places like Siem Reap’s Sugar Palm, cooks upload proteins like recent water fish (assume catfish), prawns and tofu.

Examine our Cambodian journey in Siem Reap.

In contrast to pho which hails from northern Vietnam, the banh mi sandwich originates from the southern a part of the rustic, allegedly in Saigon. Although they’re to be had everywhere the rustic, we’ve discovered the very best banh mi sandwiches in central Vietnam towns like Da Nang and Hoi An.

Maximum banh mi distributors promote the preferred snack from cell steel meals carts, even though some established distributors have everlasting shops. Without reference to the cart or retailer, all Vietnamese banh mi distributors promote baguettes full of a spread of meats, paté, cucumbers and different savory substances like char siu and rooster.

Like lots of the very best Vietnamese meals, you must be capable of to find banh xeo in any huge metropolis in Vietnam. Simply cross to dinner hungry whilst you check out them within the heart of the rustic the place they have been invented. Consuming banh xeo is a complete eating enjoy.

Uncover extra Vietnamese meals favorites.

Bibimbap could also be probably the most memorable dish in this record. No longer handiest is the Korean rice dish each colourful and engaging, nevertheless it additionally has probably the most whimsical identify.

Greater than only a a laugh phrase to mention, bibimbap is a centuries-old dish that has turn out to be South Korea’s maximum iconic meals. The phrase bibimbap actually interprets to combined rice; then again, rice is simply one of the of the hearty dish’s aspect. Different standard substances come with sautéed greens, gochujang, soy sauce, meat, kimchi (see under) and a fried egg.

Invented in Taiwan however beloved around the globe, bubble tea is an international phenomenon that’s additionally a hyper-local beverage affectionately referred to as boba in Taipei. Taiwanese distributors in most cases serve the milky drink with a jumbo straw to house the inevitable cluster of tapioca balls that swim on the backside of every bubble tea cup.

Sucking up the comfortable tapioca spheres is part the joys of ingesting bubble tea. You might want to hypothetically order bubble tea with out the starchy balls however you then wouldn’t if truth be told be ingesting bubble tea. You’d simply be ingesting candy tea.

Mockingly, Bun Bo Hue interprets to Pork Noodle Soup from Hue even if bun bo broths frequently come with red meat. Further substances like lemongrass, shrimp paste and lime juice ramp up the flavour. Adventurous eaters upload cubed pig’s blood for much more taste.

Even though bun bo hue is definitely to be had during Vietnam, the most efficient position to slurp the highly spiced Vietnamese soup is in Hue the place it was once invented. Even though Hue provides guests many causes to discuss with beginning with its imperial citadel and an collection of lovely pagodas dotted alongside the Fragrance River, consuming bun bo hue for breakfast must be on the most sensible of any Hue record for meals vacationers.

While you consume bun cha, you’ll want to upload vegetables like lettuce, crimson and inexperienced Vietnamese shiso, cilantro, bean sprouts and banana blossoms on your dipping bowl. Should you’re additional hungry, you’ll get an aspect of nem so as to add to the combination. Those crispy spring rolls are the easiest bun cha accompaniment and are most often price priced.

Uncover extra nice meals to consume in Hanoi.

Char siu is solely the Cantonese delicacies model of barbecued red meat however the finish result’s so a lot more. To make char siu, Chinese language cooks marinate red meat in a flavorful barbeque sauce made with substances like crimson miso, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger and maltose (for added shine) after which roast the beef to crispy, charred-edge doneness.

The Chinese language aren’t on my own. Different Asian international locations like Japan and the Philippines have added char siu to their meals units.

After consuming char siu in Philadelphia‘s Chinatown each in heaping bowls of wonton noodle soup and atop plates of rice, we have been prepared to consume the roasted red meat dish in its native land. This dream changed into a fact all through our month-long commute to China.

We briefly changed into youngsters in a sweet store after we noticed a medley of meats placing in a Hong Kong eating place. Hong Kong is an epicenter for Cantonese meals favorites and town’s roasted meat sport didn’t disappoint those two char siu enthusiasts.

Chili crab is so standard in Singapore that it’s thought to be to be probably the most food-focused country’s nationwide dishes. To make chili crab, Singaporean cooks stir fry jumbo crabs and smother them with a sauce made with substances like tomato paste, sambal and vinegar. They then vie for the dignity of very best chili crab at the island.

