The GPS food finder

More 130 yen sushi in OSAKA

2011-11-11T21:31:00.001+08:00

Here are the pictures first. Will fill in the words later.

Location is in the QR code.


Tuna Belly


Tuna

Don't know what I ate. Hahaha


Hamachi

One more round.


Scallops


Kanpachi


Sardines


Unagi

Octopus SUCKERS!

Kita sushi @ N34° 41' 58.32" E135° 30' 5.10", Osaka, Japan

2011-11-10T00:09:00.001+08:00

The location is in the QR code.

Tamago and cooked prawn

Octopus and sea eel.

Squid and tuna.

Hamachi

Set B - the more expensive one.

Du Hsiao Yueh in Taipei (Enjoy the pics-too lazy to write)

2011-11-10T00:06:00.000+08:00

Dim sum at Roe Street, Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia

2011-11-06T21:04:00.003+08:00

Sunday dim sum at Northbridge Chinese restaurant.

Had to wait for about 20 minutes. They have a ticket queue system.

'Char leong', quite well done I must say.

Deep fried cuttlefish tentacles.

'Siew Mai', despite it's size it was good, moist and tender.

'Wu kok', done well also, despite it being deep fried, there was no feeling of excess oil.

'Char siew pau', nice and soft skin but the filling was a bit on the disappointing side.

Not sure what was this called, it was a big fish ball with cilantro mixed in.

'Har kau', the skin was nice but they were all of different sizes as you can see.

View 26 Roe St in a larger map

Ramen at Taro's @S27° 28' 22.46" E153° 1' 46.63" Brisbane, Australia.

2011-08-11T23:27:00.005+08:00

It was a pretty cold evening, so we decided to have something that would warm us up a bit. Decided to try check this place out. It was at the Boeing building.

Started off with some gyoza. A bit expensive but quite nice.

Skin was tender and meat was juicy.

Miso ramen. Ramen is of the dense type, might not be to everyone's liking.

Chilli paste for the miso ramen. Didn't add it because to me the taste didn't match.

The shoyu ramen.

IF you google them they have a website with menu and all.

Dinner at Sakanayama (at least I think that is the name) N35° 10' 3.45" E136° 53' 48.94" Nagoya,Japan.

2011-07-11T23:41:00.015+08:00

The usual joint with the rowdy old lady that we would usually go to was not open on Sunday. So, my friend suggested this place. It's was an excellent find!

The front entrance of the restaurant.

Wish we could read the menu. Seems pretty interesting.

This place has an open concept kitchen. The fresh produce ready for you to choose.

The grilled fish set.

The sashimi set.

The braised fish set.

Quite an excellent spread.

The menu.

The small sashimi

The big sashimi

The seasonal grilled fish set

Half a saba fish from the grilled fish set.

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Banh Mi Bale

2011-03-26T11:17:00.002+08:00

As my buddies didn't want to go to Angus for steak. We had to look for something else. So I consulted Uncle Google and he recommended this place which was just behind Queen street.

The shopfront

I had the barbequed pork and springrolls with vermicelli. One of my favourites.

A closer look.

As for my friends they had the

Vietnamese beef noodles or pho

and the salted fish and chicken cubes fried rice. Both my friends loved this dish. As for me I am not a fried rice fan.

Over all it was pretty satisfying and off we went for some Asahi on tap!

Location:6-8 Lorne Street, Auckland.

Lunch at Herbal Legend@ N31° 13' 10.94" E121° 28' 30.07" Shanghai, China.

2010-06-27T20:19:00.015+08:00

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There are 2 branches in Shanghai, we decided to go to the one in Xintiandi.

The menu that we picked.

We picked the Pine Seeds, Sweet Osmanthus and Citrus tea

The tea, doesn't look too happening. But hey, if it was good enough for the emperor who am I to complain. Hehehe.

Red dates. It replaced some yam dish that we were supposed to have.

Stir fried shrimp with lotus seeds and lily bulbs.

Seasonal vegetables. No idea what it was but it was slightly bitter and surprisingly very nice.

Stir fried chicken with garlic and chilli.

Barbecued pork with mustard stem and ginko nuts.

Braised Salmon head with mountain yams.

Mushrooms, bamboo shoots and a root of some sort in a casserole.

Soup of the day.

The food here is not the usual oily and salty (other than one of the dishes - the mushroom casserole) chinese food that we expect.

Here is another menu.

Mountain yam marinated in orange juice

Pumpkin salad with albumen, ginko, celery and minced nuts.

Assorted braised meats and innards cooked in traditional chinese herbs.

Stir fried chicken with garlic and chilli. Well, it certainly is consistent.

3 pork balls braised with ham, brocolli, bamboo shoots and something else which I have no idea what it was.

Sliced Cod with wood ear mushrooms in ginseng and huangqi (anyone got idea what this is?)

Steamed egg whites. Yes, only egg whites with chicken and scallops broth. This was a good surprise. Have never tasted something like that before, quite excellent.

Seasonal vegetables.

Deep fried chicken with perilla plum sauce. Tasted very heavy of some Indian spice.

The meals here don't come cheap but for the money you pay I feel that you get a pretty good deal.

Dinner at Nam Loong Chinese Restaurant @S37° 48' 44.22" E144° 58' 4.36" Melbourne Australia

2010-06-27T19:10:00.011+08:00

View Nam Loong Chinese Restaurant in a larger map

To start with, complimentary soup.

Steamed oysters done in two different styles.

Steamed with XO sauce.

Steamed with garlic.

The oysters were fresh and perfectly steamed. Soft and yet had some bite in them.

After some doubt we finally ordered the abalone which were on special. It was pretty decently sized. This one was done lightly steamed with ginger. One worry initially was it would turn out to be a piece of rubber. However, like the oysters it was perfectly done.

Trying to make it look bigger than it is.....Hahahaha

Spinach stir fried with garlic. Done just right, tender and juicy.

Stir fried lamb. A bit disappointed by this dish as it was a bit too salty. The lamb was otherwise tender, you cannot go wrong with Australian lamb I suppose.

Finally, the roast duck. This was the original dish that I was recommended to try. Not bad, it was heavily spiced to mask any 'duck smell' as my friend put it.

Overall it was quite satisfying, worked out to be about $3o dollars a person. My friends liked the oysters and the abalone quite a bit that they said that they wouldn't mind having it again tomorrow....hahaha.

The usual map is now up at the begining.

By the way, we did go there again......

One dozen this time, 4 different styles.

We also ordered half a dozen of abalone, but as they were the same I didn't bother taking any photos.

Steamed with ginger paste.

Steamed with black beans.

Spinach with salted and century eggs. Yes, we loved the spinach very much also.

Claypot cubed chicken with salted fish and tofu. Didn't see much chicken in the dish but the flavor was excellent.

I have a feeling I will be back to this place in the future.....

Lunch at Pind Baluchi @N28° 28' 6.95" E77° 3' 51.74", Guragoan, New Delhi, India.

2010-03-18T21:46:00.015+08:00

My first time trying this place, by the time we got there it was already 4pm, surprisingly it was still open for lunch. Couldn't decide what to order so we tried a bit of each.

Chutney - Think it is mango, it's really salty though. Bit into something that was like a lotus root but it was full of fiber, no idea what it was.

A super peppery papadum, plenty of kick to it!

Mint yoghurt

Onions, chilli and lime.

More yoghurt, goes excellent with the bryani and onions.

Cauliflower

Chicken bryani

Murg Malai - chicken in a super rich gravy, goes excellent with roomali roti.

Mutton bryani, think this is much tastier than the chicken version.

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Lunch at Zig Zac @ N47° 22' 59.07" E8° 30' 21.59" Zurich, Switzerland.

2009-10-10T13:43:00.009+08:00

After many times of wondering where to eat in Zurich, a friend led us to a place that was literally just round the corner. I have walked by this place many times but had yet to go in.

The front entrance. As you enter you would find it to be decorated like an American rock and roll cafe. Be sure to ask for the non smoking section if you are sensitive to cigarette smoke as it can get quite bad when the place fills up.

Lunch starts from 11 am to 2pm. Best come early as this place can be packed.

Menu made of old vinyl record covers.

Caesar salad starter

Rosti with ham and pineapple (known anana here) and cheese, lots and lots of cheese...

My half eaten salad before I had realized that I had forgotten to take a picture....

Pork Schnitzel - not bad, quite tender but can be a bit dry, hint hint. Needs a beer!

The daily lunch special 'Weekly" - Pork medallions with steamed vegetables and apple based sauce

Penne con gambas something - basically penne with prawns.

Beef burger with bacon

Standard beef burger.

Finally, a convenient place to eat. Food's not bad too.

Anyway as usual here it is.

Pasta and Pizza at Pizzeria Da Cimino‎ @N50° 7' 9.28" E8° 38' 44.42" Frankfurt, Germany

2009-03-21T14:42:00.006+08:00

Another place that my friends love to frequent when in Frankfurt. Be ready to stand and have your lunch as there are only 5 or so tables indoors. In summer you have the option to sit outside.

The shop front.

Firewood for the pizza. You can't go very far wrong when they run a wood fired oven.

The menu.

Spaghetti alle Vongole aka spaghetti with clams. Nice....

