The Traveling Gourmet Pig

The Home List: Surabaya

2011-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

My hometown and all the good food I miss!

Bebek Goreng Mon Mon (fried duck)
J. Co (Donuts and Coffee Shop)
Kogyo BBQ (Korean-Mexican fusion, SUTOS)
Soto Ambengan
Hana Sushi
Kue Leker food cart (in front of Ayam Penyet Bu Kris in Tenggilis)
Martabak Mesir (Egyptian Omelet, Rumah Sederhana)
Sari Nusantara (Padang cuisine)
Thai Village
Layar Seafood

Upcoming:
Ikan Bakar Cianjur

NOLA

2011-10-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

Alright guys, my New Orleans reviews are coming up on my (merged) blog Gourmet Pigs !
I'll be updating this list as we go!

Cafe du Monde
Cuvee
Frenchmen Grocery and Deli
Johnny's Po Boy
Meltdown

Up and coming:
Luke
Cafe Maspero

The City

2010-12-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

List of Restaurant Reviews for NYC Area:

Azalea
Bouley **
Center Cut
Dessert Truck
Eleven Madison Park *
Gramercy Tavern *
Ippudo
Jean Georges ***
Le Bernardin ***
M. Wells (Queens/Long Island City)
Marea *
Momofuku Noodle Bar
Russ & Daughters
Yakitori Totto

Coming Soon:
Aureole
Angelo's Pizza
Landmarc
BLT Market

The Dallas Roundup

2010-12-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Dallas Restaurant Reviews:

Teppo Yakitori and Sushi Bar
Bread Winners Bakery and Cafe - Uptown
Chocolate Secrets
Fearing's
ChoSun KalBi Restaurant

Other Recommendations:
Stephan Pyles
La Duni
Craft

List: Cancun, Mexico

2010-01-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

Cancun Restaurant Reviews:

La Destileria
Gran Melia
Restaurant Playa Dos Playa (inside Xcaret Park)
Crab House

Merging My Blogs

2008-11-24T12:35:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking of merging my LA and travel blogs to just Gourmet Pigs at http://gourmetpigs.blogspot.com

Hopefully you guys think this is a good idea?

Anyways, on the travel side, I have tons of reviews coming up ... soon:

Santa Barbara: Hungry Cat

New York:
Jean Georges
Aureole
Angelo's Pizza
Momofuku Noodle Bar
Fleur de Sel
Gramercy Tavern
BLT Market
Center Cut

So anyways, will be posting those, and I'll update the lists and post a feed here, but you should be checking Gourmet Pigs instead!

Fresh Seafood, Preserved Eggs

2008-10-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Our current seafood restaurant in our hometown (Surabaya): Layar Seafood.

They have tanks and ice trays filled with live seafood right as you are walking in. Lobsters, crabs, fishes, clams, frogs. You name it. When you order, you just tell them how big a fish/crab/lobster you want. We've been going there every time I've been home (which is only once a year).

This time, we started with some frog legs :)
The frog legs here are nothing like what I've had in North America. Much more tender and flavorful here! Not like chicken at all. This particular one is made with some nice sweet soy-based sauce.

Then we went to their signature dish, "Kepiting Telur Asin" - which means "Salted Egg Crab"
As the name suggests, the sauce on the crab is made from Salted Duck Eggs (aka. Telur Asin). The salting is a method of preserving the eggs by soaking them in either brine or salted charcoal.
I thought loading the fresh crab with preserved eggs was somewhat ironic - but it is soo delicious so who cares!
A yummy savoriness filled my mouth with each sauce-laden bite of crab.

We also got some boiled crab with garlic broth
Good, and the freshness of the crab definitely stands out here. But flavor wise is a lot more subtle than the salted egg one, so we definitely liked the other one better, especially since we ate it first. This one tasted rather bland after eating the other. Should've started with this first.

I also have trouble finding good watercrest (Kangkung) dish in the US, so I ordered some here:
Sauteed watercrest/kangkung and shrimp in slightly spicy sauce.

A great meal throughout! Their ingredients are fresh and we can't seem to go wrong with any of the offerings here. Hopefully it will stay open next year as I plan to come back again and again. The Crab with "Telur Asin" is their unique dish and it would be such a shame if I can never eat it again!!

Layar Seafood
Jl. Raya Bukit Mas 109 Surabaya
Phone: 031 5683716

Bar Tartine Brunch - Order Wisely

2008-09-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Out of town foodie, trying to find brunch in SF, where to go?
I've been to Tartine before and loved it, so when someone suggested Bar Tartine (after telling me how great the uni there was), I accepted it.

Although I was worried there might be a long line, it actually was not bad. My friends arrived first and they managed to get a table by the time I got there. We asked the server for suggestions, and he mentioned the duck confit sandwich, the pork belly sandwich ....
But I saw sweet corn + scrambled eggs and I didn't listen to him ... Bad mistake.
The sweet corn was pretty good, but there wasn't quite enough of it to make the dish work. The eggs in particular were terrible. Bland and watery ... come on, can't they pick a good egg? Free range perhaps, for the price I'm paying?
Didn't finish this dish - didn't want to :/

I did try my friend's duck confit sandwich, which was Excellent. I'll probably come back, for the duck confit, but I will definitely be wary of what to order ...
Listen to the waiter's suggestions ... and perhaps nothing else.

Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street (between 16th & 17th streets)
San Francisco, CA 94110
p. 415.487.1600
http://www.tartinebakery.com/barTartine

Slanted Door, Slight Disappointment

2008-09-13T12:02:00.001-07:00

I finally went to the lauded Slanted Door and was really looking forward to it. Got a lunch reservation and headed there straight from SFO. We didn't want to eat much since a lot of food-ing was coming up, so we decided to share 2 appetizers.

First we got some steamed clams, with garlic+basil.The clams were good and the broth was very tasty. A little spice and heat and a lot of flavor. Liked it quite a bit although we thought it was pretty standard. I can get this at a lot of Asian places for cheaper and it would be just as good.

Next we got some Niman Ranch ribs - I wanted some meat!
This turned out to be not that great. The ribs were kind of tough, and they weren't that flavorful. The Niman Ranch ribs I bought at Trader Joe's and cooked myself at home were better, IMHO!
So this really disappointed us.

We thought the Slanted Door was hyped up way too much and the food we had didn't quite justify all the hype. Did we order wrong? If so, please tell me. What should I get? Why all the hype? Is it worth another try?

Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building #3
San Francisco, CA
4158618032

puccho (japanese candy) cupcakes!!!

2008-08-04T20:44:00.001-07:00

puccho (japanese candy) cupcakes!!!, originally uploaded by hello naomi.

My friend sent me this picture. Aren't they the cuuuutest cupcakes EVER?

I want them I want them!

My newfound love ...

