The Great Vietnam Fusion in Castro--Xanh

Today's restaurant is Xanh

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We didn't order a lot today, so I'm gonna talk about everything with how much I like each of them.

We got calamari for appetizer. The calamari is very tender and the batter is not too thick. The flavor is just right, salty with a hint of spicy. It's crispy, flavorful, and very unique (most of the restaurants wouldn't use onion and jalapeño)

We got two entrées. The first is the Lucky Egg Noodle. When my friend chose this, I was like "you really want this? It sounds cheap." But it turns out that the noodle is very delicious. Good choice lady! The plating is very unique and the presentation of the food is full of fun. Although it's just noodle, it would be worth the price ($13)

The second one is Duck Duck Good. It sounds funny, I know, but that is the name of the dish. It's made of duck, sticky rice, and sauce. I have to say it's not the best duck I've had. It is delicious, but it's not really that special. What's special would be the sticky rice at the bottom that is soaked with all the juice from the duck meat. Full of Flavor, but I don't think it's worth the money ($24)

Overall, it's a good place to eat if you can endure loud noise. There was a company party or some sort there so it was quite noisy. I was okay with it, but I do have to take out some points here because it simply takes too much energy to talk in that environment. That would be something to note.

Overall,

Flavor: 3.5 (duck was a bit disappointing...)

atmosphere: 3 (you kinda have to yell to the other people for them to hear you)

location: 4 (Castro, free public parking)

Price: 4 (This is hard. I like the price of the noodle, but the calamari is a bit overpriced, and the duck is definitely overpriced for how much I enjoyed)

overall: 3.5 (I kinda don't get how this restaurant got such good review on Yelp......)

Special Guest of the Day:

A comfortable and homey tavern in Palo Alto--Osteria

Today, i'm gonna talk about this restaurant that lies near University Ave. in Palo Alto.

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We had a really nice dinner here. When we walked in, the design of the restaurant is not what we expected to see near this area. As you guys all know, we've been eating around here a lot, and most of the restaurants are quite fancy on interior design. This one however, does not give that kind of feeling. Just like the word "osteria" means: Tavern. It's a homey looking restaurant without all the high class feeling. However, it doesn't affect the rating of it.

Just like the design of the restaurant, the plating of food isn't quite eye catching. To me, there's not even any plating. For appetizer, we got the prosciutto with melon. When the dish came, I immediately thought of Luffy from One Piece. For those who read the manga, it's the dish Luffy was trying to find during the banquet after saving Nami's village. Yes! It's that dish. The flavor is quite unique. the Prosciutto is salty but the melon is sweet. With the lemon juice added to it, it has three different flavors combined together. Pretty interesting.

My entrée was the pasta with shrimps and garlic sauce. Forgot what it's called. it has a strong garlic smell==> good stuff. The portion is big enough to fill you up, and the flavor was decent. Again, plating does not exist......

For the dessert, we got the hazelnut flan with chocolate sauce. i like the flan. Even though it pretty much tastes like Nutella, it's still really good. Unique? maybe. Delicious? definitely!

Oh yeah, did I mention that we only spent 60 dollars total for this meal? knowing us, it's a really cheap meal!

Overall, I like the restaurant for the portion and the taste, but it's not really a restaurant I'd take people to. There are tons of other restaurants around that have better service, food, and atmosphere in general. So the grade is......

Flavor: 4

Service: 4, the servers here are really friendly

atmosphere: 3, actually this one depends on people. If you like the homey style, you'll probably like it, but I don't think it's worth driving 30 minutes for this kind of restaurant.

location: 4, University Ave, enough said

price: 4.5, a good meal for this kind of price

overall: 4, it's good for casual lunch or dinner, and it will get you full with a little money

The Joyful Restaurant for Toppas--Joya

Joya

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thank you Jeff for the pictures

This is a nice restaurant on University Ave, Palo Alto. It serves a variety of small portion of food, namely Toppas. Since it's small portion, don't expect to get full on this unless you really order a lot. But worry not, these dishes are meant for appetizers. Honestly I don't really remember what we ordered for Toppas. All we did was ordering whatever was on the menu lolllll. The only photo I have is the mini burgers. Well, all other people liked it, but it was just burgers to me......small burgers. It's good to have a taste of it, but in my opinion, don't see it as the most amazing thing you can get or else you'll be disappointed. Still, it wasn't bad.

