Time Flies

Wowee! It's MARCH already, how crazy is that? Looks like I've been slacking again on this blog thing. So I thank you if you still read this thing. Here's a peek at what's been going on:

So many goodies: Noodle Theory Ramen w/ +Lynn Vuong; panne cotta & roasted chicken (from +Irene Byon bday); Koja Kitchen Truck; homemade pasta casserole and miso braised chicken; BeardPapa chocolate cream puff; lamb chops and oysters from Sushi Delight


 3crosses Volunteer Appreciation Month; ironman micro mugs (thanks to +Peter Lee); Sideboard w/ +Nicole Makinney Miranda; Chinese New Year dinners; Mimosa & Monte Cristo breakfast w/ +Erica Dang & +Matthew Lee; Homecooked Valentine's Dinner by +Edmund Lee; M.Y. China lunch


(I'll have to do a full post about our trip to NOLA still)

Hakkasan

1 Kearny St * San Francisco, CA

It's been a while since I've done a restaurant review post. Since +Steve Nguyen brought up the fact that my blog has been lacking reviews, I thought this would be appropriate, as he treated us to a holiday luncheon at Hakkasan.

Hakkasan recently opened this San Francisco outpost on the 2nd floor of what looked like an all but abandoned building on the corner of Kearny and Market. I've seen a lot of posts and reviews lately about it even before it opened, so I was glad to get an opportunity to check it out.

You walk into a very chic and sophisticated dining room separated by interesting wood frames. The centerpiece of the restaurant is gorgeous bar.

We started off with a few dimsum items:

Clockwise, starting from top-left: King crab noodle roll; har gau; crab and taro croquette; daikon cake

The dimsum was all cooked nicely. My favorite was the crab/taro croquette. It was perfectly crispy on the outside and the taro was smooth and creamy inside. This is usually one of my favorite dimsum items to get, but the crab version made it more luxurious. My least favorite was the daikon cake, not sure if the ratio of rice flour and daikon was off, but it turned out alittle too mushy for my liking.

For our main course, we ordered the spicy prawns, black pepper rib-eye with merlot, and chicken fried rice with salted fish.

The dishes were all executed well. The prawns were cooked perfectly, not overcooked at all.

For dessert, we had a steamer full of macarons. I don't remember all the different flavors, but there was a blood orange, burnt caramel, jasmine tea, and yuzu. I thought the macarons were good and a good deal (7 for $12...many places around here charge close to $2 for a macaron)

Overall, I thought this was a great meal, with the prices, definitely not an everyday place. But they had great service and a wonderful ambiance.

Paws: 4

Going to try and be better at this....

I'm probably one of the worst at keeping up with my blog, but here goes try #212392...forgive me?

some food photos from the year:


lobster @FullyBelly


Beef Wellington ala Christine


Banana Cream Pie @Nation's (thanks E.Dang!)


Caldo de Camaron @LosPericos

I'll be back to share more!!

DELICIOUSNESS *yumyum*

Came back on Saturday from a 2week vacation to China. Here's a tiny glimpse into the wonderful variety of foods we had. Tried many new things that I've never had before. The carb-filled diet (with all sorts of bing and fun) of the saanxi people was satisfying and made this carbie's tummy smile =) We traveled from the south to the north to central china to the north east sampling the local delicacies and specialties.

Brought some photos to share...(now the names of these are unfortunately not quite authentic)


Peanut filled sesame ball (Shanghai)


sweet taro balls (Suzhou)


Sweet Glazed fried fish from the local waters (Suzhou)


Savory Flaky Pastry (Suzhou)


Step-by-Step: GoBuLi baozi freshmade/tableside (Tianjin)


Pumpkin-filled Pastry (Xi'an)


Potato-noodles (Xi'an)


Freshly made bin stuffed with pork (Xi'an)


Fresh hand-rolled and hand-cut noodles (Xi'an)


Fresh table-side handtossed noodles (Xi'an)


Spicy Tripe (Xi'an)


Fresh fruits (Passionfruit, Dragonfruit, Oranges - yes they look like limes) (Taipei)


Fresh Mochi (Taipei)

Sticky Rice...

for our International Potluck

I made this for a potluck at work. I adapted ChezChristine's recipe

What's inside?


After mixing in the mixture to the rice...


all done!


If you tasted it..let me know what you think

Koi Garden

4288 Dublin Blvd * Dublin, CA

For Mother's Day we went to Koi in Dublin. We've frequented this place a few times now, but i have yet to get pictures until this time. Because it was Mother's Day, in order to get reservations we had to pre-order our menu from a selection of banquet meals. My mom picked (cheaper) one for the "kids" table and another (classy) one for the adults. I will be focusing on the kid's tabble as I did not see what the elders had.


