Note to Self:
Thanh LongCrustacean- garlic noodles, $9.50, roasted crab $35.95--$46 total
La Vie- garlic noodles and roasted crab $35.95-- $36 total
PPQ Dungeness Crabs- $33, garlic noodles 6--$36 total
Friday, January 26, 2007
The Search for the Perfect Roasted Crab
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
MarkJoseph Steakhouse
Location: Battery Park, NYC
Last time we talked, Reid and I were excited about hitting up alot of restaurants in NYC. And that we did, and now with our foodie souls satiated and our waistbands looser, we are back to report on our happy experiences!
The first offiical meal that we had was at Papaya King, which I'll go into details later in a Papaya King vs. Gray's Papaya blog. But the meal that we were looking forward to all day was the steakhouse--MarkJoseph's.
SO GOOD. Days later, I still heard Reid muttering "mmm steak..." My boots were knocked off too. I had heard a reputation that MarkJoseph's had one of the best porterhouses in town, but that it was a rather "manly" type of restaurant. So I was quite surprised when I saw that the exterior of the restaurant gave the look of a cozy, classic and understated cafe. The location was awesome too, located by the wharf in a quiet yet very quaint part of town, albeit a tad off the radar of the city bustle. And while food will always reigns supreme for us, the look made me even more happy to eat there. My first impression of the inside was that rare perfect mixture of liveliness yet not noisy, fancy decor yet casualness that put us totally at ease. It's a place where families can have dinners dressed down and couples can have their romantic dates dressed up and people can eat their steaks alone and everyone would feel perfectly comfortable. My biggest pet peeve is when a place's vibe is so cold or so stuffy that Reid and I are reduced to feeling like gawky high schoolers.
Now for the food, which deserves quite a bit of time. I made the tragic mistake of ordering a salad rather than the creamed spinach. And even more sadly, my salad choice of tomatoes and onions turned out to be literally two big slices of tomatoe and a thick slice of onion. Grr. But then the porterhouse for two came, and our sadness evaporated into mouthdrooling states of nirvana where we remained for the rest of the meal. Reid was so very happy with the steak and it was very tender, very tasty, very much the best steak we've had. And to complete an awesome meal, we also got a white Poulley-Froussei that Reid chose and a key lime pie that made me *die* even more. The key lime itself would've made me want to come back.
We left very happy. And I'd recommend MarkJoseph to anyone who is looking for a steakhouse in NYC. I've researched other steakhouses in the city that are reputated to have comparable steaks. But as much as the food made me a huge fan of MarkJoseph's, it was also the great vibe and look of the restaurant that also won me over.
Location: Battery Park, NYC
Last time we talked, Reid and I were excited about hitting up alot of restaurants in NYC. And that we did, and now with our foodie souls satiated and our waistbands looser, we are back to report on our happy experiences!
The first offiical meal that we had was at Papaya King, which I'll go into details later in a Papaya King vs. Gray's Papaya blog. But the meal that we were looking forward to all day was the steakhouse--MarkJoseph's.
SO GOOD. Days later, I still heard Reid muttering "mmm steak..." My boots were knocked off too. I had heard a reputation that MarkJoseph's had one of the best porterhouses in town, but that it was a rather "manly" type of restaurant. So I was quite surprised when I saw that the exterior of the restaurant gave the look of a cozy, classic and understated cafe. The location was awesome too, located by the wharf in a quiet yet very quaint part of town, albeit a tad off the radar of the city bustle. And while food will always reigns supreme for us, the look made me even more happy to eat there. My first impression of the inside was that rare perfect mixture of liveliness yet not noisy, fancy decor yet casualness that put us totally at ease. It's a place where families can have dinners dressed down and couples can have their romantic dates dressed up and people can eat their steaks alone and everyone would feel perfectly comfortable. My biggest pet peeve is when a place's vibe is so cold or so stuffy that Reid and I are reduced to feeling like gawky high schoolers.
Now for the food, which deserves quite a bit of time. I made the tragic mistake of ordering a salad rather than the creamed spinach. And even more sadly, my salad choice of tomatoes and onions turned out to be literally two big slices of tomatoe and a thick slice of onion. Grr. But then the porterhouse for two came, and our sadness evaporated into mouthdrooling states of nirvana where we remained for the rest of the meal. Reid was so very happy with the steak and it was very tender, very tasty, very much the best steak we've had. And to complete an awesome meal, we also got a white Poulley-Froussei that Reid chose and a key lime pie that made me *die* even more. The key lime itself would've made me want to come back.
