How Tall She Has Grown :)

We caught up with our cousin, Kimberly before she heads back to Hong Kong tomorrow. The last we saw her was when she was still a kid. She's all grown up now! :D Amazing! The meal at New Korea House was average but the company was fabulous! :) We talked about our families, work, school, vacations etc etc.

Who doesn't like soup? Lin & I absolutely love them! New Korea House's dumpling soups & soondubu were comforting in this chilly weather. Slurrrrrrrrrrp.... :)

We couldn't finish the savoury pancake as it was too huge! :O It could have feed 4-6 pax nicely. I also wish they use less oil.

The most disappointing items were the BBQ pork & beef. The cuts were way too chunky for our liking! :( If they had been able to slice them more thinly, it would have been perfect! I miss those we have in Singapore & Seoul where every piece of meat is thinly sliced & melts in your mouth. Simply heavenly. *.*

But we kind of fixed Lin's cravings for steamed rice. ^.*

Our next meet up with Kim should be in Hong Kong next summer! Can't wait to savour the flavour of Asia together. :)

Details of Korea House:

1620 Post Street

San Francisco

CA 94115

T: +415 931 7834

Un Voyage à Paris

We miss Parieeeeee & its fine French cuisine. :) So a trip to Paris is a must; right here in SF! ;)

Le Charm French Bistro is a quaint little outfit in Soma. Besides quality food, we gave thumbs up for the cozy ambience & warm service. :)

The butter which came with the bread was rich & creamy (according to Crystal & Lin) - raising our expectation on what's coming up next. :) We were delighted.

The three of us shared a prix fixe which consisted of an appetizer, a main & a dessert (all at USD 32 -superb deal) and a main from the a la carte menu.

So here's our prix fixe selection:

People raved about Le Charm's onion soup. We gotta try! It's hot, hot, hot! Lots of onion in there. I kind of like it though Lin found it a little salty.  

The main was bistro steak frites served with shallot sauce. Crystal and Lin felt the beef was a little tough but I found it tender. We realized the way we cut our steak affects its tenderness. I cut my steak according to the lines on it while Crystal & Lin were cross cutting it. They tried my cutting method and their last few bites were yum too. :) Well it's never to late. :)

Crystal was amused the Profiteroles (crème puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and served with chocolate sauce and almonds) came in three. Just nice. One for each of us. I love it! :D These babies are gorgeous!

Now for the mains from the a la carte menu, we have pan seared wild scallops, sautéed prawns, risotto with lobster veloutée. Forget the December chill! We're swiming in the ocean! Nice!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ah...another lovely dinner in SF. ^.^
 
Details of Le Charm French Bistro:
315 5th Street
San Francisco
CA 94107
T: +415 546 6128
W: http://www.lecharm.com/index.htm
 

A Truly Enjoyable Dinner at 54 Mint

I love this small & quaint Italian restaurant. 54 Mint makes an excellent chill out place to hang out with gfs and savour Italian cuisine. The food's amazing. :D

The basket of bread was warm & nice. The herby ones were flavourful. But we needed to save our stomach for what's going to be served later. :)

54 Mint serves one of the most delicious meatballs in tomato sauce (POLPETTINE al SUGO) . Crystal & I cleaned the tomato sauce on the plate with bread! :D I know we did say we're not touching the bread. But it's this good! :)

The fresh ribbon pasta with sauteed mushroom (FETTUCCINE ai FUNGHI) was fantastic too. Lin loves them! :)

We fell in love with the fresh ribbon pasta with meyer lemon & pine nuts. The citrus tang just makes you wanna have more of it! :D

The classic tart with pastry cream and pine nuts was such a teaser. It's a tart with a difference.

We took the tart without the cream initially (being weight conscious), but caved into tart & cream combi. The tart & cream fused beautifully and the pine nuts gave the tart an extra texture. :) Oh wow!

