Serafina of NYC in Tokyo

Aside from the hotel restaurants, the Palace Hotel Tokyo also offers restaurants in their basement arcade.  They vary from Japanese specialties, like soba or shrimp tempura, to Korean cuisine and Italian American cuisines.  Something for everyone.  The restaurants cater partly to the hotel guests and mostly to the office workers in the nearby buildings.

Serafina is a standard meal each time we check into the hotel.  At least once a visit, and this time we ate there 3 times.  It's satisfying and comforting, while have vibrant taste.  The original location hails from New York City with several branches around the city and continues to grow internationally.

Italian is a cuisine the Japanese have perfected, and here at Serafina Tokyo it's really perfection.  We came for the pizzas, but I fell in love with the pastas.  Perfectly al dente and sauced so well.  After hours of walking around Tokyo and carrying shopping bags and nephews across Tokyo Station, a hot plate of carbs taste so deliciously good.

Margherita Pizza

Rigatoni Bolognese

More eating in Grand Front Osaka

My favorite kind of hotel has the conveniences of transportation, shopping, and eating all in a nice higher end area.  The Intercontinental Osaka fits my preferences for location, conveniences, and quality of hotel.

On the ground floor of the hotel is a mall entrance to Grand Front Osaka.  This mall has a few buildings, all with local and import shopping brands and a variety of endless eats.  Adjacent by a short walkway bridge is the Osaka Station, which also has two major department stores, Lucua and Daimaru - both with basement floor food halls, and restaurants on the upper levels.  There's soo much to eat that it keeps us coming back to Osaka for second servings.

One of the many views around Grand Front Osaka

Unagi set dinner at Bincho
Changed and elevated my standards for unagi

San Francisco's Pizzeria Delfina in Palo Alto

Pizza is one of my top comfort foods.  But it's not just any pizza.  I love artisan and Napoletana style pizzas.  The best pizzas have a fully-cooked chewy dough (chewy from the high quality of the flour), not soggy in the middle, and can sometimes even have a nice crunch while maintaining the chewy bite.  The toppings don't overwhelm, instead they balance the whole pie with the quality of choice and seasonal ingredients.  The perfect pizza is not about that one perfect bite, it's about that experience of the whole slice.

Being a pizza lover, I have a small, but growing list of favorite pizza restaurants around the world.  Growing up the Bay Area, San Francisco plays a part in that list of favorite places.  Delfina is one spot that will always have my interest.  In its original location in the Mission, it's known for wait times of more than an hour.  Lining up for food in this street in the Mission is worth it.  Food here at Delfina, pastries at Tartine, and ice cream at Bi-Rite.

Now that my home base is away from the Peninsula, Delfina has additional locations around the Bay Area including one in Palo Alto.  Growing up in the area meant frequent meals in Palo Alto.  Sunday lunches at Empire Tap Grill was the perfect spot for nice sunny days.  That perfect place for outdoor eating is now housed by Delfina.  Great food, drinks, and family friendly.  This is ideal for families wanting a nice meal together in a relaxed, casual environment.  While it's good for families, it's also a great place for food and pizza lovers.

Just like its San Francisco location, this Palo Alto location has a selection of antipastis, seasonal vegetables, and pizzas.  They also have some of the tastiest meatballs in the area.  Now you don't have to drive all the way up to the city for a quality slice of great pizza.

21st Amendment's Watermelon Wheat Beer
A local summer brew

Padrones
Local Spanish style spicy peppers

Seoul Food

As a food lover and food traveler, Korea has been on the top of my list to discover.  For years, I've been drooling over food magazines and television shows highlighting the best of Korean grills and the spreads of kimchi and banchan.

In my traveling experience, very few cuisines are as good abroad compared to their homelands.  There's a certain vibrancy to the food in their own respective countries.  It just tastes more right, as it should be.  So now that I was in Seoul, I was so excited to eat from the source.

Because of the comparisons to Japan, I was expecting the prices to be similar.  Despite it reputation, eating in Japan is actually incredibly affordable for the quality.  Surprisingly then, Seoul was really expensive.  Everything was surprisingly expensive, especially compared to the rest of Asia.

