Volcano Curry, SF

When Tutu and I go out to eat, we usually look at Yelp and that determines what we eat.  The 3 recommendations in bold that Yelp gave us were chicken katsu curry, chicken karaage and potato croquette.  We ordered almost all that, except instead of chicken katsu we got pork katsu since we already got chicken karaage.  For the curry spiciness level, one can choose mild, medium, hot or volcano (something like that anyway) and we chose volcano.  The curry itself was pretty good, and came with some carrots and potatoes.  It was spicier than we expected, but I think we both didn't mind/liked it.  The katsu was well breaded and was yummy too.  Sadly, the chicken karaage was one of the worst I have ever had, the breading was not crispy and the chicken itself didn't taste that great.  The potato croquette was mediocre and meh.  So I say, if you are in the area, come for the curry, but everything else was really whatever.

Shabu Club, SF

Do not go here.  I repeat, do NOT go here.  At least not for the ramen burger.  Ever since Tutu showed me the ramen wings article, I have been a bit obsessed with ramen-y things, especially since Hot Sauce and Panko deprived us of ramen wings when they took it off their menu permanently.  So when we heard about the ramen burger, we thought we had to try it.  We had originally identified Nombe, but it had such bad reviews.  Shabu Club had pretty bad reviews too, but was a tad better than Nombe.  So, after much waiting and anticipation after being out of town, off we went.

The restaurant actually looked really nice for a shabu place in the Inner Richmond, so we were pleasantly surprised and had high hopes!  We ordered the kamikaze wings and the Kobe beef fries.  The wings tasted alright, but both the Kobe beef fries and the ramen burger were extremely disgusting.  They had a huge dollop of mayo which wasted weird.  The meat tasted like it was just minutes shy of going bad.  The ramen bun of the burger tasted like it had been fried hours ago, and was somewhere between being crunch and super soggy.  The fries themselves were fine, but just the sight of the meat and the mayo just made me sick.  I rarely waste food, but there was no way I was going to finish any of that crap.  We barely finished, got the check, and left feeling very ill.

Do.  Not.  Go.

Trouble, SF

Like I said, there is this toast craze in SF.  The Dawg and I went to the Mill a week or so ago, and then Trouble this past weekend with Lingon in tow.  The 2 experiences could not be any different.

The Mill is this nice airy cafe place in Alamo Square.  Tastefully decorated with vintage cool articles and loaves of bread, high ceilings, airy, lots of natural sunlight, it felt like the ultimate yuppie place.  As we were in line outside Trouble (the original location in the Outer Sunset), we heard super loud rap music blasting from inside the shop.  The moment we entered, we just stopped talking since we did not want to yell at each other.  The store was sparsely decorated with a toy horse hanging from the ceiling.  Very classy.  Seemed more,,, hippy?

Trouble had only one type of toast, I believe it had butter, cinnamon, peanut butter, honey, and maybe a couple of other things.  The bread they use is made offsite, at some French bakery whose name they refused to reveal.  Once it got toasted, the interior was soft and fluffy, and with the toppings nice and rich.  Basic plain flavours, but very delicious.  I tried taking a picture of the bread, but the guy yelled at me and said no photo.  It's not like the bread had a brand on it that would identify it anyway.  Luckily I already took the picture, though it was kind of blurry.

The Mill has more artisanal bread.  The toppings are less traditional, more unique, and they had more flavours.  When we went there were 3 different kinds.  Some of their toppings are homemade.  For more description see the Mill post here.

I enjoyed both toasts.  However the experience at Trouble left much to be desired.  The people were not nice, the music was too loud, felt like the place was trying too hard.  I probably would go back to the Mill and try different flavours, but I doubt I will go back again to try the same thing.

To sum it up, go when you are in the area, but for $3.50-4.00/slice, just make your own at home.

The Mill, SF

It was just a matter of time before I visited this place.  Having heard so much about it, I knew I would have to show up to try this famed super expensive toast.  I had 2 friends who came separately a couple of weeks ago and had some jam toast which they highly recommend (one was the Dawg, actually).  The Dawg, Lingon and I keep thinking of visiting after dinner, but again places in SF close early which is just SO frustrating.  Anyway, the Dawg and I finally made it here.

