mmm-yoso!!!

Song Huong Mira Mesa Revisited

A few weeks back; Calvin asked if I'd join him at Song Huong; he wanted to have some Banh Cuon for lunch. I told him I wasn't the biggest fan of the Banh Cuon at Song Huong; nor much of anything else I've tried during several visits. Still, it had been over three years since I'd last visited, so why not. Unfortunately; or perhaps fortunately, Song Huong was undergoing some renovation work at that time....so we got Menya Ultra instead. 

Fast forward a month and Calvin asks if we could go and check the place out. So, why not?

There're now a couple of groups of older Vietnamese guys hanging out on the tables outside the place. Guess they've found their coffee hangout.

Other than the fresh coat of paint and some wooden tables and benches, the place looks pretty much the same. Though I heard someone saying something about ceiling damage and repairs.

Calvin had one thing on his mind; the banh cuon. I on the other hand, really wanted nothing to do with any of the noodle soups here and was kinda fascinated by the new fried food menu.

Anyway, the Banh Cuon and Banh Uot was mediocre.

The banh cuon was especially bad; the rolls too thick and chewy, the filling bland, the nuoc mam cham watery....'nuff said.

Meanwhile, after a short wait all the fried food started arriving. First the chicken gizzards ($5.99). Holy smokes, the portion size was more than I bargained for.

These were crunchy, nicely seasoned, and in my opinion the best item of the meal. A good dose of Louisiana Hot Sauce added a nice kick and acidity to cut all that fry-o-lated goodness.

The fried okra ($2.49) was again a good portion size.

While it could have been more crunchy; it was still decently crisp, with a nice, gooey interior. Not bad; though this could have used more seasoning.

And last; the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings (6 pieces - $6.99).

Unevenly battered, bitter garlic, too salty, and rather dry flesh.....this wasn't too good. a lot of the batter just flaked off as well. This one needs some work.

There was a ton of leftovers. We took it back to the office and gave it to Big Daniel from Georgia and he whacked those gizzards in minutes. Then looked sleepy for the rest of the afternoon.

As for the Banh Cuon; Phuong Nha definitely does it better. The woman working was much more friendly than I recalled. But am not sure I'll return.

Song Huong
10550 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Seaside Pho & Grill

A few weeks back, I recently had to run down to Point Loma to pick a package up at the Post Office for the Missus. I thought it a bit strange that the info given on the slip in our mailbox was for the Point Loma location, not the usual Midway Station. And to make things worse, that Post Office is only open from 10 to 1230 on Saturdays! So, I headed down at 1030, found some parking and headed into the Post Office and stood in line. Only to find out that I was given the wrong location....it should have been the usual Midway Post Office! Sigh.....

Well, I decided to grab some lunch in the area before heading back up Rosecrans to the correct Post Office. I decided to check out a place that had been on my "list" for a while.

An acquaintance recommended Seaside Pho & Grill to me for a specific dish. More on this shortly.

I walked on over and easily found a table as the place was totally empty on a Saturday at 11am. The Server was a bit disorganized and kept calling me "honey".....ok. The vibe is definitely fusion, gastro-pub/bar, very modern. Looking over the menu; well, there's all types of Asian noodles; everything from Pad Thai, Drunken Noodles, Ramen, to Pho.

My source had recommended that I try the "Garlic Noodles" with Shrimp, not cheap at $16.75. I had pictured something like Crustacean's Garlic Noodles or Momofuku's Scallion Noodles. This tended more toward Crustacean's....though more like a version you'd make when you had midnight munchies and robbed the fridge.

The typical noodles were mushy; the sauce was gloppy-gooey with hardly any flavor and definite greasiness to them. The shrimp were nicely cooked but really bland and lacking in "shrimpiness". I added all the parmesan cheese and was definitely tempted to dump Hoisin and Sriracha on this....but I held back.

For some reason; I decided to head back and try the pho. So I returned a few weeks later. In contrast to typical pho shops there are limited options. So, I got the "Beef Combo" ($10.75 - small bowl). But first, some Garlic - Butter Wings (6 pieces - $9.95).

