Time. For Snacks.

This was actually supposed to be lunch time but we wanted to save our appetites for something else in the area. But you know how things are in Vegas during the summer, burning and scorching so we opted for a poor attempt at staying indoors as long as we can. Seems like a great idea except we aren't the type who can tolerate the stuffy casino air. To get our minds off of this, the heat, and give our angry stomachs something, we dropped into Gordan Ramsey's Pub in Caesar's Palace.

English Ale Onion Soup. Yes, go ahead and call me an idiot for ordering hot soup in the middle of summer. I enjoy onion soups. I love French Onion so why not try out the English take on it. Has Welsh Cheddar Rarebit on it. The cheese is good but the soup and onions were actually quite sweet. Not something I would order often because I would rather had savory or something a little more balanced.

Mac n Cheese! Black truffle, gruyere, English cheddar, parmesan cheese with duck fat croutons. Oh my goodness those fatty fatty yum yum croutons. Gives a good meaty, savoriness to the dish. The cheeses were great. The pasta was traditional elbow pasta but I thought it was good. Always love and appreciate the earthy flavors that truffles provide. Get this dish ... assuming you aren't lactose intolerant.

Was this place great? Not really. Portion sizes were leaning on the small side. When you think about how much you spend, you can go else where for a little better quality and maybe even a little bit less money. But we were hungry and needed a temporary snack fill up. We would go back for the mac n cheese only. Try it if there is no line, you're hungry, and in Caesar's Palace.

Gordan Ramsey Pub & Grill
Caesar's Palace
3570 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
877-346-4642

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Citrus. Cilantro. Beef

Lot of people do not like sour or tangy stuff. Lot of people dislike cilantro. Lot of people enjoy beef. Luckily, I'm not the type who fits in the first two statements, I'm actually the complete opposite. Those two components plus beef married between a soft sandwich roll. Hoorah.

Cute dog that was hanging around the shack. Yes, I said shack. They do have another location that's fairly close. This shack is something I like though. Get to chill out next to some construction zone by Berkeley campus, watch all types of characters eat next to you, watch people pass by. There's something different about eating outdoors in Northern California. Anyways, this dog was very nice ... and obviously wanted goodies.

Mango smoothie. I think it comes free with combos or add $1? It tastes mostly like ice with mango nectar. Free is good. Anything over a buck I would rather get something else to drink.

The infamous garlic cilantro lime sauce with tri-tip. I like it. Soft bread. Most of the meat is tender, some pieces were a little over done but eh. Some fatty pieces here and there but that's to be expected. Would I love filet cut pieces of meat? Well heck yeah ... but then it would cost a lot more. Just go get this sandwich unless you really hate citrus and cilantro. I like this thing. I think I will try to grab it when I go visit friends next time in the area.

Brazil Fresh Squeeze Cafe
2161 University Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-845-8011

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Girl. Bistro.

Who is she? Brenda? Melissa? Nah, it's Vanessa. Hahaha, got rave reviews. And good thing is there is a second location in Walnut Creek. I believe the hours are better at this location because every time I went with my fiance they were closed. You hear a lot of things and expectations tend to get high for a place with reputation. This does not deter me because I walk in with no expectation. If it's good, score! If not, oh well, it just doesn't win my taste buds over. Vanessa's Bistro is not bad. There's some things I enjoyed. Other things that my tongue did not like as much. I will have to say it is a little pricey for the portion size. Fair warning though ... the establishment does stress the dishes as tapas.

One of my favorite dishes that I like to try. French Onion soup. Vanessa's has an interesting play on this dish. The onion flavor is okay, a bit more sweet. I assume this is an Asian thing. French is more savory. Asians have more foods with sugar. Was this dish good? It was okay. Not that much cheese and the puff pasty on top is a bit ... underwhelming and almost seems out of place. The reason I say this is because with heat the cheese flavors the bread (and soup); thus, adds a bunch of flavor. I would not order it again because it does not tickle my special spot.

