Archive for December, 2007
Monday, December 24th, 2007
It was my last evening in San Francisco and I met up with Thu for dinner. She took me to Straits Cafe over in Palo Alto, which is a Asian fusion restaurant. Thu told me that there are actually several Straits restaurants in the Bay area but the one we went to in Palo Alto was the original one. 
We started off with an appetizer sampler. It had a good sampling of the more popular appetizers on the menu. Sorry for the dark and blurry pictures. I really need to learn how to take better pictures in dim lighting with my camera.
I can’t really remember what this was but I think it was a fish carpaccio on a potato wafer. What I do remember is that it was very tasty with the carpaccio contrasting with the crunchy potato.
The fresh oyster was dressed with a light Thai chilli sauce which added some spiciness. This was very good and I only wished that there was more than one per person.
The vegetable samosa was also great. The vegetable curry inside was very tasty and the crunchy outside was not greasy at all. I usually find samosas too heavy but this one was just right.
The chicken satay was very juicy and went well with the peanut satay sauce. As far as taste goes, there was nothing special about this but I still enjoyed it.
For our main course, we shared a couple of dishes. First was a pan-fried tilapia with an Indian yellow curry. This was my favourite dish of the evening. The tilapia was crispy on the outside but very moist and juicy inside. The curry was quite spicy and much of the taste was absorbed by the fish and veggies. This dish came with quite a bit of sauce and would have gone great with rice.
We also ordered some Hokkien Bee Hoon, which was vermicelli noodles with shrimp, fish cake, and chillis. This dish was pretty bland and did not have much taste. In a way though, this worked out ok for us because we spooned the gravy from the fish dish over the noodles.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with Straits Cafe. With the exception of the noodles, most of the items we tried were very tasty (especially the fish!). I am usually a bit skeptical when it comes to Asian fusion places but Straits Cafe did a good job with it. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try the other dishes the next time I am in town.
Well, this concludes my California trip. It was fun to try out some new and different restaurants from what I am used to in Vancouver. This will probably be my last post before the new year, so happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!
Details:
3295 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA
Tel: 650-494-7168
Summary:
Food: 
Service:
Price: $$
Posted in Other Cities, San Francisco, Singaporean, Thai, Asian, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Monday, December 17th, 2007
We were back in San Francisco so NTR and UK took me to Hokkaido Seafood Buffet. Although most of the food here is seafood (obviously!), they also had some other non-seafood items as well. Most of the food offered here is Asian style.
After we settled in at our table, we started digging in at the various stations. I was pretty amazed by the selection of food and the sheer abundance of it all. I gravitated toward the mound of fresh Alaskan king crab, mussels, clams, and shrimp. It was all so tasty and you also had a selection of cocktail sauce, lemons, and ponzu sauce to add to your seafood.
I tried some clam soup, which was served in a small bowl. I didn’t like the taste of the broth very much, so I decided to try the clam meat instead. This didn’t taste much better though…and I later learned that it was the soup that everyone liked — not the clam meat itself. Oops.
The coconut shrimp was quite good although I had to scrape off some of the mayo. I also couldn’t really taste the coconut.
The shrimp were a fair size and were nice and crunchy.
I am a huge fan of fresh oysters and of course I had to load my plate with some of these. The ponzu sauce went really well with the oysters.
More oysters…yum!
There was also a selection of various sushi and sashimi. One that I liked was a tempura sushi, which was lightly fried with tempura batter. Although the sashimi was definitely not as good as what we ate at Taiko, it was quite good for a buffet. The tuna was also a pinker colour than what I was used to in Vancouver.
They also had Chinese-style crabs which was steamed and then stir-fried in a clear broth. The pieces of crab were quite big and tasty.
The baked scallop with cheese was a bit rich for my taste but it was interesting to see that it was baked right in the shell.
The shark fin soup was made with imitation shark fin, but you couldn’t even tell the difference. The soup had a lighter taste compared to what I was used to in most restaurants. NTR enjoyed this quite a bit.
