Noda Sushi. Let’s just get right into it shall we? It’s all about the pictures anyways.

Salmon nigiri

Do you know what makes sushi good? Yes good quality fish is important. But so is the temperature and how they cut the fish. I’m not a big fan of how the fish trails off the plate. The salmon was sliced too thin so you don’t get that lovely texture that comes from the fish. You can’t just fold the pieces together to make it thicker, it doesn’t work that way honey. There wasn’t enough rice packed in so it’s not as savory altogether. I might sound picky, but if I’m paying a good $$$ for my favorite fish I would want it perfect.

Dynamite

Honestly… I don’t remember what roll this was. I just remember wanting something cooked and more filling… that’s why we ordered this… Hey look benito flakes! Not the best but not the worst. Just mediocre. This isn’t real sushi ok?!

steak and salmon teriyaki

This was mediocre as well. I did enjoy the salad though. This was what John ordered. I ate most of his salad.

Spicy tuna roll

I think this was the best out of everything. Spicy tuna was SPICY, not fishy, but not enough rice to balance all that tuna and all that sriracha. It’s pretty expensive for spicy tuna as well, I think it was like 8 bucks, but the quality is a bit more better than other sushi restaurants.

The money that you will be spending here can get you better sushi at Sushi Gen in little tokyo. So save your money! Go get jamba juice instead or chipotle because there are better Japanese restaurants out there worth spending money on.

bon appetit.

Getting there around 5-6, the restaurant was already getting packed. Next thing you know there was a line. Luckily there wasn’t any wait. Getting to sit down promptly, I was excited to order right away. But how? I did not understand how to order on their sushi list. So I went for their Chirashi.

Chirashi

Itadakimasu! I am speechless. This was by miles, states, light years, Jesus days, the best Chirashi that I’ve ever had. Maybe I’m exaggerating but I did eat it y’know. And it was AMAZING. I love Chirashis because you get to try different types of the restaurants sushi to see what fish is good and which ones ain’t. ALL of them were good. You also get different textures as well as different savory flavors from salty to sweet to sour… I recommend this if you aren’t too sure with what you want to get. It’s delicious, especially their unagi. Promise me if you come here, you will order their unagi. Unagi is eel if you didn’t know. Actually, if you come here, please invite me… please?

Salmon Sashimi

That’s a grasshopper! How? Look how beautiful that looks. This is the BEST salmon that I’ve ever had. The fish was beautifully cut. You could taste how the cut affects the texture of the fish. Salmon is my favorite fish because you get the savory and you also get the texture. Did I mention that it’s delicious?

Both meals cost about 40 without tip. It’s a lot of change considering we weren’t full. If you really want to enjoy a good meal, consider spending 60 on yourself alone (which is what I will do next time) and of course bring me along. Just remember this… I’m not sharing.

Oishii

Chips and salsa

Their chips and salsa wasn’t as good as I would like it. The salsa is pretty bland, but the chips were not bad. I do like a spicier kick to my salsa. It never stops me for wanting to eat the whole thing. They do give you some Tabasco sauce that helps a lot.

Crunchy beef taco and chicken enchilada

I don’t care for their enchilada. It’s that taco that’s amazing. I could have like 50 of those. The beef was so tender and for some reason tasted like lengua. The texture itself was similar to lengua. So you have this outer crunchy shell and then this juicy tender beef on the inside with flavors to die for.

Beef taco

I ordered one for myself. I expected a regular soft taco with carne asada, but this is so much better. At least it satisfied what I wanted during my seating. Definitely order their taco if you were to come here.

onions, cilantro, cabbage

This was for my posoles. Posoles is soup that they have here that reminds me of menudo without the intestines and tripes but with chunks of beef. Sorry I forgot to take a picture! But it’s a huge bowl and it will definitely fill you up. The downside of my experience with the posole is that it was very bland. It needed more than salt. It needed the dirtiness that I would expect from a menudo. I was expecting more flavors but it just tasted like a really bland beef stew. Pretty unfortunate for how fresh the qualities of the ingredients were. Maybe it was a bad day, so you can try it when you give this place a visit.

Done eating yet? Go to Target to walk it off.

Bon Appetit

Life has been busy, and so has been my stomach. No matter what, food is always in the equation. So why not start off my blog with one of my favorites on the count on 3 *1*2*3 STEAK.

