Travels with a Gourmet

KEMIRI AT UMA UBUD

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000+08:00

After our fruitful morning exploring Ubud, we stopped by the Como Shambhala Estate's sister property Uma Ubud for a quiet lunch a deux since there was no one else at the restaurant that day so we had whole place to ourselves.

The open-air restaurant is an all-white bale right beside a large Koi pond and surrounded by a lush tropical garden. We were offered two menus - an orange one which had typical Continental cuisine and a beige one that offered their healthy Como Shambala cuisine with an emphasis on raw food. A had their linguine with garlic, fresh herbs and tuna while I chose two starters: the raw tuna, seaweed and noodle salad followed by the gazpacho.

We were served a basket of homemade bread - cheese rolls, crispy crackers and brown bread while we waited for our lunch to be served. A's pasta was simple but tasty and the portion was big enough to share. My tuna salad was delicious and filled with several types of seaweed and cold noodles tossed in a sesame oil-based vinaigrette. The gazpacho was less successful as it was a tad too spicy (hint of too much Tabasco maybe?) although it was also refreshing on such a hot day. We opted not to have dessert but were given a small taster anyway which was a nice touch - a pomegranate granita over sliced papaya and some sticky rice pudding at the bottom of the shot glass. It was a pleasant lunch and one that made me realize that raw food is pretty good.

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Kemiri at Uma Ubud

Jalan Raya Sangginan

Banjar Lungsiakan

Kedewatan, Ubud

Gianyar 80571

Telephone: +62 361 972 448

CAFE SENIMAN

2012-01-25T10:46:00.002+08:00

Last week, we went up to Ubud to visit our friends Marcello and Michi at Gaya Ceramics and to have a look at their sale items to add to our growing collection of Gaya plates and platters. After an hour spent looking through their shelves, we went to have a coffee at Cafe Seniman which I had heard about from friends of Novita who had recommended it as a good place for coffee in Ubud.

Cafe Seniman is off the main street Jalan Raya Ubud and is a tiny two-story cafe with a wooden coffee cart with a few stools right by the entrance and a few more tables further up on the terrace. The place is simply decorated with the focus on their coffee- organic, made-to-order brew of specialty Indonesian coffee. On that morning, they had the Sumatra Gayo mountain coffee bean which is their house bean and two others: Sulawesi Toraja Kalossi and the Kintamani from Bali. I had a Sulawesi espresso macchiato served on a special wooden palette which held a glass of water and a tiny plate of local coconut-encrusted rice cakes. Service was friendly and the barista clearly knew what he was doing. It was a good early stop after a morning of retail therapy at Gaya.

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Cafe Seniman

Jalan Sriwedari (near Taman village)

Ubud 80571

Telephone: +62 361 972 085

*Open daily from 10 a.m.

MINAMI

2012-01-22T09:00:00.000+08:00

When a new restaurant opens in quiet Sanur, there's always a buzz as this sleepy part of Bali is filled with restaurants yet very few are worth going to. Minami in Ubud is where people go for refined Japanese cuisine. I had never had a chance to visit the Ubud outpost so when I heard that a tiny branch had opened at the newly-renovated Segara village hotel in Sanur, I knew I had to try it.

Minami is an all-white open-air restaurant right on Sanur beach just by the souvenir market. The menu is limited and not traditionally Japanese but the options are quite creative. We started off with a few sushi rolls - ebi (prawn) sushi, salmon roll and California roll. I chose the set lunch which gave me a choice of three items from the selection of Japanese tapas. I had the fried tofu, tori karaage (fried chicken) and stewed pork belly which came with fried rice and miso soup. My son had the prawn tempura which was hot and crispy and came with the more Japanese-style salt dip instead of the usual tempura sauce. The food was good and well-presented but the service was dismal. We were the only ones there when we arrived around 12:30 and later, two more groups arrived but for some reason, the food came out from the kitchen in spurts and in a haphazard order. We got the set lunch first, then one sushi roll followed by another and finally the tempura which was almost an hour later then our first course. Minami has quite a way to go to improve their service before I'll go back there for another meal.

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Minami

Segara Village Hotel

Jalan Segara Ayu

Sanur

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

*Main Minami at Jalan Sangginan, Ubud (Telephone: +62361 970013)

MOJO'S FLYING BURRITOS

2012-01-21T15:42:00.000+08:00

A few months back, we went to pick up our 10-year old from a sleepover in Seminyak and met up with him at Mojo's Flying Burritos. It's down an alley off Petitenget and is really just an open-air shack at the side of the road. You can't miss it with it's brightly painted walls and colorful chairs and tables.

Menu is simple: burritos of course then tacos (both on soft flour or crispy corn tortillas), quesadillas and enchiladas. We've been back a few times since and haven't been disappointed. We always enjoy the freshly-made guacamole or salsa with warm corn tortillas and their carne asada tacos which come with rice and a side of black beans.

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Mojo's Flying Burritos

Jalan Petitenget, Gang Prana

(watch out for the sign on the side of the road)

Seminyak

Telephone: +62 361 730260

*Open daily from 9:00a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Other branches in Poppies Lane Kuta and in Ubud on Jalan Raya Ubud

THE BEST OF 2011

2012-01-04T13:08:00.001+08:00

My Best of the Year post takes time to complete. I go through all the meals of the past year and make a short list of the places that really impressed me with an unforgettable meal. It doesn't have to be a fancy restaurant, it's all about the food and the experience.

Since 2011 was a year of travel for me, there were many restaurants to choose from. New places were discovered - Bangkok and Beijing, some revisited - Sydney and San Francisco, along with the usuals - Singapore, Las Vegas and Manila and of course I explored my island home - Bali - as well. After much deliberation and elimination, and in no particular order, here are my best gourmet experiences of 2011.

BEST BREAKFAST

No questions about it, my best breakfast this year was at bills in Sydney's Darlinghurst. From the fantastic flat whites to the amazing ricotta hot-cakes, the delicious sweet corn cake to the homemade oatmeal, the breakfast was amazing and the service friendly. How I wish there was a bills near me!

BEST IN THE PHILIPPINES

Since I'm from Manila, I had to include two restaurants that really impressed me back home: Antonio's and Cafe Juanita. Antonio's is a no-brainer and on most foodies best list. It made the drive up to Tagaytay worth it and their fine dining and Colonial atmosphere is just the right mix of fancy and simple. Cafe Juanita is a bit off the beaten track but also worth the drive to Pasig for home-cooked Filipino food. This is the kind of food I crave while living abroad. It felt like I was back at my lola's (grandmother's) house having one of those long leisurely Sunday lunches.

BEST IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Here in Bali, a restaurant that that's a favorite for local food is Cafe Degan for classic Javanese cuisine in a classic wooden joglo (wooden house). Simple food and friendly service. They also have half their menu dedicated to Thai dishes as the chef used to work in Thailand. Whether you order from the Thai side of the menu or the Javanese side, you won't be disappointed.

In Singapore, where I was almost every six weeks, my cousin took me to Ippudo where we had a fantastic noodle lunch - flavorful broth, al dente ramen, chunky pork belly - everything was good.

