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.
Thank goodness for the recent cool weather. The Missus wanted something "a bit" spicy. She chose Sizzling Pot King. And we ended up going back two more times!
There's something comforting about the simple, just spicy and numbing enough dry pot that SPK makes.
It's pretty much the same thing all the time; the Large Dry Pot ($30.99); we've found that stuff like chicken, beef, and pork just don't hold up well after a while and the portion size here makes for three meals! The tendon had gone downhill over the course of several meals last year. So, we just stick with tripe and pork intestine….oh, gotta have that frozen tofu ($2.99) to suck up all the nice spice as well.
Nice and numbing. Someone mentioned to me once, that cauliflower and potatoes had no place in Chinese cuisine. I told the young man that the Missus grew up eating stir fried potato and cauliflower with tomato….in China! We both wish there was a bit more mung bean sprouts; but I think the majority of "give me more meat" folks would disagree. Anyway, fragrant, generous portions, nice spice, decent flavor, you'll definitely need some rice.
In the course of a week we revisited Village North, Village Kitchen (posts upcoming), and SPK……. this is where the Missus wanted to return to. Go figure.
Sizzling Pot King 8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd San Diego, CA 92111
So, what are you enjoying with the recent cooler weather?
I haven't been able to visit very often; work is keeping me quite busy and fairly exhausted at times. And Taisho recently implemented a "no cameras" rule. I can understand; I've seen folks bring in some major gear and start snapping away in the tiny restaurant.
But on a recent visit, a very slow night, I discreetly took some phots with my phone.
So here's yet another "COMC" post on Taisho. This one will probably be the last for a while.
It was a lovely morning when we awoke on our second day in Reykjavik. This was our last full day and while we didn't intend on driving around and such, we'd have quite a full day. After some coffee and such we headed out.
While it was still overcast; it would drizzle later in the day, it was still quite a nice morning. Tjörnin (aka The Pond) was basically one block away and always seemed to look so picturesque.
On that main street that travels along the banks of Tjörnin, Fríkirjiuvegur (please don't ask me to pronounce any of these) is the National Gallery and a lovely church; Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík – the "Free Church".
We took our sweet time heading further down the street, turned right on Bankastræti, then taking a slight right onto, you ready for this one? Skólavörðustígur. One of Reykjavik's major shopping streets. We swerved in and out of various shops along the way. Though I kept our "brunch" endpoint in sight.
And we did our share of shopping; though no goose or horse for us this time around.
The street basically ends at this statue of Leif Erikson (Leifur Eiríksson).
This statue was actually a gift from the United States! For more interesting facts about the statue and Leif Erikson check out this article. What little I do remember about Leif Erikson from history class was that he was the first European to discover North America, which he called Vinland, 400 years before Columbus.
Right behind the statue is the unmistakable Hallgrímskirkja, whose main tower can be seen from all over the Reykjavik.
Interesting as all this was. My main reason for being here was to visit Café Loki. I'd read that this corner shop did cater to the tourists, but was established with the purpose to serve the traditional dishes of Iceland.
The second floor dining room was half full when we arrived at about 10am. There was a small line of folks waiting for tables when we left at 11. We were looking forward to visiting Café Loki and ended up really enjoying our meal.
The soup was nice and rich, full of flavor. The "Lamb Pate" (Kæfa), looked a bit strange, but it was fairly gamey, and quite delicious. I later read it's made from mutton. I'd have this in a minute again. And the rye bread here is to die for.
I went for the Icelandic Plate, which gave me a nice variety of items.
So, along with the Lamb Pate and Rye Bread, there was Plokkfiskur (mashed fish), Hangikjöt (smoked lamb) on rye bread, Smoked Trout on Rye, Hákarl – the infamous fermented shark, and Harðfiskur (dried fish).
The Harðfiskur was interesting…it was dry, I mean dry, you needed a good amount of the delicious Icelandic butter to soften the flesh a little; otherwise it really was like eating leather. There is chewing involved; the flavor is very mild. I'm used to Saki Ika (Japanese Dried Cuttlefish), so I found this surprisingly bland.
I think the English description for Plokkfiskur – "mashed fish" is totally wrong. This is more like "Buttery Cod Mashed Potatoes". It is very hearty; there a touch of onion, the wonderful smjor (Icelandic butter), on that slightly sweet and dense rye bread is quite a treat. The Missus loved this.
The smoked trout with butter and skyr on rye was good. I never took any photos, but I had skyr, the Icelandic style yogurt for breakfast every morning.
I really enjoyed the Hangikjöt (smoked lamb), with butter on rye. It had a nice smokiness, just enough saltiness, with just a touch of the "flavor of the pasture" for me to really enjoy.
Did I mention how much we loved the rye bread here?
And then there was the Hákarl, the fermented shark that Anthony Bourdain said he would never eat again. C'mon, for real? This little pale white cube?