Sadly the bread that the jam toast was spread on was out of the weekly rotation.  So, we ordered:
1)  Cream cheese with ground pepper and sea salt on dark mountain rye and
2)  Dark brown sugar and cinnamon with butter on cinnamon raisin bread.
The breads used here for the toast are made by Josey Baker Bread.  The mountain rye was dense and nutty flavoured, and the cinnamon raisin bread was soft and fluffy.  Both were delish!  The loafs were sliced, and the placed facing downwards to prevent the bread from drying out.  The slices were sliced just before they were put in the toasters, so no mass slicing.  Some slices got the honour of being put in a couple of different toasters, to toast to perfection.  Then the spreads on both toasts were lovingly spread by the toastmaster (I'm sure that means a different thing).  (Read: the lady took FOREVER to spread the toppings on the toast.)  It was clear that the toppings were of higher quality, and the combinations were killer.  But would I pay $3.50-$4 for toast again?  Maybe, to try different flavours.  Maybe I would find my dream toast.  Maybe I should The Mill to kaya!!

Golden Star Vietnamese Restaurant, SF

It was the day after a very very long day at work, up on my feet the whole day, running up slopes and hills and stairs.  The body felt tired to the bone, the eyelids could not really keep fully up, the throat a bit scratchy, the mouth and brain were uncoordinated and words felt slurred.  Sort of like a hangover, but with zero alcohol.  It was a pho day!  Soupy foods have always been a comfort food.  I had initially suggested Turtle Tower, but the Dawg had vetoed that.  We had been to Golden Star together before and that was acceptable to us both.

I had some filter on, so pardon the look of the photos.  I had beef and beef ball pho.  The soup was a lot clearer and lighter than I remembered it to be, which was great especially for such a day.  This was probably the first time too I ever had pho without hoisin sauce and/or sriracha!  It was delicious and a perfect cure for my poor body.

The Dawg ordered a pork vermicelli noodles with imperial rolls.  I had a taste of the pork, which had some amazing marinade and was delish.  The imperial rolls were pretty good too.

This place definitely cures a pho or vermicelli noodle craving.  It's a great cheap meal if you're in the Chinatown area!

Toy Boat Dessert Cafe and Loving Cup, Dessert in SF

After a savoury dinners, the urge for something sweet presses.  Who you gonna call?  Erm... no one?  It's no secret that San Francisco's dessert scene is somewhat dismal.  Plus the fact that things close early, and dessert occurs after dinner, the choice is sparse.  Faced with the brain's screaming for dessert and the limited choices, we hit up Toy Boat Dessert Cafe and Loving Cup (on separate occasions).

Toy Boat Dessert Cafe is an interesting place.  It looks like a diner with a bunch of toys.  Yes, exactly that.  We had a chocolate cake and an olallieberry pie.  I wasn't impressed.

Loving Cup is a fro-yo and rice pudding place.  I have tried both on 2 separate occasions.  While both are fine, they are by no means great.

No pictures of these, unfortunately, but you're not missing much.

Side note, when we went to Sweden, the supermarket sold rice pudding that was really good.  I'm going on a supermarket hunt tomorrow for this!

Pizzetta 211, SF

I forgot why I wanted to visit Pizzetta 211.  Usually I read about food in SFGate, or UrbanDaddy, and I get inspired.  Anyhow, this place had been on my list for possibly years, and Lingon and the Dawg had pizza cravings, so off we went to the (gasp) Outer Richmond.

One of my biggest issues driving to such neighbourhoods is the lack of parking.  I used to live in Snob Hill and not own a garage spot, so I think I have paid my dues in circling and searching for parking.  Plus this place doesn't have a garage, so there's NO back up!  I got dropped off to put my name down, but the other 2 Musketeers continued circling for a while.  Thankfully we found a spot right outside the restaurant.

