'Ono Kine Grindz

The Slanted Door - San Francisco, California

This will be my final post from my recent trip to San Francisco.  I hope you all enjoyed my adventures in the city by the bay, I had a great time sharing my experiences with all of you.

From the time I found out that I was going to visit San Francisco up until the time I was actually in the city, I tried, and tried, to get a dinner reservation at The Slanted Door.  Unfortunately for me, the restaurant was booked solid.  If I wanted to, I could have gotten a reservation for a late lunch (2:00 pm) on Sunday, but since I was doing lots of running around, I didn't want to hang around for that long. 

It was finally my last day in the city and I still hadn't gone to eat at the Slanted Door.  I called the restaurant and was told that they open at 11:00 am.  I asked about lunch and was advised that they weren't taking any reservations for that day, but I was told that I could sit at the bar and order lunch which I thought would be fine.  After packing, and checking out of the hotel, I made my way to the Ferry Building.  It was 10 minutes to 11, so that meant that we would have a few minutes to spare.

At 11, the door was opened and the crowd started to make their way inside.

After my friend and I had slipped through the door, I had noticed this subtle detail between the glass door in front and the reception counter hidden behind the thick black curtain. 

Stepping up to the counter, I found that the bar was empty.  I asked the host if there was a possibility of securing a table.  She said that we would be able to get a table right and took us to be seated.  YES! 

As we were leaving, about an hour and a half later, the bar area looked like this.

To me, there seemed to be a constant stream of people stepping up to the bar to enjoy a drink or a light lunch.

After being seated, I took this photo.  I honestly thought it would have been full of people by now.

This is what the restaurant looked like when our second dish, the cellophane noodles with fresh Dungeness crab arrived (about 20 minutes later).  See how crowded it got?

To start we each ordered a Vietnamese iced coffee (US$2.50).

This was brewed in the traditional manner with the coffee still dripping as it was delivered to the table.  The ratio of condensed milk to coffee was just right and this really hit the spot.

The first dish that arrived at our table was the Slanted Door spring rolls (US$7.50).

These were just like the summer rolls that we get here.  They had nice plump shrimps inside, and they were stuffed full of lean pork.  There was no skimping here.  The filling was rounded out by some mint and glass noodles.  The peanut sauce was thick and delicious.  These were a perfect start to the meal.

Next to arrive at our table was the cellophane noodles with fresh Dungeness crab meat (US$14.00).

Cellophane noodles were stir-fried with huge chunks of fresh Dungeness crab meat and perhaps a simple seasoning of garlic, black pepper and a few chopped green onions.  This dish was so simple, yet so tasty.  I could have eaten the whole serving myself.  That's how good this was.  I would definitely like to come back here just for these noodles.  On second thought, maybe I can try to recreate this dish at home.

The next dish that our server delivered was the lemongrass tofu with fresh shiitake mushrooms, onions and chili sauce (US$8.50).

Here the tofu, mushrooms and onions (green and red) were stir-fried with lemongrass and spices.  This was probably the spiciest dish that we ordered -- and it wasn't spicy.  In my opinion, there were just a little too many onions here, but there was also a surprise.  After I started, eating this, I discovered some "black" tofu, if I can describe it as that, hiding in this dish.  This was a tasty addition to this already delicious dish.

The last dish to arrive was the shaking beef (US$21.50).

This was described on the menu as being "cubed filet mignon with garlic and organic red onions".  The beef was nicely seasoned, lean and tender.  What I liked about this was that the beef had been seared on the outside and had sort of a "crust" when I bit into it.  The textural contrast was great.  I only wished that there was more beef, less onions, or more spinach (is that what it was?).  The somewhat tangy "dressing" gave this dish a little "oomph" and complimented all of the flavors well.

After eating all of that, we were satisfied, but had saved some room for dessert.  Since I had a plane to catch in a few hours, I decided that I would order dessert and share it.  I decided on the warm strawberry and Thai basil turnovers with coconut ice cream (US$6.00).

When the dessert arrived, I was almost afraid to eat it.  The presentation was outstanding.  I only worried about the flavor combination.  All my fears were set aside after I took the first bite.  WOW!  This was amazing.  The flaky pastry, the slightly tart strawberries, the cold ice cream, and the sweet Thai basil sauce all went together so well.  I couldn't stop eating this dessert.  After it was gone, I felt like ordering another -- it was that good.  In the end, I stopped myself, but I must say that this was one of the highlights of the meal.

