I’m leaving on a jet plane…today! Please feel free to follow along on my Instagram! IG: maybeitsjenny
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Vietnamese Food – Los Angeles, CA
One of my favorite cuisines is Vietnamese Food. If I am ever feeling under the weather, Pho is the dish I crave most. Color me surprised that we only tried two Vietnamese Restaurants during this trip, although the trip wasn’t all that long. I’ll cover both restaurants in this post.
Pho Kobe Style Beef – Thin Sliced Wagyu Steak Fillet Beef
Grilled Pork Chop and Pork Egg-Custard with Broken Rice
I can’t comment too much on the pho, I got the grilled pork chop dish. It was delicious!
black tea with mango, passion fruit coconut jelly
Okay, I just realized that I went to two Vietnamese restaurants and didn’t eat pho in either one. What was I thinking? Well if you think I have any regrets, I have none. These garlic noodles with shrimp were so delicious. Mmm…what a send-off of a meal. The drink? Perfect! I really wish I had found this restaurant earlier in the trip because I am sure we would have given it a second visit.
Ong Ga Nae Korean BBQ – Los Angeles, CA
Hands down, one of my favorite meals in California. The service at Ong Ga Nae Korean BBQ started off awful, but I honestly go to Korean restaurants expecting that. Anyway, we were there a bit early. Found street parking luckily so we didn’t have to use valet parking, whew! We were initially served by two males and they did not seem like they liked being waiters, lol. But let me tell you, as our meal progressed, a female waitress came on duty and made up for the entire meal. She was so incredibly sweet and helped us cook all our meats. I was too busy eating and didn’t spend enough time taking pictures…
marinated beef rib, pork belly, chicken bulgogi, prime beef brisket
I wish I had more details on this. I tried to find it on their menu but it was a picture on their wall and it doesn’t look like it’s part of their printed menu? I have wanted to try this for a long long long time. You don’t really find this dish here because it’s beef tartare. I really wish we had it here, this dish was to die for. It was so much meat but I had to have it. And we couldn’t take it out, understandably, so I really had to try to eat it all. Beautiful beef, korean pear, pine nuts, sesame oil, and may other ingredients. It just came together to make the perfect dish. I certainly didn’t need the other BBQ meats with this dish. I know for next time…maybe a soup and this dish. Ughhh…I wish I could eat this again! Sooner than later!
Disneyland – Los Angeles, CA
What trip to LA is complete without a visit to Disneyland? I’ll let you in on a little secret, this was my first trip to Disneyland. Yes, seriously. I didn’t have much travels as a kid and when we did travel, it was to the homeland, not the mainland. I’ve been to other Disney parks but was excited to check California out! We decided to check out both Disneyland and California Adventure Park…and boy am I glad we did. I didn’t know this beforehand but did you know…Disney celebrates Lunar New Year??
Cheddar-Jalapeño Sausage topped with Chipotle Crema, Queso Fresco and Pico de Gallo with Filmstrip Fries
Cheddar Sausage Link with creamy Macaroni and Cheese, Salsa Verde, crumbled spicy Cheese Puffs, and Cheese Curds on a Toasted Bun with Filmstrip Fries
I can only comment on the cheesy celebration because this was my dog. Did I tell you I am lactose intolerant? Was this a good choice? Probably not. I was lured by the cheesiness of it. Was it good? Ehhh…for all the flavors named, it was quite a plain dog. They just threw everything on top and it was all just…empty calories and not worth them either!
Boiling Point – Los Angeles, CA
Boiling Point is a bit of a trend right now in LA. Hot pot is awesome so I knew we had to try it! It’s a cute concept, each diner gets their very own boiling point. We arrived at a good time, very short wait time. There are so many different options…the restaurant is very dark so it was hard to capture good pictures!
Here’s how the dish looks in person. Not exactly the same right? I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan of it. In fact, I traded my dish with my dining companion. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for the mala spices this night? I was not impressed and did not want to return for another meal. Cute idea but I think I prefer Taiwanese hot pots.
Here is what made up for the dinner that night. Do you remember Bambu in Hawaii? They were open for a while and specialized in Vietnamese drinks and desserts, I loved them. And I absolutely loved their Dessert #10. I actually customize it and ask for no grass jelly…I’m realizing I only really like the green pandan jelly with the coconut milk. I wonder what kind of looks would be shot at me if I asked for that. Ah…wish we still had one here. I guess I gotta go back to California to get another one…
Ramen Shack Takumiya – Los Angeles, CA
After a long day at Disney (post coming soon!), we wanted to warm ourselves up with some good ‘ole ramen before heading back to the hotel. A lot of restaurants are located in mini strip malls, not something I’m used to but certainly got used to while in California.
So how was it? I would say it was pretty okay, but not great. I was excited to get the spam musubi as a side dish because it was like a little bit of home in Cali. The musubi was just alright and I think a bit cold, but it was good enough. I think the meal was good but nothing memorable.
