The Pink Elephant (San Francisco SoMA District)

This blog has taken a hiatus for some time, but I am kicking it back alive with a new restaurant review!

This review is for The Pink Elephant, in San Francisco's Financial District. This gastropub was opened just three months ago, but already have four stars on Yelp!

They have a full menu on weekdays for lunch and dinner, but only serve brunch on weekends. Even so, the brunch menu is quite decent, with a selection of omelette, eggs benedict, french toast, and a variety of burgers. 

Weekend brunch menu

My friend and I ordered the lamb burger and french toast. We were impressed with how good the food was! The lamb burger came with garlic fries and a side salad of onions, carrots and peppers. Served medium-cooked, the patty was very juicy, with juice oozing out as I cut it. The brioche bun was soft and mildly sweet, the way I like it. The tomato sauce (not ketchup) had a Mexican touch to it, true to the roots of the chef who designed the menu. (p.s. It is always fun to speak to the chef, you can learn so much about what everything on the plate is!) I also like how I did not get a greasy after-taste from the burger, something that really spoke about the quality of the ingredients.

The french toast was delectable. I loved how they used raisin and poppy bread, which made the flavor more complex and interesting. All the ingredients were fresh, with a generous helping of fruit, alongside whipped cream and syrup. The surprise was the chili whipped butter served atop the fruit, a concoction personally made by the chef (as with all sauces and marinades, apparently). It was very lightly-flavored, and complemented the toast quite well. 

Lamb burger with garlic fries and side salad of onion, carrot and peppers

Look how juicy the lamb patty is! 

French toast with lots of fruit, and topped with a house-made chili-whipped butter

Given that it is a pub, we had to try their beer after all. An extensive beer menu, there was at least 10 pages of beer selections from several countries, such as Belgium, Japan, America, etc. I tried their Hitachino Nest Red Rice beer, recommended by the owner to be a slightly sweeter beer to cater to my sweet tooth. Indeed, the beverage was easy on the palate, refreshing with sweet undertones.

I also liked their decor -- modern and simple, it was a rather relaxing environment, suitable for friends to chill out at. The staff were friendly and hardworking as well. All in all, I would return to this gastropub to try out their weekday menu and other beers (many looked very interesting), as well as their $1 Monday happy hour (5-7pm) oysters.

Entrance to the gastropub

• The Pink Elephant
• 142 Minna St 
• San Francisco, CA
• (this is a side street in the Financial District, SoMa, right next to a parking structure, how convenient)
• (415) 757-0622

Sumiya Yakitori (Santa Clara)

We came here for date night today. It was our first time here, and it was not bad. The yakitori items we ordered were: pork belly, duck breast, shitake with bonito, kalbi, and chicken thigh. We liked the pork, duck and kalbi best. The shitake was a bit too salty, and the chicken thigh was a little rough. The pork belly had a good fat to meat ratio, and the duck and kalbi were succulent and well-cooked. 
We also tried two other items from the menu: baked avocado with chicken cheese mayo, and Nagoya-style calamari. These were delicious as well -- the calamari was sweet and peppery; it tasted like grilled Ika but with a bit of breading (though not too much). The baked avocado came on a hot plate, and was a generous serving (perhaps too much for two persons) of chicken cheese mayo topped over a baked half-avocado, with salsa on the side. Pretty interesting!

We did notice a difference between Sumiya and Sumika at Los Altos (more expensive) though. The meat, especially the pork and chicken, were better quality at Sumika. Also, the pork belly at Sumiya had some of that soft thin film that you get when you don't grill your meat entirely over a grill, but on a piece of foil, so the meat wasn't entirely dry all around. 
We were pretty stuffed after dinner, and will probably come here for yakitori if we are lazy to make our own, but will go to Sumika for that nice, fancy and perfect yakitori experience.

Nagoya-style Calamari and pork belly yakitori

Baked Avocado topped with chicken cheese mayo and salsa

Shitaki with bonito

Kalbi

Medium-cooked kalbi

Chicken thigh yakitori

Sumika Yakitori

2634 Homestead Rd

Santa Clara, CA 95051

(408) 973-0604

http://www.sumiyakitori.com/

Pearl Cafe (Mountain View)

A surprising find! The bulk of the food menu was Hawaiian. We tried loco moco, morning musubi and the pepper chicken with jasmine milk tea. The milk tea was decent (tasted like Quickly and the pearls were not hard), and the food was pretty nice. We liked how the pepper chicken had a good meat-to-batter ratio. We had never had musubi before, but the morning musubi was quite nice (the hashbrown and the rice melded together), although the seaweed was pretty old and couldn't be torn apart.
It's pretty decent food at decent prices (the portions were HUGE), so we'll probably return in the future. Also, the ambience is pretty nice for relaxing and hanging out with friends!