2008-07-30T11:39:00.001-07:00

cusquena negra
Originally uploaded by burumun

The Cusquena Negra/ Cusquena Malta beer is my perfect beer.
I first tried this in Ayacucho, Peru.
It's like the handsome dark man, slightly sweet, and absolutely smooth.

Sopas and More

2008-07-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

It was our last night in Ayacucho, and we were all super tired. We were planning to go out and have dinner and hit the town, but it ended up not happening. So we all decided to just eat at our hotel instead. We've actually never really done this except for the daily morning breakfast buffet. But I was actually quite looking forward to it! (Since we pretty much hit all the good places in town anyway?Maybe, maybe ...)

I saw someone eating the Sopa Criolla before, and I just had to order it this time:It is glass noodles in the 'creole' soup (which was like a yellow curry), topped with ... a slice of bread and a fried egg!! By the end about half of the table ordered this :)
It was really flavorful and delish~. I didn't dig the bread that much, but that egg really made the dish in my opinion! Mmm .. now I'm craving it, wonder where in LA I can get this :/

They also serve up some delicious plaintains. This was pretty much our dessert ;)
Someone got these potato slices with cheese, and some type of creamy sauce (?) on top:
I didn't get to try this, but according to this family, it was just amazing.

As far as vegetarian options go, they also have the vegetable tortila:
It really looks more like an omelette in my opinion ... but don't those fries look good?

Now that we know how good the hotel food really is, if/when we come back for the mission trip in Ayacucho, we'll probably end up eating here more often :) Convenience factor is a plus, too.

Santa Rosa Hotel
Jr. Lima No. 166
Ayacucho, Peru
http://www.hotel-santarosa.com/

Gimme that Alpaca!

2008-07-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

To get to Machu Picchu, you have to fly to Cuzco and then take a train to Aguas Calientes, so we stayed a night at Cuzco and took a city tour. Before I left I went on Chowhound to find recs on where to eat in Cuzco and decided to try out Pachapapa in Plaza San Blas, and chowhound rarely steers you wrong :)

We started with some ceviche.

The ceviche was pretty good, the onion flavor was a bit strong, though. In my mind I can sitll taste the one from La Mar in Lima, which just blows this one away ... But still, not bad.

We also got some alpaca anticucho, since I've been curious about alpaca meat.

This was probably my favorite dish during ALL OF MY TRIP!! This particular alpaca meat was otherworldly! Very tender, and marinated just right. Too bad we were sharing these 2 skewers with 6 people ... I could've eaten 6 of them on my own. And now that I'm writing this I'm having a ba~d craving *drool*

For our entree, half of the table got the ever-favorite, lomo saltado.
I got to try a bite, and it was delicious. Again, the meat was tender, and the sauce is just right- not too salty.

Some other people got the other 'lomo' dish, some type of stew.
It was a pretty good stew, but the meat is not as tender, or flavorful, as the lomo saltado.

I myself, had to go for the other 'alpaca' dish. It was also some sort of stew.Unfortunately though there was not much alpaca meat in it. It was actually "alpaca jerky" so they were little slivers of meat. While it was still good, you can't really taste the meat with such small pieces. The stew itself, however, was delicious. It was a very familiar flavor that I can't quite put my finger on.
Oh, and the plaintains were amazing and sweet.

We ordered the flan for dessert. I don't remember what it was called - I believe flans are called "leche asada" in Peru?A delicious flan that seems to be in accordance with the other flans I've had in Peru - an extremely rich and milky one compared to the ones I'm used to in the US.

I desperately want to go back to Pachapa, if only for that alpaca anticucho, but all in all everything we had was very good and enjoyable, and I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who's passing through Cuzco!

Pachapapa
Plazoleta San Blas 120
Cusco, Peru

Pizza heaven in Peru?

2008-07-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

It was our first night in Ayacucho, Peru and we all were trying to figure out where to eat. The people who've been there before seem to be avidly recommending Antonino, a pizza place by the Plaza.

Pizza? In Peru? I wasn't sure about this idea, but when you're in a group you do as the group does, so pizza it is. As it turned out, I was in for a pleasant surprise.

When we got there they weren't even open. They opened the gate halfway for us and we bent down and crawled inside. At first it seemed like going into a secret place - maybe a mafia hiding place, but it turned out they were just not open yet. Because of this it also took them a while to serve us and we were starving by the time the food was served - which may make this review completely biased :)

We ordered the Antonino special pizza which has ham, chorizo sausage, mushrooms etc.The cheese was still melty and stretchy. It could barely hold up the slice of pizza but on the other hand I love this type of cheese on my pizza! It makes it very "cheesy" if you know what I mean ...
The chorizo also goes with the pizza really well. All in all I really, really liked it.

We also ordered the hawaiian pizza, which has ham, pineapples, AND peach. I'm not really sure how the peaches tie into the hawaiian theme but hey, whatever. I love peach.
This dinner was apparently the beginning of a series of pizza meals in Peru since it seems like everyone serves pizza ... especially in Aguas Calientes (the town by Machu Picchu). None of the other ones can beat Antonino but I have definitely changed my view of eating pizza in Peru!

Antonino
Jr. Cuzco Nº 144
Ayacucho, Peru
Telf.: (0051) (066) 31-57-38

Chifa!

2008-07-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

What is "chifa"? Chifa is the typical Chinese cuisine found in Peru, and uses Peruvian ingredients.

We went to a place in Ayacucho called Chifa Samsi - a place that actually seems to be run by Peruvians.
Some of the dishes seem pretty standard. We had some fried rice, which in Peru is called "Chaufa"
It tastes like regular fried rice, except of course the rice used is different and it's also cooked firmer/dryer than the Chinese style. Over this trip I've grown to like the Peruvian rice ...

Someone recommended the 'wonton soup', which turned out to be waay more than your regular wonton soup.
Aside from the huge portion, this wonton soup contained some duck, chicken, vegetables, etc, and was THE best wonton soup ever!

Apparently they really like fried wontons, since they garnish every dish with them ... and drizzle them with some sort of sweet and sour sauce.
None of their dishes was particular spicy, even their curry dish. Most of the sauces was also on the sweeter side.
Overall it's a pretty good rendition of Chinese and we all enjoyed our meal. I'd go back for the wonton soup ... :)

Chifa Samsi
JR. 9 de diciembre 212
Ayacucho, Peru

Eating My Week Out of Ayacucho

2008-06-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

We spent a week in Ayacucho, Peru, for this medical mission (see http://ayacuchomission.org/).
We worked our tails off but it was very gratifying and fun :) I encourage anyone interested to check it out!

I was working all day long the whole week, so the only real meal (besides the complimentary breakfast at the hotel) was dinner. Oh, I also occasionally manage to get a couple of empanadas on the way to work!

The first day we got there though, we got a tour to see the ruins of the Wari tribe. On the way back we stopped at a local market, where I tried a traditional/local dish, cuy. What is it you ask? It's a guinea pig ...