Mockingly, the jumbo crabs used within the dish aren’t indigenous to Singapore. They’re from Sri Lanka, greater than 1,700 miles away. And, in an much more ironic flip of occasions, Sri Lanka is now house to probably the most celebrated chili crab eating place.

Should you simply have time for one meal and also you’re questioning the place to consume in Hong Kong, opt for dim sum. Don’t argue or debate with us. It is a non-negotiable advice. The one query is the place to head on your dim sum breakfast.

Without reference to your eating place selection, consuming dim sum in Hong Kong is a singular enjoy. Carts wheel across the eating room as diners scramble from their chairs to clutch treat-filled, spherical bamboo steamers with reckless abandon. Savvy dim sum diners know to stay up for the good things.

We’re keen on har gow (shrimp dumplings) and char siu bao (buns full of flavorful red meat) nevertheless it’s all excellent. Should you’re adventurous, opt for it and check out fung zao (rooster ft) too.

Uncover extra a laugh Hong Kong meals stories.

Hanoi’s egg espresso is extra of a dessert (assume creme brulee) than a beverage. Made with egg yolks, sugar and condensed milk, egg espresso is the most efficient drink you’ll consume in Vietnam.

Uncover greater than 100 of the very best muffins around the globe.

We first tasted egg espresso in Hanoi at Cafe Giang, the bustling, again alley, two-story cafe the place the dessert drink was once invented. While you discuss with the long-lasting cafe, you’ll order your egg espresso sizzling or iced. You’ll be able to even order diversifications with chocolate, inexperienced beans, rum and beer.

No longer handiest did we later drank egg espresso in different Vietnamese towns like Da Nang and Saigon, however we additionally sampled salt espresso, a twist on egg espresso that tastes unusually excellent, in Hue. Whilst shall we drink egg espresso without delay from the cup, we in most cases use a spoon as a substitute. It’s that wealthy and decadent.

With a historical past that comes with settlers from Scotland, slaves from West Africa and a Kentucky businessman who referred to as himself a colonel, the American south can rightfully stake a declare within the the Fried Rooster marketplace. However, regardless of this previous, towns like Memphis and Nashville don’t personal rights to this American meals favourite. The dish is simply as standard around the globe, in all probability nowhere extra so than South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.

In South Korean towns like Seoul and Busan, fried rooster is a crispy dish involving slightly smaller chickens, highly spiced seasonings and beer. No longer simply restricted to its native land, South Korea’s fried rooster has made its option to The united states and Europe.

In Japan, KFC has turn out to be THE meals to consume on Christmas. You’ll be able to upload this to the ‘fact is stranger than fiction’ class.

Uncover extra about KFC and our different nice speedy meals eating places.

In the beginning invented in Hainan, China and vastly standard in Singapore the place it’s thought to be a countrywide dish, this easy dish pairs poached rooster with rice cooked in a wealthy rooster broth. We nearly all the time order rooster and rice after we see it on a menu whether or not we’re in Chiang Mai, Da Nang, Las Vegas, Portland or Shanghai.

Thailand’s model, referred to as khao guy gai, is a Bangkok boulevard meals staple. Maximum distributors serve the dish with aspects of rooster soup and chili dipping sauce. The dish is known as nasi ayam in Malaysia, a rustic we’re but to discuss with, even though we all know what to reserve after we do.

Consuming sizzling pot in Chinese language towns like Chengdu and Chongqing is little short of an journey.

The eating enjoy comes to cooking uncooked meals in a simmering cauldron full of both highly spiced or in reality highly spiced soup. The thrill begins with the choice of uncooked substances that run the gamut from mushrooms and different greens to nearly each and every possible protein.

Arguably, cooking the meals on the desk is probably the most a laugh side of sizzling pot. Then again, we recognize those that believe consuming the meals to be much more a laugh.

Chefs get ready jalebi via deep frying batter and forming it right into a spiral form. They then saturate the fried dough with a sugary syrup that tastes each acquainted and unique.

Uncover extra Previous Delhi meals favorites.

In the beginning a noodle-free dish eaten via royalty centuries in the past, japchae changed into well liked by the hundreds within the twentieth century after dangmyeon noodles made with candy potato flour have been added to the recipe. Cellophane or glass-like in look, those noodles are as chewy as they’re translucent.

Different japchae substances come with greens like carrots, onions, mushrooms, scallions and spinach in addition to proteins like pork and red meat. A sauce made with sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin and sugar supplies the dish’s unique Korean taste.