Who doesn’t love steak? Obviously if you don’t we aren’t friends. Tofu steaks does not count. I’m talking about that med rare juicy red meat. It was a lovely weekend, Friday night to be exact, when John and I decided to eat somewhere in Old Town Pasadena. We walked Old Town strolled to the Paseo finding out that there’s nothing appetizing to eat there so we strolled back to OLD TOWN. Let me just tell you that I was in Old Town Pasadena for the WHOLE day that day. I was hanging out in shorts all day and boy did it get cold at night.

Where did we go?!

Choza Moma

96 E Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91105

Kind of sounds like Choose yo mama to me! If you haven’t been here yet, you should definitely stop by. It’s located at the near end of old town pasadena so don’t get discouraged if you can’t find it right away. Park far away because after eating here you would want that walk.

Big Buns

You see these big buns? Put them into a doggy bag because you don’t want these carbs after what your going to be eating. And what will you be eating?

THIS

A delicious juicy medium rare rib eye. I believe it’s a 12oz. Don’t think about it just do it. Look how beautiful it is. You don’t even need that potato beet salad you see there in the corner. But definitely eat the vegetables because your going to need as much vitamins, minerals, fiber, GREENS to push that meat out of your system. Do I need to get graphic here? O and btw, that steak is mine. Having french fries is not even a question when I eat with John. Maybe that’s why they aren’t called Freedom Fries here.

His

I know right? Fries? AND plantains? and omg is that a fried egg? YES  IT IS. Wait.. scroll up to mine again. And look at this one now. Wait, scroll up again. What’s going on? Fries? Yes I got to eat a few, but he picked them for me. But definitely order the steak. It’s really tender, really juicy, really flavorful, really worth the bang for your buck. If I remember correctly, it’s about 22 for a plate which is really cheap considering the monstrous size this piece of meat is. The french fries and plantains were also really delicious.

What’s also great about this location when we came, LIVE music. It felt super peruvian. So when your in the area, super hungry, don’t think, just come to this restaurant, and give me a call.

Bon Appetit

Open Kitchen

John and I went here on their grand opening and they were pretty busy. But we were pretty lucky getting a seat before the restaurant started getting more packed. Let me tell you now that this cute little restaurant only holds about 30 something people before it becomes a fire hazard. But who cares. It’s good. Just thinking about the experience that I’ve had with my noodles makes the hair all over razor sharp. I’m starting to get a addicts itch to go back.

Must use sauce condiments

The sauce just enhances the flavors. You don’t really need them, BUT they do make their own chili sauce which is amazing! So eat it with everything you order (minus the drannks).

Peach green tea

Mmmm their peach green tea really does stir up my appetite. They also adjust your drink if it’s too sweet, not sweet enough, if you want more tea flavor, etc. They are really friendly!

wonton, bbq pork, shrimp chip, MEIN

Can you see my thumbs? 2 of them! Quality: Fresh. Flavor: Excellent. The broth makes this dish good. It’s light and flavorful, not overly salty (like some places), not oily (*ahem*), and just fresh fresh fresh. They make everything themselves here. Meaning their wontons weren’t frozen and their bbq pork isn’t from sam woo. Yes they make their own bbq pork. Let me explain this pork to you. It’s not bathed in sweet sauce like you would see in chinese bbq restaurants. The flavor is flavorful if that makes sense, cutting out the sauce that you really don’t need. The flavors are infused into the meat. I just got goosebumps.

wonton and dumpling mein

I can truthfully say that these are one of the best wontons and dumplings I’ve had. I’m not lying! It doesn’t even make sense for me to lie on my own blog. Anyways, fresh again. Flavor was there and it was very refreshing. If they had these frozen for sale I would buy it. This dipped into their chili oil, which again, by the way they also make themselves, is amazing. I would recommend this dish. *2 dumbs up*

So give this restaurant a try if you are in the area. If you are not in the area, what’s wrong with you?

Gongbei.

