Category Archives: Asian

Miette, Arty Salon (a 12 inch hair cut!), and Iroha

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On my long Saturday walk I stopped by Miette to check out their pastries. I decided on a rose macaroon and a box of ginger snaps. I had the macaroon as my breakfast this morning. The macaroon was $1.50 and a bit small, the circumference about the size of a silver dollar. The rose flavor was very light but fragrant, the cookie nice and nutty.

This evening I had my big haircut. Every 2 years or so, I usually will cut the length of my hair for donation to Locks of Love. This will be my third donation. Your hair donation must be at least 10 inches so if you’re interested in donating, check out their website. It’s always a good excuse for me to get a new hairstyle and my hair grows pretty fast.

So my length before haircut:

My friend Susan recommended ARTY Salon in Japantown and their stylist Kumi. She’s a busy girl so I wasn’t able to get an appointment during my vacation so had to wait until tonight. She did a really great job with my hair consultation and gave me a lot of options. Eventually I just asked her to do what she thought would be best for my face shape and my style of hair. She took a lot of time putting the finishing touches on my cut. My haircut took almost 90 minutes but my hair feels really nice and light, it just is taking some getting used to. Wait until I wash it and then I’ll have an opinion on how I really like it.

So ta-dah! At dinner:

My 12 inch ponytail:

After my cut, we went to Iroha for dinner. I had bought a gift certificate from Restaurant.com so it was a good time to use it. It was a $25 off a $45 minimum purchase, the gift certificate only cost me $5. We ended up ordering quite a bit of food.

Seaweed salad, a bit too much dressing.

Mushroom stuffed with pork, oversauced with teriyaki sauce.

Beef wrapped around green bell peppers. Again, too much teriyaki sauce.

Vegetable tempura. Great vegetables: mushrooms, bell pepper, eggplant, carrot, yam, zucchini, and some sort of pumpkin or gourd.

Tonkatsu curry. Curry was piping hot, a bit spicy which was good. The rice not very good but tonkatsu well fried.

Ron ordered the beef teriyaki + tonkatsu combo (not on the menu but they said they would make it).

It was quite a bit meal, needless to say, we were stuffed. I’ve been drinking lots of water since dinner since I feel parched, too much protein and saltiness.

Miette
2109 Chestnut St

ARTY
1680 Post St #G (2nd floor)

Iroha
1728 Buchannan St (2nd floor) between Post St & Sutter St

Dad’s Birthday at Koi Garden

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http://www.koipalace.com/….html?page=home

My dad’s birthday is tomorrow but we celebrated with an extended family dinner tonight at his favorite restaurat Koi Garden. We had a 8 course meal.

A suckling pig prepared like peking duck where you eat the skin with a white bun, green onions, and plum sauce.

Complete with LED cherries.

A deep fried something, I think it was pork wrapped in mu shu skin and coated in batter.

Lettuce wraps, loved the crispy fried bread in the meat mixture.

Scallops in broth.

Shark fin soup made in a coconut.

Abalone, fish stomach, and mustard greens.

Lobster noodles.

Plus there was a fish that I didn’t take a picture of.

We also had cake and these mung bean filled buns in the shape of a peach.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy, excited that we’re home to make her dinner.

As always, I leave stuffed after this Chinese banquet.

Angel Island and Alcatraz

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http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/

I’ve lived in the bay area most of my life but have never visited Alcatraz, so I thought it’d be a good idea to pay a visit. The only tickets left online were for the combination Angel Island and Alcatraz tour for $58.

My morning ride.

We stopped briefly at Alcatraz for a photo opportunity before heading to Angel Island which is where we would disembark.

Upon arriving at Angel Island, we boarded the trams for the 1 hour tour (included with your alcatraz/angel island combo tour ticket).

Their is an audio tour inside the tram. Although the tram itself was pretty noisy so it made it difficult to hear everything. We stopped near the top for a photo opportunity.

Our tour was around perimeter road, passing by all the soldier homes and the old hospital. Beautiful buildings just waiting for restoration.

The last sight on the tour was the immigration station where the Chinese and Japanese were first held before being allowed on the mainland. We didn’t get to stop here though so I’d like to go back at some point to learn more.

We had a short break for lunch before catching the ferry to Alcatraz. I settled down at a park bench to have the lunch I brought. Surprisingly they do have a small restaurant there that serves some pretty good looking eats. The view from the park bench.