Spaghetti frutti di mare or seafood spaghetti. Quite a fair amount of calamari in it. Could not finish it as the portion was HUGE! (also because we over ordered, hehehe)

Just had to try the pizza, so we ordered a parma ham and rocket pizza. Excellent!

Creamed spinach. Really rich sauce!

An excellent meal overall, struggled to finish what we could.

It's here

Crispy Duck at Bistro Hong Kong @N50° 7' 17.05" E8° 38' 53.96" Frankfurt, Germany

2009-03-21T14:24:00.004+08:00

Was told by my friend that the crispy duck here was something to try. So, we went there.

The shop on the left is the one we went to.

They deliver as well

Deep fried duck on a bed of stirfried mix vegetables.

It really hit the spot on a cold afternoon.

Look for it here

Korean Food at Han Woo Ri @S27° 28' 19.95" E153° 1' 36.84" Brisbane Australia

2009-03-21T13:58:00.008+08:00

Arrived late in the evening in Brisbane. Not many places open. However, after some exploring we found this place. The food is nothing fantastic but hey! it's open.

As you can see, it is open LATE!

Hehehe a cold one.

Fish cake

Cucumber kimchi

The standard kimchi

Potatoes

The pork Katsudon that my friend had. Not really sure if it belongs to Japanese food or Korean food. Hahaha.

Spicy pork on rice it says on the menu. Not too bad.

Hunt for it here

2009-01-05T21:33:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year!

The Butcher Shop and Grill @S26° 6' 26.18" E28° 3' 17.55", Johannesburg, South Africa.

2008-12-11T14:49:00.006+08:00

One of our favorite places to go to when in Johannesburg. The Butcher Shop and Grill

It's at Shop 30 Nelson Mandela Square, under Michelangelo Hotel. The meat is being aged.

This is what we started off with.... Hehehe Beer! Although the glass is Amstel it's actually the local Castle beer.

Sausages for sampling.

The greek salad, not enough tomatoes if you ask me.

Grilled sardines, smells kinda fishy but tastes real good.

The T-Bone steak

I had antelope done medium rare, looks raw to me!

The baked sweet potato that came with it.

You can find it here

Kobenhavner Cafeen @N55° 40' 41.24" E12° 34' 30.76" Copenhagen , Denmark.

2008-10-10T14:49:00.003+08:00

Been wanting to come to this place for a long time, finally got to go. WoooHoooo!

The shop's signboard. The official address is Badstuestræde 10
1209, Denmark. Located just off the walking street.

This is the Copenhagen Plate that we ordered. Consists of 7 different types of dishes

Fish fried in breadcrumb, well fried, not oily and still crispy.

Meatballs served with some sort of pickled vegetable.

Smoked salmon with dill and tomatoes

Mmmmmm, my favorite, the roast pork. The crackle was just amazing!

Sauerkraut, made from red cabbage. It's to accompany the roast pork I believe.

Pickled herring, a local delicacy. Love or hate it kind of food.

Mushroom salad topped with bacon, mmmmm baconnnnn. The dish on the side is the egg mayonnaise salad.

The different types of local bread that accompanied the meal. Butter and cheese spread was included. Go easy on the bread as it is relatively heavy, otherwise you will have trouble finishing your meal.

Can't wait to come back here again.

You can find it here.

Jensen's Steak House @ N55° 40' 23.90" E12° 33' 41.56" Copenhagen, Denmark

2008-10-07T21:09:00.002+08:00

It's been a few years since I have been to Copenhagen, So, I decided to go look for some of my favorite foods that I have not had for a long time. Barbecued pork ribs were among the first to come to mind. So off to Jensen's Bofhus we went. It's a steak house but I found that they also do an excellent ribs.

The starter...hehehe. Tuborg or Carlsberg, a must have local favorite!

Barbecued pork ribs with fries and coleslaw. This was the 300gram lunch version.

The 500gram version with potatoes and coleslaw.

I find the ribs here to be very tender and well marinated. I just love it!

They also have a salad buffet. Very refreshing indeed. Sorry about the lack of pictures for it, I shall try to take some the next time I go there.

Jensen's, I believe, is a popular chain in Denmark, even in Copenhagen there are quite a few shops (at least 2 that I know of). Give it a go if you are a meat lover.

You can find the map here

Song Yue Lou Vegetarian at N31° 13' 41.52" E121° 29' 11.70" Shanghai, China.

2008-10-05T15:43:00.003+08:00

This street actually is in the compound of the Yu gardens.

The vegetarian restaurant is upstairs, downstairs is some sort of fast food joint.

Song yue lou is the name of the restaurant, they claim to have been established in 1910.

Salad consisting of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and a WHOLE LOT OF SALAD DRESSING!

Vegetarian version of sweet and sour pork, it's deep fried beancurd actually.

The 'old duck soup' . Again, it's vegetables and bean curd.

'Toong Por Pork' yeah right, pork.... Just kidding, this dish is pretty interesting, just like the real thing, there are 3 different textures each representing the meat, fat and skin.

Lor hon vegetables, consists of lotus seeds, ginko, mushrooms, bamboo shoot and tofu. I found this dish to be the tastiest.

The works!

Having vegetarian was nice for a change.

Here is the map as usual.

Quanjude at 786 Huaihai Road (Road loacation: N31° 12' 51.64" E121° 27' 11.18"), Shanghai, China.

2008-10-05T12:21:00.002+08:00

Met up with a good friend of mine in Shanghai recently. As he wanted to eat roast duck we decided to try the Quanjude in Shanghai. So we headed out to the one in Huaihai Road where the old Xiangyang market used to be
.

The entrance, the dining area is actually upstairs.

Salted egg yolk wrapped in duck meat.

Pickled cucumbers, quite appetizing

Bean sprouts or 'tou miao" in superior stock. Wanted spinach actually.

Deep fried chicken with dried chillies, I especially like the 'ma la' or 'numbing' peppers that are inside this dish.

The wrap for the roast duck.

Meat from the roast duck.

The best bits, the skin!

Spicy tofu 'mah por' tofu, the tofu could really be improved upon, not as smooth as it should be.

Lettuce stir fried with garlic.

The overall experience was okay, not fantastic. Maybe because it was the golden week and due to the amount of people they could not cope and as such the food suffered. I still feel the best duck that I had was in their restaurant which I went to in Beijing.

Sorry that I don't have the exact coordinates but here is the map of the Huaihai road area.

Updates for The Lisboa Yum Yum Pot at N31° 12' 34.00" E121° 24' 11.00", Shanghai, China.

2008-09-13T20:30:00.001+08:00

Revisited this place to try some new dishes. Among the restaurants along this food street, I feel that this one had the best offerings.

.
The claypot rice with chicken and waxed meats. Very fragrant!

Shrimps, they were of the fresh water variety. Very tasty, pity they were a bit small.

Steamed egg. Smooth!

I don't really know what this vegetable is called. According to them it was the 'wa wa' vegetable. The taste had a hint of celery in it. Maybe from the same family.

Wonder what else do they have to offer here......

Grilled Mackerel at N37° 33' 27.8" E126° 58' 39.06" Seoul, South Korea.

2008-08-21T13:31:00.006+08:00

I was told about this grilled fish joint a long time ago, however as there are so many different types of food to eat in Seoul it took me sometime before I got round to this place. It's along the perimeter of the Namdaemun Market, just outside the Hoehyeon subway station.

The entrance of the grilled fish joint.

Menus at the front door. Don't bother asking for the menu when you go in as the owner will just bring you outside to select your food.

Grilled mackerel. Nice big fish, the best kind to be grilled as it has lots of oil. This one was done well, not dry.

Another grilled fish, pretty popular in Japanese restaurants, it's called 'Sanma' (thanks!)

I ordered a Sundubu as well. As you can see it is still bubbling from the hot pot.

My friend ordered the bibimbap. Make sure you remember to ask for the chilli paste!

The side dishes, this is the kimchi radish

Bean sprouts

The regular cabbage kim chi.

Fish cake.

Bean paste soup.

Here it is

Lunch at Meshiya S37° 48' 40.03" E144° 57' 58.08" Melbourne, Australia

2008-07-25T11:22:00.001+08:00

Was walking along Lonsdale street when I stumble across this place.
Since it was lunch time, I decided to go in and try it's set menu.

This was what I ended up ordering. The meal consisted of unagi. miso soup, sashimi, salad, a chawan mushi and rice of course. The meal was okay but the chawan mushi was super smooth! One of the better ones I must say.

Looking around I saw many people ordering the ramen. Must have been good.

Paid AUD 15.30 for the set, which I thought it was quite good value for money.

Anyway you can find it here.

Ramen @ N31° 12' 34.40" E121° 24' 09.00" Shanghai.

2008-06-19T16:33:00.001+08:00

If you are looking for somthing to eat at around 2.30 pm, chances are most places would have already closed. For some strange reason, people here eat fairly early. This was the only place that we could find. It's along the same street as the Lisboa Yum Yum Pot. Can't miss it.

Tofu.

Char siew ramen, quite tasty.

Pot stickers or gyoza, this is the deluxe version with chives and mayonnaise.

Look for it here.

