November 12, 2007 - Met up with a friend that I hadn't seen in quite some time. I had walked past this place so many times and have been meaning to check it out. Finally walked in.
The hostess was completely unexcited to see us. Poor thing. Hostessing is a rough job but I still expect them to be perky about it. Hey, I'm a customer! Smile at least.
The place was much smaller than I thought it would be. There were 2 levels, ground level and 1 below. It was dark and seemed the only source of light came from the little candles on the tables. There was a bar in the back.
Our waiter was friendly. He recommended a nice Chardonnay, Russian Hill I think it was. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste but it was felt nice and light.
The food was not good. Yeah, not getting many points to begin with in terms of ambiance so I was hoping the food would be redeeming. It was not. We shared grilled portabello with some kind of salsa mixture on top that seemed too raw. It didn't blend with the mushroom. The other dish as simply chicken with mashed potatoes. Sure, it wasn't the most exciting thing to choose but nothing else looked that good. And it came out as boring as it sounds. They could have at least have used some creativity in the plating. Nothing. Just chicken and mashed potatoes. What a disappointment. It did taste fine though.
Oh well, they can't all be good. Not going back here again.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Yank Sing
November 3, 2007 - So I've actually been to Yank Sing for dim sum on a number of occasions before. First off, it's expensive. It's not a typical Chinese dim sum place and dishes are, instead of being around $3-5, are around $6-10. So why go there?
The thing to understand about Yank Sing is that it's situated in the Financial District of San Francisco, very close to the Embarcadero. It's a great place for business people to entertain their clients at, a taste of Chinatown without the trek across town, crowds, and rude waitstaff. So Yank Sing is most popular with business people and tourists. It's not a place that locals frequent unless they're trying to impress some non-Chinese visitors. It's just too expensive to go every weekend to hang out. But I hold nothing again Yank Sing because at the very basic level, it is a good restaurant. The food is good, ambiance good, and service is very good.
So this time we went specifically because we were trying to remember which dim sum place was the one with the excellent egg custard tarts that had a nice, flaky, coconutty flavored tart shell. After some discussion we thought it might be Yank Sing so we headed over there to find out. We were wrong again. The dan tat were nothing spectacular actually. Oh well, at least now we know.
So the skinny on what we had and what I thought about it. The shanghai dumplings came first and boy were they perfect! The skin was just strong enough to contain the soup but not too thick to overpower. There was just the perfect amount of soup that squirted out into your mouth and it was delicious! That was the fave of the day. Next came the har gow. Not very good. The shrimp were overcooked and just not that flavorful. Then we had another dumpling that was just so unspectacular that I don't even really remember what it was. The ham sui gok were cold but still good. The dough had a nice chewiness and didn't have a very oily feeling to it and the filling was yummy. It was good. We don't usually get the fried stuff but today we got some fried shrimp with a sweet/sour dip. That was actually better than we expected it to be. The BBQ pork buns were delicious. The bao was nice and fluffy and though I am not a huge fan of cha sui bao because of the filling, I actually enjoyed these.
Ok, we finally worked the massive meal to dessert. We definitely splurged because we couldn't decide. So we got mango pudding, the dan tat that we came for, and the dou fu fa. So I already mentioned that the dan tat were not the nice coconutty ones we came for and were quite ordinary dan tats. They weren't even freshly made and warm or anything like that. Oh well. We ended up taking that one home. The mango pudding was my sister's choice and just what she wanted. It was fine. I'm not the biggest fan of mango pudding. My thing is the dou fu fa. It was smooth and tasty just as it should be but a big minus was that it wasn't hot. I like it when it's nice and hot. Or at least warm! This was cold... wah.
So this was not the best visit and it's unfortunate that this is the first visit to be logged on the blog, but I'm sure there might be a better visit in the future.
The thing to understand about Yank Sing is that it's situated in the Financial District of San Francisco, very close to the Embarcadero. It's a great place for business people to entertain their clients at, a taste of Chinatown without the trek across town, crowds, and rude waitstaff. So Yank Sing is most popular with business people and tourists. It's not a place that locals frequent unless they're trying to impress some non-Chinese visitors. It's just too expensive to go every weekend to hang out. But I hold nothing again Yank Sing because at the very basic level, it is a good restaurant. The food is good, ambiance good, and service is very good.
So this time we went specifically because we were trying to remember which dim sum place was the one with the excellent egg custard tarts that had a nice, flaky, coconutty flavored tart shell. After some discussion we thought it might be Yank Sing so we headed over there to find out. We were wrong again. The dan tat were nothing spectacular actually. Oh well, at least now we know.
So the skinny on what we had and what I thought about it. The shanghai dumplings came first and boy were they perfect! The skin was just strong enough to contain the soup but not too thick to overpower. There was just the perfect amount of soup that squirted out into your mouth and it was delicious! That was the fave of the day. Next came the har gow. Not very good. The shrimp were overcooked and just not that flavorful. Then we had another dumpling that was just so unspectacular that I don't even really remember what it was. The ham sui gok were cold but still good. The dough had a nice chewiness and didn't have a very oily feeling to it and the filling was yummy. It was good. We don't usually get the fried stuff but today we got some fried shrimp with a sweet/sour dip. That was actually better than we expected it to be. The BBQ pork buns were delicious. The bao was nice and fluffy and though I am not a huge fan of cha sui bao because of the filling, I actually enjoyed these.
