As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
We were pleasantly surprised at the roast duck from Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum on our last visit. It was our favorite dish of the meal. Though we had a short wait for the duck to be “finished”, it was definitely worth it. This had me wondering how the duck would fare as take out. Was this typical of the roast duck at Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum, or had we just hit the lottery with our timing of the meal?
So, the Missus and I decided to “duck around” and do a take out comparison. Between the roast duck from Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum and our current favorite roast duck from Eastern Dynasty.
So here the half roast duck from Eastern Dynasty, now priced at $23.
Nice color, I enjoyed the texture as the skin was still a bit crisp, decent rich fat content. The fat nicely rendered so the skin wasn’t overly chewy.
Meat was pleasantly moist and toothsome and the flavor of five spice and seasonings had penetrated the meat.
Here’s the half roast duck from Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum, priced at $20, so three bucks less than Eastern Dynasty.
While not bad, this was not as good as what we’d had dining in for lunch. While the fat was decently rendered, the skin had become quite chewy.
The meat was on the chewier side as well and was lacking in flavor. That container of sauce and drippings was sorely needed.
So, I’m guessing that it’s all about the timing with regards to the roast duck here?
So, while the roast duck we got as take out from Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum was decent, it was definitely not as good as what we get from Eastern Dynasty, which is our current favorite.
This was actually a fun comparison! Hope you enjoyed the post and thanks for dropping by!
Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum 5375 Kearny Villa Rd. San Diego, CA 92123
Eastern Dynasty 4690 Convoy St. San Diego, CA 92111
So, even though I’m kinda over the K(orean) F(fried) C(hicken) thing in San Diego….there are places I thought I’d need to try. Among them was Calvin’s Korean Fried Chicken. If you aren’t following the “score”, Calvin’s used to be Furaido back when Atlas Fresh Market was opened in Poway. It was quite popular as fellow bloggers like Kirbie and Soo really liked the place. I had been meaning to visit this new iteration, which opened in 2021 and even tried twice….but because of “bad timing” I failed. Finally, I made my way there…..
Now located in La Jolla, next to Pho La Jolla, I walked into the place. The small space looks quite “rustic”, a real no-frills kind of place.
The woman working was not very welcoming…….I’m thinking she would totally fit in working at Zion Market?
I ordered a wing box ($14.50) with the Devil’s Garlic Glaze, which is what I had enjoyed the most at Furaido. Instead of just waiting around, I took a short walk waiting for my take out order. When I returned it was ready….I went and picked it up, with basically a “humph” from the woman.
When I got home, I opened the box to see……..sigh……it was just plain chicken wings! What the heck?
Well, I was home….and I really wasn’t driving back there…and to think about having to deal with them!
So, this box is quite the crab load. The fries are the “dusted type”, which meant they were still crisp if a bit under seasoned. This was actually my favorite part of the meal.
And then there was rice, topped with furikake, in case you need more carbs.
This seemed to be like calrose; medium grain, decently cooked.
The simple coleslaw, was meh……watery, bland dressing…..
Well, just like Furaido, the batter for the wings, which I believe is rice flour based, is quite crunchy, a bit thick for my taste as I prefer more crisp and light. Still, if you like that, you might enjoy it. Also, the plain wings are really under-seasoned, which is why I had ordered the (Red) Devil’s Garlic Glaze (jjk RD!)…..which they of course had maybe not understood my order?
At least these weren’t over fried and the wings and drumettes were really moist. So I guess that was some consolation.
Though based on the really terrible service and getting my order wrong….I think I’ll pass on this KFC place in the future.
I heard about a Katsu place opening up in Carlsbad named Little Kiki. Now, of course the name of the place had my good friend “CC” cracking up….because, you know what that means in Filipino (Tagalog) slang, right? Then I noticed a bit of buzz being created on IG….so, well…..I decided to check out the “Little Kiki”…….
The shop is located right on Madison Street off of Carlsbad Village Drive. There’s an actual parking lot right next door. So, I parked and walked on over. It was right at the 1130 opening time on a Saturday and there were already some customers being seated. I was met by a very nice woman and I told her since I was by myself, I’d gladly sit at the bar.
It’s one of those high counter bars, so you really can’t see what’s happening on the other side. I also noticed that there’s a door to Blue Ocean Robata & Sushi Bar next door which was open, so I figured it was the same owner. I came to find out a bit later that the couple that owns Little Kiki also owns Harumama and Love Boat Sushi, which based on my meal makes sense. More on that later.
