Han's Profile
Cheap eats in San Francisco
I can only speak of Taiwan at Berkeley. It has some great dishes but they are specialty dishes that are available at certain times on weekends. Like the south style taiwanese noodle soup is very good.
On the regular menu, the oyster omelette is good. So is the pork with tofu skin roll.
Both Taiwanese specialties but available everyday.
Also their beef sliced thin (marinated 5 spice) is v good.
Kopitiam in Lafayette Closing
Their touted Hainam chicken rice was allright but not spectacular. I recently tried the authentic Kopitiam in Singapore (across Rendezvous Hotel) and it is MUCH better. The chicken was moist and succulent. The rice, the sauce over the rice, chili sauce and the vegies are perfect in every way. Compared to the Lafayette, it is no contest.
Banana Tree in Union City is probably in trouble too. Very few customers. Then they raised the prices and even fewer customers now.
Is it the chicken in US different than in Singapore ? I will try to experiment on my own
The owner Edward tries hard to please and very friendly to customers. I wish him the best.
Pinoy Place (Hayward/S Lorenzo) - great Filipino buffet !
What a find this place was and I had been missing it all these years. It is hidden from the main Hesperian Blvd and one would never find it were it not for the internet search engine by sheer luck.
The buffet featured many dishes and all were good to excellent filipino dishes. Quite impressed with the kare2, beefsteak, jackfruit and they even have longanisa and fried fish. All you can eat for less than $9 per person for dinner on Sat night !!! Unbelievable value and taste.
The owner was very nice and welcoming. We were spoiled customer that night. She made a new batch of cantaloupe? drink (orange colour) for us and heated whatever dishes we wanted.
I think Hayward is quite spoiled with all these buffet places (Indian, Filipino, American)
Anyone can help give me suggestion for lunch in Hayward??
Hayward has several excellent restaurants...and good value as well. I mentioned some of these before but I found some additional dishes that I discovered. Timing is important when you go to these places. Call ahead to make sure they got their signature dishes.
Manilla Garden off Hesperian accross from Home Depot has an absolutely awesome filipino roast pork. On Sundays they always have that. Crackling skin and tender juicy meat. The best version I find in US bar none. The only thing rivaling this would be the roast pork from the big dimsum houses such as Koi. At Manilla Garden, it is buffet style and one can eat as much as they want of this awesome dish. If you love roast pork, this is the ultimate roast pork. Their other buffet dishes are pretty good as well. All homestyle but tasty. Get this...it is only like $8-10 or so per person !! I never found a better value anywhere.
Tomodachi is quite good. Ray Sushi if you sit in the bar has good value I think. Both on Hesperian Blvd.
Grand Taipei also on Hesperian across from Chabot has awesome special chef dishes such as sea bass loaded with garlic. If you are garlic lover, this dish is garlic galore and loaded with garlic taste. A bit expensive dish but well worth it - probably $20-30 per dish but you can share with friends. Just stick with special chef dishes - very unique I think and excellent chinese dish.
As I mentioned before, the Hometown Buffet at Southland often has excellent buffet. It has a large grill section. For only $10 or so, you can get pretty good meat. Call ahead to find out if they have the brisket, pork chop and steaks. They are not top quality meat but very tasty. And the fried chicken is way above average.
Jayakarta -- Indonesian in Berkeley!
I am Indonesian and have cooked beef rendang probably more than 20x and tasted hundreds of different versions out there - including the authentic versions cooked by Padang people who I believe first came up with this dish
What I observe is there are generally 2 main categories:
1) The soft type with pretty good amount of thick sauce(not like soup). The meat is usually tender and the sauce is from coconut milk. The good version has a dark brown color and the sauce is thick. This is the one I usually cooked and most people used packaged spices from Indofood/Bambu brands. When this type if the meat is tough usually is a result of a tough cut of meat (london broil). A good cut is a nice thick chuck with slivers of fat and if cooked properly will result in tender meat. Should be long enough to make it tender but not too long that the meat loses its flavor and elasticity. That window can be elusive sometimes and need constant attention to get it right. This is the most common type.
