Tag Archives: pan asian

February 21, 2011 · 9:08 pm

SF – Betelnut

Across the street from Betelnut

Betelnut has outlived almost every restaurant on the yuppy-laden Union Street of San Francisco, which is quite impressive considering the area’s rapid turnover rate. Now that I’m an adult, the dark, sultry restaurant no longer exists as a mystery to me, and I now frequent this place for festive dinners with tropical cocktails and family style pan-asian fare. Last week, I met 7 of my local SF friends here, and expecting a standard white person’s interpretation of an Asian meal, I left totally impressed by Betelnut’s respect for traditional eastern flavors and undeniably delicious food.

After downing a rum-filled “Scorpion bowl” with 2 foot straws, we ordered a series of appetizers to share: chicken satay, shrimp dumplings, vegetarian dumplings, and Cecilia’s chicken-lettuce cups. Everything was delicious, but the chicken lettuce cups, served as a heaping of chopped sautéed garlicky chicken aside fresh, crisp lettuce leaves, stole the show.

Cecilia’s Minced Chicken & Lup Cheong with lettuce cups

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

The vegetarian dumplings, which consisted of tofu, pea shoots, and fried challots beautifully wrapped in a thin chewy wonton had deep, earthy flavors that would even cater to meat-eaters. The soy-broth surrounding the shrimp dumplings was subtly buttery and delicious on its own.

Veggie Dumplings

The success of our first round of food inspired us to order much more than we needed, but I have no regrets. The Penang Rice Noodles with large cunks of buttery, soy sauced crab mimicked the flavors of delicious Benihannah fried rice. The duck noodles also had generous portions of meat, and with thin, short glass rice noodles, I felt like I was eating my mother’s famous pancit.

Penang Rice Noodles with king crab, shrimp, sprouts, chives & chili-soy

We also passed around chunks of crispy firecracker chicken with almonds and scallions, “Beggar’s” chicken, deliciously crunchy vegetable wood-ear mushroom springrolls with a creamy mustard sauce, and garlic sautéed string beans that wowed us all.

Szechuan Green Beans

The claypot chicken was probably my least favorite in terms of notable flavors, but it provided good entertainment value – my friend Stacy, who was closest to our waitress, was tasked with breaking the clay surrounding the chicken with what looked like a sledge hammer.

Claypot Chicken Before

Claypot Chicken After

Although some could consider Betelnut on the pricier side for a city filled with incredible (and cheap) Asian food, portion sizes were perfect, service was attentive, dishes were creatively presented, and the food was nothing short of delicious. Though each dish stood on its own, their mutual garlicky, spicy, and vinegary flavors united them into one perfectly well rounded meal.

My assumption that Betelnut has survived the critical San Francisco food audience purely because of legacy is totally wrong. With high quality food and an incredible cocktail menu, it has rightfully earned its permanent spot on Union Street, and the day it’s gone we’ll know that there has been a serious shift in the taste buds of the city’s population.

Grade: A

Location: Union and Buchanan Street

Website: http://www.betelnutrestaurants.com

*pictures via Yelp.com and Flickr

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Filed under Affordable Date, Asian, Family Style, Featured City Posts, Sex & The City Swank

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June 19, 2010 · 8:03 pm

Ma Peche

Ohhh David Chang. You just keep on getting better and better! I actually had no intention of visiting Ma Peche until my colleague proposed it as an idea for a client dinner. The fact that we didn’t have a reservation made me nervous, but we were pleasantly surprised by the exceptionally accommodating host upon arrival. We put in our name, requested a table for 8pm, and they eagerly put us in their book, happy to make it happen. Sure enough, we came back at 8pm after getting manicures, and were seated after 5 minutes. From the beginning Ma Peche impressed.

The vibe at Ma Peche is very laid back, but in a modern way. Light wooden tables, stiff, uncomfortable chairs, high, white-walled ceilings, and bright lighting give it a very sophisticated, classiroomy feel. The waiters are all very young, chummy, and evidently passionate about the food they’re serving. You can tell that everyone there, waitstaff and customers alike, all feel privileged to be a part of the Ma Peche experience.

Considering we were taking out clients, the sky was the limit with our menu choices – my favorite type of dining experience! We literally picked everything that caught our eyes on the menu, and it ended up being a complete success. And for this reason (and because I’m lazy), I’m going to describe everything we ordered in list form:

1. Squid salad with scallions, peanuts – light with bright, citrus-y flavors
2. Beef tartare, soy, scallions, mint – not my typical appetizer choice, but the accompanying shrimp chips were tasty
3. Asparagus salad with crab and egg yolk – perfectly al dente aspargus with a creamy yet delicate crab dressing
4. Pork ribs with lemongrass caramel – one of my favorites, crispy fried pork that falls off the bone
5. Huge scallops, seared with brown butter, lime, pea shoots – gigantic scallops, perfectly cooked and buttery
6. Rice noodles, spicy pork, sawleaf herb – the oddly shaped noodles, crispy on the inside, were not at all what I expected but a nice surprise. The fleks of pork added great flavor and texture to the dish
7. Short ribs with carrots and spaetzle – another hit – melt in your mouth cubes of short rib with a light yet flavorful broth
8. Fried calamari with scallions and fish sauce – a vinagary delicacy, I could eat a whole bowl!

Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos of the food, but I did get a chance to take photos of two equally stellar sightings: Neal Patrick Harris and Mark Summers, who were dining together amongst a large group of young men and one woman. After a cocktail and a glass of wine, I couldn’t resist asking for a photo upon their exit. Success! They were both incredibly nice, and pleased to take a photo with their fans (especially Marc Summers, Double Dare blast from the past). If you are dying to see food photos, though, don’t fret – about every blog out there is filled with Ma Peche slide shows – check out Grub Street for a sneak peek.
The experience didn’t end with dinner, of course, though for the unmotivated it normally would. Ma Peche doesn’t serve dessert in the main dining room. This, to me, is a huge setback. I don’t want to get out of my chair to get dessert, because that’s when I realize I’m too full to actually eat it. Ma Peche gives you two options – take dessert to-go from the Milk Bar that welcomes you upon entering with bright neon lights, or sit in the quiet upstairs lounge and order. We opted for the latter and pre-ordered four of the famous freshly baked Milk Bar Chocolate Chip Cookies, which take 10 minutes to bake. These were absolutely incredible, and washed down with a cold glass of milk, brought me more back to my childhood than Marc Summers and the classroom like setting did combined. Pure bliss. Warm, doughy, chocolatey, chewy cookies. We also ordered the Candy Bar pie, which is the perfect combo of salty and sweet, chocolate and caramel, hard and smooth textures.

Overall, Ma Peche was awesome and scored especially high on food and service. The host even left us with his card so we could give him a heads up on our future visits. He may regret that, because I will definitely be making this place a stop when visitors come to town!

Grade: A-
Address: Mezzanine of Chambers Hotel, 15 W 56th St between 5th and 6th
Website: http://www.momofuku.com/ma-peche/

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March 24, 2009 · 11:48 pm

Buddakan NYC


Since writing in my blog has become a daunting task as I have increased my visits to notable restaurants, I have decided to revamp my review style. From now on, I will simply list the drinks and dishes I tasted, comment, and judge taste on scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the best); and write a line or two about the ambiance and service. Then, some closing remarks. So, let’s see if I know how to be succinct!

Buddakan Dishes I tasted:

1. Edamame Dumplings: Green bite size dumplings with a thick and dense skin. Inside, a buttery, savory, smooth, creamy, and incredibly tasty soy bean filling that just melts in your mouth. Served with a delicious dipping sauce. (5)
2. Chili Rock Shrimp: Generous portion of crispy fried rock shrimp lightly glazed with a tangy sweet & sour sauce. Perfectly salty and delicious with rice. (4)
3. Tuna Tartare Spring Roll: My favorite. Thin rolls of chilled fresh tuna wrapped in a crispy (yet non greasy) wafer thin lumpia wrapper. How do they do this? (5)
4. General Tso’s Dumpling: round dumplings with potsticker like skin encompassing a ground chicken mixture and a sweet and sour soy sauce that bursts in your mouth as a surprise Deliciously chewy – but need to eat these in one bite to avoid any spillage! (5)
5. Wild Mushroom Chow Fun: Gummy wide egg noodles made elegant with generous portions of wild mushrooms – great soy saucy accompaniment to the rest of the dishes, and not terribly greasy like most noodles. (4)
6. Lobster Fried Rice: Flaky fried white rice with large chunks of lobster. Surprisingly generous with the lobster, but rice wasn’t as sticky as I would have liked, and lacked a lobster flavor. (3)
7. Charred Filet of Beef: Perfectly tender sashimi-sized chunks of beef with mild buttery mustard dipping sauce. Quite clean and delicate for a beef dish. (5)
8. Glazed Alaskan Black Cod: Another favorite – light and delicate chunk of fish with miso sauce – falls apart with the touch of a fork and melts in your mouth! Great partner to rice dish. (5)
9. Chocolate Mille Feuille: Light but beautiful dessert, dark chocolate thinly layered cake w/ bruleed bananas and spice chocolate cream. Had a light wafer crunch, great amount of sweetness. (4)

Considering the trendiness and hype of Buddakan, I had very low expectations for this restaurant’s food. I was stunned by the quality and quantity of its dishes, and even more surprised to find that for four people, we were able to consume all the food plus 1-2 drinks each for only $200 total! No doubt you will have to wait for your table at the bar (regardless of reservations), but it’s definitely worth it. Dress to impress. Waiters are accessible and helpful, but not over the top friendly.

This restaurant deserves a 5!!!! So delicious and so much fun to bring a group.

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