We left very happy. And I'd recommend MarkJoseph to anyone who is looking for a steakhouse in NYC. I've researched other steakhouses in the city that are reputated to have comparable steaks. But as much as the food made me a huge fan of MarkJoseph's, it was also the great vibe and look of the restaurant that also won me over.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Momoya's for tasty sushi
570 N Shoreline Blvd
Mountain View, CA
650-967-6166
$$
Now I'm pretty picky about my sushi, meaning that ever since I went to Tokyo, it's been really hard to top the excellent fish and presentations I experience there. Miyake's hasn't cut it at all and it's extremely painful to go to an expensive sushi restaurant in the Bay Area knowing you could be eating much better food for much less in Japan.
I think that I've found the perfect balance between price and appetite in Momoya Sushi. Located a short drive from Stanford campus, Kara and Chris had been telling me to go there for ages, but it's something that's always fallen off my radar screen. Luckily, with finals over and everyone heading home, Kara organized a group outing to Momoyas.
The food: plentiful, tasty, and reasonably price. I got some nice cuts of sashimi and shrimp tempura, along with miso soup and a salad for $15. I also got a "Dynamite" Roll, one of their many specialty rolls - this one was deep fried tuna sushi. The roll I got came with 6 pieces and they were quite large; well worth the $6. There was a mix of food in our 8 person group - from beef katsu to chicken domburi to numerous rolls. Ahh, so about those rolls. Each roll came with 6 to 8 pieces and the chefs did not hold back on using large pieces of fish, avocado, crab, etc to make them. Really fresh ingredients and presented nicely on traditional Japanese dishes.
Besides the excellent food, I found the service quick excellent. Tom jokingly said that he would storm out of the restaurant and go to Jack-n-the-Box across the street if the waitress did not greet us by saying "Konbawa." Even though she didn't, he stayed and enjoyed himself and the waitress proved to be extremely nice, filling our water consistently and also giving us some salmon skin rolls on the house. Definitely one of the best sushi restaurants I've been to around the area. You can spend $15-20 and be sufficiently full!
Mountain View, CA
650-967-6166
$$
Now I'm pretty picky about my sushi, meaning that ever since I went to Tokyo, it's been really hard to top the excellent fish and presentations I experience there. Miyake's hasn't cut it at all and it's extremely painful to go to an expensive sushi restaurant in the Bay Area knowing you could be eating much better food for much less in Japan.
I think that I've found the perfect balance between price and appetite in Momoya Sushi. Located a short drive from Stanford campus, Kara and Chris had been telling me to go there for ages, but it's something that's always fallen off my radar screen. Luckily, with finals over and everyone heading home, Kara organized a group outing to Momoyas.
The food: plentiful, tasty, and reasonably price. I got some nice cuts of sashimi and shrimp tempura, along with miso soup and a salad for $15. I also got a "Dynamite" Roll, one of their many specialty rolls - this one was deep fried tuna sushi. The roll I got came with 6 pieces and they were quite large; well worth the $6. There was a mix of food in our 8 person group - from beef katsu to chicken domburi to numerous rolls. Ahh, so about those rolls. Each roll came with 6 to 8 pieces and the chefs did not hold back on using large pieces of fish, avocado, crab, etc to make them. Really fresh ingredients and presented nicely on traditional Japanese dishes.
Besides the excellent food, I found the service quick excellent. Tom jokingly said that he would storm out of the restaurant and go to Jack-n-the-Box across the street if the waitress did not greet us by saying "Konbawa." Even though she didn't, he stayed and enjoyed himself and the waitress proved to be extremely nice, filling our water consistently and also giving us some salmon skin rolls on the house. Definitely one of the best sushi restaurants I've been to around the area. You can spend $15-20 and be sufficiently full!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
If you ever going to NY
I've been planning for a trip to NY for this winter break. The Big Three of my main foodie sites that I've been using to plan all of my restaurant adventures:
- www.chowhound.com
- www.yelp.com
-www.menupages.com
How I find my food:
Step 1) stalk random New Yorkers' food blogs for good restaurant recommendations
Step 2) Cross-reference restaurants on Chowhound and Yelp for reviews.
Step 3) If 75% of ppl or more give the restaurants a thumbs up, then I go to the final stage of clicking on Menupages to check the prices and selections.
The site www.menupages.com is beyond awesome. It has the full menu (sometimes no lunch menu though) of 99% restaurant in New York, including some of the tiny Chinatown diners. That is comprehensive! I now know exactly how much I'm going to spend on every meal. Of course this can be sad too when you don't have any new surprises when you open that menu in the actual restaurant, but totally awesome for the obsessive foodie like me.
- www.chowhound.com
- www.yelp.com
-www.menupages.com
How I find my food:
Step 1) stalk random New Yorkers' food blogs for good restaurant recommendations
Step 2) Cross-reference restaurants on Chowhound and Yelp for reviews.
Step 3) If 75% of ppl or more give the restaurants a thumbs up, then I go to the final stage of clicking on Menupages to check the prices and selections.