Hmmm, not been going to many interesting places lately, hence the slowdown on updates.

The Lisboa Yum Yum Pot at N31° 12' 34.00" E121° 24' 11.00", Shanghai, China.

2008-06-19T16:00:00.005+08:00

It has been many years since I have been back in this part of Shanghai, so it was exploring time again. And after a short walk I reached this place, The Lisboa Yum Yum Pot restaurant.
It is located opposite the Parkson department store side entrance. Among all the restaurants around the area, this one seemed to be the most popular.

After struggling for a while to figure out what to eat, I was told that this dish is the 'Signature Dish' of the restaurant. Indeed every table seemed to have a pot of this dish. What is it? you might ask? Well, it is claypot fish head! It's made up of four carp fish heads cooked with onions, garlic - lots of garlic, spring onions and ginger. Surprisingly it had no fishy taste to it at all! And for those who love the jelly like stuff this dish had not shortage of it! Not much meat involved but all in all a very tasty dish indeed.

Next it was the Pork neck stir fried with french beans. Don't let the pork neck part put you off, I think it was one of the best pork dishes that I have ever had! Just loved it!

Brinjals with tofu on a hot plate. Not too spicy but nothing fantastic as well. Looks very impressive when the dish came out though.

This dish is supposed to be stir fried Kai Lan, however I don't know why they only seem to serve the stalk whenever I order this dish in China. Crunchy!

Not bad, two of us managed to polish off all this stuff!

Overall I am pretty pleased with the meal and the price, around RMB 150 for the 4 dishes above. I will definitely come here again to try the other dishes, among them the claypot rice. Will keep you updated.

As usual you can find it here. Be aware that your maps may not tally due to the fact that China is not WGS-84.

Cheju black pig at N 37 33 29.5 E 126 58 24.2, Seoul, South Korea

2008-05-24T21:38:00.002+08:00

The shop front, wonder what does the signboard say?

The picture menus at the door.

The menus inside the shop. Need to try to link the pictures to the words.

Ordered the hot plate barbecue black pig. On the left is kimchi.

Two different types of barbecued mackerels. On the left is the Spanish mackerel and the other is the normal mackerel.

The side dishes that came with our meal.

Bean paste soup. Really thick and a bit on the salty side.

Tofu.

Kimchi.

Radish in wasabi. A very nice combination in my opinion. Then again I love wasabi!

Mix vegetable salad.

Spring onions in a soy sauce dressing.

The lettuce leaves to wrap the meat with.

Pickled large onions.

The overall meal experience was okay, prefered the pork at Kimchi Love even though it was not black pig. The mackerel was pretty good though. I would come back to this place more for the fish rather than the pork.

You can find this place here.

Osha Thai Noodle Cafe @ N37° 47' 11.70" W122° 24' 53.00", San Francisco, California.

2008-05-23T11:54:00.001+08:00

Walked past this place yesterday, it was pretty packed at lunch time. I thought to myself, the majority can't be that far wrong, right? So, today I decided to go with some friends of mine to check the place out. It's at the corner of Geary Street and Leavenworth Street in San Francisco.

The menu

More

Even more, it's a long menu. Hehehe.

This dish is called LARB consisting of red and green onions with spicy lime dressing. You can choose how spicy you like this dish.

The papaya salad with salty crab. Pretty much self explains itself. Raw papaya, onions, chilli and tomatoes with salted crab in a lime juice. The spiciness can be decided as well.

This is what I ordered, Osha seafood claypot rice plate. It consisted of crab, squid, prawns, cabbage, carrot, celery and green onion cooked together with vermicelli. Very tasty indeed. Should have just ordered the claypot A La carte and just had the vermicelli without the rice.

Fried garlic and pepper chicken with rice. You can have a choice of tofu, chicken, pork or beef.

The spicy basil leaf with chicken breast. Seems more bell peppers than basil if you ask me, tasted okay though. The choice of meat is as above as well.

All in all a pretty satisfying meal.

As usual here it is.

Dak Jim/Braised Chicken @ N 37 33 48.8 E126 58 39.9 Seoul, South Korea.

2008-05-21T12:45:00.000+08:00

This place is actually very popular for the samgaetang or ginseng chicken soup. However that is not really my cup of tea, so to say. So I come here for the stew.
I was introduced to Dak Jim sometime ago by a friend but as it was a large portion it was a bit difficult to order by myself. A minimum of 2 persons is required to order this dish.

Chicken gizzards! One of the few that I bothered to try, pretty good I must say, doesn't have the usual 'gizzard' taste to it. Very crunchy!

Mix vegetable kimchi or as my friend put it vegetables in orange water. Hahaha.

Radish kimchi.

The star of the day, Dak Jim. It's a kind of spicy chicken stew with potatoes, carrots and cucumbers. The vermicelli that is inside is really good and springy.

The whole dak jim experience.

As usual you can find it here.

Sorry about the crappy pics, I really need to get myself a better phone camera.

Gujarati Thali at Agashiye N23° 1' 37.90" E072° 34' 53.00" Ahamedabad, Gujarat, India.

2008-05-18T21:56:00.004+08:00

Went to a very interesting place for lunch, for a very interesting lunch itself! It's located at the rooftop of a Hotel called The Green House. Restaurant itself is named Agashiye, I actually thought that is sounded like some Japanese joint! Hahaha.

The choice of the 245 rupee and 345 rupee menu. Think the main difference is the dessert and coffee/tea.

A sort of lounge waiting area for you to hang out while they prepare your lunch.

Mixed salad with cucumber, beetroot, tomatoes and green bean sprouts.

Condiments consisting of salt, lime, fried chillies and 3 types of chutney.

A fried sweet potato pancake, very nice, I liked it.

Potatoes wrapped in spinach is what he is pointing at.

The same dish as above.

Free flow of papadums, dosa/thosais and chapatis. You eat them together with the potatoes and okra/ladies fingers. They also have a sweet dhal that tastes very much like the coconut and egg jam, 'kaya'.

Buttermilk being poured, WARNING! this drink is not for the weak! It is supposed to be good for you. However, this one smells pretty awful to my unaccustomed nose. I'm sorry but I couldn't drink it.

The second course where they serve you the rice accompanied with different kinds of dhal and yoghurt

One is like some kind of gruel/porridge with green beans and the other is basmati rice. They dribble some ghee on it before you mix it with the dhal and sweet yoghurt ( the 3 small dishes you see at the front of the plate). The basmati rice has an excellent fragrance while the porridge tastes a bit green.

The local ice cream, aniseed flavour.

Chocolates and some other sweets. These sweets are not the usual kinds that I am used to.

Finally I tried the Betel leaves, no wonder they say it is an acquired taste! The initial bite is pretty okay but subsequent bites gives you a pretty strong kick! Well at least I tried it, right?

I must admit this lunch was quite an experience for me, an eye opener. I do apologise if I have offended anyone with some of my experiences with this lunch.

As usual you can find it here.

Cafeteria style food at N55° 45' 1.60" E37° 35' 41.50" Moscow, Russia

2008-04-30T20:30:00.004+08:00

Cafe ???????? along the Arbat walking street in Moscow.

Anyone care to decipher the name? This place is located along the walking street.

A local delicacy, bread drink.

Different kinds of starters - tomatoes, mushrooms, tongue, smoked salmon, herring, some kind of salad and also jelly

A variety of crepes, no idea what is inside as it was like communications between a duck and a chicken, a lot of noise but no idea what the guy was saying.

Choice of potatoes and meat. Take your pick and she will weigh it.

Chicken, pork kebabs, ribs, fish - all pan fried and thrown on the hot plate to keep warm

Vegetables, spaghetti and ?

A good variety of Russian salads. Just choose what you want and when you go to the check out and they will weigh and charge you. No idea how much each portion costs!

Dessert!

Can't be in Russia and not drink beer! Everyone on the street seems to be nursing a bottle!

Mushrooms, not quite what we are used to. It's cold and slightly sour.

Ribs and potatoes, not fantastic in terms of taste, but the meat falls of the bone.

Decided to try a few of the salads, very nice, I like it.

Prices seem pretty steep in Moscow, I paid 600+ Roubles for the beer, ribs and salad.
Will try to explore more places next time I am here.

You can find the map here

Search function added.

2008-04-22T17:53:00.001+08:00

As requested I have added a search function for the types of food or locations that they are found at in the blog. Please feel free to use it and provide any feedback you think necessary to me.

Good hunting!

Sushi at N34° 39' 52.10" E135° 31' 10.40" Osaka, Japan

2008-04-15T10:54:00.007+08:00

This place has been elusive but finally, I have manage to catch it.

Both the street sign and the shop signboard, the photo was taken the next day as it was raining when we went there the night before.

I suspect this sign must be the chef's special or something like that for 4000 yen.
Anyone care to translate?

Something cold to start with, hehehe.

The nigiri sushi menu- click for a more detailed picture

The hosomaki and temaki menu.-click for a more detailed picture

Uni, they are quite generous with their portions.

Hotate, pretty big - around an inch and a half in diameter.

Sake, just look at the fat! Really creamy, just melts in your mouth.

Unagi

Shimaji sashimi, thick cut yellow jack.

Sake sashimi. Think the sushi cut of fish was much better.

