Kissako Tea and Lunch at Mifune!

On a foggy and slightly cold day while visiting San Francisco’s Japantown was where I waited for my friend to have lunch with. When my friend let me know that she was running late I decided to walk around the Japantown mall and see what snacks I could find since I was hungry. It was really early in the morning so I bought an iced coffee from Andersen Bakery and walked towards the mall’s lower level where I found Kissako Tea! I read from reviews from Yelp that they had varieties of freshly made sweet and savory mochi something I am a huge fan of. I was looking for a particular kind of mochi on a stick and I was glad to see they had just made a fresh batch. Kissako’s tropical mochi at the time I bought it cost around $3.00 (there an extra charge if using credit card). The service was quick and friendly though I wish I paid in cash instead to avoid the surcharge paying with card. They also had other tasty looking treats such as ongiri (rice shaped into triangles with meat filling wrapped in seaweed, green tea ice cream sandwiches, and takoyaki that makes me want to revisit to try. Going back outside to the stone circle shaped benches outside of the Japantown mall to wait for my friend I enjoyed my strongly caffeinated iced coffee and took a bite of the tropical mochi which had a soft and chewy delicate texture with strong flavors and scents of either peach, guava, and pineapple in each mochi piece. I only finished eating the peach flavored mochi when my friend finally arrived.

Kissako Tea stand with their menu. Credits go to yelp users

My large iced coffee from Andersen Bakery and Tropical fresh fruit mochi from Kissako Tea!

We walked back into Japantown’s main mall straight down past a few boutique and makeup/skincare shops to get to Mifune Japanese restaurant. I had not been there in years and my friend suggested we try one of their lunch specials. I ordered a lunch set of niku udon (slices of pork with Japanese noodles and broth) and grilled unagi over rice for a little over $12. Going over their lunch menu they have a lot of choices for the lunch combinations such as curry over rice with beef udon, I liked the grilled unagi over rice a lot more than the niku udon as I finished that entrée first. The portions were also good sized, not too overfilling but not underwhelming at the same time. My friend very quickly finished her cold zaru soba noodles and sashimi before I did in less than ten minutes, but she was patient to wait for me to finish eating. It is always nice catching up with my friend and trying new restaurants or other food places I did not know with great lunch specials in San Francisco like Kissako Tea and Mifune. 

Grilled pieces of unagi over rice and Niku Udon lunch combo!

Credits go to yelp users for the next photos

Replica picture of the zaru soba noodles my friend had

Exterior of Mifune

Tea 1 and Thai Noodle 2!

Venturing around the college area of downtown Berkeley last week my roommate and I wanted to try so many places there that looked appetizing, but  we were on a limited budget of $80. Near Telegraph avenue next door to Tacos Sinaloa was a boba tea shop that had boards with nice pictures of their flavors of boba teas and other drinks. I picked the cucumber green tea drink with aloe vera because I walked up a hill to get there and it looked pretty refreshing. My roommate had their lemon jasmine boba tea. While we waited for our drinks the owner mentioned that if we bought our drinks in a glass mason jar for an extra dollar or so, that we would get to keep it and bringing it back to the store would get us 10 cents off the next drink which sounded pretty cool. After we got our drinks and were on our way out the owner was very friendly in saying have a nice day and see you again.

Credits to yelp for this picture of the exterior

Closeup of the menu

Fresh Cucumber Green tea with Aloe Vera and Lemon Jasmine tea with boba

The drinks definitely did not taste like anything I expected it to. There was a small touch of sugar added (I’m used to very sugary drinks) when trying the cucumber with aloe vera green tea drink that I thought brought out the other green tea and lightly sugared cucumber flavors instead of overpowering. I thought my drink tasted bitter at first but after a few more sips I actually got used to the slight bitterness combined with the other hints of sweetness. My roommate asked me why I didn’t order their ice cream tea drink, and honestly I didn’t notice it on their outside menu but I want to try that next time even though I really ended up liking the green tea with cucumber drink a lot. I had a sip of my roommate’s lemon and jasmine green tea, I liked how there was a lot of boba but I couldn’t get over the bitterness I thought I tasted in that drink and my roommate liked my drink more.