Loco Moco with katsu and curry sauce. This could be two persons' lunch.

Morning musubi. Egg, spam and hasbrown with rice wrapped in seaweed.

 Pearl Cafe

506 Showers Dr

Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 917-8988

Sushi Sam's Edomata (San Mateo)

At least two friends recommended this Japanese sushi restaurant to us, so we decided to make the drive up to San Mateo. It was worth it.
We ordered salmon nigiri (our standard for testing sushi bars), soft shell crab roll, and omakase sashimi (our friend recommended we try it). Everything was provided at very generous cuts, and the salmon had lots of fat (close to salmon belly). We quite liked the soft shell crab roll although we found that the batter was a bit too thick and we couldn't really taste much of the meat. 
What I really wanted to talk about was the omakase. It was completely worth the $40 we paid for it. 8 big cuts of a variety of white fish, special yellowtail, flounder, TORO, and a seasonal baby squid marinated with miso. The toro simply melted in our mouth, no need for chewing! We hadn't had the other kinds of fish before, and it was a good first experience. 
Finally, the omakase dessert, white miso parfait, was simply delicious. The blend of flavors in the cream and spongecake was heightened by the slightly salty taste of the miso puree. 
We would come here again!

Salmon nigiri and soft shell crab roll. Check out the thick layers of fat on the salmon

Omakase sashimi

White miso parfait. YUM!

Sushi Sam's Edomata

218 E 3rd Ave

San Mateo, CA 94401

(650) 344-0888

http://www.sushisams.com

Indo Cafe (Saratoga)

This is a small Indonesian family restaurant/caterer tucked away in a back alley of Saratoga downtown. Despite all, it is surprisingly delicious! The food isn't too expensive too. We've only been there twice but were impressed on both trips. The Nasi Goreng was ridiculously and yummyliciously spicy, as is their Nasi Kuning and Nasi Uduk. My favorite is the fried whole egg with sweet chili, yum yum yum!!
The Nasi -- plates taste like nasi lemak when added with chili! The rendang is Indonesian-style,  different from Malay-style, so we weren't used to the taste. But the chicken and potato patty is yummy!
We tried the curry puffs and otah-otah, but weren't super duper impressed. So we'll just go there for main courses!

Disclaimer: beware of post-meal food coma

14443 Big Basin Way
Saratoga, CA 95070

To go to the restaurant, turn right upon entering Saratoga downtown into the public carpark. The restaurant is close to the second set of lots, next to the UPS store.

Red Hot Wok (Cupertino)

This is a taiwanese restaurant. I would give 2 stars for the food, and 4 stars for the shaved ice.
We walked in and the waiters/waitresses were friendly enough. We ordered the three cup chicken, garlic kang kong, fruit fried rice, hot plate beancurd, and the inn spare ribs. The food took forever to come, and they forgot our fried rice order until we asked them for it for the 4th time (45 min after sitting down). They were super apologetic the entire meal, but unfortunately good service cannot make my stomach happy with the small portions that didn't carry enough flavor. The only thing I really liked was the kang kong, but you can't really go wrong with garlic stir-fried veges (if not you should just close shop). The three cup chicken was only ok. I guess I was expecting the same as what I had in Taiwan, or even at Rose Tea Cafe in Pittsburgh, PA. Nevertheless, my expectations weren't super high since I was famished anyway. The flavor was there, but just wasn't intense enough. And the small claypot  was only 70% filled with food, which is like ?!?! No comments about the beancurd or spareribs. The fried rice was interesting, kind of like pineapple fried rice, but the portions were seriously disappointing, and I could have easily whipped it up in 5 min myself.

The shaved ice was not bad though, comparable to Satura next to Jang Su Jang in Sunnyvale. The mango puree and mango chunks went well with the shaved ice, which looked like frozen mango juice. 

If I were to return, it would be for the shaved ice (though at $7.45 for the small portion, I would just go to Satura).

I'm going home to cook myself my second dinner.