The woman quickly brought me water and a menu. I noticed the two pour containers which held sauces I assumed were for the katsu.
Well, it seemed like prices were in line with my favorite Tonkatsu shop in town, and other than the lunch set, everything would be a la carte….i.e. you’d pay $3.50 for rice! That lunch set seemed a bit pricey at $33, I think even more than EE Nami these days, but it also had sashimi. But at least the tonkatsu is Berkshire Pork Loin, that is supposedly dry aged. Which is what I ordered.
Soon, the woman return with a Gomasuri-Ky (sesame seed grinder) with some sesame seeds she had ground up while walking back to my seat. Interesting touch……she was very nice and surprised when I actually knew the name of it! I think she was surprised that I was Japanese?
After a short wait my lunch set arrived.
A nice looking set!
I started with the miso soup, which was very good. This had some nice assertive flavors and was definitely not watered down. While a bit on the saltier side, I really enjoyed it.
Just looking at the color, I’m thinking Awase Miso, which is a mixture of Shiro and Aka miso was used? Anyway, it was probably the item I enjoyed the most.
The “Chef’s choice” of sashimi were three thick but small slices of typical salmon. Definitely not among my favorite item with regards to sashimi. I would prefer that the “chef” make some better choices?
There was a large portion of decently shredded cabbage and very hipster looking pickled veggies.
The rice wasn’t fragrant and was on the dry and hard side. It was a decent sized portion.
Ok…ok, I know, you’re here wanting me to “get to the point”, right? What about the tonkatsu.
First off, I didn’t care for the panko used as it was on the softer side…which I think is ok for chicken, but I prefer my panko used for tonkatsu to be flaky and crisp. I guess I enjoy that “crunch”?
I know I’m kinda doing this a bit too much these days…..but please view the evidence submitted below which is how I like my tonkatsu breaded.
I went and sampled the two sauces at the table.
The “spicy” version on the left just didn’t have enough of savoriness and at least for me, seemed to taste a bit like Sambal? So, I stuck with the basic tonkatsu sauce provided.
I drizzled the sauce and sprinkled the ground sesame seeds…which, by the way added a hint of nuttiness to the dish. The loin itself was interesting. The edge pieces were nice and fairly moist, though the meat got drier and chewier as you got closer to the middle. The middle slices were a bit too cold for my taste, but it could be because of the amount of time the pork was rested.
Several of the slices had the panko separating from the meat, though it wasn’t overly prevalent.
There was some decent porkiness to this. It was a pretty good tonkatsu, but definitely not in the same league as EE Nami. It would probably be really good in a properly made Katsu Sando.
I did enjoy those pickled veggies; especially the cauliflower, which was pleasantly salty, yet, still crunchy.
I thought the service was very good, though I think I even prefer the Tonkatsu at Sakura more….though perhaps Musashiya sits a bit below this? I believe that this skews to more of a fusion (it makes sense that the owners own Harumama and Love Boat Sushi), than traditional Japanese, with some performative touches. While the price point is a bit high, I would occasionally drop by if the place was in my neighborhood, but if it were on Convoy, I’d stick with EE Nami. As this was a 60 mile round trip drive.
As I was leaving I took around the dining room which was packed and quickly noticed something. I was the only Asian dining in the restaurant at that moment……
Little Kiki Katsu & More 2958 Madison St. #101 Carlsbad, CA 92008 Current Hours: Monday 5pm – 930pm Wed, Thurs, Sun 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 930pm Fri – Sat 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm Closed on Tuesday
And “CC”…now that I’ve had “Little Kiki”, is it time to get some Boto…ahem, as in sushi?
Recently, I was hankering for a Cubano….but of course Havana Grill in Clairemont had closed! So, I decided to go for something else…..maybe a sanguche? I know a lot of folks really like Sangucheria…but to be perfectly honest, I’ve been underwhelmed by the sanguches there on my three visits….they use telera rolls….nothing like the traditional Peruvian Pan Frances like they do at places like Dona Paulina in Lima. And while the Sanguche at The Peruvian Spot was pretty massive, I did enjoy the Sanguche de Chicharron there when I visited back in February of last year. They also open at 10am, so I could beat any crowds in that rather small parking lot on the corner of Mesa College Drive and Ashford.
It was pretty quiet during my visit. With only one other customer….who seemed like a regular coming in for an order.
I was rather surprised to see that the Sanguche de Chicharron was still priced at $14.95….it hadn’t gone up in the last year-and-a-half. Of course, there were some alarm bells going off in mi cabeza, wondering if what I’d get would be radically different from my previous visit.