The site www.menupages.com is beyond awesome. It has the full menu (sometimes no lunch menu though) of 99% restaurant in New York, including some of the tiny Chinatown diners. That is comprehensive! I now know exactly how much I'm going to spend on every meal. Of course this can be sad too when you don't have any new surprises when you open that menu in the actual restaurant, but totally awesome for the obsessive foodie like me.
Tapas Bar
Tapas Bar
Location: Palo Alto
Price: $$- $$$
So the other night, Reid strongly encouraged us to go to Tapas, a new restaurant in Palo Alto (replaced Pasta Pomerdero) next to Classico Gelato. He had gone a while back with relatives and must've quite liked it because everytime we wondered where to eat, he would throw it out there....and get thwarted, until this time when he had the final decisionmaking say. Anyhoo, my final opinion on the place is that it was pretty yummy, but I wouldn't go there more than...once every 4 months or so.
That's not a bad review. Some of the food we got was really good--the two best dishes they have are their bruschettas and their duck tacos. The duck tacos were so good we got two of them. But other than that, the other dishes weren't outstanding and there weren't many other selections. Also for a tapas place, they only had red sangria, not white, and from the way they mixed their drinks based on a martini I got, it's a little overly potent.
The ambience is typical of the higher end Palo Alto cafes, and the location is great when you want to do the triumvurate dinner, gelato, and an art house movie across the street. It's basically a typical Palo Alto restaurant where everything is decent-good but nothing will make it a favorite restaurant to frequently go back to. It's on the pricey side, but if you stick to 4 dishes or so, it's affordable for 2 ppl for a nice night out. I'd go back for more duck tapas and bruschettas, but it's one of those things you can only crave every so often.
Location: Palo Alto
Price: $$- $$$
So the other night, Reid strongly encouraged us to go to Tapas, a new restaurant in Palo Alto (replaced Pasta Pomerdero) next to Classico Gelato. He had gone a while back with relatives and must've quite liked it because everytime we wondered where to eat, he would throw it out there....and get thwarted, until this time when he had the final decisionmaking say. Anyhoo, my final opinion on the place is that it was pretty yummy, but I wouldn't go there more than...once every 4 months or so.
That's not a bad review. Some of the food we got was really good--the two best dishes they have are their bruschettas and their duck tacos. The duck tacos were so good we got two of them. But other than that, the other dishes weren't outstanding and there weren't many other selections. Also for a tapas place, they only had red sangria, not white, and from the way they mixed their drinks based on a martini I got, it's a little overly potent.
The ambience is typical of the higher end Palo Alto cafes, and the location is great when you want to do the triumvurate dinner, gelato, and an art house movie across the street. It's basically a typical Palo Alto restaurant where everything is decent-good but nothing will make it a favorite restaurant to frequently go back to. It's on the pricey side, but if you stick to 4 dishes or so, it's affordable for 2 ppl for a nice night out. I'd go back for more duck tapas and bruschettas, but it's one of those things you can only crave every so often.
Thai Cottage II
Thai Cottage II
Location: Sugar Land, TX
Price: $
Just a quick note here- if you ever go to Sugar Land, TX. Please go to Thai Cottage at lunch, my penultimate favorite restuarant of all time and get the PRINCESS CHICKEN dish. That's it, nothing else. I dream of this dish all year long. Not that the other dishes aren't good, but this is the best. Also get yummy Thai soup and 2 fantastic spring rolls for the lovely price of $5.95 including tax.
The decor is great, the ambience is fantastic, and well located next to all the stores in Sugar Land. Support Thai Cottage!
Location: Sugar Land, TX
Price: $
Just a quick note here- if you ever go to Sugar Land, TX. Please go to Thai Cottage at lunch, my penultimate favorite restuarant of all time and get the PRINCESS CHICKEN dish. That's it, nothing else. I dream of this dish all year long. Not that the other dishes aren't good, but this is the best. Also get yummy Thai soup and 2 fantastic spring rolls for the lovely price of $5.95 including tax.
The decor is great, the ambience is fantastic, and well located next to all the stores in Sugar Land. Support Thai Cottage!
Loon Wah
Loon Wah
Dim sum for 2: $25
Yuuuuuum. I've been trying to convince Reid, and anybody else to come here for the past year and ahalf. He was a little skeptical at the beginning after reading some online reviews that were not the most *glowing* but after the meal, was a big fan. I am definitely an online review believer too but it's restaurants like these that make me take pause and figure it's better to take a risk and try anything once.
Anyways, we got all the usual favorites- shrimp shu mai, bbq pork buns, shrimp rice noodles, turnip cakes, some kind of shrimp dumpling, and fried shrimp balls. The restaurant also specializes in Mandarin dim sum too. Now before you sputter that there is no such thing as that, just think of the comfort basics like hot sweet soy milk and pan-fried bread. The soy milk was FANTASTIC, better than alot of the ones I've had in Northern China, the pan fried bread was good comfort food, and everything else was in top shape. I have to give a special shout out to the bbq pork buns which are better than most of the other ones I've had in the Bay Area thus far. The only misfire was the weird shrimp dumplings which had some weird stuffing in them, guess we ordered the wrong ones.