The first night, we went out to eat - surprise, surprise - pizza. We went to a small place called Antonino's which is pretty popular - at least among the mission participants as far as I can tell.

We also went to another favorite - El Nino, which offers an extensive menu of Peruvian food (and also, pizza).

Then it was time to try the Peruvian influenced Chinese cuisine - Chifa.

On our last night, we couldn't figure out where to go, so we ate at our hotel, Hotel Santa Rosa, which actually has really good food! Should've eaten here more ...

Lima: Antica, a rustic Trattoria

2008-06-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Our last night in Peru, we waited at someone's home in Barranco until it's time to go to the airport. I really wanted to go to Astrid y Gaston, or Rafael - but we were short on time and these places don't start serving dinner until 7.30 pm. We decided to go someplace nearby (walking distance) in Barranco.

Again, most places in Lima do not open until 7.30 pm for dinner. We finally went into this Italian place that was open, Antica Trattoria. It's a cozy, rustic place that reminds me of both a ski lodge and a wine cellar. When we came in, there was no other customer. There was someone behind the counter rolling the dough for this bread which we later had fresh from the oven:

I don't need to tell you guys how good a bread fresh from the oven is. Also, the olives that they serve with the bread were amazing! I've been growing tired of olives lately but these ones reminded me how scrumptious they are.

We had a big (BIG) lunch at La Mar earlier, so I just went with sharing some bruschetta.
Someone else ordered this one and I couldn't figure out what it's called.
Anyway, it was delicious, but I may be biased because of the melted cheese ... The bread that they use is also good.

This one, I believe, was the 'Classic'. Diced tomatoes and basil. Basic and refreshing.
A couple people at dinner didn't have lunch so they went ahead and ordered the Osso Buco, served with polenta.
The osso buco was tender and delicious. It is not as good as the best Italian places in Los Angeles, but is definitely one of the better ones I've had. All in all, this place is up there with the GOOD Italian places in LA.

It's kind of amazing how much Italian food we ended up having in Peru (Pizzas! They have pizzas everywhere! Every place in Aguas Calientes seems to sell pizza) ... but I was also surprised at how good they are.

Antica Trattoria
San Martín 201, Barranco
Lima, Peru
01/247-5752

Lima: La Mar, Take One

2008-06-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our first meal in Peru was at the cebicheria La Mar, one of Gaston Acurio's restaurants (chef/owner of Astrid y Gaston). Tons of great ceviche and other food - what could be a better welcome to Peru? We went back there for our last meal before leaving Peru again!

The seating is semi-outdoors and the sea breeze (La Mar is just a few blocks from the beach) makes it extremely pleasant.

For this first visit, our hosts took care of all the ordering - I tried to figure out what we had on my second visit. I still couldn't figure out everything, but I'll tell you guys as much as I can.

We started with some "cauza" which was mashed potatoes topped with a variety of seafood cocktail.
They were good, but really, I'm just waiting to have some ceviche:
We had the ceviche "mixto" which contained scallops, squid, fish, shrimp, and abalone - with some potatoes and corn in their classic "leche de tigre". Best ceviche I have ever had. And the second plate of the exact same dish that we ordered was just as good ;)

We also had one of the "tiradito" - which is Peruvian carpaccio, basically. I wasn't able to figure out what this particular one was called on the menu, but it was delicious:

We also had some langoustines, served with mushrooms. Both the langoustines and the mushrooms were amazing, IMO. I tried ordering this again the second time around, but couldn't find it and accidentally ordered "langosta" instead.I didn't know at the time that that meant lobster ... oh well, I guess I can eat that too O:)

I'll say this again ... the mushrooms were also just absolutely amazing.

We also had some sort of grilled tuna and octopus. I thought this dish was just okay. It was good, but nothing special and is the weakest out of everything we had that day.
We also got some sort of Peruvian rice dish - similar to Paella, and I absolutely loved it. I tried looking for it again the next time but couldn't figure out which one it was.
Since we were sharing, I didn't get too much of this rice dish and now I'm just drooling while writing this ....

During our first visit we had the lucuma+chocolate cake for dessert.
I liked this cake a lot that I bought lucuma gelato later on - but apparently I don't really like the actual lucuma fruit or the gelato. (The lucuma yogurt they sell in the stores is yummy though).

We also got the cherimoya with some sort of milk/sugar cream.
This was delicious and everyone liked it. Some of them have never had cherimoya before so this was a good intro.

If you make it to Lima, don't you dare leave without first coming to La Mar.

La Mar Cebicheria
Av. La Mar 770
Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Phone: 51 1 421-3365
Open: Tuesday - Sunday, 12:30 to 5:00 p.m.

Fries with that Guinea Pig?

2008-06-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

I took this title from a T-shirt we saw somewhere in Cusco, Peru.
Yes, guinea pig is a typical local fare in Peru. And yes, I tried it (how can I claim to be a food blogger otherwise? Seriously).

I tried fried guinea pig (aka. "cuy") in a market near Ayacucho, Peru on the way back from a tour to local ruins of the Wari tribe. I got 2 fried thighs (see the feet? Uh huh ...) served with corn and potatoes.
How was it, you ask? I have to admit I liked it. Some people who got the white meat part did not and said that there is not much meat. It's true that there isn't much meat, but the meat that was there tasted like tender rabbit meat. The skin is crunchy - although it was more disturbing to eat than the meat ...

I also have to admit that I took the feet off before I can proceed to eat it. And that I could not stare at the buying/selling transactions of the live cuys taking place in front of the market, in the same way that most people do not want to see cows actually slaughtered before eating their rib eye steaks ...

Lima List

2008-06-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

We spent 2 days in Lima, but overall we didn't get to try out /too / many places. The reason being our first meal was at La Mar Cebicheria - which equaled a 3 or 4 hour 'lunch' which prevented dinner, and it was sooo good we had to come back on our way out of Peru!

For the last meal, we were short on time and since most places don't start serving dinner until 7.30 or 8 pm we decided to walk around the neighborhood of our "base" in Barranco, and finally stopped at a cozy Italian nook Antica Trattoria.

When I come back next time though, I really wanna try Astrid y Gaston, Rafael, and Rodrigo :)

SF Dine About Town Starts!

2008-06-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Dine About Town starts today!!!
Guys, go and enjoy the prix-fixe deals while you can. Too bad I can't make it :( I really want to go try out these places while I can get good deals ... A16, etc *sob*

Anyway, check out the restaurants at the OpenTable site
Duration: June 1 - 15, 2008
Pricing: $21.95 lunches, $31.95 dinners; prices are per person and do not include beverage, tax or gratuity

Report back to me ... lemme know what I missed out on!

