I Eat Therefore I Am

My Last Meal Before I Die

2012-01-31T00:39:00.000-08:00

It's official! I've decided what my last meal before I die will be... SASABUNE! Yes I've mentioned this before! Omakase at SASABUNE!!! Drool! One of my first meals upon returning from Hong Kong was this lovely place. Sushi melting in your mouth. Yum, yum, yum. They also have some awesome signs that tell you they only serve real Japanese food here which makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I won't bore you with the details so see here and here for my previous posts on Sasabune! But in short, you give all your trust to the chef and they choose whatever the best sushi of the day is.

That's right. No chicken teriyaki or california rolls or any of that bull shit. Here was the bill. And this was with a coupon! I better hope my family still has some Chinese New Year money they haven't given me yet.

Happy Eatings!

Goodbye HK!

2012-01-27T03:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Hungry Eaters! So I know I've been a tad behind on the remainder of my Hong Kong posts but it's time to move on! I'm so excited to post my favorite foods in LA so I'll just post a few more pictures of Hong Kong and then link the rest of my HK food pictures. You can find them here!

King's Palace in Causeway Bay is apparently known for their Cha Chiu, aka BBQ Pork. It's supposed to be exactly like a TV series from TVB. I had never watched that series so I didn't understand the appeal.

Steamed Pomelo skin! Very interesting and different!

Steamed Asian Pear!

Coconut Dessert

This is Guilinggao aka turtle jelly. It's one of my mom's faves. Personally it's an no go for me.

Happy Eatings! Next post we return to the US of the A!

Overeating Is NOT Smart

2012-01-20T01:56:00.000-08:00

I'm obsessed with Japanese food and Hong Kong has some of the freshest Japanese food flown in daily from Japan. Yum, yum, yum! I particularly love the affordable lunch combos available at Hana Sakazuki in Causeway Bay. It comes out to about $30 or $35 US for all this goodness.

Salad and eggplant appetizers to start off!

Hello, Chirashi. *Drool.....* This is what I live for.

Sushi!!! Yes please. I love uni!

Steamed egg. It is so soft and melts in your mouth.

What is all that rice not enough for you? No worries! They thrown in a bowl of udon. Ah... so full.... At this point I wanted to just slap 2 chairs together and sleep. I was also offered tea or coffee at this point.

Just when you wanted to roll over dead they brought over some Japanese cheesecake, which is soft and fluffy. It doesn't make you full like American cheesecakes because it's not as rich. When I left this restaurant I was not feeling good. I was so full that I was in a grumpy mood. Overeating is one of the worst feelings in the world. Was it all worth it? Yes... Would I do it again? Yes, probably in another 2 months. Am I stupid? Yes.

Happy Eatings!

Thai Western Food

2012-01-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

"Thai Western food? Uh, okay I guess." That was my reaction when my Aunt wanted to know if I wanted to go try Greyhound in the IFC in Central, Hong Kong. It's a hard life for someone who has 5 aunts who feel like they have to take them to delicious, new places each time I'm back in Hong Kong. Who am I kidding... no it's not. I love my life. But what I do not love is [insert Asian food here] and Western food. I mean Asian food is Asian and Western is Western. Unless... it's fusion then I can understand but this place was just Thai and Western. Shrugs I decided to go for it. Who am I turn down a potential delicious meal? Plus, Greyhound is apparently the same place she likes to eat when she vacations in Thailand.

Isn't that the PUMA logo with the name of the bus? Not judging...

Pad Thai! Yum! I usually do not like Pad Thai. Given the choice, I'd choose Pad Se Ew over it. I just think the concept of having sweet noodles is weird. Aunt insisted on getting it and I'm glad she did. SOOOOOOOO good! Even better than the Pad Thais I've had in Thailand!!! We ordered two of these. That's how amazing it was. Did I mention the line for this place was insane? They had two rounds of dinner times and every guest that walked in had a Hermes Birkin bag. #richpeopleproblems.

These were the highlight of my night! Mini fried wings! So good! The skin was delicious!!! Yes, yes, yes! *Cue Herbal Essence commercial here! It might be hard to tell how tiny there are in this picture since I zoomed in but trust me, they were tiny!

Yummy spicy rice! So good! It even came with some soup filled with MSG. Love MSG soup usually but this wasn't so special. It's okay I forgive your not up to par MSG soup.

This was another spicy beef rice dish we ordered. It was bleh....

So by this time I was stuffed. Did I mention I had this dinner with plans to eat dessert with a friend and also right before having a huge lunch with another aunt of mine? I eat a lot, yeah I know. I ordered the mango sticky rice which was okay. At this point I was too full. Apparently this place makes the best chocolate brownies. What the heck right? Next time! I love brownies!

By the way, the best, best, best part of this was the shirts the staff were wearing. They had fun T-shirts with awesome sayings like:

"Life is short. Can I get you more dessert?"
"I can't speak Thai, but i sure can recommend some delicious Thai dishes!"

I have a soft spot for funny shirts, especially funny shirts that have to do with food. You should see my collection of Got Pho and random Chinese shirts.

Happy Eatings!

Fabulous Multitasking: I Get My Purses & My Food From the Same Place

2012-01-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

My random picture taking in Hong Kong. Taken while riding the tram, or as the locals call it the 'Ding, Ding'. Does it even make a Ding Ding sound? I don't really notice.

I'm one of those people that hate when companies venture out and try their hand at random things that don't match their brand image. Take Costco and Kirkland. Kirkland meats, furniture, and tires? What the heck is the butcher man doing brake alignments then going off to and cutting up my chicken on his free time? Seriously... Imagine my shock then when one of my aunts proclaimed that Agnes B. had the best flowers in town.

Pictures of Agnes B. bouquets from last year's Xmas in Hong Kong from friends and family. They even are delivered with cute mini Agnes B. keychains.

Okay, okay so I guess they are okay flowers. They are in typical HK style EXTRAvagant and over the top, just like HK is! But wait! That's when I was informed that Agnes B. has ice cream or yogurt. I don't remember what it was. Weird. So do I go in buy a bag while eating their yogurt? Ugh, it gives me the Costco creeps. It's like me getting my tires changed, eating a hot dog, and buying groceries and furniture from the same person who hands you samples at Costco. But wait! This winter when I arrived in HK, my aunt told me they have a cake shop where they serve coffee and drinks too! So, we got a cake and took it home.

AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! Yummy! So soft and creamy. This chocolate cake tasted like chocolate frosting on crack. I approve. Give me a bag while you're at it!

By the way, did I mention they also apparently make Gingerbread man and woman cookies for the holidays? What is up with this company?

Next thing you know they're gonna make tires too like Costco. Wait...3, 2, 1....

Happy Eatings!

I've been a tad behind on blogging all my food adventures. To see my honorable Hong Kong mentions check out my pictures here. FYI, those are only pictures. Captions will only be posted here for my faithful foodies.

Goodbye 2011!

2011-12-31T03:13:00.000-08:00

On this New Year's Eve, I decided to end the last day of the year with some recent sweet tooth eating adventures! I mean what better way to end the year, than with something sweet, right?

This is THE only mango pudding I will eat. I'm usually not a mango pudding type of gal. It's a Hong Kong favorite but usually it takes too creamy. But Dynasty does it right! Nom, nom!