Decor is fair to good for a Chinese dim sum restaurant, service was efficient, wish they had done the carts rather than ordering off a menu, but it was nice to get all the plates at once too so we could dig in.
Also just a 20 minute drive from Stanford, closest dim sum restaurant yet, and conveniently located across the street from a Nob Hill which has good organic higher-end food, including the best Cotswald cheese and apple sausages I've ever tasted. End Yummmmmmmmmm.
Dim sum for 2: $25
Yuuuuuum. I've been trying to convince Reid, and anybody else to come here for the past year and ahalf. He was a little skeptical at the beginning after reading some online reviews that were not the most *glowing* but after the meal, was a big fan. I am definitely an online review believer too but it's restaurants like these that make me take pause and figure it's better to take a risk and try anything once.
Anyways, we got all the usual favorites- shrimp shu mai, bbq pork buns, shrimp rice noodles, turnip cakes, some kind of shrimp dumpling, and fried shrimp balls. The restaurant also specializes in Mandarin dim sum too. Now before you sputter that there is no such thing as that, just think of the comfort basics like hot sweet soy milk and pan-fried bread. The soy milk was FANTASTIC, better than alot of the ones I've had in Northern China, the pan fried bread was good comfort food, and everything else was in top shape. I have to give a special shout out to the bbq pork buns which are better than most of the other ones I've had in the Bay Area thus far. The only misfire was the weird shrimp dumplings which had some weird stuffing in them, guess we ordered the wrong ones.
Decor is fair to good for a Chinese dim sum restaurant, service was efficient, wish they had done the carts rather than ordering off a menu, but it was nice to get all the plates at once too so we could dig in.
Also just a 20 minute drive from Stanford, closest dim sum restaurant yet, and conveniently located across the street from a Nob Hill which has good organic higher-end food, including the best Cotswald cheese and apple sausages I've ever tasted. End Yummmmmmmmmm.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
L&L Hawaiian BBQ
3890 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306
650-858-2878
$
L&L Hawaiian BBQ, a chain fastfood restaurant that has a niche market in the Hawaiian food business, recently opened up a small shop down the street from Stanford, and having spent many vacations in Hawaii eating so-called "Hawaiian" food, I knew I had to take Jenny there to expose her to this unique cuisine.
It did not disappoint. For those of you who haven't had Hawaiian BBQ before, let me warn you that it is not for small eaters, vegetarians, or health conscious dieters. Their menu is either meat or seafood. Highlights include chicken katsu, a breaded chicken cutlet with katsu sauce to dip in (tastes like a better version of sweet and sour sauce), or the Hawaiian BBQ mix, which includes Hawaiian beef, chicken, and shortribs. Each dish comes with white rice and macaroni salad. The dishes portions are huge, so for $4.25, the mini-plates will still sufficiently stuff one person. Be sure to also get one of the Hawaiian Sun brand juices - guava is my favorite. They go great with the food.
Bottom line: If you're hungry, come here. If you're looking for quick, cheap food, come here. If you're looking to impress a date, skip it - the styrofoam trays aren't incredibly romantic.
650-858-2878
$
L&L Hawaiian BBQ, a chain fastfood restaurant that has a niche market in the Hawaiian food business, recently opened up a small shop down the street from Stanford, and having spent many vacations in Hawaii eating so-called "Hawaiian" food, I knew I had to take Jenny there to expose her to this unique cuisine.
It did not disappoint. For those of you who haven't had Hawaiian BBQ before, let me warn you that it is not for small eaters, vegetarians, or health conscious dieters. Their menu is either meat or seafood. Highlights include chicken katsu, a breaded chicken cutlet with katsu sauce to dip in (tastes like a better version of sweet and sour sauce), or the Hawaiian BBQ mix, which includes Hawaiian beef, chicken, and shortribs. Each dish comes with white rice and macaroni salad. The dishes portions are huge, so for $4.25, the mini-plates will still sufficiently stuff one person. Be sure to also get one of the Hawaiian Sun brand juices - guava is my favorite. They go great with the food.
Bottom line: If you're hungry, come here. If you're looking for quick, cheap food, come here. If you're looking to impress a date, skip it - the styrofoam trays aren't incredibly romantic.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Il Fornaio
Yummy but not amazing. The lamb risotto that Reid got was especially flavorful, although it's rather asian in taste. My sausage ravioli was good too, rather thin, not puffy like i had been craving. maybe the best part was dessert, zambioni cream with berries and sorbet in a martini glass. Mmm.
All in all, a good restaurant with a nice atmosphere, but rather pricy. Osteria still reigns as our Italian restaurants of choice in downtown Palo Alto. But maybe we'll walk on over here for dessert.
