Aneka Rasa

December 25, 2004

Merry Chrismas everyone! I just got to Vancouver and I'll be here until Jan. 2nd. Hopefully I'll have some good stuff to post. Here is a meal from Boston at Aneka Rasa.

house chicken wings with sweet chili sauce - $5.25

pineapple fried rice - $8.95 I eat here fairly regularly. It's good food for a good price. The chicken wings were plump, hot, crispy, and tender... but there was too much sauce, which was too sweet and and not spicy enough. They have another version with just the wings I think - I'll probably try them next time. The pineapple fried rice was great - very flavorful with ots of shrimp and squid in it. Anyway, I got another post or two from Boston, one from SF, then I'll start putting up stuff from Vancouver.

Suishaya

December 20, 2004

Here is a meal I had at Suishaya in Chinatown, one of those Japanese/Korean places that seem so common in Boston.

mandu - pan-fried beef and vegetable dumplings - $5.95

nigiri (per two): hamachi ($4.25), toro ($7?), unagi ($4.25); rolls: bbq yellowtail maki ($4.95), alligator maki ($11.95) The place has a whole lot of hot Korean dishes on the menu in addition to the usual Japanese. The mandu (aka a Korean potsticker) were actually quite good - clearly homemade, with a juicy stuffing. The sushi was alright. Probably a cut above Kayuga/Tokyo City, but not a ton better. The hamachi was pretty blah but acceptable. Toro wasn't very good. Can't remember how much it was... probably something like $6 or $7 for two pieces. The eel was also alright but not spectacular. I like trying these weird new rolls sometimes, especially if I'm not sitting at a true sushi counter. They tend to be safer bets. The "bbq yellowtail maki" had avocado, scallions, and grilled yellowtail inside. Pretty interesting having cooked fish inside. Probably wouldn't order it again but it was not bad. The "alligator maki" was shrimp tempura with spicy mayo wrapped with eel. This was good, but just another variation of the typical tempura/eel roll. It was pretty big too. Overall, a pretty solid Japanese option if you've got the craving in Chinatown. Suishaya won't blow you away, but it won't make you sick either. A lot of people around us were ordering the hot Korean dishes, so those may be worth a try.

Brown Sugar Cafe

December 18, 2004

Odd - I swear I've posted about Brown Sugar Cafe before but apparently I never have. Brown Sugar is about a block from the Den's Cafe (which, sadly, has closed and become a Jasmine Sola outlet store). Brown Sugar has historically gotten a lot more praise from pretty much everyone, though I always thought Den's was just as good. Anyway, Brown Sugar always has a ton of crowds while Den's stayed empty. Brown Sugar has a few locations. The one on BU campus had a fire last year, and opened again sometime this summer or this semester.

kow soi gai - flat egg noodles with chicken in light curry sauce - $6.95

country-style pad thai - $6.50 The kow soi gai is off a new "Thai-style" menu that I don't think they had before the fire. This is a good dish. Very flavorful, though not spicy at all. It's almost like a curry soup noodle - the sauce is addictive paired with the noodles. Definitely worth a try. The country-style pad thai is basically a spicy version of the pad thai. I don't normally order pad thai, but this dish was in the Globe's 54 Divine Dishes article from a while back so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was pretty good. Not very dry which is usually the problem with pad thai, and a slight hint of spice. I think Den's Cafe's version was better though. There are a few other dishes that look pretty interesting on that Thai menu, so I'll probably go back again to try more.

Hot Pot

December 16, 2004

Mike is really into hot pot. I'm not the biggest fan, but Mike was craving it. There's some hot pot place in Beijing that he loves and misses. So he decided to buy a hot pot online and do it at home.

spicy hot pot We got a lot of good ingredients over at Super 88: sliced beef, lamb, beef balls, fish balls, noodles, mushrooms, veggies. Everything's been thrown in there. We had a little more trouble finding a good soup base to use. We wanted something spicy. The stuff we found was okay, but not exactly what we were looking for. We also had some trouble finding the right dipping sauce. With normal hot pot you can just go with the egg/soy sauce/chili combo, but for spicy hot pot Mike insists on this sesame-type dipping sauce. We'll keep looking though. Still, it turned out pretty good, and it was a great value for money.

