Mexican @ Don Pico's Mexican Bistro, San Bruno (California)

This was the very last meal we had on our trip to California last year. We had spent the previous 11 days on a road trip from LA to San Bruno, our final stop for one night before our flight back home out of the nearby San Francisco International Airport. Highlights of the trip (for me) were LA's beaches (in fact all along the Californian coastline was beautiful, from Santa Barbara to Monterey Bay), my friend's wedding (our first beach wedding), and the breathtakingly beautiful Yosemite. For the boy, the highlight of the trip was seeing an actual space shuttle, and baby girl loved the farm animals at Avila Valley Barn. I have no idea what my husband enjoyed the most on the trip - most likely the food! We'd driven a long way from Yosemite to our accommodation at San Bruno, and we were hungry for dinner. Having just returned our rental car and with two kids in tow, we chose the easiest and closest restaurant to our hotel: Don Pico's Mexican Bistro that was right next door. I think we got lucky with this one, because we had a good experience at Don Pico's. The service was pleasant, the atmosphere was family-friendly, and the food was delicious.

The semi-open kitchen near the entryway:

Housemade Fresh Sangria (US$6.50) - refreshing with just the right amount of boozy kick:

Complimentary corn chips with salsa:

Ensalada Don Pico (US$10.95) with organic spring mix, mango, avocado, candied walnuts, pomegranate seeds, jicama, organic flowers and cilantro-based vinaigrette. This was yummy - sweet, crunchy, creamy, juicy, crispy and tart:

We shared a three-items-combination set from the Traditional Favorites menu (US$16.95), served with rice and beans along with our choice of shredded beef, ground beef, chicken or cheese in our selections. I cannot remember what we chose for the fillings for our enchilada, tamale and burrito, but I do remember they were all tasty and very filling:

As usual, hubby could not resist dessert, and ordered the Alfajores (US$4.95 for three caramel-filled, flaky cookies). These were lovely, and very sweet, so one was enough for me:

What a nice meal to end a wonderful trip!

[Prices quoted above do not include tax or tips.]

Don Pico's Mexican Bistro
461 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066
United States
Tel. +1 650-589-1163

Chinese @ May Flower Seafood Restaurant (Milpitas), California

This is my final post on our summer trip to the U.S., and I am filled with great pleasure and fond memories as I write about our final night in California. As mentioned previously, we took the BART from downtown SF to Fremont (about an hour's ride) where Stephanie's dad picked us up and showed us such gracious hospitality that still warms my heart. He drove us everywhere, and I won't forget the fact that he already had to drive a few hours from his home to get us at Fremont, which is the furthest south that the BART would take us to. We were introduced to his family who welcomed us with friendly familiarity, and Steph's sister-in-law even opened up her beautiful home for us to relax for an hour or so while we waited for dinnertime to roll around. We went to a Chinese restaurant in Milpitas called May Flower Seafood Restaurant, where we enjoyed a delicious seafood feast. Uncle took care of ordering the food, so we just sat back and enjoyed the company and food. That also means that I don't know the exact names of most of the dishes, but one thing is clear: they were all yummy!

How the restaurant looks on the outside:

Inside, the restaurant looks like a very typical Chinese restaurant:

Fried Rice arrived first upon my request so that the kids can start on their dinner (usually rice is served at the end of the meal):

While the kids were busy with the fried rice, the adults were treated to this delightful Par-boiled Giant Surf Clam. Each of us got one clam, topped with sliced ginger and green onion, and drizzled with soy sauce and sesame oil. It was fresh and fragrant:

Fried Prawns with Walnuts in Special Sauce - this was Steph's brother's favourite dish, and hubby also liked the crispy prawns with sweet crispy candied walnuts:

I believe this is Roast Chicken, succulent and tasty:

Steamed Whole Fish! I must admit I was looking longingly at the fish head, but I can't remember if I grabbed it or not. I sure hope I didn't, because it ain't pretty tucking into the head (the sweetest flesh of any meat are near the bones, and that includes the head in fish):

A sang choy bao-style dish with lettuce cups, with chunks of shrimps with the minced meat. Well-seasoned and thoroughly enjoyable:

At this point, soup was served at the table, which seemed a little late. But, better late than never to enjoy this tasty viscous soup:

Peking Spare Ribs. Hubby liked this one:

The obligatory vegetable dish. I noticed that the ladies helped themselves to the greens, but the guys didn't really grab more than a chopstick-full of it:

The beautiful family who welcomed us as part of their own for a few hours:

We had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, and we relished participating in a family-style Chinese banquet - something that we don't often get to do in Hong Kong away from our families. We were told that there aren't many good options for Chinese food out there, and that May Flower is the only Chinese restaurant that they go to. We are indebted to Steph's dad for the kindness he showed us that day.

