Pierre. Pierre Gagnaire in Hong Kong

In these past couple of trips to Hong Kong, my family and I have come back to the Mandarin Oriental.  This is sort of a nostalgic place for myself and my family.  This was the first hotel I stayed in when I first traveled to Hong Kong in the late 90s.  And, in its 50 year history, both my grandfather and mom are loyal MOHK (Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong) "fans".  So it's a special place for me as a third generation MOHK fan.  

One benefit in staying at a nice hotel is the access and proximity to the hotel's restaurants.  At a place like MOHK, you can't go wrong with any of them because they are all top notch.

Because of summer rains, we opted out of our dinner at Cataluyna and were more inclined to stay indoors and nearby.  With the help of the concierge (which is another fantastic perk of higher end hotels because of their professionalism and connections), we managed to get a table at the hotel's French restaurant.

Pierre.  As in Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant on the 25th floor of the MOHK.  After years of being spoiled in San Francisco, NYC, and Europe with rich meals from French chefs, I tend not to be inclined towards classic French cuisine.  But, this time, I was eager to check out Pierre because for this particular weekend Chef Gagniere himself was in town to introduce his Summer Tasting menu.  In fact, prior to ordering he came out to personally great all the tables.  At our table he graciously shook our hands and more than willingly accepted our request for a photo opp.  Such a nice guy!  And because of that, we proceeded to order his Summer Tasting Menu.

The tasting menu is not for the faint of heart.  And I mean that quite literally.  Wow, it's such a rich indulgence course after course.  I haven't felt that heavy after a meal in a long long time.  Classic French food...  If I were to order a few of the courses a la carte, the meal would have been easier to handle; but all 7 including the grand dessert was a feat.  I woke up the next morning feeling hungover from all that butter and cream.

The overall experience is a real indulgence.  You start the night with some amazing champagne paired with a fun display of amuse bouche courses across the table.  The individual dishes were all spectacular with the presentation and the execution.  But all together, with cream courses after butter courses after foie gras courses, was insanely rich.  If I were to come back, I would take it easy on my heart and go a la carte.

If you can't see the slide show here, check out my Flickr album: Pierre HK

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong edition

Birthday week in Hong Kong means some specials meals are happening every day.  Some are casual special and some are splurge special. 

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Hong Kong is a splurge special worth taking.  The open kitchen (which is in all of L'Ateliers worldwide) is perfect for food lovers.  The food is refined and fun.  And the service is a attentive, high quality, and friendly.

The A La Carte selections are pretty extensive.  If you can't decide (like I couldn't) the Degustation Menu will not disappoint.  Every course is close to perfection, if not pure perfection.  The uni risotto and the duck breasts are two courses that are still in my mind and will remain my favorite bites of food for the coming months.

It’s no wonder why Robuchon’s restaurants have been making it high on Michelin lists worldwide.

If you can't see the slide show here, check out my Flickr album: Atelier HK

Crepes in Menlo Park

On any perfect Bay Area day, it's a requirement to get outside and enjoy the weather.  So for a late lunch, my family and I went Crepes Cafe for some al fresco dining.

I went here years ago when it first opened.  This place is always packed on weekends for lunch.  Locals here love weekend brunches and lunches.  Fortunately, mid-week and mid-day the place was practically empty, so we had our choice of outdoor tables.

These dishes are definitely good for sharing because of the sizes and to get a variety of tastes.  I was happy to come here because I was craving for smoked salmon for a couple days now.  Smoked salmon crepes?  Heck yeah!

Overall, it was a great place to go to enjoy the day.  The food was satisfying enough for a mid-day meal.  I did find the crepes to be on the heavy side, though.  I tend to go to Cafe Borrone when I'm looking for an outdoor meal in Menlo Park, but I'm glad my brother had a certificate to mix things up a little.  Another plus about this place, they have a nice little beer and wine selection.  You can't enjoy the day without some tasty beverages.

Place your cursor above "Notes" below to read the captions for each photo.

If you can't see the slideshow, check out my Flickr album: Crepes Cafe

Abu Authentic Cuisine for Special Occasions in Taipei

When it comes to traveling for food there are various resources online to guide you: Trip Advisor reviews, Yelp reviews if you're in the states, newspaper and magazine articles, and of course bloggers.

The best resource is having a friend who is a renown blogger in that city. The ultimate local experience and a guarantee for good eating.

If you find yourself in Taipei, A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei is your go-to source to research your trip's good eats.

For a special occasion (my mom's birthday - it can't get more special than that), we were taken to Abu Authentic Cuisine for some modernized French/Italian style cuisine.