The wait was not long.  We were there on a Wednesday night, and there was only 1 party ahead of us.  We had already chosen our 3 pizzas while waiting:
1)  Braised Lamb Ragu, Eggplant, Pine Nut, Feta, Mint
2)  Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil with White Anchovies
3)  Farm Egg, Roasted Corn, Pasilla Pepper, Cherry Tomato, Bacon
In addition, there was a appetizer special which was burrata with broccolini  which we ordered.

The appetizer was delicious.  The pizza toppings were very unique and I think very well paired.  A good solid pizza meal, but for driving all the way out here, and the stress of having to search for parking, I don't really think I would do it again.  There are many other pizza places that I want to try!

It just occurred to me that I should really start a Mushroomin  Guide (geddit?).  I'm reviewing all these places and saying whether it's worth a detour or a trek out to a faraway neighbourhood, or good to eat if you are in the area, etc.  Heh heh!  Next money making venture??

Ramen Yamadaya, SF

I've wanted to try Ramen Yamadaya since it opened!  For the amount of good food we have in San Francisco, we have a lack of amazing ramen places.  Katana-Ya is OK, but that perpetual gawdawful line outside the restaurant simply deters me from even thinking of going there.  Ramen Yamadaya comes from LA, which equals probably good ramen, which equals Mushroom is interested.  Their main broth is tonkotsu, which I love for its richness, but which I also hate for its fattiness and how gross I feel after I eat it.  But off we go!

I finally had a quiet afternoon when I felt I had done enough exercise to warrant a ramen meal.  I went to Ramen Yamadaya a few minutes before it opened to ensure I did not have to wait.  Cha-ching!  First in line!  I had to wait for a few minutes but I had things to read so that was not too bad.  I had Yelped the place, and I knew I was interested in the tonkotsu kotteri, which is their broth with black garlic oil.  Oily it was and delicious it was!  I was also interested in trying the Yamadaya topping, which was 2 types of chashu, dried seaweed and egg.  I assumed this included a fatty pork belly.  I would have ordered the pork belly on its own, but the pictures of it looked very large and I did not want to feel too awful...

I must say, the menu was kind of hard to understand.  I wish I had the patience to ask the staff what the Yamadaya ramen meant.  Like, the regular tonkotsu kotteri came with one piece of lean chashu, half an egg, bamboo shoots (which I hated anyway) and the dried mushrooms.  The Yamadaya topping came with what I mentioned above, which was 2 types of chashu, dried seaweed and egg, but also more bamboo (more yucks), mushrooms and green onions.  And then the tonkotsu kotteri was 50 cents more expensive than the regular tonkotsu, so that means the garlic oil cost 50 cents?  The Yamadaya ramen came with two types of chashu, seaweed, egg and bamboo shoots (and I'm pretty sure dried mushrooms too).  So if I do the math, I came out ahead when I order the tonkotsu kotteri plus Yamadaya topping vs Yamadaya ramen plus extra garlic oil, because the price should be the same but I get one extra piece of chashu?  Anyway, that's me thinking too much and I shall stop for now.

Back to the ramen.  It was good, I really enjoyed it, and if I was in the area or craving for ramen I think I would go back.  I don't know how long the wait would be though, for dinner or a later lunch, so I suppose if I had to wait a long time I would rethink that.  The noodles were firm and springy, the broth was rich, the garlic oil gave it a little something, and the fattier pork (not sure if this was pork belly) was delicious.  The regular chashu was really dry though.  During lunch they also give you a free tea, which was nice to wash down all the oil.

Possibly the best ramen in SF, methinks.

Cafe Bunn Mi, SF

I've been to Cafe Bunn Mi before, quite a while ago, and I think I tried the banh mi.  It was good, but really not good enough to make it all the way back to the Inner Richmond.

