food

Kiss Grill – Need more recognition!!

Kiss Grill is like a fusion of northern China, korean ish and japanese ish cuisine! It’s just beside the famous Kazu but it has a lot less recognition…

Let me state my bias first. I am a HUGE LOVER of northern china cuisine…you have no idea… I was in such high spirits when i got there!

They are known by their grilled meat and their hot pot. Since I went there during summer time and they didn’t have AC, I skipped their hot pot (But i can affirm that I cannot wait to go back to try their so delciously looking hot pot!!).

Instead, I went for their combos where we get to choose a variety of dishes for more than reasonable price(about 15$)! My goal was to try as many dishes as possible (don’t worry their dishes aren’t pricey at all, if you were to order one by one, it’s about 6$). It’s almost like a tapa-style – almost.

I was too intrigued about a few of their dishes – spicy pork jelly and spicy pork ear! Funnily, the attentive owner made sure that I was comfortable eating those and at which level of spiciness.

Squid legs – marinated duck wings – spicy pork jelly

 We ordered these as a combo appetizer. Squid legs were nothing great. The marinated duck wings have barely anything to chew on – only maybe you got the bone to do that. BUT! The OH the spicy pork jelly was so interestingly good! It’s really just like a gelatine with…some parts of pork in it. Just imagine a salty with a hint of spiciness jello with pork flavour. Is that too much imagination needed? Well…maybe. You just need to know that, you gotta order this when you go there!

Spicy pork ears

 After that, we had spicy pork ears obviously! They tasted like jellyfish but just even more harder. Ok…if you have never tried to eat jellyfish in your life…then a more representative comparison would be….joint cartilage from beef but trimmed super thinly. If you still have no clue, then i suggest you to venture out a bit more in your food area. You are missing out too much in life! These are the types of food that i just by nature just love. I just like how chewy  and refreshing the texture is!

Vegetables

 And then I ordered the vegetables. I LOVE THIS! These the kinds of veggies that I love from chinese cuisine. Do not ask me to name them because I have no clue what their names are, i just know what they are because I eat them at home as well. Let say it’s not your typical veggies from the so called chinese restaurant where they give you cheap veggies (like Tiki-Ming style). Once again, the dish is refreshing and very light texture.

Combo with seaweed salad, grilled  skewered lamb, and spring rolls.

The grilled lamb was delicious! But I wouldn’t say they are so good that I would want to come back for that. The spring rolls were very crispy and nicely deep fried.

Combo with grilled skewered lamb, fried rice and julienne salad.

The fried rice was tasty! But slightly a bit too oily for me (but I am very picky in that). and the julienne salad was surprisingly good as well! Simple but good!

Combo with Japanese rice, julienne salad and chicken wings.

 I don’t remember if I had tried anything from this dish…lol so no comment!

AND THEN WE HAD THIS!

Spicy silvery pomfret fishes

 This dish is so nostalgic because it’s almost the same way my mom makes it! It’s so simple and so delicious! Everyone on the table was amazed with the pomfret fish! 😀

and then we ended with mochi and fried banana as dessert! – but i think the mochi is way overpriced…

Fried bananas and mochi

Fried banana as dessert is something that I love! but they didn’t do it quite well…and they are missing some extra sugar to deep in as well! And there was only one single mochi for the an order of mochi for dessert. Hm…I would go buy my own mochi instead at the grocery store…more for your bucks!

I think I am so satisfied with this restaurant because it gives a non-pretentious and cozy environment. The owner is so attentive and nice. The dishes are so homy. Everything just fits well together!

I really can’t wait to come back during super harsh weather in winter to have their spicy hot pot warm up my body!

Kiss Grill on Urbanspoon

Zuuchini

Abu Elias – A little joint for non typical sandwich!

I was introduced to this …I don’t even know does it even considered a restaurant, mainly because people don’t usually eat there. They order and take it and go! Let’s say it’s a joint for take out! Like I was saying, I was introduced to Abu Elias while watching Andrew Zimmer Bizarre foods – which is also very close to Mr.Butter’s dwelling!
I was so intrigued by their menu (Lamb brain, anyone?!) which is why I paid there a visit.
Once I entered into the joint, I was just confused how does it work. Their layout is very unclear especially for someone’s first time! There was no one to tell us where to go to order. I was just…confused. We waited in line, and people passing in front of us like we were invisible…
hmm….if I wasn’t that curious about their food, I would have definitely leave the place…
Let’s put service aside because we all know that places like this do not offer good service but good food instead!
I thought I would be brave enough to order the lamb brain (ok, to be honest, i forgot if it’s really a lamb brain or some kind of brain). Since the service was not friendly at all and in confusion of everything, I sort of chicken out to try it. Maybe next time! (especially now that I know how everything works inside the joint!)
I instead ordered something very safe and not adventurous at all! Lamb sandwich!  (euh ok…I don’t know why they  would call it that, i was so confused when i was looking at the menu! why would it be called sandwich!! so misleading!)
Lamb sandwich
Chicken sandwich (if remembered correctly)