Let's jump to the main course. We got the pork shoulder and mushroom paella. The waiter actually stopped us from ordering more, and it pissed me and my sister off because no one stops us from ordering more when we want to. Still, I actually have to thank him this time. He was right. The paella was meant for 6 people, not 2 as it said on the menu. That was a lot of rice. However, the flavor wasn't too great. It was......a little bland. I think the reason was that the pork shoulder was actually really flavorful, therefore the flavor of the paella got overpowered. I don't know if the seafood paella would be better. You guys can try it out yourself.

Let's talk about the pork shoulder.

The one on the right was the pork shoulder. It was very nicely cooked. It had a sweet flavor with all the juice in it. It was very tender. What surprised me a lot is the mashed potato (or yam.....I'm not really sure......). It had all the flavor of the meat in it and it was extra sweet. With the smooth and silky texture, it was a really awesome side dish. I recommend this one.

For the dessert, we got that cinnamon thingy. It was sour, REALLY sour. If you don't like sour stuff or you only like a little bit of sourness, DO NOT get it. I guess it was really healthy and stuff, but it wasn't my thing.

Oh yea, if you like something chill and fruity and alcoholic, try their white peach sangria. It was good and it wasn't too powerful. A really good social drink in my opinion.

So, here we go.

flavor: 3.5

service: 3.5 (even though the waiter was right, it still pisses me off, but it's just me. they actually fill your glass )

atmosphere: 3.5 (the restaurant looks nice and all, but cheese cake factory was only a few building down the street, and it looks better...........)

location: 4 (there's a lot of free parking, but driving on University Ave always makes me mad during rush hour)

price: 4 (reasonable, mostly)

overall: 3.5 (worth trying)

The Washoku Wave of Castro-- Nami Nami

So I've been eating with my sis, Jeff, and Lisa, and I think it'd be nice to blog about it since whatever you post on yelp will only sink into the bottom of the list and no one really cares......except maybe your friends. Well, it's also a good idea to fill something in my blog so it doesn't look so empty all the time. My last entry was from a month ago and it was an article someone else wrote......

anyway, hopefully i will keep this up. People who know me know that I get in and get out of things really fast. Let's see how long it lasts this time.....

so,

Kappo Nami Nami

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When I walked in I saw a nicely designed restaurant that has a theme of black, wood, and dim lights. Although it's not what you see in all those Japanese restaurants (和室style), it looks very nice.

It was a Wednesday night so there weren't too many people. However, the waitress didn't serve us tea until way later, so that was a point deducted from service.

Still, that doesn't really affect the food.

I'm gonna skip what we ordered and go directly into what I think is good. One dish--Black Cod, was my favorite. It was nicely cooked and all the juice of the fish stayed inside. I think it used misoyaki for cooking and it was a very nice touch. Plating was okay (well, Japanese food usually comes with just the food itself anyway, unless you are talking about those big dishes that have tons of decorations). Overall it was really worth trying. Although for some people the price was a little hindering (22 dollars......well, it's not too bad), it's definitely worth trying.

And then there's the cold noodle sampler.

It's very unique and very tasty. It would be one of the dishes that you have to try if you go there. From left to right it's fish eggs, sea urchin, fried shrimp, chinese yam, and I forgot what the last one is. It's cold noodle, but it's not really soba. It's more like a thin udon. Very chewy and flavorful.

There is one more--Sesame Tofu

Alright, I gotta say it tastes more like 湯圓, which is like a kind of rice ball, in both flavor and texture. It's good, but I don't think it's worth the price......

Oh yea, there's one more big plus to me. One of the waitresses is HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

but my sister says that she must be at least 30. I was like NO WAY!? Well, whether she's 30 or not, she's hot!

so for the rating (out of 5 points):

flavor: 4

service: 3

atmosphere: 5 (the bathroom looks nice too)

location: 5 (there's a lot of free parking around Castro Rd)

price: 4 (reasonable, mostly)

overall: 4 (worth trying)