Hamachi sashimi, the fish is so fresh that it is actually crunchy!

Hamachi and maguro sashimi

Saba sushi, not sure what the maki is, I didn't order that.

Anago sushi, very nice and tender.

Toro, think the one in Narita looked very much better

Torigai sushi.

On the average 3000-4000 yen per person. But with fish this fresh it is well worth it. Be sure not to go there too late. Many of my selections ran out.

You can find it here

AJ Vietnamese Noodle house @ S27° 28' 17.41" E153° 1' 34.10" Brisbane.

2008-03-21T22:13:00.004+08:00

Looking for lunch in Brisbane? You can try this place, however make sure you go before or after the lunch crowd, it does not have many tables. We went at around 12.30 but had to come back later as there was a big group of people waiting to get their tables.

VN Grilled Pork Chop with rice, as you can see it is quite sufficient.
A meat lover's delight.

VN Special Noodle soup. Basically vietnamese beef noodle.

The standard bean sprouts and mint for the nooldes.

Rice Vermicelli Salad with Grilled Pork. Pretty much the same as the rice but this is lighter and more refreshing. Don't look like much but pretty sufficient. Nice.

Map found here.

Lahore, Pakistan - Din's Tikka Briyani and Bread

2008-03-21T03:29:00.005+08:00

So, what do you do if you can't go to the food? Simple really, you make the food come to you. How one might ask? Well read on to find out.

The hotel cuisine is really quite reasonable, 30% off for all crew in all its eateries, including room service. However, after sampling enough of hotel food, I was dying to try out some local fare.

Lahore is famed for its food culture, and some of the best Pakistani eateries are found here. After asking several hotel staff, I found Khad, and through some friendly negotiations, he agreed to purchase three servings of Mutton and Chicken Briyani for me, delivered straight to my door.

I waited in great anticipation, and when Khad returned to the hotel with my food, I was in full fail operational hunger mode. I already had my room table set long before my food arrived.

The 6 huge pieces of bread were very delicious. Fluffy and slightly salted, with just the right hint of cumin. There was also a generous sprinkle of local sesame seeds on the top. Not like any bread I have tried before. They were still steaming when I removed them from the paper bag (No I did not eat all 6 in one go). If you are wondering, this huge feast had enough food to feed at least 4 of me, or 6 normal people.

What you see here is the whole deal, the chicken briyani with saffron flavoured basmati rice, a cucumber and tomato salad topped with fresh yoghurt dressing (Raita) and chunky pieces of mutton curry.

The chicken briyani was good, the rice was nice and fluffy and correctly spiced with cloves, cumin and cardamom. Those were the spices I could taste, I'm sure there were more ingredients in there. Hopefully not too exotic, but hey, if it tastes good, what the heck.

The mutton curry is left on the bone, which is nice for those bone-suckers out there. I had a feast on them. The flavour is mild, I'm sure there were bay leaves and mint in there too. The way I would like to describe it is, clean tasting and refreshing on the palate. Although it was oily, as most curries are, it didn't feel heavy at all. Most importantly, it didn't smell ''muttony''. Worth a try.

The salad is to standard, with a Raita dresing, essentially a yogurt flavoured with cayenne pepper and cilantro. I'm not a big fan of anything that uses photosynthesis, so I really didn't eat much of it.

The chicken curry, which is not featured here, was also very tasty, but some of the chicken pieces could have been a little more moist. Maybe request not to have breast meat pieces? I'm sure it can be done.

Total cost RP1170 including tip of R300. (Approx S$30)

Email me on SOFO for his full contact details.

Happy Eating!

Cape Town, South Africa. African Grill

2008-03-14T21:15:00.001+08:00

Thanks to one of our crew, who chooses to remain anoynomous, we secured a 15% discount for all crew at this place. Just keep your crew pass handy.

Out of the hotel, right, right, left onto this street. Thats it. (Burnoff: 00:10)

We had alot of food, and I couldn't get all the photos, but they do serve what I will deem, new world african food.

My 600gram T-Bone, notice they were very generous with the fillet portion. Meat was dry aged, cooked rare and served with sides of onion rings and a bean mash. It was quite tasty and very filling. Along with this, a coffee and servings of garlic bread only cost me R110 after discount. Now that is real value for money.

A very svelte lady also offered me one of her ribs, how could I refuse:

They are as you'd expect good ribs to be cooked, falling off the bone, but still juicy. The BBQ sauce was refreshing and had a nice caramel taste. I'd order this again for sure.

OK I didn't get to try the prawns, but my source tells me that there weren't too bad at all:

A seafood salad, veggies were fresh and so was the seafood. I don't really enjoy salad, but this was actually very tasty.

THE COFFEE

Wow, I don't have a picture, but the coffee was very very good. Most of us that tried it all agreed. If anything, you must have a cuppa here. Fly Fly Must Try!

So in a nutshell, for a whole bunch of us, we only paid R110 each, for a very filling meal. The food is fresh and cooked well. All in all, African Grill represents excellent value for money.

Cape Town, South Africa. Willoughby & Co. at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

2008-03-13T20:03:00.004+08:00

I arrived in CPT without any inkling as to what to eat. Fortunately, Margaret, whom we had engaged to take us hiking on Table Mountain, was adamant that we try a Japanese fusion restaurant, Willoughby's.

Now, I know what you are thinking, Japanese food in South Africa? You got to be kidding. Thats exactly what I thought, and I asked her again, her emphatic reply was that it is a must try in Cape Town. Turns out that we ended up eating there twice, so some of the pictures are merged.

The V & A Waterfront is accessible from our hotel by way of complimentary scheduled hotel transport (Block Time 00:13), available 3 times daily. Do check with the hotel staff when you get in, they will arrange it. The Waterfront is a beautiful location to visit, and has many restaurants, shops and a large supermarket. It has been voted the most popular attraction in Cape Town. You can see why in the picture:

Once at the Waterfront, proceed into the main complex, and ask information or anyone for that matter, you will be in Willougby's in approximately 5 minutes.

The ambience of this place is hip and inviting, seating is by way of counter top bar stools, and a long centre table is available also.

It wasn't long until we saw interesting dishes being served. And the first dish to arrive was the Line Fish Mixed Platter (R159). The platter came with thick chunky slices of steak-like fish meat. All the fish is locally sourced, and very fresh. One exception is the Norwegian salmon, which is not local, and from...you guessed it! Norway. I particularly enjoyed the sashimi tuna and the salmon Rose, which is topped with salmon roe. Yummy. I suggest sharing this dish, it is large, and even I had some trouble with it. The wasabi is actually darn good. It has a nice spicy twang, but not with that powdery flat aftertaste you get with some el-cheapo wasabi.

The Good: Fresh meaty chunky slices, clean taste.
The Bad: I keep thinking of the Otoro in Narita Village.

Next up is the Volcano Sandwich (R49), which is seared tuna slices topped with chilli mayo. An obvious fusion dish with a beautiful presentation.

The Good: Tuna was seared nicely. Chilli mayo was uniquely tasty.
The Bad: Not for the Sushi Purists.

The mayo is deliberately set aside just in case you want to taste it with soy sauce instead. I tried it both ways and I prefer it with the mayo. Again a very clean tasting dish, not too complex that you lose the flavour of the fish, which is the mainstay of the dish. I liked it alot.

On to the Tempura. It is a dish that is hard to get wrong, but also hard to get really right. I thought in this instance, that the batter was nice and fluffy, and the prawns and fish were fresh and juicy. One letdown, as highlighted by my friend, was that the tempura dipping sauce was not authentic. And I totally agree.

The Good: Crispy, fluffy batter. Very fresh seafood.
The Bad: I keep thinking of Osaka Tempura.

The next dish to hit my palette was the Gyu Tataki. Which is seared beef slices in a ponzu sauce mixture. Gyu Tataki is one of my favourite dishes, and I try it whenever I have a chance. The beef they use is local, and it is good quality. Surprisingly, there isn't plenty of marbling, but I suspect that the meat is dry aged for a period, so the flavours have been concentrated nicely. As for the sauce it came in, I personally thought it was good, it has that tangy bite with an underlying earthy sweetness, which compliments the beef. Again though, this is not typical of Japanese ponzu sauce, which has a milder, less sweet character.

The Good: Beef was flavour packed, not sinewy.
The Bad: Ponzu may be a little sweet for some.

Most of us also ordered a portion of only sashimi , again the freshness cannot be disputed. Notice that we didn't order the Salmon, as we wanted only the local fish. In saying that though, the salmon is good too. This is a large meal in itself, and sharing is recommended.

Another example of the sashimi and Sushi mix that you can order:

This place also offers a wide array of western dishes, I saw a dish of lamb shanks come out the kitchen, looked spectacular, someone try it and tell us!

This is Fish and Chips, ordered by one of our neighbouring diners. The presentation looks familiar doesn't it? According to her, she comes here very often, and always orders it. Too bad I didn't get a taste, but she says that it is the best in Cape Town.

Now this you don't see everyday, a South African Fur Seal (Cape Fur Seal), so blubbery and cute. This young male is about 250kgs, what I will weigh if I continue eating like this haha.

Happy Eating Everyone.

Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant 大董烤鸭店 at N39 55.884 E116 27.350

2008-03-13T15:48:00.007+08:00

I was introduced to a different place for roast duck in Beijing this time round. An excellent chance for me to compare it to Quanjude which we went to previously.

There are 2 stores in Beijing, we went to the one at 22, Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng District, I believe. Sorry about not having pictures of the front entrance as it was cold and I just made a quick dash inside, forgetting the photo.

Well, we got there at 8pm and found the place to be full. So, we had to leave our name down in exchange for a queue number. That was when they told us to help ourselves to the complimentary drinks while waiting. Not bad, quite a good concept.

Free wine, not fantastic but since it's free you can't complain.

'The waiting corridor' - set up with seats for you to wait for your table. My friend made a funny comment saying that it felt as if we were sitting inside a 'fish tank'. Hahaha. If it wasn't for the construction just outside shielding us, it would really seem so.

A Chinese 5 diamond restaurant?

Part of the free drinks while you wait.

Forty minutes later we got our table. When I first saw the menu I thought we would have to wait again, the menu is like a coffee table picture book. It's an inch thick!

Condiments to accompany the duck. Mashed plum, cucumber, radish, scallions, duck sauce, garlic paste and sugar(yes sugar).

Spinach in superior soup. Nice.

Yangzhou Fried Rice. This is one portion.

Purple Dace fried rice. Yup, as advertised the rice was purple BUT very tasty!

Fried rice with eel.

Stir fried bean shoots.

The obligatory 'cut the duck up at your table' ceremony.

The duck, very different from quanjude. In this restaurant, the meat is cut into thin slices separate from the skin then served wrapped together with the condiments in a thin skin made of flour. I think I prefer the quanjude style of cutting the duck though..
They had a strange way to start off as well, the waitress recommended me to dip a piece of the skin into the sugar before biting into it. Not quite used to eating duck with sugar!

Salad prawns. Quite well done, prawns were still crunchy.

Our selections.

Instead of having the remainder of the duck made into soup, we opted for it to be chopped up and served so that we could enjoy gnawing at the bones.

The meal finished with a sesame soup/paste, which I thought was only so-so as it did not taste anything like sesame. Tasted a bit like burnt peanut butter. Complimentary fruits were also served.

Try the duck out the next time that you are there and decide for yourself!

You can find it here.

Shanghai, China - Xiao Long Bao (Little Bamboo Basket Steamer Buns) (Nearest coordinates N31° 13' 41.99" E121° 29' 10.05")

2008-03-06T09:11:00.018+08:00

First off, we at GPSFOODFINDER would like to say a big thank you to all those who have contributed to the SOFO post on Shanghai food.

Marcus, Lionel, Kang, Swee Aik, Aaron, Steve and Keong

I didn’t have the time to check out all the joints, so what I did was to go and visit the most frequently recommended food place. Hence leading me to find NanXiang Xiao Long Bao. We will continue visiting the places you recommended and keep updating. Keep the recommendations coming!

One cold but sunny morning, I awoke with anticipation of some piping hot Xiao Long Bao (XLB) filling my empty growling stomach. A check with reception will quickly reveal that NanXiang XLB is located at the Yu Yuan Garden (Shanghai Old Street) which is just 12 minutes away from our hotel. It is very convenient to get there and after a 10RMB cab ride, I find myself at the entrance of Yu Yuan Garden.

A quick enquiry with a friendly Zhong Guo Mei (ZGM) leads me straight to NanXiang, which is a leisurely 3 min walk from the entrance. Bear in mind that this joint is not only famous in Shanghai, it is famous China-wide. Ask anybody there and they will direct you with a quick flick of the wrist.

Finding NanXiang is also made easy by the dragon-like queue that you will see developing from as early as 1000hrs. They start serving at 1200hrs, but their doors are open by 1100hrs.

This picture above was taken when I first joined the queue at 1130hrs. Notice the entrance signboard which says Nan Xiang Man Tou Dian (Or so I was told!). If you do wish to avoid this queue, just proceed into the entrance and up the stairs, where you will be seated and served XLB in comfort. The difference is that you pay a premium in doing so, as my Mandarin is as good as my Mongolian, I roughly gather from my fellow queue comrades (Tong Shi Men) that it is about 20% dearer. Also, they do serve different varieties (including a seafood XLB and XLB with mystery meat) and also many other types of food like hand made noodles. However, if you are downstairs in the queue, you only get the standard Pork XLB’s and no table to eat on. I would recommend getting up to the restaurant to sit down, as I had to queue for over one hour. Yes folks, over one hour for my XLBs.

However, if you do decide to stay in the queue, you will see from the same picture that it runs all the way to where the crowd is gathering under the leftmost Chinese lantern (3 Lanterns in the picture). This is where they will serve the juicy little suckers. Also you might just get to talking with a nice, friendly and pleasant ZGM in the queue, which is just great.

So after 45mins and 10 meters later (Just know that it is really slow. Imagine a snail on a Sunday crawl, with his pregnant snail girlfriend….oops…I mean wife), I find myself close enough to smell the XLBs slowly steaming away. Worse still, I find myself close enough to actually see the XLBs being distributed to ravenously hungry Shanghainese. And to rub it in, they brush past you with their steaming XLB, happily munching away, XLB juice squirting everywhere. It is a great exercise in patience and self restraint (See Pic Below).

For a more mouth watering experience, watch this video:

Ok so now, a further 15 odd minutes later, I am now at the head of the queue, where I de-queued long enough to take a picture of the main NanXiang XLB frontage. I was happily let back into the queue after that, I guess after spending an hour together, you tend to become quite familiar with your Tong Shi Men (See Pic Below).

Finally, after all that hard work, I finally receive my prize. 16 juicy, tender and succulent XLBs for 12 RMB. You can’t actually see my hands shaking, but I’m very proud for being able to restrain myself from eating, long enough to take this picture below.

And then...The last view of Earth my XLBs will ever have:

So now, I perch myself on the kerbside, whip out the chopsticks and take my first bite.

You know how some people remember their first times, like you know, first kiss, first car, first hard landing, first Ahem...cough...cough... You get the gist.

Well, let me just say that the first time explosion of flavours as you bite into these XLBs is just phenomenal. They are so juicy and succulent. And the taste, which may initially seem a little porky, but eaten with vinegar, it is really outstandingly delicious. The dough is chewy, however it compliments the savoriness of the pork and mushroom mixture very well. It also helps to seal in all that meaty goodness, so when you bite into it, you can really taste the intensity of flavours as they hit your palette. In this picture you can see the fatty pork mixture inside the dough. What you can’t see is the sheer amount of meat juices that flowed out when I prodded it with my chopsticks. I just let the rest of the XLBs stew in their own juices, so much so that I thought my last few survivor XLBs tasted even better than the first few.

After downing all my XLBs, I manage to steady my hands and take some videos of the cooks preparing the XLB dough and wrapping up the XLB.

So do give NanXiang XLB a try, I think it is definitely worth the long wait and I can honestly say that I will queue again. A truly gastronomic experience. As they say, when in Shanghai, do as the Shanghainese do, and in this case, it seems to me hundreds of them were eating Xiao Long Bao from NanXiang. So what are you waiting for? Why not get a XLB rating the next time you are in Pudong!

You can find the map here

The GPSFoodFinder Team

Centre Place, Melbourne, Ausrtalia. S37° 48' 60.00" E144° 57' 55.61"

2008-03-06T07:34:00.000+08:00

Decided to have a look around for lunch, so this is where I ended up.
This place has an interesting mix of food joints but it mostly serves sandwiches, rolls and such.
I was there around 2.30 pm and there still seemed to be a fair amount of people.

Not a very long lane but quite packed with little shops.

Ended up having my lunch here.

Their selection of sandwiches.

My toasted, chicken schnitzel sandwich. Came with cheese and tomatoes inside.
Found it rather dry.

Next time I shall try some of the other shops along the lane. Will keep you updated if I find anthing interesting.

You can find it here

Tribes Restaurant, Emperor's Palace Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa

2008-02-10T21:26:00.000+08:00

In Johannesburg again, this time at a different casino hotel. Sorry about the lack of coordinates but this restaurant is part of the indoor complex of the Emperor's Palace Hotel Casino. As usual you can get the map for the location at the bottom of this page.

For the meat lovers who missed "The Meat Lovers", this is a similar place.
It's called TRIBES. Meat is the star of the show here.

Marketed as an African Grill Steakhouse. Again an indoor 'al fresco' style set up.

The 300 Gram Sirlion steak done medium rare served with fried onions and mash potatoes. Seems to be a standard way of presenting the meals here. This is aged meat and as such the meat appears to be more pink and have less juice/blood flowing when you cut into it.

The assorted Game Platter consisting Kudu, Impala, Warthog and Ostrich with chips. Again ordered done medium rare. According to my friend, they tend to overcook your meat in restaurants here. True enough when both the Sirlion and game platter the meat was more medium than medium rare.

As for me I had the Spatchcock chicken with peri-peri sauce served with chips. Spicy roast chicken that was slightly burnt, surprisingly not too dry. Quite nice.

We had a butternut/pumpkin soup and a greek salad as well. Polished off the stuff before I realised that I had forgotten to take pictures. The salad was excellent! You would just have to take my word for it, hahaha.