The wings had a nice crunch and were moist and very hot. Not a fan of all the broken bones and discolored flesh. Also, the garlic was too raw and was on the bitter side; the "sauce" was bottled lemon juice with black pepper.

This could have been a winner.....but no cigar.

I got the "Beef Combo" (small - $10.75); rare steak, brisket, flank, and tendon.

As I had anticipated, not much in terms of basil and sprouts; but at least it was fresh. That lime was much needed since the broth was super salty and like most "San Diego style" pho, on the sweet side. It lacked beefy-anise tones that I usually appreciate in a good bowl. The noodles; while in the typical clump were prepped nicely. The rare beef wasn't too rare by the time it hit the table; but it was more tender than the usual lousy top round I get at most pho shops; the flank and brisket were fine, both were fairly tender. The two pieces of tendon were slightly chewy, but passable as well.

In the end; another newish, modern "pho to not offend" shop. Fairly pricey with small bowls of pho near, or over ten bucks and limited options. And no; I'm not going to get the ramen here. The service was kind of; well, distracted, even though I was the only customer in the place during both visits. 

And yes, this place is right next to Shanghai Bun.....still not sure if I should check that place out. What do you think?

Seaside Pho & Grill
1005 Rosecrans St.
San Diego, CA 92106
Hours:
Mon - Thur 11am - 9pm
Fri - Sat  11am - 10pm
Sunday     Noon - 9pm

Chicken Wing Wednesday - Krispy Krunchy Chicken Revisited

Just a short post for "hump day".

I had just finished a meeting and it was nearly noon.....a terrible time for lunch in the Kearny Mesa area....unless you love crowds. It was one of those times when I just wanted something....fried. So, I decided to head on over to the 99 Ranch Market on Balboa, which was pretty sedate as usual and decided to get lunch at Krispy Krunchy Chicken. I'm glad they ditched the terrible ramen here a while back.

I didn't want heat lamp wings, so I did what the young lady who works here told me back when they opened; if you order the ten piece wings, they will be made to order. If you order waffle fries, they will be made to order. So, I did both and ended up with way too much food.

These were hot, moist, and indeed c(k)rispy and c(k)runchy. The seasoning and batter still reminds me of Popeyes, nothing wrong with that. Though I find the meat itself more moist and with a definite "saltiness" without the spice like Popeyes. Just a little dip into Louisiana hot sauce, the vinegar and spice really helps cut any richness....but not the guilt I'm afraid.

While I'm not the biggest fan of waffle fries; these were at least crisp. Though I'll just stick with wedges next time.

One of the folks in the office was the beneficiary of a half dozen wings and a ton of waffle fries.

Well, I got my fried food fix in...…..until next time.

Krispy Krunchy Chicken
5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

Kimae Ramen

Are you tired of Ramen yet? Well, I hope you have room for one more....or maybe not.

Kimae Ramen opened up at the end of October by the same owner as Poki (poke...please poke, ok) One N Half. It's located in La Jolla Village Square right next to Daphne's and two doors down from a location of PONH.

I finally made it here at the end of December and really liked the lay-out of the place.

The staff, while not particularly friendly, were quite professional on my two visits.

The menu is printed on what is basically a paper "fan" and hangs on the wall around each table. There are four basic ramen with Spicy versions of the Signature, basically a chicken and pork tonkotsu, the Miso, and also have a Veggie and Spicy Seafood ramen on the menu as well. The other side of the fan has appetizers, rice bowls, and drinks.

So, being the old, boring, fuddy-duddy that I am, I went with the Signature Ramen ($10 - of course).

The presentation was nice, but the broth wasn't as hot as I enjoy. It also lacked depth and richness. No fragrance, no tongue coating texture, sorry to say it was like they used packaged tare, as it was salty and had a "tinny" finish.

The tamago….the egg hadn't been marinade properly and was bland and the yolk was ice cold.

The noodles were over-cooked for my taste and the wood ear was cold and really hard. The chashu looked good, but was rubbery and lacked flavor.

