Humphry Slocombe. An unconventional flavors ice cream joint that test your tolerance. I got the pretty conservative Vietnamese Coffee, and have to say its strong milky dark coffee taste added up and it actually turn a bit unpleasant.
Tags: Ice cream
September 15, 2011
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Campanula (San Francisco: North Beach)
//// By Freda in 04: SF+Bay AreaSo our blog will shift to focus on San Francisco for awhile. I’ve been working at the Bay Area for the past two months and I’m having a wonderful time staying in San Francisco. This is also where I began to use iPhone to take food photos. I’m still getting familiar with it so a lot of the photos turned out not too great unfortunately.
First and foremost, researching for a restaurant on SF Yelp seems rather unreliable as every business has over thousand reviews. You’d get a median of 4 stars for almost every places. On my first night at SF, my friends and I had to look for a place to celebrating a birthday. We wanted somewhere low key (Mission has too much foodie traffic) and easy to get a table for a big group. We found a place called Campanula at North Beach. Their menu features small plates and a modern take on classic American bistro food.
It was emptied for a Sunday evening. Roasted Beets Candied Pecans, Goat Cheese & Pink Peppercorn Vinaigrette
Macaroni & Cheese Applewood Smoked Bacon, Herb Bread Crumbs & Truffle Oil. Very tasty but not much truffle oil.
Veal Tartar Quail Egg Yolk & White Anchovy Foam.
Roasted Pork Belly Caramelized Apple, Frisée, Cipollini & Pickled Watermelon. Very good! The combination of the crispy skin, the execution and the plum sauce reminded me of Chinese BBQ pork.
Wild Boar Sliders Fennel Slaw, Brioche Roll & House Made Pickles. Meaty and flavorful wild boar meat contrast well with refreshing pickles and the crunchy fennel slaw.
Lamb Carpaccio with Cardamom-Honey Vinaigrette & Almond. A Sausage dish that I forgot the name of.
Kobe-style beef burger. For the birthday boy!
Brioche French Toast & Creme Anglaise. Fluffy, custardy and incredibly yummy, very good.
The food was delicious and beautifully present. The services was warm and friendly. We enjoyed everything, but I can’t say I would want to come back soon. Perhaps it lacks a certain charm and character? Maybe this is an example of a Yelp 4 stars median SF restaurant – good, but not great nor particularly memorable in a competitive city where the people embraced the ‘neighborhood’ feeling above all else? All in all it’s not a bad start for my first night in the city and it served exactly of what we were looking for.
Campanula
701 Union St. (Powell St.)San Francisco, CA 94133
Tags: American, small plate
September 10, 2011
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LaOn Dining (Koreatown)
//// By Joan in 07: Mid-Wilshire
LaOn Dining is from the same people behind the very popular Park’s BBQ. A nice departure from the usual Korean BBQ that’s all over Koreatown, LaOn does gourmet creative Korean small plates. The interior is slick and designy. There’re many big long tables with room dividers that is ideal for big groups (perfect for us since we had a group of ten).
We ordered almost everything on the menu:
Steak Tartar – raw beef wrapped in radish topped with egg.
Braised short rib (Galbi Jjim)– it was our favorite of the night. The short rib is so tender and flavorful. We ended up order another one of this later in the night!
Forgot what the stuffed Squid dish was. On the right is Seared Washugyu .This is my first time trying Washugyu beef . It’s quality meat, very tender. It’s interesting to eat it thinly sliced on top of rice like a sushi.
Hot stone pot rice fish roe and uni – It’s basically like a Bibimbap with fish roe and uni, which I can’t resist. Love it!
So they do have charcoal BBQ grill on every table if you MUST have Korean BBQ. We got sausages and bacon wrap mochi on a stick along with beef for the grill.
Spicy Octopus: stir-fried octopus and assorted vegetables in red chili paste sauce.
I forgot what the dish on the right was.
The dish on the left was a freebie from the chef. It had almost the same ingredients as the dish on the right: Seven wrap: cucumber, carrot, beef, shiitake mushroom, egg with radish wrap.
Rice cake noodles with veggies – this came rather late when we were getting full, tasty.
Forgot what the left dish is and Panchan which were refilled often.
Assorted desserts. I love the donut thing (the brown ball with sugar on top pix) and the pineapple ice was refreshing.
Overall the food tasted refine and the service was attentive. The price is very reasonable and some of these “small plates” turned out to be more generous in portion than I expected. It’s definitely a great addition for Korea town and it was nice to be able to taste good refine Korean cooking beyond the usual BBQ or noodles!
LaOn
1145 S. Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006
tel: 323-373-0700
Tags: Korean, small plate
September 1, 2011
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La Coccina SF Street Food Festival
//// By Freda in 04: SF+Bay AreaWhile I was at SF, it seems that there’re events almost every weekend. One of them is the La Coccina SF Street Food Festival (August 20th). Knowing the line/crowd habit of SFers, my friends and I got there early, right when it started. It’s located on Folsom Street between 20th street and 26th. We got there very early to avoid the crowds (wise decision).
A rare photo where you can still see the ground, soon the entire streets are filled up that you can even see the ground.
Eye candies below:
Beautiful art:
Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio (Bo Tai Chanh), very limey and delicious.
The local food offerings are very diverse, both culturally and status-wise, from the hottest restaurants to local eateries. This is the kind of vibrant community scene that beat LA by far.
Tags: Street Food
August 31, 2011
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Murakami Sushi (Hollywood)
//// By Joan in 08: Hollywood
I’ve been working at the Hollywood area for years and I didn’t know there’s such a cute little Japanese hole in the wall place tucked away on Wilcox and Hollywood Blvd. Murakami Sushi is a small causal joint with just a few tables inside and outside. I love the “bad” art on the wall!
The menu is simple, there’s sushi and sashimi, but you can order sushi on a bowl or plate with rice and salad. For the bowls/plates, other than their combo, you can do you own combination of sashimi: pick 4 for $10, 5 for $12. Very reasonable price!
I made my own rice bowl with 4 items: salmon, yellowtail, tamago and ikura.
It’s simple, fresh and good! The sushi rice was well seasoned.
Don’t expect fancy sushi or trendy atomsphere here, just solid good fresh simple stuffs for a reasonable priced causal meal. A perfect lunch spot!
Murakami Sushi
1714 N Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028
