Archive for the ‘french food’ Category

When I found out I could not get a reservation at The French Laundry, I had to look for an alternative dining location around Napa and was utterly convinced to try Ubuntu, touted to be the best vegetarian restaurant ever. Honestly, I couldn’t wait! But I was secretly afraid my friend would protest. God bless her, she was so accommodating throughout my trip and with my foodie obsession.

Anyway, there was absolutely no regrets whatsoever because I tasted THE BEST PEAS IN MY LIFE. These jade green seeds popped in my mouth and they tasted so clean you can taste the natural juices and sweetness.

“Hmm, I want to bring a whole bowl home!” I remembered that thought running through my ahead. That followed by “No more frozen peas for me. No more canned mushy peas for me. No more, no more, no more!”

The second course was “raw, roasted, pureed”, or how Ubuntu glorified the boring white cauliflower. In the little Staub casserole laid cauliflower cooked three ways. At the bottom, almost 3/4 of the pan, was roasted cauliflower together with whole garlic. The roasting caramelized the vegetables and enhanced it with a deep, smokey flavour. That was followed by a pureed layer, creamy and rich because gruyere cheese was mixed into it. Then, whimsicle raw cauliflower trees decorated the top. Stab the spoon into the pot and smear the vegetables over buttered toast. Yums!
Dessert was a “vanilla bean cheesecake”. Full cream yogurt, thick and slightly sour lined the bottom of the container. Then, digestive cookie crumbs, and cooked sour cherries filled the middle. Whipped cream cheese topped the whole thing off. The honey tuile on the sides were also nice and crispy. We really enjoyed this light but satisfying dessert.

Is Ubuntu the greatest vegetarian restaurant ever? I don’t know if I can make that statement. There is absolutely nothing pretentious – no fancy presentations, foams or molecular cooking. Ubuntu is nothing but fresh vegetables cooked simply to bring out their natural flavours. I loved the food there and sure beats all the other veggie restaurants I have tried so far.

Ubuntu
1140 Main Street
Napa, California 94559
Seven days a week:
M-Th: 5:30pm – 9pm
Fr-Su: 11:30 – 2:30pm and
5:30pm – 10p (9p Sundays)
Tel: 707.251.5656

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Napa – Ubuntu |

In less than 30 minutes, one can take the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) from SF to Berkeley, in the East Bay region. There, you can visit my alma mater and enjoy great food. There are many many good restaurants around but I only have one meal and I chose to go to Chez Panisse.

Opened by a lady, Alice Waters, who has always been an advocate for sound and sustainable agriculture, the restaurant still remains committed to that believe today. The restaurant started out serving only one fix prix menu that changes daily. That has not changed either, but a more casual cafe opened much later, to offer an alternative to the restaurant. Located upstairs, the cafe offers à la carte menu for both lunch and dinner.

Knoll Farm rocket with artichokes and black olives crostini (US$9)

I wasn’t expecting chopped olives on a thin toast. The olives were tasty, but it was far too much oil, good oil or not. But the greens, oh they were a revelation. I could taste each of the different leaves distinctly and they had little holes, a positive sign of organic farming methods.

Spicy Hog Island Clams cooked in the wood oven with pancetta, peas, garlic toast and saffron mayonnaise (US$18)
Tasty.

Marinated beets and carrots with ginger and Monterey Bay sardines (US$10)

If beets tasted this good all the time, I want to have beets everyday. Seriously. I never tasted beets like that before. They were earthy, yet tasted very clean and light, all at once. Loved it. The sardines were also very very good. I want to eat ten of them!

Crimson rhubarb tart with candied orange ice cream (US$9.75)

The tart on first sight, looked so rustic and homemade. I know it sounds strange, but it exuded warmth and love. The shell was very thin and partly soft, partly crunchy. I looked at the pinkish rhubarb and could not believe something so pretty could be oh-so-sour. Luckily we had the ice cream on the side. On its own, it was sweet and tasted like a big, frozen orange creamsicle. It complemented the rhubarb very nicely.

Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café
1517 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709-1516
Reservations taken up to 1 month in advance.

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Berkeley – Chez Panisse |

Right across the In-and-Out burger joint near the Fisherman’s Wharf is a dessert heaven. Ghirardelli Square is named after the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory that used to set up shop there. Today, the Square has many different restaurants but the namesake Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop has good ice cream and desserts. There is an original chocolate-making equipment in operation that can you can focus on for a few minutes while waiting for your dessert to arrive. This is also a must-do in SF for me.

Mint bliss.

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San Francisco – Ghirardelli Square |

One must go to San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf, even though we know it is a tourist trap and yadda dada. But go for a walk down the piers near sundown – it makes a lovely way to relax after a long day.