The Capital Grille

December 10, 2004

Keith's mom was in town for a couple of days earlier in the semester, and she was kind enough to take us all out to The Capital Grille. I've long wanted to try this place - it's one of the more recognized and famous steakhouses in Boston. I'd walked past it many times (it's got a pretty nice location near the Prudential Center). Of course for us college kids, steakhouses are generally something left for when parents are around...

baked prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes and parmesan toast

14 oz. dry aged steak au poivre with a courvoisier cream sauce - $32.95

cr�me brul�e with raspberries Didn't get a good look at the prices as Keith's mom was treating us, but I did jot down the steak. From the outside, I always thought the place looked a little intimidating - looked like one of those old-school stuffy restaurants. Definitely not the case! The inside is very open, with a bit more casual of an atmosphere than I expected (although, I wouldn't recommend walking in in shorts and sandals). The service was very friendly and not snobby at all. The food was good. My appetizer was a special that night - usually I order caesar salad, but the description of this was too good to resist. The cheese was just slightly melted and mixed perfectly with the saltiness of the prosciutto. The tomatoes added a refreshing balance - sadly, it was the last time i had heirloom tomatoes this year. The steak was cooked well - perfectly medium rare. And boy was it peppery! I don't normally order steak au poivre - but any steak au povire fans out there, I urge you to try this. Very intense peppery flavor. The sides, not pictured, were average (we had the usual - creamed spinach, onion rings, etc... they weren't special enough for anyone to clean them off after being filled by their steaks). When dessert time came around, the waiter made the lofty claim that they serve the best cr�me brul�e he's ever had. How could I not order it after that? It turned out quite good; creamy and not too heavy. The raspberries were delicious. I highly doubt it's the best I've had though (although I can't think of a specific place I've had it better, I'm sure I have). Dave's cheesecake, on the other hand (sorry again, not pictured), was fantastic. Get that instead of the cr�me brul�e. Thanks again Keith's mom!

Nud Pob

December 6, 2004

So now it's back to Boston. I'm sure all of you love to see how a food-spoiled student living off-campus at BU eats... right? This year, you'll see some of the same, but also some new. First, some of the old: Nud Pob.

thai style egg noodles with ground pork, roast pork, fish balls, bean sprouts, chinese broccoli, peanuts - $7.15 This is a dish they only started serving some time in the summer, if I recall correctly. It's definitely a very interesting dish, as they put some sugar in it making the whole thing pretty sweet. The sugar matches well with the roast pork. It's not really something I could eat every day though. Of course, that's not a problem with all the other stuff I tend to order at Nud Pob.

Carlo's Cucina Italiana

July 4, 2004

Pretty much my last meal in Boston... went to Carlo's.

fried calamari

chicken marsala

tortellini with pesto The calamari was really good this time. Even better than usual... Perfect crunch and texture. Chicken marsala was good as always. The tortellini was also delicious. High on the list of Carlo's meals...

Sunset Grill & Tap

July 2, 2004

I'm back in SF for one day. Leaving for Vancouver this afternoon. My cousin David's wedding is tomorrow. I still have a couple of meals left from Boston... Here's Sunset Grill & Tap from the other night.

garlic fried calamari

green chili philly steak melt

akaboura burger - mushrooms, onions, swiss (no peppers) Not bad. The calamari was pretty standard; you get better in real Italian places. The steak melt and the burger were both huge. Burger was big but of course not as good as Mo's. Decent though...

Rangoli

July 1, 2004

Another neighborhood place I go sometimes but haven't posted about is Rangoli. Usually I go for the $7 lunch buffet, so the stuff isn't as nice to photograph, but this time I went for dinner.

rangoli platter - samosas, bhajias, batata wada, & pakora

chicken tikka masala

naan

naan

lamb dosa This place is good and reliable. Naan is always awesome. Supposedly they specialize in dosas; this is the first one I've tried here. Kinda like an Indian burritto or something - hard to describe. The wrap/crepe is made of lentils and rice flour. Not bad, but I think I still prefer straight up naan.

Aneka Rasa

June 30, 2004

I'm leaving for San Francisco tomorrow afternoon, then going to Vancouver for my cousin's wedding this weekend. Gonna be there for 2 weeks or so. Here's a a meal from Aneka Rasa:

hokkien char mee

clay pot noodles Decided to try some of the noodle dishes. The hokkien char mee were basically udon noodles with a dark soy sauce. Pretty good. The clay pot noodles were a bit on the bland side. Will try more stuff next semester.

Tokyo City again

June 29, 2004

Went back to Tokyo City to try a few more things, including some hot stuff.

hotate kaiyaki

gyoza

gyoza

spicy salmon maki, crazy maki, hamachi, salmon, unagi, tamago, maguro

shoyu chashu ramen

ten-don

ten-don Rare for me to have hotate kaiyaki twice in such a short period of time. It was really good here though. They serve it on that little rack, and there's a small candle underneath that keeps hit heated and sizzling. The gyoza was so-so... it was deep fried instead of panfried. Don't get me wrong, deep frying is a gift from the gods, but with gyoza I think the normal ones are better. Sushi was good as well. The salmon nigiri is an absolute steal at $1 per piece. The unagi not so much. The ramen was quite dissappointing, but I guess my bar for ramen is higher than most. Soup wasn't that good, noodles were unremarkable... Pork was a bit dry too. The ten-don was alright. I'm probably gonna try a teriyaki some time - they serve them on a sizzling platter.

