Category Archives: Korean

Banana Island and Spot Lounge

Leave a reply

So Ron planned a semi-surprise birthday dinner for my big 3-0. I knew we were going out for dinner but I didn’t know where or who would be there.

We arrived at Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City and Ron didn’t seem to know exactly where he was going since we ended up driving around the shopping center and going past the parking lot entrance. Last weekend we went to Lime Tree and Ron mentioned something in passing like “oh, this is one of the Singaporean restaurants that I found online”… so I was thinking “one of”? I guessed right that we were going to Banana Island but Ron wouldn’t admit it to me. But I told him the restaurant was behind the new parking lot so we should enter that way.

The guestlist was a bit given away because as we were driving, we saw Henry’s car parked on the street and then we saw Patsy and her hubby in the parking lot! It didn’t matter to me that it was a surprise but I was just happy that everyone had time to come out to celebrate my birthday.

When Ron and I arrived, Grace unfortunately had to leave but gave me a lovely bottle of J sparkling wine before departing to take care of her sons. I’ll let you know how it is when we crack it open.

Already there waiting were Ron’s brothers Henry and William and Patsy and her hubby. Later on, Nancy and Ryan came. Also Cathy and Tiffany.

Ron did the ordering to give everyone a taste of what we had in Singapore.

Tiger beer.

Satay chicken and beef.

Roti with curry sauce.

Hainanese chicken (missing the chicken rice though).

Stir fried Ka Kong.

Beef rendang.

Char Kuay Teow (stir fried noodles).

Pineapple fried rice.

Po piah.

Fried fish with sweet & sour sauce.

The food reminded us of being back in Singapore although more expensive…

To end the meal, Ron ordered me a very special cake…

A Hello Kitty head.

It’s a cake for kids from Citizen Cake.

I forgot to mention I got a cute Hello Kitty balloon too.

Unfortunately I had to cut the cake and there wasn’t really any other way to do it except through the middle…

The cake was really dense and hard to cut.

I felt so terrible but it would’ve been a waste not to eat it..

My friends tried to stitch her up…

Then they were just cruel…

The cake needed an accompanying cup of coffee or milk since it was really dense. I didn’t eat most of my piece so I’ll be having it for breakfast for the next few days 🙂

These aren’t all the photos so I should be posting up some more later. I took a break from taking photos today so will have to get photos from everyone else.

Afterwards, a few of us went to hang out at a soju bar called The Spot Lounge on Taraval. They serve soju cocktails ($12.95/bottle) in many different flavors: mango, lychee, pear, yogurt, etc.

Reminiscent of our younger days…

The place has food too so looking forward to going back to try their rice cake (duk bok kee).

I guess getting older isn’t so bad afterall… thanks to everyone for coming out for my birthday and all the happy birthday messages!!

Banana Island
416 Westlake Center
Daly City, CA

The Spot Lounge
2325 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA

Sam Won Korean BBQ Restaurant Oakland

Leave a reply

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sam-won-bbq-house-oakland

We went out to Oakland to visit with my dad and had lunch together at one of our favorite Korean BBQ Restaurants. This is one of the places where we were first introduced to the concept of Korean BBQ and where we had our first learning lesson of not wearing your best clothes to have Korean BBQ.

We got there about 1pm for lunch and there were only a few other tables occupied. During evenings, you would usually have to wait for a while to get seated. I’m guessing it was quiet since it is Saturday and there are less businesses open.

I really like their side dishes, as you can see my dad is already digging in.
(From top left to right: tofu, broccoli, spicy cucumber, kimchi AND
bottom left to right: eggplant-one of my favorites, black beans, spicy radish, and octopus)

The octopus was a new one to us, simple with spicy sauce drizzled on top.

We didn’t do the BBQ thing today but I wanted to try something I haven’t had yet so I ordered the kimchi tofu rice cake stir fry. It was a bit too sour for me and I wished it had more rice cakes. It has plenty of fatty bacon though so if you like that, this is the way to go.