Chiu Chow speciality in the Wan Chai wet market!

The snowy dessert at Honeymoon jam-packed with aloe, dried logon, basil seeds, mango, and banana goodness.

And the rest were lovely presents from my aunts for my bottomless stomach. I have a section of my stomach dedicated just for desserts.

Happy New Year! May the new year be more delicious than the last!
Happy Eatings!

Bizarre Foods Edition: Kristie Tries Snake Soup

2011-12-25T02:47:00.000-08:00

Originally article posted on Myx TV here

Happy Winter Solstice or Dongzhi! The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and the longest night of the year so of course it was a time for the family to get together. It’s actually a bigger holiday than the Lunar New Year. What adventurous thing did you do today? Well, I tried snake soup for the first time in my life while my family semi look on in horror and surprise that I would do such a thing. I mean, were they there when I tried silk worms and bees? Of course I’d do it!

But anyways for a little background… snake soup is regarded as a delicacy and many Hong Kong residents believe it has great healing powers. It can supposedly ward off maladies, strengthen the body, prevents all kinds of diseases. Did I mention it’s supposed to keep your body warm during the colder months? Snake is not exactly a popular dish in China. It’s really only a delicacy in the south as in Canton and Hong Kong. The soup is served from December through March.

Anyways enough of that, of course that additional healthy and healing properties are great and all- but in reality I just wanted to have another taste of bizarre foods. The soup actually tasted pretty good. It tasted like a better version of sweet and sour soup.

The soup is also topped with chrysanthemum leaves, which is believed to aid the vision. They also add a touch of sweetness to the soup. What do you think? Would you try snake soup?

Happy Eatings!

UPDATE: One of my followers tweeted me a question on whether or not I knew what kind of snake it was that I was eating. My response was that I think I wouldn't want to know, but he told me anyways. Apparently I ate a Python. Kind of scary if you think about that.

Merry Kristiemas!

You can also follow me on Twitter or Facebook for my latest craziness!

Bring Your Stretchy Pants, We're Doing Teppanyaki

2011-12-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

So it's Holiday season time again and of course where else would I be in the world but Hong Kong to celebrate it? I was of course presented with the question of what I wanted for Xmas multiple times from relatives. My Aunt, asked if I wanted a new Prada bag but as readers of this blog should know no brand name should ever come before food. So I literally asked if I could have my favorite teppanyaki meal for lunch instead as my Xmas present. I don't think my Aunt took it seriously but this was seriously THE best gift ever!

Location: Wa San Mai Restaurant.
We got our own mini private room for a nice lunch. This place is always packed so you have to call way in advance to get seats! What's even better is that their meats and even their ice cream is flown straight in from Japan everyday. Yum!

Just the sauces made me wanna drool!

Salad, yum, yum!

Grilled Globefish

Edamame, fresh, not the kind from Costco that's frozen. Ha!

These were seriously delish! Red chives!

Cod and Abalone. I felt a little bad cause the abalone was still moving, dying a slow death on the grill. I could just imagine it screaming "Save MEEEE!"

Scallops

And of course my favorite goose liver. It's placed on the bread so it soaks in the oil, but I just ate the bread too. I love carbs, what can I say?

Hello Mr. Chef! I'm sorry that I'm taking so many pictures. It's like paparazzi.

Goose Liver

Cod

Dexter-esque action on the abalone

Hmmm.. tin foil? What could this be for?

But then he adds seasoning and...

Sake! Then BAM! The house is on fiyah! lol I was excited. I had a smile on my face this whole time.

De-shelling the clams

Yummy soup!

More beef? Yes, please!

Soaking on the bread again.

More beef! Yes!

Sushi? Yes I'd like that too!

The Chef then asked me how I wanted my beef cooked. I said Bloody and raw. Ha!

And what's a proper Asian meal without rice?

Fried rice ka pow!

Hello Miso! Yes, this was fresh miso, not the powder crap. Although I do love powder crap miso as well.

Veggies!

And last but not least-green tea ice cream! It was a hard decision whether to order black sesame or this but I went with my gut even though I love black sesame.

Wow! This was a hard post! These aren't even all the pictures from the lunch! If I had to choose a last meal, this would definitely be in my top 3 choices! Wow! Heaven!

Happy Eatings!

Hong Kong Winter

2011-12-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

Besides from the food, this is the best part of HK. That's a worker up on bamboo fixing a sign.

One of my first stops in HK was Chee Kay in CB. It has a Michelin star so everyone and their mother goes there but it's one of the smallest shops ever. Also minus 2 stars because service has actually gotten worse here. You sit with random people because the place is so small, which is fine since that's HK fast food style but they know have employed a bunch of Mainland Chinese workers who are only in charge of pouring tea. When you ask to get your order taken, they just ignore you. After careful examination, you realize that the tea people and the ordering people wear different outfits, but of course you have to figure this all out yourself. The tea people are seriously rude. Hmph!

Here's my order of expensive wonton. I saw expensive just because this place has 2 types of wontons. One is the cheaper kind where the middle is just mashed up everything and the above kind in which every dumpling has a mini shrimp inside.

Fried fish balls. They taste better than the name sounds.

And my favorite mini crab porridge.

Of course after we left the place since we were booted out for the next people, my nose smelled chestnuts and yams in the air. Yes, my nose actually picks that smell up.

But instead of buying that, I opted for quail eggs. A big dose of cholesterol in every bite but so so good! I will die happy!

Happy Eatings!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

2011-12-01T18:10:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving means lunch at Du Pars at the Grove in Los Angeles. This year's meal was a total downgrade compared to last year. Their stuffing was mushy, turkey was a bit overcooked as well. Also, we made our reservation at 12, but we didn't get in until at least 30 mins after. This happened last year too. But food is food and Thanksgiving is all about eating your face out, something I obviously approve of!

Thanksgiving lunch

We got to choose between soup or salad. Sweet pea soup or chicken noodle. I chose the chicken noodle and it was yummy!

Our platter of turkey

Mash potatoes, string beans, cranberry sauce, yam, carrots,

Blueberry pie. Yummy!

You can check them out at 6333 W 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90036.

Dinner Time was spent at a family friend's house with this fancy meal.

Turkey, honey baked ham, mash potatoes, corn, veggies

This meal was the day after Thanksgiving at Stonefire Grill in Woodland Hills, CA. They have many locations all over. Check out my garlic lemon chicken, mash potatoes, prime rib, BBQ ribs

Dinner after Thanksgiving

This was our dinner at LYL Garden Seafood at 500 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. The service was seriously bi-polar. We walked in and asked for a to-go menu and they were like get it yourself! Then after they got all attentive. Ssh!

Old traditional Chinese soup. Base was made for over 5 hours.

Soup

Chinese chicken goes with garlic and ginger sauce

veggies

Butter garlic clams

Pork and string beans

Homemade turkey, yams with marshmallows, and mash potatoes.

My favorite biscuits!!!

Baked yams and marshmallows! My favorite!!!

This is at Salju Dessert, a newly opened shaved ice shop at 35 W Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91801 Shaved ice with mochi, strawberries, red beans, green tea! It was great though, and even a bit expensive!