There's the cheese. Not as much. Sad face. Maybe it's the glutton side of me. Love the cheese. Lust for the burnt, toasty cheese. Hahaha.

Filet Mignon Salad. This one was quite tasty. Vietnamese and French know their filet. Yum. Tender, juicy, with the savory garlic butter mixed with the crispy cool vegetables. Yum

Almost all gone. Haha.

Calamari. Although the calamari was tender and lightly battered, it does not strike me as something I must have. Nothing really screams spectacular. Tender calamari, good. Nice lightly grilled onions with some spice, good. So, I would assume the issue right now is with calamari itself. My fiance loved it. She loves fried goods. Hahaha.

Overall, this place is not bad. Go for Happy Hour, definitely more worth it if you want to give the place a try. If you do not like it at that price don't go back. Would I come back here again? Yes, well when I'm in the neighborhood and if there is nothing else around the neighborhood I want to eat but hell, there's a lot of good eats in Northern California.

Vanessa's Bistro 2
1329 N. Main Street
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
925-891-4790
http://www.vanessasbistro2.com

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Crap. With Green in the Name.

*sigh* I have had a lot of pictures build up in my little "Blog Pictures" folder but this one has been sitting in here for quite some time. Went here quite some time ago with my fiance and some friends. It got decent reviews ... perhaps we went on a bad night?

Pretty intimate setting. Very dark.

Decor is pretty nice. Small place. They have this little front bar area with some small tables and a separate side with other tables. When we went in they said they had reservations booked up and there was no space in the main dining hall. Note to you readers, when we ordered a group of six got their table in the main dining room. About five tables remaining.

Whatever this was, some kind of thinly sliced cured meat with a salad ... it is not on the menu any more and thank goodness. It was not very good. There was a strong overpowering bitterness with the salad. The meat was cured to the extent of defining sodium in its true form. My tongue was confused and upset. It was either leaning on bitter or salty. No in between. It wasn't like ... hmm this salad is a bit bitter (from say something awesome like arugula) so I think I will pair it with this savory meat. No, it was, oh my dog crap, this is like chewing on orange zest, maybe I can save my tongue ... but wait I just put a salt bar into my mouth. Fail and fail.

The green beans were undercooked. Too hard and chewy. Sorry I don't remember this dish but nothing stood out.

Braised beef ... whatever. I'm an idiot. Gambling on what a waitress thinks is good. Speaking of her ... my fiance, friends and I agreed something smelled of ass. It might have been her or someone else working 'cause someone needed a freaking shower. Or roll in mud. That's how pigs do. Braised crap is fail for me always. I need to keep reminding myself so I will never ever consider it again.

I enjoyed the tomatoes. Meh, next.

Steak was actually not too bad. Went well with the huge tomato and crispy onions. Maybe one of the better dishes of the night.

Bacon wrapped filet. Bacon was a bit burnt. So a bit bitter from the char. Besides that it was alright. Not as good. I would say this one screamed traditional American dinner to me (especially with the peas).

I am a sucker who bends over for donuts. Sadly, underwhelming also.

Fruit crisp with blueberries on top. My fiance hates warm fruit. Our friend enjoyed this dessert. So by the time we finished our meal, there was still four tables open. Subpar food, stuck up waitresses, and smelly ass people or establishment. Meh. I doubt I will go back unless a friend insists, threatened, blind-folded, clubbed over the head, brought by gun point, or the menu looks so enticing I will roll around in a grass field while daydreaming and looking forward to such a menu. Oh yeah, the price point is also sucks.

Green Street Tavern
69 W. Green Street
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-229-9961
http://www.greenstreettavern.net

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High Tea. Circa Now.

This is not the traditional high tea. No British accents. No floral prints. No heavy tea pots. No Victorian furniture nor decor. Clean edges. Darker colored interior, nice place to chill, chat, and have a bite to eat. I'm surprised I stumbled on this place. The employees really understand their teas. A nice menu that separates teas by typical styles: black, green, white, herbal, fruit. At least I remember it being something like that. Hahaha. The actual food menu is short. Majority of it is quite pleasant. Tranquil Tea Lounge.