I was starving so ate all the noodles and stuff, but couldn't bring myself to have any more of that broth. You know, I thought we had hit "critical mass" with regards to ramen when Karami and Ryoma opened. I was even more sure after mediocre ramen at Yamachan and Isshido opened. But HiroNori gave me hope. I'm now certain we've hit saturation point....

After this rather sad bowl, I wasn't going to even do a post on the place. I really didn't feel like getting another bowl of ramen from Kimae….at least for a while.

But, about 2 weeks ago; Faye did a post on Kimae. Where she tried the chicken wings and enjoyed them. And since I really enjoy wings; well, I thought I'd give them another try.

But no ramen for me. Looking over the menu; well, I got the Crispy Chicken ($8) and finally also went with the Unagi Rice Bowl ($8), basically Kimae's version of Unadon.

The bowl came with a side of the "signature broth"; which was even more salty this time around. I left it as is. The kabayaki no tare (sauce) seemed water down and rather weak, more salty than sweet, very little savory tones...if it's bottled stuff, it's not a good brand. The four slices of Eel hadn't been broiled long enough and lacked the hint of a crisp exterior, it looked like they'd just opened a package, sliced a couple of pieces, and dumped it in a bowl.

I did enjoy the rice, mixed well with furikake and diced veggies. But that was about it.

Soon enough the chicken wings arrived. This was interesting as it resembled some of the double dipped Southern Fried Chicken I'd had in Atlanta when I worked there during the late 90's.

The first wing I ate had a very nice "crunch" and while slightly crumbly was not nearly as hard, nor dry as Furaido. It was super moist, though sadly was lacking in seasoning. And that mustard sauce, which lacked enough "umph", that would be some distinct flavor....pungent, sweet, salty, spice......was so bland. I actually had to add salt and togarashi to the wings....something I almost never, ever, do.

Next up was the drumette. I bit into it and got some flavor all right...a weird bitter, almost offal like flavor......freezer burn. Look at all that black marrow leakage. I was done.

So, the wings, well, it has potential, but really needs some flavor....or bring your own sauce, or whatever. I'm hopeful that drumette was an aberration. At least I hope it is. I took the other four wings back to the office....after the first bite, Calvin dumped half a bottle of Sriracha on it. At least the other four pieces didn't seem to have any off flavors.....

In the end, the concept and design is nice. The portions and price are right. Service was good and professional. But that's just the lipstick and I actually want the pig and this didn't do it for me. Calvin actually asked me if I'd rather eat here or at Tajima....he was shocked when I told him Tajima. Heck, maybe I'd even go to Ajisen before Kimae (though I might go back here before Yamachan). I think I'm done with new ramen places for a while.

Kimae Ramen
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive
San Diego, CA 92037
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 10pm
Fri - Sat   11am - 11pm

 

Chicken Wing Wednesday - Furaido

Back in the comments section of my Bonchon post, "RedDevil" asked me if I had been to the new KFC place that opened in Atlas Market. I'd already heard about the place and had in on my list; so on holiday weekend, after working the morning I headed over.

The good thing about Furaido is that they open at 1030 in the morning; so I could easily beat the crowds.

Located in the Food Court area; Furaido claims to serve gluten free fried chicken; which means it's probably using rice flour and the texture of the wings reflected that. The wings come from the market and are Halal as well.

On both my visit I got the 10 piece wings; because; well, I'm all about wings. You get two choices for a glaze or "dip" or dust..

I went with the Devil Garlic and like Kirbie (please check out her post), I was fascinated by the having Furikake on my wings as well.

A couple of observations that were true for all the wings and drumettes I had here. The batter is obviously rice flour based and on the crumbly-hard side than crunchy. It is not oily and the fat has been rendered nicely on these wings.  The batter is also quite dry and is not seasoned; more on that below. I believe they also over fry the drumettes which make them tough and dry. The wings are large; which can through off moisture, and skin to meat ratios....I prefer my wings smaller; bigger is not necessarily better, and these tend toward being over battered....I mean you work hard to render the fat and develop a nice light crisp skin; why cover it in a ton of batter?