We were really hungry for some dinner and noticed a restaurant a few doors down from Tea 1 called Thai Noodle 2. Not having Thai food in a while we decided to give it a try. We liked how we were immediately greeted and seated right away, but more so how great the food was. I had read many negative yelp reviews about the same place and was a bit hesitant to eat there at first, but I was so surprised that the all of the food that we ordered was so good and arrived in a fast and orderly manner. We started with spicy fried calamari which was addictive and it had much more of a tender texture than when I tried it from Fisherman’s Wharf. We also ordered crab fried rice with extra seafood for $2 extra and I had the Lord of noodle entrée with ground meat and mixed seafood for $9. There was a huge amount of real crab in my roommate’s fried rice and my dish was a good sized portion as well. The waitress was very friendly too with constantly refilling our water.

Spicy fried calamari

Crab Fried Rice with extra seafood

Lord of Noodle dish  (lots of seafood and ground pork over noodles)

Our bill from Tea 1 for two drinks was a little over $8 and our bill at Thai Noodle 2 was $33.00. The next time I revisit that area I would love to go back to both of these great places, maybe try a different seafood dish from Thai Noodle 2 and Tea 1’s ice cream milk tea. Visiting these and other intriguing places I saw nearby such as Koja Kitchen, Tacos Sinaloa, and a Japanese curry restaurant was so worth the uphill walk.

HS Fish and Chips in El Sobrante

On the far right side in a small shopping plaza in El Sobrante is HS Fish and Chips, a place I have been to more than a few times ever since it opened in 2012. Their varieties of English style fried fish and other fried foods is their specialty. The first couple of times when I went there I was not really a fan of the fried cod or their french fries that I thought were too dry. Recently giving them another try there was a huge difference in the food quality. This time I ordered the double catch (a little over $18.00 tax included). It had two huge meaty pieces of Tilapia, 1/2 pound of fried mushrooms, fried jumbo prawns, and hand cut french fries that were not dried out or too well done. Sharing with my roommate the whole meal was something I couldn’t finish by myself. The friendly owner gave us plenty of tartar sauce and malt vinegar that really complemented the fish, fried prawns and also the fried vegetables.

                                          

                                          

half pound of fried Mushrooms

Two huge pieces of fried Tilapia, fried prawns and fries at the bottom

Everything from the double catch special on a plate with housemade tartar sauce!

Besides serving up fantastic fried seafood and veggies, HS Fish and Chips also sells Loard’s Ice Cream (one of my favorite brands)! I ordered a single scoop of butterscotch swirl for $2.75 which was a pretty big sized amount in a cup. Some of the other menu items I have previously tried are their clam strips (lots better than when I tried it at Fisherman’s Wharf), fried catfish and lots of their fried veggies such as eggplant, zucchini, and cauliflower. I love their batter that is used to make the fried fish and veggies as it is not too thickly coated, gives a very good crunchiness.

Credits for the next pictures go to Yelp users

                                        

Another thing I like is how consistently friendly the owner is to me and all of her customers. Every time I have visited the owner remembers me asks how I have been. The nice British themed décor throughout the store is also nice and adds charm. I wish I had written about this great fish and chip place sooner. I live nearby it, have been there many times never had a disappointing experience. There is so many other fried menu items I would like to try from there such as their fried catfish sandwich, fried oysters or fried scallops.

                                               

If craving some fantastic fish and chips or other kinds of tasty fried seafood this is a great place to try.  

Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes!

At the grocery store earlier last week my roommate suggested I buy the Reese’s Peanut Butter cupcake mix. I am a huge fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and Reese’s Pieces so I thought why not give it a try. To be honest I had not baked much of anything in a while so I was not sure how the cupcakes would turn out. Following the instructions closely this mix made 12 cupcakes as stated on the box. The process of making the cupcakes was fast and the instructions were easy to understand. Instead of using paper cups to bake the cupcakes in I used silicone baking cups evenly spaced apart in a pie pan which actually made the baking time go by a lot faster and each batch was done in less than 15 minutes. Not too many out of the box ingredients were needed: Oil, eggs, softened butter or margarine, water, and milk for the included peanut butter frosting (I substituted the milk with non-dairy creamer). I will include a full recipe and pictures of the cupcake baking process below. 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper baking cups in 12 regular-size muffin cups.