My fiance and I love love love this place. Yes, I apologize for the delay in posts (besides being a lazy turd). I had a lot of planning to do and proposed to my better half this past weekend. She said yes. Awesomely happy. Yay. Back to the Tea Lounge. Here's the menu.

Makena's Passion. Deliciously refreshing. We enjoy our teas a little bit sweetened to bring out the flavors of the tea. If anything ask for the simple syrup on the side. You can adjust sweetness to taste. This tea really tastes tropical. When I took my first sip I imagined myself wanting to be on Maui, just on a lounge chair getting serenaded by the ocean. Man. Guava and pineapple just really helped with the whole tropical feel of it all.

Geisha's Kiss. On the lighter side, that's for sure. The flavors are not as bold but the lychee does stand out the most. Was it good? Yes, most definitely. We have been back a number of times and my fiance usually sticks to one of these two because they're her comfort drinks. I'm usually the psycho who tries the new things and ends up complaining to her if I messed up. Haha. Oh well, how else would I find some other flavorful drink?

Teas that are for sale. Well, the ones here are on display and for you to smell. They have them nicely lined up near the register so you can enjoy the perfume.

Love the teas on display. Really. Just lovely to see.

Here's the Makena's Passion. You have the choice of either hot or cold. They give you a nice little extra serving. Great for when you're thirsty or when you're just taking your time chatting with your buddies. I sweat easily so for the most part I always choose cold.

Fiance's Geisha's Kiss. They usually bring out the tea and let you smell it before it gets brewed. The box on the left is the tea pot. Cool double layered cup so it is not hot to touch. We both really enjoyed our tea. If you just give the employees an idea of what type of flavor you are looking for, I'm positive they will be able to give you an awesome suggestion.

Their portion size seems small but high tea is usually like that. But the whole point of tea time/lounge is to just eat a bit, to hold you over, and just chat away. Their portions do just that. When we're more hungry we order separate items. This time we went we got their Tranquil Trio, which is an awesome bargain. Choice of tea, half sandwich, and smaller salad for ... $9 I believe. This one was the turkey sandwich. Nicely toasted sandwich. Enough meat, good tart and savory from the fontina & sun-dried tomatoes, slight bitterness from argula ... good stuff. Lots of flavor.

Roast beef. I'm not sure why I chose roast beef because I rarely ever want to eat roast beef. Usually it's dry and just really beefy. Haha ... does that even make sense? Anyway, roast beef with creamy tomato soup. The soup changes daily from what I know. I love tomato soup so tomato chunks in this soup are wonderful.

Here's another angle. So the sandwich. Remember how I mentioned how I like trying new things and sometimes I really mess up? This instance was not really focus on messing up but reinforces how I'm very indifferent when it comes to roast beef sandwiches. The one real issue I did have with this sandwich was the bread. Kalamalive olives, way too overpowering. Almost like they shoved freshly marinated olives right into the sandwich. If you like roast beef just tell them to change out the bread. Seriously.

I'm a sucker for sweets so I got a scone. Their baked goods aren't bad. They're not the best. Definitely has that home baked freshness to it. I think I ate about half before I decided I was full and did not want to be too full. The sauces are a nice addition if the scone is too dry for you.

I cannot stress it enough but if you have time go. If you don't have time, make time and go with your friend, best friend, significant other ... just live it up, laugh, talk about farts, sex, ugly people, politics, whatever you want. Just take some time to enjoy and relax. Lounge this place is. Tea they do have. Tranquil will come.

Tranquil Tea Lounge
106 W. Wilshire Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92832
714-869-3577
http://www.tranquiltealounge.com/

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Dessert. Quick.

I'm craving dessert right now and stumbled on this. Just a quick upload. Some times when I want a dessert, it doesn't have to be super sweet. Even that subtle sweetness is fine. Or fruits. Fruits for dessert are great. Maybe it's because I have Asian blood. It's alright if you want to make that type of stereotype, Asians always offering stupid slices of oranges after your meal. Well, fruits are good and they got some vitamins. What's not to like? On a serious note ...