Relationship again to the times of the Lanna Kingdom, khao soi can very best be described as Thai convenience meals in a bowl. The Northern Thai dish with Islamic Burmese roots is particularly standard within the northern towns of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

Thai chefs simmer khao soi low and sluggish for hours earlier than serving the highly spiced Thai noodle soup. As we discovered all through a Chiang Mai cooking magnificence, substances come with recent and fried egg noodles in addition to a different crimson curry and coconut milk.

Uncover extra nice meals to consume in Chiang Mai.

Kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish, is an integral a part of Korean delicacies.

Some over-achieving Korean chefs create their very own kimchi via fermenting greens like cabbage, carrots and radishes together with Korean spices like gochugaru to make kimchi of their house kitchens. Others purchase the Korean meals staple at meals markets. You’ll be able to even purchase kimchi from Amazon.

Make our fusion Latke recipe that includes kimchi.

Observe this step by step mapo tofu recipe and make the flavorful dish for your kitchen.

Mapo tofu isn’t a vegetarian dish. Whilst tofu is certainly a key aspect, the dish’s sauce has minced meat. You might want to more than likely make a meat-free model at house nevertheless it wouldn’t style slightly the similar.

In the similar means shaved ice made its approach from Japan to Hawaii, this icy dessert took a equivalent, but shorter path to Taipei. Then again, this Taiwanese model of shaved ice is larger and higher that variations in different international locations.

The fruity concoction is vastly standard amongst each Taiwanese locals and vacationers. Validating the adoration, CNN raved about it, calling it probably the most “Taiwanese meals we will be able to’t are living with out.”

Baked to have fun the yearly Mid-Autumn Competition which falls at the fifteenth day of the 8th lunar month, mooncakes are a Chinese language dessert loved in China in addition to in Japan and maximum Southeast Asia international locations. Intricate in design, mooncakes in most cases have fillings that may be both candy or savory.

Frequently given as a present and shared with family and friends, mooncakes are a delicacy that price greater than standard Asian pastries and muffins. Then again, relating to celebrating the Moon Goddess of Immortality, mooncakes are worthwhile.

Indonesia didn’t invent the idea that of frying rice. That honor more than likely is going to China. Then again, Indonesians have made the dish their very own and contact it nasi goreng (i.e. fried rice) in towns like Bali and Jakarta.

One in every of six nationwide Indonesian dishes, nasi goreng differentiates itself from different international fried rice dishes with the inclusion of kecap manis (candy soy sauce) and terasi (shrimp paste). Including proteins like shrimp, rooster and fried eggs turns the dish right into a meal.

Manila’s bustling Chinatown relationship again to 1594 is an excellent spot to consume Filipino variations of Chinese language meals. With only some hours within the Asian mega-city, that’s precisely what we did and we began with an ou luak, an oyster Omelette sometimes called an oyster cake.

This ramped up egg dish contains substances like chili, fish sauce and meaty oysters. It’s totally other from French and American omelettes and, keep in mind that, we like the dish.

You must be simply ready to search out oyster omelettes in different Asian international locations like China, Taiwan and Thailand. However don’t pass over the Filipino model. It’s a winner.

Don’t rely out pad Thai regardless of its recognition and coffee price. It’s a cast way to order at each boulevard stalls and in eating places during Thailand. As an advantage, protein choices come with rooster, shrimp and tofu, making the sexy to vegetarian vacationers and their carnivore buddies.

Uncover extra Thai meals favorites.

The Chinese language had been consuming Peking duck for millennia. The dish was once invented in Beijing and remains to be to be had at sprawling eating places across the metropolis. As up to now, nowadays’s Peking duck is notable for its crispy pores and skin and candy bean dipping sauce.

After consuming the dish for years in Philadelphia, experiencing the dish in its birthplace was once a most sensible precedence all through our first commute to China. We achieved that objective with a dish decorated with cucumber slices, spring onions and pancakes. Bottles of Chinese language lager finished the bucket record eating meal.

Simply the most well liked Vietnamese meals on the earth, pho lives as much as its vaunted popularity when eaten in its native land. Named after the flat, fettuccine-like pho noodles that fill the bowl, pho in Vietnam is natural magic. Mockingly, even though, Vietnamese noodle soup is other relying on the place you slurp it.

In Hanoi, the place pho was once invented again within the early twentieth century, the French-influenced broth has transparent flavors advanced all through a simmering procedure that marries the protein to the liquid. In spite of its obvious simplicity, Hanoi’s pho is a fancy, pleasant meal in a bowl.

