Deericious!

This is the first of three iron chef restaurants that I visited on my trip to NY… Babbo, Mario Batali’s new place in the West Village, is a yet another NYC restaurant that requires reservations 30 days in advance. The restaurant is dimly lit, with both an upstairs and downstairs dining room. Both rooms are smaller than I expected, but every table was full along with the bar. I was surprised to see that they had faded carpet which was already wearing down in some places - not sure if this was for effect or negligence.

Babbo’s menu has some creative items, but nothing that you can’t find in some of the better italian restaurants in LA such as Angelini Osteria, Celestino, etc. For starters, we went with the Babbo salumi and olives plate (2*) and a pan fried softshell crab special (3*). Entrees that we selected were the highly recommended beef cheef ravioli (3*), lamb chops (3.5*), and papparadelle w/wild boar ragu (3*). The paparadelle was very dry and I had to ask for an extra side of sauce. While the food was nothing spectacular compared to the italian fare you can get elsewhere in the city, the service was first class. (We had wine and tapas at ‘Inoteca the night before and it was fantastic.)

If you’re a Batali fan, then Babbo is worth a visit but be sure to reserve in advance. Babbo also offers two different tasting menus: traditional tasting of 7 courses ($65) and pasta tasting of 7 courses ($59).

Who would’ve thought that one of the best treats in NYC would be found at a hip little shop in SoHo specializing in rice pudding? Rice to Riches is a must try, even if you don’t have a love for rice pudding. The shop serves upwards of 15 different rice pudding flavors custom made daily, with choices ranging from cheesecake to stubborn banana to don’ cappuccino. Additionally, for $0.75 more, you can select different toppings like chilled espresso, fresh berries, graham cracker, toasted coconut, etc. Click here to view today’s flavors. (I just found out from the website that you can order these heavenly treats for nationwide shipping! So… this means even those of you who don’t live in NY can get a taste of Rice to Riches.) This is going to be big… as soon as the company starts franchising.

Jen and I tried the sex drugs and rocky road (4*), hazelnut chocolate (4*), and mascarpone w/ cherries (5*). Mmm, yummy!

Back in March, I made a lunch reservation for my impending NY trip at the end of April at Jean Georges in Manhattan. You have to call 30 days in advance to the day to get a table! Jean Georges is pricey - plan on spending upwards of $200 for a 3 course meal plus wine. However, for lunch, patrons can choose to sit in the dining room and order 2 courses from a wide variety of fabulous dishes for just $28. It truly was a great dining experience, with more than one server waiting on our table at any given moment. The dining room was filled with ladies who lunch, young power execs, and families with old world wealth. I love the way people in Manhattan live! Fabulous.

Here’s what we tasted: amuse bouche consisting of an asparagus cream blended with a sour raspberry puree (3*), crab on toast with mango gelee (3*), smoked fava beans (4*); hamachi sashimi w/grapefruit sorbet (3.5*), sashimi appetizer, nut crusted sea bass in a mushroom buttery broth (5* omg, this was GOOD - I drank every last drop of the broth), cauliflower scallops (4*), and homemade marshmallows and meringues as a gift from the chef. I almost forgot to mention the designer sodas! For $6 a glass, we had a passionfruit chile soda and a cherry yuzu soda. Both were exquisite - just the right amount of sweetness and a wonderful fruity flavor that both lingers and refreshes (5*).

You have to be a real foodie to plan 30 days in advance for a meal on vacation in New York, but the planning and anticipation was well worth the experience and the memorable meal.

Rice Paper is perhaps the most stylish Vietnamese-French restaurant I’ve stepped foot into. The restaurant is truly exceptional in simplistic modern design with large windows uncovering a beautiful view of HK’s harbor. The presentation of the dishes rivals that of the most sophisticated eateries. The food, however, was disappointing both in taste and value (small portions, pricey for Vietnamese).

With four people in our party, we were able to sample many different dishes. We started with the papaya salad (3*), followed by fried fish cake (2*) and softshell crab roll (3*) appetizers. I was so excited when I saw that this place had Cha Ca on the menu (see Vietnam entry). When the dish came, the fish (fried), instead of cooking in an iron pan over hot coals drenched in peanut oil and leeks/dill/onions/tumeric, was presented on a plate, to be cooked in a bland broth which simmered in a copper pot (2*). This was not terribly bad, but in no way was it good. The best dish was a minced beef over sticky coconut rice (3.5*) which gets extra points for creativity.

Overall, Rice Paper is not a good choice for a tasty meal, but the ambience is worth a visit for an afternoon drink.

Back to the food blogging… Sorry guys, it’s been a while but I’ve been busy.