When the bread and butter arrived at the table, we knew we were in for a real treat. Why? Two words - Echire butter. This is some of the best butter you can slab onto your bread. This chef knows his ingredients.

The menu is comprised of 2 degustation (tasting) choices. Every dish is high quality and delights your sense of sight and taste. If you want to splurge on a special occasion, this is the place to go.

A restaurant like this is why I love eating in Asia. There are so many restaurants and chefs that easily rival "celebrity" chefs in the states who can tend to be overly hyped from their PR teams. Asia seems to be gaining more and more Michelin stars each year compared to the western countries. Go #TeamAsia!

Place your cursor above "Notes" below to read the captions for each photo.

The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album: Abu

Bar Boulud in NYC

Since eating in Daniel almost 10 years ago, I've been a huge fan of Daniel Boulud. It ranks up there with my fine dining experience at Jean Georges and Alain Ducasse. Finesse food matched with superb service.

In looking back at it, I've actually eaten at 5 of his restaurants - 4 in New York City (Daniel, DB Bistro, DBGB, and Bar Boulud) and 1 in Las Vegas (DB Brasserie). I've always had an enjoyable food experience. However lately, at DBGB and now at Bar Boulud, the host/hostess were surprisingly rude. On TV Boulud is such a friendly guy who puts attention to detail and service. During our dining experience at Daniel my brother met him, and he's such a friendly guy. Unfortunately, it seems as though it gets to the hosts/hostesses heads that they are working at a Boulud establishment.

At our most recent Boulud dining experience at Bar Boulud, we were seated outside and at the time our table was nicely covered by the umbrellas. However, halfway through our meal the NYC summer sun moved its way onto our table and chairs. We asked our server if we could move inside; so she, in turn, asked the hostess. The hostess came to our table and said there were no tables available only bar seats. So we said we'd like to move to the bar seats to enjoy our last course. She, then, said she'll check with the bartender. When she came back out, she said the bar was all filled. We sadly accepted her answer and quickly finished the rest of our meal. After we paid the bill, we went inside the restaurant to use the restrooms. (Just a side note - the bathrooms here are nice and clean. It felt like a restroom in a five star hotel.) To my surprise, the tables and bar were practically empty..and this was only 10 minutes after the hostess spoke to us. Let me speak colloquially and say, "What's up with that??"

At all of Boulud's 5 restaurants, we've enjoyed the food. It's quality and worth the expense.. But it's the food AND service that makes the dining experience, not just the food. At both DBGB and at Bar Boulud, it's been the host and hostess that have ruined our experience. The people hired at that position seem to feel a power that they should not expose to customers. They should be as warm and as friendly as Chef Boulud to represent him and his restaurants.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about the pictures.

The slide show here runs on Flash. If you can't see it, check out my Flickr album.

Todd English's Ca Va Brasserie

Christmas Day! So our choice for Christmas lunch had to be special - yes, I felt the pressure of choosing a great restaurant for our family's special meal. The problem is that my family books reservations (at restaurants, for trips, for flights, etc.) last minute. So for Christmas, it limited where we could go. A lot of places were closed and a lot more places were fully committed.

When I research places to eat, I tend to research restaurants of my favorite chefs. In that list of favorite chefs is Todd English. I consider him one of the earlier modern day celebrity chefs. Did you know he cooked some summer grills on MTV's Spring Break? (Do any of you still remember MTV's Spring Break?)

Chef English's latest restaurant is Ca Va Brasserie. It's his take on a modern day brasserie - and it's so well done! The restaurant is the connected with the Intercontinental Hotel in Times Square. He has great menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The whole atmosphere is modern and inviting. Overall, it was a great experience, especially for a special holiday meal.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about the food photos.

Check out my Flickr album if you can't see the slideshow here.

Daniel Boulud's DBGB

Part of my daily routine is to follow food-related news, via Twitter or other news or blog sources. From these articles, I occasionally list down restaurants that I have to visit at some point in time. Typically they are in cities where I know I'll visit in the next one or two years.

When I first read about Daniel Boulud's newest casual dining concept, I excitedly put that on my list. I've enjoyed all his restaurants in New York and his restaurant in Las Vegas. So I knew his latest, DBGB, would be a real treat.

We went there twice. The first time was for a late afternoon meal at the bar area. This first experience was really enjoyable. The setting and the food surpassed our expectations, as Boulud usually does at his restaurants.