Whole Steamed Shrimp
Whole steamed shrimp with a soy sauce dipper

My family orders this all the time. when the shrimp are fresh, this is the best way to enjoy this scrumptious dish. to taste the sweetness of the shrimp, forego the sauce. this is a dish that must be eaten hot or warm, not cold. eating this cold, you'll taste the fishy/seafoody-ness of the shrimp.


Cold Plate Appetizer
a mixture of 6 different appetizers: jellyfish, bbq pork, clam, seaweed, chicken, bean curd

This is another one of those dishes that most Chinese Seafood restaurants will serve up. Nothing out of the ordinary here.


Scallop & Water Chestnut Stir-Fry
Scallop, water chestnut, chinese broccoli, carrots

This dish is pretty unique to Koi. I've had a few variations of the scallop stir-fry. The portion size of this is pretty large, we had a lot leftover. A little bit on the oily side, but still a well executed dish.


Deep Fried Egglant & Shrimp
Eggplant stuff with shrimp paste, topped with sweet mayo and shredded dried pork

This was a first for me. The eggplant was cooked to a good tenderness, a good amount of batter, and the topping was perfect for balancing the flavors.


Steamed Lotus Bun
sweet lotus paste stuffed inside a steamed bun

This is another standard dessert item on a banquet menu. The bun is supposed to be in the shape of a chinese peach. this is almost always eaten during birthday celebrations, there is some significance in the chinese culture to eat this.

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Overall, this was a good meal. There was way more food than i photographed (sorry, recurring theme). I would recommend koi to someone who knows what they are ordering, as the menu may be a little bit hard to navigate, even with all the pictures. However, if you don't know the style and cooking techniques, you could be thrown for a loop. There are also many off-menu items.

Ming's Coffee Shop

54 2nd St. * San Francisco, CA

"hey guys, what's for lunch today?" I ask. "MING'S!" (of course, they always want to go to Ming's). My co-workers have this infatuation with Ming's and I don't quite get it. Ming's is a fast food, steam tray, Chinese restaurant. Today was my 2nd time there and I thought I'd give it a review.


"two items" String Bean Tofu + Pepper Pork + 1/2 steamed rice 1/2 chow mein
This was my order. The tofu was alittle bland, I'm also not a huge fan of the starch-ed sauces (think it has to do w/ my upbringing). Not the tender-est string beans eitehr. The Pepper Pork was decent, what you would expect out of a steam tray. My one little gripe is that the chow mein is overly peppered. it was better this time.



"two items" String Bean Tofu + Orange Chicken + steamed rice
This was my co-worker's order. The string bean tofu was the same so i will not re-discuss it (see above). the orange chicken is alittle diff't than panda's orange chicken. the ming's OC has less batter and more meat, hence the smaller pieces. the sauce is also not as sweet. i think i like the ming's OC alil better, but i could go for either depending on my mood.
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Overall, Ming's is good for a quick bite, but don't expect cleaniness or great service. Be ready to order or the lil ladies behind the counter will shoot you dirty looks.

(apologies. photos taken off of bbphone. so not too clear.)

Food Foundation

I thought it was appropriate for my first official post to give a glimpse into the food I grew up with. This is my kind of comfort-homestyle cookin' - mama's food.



One of my mom's signature dishes "luu nieo ro", sauced beef shank, and "luu nieo jing", sauced beef tendon. She has this sauce recipe which she's perfected over the years. This sauce can be used to simmer and injects intense flavor to a variety of foods (bean curd, beef, tofu, egg, etc).




Dinner will usually include at least one stir-fried vegetable. Recently we have been eating alot more veggies, which may not seem evident in this post. I'm not sure what exactly this veggie is, it is some Chinese vegetable bought at the Chinese market.



This is catfish steamed with soy sauce, garlic, green onions, and a touch of oil. Catfish is a good "boneless" fish and when steamed right has a good semi-oily texture. I am not a big fan of the skin, however some find it tasty with an interesting texture.



Sea Cucumber. Probably one of the more interesting foods out there. They come in diff't types of textures and degree of crunchiness. This one was more on the soft side. Simmered in a sauce made with garlic, green onions, stock, and soy sauce. The sauce is great over rice or in a bowl of noodles.



The claypot holds some delicious braised pork ribs. That is one of my favorite foods. The meat is braised for an hour or so..and the meat just falls right off the bone. The green stuff in the front of the picture is preserved pickled lettuce stir-fried with some garlic; it adds alot of kick with just a tiny amount.

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These next few pictures are kind of random ones from this past weekend...
Went to Japantown in SF for their annual Cherry Blossom Festival. There was a booth there called "Flying Pigs". They had these adorable wood pig hanging decals.



This is the bottom of the particular hanging pig

This is the top of the hanging pig


Go A's!! :D