The Red Devil (thinking of you RD!) Garlic; while not quite turning the wings a shade of red was my favorite here; it wasn't too sweet, slightly spicy, and best of all, the wings weren't just drenched in sauce.

The Furikake wings needed a kick up in flavor as; like I mentioned before, the initial product is not seasoned, so this was bland; there's no moisture from a sauce or glaze; so these are even drier.

Overall; plus - minus.

Between visits; "SomTommy" emailed me and said he enjoyed the Garlic Soy Wings and "Top Secret" Dip on his wings and so on my follow-up visit....

Man, these were fried even harder and was even more crumbly. Can you tell which one has the Garlic Soy? It's the one on the left; it was very lightly sauced which I would usually appreciate, but the unseasoned and dry wings needed more.

As for the Top Secret......with a tip of the hat to "FOY" CC, do you remember what the "secret sauce" at Bronco Burger was? Yep, that was this.

So, in the end; the Devil Garlic Glaze is what I enjoyed the most. The wings here have too much batter for my taste; even more than Cross Street. If you like a thick batter and larger wings and drumettes; you might enjoy Furaido. But get a glaze or Dipp; or enough "dust" because the chicken isn't seasoned enough on its own. As for me; well, I wouldn't go out of the way to visit Furaido.

For a different perspective please check out Soo's post along with the afore mentioned post by Kirbie.

Furaido Premium Chicken Company (Inside Atlas Market)
14837 Pomerado Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Hours:
Open Daily 1030 - 8pm

Chicken Wing Wednesday - Bonchon

I was quite excited to hear that Bonchon was coming to San Diego. I don't think we've had good K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) in our fine city. I've visited solo and with folks from work four times since they opened at the end of the year.

I'm not sure if it was because we had lunch here....but Bonchon was fairly empty on all my visits.

I had consistently good service on all my visits; though I could do without the blaring K-pop.

The other thing that has been consistent is the chicken wings. The classic "KFC" twice fry method is used here, rendering the excess fat and creating a nice, pleasant, lacquered crunch, without having overdone the batter.

On all visits; the wings have been moist, the meat glistening, with no off dark spots, or broken bones.

Also, kudos for using wings that aren't gigantic, keeping a nice ratio of skin/batter and meat. What made me even more happy was the inclusion of wing tips, which were great for gnawing. One of the bozos I ate with mentioned that adding the tips were making the wings seem more weighty....until I pointed out to Einstein that we weren't paying for this by the pound.

The sauces were much like what I've had at other KFC places in the US and Korea. The spicy tends to be very one-dimensional and the soy-garlic tends to be on the sweeter side.

After the third visit; I decided to just get the soy garlic easy on the sauce. Which suited me just fine and let the pickled radish refresh my palate.

One other thing; I found the wings to be evenly glazed on all my visits as well.

You know; I think I still prefer Kyochon….but maybe I just need to do a comparison. Regardless; I enjoyed the wings.

One of the reasons for going with other folks is to be able to check out items on the menu.

So here goes.

The Seasoned Fries. Had this twice; both times it was seasoned nicely; the cheese adding a milky-salty component. Consistency though, goes both ways.

While the dusting adds a nice crunch; the fries were really dry both times I tried these.

The Bulgogi "Tacos" were more like pseudo-salad wraps. The flour tortilla had the texture of cardboard.

The bulgogi in this case was really bland and not marinated long enough and really didn't bring enough flavor to things.

We had two different fried rice; the bulgogi (the guys just wouldn't give up on the bulgogi) fried rice(sorry, photo didn't turn out) was so bland; it really needed some oomph. The Kimchi-Bacon Fried Rice, while in need of more fermented-savory kimchi sauce, was quite satisfying.

As you can tell by the color; it needed more of the kimchi juice; but the bacon did well....though if they'd put in some Spam...… Still, not bad.

The Japchae was passable.

The noodles were stretchy and chewy. There was enough soy-garlic sauce on this; without killing me with sweetness. The meat was too tough and lacked much flavor....there was also a light metallic edge to the flavor as well.

