Back For Dinner: Lei Garden

Resturant: Lei Garden
Address: 10125 Bandley Dr, Cupertino, CA 95014

This was my first time trying out the dinner at Lei Garden. Usually for Canto dinners we just head to Joy Luck, our favorite place ever for Cantonese cuisine. (Check out my other reviews on Joy Luck, if you'd like.)

We decided to give Lei Garden a go though. We had their lunch before, not bad but not good enough for me to voluntarily say "hey, let's go eat there" in my opinion. (Check out my lunch review of Lei Garden here:

We decided to order the dinner set. When we sat down, we had these two appetizers ready:

This first appetizer is pickled radishes. There wasn't too much vinegar which I liked yet it still had that pickled taste. I really enjoyed this appetizer.

 The peanuts tasted good too. They were definitely fresh, salted well and had a nice crunch. Overall both of these appetizers were good.

In comparison with Joy Luck, Joy Luck only gives one appetizer and it's boiled peanuts. I enjoyed Lei Garden's appetizers more.

 The first thing that came in our set was the soup. This soup changes daily and we got a soup with bok choy and I think it was pork-based, not too sure. It tasted pretty good, similar to Joy Luck's. However, I did feel that Lei Garden gave less soup than Joy Luck. Usually with four people in the family, each person can have about 2-3 bowls of soup at Joy Luck. Here though, it was more like 1-2 bowls per person.

 The first dish that came was dry sauteed string beans. Honestly, this was huge miss for me. I've had this dish at so many restaurants and this is one of the worst. Not only did it not have the typical flavor this dish usually has, it pretty much lacked flavor completely. I didn't enjoy this dish and would not recommend it.

 This next dish is Tofu with Veggies. As you can see, there is a wide variety of mushrooms and there's even string beans, all coated with a delicious sauce, tasting pretty similar to oyster sauce. I enjoyed this dish but it wasn't AMAZING. I wish the tofu could be crispier so that when you bite in, you can really taste the different textures between the crispy outer skin and the soft inside.

 This dish is fish fillets with broccoli and carrots. I enjoyed this dish! The fish was cooked well and had no bones which I like and it had a nice flavor to it. A very light dish. The broccoli was really good too because it soaked up a lot of the flavor. I really enjoyed this dish but I feel like it's one of those safety dishes that you can't really go wrong with. I had this same dish at Milpitas's Twins Royal Cuisine (review here: http://foodlover888.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-cantonese-restaurant.html)

 Now, THIS was the highlight of the dinner. I really really enjoyed this lobster dish. It was lobster cooked with garlic and crystal noodles. I am a huge fan of crystal noodles aka Chinese vermicelli so I loved that this dish not only incorporated seafood but also noodles. For all you garlic lovers, you will love this dish because they give so much garlic. The lobster was cooked well, not overcooked or undercooked and the dish overall was very flavorful. My favorite for the night.

 This last dish is sauteed beef with bok choy. I enjoyed the bok choy but not so much the beef. The meat had a bit of a stench (meaty/cow taste), not sure how to describe that taste. Furthermore, the beef was slightly sweet. I think the chefs were aiming for almost a salty/sweet taste but I just didn't enjoy it. It didn't jive well with my taste buds.

Dessert (not pictured): Red Bean Soup

Joy Luck also serves the same dessert but Joy Luck does it so much better. Lei Garden's red bean soup had barely any red beans and it also had an extremely buttery taste. It was also cold...not a big fan of this.

Overall, the lobster dish was the best and the string beans dish was the worst. Everything else was meh, okay. The meal came out to be $90 which is not too bad but I would much rather take that $90 and spend it at Joy Luck. 

Taste: 7/10

Service: 7/10 (Nothing great, nothing bad)

Price: 6/10 

I'd say if you're in the area, just head down a couple miles over to Joy Luck for much tastier Cantonese food that's actually worth your money!

Cute Crepes! (Belly Good Cafe & Crepes)

Restaurant: Belly Good Cafe & Crepes

Address: 1737 Post St #393, San Francisco, CA 94115

Passed by this place while I was in Japantown, SF. First off, let's just talk about this presentation. OMG, how cute is that? The fact that they personalize each crepe into some animal/figure be it this alien guy or a bear, just captivates me. I love it when the food I eat is cute.

