Sizzling Szechuan

The distance from SF to Milpitas is about 37 miles/ 60km.

Would you drive so far just to eat dinner? Well, apparently a lot of people would, and not just anybody, a lot of Chinese/Taiwanese/HK celebs that came to SF would make this trip. I saw it on the wall of fame photos. Alex Toh, Tong An Ge just to name a few. 

I've never had real Sze Chuan food before, so I wanted to try out this South Legend. Uh huh , even the name sounds legendary... Haha...So we had the spicy pototo shreds, chilli tofu and peanut appetizer, fried brinjal and garlic sauce pork belly. Well, though you'd see your food soaked in 1cm chili oil, I don't find them particularly spicy. At some point the tongue does become a little numb but yet, it's much nicer than having a hot burning sensation to your lips, tongue and throat! Best of all, you still get to TASTE what you're eating.

My favourite is the cubed tofu, that's the best because the chili paste that they use is so fragrant and the spiciness builds up really slowly.

Look at how thinly they cut the brinjal, you'd think that you're eating thinly shredded mushrooms! Good thing we ordered one non spicy dish, I think somehow it helps neutralizes the taste of chili peppercorn. If not we'd have sexy lips towards the end of the night! :)

Trattoria La Siciliana

When you eat with the Maestro, you go only to the Zagat rated.

Yesterday was a farewell for YC, so we decided to take her to Trattoria La Siciliana in Berkeley - one of the top Italian restaurant in US.We made reservations but we still had to wait a good half an hour before we're being seated. The place is very small and quaint, good thing there were 3 of us, if not, you'll be stuck by the window with a tiny table and be 'observed' by the passer-bys. 

It was a beautiful Friday night but my brain was completely fried after class. I couldn't focus on the menu and let the Maestro do all the ordering. 

We ordered the Fresh heirloom tomato marinated in garlic, basil, olive oil topped with mozzarella, Butternutsquash, Scampi Rissoto, and Beef Ragu Pasta.

 

One struck me as really really good was the Beef Ragu Pasta, not the beef, but the flavour of the sauce and the fresh pasta. That is something I could eat more. Also the risotto in the scampi. It was supposed to be a quite pricey place and a CASH only restaurant. Can you imagine carrying so much cash just to have dinner? Crazy - for the American credit card standard.

Next time, I'll do the ordering! :)

Yahoooooo! Kahoo....

There's 2 things I've been trying to avoid - meat & spicy food.

Ya right. Been saying that for years and I still couldn't stop.

So over the weekend, we went to visit Datuk and Datin - The Ramen Connoisseur.

They took us to their favourite ramen spot in San Jose - Kahoo.

Like any other good ramen place, this place is small, and serves only ramen, there's not much non ramen choices but they do have some mini rice bowl set.

I'm usually very finicky when I try out a new place, but this time, somehow, when I looked at the menu, that particular ramen was calling out to me. I see nothing but that line on the menu :

"Spicy ramen comes with mince pork, egg, bean sprouts, leeks and menma". (Note : menma = bamboo shoots). 

Datuk and Datin also highly recommend the "fresh wasabi, bamboo shoots, egg" mini rice bowl set. Within 5 minutes the food came. 

Tada!

This is my spicy ramen, I love the flavour of the minced meat and to my pleasant surprise - the ramen! It's thin ramen, it's the first time I've ever had thin ramen and it's so much nicer slurping this ramen instead of slurping the normal ramen. Spicy? Quite. Datuk gave me a piece tissue before the noodle came and he said I'll be needing it, he was right. But the spicy ramen tastes really really good. Best ever if you eat it during winter. *Aaaah....*


Shio Ramen : Salt based soup with chasu pork.

Kotteri Miso Ramen. Really good fatty pork with a slight spicy miso soup.

And this? This is the fresh wasabi, bamboo shoots, egg mini rice bowl set. It's not as 'spicy' as the usual wasabi and the combination  of rice, fresh wasabi sauce and sesame oil makes the flavour very refreshing and I'd probably order this instead of a bowl of ramen when I go again the next round. Frankly speaking, the bowl of ramen is way too big for me, why don't they serve kids' size?

And what's after a full full meal? Wii TIME!

I love this Rayman Raving Crazy Rabbit!!! The games are so hilarious! Kudos to the creator. Hahaha....

What a great way to spend the Saturday afternoon.... :)

Oshima - Brooklyn, NY

The day before my birthday.