©

]]> http://daisylives.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/open-kitchen/feed/ 0 Daisy Chan IMG_0103 IMG_0091 IMG_0097 IMG_0098 IMG_0100 http://daisylives.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/happy-birthday-denny-ng/ http://daisylives.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/happy-birthday-denny-ng/#comments Sun, 12 Sep 2010 23:49:54 +0000 Daisy Chan http://daisylives.wordpress.com/?p=3192 ]]> A little belated but never too late! Happy Birthday Denny! We celebrated at Manna Korean BBQ in K-Town. It’s not the best, but when your hungry here all you want to do is eat! There’s no escape from the smell afterwards. The splatter from the meat, the crispy charred black pork belly, rice paper! More rice paper! Be prepared to have the smell reek on your skin while you sleep

Beef!

Banchan

Ganbei

Albacore

I’m still alive. Be ready.

© Bon Appetite.

Anyways, my mom and I went to do some shopping and had some lunch today at todai. It was pretty packed but at the same time it was lunch. We got seats next to the sushi row. YES! Service was whack. wait.. what service? you don’t get service at all you can eats. BUT, our “waitress” didn’t bring our drinks so we had to flag down another waitress to bring the drinks.

I’m pretty proud of myself today, I didn’t go that krazy on the food. I was pretty hungry too but their hot foods were really towards the meh side. Everyone was all up on the salmon nigiris anyways.

Mine: plate #1

I know it’s all sushi but there’s a mussel right there! so it’s pretty clear what I got. The sushi got better than how it was used to be. There was actually a larger selection of sushi from what I remembered. And that of course makes me happy. Although some of the sushis just tasted super funky, some of them were actually pretty good.

Moms plate

She also got some soup and korean dumplings on the side.

My second!

What’s new? Baked mussels, spicy salmon sushi, scallop sushi. Everything was pretty decent for todai except for the scallop. It tasted kind of odd, a bit dry and it would taste so much better if they made it spicy. Hey you can order it as a handroll! The baked mussels were pretty good and the spicy salmon was interesting. OO I got a little piece of salmon teriyaki and it tasted pretty delicious.

Moms second

I dont think she finished everything on her plate… but thats my mom for you. She would get a lot of something not knowing whether she will like it or not.

Ready for dessert?

Strawberry cake

So their cakes are actually starting to taste like something. These are really tiny btw. Bite size. I think they are tired of people grabbing these cakes and not finishing them (they aren’t that delicious) even though it’s not really great, I can honestly say that there is some improvement from how it used to be.

Mango

o0o weird it actually tasted like mango. Sadly it was too moist. There’s cake layering but this tasted more like a mango mousse, a really tarty one.

green tea cake

Is that taro???? it did tasted a bit like taro. But it also tasted pretty cold like ice cream. sad thing is that it taste nothing like green tea. it looks really pretty though doesn’t it? if this was “taro” cake, then I can agree that it taste like taro, but it’s a green tea cake and it taste nothing like green tea. Actually pretty good though. Again, the flavor got better (even if it doesn’t taste like green tea).

Chocolate cheesecake

Philadelphia cream cheese? with chocolate chips. Hey it’s actually pretty good, but I have a big feeling I can find the recipe behind the box.

ugh this place brings back memories! I remember when they actually did korean barbeque outside and people just rushed to get some when the meat was cooked. I will definitely come back for lunch and check dinner out to see what goodies they have in the hot food area. 15 ish for lunch and I think dinner is 20 something. Pretty damn pricey but I can say that it wasn’t that bad and is not as bad as people criticize them to be.

Just know when you come, this buffet is very “Americanized” so think of the crowd.

bon appetit.

©Thanks for respecting the hard work I put into my blog.

]]> http://daisylives.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/todai/feed/ 0 Daisy Chan IMG_9846 IMG_9847 IMG_9849 IMG_9848 IMG_9851 IMG_9852 IMG_9853 IMG_9854 http://daisylives.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/newport-tan-cang-seafood-restaurant/ http://daisylives.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/newport-tan-cang-seafood-restaurant/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:52:43 +0000 Daisy Chan http://daisylives.wordpress.com/?p=2967 ]]> So this post took me almost an hour. A lot of time and patience… to put these up in a certain way! thanks for checking it out! Happy reading and hope you starve <3

I recieved a text from Tim Mak asking me if there were any plans for our monthly college fellowship meet because according to the schedule, I was supposed to plan something. Luckily he told me or else I would’ve totally forgot. All I remembered was a paper due, a project and a exam I had that same week. Nonetheless, the dinner happened so we can all be giddly and move on with our lives.