I was happy to see Bottled Inka Cola, which is vastly superior to the canned and plastic bottled versions. If I recall, the nice woman, who if I recall correctly is the owner told me this was imported…which means it uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup….it also is much cleaner tasting with an awesome light “fizziness”.
As for the sandwich….well, it’s still quite large!
But it has definitely changed! Instead of a variety of pork cuts, thinly sliced, and decent fat, with good porkiness, this version had three thick, tough, and dry slices of pork.
Only that middle slice had a decent pork flavor, the other two thick and dry chops was definitely in the “other white meat” category. The roll was still very nice, fairly light and yeasty, and held up pretty well. Nice layer of camote slices added a good sweetness. The salza criolla tasted more like straight-forward pickled onions, really sour, and lacking in a touch of spice. And there seemed to be a bit too much of it.
If you’d like to see what the sanguche de chicharron looked like before, here’s a photo.
Hmmm……..
Well, in terms of price….you do get quite a large sandwich….but in my opinion, it’s nothing like what it used to be. It’s not bad mind you; it’s just not as good in my mind.
The Peruvian Spot 7510 Mesa College Dr. San Diego, CA 92111 Current Hours: Sunday, Tues – Fri 10am – 8pm Closed on Saturday and Monday
Our last full day in the Galapagos was going to be spent on Santa Cruz island, with most of it taking place in Puerto Ayora, the most populated town in the islands. We had already been to Cerro Dragon and Bachas Beach, but there was still much more to see.
It felt quite interesting to wake to a fairly busy harbor.
And after our breakfast……
We were headed to the harbor.
Upon landing I felt so sad seeing this sick looking Sea Lion pup. There were cones around the little one so he wouldn’t be bothered, so it was obvious the authorities were aware of the little one.
We boarded a small bus and headed on inland to El Chato Ranch and Giant Tortoise Reserve. This large property was once a cattle ranch, but was converted to a reserve for free roaming tortoises.
From the moment you arrive, you’ll see tortioses.
There are several trails and once we walked a bit we were taken to a “Lava Tunnel”….in other words a lava tube.
And folks really seemed in awe of it. Even though we’ve been to Kaumana Caves a couple of times, this was still neat.
After this we walked some trails and just watched the Giant Tortoises ambling about.
It was amazing watching these majestic creatures…..
Who were just totally unfazed by our presense.
Just carrying on with daily life!
We then headed back to Puerto Ayora and the ferry back to Evolve.
There were more sea lions napping on the dock. And the little was snoozing as well.
Back on board we had our departure briefing and then lunch.
We then had a couple of hours to rest before heading out for our last adventure!
Rabida is a small island, less than 2 square miles in area. Much of it is rocky coastline.
But Rabida has one very unique aspect……
The stunning red sand beach. The red sand is a product of iron rich lava that formed the island. And this beach is the only access point for visitors to the island. It’s makes for quite a dramatic stop.
There were so many unique stops in this archepelago!
A bit further inland is a salt water lagoon, where we saw Flamingos.
I was quite surprised to see them! Apparently, flamingos are very strong fliers, and it is thought that they first migrated to the islands all the way from South America and perhaps even the Caribbean!
I’ll never look at them the same again!
As we headed back to the shore, the red sand made for quite a back drop as we hit the “Golden Hour”.
Back on board, I quickly noticed that the deck had been rearranged a bit. Well, after freshening up we were back on the rear deck.
And there was this flag unfurled…..
Apparently, it was “party time”…….
It was a fun; pirate themed time……
And then it was time for us to contribute to the festivities. Remember the evening we had dinner at the Captain’s table? Well, one of questions we were asked….very casually during our chat was what would be our “spirit animal”. I mentioned really being drawn to the Flightless Cormorants. Well, it had been documented and we were now required to imitate that creature to music! Yikes…. I hope that video will never make it out of the Galapagos!
And after the festivities, we headed back to our cabins to “recover” before dinner.
That duck in a red wine – balsamic reduction was quite good!
Back in our cabin we noticed that we’d been given some nice chocolate as an appreciation gift.
We were actually kind of sad that our cruise was nearly over!
Recently, I needed some work on my car done in the Convoy area. Since it was kind of a long wait, I decided to find a place to grab lunch, I really wasn’t feeling like getting Greek or mediocre Taiwanese…..and of course ramen was not really on the list of items I’d be wanting to have on this warm day. Until…….well, I saw a poster for a limited time offering at Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai. So, I decided to check it out.