Two new places we visited this year were Bangkok and Beijing. In Bangkok, I had my first taste of the real flavors of Thai cuisine. I tried many types of Thai food and enjoyed most of them but it was chef David Thompson's fine dining take on classic Thai street food at Nahm that left me with a clear idea of how sophisticated Thai food is.

In Beijing, we had the best Beijing duck (aka Peking duck) I've ever tasted at Made in China - extra crispy non-fatty skin with either sugar for dipping (a novelty!) or the traditional Hoisin-pancake-scallion-cucumber roll. And it wasn't just the duck, the other dishes were also outstanding and it was the best Chinese meal I'd had all year.

BEST IN THE AMERICAS

In the Americas, we start down South where we made our usual pilgrimage to Buenos Aires and where surprisingly, we didn't eat at our favorite El Mirasol as often as we usually do. Instead, we rediscovered a Recoleta classic - Munich (or as the locals call it - "el munitch") where we had dinner almost every night and never got tired of their repertoire of classic dishes - a perfectly grilled matambre (pork steak), crispy papas paille (shoestring fries), a simple green salad, the retro Chicken Maryland and Chicken Kiev plus lots of other home-style dishes from the past and the impeccable service from the white-jacketed old-timers just added to the atmosphere.

Finally to North America, first at our usual stop in Las Vegas where we had a superb tapas meal at Jaleo where it felt like we were back in Spain. It was great to see the quality of Spanish food so lovingly recreated at chef Jose Andres' hip and happening tapas restaurant. We also revisited our favorite city - San Francisco - so many lovely memories from past visits and so long since our last encounter in 2004. Dinner at RN74 was impressive - cool concept, fantastic Burgundy wines, packed with a mixed crowd and best of all, the food was really good - simple classic dishes made of incredible ingredients which is what San Francisco is all about.

Last but not least, we go back to breakfast where I just have to mention the best coffee I've had all year (lots of close seconds - Sambalatte in Las Vegas, bills in Sydney and Liberica in Jakarta) but this one topped my list and made my mornings better - Blue Bottle Coffee. The coffee was prepared with so much love and they took their time getting it right which just goes to show that after all these years, San Francisco's foodie ways haven't changed, it's only gotten better. And with that I look forward to another year of eating and traveling. I hope that 2012 will be as food-filled as 2011 was. Happy Gourmet Travels!

YANK SING

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000+08:00

What better way to end a gastronomic weekend in San Francisco than a Sunday yum cha (morning tea) or dim sum brunch at Yank Sing, a Michelin-starred and James Beard awarded dim sum restaurant. The great thing about dim sum is that the food rolls be in carts so it's ready, making it a really good place to go in a group with kids or when you're starving.

We booked an early table and sat down and just watched the carts roll by for a bit then started ordering directly from the carts. Here's what we had: fried dumplings filled with ground pork and vegetables, small portions of Peking Duck - just the skin served with the traditional pancakes, scallions, cucumber strips and Hoisin sauce, vegetable spring rolls scissored in half for us to share, honey walnut prawns in mayonnaise, stir-fried green beans with chili and ground pork and Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce. From the steam baskets: char siu bao (buns with roast pork), siu mai (ground pork and shrimp dumplings), har gau (prawn dumplings) and the popular xia long bao (soup-filled dumpling). The food was good and the service exceptional. Yank Sing is traditional yum cha in a refined setting without the usual noise and clutter of a typical dim sum restaurant but still with delicious dim sum.

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Yank Sing

49 Stevenson Street

San Francisco CA

Telephone: +1 415 541 4949

*Open Mondays to Fridays from 11a.m. to 3 p.m.

*Open Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

*Another branch in Rincon Center at 101 Spear St. (Telephone +1 415 781 1111)

RN74

2012-01-02T14:59:00.003+08:00

My penultimate post on San Francisco was our last dinner in the city before I headed back home to Bali and the rest of the family went back home to Las Vegas. On that Saturday evening, we booked a table at Michael Mina's RN74. The name is the acronym for Route Nationale 74, the road that runs through the vineyards of Burgundy in France starting at Dijon and ending in Beaune.

The restaurant is a long room with cozy half-moon booths lining one side and a traditional long banquette (leather covered bench) on the window side. Polished cement floors, wooden shutters covering the windows and hanging red glass lamps make the place cozy. There are also two long tables running down the middle of the restaurant which can serve larger groups. The back room is lit up with a large board similar to the ones seen in train stations with the most-sold wines featured on the board instead of the usual train timetable so it flicks and changes all through the night.

When we arrived, our table wasn't ready yet so we sat at the adjacent bar which was packed with several diners having just cocktails and some food from the bar menu. There are several more bar tables in the back for those who just want to have a drink and something simple to eat. R and I shared a glass of Californian Tatomer Riseling while C had a 16-year old reserve bourbon from AH Hirsch with some Parmesan crackers to snack on while we waited.

About half an hour later, we were led to our table - a very cozy table right behind the hostess stand. At this point, the second round of diners for the evening were being seated as well and the restaurant stayed full all throughout our meal. After having a look at the dinner menu and the extensive wine list, we made our choices.

From the Plates to Share, we chose a starter for the three of us - the herb-roasted marrow bones along with a celebratory Burgundy of course, my favorite Chambolle Musigny premier cru from the 2008 vintage of Ghislaine Barthod. The bone marrow was one large piece split in half and sprinkled with parsley and served with grilled bread and sticky bacon marmalade. The crispy bread slathered with bacon jam and topped with chunks of melting hot bone marrow was incredible. A burst of salty rich in every bite and an excellent start to our dinner.

Next came the appetizers: R had the Burgundian escargots, a sharing plate of nine bubbling snails, half of which were covered with the classic garlic butter and the other half with a paprika butter. From the First section of the menu, C had the hamachi crudo - slices of raw yellow tail fish with pomelo, trout roe and drizzled with olio nuovo and I had the autumn salad of fall fruits and vegetables - chestnuts, shaved fennel and carrots and pumpkin with greens tossed in a Banyuls (fortified French wine served either as an aperitif or for dessert) vinaigrette.

Main courses followed: another starter for R, the Mendocino sea urchin and potato mousseline which came served in a very prickly sea urchin shell. The creamy rich soup was flavored with pine nuts, Douglas fir (actual rosemary-like leaves in the soup) and black trumpet mushrooms. C had the Snake River Farms Wagyu flatiron steak seared medium rare and served with potato and artichoke gratin, black truffle and gremolata and I had the Liberty Farm duck breast a l'orange, which actually came with duck breasts and the bonus addition of chunks of crispy duck confit, delicious Savoy cabbage, roasted salsify, braised chestnuts and rich foie gras. It was delicious but I couldn't get through the whole plate and gave several slices to both R and C to help me finish my plate.

I was stuffed after my three courses and the wine so we all skipped the cheese and they ordered one dessert to share and another one, beignets, to take home to my niece. The milk chocolate pot de creme came in a tumbler and with it's chunks of salted toffee, devil's food cake and cocoa nib, it made a perfect bittersweet ending to our delicious dinner. Hands down, the best meal I had on this Thanksgiving trip to the U.S., and probably in all of 2011 was at RN74.

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RN74

301 Mission Street

(between Fremont and Beale)

San Francisco CA 94105

Telephone: +1 415 543 7474

*Open for lunch, Mondays to Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and daily for dinner from 5:30 p.m.