Capital Seafood – Los Angeles, CA
Figures my first real meal in Los Angeles would be Chinese food. Not just any Chinese food, dim sum. I think if asked, I would name dim sum as my favorite food. Then again, when I eat dim sum, I order off the regular menu as well (Seafood Chow Mein, y’all!). We ended up at Capital Seafood in Beverly Hills of all neighborhoods. How fancy are we? Not really. We pulled up in our Nissan Sentra and parked on the street, lol.
Not much to explain, it is the same dim sum dishes we can get here in Hawaii. I definitely prefer the dim sum chefs we have here in Hawaii compared to this place. The food was just okay, a bit pricey but considering the neighborhood, I did expect to be helping them pay rent. Good service, good food (good, not great). If you want some Chinese food in a nice setting, this place is it!
Ikea – Burbank, CA
Ikea. This store has been a dream of mine to visit for years. We drove out to Burbank to visit this location and I am glad we did. It is a huge store and the street is named after them! I wish I lived in California, I would have bought so much stuff. Not to say I didn’t anyway, I made room for it in my suitcase. I still am holding up hope for it to come to Hawaii one day. Not sure why the this place has such low ratings on Yelp. It’s a nice big store although I’m not a fan of the layout, I guess it’s their way of making you walk through the ENTIRE store. It was a bit of a nightmare for me since I was so unfamiliar with this store, I kept getting lost.
Anyway, my main reason for the visit was also to try the meatballs! Food related, who would have thunk it.
I love meatballs, so it doesn’t take much to impress me. I enjoyed it a lot! The gravy was great and the lingonberry jam too! Didn’t need the vegetables or mashed potatoes…give me a big plate of the meatballs and jam and gravy and that would be great. Well, as an Asian give me some rice too, thanks. Something else caught my eye as I lined up…you can see a corner of it in the picture above…
I mean, look at that piece of cake. It’s everything you hope and dream of. It’s like that chocolate cake from Matilda. Mmm yum. I don’t think I need to say much more, just look at it. It looks as it tastes, gooey, moist and delicious. Ikea. Boom.
Ramen Hood – Los Angeles, CA
Ramen Hood is a 100% vegan ramen noodle shop. It is located in the Grand Central Market, which is home to a horde of food shops and fresh markets. Compare it to the Maunakea Marketplace only bigger and possibly cleaner? Anyhow, I tried to plan it perfectly. We would first check out The Broad museum and then grab our brunch/lunch from here. Okay, it kind of worked out. We had to pay for $15 parking for 3 hours of parking at The Broad but the museum took a minimum 1.5 hours to get through. We get to the Market and it is PACKED with people.
I wanted to try two places, Ramen Hood and Eggslut. Eggslut’s line practically wrapped around the market, it was a no go. Ramen Hood was busy too but we were able to order take out. I actually didn’t realize it was a vegan place until I got there…then I got excited, especially about the egg! And let me just say, $2.00 for half an egg…I hope it’s worth it. Let’s check out the food…
Sorry I didn’t get a picture of both bowls with their broths! The broths are great, seriously. Even though there is no meat, there is so much flavor and depth in the broths. A nice kick of umami. We actually drove to Ikea and awkwardly ate this in our rental car in their parking lot, lol. I was also saving my appetite for the Ikea cafeteria so I didn’t finish the bowl of noodles.
If we had more time, we would have eaten it at their bar. That’s the thing about this shop, it isn’t really a sit-down restaurant and they basically have a bar to eat at. So the big question in all your minds, how was the egg? I am coming from a very open and vegan loving place, and with that caveat, I bet you know where I’m heading. I DIDN’T LIKE IT. I really admire their try at a real egg, doesn’t it look realistic? I think the egg white is formed with agar agar and it just…I don’t know, I guess I’m expecting an egg texture and didn’t get it so it just felt odd. Glad I tried it just to know…would I order it again with the egg? Probably not.
Other than that, the ramen is great. Give it a try! And $10 a bowl? What a deal!
Boteaga – Los Angeles, CA
Oh yes, a trip to Los Angeles. Believe it or not, it was my first time to Los Angeles ever. Sure, I’ve been through LAX for connections but never to Los Angeles. It was a last minute booking, limited research and no expectations. I’m glad I went in with no expectations because I had a wonderful time there.
I’ve been through some pretty interesting times in the past few months…including the crashing of my laptop. I was able to restart it but then I lost everything and that certainly puts a cramper on spending time to blog. Some of my entries are long and it takes a bit out of me…so maybe I can try to update with smaller posts. This one is real quick, check out the drink I got from Boteaga:
Isn’t this drink beautiful? I can’t say the motivation for the photograph wasn’t high on my list. How was the drink? Eh….the pink boba balls were much too hard to chew. Other than that, it’s really just a strawberry milk and I am lactose intolerant so I didn’t do myself any favors. Very cute shop located in Japantown Los Angeles. Even the actual cups are cute! But I wouldn’t recommend it.