It's nice to finally have a good Korean Fried Chicken shop in town. Liked the service, the wings are fried to order, and have been consistent across my four visits. I'm not sold on anything other than the wings. But heck, this is a KFC shop, right?

Please check out Kirbie's and Soo's post on Bonchon as well.

Bonchon
4690 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 10pm
Fri - Sat   1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 11pm
Sunday      4pm - 9pm

Roaming for Ramen - Revisits to Santouka, Nishiki Ramen, and BeShock Ramen and Sake Bar

It's definitely been ramen weather over the last couple of weeks; so I took advantage of the nice chill (all relative of course) to revisit a couple of ramen places I haven't been to in a while.

Santouka:

Even with wall to wall ramen in San Diego these days; I still count Santouka among my favorites. And though it's no longer my #1 favorite; I'd still take it over just about every other place. Though you can tell that there's been a whole lot of ramen shops opening in San Diego since I don't think I've been to Santouka in over a year!

Still, Santouka was the Missus's favorite, so much so, that we sought out the original flagship shop in Asahikawa.

Foe me; there's just one thing to get here. The Shio Toroniku.

Which is, of course what I got. The noodles were firm, with a nice chew, the broth not overly salty, rich, and scalding in the signature thick sided bowl....a necessity in Asahikawa where the coldest temperature in the history of Japan was recorded. The pork cheek was fairly tender and well flavored, nice soy tones going on. It delivered as expected. I decided to go without the terminally over-cooked egg....which, unfortunately, like that bowl is a signature of Santouka….it was the same in Japan! The one difference I do note is that the broth in Japan has a hint of seafood. I recall it being that way when Santouka first opened here in San Diego; but it seems to have gotten more "pork forward" since then. Not that I'm complaining about that.

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Nishiki Ramen:

In the same strip mall as Santouka and Mitsuwa. Calvin had never been and had been asking to go. I hadn't been in a while, so I thought why not.

We started with the Chicken Karaage; which was nice and crisp.

It was too salty and lacked the savory complexity of a good karaage

After my Santouka visit; I decided to put my preference for straight up Tonkotsu style broth on hold and try some different things. So I ordered the "Smoke Bomb Black" Ramen again.

This looked very rich, almost greasy, but it was strangely not. You got a hit of garlic at the front end; but not much other than a bit of pork-poultry....the broth lacked the tongue coating richness I anticipated, it was almost weak, somewhat anticlimactic you could say. The temp was also on the colder than I prefer as well. The noodles were over-cooked for my taste and a chashu tough. I did enjoy the sweet crunch the corn brought to this bowl and the egg was perfectly boiled and not cold.

So now that I've had this twice, I can move on......though I'm not sure to what.....

Nishiki Ramen
8055 Armour St
San Diego, CA 92111

BeShock Ramen and Sake Bar:

I'd been wanting to return to BeShock since I first visited over two years ago. Having two long weekends with no plans on a couple of those days meant I could finally head back and check in at BeShock.

I got there right when they opened and was greeted by two cheerful, smiling faces. The young ladies here were very friendly and efficient.

Being a fan of using Shio Koji in my recipes; I was intrigued by the Chicken Koji Ramen. So I decided to get that.

I expected something on the salty end of the spectrum and this was that; but it also lacked any real complexity. The broth was too thin and really lacked richness; I'd expected that nice umami from Shio Koji; but that was definitely lacking. That dry, flavorless chicken breast didn't help things as well. The egg; while cold, was cooked nicely as were the standard issue noodles. I guess this is "healthy ramen"?

I was thrilled to see Nagoya Teba on the menu. I recalled that the owner was from Nagoya, so I was excited to try out these chicken wings.

Decently, though not evenly fried and the flesh was on the drier side. The wings weren't evenly glazed with the sauce and was really too sweet. It definitely needed that kick of black pepper and more soy sauce, garlic, ginger juice, you name it. You can tell by how light the wings are in color; this needed more....