*Wine bar open Mondays to Fridays from 11:30 a.m. till late and on Saturdays and Sundays from 5:30 p.m. till late

AQ

2012-01-01T17:45:00.000+08:00

Starting 2012 right with this post on a restaurant that specializes on seasonal local produce that we stumbled upon with good friend AM who picked us up for lunch and drove around the area brainstorming on where we could go for our "catch-up" lunch session. He remembered that a new restaurant had just opened nearby (only three weeks open when we went there in early December) and that's how we ended up at AQ. AQ means "as quoted" which is usually the term added onto menus when seasonal dishes or specials are listed. Here, the menus change every season so specials and seasonal items are what are featured every day.

AQ is a restaurant dedicated to seasonal dining. It's a long room with a bar near the entrance and exposed red brick walls, long banquettes and simple wooden tables. Cheeky accents include large industrial whisks used to house light bulbs in the kitchen, flowers and plants based on the season (bare branches and some reddish and yellowish leaves when we were there). They were still serving the autumn menu when we had lunch that day - about three or four starters, a few main courses and four desserts. (It's the winter menu that is being served now.)

After a quick look at the menu, we all chose different dishes. A had a simple arugula salad which we were supposed to share but when I saw AM's warm chicory salad, I had to have one - a slice of sourdough toast with a soft poached egg in the middle, pearl onions, chicory and bacon chunks in a mustardy vinaigrette - simple but delicious, a perfect example of how quality ingredients in season can make all the difference in a dish.

Main courses were the canneloni with spinach and mushrooms for AM, the Ricotta gnocchi with celery and mushrooms for A and a crab roll for me. Both pasta dishes were rich and earthy with autumn vegetables and my shredded crab meat in a soft roll was complemented with a Meyer lemon dressing and served with tiny organic arugula and hand-cut potato chips. Again, simplicity in the presentation and preparation and just the produce and freshness making the dish stand out.

Finally, we shared two desserts: a ginger cake with and a rich classic chocolate devil's food cake which were good and when we asked for coffee, we were surprised to find out that they didn't have an espresso machine although they did serve organic French press coffee which we declined. All in all, a great chatty session with AM catching up on all the gossip and when we asked for the bill, we got a pleasant surprise. They had given us a 20% discount as AM was a local and worked nearby. Nice touch and a nice ending to a delicious lunch.

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1085 Mission Street

San Francisco CA 94103

Telephone: +1 415 341 9000

*Open daily for dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and for Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE

2011-12-29T11:00:00.000+08:00

Hands down the best coffee I've had all year was at Blue Bottle Coffee. I first tried their coffee after an almost half-hour wait at the Ferry Building Marketplace and immediately googled another location nearer the hotel. We found one at the Mint Plaza (two blocks away) and went there for breakfast for three days in a row, in other words, every single day we were in San Francisco.

They open at 7:00 a.m. and start serving breakfast from 8:00 a.m. As always there is a queue snaking out the door but that's the price one has to pay for well-made non-Starbucks coffee. They have all sorts of coffees on their coffee menu - coffees made from a semi-automatic espresso machine, a hand-operated lever espresso machine, individual drip coffee, single-origin siphon coffee, two types of iced coffee: New Orleans style and Tokyo style plus the original Nel drip or Nel pot coffee.

Blue Bottle Cafe is self-serve so after queuing up for your coffee and breakfast order, get a number, take a seat at one of the counter tables and wait. Service is fast so soon after, your breakfast is served. At Blue Bottle, organic coffee and local organic sustainable ingredients are used from the produce to the cleaning products (Ecover) and the staff clearly enjoy what they do.

On the first day, I had the Belgian waffles - freshly made and served with hot organic Shady Farms maple syrup and unsalted whipped butter while A started with the Pecan granola with Clover farms organic milk followed by the Judy's Organic Sonoma farm poached eggs with Acme toast. Everything has an organic pedigree at Blue Bottle and one can really taste the difference. Needless to say we had three perfect cappuccinos to accompany our breakfast.

On another day, perfect cappuccinos again, this time just with the thick cut Acme toast with whipped butter and Mountain Fruit jam. Finally, we had a chance to try their brunch on a Saturday morning. Similar to the breakfast menu with the addition of a soup, a salad, a grilled cheese sandwich and several ways with poached eggs. C had the bacon and leek frittata while I had my usual Acme toast and aside from the usual cappuccinos, we splurged on a siphon pot of the single origin Oaxaca which we had as is, a delicious end to our last day at Blue Bottle Coffee. I'm writing this and I'm already craving a Blue Bottle coffee.

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Blue Bottle Coffee
at the Mint Plaza
66 Mint Street
San Francisco CA
*Open daily from 7 to 7 on Mondays to Fridays, 8 to 6 on Saturdays and 8 to 4 on Sundays
*Breakfast Mondays to Fridays from 8:00 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m
*Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30 a.m.

FERRY BUILDING MARKETPLACE

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000+08:00

San Francisco, one of my favorite cities which I haven't been to since 2003 has changed a lot but still remains the same. The laid-back vibe is still there along with the love for all things organic, local and seasonal. No visit would have been complete without a stop at the Ferry Building Marketplace. And if you're luck enough to be there on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, you'll get a chance to experience the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market and see the local producers in action.

We arrived in San Francisco on a Thursday morning and after checking in to our hotel, we walked the ten or more blocks down Market street towards the Ferry Plaza. Originally constructed in 1898, it was rebuilt in 1991 and opened as a historical building housing the best produce and specialty food purveyors like Cowgirl Creamery, Frog Hollow Farm, Acme Bread Company, Blue Bottle Coffee to name a few and restaurants like Slanted Door, Gott's Roadside and the Market Bar.

Lunch at the Ferry Building on Market day can be a simple sandwich from Acme, a hunk of cheese from Cowgirl or if you're willing to queue up, a delicious porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti or from one of the many food trucks parked outside three times a week. As we were with the kids, we decided to sit at one of the outdoor picnic tables at Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor's Refresher) and order some burgers and garlic fries while we waited for the rest of our lunch from the food trucks. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day, typical California weather, and perfect for our impromptu al fresco lunch. After lunch, we queued up some more for a much-needed cappuccino at Blue Bottle Coffee. The line was so long that by the time I got to the front, I needed not just a cappuccino but also an espresso which I had one after the other. And yes, it was well worth the wait.

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Ferry Building Marketplace

One Ferry Plaza

San Francisco 94111 CA
Telephone: + 1 415 983 8030
*Open daily from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Check for different opening hours on weekends)
*Farmer's Market and food trucks every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until the food runs out and on Saturdays from 8 a.m to 2 p.m.

SUSHI ROKU

2011-12-28T11:00:00.000+08:00

Sushi Roku at the top floor of the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace, is a good place to go for untraditional sushi. Part of a southern California restaurant group that has several dining concepts in Hollywood and Santa Monica, Suhi Roku is a modern Californian take on Japanese food. It's a copy of Nobu but not as well-executed. having said that, the food is okay - stick to the raw and the rolls as the cooked dishes don't really impress.