Silky tofu with tapioca and mango. Yum. Do you like silky tofu when you go to Dim Sum? It does not have the candied ginger sauce but it is sweetened a bit and has mangoes to do with it. Phoenix Food Boutique is an Asian cafe with some desserts. There's a gang load of them in Rowland Heights and in the San Gabriel Valley. Been opening up like crazy. They have some alright food but I usually just go for dessert. This, the mixed fruit tea or tapioca, and this Black Sticky rice with mango and tapioca. It's a bit similar to above except sweeter, with warm black sticky rice. Try it!

Phoenix Food Boutique
1709 Nogales St.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-810-8988
http://www.phoenixfoodboutique.com

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Chain. Tacos.

Chain restaurants. What an annoying headache they are. I try my best to avoid chain places since quality of ingredients or processes usually gets trumped by the thousands/millions of dollars they're bringing in. Either that or they just taste like crap. All the fast food restaurants, sit down chains such as Cheesecake Factory, and franchised eateries. So back to what I was getting at, I like King Taco. I'm no expert in Mexican food but my taste buds let me know that this place is not too bad and I will not be required to run for the toilet hours after my meal.

Carne asada tacos. Small, snack size really. Real tacos aren't supposed to be huge anyways. I like these. Lots of onion and cilantro. I enjoy putting the red salsa on. Flavorful spice. Yum. I do have one little irk about this though. Since King Taco does get busy, I'm sure they end up just keeping the beef and once done it goes onto the steam tray. I haven't had many carne asadas where the meat was still juicy but King Tacos ... well ... some of those pieces can get jerky tough. At least the salsa provides some moisture. There's obviously better places in the Downtown LA for some great Mexican eats but I'll have to look into that when I'm in the neighborhood.

Tortas. I like this thing. Has some crumbled cheese, the bottom is slightly fried which gives good texture. So you get salty/savory, creamy, cool/refreshing (from the lettuce), spice from salsa (if applicable) and a crunch from the bottom. It is a bit difficult to eat and of course everything starts falling everywhere so make sure to hold onto that plate before you get some torta droppings on your clothes. Honestly, there is not too much to say about this place. They're very fast in service like a fast food joint but the quality is definitely better than some places and at least it is clean (from my experience).

King Taco
406 N. Mountain Ave.
Ontario, CA 91762
909-933-9150

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Ramen. Comfort.

Oh ramen, how I enjoy thee. Good ramen is hard to find. Package ramen ... well I will not talk about that because I believe there is someone who just reviews packaged ramen all the time. It's not bad but it is nothing compared to the authentic Japanese brew. Mmmm, tonkatsu ramen. My fatty favorite. There's some pretty good places but the most consistent amongst the other locations (in my opinion) is Shinsengumi. So busy and so good.

Never thought to get this at a ramen place because ... I do not know the reason but I guess I was just afraid it wouldn't be good. Takoyaki, what can I say about this octopus wheat ball? First off, the octopus is small and lacking. I can't blame them, hell I do not know the right wheat to octopus ratio but the piece of octopus in this was very small. Flavor was eh. Personally I would pass. The only good thing I would say about this is that the wheat ball is not dry. The technique put into this was good, they did not allow one side to get more fried than the other and made sure not to overcook the sucker.

I love trying new things of course and this tangy lemon thing seemed interesting enough to grab my attention. Again, technique good, moist chicken, flavor was a bit more on the citrus side. I did not enjoy pairing it with my ramen. Pass on this too please.

Crack spicy miso paste. YUM. I love putting this into my bowl of ramen. Shinsengumi you need to add all the sides for extra. There are a couple toppings that you get by default: egg, bean sprouts, green onion, pickled ginger, chasu. My Better Half enjoys getting seaweed and bamboo. If I did not know any better she's a reincarnation of a panda living in Japan. She enjoys her bamboo and sushi quite a bit.