The next day

My lovely uncle has a Lawry's reciepe. He made me a big can of spanich soup! It has cloves and cloves of garlic inside. So yummy! I find myself heating this up as a midnight snack!

Uncle also bought a $150 slice of rib for Thanksgiving. He brought me a slice to eat on our own time!

And last but not least Spam Musubi! Yum B-Man's in San Marino has a some awesome musubi. Only $1.75 and they add teriyaki sauce to it. It's a must have! Try at 3007 Huntington Dr. Pasadena, CA 91107.

I definitely pigged out. Lots and lots of food! Feel free to try these places and tell me how you liked it.

Happy Eatings!

Sonics Trip & Pre-Thanksgiving Warm-up

2011-11-21T20:21:00.001-08:00

Oh Sonics! How you torture me! Sonics has the most awesome commercials on TV, but their marketing is tortuous. Their commercials show their amazing food and shakes but there's not a Sonics anywhere nearby. So it's usually around 12 in the morning when you see a commercial and get the craving! The closest one to me is in Anaheim!!! Grr!! But when you finally make the trek to one, it's quite awesome and old school. The servers come out in roller skates with your food and you get to sit in your car and eat your meal!

I got the Chicago hot dog and the New York hot dog. The Chicago came with pickle, relish, tomato, sport peppers, celery salt and mustard and the New York had spicy brown mustard, grilled onions and sauerkraut. I definitely liked the Chicago combination was the best, but the bun got too soggy. We ate it right away too so I don't know how they could have done it differently. I also tried their strawberry limeade which had actual strawberries inside. At least now I can say I've had my Sonics experience!

Also, I wanted to give everyone a heads up for an ramen challenge on Thanksgiving day at my favorite ramen joint: Hakata Shinsengumi.

Quote from their event:

"Official Info:

Give thanks for expandable waistbands. On Nov. 25, Thanksgiving Day, Shin-Sen-Gumi in Fountain Valley will host a ramen challenge.

Ten bucks gets you a standard bowl of ramen with unlimited servings of extra noodles. Men that finish six servings of extra noodles in 45 minutes get their ramen for free. Women must finish four servings of extra noodles within the time limit for their meal to be comped. The challenger who slurps up the most servings of extra noodles throughout the day wins a $50 gift certificate."

Is it promoting obesity in the US? Yes! But hey, it's also helping the economy. If every person that goes buys a pair of expandable pants, then all would be right in the world.

Happy Eatings!

How I do Pho

2011-11-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm a Vietnamese food snob. Regular pho has never done it for me. I'm a snob and I only take Pho Bac-Northern Pho aka Pho using Filet Mignon. I like my beef pho raw where I cook it in the both slowly. I like my beef balls and tripe to go with my pho. I rarely ever ever ever-order pho if it's not filet mignon. The soup is light and flavorful.

Here's their #14.

Here is my bahn xeo- Vietnamese fried pancake. Rice flour, fatty pork, shrimp, diced green onion, and bean sprouts. Southern-styled banh xeo contains coconut milk and certain Central region skips the turmeric powder altogether.

One of my favorite fruits is soursop and they had it as a milkshake here. It tastes like pineapple and citrus and a pina colada flavor.

Overall, I think the filet mignon pho was decent but my favorite place for that is still Pho Kimmy in Garden Grove.

If you want to try this pho, you can go to Pho Filet at 9463 Garvey Ave South El Monte, CA 91733.

Happy Eatings!

Peruvian Party

2011-10-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to eat many types of food and shop for random crap all at one time? Then you must check out Mo-Chica for Peruvian food! Amazing! For the win! Mo-Chica was seriously a hidden gem in a small ghetto Latino food court. And when I say ghetto I mean ghetto FABULOUS! I love going to the unexpecting places and searching for food. Yum, yum, yum!!! Seriously the last place people would go to, but this lovely place was hidden there. My lovely friend Katherine was nice enough to drive. We had a great meal!

Here was their menu and entire restaurant. I couldn't decide what to eat since my friend I were on a break from class and had to make my decision fast.

But then I saw passionfruit on the drink menu! YES! As you may know... I am obsessed with anything passionfruit. But what should I get to eat? Tick tock tick tock.... I asked the waitress for her opinion.

Waitress: Are you afraid to eat anything?

Me: Of course not! Bring it!

I ended up getting the ox tail. 'Oxtail Risotto' -Braised oxtail, barley huancaina risotto for $14.00. This was a very rich dish. The oxtail was very tender and delicious. Yum, yum, yum. The salad was delicious too!! So so good!! It was quite heavy though. I felt like rolling my way home after I was done. I seriously started to fall sleep after this.

The sauces were the best! Heavenly! The yellow sauce was a nice mustardy sauce. The red sauce was a delicious spicy sauce and the green sauce was my favorite!!!! Must try!

To try for yourself check out Mo-chica at 3655 S Grand Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90007.

Happy Eatings!

PS I was told you'd need a token to use the bathroom. Awesome! I didn't have the pleasure of going though. Will do next time!

Restaurant Week Specials

2011-10-14T00:42:00.000-07:00

It's Restaurant Week in Los Angeles! Very exciting times. Unfortunately, it's also the life of a graduate student so I don't expect to be able to take advantage of some awesome deals.

(pic of quail eggs carved into mini rabbits. It's the year of the rabbit in the Chinese calendar!)

Anyways, just a heads up specials at my favorite restaurant celebrating Restaurant Week.

Special #1 (Regular Omakase) $40

1- Miso Soup
1- Sunomono (vegetable appetizer)
1- Plate of Sashimi ( such as Albacore/Tuna/Salmon. Depending on what is fresh for the day, the chef will choose. )
5- Pieces of Sushi ( such as Tuna/ Salmon/ Albacore/ Yellowtail/ Halibut. Depending on what is fresh for the day, the chef will choose. )

1- Baked Butterfish
1- Crab roll

1-Dessert (Your choice of green tea ice cream or cheesecake)

Special #2 $50

1- Miso Soup
1- Plate of Sashimi ( such as Tairagai/Tuna/Spanish Mackerel. Depending on what is fresh for the day, the chef will choose. )
7- Pieces of Sushi ( such as Tuna/ Mackerel/ Uni/ Ikura/ Salmon/ Yellowtail/ Halibut. Depending on what is fresh for the day, the chef will choose. )

1- Oyster or Mussel
1- Crab roll

1-Dessert (Your choice of green tea ice cream or cheesecake)

That's more than 50% off their normal prices! Here's their website. You must go! Sasabune at 12400 Wilshire Blvd. West Los Angeles, CA 90025

I love you Sasabune!

Happy Eatings!

2011-09-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hola! Have a dose of Vietnamese food today!

My motto has always been the dirtier the restaurant the better! Look at this baby... if this isn't ghetto fabulous then I don't know what is! Welcome to Thien An in Rosemead. Ah, bo 7 mon, literally means 7 courses of beef in Vietnamese. Love it! 7 ways to have beef. Unfortunately, we didn't get all 7 ways.

Raw beef slices were the first to be brought out to the table!

The different sauces!

Raw shrimp!

Egg rolls!

My mother cooking my food! Seriously... muahaha it's me being spoiled.