Getting hungry at 9pm in Brooklyn on a Friday night. Looked up Yelp. Hmm...what shall we have today? Japanese or Thai? Both have equally good reviews and just around the corner... *thinking*

Japanese it is - Oshima.

We ordered the Seaweed Salad, Shitake Mushroom, Age Tofu, Ginger Squid, Wasabi Conch, Winter Roll and King Crab Tempura Roll - OISHI Neh..... 

And the clock struck 12 and we had bubbles and fizzed up my brain.. *Hiccup*

Hehehee....

Gilt-y Birthday

Gilt - My first Michelin star restaurant experience! And it's 2 Michelin star!

Initially I wanted the 5 course tasting menu, but my companions wanted only 3 course, so in the end we had to settle for the 3 course tasting menu - no complaints, because the experience was - priceless.

Gilt, how shall I put this experience into words? It would really be demeaning to compare eating at Gilt as eating pop rock candy, but it is litteraly how it feels like. Every bite that you take, it feels like a pop of flavours in your mouth. Only by eating in Gilt you understand what flavour is. Somehow every inch of your tongue palette is being put to work, goes to show my tongue has been underused all these while. Interestingly at some point, I cannot even quite compute what I was eating because I'm eating something that tastes completely different from what I'd expect- in a very good way. 

So we were served with fresh uberlicious bread, not sure if I remember the names correctly, it's Lemon and Thyme ciabatta (the round one) and .... (obviously I don't remember) but the poppy seed one is the one I love most. Breads are served with unsalted butter and salt on the side.

This is a chef special - corn chowder with some other ingredients. (My food reporting is a disgrace I know.. HAHA.....sorry ) But when you drink this, it's so smooth and yummy that when the soup glides down your throat, it feels exactly like the remedy to a bad day plus a double dosage of happiness. Blissful.

SPOT PRAWNS

Saffron Escebeche, Cauliflower, Smoked Raisins, Capers

BABY OCTOPUS

Tomato Confit, Young Garlic, Celery, Espelette Pepper

FOIE GRAS

Pancetta Spice, Kumquat Mostarda, Candied Black Olive, Fennel, Pine Nut 

WAGYU BEEF

Artichoke Kimchi, Sweet Potato, Broccoli, Natural Jus

SUCKLING PIG

Olives, Fennel, Fregola, Cipollini Onions

HALIBUT

Petite Vegetables, Horseradish, Oysters, American Caviar

Another chef special? On the left is a sorbet and on the right is rose champagne foam. One is sour and the other is strong with alcohol, BUT pair the two together, YUMM YUMM YUMM....*gleaming with smiles*

Then desserts are served ...

SICILIAN PISTACHIO MILLE FEUILLE

Orange-Scented Cream

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

English Double Devon Cream

CHILLED CAVAILLON MELON SOUP

Tarragon Sorbet, Honey Funnel Cake

BRAZILIAN & KENYAN COFFEE ICE CREAM DUO

Chocolate Biscotti Wafers, Mascarpone Sabayon

Now, this one came as a surprised! I was torn between choosing this and the cold melon soup but I thought melon soup would be something I've never had it before but.. HEHE... LOOK! I got both in the end! From the photo below it's obvious that it's good right? Hahaa..... Oh my god, this is such a wonderful meal, the moment I took a bite of the coffee ice-cream, I jumped, it is so good.

We thought this is it, the end of a happy meal, but the Maitre'D came by and put down 3 small plates in front of us. We're like....hmm...is there another special for us?

Yes! Chocolates! There's the Cranberry Marshmallow, Hazelnut clusters and Truffles, the one of the far left corner is something with Orange cream I think.... and if you want, you could try all of them on the chocolate platter... it is very unfortunate that I do not remember the names of every single dish that I tried but I'm glad that I had such a wonderful time for my birthday...

Care for a gold bar anyone?

Frankly speaking, I don't know how to put all these into words, and I feel that cooking is really like an art, the combination of flavours and presentations. But the best part is, it's not as subjective as art, it feasts the eye and warms the soul.

Thanks AKO for the wonderful time, you deserve a gold bar! :x

2nd Ave. Deli - New York

We didn't want to miss out any good food while in NY so wherever we were we were constantly Yelp-ing. So we found out that one of the best deli in NY is 2nd. Ave. Deli. 

The moment we sat down, the waitress served us a big dish of pickles and coleslaw. I love the coleslaw, reminds me of Chinese style pickles, lightly sweet and sour and very appetizing. 

We ordered the Potato Latkes, Chicken Matzoh Ball Soup, Pastrami and Corn Beef sandwich. When we finished, they serve us a shot of chocolate soda, yummers.