Ok, we finally worked the massive meal to dessert. We definitely splurged because we couldn't decide. So we got mango pudding, the dan tat that we came for, and the dou fu fa. So I already mentioned that the dan tat were not the nice coconutty ones we came for and were quite ordinary dan tats. They weren't even freshly made and warm or anything like that. Oh well. We ended up taking that one home. The mango pudding was my sister's choice and just what she wanted. It was fine. I'm not the biggest fan of mango pudding. My thing is the dou fu fa. It was smooth and tasty just as it should be but a big minus was that it wasn't hot. I like it when it's nice and hot. Or at least warm! This was cold... wah.
So this was not the best visit and it's unfortunate that this is the first visit to be logged on the blog, but I'm sure there might be a better visit in the future.
Oliveto Cafe and Restaurant
November 2, 2007 - We were invited to a birthday dinner at Oliveto's in Oakland. The place is right across from the Rockridge BART station, so it was very easy to get to. One of my coworkers had mentioned that she had been there before and that it was good, but kinda loud. I was ready to see for myself.
We arrived pretty early and figured that we were probably the first ones there. Though we didn't expect a table to be ready yet, we approached the host anyway and he promptly lead us upstairs, through the dining room up there, to a private room in the back. To our surprise, there were already people there!
There were menus printed with "Joanne's 30th Birthday Bash" at the top and we were to order a antipasti and main dish. We didn't know what most of the things on the menu were. The waiter was very knowledgeable of the menu though and answered all our questions very well. Since it took so much time to swim through the exotic menu, we started with glasses of chardonnay. Delish.
Finally the guest of honor arrived and their orders taken. Not long after, the first course was brought out. I had a delicious salad of fennel, apple, and pine nuts. It was really delicious and I loved the texture of the fennel with apples. It was great and probably the favorite thing that I had. Next came a pasta dish. Not sure what kind of pasta it was... But it was good, slightly al dente in a gentle meat sauce. It was a nice second to the salad. Then came the main course. I ordered the sole dish. It was good but I thought it was too much fish and not enough "other stuff". I ordered it because it was fish with mushrooms on the menu, but when it came, there weren't many mushrooms at all. So it was mostly fish in a light white sauce and with nothing to really accompany it, I got a little bored of the taste. It tasted good. I just need some variety or I get bored very easily.
For desert the restaurant transformed one of their desserts into a birthday cake. The brought it in with the candles and all and we sang. Then they took it out and came back with slices. The cake was this very dense yet soft and fluffy chocolate cake with a very light whipped cream like icing. It was good though I was too full to really appreciate it. I just thought it was too dense for my liking and maybe not as moist as I like cake to be. Though, it wasn't really a cake, more like a lighter than cheesecake texture. Anyway, it was fine but I wasn't sooo wowed like others were.
So the food was good but nothing I'm dying to go back to try again. The location was perfect and easy to get to. It's right on college near all those cutesy restaurants there. The ambiance was simple elegance. The service was excellent. They were very accommodating for the large group and varying arrival times of all the guests. The food was served promptly and water glasses always full. The main waiter that helped with our orders was very good and I hope got a great tip for the evening. Nice place. Probably won't be going back soon unless for another event.
We arrived pretty early and figured that we were probably the first ones there. Though we didn't expect a table to be ready yet, we approached the host anyway and he promptly lead us upstairs, through the dining room up there, to a private room in the back. To our surprise, there were already people there!
There were menus printed with "Joanne's 30th Birthday Bash" at the top and we were to order a antipasti and main dish. We didn't know what most of the things on the menu were. The waiter was very knowledgeable of the menu though and answered all our questions very well. Since it took so much time to swim through the exotic menu, we started with glasses of chardonnay. Delish.
Finally the guest of honor arrived and their orders taken. Not long after, the first course was brought out. I had a delicious salad of fennel, apple, and pine nuts. It was really delicious and I loved the texture of the fennel with apples. It was great and probably the favorite thing that I had. Next came a pasta dish. Not sure what kind of pasta it was... But it was good, slightly al dente in a gentle meat sauce. It was a nice second to the salad. Then came the main course. I ordered the sole dish. It was good but I thought it was too much fish and not enough "other stuff". I ordered it because it was fish with mushrooms on the menu, but when it came, there weren't many mushrooms at all. So it was mostly fish in a light white sauce and with nothing to really accompany it, I got a little bored of the taste. It tasted good. I just need some variety or I get bored very easily.
For desert the restaurant transformed one of their desserts into a birthday cake. The brought it in with the candles and all and we sang. Then they took it out and came back with slices. The cake was this very dense yet soft and fluffy chocolate cake with a very light whipped cream like icing. It was good though I was too full to really appreciate it. I just thought it was too dense for my liking and maybe not as moist as I like cake to be. Though, it wasn't really a cake, more like a lighter than cheesecake texture. Anyway, it was fine but I wasn't sooo wowed like others were.
So the food was good but nothing I'm dying to go back to try again. The location was perfect and easy to get to. It's right on college near all those cutesy restaurants there. The ambiance was simple elegance. The service was excellent. They were very accommodating for the large group and varying arrival times of all the guests. The food was served promptly and water glasses always full. The main waiter that helped with our orders was very good and I hope got a great tip for the evening. Nice place. Probably won't be going back soon unless for another event.
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