Beef in grape leaf I believe. This is one of the courses of beef. One of the seven.

And here was our main dish: baked catfish! Honestly I've never had catfish in Vietnam but this is what I have all the time in the US of the A.

Close up of that fabulous meat!

Tien An is known for their 7 courses of beef. They even have a shop in Westminster for all the folks near the Orange Country area. Yum!

Happy Eatings!

Exotic Foods 101: Alligator and Snake Edition

2011-08-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

(In line for snake & rabbit and alligator and pork hot dogs with the boyfriend. The line went all the way out the door.)

So if you haven't noticed by now, I have a slight obsession with food. I have a very, very long list of must-try restaurants that just keeps getting longer and longer. BUT-luckily I recently was able to check one of those restaurants off my list. Meet Wurstküche- A German hot dog place that is also a bar. It's most famous as a LA hipster joint since it's located in the Arts District. You must be thinking hot dogs? What's the big deal? Well, I braved the 40 min. drive to try Alligator & Pork hot dog and a Rabbit and Snake hot dog.

Excited me!

Nom, Nom. So how it works is first-you order that type of sausage you want. Don't worry they have normal ones too. My friends got veggie hot dogs. Then, you choose your 2 toppings such as spicy peppers or bell peppers.

Close up of my hot dogs.

But the most famous dish here was supposed to be the truffle fries, which we thought were just okay. It did smell very good though!

The alligator tasted like beef and the snake just tasted normal to me. I definitely enjoyed the snake more.

Exotic Foods 101! Would you do try it?

Happy Eatings!

You can try it at 800 E 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90013

Last Hong Kong Post

2011-08-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Hong Kong. Since I've been back in LA for about 2 weeks now I decided that's its about time to put an end to my HK food journey until next time... which no worries will be in December. Place #1 is Lee Bistro in Times Square. We had the typical Cantonese dimsum.

Radish cake.

Spicy wontons.

Pear juice

Bamboo shoots and some other veggie

veggie dumplings!

Place #2 was in TST, but unfortunately I don't remember the place name. It was Western food though and it was super cute!

Happy Eatings! Bye bye Hong Kong. Next posts will all be from the U S of the A!

Fine Dining in HK

2011-08-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Italian fine dining at Cova is one of THE places to be in Hong Kong. Basically it's the Ivy of Hong Kong where people go eat to spend money and to be seen. I got a free dinner out of it so I won't complain. How's the food? Not bad but unless you want to go scope out Hong Kong movie stars, has beens, and rich people there's nothing too appealing about the place.

Our lovely salad

Aged vinegar-soooo delicious

Yum! I usually order my steaks medium rare, but I'm seriously considering going rare.

olives

Our mango dessert

I don't know maybe it's me-but when I'm in Hong Kong I want street food. I want everyday food. I don't like to sit at places just to be considered 'awesome' because I naturally am obviously.

Happy Eatings!

Healthy & Yummy? Yes!

2011-08-15T04:19:00.000-07:00

Herbal tea drinks-Hong Kong is filled with shops that sell them. Usually these teas taste as nasty as they sound since most of the ingredients are herbs and bitter blahness all tossed together. This was a particular combination that I really enjoyed. Canto for it is zee bui tian kuai. No english translation but it's good for clearing your body and helping out when you eat fried foods AND it actually tastes good and is good for you! WIN-WIN!

Mine is the middle cup. I'm not a big fan of liang cha but I can drink this all day!

Happy ~~Eatings!~~ Drinkings!

The Real Hong Kong

2011-08-09T04:36:00.000-07:00

You want a dose of the real Hong Kong? Then you should head over to 63, Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei. You have a Ladies Market on the side to shop at while gang controlled streets and stands give you a bunch of attitude and try to sell you stuff. It's pretty easy to get to just go to Yau Ma Tei MTR Station, Exit B2. Their pan fried noodles are very popular as well as their ying yang milk tea. And the ambiance of the place is truly old school Hong Kong. Even the cash registers they used were really old school. Looked like something from a time warp. Loved it!

And of course my favorite condensed milk fried toast with butter.

The not impressive ladies market next to Mido. Blah.. Mong Kong still has the best ladies market hands down.

Mido Cafe aka 美都餐室. Honestly not in an area I would recommend going at night. The familia wasn't too happy I was in the area late at night but hey-the things I do for food.

Happy Eatings!

Trip Along the Yangtze River & Three Gorges Dam

2011-08-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

I took a 6 day cruise/trip to Chongqing, Fengdu, Shibaozhai, Wanzhou, Fenjie, Wuahan, Yichang, Shashi, Wuhan, etc. to see the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges Dam. It wasn't as fun as my Yunnan trip but the food for the first two days and last day were decent. Why? Because in the middle we were on the boat for the whole time with Hong Kong andMainland Chinese tourists-all of whom do not eat spicy food. GR! Really? You go to the home of some awesome ethnic minorities who put peppers on everything and you stick to eating the stuff you eat everyday at home? NOT COOL. Here were some of my better meals before my fellow people on the Hong Kong tour complained that they couldn't eat spicy. BLEH!

Yummy cucumbers and pork I believe.

String beans

Egg plant-always a favorite of mine.

Ma po tofu. They made it really good. Got the ma la part down. Love when that happens.

Spicy peanuts.

Even the veggie was spicy. I really enjoyed this meal, until people on my tour flagged down the guide and made sure he knew they never wanted another meal like that again. They complained that it was too spicy and that they could only eat 2 dishes the whole night. I, on the other hand enjoyed all the food and even had 4 bowls of rice. Yes, I counted.

My favorite candy as a kid except made into the shapes of turtles and dragons.

Cute huh? Little girl about to eat her dragon candy.

Hot Pot! The middle hole was spicy and the outside was not. I of course was pretty much the only one that ate from the middle.

Yum! We had lots and lots of plates coming and going. It was pretty good. Not the best hot pot I've ever had though.

Pork, veggie goodness

More goodness

Yummy crab, egg goodness.

Salt & peppered pork

Spicy fish

Delicious tomato soup!

And of course more non spicy food. Seriously Hong Kongers need to get with the program.

Look at the mini shrimps!

Yummy tofu! Reminds me of the Japanese kind I like to get.

Fried taro and sweet potato balls.

Sweet and sour fried fish!

Towards the end of the trip, I just realized I wasn't going to be having any real authentic food. I really would advise people who like to eat to never join a tour with Hong Kong people. I did it once many years ago (10?) when I made my first trip to Vietnam and I swore never again. Apparently my mom really enjoyed it. I am boycotting any trips like this ever again. My stomach is protesting.

Happy Eatings!

Sorry about not putting captions on the rest of the food. I just got too upset thinking about how I missed out on some good, spicy food. Hmph!

Shanghainese Goodness

2011-08-03T03:54:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a few years since I last visited Shanghai. Unfortunately the opportunity has not come up yet, but at least I know I can always turn to Liu Yuan Pavilion in Wan Chai, Hong Kong to give me my Shanghaiese fill. Such a delicious meal! It's been awhile!

Say hello to our drunken chicken. The chicken meat was so juicy and tender. You have to eat it right away though or else the alcohol soaks into the meat and then it just tastes like alcohol chicken-which I guess is basically what is it anyways.