Map here

GONG XI FA CAI!

2008-02-06T17:17:00.000+08:00

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year!

Maru Sushi @ N37 47.380 W122 24.523, San Francisco.

2008-01-17T21:57:00.000+08:00

Surprisingly for a Tuesday night it was full house at most of the restaurants around Union Square. Must have been the Macworld convention that was in town. So, after unsuccessfully trying to get a table at a few places we decided to have Japanese food. So we wandered into this place called Maru Sushi. The following is what we ordered...

The large assorted sashimi, think it consisted of bream, different kinds of tuna, salmon, hamachi, octopus and sole. Quite fresh but they were a bit stingy on the wasabi.

Obligatory miso soup and salad

Chicken katsu

Tempura which consisted of prawns, zuchini, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato and an onion ring.

The items above were from the the dinner set, you are given 2 choices out of a list of about 12 or so.

Tenzaru soba, basically cold soba with an assortment of tempura similar to the above.

Tempura udon, prawn tempura with thick rice noodles.

Hotate and hamachi sushi.

Quite a lot of food for 4 persons but we finished it none the less.

Overall the food was okay, the fish was pretty fresh.

You can find it here.

King of Thai Noodle House @ N37 47.192 W122 24.467 San Francisco.

2008-01-17T21:37:00.000+08:00

'Long time no see' as they say, I hope the new year has been good to you so far. Well, I'm back in San Francisco and hungry again. We decided to have Thai food this time. This is one place that many of my friends like to go to (I believe for reasons other than the food. You will know why when you go there :)). It's called King Of Thai Noodle House.

The front of the shop.

I had the Guay Tiaw Lord. No idea what it means but it consists of stir fried seafood with basil on a bed of koay teow(flat rice noodles)

My friend had Pad Thai, which was basically fried thai rice noodles with prawns. According to him it was more sweet than spicy.

The other guy had tom yam goong (a hot and spicy soup with prawns) and kao gra prow (ground meat stir fried with fresh basil)

The condiments.

All in all it was a satisfying meal.

Here is where you can find it.

Just in case if you were wondering....

2008-01-06T10:23:00.000+08:00

The answer is no, I haven't lost interest in doing this. The thing is just that I haven't been to any place that the food is worth blogging about. Maybe some of you have some contributions? I would be more than happy to post it here.

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!

2007-12-24T13:11:00.000+08:00

Happy holidays everyone!

Kim Chi Love @ N 37 33 29.5 E 126 58 24.2 Seoul, South Korea

2007-12-02T22:43:00.000+08:00

Budaechigae or 'army stew' was what my friend 'Bonjoey' wanted to eat but it was a really cold evening and no one was really keen on walking to Myeong Dong to have it there. So, yours truly went to find out from the concierge if there was a nearer place. He recommended some place next to the YTN building and off we went looking for it with a piece of paper that had some Korean words written on it.

Found it! Think it's called KIM CHI LOVE
(bottom right hand corner of the signboard)
Was told by the concierge that it was a 24 hour joint.

It's on the second storey of the Hwa Nam Building

The menu is can be seen downstairs but sadly none of us can read Korean.

After going up, the only dish we knew was Budaechigae, and that was what we ordered initially. Luckily one of the guys suggested that we order something else. But what?

So after looking around the other tables this is what we ordered.....(which I later found out from a friend to be called Samkyobsal)

Pork belly, kimchi, mushrooms and sweet potato on a hot plate.
The pork has to be fat or else it would be really hard.
The minimum order of this dish is 2 portions, so if unless you are really hungry or with a friend, don't bother.

Side dishes of radish kimchi, boiled quail eggs and cockles (clockwise)
also not forgetting the basket of raw veggies for you to wrap the meat.
They also give you a dish of spring onions and sauce, garlic slices ,
sesame seed oil and spicy soybean paste for you to eat with the meat.

More side dishes consisting of tofu, Chinese cabbage and radish and oyster kimchi.

Super smooth tofu.

The kimchi was real spicy with radish and oysters inside, raw of course!
The Chinese cabbage was just slightly pickled and still raw.

Almost ready to eat!

Budae Kimchi Chigae, basically a stew with sausages, spam, kimchi
and noodles all thrown in one pot and boiled together.

The whole meal came to 27000 won, which I thought was very reasonable.

Anyway, as one of the guys said, it a refreshing change from eating the same
bibimbap and sundubu all the time. I would definitely go there again.

Credit is due for all the help with the photos and translations.
A very big 'Kamsahamnida' to everyone that helped.

You can find it here as usual.

Sears Fine Food Restaurant @ N37 47.319 W122 24.511 San Francisco

2007-12-02T21:33:00.001+08:00

Finally some updates!..... Was expecting 'Long Range Chow' to do some updating but he seems to have writers block!

Anyway if you are in San Francisco and want to try some 'local' food you could try this place. It's situated next to Borders at Union Square. It's called Sears Fine Foods. I was recommended this place by someone almost 10 years ago.

We were here for lunch at around 3pm.

The speciality here are it's Swedish pancakes,
yup, Swedish pancakes in America, real local huh?

Doesn't look like much but it's pretty good and filling too.

As I was lunch, I had the pulled pork sandwich. It was nice and juicy.
Wanted to have the waffles with strawberries for desert but was just too full after having the sandwich.

Looked around, the sandwiches at this place seem rather popular as well
(with whoever was left at the restaurant anyway, hehehe.)

Anyway as usual you can look for it here.

Sorry, no updates yet.

2007-11-10T18:02:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven't been to any interesting places lately.

I gladly accept any contributions or suggestions though. You can email me at the address above.

Happy hunting!

Sushi at N34 39.915 E135 31.085, Osaka, Japan

2007-10-18T20:26:00.000+08:00

Managed to meet up with a few friends and decide to go here for sushi in Osaka. However, it was not open. So, we put plan B into action and ended up at this place.

The Sushi Joint, it's just around the corner from the ramen place featured earlier.
We don't venture too far for dinner do we?

The starter that came without being ordered. It consisted of one piece of scallop. They had the cheek to charge us 300 yen for it. So don't be surprised when you find it in your bill. They said it was for 'service' charge.

Cho Toro - Tuna belly, Aji - horse mackerel, Ebi - prawn and some other fish, hehehe. (Can't remember lah)

Uni - sea urchin, Hotate - scallops, Sake - salmon, Ika - squid and Cho toro - tuna belly.

Fish soup. Was told it was okay, not fantastic.

The 10 piece set with additional 2 pieces or tuna belly.

Ikura - salmon eggs, a very generous serving, Sake - salmon, Hotate - scallops, Maguro - Tuna

Wanted Hamachi - yellow tail tuna but they only had this, it has a similar texture.

The over all experience was not bad, but not fantastic, a bit difficult to compare especially after having the sushi in Narita. The initial place that we wanted to go to had better quality sushi and definitely a better fish soup according to the guys who went there the day before.

As usual the map is here. Have fun looking for it!

Spicy BBQ Pork @ N 37 33 45.8 E126 58 38.8 Seoul, Korea.

2007-10-13T15:22:00.001+08:00

Went to have my Bbq pork despite being super sleepy. I just love having the meat, rice, garlic and pepper paste wrapped up in fresh lettuce.

The shop front, doesn't look like much does it? Well, normally good food doesn't come from super nice looking shops. They don't have to, the serve good food!

Green chillies, fresh lettuce and a heart shape leaf that I have yet to determine. The leaf has a love it or hate fragrance to it. Suspect it is a mulberry leaf.

Sliced spring onion with sesame oil and chilli powder.

Cold soup with chinese cabbage.

Pepper paste and garlic slices. Be careful, the garlic packs a punch that ice water cannot soothe. It bites!

Traditional kimchi, think it's just something that they 'have to' serve.

The star ingredient, the PORK! Marinated in chilli paste.

This is the part that I had to do some work. Fun if you are the type that like to torch anything over a fire, hehehe.

Soup with bean paste and dunno what. Nice though.

All put together! Excellent!

Look at the google map here in satellite mode and try to figure out where it is with reference to the Namdaemun Gate.

New Zealand LAMB!!!!

2007-10-04T19:32:00.000+08:00

Well, it was 5 years since I have been back to Christchurch.
So, I decided to visit my favorite place for lamb----> Hay's Cafe
which is situated right in front of the casino @ S 43 31.555 E 172 37.95.

Looking from across the road.

However, IT WAS CLOSED! **&%#@$%!

So I had to activate the secondary plan ----> Cafe Valentino Restaurant
@ S 43 31.56 E 172 38.18

The shop front during the day.

The Canterbury Lamb done medium rare, yum!
The lamb is served on a bed of mash potatoes.

The lamb shanks. You can either order one shank or add another for a few dollars, depending on how hungry you are.

Seafood pasta- No comment. Hehehe. I came here to EAT MEAT!

Couldn't really decide where to go eat the next day as RTE 1 (Hay's) was still closed. So, I decided to have dinner at PIKO PIKO, Millennium Hotel's restaurant. Anyway it came with a recommendation from Long Range Chow.

Spinach, roquette and feta salad.

