Pearl Villa Restaurant 5.23.07

Last night I went to Pearl Villa with my folks in Chinatown and HF. Pearl Villa has undergone some recent renovations and it shows! It was packed last night and many big groups came in too! Even a big table of Japanese business men found their way to this place.

Located on the second floor above the street level nearby Shabu Zen and China Pearl, my folks wanted to eat here last night. We started out with the seafood combo soup (small) which we enjoyed. Then we had the Peking Duck with the fixings-hoisin sauce, scallion slivers, cucumber slices and the white buns. Then came the Peking Duck on a bed of shrimp chips. We all made a bun for ourselves slathering the bun with hoisin sauce, adding some cucumber and scallions and selecting some duck skin/meat pieces! Yummy! Definitely not low fat food but it was tasty!

Next came the bitter melon stir fried with fish fried in batter. I have gotten used to eating bitter melon that I like it now. As my mom constantly reminds me, it is good for your "digestion" and if you take the "bitter melon tea" clears your complexion too. (She added this to HF.) Then we had the sugar snap peas which were crispy stir fried with seafood with sweet walnuts. The seafood hotpot was simple. The extra duck from the Peking duck was used to duck bean sprouts and chives stir fry. We had the requisite two lobsters ginger scallion stir fry which fine. At the end of the meal, we got tapioca with sweet potato. Other places might give you red bean soup or fresh fruit slices (usually orange). It was a nice respite.

The conversation over the table was too bad that the food needs a lot of oil. My mom has to monitor her diet per her doctor's orders and was rinsing her food in hot water. The amount of grease and oil she has seen (from all the meals we have consumed together) has been scary. Of course home cooking, there is less oil and salt which is how my mom cooks. But at a restaurant, you cannot go light on the oil.

The food and seafood was fresh! Other than the Peking Duck, everything was seafood Cantonese style.

POPS in the South End

Sunday night, I had an early dinner with MPK. We caught up on life and work. Since we both were both at the the restaurant at 5:30pm, we were not overly hungry. So we opted to break bread sharing some appetizers and dessert. It turned out to be the perfect amount of food---not too much and not too little.

We hit POPS (560 Tremont Street, Boston MA ) a relatively new restaurant in the South End and we were seated in the rear overlooking a garden like area. It was cozy. I loved the decor of black and white and my friend felt under dressed! Our waitress Kelda was great! She had the right mix of friendliness and gave opinions when you asked.

We did get the requisite basic dinner rolls. We got the softshell crab special $11.50 which was a fried softshell crab over a black eyed pea salad. I thought it was alright. Nothing that bowled me over to be honest. We did get the lobster cod croquettes, maybe because there might have been more cod than lobster (understandable) but it was basic. Not too oily/greasy and the sauce dalloped on the croquettes were a nice touch. We got the wings which were delicious! They were served with a cucumber sauce and the 6 pieces were wrapped in a banana leaf. They were scrumptious deep fried in batter with a sweet slightly spicy sauce which I enjoyed alot. Last but not least, we got the stuffed quahogs with Portugese sausage and it was delicious!

For dessert, my friend got the key lime brulee served with a side of berries and I opted for the white chocolate bread pudding. The brulee was delicious and I loved the graham cracker crust at the bottom. Very tasty! The fresh berries was a lovely accent and the fresh whipped cream was heavenly too! As for my bread pudding, it was pretty but it was boring in comparison.

Overall the meal was great! The food prices were reasonable and not overly expensive even though I had no entrees, the prices for an entree did not exceed $20! Our water was attentively refilled even though we were seated in the rear at the restaurant. The food veered from great to ok. But I would definitely want to go back to POPS again. I heard that the chef is Filipino and was cooking in NYC before coming to Boston.

The restaurant is gorgeous, service great and food affordable and overall good. A must visit!

Union for Brunch

This past Sunday, I had my second brunch at Union Restaurant in the South End off the silverline. I met up with a good friend AHP. We caught up on life and enjoyed a nice brunch. I think it helped that I had made reservations as I was seated immediately.
We missed out on the brunch special from 10-11am pastry, entree (three choices) and then coffee, tea or orange juice for under $10 (before tax and tip). A steal!
We got the berries plate $6 which had freshly cut fruit berries, bananas, grapes as well. I got the zucchini, tomato, cheese fritatta served with potatoes and wheat toast which was lightly buttered. I thought of the fritatta reminding me more of a omelette truth be told. But it did not taste like one. I enjoyed how the potatoes were cooked just right. The toast was not overly buttered.

Konditor Meister Cake and Tamarind Thai food --at Baby Shower

Konditor Meister Cakes and food at Baby Shower I have had Konditor Meister cakes before at other parties in the past. Their cakes are beautiful and delicious. One of the guest's baby daughter loved the cake! She even stopped playing with her toys and practically lurched over to her mom to get more bites of the cake! She was that addicted! (I had two slices of the cake and so did many others!) Located in Braintree, they make cakes to order and they are delectable. Not too sweet but just right and the frosting is fabulous.The most recent one I had was at a Baby Shower for my friend KeTing who is expecting her baby in July.

