Yellow House Cafe: Themed Cafe in LA

I think pictures can speak for itself. It has a really sweet and calming atmosphere. Food isn't particularly expensive either, but they mainly serve korean fusion food.

I didn't really order much because we weren't hungry enough to demolish their large portions for main orders. We ended up ordering potato string fries and korean dumplings.

Potato string fries

Please do not repost or re-use my pictures without permission.

8 Korean BBQ: 8 different flavours

I had limited opportunities to get KBBQ because it requires a lot of time to dine, and most of my floormates were always preoccupied with studying. Perhaps I'm a bad student lol but then again, freshman year is a breeze compared to being in Hwachong. I just wanted to travel and try all sorts of food and things when I was still in LA.

Thanks to a certain "prince" who got us a fancy ride, I got to try 8 Korean BBQ. It was interesting cuz the ahjumma who served us lifted the top of our stools and asked us to put our belongings in it. That will prevent our bags from smelling like kbbq and from spills and stains. This restaurant also offered an 8% discount if we paid by cash. Oh, but best part was that the person who drove us around even paid for my meal. Gentleman much. (Now go grab Taiwanese guys everyone.)

We ordered Combo 1 (USD$49.99), which came with 8 different flavours of pork belly, kimchi, beansprouts, seafood soup and kimchi fried rice (made with leftover soup like at Gamja Gol). We also ordered steamed egg to share as well for $2-3. I thought everything was pretty well done. We also had minimal cooking to do, because the waiters would help us to grill and cut the strips of pork belly as well. Bonus points for service. 

The 8 Flavours of Pork Belly: were cooked in the order that was recommended by the them as follows:

1. Wine: Wine (in moderation), lowers the risk of heart disease, and opens blood vessels for better circulation.
2. Original: All natural with no additives. Unveiling pork’s natural flavonoids, rich in Vitamin B1.
3. Ginseng: Ginseng stimulates the metabolism and promotes general wellness of health.
4. Garlic: Garlic lowers cholesterol and high blood pressure, and helps the body’s natural flow.
5. Herb: Natural herbs alleviate stress and depression.
6. Curry: Curry’s complex components prevent Alzheimer’s disease, as well as certain cancers.
7. Miso Paste: Miso Paste is rich in flavonoids and beneficial in circulating the body’s natural biochemistry.
8. Red Pepper Paste: Gochujang contains protein, healthy fats, Vitamins B2, Vitamin C and carotene.

I've also seen 8 Korean BBQ in The Central at Clarke Quay in Singapore, But the prices here are so much higher than in Los Angeles. I believe it is priced at SGD$98++ here.

Please do not repost or re-use my pictures without permission.

Isaan Station: Best Thai food in downtown LA

It's almost impossible to find Singaporean food when you're out of Singapore. Or at least Singaporean food that actually tastes like Singaporean food. There used to be a Papparich branch in Ktown, but it moved to the San Gabriel's area (where a lot of awesome and authentic Chinese food can be found).

I was brought here by my fellow Singaporeans who raved about this restaurant. I guess everyone had insatiable cravings for Southeast Asian food and the spice that we are used to. Jalepenos. sriracha chili sauce and hot sauce isn't really our thing. This restaurant also served authentic Thai food from the Isaan area, which is where all the spicy dishes originate from. You could even place your order in Thai (which is what one of my friends did). 

Menu

So we ended up ordering Cha Yen (Thai tea), Tom Kha (chicken coconut soup), Kor Mu Yang (grilled pork neck), Crying Tiger (grilled beef) and sticky rice. We ended off with honey toast, which their version of the Shibuya thick honey toast. We ended up paying USD$20 per person after splitting it 4 ways, inclusive of tax and tip.

Thai Tea ($2.50) and Sticky Rice ($1.50)

After coming here, I dare say that many Thai restaurants in Singapore do not serve authentic Thai food. Its a shame because we are so much nearer Thailand than Los Angeles is. Same for Korean food. Anyway, I fell in love with their grilled pork neck. It is one of the most amazing dishes ever, and it has a similar effect on me as how char siew makes me crave for it all the time. I think the pork neck was grilled with honey, and it was extremely tender. Their grilled beef was not as amazing as their grilled pork neck, but it was tender and it was pretty good as well. The tom kha was flavourful and there was also a generous amount of ingredients unlike some places in Singapore.

Tom Kha and Kor Mu Yang

We ended the meal with the honey toast, which came with 2 huge scoops of ice cream. The thick toast was fluffy and not to sweet. However, it was impossible to finish even though we shared among 4 people. Or maybe we were just really full from our meal.