We had some interesting appetizers - the edamame hummus with wonton chips and the Kumamoto oyster with three sauces. There was also a perfectly executed sashimi platter - maguro (tuna), sake (salmon), toro (tuna belly) and uni (sea urchin). The shrimp-wrapped spicy tuna roll was fine and the toro temaki (hand-rolled tuna belly sushi) was as good as it gets. The cooked dishes were not as interesting - a Jidori free-range chicken teriyaki was a grilled chicken breast (not Japanese at all as the breast meat is often dry) which should have been made with chicken thighs, the baked cod in sweet miso was just that nothing more, nothing less, and the John Dory was just sauteed fish on roasted vegetables. On the other hand, the Jidori chicken kara-age was delicious - crispy battered chicken thigh chunks which would have been perfect had they served it with the traditional soy dip instead of the wasabi mayonnaise. We were all done with dinner when the management offered us a couple of desserts which was an unexpected surprise. If you're at the Forum shops, then by all means drop by Sushi Roku but remember to stick to the raw fish menu and you won't go wrong.

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Sushi Roku

at the Forum Shops, Caesars

3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas NV

Telephone: +1 702 733 7373

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

MILOS

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000+08:00

One of the best meal deals in Las Vegas is the $20.11 prix-fixe lunch at Milos in the Cosmopolitan. I knew Milos from when we lived in Montreal and wanted to try their new Vegas outpost and for just $20.11, how could we resist? Milos is a fine dining Greek restaurant which specializes in simply prepared fish and seafood. The interiors are modern and the tabletops classic - white tablecloths and thick linen napkins, simple white plates and the tables arranged around large columns. There is also a lovely covered terrace for al fresco dining.

My mom, sister and I booked a table for 12:30 and arrived to a semi-empty restaurant. We had a quick look at the lunch menu and made our choices quickly. There were a few appetizers unavailable on the menu that day (the scallops and the smoked salmon) which was disappointing as that left us with just four dishes to choose from, two of which had a supplementary charge of $10 which sort of defeats the bargain $20.11 price. We finally settled on our three choices each.

The MILOS 2011 Lunch Menu

$20.11

Appetizer

your choice of

Greek Meze Plate

Tarama, Tzatziki, Htipiti,

manouri cheese, olives & cherry tomatoes

Cambridge House Scottish Smoked Salmon

with Santorini capers

Scallops

with citrus and mint salad

Tomato Salad

Feta cheese, seasoned with Greek herbs & extra virgin olive oil

Grilled Octopus

Sashimi quality Mediterranean octopus, charcoal-broiled.

($10 supplementary)

Fresh Maryland Lump Crab Cake

with marinated gigantes beans & mustard emulsion

($10 supplementary)

Main Course

your choice of

Lavraki

grilled Mediterranean Bass

Honjake Salmon

with steamed vegetables

Fresh Gulf Wild Shrimp Saganaki

with tomato & feta

Chicken Brochette

organic chicken breast on a skewer with

grilled mushrooms and onions, served over pita

Colorado USDA Prime Lamb Chop

french fries & asparagus

Dessert

your choice of

Walnut Pie

with Kaimaki ice cream

Yogurt Martini

Fresh Fruits of the Season

Absolutely no substitutions. Minimum $20.11 per person

After we ordered, a bread basket and olive oil was set down on the table. Our appetizers were served quickly - the tomato and Feta salad for my mom, the Greek mezze plate for me and the grilled octopus for my sister. The first two appetizers were fine but it was the grilled octopus that stood out and was well worth the extra $10 charge - simply grilled succulent octopus slices tossed in olive oil.

By the time our main courses were served, the restaurant was already almost full. My mom had the grilled Lavraki (Mediterranean bass) which came whole but sliced open with just lemon and olive oil, again simply grilled with the freshness of the fish making the dish special. My sister had the tuna burger (not listed on the menu above) and was pleasantly surprised at the meatiness of the patty. Tuna chunks mashed together and topped with shredded onions and served with crispy zucchini fries. I chose the lamb chop (a classic Greek dish) which came with a few asparagus spears and some fat fries. The meat was deliciously charred on the outside yet tender on the inside. I could have eaten a few more chops as one really wasn't enough. Finally, we had one of each of the desserts (they should make at least four choices) - fresh fruit, a refreshing yogurt and berry martini and the walnut pie with Saganaki ice cream. The food was very good and well-worth the price and a taste of what Milos has to offer. Next time, we'll definitely do dinner.

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Estiatorio Milos

At the Cosmoplitan Hotel

3708 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas NV 89109

Telephone: +1 702 698 7930

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

WEERA THAI

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000+08:00

We used to go to frequent a little family-run Thai restaurant, Royal Thai, on Sahara which was later sold and changed to another Thai restaurant that didn't do that well. Now on another reincarnation as a Thai restaurant, what used to be Royal Thai is now Weera Thai, another family-run restaurant originating from Chiang-Mai and specializing in Northern Thai (Issan food). We went for dinner right after the drive from Los Angeles on a cold Saturday evening.

The restaurant's interiors hasn't changed much but the menu has. What used to be a simpler, smaller menu is now an extensive menu with soups, salads, appetizers, curries, noodles, rice, specials and main courses plus separate sections for Issan specialties and duck dishes.

We ordered a few appetizers: egg rolls, crispy catfish salad and chicken satay then shared several main courses - the Issan specialty Dadd Deaw (deep-fried beef jerky), the Ka Pow Moo Krob (crispy pork belly with Thai holy basil), a mild yellow curry of chicken and the ubiquitous Pad Thai. The service was quick and friendly, the food authentic and almost as good as our old favorite, Royal Thai. With the famous Lotus of Siam always packed, we'll be coming back here more often.

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Weera Thai

3839 W. Sahara Ave. Suite 9

Las Vegas NV 89102

Telephone: +1 702 873 8749 or 727 1515

*Open for lunch and dinner daily, delivery and take-out.

PIZZERIA MOZZA

2011-12-25T09:00:00.000+08:00

The Friday after Thanksgiving was a beautiful southern California fall day - bright blue skies and lots of sun so we took advantage of the nice weather to drive up the coast to Newport beach for lunch at the newish Pizzeria Mozza. We had made a reservation for 1:30 p.m. thinking that by that time, the restaurant would be emptying out but we were wrong. We arrived at 1:00 and the place was packed and still had to wait the half hour before an outdoor table was found for our group of six.

Pizzeria Mozza is the creation of the foodie trio of Mario Batali, Nancy Silverton and Joseph Bastianich. The restaurant is casual with wooden tables covered in brown paper place mats and set with a simple paper napkin and cutlery. The restaurant is not that big with a wine bar and counter near the entrance and another counter at the far end overlooking the wood-burning pizza oven. There is also a small covered outdoor terrace with a few tables set up near an iron-gate overlooking the busy Pacific Coast highway. As we had waited awhile, we had the chance to study the menu and were ready to order as soon as we were seated.

For starters, we shared several appetizers. From the Antipasti section of the limited lunch menu, we chose two hot appetizers: the bone marrow al forno (oven roasted split bone marrow served with garlic flavored olive oil, sea salt and crust bread) and the crispy goat cheese with Umbrian lentils (a slab of breaded and fried goat cheese on top of warm lentils. The bone marrow was delicious - hot bone marrow on toast with just a sprinkling of sea salt was fantastic. The lentils were tomatoey and soft and perfect with the crispy gooey mild goat's cheese.