2) The harder type has almost black colour permeated throughout the meat. It is not really hard but the meat has striated texture. The sauce is usually very little. Never made this type. Can be very tasty. I have also seen the blackened version with quite a bit of dark coloured sauce
Esperpento - great !
This is my first experience with tapas but I had great experience with the food here
-Garlic shrimp is simply awesome with the garlicky red sauce and succulent perfect size shrimps - superb. We ordered two - first time I ever done that in any restaurant
-Potatoes bravas: same superbness as above
-Oyster was also great here. Nice oyster flavor - ordered it twice
-Ham was very good and worth it
-Meatballs had very good sauce
-Chorizo was nothing special
-Calamari was superb- perfect tecture and chewiness
-Grilled asparagus was pretty good- had good garlic sauce
-Croquettes were allright
-Grill artichokes were ok - wish there is more artichoke flavor
-Paella turista was allright
-Sangria was quite good but expensive for the pitcher.
-Bread was actually pretty good here. Nice butter
There were obviously a lot of hits here and no misses
Any other great dishes here ?
Shalimar in Fremont (Pakistan)
Heard lots of raves on this place from a lot of people so I checked it out myself and here are my findings\ after trying out five dishes:
-Brain curry was delicious on all counts. The spicings and heat was all there
-Chicken tikka masala was better than average. Again the spices and heat were good
-Garlic naan was not good IMO. Too bland compared to Guilistan in Union City
-Kofti beef kebab was not as good to Gulistan. Not even close.
-Briyani chicken was quite good actually. Not enough rice, too many chicken pieces for my liking.
-Tandoori chicken was not moist .
Overall decent but not make me want to come back for anything really special. Gulistan on the other hand just keep reminding me to go back.
Anyone else car to chime in on this place or Gulistan ?
Best/favorite Chinese roast pork w/ crackling (Siu Yoke)?
Have you considered the Filipino version ? See below link for a photo of it, scroll toward the bottom.
http://www.seriouseats.com/tags/Filipino
Manila Garden in Hayward has a really good roast pork. The skin is crispy to the point it has tiny bubbles and the meat has nice layered fat and meat layers. One of the best I had in USA. The sauce dip is also great.
I also know Koi Palace in Daly City has excellent roast pork from the baby pig but much pricier. Actually many high end Cantonese places have the suckling pig with the crispy skin and they are usually outstanding and much better compared to the small bbq to go places.
Where to find John Morrell links (16/pkg)?
Who has them now ? Safeway, FoodMax ?
These come in polish or smoked flavor. They are longer than average bun.
I bought them before at Lucky but it is sometimes hard to find. They come 16 per package. Tasted great and great price too for like $3-5 per pkg. Good for soups because they are large and succulent.
Not as great tasting as the more expensive ones but very decent.
The links are shown below at the bottom
http://www.johnmorrell.com/products_sausage.aspx
Need Yakitori recipe/pork liver
Tried both but the pork liver is clearly superior. I basically duplicated the taste
I think pork liver is superior to chicken because it is more firm and will not dry out. It was very tender and very mild tasting unlike chicken. Chicken liver tends to disintegrate quickly and dry out. Must be careful not to dry it out when grilling the pork liver.
big success !
Everett Jones BBQ in JLS Oakland
I measure all briskets to the HB Southland nowadays. It is moist and the seasonings are perfect with slightly sweet sauce on the outside. The inside is usually tender. On the net I see all kinds of better looking briskets - and that is what I am after.
HB Southland has briskets only on "certain days". I was told Saturday dinner which begins late afternoon. I also had it on Sundays lunch hours between 1130-130 pm.
BTW, their steaks are quite decent but you have to ask medium rare or they give you overcooked dry steak. This place has many stellar dishes on their buffet menu. Fried chicken, fish and soups to name a few. Not all HB's are the same but this one is the best out of 5 HB's places I tried. Fremont comes second.
Everett Jones BBQ in JLS Oakland
Should I have asked for fatty cut on the brisket ? I wonder if that helps.
Everett Jones BBQ in JLS Oakland
I did order the sauces on the side. The sauces are decent, I can vouch for that. I had the hot and the mild.
But the smoked meats (chicken and brisket)....no way they can be called great.