After we were done eating, I had told my friend that I was initially skeptical about dining here.  I normally don't like "fusion" cuisine as it sometimes takes away the very element of a dish that makes it special.  That was not the case here.  The "street" element was well integrated into each dish and The Slanted Door excelled with each dish's presentation and execution.  Though the food was a bit pricey, but the quality of the ingredients more than made up for it.  The portion sizes were decent, enough to share, and I was not left feeling hungry even after several hours had elapsed.  The waitstaff is knowledgeable and helpful, and the service really can't be beat.  I am definitely coming here again if only for those cellophane noodles.

If you aren't able to secure a table at The Slanted Door, and if there is no space at the bar, there is a counter located inside the Ferry Building that does take out called Out The Door.  I didn't try the food here, but I would assume that the quality of the food is similar to what was served inside.  I heard that the emphasis at this counter was Vietnamese Street food.

The Slanted Door
One Ferry Building Space 3
San Francisco, California
Telephone:  415.861.8032
website

I'd like to thank the city of San Francisco for being such a gracious host and for providing me with clear weather (most of the time).  Good-bye San Francisco!  I'll be back.

Next stop?  Seattle -- September 2 thru 6.

Burma Superstar - San Francisco, California

I considered posting more about my daily adventures in San Francisco, but I decided not to.  Therefore, I have two more reviews and then I'm done. 

This was the second most anticipated meal of my trip.  No matter what, I just had to come here.  The last time I had Burmese food was when I lived in New York back in the mid-90s.  The restaurant was in the East Village on East 7th Street, I think, close to all the wonderful Indian restaurants.  Anyone from New York know if it's still around?  As I was doing research on this place, I discovered that Burma Superstar did not take reservations.  So when we arrived there at about 7:15 pm, there was a line of people waiting to get in.

After we had written our names down on the sign up sheet right inside the door, we came back outside to wait.  All the while, we had to endure the scent of the delicious food that escaped through the open door.  After talking to some of the folks standing there, we discovered that those with larger parties (4 and up) had already been waiting for about an hour! 

After waiting for close to 50 minutes for a table ourselves, we were finally seated.  Once inside, I found the restaurant to be packed full of people, with just a small space to maneuver between each table.

After carefully reviewing the menu, we decided to start with the la pot dok (tea leaf salad, US$7.75).

This salad contained a number of ingredients -- sunflower seeds, split yellow beans, fried garlic slices, peanuts, white sesame seeds, minced dried shrimp, cut green chillies, lettuce, tomatoes, fermented tea leaves and lemon juice.  As our Burmese server tossed the salad, we found that the restaurant imports the fermented tea leaves directly from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).

Add a bit of lemon juice, and let the tossing begin.

I must say that the combination of flavors and the textures of the various ingredients was just wonderful.  The salad had the right amount of spiciness and crunch, with the flavor of the fermented tea leaves being the standout.  This was something that I could definitely enjoy over and over again.

Here is one of the dishes we ordered.  OK, I've looked over all my notes and I cannot, for the life of me, find where I wrote down the name and price of this dish so you will all just get a description. 

The only way for me to describe this dish is to say that it was like an Indian-style chicken biryani.  In this "casserole" were two pieces of chicken that were quite tender -- when I removed the drumstick, the meat fell off of the bone.  It was buried in some biryani-style rice that contained golden raisins.  The dish was then garnished with a few green peas and slivered almonds.  I have to say that I liked this dish, however, as we ate our way to the bottom, we found that there was quite a bit of gravy there.  I would have preferred this dish "dry".  Both the chicken and rice were flavorful, however, I felt that it could have been a bit spicier.

**NOTE**

I sent an e-mail to Burma Superstar about this dish and am awaiting a response.  Once I get the information, I will update this post with the proper name of this dish, as well as the price.

The last dish to arrive was the beef kebat (US$9.75).

This was stir-fried flank steak with onions, tomatoes, green chillies and mint leaves.  This dish had a mild flavor and I enjoyed the combination of mint, tomatoes and beef.  The beef was really "smooth" and was quite tender -- in fact, it was almost too tender.  To be quite honest, I was hoping for a bit more flavor, and spiciness in this dish.  I also felt that the tomatoes were a bit overcooked.  This was my least favorite dish of the night.

Since we had discovered the "gravy" at the bottom of the chicken dish, we ordered one platha on the side (US$2.50) to soak it all up.

According to the menu, this is an Indian influenced pan-fried layered bread.  It was layered quite thick and was crispy on the outside, and chewy/doughy on the inside.  It was quite nice actually, but I think I prefer the Indian paratha better.