From the Insalate section, we had the namesake Mozza caprese: mozzarella and vine-ripened tomatoes with crusty toasted olive-oil rubbed ciabatta. This salad has been overdone at all sorts of restaurants but it was the only time that I tasted what the big deal was with the classic Italian caprese salad. The mozzarella was incredibly fresh, creamy and delicious just smeared on top of the crunchy ciabatta - a true example of when fresh quality ingredients are all one needs for an amazing dish and probably why the restaurant is named after this deceptively salad.

The appetizers were followed by five pizzas to share amongst six (five adults and 1 child): the simple no-cheese tomato, olive oil and Sicilian oregano pizza; a Napolitana which is just a Margherita (tomato mozzarella and and basil pizza) with the added salty zing of olives, anchovies, chiles and fried capers; the all-meat pizza topped with bacon, salame, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato and mozzarella; the simpler Salume Salame pizza (fancy version of pepperoni) with tomato and mozzarella and finally the Bianca, an all cheese pizza of Fontina, mozzarella, sottocenere topped with crispy sage. The pizza crust was crisp and bubbled up on the edges and somehow the toppings didn't make the pizza all gooey and soggy. All the pizzas were very good but it was the Napolitana I loved, again a classic with just a few more simple ingredients to make it different yet delicious.

P.D. I was in Singapore last week and tried to take my husband and children to dinner at Pizzeria Mozza at the Marina Bay Sands mall. We hadn't reserved a table and the only seats they had for walk-ins were at the bar which was going to be difficult with the kids so we had dinner elsewhere.

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Pizzeria Mozza

800 West Coast Highway

(a.k.a. Pacific Coast Highway)

Newport beach CA 92663

Telephone: +1 949 945 1126

*Open for lunch and dinner daily. Reservations recommended if you don't want to wait.

*Pizzeria Mozza is also in Los Angeles and in Singapore

CAFE ZINC

2011-12-24T10:00:00.000+08:00

On our last morning in Laguna beach we stopped by for a quick breakfast at Cafe Zinc, the other breakfast place on Ocean Avenue, right before the more than four-hour drive back to Las Vegas. With three locations in Orange County, this place is loved by the locals and is usually always packed for breakfast. We had been to nearby Cafe Anastasia several times and never to Cafe Zinc as we were initially put off by their no-meat menu (meaning no bacon for breakfast). On our last day though, we decided to try it and see what the fuss was all about.

The Laguna Beach Cafe Zinc has both a cafe and market adjacent with a separate entry. The marketplace has a takeaway counter for bread (from La Brea bakery), pastries, coffees and drinks to go plus a large selection of deli items, soups, sandwiches, salads and prepared platters. The Cafe is self-serve and usually has lines snaking out the door so get ready to queue and then try and snag one of the outdoor tables. There is a large breakfast and lunch menu and a dinner menu on the evenings when dinner is served. Although not advertised as a vegetarian place, Cafe Zinc doesn't serve any meat but there are so many dishes to choose from on their extensive menu that the absence of meat wouldn't be missed.

For breakfast, my sister and I shared the Huevos Rancheros, a poached egg over papaya salsa, blackbean chili, smoked Gouda, marinara sauce and a toasted bagel with butter and jam. She had a creamy cafe mocha and I had a not so great espresso. All in all an okay breakfast but not as tasty as the one at Cafe Anastasia up the road. I would give this vegetarian cafe another chance maybe for lunch when there are more interesting choices on the menu.

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Cafe Zinc

Market and Cafe

350 Ocean Avenue
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Cafe: + 1 949 494 6302
Market: +1 949 494 2791
*Open daily, Market and Cafe from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

(Cafe open only till 4:00 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays)
*Cafe dinners starting May 2, 2012, Wednesday to Sunday from 5:00 to 9:30 p.m.

CAFE ANASTASIA

2011-12-12T09:46:00.001+08:00

Bright and early from jet lag, I got up and went out on the deck to admire the view of the Pacific ocean then rushed my sisters to get ready for an early breakfast down the hill. We ended up at Cafe Anastasia, the little cafe adjacent to the multi-brand fashion boutique, Anastasia. As it was early, the place wasn't full yet but there were several local residents having their morning coffee.

Cafe Anastasia is a small restaurant with exposed brick walls, polished cement floors and very few tables indoors and a few more tables in their small covered terrace. It's semi-self serve so we placed and paid for our orders at the counter then settled on one of the outdoor tables as it was a sunny November morning.

The breakfast menu at Cafe Anastasia has lots to offer: eggs prepared many different ways plus house specials like waffles, pancakes and even bagel and lox. For lunch, they have an extensive menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas and even pizzas. As we were in Laguna beach, I decided to have the Eggs Laguna - poached eggs on toasted country bread spread with basil, avocado and thyme and served with slices of fresh melon and chopped tomatoes with a double espresso. One sister had the Anastasia Omelet filled with mushrooms, bacon, onion and smoked Gouda cheese with a cappuccino while another just had a butter croissant and an Americano. The coffees were good, the food delicious and the service friendly. I liked it so much that I ate there twice more during my short stay in Laguna beach. Next time, I'll make sure to stop by the boutique as well to have a look at their collection of hip designer clothes.

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Cafe Anastasia

Adjacent to Anastasia boutique

470 Ocean Avenue

Laguna Beach CA 92651

Telephone: +1 949 497 8903

* Open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for breakfast and lunch

SHINSENGUMI

2011-12-12T09:28:00.001+08:00

After the night flight from Hong Kong, I arrived in LAX on a Monday evening in late November and was met by my sister and my brother-in-law's younger brother. I had promised them dinner and we went straight to Shinsengumi , a yakitori restaurant they had been raving about. (Though not technically in laguna beach, this branch was the closest on our way home so that's where we went).

We got to the restaurant about 10:00 p.m. and surprisingly, the place was still pretty full and the next-door ramen place still had a queue of diners outside waiting to have noodles. The place is small with a few tables near the entrance and a large counter that takes up most of the space where the grill is located and where several diners were still busy with their dinner.

We settled into a booth right by the entrance and were given the robata list where we could pencil in our orders directly. Initially, we just ordered one stick each thinking that each order had two or three skewers but when the food arrived and it was just one skewer per order, we ordered a second round of yakitori. The food came quickly, hot off the grill. We had chicken skin, chicken thighs with green onion both in salt and with special house sauce, chicken wings, quail eggs, Washu beef, pork belly, and chicken meatballs. We also ordered a small tuna sashimi, tofu agedashi and fried octopus to share with hot green tea. The yakitori was flavorful and as it was after 10:00 p.m., it was Yakitori happy hour so most of the skewers were priced at $1.50 each instead of the usual $2.00 to $3.50 making our dinner for three very affordable. It was a really good meal to welcome my arrival in the States.

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Shinsengumi Robata and Yakitori
18315 Brookhurst Street, #1
(Promenade Shopping Center)
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Telephone: +1 (714) 962-8952
*Open for lunch Mondays to Fridays, 11:30 to 2:00 p.m. (Ramen only)
*Open for dinner daily from 6:00 to 11:30 p.m.

*Other branches in Gardena, Monterey Park and Rosemead and also in Tokyo.