I thought the service was very nice and I'll definitely drop by again. Though I'll go for a more conventional ramen next time.

BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar
1288 Market St
San Diego, CA 92101

Popcorn Chicken

Interesting how things go. One day I noticed this place had opened in the same strip mall as Lolita's and Katsu Café.

The sign said "Taste of Taiwan", so I was somewhat intrigued. I did a brief search online and figured out that this is a Taiwanese "snack/street" food chain with two other locations; one in LA and the other in the OC. So, I decided to walk in and check them out. 

They seemed to be doing some decent business; also looked like sort of a Taiwanese Fast-Casual place in the same vein as any number of Tea/Boba shops that are scattered around San Diego. It seemed even more strange that Tea Station was just a few doors over.

The menu consisted of various Taiwanese snack type dishes; chicken wings, sausages, a whole slew of fried stuffs, and basically many of the same dishes with rice and veggies, called "bento boxes".

The prices of the bento boxes seemed quite inexpensive, like six bucks, so I ordered the namesake Popcorn Chicken Medium Spicy Bento Box along with the Chicken Wings Spicy ($5). This is what I picked up when my number was called.

That little bag held the popcorn chicken, fried a bit too hard, more crunchy than crisp, unevenly breaded and seasoned. I actually enjoyed the fried basil the best, the crisp, with anise tones. The seasoning was quite simple and the spice level was decent. Very straightforward.

In that plastic "box" was a very generous portion of rice, with a drizzle of a soy sauce - pork - mildly sweet sauce. And a few small pieces of meat.

The boiled egg was on the over-cooked side for my taste, the yolk was d-r-y, but it was mildly seasoned and not terrible. The veggies were simple steamed zucchini, corn, and a green bean and carrot mixture....the corn and the carrots seemed fairly straight from the frozen food isle.

I was looking forward to trying the chicken wings which was decently fried, but on the dry side.

I really didn't care for the powdery, bitter, seasoning....it was fairly one-dimensional, just adding spice to the chicken and not much else.

Still, I thought this was well worth the price; six bucks for the popcorn chicken and five for the wings (well, maybe not the wings).

I happened to mention this to a few of my coworkers.....they love fried food, donuts, Chik-fil-a, you get it. So, they wanted to check the place out and I said ok.

By this time the Bento Boxes had gone up by $2 and was now eight bucks. I got the fried pork chop.

I noticed that the zucchini and corn had been replaced by sautéed cabbage. The boiled egg was much better this time around and there seemed to be even more rice.

That breading on the pork chop would have been fine if most of it hadn't peeled off the meat when placed in the bag. The seasoning on this was decent, enough salt and pepper, and probably a good amount of MSG. The pork chop was a bit on the chewy side but not bad.

The folks from work, especially "Pam" really enjoyed the place. We returned a few weeks later.

I tried the Popcorn Chicken Bento again.

The chicken was even drier than before though I preferred this to the spicy versions as you could actually taste the chicken. The breading was more crisp and lighter than before, though there was less fried basil than before. Notice that it's just a drizzle of pork based broth on the rice now; no hint of meat or anything else. The rice was moist and there was a lot of it. The egg, while decent on the previous visit, was back to being over-cooked.

Still, my coworkers......

I figured I'd had enough, but with things cooling down a bit here in San Diego, I was in the area at around 1130 on a recent weekend, so I decided to try the Niu Rou Mian….which they didn't have on this day. So, I went with the Braised Beef with Rice ($9). Man, did they give me a lot of meat.

Which was barely lukewarm, bland, and on the drier side. At least it wasn't tough, but could have really been braised in a more flavorful liquid. The egg was really nice this time around, while hard boiled, it wasn't dry and didn't have that ugly purple ring. The rice was moist, fluffy, and the best I've had here. And guess what? Zucchini was back in style; at least for today.

The most surprising item was the broth....well stew or more appropriate "gravy" as it was quite thick and almost gluey; not the most pleasurable texture, but it had a nice peppery tanginess; with a hint of spice, and was hot. It edged on being too salty (with a mild sweetness - MSG?), but that actually helped all the beef which I plopped into the stew. The carrots were a bit undercooked, but not terrible.