Strawberry Fest! 2008

2008-05-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

We made short trip to Oxnard on Sunday for the annual strawberry fest! I've never been before so I'm pretty excited. Admission was $12, not cheap but seems like that's the going rate for these festivals these days :( Why can't everything be free, hehe :P

Walking in we saw a bunch of children's rides and also bungee jumping etc. But we were going straight for the foods. In the food court area obviously we saw a bunch of booths selling strawberry desserts like this one:BYO shortcakes, strawberry parfaits, smoothies, chocolate dipped strawberries etc.
The chocolate dipped strawberries were going for around $2 each - again, not cheap.

My eyes wandered to this row of roasting corn here, and immediately I went in line. First of the day! Love that corn!
And here's my roasted sweet corn. Yummm!
I do loo~~ve good roasted corn, and the one they had here was pretty darn good!

We also tried some key lime calamari, served with some creamy watercress pesto sauce.
I almost burnt my mouth biting into it :) Tasty, but the breading tends to crumble as you're trying to bite off the calamari. The key lime flavor is yummy!

I also had to get this thing called Strawberry pizza! It's really kinda like strawberry shortcake :P except they do actually use pizza dough.
After eating this I had an idea for a REAL strawberry pizza ... I'll have to try it out and let you guys know how it turns out :)

Another "festival food" fave of mine ... smoked turkey leg!
Again, lucky for me this festival had good ones! Cooked just right, not dry - pretty juicy :P

And of course, before we left we had to get the real loot of the day. Fresh strawberries! Got this 2 dry-pint pack for $16.
Just look at them! Don't they just look de li ci ous?? Big, red, sweet, and juicy. We had a bunch as soon as we got home, but even the rest of it wouldn't fit in the fridge ... I brought some to my group meeting the next day.

I also got some strawberry plants. This 6-pack was $10. Hopefully I can keep them alive long enough to give me strawberries ;) There are a couple on there already, as you can see here.
I'll do better watering you guys this time around, promise! hehe.

Mon Mon!

2008-04-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Fried duck is pretty popular in Indonesia, but apparently as of late there has been a debate as to which place has the best fried duck. A lot of the votes has gone over to Mon Mon, so my friends and I decided to give it a try!

We also ordered the grilled duck, but the fried duck pictured below is definitely the best dish they have:Since living in the US I haven't had the chance to try out many of the places in Indonesia, so I can't say whether or not this was the best duck in town, but it definitely is pretty darn good. They somehow managed to make the duck juicier/ less dry than most places do.

I also got the tongue stew since it's been a while since I've had beef tongue.
The beef tongue had the characteristic tenderness and flavor of tongue that I remember from childhood. Not like the tough chewy stuff I get in the US!

Bebek Goreng Mon Mon
Jl Mayjend Sungkono 139, Surabaya 031-5620220

Sharksfin galore

2008-04-24T21:09:00.001-07:00

One of the special delicacies of Chinese cuisine that my family likes to get occasionally is the sharks fin soup. We normally go to a place called Thai Village, located inside the Galaxy Mall in Surabaya (don't know why it's called Thai Village, it's all Chinese food actually).

The sharks fin soup is expensive, so this time around we ordered a Medium sized soup w/crab to share among the three of us, and then got other dishes.Let's look at the sharks fin more closely :P They are the slices you see behind the bean sprouts. When one of my cousins was younger he thought that they were rice noodles!
The sharks fin is chewy, but does not have a fishy taste. The soup is rich and thick, and this particular one is also topped with crab meat. You eat it with lots of bean sprouts and, if you like it, cilantros. I think Thai Village still serves the best one in town, although a lot of people have gone over to other places like XO.

We also ordered some duck web, since the other dish we wanted was not available that night (I can't remember what it is).
It wasn't bad, but nothing special I thought. I like chicken feet better.

We also ordered one of my favorites, garlic stir fry noodles with crab. Just look at this!
That crab is just inviting me to crack it and eat it!

One of the best parts of this dish is that it is LOADED with garlic. This is what you will find at the bottom of the wok:
Roasted garlic everywhere :) Naturally the crab and the noodle both are completely garlic-flavored, which is just perfect for me.

Thai Village
in Galaxy Mall, Surabaya

Snow Crab in My Mouth

2008-04-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

In general I'm a bit skeptical about eating sushi in Indonesia, especially when we're talking about the raw fish sushi. But my family wanted to go so I went along with them to Sushi Hana in Surabaya. We went on a weeknight so they were not that busy, also still had some customers.

There were six of us and each of us put in a request to order, including some tuna sashimi salad, which was pretty good - full of rich mayo-based sauce. We also had more basic rolls like Philadelphia roll and Rainbow roll, which were not bad (they tasted pretty standard, hey I'm used to LA sushi).

The surprisingly good roll though was this snow crab roll! It was called the Snow Crab Narudo (thx Stef for getting me the name!)Wrapped in fresh cucumber, the roll doesn't contain any rice - yes the pink stuff you see in place of the rice is fresh snow crab meat! And the crab meat was surprisingly fresh and delicious. Wrapped in cucumbers, this roll was very refreshing. Since there's no rice to fill you up with you really end up wanting more.
We ended up getting two orders of this.

I think it's worth it to come here just for this roll alone, and maybe one of their either tuna or crab sashimi salad. The rest of it though, I must say, is not bad at all. Again, can't beat LA's finest, but comparable to standard sushi places. They do have toro sashimi plate for about $11 if you convert it to US currency, but I was too afraid I would be disappointed so I didn't get it even though by our standards it was really cheap :(

Sushi Hana
Jln Dr Soetomo 97E
Surabaya
031-5688041

The Better Krispy Kreme KopyKat

2008-03-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

The story we heard was that they signed up to franchise Krispy Kreme in Indonesia. Paid the initial payment, and got all the training and secrets of Krispy Kreme. Then backed out. Lost the initial payment but then opened up their very own donut franchise empire. So we've heard, I am not claiming this to be a fact.

What I will claim to be a fact is this: J.Co's donuts are lighter, less sweet, and more catered to the Asian palate. They serve flavors like mango, green tea, and Kaya which are big with Asians. Also a fact: Krispy Kreme later on did open up stores in Indonesia, but J.Co is doing far better business and can be found at least in every other mall. Krispy Kreme's donuts turn out to be too heavy and sweet for a lot of Indonesians (except for the glazed donuts straight out of the oven).

These donuts are pretty pricey by Indonesian living standards, they are luxury items and are about 3-4 times more than normal 'doughnuts'.

I got an assortment last time.
Our favorite was the very bottom ones, which are chocolate glazed donuts with cocoa pebbles. Sounds easy and simple but the crunchyness was great.

The white one was the Kaya with coconut sprinkling. It was okay ... I mean it was good, but if I want kaya I would just go for a Kaya toast in Singapore though.