We varied our eating with restaurants, take out from the food markets, and also with room service meals at our hotel.  Before you knock it, room service at luxury hotels can be a phenomenal experience.  You have the comfort of your room, the fun of eating in your hotel robe, and the luxury of a fine dining setting all cooked by high quality hotel chefs.  After long, hot days out under the Korean sun and on our feet all day, taking a shower and eating in the atmosphere of our spacious room was just the best.

Aside from meals, I was impressed with the numerous coffee and bread shops and their food packaging.  There is a coffee and bread store almost in every corner of the city.  As for their food packaging in the groceries, it's admirable with the care they take for their products.  They also give so much importance to their fruits and vegetables.  They obviously learned from Japan and have made the produce thrive beautifully in their own country.

The fruits and vegetable were too nice just to look at, and because we flew back to Manila where you can bring back produce and meats, we were able to enjoy at home the apples, grapes, gigantic cabbages and radishes, and some of the sweetest sweet potatoes.   (Travel tip: Always pack a foldable duffel that you can put into your luggage.  That way you have an extra bag for goods on the flight back home.)

After a week of eating in Seoul, I'm really happy to find that some of the Korean food served in the states (the Bay Area and Los Angeles particularly) is actually pretty darn authentic.  The Koreans and Americanized Koreans have done a great job of upholding their cuisine.  I came back home from the trip more educated with how well the Koreans have lived over the recent years, post-Korean War.  They have educated themselves and can take pride in the good their country continues to produce.

Grilled beef and ban chan

The tables

A relaxing meal at the Oxbow Public Market

Napa Valley is a place not just for wine, but also for fantastic food.  After all, it's only natural because of how perfectly food and wine pair with each other.

Before, after, during, or instead of a day of the usual wine tasting around the valley, downtown Napa offers a haven for food lovers in the Oxbow Public Market.  This market brought me back to Spain - how it's set up, the cleanliness, and the variety of food vendors selling their dishes and products with passion.

You can nibble around the various small dishes or you can also sit down for a meal.  Ca'Momi is the perfect place in the market for a relaxing meal, and it's great for families and parties.  The Italian restaurant specializes in Italian pizzas, but also offers some memorable slow cooked plates.  They serve one of the best places of liver and onions I've ever tasted.  I'm a huge fan of quality liver and onions, and this topped it in my list.  Even if you don't like the dish, you just might be a convert with how clean and smooth it tasted.  The restaurant also pours delicious wine on tap, and has a variety of fun desserts including cream puffs for a light ending to a big meal.

Glass of Bianco di Napa on tap

Hands down the best pizza I've eaten to date, in Osaka

If there's one food I can't do without, it's pizza.  Well, actually I can do without pizza if it's average or mediocre.  What I'm talking about is the Neapolitan pizza.  That slightly charred chewy crust made from quality flour, tomatoes, and mozzarella.  Yeah, I can't get enough of that good stuff.

Last time in Osaka, my brother kept raving about this pizza place called Echi Ponte Vecchio which he claimed to be the best he's eaten.  This time around, I was not going to miss out.  And, boy, did we get our fill of it.

It is, hands down, the best pizza I've eaten to date.  The Japanese have mastered Italian food and made it their own in the best way possible.  These pizzas were flawless and our stomachs were bottomless.

Here's just a sample of the pizzas we had in the two times we were able to eat here.  I think we ordered the margherita pizza at least 4 times...

Margherita pizza

Japan for the Holidays

Back in Tokyo!  This time, it was for the holidays.  The last time our family celebrated a winter-cold holiday was in New York City right in the middle of Snowpocalypse.  While snow didn't hit the cities we visited this time around, it was definitely a chilly trip.  But, Tokyo is the perfect place for any weather because of it's amazing underground world.

We stayed at the Palace Hotel Tokyo again.  It's the perfect location if you want to be based in Marunouchi and near the Tokyo Station.  Like with all our favorite cities, we revisited restaurants we enjoyed in previous visits.  Some were consistent, and others like Birdland were unfortunately inconsistent with it's quality of food.