For the second visit, we dined in the main dining area. The food was still excellent, but the service lacked and the host, especially, completely appalled us. For a casual setting, he was stiffly dressed in a suit - as though he wanted to work at Daniel but he got rejected. He was pretty rude to our table in pressuring and pushing us to hurry up, eat, and leave because he wanted to sit another party in our table. For example, he vigorously and blatantly showed the busboys his wrap-it-up gesture in front of our table as his signal to them (and us) to clean out table as fast as possible, even though we were still wrapping up our last conversation. There are ways to do this, and he knew none of proper polite ones.

Because of him, it makes me less eager to go back again. The food was excellent and enjoyable, but when I go out to eat I'm also looking for that overall experience with quality service, especially when the prices are higher than a cheap eats place.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about the food photos:

Check out my Flickr album if you can't see the slideshow here.

Left Bank at Santana Row

Chef Roland Passot has two restaurants along the main street of Santana Row – Left Bank and LB Steak.

Left Bank, Santana Row
I’ve gone to Left Bank several times.  I’ve been going since it opened in Menlo Park years ago.  My main critique about Left Bank is that it has the oily smell and feel inside.  The attraction with Left Bank in Santana Row is that there’s outside bistro seating.  Perfect for those beautiful California days.

Moules Frites
A solid order of classic mussels and fries.  The fries are done well: not overly greasy, and not overly starchy.  The mussels are nice and plump, and the broth is delicious.

Salmon Hash
Generous bits of salmon with cubes of potatoes, topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.  This was a tasty brunch plate.  The egg and the hollandaise nicely brought the dish together.

LB Steak, Santana Row
LB Steak basically took over the structure and design of Tanglewood, so the interior is nice.  Overall, I wasn’t too impressed.  The burger was dry and too compressed.  The steak was delicious, but my dad still cooks far more superb steaks.

Syrah/Grenache, St. Martin, 2006
A nice glass to pair with a burger or a steak.

Burger Americain
The burger was a fail.  The bun was too crumbly, and the meat was overcooked and too compressed.  The taste was good, but because of the texture of the meat, it failed the whole burger.  Nice presentation, though.

Side of Onion Rings
Decent.  The crispiness didn’t last long, as the batter and the oiliness took over.
 Porterhouse
A delicious order of steak!  We had to ask to kitchen to cook the steak a bit more, as it came in rare when we asked for medium.  After that, it had a nice caramelized coating.  The New York Strip side was far tastier than the Filet side.

Birthday Celebration

I went back to Las Vegas for my mom's birthday weekend. As soon as we landed, we went straight to Burger Bar for a late dinner. We went straight to the bar back to grab out usual seats. One of the tables behind us was filled with kids eating burgers and milkshakes. I noticed that a few of the televisions were tuned to Dancing with the Stars. I found this odd, but I figured the kids preferred this to the usual ESPN channels. Suddenly the kids were yelling and screaming at the televisions. They were rooting the cast of the Lion King (who perform nightly at the Mandalay Bay Hotel). Not only were they cheering, they were yelling out names of the cast. These were the kids from the cast! How cool!

Asahi, Black Lager
Smooth, stout like brew with a mellow, yet deep taste. Delicious!

Low Carb Burger
Instead of bread buns, the Country Natural beef was between portobello mushrooms and a bed of asparagus.

Sliders
Buffalo with Caramelized Onions, Angus with Bacon, and Country Natural with Cheddar.


The next day, we went to the Venetian Hotel to eat at Enoteca San Marco, Mario Batali's restaurant.

The Inside

Friulano Bastianich, Friuli, 2007
A refreshing white to pair with the meal. This wine is produced by the Bastianich family (as in Lydia Bastianich, chef and business partner of Batali).

Acetaia, "Vinegar Maker's Salad"
Covered with Prosciutto. The prosciutto was delicate and delicious.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana
With tomato, cured pork, and onions. The pastas here are cooked perfectly al dente, and the sauce nicely coats it.

Linguine con Le Cozze
With mussels, saffrom, and marjoram (an herb). Another tasty and light pasta!


For the big dinner, my family and I ate at Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys in the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I've eaten at his San Francisco restaurant several times. This was my first time in his Las Vegas establishment. The night did not disappoint. Everything was beautiful and delicious!
Please note: I'm still awaiting the release of my new camera. For now I'm still using my older camera which doesn't take the best low lighting shots., and in nicer restaurants, I tend not to use flash.
The Tapas Menu
$80 for 12 items - such a great deal!

The Inside

Homemade Pickled Olives
I enjoyed this because it was not overly pickled and it tasted so fresh.

Onion Soup with Truffle Oil
A delicately blended soup. The truffle oil was a delicious touch. A great start.

Salad
Lightly coated vinagrette. It was salad, nothing really that special.

Hearts of Palm
Another refreshing salad. Delicate and creamy.