I would not recommend eating at any of the seafood restaurants at Pier 39, because you pay a lot for gimmick and not so much for good food. Walk further down to a more casual Boudin Bakery, famous for their sourdough bread that is in itself ubiquitously SF. I usually get a clam chowder bread bowl and that fills me up nicely. Or, if that is not your thing, the only In-and-Out burger is also at the Wharf.

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San Francisco – Boudin Bakery |

I caught up with one of my college friends over brunch at Maverick’s. This restaurant is located at a more suburban area of SF called Missions and honestly, I would not go a foot near that place unless it is broad daylight. It is really really dodgy.

The restaurant is tucked in one of the smaller streets and decked out in cherry oak wood that felt very welcoming and casual. The almost full-length windows open up to the sidewalk and on a Sunday, it felt very relaxed and chill. Recommended for brunch! The restaurant serves proper food for lunch and dinner but I didn’t get to try. Anyways, the brunch menu is not very complex but the staples of brunch are there.
I got a crab and creamy spinach benedict that was simple but soooo satisfying! A lot of fresh picked crab, perfectly poached eggs, thick toasts. Yums. Of course, I had to throw in a pomegranate bellini as well, to make the brunch just that bit extra special and indulgent.

Did I say yums?

Maverick
3316 17th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
T:415.863.3061

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San Francisco – Maverick |

It was without a doubt that after the huge dinner at Coi, something simple was desired for lunch. Besides, the main agenda was really to to go shopping right after.

I first read about this upscale sandwich joint from The Amateur Gourmet who lives and blogs about the east coast, so finding it available in SF downtown was totally unexpected and cool.

I love the open cafeteria concept. It is free seating and the food ordering system works just like fast-food, except when the server serves you your made-to-order sandwiches.

I got the soup and 1/2-sandwich combo (US$8.95 excluding tax and tip). The creamy lentil soup topped with a generous spoonful of freshly grated parmagiano reggiano cheese was pure comfort food.
Since I love underglamourous ingredients like chickpeas and pickled lemons, I got a wholewheat bread sandwich filled with rough mashed chickpeas and olives and the combination together with pickled meyer lemon and caramelized sweet peppers was spot-on. I think non-vegetarians would also love this.

The set comes with a pack of thick-cut potato chips as well and there is free water available on self-service.

‘wichcraft
westfield centre
868 mission street @ 5th street

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San Francisco – ‘wichcraft |

The concept of Coi sounds all righteous and good.

“best ingredients we can find in our area: cultivated plants grown from heirloom seeds; wild-harvested leaves, flowers, barks and roots; local fish, seaweeds and coastal grasses; pastured meat, poultry and eggs from small farmers. These are the flavors of place.“

I was sold and went all out to make a reservation on Opentable.com until I got a confirmation and heaved a sigh of relief.

Maybe it was a combination of factors – the recommendation and the anticipation, that made this meal a major disappointment.

I won’t go into details too much, but in general, I thought the food might have appeared interest and pleasant to the eye, some of them did taste pretty decent while some of them just don’t make sense. Above all, I could not stand the pretentious wait staff, with their no-smiles-i’m-better-than-you attitude. There was no need to seem so high-handed. I know they are probably nice people outside the restaurant. So the friend and I tried to loosen them up a bit by going a couple notches up the decibel scale.

The restaurant was in a low-ceiling room that made me feel like I was in a upscale cave. All the tables were full (about 24 pax in total) and more than 50% were Asians. Just a note, I don’t want to imply anything. So anyway, we got the tasting menu, which was the only menu, at US$125 per pax (excluding tax and tip) without wine pairing. What did we eat?

Coi homemade bread roll
Scented with Coi essential oils (sage, pepper, and some flowers)

Honeymilk in a gel
Pink Grapefruit
ginger, tarragon, black pepper

Asparagus, Raw and Cooked
early season asparagus, flowers and herbs

Inverted Andante Dairy Goat Cheese and Black Olive Tart
Vadovan gastrique, preserved lemon, wild arugula

Abalone/Oyster
fennel in different forms

Sweet, Sour, Salty Bitter
glazed, young carrots, burnt breadcrumbs, almonds, wood sorrel

Earth and Sea
steamed tofu mousseline, yuba, fresh seaweeds, mushroom dashi

Nettle-Ricotta Cannelloni
wild mushrooms, oxalis flowers

Slow Cooked Farm Egg
slow roasted farro, erbette chard, brown butter parmesan sauce

Trio (Soyoung Scanlan)
toast, spring lettuces

Caramelized Jasmine Custard
Hazalnut and cocoa textures

Olive Oil Shortcake
strawberry rhubarb, lemon balm, long pepper

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California – COI Restaurant (San Francisco) |

It was not by chance that our second restaurant in the Sin City was also a French bistro. Because I could not get a reservation to The French Laundry and I was really keen to try Thomas Keller’s food, I made a reservation at the Bouchon Bistro at the Venetian. This is much more casual than Daniel Boulud as in they line the table with white paper and the menu is made of paper as well.