Last November, I went to Vietnam, and one of my favourite, if not my favourite, dishes I had was bun rieu cha noodles in a crab tomato soup.  Such a simple dish, one small bowl of noodles with fresh vegetables and garnish, and such a lasting impression.  My travel buddy Chewy was asleep, and since I'm an early riser I had to find something to do.  I had read that this was one of the to-eat dishes in Hanoi, and right outside our hotel was a little shop that sold this!  I dabao'd for us, and we ate it in the hotel room for breakfast.  I should have bought 2 portions instead of one.  That's how good it was!

When I got back to SF, I decided to look for this dish.  The first one I tried was Soup Junkie.  The broth was flavourless, did not taste anything like crab, and the vegetables and garnish were unmemorable (were there any?).  Luckily this place was just 2 blocks from my apartment, so I did not make a wasted trip.  Yelp told me of Cafe Bunn Mi's bun rieu cha, and the photos looked really good.  This dish did not disappoint.  The noodles were firm, the broth was thick with crab and tomato flavour, the tofu was a nice touch that was not in my Hanoi version, and the vegetables and garnish were super fresh.  I would definitely go back to the Inner Richmond for that.  Yes, it was THAT good.

Lingon made it on this odyssey with me to the Inner Richmond.  He got the Saigon noodles.  Those were good too, but to me they were not any more special than stuff we could find near our apartment.

Well, for those who like or are interested in this dish, please do visit Cafe Bunn Mi.  I have dreams of this place now.

Other NYC Eats

I really want to close out the NYC section and focus on more current things.  So I lumped a few food experiences into one.

My second to last night in NYC, I had the pleasure of dining on my own, so I went to an old favourite that I had not been to for a long time, The Halal Guys.  What surprised me was across the street, there was another Halal Guys, same colour scheme and everything.  I think it was the same cart.  Anyhow, I ordered the combo plate, and went back to the hotel.  Strangely enough, we entered the lift, and the couple already in the lift were carrying the same coloured plastic bag with the same food.  We asked, and they had indeed gone to the same place.  The food was still good, I think less tasty than previously, so was a bit disappointed.  However for a cheap good meal in NYC, and the fact that I have not found anywhere with a better version of this dish, I guess I will go back.

The next morning, I sort of ran out of cheap fun places I was interested in to visit, so I thought of some comfort Chinese food.  I found some article about cheap eats in NYC, and one of them was porridge at Great NY Noodletown.  Despite reading a kind of creepy article about the chemicals used in the fermentation of the duck egg to make it into pei dan (century egg), I decided this was the dish of choice.  I also ordered a plate of roast meat with char siew and duck.  Hit the spot for a little Chinese craving, but I suppose I wouldn't really particularly recommend this to anyone.

Next stop, I decided to be clever and try to find the famed cronut at Dominic Ansel Bakery.  When I entered the bakery, I was met with this line.  I walked to the back and asked some bakers if there were still cronuts and they regretfully shaked their head.  Well, if you really want a cronut, don't get there at 11.30am!  Off to the next place!

In that same food article where I heard of Great NY Noodletown, I read about a delicious olive oil bread at Abraço.  Since today was a day of exploring maybe what I just invented So14th, I marched on.  The window was out of olive oil bread!  I persevered and asked the dude behind the counter, and he said they had a fresh one.  In luck!  I was 1) hungry and 2) overly excited, so I forgot to take a picture, but here's one I stole from the www.  Dear person to whom the photo belongs to, please let me know if you have an issue with it, and I will take it off.  Please do not sue.  This was a most DELISH piece of bread.  Super olive oil-y, moist, I wanted to finish it, but I was kind and saved half for Lingon.  LIKE!

Last on my stop before I had to head back to the hotel and the off to the airport (sob), I went to another old favourite, Rice to Riches.  Got my favourite cookies and cream, and then the mango peach which I liked but both Lingon and I found it too sweet.  The price of R2R (I'm so witty!) has gone up so much since I first went there.  Too bad it's by far the best rice pudding I've ever had.  Hm, well maybe La Regalade St Honore, but Loving Cup here in SF doesn't hold a candle to it.  I think the quality is still really high, and I really enjoyed my last special treat!  :-)

