Eat. Travel. Eat!

Recently brought to my attention was thali. Literally, it describes a metal plate in which is used to serve food. But, it also be an eating experience--where food comes in an all-you-can-eat format. Unlike a buffet however, the employees at thali restaurants serve the food directly at your table, refilling your thali as you progress through your meal. A friend of mine noted Rajdhani Restaurant in Artesia, CA as a good example of such experience in the Los Angeles area. Known for its vegetarian thali, the restaurant is quite popular. Indeed, we waited for around 10 minutes before getting a seat.

Maccheroni Republic specializes in "artisan handmade fresh organic pasta" at an affordable price point, and is quite popular in the city, having long waits (now made more convenient, with a Yelp waitlist feature ). We decided to check it out for lunch during their DineLA week earlier this year. Stopping by at its opening time for lunch (11 AM), we didn't need to wait long for a table, as the waiters quickly brought a small queue of customers waiting outside to their seats both inside and outside of the restaurants. The interior was rather cozy with tables located quite close to each other, so we opted to sit outside, which was kept warm in a rather cool morning with several heaters.  Alongside each table was bottles of oil (both olive and chili) and vinegar to accompany the bread, which was crusty outside and soft inside.

State Bird Provisions is an "adventurous, inventive, delicious, thoughtful contemporary American restaurant"  that has received major praise , and happens to be one of the hottest spots for dinner in San Francisco. So when I found out we could secure a late night reservation here on a recent trip, I put it on our to-do list.

Having enjoyed vegan/vegetarian focused restaurants in the past ( Cafe Gratitude , Real Food Daily ), we started off a visit to Santa Barbara by visiting Mesa Verde for lunch. It had been positively reviewed on multiple websites, and its own website showcased beautifully crafted vegetarian cuisine. Housed in its own quaint grey and green building, parking is a tight, only having a few dedicated spots in the parking lot.  Although we arrived relatively late for lunch (around 2pm), we still had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table. The restaurant was near capacity, and employees were busy in the kitchen and serving customers seated indoors and outdoors. The environment was still relaxed, with locals enjoying a wide number of items from the menu. The owner happened to serve us that day, and apologized for the wait. After ordering and asking for his input on recommended lunch items-- the Patatas Bravas Tacos and Picadillo Empanadas came highly recommended--he provided u...

L'Etoile, located on the Capitol Square, is a fine-dining establishment in Madison, Wisconsin, focused on local and seasonal offerings. Arguably Madison's most renown restaurant, I couldn't have skipped a trip to Madison without trying this place for myself. L'Etoile provides an air of simple elegance. Housed in a building with floor to ceiling windows, with an interior that has understated neutral tones, the scene warmed up with the extensive wine cellar, candlelight, and flower arrangements. At our table, we received custom printed menus for the evening. It was here that the attention to detail came about. When making the reservation, we had noted the occassion that presided our visit, and our menus had a small message to reflect that note. Moreover, the employees also were aware of the occassion--a very nice touch.

Established in 1986, Javan Restaurant is a Middle Eastern restaurant located on the Westside focusing on Persian food.    Inside, the environment was decidedly upscale, with a bar, a white grand piano, stone tables, wood accents, and plenty of pictures adorning the walls. All the waiters, moreover, were dressed quite formally with dress shirts and ties.

We've greatly enjoyed our past visits to Larchmont's Cafe Gratitude , and so we were glad to hear that Cafe Gratitude has also opened up in Downtown's Art District--making a for a shorter drive to enjoy their creative vegan and organic foods. The Arts District location takes more of a light colored approach (instead of an emphasis on turquoise), with white chairs and benches, grey walls, yellow chairs, green plants, and woods throughout the entire location. It's also much larger than the Larchmont location--we made reservations, given Cafe Gratitude's general popularity and dineLA, but found out that the restaurant was less than half full when we entered. Unlike some of the Yelp reviews about this location, service was great right from the moment we entered the restaurant. We were happily guided to our table, our waiters noted the dineLA menu and dinner specials, checked up on us to make sure we were ready to order (took a while given the many options!)...

Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich , and Nancy Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza have been extremely popular restaurants in Los Angeles, commanding queues that were hours long. So when we were recently in the area and found out on OpenTable that we could reserve seats for lunch at a time just less than a half an hour prior to arrival, we took the opportunity. Pizzeria Mozza is a relatively small restaurant, located adjacent to the larger Osteria Mozza (open for dinner only) and Mozza2Go. Inside, light toned woods and yellows set the tone--a skylight, which was filtered with a yellow skin, provided most of the lighting. A friendly vibe was immediately set with the upbeat employees, who immediately seated us and went through the menu in detail once we told them it was our first time dining here. We found out popular items, and also some notable differentiations--pizzetta meant a smaller pizza, and that any pizza that didn't list "tomato" on i...

A visit to Hong Kong entails a list of places to visit-- Tim Ho W an, a Mic hel in starred dim sum restaurant chain also widely known as the cheapest Mic helin starred di m sum, was on that list. We found one outlet conveniently located at the MTR Hong Kong Station , nestled beneath the large IFC Mall in Central , Hong Kong, and chec ked it out during a weekday lunch. The ca veat of the weekday lunch, however, is t hat the office workers nearby head down toward s IFC Mall for many delicious eate ries. Tim Ho Wan, as a result, was pack ed, with long queues for sitting inside the restaurant. Unwilling to wait, we d ecided t o order to-go, and enjoy the food at our hotel room instead. After filling out a menu sheet, paying for the ite ms, and waiting fo r only a short period of time, we were on our way t o en joying some dim sum.