I know I sound bitchy here, but I'm just really overly disappointed by my underwhelming dinner =(

10074 E Estates Dr

Cupertino, CA 95014

(408) 996-2999

Sakura Teppanyaki (Redwood City)

Came here for a late dinner after watching the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises!

This was only our second time at a teppanyaki restaurant, and it was pretty entertaining. The waiters and chef were quite funny, so dinner was a pleasant experience. The food was good too. We ordered two dinner sets -- fillet mignon and tuna. Each set came with soup, salad, fried rice, shrimp appetizer, some onions and cucumber, and main course. 

The soup and salad were so-so; the soup tasted like water + MSG + onions, while the salad had some sauce we didn't like. The rest of the food was nice though. The first hot dish was fried rice, which was quite delicious. Shrimp appetizer comprised of two succulent pieces of shrimp, and our order of medium-cooked meat was quite well-made. We liked the fillet mignon better than the tuna, due to the tenderness and flavor, although we must say that both portions were hearty enough. Every dish was cooked with both oil and butter, although one should simply eat without thinking about the fat content and just enjoy the enhanced flavors. In addition, two dipping sauces were provided, ponzu and some diluted thousand island -- i liked the latter better since its taste wasn't too strong to mask the original flavor of the food.

The couple next to us ordered a seafood lovers set, which consisted of scallops, shrimp, and lobster. Their food looked really good, so we might try that on our next trip!

All the food prior to cooking

Performance by chef where he put alcohol and oil into some onions and set it on fire

Tuna and shrimp appetizer

Fillet mignon

2198 Broadway St

Redwood City, CA 94063

Sura sushi (Mountain View)

Sura is one of our favorite sushi restaurants in the Mountain View area! We like how their fish is really fresh, and it's never crowded. Their salmon is really really nice and their rolls are yummy.
My boyfriend likes their lunch bentos since it's cheap and generous. I didn't realize how big the lunch bento was till yesterday! It came with a salad, miso soup, and 2 or 3 items (depending on what you order). I could barely finish half of my bento, but it was pretty good. I ordered california roll, grilled saba, and tempura. I think the tempura breading was a little thick, but everything else was nice.

My lunch bento minus one california roll

Some of my favorite sushi!

2000 West El Camino Real  

Mountain View, CA 94040

Golden Island Cafe (San Francisco)

We were in the area for a haircut and decided to try this place while passing by. 

Yelp reviewers said that the fruit here is fresh and the mango sago is especially popular. Indeed it lived up to the reviews. We are fans of sago, and this didn't disappoint! I also had the steamed/curdled milk with ginger, which was nice too. It was a little soft, but that was ok! Not too expensive for dessert, at $4 for each item. The menu looked pretty authentic to Hong Kong cafe cuisine, so we will probably try the food next time!

1300 Noriega St

(between 20th Ave & 21st Ave) 

San Francisco, CA 94122

Neighborhood: Outer Sunset

(415) 759-9118

http://goldenislandsf.com/

Merlion Restaurant (Cupertino)

This is a Singaporean restaurant in Cupertino, which we haven't noticed till now. We walked in with no expectations, except being very amused by the two spouting merlions surrounding the front and back of the restaurant. The decor was nice, and the restaurant spacious enough to allow one to have a peaceful meal without having to listen in to the neighboring table's conversations.
Foodwise, we ordered roti prata, belachan kangkong, and coffee spareribs. The roti prata and kangkong were authentic to taste, the former being nice and crispy. The coffee spareribs were a little bitter though, tasted a little burnt, and were hard to tear apart. Never in our lives had we to use a knife to cut spareribs, as we did here. We also had coconut rice (very coconut-y, yum!) and chicken rice (the rice was a bit too yellow and tasted weird).
We wouldn't hesitate to return here in the future, except that we both had stomach upset (I even had to vomit out my dinner) a few hours later.
=/ oh well.