Breakfast at the St Regis in NYC

This must have been the most ridiculous eat in NYC.  Granted it came free with the hotel room because Lingon is a Starwood Platinum member, the bill was ridiculous.  The meal seems to come with unlimited coffee, tea and juice.  Then, they offer you a choice between granola (which is some amazing grains, dried cranberries coconut, etc.), muesli and a mountain of yoghurt with some fruit or granola on top.  And then, they give you a bread basket.  Yes, one bread basket a person, with 5 pastries.  They jam and honey is packaged specially for the St Regis, made in Austria.  On the second day, we informed them that we would just share one bread basket.  Who can finish 5 pieces of pastry on their own?!  Certainy not me!  Everything is pretty damn yummy.  And then... they give you the bill.  $55/person for the continental breakfast.  FWAH!!!! Well, luckily it was free.  :-)

Grimaldi's NYC

Again another one of those establishments I've been wanting to try for years.  This one had a veritable reason to not attend - the famed long terrible lines.  Some said 2 hours.  For pizza????  Mad.  Plus, the reviews all say the standard has dropped, which is another reason not to go.

Anyhow, I decided on this trip I would walk across the Brooklyn Bridge since my failed attempt back in 2009 or so.  I took the train to Brooklyn, found my pizza place, and marched right in.  As I stepped in the door, this creepy looking man pounced forward and I think his words were "what do you want?"  Being an extremely direct person, I said "to eat pizza".  He asked me if I had called to order, and I was probably like "erm no I was going to eat here".  Anyway, a most unpleasant welcome.

He dumped me at the bar, and I waited for maybe about 10 minutes before someone gave me water.  During this whole time no one even spoke to me.  I was hungry since it was a late lunch, maybe around 1pm, and so I mustered the courage to ask someone to take my order, and he told me to wait for whoever I was supposed to wait for.  10 minutes later someone came and took my order.

I ordered the white pizza with sausage.  Quite yummy, but for pizza I should not have been subject to such cruel and unusual punishment by those jerk faces.  Not really impressive, just good ol' white pizza.  So I'd say save your time and your money and go somewhere else.

Anyhow, on a site note, I was there on a week day early afternoon.  I thought the place would be empty, and it was around 1pm when I got there, but when I left maybe 45 mins later, there was a line of maybe 10 people outside.  Crazy.

Next pizza place when I visit the Big Apple - Roberta's, also in Brooklyn.  Strong recommendation from friends.

Babbo NYC

I have heard so much about Babbo since my sister lived in New York something like 6-8 years ago.  Never been there, but we decided to try it this time.

From the chef, we got chick peas on bread.  We were hungry so we ate it, but it really was not very good.

For starters, we had sardines and beef tartare.  We were really only going to do the sardines, but the waiter made a good sell and told us about the (RED) program, and Lingon's just like, OK we'll do it.  They were both pretty good, but I wouldn't say I died for either.

Then we came to the part I was so excited about - the pastas!  We ordered the Black Spaghetti with Royal Red Shrimp, Spicy Salami Calabrese and Green Chilies, Garganelli with “Funghi Trifolati” and Fettuccine with House-Made Pancetta and Asparagus and.  They were all very good, but I wouldn't say outstanding for the dishes themselves.

For dessert, we had the olive oil cake, which was quite olive oil-y but a bit dry.  With the ice cream, it was OK.

Overall, a solid meal, but for the price I'd go somewhere else.

Totto Ramen NYC

There is/was so much hype about Totto Ramen, I've wanted to try it for a very long time but the wait has always daunted me.  It's funny, I used to be OK waiting in line for Mama's for 2 hours, but now time is more precious, and I have to choose wisely what lines I want to wait in.  I think part of this change is due to Lingon's aversion to standing in line.

I was trying to find somewhere new and yummy to eat close-ish to our new hotel.  I read about Totto Ramen opening a second location and how the lines were shorter there.  We decided to hit it!