All in all, a good restaurant with a nice atmosphere, but rather pricy. Osteria still reigns as our Italian restaurants of choice in downtown Palo Alto. But maybe we'll walk on over here for dessert.
Friday, August 11, 2006
If You're In Shanghai...
Yes, alot of these are very ex-pat-friendly but still very very good.
Things You Must Do:
1) Go to the 7th floor bar terrace of '3 On the Bund' at night and get a 60 yuan cocktail (cheapest they have) and check out the view. It's such a chill environment there, and it's quite a thrilling experience. You may have to reserve a table if you're planning to go on Friday or Saturday, since there's bound to be alot of people there. 8621-6321-0909
2) Go to Pudong Science High-Tech Park at night. You can get there on Subway Line 2, and walk around, beautiful landscaping and architecture. There's also a symphony hall if you want to buy tickets for a concert beforehand.
3) Go to the Shanghai Museum, especially the first floor sculpture exhibitions.
4) Go to Duo Lun Lu in the HongKou area, the street looks like Shanghai in the 1930's, very serene, hardly any foreigners, sells lots of arts-related things. Even an Old Film Cafe showing Chinese movies from the 1930's and such.
Best Clubs and Bars:
Face Bar- Ruijin Guest House, 118 Ruijin Er Road. Get a feel for the French Concession area where there's lots of historic houses and beautiful parks.
Fuxing Park- 3 different clubs around there, go there to see the beautiful Shanghainese girls and really ugly Shanghainese guys
Cloud 9- Jin Mao Tower in Pudong- gorgeous bar and view from the top of all of Shanghai
Hengshan Lu- a bar street. Zapata's is one of the better known around there.
Best Restaurants:
- WuJiangLu- good xiao chi street in the city, with really good shen jian at Xiao Yang Shen Jian (on a big yellow placard). You can get there on Subway Line 2, stop at Shimen Yi Lu, it's right outside exit 2.
- Prime Taste- In XuJiaHui (you can get there on subway line 1), on third floor of Metro City Mall (the big round ball looking building), really good Singaporean restaurant for pretty cheap (30 yuan per dish, definbitely fills you up, good for lunch)
- Chatea- best red bean shaved ice and cold drinks in the city, something I sorely missed in Beijing after coming to Shanghai during national week, you can find Chatea in just about every shopping area in the city.
- Din Tai Feng in XinTianDi-- its xiaolongbao are better than Nanxiang although the pricers are much steeper (like 50 yuan for 8 xiaolongbao). Beautiful restaurant. Go there with a group of people and it gets much cheaper to order alot of food and not go over 50 yuan each per person.
- Shanghainese food, go to Shanghai Uncle, pretty pricey but very worth it. They have fantastic ribs that melt in your mouth and river shrimp that's unique to Shanghai and far better than any other shrimp I've tasted. Again a place to go with a large group.
- Gintei- all you can order Japanese restaurant for 150 yuan. Probably the best thing about Shanghai are these all you can order buffets that have amazingly quality dishes and all you can drink wine, beer and sake. Very close to XinTianDi. Address is B1-A,Shanghai Times Square, 99 Huaihai Zhong Road. Definitely reserve a table first. Telephone: 63918105
- Azul is a fantastic Spanish tapas place. Located next to Hengshan Lu, the bar street. Address 18 Dongping Road. Call 6433 1172 to reserve. Recommend the calamari. Highly recommend the large pitcher of peach sangria, very light but quite potent bc you want to just keep on drinking it. Don't order too much bc this place is pricey, and the portions are huge anyway.
- Da Marco- supposedly the best Italian restaurant in town. All the Italian ex-pats love going there. There's one in Yandang Lu, which is really close to XinTianDi.
Things You Must Do:
1) Go to the 7th floor bar terrace of '3 On the Bund' at night and get a 60 yuan cocktail (cheapest they have) and check out the view. It's such a chill environment there, and it's quite a thrilling experience. You may have to reserve a table if you're planning to go on Friday or Saturday, since there's bound to be alot of people there. 8621-6321-0909
2) Go to Pudong Science High-Tech Park at night. You can get there on Subway Line 2, and walk around, beautiful landscaping and architecture. There's also a symphony hall if you want to buy tickets for a concert beforehand.
3) Go to the Shanghai Museum, especially the first floor sculpture exhibitions.
4) Go to Duo Lun Lu in the HongKou area, the street looks like Shanghai in the 1930's, very serene, hardly any foreigners, sells lots of arts-related things. Even an Old Film Cafe showing Chinese movies from the 1930's and such.
Best Clubs and Bars:
Face Bar- Ruijin Guest House, 118 Ruijin Er Road. Get a feel for the French Concession area where there's lots of historic houses and beautiful parks.