19628 Stevens Creek Blvd 

Cupertino, CA 95014 

Carmel Belle (Carmel-by-the-sea)

Came here for a late lunch after hiking at Big Sur, and it was delicious! It's a small cafe tucked inside an artsy shopping center, but a real gem indeed. It's my second time here so far, and it hasn't disappointed yet. I had a Berkshire Pork sandwich, and the pork was so tender with the right amount of sauce and fat, while the ciabatta bread had the right external crunchiness and internal softness.
My friends had a mushroom sandwich, salmon/half-boiled egg/baguette, cheddar and bacon sandwich, and cheddar and ham sandwich. Everyone found their food very good too, so we were happy patrons =)

Doud Craft Studios

Ocean Ave & San Carlos

Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921

http://www.carmelbelle.com/

Lappert's Ice cream shop (Pacific Grove)

Walked into this shop for some ice-cream, and what a surprise! The owner appears to be some hyper-hippie, and the entire shop was plastered with LPs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis, etc. The flavors were pretty unusual too -- guava with cheesecake?! I had a relatively normal praline pecan and it was pretty good. Quite an interesting find in a small seaside town.

Pacific Thai Cuisine (Pacific Grove)

I came here for the second time this trip, for lunch and ordered their lunch special of thai basil fried rice. It was pretty good I must say. The rice was flavorful enough with the many basil leaves they fried into the rice, and the pork went quite well with the flavors. There was a good proportion of vegetables as well, so at least there was some balance. The portions were big enough for me to be satisfied and left enough for a big lunch tomorrow. I also liked the Tom Kha soup that came with the lunch special, which was sour and spicy enough with a hint of coconut milk.

Crystal Fish (Pacific Grove)

What I learnt this trip is to not place so much trust in Yelp reviews, especially in touristy areas. A bunch of us came here for lunch yesterday, seeing that it was 4* on Yelp, and were pretty disappointed.

We all ordered lunch specials -- most people ordered nigiri lunch (5 pc nigiri, 6 california rolls), and I ordered the bento with tempura and sashimi. About my dish first: the portions looked hearty, but the quality was only ok. I liked the salad but it was pretty much soy sauce and sesame, so nothing much could go wrong there. The tempura was ok -- the breading was slightly thick, and the eggplant was so thin I couldn't tell what was eggplant or breading. The shrimp and carrot were good though, but I was really looking forward to sweet potato, which was absent (!!). The sashimi (1pc salmon, 2pc tuna, 2pc yellowtail) was relatively fresh, but the cut wasn't great, since the only salmon piece I had was full of tendons and I had to turn it over in my mouth to chew on it, something I rarely have to do with fresh fish. Another sign was my friend's salmon nigiri falling apart from the fat/tendons, so I'm not too sure about the cut.... The rice in the bento was a little hard too, hmm =/

It was a reasonable deal for a $9 bento box though I wouldn't recommend it for someone who's looking for good seafood next to the ocean.

Max's Grill (Pacific Grove)

came here for dinner with a friend today after seeing that it was 4 stars on yelp, but it was only ok.


We both ordered the 3-course dinner for $25 each, and I chose crab cakes, sand dabs with white wine cream sauce, and vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce.


I wasn't sure if the crab cake was fresh enough, but it definitely didn't taste as great as what I've had before in the Bay Area/San Francisco. Now that I think about it, I don't even remember tasting crab! It was also too salty... I actually had to squeeze on some lemon to muffle the salt and enhance the other flavors of the crab, something that I never do!
The grilled sand dabs were nice, and were slightly different from what I had at Vivolo's, although the texture was consistently soft. The cream sauce went well with the fish, but the saffron rice was a little dry, and could use some extra sauce. I did like the asparagus a lot though.
The ice-cream was good, but how wrong can you go with that?


All being said, I'm not sure if I will return.

209 Forest Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Sushi Tomi (Mountain View)

We came here for sushi today! We ordered tonkatsu (came with miso soup, salad and rice), and special sashimi (3 pc tuna, salmon, yellowtail, white fish, and 2 pc toro). Everything was delicious!
The sesame salad dressing was light and brought out the freshness of the lettuce. The tonkatsu wasn't oily and the breading was just the right thickness. The price of $15.90 for this dinner set was reasonable for the two pieces of pork cutlet. 
The sashimi was also fresh, the fish having the right texture. The toro was nice too. The only fish we didn't like was the white fish (no idea what it was), which had lots of fibers and was chewy, with a fishy aftertaste. The only other issue I found with the sashimi was the lemon slice they placed between some pieces, such that I couldn't really taste the fish besides the lemon. Something that I don't really like about sushi places in general.
All being said, we do like this restaurant!