After this visit; I think I'm done with Popcorn Chicken for a while. I'm sure Kirbie is laughing about these visits as I'm probably the wrong demographic. I will say this; yes, it's basically fast/snack food and in spite of the uneven cooking, seasoning, serving, and the ever changing portions, if you're more about quantity over quality, this place might do it for you. And to be perfectly honest; I'd take this over food from one of the corporate mega-chains any day of the week.....just not for a while...…

Popcorn Chicken
7309 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 1130am - 930pm

Revisits - Bann Cutlet & Teriyaki and Sarap Filipino Kitchen

A couple of revisits to places on Miramar Road that I posted on rather recently.

Bann Cutlet & Teriyaki:

I think the freshly prepared food at Bann is a decent choice; the prices aren't bad, and while it's not outstanding, you do get what you pay for. During one of my recent revisits; I recalled that while I've tried the Chicken Cutlet here (nicely fried, but the sauce is not to my taste); I hadn't tried the Teriyaki. So why not? Also, the two young ladies who work here are really nice. And (maybe) because I waited for my Teriyaki Chicken so long, they gave me a fried egg for no additional charge.

Whatever the motive for the gratis egg was; I appreciated it. As you can tell; this is a fairly hefty lunch....man, so much rice. As I posted on earlier; I do enjoy the salad, and that mandu was still crisp when I got back to the office.

The chicken was on the rubbery side, but not bad.

Not a big fan of the teriyaki sauce; it's too sweet for my taste and texture is really gloppy. The rice was perfectly cooked; the bok choy (along with the salad) made sure I got my veggies.

Though it was too much food. I'll stick with a "bowl" next time which is still more than enough for me. Like the kimchi fried rice bowl...….

Bann Cutlet & Teriyaki
9506 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92126  

Sarap Filipino Kitchen:

After our visits to Sarap; the gang at work couldn't wait to revisit. And so; with one of the folks having a birthday, even though there were only four of us, we headed back to Sarap.

We ordered the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings again.

While these were ok; they weren't as crisp as on my previous visits. Still, not bad. Also, not seasoned as much either.

The Lechon Kawale. I wanted to try this again after having a terrible version earlier.

The skin was much better this time around; though the pork belly was on the dry side, and the leaner portions were rather tough. I enjoy the lechon sauce here; it's on the fairly mellow side, with a nice balanced flavor.

Crispy Pata (of course):

This time around; the pata was chopped up; the meat taken off the bone and the two ends, with the nice gelatinous parts laying at each end. It was still good, perhaps a bit drier, but the skin was wonderfully crisp; the porkiness of the leg coming through nicely. It was also a bit smaller than last time as well.

Daniel from Georgia loved the Sinigang and the Bagoong Fried Rice (sorry no photo).

Not a huge portion; but the tamarind based broth was rich, had a nice sourness, and man; the okra (I do love my "neba-neba") was gooey goodness. The pork was moist and tender and this had that nice "aaah" appeal. I'd gladly have this again.

We ordered some white rice with this......but hardly touched a quarter of it......

So, there you go....still a mixed bag; but still closer than Villa Manila which I think is better. They also need to staff better....it's go early, or wait a while for your food.

I also heard that they have started serving breakfast on the weekends now.

We'll see how things go here.

Sarap Filipino Kitchen
7580 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92126

Soi 30th

Soi 30th opened up right next to Lefty's on 30th Street last fall. My good friends and I actually went and ate there at the end of September, basically going through a good part of the menu on that evening. But the focus was on what was going with each other; work and other things have been keeping me from seeing them as much as I'd like to.

I decided not to do a post after that visit; mainly because we were just enjoying each other's company and catching up on what was going on.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the food....I did enjoy a couple of the dishes. Though some were quite uneven; I attributed that to being newly opened. It did help that the place was being opened by the former owner of Krua Thai in Chula Vista.