So chosing a place is never easy. People always expect me to know the best places to eat. All I can tell you is the places where you should not go to eat. Finding some places is pretty hard, but there are a few ones that comes around. So I decided to give Newport Tan Cang Seafood Restaurant a shot. Wow that is a long name. Anyways, I always drove pass this restaurant, and for the love I have for seafood, I told myself I must try this one day. Finally this was the perfect oppurtunity! Meeting at 7:30, we got there at 7:10? Asked for a table of 12 and told him the party will be here at 7:30. “Sure no problem” so we waited.

waiting

Mmmm I like lanterns. But this is a lot! I wonder how many times they need to change the bulbs of these. And by the way, it was STUFFY in the restaurant. I felt my OCD creeping up my skin when all I could breathe was the warm heat leaving our bodies. Yes, heat leaving the body means the windows got all foggy and moist. Gross.

After waiting till… 8? We finally got our table. I would say it was worth the wait since we got our own “room”.

Tea please Ken.

a nice cup of Oolong to warm us up.

Did you notice how pretty the spinning glass is?

Do you see me?

It didn’t take long before food started to fly out of the kitchen. Boy was I hungry.

Crab Soup

nom nom

The crab soup was actually really good. There was also fish belly floating around. I like to drink/eat my crab soup with lots of white pepper. I don’t know why I just do. What other people do is drizzle some red vinegar on top. I love red vinegar, and if you’ve seen me eat red vinegar, you know exactly what I’m talking about. No one likes to sit next to me when I eat noodles because I make sure my noodles are soaked in the vinegar which of course stinks up the whole place. Not in this case. I actually liked my soup just the way it is with the white pepper. I felt that the red vinegar took away a lot of flavor from the crab and whatever light seasoning they put. No, my white pepper didn’t ruin the flavor. It was still delicious.

Clams with black bean sauce

We had 2 orders of these so they combined it into one big plate. I don’t know what everyone thought about them, but I can tell you what I thought. I thought some of the clams were undercooked. Some of the clams also hand sand in them. And some of the clams had a really bad clammy taste to it. What I mean by clammy? I just simply mean not-so-fresh-taste. That’s why I ate each one of these with lots of sauce on them. I also knew they weren’t fully cooked all the way when I picked one up to remove the shell, but it was really watery and the center of it was still cold. I love clams stir fried with black bean sauce, but it didn’t meet my expectations by the quality of the clams. The black bean sauce however, was delicious. Maybe just a bad batch… maybe eh?!

chicken with gailan vegetable

I didn’t care too much for this dish. Why? because it’s boring! Really? I can’t believe we ordered this… gailan with chicken? It wasn’t bad but I rather have something else!

Beef Lo Lac

Ehhhhhhk. What’s next that we ordered? I didn’t like this. Yes I wanted a dish with beef, but this awkwardly awful. One of those dishes that you can’t tell whether you like it or not. If you can’t tell, it’s probably leaning towards not liking it. I was leaning towards dog food. Beef lo lac… I believe this is also known as fillet mignon french style. What’s french style? Did they cook it in some butter? People may like it, but it’s not for me. The name is pretty funny though. If you say Lo Yao instead, it means butt in cantonese. HAHA!

Fried

tofu

Nom nom nom nom nom! This was delicious! they were double bite sizes which is a lot easier to eat versus the big brownie sized ones. MMMM it was crispy on the outside but not over fried, seasoned just perfect with a delicious soy sauce on the side. I ate 2 of these as long as everyone got one, and it’s not the last one on the plate, I will still grab seconds. I will tell people (you) to order it if you do come. Tofu is delicious and good for you.

fish fillet with basil

So we thought when it said fish fillet with basil, that the fillets would be fried with basil and salt seasoned on top. This was totally different from what we wanted. No wonder our waiter was trying to recommend something else… He knew… he knew.. that this wasn’t the best choice on their menu. It wasn’t bad because the fish wasn’t “fishy” and what do I mean by that? *sigh* let’s make this easier. Everything with they “y” in the back of a word say Salmony, beefy, squidy, clammmy, piggy, fishy, drunky, IS nOT A GOOD THING. So it was a good thing that this wasn’t fishy. In fact it tasted like basil which I like. So this was ok.. but I rather have the fish fried up. They need to change the menu.