Unusually other, pho in Saigon in most cases has a richer style and frequently comes with a spread of sizzling and candy condiments alongside in addition to quite a lot of leafy inexperienced herbs. Pho in Saigon and the remainder of the South maximum resembles the pho served in North American eating places.

The 2 major Vietnamese pho types are rooster (pho ga) and pork (pho bo). The most efficient pho distributors in most cases serve one or the opposite, ladling the soup from huge vats to queues of hungry pho enthusiasts.

Uncover extra of the very best soups on the earth.

The Eastern didn’t invent ramen. That credit score is going to the Chinese language who firstly created wheat lamien noodles, ramen’s inspiration. The Eastern, then again, get credit score for growing ramen into a global meals favourite.

For the uninitiated, standard bowls of ramen have savory broth, toothy wheat noodles, chāsū (red meat), nori (seaweed), scallions and a softly boiled egg. Broth diversifications come with miso, shoyo (soy sauce), shio (salt) and tonkotsu (red meat bone). And this doesn’t ponder regional diversifications like Hakata ramen in Fukuoka or Hokaido ramen in (you guessed it) Hokaido.

Don’t fear in case your shuttle plans to increase past Tokyo and Osaka, You’ll be able to to find superb ramen diversifications in Japan’s greatest towns in addition to in its tiniest cities. There are few regulations about the type of ramen a cook dinner can dream up. It’s Japan’s most enjoyable meals to consume at the cross.

Uncover nice ramen retail outlets in Osaka after which discover the very best speedy ramens.

Opting for one Indian curry can be a problem if Mindi didn’t love sag panee such a lot. To her, it’s the most efficient Indian dish when paired with both naan or basmati rice and it’s the curry she orders over and over and once more.

Sag paneer is made via cooking a inexperienced vegetable (generally spinach) right into a thick paste and including chunks of establishment cottage cheese referred to as paneer to the combination. All the time vegetarian, this dish may also be ready from delicate to highly spiced. Mindi chooses the latter and also you must too in case your style buds can take care of the warmth.

Greater than a condiment however lower than a meal, sambol’s number one aspect is freshly grated coconut. We in most cases despise Asian dishes that function coconut and but we beloved each and every model of sambol that we sampled in Sri Lanka.

Different standard sambol substances come with chili, lime juice, dried Maldive fish and shallots. Sri Lankans mix those substances and grind them with a granite rolling pin referred to as a miris gala. Many Sri Lankans benefit from the dish in conventional genre – with their fingers. Then again, sambol tastes simply as excellent when eaten with utensils.

Scallion pancakes are an ordinary boulevard meals eaten all through the day and night time in each China and Taiwan. Taking into account its low value and portability, this crispy deal with made with spring onions could also be probably the most ultimate boulevard meals whilst you’re yearning a savory snack in both of those international locations.

Should you’re focused on the cost, a undeniable scallion pancake price us 25 TWD (below a buck USD) after we visited Taipei in 2018. We wolfed the tasty deal with once we purchased it. Like maximum fried meals, those pillowy but crunchy morsels style very best once they’re sizzling off the griddle.

Soba actually interprets to buckwheat and that’s precisely the kind of noodle used on this dish. Made with buckwheat flour as marketed, soba noodles are each longer and thinner than ramen and udon noodles.

Eastern eating places serve soba noodles each sizzling and chilled, frequently with tsuyu dipping sauce. Concurrently earthy and nutty, soba proves that ramen and udon aren’t the one noodles value consuming in Japan.

Bucking the buckwheat development, Okinanawa soba has wheat noodles as a substitute of buckwheat noodles. With further substances like red meat stomach, fish desserts, sliced scallions and pickled ginger, the regional soup is its personal colourful, tasty factor.

Uncover extra Eastern meals favorites.

Sushi is solely sliced uncooked fish served atop a mound of steamed rice that’s been seasoned with vinegar. It’s additionally evidence that easy meals is frequently the most efficient meals.

You don’t have to appear laborious to search out sushi in Japan. You’ll be able to to find it at 7-11 comfort shops, markets and eating places. At the low finish, sushi is reasonably priced and obtainable to all. At the top finish, as proven within the film Jiro Goals of Sushi, it’s a three-star, life-changing enjoy.

Adventurous meals vacationers will need to take a look at conveyor belt sushi in Japan each for the quirky enjoy and the number of uncooked fish. Standard choices come with ebi nigiri (shrimp) hamachi (yellowtail), ikura (salmon roe), maguro nigiri (tuna), sake nigiri (salmon), toro (tuna stomach) and uni (sea urchin).