My lunch buddy.

Only on the water do you get to San Francisco streets this way.

Alcatraz Island. An audio tour is included with your ticket as well and it’s pretty good. You follow a certain route through the cell block with some great history and well set up exhibits.

On thing though, you better not be super sensitive to urine or bird dropping smells. It’s either the public toilet or the sea water or the birds that cover the island but there is a distinct odor throughout the island. There are lots of birds, including this baby one.

My tour started at 9:40am departure from Pier 33
Arrival at Angel Island 10:30am
Angel Island Tour 10:45am – 11:45am
Departure for Alcatraz Island 12:45 pm
Alcatraz Island Audio Tour 1:30 – 2:30pm
Departure for Pier 33 2:45pm

Ron came to pick me up and we went to have a late lunch/early dinner at Doobu in Japantown.

Their yummy side dishes.

I tried their chicken bi bim bap. There was plenty of the meat the stone bowl was super hot so the rice on the bottom was yummy and crispy.

Ron had the spicy pork and tofu soup combo.

It’s been quite a day. Alcatraz is quite a hike up to the top. Ready for some rest.

John’s Snack & Deli

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http://www.snackanddeli.com/

After reading about it on SFGate, I’ve been wanting to try the kimchi burrito at John’s Snack and Deli and today I got my chance.

I arrived a bit after 11:30am and was one of two customers. By the time 12pm rolled around, there was a line of at least 8 people. I wasn’t sure what to order besides the kimchi burrito but the owner kindly pointed out the specials sign on the outside window. I decided on 2 kimchi burritos (one for Ron and one for myself) and a kalbi soft taco.

We brought it home to eat since there isn’t anywhere to sit inside.

The soft taco had plenty of meat and some great spicy pickled turnips and kimchi on top. It was a bit weird on a corn tortilla though. Still quite tasty.

Next I dug into the burrito which had lots of meat, greens, kimchi, rice, some cheese, and that delicious Korean spicy sauce. It was still a bit weird to be eating a burrito that didn’t taste Mexican but I know I’m going to be craving this again.

The place has specials each day and can be found on their website at the beginning of the week. Today was soft tofu stew day and the wait time was up to 30 minutes (and customers were willing to wait in that little store). This Friday is my favorite Korean dish, rice cakes, aka rice pinkies… may have to go back for more.

Parking there is difficult but it’d be worth the trip by public transportation or if you work around the area. The owner is really friendly and efficient in taking your order and phone orders.

I still have 1/3 of my burrito to enjoy tomorrow… yum, can hardly wait. I also want to go back to try their spicy pork soft taco, spam kim bap (Korean sushi), bim bi bap, and ramen… sometimes I wish I could eat more.

John’s Snack and Deli
40 Battery Street

California Academy of Sciences and San Tung

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http://www.calacademy.org/

I spent the morning at the California Academy of Sciences. I decided to purchase an individual membership so that I would be able to take my time to explore and not worry about having to keep on purchasing tickets plus I can bring a guest. I started out with the planetarium show, the penguin feeding, then the coral reef dive before heading out around 1pm. It was getting way too busy to be enjoyable and the passes for the rest of the shows were already gone. So I’m glad I can go back during members hours so hopefully it’ll be less busy.

Just some photos to share:

The turtles were having their breakfast when I arrived.

The penguins in anticipation of their feeding.

The harlequin shrimp (feeding on a blue starfish).

The coral reef dive show.

Jellyfish.

Wax frogs.

The rare white alligator.

The living roof.

One of Google’s Favorite Places.

Can’t wait for my next visit.

Ron came to pick me up and we went to lunch at San Tung for their yummy dried fried chicken.

Their kimchi seems to have gotten spicier, in a good way.

The sticky, gooey, crispy, yummy dried fried chicken. Finger licking good! We ordered 2 orders to go with the sauce on the side.

The spicy peanut noodles (the warm one, not the cold noodles) with shrimps, scallops, mushrooms, and cucumbers. It wasn’t very spicy but I liked the noodles, very fresh. Ron felt it didn’t have enough peanut flavor.

Lastly, tofu with vegetables. I wouldn’t order this again. It had no flavor and was just kind of sloppy to eat.

Another good day in San Francisco. My week is going by fast…

San Tung Chinese Restaurant
1031 Irving St