Chinese Name: 官府菜
Taiwan Hotel Imperial Restaurant is situated in the Wangfujing area, a busy downtown district, a block away from a popular shopping street and the Dong Huamen Specialty Food Market. It is situated in the basement of the Taiwan Hotel. This restaurant specializes in the cuisine eaten by royalty, Imperial Chinese Cuisine.
Chinese Name: 南门涮肉
Nan Men Hot Pot is a popular Islamic hot pot restaurant in Beijing, with 8 locations. We ate at the Chaoyang District location that is across the street from Embassy row and a couple blocks from the Silk Market and subway station Guomao. The specialize in individualized ornate blue hot pots used to cook meat, seafood, and vegetables. They like to emphasize the health benefits of particular items and love to show off their ISO certifications.
Lei Garden is a Cantonese Chinese restaurant based in Hong Kong, with serveral locations in China and Singapore. We loved their Hong Kong IFC location and had to visit them when in Beijing. They opened in 2006 and are located next to the Regent Hotel, on the 3rd floor right above a Ferrari dealer. They serve dim sum on the weekends and have waiters that understand English. We found the menu lacking some dishes present at their Hong Kong location like squab. There were some dishes missing from the menu that our server alerted us to.
Chinese name: 后海16号美食会所
No. 16 Courtyard Restaurant is a quaint little restaurant hidden in the touristy Hutong area most people tour on bike coaches. It is near Shisha Houhai lake, north of the Yundian bridge. The specialize in Imperial Chinese Cuisine, the best of all China. Tiny restaurant with only a couple tables, so reservations are a must. Be warned that tables usually have a minimum food charge. Our large table had a huge 3000RMB minimum. We happened to strolling at lunchtime without a reservation and lucked out in finding a table available. They host many private banquets.
Chinese name: 锦江苑餐厅
Jinjiang Palace Chinese Restaurant is located in Taiyuan’s 5 star World Trade Hotel, about 400km from Beijing. They focus on traditional Shanghai cuisine.
Jardin de Jade or Jade Garden Restaurant (Chinese Name: 苏浙汇 – Su Zhe Hui) serves Shanghai cuisine and has locations in Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, and Beijing. They are part of King Mang Jade Garden Group’s high-end restaurant brand and launched in 1999. In the Summer of 2009, we visited the Beijing location for lunch, which was located in the Raycom Info Tech Park that is home to many technology companies. In the Summer of 2010, we had dinner at a Shanghai location near People’s Square, which was located above a Porsche dealership.
Chinese name: 全聚德烤鸭店
Quan Jude Roast Duck is the oldest Peking Duck restaurant, having been started in 1864 and has many branches. Quanjude together implies perfection, union, and benevolence. The location we ate at, is one of the newest and is located in North-Sanhuan Haidian District of Beijing. We have been told that other locations are not as good. They have over 60 company-owned and franchised restaurants in China, Hong Kong, and Australia. The chain is closely affiliated with the government.
Restaurant Made in China is a Chinese restaurant located in the five star Grand Hyatt hotel in Beijing, China. They focus on Northern Chinese cuisine including Peking Duck and Beggar’s Chicken. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We were worried that this restaurant was a typical tourist trap with mediocre food at high prices but decided to visit for dinner because we were staying in the hotel. No free tea here. You have to pay for it as you do in other places. 15% service charge. We tried to stay with the menu marked specialties.
Xinxin Dumpling Shop is located in the small industrial city of Hongdong, China, about 500 km from Beijing. This low cost restaurant specializes in, surprise!, dumplings.
Decor, Vibe – Typical average restaurant decor with a couple tables in the small main dining room. Lots of locals, no tourists.
More Foodie delights from our recent trip to China.
What is a fast food place doing on the Foodnut.com? Eating fast food on a vacation? Sacrilegious! We visited KFC in a Beijing shopping mall when we wanted a small snack. We noticed some Egg Custard tarts on the menu and gave them a try.
More Foodie delights from our recent trip to China.
Street food is starting to sweep the US, see what street food looks like in Beijing, China.
Woodside Bakery & Cafe is a combination Bakery and cafe in upscale Woodside, right next door to Buck’s. The bakery has been here since the 1980’s. Our last visit was in October 2011.