Mmmmm. Tonkatsu Ramen. The cool thing about Shinsengumi is the ability to choose the firmness of your noodles, density/flavor of the broth, and level of oil (pretty much pork fat). Heavy broth is really salty. Light is okay. I prefer normal. So my usual order: tonkatsu ramen - firm noodles, normal broth, heavy oil with spicy miso. I tend to add about half of the miso paste and it adds quite a flavorful kick. The paste is usually good for a couple people unless you really love spicy. So back to the ramen, very good. Always cooked to order and they get it spot on all the time. I eat fairly similar t a hyena, extremely fast and cautious as if I feared a lion was creeping up on me. However, my friends tend to eat at a normal pace. There is nothing wrong with this but I did notice near the half end of my Better Half's bowl, the noodles seem to get a little bit on the soggy side. I would suggest getting firm noodles if you like a little chew to your carbs and even if you eat a bit slower because at about half time your noodles are going to transform into normal firmness. This place is good. I love straight ramen noodles. I love the fattiness pork essence from the broth. I love how the chasu falls apart when I pick it up with my chopsticks. The wait is a bit long but if you are in no hurry, come to this place, let the Japanese yell at your when you come in and exit the building so you can enjoy this piece of their culture. Although I do not have any pictures, try their desserts. They tend to be good. If not try anyways because I love balancing salty with sweet after a meal. Last thing, more traditional Japanese ramen places (like this one) do not allow to go orders.

Hakata Ramen Shin-sen-gumi
8450 E. Valley Blvd., Ste 103
Rosemead, CA 91770
626-572-8646
http://www.shinsengumigroup.com

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Vietnamese. Nearby.

This will be a very brief post. Close to where I live the choices for food are very slim. There's not a whole lot of variety. There's a ton of the larger shopping centers with all those typical crap chain/franchise restaurants: Red Robin, Mimi's Cafe, Islands. Nothing too great. The Vietnamese restaurants nearby usually disappoint too. I'll usually only go to the ones nearby if I'm hurting for it and I don't have a choice or don't have a car to drive myself to a better restaurant. When I do have a choice I drive some miles to the neighboring city to Pho Super Bowl. At least it's not Pho <insert number here>. The interesting about Vietnamese places when I've gone to Westminster is this: if there is a specialty (which is usually indicated in the restaurants name) then all the other entree items will suck. For example, if a place is known for their broken rice (the name will have something like Com Tam) then their soup noodles or noodles in general will be crap or average at best. But Pho Super Bowl does everything not too shabby. Not the greatest but above average for their Pho and rice dishes. Sadly, no broken rice here.

I tend to just get Rare Steak in my pho. Not too much lime, MSG ... I think it's pretty balanced. I like this place. Obviously, there's way better in Westminster or San Jose but both are far and when I'm hungry I don't want to take up so much time away from eating and digesting. Haha. I believe the regular bowl is $5.50 or so. Pretty fair price.

Charbroiled Pork with Egg Roll. Usually my chosen dish. It's good. I mix in a bunch of chili paste into the fish sauce. Yum. The only issue with this dish is the portion size; however, a lot of places outside of the Vietnamese community just do not slap on a decent portion of the actual charbroiled meat. I guess I can't complain since I should not be eating a lot. The other thing I like about this restaurant is the mom and pa feel of it. The owners are actually nice too. Go check out this place if you're want some Vietnamese food.

Pho Super Bowl

329 S Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

909-860-2704 

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P.S. Please forgive me for any typos. My Better Half is the one who usually points them out to me since she's a perfectionist but uh ... yeah she's busy so deal with my stupidity until she has time to let me know I need to fix stuff. Haha, thanks.

Snow. Shaved. Where the Throne Stands.

