Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com! This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.

Happy blogging!

The Seafood Shack, Westminster, CA

 

 

OMG. Oysters. Need I say more? It’s been a really long time since I’ve had oysters as fresh as these at The Seafood Shack. It’s funny. I’ve always been scared of eating anything raw, like these oysters and even sushi. Until one day I just closed my eyes and devoured them like it’s my last day on earth so I don’t care whether I live or die. 😛 And sometimes, that’s the only way to go when trying out food you’ve never had before. I felt that way with oysters. I remember my friends telling me, “just put it in your mouth.” The tabasco sauce and lemon certainly helped. A LOT.

I didn’t realize they had so many types of oysters – blue point, gold band, carlsbad, kumamoto. I was confused. I told them just bring the biggest one, which is the blue point oysters. They weren’t as big as I expected, though, but fresh nevertheless.

I really wanted crab but they didn’t have any due to high prices. So with our big group, we went for the special of the week – a $65.99 bucket that includes 2lbs crawfish, 2lbs clams, 2lbs shrimp, 1 whole lobster, 2 corns, 2 sausages, 2 potatoes, with the “everything” flavors – butter, garlic, lemon, and other cajun spices. There’s a ton of garlic pieces in the pot so if you love garlic like me, you’re in taste heaven. I would say this is probably as good as Boiling Crab, if not better.

The service here is, however, a thousand times better than Boiling Crab’s. Our waiter at Seafood Shack is super bubbly and tells us jokes and takes care of us really well. She and other waiters would come around often to see if we need anything else, and then offer to bring us an extra bucket to make it easier to share among the group. Very considerate.

The place is small. It looks like a shack from the outside, hidden in the corner so it’s hard to find. But it’s nicer on the inside, with TV screens showing sports games. The wait is not as horrible as Boiling Crab’s. I called ahead to make sure we have a table for our group, and even then they said it would take 15-30 minutes. I know they tried to accommodate us the best they could even if it’s clearly implied they don’t really take reservations. But a 35-minute wait wasn’t bad and totally worth it because the food is excellent. It sure beats Boiling Crab’s 1.5 hour wait. Sorry if I keep bagging on BC but beside the good food, there’s nothing positive about them to rave about.

The Seafood Shack
7681 Westminster Blvd
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 899-6100

 

Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, Westminster, CA

 

Sometimes, being too lazy to scroll through a long list of restaurants to find a good one while searching online does have its own luck. I practically chose Matsuyama because it was the first thing that popped up for sushi. 🙂 It’s like opening a book of baby names to find a name for your baby boy and choosing “Aaron” because it’s the first ‘real’ name you see (unless you think “Aadi” is a real name, too. Haha).

Anyway, back to sushi. It’s the first one on the list for sushi in the area I was in, and it just happened to have high ratings so I went there to see if that holds any truth. And luckily, it did. Fresh and good quality sushi with nice presentation for a strip-mall hole-in-a-wall sushi joint.

This is their “420 roll.” There’s tuna and albacore topped with special sauce and scallions. Very yum.

Crunch roll with tuna and fried shrimp. Anything crunchy is always good with me. 🙂

Onion crunch albacore, seared to perfection. The crunchy deep fried onion was super delicious I think I ate down to the very last piece!

Spicy scallop hand roll. I didn’t like the fact that the scallops were cooked. The texture was more firm than I would’ve liked. I’m not used to eating cooked scallops in rolls.

The restaurant is small but clean. My only disappointment (other than the scallop roll) was that there’s no happy hour prices for sushi. Only on sake, which means nothing to me since I don’t like drinking that much. Oh well.

Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar
13531 Beach Blvd
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 379-2661

 

Homemade Vegetarian Egg Noodle Soup, With Tau Hu Ky (Fried Bean Curd Skin)

 

 

This is one of my most favorite vegetarian things to eat when I’m staying off meat for various reasons – vegetarian egg noodle soup with tofu, cabbage, and fried ba ro (shallot-like onions mainly used for veggie dishes.) Top it all off with fried bean curd skin. You can’t eat this without it. It adds some crunchiness to the meal. The soup base is made by boiling various vegetables so it’s light and healthy, versus pork based broth you’d normally use to make noodle soups.

Like I mentioned, fried bean curd skin is excellent for vegetarian noodle soups. These are also used to wrap pork and shrimp paste then deep fried. They are usually served with com tam, or Vietnamese broken rice. But I can munch of these by themselves all day long. 🙂

 

Mon Ami Cafe, Garden Grove, CA

 

My entire family came to Mon Ami for dinner after attending my cousin’s high school graduation. We pretty much tore up the restaurant by taking up the whole half of the place. Good times! Because there were so many people, we were able to try a bunch of different Vietnamese and Vietnamese/French fusion dishes. It was a picture-taking opportunity for me! 😀

So here they are —

While waiting for everyone to come, I ordered fried butter calamari to munch on. They have 2 choices for calamari: butter or salt and pepper. I should’ve gone for s&p because that’s what I had last time and it was slightly better. This one wasn’t as crispy as I would’ve liked.