I decided to do a couple of visits on my own; which stretched out over almost nine months. But finally, think it's time.

The restaurant is small; the interior tiny, with some outdoor seating. The set-up is perfect for the "North Park Brewpub" type; you order at the counter, get a number, have a seat.

On my first visit; I went with a dish that I usually use to gauge the cooks Wok Skills; Pad See Eew with Shrimp ($13).

Not an especially generous portion; the shrimp was cooked perfectly, a wonderful tender and plump. I liked the fact that the sauce wasn't overly sweet, but the noodles, while nicely coated, was on the over-cooked side and lacked the smokey "wok hey" that I look for in this dish.

I did enjoy the Thai Jerky ($7); which had been nicely dried, then fried.

Edging just on the precipice of being hard; I loved the chewiness, the flavor, salty-savory, was quite good as well.

On my next visit; two more Thai staples.....

The SomTom E-san ($7), was a bit disappointing.

While the papaya was expertly shredded, this just wasn't spicy....especially for Issan Papaya salad. I wasn't asked for a spiciness level and this was too mild. Not very much salted crab, nor enough tomato. Too much lime and not enough fish sauce; this just wasn't what I wanted.

I had mixed feelings about ordering the Thai Sausage. You see, on my visit with friends the sausage wasn't sour enough and the meat quite mealy. This however, was very good.

Nice light sourness; pork skin, great firm, but not hard texture. Very nice! Sadly, much like CC's visit (check out her post), no ginger, and sliced serrano peppers instead of Thai Chilies.

A few weeks later; it was the Khao Man Gai, which was very disappointing; the chicken was super dry, the rice not flavored enough and hard.

The ginger based sauce needed....well, more ginger as it really lacked zip.

I also ordered the Crispy Chicken Wings.

Much of the rather light batter was flaking off the wings; broken bones, and the meat was moist and tender it had dark spots. I thought it a bit too sweet for my taste and I felt it needed more zip and a crunchiness that would hold out a bit longer.

After this; I decided to give the place a rest for a couple of weeks; which turned out to be months.

When I finally returned; I saw that Soi 30th had Pad Ped as a special; so I decided to order it. The portion size was quite large and that egg was nice and runny.

I found the sauce a bit too "gloppy" and the pork dry. The were lumps of sauce; you know, when you're not on your stir-fry game and you add in the sauce to finish and it lumps up under the heat.

On my next visit; I had what is perhaps my favorite dish at Soi 30th; in fact, I've had it again recently and it was the same; It's the Pork Belly and Chinese Broccoli.

Not over sauced; the star was the pork belly; crunchy, not hard, which gave away to a nice tenderness. Mild garlic tones and I could actual taste some heat here; not much mind you, but at least it was there. During this visit the Gailan was too hard and crisp, but on my subsequent visit, it was cooked nicely. On both visits the fried egg was over-cooked for my taste; but maybe the clientele freaks out over soft and runny eggs? Still, a good dish.

On my last visit, I was curious about the Khao Moo Krob - Moo Daeng; basically red pork (like charsiu) and pork belly. The fluorescent red sauce really caught my attention.

The "red" pork was on the dry and tough side and really lacked flavor. The pork belly though was again nicely fried up, making it crisp and delicious. The sauce was too sweet and missing the nice tangy-savory component used on Moo Daeng. The rice was perfect and fragrant, though the boiled egg was way overcooked, the yolk quite dry. 

So, why all the visits? Well, there's something about this place that I like....perhaps it's the vibe.....the dishes I enjoyed had that "hint of Thailand" and while on the gringo side, were not bad. Perhaps I need to do this a some other Thai places that missed the mark previously?

The service was amiable and the prices not bad.

To quote reader EdwardW who emailed me about Soi 30th back in September - "I want this place to do well. It’s close to my home and about as honest Thai cooking I’ve found in San Diego." Well said! And thanks for reading and taking the time to send us an email!

Soi 30th
3442 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11am - 3pm, 430pm - 930pm
Fridays     11am - 330pm, 430pm - 930pm
Sat - Sun   12pm - 930pm