This was definitely one of my favorite dishes. I'm not sure what type of fish this is but basically they took out all the bones and then made the meat into chewy pasta like pieces of goodness. It was delicious especially if you added a bit of vinegar to it.

Ooh another win for the night. Woba. Think of it as a rice cake or rice crispies but with salty egg yolk. Yum. If you follow my blog you know I love salty egg yolk... which reminds me never to check my cholesterol levels. I'm sure I'm on my way to a heart attack at age 30. Knock on wood.

Fried yanxijuan. Fried bread. Yummy.

Hongyouchaoshou. Basically spicy wonton like dumplings. Always a favorite of mine but the trick is the sauce. Chinese have this concept of mala which is a different type of spiciness. Instead of just lighting your mouth on fire, this type of spice just is spicy enough to numb the tongue.

And of course my favorite little peas. Not many places do this dish anymore because of all the work that goes into it. These peas are all handpicked. It takes many many bags just to get enough to fill this small plate. So much work.

And what better than to end a day with wintermelon?

Look at this huge chunk. One for each person. Whooo... I was stuffed.

Great way to end my 3 month stay in Hong Kong. I have a few days left so I'll have to make it count of course!
Happy Eatings!

Double Dose of Japaneseness

2011-07-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong has always been obsessed with Japanese food but since the tsunami that hit and devastated Japan, Hong Kongers have been very weary about eating sushi from there because of the possibility of radiation, etc. Then again most of the fish used in sushi most likely isn't from Japan but either way no worries didn't stop me. I mean if I can eat silk worms and bees, radiation got nothing on me right? Well, I'll let you know if I start sprouting extra arms or something.

Own our little private room at Tomokazu in Causeway Bay. This place is about a medium price range but it's awesome because they are open till 4 am-ish?

Plus their salad is really good.

Grilled fish I think

Fatty toro handroll.

More food.

Eel hand roll.

Tempura

Green Tea Ice Cream. It was good but I've had much better green tea ice cream elsewhere.

And of course I had to try the Black Sesame flavor too. It's my favorite flavor. I have to buy anything that is Black Sesame.

Irori was our next stop. The is the next day mind you! I took a break no worries! I am very sorry to my dear wallet though. I have an obsession. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay.

Sweet shrimp...my fav!

Uni!

A satay of pork intestines and such. Awesome.

Eggplant and fish flakes.

Happy Eatings!

Do you have a sushi obsession too?

Getting Sidetracked in Mong Kok

2011-07-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I've realized that my past posts have been more of bizarre foods so why not return to some foods that more normal people unlike me would enjoy as well! Here's my recent trip to Mong Kok. I had no intention of stopping and eating. I was supposed to just stop by and drop something off but then I saw my favorite Mong Kok stand...

This noodle stand is amazing. You get to choose what kind of noodles you want for I think $10 HK dollars so a little more than $1 US and then each additional topping you chose you pay for. I chose kidneys, sausage, "sharks fin", etc. And then you get spicy and garlic sauce dumped on top. $16 bag right here. Made my day! This stand is genius. So cheap, but so good. Hits the spot overtime.

And of course after I got my cold noodles, I continued on my journey to drop something off and got distracted once again by this lady making some stuffed green peppers. Err fail! Looked too good. I had to sidetrack again.

Why yes I'd love some stuffed peppers but wait what is that stinky, horrible, lovely, beautiful smell in the air? Sticky tofu. Crap forget about dropping anything off. Hands off, napkins out-it's time to get dirty and smelly!

The skin was so crispy and good. Personally I like steamed stinky tofu more usually but this was muy bueno.

Don't forget the sauces!

Finally got my tofu so then I could finally get onto my stop right? Wrong! Then I saw squid... Damnit! Pit stop!

So glad I got this though cause the sauce they used was so so good! It's a must try! Thank you for my aunt for putting up with me and holding up the food for me. Totally got sidetracked and I ruined her dinner plans cause she ate with me.

Seriously just when we thought I could slow our visit down anymore I saws this!!! It's from Taiwan. I had it at Shilin Night Market when I was there and of course it was amazing. Damn it.... yeah you know the story... I just got in line.

Popcorn crispy chicken! So so worth it!!!!!

Why is there still food you ask? After all that impromptu eating, I got thirsty... So solution 1 would be to grab a drink but solution 2 was to grab some dessert. -_-

And of course typical, typical Hui Lau Shan just had to have some new summer specials to try out. Here's my chocolate banana smoothie.

P.S. we finally eventually did get to where we were trying to go... success.

Happy Eatings!

Hello Yunnan!

2011-07-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I loved my recent trip to Yunnan, China. I loved all the Chinese minorities that were there and their awesome traditions. The Naxi people know how to do it. They have a matriarchal society. Basically the women run everything and are in charge and the men just kinda chill and don't do much all day. Sounds like heaven. They also don't speak Mandarin Chinese. They have their own dialect and their writing system looks kind of like a sort of hieroglyphics. The food of course was amazing. I think if I start working on my farming skills one day I can join the Naxi too! I seriously loved their culture. Wish I could go on and on about them but that's for another blog. Let's keep this all food!

Here we are in the city of Kunming. This is the meal I had been looking forward to my whole trip and lucky for me it was our 1st stop! Literally translated to crossing bridge noodles, 过桥米线.

According to legend (at least the version I know), a scholar many many years ago was studying for his imperial exams. His wife would bring him noodles and little ingredients such as the kind you see above. She would have to cross the bridge to get there. Unfortunately, by the time she prepared her noodles and soup and got the soup to him, it would turn cold. She eventually figured that when she separated the ingredients and soup and combined them just before eating, a thin layer of oil would rise to top and keep the soup and noodles warm. She had to cross the bridge to him everyday, hence the name crossing the bridge noodles.

(This awesome pic was stolen from my friend taken with his SLR camera) Everyone got to make their soup base themselves and add spice. Some broths were quite plain, brothy looking and others were bright red like so.

This was apparently Yunnan beer. Tasted like bland apple cider.

Love it. The dirtier the better.

Yes, I bought food from this old woman.

Happy Eatings!

Photo UPDATE to Insect Post

2011-07-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Since so many of you enjoyed my insect eating, I decided to post a photo play by play. Enjoy!
Happy Eatings!

Bizarre Foods with Moi

2011-07-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hola! So this past weekend, I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Yunnan, China. This past long weekend I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to Yunnan, China where I got to visit the provinces of Kunming and Lijiang-areas for the most part largely untouched by mainstream tourism. I got to hang out and dance off with some ethnic minorities and of course eat with them too (more on that to come). So our lovely tour guide told us that in Yunnan, there is a saying that says people in Yunnan eat everything with four legs except for tables aka short for insects are awesome. So… when I saw a stand selling the critters I decided to take them up on the challenge. Silk worms and bees-are you ready? P.S. There's more "unique" food to come.

Moral of the story? Don't bet me because I will do it. By the way, sister-you owe me $100 U.S. Thanks.

Happy Eatings!