Mon Ami is known for really good bo ne, or filet mignon on a sizzling skillet, served with a fried egg sunny side up. They have various cooking options but select the wine mushroom sauce so that the meat will be saucy and tender. You know you’re eating at a French restaurant when your steak is served with a baguette. My favorite combo.

Crispy rice with seafood. I didn’t expect this to come out in a clay pot. But, regardless, it was yummy. The rice is golden and crispy in the bottom, and the seafood sauce gives it a sweetened taste.

This is the vegetarian version of the above – crispy rice with saucy tofu, mushrooms and veggies. We have a few veggie members of our family so this was naturally their choice. 🙂

Bo luc lac – literal translation: shaking cow. 😀 Basically marinaded beef served on a bed of salad. It was good, although I wish there were more meat than the salad. Oh well.

My dad and uncle opted for a giant fried whole fish served spring roll style, which comes with: rice paper, water to wet the rice paper with, various veggies (baby banana, cucumber, mint, basil, cilantro, etc.) for you to make your own spring rolls.

This is another vegetarian dish – crispy egg noodle topped with tofu, mushrooms, and veggies. I loved how thin and extra crispy the noodle was. You would have to eat this soon as it comes out before the noodle gets soggy with the sauce.

The BBQ chicken rice was OK. A bit dry. I don’t think Asian restaurants make very good BBQ chicken, but that’s just me.

The beef salad is similar to the bo luc lac (shaking beef) mentioned above. Again, too much veggies and not enough beef.

Overall, this is a good place to go for either lunch or dinner. I like the cute interior design, with trees and lamp posts inside making you feel like you’re dining outside on the streets of France. 🙂

The only down sides of this place: cash or debit cards only and they charge $0.50 for water (refills are free, however.)

Mon Ami
14291 Euclid St.
Ste D116
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 554-9888

 

Thien Dang Vegetarian, Westminster, CA

 

 

If you need to take a break from all the meaty and possibly fatty meals you’ve been having and just want to “go light” for lunch or dinner, Thien Dang Vegetarian might just be the right place for that. Their specialty is vegetarian baguette sandwiches which are an excellent alternative for meaty sandwiches. Sandwiches here contain soy “pork” paste, “sausages”, and  “chicken”, pickles, carrots, jalapeno, and cilantro. I love the mayo-like spread they use inside the baguette. Eating a veggie sandwich doesn’t make me feel like I’ve overeaten.

Their sandwiches as well as iced coffee drinks are less than $3 bucks each. The menu board is somewhat misleading. They put a picture of cafe sua da (French iced coffee) in each frame making you think it’s a combo. It’s NOT. Everything is sold separately. 😀 I was wondering why a combo was so cheap. Ha!

They also serve quick veggie food that you can pick up to go for lunch or dinner. I haven’t tried these but they look rather interesting. Most of this stuff is made from soy, fermented tofu, bean curd skin, and veggies.

Thien Dang Vegetarian
14253 Brookhurst St
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 531-4888

 

Thach Che Hien Khanh, Garden Grove, CA

 

 

Che is a very popular Vietnamese dessert. It’s a general term that applies to a large variety of desserts made of combinations of various ingredients: sweet rice, soy beans, mung beans, tapioca balls, jelly, coconut milk, red beans, sticky rice, variety of fruits such as mango, banana, jack fruit, and coconut.

Thach Che Hien Khanh is similar to Banh Mi Che Cali but they have a larger selection of many different types of che so I always have a hard time deciding what I want every time I go there. I’m not a fan of beans so I tend to stay away from anything with red beans in it. But I like anything with soybean paste and that I can pour a ton of coconut sauce all over it because it makes everything easier to digest. They tend to give you a small container of extra coconut sauce on the side depending on which che you get. Your dessert would last longer if you save the coconut sauce for later rather than pour it inside the dessert cup.

Typical of Asian/Vietnamese restaurants, Thach Che Hien Khanh only accepts cash. Booo. Parking is limited so plan to park on the street. It’s a hole-in-a-wall and in-and-out kind of place so the only option you have is to buy everything to go.

Thach Che Hien Khanh
9784 Westminster Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 537-5105

 

Homemade Bun Oc, Vietnamese Snail Vermicelli Soup

 

 

MmMm snails… yummm! Most people probably won’t even fathom being anywhere near a snail, let alone eating it. If cooked properly, snail is delicious! 🙂

My aunt made yet another one of her famous noodle soups: bun oc, or snail vermicelli soup. It looks and tastes similar to bun rieu, but the bun oc soup is a little lighter.

The snail is sauteed in caramelized shallots, ginger, fish sauce, mushroom seasoning, then stir fried with tomatoes, and tomato paste. The snail meat is lightly tough and chewy which is the way it should be, and it goes well with the pork and tomato soup base and vermicelli, garnished with green onions and various minty veggies.

