bacara resort.

the bacara resort and spa in goleta.

it’s been a while since we went anywhere on our own, so we took a mini trip to santa barbara during b’s break. we opted to stay at the bacara bc it’s oceanfront, and we pretty much didn’t need to leave the resort grounds. at all. also, their pool is my fave. well… was. i must say, that this visit was not as quiet as i had hoped it to be. since it’s summer, there were more families, with multiple children. yes, i could have gone to the adults only pool… but it’s not as nice. so, amidst some splashing and crying, we got in some sunbathing r&r.

below, around the resort. (on golf carts! don’t know why i love golf carts so.) their lawns are still green.. this drought has everything yellow at home, so i admit its a nice/guilty departure for the eyes..

the pool from above.

beach vibes.

sunset alfresco dining at the resort bistro. waitstaff + overall guest service is impeccable at the bacara.

wandering the resort grounds. a view of the beachfront to ocean house from atop the hill.

night swim.

i didn’t take many food pics bc i was trying to be good “on vacay.” heres a snap of lunch at the bistro. sausage, artichoke + leek pizza.

xx

http://www.bacararesort.com/

toyoda, tokyo.

lunch at ginza toyoda.

i didn’t get photos of every course, but wanted to share the interesting dishes we were served..

this is whale fat. aka blubber. it had the texture of super fatty sashimi, with a slightly fishy aftertaste. there were two cubes in the thick miso-like broth, but i could only eat one. i’m not sure if i enjoyed it, but it was definitely interesting.

this little snow crab was served in her own shell. beautiful, and a bit.. ironic?

grilled yellowtail. quite delicious.

oyster rice. this was fragrant and light, i had seconds.

a really good cup of tea.

sesame and milk pudding, with the consistency of a soft mochi. served in a brown sugar syrup.

xx

beige, alain ducasse. tokyo.

lunch at beige in tokyo.

bright setting in the ginza chanel building. lots of sunlight makes for a relaxing lunch.

we dined on the three course pri fixe menu.

earl grey tea service.

amuse bouche tartlets.

lobster salad.

john dory.

wagyu with onions and potatoes.

cappucino.

the signature chanel magnolia chocolate dessert.

mignardises to end the meal.

xx

the sea.

we celebrated my sisters birthday with a family dinner at the sea by alexanders steakhouse in norcal.

i have to say, excellent service. upon arrival, we were greeted warmly, our coats were taken and we were seated by the bar to wait for the rest of our party. when everyone arrived we proceeded to the table, immediately offered water and choices of bread- LOVE their bread selections. i appreciate that they had inquired if there was a special occasion we were celebrating upon booking, and had prepared in advance. there was a happy birthday notecard from the restaurant for my sister at the table, hosted a champagne toast after we ordered, and a happy birthday dessert brought out before our other desserts were served. great attention to detail in service.

now onto the food. we ordered so much, with a party of 8.. the portions were heartier than we remembered.

amuse bouche.

hamachi shooters. my fave!

kumamoto oysters.

the sea’s fried clam chowder. not thick, but still creamy. deceptively filling. the picture below is half of a serving. i said we would be sharing a few orders of soup, and they went ahead and split the bowls for us so that everyone at the table had their own.

mini crab cakes.

the entree special, seared scallops with spaghetti squash.

sides, wild mushrooms and seasonal veggies. totally unnecessary orders for us, since we were so full. we barely touched the sides at dinner, but it was good the next day!

b’s entree of wagyu flat iron steak, with tempura kabocha. yuM.

chai latte with dessert.

dessert, “pumpkin patch”

candles for the birthday girl!

i was originally worried about coming here with a large party, especially with parents that don’t like to sit through super long meals, but in the end i didn’t have to worry because the course timing was excellent, and they kept offering my dad more bread, which made him happy. overall it was a great dining experience.

xx

http://www.theseausa.com/

providence.

lunch at providence.