We arrived early, about 15 minutes before the restaurant was to open.  To my dismay, there were already 2 people in line.  Oh well, no big deal I suppose.  That's just me being competitive.  I'm glad we arrived early though, because when the restaurant opened its doors at noon, we obviously managed to make the first seating, but I think 10 minutes after opening and people had to wait for the second seating.  That's what I call kiasu.  ;-)

We ordered the spicy tuna don, which I think was OK but Lingon said it was his favourite.  The pork buns were pretty good - 2 to an order.  I really enjoyed the ramen - we got spicy and miso ramen and I liked both quite a lot.  The thing about ramen is I'm not that discerning.  I thought Totto was really good, but not that special.  Unrefined palate, I suppose.  I wish I was like those people who could comment on the texture, thickness of the broth, etc. but I'm not.  Then again, maybe it's good, and it will just let me be happy and enjoy my ramen without being too analytical.

The only ramen place I've really found truly super special was Ippudo in Japan.  I went to one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto.  (On that note, I've never been to an Ippudo outside of Japan.)  They had very unique flavours, so in that sense it was special to me.

Summary:  go early if you want to eat at Totto.  The wait's not that worth it.

SakaMai NYC

I really don't like writing my posts weeks after.  For this reason, you will be (hopefully) seeing in the coming days a bunch of posts from my NYC trip.  Sadly I will not attempt to blog anything before that.  I wish I could, but it's just hard.  I will strive to be more timely with my posts.  Makes me sad to think of so many wasted memories.

I always have troubles with trying new foods or restaurants when I make repeat visits to places.  I'm trying.  SakaMai is probably the best new restaurant that I got to try.  Again, recommended by my NYC friends, it was a hit!

From left to right, top to bottom, let me start.
Foie gras chawanmushi - starved of foie gras here in California, I try to get it wherever I can.  The combination was killer, silky smooth tofu with the rich fat liver.  At times like this, I'm glad that Lingon tries to eat healthy, since I got to eat most of this dish!
Sake - this was mostly Lingon, I have no idea what it was but it was cold unfiltered sake.  It was quite tasty, and I actually had maybe a quarter of a shot (which is a lot for me!).
Seared scallop, wild rice risotto, anchovy miso, fried dill - 'tis what the menu said, so 'tis what I said.  The scallop was very fresh and sweet.  The risotto was rich, creamy and tasty.  But I tasted no anchovy!  Wasn't a big deal, I do love anchovy, but this dish was really good anyhow.
Homemade tofu - good but nothing special.  Lots of people seemed to love it on Yelp, but for the most part tofu is just tofu, to me.
Egg on egg on egg - sea urchin, sturgeon caviar, bed of scrambled eggs.  Definitely the most innovative dish imo.  The server told me it was the most popular dish, and people would just come here because they wanted to take pictures of it.  Well, great idea, and super delicious.  Pardon my lack of adjectives, but the whole dish was so rich and creamy, I could have gotten a heart attach.  Thankfully I did not.
Kanpachi - good quality fish, well put together, but I feel like any decent sushi place could have done this.
Secret iberico pork, farro salad, kogashi shoyu - super yummy pork, and give my recent fondness for farro, really appealed to my senses.
Tai Cha (Japanese sea bream) with grilled rice ball, hojicha soup - I actually found the fish rather miserable.  It was the one disappointment of the meal.  Lingon on the other hand liked it, but I dare say his standards for good food is different from mine.  Well, given that both of us don't have exactly the same tastes, it happens.  I found the fish a little too fishy for a bream, kind of like old fish.  The rice ball was interesting, different, and having the tea soup poured into it was a pretty elegant touch, but just seemed like the Korean stone pot rice bowl where they pour the tea and it becomes porridge like.  I wouldn't say I liked the rice ball and soup, but appreciated something more than fish on a bed of rice.
Green tea creme brulee - the cookie/cracker thing that came with it was nice, like a soft short bread, very buttery.  The creme brulee was good, nothing special or innovative about it, just good ol' green tea creme brulee.

Yum!

