Category Archives: Asian

Turtle Tower

I finally got to try the Pho Ga at Turtle Tower (as recommended on the 7×7 list). The restaurant menu states they serve their pho in the style of Ha Noi without bean sprouts and mint, just the noodles, broth, and meats.

I enjoyed the noodles and chicken but I think the broth at Hai Ky Mi Gia.

I had their three color bean drink. I love these and have never had a bad one yet.

Ron ordered the pork chop rice. He was impressed with the neatly fried egg.

I’m surprised I didn’t enjoy it was much as I thought I would. Maybe too much hype.


Turtle Tower

631 Larkin St

Indonesia Restaurant

I was having a craving for laksa but wasn’t able to find a place in our neighborhood but thought we’d try the Indonesian Restaurant that we passed by a few weeks ago.

We ended up ordering four dishes.

Tahu Telor
Deep fried tofu in scramble egg, bean sprouts, and crushed peanut served with peanut sauce dressing.
Not very appetizing looking but reminded me a lot of one of my favorite breakfast in Singapore called Tahu Goreng (a deep fried tofu dish served with cucumbers and peanut sauce).

Chicken Satay
Five grilled chicken skewers served with a peanut sauce.
The chicken was a bit dry. The pickled vegetables were really yummy though.

Soto Ayam
Shredded chicken in coconut milk, bean sprout, fresh tomato, clear noodles, and hard boiled eggs.
The crispy things on top tasted a bit stale so a bit bitter. I was hoping it was like laksa because of the coconut broth but I was very wrong.

Rendang
Slow cooked beef in coconut milk, galangal, lemon grass, and Indonesian bay leaves.
Yum, delicious and spicy. Loved the fried garlic on top.

They have lots of other dishes so we’ll probably be back since we live within walking distance. They open late too, see hours below.


Indonesia Restaurant

678-680 Post Street
Mon-Thu 11:30am-12am
Fri-Sat 11:30am-3am
Sun 12pm-11pm

Hai Ky Mi Gia and Ghetto Moving

For breakfast I was craving noodles, so we tried to go to Turtle Tower but the wait was out the door so we went to Hai Ky Mi Gia since they also have great noodle soup. I tried “9A” in soup for the first time. It’s clear glass noodles with chicken, kidney, and vegetables. I love their broth and I really enjoyed this bowl of noodles. The glass noodles are a bit harder to pick up with chopsticks but it’s worth the effort.

Afterwards we went in search of a cat tree for the kitties. We finally found one that was a good price and what we wanted at Pet Source… the only problem was how would we bring it home? Remember we only have one car and it’s a Honda Civic. This cat tree is about 6 feet tall and 2 feet x 2 feet square. Luckily, the guys working at Pet Source that day were willing to help us load it on top of our car and using the packing plastic like plastic wrap, to anchor it on the roof. I was laughing while watching them…

Good thing our apartment wasn’t too far away but if Ron drove too fast and hit a bump or pothole on the road, the cat tree would bounce on the roof and you could hear it bouncing on the roof. But after removing it, there weren’t any dents on the roof, just it was wiped clean.

When we first brought it in the apartment, the cats ignored it. Once we moved it near the window so that they could sit on it and learned they could sit on it to look out the window. But they’re not that intrigued by it yet, I think we’ll need to buy some catnip to entice them a bit more.

Oh, the price? $120, 50% off original price of $240. These things are more expensive than I thought. The other store we went to had smaller ones (only 3 ft) which were $180, so this was a much better deal… plus worth a good laugh.

Alex & Jacky’s Wedding in Half Moon Bay

It was a busy day yesterday full of moving and today we attended my cousin Alex’s wedding in Half Moon Bay.

In the morning, we had some noodles at Hai Ky Mi Gia with our friends and new neighbors. I ordered the chicken noodles and it had tons of chicken, almost too much. Their broth is really good.

We also went to this great coffee place, they have the best iced coffee.

Just to share some photos from the wedding. Unfortunately, it was really cold there so we had to keep our coats on the whole time but they still had a beautiful wedding.


(A delicious sea bass)

We left right after cake as we were exhausted after moving all day on Saturday.

Namu Restaurant

I had a craving for a burger so went looking on Yelp for a place around our neighborhood. Ron and I ended up going for dinner at Namu Restaurant since they had an available Opentable reservation.

From what I could tell, the restaurant had about 10 tables and a small bar. They were just finishing up happy hour so the place was a bit empty but I think this made the service extra attentive.

We were served a complimentary appetizer of bean sprouts, zucchini, and kimchi. Only the kimchi had a strong flavor, the bean sprouts and zucchini were a bit bland, light seasoned with sesame oil and/or blanched.

Next we had the shiitake mushroom dumpling in dashi broth. Very flavorful but a small portion. The broth was probably the best part.

Short rib tacos served on top of nori. It was a bit hard to eat, more like a salad since the nori got too soft to actually pick up and eat with. Maybe if they actually toasted it, it wouldn’t have been so soggy… but who knows… tasted good though but wasn’t really a taco.

The finale, a niman ranch beef burger. I liked the condiments of daikon and sprouts. It satisfied my craving for the night.

Namu Restaurant
439 Balboa St at 6th Ave