We also discovered new eats in our vicinity.  For breakfast I was hooked on 7-11's hardboiled eggs.  It's perfectly cooked and beautifully orange.  Japanese convenience stores serve some incredible food, no joke.  And sometimes there's nothing more comforting and clean than a good plate of soba.  It's so refreshing and satisfying all at the same time.  And because it was winter, we found comfort in hot meals like Japanese curries and tsukemen.  Filling and warms you right up.

The best part about eating in Tokyo is that you walk so much everyday.  My fitness band logged in an average of 20,000 steps each day.  It makes eating all those carbs a reward.

Back in Tokyo!
View of Marunouchi from our balcony in the Palace Hotel Tokyo

Eating my way through Tokyo

When I travel I tend to let go of my health conscious eating.  I eat more salads than usual and workout double time prior to these trips.  As a result, I fly into the city a couple pounds lighter just so I can freely gain a few pounds over the next days of travel.  All to I eat carbs, fats, and sugars with no abandon.

Tokyo was certainly no exception.  I felt like I ate 5 meals a day, including soba for breakfast from 7-11 (it's so fresh and a clean way to start the day).   Every one of these "nibblings" are still ingrained in my head as some fantastically memorable bites.

The handmade ramen noodles from Ramen Street in the Tokyo Station, the tonkatsu and katsudons, curry over rice, fresh sushi and seafood from the department store grocery, a huge piece of karaage from the department store food hall, Korean food with loads of vegetables, Japanese Italian pizza done to perfection, beer beer and more beer, convenience store soba, the tastiest salted caramel crepe, the fluffiest cheesecake, and sinful croissants that are worth all the butter intake.

Whew, I cannot wait to go back to Japan and eat all this and more finds.  In the meantime I'll look fondly at these photos and workout for the next big weight-gaining trip.

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

Birthday Eats in Lupa Hong Kong

A birthday celebration in Hong Kong – and it’s not just anyone’s birthday, it’s my birthday!  Eating memorably is imperative.

Mario Batali’s Lupa was the best place to celebrate another year in my life because it was a great opener to another year of amazing eats.  In fact, my birthday lunch at Lupa was so good, my family and I came back that very same day to celebrate my birthday dinner there.  Yeah, it’s seriously that fun to eat there.

It’s all in the food AND the friendly service.  The food is consistent to all of Batali’s places that I’ve tried in Las Vegas and New York.  And he has the best pizza I’ve eaten so far in Asia.

The service is imported from Batali’s other restaurants from Los Angeles and Singapore.  These guys know the ins and outs of the restaurant and they know all about the food and wine.  Plus, they were so generous to us when we came back for dinner and when they found out it was my birthday.  Thanks, guys!

Batali is one chef I’d love to dine and wine with because of how fun it is to eat in his restaurants.  Eating so well while drinking so well – that is the only way you should celebrate your birthday.

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

Always back for more

When I'm back in the Bay Area, I try to visit as many new restaurants as possible.  New ones pop up every season.  My list keeps growing.

And despite that, I make room in my stomach to visit my favorites.  Every single trip back, I'm always grabbing pizzas at Howie's Artisan Pizza in Palo Alto.  There's something about eating in the Peninsula and at a place like Howie's that makes me feel like I never left.  It's such a family friendly, neighborhood kind of place.  Plus, there's an excellent selection of beers and wines to pair the pizza with - that's always a selling point for me.

I have yet to get some great artisan pizza in Manila.  There are some standout thin crust pizzas, but there's nothing with that chewy-fluffy-baked-crispy pie crust.  It's a true art.  At Howie's the toppings and the crust are so well-researched for quality and execution.  Now I'm counting down the days until my next trip for more of these pizza pies.

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

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

Pizza in the Peninsula

Every trip to the Bay Area feels soo short. There's just too much to do. It's a challenge fitting in visits to favorite restaurants and trying out new restaurants. There are some restaurants that we visit everything single stay, even if it's just an overnighter. One required restaurant for every Bay Area visit: Howie's Artisan Pizza.

