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OK, there are some credible 4 star restaurants downtown but these days I am not on anyone's expense account so my perspective has changed. Tasty, well-thought our food for humans in a pleasant...
OK, there are some credible 4 star restaurants downtown but these days I am not on anyone's expense account so my perspective has changed. Tasty, well-thought our food for humans in a pleasant environment. Good food prepared in the French style. I have had more fun grabbing a seat at the bar or one of the tables in that area. Oysters served up nicely... a sliced lamb sandwich with roasted peppers- out of this world.... and I think i have mentioned it before - the best hamburger in town.
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We tried out the dim sum at Zen Peninsula this morning and were overall really impressed and quite pleased with our visit. I would rank it among the top dim sum houses in Millbrae, perhaps even the...
We tried out the dim sum at Zen Peninsula this morning and were overall really impressed and quite pleased with our visit. I would rank it among the top dim sum houses in Millbrae, perhaps even the top one, though still a step short of Koi Palace (though to be fair, we didn't try any of Zen Peninsula's "special" dishes which might put them equal to Koi Palace). I definitely favor Zen Peninsula over Hong Kong Flower Lounge and the newly opened The Kitchen.
Big square room with some planters, nice chandeliers and not much decoration โ just one big wall covered in red velvet with a gold symbol/character on it. Right next to the waiting area are their fish tanks with large live shrimp, a truly enormous lobster in solitary splendor and a rather creepy pile of absolutely enormous crabs โ they looked like with one good jump they could hook a claw over the side and make a break for it :) Part way through our meal a party was seated next to us that ordered the crab and the live crab was brought over on a tray for them to look like before it was cooked. That was quite a show!
Service here was great, all the cart and tray ladies were really friendly and most were happy to make an attempt to translate to English for us the dishes we didn't recognize on sight. I liked their house tea tremendously and they weren't skimpy with the leaves, it brewed up to a nice dark hue almost immediately. They were also happy to bring us more chili paste and soy sauce when we ran short. Initially I was worried that the small table we got was right next to the beverage station, but that ended up working out well for us since we could always find someone that way โ and we had no shortage of cart/tray ladies coming to us.
On to the dishes:
*a giant sticky rice "burrito" โ this is a dish I haven't had before, it was out of a steam cart and initially I thought it was just a bigger version of sticky rice in lotus leaf that we're used to seeing for dim sum. However, the server unwrapped it for us before serving (it took her a good few minutes to cut the string and unwrap the leafy package โ and what came out was a HUGE roll of sticky rice โ much bigger than I expected). She cut it into slices for us and each one had an outer roll of sticky rice with steamed egg in the center and smallish pieces of meat โ chicken maybe? It honestly didn't have a lot of flavor on its own, but it was certainly filling, seemed like it might be a family's light breakfast food?
*regular sized sticky rice in lotus leaf โ quite tasty, once we found the dish we were actually looking for! Nice slices of sausage, shrimp, egg in the filling.
*siu mai โ keeping with the theme of the day, these four dumplings were plump with the pork filling, and came out perfectly hot and juicy. Some of the best siu mai I've had.
*taro puff โ I was originally worried when I got this since the outer "bee's nest" looked very dark, almost to the point of being burnt, and not a huge cloud of crackly threads. However, when we tasted them, we found them to be nicely crispy, not burnt at all and not overly greasy, again with a very generous filling of pork inside the layer of taro. The sauce used with the pork wasn't as dark as I'm used to in these, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. These were great.
*pork in fried dough dumpling โ these were ok, probably one of my less favorite of the dishes we had. I thought they could actually use a bit more frying time as the dough was a little soft/gelatinous for me. Still not bad though.
*shrimp and chive dumpling โ Excellent, one of my favorite bites of the meal. These were three big crescent shaped dumplings in beautifully translucent wrappers filled generously with fresh chive and shrimp. They held up well in spite of the thin wrapper โ their steamed dishes were fantastic.
*pork in puff-pastry (sort of a flattened looking spring roll shape?) โ Nicely layered pastry and just a bit of savory pork. These were wonderful and we could have devoured more orders of them if not for all the other great things!
*Chinese broccoli โ We never did see this get to us on a tray so we requested it from one of the ladies with a tray ordering it as "gai lan". We were pleasantly surprised when a moment later one of the black jacketed supervisors approached and asked if we wanted to put in an order for Chinese broccoli. We told him we did and it arrived shortly thereafter โ this was the easiest it's ever been for us to order a dim sum dish that we weren't seeing come around that we particularly wanted. Usually we have to order 2-3 times at other places to get the order to go through. The broccoli itself when it came out was just fine โ not a standout, but exactly what we were looking for.
*daan taat โ my favorite part of the meal. The crust was many, many layers of flaky pastry and the filling was a light yellow/creamy color but was just the perfect consistency of barely set custard without being too liquidy or too stiff. Definitely a winner. Both pastry items we had here were excellent.
*fried sesame ball โ red bean paste filling. This was nicely filled โ a good ratio for the size of the sesame balls. Tasty and sweet note to end the meal.