Spasso is a neighborhood Italian restaurant in San Carlos’ Laurel Street business corridor. There are 5 Italian restaurants within one block!
El Farolito is a Mexican Restaurant with several locations in San Francisco’s Mission district, Oakland, South San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Rohnert Park. We visited the 24th street location.
Shan Dong Mandarin Restaurant is a family run Chinese Restaurant in Oakland’s Chinatown focusing on Shan Dong regional Cuisine. The focus is on noodles and dumplings. It was top rated on Yelp and has been mentioned in newspapers, so we decided to try it.
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Gordo Taqueria is a long standing Mexican Restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 5 locations. We went to the original Clement st location in San Francisco that opened in 1977. Burritoeater ranks it highly.
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Spago Las Vegas serves California-style cuisine of Chef Wolfgang Puck with a daily-changing menu. It is part of the huge Puck empire with 6 different restaurants in Vegas alone. This location was in the Forum Shops at Caesars. We ate in the less formal cafe section for a quick afternoon meal.
Decor, Vibe – Indoor patio dining in the casual café, and a large more formal interior highly decorated dining room. Big pizza oven and bar. Lots of people watching in the patio with tourists and locals of all ages.
Guy Savoy is a French Restaurant located in Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. It was opened in 2006 and is the US outpost for 3 Michelin Star Restaurant Guy Savoy in Paris. This location received 2 Michelin Stars in 2009.
Nobu is legendary Japanese restaurant with 20+ locations around the world. This location is situation in the LOUD Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. They focus on Japanese food infused with bold South American and Western flavors. Their overwhelming menu has everything from standard sushi and sashimi, to inventive hot and cold dishes and omakase. They have lots of specials that are not on the menu. Most Nobu’s around the world have similar menu items.
Picasso is a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Bellagio at Las Vegas that show cases many of Picasso’s masterpieces. Chef Serrano’s menu is inspired by the regional cuisine of France and Spain where Picasso spent much of his life. You have the choice of 2 different daily changing prix fixe menus with several options.
Best buffet in Las Vegas? Bellagio Buffet has been one of the top buffets in Las Vegas for years. They boast that they go through almost 1 million pounds of 28 day aged Prime rib a year and 1000 omelets a day. We have been there in the past and went back for lunch. Dinner adds prime rib, king crab, and other items.
Asian Pearl in Richmond, California’s Pacific East Mall (Right off I-80) is part of a group of Chinese restaurants in Northern California. We’ve been to this location many time and have found it to offer very good Cantonese Chinese cuisine. We went for dinner. Here is our review of the Asian Pearl Peninsula, Millbrae location.
Ohgane Korean BBQ Restaurant is a popular restaurant in North Oakland’s. They specialize in Soot-bool BBQ or Mesquite wood BBQ. Most Korean BBQ places use plain gas. They serve an all your can eat Lunch buffet for $9.99, and have an all you can eat dinner special Monday through Wednesday for $19.99. Their normal dinner menu has entrees around a high $25.
The Korean tradition is to cook the meat on a charcoal grill at the center of the table. The cooked meat is wrapped with rice, a thin slice of garlic, soybean paste or red chili paste, with a fresh lettuce leaf.
Boboquivari’s is a steakhouse in the Marina district of San Francisco. It means Venetian court jester of comedy. It’s nick name is Bobo’s and is known for 100% USDA prime beef dry-aged for a long six weeks. They have free valet parking!
Izzy’s Steaks and Chops is a popular steakhouse in the Marina district of San Francisco. It was opened in 1987. They also have locations in San Carlos and San Ramon. We visited the San Francisco location. Izzy’s is named after Izzy Gomez, a legendary San Francisco saloonkeeper. Steaks at Izzy’s include 2 of their sides. They have several seafood options for non meat eaters. Vegetarians should stay away.
Big Mouth Burgers Restaurant is located in the Mission and uses Mountain Natural Foods Natural Beef without hormones, antibiotics, insecticides or chemical residues. They include fries with their burgers.
Taqueria Cancun is a friend’s Mexican restaurant favorite. They’re located in the heart of the Mission district and take cash only. They have 2 other locations in San Francisco.