Fuxing Park- 3 different clubs around there, go there to see the beautiful Shanghainese girls and really ugly Shanghainese guys
Cloud 9- Jin Mao Tower in Pudong- gorgeous bar and view from the top of all of Shanghai
Hengshan Lu- a bar street. Zapata's is one of the better known around there.
Best Restaurants:
- WuJiangLu- good xiao chi street in the city, with really good shen jian at Xiao Yang Shen Jian (on a big yellow placard). You can get there on Subway Line 2, stop at Shimen Yi Lu, it's right outside exit 2.
- Prime Taste- In XuJiaHui (you can get there on subway line 1), on third floor of Metro City Mall (the big round ball looking building), really good Singaporean restaurant for pretty cheap (30 yuan per dish, definbitely fills you up, good for lunch)
- Chatea- best red bean shaved ice and cold drinks in the city, something I sorely missed in Beijing after coming to Shanghai during national week, you can find Chatea in just about every shopping area in the city.
- Din Tai Feng in XinTianDi-- its xiaolongbao are better than Nanxiang although the pricers are much steeper (like 50 yuan for 8 xiaolongbao). Beautiful restaurant. Go there with a group of people and it gets much cheaper to order alot of food and not go over 50 yuan each per person.
- Shanghainese food, go to Shanghai Uncle, pretty pricey but very worth it. They have fantastic ribs that melt in your mouth and river shrimp that's unique to Shanghai and far better than any other shrimp I've tasted. Again a place to go with a large group.
- Gintei- all you can order Japanese restaurant for 150 yuan. Probably the best thing about Shanghai are these all you can order buffets that have amazingly quality dishes and all you can drink wine, beer and sake. Very close to XinTianDi. Address is B1-A,Shanghai Times Square, 99 Huaihai Zhong Road. Definitely reserve a table first. Telephone: 63918105
- Azul is a fantastic Spanish tapas place. Located next to Hengshan Lu, the bar street. Address 18 Dongping Road. Call 6433 1172 to reserve. Recommend the calamari. Highly recommend the large pitcher of peach sangria, very light but quite potent bc you want to just keep on drinking it. Don't order too much bc this place is pricey, and the portions are huge anyway.
- Da Marco- supposedly the best Italian restaurant in town. All the Italian ex-pats love going there. There's one in Yandang Lu, which is really close to XinTianDi.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Stacks = Best Breakfast
Stacks - 600 Santa Cruz, Menlo Park, CA
http://www.stacksrestaurant.com/
I've been to Stacks four times, but I still feel like a novice coming here, since their menu is filled with so many options! Belgian waffles, crepes, pancakes, omelettes, etc etc etc. Arrive early or make a reservation, since there is always a crowd here, especially on weekends.
I'd personally recommend the Crab Crepe, which has fresh crab meat stuffed inside a savory crepe and topped with Hollandaise sauce. Or try any of their Belgian waffles with thick whipped creme on top. Or the applewood bacon/avocado omelette. Or the Lox Scram. I think you could close your eyes and pick something and I'd be excellent.
So go here.
http://www.stacksrestaurant.com/
I've been to Stacks four times, but I still feel like a novice coming here, since their menu is filled with so many options! Belgian waffles, crepes, pancakes, omelettes, etc etc etc. Arrive early or make a reservation, since there is always a crowd here, especially on weekends.
I'd personally recommend the Crab Crepe, which has fresh crab meat stuffed inside a savory crepe and topped with Hollandaise sauce. Or try any of their Belgian waffles with thick whipped creme on top. Or the applewood bacon/avocado omelette. Or the Lox Scram. I think you could close your eyes and pick something and I'd be excellent.
So go here.
Soused Shrimp
Shanghai Uncle
Price: $$$
Address: By the Bund, google the name :D
Everything was excellent. There were too many dishes to remember, so I'll talk about my most memorable dish: soused shrimp! It's a dish of live shrimp who get drunk off the sauce, and so they won't move around much when you pick them up and eat them. They were so fresh and yum. (granted I only had one, had a bit of trouble getting over the being alive aspect) Anyways this restaurant is awesome, highly recommended for anyone who wants one proper dinner in Shanghai.
Price: $$$
Address: By the Bund, google the name :D
Everything was excellent. There were too many dishes to remember, so I'll talk about my most memorable dish: soused shrimp! It's a dish of live shrimp who get drunk off the sauce, and so they won't move around much when you pick them up and eat them. They were so fresh and yum. (granted I only had one, had a bit of trouble getting over the being alive aspect) Anyways this restaurant is awesome, highly recommended for anyone who wants one proper dinner in Shanghai.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
$1 Boba!
It's true. Right next to the cluster of Asian restaurants on Durant, are two competing boba stores that have bargained their boba down to $.49! Ah yes, but the catch is that with tax it comes to $.64. And if you want pearl's it becomes $1.19. But, it's such a deal! You can get either the regular milk tea or Jasmine green tea. And it's good too. I guess it's not that hard to make Pearl Milk Tea in the first place, though.