My family and I have been fans of Chef Howard since his Marche days in Menlo Park. He's a five star chef who has followed the trend of chefs opening up more casual dining experiences. What I love about this trend is that the food is more affordable, the atmosphere is more relaxed, AND the food is still of five star quality. You can't beat that formula.

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: Howie's

Apizza in New Haven

The east coast is the birthplace of American style pizza. In particular, New York and New Haven are the noted cities which still house the original pizza/pies/apizza (whatever you call it) restaurants.

Being fans of food and history, my family tried out the infamous Frank Pepe's. Despite it's media hype and reputation, we actually preferred the more artisan style of pizza at Kitchen Zinc.

This time around, we tried another New Haven apizza spot, Modern Apizza. The bottom is nice and crispy from crust to center. It's also a thin pie, which I prefer. Overall taste, though, didn't impress me too much. It's a great place to eat in or take out if you're craving for a standard American style pizza. But if you're looking for a quality pie with a great pizza dough taste and quality ingredients, I still prefer Kitchen Zinc's pizzas.

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

New York's Grimaldi's in Las Vegas

When I'm back in the states, I have specific cravings. Burritos, ramen, burgers, pizza, beers, bloody marys..My stomach just grumbled..

My pizza craving was totally satisfied. I enjoyed it in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and in New Haven. I love artisan and Neapolitan pizzas. The toppings are quality and the pie is chewy, yet fluffy, yet crispy and well baked. Just pure goodness.

In Las Vegas we visited the newly opened Grimaldi's Pizzeria. Yup, Grimaldi's from New York. The interior is very family oriented and welcoming. We went there twice. The food is hit and miss. The first time was a fantastic first impression. The pizzas were perfectly baked and delicious. The second time around, the wait for our pizzas was ridiculous and the pies came out overbaked and overly crisp. If you do go, hopefully you'll catch it on their better days.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about each picture.

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

Pizza at Frank Pepe's

I've been a pizza lover for probably as long as I was weaned off baby food. Thankfully, my taste for quality pizza has greatly improved. I can still remember that as a kid, I loved Pizza Hut because of that pan fried bottom. Years and pounds shed later, I now crave artisan pizza - that fluffy, chewy, crispy thin crust pizza.

So, when it comes to visiting pizza places I have a much higher marker than Pizza Hut. These days, Howie's Artisan Pizza is the place to beat. Going to New Haven, I was excited to try what is supposedly one of the best pizza places in the nation, as it is also one of the oldest pizzerias.

Frank Pepe's specializes in Napoletana-American pizza. It is hyped by many chefs and food writers as one of the best pizza places out there. I don't get it. It was just a decent pizzeria. The margherita pizza was pretty decent, and the best of the three pies we ate. Their specialty White Clam Pie was an oversalted, soggy mess. Perhaps it was the day I went there, but because of that one experience, I don't know if I could go back. I need to have that memorable first time experience in order to go back and further patronize a place.

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

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

Co. (aka, Company) - Pizza Pies!

One of the casual dining places I really wanted to try out was Co, or Company. Baker, Jim Lahey's pizza establishment. He is known for his Sullivan Street Bakery, so he utilizes his bread knowledge into his pies.

The place is filled with communal tables, which gives the place a friendly neighborhood vibe. His menu showcases his breads with a few sides of vegetables. Everything we ordered was delicious and memorable. I'm still dreaming about that Stracciatella Pie... mmm, that was some of the creamiest cheese I've eaten on a pizza! You can totally taste the quality of the bread in each of his pies, too. Chewy, fluffy, and well-baked.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about each food photo.

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

La Pizza & Pasta in Eataly

For two dinners, my family and I visited La Pizza & Pasta in Eataly. It's quite simple - pizzas, pastas, and some salads paired with Italian wines and/or beers. With Batali and Bastianich's expertise, everything was so delicious! The pastas were perfectly cooked and properly coated with the right amount of sauce. And the pizzas were so thin and topped with high quality ingredients. Plus, the pairing with Bastianich wines makes for a most enjoyable dining experience.