Ron ordered the stone bowl bibimbap which came out sizzling hot and continued to sizzle through the whole meal. He had to keep on stirring it around to aerate it to cool it down. I love all the vegetables in bibimbap… makes you think you’re eating something healthy!

We have leftovers, enough for another full meal 😛

We went to the Korean supermarket, Koreana Plaza, to stock up on Korean foods… we’re going to have a yummy week!

Sam Won
2600 Telegraph Ave
(b/w 26th and 27th St.)
Oakland, CA

DooBu Korean BBQ & Tofu Restaurant

Leave a reply

http://www.yelp.com/biz/doobu-san-francisco

We met up with our friends Tiffany and Cassie to have dinner in Japantown. Cassie recommended this Korean restaurant called DooBu, what a cute name!

We’ve passed by a few times while shopping in Japantown and heard good things about it so were excited to try it.

The place was pretty empty on a Tuesday evening, while we were there, only 2 other parties came in to have dinner as well. But that just means we got better service.

We ordered an appetizer and 3 bowls of tofu soup. You can tailor the spiciness of the tofu soups from “non-spicy” to “spicy”. We were warned by Cassie that “spicy” was really spicy but thought we’d try it anyways.

Our dinner included a deep fried fish per person:

Plus with each tofu soup, a stone pot of purple rice.

The appetizers (tofu, chap jae, seaweed, kimchi, & bean sprouts). In this picture is the sauce for the pajun (a pancake).

Ron & I ordered a kimchi and vegetable panjun, kind of like a Korean pizza or pancake, served on a hot stone plate. Had lots of vegetables and with the sauce, was really yummy.

We also ordered their special: ham and cheese tofu soup. It was a bit weird to have so much cheddar cheese and it was very gooey. It ordered “spicy” but it was tolerable, not as hot… definitely not like the experience we had in Korea, read about it HERE.

Cassie and Tiffany ordered the dumpling and rice cake tofu soup. I tried one of the little rice cakes. Cute and chewy.

Boy we were stuffed, the bread of the pancake and the cheese filled up our stomach.

DooBu
Korean BBQ & Tofu Restaurant
1723 Buchanan Street
San Francisco, CA
415-292-6002

Zazang Noodles on Geary

Leave a reply

http://www.yelp.com/biz/z…e-san-francisco

Tonight we were craving some noodles so went to Zazang Noodles on Geary. My friends at Kaiser took me out to lunch here the last time I was back in the US. The spicy seafood noodles disappointed me but the “za zang mien” was pretty good so I wanted to go back and try it.

We ordered the regular za zang noodles which were delicious.

From 09-08-2008 ZaZang Noodle on Geary Blvd

Also, we tried the spicy za zang noodles where they serve the sauce separately so you mix in your own amount. They also serve it with the pickled turnip, onions, and bean sauce. This was even better than the original za zang noodles.

From 09-08-2008 ZaZang Noodle on Geary Blvd

We also decided to try the chap chae which had meat and green bell peppers and onions. A bit peppery but in a good way.

From 09-08-2008 ZaZang Noodle on Geary Blvd

This is the best tasting za zang noodles we’ve had in the bay area.

Zazang Noodle
2340 Geary Blvd
San Francisco

Brother’s Korean BBQ

Leave a reply

We enjoyed some good Korean BBQ with our friends Susan & Ken. We
attempted to go to Brother’s Korean BBQ on Geary Blvd. The original
restaurant is #4128 and it was packed! There were groups waiting
inside and waiting outside. By the whiteboard where you sign your
name and the give the number of your party is this small white sign
that says they have a restaurant down the street at #4014 if you want
faster service with the same great food.

We smelled totally like charcoal and meat when we left the restaurant
but we left happily stuffed.

We ordered the soft tofu soup. It wasn’t very spicy but had lots of
ingredients and a good soup stock. Sorry the photo is a bit fuzzy,
it’s my cell phone camera.

We also had the kalbi and bulgogi. The guys helped to cook a yummy meal.

They threw in a complimentary plate of spicy squid. This was pretty
good, sweet and spicy.

We had soju and beer to top off our meal, the best accompaniments to our meal.

Brother’s Korean Restaurant
4014 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118