CAFE JUANITA

2011-11-24T14:02:00.000+08:00

On my second to the last evening in Manila, my good friend N and her mom invited my mom and myself to dinner at Cafe Juanita. They came to pick us up at home then we all went to the newer Cafe Juanita in Barrio Kapitolyo in Pasig where we met up with another good friend, T.

My first impression upon entering the restaurant was being led into someone's boudoir. The main dining area at Cafe Juanita is eclectic with decorations from all over mixed all together: ikat used as curtains, different multi-colored crystal chandeliers, parasols used as lampshades, lace and silk draped over chairs, a cupboard filled with old mismatched china, antique tiles on the floor and on and on and on. The interiors are one-of-a-kind and full of the owner's character.

As we were all quite hungry, we flipped through their extensive menu of Filipino specialties and ordered several dishes to share. To start, we had calamares fritos (fried squid rings) and chicharon bulaklak (a certain part of the pig's intestines made deep-fried to a crisp) dipped in chili-spiked white vinegar.

For our main courses, we shared several Filipino classic dishes: kare kare (an oxtail and vegetable stew in a peanut-based sauce), ginataang sugpo sa gata (prawns cooked in coconut milk), bagnet (crispy pork belly with cilantro and tomatoes in a calamansi (tiny native lime) and fish sauce dressing and laing (taro leaves in coconut milk and chili). The food was delicious. It was a delight to eat in a restaurant that felt like a dinner party in someone's very colorful home. It would take a couple of days just to cook the variety of Filipino food on the menu at Cafe Juanita and the quality is so much better than home-cooked Filipino food that I would rather eat there any day than spend several hours making all that food at home. For dessert, we shared a tiny dessert sampler of ube (sweetened purple yam), leche flan (caramel milk custard), macapuno (coconut in syrup) and sweetened beans along with their superb cassava cake.

Cafe Juanita is the best Filipino food I've tasted in a long time. Their reputation is well-deserved and the praises I had heard about the restaurant are all true. The mother-daughter meal went really well and Filipino food was delicious. If you ever visit Manila and want a real taste of Filipino home-cooking, Cafe Juanita is where you should go. I promise you won't be disappointed.

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Cafe Juanita

19 West Capitol Drive, Baranggay Kapitolyo

Pasig City, Manila 1603

Telephone: +63 2 6320357

*Open everyday for lunch and dinner

Cafe Juanita

Another branch at:

2 United Street (corner West Capitol drive)

Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig, Manila

*Open everyday for lunch and dinner.

ANTONIO'S

2011-11-22T08:00:00.000+08:00

I had heard about Antonio's from many friends and read about the many foodies and blogger's memorable meals here plus my mom hasn't stopped raving about Antonio's ever since they opened in Tagaytay several years ago. Last year when I was home for a week, she really wanted to take me there for lunch but it just didn't work out with my schedule. This time, it was easier as I was home alone without the children so we planned a Saturday post-breakfast drive up to Tagaytay and a lunch at the famous Antonio's (#11 on this year's Miele guide Asia's Top 20).

Early Saturday morning, I met up with my good friend, T, for a quick coffee and cinnamon roll at the nearby Starbuck's before my mom joined us and the three of us left for Tagaytay, which is over an hour's drive south from Makati using the speedy Skyway. On the drive up, we chatted non-stop about life and everything else and before we knew it, we were up in Tagaytay overlooking the picturesque lake and Taal volcano. We drove a bit further up the main road until we saw a white sign to turn right into a small side road that led us to the wooden gates of Antonio's garden restaurant. We were left at the driveway where we were greeted by lovely wooden doors that opened up into an open-air foyer where the walls were filled with black and white photos and the floor covered in antique black and white patterned tiles.

Down the stairs we went through the outdoor garden area where there are a few tables and into the small indoor dining area which was almost full. We were seated at one of the tables overlooking the large terrace below where larger communal-style tables (for 8-12) were already filled with families and groups having their lunch.

As soon as we sat down, we were given an appetizer menu of several items and we were all set to choose our meal from this smaller menu when they presented us with the another larger menu where a four-course menu of house salad, soup, main course and dessert is offered with the price determined by your choice of main course. I had already chosen steak tartar from the appetizer list and I was all set to have it even if I was going to end up having four courses instead of three. They also chose the set lunch menu and each ordered a different salad to start along with a bottle of Chilean Caliterra Reserva Carmenere 2010. While we waited for our appetizers, we were served warm bread rolls and iced water flavored with lemon, cucumber and mint - a nice touch especially on a warm day.

My steak tartar came first and I was surprised at the portion since it was listed as an appetizer but I guess most order this to share. There was a mound of hand-chopped steak with the usual stuff mixed in (capers, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, onions, raw egg), topped with some baby watercress and served with lots of toasted baguette slices. It was as delicious as I had heard, perfectly seasoned and slightly spicy, just the way I like it. My mom and T don't usually eat steak tartar but this version was so good that I managed to convince them both to have a tiny mouthful just to try it. The cold steak, crunch toast and the velvety Carmenere were perfect together and despite the large portion, I ate it all.

Next came our salads (most of their greens come from their farm located on the property): my mom's foie gras tempura was an interesting version of alternating slices of apple and foie gras covered in a tempura batter and deep-fried - crunchy on the outside, meltingly rich hot foie gras and crisp sweet apples on the inside. T's salad was the classic pan-seared foie gras with pear and arugula and mine was the arugula salad with Gorgonzola, glazed walnuts and sweet sun-dried tomatoes. We were slowing down our meal at this point to enjoy the wine and the slowly emptying dining room. By the time our soup was served - tomato bisque with a creme fraiche foam - there was just another table lingering over desserts and us still with our main courses and desserts to come.

For our main courses, we each had something different from the many choices on the menu. My mom chose the rack of lamb, T chose the sea bass and I chose the seafood risotto. The rack of lamb was a good portion of three chops with jus, thin green beans and tomato risotto. T's sea bass was on top of crushed potatoes and came with thin green beans and cherry tomatoes. My seafood risotto was a tomato-based rice with seared scallops, mussels, prawns and salmon - the rice was a bit too soupy to be called a risotto but it was delicious nonetheless.

We had cleared all our main courses so instead of having three desserts, we decided to share two instead: the dark chocolate souffle and the chocolate orange. As we finished the last of the wine and waited for the souffle, we realized we it was already almost 4:00 p.m. The dark chocolate souffle was served with a cardamom-flavored creme anglaise which for me was too strong in flavor to complement the warm chocolate. The mandarin orange which I wrongly assumed would be the traditional orange peels covered in dark chocolate were actually two scoops of mandarin sorbet covered in chocolate. They were okay but fiddly to eat even if we used our hands as suggested since the chocolate ice cream balls were too big to pop in our mouths in one go. Espressos ended our gourmet meal. As we finished our long, leisurely lunch, the staff had started to set up for dinner and we reluctantly gave up our table for the drive back home. Now I know why everyone who's been raves about Antonio's. I will certainly be back to try their grill and their breakfast on my next Manila visit.