2. Stir Cupcake Mix, water, oil and eggs in medium bowl 2 minutes, using whisk or fork, until smooth. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup (about 2/3 full).

3. Bake 15 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Let Cool 5 minutes; carefully remove from pan. Cool completely before filling, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make Peanut Butter Filling.

 

4. Beat Peanut Butter Mix, softened butter and milk in small bowl on low speed 30 seconds then on medium speed for 1 minute scraping bowl occasionally.

5. Spoon filling into pastry bag (place bag in tall glass so filling bag will be easier). Cut 1/2 inch from tip of pastry bag.

6. Insert tip of pastry bag into top of each cupcake and squeeze small amount of filling (about 1 tablespoon) into center. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Fresh out of the oven cupcakes!

For those looking for an easy to make peanut butter filled chocolate cupcakes I would highly recommend the Reese's peanut butter cupcake mix for its ease of already having most of the ingredients, mix and peanut butter filling included. I shared these cupcakes with my roommates and they loved it saying my baking skills has improved. I hope to better my baking skills with my future recipes and I would buy this mix from the store again.

Tasty Pot Taiwanese Restaurant in Downtown Berkeley

When I was looking for a new hotpot place to try that would be closer to where I live and does require a long commute to San Francisco I stumbled across a restaurant on Yelp called Tasty Pot in Berkeley. It was the day before fourth of July and showing their online menu to my roommate made them interested too in trying it out with me that night.
 

Outside view and long line

We arrived there close to 7pm and it was a short walk from public transit. There was a bit of a line so we put our names on the waiting list. There were seven people ahead of us who were also waiting outside. I definitely wanted to try either the supreme spicy hot soup which was served in a larger bowl for $15.99 ($14.99 lunch price). 

Taiwanese Supreme Spicy Hotpot!

The seating inside Tasty Pot was a bit too cozy as the table next to ours was placed so closely there was not much room for us to walk past it. Around five minutes of being seated I got the drink I ordered which was a sweet milk drink with light caramel flavor pudding mixed in at the bottom. While waiting I chatted with my roommate and looked through the three mini pots of dipping sauces on our table’s side. One of them had chili oil, another with soybean paste, and the third was garlic ponzu. 

Water on the left and the lightly sweetened milk with pudding mixed in

For a medium spiced individual hot pot the chili pepper in the broth still had a strong kick and it woke my senses up. My roommate ordered their Vietnamese seafood hot soup at spicy level ($15.99), and coughed a little from consuming too much of the spicy broth at once. I really enjoyed everything in the hot pot I had which was: Taiwanese Cabbage, Instant Noodle, Beef Slices, Beef Tendon, Enoki Mushroom, Tempura, Clam, Fuzhou Fishball, Cuttlefish Ring, Pork Blood Ricecake, Pork Intestine, Fried Tofu Skin, Brown Beech Mushroom, Firm Tofu, Imitation Crabmeat, Meatball, Sour Mustard, Fried Tofu Puff, Cilantro, Scallion (from the online menu). There were so many variations of flavors that mixed well with the spicy flavorful broth. I was very hungry and wanted to spend hours to try finishing my hot pot but it was getting late so we took the rest to go. For dessert my roommate and I shared an ice cream waffle sandwich which was very good. 

My roommate's order of Vietnamese seafood hot soup at spicy level!

 Blueberry waffle sandwich with vanilla ice cream

 The service was very friendly, as we waited outside the waitress brought us menus to look through and took our orders in advance. I also liked how there were constant free refilling of water and of the soup broth. I also wanted to try the food from Tasty Pot because of my part Taiwanese heritage from my dad’s side, and I am glad that the semi-long wait to try something new was very well worth it. 

The next time I visit Tasty Pot I would go for lunchtime to try their lamb hot soup before the dinner rush. Pricing for all their soups during lunch are a dollar less with free sweet tea included.