I didn't get to have the rest :( My cousins ate em all >_<

Asian Soy bean craze

2008-03-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

It seems like soy bean custard/ tofu fa was the pinkberry craze of Singapore and Indonesia. Although it is dwindling down now, you definitely still find a motley of soy bean dessert places all over the place.

I was at the airport when I saw Mr. Bean. I thought their mascot was super cute so I tried it out. Plus I had so much time at the airport anyway.

My favorite tofu fa is the one from this cart that used to pass by my house in Indonesia every morning. It had ginger-sugar soup and served with boiled peanuts.

At Mr. Bean I didn't find an option with peanuts, unfortunately (although they did have ginko nuts etc, healthier I suppose), so I just ordered a regular one in sweet ginger soup.

The soy custard itself is definitely silky smooth and of very good quality, but overall the whole thing did not give me too much excitement. The ginger was a bit strong and was not quite sweet enough for me. Plus there's no extra kick to the whole thing (some peanuts would do it for me perhaps?).

Awfully Chocolate, awfully good!

2008-03-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

More on Singapore fooding ...
Directly following the bowl of laksa, we went to the katong mall, to get what my brother said was really2 good chocolate ice cream.

The place was a small shop, one or two tables, decorated in the minimal style, all black and white. It was called Awfully Chocolate (what a great name, huh? :P).
It serves only chocolate ice cream and apparently ice cream cake by pre-order. I don't know how they stay in business doing this, but apparently they do and have branches all over the place ...

I got a scoop of, well, chocolate ice cream (what else can I get?). They served it in a chinese-style paper take out box. I thought this was really cute.
I gotta say, it was really really good chocolate ice cream indeed. Very, very chocolatey! Yumm. Richer and more chocolatey than most ice cream I could find in the US. I thought about franchising it in the US, but do you think it would do good business just serving chocolate ice cream? I mean, I guess pinkberry kinda only serves one thing, but they at least have toppings. Not so sure on that fact, but if someone opens one up in LA, I will definitely go eat there :)

Laksa Pilgrimage

2008-03-11T09:05:00.001-07:00

As you know, there are tons, and I mean TONS of great (and cheap) eats in Singapore. My family spent 4 days there just eating and shopping all day and went home with so much food left untried. So in this food haven, if you only have a few hours transit time once a year, where would you go? What would you eat?

Would I eat bak kut teh? would I sneak in a po pia? oyster omelette? What?
Well, these last trips I've had in the past two years, I've decided to make a trip for some katong laksa.

Katong Laksa is coconut milk-based. Rich in texture and rich in spices, it is similar to curry and is usually called "curry mee" in Malaysia. The name 'laksa' is believed to have originated from a Hindi word 'lakh' meaning 'many' (It means either 10,000 or 100,000 I am not sure).

The best katong laksa in S'pore, IMO, is 328 Katong Laksa. And that is to say, the best one is at the original branch of 328 Katong Laksa on 216 East Coast Rd.
The Katong Laksa contains cut up noodles, the point being so that you can eat everything with just a spoon. It normally contains shrimp, squid, fish sticks and other seafood goodness. They would ask you if you want cockles in your laksa. This time I opted 'no'. It's garnished with coriander.

The more spicy sauce you put on it probably the better, unfortunately I cannot eat that spicy, but I put enough for myself so that each spoonful is the flavorful, spice-ful godliness that katong laksa is. I don't think it is easily describable to someone who has never tried it. I run down here every year when I have a transit in Singapore, so I will just say one thing. If you're in Singapore, try it!

I have my laksa with a glass of barley drink, a sweet, fragrant drink that I haven't found in the US.

A bowl of laksa= SIN$3
A glass of drink= SIN$1

328 Katong Laksa
216 East Coast Rd.
Singapore

The Best "Soto Ayam"

2008-03-07T14:31:00.001-08:00

Meet "Soto", a type of Indonesian (usually) chicken soup. There are many types of Soto, depending on the part of the country you're coming from, but usually contains chicken, hard boiled eggs, vermicelli, and some veggies. The most famous of these are probably "Soto ayam" or chicken soto, and the best soto ayam is undoubtedly Soto Ambengan.

In Surabaya, the best one is Soto Ambengan Pak Sadi Asli ("Asli" means original, or real, Pak Sadi being the name of the person who originally made the soto). You have a choice between chicken meat, chicken skin, eggs or no eggs, and various other parts of the chicken to put in your soup.
The soup is yellow from the turmeric in it, and most people put lots and lots of the peanut/koya toppings on top, making the soup richer. The multiple herbs and spices make the soup very flavorful and memorable. Now Pak Sadi has various locations around town, but the best one is still the original location on Jl. Ambengan (I'll find the complete address later, but really, if you hop on the cab and say "Soto Ambengan Pak Sadi" on "Jalan Ambengan" they should all know how to get there).

These pictures are taken at a mall food court location. (I had gone to the mall shortly after arriving and I didn't really want to eat anything else at the mall, so Soto it was). Not as good as the original, but still better than most other mall options.

I had a traditional Indonesian drink, "Es Dawet" also known as "Es Cendol" to go with it.
The green stuff is made of flour, basically, and the thickness of the liquid comes from coconut milk.

Rich and sweet.

It's S'pore!

2008-03-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

328 Katong Laksa
Awfully Chocolate
Mr. Bean
Long Bar, Raffles Hotel

Chosun Kalbi BBQ

2008-02-10T14:26:00.001-08:00

We went to Chosun Kalbi to have Korean bbq one of the nights I was in Dallas per an invitation.
We started with some yummy radish soup. I think this was complementary but you had to get up and get it yourself from a buffet table. The soup was flavorful and has a nice texture/body.

At Chosun you have to order everything a la carte, and they actually have two options for the meat: marinated and unmarinated. We opted for the unmarinated meat. They think this way you normally get better quality meat (since you can't hide the quality with the sauce).

I think it worked. The meat that came look very nice and lean:

We threw some onions onto the grill and started cooking. The meat came out very nice. Good quality meat indeed.

You dip the cooked meat in some sesame oil+ salt. I admit I do really like the normal sweet kalbi marinade, but having it this way is not bad sometimes. Especially when you get better meat.

Chosun Kalbi Restaurant
2560 Royal Ln
Dallas, TX 75229
(972) 406-0087

Mangosteen- now available

2008-02-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

I grew up eating mangosteen in Indonesia and never knew it has gotten so popular in the US. But apparently, now that the import ban has been lifted, it's been all over the news, chowhound, etc.

It is supposed to be rich in antioxidants, etc, but to me most importantly it tastes good! I grew up eating it after all.

Now it is available in a few places in Los Angeles, that I know of. One of them is
Arcadia Supermarket
645 W. DUARTE RD. ARCADIA. CA. 91007

But supposedly for a hefty price of $10.99 per pound.