54 Mint, I'm loving it. :)

Details of 54 Mint:
16 Mint Plaza
San Francisco
CA
T: +415 543 5100
W: http://www.54mint.com/

Hola! It's Mexican Fare at Tropisueno

Hola, hola hola! We had Mexican fare at Tropisueno this evening. We waited 40 mins for a table! : O

Starving...we zoomed into the nachos & the dip while we waited patiently for the real food to be prepared. :)))

My fav dish was the entree, Camarones al Mojo de Ajo. The wild white shrimp sautéed with butter and lots of garlic, finished with a squeeze of lime was simple but awesome. :D

For the mains, we had Chile Verde (tender pieces of pork simmered in tangy tomatillos, pepper, chiles and herbs) and Chicken with Mole Poblano (leg and thigh braised in a traditional sauce made with dry chiles, spices, nuts, herbs and chocolate).

Our 2nd fav was the pork. It was flavourful & tender. :) The chicken leg & thigh paled in comparison.

The servings are huge; so if you're going there, either you starve yourself for the day or simply share. :)

Details of Tropisueno:
75 Yerba Buena Lane
San Francisco
CA 94103
T: +415 243 0299
W: http://www.tropisueno.com/index.html

Tuesday Lunch with Crystal

The weather was gorgeous today! :D I headed out for lunch with Crystal at IL Cane Rosso at the Ferry Building. IL Cane Rosso is by no means a simple sandwich shop. It takes pride in creating delicious food using the best local ingredients.

Needless to say, the place was packed with office crowd. Despite it, we didn't wait long to get our food and a table. :)

The Prather Ranched Slow-Cooked Pork sandwich is one mean fella! :D In addition to the juicy & tender pork, the sandwich is packed with devoto orchard apple butter, mustard and braised cabbage. Close your eyes to the oil! ;) It's ok to indulge once in a while. :D Crystal & I shared the sandwich and

Mariquita Farm parsnip & parsley root soup. It's drizzled with pickled pepper relish. This soup is thick but light on the palatte. :) It complimented the richly flavoured pork sandwich well. ;)

A short but flavourful lunch with a great companion. That's my Tuesday noon. :)

Details of IL Cane Rosso:
One Ferry Building  # 41
San Francisco
CA 94111
T: +415 391 7599
W: http://canerossosf.com/

Lin's Under the Weather

Sunday night was really bad for Lin. She had to run to the bathroom umpteen times. We had to call the hotel to get us a doc and they referred us to Dr Jim Salvage. It was in the middle of the night and a nurse picked up the call. We made an appointment to see him at 10.45am on Monday morning. However as we were up the whole night, we overslept and missed the appointment. *.* We called the clinic again and saw the doc at 11.30am.

Dr Salavge seems really knowlegable. He tried to find out the symptons Lin had and when her whole problem started. He explained to us in layman terms why her tummy had so much activities and how we could fix the problem. He also suggested she did a lab test (we're still waiting for the result). We realized later in the day that Crystal sees him too when she's unwell. :)

Lin was much better after seeing him & taking the medication he prescribed. (Lots of medication but who cares when you want to be well when travelling; whatever works). We thank God for his healing hands and everyone back home for their prayers too. :)

Slurping Hot Ramen at Katana-ya

Sunday dinner was at Katana-ya. :) Perfect on a cold & rainy December nite eh? ;)

We waited quite a while for a table...

Poor Crytsal was starving. I spared her the agony of posing for my camera & let her enjoy the hot ramen. :)

We had a bowl of regular pork ramen each. Crystal chose the miso broth while Lin & I had the shoyu broth. I wasn't blown away by the ramen as we have tried better ones in Japan & Singapore. But I guess if we're away from home & wanted something comforting, this is it. 

We also ordered agadashi tofu for the sides. :)

There were still people waiting for seats while we left. We were glad we filled our tummies. Now, we had to brave the rain & head home to bed. A bright new week awaits us. :) 

Details of Katana-ya:
430 Geary Street (at Mason Street)
San Francisco
CA 94102

T: +415 771 1280