Overall, as I said, we were very impressed. Everything was done at a minimum "ok" and most things exceeded that. Steamed items and bakery type items were standouts. Everything was generously filled and came nice and fresh, nothing was circulating too long. Price-wise, we had 10 dishes for $35 including tax (before tip), so I think their prices are generally in line with other places โ and it was definitely a good value for the portions/quality of their ingredients. This is a great place to go if you're not up to battling the crowds at Koi Palace. We'll be back.
Personal Top Dim Sum rankings:
1. Mr. Fong's
2. Koi Palace
3. Zen Peninsula
4. Fook Yuen
5. Hong Kong East Ocean
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We are long-time delivery fans of Amici. I mean big fans; maybe once a week.
We recently sat down to dine at the San Mateo location (fewer seats; longer wait) on a Sat night. I don't know why I...
We are long-time delivery fans of Amici. I mean big fans; maybe once a week.
We recently sat down to dine at the San Mateo location (fewer seats; longer wait) on a Sat night. I don't know why I was so surprised, but the pizza was measurably better in-house. So my favorite pizza is even better than I thought. I think I'll try to dine there when we can work it.
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Fabulous cuisine. Innovative dishes with an emphasis seafood and pasta. Serious attention to detail from the kitchen, bartenders and servers. Dinning room appears to be carved out of an old farm...
Fabulous cuisine. Innovative dishes with an emphasis seafood and pasta. Serious attention to detail from the kitchen, bartenders and servers. Dinning room appears to be carved out of an old farm house (because it is). But is works -- not too crowded or noisy.
Pisces is an outpost of first rate food in a Cape Cod location. I have been wishing for this for the 20 years I have been going to Cape Cod.
Personal touch. It is OK to ask for small favors. My girls are 9 & 11 and are pretty sophisticated dinners - but not yet huge seafood fans. We ask for a basic fettucini alfredo and the kitchen always accomodates.
The six seat bar has a full cocktail sophistication and at moments is the most fun per square foot of anywhere on the Cape.
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First I should point out that Squire was year-round before it was fashion.
When I head to Harwich/Chatham either "High Season" or fighting through the snow, I haven't arrived until I am sitting...
First I should point out that Squire was year-round before it was fashion.
When I head to Harwich/Chatham either "High Season" or fighting through the snow, I haven't arrived until I am sitting at the Squire Bar with some chowder, at least 12 oysters and a brown beer.
Comfortable mix of fishermen, clam diggers, new locals and those of us who try to keep the roof on a Summer cottage.
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Buca's has quickly become a reliable year-round sanctuary for a very good meal and a solid bottle of wine. I prefer eating at the bar or in the lounge area as the bartenders are friendly and let...
Buca's has quickly become a reliable year-round sanctuary for a very good meal and a solid bottle of wine. I prefer eating at the bar or in the lounge area as the bartenders are friendly and let you know what is excellent. For an occassional Winter visit, I can know I'll get some solid pasta or meat dish. Last time through I had the lamb chop - very nice. I always forget that Cape Cod tendency toward big portions. Always a couple of decent California reds that wouldn't fleece you.
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This is solid, traditional New England diner BREAKFAST. Eggs any style, toast, hashbrowns and corned beef hash. An apple muffin is tha fanciest thing you will see. Never fails to deliver. Just...
This is solid, traditional New England diner BREAKFAST. Eggs any style, toast, hashbrowns and corned beef hash. An apple muffin is tha fanciest thing you will see. Never fails to deliver. Just what you need to fortify yorself for a day out fishing.
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The idea is that you upload all your photos each month and automatically receive paperback photo albums each month.
The idea is that you upload all your photos each month and automatically receive paperback photo albums each month.
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Tried this new place for a late lunch today. It has been open less than a week but appears to be fully operational. It shows some of the dreadfully annoying teething signs of the first week...
Tried this new place for a late lunch today. It has been open less than a week but appears to be fully operational. It shows some of the dreadfully annoying teething signs of the first week operation -- including the overbearing, useless general manager in your face at the front door to welcome you -- while the tables are not getting bussed.
I decided to go basic with a chicken gyro plate. The service was quick, but the food was less than satisfactory.
The chicken lacked flavor and was on the dry side, the bread was bland-institutional. It was served with a decent Greek salad side and a half a cup (Whoa, thats a lot of carbs for lunch) of flavorless yellow rice.
Even the baklava couldn't redeem the meal - no flakiness just overly sweet syrup.
I came away with the distinct impression that Daphne's wants to be the Olive Garden of Greek restaurants. (Take a great regional cuisine and beat it into bland mediocrity)
With Sinbad right across the road, and another half dozen authentic choices in San mateo -- I can't see returning to this place
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Autosports Exclusive is a very solid independent body & paint shop. They stripped three layers of amateur paint off of my vintage BMW and brought it back to its original Fjord Blue...ohhhh
Autosports Exclusive is a very solid independent body & paint shop. They stripped three layers of amateur paint off of my vintage BMW and brought it back to its original Fjord Blue...ohhhh
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