American Food Trip 2011 - Part 2

Wassup y'all?! Our American food trip continues! This part consists of day two and three in San Francisco (SF). It is true when people say that the servings in America are big. There are people who gets turned off eating and trying out restaurants at the thought of huge servings.  Not me though! The fact that restaurants serve up massive amounts of food only makes me excited and want to eat more. That's my ramen power at work! Yatta!

Saiwaii Ramen

A trip to a foreign land would not be complete without trying one of the best ramen joints it  has to offer. I'm not called Ramen Raff for nothing. Sawaii ramen is a Japanse noodle house that that serves very good Japanese dishes.

spicy garlic tonkotsu ramen with chunks of pork belly

I ordered the popular spicy garlic tonkotsu ramen with extra chunks of pork belly. It's like a fusion of tonkotsu and tantanmen. The broth stays true to the porky taste of a tonkotsu broth but spicy with a hint of garlic. I liked it but the pork belly was the star of the show! It was tender with a sweet soy type flavour. Itadakimasu!

tonkotsu ramen with pork belly 

The milky looking broth of the tonkotsu ramen with pork belly was rich in taste. The broth was a little less thick and porky than what I'm used to but it was still very nice.

kaarage chicken

The karaage chicken was excellent in texture and taste! The texture was crispy, doughy and the taste of ginger, mirin, and soy sauce in the chicken was well balanced.

Nation Burger

A fast food burger place that was highly recommended by our cousins. They boast to have one of the biggest burgers in the Bay area. Not the biggest burger I’ve seen (as we have bigger burgers in Sydney) but their servings are bigger than what I’m used to. It was midnight when we paid this place a visit.

bacon cheeseburger

The fillings inside the bacon cheeseburger were awesome! It consisted of a huge juicy beef patty, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and melted cheddar cheese.

chili fries

I also ordered the chili fries thinking they were just french fries flavoured with some sort of chilli powder. It was actually a huge container with a lot of french fries, topped with a lot chili con carne and melted cheese. It was more than just hearty, it was heavy but very flavoursome. This was a hit for my tastebuds.

Bubba Gump

One does not just go to America and not go to Bubba Gump. It is a must! Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is a casual dining type restaurant inspired by the film Forrest Gump. After our orders were taken, the waiter did a quick Forrest Gump trivia to entertain us. “What was Lt. Dan’s rank in the army? “ he asked. I was like “umm..Lieutenant?” Yeah! Ramen Raff scores! Back to the food, this restaurant serves Southern and Cajun dishes. Most of their specialty dishes is seafood based.

Cajun Shrimp

Cajun Shrimp served with garlic butter bread for dipping was the perfect way to start dinner! The shrimps were sauteed in a hot and spicy Cajun butter sauce. The Cajun seasoning in the sauce was not too strong but it still gave this dish a bit of bite. Not too spicy either.

dumb luck coconut shrimps

The dumb luck coconut shrimp, was pretty good too. It had a crunchy batter with desiccated coconut and the shrimp was well cooked. Fried shrimp with something coconut is always a perfect combo for me.

dixie style baby back ribs

I could not resist the sight of the dixie style baby back ribs in the menu. It was as I expected it to be! Ribs with tender meat that fell off the bone. It was smokey and tangy in flavour. The ribs were accompanied by french fries that were fried to perfection.

Mama's southern fried chicken

Mama's southern fried chicken is a boneless chicken breast cooked to golden and crunchy perfection. Fried chicken thigh, wings, and drumsticks is more of my taste but this fried chicken breast was great. The meat was very juicy. Oh mama!

So, if you'll ask me whether I would go visit this awesome food places in SF again? My answer is: Yeah man! I certainly would because the food was very yummy for my tummy.

Saiwaii Ramen

2240 Irving Street
San Francisco, California 94122, United States
(415) 665-7888

Nations Burger

www.nationsrestaurants.com

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant

39 Pier Suite M210,

San Francisco, CA 94133, United States

(415) 781-4867

American Food Trip 2011 - Part 1

There is more to American food than just hamburgers and hotdogs. America is rich in culinary culture. Take San Francisco (SF) for instance, where part one of our American food journey took place. SF has a very diverse and amazing food scene worth exploring. It reminds me of Sydney as it also has diverse cultural and linguistic communities. Amongst the various ethnic communities are Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Filipino. The diversity is very evident in the food that SF has to offer.

