San Francisco, CA: Arang


September 4th, 2008

arang juke jang/>
Yuke Jang
arang chol myon
Chol Myon
It was late night and we were hungry. Haven’t been to Arang in a while and I was craving something soupy. I ordered one of my favorite korean soups yuke jang. It’s a hot & spicy soup with shredded beef, vegetables and glass noodles. Colleen ordered chol myon which are chewy yam noodles served cold mixed with a spicy sweet sauce.

Arang
1506 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.775.9095

Las Vegas, NV: Sushi Samba


August 9th, 2008

I’ve heard from a few people that this place is great. Unfortunately, I can’t agree. The ambiance was very fun and contemporary, the service was great, the plating was gorgeous but the food was bland. Not so great even despite the fact that we were starvin like marvin. What a bummer. I was so looking forward to a great lunch. Since we were so hungry, we ordered up a storm. I ordered the berkshire pork belly ramen. Sounded tasty but not so very. Noodles were ramen-like but the broth was bland and the berkshire pork was not so tender. You know what though? I didn’t really have high expectations for the ramen since I was dining in a too-cool-for-school trendy over priced restaurant in Vegas.

Homemade: Chinese Spaghetti With Shanghainese Noodles


July 31st, 2008

shanghainese noodles
Raw and cooked Shanghainese noodles.
chinese spaghetti sauce
chinese spaghetti sauce
chinese spaghetti sauce
chinese spaghetti sauce


I’m not even sure how to describe the flavor of this. No idea what’s in the sauce. As I was getting ready for work this morning I ran into anthony’s mother rummaging through the pantry looking for the other jar of Chinese spaghetti sauce. Chinese spaghetti sauce? I didn’t realize there was such a thing. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me…it kind of makes sense…why not? Spaghetti did originate from China after all, why not have sauce to go with it? When I got home from work I walked into the kitchen and found the sauce simmering on the stove. I think she added ground pork to the sauce but not sure because I was too excited to try Chinese spaghetti that I forgot to ask her. She instructed me to top the Shanghainese noodles with the sauce, bean sprouts, green onions and sambal olek if I wanted spice. The noodles were perfect, kind of like mini udon. How do I describe the sauce? It was like spaghetti bolognes without the tomatoes and a little spicy. There were bits of soy and other stuff that I couldn’t figure out. The flavor was very concentrated so the green onions and bean sprouts balanced it out and added another dimension of texture. If you can find a jar of Chinese spaghetti sauce in your local asian foods market, I would recommend trying it. Why not?

Millbrae, CA: Hong Kong Flower Lounge


July 22nd, 2008

hong kong flower lounge lobster lo mein
Lobster Lo Mein from the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae. They charged us $30 for one and a half pounds and $3 for the noodles. What a bargain – for the noodles. The noodles were good but didn’t get a lot of the lobster flavor. I did like that it was very saucy and that the sauce clung to the noodles. It was lacking the toasty wok flavor that I really like – that you can only get from a restaurant. The lobster wasn’t over cooked and was very meaty. Overall, the noodles were not worth paying $33. I miss the lobster lo mein from ocean restaurant clement street – not as saucy but so flavorful. Unfortunately, ocean restaurant no longer exists and is now a vietnamese restuarant.

Hong Kong Flower Lounge
51 Millbrae Ave
Millbrae
California, 94030

P:650.692.6666
F:650.692.0522