Anyways, the cafe is located inside the "mall" and it's a relatively small shop. It's literally composed of just a counter and a bit of space behind it for them to make the crepe, that's it. The crepe takes about 3-5 minutes depending on how busy they are. 

They have a menu where you go step by step to order the crepe. I found the service to be a bit below average because the cashier was rushing me while ordering and seemed to be impatient. 

When I got this crepe I was so excited to eat it. Like I've mentioned in posts before, I have a huge sweettooth so I was excited to dig in. The first half with the ice cream, marshmallows etc was scrumptious and absolutely divine. Once I finished the top part and worked my way to the bottom, it started to get very sweet. All it had inside was whipped cream and chocolate sauce so it just got way too sweet. I ended up throwing out the bottom half because I just could not finish it. I'm sure if I'm in SF I'll stop by here but not sure if it's a MUST come sort of cafe. I do recommend those who enjoy crepes to come at least once and try it out! The first half really was good but the second half was not that great to me but hey, if you love crepes, might as well give it a go!

Overall:

Taste: 7/10 (first half was really good!)
Service: 4.5/10
Price: 7/10 (average...$4 per crepe)

If you love crepes, definitely try this place out because of the cute crepe figures and the whole ice cream+crepe theme. However if you're not a big fan of crepes or sweets, I won't really recommend this place. Again, the first half was really delicious to me but the second half just got to be too much so for all your cute food lovers, crepe lovers, and sweets lovers, check this place out! Shouldn't be too hard to find!

Reminiscing Taiwan (Southland Flavor Cafe)

Restaurant: Southland Flavor Cafe

Address: 10825 N Wolfe Rd, Ste 220, Cupertino, CA 95014

Located in a big plaza with many restaurants and ample parking, this place is one of my go-tos if I'm missing Taiwan. They have pretty local Taiwanese dishes such as Ba Wan (Glutinous Meat Ball), a bunch of fried snacks like fried chicken, squid etc and more. I have been here multiple times but today I'll be sharing with you what I ate.

The first dish, you can never really go wrong with. It's just Ong Choy sauteed with garlic. Southland Flavor Cafe sautees it well. It's never overcooked or undercooked. It's perfect and has that nice garlicky taste. Highly recommend!

This is their Sausage & Egg Fried Rice. AMAZING I tell you. This is something I order every time I come here because it's just THAT good. Their sausage is one of the most traditional Taiwanese sausages I've had (along with Tapioca Express's) and the rice is cooked and salted perfectly. Everything just marries so well. This is one of those dishes that you won't be able to stop eating. It's that good; it's a must. Highly HIGHLY highly recommend!

This is their fried pork chop. Quite tasty but very oily and fatty. I had a couple pieces and that was enough for me. I do wish it could be a bit crispier. Anyways, their pickled veggies on the side are very traditional Taiwanese. You'll like it if you like Taiwanese pickled veggies.

This is their beef noodle soup. Pretty good and I love how there's quite a bit of bok choy inside and I absolute love this type of pickled veggies placed on top. It's not spicy but the flavor is very strong. A tad salty but my sister absolutely loved this. She gets it every time. Recommend it if you enjoy beef noodle soup!

Overall,
Taste: 7/10 (Some dishes are really good, others are meh or not that great. Definitely hit or miss but in general, taste is above average)
Service: 6/10 (Not too shabby but not phenomenal either; very average)
Price: 7.5/10 (Average prices)

I'll definitely be back, especially for the sausage fried rice! Try out this place if you're craving some local Taiwanese food; they've got it down!

Honey Brick Toast! (Cafe Lattea)

Restaurant: Cafe Lattea

Address: 19501 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014

I have been hearing SO MUCH about Cafe Lattea's thick brick honey toast so I thought I would give it a try myself. I have been to Lattea once for their drinks and never went back. Their drinks are very average but very overpriced. I had boba milk tea and there was nothing special about it. Their milk tea is more like Fantasia's so the tea taste is pretty strong. Their boba is very chewy which I do like, but a lot of places like Tapioca Express, for example, have chewy boba. However, the price was SOOO more expensive than other stores (most of their drinks range $4-$5)...with such average drinks and being overpriced, I'm headed to TapEx or Verde for my drinks in the future.