Which smells like a combination of ripe cheese and urine. In fact, someone jokingly told us that the fish is buried in sand for 6 weeks at which time it's urinated on, before being hung to dry. It's good to know that this is not true (I hope). This was rather anti-climatic. There's a sort of salty, slightly ripe cheese thing going on, the texture is waxy. After that you're hit with a shot of ammonia which you basically exhale. Think of the light ammonia hit you get from Pidan (Century Egg) times like 10. The Missus actually enjoyed this…..of course, She loves cheese that smells like my dog's feet.
We really enjoyed our meal here. It gave us a nice view of some of the Icelandic dishes that I'd heard about before our trip. And, we liked most of what we had! It was also fairly inexpensive; by Icelandic standards. I'd gladly eat here again…….I'd just be happy with more of that rye bread with smjor.
Cafe Loki Lokastigur 28 Reykjavik 101, Iceland
We were now quite satisfied and not quite full. Time to head off and do more shopping!
Iceland sure was photogenic; even during the "off-season", though I've read that Iceland is now facing the mixed blessing of too many tourists, which of course has its own share of problems (ask the guy who grew up in Hawaii about this). We didn't find things (other than our last two dinner restaurants) too crowded, people were very friendly, and the country is ruggedly beautiful.
We stopped the car a few times on the way back from Gullfoss……………. look at the views!
We arrived back in Reykjavik, dropped by a little grocery store (Bonus), then headed back to the apartment. Relaxed a bit, showered, napped, got up, relaxed, showered, you get it, right?
From this point on, we'd basically be hoofing it around Reykjavik, and we walked to our dinner destination, Fiskmarkadurinn (The Fish Market).
I'd made reservations online and was glad I did as the place was really busy. In fact, we had a nice seat in lounge for about 20 minutes or so until a table opened up. One interesting thing about Iceland. There are coat racks….I mean pretty massive racks where everyone hangs their coats. It's really easy to forget where your coat is on the rack, so I made sure to put our coats in specific places.
In the comments of my first Iceland post, "KenB" asked about food and drink prices. Yes, things are fairly pricy. I'm list the prices for this meal, since it's one that I recall.
While waiting in the lounge we decided to have a few local beers. I noticed beer from Borg Brugghús on the list, so we decided to try two of them.
The Bríó Lager was quite nice, somewhat floral, clean tasting, somewhat creamy, and also 1.490 kr – $14.
I opted for the Hans Rauchbier, which had a nice smokiness to it, lightly hoppy, really good! 1.790 kr – $17.
After this we decided to lay off the drinks.
We finally got a table. Sitting we noticed folks were either getting sushi or the tasting menu. There's a bit of an Asian influences on some of the dishes here. We weren't super hungry and decided on ordering a la carte. As is the norm for us, we went with several starters and one main. Of course, things started with a fantastic moist rye bread and the amazing butter they have here in Iceland.
And a nice amuse.
The Fishmarket Lobster Soup (2,900 kr – $27.50)
The soup was prepared using coconut milk, so we had our doubts, but this was really good. The coconut milk gave the dish some rich-smoothness, the langoustine tail was perfectly cooked, so very tender and slightly sweet. Not a big fan of the mandarin oranges in this dish.
Next up was the Bitter Lemon Glazed Arctic Char (3,200 kr – $30).
I love the way they pickle items in Iceland; very crisp, very nice flavors. The artic char was moist and slightly buttery, the rye bread outstanding, the edamame puree interesting but not really adding to the dish.
Of course we had to try the Robata Grilled Minke Whale (2,800 kr – $26.50).
According to the Marine Institute of Iceland, there is a sustainable yearly catch number for Minke Whales. So I thought we should try this. Even though there was a good amount of horseradish grated on the soy and ginger glazed whale meat; I thought it was much too "livery" in flavor for me. The Missus, who loves liver really enjoyed this.
We noticed the main courses looked fairly large, so we decided to only order one; the Grilled Blue Ling (5,300 kr – $50).
We though the Hollandaise sauce actually detracted from the mild flavor of the perfectly grilled fish. There was a touch of smokiness, the fish was nicely seasoned and melted in your mouth. The bit of foie gras was a nice touch as it added a good deal of richness; though it over-powered the fish when eaten together. The smoked cheek of catfish was nice and crisp and added a nice textural counter-point.
This was a nice meal. The Missus enjoyed Herself so much; especially that Minke Whale, that She had me make reservations at the sister (brother) restaurant of the Fishmarket for the next night. In terms of prices, starters go for around $27-$35 and mains $50-$85, the tasting menu is about $115 per person without drinks. Service was very nice though the tables were quite close together.