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Antonio's

Barangay Neogan Tagaytay City, Cavite, Philippines
Telephone: +63 46 413 0975 or +63 46 413 1054
Mobile: +63 917 899 2866
Email: antoniosfarm@yahoo.com

Breakfast at Antonio's
*Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. No reservations taken except for private events.
Also at the same location below the main restaurant in a casual family setting at more reasonable prices.
Here, an all-day breakfast menu is served along with a simple menu of salads, house specials, grazing plates, pastas, pizzas, crepes and even a kid's menu.

The Grill by Antonio's
*Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reservations only on weekdays or private events
Favorite Filipino dishes and grilled items are served here in a casual setting.

SERYNA

2011-11-20T08:00:00.000+08:00

On a rainy Friday evening, my first weekend back, I met good friend (and my wedding dress designer), K, for dinner with her husband C. I asked her to pick the restaurant and she had narrowed down the choices to two places: Masseto, a fine dining restaurant which I had heard about, and Seryna, a popular restaurant in the burgeoning area of specialty Japanese restaurants in Makati called "Little Tokyo". We finally opted for Seryna as it was a more casual place and better for catching up on each other's news without all the fuss of fancy food.

We arrived in Makati Cinema Square where Seryna is located right by the archway labeled Little Tokyo. There were already several people waiting for tables gathered right outside the entrance and the place was packed, as it usually is. We settled into our reserved table at the front and watched the hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant where most of the diners were Japanese (a good sign).

I left the ordering up to them and was surprised first at the quantity of food that was set on the table and later at the fact that we did a pretty good job of polishing off most of it. There was a super fresh sashimi platter with at least four types of fish and squid, an excellent salmon skin roll plus never-before-tasted-dishes like monkfish roe made into a foie-gras like pate and the thinly-sliced octopus over a rice vinegar cucumber salad made sinus-clearingly spicy with a dab of wasabi. We also shared a spinach, bacon and hard-boiled egg salad, some vegetable tempura and a delicious sukiyaki cooked table side and served with the traditional raw egg. Slowly but surely, we ate our way through all the food aided by the green tea and ended our meal with some hot sake. It was great to discover that Manila finally had some quaint and authentic Japanese restaurants bundled up together in one area and especially good to be able to share a delicious meal with friends I hardly see. (Next on my list if and when I get back home is the oft-mentioned cult noodle place Ukokkei Ramen Ron.)

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Seryna

Little Tokyo

2277 Chino Roces Avenue

Makati, Manila

Telephone: +63 2 894 3855

*Open daily for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Up to 1:30 p.m. only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

*Open daily for dinner from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

*Reservations essential. Arrive on time or they give your table away to the many waiting outside.

BENNY'S

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000+08:00

My first evening back home and as usual, I was craving for Filipino food but just wanted to have a quick and simple meal. After asking around, we were told to go to the main Rustan's supermarket, where the old Le Gourmet restaurant right by the entrance used to be, and try their one-year old renovated restaurant Benny's. Named after Rustan's founder Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., Benny's is a simple place serving Filipino classic dishes and all-time favorites.

We were not disappointed with the choices in the menu and had a hard time deciding which to order as there were only two of us for dinner. Finally, we settled on sharing the crispy tadyang (beef short ribs), sugpo sa gata (prawns in coconut milk) and their Pinakbet rice. We also ordered some fresh fruit shakes - pure fruit juice and ice blended into a cold, refreshing drink. My dalandan (native green-skinned orange) and my mom's watermelon were sweet enough without the addition of sugar syrup. The deep-fried short ribs were both tender and crispy at the same time, the prawns in coconut milk, creamy and full of flavor and the modern version of the classic Ilocano (northern Philippines) vegetable dish, akin to a tropical ratatouille and flavored with bagoong (fermented fish paste), was outstanding. The rice was fried in the Pinakbet sauce and topped with the usual vegetable mix of long beans, squash, okra, bitter melon and eggplant, crispy pork belly and pork rinds.

Benny's is all about comfort food and remembering the tastes of home. It was a delicious meal to mark my short visit to Manila and have a true taste of the Philippines that I miss so much and never seem to be able to duplicate while abroad.

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Benny's

Ground floor, Rustan's Supermarket

(right by the entrance to the supermarket)

Glorietta

Makati, Manila

Telephone: +632 666 6682

LIBERICA

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000+08:00

Our long journey home had one more overnight stay, this time in Jakarta where we stayed at an apartment in the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pacific Place. Good thing that the mall is connected to the hotel so all we had to do was walk over and have a quick Chinese dinner. After another long night awake from jet lag, we were the first for breakfast at the Club Lounge. Later, I met up with my friend J who moved to Jakarta recently and while our boys were at the play area, we waited around at Liberica - a new coffee place in the Pacific Place mall. It was worth the wait for the creamy cappuccino I had. This definitely goes onto my Jakarta list.

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Liberica

4th floor, Pacific Place Mall

Jakarta

BILLS

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000+08:00

Our first morning in Sydney and we were up very early from the jet lag as usual. We had asked about the nearest bills the night before and were told that there was one not far from the hotel in Darlinghurst. bills is an Australian institution as with the popularity of his cookbooks, Bill Granger, along with the other Australian Donna Hay, have introduced the simple healthy diverse food and lifestyle of Australia to the rest of the world.

After watching the clock tick to 6:45, we hopped in a cab and arrived slightly earlier than their opening time of 7:30 a.m. Since they were still setting up, we decided to walk around and admire the Victorian terraced houses around the neighborhood. After about half an hour, we showed up hungry and still they weren't quite ready but nicely allowed us in with the kids so we could at least have a much-needed coffee.

bills is a bright space on the corner of a quaint residential street with wooden floors and a large communal table in the middle. The counter was covered with glass-domed cake servers filled with cookies, muffins, meringues and cakes and a large gleaming chrome espresso machine. A bunch of daisies plopped into a vase was the only decoration aside from all the fresh produce and baked products.

After our first amazing flat whites of the day (what is it about coffee in Australia that makes it soooo delicious?), we were given the simple paper menus with the selection of all-day breakfast items, fresh-baked goods, juices, coffees and drinks. (There is a separate lunch menu as well with a few breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, soups and pastas). Each of us tried to order something different so we could try from each other's plates. We had some fresh orange juice to start then the food started coming. The kids both had the scrambled eggs with sourdough toast and a side order of sausage. They were creamy (no wonder as the recipe is equal amounts of organic eggs and full fat cream cooked slowly over a low heat) and perfect scrunched on top of the crisp buttered sourdough toast with the chipolatas. A chose the soft-boiled eggs with buttered sourdough soldiers - again, simple orangey-yolk organic eggs cooked to perfection and just right for dipping those toast soldiers in. Y had the famous ricotta hot cakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter - soft, fluffy hot cakes filled with powdered sugar and drizzled with warm maple syrup. I chose the equally famous sweet corn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon - more of a brunch rather than breakfast dish - the fritters were crisp and sweet and filled with corn and the bacon and tomato were a great accompaniment to the fritters. We were still feeling a bit peckish after that, so more sourdough toast was ordered which came with their homemade jam and we also shared a bowl of the most delicious five-grain porridge with stewed fruit and just a few spoonfuls of brown sugar and cold milk swirled into the hot porridge. Another creamy flat white and it was still only 9:00 a.m. so we lingered a bit and spoke with one of the staff and ended up buying bills new cookbook (I already have two of them) - Everyday Asian. (Although I know it'll be difficult to duplicate the exact flavors because I don't have access to the same quality of organic produce here in Bali that is available in Australia, it's still good to try.)