SML

2011-06-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

SML-stands for small, medium, or large and that's exactly the choice you have to make when you order a dish here. It's located in Times Square on the 6th floor. Extraordinary food? Eh, it's not bad, but it's also not the most amazing food I've ever had. It is, however a nice place to meet up with friends that gives you a wide array of Western/fusion dishes to choose from.

pasta

steak pieces with tartar sauce and fries

fried toast with truffles

Unfortunately, I get off work at 10pm and the last order for the kitchen is 10:30. I didn't make the cutoff so I had my dishes ordered for me before I even got there. Not bad though!

Worth trying out though!

Happy Eatings!

I'll off to Yunnan, China tomorrow so more food to come.

Hot Pot-All Day & Everyday

2011-06-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Is there a too hot for hot pot? I guess not because summer weather aside, I had agreed to go hot potting. Definitely not one of my brightest moments in life but hey, why not? Honestly though, this was a typical Chinese hot pot place in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. I wasn't too impressed. I really like Mongolian style or Taiwanese style hot pot or shabu shabu. This one was ehhh... Made my stomach say yes, thanks a lot I'm full, but didn't make me drool for more.

Pipping hot!

fish balls

veggies

fish

raw oysters

Close up of them. This was pretty good but it made me miss the ones I usually get at one of my favorite Cajun joints back home.

Say hello to our fatty beef.

Beef balls, etc.

veggie dumplings

raw abalone.

So as of right now, the items not safe to eat in Hong Kong for the summer are tapioca balls, syrup drinks such as the ones used in fruit drinks, and sashimi from Japan-all of which I've had already. I choose to test my luck. I've already decided that my death will be death from choking on boba or death by blowfish. I prefer the latter. Other than that, I have a pretty iron stomach. I think this may call for a Vietnam trip soon. Maybe I can squeeze some time in for that. Next week, I'm making a trip to Yunan. Can't wait to eat! It'll be fun since that's somewhere I've never gone. Thank you for free trips.

Happy Eatings!

Father's Day, say what?

2011-06-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Father's Day... whatever. Doesn't really matter. Do you really need an occasion to eat?

Our fancy menu for the night

big ass wintermelon soup

Why... hello there!

It all came outta this baby.

It came with extra wintermelon "meat" to put inside your soup. I guess we were trying to jump on the save the sharks bandwagon since it was replaced by this soup instead.

Sea bass pudding? I need help with making my English translations more appetizing sounding but this was good I promise!

Goose

Chicken

HOA YIP fan aka amazing rice stuffed inside this leavey thing.

GU LO YOK aka where Panda Express's Orange Chicken came from.

Blah. I don't like these veggies. I only do Tawiwanese or Thai, Singapore, or Malaysian veggies.

What did you have for Father's Day?

Happy Eatings from Hong Kong!

Steak Dinner Post

2011-06-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in Hong Kong A LOT so I usually eat a lot of Chinese food or well fusion food but don't you ever just get a tad bit tired of all the Asian food and want some steak? Hello, Steakhouse in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Okay, so here's the thing. The place was dark as hell. It's part of the ambiance you say. Uh yeah... but I'd also like to see where I'm walking. It's also relatively small. Unfortunately, money cannot buy you class or manners. There were some "visitors" at the table next to us that had an issue. I'll skip out on that part. Cheers to my new favorite type of fries-duck fat fries.

Garlic Bread

King Crab Legs

French onion soup

Steak, steak, and more steak

I shared with my fam, so I just had whatever they ordered but usually I get my steaks medium rare. When I'm in a good and adventurous mood, I'll get it raw. Yup, why not turn everything into sashimi?

A ha! The famous duck fat fries! McDonalds needs to catch onto this trend. Quack!

Our veggies.

You can find it at 2/F, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. By the way, the bathrooms are pretty bomb. You have toiletries in each stall. I'm strangely fascinated by bathrooms for all those that think I'm really weird.

Happy Eatings!

Black Sesame French Toast?

2011-06-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

So while I was at Anytime in Causeway Bay, I noticed an item I never paid attention to before on the menu. Deep fried french toast with black sesame paste! Sounded good... and different.

Little did I know that this french toast was topped with butter and served with maple syrup. Yes!!! How American of them! Sugar, sugar, sugar. Love it!

Happy Eatings!

I'm a Dimsum Snob

2011-06-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sure, I like the typical har gow (shrimp dumpling) and siu ma (pork dumpling) but seriously? When you're actually Cantonese, the typical dishes just don't cut it anymore. So yeah you pay more for a nice view, but you get some pretty good food that isn't at the typical dimsum places where you gotta outrun the other table for the food. Don't get me wrong those are fun times as well but sometimes you just want some relaxing dimsum.

veggie and pork dumpling.

A pork potpie type of thing.

shanjianbao. I guess it would be translated to panfried dumplings?

It's for your hands. Don't drink it fools.

sticky rice with red bean.

salt & peppered sardines.

goose drumstick. Too big to eat so we sent it back to get it cut.

xo changfen. Yummy flour pasta like thing I guess is the best way to describe it to non-Chinese.

Yay finally edible.

Quails. My sister's fav. I personally think they are more time than they are worth.

the sauce for the quail.

This is the point where my aunt reached over and asked if I've ever had quail head. Uh no? Chinese people have this whole thing from Mencius where if you eat a certain body part of an animal your body part will benefit from that. I.e. eat quail brain, you get smarter, etc. So I thought hmm.. sure let's do it anyways.

Why, hello little brain. How are you? Is this where I'm supposed to bite?

I guess I should eat around the neck too. I mean if I were being eaten, I would appreciate if the eater ate all of me and not just an arm or a leg right?

"pao fan" not exactly the same as congee or okay. It's a bit thicker.

xo spicy sauce.

Baked mini pineapple bread stuffed with bbq pork. They make it good here.

See the inside?

BBQ pork

pork

Welcome to what was my first meal of four that day.

Happy Eatings!

This was Dynasty at 22 Salisbury Road, Hong Kong.

Last Post From The States

2011-05-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! So as you may have noticed, I've actually been in Hong Kong for almost a week already but since I've been so behind on my L.A. posts I decided to finish them up before I started posting in HK. Here's my last random L.A. post.

Soft shell crab say what? How amazingly intriguing are these babies? From Kiki's bakery in San Gabriel, here are dried baby crabs that you can eat whole!

And what do I like to drink ? Hot coke with lemon. May sound bizarre to non-Chinese but it's actually a great way to soothe your throat. It's great for colds and it just tastes good! Try it!

Happy Eatings!

I'll be posting from HK soon.

Yelp-you failed me!

2011-05-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hello from Hong Kong! Yes, I'm here again. I know... I might as well live here with as often as I'm here instead of back in L.A.. If you couldn't tell, I'm a tad bit behind on blogging so today's post is still going to be from Los Angeles. A good friend recently came from San Francisco to visit. We decided to do a handy yelp search for something different and wound up with Mantee's King's Delight in Studio City. The seating was outdoors very romantic but the food was Eh.... The parking lot is also hard to find. It's kind of hidden.

Pita bread and the crunch crackers that we dipped in humus.

Beef salad. I usually really like salad and veggies. I didn't care for this too much. It was a tad too strong.

A humus-like dish we dipped with pita bread... It was okay. Could have lived my life just fine knowing that I haven't had it.