this was our first time dining here, and we were not disappointed. we opted to order a la carte, and of course, ordered too much. especially since bread and 3 amuse bouche courses were brought out first.

a little bite of some gelee..

shiso and rice “taco” light in flavor, great texture, crunchy wheat puffs.

ikura atop cracker with a bit of soup. sO good.

this was our first order, josephine’s clam fritters. they were huGe. much bigger than expected.. more like puffs/beignets than the fried clams we were expecting. served with yuzu mayo. we packed half of it to go, to save room for our main courses.

then onto wild fluke. ponzu was delicate, nice presentation.

there was a seasonal white truffle offered that day, which i couldn’t resist. we opted for a pasta course, and ordered the truffle on tagliatelle.

he came back and shaved more truffles after we started digging in. (:

my main course, the hokkaido scallops. i was pretty full by the time this course came out, but still enjoyed. seared, soft scallops, with coconut and curry flavors.

b’s entree of striped bass.

dessert, this was pear something.. i forget the name but it came with pureed pear atop a cake, with gelato.

when we dine out, i don’t usually choose seafood restaurants, but was glad we tried providence. the flavors were light and balanced, with a nod to asian seasoning, and execution was delicate. we thoroughly enjoyed, and will be back for dinner soon.

xx

http://providencela.com/

mandarin oriental eats, las vegas.

we stayed at the mandarin last month on a mini getaway to vegas, and really liked it. the hotel is quiet, compared to the rest of vegas, and overall a more relaxing and refined experience. here are some of the eats we enjoyed.

afternoon tea for two at the salon.

a three tier display was set up next to our loungers. service was excellent.

here are the plain scones. with two fruit jams, butter and cream. their scones were flaky + dense.

savories. great presentation, i enjoyed everything except for the rectangular salty tart.. i don’t like when my sweet + savories are mixed.. the egg was good, and devoured in a spoonful.

sweets. the tart and cake pops were good but basic, my favorite was the chocolate hazelnut in the center, and the coffee cream puff.

bento box breakfast, in room dining.

loved this! a scaled down version of japanese hotel breakfasts.

xx

Petrossian

brunch at petrossian west hollywood.

indulging in a bit of caviar at the nice outdoor patio. weekend mornings are pretty quiet on roberston, so this is quite a nice spot for a chill brunch + glass of rosè.

caviar sampler, with toast, blinis and crème fraîche.

duck rilette.

caviar flatbread. with crème fraîche, chives, red onion, capers, egg. this was my favorite dish for brunch. great value + actually quite a bit of food.

a close up of the yum..

xx

totoraku.

totoraku. where to start.

i had been curious about this hard to book, invite only, japanese bbq for a while, and was looking forward to dining here when my friends husband, who was invited back, booked for us. i knew i wanted to try it to see what it was all about, but didn’t know what to expect. i was a bit unsure if the quality would match the steep (our dinner came out to 280/pp) prices.

i dined with a group of 5, and we brought champagne and a few reds. the restaurant is quite small, on a strip mall off pico.

the first thing that was brought to our table was this plate of little amuse bouche bites. very teeny but delicate and flavorful bites.

nice presentation, a good tone to start off the meal. the waiter went over every one in detail.. which i will not repeat, but the scallop and the sesame tofu, were especially memorable.

then we went into 3 courses of raw beef.

tataki, in a light sort of ponzu and scallion.

beef throat ( in the glass) and seared beef. when this was served the waiter stated that the throat was a rare cut of beef, and this is as much as you can get from one cow. i found it a bit chewy, and.. for lack of a better word, slimy.. i didn’t really enjoy it.

this one was my favorite, mixed with raw quail egg, apple + asian pear. i like the sweet fruit pairing.

onto the hibachi. i was surprised that the chef had us cook the meat ourselves. usually at better restaurants, they have a waiter or chef to cook most of the meat for you at your table… that way they can ensure that its done correctly, and give you the proper dining experience. we were instructed how long to grill each meat that came to our table.. and off we went onto 6 courses of grilled beef.