This place is popular with the late night crowd as it is open very late.
Boulettes Larder is located in the San Francisco Ferry Building and means – “Glimpse into the heart of a working, professional kitchen framed by a retail counter where personal attention is offered by a skilled and responsive staff. A useful, compelling and charming epicerie with discriminatingly selected ingredients prepared to varying degrees of time-saving readiness.”
They have everything from chicken stock to cookies to rack of lamb. They have food to go (Pastries, Lunch, Dinner items) all the time, and table service with a different menus, Mon through Fri, and Sunday. We went there on a Saturday.
Shiki Japanese Restaurant is located in the San Mateo Whole Food shopping center, just off Highway 101. They have 2 other locations. They have an extensive menu with items from sushi to noodles to rice bowls. We tried them for dinner.
Nopalito is a new San Francisco restaurant serving authentic traditional Mexican cuisine from the popular restaurant Nopa folks. It is located across the street from the San Francisco DMV, next to upscale grocery store Falletti’s Plaza. They use local, sustainable, and organic ingredients and have some small plates as well as some more expensive big plates. The place was still very new when we visited them for dinner. Lots of Hispanic cooks were cooking the cuisine. This is a place for a quick bite, not much lingering.
Roli Roti is a mobile rotisserie that come to many farmer’s markets including the Saturday San Francisco Ferry building, where we sampled their cuisine. We’ve tried them at the San Mateo farmer’s market and noticed they only had chicken, not the other goodies we saw in San Francisco.
Firefly Restaurant is a neighborhood restaurant located in the Noe Valley part of San Francisco. It has been around for many years. They have a very reasonable $35 3 course Prix Fix dinner Sunday – Thursday. We saw good reviews up on Yelp and decided to see for ourselves.
Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers has been serving up burgers since 1978. They have 7 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area and 3 in Southern California. We visited the Steiner St location in San Francisco.
They use humanely raised Niman Ranch all natural ground chuck that is free of antibiotics or hormones. They serve beef, chicken, turkey, and veggie burgers along with salads.
El Norteno is a Mexican mobile food truck in San Francisco. They won the burritoeater 2008 finals. They are located in a parking lot across the street from the Hall of Justice.
Decor, Vibe – ‘Roach Coach’ mobile dining with tacos, burritos, and Tortas in a variety of meats including tongue, cabeza, tripas. Very high 98 food inspection score.
We recently finished a culinary tour of China. Shanghai is a world class city full of great food. Most of the food was different from food in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Here are some quick mini reviews of places we ate at, so you can understand how Shanghai food compares, and so you select the best places on your visit. If a restaurant does not have a website, we link to their dianping page.
We recently finished a culinary tour of China. Hong Kong is a world class city full of great food. Most of the Chinese food was superior to that in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Here are some quick mini reviews of places we ate at, so you can understand how Hong Kong food compares, and so you select the best places on your visit.
Other Hong Kong Reviews: 2010 Hong Kong Mini Restaurant Reviews, Lung King Heen, Lei Garden, Yung Kee, Chuen Kee Seafood, Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, Conrad Nicolini’s Sunday Brunch Buffet, Harbourside Buffet.
Frascati is a Mediterranean style bistro neighborhood restaurant on Russian Hill in San Francisco. Since 1987 this place has been serving it up. It has some of the highest ratings on Yelp.
Epic Roasthouse is a steak house located strategically on the San Francisco waterfront. It has extra ordinary views and is next door to the seafood restaurant Water Bar. They are both part of the vast Kuleto Restaurant empire. They dry age their steaks for 28 days.
Decor, Vibe – Pat Kuleto is a master restaurant designer and has created Boulevard, Jardinere and many other restaurants. This place has an old school clubby atmosphere with a seawater pump house theme and an upstairs bar area. Well dressed businessmen and others in their 40’s – 60’s were dining.
Pizzaiolo opened in 2005 and has been packing them in for pizza since. The Chef-Owner used to work at Chez Panisse.
Kirala is a popular Japanese restaurant in Berkeley. They have 2 locations. The one in North Berkeley is a to go shop. They do no take reservations, so the place fills up rapidly. We came for lunch. They have a separate lunch menu as well as a sushi menu.