Thai Basil
2519 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA
I was at Berkeley this Saturday for a meeting and grabbed lunch in the infamous Asian ghetto (Lee calls it a Grotto) where there's a small cluster of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and boba restaurants. Thai Basil was the one I checked out today and I was quite impressed. I ordered the Pad Thai, a traditional favorite at Thai restaurants, but for a price of $6.30 with tax and a more than ample plate of noodles, chicken, egg, bean sprouts, and prawns, it was definitely worth every cent. The food is cooked fresh and unlike most restaurants in Berkeley that take only cash, Thai Basil takes credit card! The menu is cheap but the portions and quality of food is excellent. I caught sign of a bunch of "Best of Berkeley" awards posted on the door, and the food certainly confirmed that. We ate there for lunch and it was packed by the time we left; always a sign of a good restaurant. It's not the most romantic place to eat, but if you're on a budget or looking for something quick to grab, Thai Basil is you place.
I was at Berkeley this Saturday for a meeting and grabbed lunch in the infamous Asian ghetto (Lee calls it a Grotto) where there's a small cluster of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and boba restaurants. Thai Basil was the one I checked out today and I was quite impressed. I ordered the Pad Thai, a traditional favorite at Thai restaurants, but for a price of $6.30 with tax and a more than ample plate of noodles, chicken, egg, bean sprouts, and prawns, it was definitely worth every cent. The food is cooked fresh and unlike most restaurants in Berkeley that take only cash, Thai Basil takes credit card! The menu is cheap but the portions and quality of food is excellent. I caught sign of a bunch of "Best of Berkeley" awards posted on the door, and the food certainly confirmed that. We ate there for lunch and it was packed by the time we left; always a sign of a good restaurant. It's not the most romantic place to eat, but if you're on a budget or looking for something quick to grab, Thai Basil is you place.
Monday, July 10, 2006
1221
[exerpt from an email I wrote Reid]
I went out with Jon to dinner tonight. So first we were set on this one restaurant called 1221 that was in all the guidebooks. It's on the other side of town, and it took us both quite a bit of time to find the place. It's this very suspect spot that's in almost a back alley with a unprofessional-looking entrance, but I'm sure it was the spot we were looking for because everyone inside was either white or with someone white. Sadly we were turned away bc we hadn't made a reservation ahead of time, even though most of the tables were empty! Agh, I had no idea so many restaurants in Shanghai these days need a reservation. That seems very unchinese. Anyways, I took Jon to my favorite japanese restaurant and we stuffed ourselves silly there. By the end, we were looking at the tables on both sides of us, and one had delicious smells of shabu-shabu meating wafting at us, and the other table was happily slurping on udon noodles. Both looked incredibly tempting but by then we were on the verge of bursting. Jon was very conscientious; he ate all the chicken and steak pieces even though we had ordered too much and didn't want them anymore. Man, he's a restauranteur's dream.
Bottomline: Although we never had the chance to try it, 1221 is likely not good judging by the lack of local Chinese customers, the three customers who were there at peak dining hours, and the fact that they were all tourists who were lured there (as we were) by guide book dining suggestions.
I went out with Jon to dinner tonight. So first we were set on this one restaurant called 1221 that was in all the guidebooks. It's on the other side of town, and it took us both quite a bit of time to find the place. It's this very suspect spot that's in almost a back alley with a unprofessional-looking entrance, but I'm sure it was the spot we were looking for because everyone inside was either white or with someone white. Sadly we were turned away bc we hadn't made a reservation ahead of time, even though most of the tables were empty! Agh, I had no idea so many restaurants in Shanghai these days need a reservation. That seems very unchinese. Anyways, I took Jon to my favorite japanese restaurant and we stuffed ourselves silly there. By the end, we were looking at the tables on both sides of us, and one had delicious smells of shabu-shabu meating wafting at us, and the other table was happily slurping on udon noodles. Both looked incredibly tempting but by then we were on the verge of bursting. Jon was very conscientious; he ate all the chicken and steak pieces even though we had ordered too much and didn't want them anymore. Man, he's a restauranteur's dream.
Bottomline: Although we never had the chance to try it, 1221 is likely not good judging by the lack of local Chinese customers, the three customers who were there at peak dining hours, and the fact that they were all tourists who were lured there (as we were) by guide book dining suggestions.
Chatea
Red bean shaved ice
Address: all the trendy shopping areas
Price: 29 RMB
Chatea is a chain restaurant in Shanghai that I have mixed feelings about. I've come here once for dim sum and was not at all impressed. In addition, their service is fairly inattentive and all of their restaurants have a trend of being very dark almost to the point of feeling cavernous. However, they make fantastic cold drinks (albeit pricey ones), and featured here, the best red bean shaved ice concoction that I've had in Shanghai. This shaved ice is huge! About a foot tall. And it's incredibly flavorful compared to other ones that I've tried. Some people might wince at the 29 yuan price for a cold snack, but it's meant to be shared by two or three people. I tried to finish one by myself, and got 3/4 down before I had to admit defeat.