tongue to start. delicious, soft and fatty. a thicker cut than other restaurants.

filet mignon. lightly seasoned. this was probably my favorite cooked meat, because it required the least amount of grilling. we had it very rare, and it was tender and juicy. i don’t usually order filet, because i like some fat content, but the way this was prepared was to my liking.

after that.. top cap sirloin.

short rib. after this everything was about the same.. the short rib needed to be cooked more to medium/char for better texture.

seasoned bottom cap.

blurry pic, but was quite good. delicious skinned  and seasoned japanese tomato.

a side of veggies, soybean paste. to cut through the meat.

the last steak to be grilled, good, but sO. much. meat.

we didn’t ask for it upon booking, but our friend asked the waiter if they had the add on seafood soup, and when he checked with the chef they were able to accommodate. spicy king crab udon soup. yUM. the udon noodles had a great chewy texture, and the soup was just slightly spicy, so i was able to enjoy it.

overall a good dining experience. great service, but i do think we were paying a bit extra for the exclusivity of the restaurant. i’ve had good japanese bbq in japan, where there was A5 wagyu and kobe, cooked for you, and lower in pricing. its aLOT of red meat in one meal, so the wine was definitely needed.

the waiter told us that chef kaz was quite busy, as it was a friday night, so we didn’t really get to speak with him during the meal. we sent a few glasses of bordeaux back to him, but sadly he did not come out to drink with us. towards the end of the meal, chef kaz brought out the above soup to the table and said hello. we asked to take a picture with him at the end of the night, and he was very accommodating.

 

xx

 

 

kagaya.

shabu shabu at its best in little tokyo.

so i finally dined at kagaya. i don’t know what took me sO long to get here, i’ve been missing out. a shabu dinner at kagaya consists of 3 courses of appetizers/small plates/soup, shabu veggie plate, meat of choice, congee or noodles, then dessert. i feel that their pricing is fair for the excellent quality served.

the appetizers/starters are pics complied from 2 separate visits.

some sort of whitefish sashimi with ponzu.

duck meat soup.

lightly fried fish with ponzu.

baked oyster with miso.

i just realized that i don’t have a picture of the veggie plate.. my attention was ALL on the gorgee wagyu. perfection. but i can’t finish an order by myself, its a bit too much for me. for me i think a wagyu shared with 3 diners is the perfect amount. others can finish an entire plate but i like to have some prime beef as well.

the prime beef.

seafood shabu.

for dessert, i was impressed that we had a selection to choose from, and were served “proper” desserts.. not just a scoop of ice cream or mochi ice cream.

this is the green tea mousse cake, overall all their dishes are very well plated.

the banana pie with vanilla ice cream. flaky pastry, delicious.

the apple pie with ice cream. the caramel sauce is sO good, this may be a favorite.

b also ordered the creme brûlée, on a different visit, which was very good as well.

overall the quality of kagaya was excellent. a new fave, better late than never!

 

xx

rias de galicia, barcelona.

dinner at rias de galicia. my favorite meal from our last trip.

this fine dining seafood restaurant has fresh seafood, prepared simply, and cooked to perfection.

 

we started with iberic jamon. the REALLY good kind.

served with toasted crackly bread, buttered and smothered with fresh tomato pulp. YUM.

amuse bouche from the chef, bite sized breaded and fried fish.

gillardeau no.1. sweet and creamy.

 

yellowtail tataki.

 

grilled fresh octopus. SO GOOD. the sight char and smokiness from the grill added layers of flavor. amazing texture. i don’t think i’ve ever enjoyed octopus as much as i did with this dish.

seafood soup.

baked fish.. i forget which kind… but it was flaky and light.

pork ribs. crackly skin, amazing glaze, hints of honey and rosemary. omG. seriously… YUM.

paella. a bit on the salty side, but i still enjoyed.

local mini strawberries with cream and ice cream.

if you’re in barcelona, def check out this place. oh, and the service was wonderful.

 

xx j