The place was not busy at all….I mean ramen in this weather?
The item that interested me was this special for the month of July…..
Yes, RedDevil I know you asked about Mazemen in my last post on Baikohken Ramen. To be honest, I hadn’t had a decent Mazemen in SD….though what really made me hesitate was that I haven’t even had a decent version Hiyashi Chuka either! They had two versions available. One with Mentaiko Cream…which really isn’t my thing and a basic version. You can even add more tamago, chashu, and nori for $2.50. Which I really didn’t need to do.
I just got the original ($16). One of the good things about Ban Nai is that you can request your noodles “katame”; extra firm which is what I did.
I got a kick out of having oi-meshi, basically rice served with this dish. It’s literally called “follow-up rice” and you mix it with whatever tare and leftovers you have after you finish your noodles. That onsen tamago was super runny, as I gleefully mixed everything together making a mess.
There was a ton of scallion, both the green and white parts, as is typical with versions I’ve had. The shoyu tare was on the milder side, but quite thick. Which were nice and chewy. The noodles, the curly, “Kitakata” style is good at picking up the thick tare. It was my favorite part of the dish. There was quite a bit of noodles as well.
I didn’t care much for the addition off gyofun in this as it added a bit too much fishiness to the dish…but perhaps that mild tare needed it. The chashu was, like on my previous visit, on the chewier side, but it did well in small cubes, mixed in with everything.
And then of course……
The oi-meshi, which was on the firmer side…..was actually perfect for mixing with and soaking up all the leftover drippings, nori, scallions, and whatever else was sticking to the bottom and side of the bowl.
In the end, perhaps not the best mazemen I’ve had….but I did have a lot of fun eating this. Though my mom would have slapped me upside the head for “playing with my food”.
So, RedDevil, perhaps you can enjoy “playing” with this version of Mazemen. Though it’s only available for the month of July.
Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai 7951 Othello Ave. San Diego, CA 92111 Current Hours: Mon-Thurs 11am â 3pm, 5pm â 9pm Friday 11am â 3pm, 5pm â 10pm Saturday 11am â 10pm Sunday 11am â 9pm
So….there I was finishing up my Saturday shopping at 99 Ranch Market on Balboa and feeling a bit peckish. I walked past the food court and noticed that Arbor Sushi & Grill, which had replaced Potato Powder Love Noodle had opened….it was a shade past 10am and the shop was open for business. Hmmmm……now, I did hesitate for a minute. This was random and unplanned….I had no clue what the menu looked like. But hot off my recent, fun visit to George’s Cafe, I thought why the heck not?
Now, let’s be clear on something right away……this isn’t Japan, Taiwan, or even say….. HNL. I wouldn’t be having sushi in a market food court. There were some…what looked like aburi style sushi under the heat lamps on the counter and a menu of Westernized Rolls. Not my kind of thing. I heard the woman at the front counter speaking Mandarin to someone in the kitchen. There was however this sign that actually caught my attention.
Well ok. A teriyaki chicken bento, which comes with shrimp tempura priced at $11.99 as a grand opening special. Heck, that’s cheaper than Yoshinoya these days, right? Got nothing to lose, so I decided to go ahead and try it out.
The woman manning the counter was really nice and very mellow. I placed my order and was given one of those buzzer thingies and had a seat. When my order was ready, she actually came and dropped off my bowl at the table herself!
The bowl was quite hefty.
You can have white rice, fried rice, or chow mein with your bento bowl. I chose white rice, which was Jasmine and decently cooked.
It had what looked like two slices of Caterpillar Roll. It was as expected, “krab” and mayo, wrapped with perfectly fresh avocado.
The rice, which was not jasmine, was on the harder side and the shari was vinegar forward. Not my thing, but perfectly fine.
Not a fan of the “shrimp tempura”. Batter not crisp and lacquered.
Overcooked and rubbery shrimp.
The Tentsuyu was almost flavorless.
The Gyoza….was well….
The wrapper was so thick and chewy, the filling salty and very one dimensional.
I would not be surprised if this came from the frozen isle.
And finally, the teriyaki. Well, it was dark meat which is a plus…….chopped chicken thighs, pre-cooked, reheated, then “glazed” with a pretty weak sauce. Not terrible, but on the blander side. I actually enjoyed the mushrooms that accompanied the dish as the earthiness really provided a nice savoriness to the dish.
