October 13, 2010

• Song of the Day
  
  ‘The Age’ album – Social consciousness is the keyword in Hong Kong pop star Leo Ku’s latest Canto-pop album, which ponders on various social phenomena today besides offering catchy pop tunes like he used to. Each of the 10 tracks on the album is about certain issues prevalent in modern times, particularly in a city like Hong Kong. The haunting lyrics in this track, “Diamond Losers”, encourages the middle-aged single women yet to find luck in love…..

  
  YAY! – it’s the time of the year again. When you hear Wolfgang Puck on the 6 o’clock news, saying,”It’s time to come and eat out at our restaurants! We need you to visit! I have my waiters, line cooks, sous chefs, bus boys, waiting to be fed. If there are no customers, I have to lay them off! So, please come out and dine!”

  Eat up! Chow down! Here we come!

  Upstairs 2 – located upstairs above L.A.’s largest and most comprehensive wine store (20,000 sf.), the Wine House. While dining at this restaurant, I’m sure there will be no problem picking the perfect wine for dinner. Well, since I’m allergic to alcohol, I only went for a brief tour of the wine shop and had tap water instead. The restaurant serves a Mediterranean-themed menu of tapas or “small plates,” which was enhanced by presenting other dishes, highlighted by seasonal ingredients.

  (left) Different brands of beer from all over / (right) wine from every corner of the world is here…..
  

  “Help Yourself” wine tasting room…..
  

  The dining room atmosphere is proper. Dim lighting and the decor has a very 1980′s brown and beige feel…..
  

  The menu – each course has its own wine pairing, which costs an extra $20 per person…..
  

  Menu / small cuts of oven fresh bread, quite a lot of dough for the two of us…..
  

  W had the Lobster Bisque Soup (left) while I tried the Duck Confit Ravioli (right). The delicious soup has huge chunks of lobster meat, a very good value indeed. My Duck Confit is of average portion, but the sauce is quite overwhelming, I felt like overdosed with salt.
  

  (left) Sauteed Pompanao topped with Dungeness Crab did not present too well here. Some other toppings would be nice to minimize the excessive aroma of sea-shore in this dish. My Braised Boneless Pork Shank is the star of this meal, the pork is nicely stewed and super tender, just melts as you bite in, totally make our trip worthwhile.
  

  Lemon Verbena Ricotta Cheese cake is a good roundup…..
  

  Nothing beats a crispy Peanut Brittle Snowball, especially when Vanilla Bean Gelato is involved…..
  

  This is the ideal place to have a proper dinner in a quiet atmosphere (the linen tablecloth, blinds and carpeting did a good job insulating unwanted noises). Now, where to look for that perfect bottle of wine? Downstairs, of course.

  Waterloo and City – just opened its doors for a few months, and it has already garnered a huge mass of followers, serving extraordinary gastronomic English pub-like cuisine (that’s what their website states). It was named after the shortest stop of the London Underground. The restaurant is a fairly large space complete with hunting lodge motif wallpaper and dark wood details, with a variety of seating such as the 30-foot-long copper top bar, and a large communal table, rounded out with smaller dinning tables with high-backed wooden chairs. Overall, the atmosphere and ambience make us feel we are in a English pub.

  

  The dineLA menu…..
  

  For starters, we each ordered a small charcuterie platter – Pig Trotters, Sweet Bread, Salsa Verde…..
  

  Rabbit & Pistachio Terrine, and Soused Peaches. Each of these plates comes with pickled mini olives, cucumbers and thin cuts of bologna and smoked ham, what a perfect combo.
  

  W’s Prime Pork Chop was cooked to perfection, but he shunned the Black Pudding on top.
  

  I had the Miso Glazed Salmon, the fish was done beautifully, together with the garnishings and miso sauce, this dish made my day.
  

  W had the Sticky Toffee Pudding, a tried and true British classic that’s hard to resist.
  

  Huckleberry Tart while served warm, slightly crumbly with a scoop of cold espresso ice cream melting on top. The sweetness of the brown butter and the pastry complemented the tart huckleberry flavor perfectly, wasn’t too sweet, the perfect way to end the meal.
  

  We’d definitely like to come back to check out Waterloo & City again, there are just too many interesting items in their regular menu. At least one more order for that warm n’ sticky Toffee Pudding, soaked in sweet toffee sauce. Food orgasm at its best!

  Susan Feniger’s STREET – from Topchef Masters fame (and author of numerous cookbooks), Chef Feniger opened STREET in April 2009, to promote traditional handmade street food from around the world. Kaya toast from Singapore? Yes, it’s here. Burmese melon salad? No problem. Syrian lamb meatballs? Got it covered too. Street food in this place represents a kind of brilliant smashup of fast food and regional home cooking. The decor is fun and casual, but since it is located in the rather hip section of the city, you have to expect the ‘non-street-food-price’ items on the ever changing menu.

  Outside and inside – L.A. casual chic…..
  

  There is a side patio for al fresco dining / menu cover…..
  

  dineLA menu…..
  

  Mango Lhassi (left) / Tamarind Ginger Cooler (right)…..
  

  Millet puffs – popcorn texture with hints of marshmallow, cereal, dried currants, a sort of indian rice krispy if you will.
  

  Mandoo Vegetable Dumplings – filled with Asian vegetables and sweet potato noodles, served with roasted honey yam and sesame dipping sauce…..
  

  New Jerusalem Bread Salad – all the ingredients just come together, with the boiled egg rounding up a delicious salad…..
  

  Braised Beef Tacos – just a very delicious and huge beef taco, the meat just melts in your mouth…..
  

  Tatsutage Fried Chicken – after one bite, I think of ‘thin and crisp’. Dark meat fried chicken at its best, this would be one of the dishes I’d like to eat on my dying day.
  

  Dark Chocolate Cookies – very chocolate with hints of berries to balance the sweetness…..
  

  Egyptian Basbousa cake – the sourness of the lime curd goes very well with the cake texture, and every little bulbs of blueberry was so fresh and delightful …..
  

  Every plate is fresh and new to us, not just the ingredients, but the concept behind them as well. This is exotic comfort street food at its best! Totally a shockingly unexpected joy for me visiting this place, and I’ll be back!

  (Last bite – thank you W for taking the above fabulously huge food porn photos, you make them come alive!)

  • 6:46 pm
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