I did my SF food research prior to leaving Sydney and what I found looked very promising. We arrived on my birthday and it was the best and most awesome birthday ever! There was no better way to celebrate than indulging myself with good food and be surrounded with loved ones in a great city such as SF. 

Foyer at Hotel Tomo

We first checked in at our super cool Japanese anime/pop themed hotel called Hotel Tomo in Japantown, SF. Japanese animation was shown at the foyer in three different LCD screens! 

Good Luck Dim sums and Susie's Cakes

Our cousins and aunt arrived at our hotel to welcome us. They surprised us with so much food! With boxes of dumplings and red velvet cupcakes. The best cousins and auntie ever!

Boxes of dumplings and red velvet cupcakes

With so much delight and excitement, we dove into the boxes of siumai, prawn gow gee, vegetable dumplings, charsiu bao, and baked pork buns from a place called Good Luck Dim Sum. Look them up in Yelp and you'll find good reviews for both their food quality and price. They certainly tasted good, but it was the prawn gow gees that stood out for me.

Red velvet cupcake from Susie's Cakes

After that, it was time for the red velvet cupcakes from Susie's Cakes. It was just the way I like it, generously topped with yummy cream cheese icing. You could really taste the cream cheese in the icing and the cupcake was perfectly moist.

Clam Chowders at the Fisherman's Wharf and The Pub at Ghirardelli Square

Clam chowder in sourdough bread

A trip to SF is not complete without trying the popular clam chowder. The most common clam chowder at the Wharf is the New England version. This version is milk or cream based. We went to Chowders to have a taste of this comforting dish. Perfect for a cold weather, we slowly worked our way tearing the sourdough bread from the top and dipped into the clam chowder. The chowder had a fresh clam taste. It was thick and creamy with very light acidity. 

After an hour, we went to The Pub at Ghirardelli Square which is located at the other end of Fisherman’s Wharf. The lighting was dim and the décor was what one would expect from a pub. This was where we got to try some of America’s best. 

Evil Bob's jambalaya

Evil Bob’s jambalaya – blackened shrimp, andouille sausage & chicken jambalaya was very rustic with flavours that punch through your taste buds. It made me feel like I was in New Orleans.

St. Louis style ribs

The St. Louis style ribs was my absolute favourite! It was chunky, juicy, tender. The barbeque sauce it was smothered in was thick, tangy, slightly sweet and smokey. It was brine and smoked for six hours. It was awesomely beautiful . 

Beef short ribs

The beef short ribs was very rich in flavour, very tender and was served with candied yams and mac & cheese. Both the St. Louis style ribs and beef short ribs were pretty rich and juicy. 

Truffle mac and cheese

We also ordered truffle mac and cheese. It had three cheeses with truffle oil, bacon & green onions. Wow, it was a whole new mac & cheese experience. Once you’ve tried this, you would never want mac & cheese any other way again. 

Buffalo wings

The buffalo wings was served with blue cheese crumbles and buffalo wing sauce. It was a delight that went so well with the cold weather.  

Espresso burger with fries

The espresso burger won best burger of 2010 in SF. It had espresso and brown sugar dry rub on the patty with blue cheese, bacon strips, onion rings and a touch of garlic mayo on a sourdough bun. 

The birthday boy (very happy!)

If you ever plan to visit the U.S., a stop at San Francisco should be considered. I highly suggest checking out Good Luck Dim sum, Chowders and The Pub at Ghirardelli Square. The Pub is a must (It was my favourite food place out of the whole trip). Part one of our food journey was very yummy for my tummy! Part two of my American food adventure to follow soon!

Good Luck Dim Sum

736 Clement St

San Francisco, California 94118, United States

(415) 386-3388

Open daily 7am-7pm

Susie’s Cakes

2109 Chestnut Street

San Francisco, CA 94123-2708, United States

(415) 474-2253

Open daily 10am-7:00pm

Chowders

39 Pier # 121

San Francisco, CA 94133-1036, United States

(415) 391-4737

The Pub at Ghirardelli Square - Recommended

851 Beach Street

San Francisco, CA 94109, United States

(415) 351-0500

Open Weekdays 11:30am-1:30am; Weekends 9:30am-1:30am

www.thepubsf.com