The restaurant, located in an unusual lobby on the 9th floor, was welcoming with its warm tungsten lighting through wrought iron wrapped ceiling lights and

beautiful, rustic blue tiles.

We were served a beautiful loaf of bread and butter very shortly. Oh my, the bread was such a joy to eat. I haven’t had such a good baguette since Paris and we chomped through another helping, which explained why we could not finish our food later.

We had ordered mussels and frites as our main course and a couple of appetizers and sides to share. Unfortunately all the food came at just about the same time.

The mushroom soup was unfortunately not up my alley. The soup was one-dimensional in taste and texture and the use of sour cream made it excessively sour for a soup. I did not like it one bit. The macaroni gratin on the other hand was really good. The cheese was generous, the pasta still had bite and I totally grabbed all the broiled parts. C-o-m-f-o-r-t food.

The mussels were alright. Sauce was pretty good and I remembered the portion was super huge. Both of us ate and ate and ate and still had left overs. I wanted to lay off mussels for the rest of my life after that meal.

Definitely no room for dessert. Oh well.

(702) 414-6200

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Las Vegas – Bouchon Bistro |

Daniel Boulud Brasserie is a casual offshoot of the original Daniel Boulud Restaurant in NYC. Located at the basement of the grand Wynn hotel, the Brasserie offers a really good value tasting menu between 5pm to 7pm. Not only that, if you stay past 8pm, you would also get to watch the Wynn’s fountain show that shows at 15 minute intervals starting at 8pm.

The food focuses on classical French food and style of cooking and whilst quite ordinary, was perfectly executed so this meal turned out to be one of the most enjoyable one for me. The waiter was casual and friendly yet professional. The bread was interesting too – one of them had poppyseeds and the other had figs and walnuts.

My warm frisse salad with roasted mushrooms and poached egg was a lovely start to dinner. The soft, runny yolk added a richness to the earthy mushrooms and different flavours and the textures just all blended and melded in my mouth.


The scottish salmon with asparagus was perfectly pink and raw in the middle and had an interesting meyer lemon and radish relish that was sourish and did a good job in preventing the palate from becoming too tired. The skin was so crispy I savoured each bite of it. I cannot understand why most Westerners do not eat the skin of the fish. The first thing they do is to lift up the skin and set it aside. What a shame! Anyways, the portion was generous as well so we had to share dessert.

Dessert was a chocolate hazelnut fondant with nougatine crunch and coffee ice cream. It was a good dessert with tried and tested pairing but oh my gosh, the ice cream was sooo good. The bittersweet effect from the coffee grounds and the sweet cream was a match in heaven and I could only complain that the scoop was too small!

We got a complimentary bowl of mini citrus madelines because my friend’s steak was slightly overdone. These were surprisingly really fluffy and light, almost ethereal and just not like most madelines that are heavy and dense like muffins. It was a pleasant surprise and a sweet ending to dinner.

(888) 320-7110

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Las Vegas – Daniel Boulud Brasserie |

Chez Patrick, a chef-owner restaurant with two branches in Hong Kong. Chef Patrick was a really earnest guy, going around the tables to share on his menu and the daily items.

The concept is simple – one chooses either the 3- or 4-course (with cheese) set dinner.

Starter – Goat’s cheese roll-ups with grilled zucchini (cold), red bell pepper and anchovies mousse cake (warm).

I thought the goat’s cheese mousse tasted slightly spicy and I wondered if my taste buds were off until Chef Patrick was explaining to the table next to ours that, of course, there was chorizo in the goat’s cheese. So that explained the slight spiciness and again, I was convinced I simply oculd not run away from pork in HK!. That aside, the warm mousse cake was quite interesting though it reminded me of otah.

Main – Bouillabaisse with fresh king prawn, seabass and snapper (a bit fishy) and (turned) potatoes

Now, the broth was rich and comforting. We were served a platter of thin toasts that we left aside after a bite. Chef Patrick actually came by to enquire if anything was wrong with the bread. He was not looking too happy and I wished I could joke and tell him I was on low-carb diet but I thought he would definitely blow up. As it turned out, the bread was not crunchy because they were air-dried. That would allow the bread to soak up the broth without turning into a mess. Ah! I felt enlightened after his lecture.

Desset – Warm chestnut cake with dark chocolate sauce and burnt caramel ice cream

I really enjoyed dessert becaue there was a subtle hint of chestnuts in the chocolate cake plus it was not too sweet. The ice cream was also very good, smooth and thick.

Overall, I enjoyed the dinner very much. The food was decent and the atmosphere was just very homely ( I loved its old colonial style toilets with octagon marble tiles!).

Chez Patrick
G/F, 26 Peel Street
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2541 1401

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Hong Kong – Chez Patrick |