Address: all the trendy shopping areas
Price: 29 RMB
Chatea is a chain restaurant in Shanghai that I have mixed feelings about. I've come here once for dim sum and was not at all impressed. In addition, their service is fairly inattentive and all of their restaurants have a trend of being very dark almost to the point of feeling cavernous. However, they make fantastic cold drinks (albeit pricey ones), and featured here, the best red bean shaved ice concoction that I've had in Shanghai. This shaved ice is huge! About a foot tall. And it's incredibly flavorful compared to other ones that I've tried. Some people might wince at the 29 yuan price for a cold snack, but it's meant to be shared by two or three people. I tried to finish one by myself, and got 3/4 down before I had to admit defeat.
Home cooking!
I do miss going out to eat with Reid who not only likes food almost as much as I do but he also gets excited about writing these reviews and reminds me to do them.
After three weeks in Shanghai now, it's starting to get a little boring enjoying food by myself. That's why I'm very happy I live with a host family. They're absolutely wonderful people who invite me to dinner every night. And I do join them every now and then; it's a relief to not always ponder where I'm going to go for my next meal. It's nice to eat at a family table again. Usually my host grandma makes four dishes plus a soup. And invariably it's something delicious that I will never be able find in restaurants.
[Tomato and egg soup, green peas, bitter melon with pork, braised short ribs, a vegetable that I've never heard of before, and edamame beans with dried fish]
Hehe every night, I can always expect my host mom to come into my room and hand me a plate of fruit too. Oh I'm getting too spoiled here.
After three weeks in Shanghai now, it's starting to get a little boring enjoying food by myself. That's why I'm very happy I live with a host family. They're absolutely wonderful people who invite me to dinner every night. And I do join them every now and then; it's a relief to not always ponder where I'm going to go for my next meal. It's nice to eat at a family table again. Usually my host grandma makes four dishes plus a soup. And invariably it's something delicious that I will never be able find in restaurants.
[Tomato and egg soup, green peas, bitter melon with pork, braised short ribs, a vegetable that I've never heard of before, and edamame beans with dried fish]
Hehe every night, I can always expect my host mom to come into my room and hand me a plate of fruit too. Oh I'm getting too spoiled here.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Misc. Shanghai Yummies
Mango and Taro Ice Cream Scoops
Address: Inside Raffles Shopping Mall, Ren Min Guang Chang
Price: 5 RMB
Chocaccino
Address: TZG office
Price: 0
Bento Lunch- Pepper spareribs over rice + soup
Address: Free Delivery!
Price: 12 RMB
Banana Chocholate Crepe
Address: Basement of Trust-Mart, my neighborhood supermarket
Price: 12 RMB
Din Tai Feng
After hearing how sad Reid feels about Manz dining, I feel rather evil posting up pictures of all the food I've been eating, but since our only reader seems to want pictures, up they go! I have been getting much odd looks from neighboring diners who are wondering who is that girl eating and taking pictures by herself, so I hope the efforts are appreciated.
Din Tai Feng
Address: Xin Tian Di, the very back building, second floor
Price: ooh quite pricey- 100 rmb at the very least
This restaurant is part of a chain in Taiwan but it's been much touted in the NYTimes and other news sources as being a completely undiluted source of tasty xiao long bao. Its location in Xin Tian Di is beautiful and spotless, and the service is one of the finest I've had in China. I felt so at home and comfortable here, and best of all the xiao long bao were just as good as people said, the best I've had in Shanghai so far. However, the other foods- the meat buns, and the drunken chicken in wine sauce-- were only ok and the prices did raise my eyebrows a bit. So I had a very "jia chang fan" or a comfort food meal for a rather expenisve price in China, but again, the restaurant won me over into believing that you pay for what you get, and that includes the setting and the service.
Din Tai Feng
Address: Xin Tian Di, the very back building, second floor
Price: ooh quite pricey- 100 rmb at the very least
This restaurant is part of a chain in Taiwan but it's been much touted in the NYTimes and other news sources as being a completely undiluted source of tasty xiao long bao. Its location in Xin Tian Di is beautiful and spotless, and the service is one of the finest I've had in China. I felt so at home and comfortable here, and best of all the xiao long bao were just as good as people said, the best I've had in Shanghai so far. However, the other foods- the meat buns, and the drunken chicken in wine sauce-- were only ok and the prices did raise my eyebrows a bit. So I had a very "jia chang fan" or a comfort food meal for a rather expenisve price in China, but again, the restaurant won me over into believing that you pay for what you get, and that includes the setting and the service.
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