The Lamb Loin, not bad but portions are kinda small,
either that or the plate's kinda big! Hahaha!

The garden salad.

Think this was the beef fillet.

The Ribeye - a whole 450 grams of New Zealand Beef!

The meal at PIKO PIKO was good but beware of the bread they serve you.
It costs 7.50 per plate.
So I would recommend you to check with the waiter about it.

The overall lamb experience was quite satisfactory but it would have been good if I had been able to go to my favourite joint. However I am in no hurry to go to New Zealand again, the time zone change SUCKS!

Ramen @ N34 39.93 E135 31.13 Osaka, Japan

2007-09-24T11:28:00.000+08:00

Was introduced to this ramen joint by some friends. Just go in via the Lawson entrance and look for it on the same floor.

The specials I think

The regular menu. They also have an English menu but you will have to request for it.

This one should be Kuro Miso Ramen, or as the menu discribes Noodles w/oil burned the garlic in thick tasty Miso soup (2 porks)

The one in front would be the half Jyanjyan Don (rice with minced pork and seaweed).
The ramen was ordered by pointing at the banner, so no idea what it was called!
It consisted of ramen, pork slices, deep fried lard, seaweed and vegetables.

Cha-shu-men which is basically Kiou Ramen (noodles with pork slices in nice tasty white vegetable soup ( 2 porks)) plus 3 pieces of tasty pork. (Hey dun shoot me! just copied the description from the menu. Hahaha!)

Some kind of pau. Think squid ink pau with pork filling.

Gyoza. (spicy? minced pork wrapped in small pancake and fried)

Look for it here

Takoyaki at N34 39.911 E135 30.201 Osaka, Japan

2007-09-21T22:44:00.000+08:00

For the lovers of Takoyaki or 'octopus ball', Osaka is one of the best places to have it.

It's really popular here and you can find it at many street corners.

Anyway this is one of the places that I go to when I am in Osaka. It is actually situated next to a theater along the walking street, not very far away from the 130 yen sushi joint.

The stall front.

First they put a flour mixture into a special hot plate.
Then they add the octopus.

As it cooks, they flip it and make it into balls.

The price list. You can actually have it served with tuna shavings, mayo and the takoyaki sauce, or spring onions with mayo and takoyaki sauce.

You can even have a takoyaki sandwich. They serve the tako ball with spring onions and sauce between 2 pieces of octopus crackers.

Mmmmmm, my order of 8 pieces of takoyaki. Gotta be careful though it's HOT!

Hunt for it here

130 Yen per plate Sushi at N34 39.961 E135 30.193 Osaka, Japan

2007-09-19T16:41:00.000+08:00

As the title says, this place serves 130 Yen per plate sushi.
I happen to think that it is a very good deal.

The shop front.

The 130 yen iwashi or sardine.

Can't remember what this is called, but hey! it's raw and it's fresh!

Real crab stick - Crab shell still attached!

Maguro or Tuna. Think the one on the right is brinjal.

They even have uni or sea urchin. Not bad eh? for 130 Yen.

Should be mackrel

Hamachi or yellow tail

Tai / Sea bream

This is anago or sea eel, I think.

Ebi / Prawn

Think this is hirame or halibut

Can't remember all the names of the different fishes. So if anyone can remember please correct me and leave me a comment.

When you are in Osaka, you can look for the shop here. You'll be able to find it a few shops to the left(as you face the shop) of the bic-camera shop.

Bi Feng Tang at Yaohan Department Store, on Zhangyang Road, Pudong, Shanghai

2007-09-13T16:38:00.000+08:00

Was at this place for dinner, it's not a posh joint but it certainly is popular. We had to wait for a table. As I don't know how to read Chinese I can only guess the translation of the name of the shop. I wonder if it means 'Pond where you hide from the wind'

The shop is actually situated in the same building as the Yaohan Departmental store. There are 2 levels of this shop. The one we went to was on the second storey.

The shop's sign board.

Shop front where there are seats for you to wait for your table

Anyway here is what we ordered.

Kailan. They seem to eat mainly just the stalks. Wonder what they do with the leaves?

The roasted duck leg with noodles.

The 'Char leong' which is basically a 'Yu tiao' wrapped in 'Chee cheong fun'.

Chicken fried with dried chillies. Not bad but a tad oily.

Fried rice with chicken cubes and salted fish.

And finally the best dish of all

Salt and pepper mantis prawn. This dish was really finger-licking good! We actually ordered two.

The damage came to RMB 181 for 3 persons for dinner.

As for the location, had a problem with my phone and had to hard reset and as such lost the coordinates. However I don't think this place is too hard to find. Good Luck!

Anyone who finds the map and the coordinates as well please let me know. Thanks

Curry Mee At Chuan Fatt N4 34 57.63, E101 4 55.72 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

2007-09-05T22:41:00.000+08:00

Now for a few makan places in Ipoh.

Firstly, a curry mee joint. For those of you who are not familiar, the style of curry mee in Ipoh is pretty different from the curry laksa in Singapore. This particular one has a much lighter soup as compared to the Singapore style which is very rich due to the coconut milk inside. However, this place serves just one of the few styles of curry noodles in Ipoh.

You can order a normal preset bowl of curry noodles which comes with chicken, char siew, prawn and bean sprouts.

Or you could do it the following way, order the meat and noodles separately.

Below is a plate of fried pork, roasted pork(siew yoke) and fried chicken.

To accompany that you can have noodles with curry soup or

'dry style' (korn low as we would call it in cantonese) noodles with curry

And here is what the combo will look like,

This by the way is a breakfast/brunch place. I would also recommend that you try the ice tea or 'teh ping', it's pretty good too.

Anyway as usual you can findN4 34 57.63, E101 4 55.72 here.

For those of you who use a Mapking GPS you can enter this X:101.082144 Y:4.582676

Meat and more meat at The Meat Co, Montecasino, Johannesburg.

2007-09-02T13:59:00.000+08:00

To some, this is a rather familiar site when visiting Johannesburg. It's a MUST GO place. As this place is indoors, I didn't manage to get any coordinates for it. However I am pretty sure that you will be able to find it without much problems.

For the wine lovers you might want to try a PINOTAGE with your meal. I was told that it is a product of South Africa and that it is difficult to find anywhere else.
To a non wine drinker like me it's a "PEE-NOOO-WHAT"? Hahaha!

The rocket and sundried tomatoes salad. Not everyone will enjoy this salad as the rocket (the green vegetable in the pic.) has a very distinct taste, has a bit of bite at the end like mustard. If you would like to know what it is like, just go and have a smell at the tomato vine. It has a similar fragrance.

Soup of the day - Portugese soup consisting of spinach and pork sausage.

The prime rib steak with crusted black pepper. This one comes with a baked potato as the starch portion.

One massive piece of meat! As I don't eat beef I can only rely on what is told to me by my friends. They ordered the meat cooked medium, as the meat here is hung dry for the blood to drain, you will find the insides a bit pink and less bloody than what you might expect. However, I was told that it is no less tender.

This is the game of the day served with mashed potatoes.

It was KUDU - a kind of deer. Not bad, I liked it. The taste is not too gamey and surprisingly not tough. Enjoyed it! Sometimes they serve SPRNGBOK too. That one is a bit more tender.

The dish on the right was ribeye if I remember right. Pictures didn't turn out too nice so didn't put it up. You have a choice of the 350gm or the 500gm. All the meat came with a choice of starch of either mashed potatoes, fries or baked potatoes (there were one or two more choices but I can't remember what it was). There are also special sauces at an additional cost, so if you ordered the sauce, don't be surprised when your bill comes.

Total damage 266 Rand after a 20% discount. 1 salad, 2 soups, 1 ribeye, 1 prime rib, 1 kudu, 1 bottle of wine and 1 bottle of small mineral water.

It's here.

Bayashi Noodle Shop @ N35 46.690 E140 18.955 Narita

2007-08-21T09:23:00.000+08:00

For the Ramen lovers, you can try this place. Once you enter the shop, you will find that it is very obviously an aircrew joint. However, that doesn't mean the ramen has been changed to suit the non-Japanese tastebud. It's still tastes like it should (compared to the other ramen that I have tried in Japan).

If you are not sure what you want, there is a pretty colourful photo menu outside the shop.
They serve ramen, fried rice, gyoza and some stir fried vegetables.

This is the Char Siew Ramen that I ordered. The Char Siew is just fabulous, very tasty and tender indeed.

The Ramen was 850 yen. Think this would be the perfect dish for winter!

Tried something new from google, but it wouldn't load. So, here is the map for N35 46.690 E140 18.955.

Unagi-don at N35 47.008 E140 19.000 Narita Village

2007-08-20T07:13:00.001+08:00

Went to eat the 'MUST HAVE Unagi in Narita' at this place.

The first thing you see at this shop will be
the two guys preparing the eel.
Now that is what I would call fresh!

Next, the skewered unagi is passed to the cooks who then dip them in a sauce before grilling it.

Finally, put it on a bed of rice and you get Unagi-don!

This is the normal unagi-don (1400Yen)

The large unagi-don or jo-unagi-don (1800Yen)

Deep fried eel bones. (400Yen). Found it a bit hard for my liking.