Crab House - with no crab

2008-01-22T22:56:00.000-08:00

So we went to the Crab House on our last night since someone said that the local stone crabs here were great and we decided to splurge. Upon entering we were surprised that it was not that busy. They did have this nice display of their seafood:

Naturally we wanted to order the crab dishes. But alas, they informed us they were out of all the crabs except for the Alaskan King Crab ... Eh? The Crab House that's out of crab. We didn't want Alaskan crab when we can get that back in the US :(
They said it's been too windy for fishermen to go out to get crab. Grumble. Oh well. We got the oyster rockefeller.

It was not bad, although not the best I've ever had either. It was a bit cold and the oyster did not seem well done, which is a little worrisome.

The next dish is the best dish of the night:

Maybe because it was a more Mexican flavor, but they definitely did a better job on this one.

They also got our order wrong, and instead of what we ordered (sauteed fish), gave us this whole grilled fish. It looked good so we let it go ...

Unfortunately the fish was rather dry :( After half a dozen bites I got tired of eating it.

So overall, ... meh. I don't know I'm still curious about the stone crab but the other dishes definitely did not do it for us ...

Crab House Cancun
Blvd Kukulkan km. 15
Cancún Quintana Roo, 77500

Eating at Xcaret

2008-01-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

We spent a whole day at Xcaret Park, snorkeling through the underground river, walking on the beach, running around taking pictures of jaguars ...
At one point you have to eat. And honestly, the idea of eating at a theme park is never that appealing to me (with the exception, of course, of fried chicken at Knott's Berry Farm!!).

There are a lot of choices at Xcaret Park though, and some seems pretty appealing. We considered one of the buffet options but decided not to eat that much or spend that much money. Walking by the beach and seeing people eating right on the beach lured us to try the Restaurant Playa dos Playa. Just eating right on the beach might make the food taste that much better, right? We picked our own spot right on the beach and got a menu.

Prices were reasonable, considering Cancun and a theme park and all. Much more affordable than the buffets. We ordered the seafood quesadilla.

This was good, with fresh seafood. Although tasted rather americanized. But still yummy.
I got a torta also, because I love tortas.

And this was also good, although afterwards I decided I much prefer having carne asada in my torta rather than cured ham.

Now, for dessert, we got the corn pie. Corn pie? Finally, something new! Something different!

Thumbs up for this one! :) Kinda tastes like a sweet, mushy corn bread. I really liked it. Will have to find one somehow when I'm back in LA ...

The Flan Hunt

2008-01-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, so one of the nights I gave up going out, too tired, so I decided to get room service. I was staying at the Gran Melia. I ordered a ceviche from the appetizer menu, but as this was nothing special (although good), I am just going to blog about the flan that I ordered with it instead.

Definitely one of the best flans I've had, there was no unnecessary decorative food items that does not go with the taste (IMO, sour fruits do not really go with flan ...)

The flan itself has the right consistency, not too rich and not too "mushy". The caramel sauce was excellent.

La Destileria

2008-01-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

First thing's first: If you LOVE Tequila, go here. Like the name suggests, La Destileria/The Distillery boasts hundreds of variety of tequila. And instead of wine pairing, wine tasting menu or wine/sake flights, they have tequila, tequila, tequila.
Unfortunately for you, I'm not much of a tequila person and opted for a frozen mango margarita :>

And second thing: The food was good, but like everything else in Cancun's Hotel Zone, EXPENSIVO! (at least for the me who's used to cheapie yummy mexican food in Los Angeles)

First shown is the 'destileria soup':

Good. But the tortilla soup was better IMHO, so let's move on! :D
When the tortilla soup first came it seemed plain. Barely anything inside. But then the waiter came bearing a tray of goodies. Cheese, avocado, sour cream, and pork rinds to pile up in the soup as requested. So pile up! said I. Pile those pork rinds over here ...

For the entree, I ordered an appetizer, the Fish Tacos de Lazarro style. A bit spicy, but nice, crispy fish, flavorful sauce.

Then, the chicken mole. Wow. I've never seen a mole so chocolatey looking. Mmmmm. Other mole I've had were either black, red, or green. This was chocolatey-brown-goodness. And the taste was also definitely a level up than, oh, say, Guelaguetza.

For dessert we ordered "Homemade Caramel Jelly" that we thought-hoped- would be flan. Well, we were wrong. It was good as far as jello goes. But not flan. And nothing to be jumping up and down about either.

La Destileria
Bulevar Kukulkán Km 12.65, across from Plaza Kukulcan
Cancún Island

Lost in the South ...

2008-01-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas, I found myself back in the South again (some people don't know, but I spent my high school days in Spartanburg, SC :P and we would drive to Atlanta/Charlotte occasionally to eat ...).

So I flew into ATL (since it was much much cheaper), and we decided to eat at a Malaysian restaurant called Penang. To get a nostalgic taste close to home, so to speak. The restaurant is in a strip mall that looks rather run down on Buford highway.

I started with 'po pia', a type of steamed spring roll, filled with jicama, topped with some mildly spicy sauce.

We ordered the laksa, which is a typical singaporean dish. Except that it wasn't called Laksa in Malaysian apparently. The "laksa" dish on their menu is something else entirely but I just asked them for the Singaporean mee laksa and this is what they brought me, their "Curry Mee":

Not even close to what you find in Singapore, but it caresses that craving nonetheless :)

and then, this ... I had to order. The Indonesians should know what this is, Nasi Lemak ;)

Coconut rice flavored with cloves & screwpine leaves. Served with chili anchovy, curry chicken and fried egg.
Suddenly I'm super home sick ... :(

Penang
4897 Buford Hwy # 113
Chamblee, GA 30341
(770) 220-0308
www.penangatlanta.com

ATL List

2008-01-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

Penang

Everything Else Cooking: drooling over French food in Japanese Drama

2007-12-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

There's certainly been a lot more tv series and movies centered around cooking and restaurants, such as Ratatouille, No Reservations, and the show that only made it to the 1st season, Kitchen Confidential.

While this is really great, let's not forget that there has been a lot of entertainment materials centered around cooking from other countries. For example, the Japanese has put out a lot of films, tv drama, and anime about chefs. One that I have recently watched is My Little Chef:About the daughter of a once famous chef, her half sister, and other friends, they attempt to operate a high class French restaurant who serves a small number of guests each night, preparing dishes that are meant just for those guests.

As with other J-dramas, there are a lot of cheesiness in all the episodes, but the dishes sure look good! :D This is one of the better cooking dramas out there, unlike certain ones that are way too cheesy even for food lovers. My Little Chef still has a good story line and executed within acceptable bounds of reality :>

World's Best Truffles. Seriously.