When you are seated at your table, each person is given a ticket for one half a lobster baked in a cheese sauce. To claim it, you just head over to the lobster station and the server there will put one on your plate. The lobster itself was quite good although I wasn’t too crazy about the cheese sauce.
You could also construct some Peking duck using the mini buns provided and the generous pieces of duck. I didn’t have any of this but both NTR and UK enjoyed it. I was starting to get quite full by this point.
There were also hand cones that were made fresh so the seaweed was still crunchy.
The black bean clams had a nice flavour and quite tasty. There were also frog legs, which I didn’t try. NTR noted that it was a bit too lean for her taste.
The black bean oysters were very tasty. I could tell they were quite fresh and were just cooked and had a nice consistency. There was also some dim sum (bottom of the picture below) but the selection was small and most of the items were oversteamed.
Now onto the fruits and veggies. I needed to eat some veggies after all this seafood so I scooped some edamame onto my plate. I also had some watermelon, but the strawberries were definitely the better tasting of the two. They were sweet and ripe…I even went back for seconds!
Now it was dessert time. Most of the desserts were pretty standard but there was a good selection of both Western and Asian desserts.
I found that the Asian desserts looked better than they tasted. I think they had been sitting on the plates for a while so they may have tasted better when they were fresh.
I had quite a good time here. I would say that the seafood items are definitely the specialty. If I were to come back, I would load up on the seafood, especially the cold items, and pass on the desserts. We went on a weekend for lunch so it worked out to about $22/person. Weekday lunches are a great deal at about $12/person.
Details:
2200 Bridgepointe Pkwy, San Mateo, CA
Tel: 650-212-2688
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$
Posted in Other Cities, San Francisco, Japanese, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Sunday, December 16th, 2007
It was our last day in LA and although we initially planned to make a repeat visit to Taiko, we decided on Chinese food instead. NTR, UK, and I headed over to S.W. Seafood & BBQ in Irvine for a late lunch. Incidentally, it happens to be located in the plaza across the street from Taiko.
We ordered a sampling of five dishes but first, we had some soup, which came with our orders. It was a pretty basic soup with tofu, egg, veggies, and mushrooms.
NTR ordered all of our items and asked for less MSG and oil. I was constantly thirsty during my trip so the call for less MSG worked out well for me. First came one of NTR’s favourite, the egg foo yung with scallops instead of shrimp. This was probably my favourite item here. The scallops were cooked just right and the eggs were creamy and had just enough salt. It went great with rice.
We were a bit lacking on the veggie content this weekend, so ordered some peas and broccoli with shrimp. The vegetables were nice and crunchy…as were the shrimp. It was a light dish but everything was quite fresh.
We also had some stir-fried white fish with mushrooms, carrots, and Chinese vegetables. There wasn’t anything too special with this but it was still quite tasty. The pieces of fish were quite large as you can see by the picture below.
The pan-fried noodles with chicken and veggies were also quite good. The noodles were crispy but not oily at all and the chicken with veggie mix made the noodles just soft enough.
Lastly came our indulgence for the afternoon. The deep fried squid with jalapenos and garlic was so yummy. I especially liked this because there was not too much batter and it was actually pretty light. The hint of spiciness from the squid was just enough and the squid went great with rice.
The dishes here were not overly large but was a great deal at $6.95 each. Believe it or not but even though we ordered so much, we polished off almost all the food we ordered! Even though we had asked for less MSG, I could still taste it in some of the dishes though and I was still quite thirsty even though I drank several cups of tea. Overall though, I was quite impressed with this place and enjoyed the food quite a bit.
Details:
5406-A Walnut Ave, Irvine, CA
Tel: 949-262-0128
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Los Angeles, Other Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | No Comments »
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
After our feast at El Pollo Loco, NTR, UK, and I dug into the Double Rainbow pumpkin ice cream we picked up from Trader Joe’s. According to NTR, Double Rainbow is a small San Francisco-based ice creamery that is available mostly in California. Because it was Thanksgiving, we all felt it would be appropriate to have some pumpkin ice cream.