Everett Jones BBQ in JLS Oakland
Ate here for the first time near Jack London Square
Beef Brisket was dry. I was disappointed. Even the brisket at Hometown Buffet at Southland Hayward was much better and moist. This is inexcusable.
Chicken was much better with crispy skin and moist meat. Smokiness was on the light side.
Service can be improved here. Our waitress was slow. Getting extra plates took forever. The bill was wrong and took forever to correct. She even forgot things.
I heard so much praise for this restaurant - did I go to the wrong branch ?
I need moist flavorful beef brisket recs - thanks !
Need Yakitori recipe/pork liver
Sorry, double post !!
I had great Yakitori in Japan at an Izakaya near Narita station. I think it was some type of liver. Not sure if it was chicken or pork liver. It was awesome. The cook told me in broken English that it was pork but now I am not sure if she really told me correctly,
I did not find much on the net about pork liver used in Yakitori. Is it common ? Does it taste good ?
I need easy but authentic recipes.
thks
Need Yakitori recipe/pork liver
I had great Yakitori in Japan at an Izakaya near Narita station. I think it was some type of liver. Not sure if it was chicken or pork liver. It was awesome.
I did not find much on the net about pork liver used in Yakitori. Is it common ? Does it taste good ?
I need easy but authentic recipes.
thks
Tasty treats in the Tenderloin and around?
At last, someone like the same thing I do. If anyone knows how to duplicate the curry beef, PLEASE let me have it.
Their curry beef is very unique, tender and so addictive especially after months of not having it. It is a comfort food.
With their chili hot sauce, the combination is really delish.
China Palace Milpitas
It was dinner and I ordered the dishes a-la-carte. Many of them were under seasoned and seems to be executed poorly. I never tried their lunch specials/rice plates.
Top Cafe menu is actually quite broad. It has noodles, jooks, stir fried and even westernized dishes. The wonton here is outstanding. All were tasty and executed well. Their fault is presentation - they just don't look appetizing. Also no photos either. But this place rocks and probably has one of the the highest percentage of good dishes I know.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/SXj9jDKXozuvqIz3X6NVEg?select=_hWNrJ0u_3VwJIIoc4MRRg
checkout the photos and you will know what I mean. It actually taste better than the photos. Some of the photos looked pretty good in this case.
China Palace Milpitas
Is this the place across from Top Cafe, in the same side as Thai Cafe but two doors to the left ?
If so, I had terrible experience. I tried 5 different dishes and all without exceptions were very poor. What dishes that you really like ?
The place is always crowded with chinese. BTW I am chinese myself and always enjoyed authentic chinese.
By contrast, Top Cafe was top notch. All the dishes were good to superb and prices are lower as well. However, the place is always empty.
What a huge contrast !!
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Top Cafe
650 Barber Ln, Milpitas, CA 95035
Best Indian Buffet
Naan' N Curry has good buffet. The taste is more than acceptable. It has kebabs which is quite good. Last time I requested beef kebabs and they made them specially for us for no additional charge. They only had chicken kebabs. It was around $9 and includes drinks. All the sauces are pretty good.
Dinner is around $12 with the same selections as lunch
This is the one near Union Square
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Naan-N-Curry
336 Ofarrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Top Cafe in Mipitas - what else is good ?
The fact that you put this place on your rotation is quite a feat for this humble little place. I wonder if the chef is the same all these years.
Their dishes and decor lack style points but the taste trumps many places to shame. Especially the place accross the street (Chilli Place) that is usually packed but really pale in comparison. I spent 50 bucks for lousy tasteless food. I spent half that at top cafe for tasty food and had lots of leftover due to big portion. What a difference.
Top Cafe in Mipitas - what else is good ?
I was really impressed by the taste of all the dishes at this place. This is another gem in my book. The place looks barebones in style but the food is tops.
What else is good here ?
Here are the dishes I had today:
Grilled chicken steak diana: tender, succulent and the sauce was awesome. Really top notch in all counts except appearance,
Wonton noodle and beef stew soup: the wonton is perfect with whole shrimp just like in HK. Noodles and beefstew were executed perfectly. Broth is tops.
Hoi nam chicken rice was misleading. It is actually black bean style. But other than that this is a stellar dish regardless. Perfect black bean sauce, wow !