Pa Pa Walk oh man this review is long overdue. This is a Taiwanese Cafe with the best shaved snow (that I'd tried). My friends, better half and I cannot get enough of this place. Their food is decent, has a very home-like feel. Nothing super salty. Their popcorn chicken is delicious. Anyway, this entry is about the dang snowy (because that's what Pa Pa Walk calls it). Soft snowy goodness it is. I have tried all the flavors on the menu and the only one I don't really care too much for is Milk Tea ... only because you can drink it. Yes, the snowy tastes almost exactly like the black milk tea beverage.

Look at the texture, not sheets of snow like Class 302 or La Kaffa. Much finer, softer, delicious. This is a large Mango Snowy (milk flavored snow) with condensed milk mangoes, almond jello/tofu, and rice balls. Most of the time when we come here we order two types but when we're full we'll just order one.

Small Mango Snowy. Cute little cup. Delicious, as always. The mangoes are so fresh every time we order. I bet they captured a Mango Picking Fairy or something because these mangoes are good and plentiful. None of that canned sour mango tiny bits bull crap. Real deal is here.

Green Tea Snowy with condensed milk, boba, rice balls, green tea ice cream and sugar cone. I'm not sure why there is a sugar cone but there is. I don't recall if they serve it with this anymore because the first picture with the square plate is what I think they use now. Before they had this mostly looking leaf plate with the sugar cone. I don't know but it's so good. Enough talking (and reading for you), just go to Pa Pa Walk and devour this soft cold goodness.

Pa Pa Walk
227 W. Valley Blvd., Suite 148-B
San Gabriel, CA 91776
626-281-3889

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Snow. Shaved. Journey Still Continues.

The infamous Class 302. This place is way over-hyped. Is it good? The food sucks. The shaved snow is pretty good. They don't skimp out on the toppings of the snow itself. If you don't live in the San Gabriel area I would say come to Class, otherwise Pa Pa Walk will hold the throne for snow.

I personally think Class only has good milk snow. Their mango snow is disgustingly sweet. The green tea is okay but has a strong green tea powdery taste. Not sure if you know what I'm talking about but if you can just imagine crappy green tea ice cream, the type that leaves your tongue with the strange bitter grainy tea taste. This milk snow is huge. If I'm not in the mood for mangoes I just get an all strawberry one. It's good.

The bad thing about this place is the wait and environment. Long ridiculous waits, especially in the summer. Environment: I suppose you can call it cute since they're following the whole classroom theme. The downfall of following this to the dot is how uncomfortable it is. Did you hate your stiff plastic crap chair in school? Well they're bringing back the old school wooden desks and chairs. If you have no ass and find it difficult filling the rear of your pants I'm pretty sure you won't mind but if you got some meat in your trunk you will find this place irritatingly painful. The other issue: the small (for some). Do you hate stinky tofu? Then if you sit indoors you will throw up and throw up again. Those stenches are incubating in that establishment. Besides that go there and try the snow!

Class 302
1015 S. Nogales St.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-965-5809

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Chain. Cheesesteak Comfort.

Okay, to start off I've never been to Philadelphia. I'm not sure what a Philly Cheesesteak is supposed to taste like. Don't take me as someone who is a good judge of this infamous sandwich. What I can say though is out of the chain Philly Cheesesteak joints, my favorite is Great Steak & Potatoes. Not all of them either though. There's ones in particular where the owners and cooks season the meat as it's cooking to add the extra pizzazz to it.

This particular Great Steak in Richmond had Chili Cheese Fries on the menu. I wish I knew they use the cheese goop instead of real cheese because if I knew this information prior, I definitely would not have ordered it. Meh, pass on this weak side.

We don't get anything special. Just the regular Cheesesteak with everything on it. Is it the best thing in the world? Nope. Is it good? Yep. Is it great? Depends if I'm craving it. Nothing great, but try it out if you haven't before.

Great Steak
2439 Hilltop Mall Rd.
San Pablo, CA 94806
510-262-0606

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Fusion. Carbs. Yum.