Remember the expression, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” You might get weirded out just by the fact that you’re about to eat snail, but you don’t know how delicious it is until you just dive right in and eat it…maybe with your eyes closed. 😛

 

Brodard Chateau, Garden Grove, CA

 

 

My parents love Vietnamese food, and as you know, there aren’t a lot of “fine dining” Vietnamese restaurants out there to go for a special occasion. Well, I suppose there’s S Vietnamese Fine Dining restaurant next to Westminster Mall. But the thing is, Vietnamese food is delicious yet simple; so to make it fancy is kinda like “Americanizing” it a little. True authentic Vietnamese food should be eaten at restaurants like My Vi Mi Gia, Hau Giang, or Pho places. But I can’t take my parents out to a hole-in-a-wall for Father’s Day so we all decided to go to Brodard Chateau, a more upscale Vietnamese fine dining restaurant in Garden Grove.

Brodard Chateau has the kind of service you’d get at 5-star restaurants. Maybe not as professional and well-trained, but it’s quite up there, with hosts leading you to your table (something you rarely get at typical Asian restaurants), waiters in uniform, bringing you water while you skim the menu, etc. Its interior design is modern and trendy looking and it is, of course, very clean, which is very important to us.

Brodard is known for their spring rolls – pork and shrimp paste rolled in rice paper with veggies. They have another restaurant a few miles away and the rolls are much cheaper there. Adding in the word “Chateau” at a second location means adding a few more bucks to the menu items.

Since my mom is a full-on vegetarian, we ordered veggie spring rolls for her, which consisted of soy paste, cucumber and asparagus. They were nicely cut in these cute little pieces like sushi.

She also had vegetarian banh khot, or tiny pancakes shaped like cupcakes, fried till golden brown on the outside but soft on the inside topped with soy shrimp. They weren’t as crispy as my mom would’ve liked. (Hmm I should try real banh khot one of these days. :))

My stuffed clams appetizer was interesting. Clams were mixed with ground pork, mushrooms, and tiny glass noodles, then baked on a big clam shell. Served with sweet spicy fish sauce.

Another dish we had was pan fried rice noodle topped with seafood and veggies. It seems this is all we order as this wasn’t our first time dining here. The trick is to keep the rice noodle crispy but it’s tough because of all the drizzled sauce on it. So you have to eat it almost immediately before it gets soggy. Overall, the dish was decent.

Since it was Father’s Day, the restaurant was a bit busy so we had to wait a while for our waiter to come out to bring us water and take our order. It was so busy they couldn’t let us keep the menu AND our waiter came around and asked if she could take an empty chair from our table. Yeahhh…

Brodard Chateau
9100 Trask Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 899-8273

 

My Vi Mi Gia, Garden Grove, CA

 

 

This was a funny day for my cousins and myself, trying to decide what to eat. I found a local noodle place called Mi La Cay and upon driving there we found out it practically vanished off the face of the earth. We were in the right plaza according to the GPS but the restaurant just wasn’t anywhere to be found. So on to plan B – My Vi Mi Gia came to our minds, although my initial thought was “Umm, that place looks dirty.” LOL!

And I was not wrong. I remember passing by this place because it’s right next to 7 Leaves Cafe which I now frequent, and I remember always thinking to myself that I probably won’t eat there just because it’s a tiny hole-in-a-wall restaurant that looks a bit ghetto. But my cousins said “the dirtier the place the tastier the food.” Ohhkaay – don’t know where they get that logic, but, whatever, I was starving. 😛

If you’re germaphobic like me, you might have to try to get over the fact that the table you’re sitting down on was not completely cleaned and you could still see soup water spots on the surface. Then you’d have to forgive the waiter for coming by and tossing napkins on the table so you can clean it yourself. No joke. Feels like I was back in Vietnam or something. BUT, I was starving, so I wiped the table so at least I wouldn’t feel so grossed out.

We ordered the mi hoanh thanh dac biet nuoc – special house noodle soup – which consists of pork slices, shrimp, pig hearts and lungs (sounds gross but delicious), fried fatty pork, calamari, and green onions. It was super delicious so I guess I can say the food makes up for the uncleaniness. 😀

We also tried the same version of the noodle bowl above but instead of soup, it was drizzled with this sweet sauce that makes everything tender and soft. I recommend both.

While we waited for our food, we got these gio da quay, or fried rice sticks, to munch on. You can also eat these with your noodle by dipping it into the soup. I wish they were more crispy but these came out rather cold and soft.

Other than egg (yellow) noodles, My Vi Mi Gia also serves rice noodle soup or stir fry, rice and vegetarian dishes all at very affordable prices.

And here’s what the restaurant looks like. It’s probably as big as your living room. But like I said, once you get past the… “yucky” and ghetto look and feel of this place, you might just enjoy the deliciousness of their food. 😛

My Vi Mi Gia
9790 Westminster Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 636-8588