For dessert it was the coconut custard fritters with coconut ice cream (US$6.50).

Inside each of the three fritters was the coconut custard.  The crunchiness of the outer "shell" provided a nice foil to the smooth, creamy custard that lay within.  The coconut ice cream and fresh sliced strawberries served to further enhance this dessert. I can see why this is the restaurants top seller.

As we were leaving (a little after 9:30 pm), we realized that the line was still there, only there were quite a few new faces.  And even though it had passed the restaurant's closing time, no one in line was turned away.  In fact, the waitresses went outside to take orders from those still standing in line, promising them a table once one became free.  How's that for service?

I'm not certain about the authenticity of all the dishes that I tried here, but I am certain that the quality of the food ranged from average to very good, with the highlights being both the la pot dok and the coconut custard fritters.  The only low point for me was the beef kebat. 

Would I come here again?  Absolutely.  The waitstaff is pleasant and accomodating.  For example, when it was explained to the hostess that we wanted to sit near the window so that we could take pictures of the food, she never questioned us or asked us why.  We did end up with the window seat and without an additional wait time.  Our server was happy to tell us something about the dishes we were eating, and the waitress was more than happy to make some recommendations.

Burma Superstar
309 Clement Street
San Francisco, California
Telephone:  415.387.2147
website

Indonesia Restaurant - San Francisco, California

After the walk, or should I say hike, from the hotel to Lombard Street, I was famished.  Since my friend agreed to accompany me on my trek, I decided that a free meal was in order.  We headed towards Naan-N-Curry on O'Farrell at the recommendation of Amy.  At the corner of Taylor and Post, we came across Borobudur an Indonesian restaurant.  Peeking inside, I didn't see anyone dining there.  As I turned around and headed back towards the corner, I saw the sign for Indonesia Restaurant across the street.  Since we only have one Indonesian restaurant here in Hawaii, I decided that I would forgo my craving for Indian food and have Indonesian food instead.

Upon entering Indonesia Restaurant, I saw that it was a small shop that was not elaborately decorated -- a hole-in-the-wall.  There were quite a few tables occupied, so I was hopeful that I made a good decision in coming here.

After looking over the menu, there were so many things that I wanted to try, but since I had to settle on just a few, I decided on a salad and a main dish.  To start, I decided to have the gado gado (US$5.95).

This Indonesian mixed salad had green beans, potatoes, bean sprouts, tofu, hard boiled eggs, cabbage and krupuk (prawn crackers).  It was all topped with a lot of peanut sauce.  The only thing this was missing was the fried tempe (soybean cake).  The ingredients were fresh and the peanut sauce was as authentic as any I had every tasted.  It was slightly sweet with just a hint of shrimp paste and just the slightest amount of spiciness to it.  Excellent!

My friend had the nasi padang (US$7.95).

This one was served with some spicy coconut beef (similar to rendang daging), a hard boiled egg in sambal sauce, some cabbage, some peanuts and sambal ikan billis (anchovies), coconut rice which was topped with fried shallots and more krupuk.  I was told that this was very good.

I ordered the nasi lemak (US$8.25).

A huge mountain of nasi lemak (coconut rice) was topped with fried shallots and garnished with slices of tomato and cucumber.  It was served with one piece of ayam panggang (barbecued chicken), one stick of satay ayam (chicken satay), two pieces perkedel, some peanuts and sambal ikan billis and some krupuk. 

I thoroughly enjoyed both the satay and the ayam panggang.  The satay was nicely barbecued and had the right amount of seasoning.  The ayam panggang was tender, with the meat just falling off the bone.  The sauce was just a little sweeter than I would have licked, but it was still delicious.  The perkedel, which is a fried potato "cake" that has some minced meat in it was good as well.  I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a bit of meat in there especially since most often times the amount of meat used to make these "cakes" is minimal at best.

After all that food, we had dessert.  I really wanted the es kacang with durian, but was told that they weren't serving es kacang that day.  So instead, we both decided to have the es cendol.

This looked like homemade cendol to me.  The cendol (green worm-like stuff) is made from green bean flour.  The dessert is finished off with some condensed milk and lots of gula melaka (palm sugar).  This was delicious and wonderfully refreshing.

I'm glad I decided to stop here.  The service was excellent and the food arrived quickly at our table.  The tasty, delicious food was quite authentic and in my opinion, reasonably priced.  I will definitely come back here on my next trip to San Francisco, and I will definitely recommend this place to all my friends who travel here.

