Himawari Ramen in San Mateo

I was bored today. So I called my buddy, Rodney to hang out. Rodney, an avid Ramen Shop hunter, took me to this ramen shop in San Mateo...a rival to the other famous Santa Ramen, which I have never been to. The place is called Himawari Ramen (202 E. 2nd Ave., San Mateo).


Himawari Ramen Contemporary Store Front

The decor is very retro and the waitresses are 'nice'. I don't particularly like the interior, because it kind of reminded me of old Chinese restaurants...not the most clean place to be. However, the food is spectacular and the atmosphere is very contemporary.


The Interior Retro Decor

Both Rodney and I ordered the same Tonkatsu Deluxe Ramen...ingredients include soft boiled egg, skewered pork loin, pork slices, seaweed in a yummy pork soup base. The pork loin is SUPER fatty, thus it is SUPER yummy. However, I am not much of a fan for fine ramen noodles. But overall, I have to admit it is the best ramen in the Bay Area thus far...better than Tampopo in Japantown.


Rodney...the SF Ramen Expert

Jenny's BDay Dinner: Butterfly

Today is Jenny's Birthday. Coming to Butterfly was one of her choices. This restaurant is located along the Bay off Embarcadero. If you drive by too fast, you will actually miss it, because the store front is very dimly lit.


Butterfly is a fusion Asian restaurant. No only do they have a wine menu, but also a Martini menu.

View of the Bay

View of the Bar

The food was the big surprise! First up was the fire fried calamari. WOW! One of the best calarmari I have ever had. They had a spicy chili remoulade sauce that accompanies the dish and that was very good. So spicy acidic that it kind of burned the top part of my mouth. GREAT!!

Fire Fried Calamari

Jenny and I shared a mushroom soup. We were very curious as to why the resturant had "cappuccino" as part of the name. It is the foam! The soup is very smooth with very distinct mushroom flavor. There were many candy cap mushrooms at the bottom of the bowl. To top it off, there were two slices of sweet soy glazed unagi.

Double Cappucchino of Mushroom Soup with Unagi

For the main course, I had the filet mignon. The meat was absolutely tender and the macadamia nut with blue cheese crust was strong but not overpowering.

Macadamia Nut and Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon

However, the attention goes to Jenny's dish: the Crispy Fried Whole Fish. I have no idea what kind of fish was it. But from the first impression, it looked like one of the Ultraman's monters. However, if you look closely, there are many slices of chinese sausages with Chow Fun and Kimchee/Sweet & Spicy Black Bean Sauce. The fish is fried, but the batter had some kind of sugary taste to it. Simply Delicious!!

Crispy Fried Whole Fish

Any good dinner is not complete with some kind of dessert. I did not take a pic of mine which was some kind of mango/passion fruit and ice cream...and I forgot the name of it. However, Jenny's dessert was exceptional. She ate it all quite quick! The bread putting was very soft and light, despite typically it is heavy. The presentation is also nicely done!

Banana Bread Pudding with Macapuno Ice Cream

Schu Food Attempt #1

I finally put my kitchen to use (see my kitchen in Schuworld). I tried two dishes. One is the Tomato and Garlic Soup. The other is the Mustard Crusted Ahi Tuna. The soup is a recipe from the Food Network, the tuna is from Martha Stewart. Soup was good, the tuna sucked. So I am going to stop looking at Martha Stewart recipes. I was told her recipes can be a dud. Now I know...

Got some White Wine for the Fish: Kenwood Sauvignon Blanc 2004

Hawaii: Waikiki's Sapporo Ramen Nakamura

Waikiki's main strip is a bunch of tourist traps. There are some really great restaurants here, like Alan Wong's...but one of my tennis buddies would not let me take pictures in a restuarant when he is there, because it embarrasses him. Whatever.

As many knows, there are tremondous amount of Japanese tourists...EVERYWHERE!!! They were either ther for vacation or they are there to get married (you'll see many couples taking pictures at hotels by the beach or simply by the beach). I came to expect the Japanese restuarants to be fairly good. Indeed a little hole in the wall, located semi-across from Banana Republic, had some interesting Ramen.



The noodle itself is quite chewy, just how I like it. In addition, they had Kimchi Ramen, which was nice and spicy!! But if you ever go there, make sure you order the Fried Rice!! Simply delicious!

Kimchi Chashu Ramen...I had already taken a slurp...my bad!

Fort Lauderdale: J Alexander's

What can I say about Fort Lauderdale (see my Schuworld blog)? There aren't many fine dining that I can see...perhaps they are hidden well somewhere. One of the better food I had was at this restaurant called "J Alexander's". The atmosphere inside was quite good and the food was not bad. The restaurant was so dark that I did not even bother taking any food pictures. This place seems to be a favorite local hangout (actually local reitrees)....totally packed. I had to wait over an hour with an early phone call-ahead!!

Store Logo...still can see residual damage from Hurricane Wilma

Alexander's Bar...best part of the restaurant!!

Shanghai Dumpling in SF

This little gem is just in my neighborhood. This is no 4-star restaurant and it is not the cleanest of places. It is just a little hole in the wall, but it is a great place! The waiters and waitresses were very kind and always on the lookout for customer's needs...but sometimes, they care too much and take dishes away way too early.


Shanghai Dumpling Store Front

Spicy Wonton - my favorite dish!!

Shanghai Steamed Dumpling - a must in any Shanghai Restaurant

bacar

Tonight was a birthday dinner for one of my tennis buddies, Dat. What better place to celebrate his birthday than to dine within the "Dine About Town" specials. This time was a restaurant located about 1.5 blocks from our SOMA tennis club hangout. The restaurant is called bacar.


The last "Dine About Town 2006" destination is at bacar

The executive chef happens to be Chinese named Arnold Eric Wong. However, the cuisine style is Californian. The interior has a very warm feeling. The most eye-catching part of the restaurant is their wall collection of fine wine.


Main Dining Room

Wine Collection Wall - 3 levels worth

Again, with the fun company of friends and the shear hunger of my being, I forgot to take photos of my appetizer, which was wok roated pei black mussels. It has a nice spicy taste taken from thai bird chili with a mixture of garlic and white wine. It was served in a big aluminum bot, thus there was an abundance of mussels.

My entree was the grilled tuna. Whenever I see red on my tuna, I start to salivate...as one of my favorite food is sushi. The tuna is nice a fresh. The vinegar and black sea salt served as the flavor for the fish. I just wish they gave us several more slices of tuna...


Mesquite Grilled Tuna

Most of the folks ordered the tuna, but there was a selected few that went for the chicken. Elmor graciously let me have a bite of his chicken. It was nice and juicy. The skin was also very tasty, which reminded me of the one at Ana Mandara.


Harissa Roasted Petit Chicken

The dessert was amazing. My choice was the caramel nut tart. The crust was a bit harder than I would like, but it was nonetheless very good.


Caramel Nut Tart with Vanilla Gelato

The birthday boy ordered the gelato with assorted cookies. We have made special arrangement with the waitress to provide something a bit special.



Housemade Gelato with Assorted Cookies - Birthday Style