Maialino NYC

We went here for brunch as I had a recommendation from a friend for the ricotta pancakes.  We arrived a little early for our reservation, and the hostess rather rudely told us that we had to wait.  I was a little annoyed, but I suppose I just accept that NYC people are a little snobby.  Anyhow, we finally got seated.  I ordered my ricotta pancakes, and Lingon ordered this vegetable egg white frittata thing.  So first, the frittata.  It ABSOLUTELY drives me insane when Lingon goes somewhere and orders healthy food just coz it's healthy.  It's like, why don't you eat hard boiled eggs?!  But of all the healthy options, I suppose this was the most interesting on the menu, and thank goodness it was not oatmeal or yoghurt or I might have flipped the sh*t.  It was very normal.  I could have made it.  NEXT.

My ricotta pancakes came with strawberry jam and maple syrup.  They were both good.  The pancakes... they were DIVINE.  They were soft and fluffy and fragrant.  Every bite was like a bit into fluffy pancake heaven.  The inside of the pancake was warm and moist.  I'd definitely go back again.  I'm not big on brunch, but this was YUMMY.  Plus they serve it everyday so I could probably take a morning and go get breakfast.

I got overly excited with our entrees.  I forgot to mention, we also got the Suppli al Telefono, which were Tomato Risotto Croquettes & Mozzarella.  Pardon the caps, I stole the name of the dish from the website.  The croquettes were crunchy on the outside, and the risotto on the inside was moist and tasty.  The tomato sauce was delicious, a little too salty for me, but full disclaimer - most things are salty to me.

Maialino brunch is a go!  <3

Kusakabe

I am finally back in San Francisco for a somewhat extended period of time.  Home sweet home.  I feel like tapping my red shoes.  There's truly no place like home.  This was the latest restaurant we have visited, so it may seem like I'm caught up, but really I still have all my NYC restaurants to write about.  Let's see if we get there...

 

It isn't that often that we visit newly opened restaurants, at home or when we travel.  However given my recent crazy over Japanese restaurants, and the fact that the chef of one of our favourite Japanese restaurants in San Francisco, Akiko's, went there two days in a row, the first time being opening day, I just had to try it.  They have one prix fixe menu daily for $95.  The two chefs came from Sushi Ran.  Quite nice friendly guys, and I had a lot of fun sitting at the bar and chatting with them.  They both live in Marin and carpool together everyday.  When I said "oh you must be best friends now", I got mad laughter.  Lol.  Anyhow, the meal was good.  The fish was of very good quality, and some of the sushi was rather unique.  However, for the price, I wish there was more unique pieces, as I feel like a large majority of the meal was sushi.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, I was just expecting more variety.  They did say they are still waiting for some larger equipment, so hopefully the menu will be more refined in time.  The prix fixe menu is down below, as are some pictures.  They have an a la carte menu that you can order from after the prix fixe, which I think is kind of weird, but we got a green tea creme brulee which was made by Chef Nori's wife.

Welcoming Tea

Sushi Prelude - seared bluefin tuna, 2 seasonal sushi, Temari style sushi

Sashimi - chef's choice

Soup - duck dumpling miso soup

Unique sushi - Cured ocean trout

Warm dish - crab, crispy rice cracker tofu in dashi broth

Sushi chic - 2 seasonal sushi

Sushi finale - Copper River king salmon, toro or wagyu

Ipoh notes

The last blog from our Malaysian trip was just some summary notes from Ipoh.

We went to a famous curry mee place called Xin Quan Fang at around 11.44am on a Monday morning, and discovered that the place was closed.  I had gone running around 7 or 8am, and the place was bustling, and I was pretty sure we would have no problem getting our food if we came along before dinner.  However we went to see some temples after breakfast, and I was bitterly disappointed.  So, for those of you who want to try this place, GO EARLY!
174, Jalan Sultan Iskandar, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
7.30am-whenever it finishes :-(