Potato Latkas is also known as Potato Pancake, it is made of potatoes, onions, eggs, flour and deep fried. The first bite of Matzoh Ball is amazing, it feels like egg and minced chicken meat but very fluffy...but when I found out the main ingredient, I nearly fainted - it's chicken FAT and the sandwiches? It's almost 3" thick packed with meat slices!

New York! New York!

I love New York!

The weather forecast predicted rain throughout the week we're supposed to be in NY but lucky us, we managed to avoid the rain and the weather is beautiful.

The view from Empire State Building.

Lady Liberty via Staten Island Ferry

Rebuilding Ground Zero - The futuristic Freedom Tower.

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park and around the City.

Look at how amazing the interior of Guggenheim Museum is.

I love Times Square. Look at how colorful the lights are, they're so beautiful.

Trying to capture the night scene of NY...

Somehow I find the NY subway very charming... Love how these photos turned out.

Isn't the interior of Virgin Atlantic cool?

White high gloss finishing with purple and blue lights and a personal entertainment system right in front of you (email, TV, movies, games, on-board texting etc), the coolest thing is you place all your requests/food orders using the touch screen panel and the air steward/stewardess will deliver it to you right away. Oh, I forgot to mention, there's wifi onboard too! 

I love New York so much! I can't wait to go back , there are so many more places that I want to go and visit! :)

Dinners In Boston

First Day - Legal Sea Foods

Crab Cake, Fish and Chips, Shrimp Caesar Salad, Clam Chowder, Ice tea and Sangria. Everyone told me that trying the clam chowder in SF is a must BUT what they don't know is Legal Sea Foods have the best Clam Chowder.. Ah... fresh clams and potatoes oh boy oh boy I do love my soups! :) Also, the crab cake is highly recommended for it's freshness and tastes.

2nd Day - Border Cafe

Border Cafe - Tex-Mex and Cajun Cookin'.

We had, Margarita, Chreole Chicken with Jambalaya, Quesadilla, Crawfish and Shrimp Caesar Salad and GUMBO! I love Gumbo, there's rice, chicken and sausages in this thick curry like soup. Though too much meat, I love the flavour very much. :)

3rd Day - The Cheesecake Factory

It was a day for celebration, so my hostess ordered a round of Champagne for us and a Cosmopolitan for herself. As for food, we had the wild mushroom soup, 4 Seasons Pizza, Thai Lettuce Wrap and Shrimp Scampi. I usually love my scampi but this time, there's not enough white wine in it and we had Kahlua Cocoa Coffee Cheesecake to go because I could barely walk from all the food! For all the cheesecake lovers out there, embrace yourselves, there are over 30 flavours to choose from! No kidding. :)

Breakfasts in Boston

Less than 24 hours after I've landed, still heavily jetlagged, we flew to Boston for the weekend. We reached Boston about 9am, first thing first - BREAKFAST at Neighbourhood Restaurant & Bakery. This place has over 20 house specialties for omelette, waffles, frensh toasts and what not. The menu is 6 double-paged (12 pages) long!

Cream of wheat - tastes like sago in coconut milk with porridge like texture and  sprinkles of cinnamon powder. Very good but a tad too sweet for me.

It was too early for meat and cheese, so I opted for the vege omelette, it was really good....I love the vegetables and mushrooms in it. Though it looked big but I finished it! Muahahaa.... yes, I'm a glut.

My friend ordered the famous Corned Beef Hash...Yumm....and what else? OJ, Coffee and toasts definitely. I just woke up from the 6 hours flight, right after breakfast, I feel like going back to bed again :)

The next day, we went to Ball Square Cafe for breakfast.

Big breakfast big breakfast! I want my big breakfast I was craving for it for the longest time. So I ordered the Our Favourite Plus - pork sausages, home fries, scramble eggs and English muffins.. Oh ho ho... oh boy oh boy, I was a happy camper right after breakfast, really glad I added the pork sausages! :)

Fresh Fruit With Homemade Granola and Yogurt.

Caramelized Banana and Strawberry French Toast.

After 2 days, before we left Boston, we popped back into Ball Square Cafe for the last round!

This time I ordered the Florentino Eggs Benedict - fresh baby spinach, tomato and poached eggs topped with homemade Hollandaise sauce....MmmMmm-Mm. *Thumbs up*

Sweet Pepper and Corn Beef Hash.

Fresh Fruit Bowl with Yogurt.

Don't you wish you were here with me? ;)