There lies a gem of a restaurant in Causeway Bay, HK called Tonkichi (thanks for the recommendation Lylette!) which specializes in tonkatsu - fried golden brown to a perfect savory crisp in every bite. The menu offers a wide variety of tonkatsu - pork tenderloin, pork loin w/ miso, chicken, shrimp, oyster, etc. - along with numbers sushi/sashimi offerings. If you opt for the tonkatsu, which btw was not greasy at all, you get a bowl and pestle filled with sesame seeds that you grind into fresh sesame powder to create your own seasoning/tonkatsu sauce.

After much indecision, Rei and I opted for the miso pork tonkatsu meal and the pork tenderloin and shrimp combo meal. I thought that both types of pork tonkatsu were similar - juicy and tender perfection (4* - I usually don’t like pork too much). The shrimp was even better (4.5*)! Every piece was ginormous with the right amount of bounce to every bite. The shrimp comes with a rich mayonaise dressing that was incredibly hard to put down. All meals come with rice, bottomless cabbage salad, and fresh fruit dessert. For a few extra bucks, you can add the optional soup which consists of a buttery broth made with carrots and japanese mountain yam.

Tonkichi is on the 4th floor of the World Trade building in Causeway Bay, just next to the Excelsior Hotel. Definitely swing by for a bite the next time you are in the area.

Last week while in Hong Kong, Rei and I stayed at the fabulous Phillippe Starck designed Jia Hotel (thanks, Jaime!!) in Causeway Bay. On the first floor of this hotel is a fusion restaurant called Opia. I was really wowwed by this place right when we walked in. The decor is modern and hip, but very sexy at the same time. We had an entire staff waiting on our party the entire night, and left feeling very stuffed and happy.

While we were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, we were served dinner rolls to be dipped in extra virgin olive oil, followed by a dipping seasoning of your choice. There were three - the first was a top ramen-like seasoning (for lack of a better description), the second was a chinese brown sugar spice, and I don’t remember the third. I thought the top ramen seasoning was the best. To start, everyone had an oyster shooter in mirin with a soba roll chaser (4*). Fantastic! This was better than most oyster shooters, which I find often to be disappointing (too much alcohol, ikura, ginger, etc). I almost wanted to order another half dozen - just for myself. Rei started with a scallop and choriso appetizer (2*) which we found to be just ok. The scallops were good, the sauce interesting, but the choriso overpowered and was a bit too tough. For entrees, half of our party went with the Wagyu beef cheeks (3*) while the other half chose the halibut and trout (3*). When the entrees arrived, we were all surprised by how large the portions were - yay! The Wagyu was seared crispy on the outside with a tender medium rare inside, brushed with a sweet glaze. The cut sat on top of a green papaya salad with peanuts, over a bed of coconut rice. I loved this dish - it totally surprised, and proved to be a genius combination. The trout was also a winner - served on top of thai inspired veggies and coconut sauce. This dish was a bit spicier, and had more lemongrass flavors.

If you’re in HK and want to try something less traditional, definitely visit Opia. we had a great time sampling all of the dishes, and I’m sure you will too. =)

Last week, we went to Mastro’s Steakhouse for a friend’s birthday. Mastro’s is considered a favorite among many of my dearest meat-loving friends, so I had to go see for myself. The space is charming, but a little on the dark and noisy side. The restaurant was packed, with a live band playing and people chatting it up at the bar. Our party of 7 sat at a long table, so it was difficult to carry a conversation with anyone, aside from the people sitting directly next to you. Celebrity sighting: William Fichtner.

We started the evening with two bottles of red wine, a St. Francis merlot and a Trefethen cabernet sauvignon (3*), both from California. Following, we ordered oysters which were fat but nonetheless super tasty (4*), an iceberg salad topped with bacon, tomatoes, other goodies (I didn’t actually try this one), and the house special crabcakes w/ microgreens (4*). The crabcakes were excellent - almost entirely crab, not the ripoff kind that is usually filled with breadcrumbs, etc. One notable thing about Mastro’s is their gi-normous portions. Amanda and I shared the chef’s cut rib-eye (5*) which was expertly cooked to a perfect medium rare. The steak came out on a hot plate, and was buttery tasting in every bite. However, this was not your typical steak presented in a pool of butter like they have at Ruth’s Chris. Our table ordered a feast of sides to share, but we underestimated the size of their portions. Usually, sides at steakhouses such as Flemming’s or the Lodge are big enough for 3-4 people. At Mastro’s, the sides are big enough for 6! We had mac and cheese (3*), sauteed mushrooms (3*), shoestring fries (3*), lobster mashed potatoes (4* - big pieces of lobster in garlicky mashed potatoes with a lobster broth), creamed corn (2*), and creamed spinach (2*). We barely had room for dessert, but since we had a birthday to celebrate, why not?! Mango sorbet (3*) came on a plate with three giant scoops the size of tennis balls, and the key lime pie (3*) and cheesecake (3*) were comparable to two slices at other ordinary restaurants. All were very good, but the key lime pie was a bit too sweet for my liking. Take a look at all of the food we had!