Spicy salt spare ribs

They had the salt on the side! Hey I actually like that idea! It was actually good with and without. add some line to spazz it up. I over due it with the salt sometimes… but I love salt like I love my vinegar. They actually made this better than I thought they would. Go ahead and order it. All the asian people do. This is a good safe choice if you ever want a meat dish with your order.

something choy lol

Honestly, order whatever vegetable you like and get it cooked with either shrimp paste or the “Chinese Cheese” and trust me it’s good. If you don’t know how to pair it up, my favorite is Ong choy with chinese cheese… it’s so good!! Maybe it’s a aquired taste but it doesn’t taste like cheese. I guess it’s just the whole rotting and fermenting process.. lol nom nom nom nom delliiicious!

Walnut shrimp

I can’t tell you how much I wanted this to be good… I really really really did! We are HUGE fans of walnut shrimp! And tasty garden still holds the number 1 spot for walnut shrimp. They make it so good over there. I know this looks good, but it’s EHH. The batter on the shrimp wasn’t crispy and the mayo coating wasn’t sweet enough. They probably didn’t put enough condensed milk or honey (which ever they use). The walnuts though were really good. We kept eating it to clean the plate. It was the hardest thing to do.

So the whole point of that nights dinner was to plan for next years meetings. But *sigh* food commma!! And come on… it’s Christmas time!(almost) and why not spend a day of fellowship by just having fellowship with one another right?! So the food was meh! I have to come back for lobster to see what the whole rave is about. It’s strange how I am willing to spend money on lobster when I am a part time worker, a student, everyone has a career, but freak out about how much money a lobster would be… Really?! we are splitting it amongst 12 people! Live a little! Food is the best thing in life you can indulge yourself in! -___^ Tsk. I’m totally coming back and ordering a lobster… FOR MYSELF.

ugh Bon Appetit.

©Thanks!

ANYWAYS, we went to little tokyo for a late night dinner/snack at Zencu Sushi & Grill. They were the only sushi place that was open by the time we got there, well we arrived 25 minutes before closing which ended up to be a not so great idea. So the waitress warned us that they are closing soon and what we order will be last orders, AND WE SAID THAT’s FINE. She sits us down at the table and says again that its going to be last call. OKAY WE GET IT. We finally decided what to order, and after she wrote it down, she said again that it’s going to be last order… Ok does it not sound like we speak english? *rolls eyes*

So…

miso soup

OMG I totally forgot to eat the edamame after looking at this picture right now!! Awwwww fuuudge.. I Love edamame The miso soup wasn’t that great, and with a spoon?! tsk tsk tsk shame on you zencu.

Deep fried spicy tuna roll

Wendy ordered this. This was really weird. Not bad but the texture was really off. The tuna tasted like it was 1/2 cooked. In this scenario, I rather have my tuna either cooked all the way, or still raw raw raw in the inside like how gaga would say it. I’m not saying it was bad.. Just think of a warm oatmeal hahah.

bento

My chicken teriyaki, salad, spicy tuna roll, and shrimp&Veggie tempuLLA. Chicken was either a hit or miss. A piece was tender why another piece tasted like jerky. Their spicy tuna roll used to be really good here when I came here back then. They also gaved more than 3 pieces also when I came. I don’t mind quantity as long as it’s good, but the tuna was mushed compared to how I got them last time. There were chunks of tuna last time I had them here! the tempura crunch crunch was not crunch crunch. But my jaws did hurt a little from eating them. The batter was hard/stale. Weird but maybe it was under a heat lamp. Since these were “last call” orders, I’m pretty sure they had these babies sitting for a while under a heat lamp. how dare you give me heat lamp food!

Luvii

Anyways… I love Wendy. When we left the restaurant (because they gaved us a few hints they don’t want us there anymore), it was raining!! I already miss her. She’s one of the most real, genuineness, caring, loving people you will every meet. If she’s your friend and you do something that you know is not right, she will tell you. Other than the mom/sister figure, she’s a great friend to have a good time with and to grasp a good laugh. Even though she’s gone again, I know she will be back soon and everything will still be the same about her (in a positive way).

<3 only you will be fun with me!

Bon Appetit. Sayonara.

©Thanks