The boyfriend was quite liberal with the tonkatsu sauce! Check out the two big chunks of pork cutlet

Nice tendons in the pork

Thick sashimi cuts

635 West Dana Street  

Mountain View, CA 94041

(650) 968-3227

www.sushitomi.com/

Thai Bistro II (Pacific Grove)

Went to this restaurant near the marine station today, and it was ok. I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars. I had the $9 lunch special of pad thai, which came with tom kha soup, vegetable dumplings and some salad. It was nice for them to provide tom kha soup, instead of some random liquid like other restaurants, but it was mediocre and had no depth in taste, though there was lots of coconut milk. The vegetable dumplings were the best thing out of the entire lunch, and the pad thai was only slightly sweet but shallow in taste otherwise. The peanuts were soft and stale, bleah. The thai iced tea was not bad though. 
So yeah, next time I would go to the other thai place, Pacific Thai Cuisine at Lighthouse, where I tried the pineapple fried rice on my second night here and was pretty good. 


Update on 21 July: I came here for lunch again, earlier in the week out of convenience, and ordered their lunch special of panang curry with fish. I must say I was pleasantly surprised this time. The tom kha soup tasted much better, with the right sourness and spiciness and just a hint of coconut milk. I liked the curry too, although it was overwhelmingly spicy (note that I grew up eating spicy food in Singapore). I guess they went heavy on the chili (you could see the flakes all over my curry), since I told the waiter I like spicy food (long story). The dumplings and salad were nice too, as was the thai iced tea. The only thing about the restaurant is that it's manned by a single waiter so service can be pretty slow.  

159 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-8700

First Awakenings (Pacific Grove, CA)

This is a breakfast and brunch place near the Hopkins Marine Station, and my two experiences here have been good so far! Their portions are more than generous and quality is pretty good too. I had the pulled pork sandwich (with mushroom, onion and cheese) for lunch, which came with potatoes, fruit and salad (celery, mesclun greens, onions, tomatoes). It was good value for a $12 meal, and the pork was tender but not flaky. Yum!

125 Ocean View Blvd

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-1125

www.firstawakenings.net

Vivolo's Chowder House (Monterey, CA)

We came here famished from kayaking and had the New England chowder on sourdough bread and garlic cheese lid, fisherman's platter, and sand dabs. The chowder and garlic cheese bread were delicious on their own, but didn't really complement each other. The chowder was definitely fresh though and we found ourselves scooping out every last bit of it. The main dishes were generous too -- the platter had fried white fish, scallops, shrimp, and fries. The scallops and shrimp were big and succulent but the fish was normal. We really liked how the sand dabs almost melted in our mouth, with a twist in texture provided by a thin layer of breading. I would come back for more!

Update (4th July): I came here again today with a friend, and we had the sand dabs, chowder and scallops provencale! It was absolutely delicious and the waitress actually remembered me! The scallops were huge and succulent, while the cream sauce was nicely complemented by the tomatoes and olives.

127 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-5414

http://www.vivoloschowderhouse.com

Having food in San Francisco during ASM

ASM (American Society of Microbiology)'s general meeting is held this weekend in San Francisco, and it's been lots of fun! Also we've been having good food too!
Last night we went to Fang, a Chinese restaurant along Howard St, and had my first Chinese moriawase meal. Very interesting experience, and yummy too. Dishes that came up were: 1. gyoza with sweet chili sauce, 2. braised pork and leek in chinese bun, 3. chives chinese pancake, 4. fish soup with crab meat (flavorful with a bit of spicy taste, probably from ginger), 5. fried chicken with sweet potato slices drizzled with sweet and lightly sour sauce, 6. peppercorn and black bean sauteed fish slices, 7. sauteed mushrooms and garlic, 8. honey deep-fried pork ribs with marinated bak choy
We also ordered wine (also first time drinking western wine at a chinese restaurant, normally a no-no for me), and the Gewurztraminer was good too.
This afternoon we went to Osha, a Thai restaurant along 3rd St, and it was delicious yet not over-priced too. We had 1. pad thai, 2. crab fried rice, 3. spicy eggplant, 4. larb with lettuce (surprisingly a little spicy), 5. green curry, 6.thai iced tea/coffee. Yum! Much better than what I've had so far in the Bay Area..


http://www.fangrestaurant.com/
660 Howard St
(between Hawthorne St & 3rd St) 
San Francisco, CA 94105
Neighborhood: SOMA


http://www.oshathai.com
311 3rd St
(between Folsom St & Saint Francis Pl) 
San Francisco, CA 94107
Neighborhood: SOMA