The lamb sandwich was very tasty! It looks small but it can be filling – not to the point where your tummy explodes, but a good 80% fullness. There’s really not anything I wasn’t satisfied. Everything is so satisfying. The lamb meat was nicely cook – zero chewiness. And oooh the charcoal taste…so goood. Mr.Butter ordered the chicken sandwich, and let me tell you now, order the lamb sandwich instead. LOL! The chicken was nothing like the lamb one. Just too blend. The richness of the lamb really makes it memorable. So skip the chicken, and have the lamb instead!

Next time, I shall try their lamb rice and even the BRAAAINS!!

Abu Elias on Urbanspoon

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Crescent Sushi

I do not know how many times have I repeated myself…I am not fond of sushi buffet. I am an avid sashimi eater and in buffet, they always serve mediocre sashimi and the cut of the sashimi is down played as well. I agree I shouldn’t complain with the price I am paying for.

Why did I go to a buffet when I know I won’t be satisfied? Because it seems to please a lot of people and my friends have chosen Crescent Sushi as restaurant to catch up.

As I had read many reviews on Urbanspoon, I was expecting a very bad service. It was not as bad as I thought. The service started off very badly because my glass of water was not served immediately (especially when i was dying of thirst). But it did gradually and quickly got better and better. Our order was taken and served quickly.

As for the food goes, they offer quite a range. It’s a great place if you have a group that some do not eat sushi as they offer udon, and other cooked dishes. I find that the rolls do not differ that much from one and another. We had a hard time distinguishing which roll we were having. In the end, they all tasted quite similar. The sashimi was fresh…but nothing special.

One thing that I have to praise is their mussels. They were good! We ordered non-stop.

Other than that, it is like any other sushi buffet restaurant. It’s simply one more added to the list without any touch of uniqueness.

Crescent Sushi on Urbanspoon

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Les Givres – Homemade from ice cream, cones and marshmallow

I came across this place during the event of La nuit blance 2012 where they were serving free hot chocolate. As we wanted to have marshmallow in our hot chocolate, we bought their marshmallow! Very impressive which is I always wanted to revisit this place for their ice cream in warmer weather.

What makes Les Givres very unique is that not only they make their own ice cream, they make the cones (not only the waffles ones, the normal ones as well!!) and marshmallow. But…the cones are nothing to be crazy about. Leave it to the marshmallow and ice cream instead!

They have a quite some choices on their ice cream flavor and most of them cannot be found elsewhere!

What’s even more exciting? Their pricing is very reasonable, about 4$ each ice cream. Their portion is perfect. I hate when my ice cream is so huge that I cannot finish it and then it starts to melt and becomes a mess…ANNNND! They give student discount! woohoo, it’s always very handy to carry your student ID (they usually don’t check the expiry date…lol)

I had chosen the pistachio  and I am declaring this is the best pistachio ice cream I have tasted so far! So nutty. Real pistachio flavour in every bite! So creamy as well… It was just plainly delicious. Unlike from other ice cream brand where they like to make their pistachio ice cream super screamingly green, Les Givres pistachio ice cream has a tint of yelllow and green, as if it is green tea ice cream!

Their sorbet are just as amazing! Very flavourful! Very light and refreshing. I could really taste the fruits in this strawberry sorbet!

I approve this place!! I have already gone there another time after this visit and tried another flavor sorbet. All the people that came with me were silently enjoying their ice cream…cuz it was that amazing.

Les Givrés on Urbanspoon

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Cacao 70 – Take TWO!

This is my second visit at Cacao 70. My first review can be found here.

The main purpose of my second visit is to try out their waffles!!

Sadly, their waffles are not as impressive as their pizza. Their waffles are in the harder side. I still haven’t found a place that serves better waffles than Breakfast Club!!

We also ordered a cheesecake a la Cacao 70 style. Quite unique and interesting…If you like more mousse type of cake, this cake is for you. Personally, I like more solid cake, especially for my cheesecake. Interesting concept, but not my cup of tea…

If i go back, I’ll definitely stick to the pizza….

Cheesecake

Waffles with caramelized bananas

Cacao 70 on Urbanspoon

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