Indonesia Restaurant
678-680 Post Street
San Francisco, California
Telephone:  415.474.4026
Indonesia Restaurant Menu.pdf
(Requires Adobe Acrobat)

The Streets of San Francisco - Part 4

After spending a couple of days riding around in a car, I dedided that I need to get some fresh air.  I called my friend and we decided to take a walk from my hotel to Lombard Street.  When we started off, it was still a bit cool even though the sun was out.

Along the way, we passed by Tadich Grill, which is San Francisco's oldest restaurant.  It's been in continuous operation since 1849!

Continuing on along California, we slowly climbed the hills in front of us.  On our way, we passed Chinatown.

And a church (sorry can't remember the name of this one).

As we reached the top of the hill, we turned down one of the streets and continued on towards Lombard.  As we walked, it got hotter, and the wind stopped blowing.  There were some really nice views to be had along the way, including this one.

And this one of Alcatraz.

After about an hour or so, we finally made it.  There were lots of people milling about and quite a number of cars making their way down Lombard Street.  As we climbed up the stairs that were lining the street, the odor of burning brakes was in the air.

Finally, reaching the top, I was sweaty, exhausted, thirsty and hungry.  After snapping a few pictures, we headed back on down towards the Tenderloin district and lunch at Naan-N-Curry.  Near the corner of Taylor and Post, I saw something that caught my eye.

(See review above.)

To be continued....

Ton Kiang Restaurant - San Francisco, California

Prior to visiting San Francisco, I had read up on some of the city's restaurants.  It was by chance that we had ended up at Ton Kiang while driving around the city at night.  In fact, we drove past Naan-N-Curry hoping to stop by for a bite to eat, but we couldn't find any parking near the restaurant.  So driving around, apparently with no idea where we were headed, I saw the sign for Ton Kiang, and luckily we found a parking space about a block away.

According to the restaurant's website (link provided below), the served Hakka food.  I really hadn't tried Hakka food before, nor did I know of any Hakka restaurants in Hawaii, so I was quite excited to try the food here.

Walking up to the restaurant, and peering inside the window, I could see that there were a number of people inside.  Entering the restaurant, I found that it was brightly lit and full of people.  I was actually surprised at number of people eating at 9:00 pm.

After looking at the menu, and not really knowing what to order, we took a few recommendations from the waiter before making our decision on what to order. We decided to start with some soup.  We shared one bowl of fish maw and crab meat soup (US$10.50).

For those of you that don't know, fish maw is the air bladder of the fish and is used in delicately flavored soups.  This soup was delicious and really hit the spot, especially since it was cold out.  There was lots of fish maw and crab meat and the soup had great flavor without being too salty or oily. It seemed to both my friend and I, like the fish maw used here was fresh and not the dried variety.  If so, kudos to the chef.  This was excellent.

For our entrées, we selected the Ton Kiang steamed salt baked chicken (half, US$9.50).

When this arrived at the table with the accompanying ginger sauce, we thought this dish would be like the Cantonese cold ginger chicken.  Not so.  The chicken was served slightly warm and had a wonderful aroma.  Despite being packed in salt, then steamed, the chicken was surprisingly not salty at all.  The chicken was tender, juicy and really flavorful.

To finish off the meal, we selected one dish from the clay pot menu -- the diced chicken with salted fish and tofu (US$9.00).

This dish was a surprise.  There was lots of tofu, diced chicken AND salted fish here.  There were also some vegetables buried on the bottom of the dish, with everything combined in a thick rich gravy.  I don't know how authentic any of these dishes were, but they sure were good.

Here are the sauces provided - grated ginger for the chicken (top), red (right) and green (left) chilli sauces for everything else.  Both of the chilli sauces were made in house and were very good.  The red chilli sauce was especially good as there was a bit of tanginess to it.

When the bill was brought to our table, we were also served some homemade almond cookies.  This were crisp and buttery, with just the slightest hint of almond flavor.  Excellent.  Can I have a few more?

Besides the Hakka and Cantonese dishes, Ton Kiang also serves dim sum until well into the evening.  The service was excellent and everyone was helpful in recommending dishes.  And although the restaurant was fairly crowded, the food was delivered quickly to our table.  The dishes here were expertly presented, and the flavorful food will have me coming back everytime I visit the city.  Highly recommended.

Ton Kiang Restaurant
5821 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco, California
Telephone:  415.752.4440 or 415.387.8273
website

The Streets of San Francisco - Part 3

After a few fast food meals, and after being very disappointed by a meal that was highly anticipated, I went out in search of something better.  After a nice hot shower, I got dressed and made my way over to the Ferry Building, which was literally across the street from my hotel.