2007-12-18T16:18:00.001-08:00

Had an awesome friend who sent me a big box of Teuscher champagne truffles for my birthday. Although he told me not to post these photos of the tastiness that he can't get his hands on in Australia, I just had to anyway :PIn my humble opinion, Teuscher's champagne truffles are the best truffles I've ever tasted. For one thing I much prefer this type of truffles compared to the American truffles (hard chocolate case, like Godiva).
This and the dark chocolate champagne truffles are the only ones worth getting at Teuscher (the other chocolates are good, but how can you not opt for these instead??!).
Just look at that creamy creamy center! I think I don't have to mention that the quality of the chocolate is top notch.

Teuscher has stores in Beverly Hills, San Fransisco, New York, Chicago, and I'm sure other places.
Their chocolates are flown in from Zurich, and should be eaten within 10 days. Less, really, to get the best taste out of them.

Testing Fearing's - Living Up to Its Name?

2007-12-14T15:56:00.000-08:00

I've been hearing a lot of hype about the new kid in town, Fearing's at the Ritz Carlton, so I decided to give it a try one night. I came with high expectation due to all the good things I've heard about it.

Our server was very courteous, knowledgeable and had recommendations for us, which was good. Throughout the night I noticed the service there (at least from our server) was impeccable. Although I did hear someone else dropping some silverware at the other end of the restaurant, so maybe the other servers are not as good ...

The amuse bouche was very interesting- something I've never had before. Langoustine with Quinoa -- with what? This was the first time I've heard of Quinoa, which apparently is a crop grown in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
My appetizer was a thoroughly amazing dish. Foie gras with caramelized pear on the left. It happens to be one of the best foie gras dishes I've had. The caramelized pear adds an outstanding touch and really brought the dish to a whole different level. The scallop was very well prepared, fresh plump and juicy, and the papaya salad adds a unique flavor.
The other appetizer we got was the Tsukiji market yellowtail, which was good and was definitely good fish but we thought the preparation was nothing special. And the portion is small for the price. The foie gras was a much better deal.
For the main course I ordered the prime rib:The piece of meat itself was very high quality. Better than Lawry's I must say. I had asked for medium rare, and while this was just fine for me, it was a little on the cold side and my companion called our server. We stated that the meat was too rare and cold and it should normally be served on a warm plate to keep the meat warm while we're eating. Our server took it back and heated it up, and gave it back to us warm.

Oh, I should mention, the croquette was outstanding!

The other main entree was the steak and chicken-fried-lobster.

So at the end, they let us order two desserts on the house, as an apology for the cold prime rib, which was nice of them. I will not hesitate to say that the service we received was excellent.

The pecan pie was good. Also had the pear cinnamon cake, which tasted good but was a bit dry.

Fearing's
Ritz-Carlton, Dallas
2121 McKinney Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75201
Phone: 214-922-4848

Secrets I Won't Keep

2007-12-12T11:35:00.001-08:00

When I was in Dallas last time, we decided to stop by this place called "Chocolate Secrets" as we were passing it by on the way home after dinner. The place looked cute and interesting and we were in need of dessert.

Upon entering you see that the place is actually pretty big, with cafe-type seating on your left, chocolate case in the center, and a wine cellar to your right. The nooks and corners are filled with cases displaying jewelries and other things.

The loose chocolate pieces on display were:1) some local chocolates (made in Dallas) mainly American style truffles, nuts clusters, etc 2) some Fauchon chocolates, and 3) Michel Cluizel chocolates and truffles.
They also had some super cute cakes and cupcakes, and they also serve crepes, which we didn't try this time.

We opted for a cup of hot chocolate, fresh fruit fondue, and a few chocolate pieces. I also bought the 99% Noir Infini Chocolate by Michel Cluizel as a christmas present :)

The fresh fruit fondue was a plate of fresh strawberries, and the melted chocolate was very good! They were using high quality chocolate (probably the local Dallas one?).

Same with the cup of European style hot Chocolate, which was made with real milk. Very good indeed, it was chocolatey enough for my taste (can't beat Angelina's, but who can?).

The local dallas made chocolates were actually very good. I especially enjoyed the walnut clusters. We got a dark chocolate Fauchon piece, and a dark chocolate Michel Cluizel. I think we both preferred the Michel Cluizel one ...

This place was such an awesome find! I really loved it and would definitely come back, for dessert, to buy chocolates, or have a nice sit-down conversation with a cup of hot cocoa. Makes me want to open my own in LA ...

Chocolate Secrets
3926 Oak Lawn Ave
Dallas, TX 75219
(214) 252-9801

A Bread Winner

2007-12-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

Review in progress

At the table, the Bread Winners Cafe & Bakery serves you an assortment of their freshly baked bread. The ones we had included apricot, cheese, ginger spice. It was a great way to both please the customers and induce them into taking home a loaf on the way out :)
Although I got a bit full even before my order arrived ...

Had the smoked salmon benedict, which was good, although nothing terribly special. The eggs, hollandaise sauce, and english muffins were good, but I was expecting/wanting smoked salmon that was cold smoked. Also, I didn't like how they put the fruit garnish right on top of the potatoes. I always eat the oranges, and this made it warm, which was kinda disgusting.

For dessert we ordered the "Meep Meep Souffle" from the special menu (apparently they were honoring some employee's that is leaving Dallas." Not really a souffle, but it was an amazing amazing dessert. They are after all a bakery, and the dessert is much much more notable than their entrees. More like a bread pudding, surrounded by blueberry compote. It isn't too sweet like some bread pudding may be, yet decadent and you just can't stop eating it. It has the perfect moistness and richness.
Bread Winners Cafe and Bakery
3301 McKinney Ave
Dallas, TX
214-754-4940

Hip Yakitori Bar - Oxymoron?

2007-11-30T22:41:00.000-08:00

Unlike other yakitori places I've been to, Teppo in Dallas has that "hip bar" ambiance - dim lighting, modern furnitures, hip music, and well-dressed Dallas personas. But yakitori? Hip? With the smoke (and smoky sell) from the grill? You would still come out of the place with that smell on your clothes. To me it seems an odd concept, but the place was busy so I guess people like it. And the food is supposed to be good.

We did not have reservations, so we had to wait for a table. They told us 10-15 minutes, but the wait was in fact longer than that, since the table that was to be ours was being occupied by some people celebrating a birthday and they chatted for quite some time. Teppo also has a sister bar/lounge next door (Moosh) and some customers are waiting for a table there and the maitre'd keeps going back and forth fetching customers, making the whole thing takes even longer. I should have waited at the bar also ...

But we finally got a table and placed our order.

The quail eggs were okay, but nothing special. They were also on the small side compared to other quail eggs I've had at other yakitori places.

We also ordered some sushi for good measure. Omega-3s and all that. The sushi was fine, nothing special. Definitely cannot be compared to LA sushi.

The beef tongue was rather disappointing. I only remember beef tongue the way my mom would cook it at home: very tender and juicy. The beef tongue here was very tough, and tastes just like regular beef meat. I refuse to believe it was tongue at all.
The scallops on the other hand, were great. Big, plump and juicy with flavorness of the bacon that's wrapped around it.