Cadbury Chocolates Variety Pack Review

I saw on Amazon a few months ago a posting for a variety pack of 18 British candy bars that I found very interesting and wanted to try. Costing $11.58 in total with free shipping from England I was amazed at how fast it arrived (less than a week and a half) and at how neatly packaged the bars were and none of it was melted. There were six each of the three kinds I ordered: Crunchie, Flake, and Curlywurly. To be honest I was most interested in trying the Crunchie bar, because I have not found Violet Crumble in the nearby local stores anymore and I heard from others that Crunchie was very similar to it.

The first candy bar I tried was Crunchie. Taking one bite reminded me of eating Twix without the caramel. There was a honeyed toffee taste that was actually kind of refreshing and it did remind me a lot of Violet Crumble, my favorite childhood candy. I would say the only difference was in the texture. Violet Crumble if I remember correctly was harder to chew on whereas Crunchie was more quickly melting in the mouth, lighter flavored with a honeycomb textured appearance.

 

Trying Curlywurly was also another tasty surprise, it can be again compared to a Twix but without the cookie part. It is chocolate enlaced with milk caramel. I thought Curlywurly had a nice chewy yet smoothly blended texture though my roommate who also tried it said most of the caramel got stuck in her teeth. The Curlywurly bar was the biggest bar lengthwise out of the three chocolates, and it was something I was not expecting to have liked.

The Flake bar had a nice taste of cocoa that wasn’t overpowering. The consistency of the compacted pieces of chocolate was almost a bit too crumbly so I had to be very careful with how I consumed it by breaking small chunks the chocolate off so it would not crumble everywhere. I have mostly Flake bars left in my box. I liked Flake’s overall taste and I am thinking about repurposing some of them for my baking soon as ganache or in frosting.

If I could choose the chocolate bar I enjoyed the most from this Cadbury pack I would say that it is a tie between Crunchie and Curlywurly. I really liked the light honeycomb toffee tastiness of Crunchie, and how much it brought back some good childhood memories of when my parent used to buy Violet Crumble from the corner store. At the same time, I also enjoyed taking my time in consuming the Curlywurly bar as the caramel was not too chewy to me but smooth in its consistency, and meshed well with the signature chocolate that Cadbury makes.

I would love to try more kinds of British candy, and this Cadbury variety pack I bought from Amazon was definitely worth the price for the amount that you get. I also thought it was a good introduction to chocolates that I would not normally find here. It is a must try if you love chocolate and want to try something new, or if you are looking for a nice alternative to Violet Crumble. 

Lunch at Joe's Crab Shack and The Crab Station

This week I paid a visit to San Francisco to spend time with a friend over lunch nearby Fisherman's Wharf. We decided in advance to go to Joe's Crab Shack for their steampots and drinks. Getting there around 11:30am, we were the first people to be seated. My friend and I sat at a table with a nice view of the harbor. While we looked through the menu I noticed they had housemade margaritas for $2 each so we both ordered that instead of the usual pina colada and their lobster daddy feast steampot with garlic herb seasoning ($34.99). My friend was very hungry and ordered an extra lobster on the side for $15.

The blue margarita was pretty stiff, but it is how I prefer my drinks. The steampot I ordered had very light flavors. I liked how there was a generous amount of snow crab and potatoes though the lobster seemed a bit smaller than the last time we went. The waiters were very friendly they checked in with us asking if we liked our meal and really overall we did. All in all, it was another nice experience dining at Joe's.

$2 margarita

After a bit of walking we were hungry again. I really wanted some clam strips or fried calamari and couldn't make up my mind. Since we were nearby the crab stands we checked out the pricing for each of them and I decided to get a clam strips and fried calamari combo with fries for $12.00. The calamari was a very huge portion, freshly made lightly coated though the clam strips were thickly breaded and a little bit overly salty. I also liked the fries and the zesty dipping sauce. From where my friend and I sat outside by the docked boats there were a bit of seagulls flying around nearby so I had to keep a close eye on my food.

2 item combo with fries, fried calamari clam strips with fries

The following pics are credited to yelp users

Crab sandwiches and other various kinds of cocktails

Having lunch and a predinner snack afterwards around Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco was another great experience.