Fiskmarkadurinn (The Fish Market) Adalstraeti 12 Reykjavik 101, Iceland
So, recently I had some time for an actual sit down lunch. Though not enough time to head down to Kearny Mesa. I wanted some Chinese, of which there seems to be a rather strange shortage of in this area. There's the "one-trick-pony" shop (which I actually revisited for the first time in nearly ten years and Lai Chen, which never seems to be open. My office is close enough to the 805, so a revisit to My Holy Gao seemed to be the most realistic option.
The place was empty when I arrived and pretty much stayed that way during my whole visit. The menu has changed a bit since my first round of visits back in March. Some new dishes added including Di San Xian; a classic stir fry of potato, eggplant, and bell peppers. While I knew the specialty of the shop leaned more toward Sichuan style dishes, I decided to order it. A big mistake.
This was like every bad stereotype of Chinese food out there. The dish was gloppy, too sweet, the eggplant wasn't cooked properly, as in the skin portions were hard and inedible and the interior pieces almost crunchy; lacking the buttery texture of well cooked eggplant. There was a shortage of one of the "three treasures", the bell peppers.
At least they had the Tea Smoked Duck which is the dish I believe they do best. While a bit drier than on previous visits; this was by far the best item.
Not too salty, nice smoke flavor, good texture.
For the final item, I saw the classic Chongqing Dish, Mao Xuewang on the menu. I've usually avoided it because the blood curd used is usually of terrible quality. In this case, I decided to go for it.
I've noticed something about the hot pot and similar type Sichuan dishes here. They seem to lack skill and finesse and the flavors are very simple and lacking in the wonderful layers and complexity of really good Sichuan food. The broth was very thin and in spite of looks not very spicy. The only real "ma", numbingness was provided when I bit into the whole Sichuan peppercorns. The blood was metallic and bitter; the "ham" in this case was faux Spam; the beef was decent if a bit too chewy, the intestine was good, though somewhat lacking in the offal-funkiness that I enjoy.
And like before, the rice here was terrible; with some really hard pieces, followed by strangely gummy grains.
In spite of the tea smoked duck; I'll probably not return for a while.
Mr. Holy Gao 10066 Pacific Heights Blvd San Diego, CA 92121 Open Daily – 11am – 930pm
After our dinner at Matur Og Drykkur, we got back to our apartment rather late, at least for us, as it was nearly 1130pm. We showered; well here's an interesting thing (apparently one of many) about the hot water in Iceland. It all comes from geothermal fields. So guess what? Yep, there's a distinct sulphuric smell to the hot water….it smelt like rotten eggs (and something else, but we won't go into that). A bit of a shock at first.
I believe the sun rose at around 7am in the morning when we were in Reykjavik. We were pooped so we got up a bit later than usual. After waking up, we just headed straight out of Reykjavik. We didn't want to overdo things much and just decided to do the three main stops on the Golden Circle.
First stop Þingvellir National Park, Iceland's first National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I could probably write a dozen posts about Þingvellir, there is so much historical and geographical significance to the place.
We thought Þingvellir was quite beautiful, even on a drizzly, overcast, windy, and chilly November day.
I was stunned to be walking along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; literally between two continents!
Funny thing, I had purchased two really cheap rain ponchos, but the Missus refused to take Hers stating how "unfashionable" it looked. Now, in the face of rain and more wind than an umbrella could stand, She decided to use mine.
Þingvellir ("Thingvellir") literally means "Assembly Field" and the National Parliament of Iceland was formed here in 930 and kept meeting here until 1798.
The flag in this photo marks the supposed site of Lögberg (the Law Rock) where the speeches during the assemblies were made. I say "supposed" because the precise location of the rock is lost to time.
Walking back up the trail, we drove down the road a bit. Stopping in a small dirt lot. The view, like many others was outstanding.
This was an additional parking lot further down the highway. We took to the trail.
Unfortunately, Geysir is pretty much dormant these days. Luckily, Strokkur a few meters away still erupts every 10 minutes or so. After watching twice, it becomes rather easy to judge when Strokkur is ready to go.
It's quite fun to watch.
Also, as the sign says a few photos above, I guess there are a few common sense challenged folks out there. Better watch out or someone might be wearing your Necropants. Soemthing else I learned about in Iceland.
There's actually a hotel, gift shop, restaurant, etc, right across the street….in case you just can't get your fill of Strokkur and bubbling geo-thermal wells.
Soon enough, we were off to our last destination. With a few roadside stops along the way to admire the view.
Our final stop? Gullfoss, "Golden Falls". While the falls didn't look too "golden" on this afternoon, it was still quite nice.
Which our photos really couldn't capture.
We both loved this romantic story.
We hadn't eaten the entire day, so we decided to stop at the café connected to the gift shop and information center.
The café has sandwiches and other dishes, but I was after one thing. This little restaurant was well known for their Icelandic Lamb Soup (kjötsúpa). I was even told that there were free refills. The Missus and I shared a bowl.