Overall, fine for pseudo Japanese fast-food….though I wouldn’t be getting sushi from here. The portion size was generous. And at $11.99….well, at least right now, it’s worth the price. Not sure I’d be paying more than that though. Just don’t be expecting “Japanese” cuisine.
Arbor Sushi & Grill Express 5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court) San Diego, CA 92111 Current Hours: Mon – Fri 1030am – 8pm Sat – Sun 10am – 8pm
Ok, ready for some interesting “stuffs” on this Monday?
Taste of Hong Kong is Now Grill N Malatang, or is it?:
Well, I knew that Taste of Hong Kong had closed and become yet another Hot Pot (of course) place. But this gets more interesting. Back in May, Taste of Hong Kong started a pseudo “all-you-can-eat” program. Of course the cynic in me thought this was the start of desperate measures by the business. I remember telling the Missus, “when they start doing hot pot, I know they are really desperate.” Well, guess what? A few months later I heard they were doing hot pot! Yikes! But like that sales pitch goes “but wait, there’s more!” After an interesting comment on one of my posts, I decided to head on over to check things out.
And yes, the signage clearly states “No Longer Taste of Hong Kong”……strangely, it does say to go the side door…I think it’s for unit 320 to enter whatever restaurant it is. Also, note the notice of application for ownership change!
So, what about the hot pot? Well, I found this on IG:
OK, so it’s now Grill N Malatang, right? But strangely, I saw this follow-up post.
It seems like Grill N Malatang is closed for a couple of weeks?
“A single mother named Kayo Iwasaki moved to Hokkaido in 1903 with her daughter, Kimi Sano, but their life there turned out to be so hard that she could no longer raise the girl on her own. Eventually, she decided that she had to leave Kimi in the care of American missionary Charles W. Huett and his wife, who promised to take her back to the United States and raise her there.
However, what awaited the girl was a tragedy. Before the Huetts could sail for America, Kimi caught tuberculosis and had to be taken in at an orphanage in Azabu, where she died shortly after at the age of nine. Kayo never found out about her daughterâs death, believing for life that Kimi grew up to be a fine lady and had a good life abroad.”
And if you go to Shelter Island, there’s a red pagoda housing the Yokohama Friendship Bell.
And, if you look to the left of the Pagoda….well, guess what?
It the Girl in Red Shoes by Japanese artist Munehiro Komeno.
In the comments of her post, I promised Kat that I’d take some photos and post, so on my most recent visit to Tunaville, I stopped by to take these photos. So there you go Kat!
I’m not quite sure who mentioned ViNam Cafe to me? But it’s definitely Banh Mi “season” for me right now as temps are starting to rise and I found myself in Rolando. So, I decided to figure out where ViNam was. I finally found the little shop on the ground floor of a mixed use apartment on ECB just East of College. I found some parking on ECB and walked over and discovered that the shop has it’s own small, but dedicated parking lot.
It was fairly early on a weekend morning and the little shop was quite sedate. Folks were just getting coffee while I was looking for my banh mi brekkie!
Just one nice young lady working.
Looking over the food, it was apparent that this is one of those “new” places and the menu has no Vietnamese names…other than banh mi.
I went with the Banh Mi Pate Chaor perhaps Dac Biet Cold Cut ($9). And it’s an interesting sign of the times as the nine dollar price didn’t faze me at all. Another thing that was different from other places is that the very nice young lady was doing everything….taking orders, making all the drinks, answering the phone, and of course making my banh mi. If this is usually the case, I wouldn’t be in a hurry when you visit. My banh mi took over twenty minutes, but I’m not going to complain too much since that young lady was working hard!
Three stacked slices of cha lua, two of nem nuong….though the flavor of that was nullified by that thick smear of pate….not that I’m complaining mind you. This was definitely pate forward in flavor.
The pickled veggies were really cut thick…a bit too thick for my enjoyment, but that’s splitting hairs. There were not one; but two slices of cucumber in this so you won’t find me complaining about that. A nice cross slice of jalapeno with some decent spice.
My least favorite item was the bread, the crust was hard and the bread was overly chewy.
Overall, not a bad banh mi, the proportion was off for my taste….though I might be the only customer who would ever complain about too much meat? If the bread situation is just an aberration (I understand they make their own bread) than this would indeed be a nice, slightly Westernized banh mi. I’m thinking this is great for the students at SDSU.
The ViNam Cafe 6150 El Cajon Blvd. Suite A San Diego, CA 92115 Current Hours: Mon – Fri 630am – 6pm Saturday 7am – 9pm Sunday 7am – 6pm