I decided to come back and give the toast a try. Didn't even bother ordering a drink. I got the Strawberry Dreaming, which was one of the cheaper toasts but it came out around $11-12, which is very expensive for just a snack.

The toast didn't take too long, maybe a 5 minute wait. The presentation was nice too.

Honestly, I have a huge sweet tooth so I enjoyed the toast and how crispy, sweet and flavorful it was. The toast tasted a bit coconut-y and it was crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, perfecto. The ice cream wasn't that good though....Anyway, as I neared the end of the dessert, it was getting to be too much. I even shared this with 3 other people and it was still too much. I ended up not finishing the whole thing because 1. it wasn't that good and 2. it was getting to be way too sweet (Didn't even use the honey on the side because it was just so sweet already). This definitely looks better than it actually tastes.

What made me really upset was the service. The guy cashier was extremely rude and had an attitude. Him alone makes me not want to go back. The bad service along with how overpriced and average the food is makes me FOR SURE not go back.

Overall,
Taste: 6.5/10 for toast, 5/10 for drinks
Service: 2/10 (That guy was horrible)
Price: 3/10 (way too overpriced)

In summary, I would just recommend heading down Stevens Creek to TapEx or Verde or heading on Wolfe to Fantasia. So many other boba places to go with better service, better drinks and better prices. If you're really craving toast then there aren't many places to get it around the area so then you can try Lattea but do be aware of everything I've mentioned.

All in all, sorry, Lattea, but I won't be back.

Back Again~ Dim Sum Time (Joy Luck)

Restaurant: Joy Luck Palace
Address: 10911 N Wolfe Road, Cupertino, CA 95014

I'm back here again! I told you all I love this place. You can check out what I ate here last time at this link http://foodlover888.blogspot.com/2013/04/dim-sum.html
I talked about the service here on that post. Here's what I ate this time around, a bit different from last time so check out that other post to see other dishes.

This is the Fried Taro Dumpling. Inside there's mashed up taro blended with some ground pork. Joy Luck makes this very well as the outside is very crispy and fried to perfection. The inside filling of taro and pork is delicious and blended very smoothly. This is great with their hot chili sauce as well as their mustard sauce (ask for it from the waiter).

This is Fish Congee, which is also very delicious. Joy Luck makes extremely great congee and for those who don't know, congee is basically like porridge. It's rice cooked into an almost soupy consistency. The congee here is extremely smooth. You can taste the rice but yet it flows like a soup. I'm assuming they blend it in the blender to get it to be this smooth but they do it sooooo well. The green onions give it that extra kick and this tastes absolutely great with some white pepper.

This is something we order quite often, and it's in my last review. This is the beef rice rolls. Read more about it on my previous blog post about Joy Luck.

This is the pork spareribs. Also mentioned in my previous post about Joy Luck, check that post out.

This was something we don't often order. Usually for veggies we order the Chinese broccoli that you dip with oyster sauce but for some reason, we didn't see it today. Thus, we tried this out and thank GOODNESS we did, I LOVE THIS. I'm not quite sure what vegetable this is but it's stir-fried and absolutely mouthwatering. It's crunchy which I love and it's almost salted perfectly. It's not overly oily and it's just so good. I couldn't put my chopsticks down with this dish, just kept on eating and eating and eating....

This is some asparagus and pork I think wrapped up in a bean curd sheet. This was pretty good, flavored well. A pretty light dish, not too heavy. It wasn't a MUST for me but it was still pretty delicious. Only two pieces though....so little.

Yay, chicken feet! Joy Luck definitely has the best chicken feet I've had. Flavored perfectly, cooked perfectly. It's an essential part of Dim Sum. Highly recommend the adventurous food connoisseurs to try it; you won't regret it!

Ooooo, this is another yummy dish! This is basically sauteed pork and mushrooms filled inside a glutinous chewy skin that's been fried. You get that crunch from the dish being fried and then you bite into the middle chewiness and then you get that salty, flavorful pork filling. This is absolutely delicious. I just love how chewy the skin is. One of my favs, especially if you can get it while it's fresh off the fryer.