Honey Toast

I returned again shortly after with my other friends before spring break. This time, we ordered Kor Mu Yang, Tom Yum soup, pad thai and sticky rice.

This place is also very interesting, because they offer spicy levels on a scale of 1 to 10 for their soups. We decided to try level 6 because my other Singaporean friends said they couldn't handle level 7. It was a lot spicier than any tom yum soup that I had in Singapore. However, the other table which were all from Hong Kong were not asked to choose their level of spiciness, and their soup wasn't as strong. Not sure if they bother asking all their customers. Perhaps they would only ask if people sound or looked like they were used to taking spicy food (from their appearance and accents).

Pad Thai, Tom Yum soup and Kor Mu Yang

I returned here on another occasion for desserts after having kbbq at 8 Korean BBQ. The Taiwanese love coming here for their iced grass jelly. My friend would always want to come here to get it.

Mango Sticky Rice

The iced grass jelly was slightly underwhelming because I was expecting it to taste a bit more like chendol. However, it was just ice, grass jelly and brown sugar. But it was still pretty good. Their mango sticky rice was great and they do it better than a lot of places in Singapore.

Iced Grass Jelly

While I would consider Isaan Station to be the best Thai food place in Los Angeles, some people would argue that this other restaurant with a red signboard near BCD Tofu House is the best. I have never tried it because I've not heard anyone rave about it in USC, but I did see a crazy long line when I passed by it once. However, it could be just really popular among their Americans. There is also a Thai Town near Hollywood, and some of my Thai friends have said that the best Thai food can be found there. If you are able to travel all the way out, you can ask the Thais for the name of the restaurant that they believe has the best Thai food in LA. 

Please do not repost or re-use my pictures without permission.

Honey Mee: Honeycomb Milk Soft Serve

Chanced upon this when I was done with dinner at BCD one day. My friend said that this was highly raved in Los Angeles, and so I decided to get one to try. I believe this was about USD$4.50. This is just a small stall in front of Boiling Crab. It resembled an old school ticket both for movies that is often depicted in cartoons.

Milk soft serve with honeycomb

This thing was really sweet, although I think the one with honey drizzled is even sweeter. Anyway, I don't know if I got it wrong, or that it is almost impossible to eat the honeycomb without taking bits of plastic-like things. They weren't exactly chewy so I had to take them out after chewing the honey away. Nevertheless, the milk soft serve was really good. It was also interesting to try the honeycomb. It was a pretty good way to end the night. It was satisfying even though this small cup was shared between 2 people.

I know there are similar stores in Singapore like Honey Creme and all that sort of things, and I'm looking forward to trying them here. Hopefully things are cheaper in Singapore, while the quality remains the same.

Please do not repost or re-use my pictures without permission.

Gam Ja Gol: Authentic Korean Gamja tang

Although I absolutely love korean food and Ktown, many of the restaurants are ran by Koreans who are unable to speak much English. Getting a table and ordering food is a struggle if you aren't Korean. It is always helpful to have a Korean friend who knows what is on the menu and successfully grab a table. Additionally, they are the ones who knows what's best in the area because they learn about the area from Korean taxi drivers.

One of the places that my Korean friend brought me to was Gamja Gol. Apparently gamja tang refers to potato soup, which I initially thought referred to pork bones or something. Anyway, if not for him, I would never be able to get a table or order anything because it was ran by ahjummas who spoke Korean all the time. I'm not sure if they could understand English because every table had someone speaking Korean that night, so all orders were done in Korean. 

Banchan

We ordered a set of gamja tang for 2 pax, and it was served with a mini stove that kept our soup hot. It was a little bland in my opinion, because I was expecting it to be more spicy. Nevertheless, it was good. The potatoes were soft, although there wasn't that much meat because the bones were pretty random. Or maybe I'm not as skilled as my friend in picking out the meat.

Gamja Tang ($29.90)

When we were finishing the soup, my friend suddenly waived for the waitress to come and he told me not to finish the soup. The ahjumma came and poured in 2 bowls of rice, additional kimchi and seaweed into the remaining soup. She skillfully used a pair of scissors and a metal spoon to dice everything while she flattened the fried rice onto the pan. My friend explained that this was the best part of eating gamja tang hahahaa. Flattening the rice onto the pan was supposed to help the distribution of heat and to crisp the rice a little.

Not sure where I can experience this in Singapore, but I wish Singapore had more varieties of Korean food.

Please do not repost or re-use my pictures without permission.