Mantee's King's Delight. This tasted like the fillet migon slices that is a popular Chinese and Vietnamese dish. This was pretty good. Portions were just too small here.

This was a sort of baked cheese dish we had that was paired with our pita bread. Eh....

Here was the famous dish-mantee baked with yogurt on top. This was the only dish that really did it for me. This was basically like really yummy pasta baked in yogurt. It was delicious. Too bad their portions were super small. I wish I could have returned everything else on the table and just had this!

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the place. The mantee with yogurt was the only dish I would consider going back for which is a shame since I usually love Mediterranean food. I also wish we ordered something more typical like a kabob. Yelp has failed me this time. They really need to redeem themselves. Hmph!

Happy Eatings! I will be blogging from Hong Kong soon!

If you want to try the mantee, you can check them out at 10962 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604.

In Honor of Fast Five

2011-05-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

In honor of "Fast Five" I decided to go to back to Neptune's Net, which was featured in the 2nd Fast & Furious movie I think. Click here to check out my last visit.

Gorgeous day out!

Amazing cocktail sauce and tartar sauce.

And amazing seafood as usual! Last time I went our bill came out pretty high. Turns out getting the sampler is a better choice for your wallet, plus you get to have a bit of everything. Fried fish, squid, crab cakes, fries, calms, etc.

For those that don't know, this is a great place for people watching and for going to the Malibu Beach right afterwards. It's also a motorcycle hub so you can sit and people watch and check out who comes in with the cooler tats and bikes!

42505 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90265-2221

Happy Eatings!

I Can Die Happy

2011-05-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

If you're a frequent reader of my blog, then you know how much I love Sasabune. Sure, your bill may make you cry, but it's amazing. Your experience is all based on trust and they have all of mine! I don't want to rewrite things I've said about them in the past so I'll just say a little bit here and there.

Just look at their amazing handmade wasabi. Ahh, I love it so much I get extra platefuls because I eat wasabi down at Sasabune. Their wasabi has a lemon tang to it. It's amazing, yes, yes, yes!

Ponzu sauce. What can you truly do to make ponzu sauce different and amazing? I don't know but I will drink this stuff. As usual you have a choice of American or Japanese omakase aka chef's choice. The Japanese is slightly more expensive because their ingredients are considered more exotic. Our bill came out to about $225 after using a coupon from restaurant.com. It's totally worth it though!

Baby blue fin tuna, regular tuna, blue crab, scallop, yellowtail, scallop, eel, sweet shrimp, spanish mackerel, regular mackerel, baked mussel, raw oyster, salmon roe, sea urchin, and more! Seriously how can you go wrong? I've said it before and I will repeat it again. This is my favorite Japanese place in L.A.! Yes, take that!

This marks my 3rd visit to Sasabune and I'm definitely planning another one soon before leaving to Hong Kong for the summer. To read all about this place's awesomeness click here.

Happy Eatings! If Sasabune ever needs a spokesperson please let me know. I'd do it for free! *drool* Where else can I physically drink and gulp down wasabi because it's so good?

Gwai Lo/Laowai Approved!

2011-04-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

See through kitchen. Pretty snazzy for a Chinese place!

Happy Harbor Cuisine in Alhambra kinda screwed themselves over when they first opened a little while ago. They poorly targeted their demographic-cheap, Chinese people! Originally, they tried to tout itself as a high class restaurant for noodles, congee, breakfast and snacks. They would have $5.88 deals for breakfast that would end up being about $10 when the customers actually paid their bill. NO BUENO. You see $5.88, may sound like a steal but they would charge customers an extra $1 for a side, an extra few bucks here and there for their drink. Typically Chinese places do not charge for basic tea. So them Chinese were PISSED and Happy Harbor wasn't so happy anymore. (FYI, their competition have deals that will give you soup, rice, the meal, and free drink for about $6 or less.) They finally ran a slew of ads on Chinese radio to lure people back by saying they added more food and lowered prices. Viola- in comes me!

Spicy pork kidneys. Sounds gross but it's rather delicious!

They are known for their wantons so I had to have some. They also brag that their Hong Kong style milk tea is really good. It's not bad.

Not bad... I don't know if I would come soley for that.

Here was something different. Not your typical noodle roll. The inside was stuffed with salted tofu.

Here's the inside.

Of course we had to buy some to go. It's so far to get to San Gabriel for me that we usually buy a few day's worth of food each time we visit. String beans for the win. Pretty good!

Chicken with Chinese style spaghetti.

All in all, this place was pretty nice. I know their yelp reviews were so so. The place was decorated really nice and clean. There are multiple flatscreen TVs playing inside while you eat so you don't have to talk with your family while you eat. (I swear traditional Chinese people don't have much conversation with their kids.) Tiger mom status! The TVs were tuned to Phoenix TV and American TV. Plus point for the foreigners or the people who just don't read, speak, or care about Chinese programing.

Last point, this place was Gwai lo/Non-Chinese approved. Their menus were colorful and neat and easy to navigate through. They had really traditional dishes and everything was properly labeled in English not Chinglish. In fact, I was learning some English names of things while I was there. This was a great place for non-Chinese people to visit for good authentic Hong Kong food. Usually the San Gabriel Valley isn't too welcoming to non-Chinese but this place seems like a place that could fill that void.

Approved by me!

736 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801

Happy Eatings!

Take Me Back to Hong Kong-STAT!

2011-04-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Just my luck-the one time I'm not in Hong Kong and the World Trade Center in Causeway Bay decides to make a whole tribute to my favorite cartoon character Pucca. My aunt was nice enough to snap this picture for me on her iphone she recently learned how to use. I really hope this display lasts for another 4 weeks or so. Doubt it considering things in Hong Kong stay in fashion for a grand total of 5 minutes before it's taken down. Since there's a little bit of HK nostalgia going on right now the food is gonna match the occasion as well. Here's 王家沙 in Causeway Bay during afternoon tea time.

Here's some thinly slicked raw abalone with a wasabiesque dipping sauce. One word-BOMB. I love wasabi and I love abalone. Together it makes me think as though I'm eating sashimi during a Chinese meal. Quite the awesome combination.

Pork sliced paper thin with xo spicy sauce... Which by the way have you guys heard that some residents in China recently found pork that they bought to glow in the dark? I kid you not. There's is glow in the dark pork being found in China. I did a short blog on it for on a school site. You can read about the lovely pork here if you're intrigued.

And here's some salt and peppered flavored crunchy tofu. Yum!

Looking at this food & Pucca displays kinda makes me miss Hong Kong, but then again I'll be back soon so I should probably be enjoying food here instead of worrying about stuff over there. After all I probably don't wanna be eating any glow in the dark pork anytime soon.

Happy Eatings!

Persian Food

2011-04-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not gonna lie. I'm usually not a big fan of Persian food. I only like certain Persian dishes. I think their version of crunchy rice doesn't sit well with my stomach. It's way harder than the Chinese version, but hey, it's an acquired taste so whatever floats your boat. I do have to say that we had some awesome kabobs, pita bread, and humus at Darband's in Tarzana that may be worth checking out if you like Persian food. I have some other favorite places that also carry Persian food that I can talk about in another post.

This was actually made of eggplant. I love eggplant, but this was definitely an acquired taste. The aftertaste was pretty good, it's just the initial taste that throws you off.