Since nothing was open yet, we followed our waiter's suggestion and walked the long way back to our hotel via Victoria street with it's Victorian houses then at the end of the road, we took the steep stairs down to the wharf at Woolloomooloo where we saw the preserved docks transformed into a hotel with a fantastic wooden deck running alongside the docks. From there, we walked up another quaint residential area on Bourke street then up towards Hyde park to our hotel. All in all about an hour's walk and just right after our big breakfast. Unfortunately, that's all we had time for in Sydney as we left that afternoon for Indonesia. Between dinner at Spice I Am and breakfast at bills, we had a real taste of the diverse cuisines and delicious food that Sydney (as well as Melbourne) is known for.

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bills (the original one)
433 Liverpool Street
Darlinghurst, Sydney
Telephone: +61 2 9360 9631
*Open for breakfast and lunch Mondays to Saturdays 7:30-3:00, and Sundays from 8:30-3:00
*Newer locations in Woolhara and Surry Hills in Sydney and three more in Japan.

SPICE I AM

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000+08:00

After two weeks in Buenos Aires, we arrived in Sydney for an overnight stay on our long way home to Bali. First thing we did after checking into the hotel was to find a decent Asian restaurant nearby. Luckily, a few blocks from our hotel there was Thai restaurant, Spice I Am. The concierge highly recommended the restaurant but warned us that the place was nothing fancy, even better for us as we were jet lagged and hungry.

We walked in to a tiny open-air place with a few small round tables and stools. When we arrived at around 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday, the place was pretty packed and we were lucky to snag a table right by the sidewalk. Since we were starving, we ordered a whole load of dishes - so many that when they started coming, we couldn't fit them all on our table and had to leave some on another stool nearby.

The menu is traditional Thai. We had two orders of mini vegetable spring rolls with sweet chili dip, two orders of prawn Pad Thai, Thai fried rice with chicken, stir-fried crispy pork belly with basil and chili, stir-fried Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and some steamed jasmine rice along with tall glasses of refreshing lemon-iced tea. Unsurprisingly, we managed to finish it all (there were 5 of us, 3 adults and 2 children). The food came fast and was delicious. Service was quick and efficient. Everything was going well until we finished our dinner and found out that they didn't accept credit cards! Good thing there was an ATM nearby. For our first taste of Thai in Sydney, we were impressed and this was the perfect meal especially after two weeks of non-Asian food in South America.

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Spice I Am (Eat in and Takeaway)

90 Wentworth Avenue

(corner Campbell and Elizabeth Streets)

Surry Hills, Sydney

Telephone: +61 2 928 00 928

*Open Tuesdays to Sundays for lunch and dinner

*BYOB (bring your own bottle of wine) with no corkage

Another Spice I Am full-service restaurant in Darlinghurst plus a Thai street food restaurant called House in Surry Hills.

Buenos Aires: A few of my favorite things

2011-11-15T08:00:00.001+08:00

Artesania Argentina

Arandu - Avenida Ayacucho, 1924, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4800 1575)

Right smack in the tony neighborhood of Recoleta, Arandu has been in business since 1987 producing high quality traditional Argentinean arts and crafts. From belts to ponchos, alpargatas to boots and all sorts of leather goods, pewter items to silverware, carriages to saddles and even clothes, are all beautifully displayed at their multi-story boutique close to the Alvear Hotel. They have several branches in the city but it's this particular location that is often visited by celebrities and tourists in search of a souvenir or made-to-order equestrian equipment.

Best buy: gaucho-inspired belt or alpargatas for less than US$20.

Lecuona de Prat Artesanias - Pacheco de Melo 1967 - 1C, Recoleta (Telphone: +54 11 4803 0253)

In an apartment located in residential Recoleta is this amazing boutique of Maria del Pino Lecuona de Prat (a mouthful of a name) where one-of-a-kind pewter items from Salta are for sale. There are trays and soap dishes, bracelets and picture frames, ice buckets and tumblers, all of them handmade. Prices are not cheap but this is a real find. Call first for an appointment.

Best buy: pewter stirrup-shaped teaspoon with a handle covered in braided leather for about US$10.

30 Quarenta - Arroyo 890, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4326 1065)

Although not a shop that specializes in traditional Argentinean artifacts, this colorful store on Recoleta's chi-chi antique furniture and art gallery street Arroyo, is a delight. Antique posters, old toys reworked as lamps, decorative pieces and furniture. You'll be sure to find something you like and if friendly owner Miguel is there, have a chat with him to find out a bit more about his whimsical designs.

Helado (a.k.a ice cream)

Argentina competes with Italy for best artesanal gelatos with an excellent quality and innovative flavors. There is always the original, classic Freddo (several locations, Delivery ) but our favorite is Un'Altra Volta (also several locations, Delivery 0810 88-VOLTA) for their creamy flavors and an incomparable chocolate amargo (bitter chocolate).

Best buy: Mini cones at both places for US$1.20 for a sweet afternoon treat

Treats to try:

fried (not baked) empanadas - the best ones I've tried are at El Mirasol (see below)
medialunas de grasa (made from lard) and medialunas de manteca (made from butter)
tostados de jamon y queso at any cafe for breakfast or an afternoon snack
cortadito - a slightly taller espresso macchiato

Recoleta

A stroll around the neighborhood of Recoleta, mainly on Avenida Alvear and Avenida Posadas where several fantastic examples of Belle-Epoque architecture are evident and where the city's most expensive designer boutiques, both local and imported ones, are located. Watch out for the dog walkers as well - another interesting Buenos Aires feature.

El Mirasol - El Mirasol de La Recova, Posadas 1032 (Telephone: +54 11 4326 7322)

My two favorites on their menu and probably the best versions in the city. Empanadas de carne - hot crispy, fried pastries filled with a delicious ground meat and spice mix and Mollejas de corazon (veal sweetbreads) - sliced thinly and grilled to perfection and enjoyed just with a spritz of lemon.

Best buy: A dozen empanadas to go or to delivered to your doorstep in a box. Empanadas are about US$1.50 each.

Alpataco, vinos y cuero - Avenida Pte. M. Quintana 450, Recoleta (Telephone: +54 11 4806 9637)

Good value and reasonably-priced, wines are good presents for friends or for your own cellar. There are several wine stores in the city but this is one that we liked because of the friendly service and knowledgeable staff. They have a well-edited selection of wines accompanied by wine accessories and beautiful leather products making it a one-of-a-kind store. Plus, they pack the wines in styrofoam cases ready to be checked in for a long flight and deliver to your apartment of hotel.

Best buy: a bottle of the typical Argentine white wine Torrontes for around US$15.

Aldo's Vinoteca - Moreno 372, San Telmo (Telephone: +54 11 5291 2380)

In out of the way San Telmo, this wine bar is paving the way to proper enjoyment of wines with it's policy of selling wines with retail shop prices in the restaurant to encourage diners to splash out on a good bottle of wine instead of ordering the usual cheaper wines by the glass. It's an idea that should be copied wordlwide.

Best buy: a plate of cured salmon (US$11) with a bottle of Torrontes (US$15).