Soup made of eel bones and such. (100Yen)

Carp soup. (300Yen)

I think the reason why the unagi in Narita is a 'must have' for some people is because that it is really tender and 'fluffy' unlike the normal ones we get elsewhere. I have tried the unagi in winter, it is even better as it is a bit more fat.

As usual you can look here for N35 47.008 E140 19.000

Narita Sushi Joint Updates.

2007-08-19T10:30:00.001+08:00

Went back to this place for more sushi. Found that the ala-carte sushi menu was actually quite reasonable. They were charging on the average 300 Yen per piece of sushi. The Toro or tuna belly was 800 Yen per piece and totally worth it. Considering that the size of each piece of sushi served here is twice the size of the normal sushi I think it is a pretty good deal. The fish is much thicker therefore the feel when biting into it is totally different.

Iwashi (Sardine), Anago (Sea Eel)
Aji (Horse Mackerel), O-Toro (Tuna Belly)

Maguro (Tuna), Iwashi (Sardine)
Hamachi (Yellow Tail), Hirame (Halibut)

Someone who was EXTREMELY happy after having the O-Toro.

Stay tuned for 'Unagi-don at Narita'. COMING SOON!

Red door Restaurant at N39 58.636 E116 28.476 Beijing China

2007-08-12T08:08:00.001+08:00

Some of you might be familiar with the Red Door restaurant. It is situated in the row of shops in front of the Holiday Inn Lido Beijing. This restaurant, as far as I know, has been there for at least 10 years. I say that because in the last 10 years I have visited this place many times.

Below is a selection of what I ordered.

Sweet and sour chicken. Chicken was fried in batter and then covered with a sweet and sour sauce.

Eggs fried with tomatoes.

Small fried fish. A five spice salt is provided together with the dish.

Crispy tofu with spicy garlic sauce

Kung Pow Chicken

Snowpeas fried with garlic

Sorry, only the co-ordinates for the Red door N39 58.636 E116 28.476. Same problem with finding a map as the earlier post. Do let me know if you find one that can be linked. Thanks.

Total cost of meal: RMB 144 inclusive of 2 beers.

Peking duck at Quanjude 全聚德 at N40 00.167 E116 24.079 Beijing, China.

2007-08-10T18:55:00.000+08:00

Duck anyone?

Went to the famous Quanjude 全聚德 restaurant for a Peking Duck lunch. Actually didn't know it was famous until I found it on the web.

Anyway, I went this one at N40 00.167 E116 24.079 (309 Huizhong Beili, Chaoyang, Beijing)

Having a bit of trouble linking the coordinates to the map............... I can't find one!

Beijing is not WGS84 compliant so don't blame me for any map shifts! Hehehe.

Ask the hotel for a card of the restaurant, they have heaps.

This is the one we went to,

Started with a cold of dish of 'Small Cucumbers',

Then came our CERTIFIED duck. Yup, you read correctly, the duck came with a certificate telling us the weight and also a serial number indicating the number of ducks that have been sold so far.

They serve only a small portion of just skin.The rest is carved up and served.

You are supposed to wrap the meat together with some spring onion and sauce in the 'pancakes' before you consume it. (You can have unlimited servings of the pancakes)

Soup that was suppose to be from the rest of the duck (bones and such). More like they just bathed the duck and gave you the water. Hehehe.

And lastly the obligatory vegetable,

I must say the duck was EXCELLENT! Top marks for the skin, texture and taste.

The skin was crispy but not oily. The meat was tender as well.

The meal came to a total of RMB 296 for the above dishes inclusive of a RMB 58 pot of 'Loong Ching' tea. The duck alone was RMB168.

Fairly expensive for Chinese standards but definitely worth it.

I would go back there again if only for the roast duck skin alone!

Breakfast at Zuma's Cafe, S34 55.803 E138 35.832 Adelaide

2007-08-07T07:49:00.000+08:00

Went to my favorite place in Adelaide to have breakfast. It's called Zuma's cafe and it is located along the perimeter of the Central Market facing Gouger Street.

Two different views of the shop front. Could not take a direct shot due to the chairs in front and also some plants and such.

Anyway,

Just look at that! 'Mmmmmmmm Baconnnnnn' as Homer would say.

It's called the 'Full On Breakfast' and as you can see it comes with bacon, 2 eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and 2 slices of toast. Together with the tea it costs AUD$11.90. Not what you would call cheap but well worth it.

As usual you can find the map here for the location S34 55.803 E138 35.832.

Enjoy.

Lamb Chops at Al Ibrahami Restraunt N24 29.315 E054 22.027

2007-07-24T01:07:00.000+08:00

Went back to Al Ibrahimi restaurant to try the lamb chops. No regrets! The chops were excellent!

Sorry for the sucky image, camera phone doesn't capture the image very well in yellow light.

Definitely a must try dish. For 17 Dirhams you get lamb chops, a hommus and a piece of traditional bread.

Our meal of lamb chops, mutton bryani, chicken tikka, hummos, bread and salad.

Traditional bread.

Cucumber and tomato salad.

Refer to the earlier post for the map and such.

Lunch at Ruchi Restaurant N24 29.722 e054 22.179 Abu Dhabi.

2007-07-22T13:28:00.000+08:00

Had lunch at this place yesterday. Basically it was an Indian restaurant. It had a fairly wide selection on the menu. Among the standard dishes served was bryani, chicken tikka and so on.

I had the chicken tikka masala with garlic nan. Not quite what I expected but it was tasty none the less. The meal above cost 18 Dirhams.

This dish is called MURG MASSALAM with a side order of 2 garlic naans. Cost, 22 Dirhams

From what I gathered the restaurant also served Kerala banana leaf rice from Thursday till Saturday. Not really my cup of tea as it was a vegetarian meal. Buffet was served in the evenings as well.

Anyway the address of the restaurant is 4, 11th Street, Al Markaziyah, Abu Dhabi or N24 29.722 e054 22.179. Access the map here

Buffet In Abu Dhabi at Al Ibrahimi Restraunt N24 29.315 E054 22.027

2007-07-21T10:46:00.000+08:00

Went to this place for dinner last night. There are 3 shops together with the same Al Ibrahimi name but one is a bakery, another an open buffet and lastly an ala carte restraunt. However, once you go in you soon realise that these 3 shops are joined together and it doesn't matter which one you go to!

The picture above is the salad and 'bread' table. There was a fairly large spread (too difficult to photograph as the rest was in covered buffet trays)

This was one of my choices. Mmmmm fooood!

However, I didn't order what I was recommended to eat there - lamb chops. Regretted it a bit after seeing the dish from the other tables that ordered it, looked really good. So, I have a feeling that there might be another post about the lamb chops! Hahaha!

Anyway the buffet was 33Dirham

I was told that there is another branch of this restaurant when we got into the taxi

Anyway you can look here for the address. The one we went to was at 139 Zayed the First Street, Madinat Zayed or N24 29.315 E054 22.027.

Sorry, no updates yet.

2007-07-18T23:03:00.000+08:00

Sorry about the long delay in putting up more places folks. I haven't been to that many interesting places since I put up the last posting.

By the way, I welcome all suggestions and new findings.

Please feel free to email me at gpsfoodfinder@gmail.com

Thanks.

Schweinhaxen/Pork Knuckle at N50 06.668 E008 41.359 Frankfurt, Germany

2007-07-08T11:58:00.000+08:00

For the meat lovers this is a MUST HAVE dish and this is where you can find it.....

The name of the place is called Romer Pils Brunnen, it's location N50 06.668 E008 41.359 is parallel to the famous walking street in Frankfurt.

Now, for a sample of what it serves.......

It's really good but be prepared to be really filled up! The schweinhaxen/pork knuckle dish above costs Euro 9.50. The dish comes with sauerkraut(pickled cabbage) and bread.

Look here and do a search for N50 06.668 E008 41.359. ( Sorry, have yet to find out how to do both at once.)

Sushi at N 35 46.662 E 140 18.963 Narita, Tokyo

2007-07-04T10:05:00.000+08:00

This Sushi bar is one of my favourite places to go when I am in Narita Village.

Look on and you will see why......

The set above costs 1575 Yen.

Just look at the fish draped over the rice. Mmmmmmm.... getting hungry just looking at it. Hahaha.

The biggest problem I face is that I don't speak or read Japanese. However, like any other Japanese restaurant they have a menu with pictures! So don't despair.

The location of this place is N35 46.662 E140 18.963 for you people with a GPS enabled device. (If you don't have one, now you have an excuse to get one. Hahaha! :P)

At the moment I am still trying to link a map to it so if anyone finds one please post a comment and let me know where to get it. This is my first attempt at a blog so please be patient. Thousand apologies in advance.

You can try here for the map and do a search for N35 46.662 E140 18.963

Introduction

2007-07-02T16:20:00.000+08:00

Thanks to a new friend of mine who loves eating, I have decided to start this blog.

It's is about the food joints that I visit around the world. A lot of these sites were shown to me, now it is time to show it to you.

I am planning to include the LATITUDE and LONGITUDE of these places together with the photos so that you can find it with a GPS enabled device. I can already see the problems that I might encounter such as getting the proper maps. So lets see where this project takes me.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the in blog information. :)