Instead, we tried this place called Foh San Dim Sum, which I had done a fair amount of reading on.  This place used to be good, and then expanded, and the reviews I read were pretty mixed.  Sadly I didn't have a good back up after being disappointed by Xin Quan Fang, so here we went.  We had egg tart (RM1.8), chang fen (RM4), ma lai gao (RM4), black bao (RM1.8), nuo mi ji (RM5.5), ha gao (RM6), siew Mai (RM4.7) and xiao long bao (RM7).  They had run out of liu sha bao and that made me sad.  The people here were rather pushy, which annoyed me.  We ordered the black bao with yam in it because the lady literally badgered us 3 or 4 times about it, and Lingon, being the soft white guy he is, caved.  It was not bad, but we really did not need it.  Lol.  I think the food was just edible, so I do not recommend it to anyone.  The good news is the restaurant takes credit card, the bad news is the minimum to use your credit card is RM50, which we did not meet, so too bad for us.  I won't include any details of this restaurant because I really don't recommend anyone to go to it.  But here are the pictures anyway.

Melaka Experience

I've been lazy.  It's not as easy to sit down and write about food as I thought it would be, given my perpetual thinking about food.  I wanted to close the Malaysia chapter, so I thought I would sum up some of the other food, and one massage experience we had.

In Melaka, I saw these people holding boxes of durian puff.  Upon further investigation, I found the place they came from - Taste Better.  Super delicious, the durian was rich and creamy, the puff was crunchy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.  Later on in Penang I realized the chain was there too.  Try it if you can!  Here is the website.
https://www.facebook.com/tastebetter.my

The few restaurants we tried in Melaka was not bad.  Teo Soon Loong Chan had tasty Nonya food, nothing super special.  The reason I wanted to go there was because the reviews on the orh nee (yam paste) were pretty good, but I found it so so.  Other dishes we had were oyster noodles, ngoh hiang, bitter gourd something, steamed fish, tofu and vegetables and some braised meat.  I just did a quick Google and found they have a website!  What a surprise.

http://www.tslcmalaysia.com/tslc_main.htm
Open 12-2.30pm, 6-9.15pm, closed on Monday

We also went to Aunty Lee, and the food there was better.  Had a chili fish, kiam chai soup, sambal kang kong, beef rendang, mutton, okra, otak otak, chicken with this weird black seed thing that you could scoop the interior out and eat, and my favourite omelette with chili and cincalok (fermented shrimp).  This is the first time I have heard of cincalok, it is possible I have eaten it before, but did not know what it was.  The restaurant was a little bit further away from the main area in Melaka and it was necessary to drive, but I think the food was worth it!
https://plus.google.com/115711002644539391627/about?gl=us&hl=en
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincalok
Open 11am-3pm, 6-10pm, closed on Tuesday

Our last meal in Melaka was at Bei Zhan restaurant.  It surprises me that this place has a website.  I guess Malaysian restaurants are more technologically advanced than I imagined.  :-P  Is that mean to say?  Suckling pig, lemon chicken, tofu veg, eggplant, spinach, noodles, steamed fish and kurobuta pork belly.  They also had very good tau huay or soya bean milk.  I quite enjoyed this meal!
http://www.beizhan.com.my/
Open 11am-2.30pm, 5.30-10.30pm

Overall, the food we tried in Melaka was good, but I find I'm too old for these big banquet dinners.  The food just doesn't digest as well and I can't eat as much anymore!!

The other experience I wanted to write about was the massage my family went to at the Mahkota Hotel.  Lingon and my parents went to the massage facility at the hotel.  My sister almost went too, but she changed her mind because the place she thought that the place was filled with mafia looking people.  Lingon said his massage sucked because it was given by some grandma, not sure if it was actually a bad massage, or if it was because it was an unattractive old woman.  My dad said his wasn't good.  But the funniest was my mother's experience.  The lady who gave her a massage was apparently dressed very scantily.  She seemed surprised to see my mother in the room, and then proceeded to ask her whether she had a son or husband... Read between the lines!  Then, she asked my mother why she came to the Mahkota massage, and pretty much said she should have gone to the Holiday Inn across the street.  In short, don't get a massage at the Mahkota Hotel in Melaka.  Lol.  My parents actually did try the Holiday Inn massage, and it was much better.

That pretty much sums up Melaka.