Very very delayed post! My Better Half has been visiting on and off the past couple weeks so we've been trying new eateries and I always decide to put off the posts so I won't have to be exhausted at work. Either that or I'm just spending time with her. Which means readers, such as yourself, must anxiously wait (yeah right!) for an update. So back to Maui since I still have not finished. If only our vacation there was as long as it's taking me to finish the series of posts. Haha. So anyway, thank goodness for the Internet because sometimes it's hard to find good things to eat. We found Star Noodle. Not too far from our hotel but the restaurant is located in a very strange, industrial area. Reminds me of Sugar Rush in Walnut because that's a small restaurant, which is also located in an industrial zone.

Here's a picture of the little sign outside. Yum. We came back to the restaurant twice so I'll just consolidate the postings and show everything we tried. Why post for two days anyway? Readers (whoever you might be) will get upset I'm wasting their precious time.

Garlic Noodles. Oh yum. Ever had garlic noodles from Yardhouse? It's like that but more garlic flavor, better, firmer (al dente), thinner noodles. It's quite yummy. The fried garlic has a very good, non-bitter taste because overcooked garlic can leave a bad taste in the food (and on your tongue). Love it. Garlic is very apparent and it is nom nom nom.

Garlic Steak. Mmmm, we tossed the meat in with the noodles and it was an awesome pairing. Don't dump too much of the sauce in unless you really enjoy sodium. Haha. Man it was so good and I love dishes that come out on hot sizzling plates. They're fun and it helps keep the food hot. The meat was tender, good Asian flavor to it and fried garlic topped over the dish. Garlic + Garlic. Oh yes, awesome.

Pohole Salad. These dishes below are what we ordered on the second trip to Star Noodles. This is made with a local vegetable, Hana Fiddle Head Fern. The vegetable is delivered from the East end of Maui. From Hana if you did not gather than from the name of the vegetable. I'm not sure how to describe this vegetable. It's sort of looks like cut string beans but has a more chewy texture. With the addition of the little leafy ends it's like al dente string bean mixed with ... yeah I don't even know, leafy stuff. It required a good amount of chewing but it's good. Both of us did not care much for the little shrimp but the tomato was a good addition. A very fresh tasting salad lightly tossed in soy sauce. We gobbled this thing up pretty quick.

Fried Saimin. This dish was very very light in taste. Fish cakes, egg, spam, bean sprouts. I think this dish uses spam instead of having to add too much salt or soy sauce. My Better Half did not think anything much of this dish but don't get me wrong, it did not suck. The garlic noodles stood out more in my opinion.

Steamed Pork Buns. This is like Chinese Steamed Bun with Roasted Duck dish. Was it good? Yeah of course it was pretty tasty, but there was a little bit too much hoisin sauce which made it salty. This is one of those things you could get in LA so unless you're craving this during your time in Maui, I think it would be safe to say you could skip this.

Chicken Yakitori. Very saucy. Tender chicken of course but my Better Half and I thought we could have passed on this too. When I go to new places I like to do stupid stuff and order excessive amounts of food. Then we have a bunch of leftovers we end up not eating later because I'm still ordering a lot of rubbish at other new places. I'm a bit stupid like that.

Malasadas. Fried Donut pretty much. At first bite it was quite good because it just came out of the fryer. But, I'll have to say I only tried this because I love donuts. I didn't care much for the sauces it came with because the butterscotch tasted more like butter (not the good sweet butter). The chocolate sauce was semi-sweet, which is what I enjoy. I ended up having to use the chocolate sauce to try and consume the remainder of the donuts since they were becoming a bit tough. For the most part though, I wish I tried a different dessert. Donuts always get me. Darn.

I cannot recommend this place enough. The service was great, waitresses were always explaining the dishes to customers if they look confused or seem new. Very attentive, friendly, helpful people at the establishment. The environment is nice because it's Asian contemporary (to match the type of food) and has a very comfortable, social, get-together-with-close-friends feel to it. I could imagine it gets quite noisy during the weekends but why would that stop anyone from eating good food. Price-wise, I guess I could say it's a little bit on the pricey side but the portions match the price and so does the flavor.

Star Noodle
286 Kupuohi St.
Lahaina, HI 96761
808-667-5400

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