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

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

Revisiting A New Favorite Restaurant

Before moving to Asia earlier this year, I found a new favorite restaurant here in the Bay Area, and right near my hometown, too! Since it's a new favorite, I had to come here again (twice in two weeks) during my recent visits back to the Bay. Howie's Artisan Pizza competes with some of the best pizza in the San Francisco area - yes, I'd even say those up in the city, like Pizzeria Delfina. From starters, pizzas, to dessert - they are all five star and so reflective of the love Chef Howard puts in all his food.

Place your cursor above "Notes" to read a little more about each picture.

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

Hokkaido Rice Pizza

Another trip to my favorite food city - Hong Kong! We hit up our usual spots (Ye Shanghai, Sen-ryo, Ippei-an, and Honeymoon Dessert). Then we expanded our stomachs to try several new places, too. All in one weekend. (Weeks later, and I'm still trying to lose the weight from SF and HK...)

Last trip, we came across this fun looking restaurant, Hokkaido Rice Pizza, in Causeway Bay. This trip, we went to Causeway Bay just to try it out. It's a fun concept of pizza toppings on rice instead of dough. The menu is also filled with pastas, desserts, and drinks. Overall it was nice to try it out, but I'm not so sure if I'll be a repeat customer. Hong Kong is filled with great eats. If a place doesn't give me that wow-factor, I'll be less likely to go back for a second visit.

Iced Matcha
Iced green tea with milk. Yum! A full milky, green tea taste that's not too sweet.

Curry Seafood Rice Pizza
A slight Japanese curry taste. Pretty tasty, but it didn't "wow" me. The concept definitely overshadowed the execution.

Hokkaido Milk with Egg White
A dessert that wasn't too sweet and a bit on the bland side.

Matcha Parfait
Green Tea Parfait. Tasty green tea ice cream!

Cibo

From the same owner as Pepato, comes Cibo Restaurant. There are several Cibo restaurants across Metro Manila. We went to the one in Greenbelt 5. The food is comforting and decently priced.

The Back of the Place Mat
For kids to color.

Chips
Instead of bread, they give homemade chips with a homemade mayonnaise dipping sauce. A nice light start! The chips are thinly cut and not overly fried.

The Pairing
A white wine to pair with the pizza and pastas. Light and refreshing.

Pizza
Half with anchovies and half with squash blossoms. We requested to split the pizza with two sides of toppings. It was tasty, but at the same time it doesn't compete with Settebello or Pizzeria Delfina.

Penne
With mushrooms and a tomato cream sauce. Topped with goat cheese. The best dish of the night. A tasty plate!

Spaghetti alla Romana
The sauce could have had more olive oil, but other than that it was a pretty good pasta dish.

Chocolate Cake
A semi-flourless cake. Pretty good, but the chocolate could have had more depth.

Pizzas!

Pizza is a comfort food for me. My preference is a non-greasy thin pie, with a well-baked chewy crust. So far, Pizzeria Delfina is the place to top.

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, Las Vegas
Located in Town Square, just off the strip. The location of this restaurant is pretty isolated from the rest of Town Square. This is a decent pizza place. The crust was nice and charred, but overall it was greasy and soggy in the middle.
The Menu

The Kitchen

The Beer Pairing
Peroni - A nice, light italian beer that's a refreshing pairing with a pizza.

Italian Salad
Enough for at least two.

Basic Traditional Pie
With Mozzarella, Plum Tomatoes, Romano Cheese, Basil, and Olive Oil. The tomato was pretty acidic. It tasted like it came straight from a can.

Mushroom, Olives, and Anchovies Pie


Settebello, Henderson
This place is the closest competitor to Pizzeria Delfina. The restaurant is certified Napoletana.
The Menu

Diavola
Crushed Tomatoes, Finnochiona (Peppered Salame), Roasted Red Bell Peppers, Crushed Red Peppers, Garlic, Mozzarella, Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The tastes were bold and delicious.

Bianca
Prosciutto Crudo, Arugola, Parmigiano Reggiano, Mozzarella, Extra Virgin Olive Oil.