BCD Tofu House: Best Supper and Comfort Food

Singaporeans will always crave for something spicy. I wasn't a fan of the Mexican hot sauce, and I did not really fancy the sriracha chili sauce that is highly raved by Asian Americans. I turned to Korean food whenever I craved for something spicy.

Although BCD Tofu House is a chain restaurant, there aren't that many and I believe they actually make their own tofu. It is smooth and silky, and it does not have a pungent taste like most American tofus. Trust me, Asian tofu tastes way better. 

Additionally, BCD Tofu House is open almost 24/7 (depending on location). This is definitely comfort food for supper, and to help college students pull through the night. Splurging on getting this is way better than ordering something from TG Express, which serves very oily and weird tasting Thai and Chinese dishes. Or maybe it was just the pad thai that I had.

Combo Set: Assorted Spicy Tofu Soup + Spicy BBQ Chicken ($20)

I ordered a combo set which proved to be too much food the first time I visited BCD for dinner. Nevertheless, I was so intrigued by the spicy chicken because it was really really spicy, and the portions were so generous. My tongue was burning but I was so satisfied getting my spicy food fix. 

Kimchi Dumplings

We definitely ordered too much on my first visit because we even ordered kimchi dumplings to share. We had a pretty hard time finishing our food, especially when they actually provided banchan like kimchi, potato salad, fish (that tasted like the one in nasi lemak), and marinated shellfish.

Beef BCD Soon Tofu ($10)

Oh and all tofu soups are served with rice, fish, and banchan.

Please do not repost or re-use my photos without permission.

EMC Seafood: best uni pasta and $1 oysters

This place was on my list for a period of time, but I finally went in April 2015.

Started off with salmon aburi with caviar. It was basically seared salmon with micro greens and black tobikko, on ponzu sauce and truffle oil.

Salmon Carpaccio ($12)

The highlight of EMC Seafood is no doubt their oyster happy hour, where oysters are priced at $1 each. Best part is that it can be a daily indulgence between 4-7pm. There were 2 guys seated next to us on a long table, and they finished 60 oysters with a large pan of truffle fries and even uni pasta. While their appetite was indeed impressive, I think my friend and I ordered a lot for 2 girls (although we ended up with packed leftovers). 

Fresh oysters at $1 each

Place is dimly lit, and so the pictures are not very flattering. But they have one of the best uni pastas, I swear. It's supposed to be a golden yellow and fragrant dish, but the picture does it do it any justice. Nevertheless, the uni cream was heavenly, and it was garnished with whole uni pieces and roasted seaweed. There is nothing to pick about this dish, except I realised that it was pretty oily and you feel full easily because of the thick uni cream. I had half of it to-go (packed for later), which is when I realised it was rather oily. I'm not sure what was added to make this dish smell so good and taste so good, but I'm guessing truffle oil was used because of the smokey taste and smell that became more apparent after I microwaved the leftovers. I can't be sure. 

Uni Pasta ($21)

The tender and large portion of well-marinated beef mignon came as a pleasant surprise. Never thought $16 could fetch us such a large tray of delicious beef.

Black Pepper Beef Mignon ($16)

My friend decided that she wanted something light, and thus she ordered uni congee. I must say that LA has made me realised that Koreans are pretty good at cooking congee. They are well seasoned and are fluffy and delicious. Always wanted to try Bonjuk for healthy korean congee, and because they are so colourful and interesting too. 

Uni Congee ($15)

Please do not repost or re-use my photos without permission

Healthy Zone Jook Hyang: Abalone Ginseng Chicken Soup

Had massive cravings for ginseng chicken soup towards the end of the academic year. It's strange because I never really had any ginseng chicken soup in Singapore, but I kept thinking about the delicious ginseng chicken soup I had in Korea when I visited Seoul when I was much younger. Anyway, thank god for the fact that Ktown was right outside USC. My cravings were easily satisfied.

Headed to Healthy Zone Jook Hyang because my friend had recommended it, and it was family style cooking. Well, it was true and it also meant poor service because it was family-owned. But it's not a big deal. I just wanted to enjoy the food. They also served a large variety of banchan, which I appreciated. 

We ended up ordering ginseng chicken soup with fresh abalone, because we were deprived kids who missed Asian food and soup. It also proved to be no salt nor MSG added, because the soup was rather bland and salt was provided on a small dish so that we could decide how much salt to put in. 

Fresh Abalone Samye Tang ($22)

I believe a whole small chicken was used in the soup. It was also stuffed with some seasoned glutinous rice, which made us very happy because glutinous rice is hard to come by in Los Angeles.

Please do not repost or re-use my pictures without permission.