Pho Pasteur

June 26, 2004

Went to Pho Pasteur and actually ordered something new...

banh hoi with grilled pork I've always wanted to order the banh hoi but never have for some reason. What they do is they give you the plate of stuff above, and some rice paper wrap things on the side (which I don't have a pic of). You dip the rice paper in warm water and they become soft. It's just like the wrapper you get on the fresh rolls. Then you just roll stuff up yourself. It's delicious.

Fugakyu

June 20, 2004

Sorry about the slow updating. I have a big presentation for my SMG class this week; been doing team meetings nonstop. Anyway, we went to Fugakyu a while ago for dinner.

lobster sashimi

hotate kaiyaki

beef tataki

crazy maki, negitoro maki, spicy salmon maki, caterpillar maki

assorted sashimi Definitely better than the time I went for lunch, but I still think Oishii is better. The lobster sashimi was cool - lobster was still moving. You don't really get much though. Scallop kaiyaki was very creamy and nice. Beef tataki was good. The rolls were quite tasty - I really liked the caterpillar and the spicy salmon. Negitoro wasn't as good as I expected. The sashimi was good, but not great. Place isn't cheap - I'll go to Tokyo City more.

Taiwan Cafe

June 16, 2004

Hit Taiwan Cafe for lunch the other day. I wanted to get Chinese donut and soy milk, etc., but we got there JUST too late.

eggplant with basil

siu long bao

cao neen goh

fried dumpling Was really hoping for Chinese donut, but it's okay. This stuff was good too, and I'll get my fix when I get to Vancouver. Eggplant with a basil is a great dish here. Siu long bao were a little on the big side, but very soupy inside. Neen goh was standard. The dumplings were sort of like really overstuffed gyoza moreso than average potstickers. Good stuff.

Tokyo City

June 14, 2004

Got around to trying Tokyo City for dinner. It's right nearby on Harvard Ave., but for some reason I just haven't gone before.

ika tempura

crazy maki, spicy salmon maki, salmon, tuna, & hamachi sushi

hamachi kama It was really good! I wish I had gone sooner. The sushi was better than Kayuga and Maluken, and it was really cheap too. There's a deal where you can get 18 pieces of nigiri for $20 which is a steal. Hamachi kama (aka broiled yellowtail collar) was good - picked it clean. Anyway, I'm gonna start going here for the quick Japanese fix from now on.

Bertucci's

June 13, 2004

Went back to Bertucci's the other night for dinner, after a fairly long time of not going.

spinach & ricotta gnocchi It was pretty good this time. They finally got rid of the olive oil explanation i was talking about, and instead they just give you a pre-seasoned dish of olive oil with lots of garlic and some stuff in it. It was good though. The gnocchi was alright too, but not really great. It's about the same as Pasta Pomodoro back home.

Pork Chops

June 10, 2004

As promised, here's another simple recipe from the same AskMeFi thread.

pork chops with red wine vinegar reduction It turned out really good. Sauce is just red wine vinegar, chicken broth, garlic and sugar, all reduced down to a syrupy thickness. Veggies are just leftover takeout. Gonna make this one again... it was easy.

Curry Rice

June 6, 2004

I made this the other day with the help of this recipe on AskMefi.

ground beef, mushrooms, onions, garlic, with curry rice Looked easy enough to make and wasn't sure what to expect. The rice is just normal rice with a little curry powder thrown into the rice cooker. I thought it was pretty good, and it got some favorable reviews. I plan on trying quite a few recipes from that thread... looks like a lot of good easy stuff.

Aneka Rasa

June 3, 2004

Finally got around to checking out Aneka Rasa, a new Malaysian place on Harvard Ave. It's similar to Penang, and from what I understand not technically an offshoot, but I think the owner used to work at Penang or something like that.

roti canai with chicken curry

half hainanese steamed chicken with chicken rice

shrimp with string beans

green tea ice cream Very good overall. The roti canai is good, and almost exactly the same as Penang. I still like the thicker, doughier roti prata at Straits back home though. The curry dip is awesome. The Hainanese chicken was great - very tender, even the white meat. Rice was good too... Can't remember how it compares to the Straits one. Haven't had that there in a while. The green beans sambal were very crisp. Perfect texture, but not as much flavor as at Straits in SF or at Tropika in Vancouver. The pieces of shrimp weren't that great though. The ice cream was surprisingly good (and big). Not too sweet and just the right creaminess. I'm not usually a fan of green tea ice cream, but this was good. Gotta try the mango next time. Will definitely go back.

Pacific Garden

May 31, 2004

We had dim sum at Pacific Garden in Chinatown the other day. Of course I forgot to take pictures of a lot of stuff. Things looked pretty normal anyway.

ha gao - shrimp dumplings

spare ribs with black bean sauce Thought the ha gao looked pretty cool with a little roe on top. The place is pretty good... a lot better than China Pearl which I went to once a long time ago.