Double Rainbow boasts that they use all natural ingredients and this can be seen when you scan through the ingredients list. Our pumpkin ice cream was a nice orange colour and you could even smell the pumpkin once you opened the lid.
I liked this ice cream because it had a very strong pumpkin taste and was not too creamy. I find that the double-churned ice cream such as Breyers much too rich and creamy for me. The price was also reasonable at $3.49 for a pint.
Details:
Available at various Trader Joe’s locations
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Los Angeles, Other Cities, Dessert, Reviews | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
NTR, UK, and I were out late shopping during the weekend and stopped by for what they promised would be great Mexican-style grilled chicken at El Pollo Loco. I was told that it was like Nando’s Chicken here in Canada but even better. Although the sign on the restaurant door said they closed at 9pm and it was only 8:30pm, we were told by the workers inside that it was already closed! After some cajoling, we convinced them to open up the drive thru for us so we could order some chicken.
We’re still not too sure why but even though we ordered the 7 piece special for $7.99, we got 14 pieces of breast meat and wings! There were just the three of us so this was more than enough. Even though the drive from here back to NTR and UK’s house was quite short, the smell of the chicken in the car was making me really hungry.
NTR asked for extra salsa and I think they really delivered, don’t you?
Before we bought the chicken, we also picked up some whole wheat tortillas from Trader Joe’s.
NTR and UK told me that it is best eaten by creating a wrap with the tortilla, some salsa, and shredded chicken. This was a really simple yet great tasting dinner. The chicken was very aromatic and had a nice grilled and savoury flavour. The salsa also had a great tomato flavour and provided a nice zing to the chicken.
Let’s just say that we had so much chicken, we had enough for the three of us for breakfast the next morning. It tasted just as good the day after as it did the night before. What is even more amazing that we got all this food for $8.50 after taxes! I’m not sure if El Pollo Loco is limited to just southern California, but this is another good place to try. There seem to be several chains scattered throughout the Los Angeles area.
Details:
8245 E Santa Ana Canyon Rd, Anaheim, CA
Tel: (714) 921-4633
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Los Angeles, Other Cities, Mexican, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
As if we weren’t stuffed enough from our eating extravaganza at Taiko, we went for dessert next door at Yogurtland. Actually, UK and NTR were too full but I wanted to give the frozen yogurt here a try. Yogurtland is one of the new frozen yogurt joints following in the spirit of Pinkberry and Red Mango. I’ve never been to either Pinkberry or Red Mango but have heard several rave reviews so figured that Yogurtland was my chance to get in on the fro-yo action.
Yogurtland is different from the other frozen yogurt places in that it is almost completely self-serve. As soon as you walk in, you see that there are a wall of self-serve frozen yogurt machines with flavours ranging from green tea, pistachio, mango, straberry, etc. There is also a small station where you can add your toppings, such as fresh fruit, candies, or chocolate. I should have taken a picture of the inside because it was quite interesting but you get the general idea. Your whole creation is than weighed at the counter. At $0.30 per ounce, this is a really good deal.
I selected a combination of pistachio and green tea for my choice with no toppings. I was really full from lunch at this point so just wanted to try a small sampling. My whole order came out to just over $1. I wasn’t too good at swirling my frozen yogurt so the picture below doesn’t look so hot.
The pistachio had a distinct pistachio taste but was a bit too sweet for me. I liked the green tea more, which had a light and refreshing taste. The green tea flavour wasn’t too strong and I think this would have gone really well if I had added some toppings.
I think there is a real potential to open a frozen yogurt place like this in the Vancouver area. The taste is comparable to what is available at Yogen Fruz but at a much lower price. I also like the self-serve aspect at Yogurtland, which allows you to mix and match different flavours until you find one that suits you.
Details:
14775 Jeffrey Rd, Irvine, CA
Tel: 949-857-0884
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Los Angeles, Other Cities, Dessert, Reviews | No Comments »
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