Indubitably, takayaki belongs within the Eastern boulevard meals corridor of popularity.

Actually translating to ‘octopus balls’, takayaki are little treats full of octopus meat that distributors had been frying in particular pans for nearly a century. In the beginning a boulevard meals in Osaka, takayaki at the moment are to be had during Japan and in Asian towns like Hong Kong and Taipei. Should you glance laborious sufficient, you’ll sometimes to find takayaki in western towns too.

A part of the joys of consuming takayaki is to revel in them piping sizzling, simply off the grill. Pop them for your mouth and notice if you’ll take care of the inevitable scalding burn. Don’t fear – the ache is worthwhile.

Uncover extra nice meals in Osaka.

Go away your preconceptions about fried meals at the back of whilst you order tempura in Japan as both a starter or major dish. Even though tempura is deep fried, it doesn’t style greasy and it’s no longer messy to consume.

Eastern cooks get ready tempura via exactly chopping substances like shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, lotus roots and shishito peppers earlier than calmly coating them with batter and deep frying them in oil. Since locals dip the crispy, savory treats in ten-tsuyu dipping sauce, we propose that you simply do the similar. An alternative choice is to sprinkle on salt earlier than taking the primary chunk.

Amusing Reality
The Eastern discovered the artwork of tempura from Portuguese missionaries who traveled to Japan within the sixteenth century. The unique Portuguese dish is known as Peixinhos da Horta.

The phrase thali actually interprets to plate however be expecting a lot more whilst you order thali at an Indian eating place. This actual dish comes to a platter crowned with choice of small steel bowls referred to as katori, every full of a delectable tidbit. Naan and/or rice completes the platter.

Maximum Indian eating places be offering thali choices each with and with out meat. Be expecting quite a lot of candy and savory curries and chutneys whichever possibility you select. There’s no dangerous selection right here.

We don’t know Tom however we agree that his soup is yum. All jokes apart, whilst there’s no Tom, there’s quite a few yum on this dish. Tom if truth be told refers back to the boiling procedure used to make this dish.

Conventional tom yum soup accommodates standard Thai substances like kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, Thai chilies and galangal (i.e. Thai ginger). Including prawns upgrades tom yum to tom yum goong, a transfer that we’ve by no means regretted making in Thailand.

Discovering udon in Japan is the other of a problem. Offered to Japan via China greater than a millennium in the past, udon is served each cold and hot in arrangements that vary from soup to curry.

Udon is more difficult to search out out of doors of Japan in comparison to ramen, the rustic’s extra prolific wheat noodle. Let’s face it, ramen is almost far and wide. Then again, in the event you glance laborious sufficient you’ll to find udon at Eastern eating places around the globe.

Even though Shanghai is referred to as the world headquarters for xiao lengthy bao(i.e. soup dumplings), Taiwan can justifiably stake a declare to soup dumpling popularity with its Din Tai Fung. Open since 1972, the worldwide eating place chain began in Taipei and has been making one of the very best soup dumplings on the earth for over 40 years.

Consuming xiao lengthy bao comes to sucking broth out of doughy goblets earlier than dousing them with vinegar and sizzling chili oil. You’ll wish to order a basket of those dangerous boys each time you notice them on a menu in towns like Shanghai and Taipei.

Yakitori changed into a part of Eastern delicacies within the nineteenth century when boulevard stalls beginning grilling skewered rooster items over charcoal. Rapid ahead to the current and yakitori is now a staple at eating places during the rustic. And, due to Anthony’s Bourdain’s Tokyo No Reservations episode, the dish is now well liked by western guests who clamor to dine at yakitori eating places like Toriki and Hen Land.

No longer restricted to thighs and breasts, Eastern cooks grill skewered rooster hearts and cartilage, amongst different portions, over white binchotan charcoal to quite a lot of ranges of doneness. They then serve the skewers on easy small plates.

The foundations are so inflexible in China that the stern model has quite a lot of balanced parts and contains Jinhua ham (Chinese language: 金華火腿), a different dried ham produced within the neighboring Zhejiang province. China’s ‘via the ebook’ chao fan recipe additionally requires sea cucumber and crab meat. Since some argue that the dish is incomplete with out those two parts, we’ll incorporate the ones substances into an ultra-fancy model sooner or later after we’re feeling in particular adventurous.

Do that idiot evidence yangzhou fried rice recipe for a style of China at house.

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