It was actually much better than I thought it was going to be. Nice lamb flavor; pretty hearty, not too much meat, but it really warmed us up. I ended up going for half a second bowl. I didn't feel to bad about it since I think it cost somewhere around ($15 US) for the soup.
Yes, Iceland is expensive; but the people are so nice, the views amazing, and we were enjoying the food.
I looked around at the folks sitting and eating on this rather dreary day. And guess what? Seems like everyone was smiling and having a great time!
The duck was so tough and rubbery; severely over-cooked. There was very little duck flavor and this was rather bland overall. I actually thought the gailan was the best part of the dish as the rice was too dry and that sauce, which had a nice zip was very one-dimensional. This has me wondering how the other dishes that I had actually enjoyed here would be these days.
Koon Thai Kitchen 3860 Convoy St San Diego, CA 92111
Our next stop after Hida-Takayama was Kanazawa. Why Kanazawa? Well, I've heard the city called "Little Kyoto" several times. Kenrokuen Garden is considered one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, the seafood is supposed to be great, there's Higashi-Chaya, a famous Geisha District, and did I mention the seafood is supposed to be great?
Also, I'd heard that Kanazawa was booming since the Shinkansen extension to the city was completed in 2015. So I thought this would be a fun diversion. We left Takayama, transferred to the Shinkansen in Toyama, and made it to Kanazawa at around noon. I was surprised at how reasonable hotel prices were in Kanazawa, so I figured "what the heck"? And booked us a nice room at the Hotel Nikko. Of course we arrived too early to check in, but were able to drop off our bags at the front desk, and headed off to get some lunch.
I'd decided that a nice place to start would be Omi-cho Market.
If you've read this blog long enough; you know we just love places like this; whether in Laos, Tunisia, France, Vietnam, or whereever, we just love to explore.
And Omi-cho was no exception. You get to see what's in season, what folks are eating, and sometimes other interesting things. Like this film crew……
There are quite a few restaurant in the market area. We just picked one; seafood of course, at random. This one named Jimonotei.
The prices seemed very reasonable and there seemed to be a rather short wait. The customers were a mix of Japanese (both tourists and some folks who seemed to be locals/regulars) and some larger parties of Chinese.
We got seats at the counter rather quickly because it was just the Missus and myself.
Deciding to order was pretty simple; we went with one sashimi combo (1500¥ – about $14 at the time) and an additional sashimi plate (1000¥ – about $9.50). With one "little" addition.
Soon enough the sashimi combo arrived.
Pretty generous for about 15 bucks US. The Missus didn't care for the Chawan Mushi; I think it was the dashi-forward flavor. I enjoyed it. She did enjoy the miso soup, as I never got a shot at it.
The sashimi was solid if not spectacular and at this price point, a bargain. The Amaebi was sweet, the hirame had a nice chew to it, salmon was buttery, the maguro, while not the prime cuts, was passable. Best of all, everything was super fresh. After all, Omi-cho is called "Kanazawa's Kitchen" and has been around since the Edo Period.
As for the other sashimi; with the "special 100 Yen" upcharge?
Kanazawa' history with Gold Leaf goes back to the 16th century and the city now produces 99% of the gold leaf in Japan. The city attributes its mastery of gold leaf production to both craftsmanship handed down over generations as well as to the water in the area. We really weren't going to order gold leaf covered ice cream cones. But gold leaf covered sashimi; for less than a dollar upcharge? Count me in.
While it didn't add any additional flavor; it did give the dish a bit of "bling" don't you think? We couldn't help but laugh……
Jimonotei Inside Omi-cho Market
After the nice lunch, we walked back to the Kanazawa Station Area. The Hotel Nikko is right across the street from the station. We checked in and it was nap time.
Good lord; triple digit temperatures. Just getting into the "100's" in Bay Park is bad enough….but at the end of October? What the heck is going on this year?
So, instead of doing a post on Pho and Bun Bo Hue; I thought I'd spare you and do a quick post on tonight's dinner. the mezze at La Miche is a favorite during hot weather and tonight was no different. We had the usual.
Baba Gannoush.
During our earliest visits, the Missus didn't care for the version. But over the years, She has grown a bit fond of it. Less smoky flavors, very smooth, a good amount of sesame paste. The pomegranate seeds add a nice tangy contrast.
Of course we got the Muhamarah.
Wonderful sweetness from the red pepper, nutty-earthy flavors from the walnut, slight tanginess from the pomegranate. Thickened with bread…..eaten with bread.
The Missus especially enjoyed this mixed with something new we tried. The Mujaddara.
A filling lentil and rice dish. Loved the fried onions.
And of course; the funky-salty-cheesy Shaankleesh.
I really like this dish.
So there you have it; a very satisfying meal, almost vegetarian, and just what we needed tonight.
La Miche Kabobgee 9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd San Diego, CA 92123