Inspired by a post from Wandering Chopsticks , we decided to visit Bhan Kanom Thai--essentially the place to go for Thai desserts in Thai Town. With a whole host of homemade desserts, as well as a onset of special ethnic snacks, Bhan Kanom Thai truly is a fun place to be. So much so, that its dessert options have been featured on Buzzfeed , amongst other media outlets.

While at the Ferry Building Marketplace, one store stood out in terms of a long queue and lots of people enjoying its products-- Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream, established in 2008. After enjoying lunch at The Slanted Door , we decided to check it out. The storefront was quite simple, with a blue, white, and metal theme. The funnest part of Humphry Slocombe are the flavors-- lots of intriguing, unconventional flavor mixes and blends. Samples were graciously offered (through metal tasting spoons), letting you sample a variety of flavors before choosing the ones you want to order.

After lunch a t Ts ujita LA Artisan Noodles , and exploring part of what Sawtelle Blvd. has to offer (Cocos, Ni jiya Market, Curry House, Hide Sushi, Seoul Sausage, Gottsui, to name a few of many great places!) , we de cided we wanted a dessert to cool o ff from the walking we did and to quench our thirsts after th e heavy noodles we had earlier in the day. By this time, Blockheads Shavery was filled with customers, all of who seemed to be experts in ordering what Blockheads Shavery calls " snow cream" , or what is generally called shaved snow-- combinin g elements of shave d ice and ice cream together. Ordering is simple and is done in 3 steps: 1. Choos ing a flavor (Original, green tea, black sesame, sea salt, and a special brown sugar created with soymilk were offered during our visit) and size 2. Choosing toppings (60 cent s each)   3. Choosing a d rizzle, of which include condensed milk, strawberry puree, coconut pur ee, chocolate sauce, and carame...

Last Saturday, the first Southern California branch of CREAM (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me) opened in University Gateway, an apartment/shopping complex located adjacent to the University of Southern California's University Park Campus in Los Angeles, California. Based out of Northern California , CREAM aims to provide reasonably cost, proprietary and high quality products with friendly service in a "fun and relaxed atmosphere," and is an extremely popular dessert outlet in Northern California. CREAM happened to offer free ice cream sandwiches (normally 2.99 USD) to all customers on their opening day, so I decided to I checked it out. There was quite a queue outside during opening night (took around 30 minutes!), but music from KXSC radio, a raffle for more free CREAM sandwiches, cheerful and motivated employees, and a complimentary drink holder made the wait doable. Inside , CREAM was bustling, with lots of employees running around, scooping ice cream...

Recent trips to Fashion Island have introduced us to a tasty application of chia seeds : coconut chia pudding, which we spotted at True Food Kitchen as well as Le Pain Quotidien. True Food Kitchen adorned theirs with banana and coconut chips, and Le Pain Quotidien used a seasonal fruit compote as topping, as well as seasoning the chia seeds with lemon, mango, and agave syrup. Given that our sample of True Food Kitchen's rendition was quite tasty, we thought, why not make this at home? So that's what we ended up doing. In the process of purchasing coconut milk, we ran into a cool ingredient--coconut nectar--and decided to use that as sweetener instead of sugars or syrups. The Big Tree Farms Organic Amber Coconut Nectar is a decadent ingredient-- it has a very condensed, dark, roasted, and rich coconut flavor which provides great depth of flavor to whatever you're adding it to. Making the chia pudding was very simple. First, start off with chia seeds.

After an eventful seven hours at Incheon International Airport , it was time to go on-board my next flight to go to Beijing. Asiana Airlines Flight OZ 333 June 3, 2014 Service from Incheon International Airport (ICN) nonstop to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) Travel Class (Economy) The cabin of this Asiana Airlines A330 actually happened to be slightly newer than that of the Boeing 777 I traveled on earlier.     Seats in this case did have an adjustable headrest. Furthermore, there was an in-flight entertainment remote that guided the Audio Video on Demand system, which did have a good selection of movies, music, and games on offer. The entertainment screens may have looked the same, but you could do a lot more with this system. One option was available for lunch: a beef and pepper stir-fry with sweet and sour pork with rice. What was special was that an aloe drink was on offer as a beverage--this was nicely sweet, with a light grape flavo...

One of the items that I always make sure to get when visiting McDonald's in Asia is the Sweet Taro Pie (in China, 2 for 9 RMB). There are several differentiators to McDonald's China pies: 1. As its outer appearance suggests, it is a fried, not baked product. Thus, the exterior is fragrant and crispy, while the interior of the dough is tender, slightly chewy and elastic. 2. The flavor! Taro, pineapple, and banana were the flavors I saw while I was on my trip, but all of these flavors are not available in the United States. Taste wise for the sweet taro pie, it all comes together: a lightly sweet, tender taro filling with an slightly savory exterior and chewy interior covering. It isn't particular heavy either, for the taro filling consists of pieces of taro in a sweet purple colored syrup; you are not eating mashed taro in each bite, but rather a more fluid filling with the fried pastry dough. No, it might not be the healthiest dessert around, bu...

During the summer, in the touristy shopping area of Wangfujing, one will quickly notice two things: 1. Lots of people are enjoying ice cream cones. At least half, or greater, have green tea flavored soft-serve ice cream in them. 2. There is one place that sustains a long line at its storefront throughout the day: Wuyutai Tea. But what is this line for? And more importantly, why are people waiting for about 5 minutes to reach the storefront for? Ice cream! More specifically, soft-serve jasmine tea and matcha ice cream for 6 RMB/CNY/yuan, or approximately 1 USD, with a per person limit of only two cones. That may sound cheap, but you need to compare to its local competitors. McDonald's green tea ice cream (offered as is or with a swirl with vanilla ice cream) cone costs 4 RMB each, and if you get two, the second is currently 50 percent off, making each cone worth only 3 RMB. Or in other words, you could get two McDonald's ice cream cones for the same price as one...