Kabobs!! The beef and the lamb just didn't do it for me. I really liked the chicken though. The meat was moist.

Sorry for the blurry pictures. I was here for a rehearsal dinner so I was busy using my camera for pictures other than food. If you are gonna check out Darband's I'd definitely try out their humus. It's pretty good!

Located at 19337 Ventura Blvd Tarzana, CA 91356.

Happy Eatings!

More Veggie Food!

2011-03-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

More postings from Hong Kong. This is our favorite vegetarian joint in Hong Kong. Everything tastes like real meat and it's absolutely delicious! I have a lot of friends that are vegetarians and their everyday meals are so boring that I feel bad for them. Too bad they don't realize there are so many choices available. If I ate fusion vegetarian food like this all the time, I could do it on a daily basis!

Delicious! I've blogged about this place before so I'll spare the details but it never gets old. I also love how the food always changes and you never eat the same thing twice!

Happy Eatings!

How to do a Bachelorette Party Right!

2011-03-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Usually I'm all for the best of the best but this was definitely a worthwhile experience. Tokyo Delves! Ah!!! I've heard so much about this place for so many years and I finally got a chance to go for my lovely Dani's bachelorette party the other day. How to summarize? You have hispanic sushi makers that are singing and dancing to Oldies and 90's music while making your sushi and having the entire 200-300 person restaurant do sake bombs at the same time. Tokyo Delves is basically a 2 hour show experience. You don't go for the food, you go for the standing and dancing a top of chairs. You're just required to eat at least $12 worth of food while you are there.

The Girls

Our hummer limo. Lines are humungous at Tokyo Delves, but if you take a limo you get to bypass that.

You can't really see the extent of the lines but trust me it was long!

Word. The theme was St. Patty's Day if you can't tell.

People dancing on chairs to Journey and music from the 90's.

The mini kegs that come out.

Sake bomb position. Now, I personally am a party popper but I still did one in honor of D's bachelorette party. Sometimes I wonder how I have friends with how boring I am.

Ah... the famous food of Tokyo Delves... You know what? It wasn't that bad! I think because we set our expectations so slow that there was no where to go but up!

Chicken teriyaki plate.

The "sushi".

More of it!

Our table standing on chairs. The bachelorette made it in the dance off to the final round!

It was definitely a lot of fun. This is a great place for birthdays, etc. Some people who get too excited definitely might end the night being dragged out by security trashed though.

Happy Eatings!

Tokyo Delves is at 5239 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91601. Make sure to make a reservation if you plan on going the shows!

Akasaka: My $80 Lunch

2011-03-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ah... Japanese food. One of my favorite foods of all time. The fresh fish, the starchy rice, the nice service. It's everything I want in a meal. Akasaka in Hacienda Heights has been on my list of to go places for awhile now because of my mom. My mom has a bunch of friends that do insurance so they get to know their clients (many of which are restaurant owners) so they get to try the best food in town. My mom's friend spoke so highly of the place we knew we had to go. Funny thing is... we've actually been to Akasaka before over 10 years ago. My mom was actually able to find the original business card for the place. I have a family of hoarders. Back in the day, Akasaka was actually part of the (818) area code. Old school.... Well I went online and checked the place out. The reviewers said I had to call in advanced and make a reservation. What? Thursday afternoon? Yes, really. It's that popular. I made the reservation at 1:15-1:30 since traffic is a bitch for us. When we got there at 1:10, the waiter argued with me and told me I only said 1:30 so I'd have to wait till then. Uh... worst service ever. Onto the food...

Salad that came with your order.

The dirty menus they had filled with oil and grease.

Their very mediocre miso soup.

But their soft shell crab was amazing!

And look at their massive chirashi. Every type of sashimi was in there. The fish was fresh and the rice was seasoned really well. It had a really nice sugary sweet taste to it. BUT it was $30! Ouch! I mean this baby could have fed 2 people but still!

So not only did it take forever to get seated because they were rude and slow, they were also super understaffed. The tables were left dirty and customers were not being served at all. Biggest offense is they tried to give us the bill and not give us the free dessert! Oh hell no! I want my free stuff! So I walked up the table and made it known. Here came my strawberry mochi with vanilla ice-cream.

Then I also bought sushi rolls for dinner that night. I'm always scared the world is going to end so I never leave a restaurant without buying boxes of to go. I actually have a box in my car just for carrying take out containers. Fabulous.... I know.

Here was the massive rainbow roll that I wanted to get. Next time maybe...in 10 years.

The food was good but I think the service blowed so badly and ruined my happy thoughts about kind, Japanese people that I'm going to boycott this place for awhile. If I wanted shitty service, I would have gone to a Chinese restaurant and chilled with my peeps. P.S. my bill came out to over $80. Would you pay $80 for crappy service and good food? Choices, choices, choices...

Happy Eatings!

Try if you dare at 14926 Clark Ave. Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

Bombay Dreaming

2011-03-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not posting more often. It's not that I'm not eating so don't worry! Let's take a look back at Hong Kong at Bombay Dreams in Central. It's an all you can eat Indian buffet! The waiters are actually Indian. Thank goodness because it's my pet peeve when you go into a restaurant and no one in that place is actually of that ethnicity. It's like when Koreans own sushi places. It makes the costumer wonder if they are about to get some legit food.

Well worry not. This food was really good. The bread was soft and fresh. The soup was delicious and best of all-they had lots of different sauces that were all so tasty. My favorite was their mango lasso. They didn't make it till you ordered it! The lassi was thick and seriously the best mango lassi I've ever had. Trust... that's saying something. I had 2 1/2 cups just myself!

Happy Eatings!

Fusion Fail.

2011-02-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

I know it seems as though a lot of the food I eat is just scrumptiously delicious. The truth is, well it usually is but I think it's also important to acknowledge on my blog when things FAIL. Well, technically the high-end restaurant failed. This is Rock Sugar located in Santa Monica. They call themselves an amazing Pan-Asian dining experience that incorporates the best of Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. delights. Well Rock Sugar-you can suck it because you seriously suck.

Here's some of the sauces they brought out as our appetizer to go along with our rice cakes.

Oh look, rice cakes? You mean the things you get in a bag for $2 at Vietnamese markets? My grandma makes it better than this. Sigh...

Crispy Chicken Samosas

They gave this a really exotic name- imperial rolls but when it came out turns out it was just cha gio aka Vietnamese eggrolls less deliciously made by white people. Where's a Pho999 when you need it?

Dungeness Crab with Cellophane Noodles apparently meant dry noodles stuck together sprinkled with a touch of crab here and there.

Here was their famous princess chicken. Oh gosh. It was good I guess but seriously they can do way better in San Gabriel for $5? This dish was $14!

For the record this banana custard cake was what saved the meal. This was amazing!!! Wow so good!

Overall though I won't be back. The decor was really nice. They had buddhas all over the restaurant. For those familiar with Vegas, it's like the restaurant version of the TAO club there. This place just didn't do it for me. It's for those typical Westerners who want to try "exotic" foods and go to a place to be transported to an "Asian" country. This is as Asian as Panda Express. Do yourself and your wallet a favor and hit up San Gabriel and thank me later.

Happy Eatings.