Porridge with sliced fish had fresh fish. The porridge itself is quite plain. Had to add seasonings to make it exciting. All it had was fresh sliced fish and white porridge I think. Still B+ because of the fish, Large pieces of fish. This place does not skimp !
The grand finale was the house made chili. This is quite unique and is very good in all counts. One of the top house made chili I ever had. The best is still at the 8 Immortal in SF.
The iced coffee is alsoo perfectly made. This place just cannot do wrong. I am blown away. Why didn't anyone recommend this place highly before.
I ate here before long time ago and had good experience. But had mostly western chinese food there.
The place is below the famous ABC dimsum in Barber Ct, Milpitas. So far this place tops everything else in taste. There are 2 places across that looked interesting with lots of pictures. That will be my target in the near future. Any recs are appreciated.
Burmese-Chinese Restaurant in Fremont ?
http://www.yelp.com/biz/burmese-chinese-restaurant-fremont
Not so sure if they make distinction or not. I passed by the place while shopping at the LION market next to it
Burmese-Chinese Restaurant in Fremont ?
Anyone tried it ? The owner (maybe) said it has lunch buffet everyday.
Yelp review was not very good
thks
Indonesian Food Bazaar - San Jose - This Sunday 11/16
None from the restaurants. All were home cooks or semi pro. Budiman food supplies the big Marvel company out in Mountain View with his tempeh and beefballs.
Arthur is either a semi pro or full time. not sure.
I know there are three great vendors there at least.
Indah is famous for her Padang food. She is probably the top cooks for that category. She was the first stall. Her food exemplies the best of Padang food. Great rendang and other dishes especially the soft "kikil" curry.
The empek-empek stall that I mentioned
A newcomer that sells lots of dessert or appetizers. Mrs Lanny is a skilled cook and her prices are very reasonable. Her cakes have graced many of our parties. Made perfectly. Her stall also featured lumpia Semarang that is outstanding and taste authentic.
There are many bombs for sure so one has to know which stalls made what. Having an experienced diner such as myself would be very valuable I think. There is alwasy a next time. They have those several times a year. Most of the time the same vendors will be there.
If I am not busy and other hounds wants to join in, I am always open to the idea since our whole family loves going to these places. We can have a big feast at one of these Indonesian festivals !
Indonesian Food Bazaar - San Jose - This Sunday 11/16
Did anyone go ? Any reports ?
Here are my findings:
-Empek-empek (type of fish cake) is one of the best I found. The owner is Mei-Mei. Nice texture (best when refried) and fish flavor. The eggs inside is nicely integrated and wet inserted accroding to the owner.
-Was disappointed with Arthur. All too sweet instead of the usual flavorful even the rendangs were disappointing. The value was great with 4 items for $8 with rice. The kue pe-pe was the best as usual (multi color gelatinous cake) - just awesome.
-Kroket and sausage brut was very disappointing. Bought it from a nice lady in the corner who gave away cupcakes to little kids.
-My friend Ben has his noodles and beefball stall. He makes his own noodle with unique toothsome texture for those who like them. For the beefball, I prefer the beefier taste of Tung Kee balls.
Indonesian Food Bazaar - San Jose - This Sunday 11/16
http://www.kabarinews.com/calendarEvent.cfm?EventID=137
the best hamburger...where is it?
I also respectfully disagree. Val is nothing special but they are better than McDonald or even InNout. But would never consider it as a great burger.
Great burger must have exceptional tasty meat and great buns (not the regular storebought variety). Val has NEITHER.
Just like TOP DOG used to be great buns and great sausages. But now the buns are just so-so even though it is not store bought variety.
I want suckling pig NOW!!!
Yank Sing in downtown should have a good version. It is an upscale dimsum in the financial district well known in the board. Easy walk from Bart. Just call them to make sure they have it.
http://www.yanksing.com/our-cuisine/index.html
ISO Daun Salam, Indian Bayleaf
We use this leaf a lot since we are Indonesian. The leaves are dried inside a plastic packaging. I believe my wife buys it at the Ranch 99, many branches in Bay Area. Call ahead to make sure since you seem to be outside the proper bay area.