Destination #2 of our summer vacation last year was Singapore, as a stopover on our way from Vietnam to the Maldives. Singapore is very small, and you can visit most of the points of interest in one day. Rei and I got the sight-seeing out of the way early on (definitely do the night safari at the Singapore Zoo) and spent the rest of the time eating! We had made to order dim sum at Yum-Cha in Chinatown (3*), chili crab on many different occassions (5* at Jumbo), mandarin chicken rice at Chatterbox, Meritus Mandarin Hotel (4*), satay sticks outdoors at Clarke Quay (3*), and again, lots of Tiger beer.

My favorites were the chili crab and the chicken rice dish. Chili crab is a crab dish cooked in a tomato based sauce with sweet chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, chopped onions, garlic, etc - very tasty. You eat the crab and dip fried chinese bread in the sauce. The mandarin chicken rice is what we know as hainan chicken rice. Mmm tasty! Fragrant rice, perfect broth, tender chicken with three dipping sauces: soy, ginger and chili. Ya ya ya!

All of the guide books and city guides recommended going to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling (3*). This was where the cocktail was originally invented. We trekked our way across the city to find the bar packed with tourists and businessmen having after dinner drinks. The hotel was very impressive - on the outside. Apparently, if you’re not a guest, you can’t even take a look around! I’d say go for the experience, but expect to be ripped off (about $15usd for the Singapore Sling).

Last summer, Rei and I spent 10 days in northern Vietnam. We didn’t know what to expect, but the food, in general, was better than expected. We ate a lot of the same things day in and day out which were included on different tours to visit Sapa (5*), Halong Bay (3*), and Perfume Pagoda (1*). On a daily basis, we had french bread with spreadable cheese (breakfast), Vietnamese coffee (always good), Tiger beer (lots of it), bottle water.

One thing new that we tried in Vietnam was a dish called cha-ca. The best place is Cha Ca La Vong in Hanoi. Cha Ca is monkfish cooked in peanut oil, in a pan at your table over hot coals. It’s mixed with tons of green onion, tumeric, fresh dill, and basil. This is then put over rice noodles with a splash of fish sauce, topped off with peanuts. If I remember correctly, the meal was about $6usd, including a few beers, for two people. Yummy! Too bad we haven’t been able to find this dish here in LA. Anyone else ever tried it?

Over the holidays, Amanda and I took a tour of Italy. While we saw lots of beautiful sites all around the country, most of you wanted to know about the food. So, here are the highlights…

In Rome, we tried many places just by walking around and getting a sense of what the locals ate. It was definitely a hit or miss experience, mostly miss. After trying a bunch of different popular tavola caldas (cafeteria style restaurants), we found ourselves sticking to a lot of good foccacia sandwiches; gelato (!!); and lattes. ** There’s a low-key pizza joint close to the river in Rome where they bake fresh foccacia bread and construct a sandwich with a tuna mousse, proscuitto, cheese, and arugula. Heavenly!

After a few days, sis and I decided that we had still yet to find a ‘treasure’ and tracked down a highly recommended place by Frommer’s Italy - La Grotta Azzura, very close to the Vatican. There were lots of Japanese tourists at this place, so we figured it was highly recommended in the Japanese food magazines as well. We started with a lobster linguine in light tomato sauce (4*); followed by osso buco with saffron risotto (3*) and salt crusted whole bass (5*).

The most notable meal we had was in Sorrento, charming place called L’Antico Trattoria. The chef gave us two amuse bouche plates to start. The first was simple - green local olives and a liver mousse on crackers. Delicious! I generally don’t like olives, but these were amazing. (I almost wanted to ask for more.) Next, we tried a fried cheese drizzled with some type of sweet syrup - melts instantly in your mouth. Amanda and I couldn’t figure out exactly what this was though because the waiter said it very fast in italian. Other notable items were the pesto linguine w/ mussels (3* great taste but pasta was too undercooked); bacon wrapped pork loin (3*); and branzino which was presented in a fish shaped pastry shell that the waiter removed at our table - just like on iron chef (4*). No room for dessert… the food was that good! 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, 2 glasses of wine set us back about $80usd including tip.

I’d also like to add that the streets of Italy are lined with cafes and pastry shops which sell tons of yummy sweets. Our favorite by far was a small pastry that was filled with a lemon rice pudding. We found this in the small, charming town of San Gimignano and sadly was unable to find anything comparable for the rest of the trip.

Take a look!