The dark meat yakitori, was amazing. It was one of the juiciest and tender chicken meat I've ever had.
The chicken meatballs were also yummy, and the yolk dipping was a first for me and was a pleasant surprise. It complements the garlic meat ball flavor very well.

The duck breast filet was excellent. Tender, tasty, and cooked just right. Too bad we were full at this point and couldn't enjoy it as much. It was definitely one of my favorites for the night!

For desserts we ordered the flan, the tofu ice cream, and the chestnut panna cotta. The tofu ice cream was fine, but a bit icy for my taste, not creamy enough. The chestnut panna cotta was ... weird. I did not like it very much. Strange milky taste, but not very sweet. The flan was the best dessert we had, IMO.

Teppo Yakitori & Sushi Bar
2014 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206
(214) 826-8989
www.teppo.com

Azalea

2007-11-26T19:17:00.000-08:00

Azalea is a bustling Italian restaurant in the Times Square area. Our hotel concierge suggested this restaurant when we asked for a nearby place that is vegetarian friendly (we were having dinner with some vegetarians).

Avocado Con Gamberetti Watercress, avocado & hearts of palm with grilled baby shrimp and lemon dressing. Served on a parmesan crust.
This salad was light and refreshing. The shrimps tasted fresh and cooked just right. The lemon dressing worked perfectly with the ingredients; just the right amount to not be overbearing. The parmesan crust added a nice touch and flavoring. The crust is too rich to eat by itself, but a bite of it followed by a bite of the salad made a great pair without leaving a heavy aftertaste.

Linguine Al Pesto Con Ricotta Dolce Pasta with pesto sauce, topped with fresh sweet ricotta cheese
I was not the one having this dish so I cannot say, but it sure looks and smells good.

Tortino Di Cioccolate E Banana Individual warm chocolate and banana cake served with a caramel sauce, sprinkled with puerto rican rum

I really enjoyed this dessert. The chocolate cake was good but the outstanding part of it to me was the caramel sauce. I normally do not enjoy caramel but this one is smooth and rich, without being too rich and without the stickiness that I hate. At the end I was scooping the caramel sauce by itself into my mouth.

Azalea
224 W. 51st St.
New York, NY 10019
212-262-0105

Dessert-ed Out, For the First Time

2007-11-20T16:59:00.000-08:00

I never thought it would ever happen, but when I went to Bouley it happened for the first time: I had too much dessert. (I don't know if that's a bad thing?)

There were seven of us, so I got to at least see a lot of the dishes and heard the "umm" and "ooh"s across the table.

The meal started with some beets, compliments of the chef.

Next were the appetizers. I ordered the seared foie gras, which was good, but nothing special. It didn't beat the tuna sashimi and foie gras dish from Le Bernardin the night before that was still on my mind.

The best appetizer was in fact the Organic Egg Steamed with Black Truffles. I highly recommend it to anyone (who doesn't completely hate eggs).

For the main dish, I ordered one of the entrees from the tasting menu: Squab with Foie Gras wrapped in cabbage leaves. There was definitely more foie gras than squab. The foie gras this time was better than the appetizer, and the squab was delicious, too bad there was only one. I should also mention that the mashed potatoes had black truffles in it! Yumm.
A few people ordered the rack of lamb, which I got to try. The lamb was excellent, not overcooked, very juicy and tasty.
So at this point, we weren't stuffed. Some even said they were still hungry, and I was still thinking of going to eat a bit of sushi later that night. So we ordered dessert, each one of us ordered one. After the order was placed, they brought us some fromage blanc sorbet with concord grape sauce. Absolutely amazing, refreshing.
So now some are saying that this was enough for dessert for them. Too bad we already ordered. I ordered the Valrhona chocolate souffle, just because it was valrhona chocolate if nothing else. Very, very chocolatey, but the delicious ice cream will help cut the richness.Someone else ordered the Chocolate Frivolous, which looks like it has (valrhona?) chocolate souffle in it also.
So everyone's full at this point. But oh, wait. Another free dessert from the chef! This time it's Flan with some pineapples. Again, amazing and very refreshing. I must say we all loved the free desserts more than the ones we paid for :) Even those who do not like flan really liked this dessert.
Completely stuffed. But wait, there are still petit fours >_<
I couldn't manage to eat them, I'm sure they were good but I cannot tell you, I'm sorry ...
And sushi later that night? Forget it ...

Bouley
120 West Broadway
New York, NY 10013
Telephone:(212) 964-2525
www.davidbouley.com

The Grand First-Posting

2007-11-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

It's only luxuriously fitting and fortunate to have my first review in the travel blog to be of a three-star restaurant. I was lucky enough to visit Le Bernardin in New York and take a lot of good pictures.

You cannot order a la carte at Le Bernardin: either get one of the tasting menus ($135, or $190), or get the 4-course prix-fixe menu ($107). We opted for the 4-course menu since we have another dinner engagement later that night, and since there were two of us both ordering different things, we can manage to get a tasting of a lot of dishes.

The only way to evaluate a three-star restaurant, really, is to see whether everything about it deserves three-star. The service, I must say, was impeccable. The decor was very nice without any gaudiness, and it has a quiet and calm atmosphere. You can't call it 'cozy,' it has a more professional feel but I like the quietness - such an escape from the bustling city.

The night started with a complimentary octopus salad.

For our first appetizers, we ordered: 1) the calamari
and 2) the tuna sashimi and foie gras on a slice of baguette. This was an amazing dish, the sashimi was delectable, and raw fish+foie gras? What a great idea! :D
Second appetizers: 1) lobster with sweet corn sauce. The sweet corn sauce was a very pleasant surprise. I've never had sweet corn sauce and had no expectation, but it really worked. and 2) Crab cakes with cauliflower and dijon mustard. (It wasn't exactly a crab "cake", more like lumps of crab ... even better :p ). Again, another pleasant surprising combination. The cauliflowers? An awesome touch! The combination was amazing. I never knew I liked cauliflowers ...

For the main dishes we ordered : 1) Lobster with tamarind sauce. I'm undecided about this dish. The lobster was definitely fresh and prepared well. The tamarind sauce, though, kind of worked but not completely? I feel like the lobster would have been better served with something else.
2) Striped Bass with langoustine. I actually really liked this dish. Reading the menu I probably would not order it, but I'm glad my friend did! The broth/sauce was delicious and the fish melts in your mouth and juicy . Dessert: Passionfruit. The sorbet was really good, but I thought the vanilla-yogurt mousse was alright. The other dessert we got (not pictured) was the malted rum milk chocolate ice cream, which was actually very2 good! Definitely the better of the two dessert!
Petit Fours
Le Bernardin
155 West 51st Street
The Equitable Building
Between 6th and 7th Avenue
New York, New York 10019
Telephone: (212) 554-1515