Spoons of Tuna Tartare
Fresh tuna with a light dressing. A refreshing spoonful.

Charcuterie
A selection of cold cuts, such as spicy soppressata, soppressata, and prosciutto.

Croque Monsieur
One of the best croque monsieurs I've had! The crust was nice and crispy, and the cheese was oozing over. Mmm!

Potato Ravioli
The pasta was so light and fresh. The sauce was nice and deep, with a short rib taste. So good!

Fleur Sliders with Shoe String Potatoes
Kobe beef stuffed with blue cheese on a bed of Asian pears, with potato buns. This slider was far better than the ones in Burger Bar. So delicious!

Skirt Steak
With chimichurri sauce. Moist, tender, and well cooked meat with a delicate sauce.

Cheese Plate
Roquefort, Goat Cheese, and Sheep's Milk Cheese, with homemade honey.

The Breads for the Cheese
White chocolate bread and cranberry bread.


After we finished the Tapas Menu, we ordered a few more entrees. The tapas menu is generous, but we were a table of four so our stomachs were not quite full yet.
Citrus Glazed Halibut
Nicely cooked, and still rare inside.

Gently Heated Alaskan King Salmon
The plate of the night. The salmon was delicately cooked. Super delicious!

Stout Braised Beef Shortribs
A tasty cut of shortribs. The potato and carrot puree was so smooth and creamy.

Madeleines with a Chocolate Dipping Sauce
The madeleines are so light and airy, and crispy on the edges. It's the best madeleines I've had. The chocolate makes it even more delicious.

The Birthday Cake!
Srawberry mousse. It wasn't amazing, but it was good. A nice gesture for my mom's birthday.

Best Friend Reunion

My bestest best friend flew in town for the weekend, and that meant organizing an incredible itinerary/food tour for our reunion. (Many of these photos were taken by my BFF, Alvin.)

First stop, The Cheesecake Factory
This was Alvin's first request. A nice taste of San Francisco with by sitting outside on the balcony of the Union Square Macy's building. It was a true SF summer -- cold and windy!

Cup of Clam Chowder
This "cup" was more like a bowl. Definitely a hearty start. It's a mediocre clam chowder, but I got it in hopes of warming up.

Thai Lettuce Wraps
When I want something fresh and light, I usually order this. It's a safe choice. Nicely grilled chicken with tasty sauces. Peanut sauce, Cilantro and Lime sauce, and Tamarind sauce.

Stuffed Tortillas
Alvin fulfilled his Tex-Mex craving with this plate.

Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake
Pineapple Upside Down cake with cheesecake in the middle. Delicious!


Bistro Jeanty, Yountville
Michelin-rated French Bistro. This was the perfect place to have lunch at during the hot Fourth of July day. We were seated outside in the patio. The service is relaxed and attentive.
The Front Entrance

The Bar

Specials du Jour

Glass of Pinot Blanc

Delicious Fresh Baguette

Warm Leek Tart

Their Famous Tomato Soup
Sundried and roasted tomato soup. Light and creamy! Topped with a buttery puff pastry.

Moules!
I love getting mussels whenever its on the menu. The broth was a fantastic blend of red wine, garlic, shallots, and parsley.

Coq au Vin
Stewed to perfection. The roasting flavor seeped through to the meat and to the bones.


Bouchon Bakery, Yountville
The bakery of Chef Thomas Keller. Next door is his Bouchon Bistro, another excellent French bistro. Must-gets include their macaroons and their bouchons.




Peju Province Winery, Napa Valley
One of my favorite wineries in Napa Valley. Beautiful landscaping which compliments the architecture. The wines are all fantastic, and the staff is always so friendly.


Being that this is one of my favorite wineries, I'm a wine club member. One of the perks is free wine tasting in the private tasting room.


The Barrels of Wines!

Public Tasting Room


Silverado Vineyards, Napa Valley
If you want to go to a winery with an amazing view, this is the vineyard to visit.



Between tastings, we were given the privilege to enjoy our wines outside to take in the sights of Napa Valley.


Mel's Drive-In
After the Fourth of July fireworks, my friends and I were looking for a late night meal. We went to Mel's by the Metreon.
Bowl of Chili and Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Banana Cream Pie
Nice fresh chunks of banana!


Lori's Diner
I didn't mention this earlier, but my best friend lives in Hong Kong. That means his visits here are filled with traditional American comfort foods. His last meal was breakfast at another American diner.


Strawberry Milkshake
This is ONE order.

Reuben Sandwich

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich


Overall, it was a most memorable weekend. Great food and best friends. Here's to the next 10 years, Alvin!