I usually never win anything at these events when they play games. Two out of the three games we played I won! I was pleasantly surprised! The one I did not win was the toilet paper and guessing the mom to be's waist. I correctly guessed the most ingredients for the baby food challenge and I correctly guessed the Dr.'s due date on the nose! It was alot of fun! The hostesses were the mom to be's sisters. The "light lunch" ended up being a big spread and the food was excellent. The catered food was from Tamarind (Cambridge)===pad thai, curry puffs, satay and fried rice.

The hostesses did a wonderful job and I had lots of fun! Thanks for a lovely event!

Uni---Sake Bomb special

Last night, I went to UNI for the first time. I have had the pleasure of eating at CLIO and had a wonderful meal. Plus I adore Toro. I went there early (the seating is first come first serve as they do NOT take reservations). I decided to sit at the sushi bar in front of the sushi chef Sean. I must say the quality of the fish on display was very fresh! The Sushi Chef Sean was very friendly, knowledgeable and fun! While I was dining there last night, owner and executive Chef Ken Oringer stopped by and sat right next to me briefly. His friend's kid who is only 11 was game to try the quail egg and uni spoon ($16) and he loved it! I was very impressed! For someone so young, he had a sophisticated palate!

My friend OK and I met up at the restaurant. She was over 30 minutes late! Luckily I was able to snack on some nice edamame sprinkled with sea salt and drank some artisanal still water Fiji ($6 a bottle). Then we got our sake bomb material---1 small sake cup of the HOUSE sake and a bottle of the Tiger Beer (from Singapore if you must know). I did put the sake cup into the glass. (Ah memories of my first sake bomb were at Newport Beach, CA before my red eye flight. I had a few.)

Our friendly server informed me after I asked about the Sake Bomb special, it is only for Sundays and he proceeded to tell me what were going to dine on. Yummy! First we got the kumimoto oyster served with a Japanese plum and it was divine! The freshness and the flavors of the sea were apparent and lovely. Next was the fresh poke salad marinated in a light soy marinade. I LOVED it! First time I had Poke was in Hawaii. Refreshing! Next came the salmon served with black bean sauce (Chinese) which was a lovely contrast of salty to oily/fatty. (I had a nice mini conversation with Sean behind the sushi bar. He was very friendly. I was telling him that I had not known many moons ago not all "black beans" were made equally. Having grown up with Chinese black beans, I once went shopping and got Mexican black beans. Suffice to say it was NOT The same. Next from the kitchen was the tempura rock shrimp which was crispy, not overly greasy and excellent! The ending of this lovely meal was the elderberry yogurt with a drizzle of black sesame sauce. Very different and light but pleasant ending for a very artistic and lovely meal.

*I bumped into a friend Suz and her dining companion mentioned he had seen my food blog. It was funny, as he was wondering if I was the one he had heard about who took pics of the food she ate. True to form, I was in the midst of taking a "photo" of my food! I was flattered that Sean wanted my "blog" address. I had to decline as I am still working on this blog. I promised that I would give it once I am ready.

Momofuku---NYC

wings


Momofuku Ramen


Pork Bun

Tsukemen

I wanted to try Momofuku (Lucky Peach) opened by Korean American chef David Chang (I saw an article on him in the New York Magazine last year.) It is nestled between 10th and 11th streets on 1st Avenue. There is no big sign hailing it but in this tight small space with a long communal table and seats along the wall you are greeted by a mainly young student and young profossional crowd. (My mom was one of two people over the age of 40 there easily). My pal came along (Leewa) a little later and we tried the Pork Bun (with Berkshire pork) $9 (Chang's take on Char Siu Bao). Then we had the chili ginger wings. My mom had the tsukemen (cold noodles with peas, pork and served with broth. Leewa and I got the Momofuku ramen $14 with a poached egg, Berkshire Pork, Peas, Nori sheet, noodles in a nice simple broth.

My mom wanted more leafy veggies. I told her there were not a lot of them in Japanese noodles/ramen. She thought the peas were a novel idea and she took my nori strips though. The broth was light and the cold noodles were favored by her. She dislikes scallions and there was alot them on her ramen.

The wings were good and just panfried but good marinade. The pork buns were simple flavors but good.

Food from Asia Travels ---December 2006

I had a great time eating and travelling while in Japan and Korea last December. Plus it was the first time I used my brand spanking new digital (thanks boss!). I finally joined the digital age.

Here are some highlights to get the bulk of the food pics of ASIA go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodame88/collections/72157600016145033/

But I will include some faves.

I love Asian food and I got some great stuff from trying fugu, Morioka style crackers, sashimi (around Tsukiji Fish Market), excellent sake, foods at an izakaya (equivalent to a pub/bar here), unagi (three tastes style in Nagoya to the eki bento), and holiday cakes! In South Korea, I had great pojangmacha food (from the street vendors) the rice cakes were the bomb---got some in gangnam, other great eats around Namdaemun and Dongdaemun,homemade soups---seaweed, tofu, ginseng chicken soup, different types of kimchee, mandoos, Red Mango yogurt, seafood soup and other great stuff.

Thanks to my great hosts for humoring me and introducing me to some great stuff! The kaiseki in Morioka was awesome!