(View from my hotel window.)

Inside, there were all sorts of little shops, cafés and eateries (visit the Ferry Building's website for more information).  During my stay, my favorites here were Acme Bread.

And Cowgirl Creamery.

On several of the days that I was in the city, there were also vendors out front selling everything from pastries...

to fresh, organic fruits...

and to fresh-cut flowers.

After my walk around the Ferry Building, and some coffee from Peet's, I went off for a short drive.  Sorry folks, but I lost quite a few pictures.  Don't know why, but my memory card failed.  Nevertheless, I always travel with a spare, and dinner this evening was at Ton Kiang Restaurant.

(See review above.)

To be continued....

The Streets of San Francisco - Part 2

The next day proved to be a little better than the first.  First of all, I had a chance to sleep.  Secondly, I wasn't haphazardly rushing from one outlet mall to another.  This time, we decided to go south past San Jose to Gilroy.

On the way there, I made mention of a restaurant called Baba Neo which I had been told was in Mountain View.  The Singaporean friend that mentioned this place told me that a lot of Singporeans go there to eat.  Since it was on the way, we decided to make a stop and check it out.

(See review above.)

I'm not going to comment too much here, but let's just say that I won't trust any expat Singaporean for recommendations on food.  I think he had been away from Singapore for too long.

After lunch, we continued the journey on towards Gilroy and the premium outlet shops there.  I didn't have too much luck finding any bargains there, so after a while, we headed back towards San Francisco.  We made a couple of stops along the way -- the Good Guys, Circuit City, Best Buy among them -- just a few of the larger chain stores to check out the sales.

On the way back, I saw an Ikea store in the distance and asked my friend to take me there.  Since there is no Ikea store in Hawaii, and probably no chance that one will be opening in the near future, I take every opportunity to shop here when I can.  Since it was late, almost 7:00 pm, we decided to get something to eat from the restaurant inside the store.

The restaurant was mostly self-serve and it was not crowded when we arrived.  Here are a couple of shots.

We both had the Swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam and potatoes (10 meatballs, US$3.99).

We each added a bowl of potato chowder (US$1.29).

And for dessert we shared a slice of princess cake (US$1.99).

And the dessert sampler (US$2.99) which included mazarin, punschrolls and a third one which I didn't get the name of.

Let's just say that I really like the meatballs here.  They are tender and go so well with the lingonberry jam.  I'm going to try to make this at home.  I wasn't too impressed with the desserts, but the slice of princess cake was definitely the best of the four.

Ikea Restaurant
1700 East Bayshore Road
East Palo Alto, California
Telephone:  650.323.4532

After making a few purchases at Ikea, which included a bottle of lingonberry jam and 'Ikea's Real Swedish Food Book', a Swedish cookbook, we decided that it was time to head back.

Once in the city, we drove around to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio,  Haight-Ashbury and a few other places, but it was much too dark to see much of anything or for me to take any photos.  It was then that we decided to call it a night.

To be continued....

The Streets of San Francisco - Part 1

About a week ago, I set off on a short vacation to San Francisco, California.  When I arrived in the city, it was so dull and gray that I wondered if I had made the right decision to visit.

Would the weather ever improve? 

After a few minutes, we arrived at my hotel, the Hyatt Embarcadero.  It was the first time that I had stayed here and I was quite impressed with the hotel's lobby and it's tiered design.

After dropping my things off in my room and getting changed into some fresh clothes, a friend and I went to do some shopping at the outlet malls north of San Francisco.  Our first stop were the outlet shops in Vacaville.  Since I did not eat on the plane ride over, I was starving. 

Lucky me...there was an In-N-Out Burger at the mall.

We both ordered burgers -- the one on top was the cheeseburger (number 1 combo, I think), the one on the bottom was the double double with cheese (number 2 combo).

How's my double double looking?

Tasty as ever, the burgers at In-N-Out put every other fast food burger to shame.  Hot and fresh, the burgers here are a must have whenever I can find them.  By the way, the fresh cut fries are great too!

In-N-Out Burger
170 Nut Tree Parkway
Vacaville, California
Telephone:  800.786.1000

After spending a few hours walking the mall, we made our way to another outlet mall in Folsom, the Folsom Premium Outlets.  This mall was smaller than the previous one and had many of the same shops, but I did find a few things to buy and the spending spree was on.  Afterwards, I headed back to the hotel to get some rest.  Since it was late, dinner was eaten in the room...and no, there aren't any pictures of it.

To be continued....