Dessert time! These are black sesame balls. Must-have. Check out my other blog post here to read a more in depth description of these babies.

http://foodlover888.blogspot.com/2013/04/dim-sum.html

Same goes for this dessert as the black sesame balls! Check out the other blog post for a detailed review. Nonetheless, the fact we always order them already speaks for itself.

Overall, Joy Luck is still as delicious as ever.

Taste: 9.5/10

Service: 5/10

Price: 7/10

Noodle Land (QQ Noodle)

Restaurant: QQ Noodle
Address: 10889 S Blaney Dr, Cupertino, CA 95014

QQ Noodle finally opened in Cupertino! Now we don't have to drive to Milpitas just for this. Like the name says, QQ Noodle specializes in noodles, surprise surprise ;)

This is the noodle soup they are most known for. It is the House Special Sour and Spicy Pork Noodle Soup. It is actually very delicious and not as spicy as it looks. The bits of potato, pork and beancurd skin diced up into small chunks gives a very unique texture. The best part though in my opinion has got to be the noodles. These noodles are hand pulled so they are extremely chewy and taste AMAZING. As for the soup, I'm not a huge fan of vinegar so the soup seems to be based on vinegar; thus I'm not a big fan of this soup. However, if you are a huge fan of vinegar, I HIGHLY recommend this. The noodles are amazing and if you love vinegar, you will love the flavor of this. It's the best, that's why it's the "house special."

This is just a side dish we got. Nothing too special, can definitely skip it.

This is the beef noodle soup. Nothing too special in my opinion. The noodles were nowhere near as good as the handpulled ones from the house special noodle soup. There was nothing too special about the soup base either. Very plain; definitely had better.

This is their Chow Mein and let me tell you, this was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE dish of the meal. It even beat the house special noodle soup in my opinion, probably because I don't like vinegar. This Chow mein is soooo flavorful and the noodles are super chewy! Loved everything about this. Would go back just to eat this.

Overall,
Taste: 7.5/10
Service: 7/10 (Nothing special, nothing bad; very neutral)
Price: 7/10 (average, not too expensive)

In conclusion, I WILL be back in the future for the chow mein for sure and maybe the house special noodle soup (my dad and sister love the house special). Not sure how often I'll come but I'll definitely be back for the chow mein. Highly recommend this place if you're looking for a place to grab a quick bite or if you're just in the mood for noodles! Come check this place out!

Shhhh, it's a secret! (Secret Garden)

Restaurant: Secret Garden
Address: 3430 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95051

Usually we tend to stick to our regular Korean restaurant, but this time we decided to try Secret Garden. We've been here before but never stuck to it because we just never thought it was as good as the place we usually go to. Nevertheless, we decided to give it another go and thank goodness we did. I'm LOVING Secret Garden right now.

These noodles came as a "side dish" and they were pretty good! The noodles were chewy and it was bursting with flavor. Not many places have good noodles and not many places give it for free either so this was a huge plus :)

These are the side dishes. Not THAT much variety but they did taste pretty good. I loved the spicy greens on the very top of the picture, the seaweed and the gakdoogee (spicy radish cubes). Overall, pretty good quality for their side dishes and they're willing to give refills too~

We got the BBQ pork instead of Kalbi (BBQ Beef short ribs) and the pork is BBQed very well and very flavorful! A tad spicy in my opinion but nevertheless very very very yummy!

This was the kimchi soup. It was again a bit spicy in my opinion and the soup was a bit thicker than I had wanted it to be. Not the best kimchi soup I've had to be honest...

This was their seafood pancake. DELICIOUS. Absolutely loved how crispy the pancake was and there was a good amount of seafood in there too. Highly recommend.

This was their mackerel. Tasted very fresh and was fried well. It didn't taste super "fishy" and I really enjoyed this dish!

Lastly, we ended with some complimentary "liquid yogurt" hahaha, yummy :)

Overall, this place has become one of my new favorite Korean food places. I'll be back here soon.

Taste: 8/10
Service: 8.5/10 (Willing to give more side dishes which is nice, not many places do that)
Price: 7/10 (Just average...a tad more expensive than normal Korean places though but for the quality and service, I'm definitely willing to pay the price)