May Flower Seafood Restaurant
428 Barber Ln
Milpitas, CA 95035
United States
+1 408 922 2700

San Francisco Day 3: Chinatown, Fortune Cookie Factory & Mission-Style Burritos @ El Farolito

This post is a bit of a photo dump, as I am determined to be done with blogging about our August trip to the US before we go to Australia next week over the Christmas holiday (it doesn't help that in addition to trip preparations, I'm always busy at this time of the year). The following photos document our trek through San Francisco's Chinatown (the largest outside of Asia, and the oldest in North America), and hubby's mission to try out the famed Mission-style burritos (aka San Francisco burritos) out in the Mission District itself. Without much further ado, here is a taste of what we saw and did on our third and final full day of our time in San Fran.

Chinatown

Early in the morning, we walked to Chinatown from our hotel via the quickest route, and that route didn't bring us through the Dragon Gate that we'd walked by late in the evening on Day 1.

Our route to Chinatown from our hotel brought us through Stockton Street Tunnel:

Downtown San Francisco is quite hilly, and many streets have very steep inclines:

Yummy-looking Chinese bakery goodies:

We dropped by the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory:

Inside the factory, there's a sign that says "Hello! If you take a picture, please pay 50c". Here you can watch three women deftly fold discs of warm cookie dough around slips of paper containing fortunes written in English and French. This is a process that needs to be done quickly otherwise the cookie will harden before it has the right shape:

Samples available for visitors to try:

We bought a big bag of fortune cookies for US$4.50, and it lasted us many weeks after we returned back to Hong Kong:

An amusing observation - here is Stockton Street in Chinatown (with the distinctive Transamerica Pyramid in the background), which is less frequented by tourists but represents a more authentic Chinese atmosphere with fresh produce and fish markets, Asian grocery stores and restaurants...

... in contrast to Grant Avenue (where the historical Dragon Gate is), with souvenir stores, mini-malls and restaurants that are obviously catered more to tourists than the local Chinese. This street is cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing, and there are even red lanterns strung overhead:

Mission-style Burritos @ El Farolito in Mission District

After wandering through Chinatown, we made our way to the The Mission for lunch. We took the BART to the 24th St Mission station, and hubby led the way to a popular taqueria called El Farolito which was highly rated and reviewed for the giant burritos. This area had a distinct ghetto feel, and I wouldn't want to hang around on my own or after dark. Nevertheless, we could still enjoy lunch and a leisurely walk through the neighbourhood afterwards.

Inside El Farolito right near the back of the narrow dining area, looking out towards the entrance:

Complimentary basket of corn chips:

Cheesy Quesadilla for the boy (only half is shown):

A Super Burrito:

We chose shrimps for our choice of meat:

The Super Burrito comes with rice, beans, fresh tomato, onion, cilantro, salsa, cheese, sour cream and avocado:

The Mission-style burrito was huge, and one was enough to fill us both up. It was satisfying and enjoyable, and we understand why this is a popular style of burritos.

El Farolito
2779 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94110
United States
Tel. +1 415 824 7877



Apparently the Mission District is also known for its street murals, and we saw several during our short walk around the area:

After our quick lunch, we hopped back on the BART bound for Fremont, which was about an hour's ride away. There we were met by Steph's dad, who drove us to San Jose where we met the some of Steph's family for dinner. We were treated to fantastic hospitality for that few hours, even though I had only met Steph's dad once before earlier this year. That four hours with Steph's family, particularly her dad, did much to sweeten our experience in California. A post on that family dinner is to come shortly...

Modern Viet @ Slanted Door, San Francisco

Cycling from downtown San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge and then across the bridge into Sausalito took up a better part of our second day in the city, and we were ravenous for dinner by the time we got back into San Francisco. Hubby was in charge of the itinerary during our 3-day stay in SF - a first in our years of travelling together, hopefully not the last - and once again he chose a winner for dinner. The nationally-acclaimed Slanted Door is located inside the Ferry Building, which was very convenient for us as the ferry from Sausalito docked right at the Ferry Building. As I wasn't the one who did the research, I didn't know what to expect except that it serves modern Vietnamese cuisine, and that it is immensely popular and highly rated. We were a little concerned about not having any reservations, and as expected, the restaurant was already buzzing and appeared full with all 175 seats taken. However luck was on our side, as we'd arrived quite early for dinner on a weekday, and we were soon seated at a table not far from the entrance.

Full house at Slanted Door at 6pm on a week day:

The restaurant had a vast dining room, and the interior decor was modern and bold with clean lines. The service we received was great, and our waiter was happy to give some recommendations when we needed some help. Despite the full house and the large number of patrons, we were not rushed through our meal and everything appeared to be running smoothly. The menu had the day's date printed on it, so I suspect that the Slanted Door's menu is dynamic and dishes change on a daily basis. The cost is on the pricey side, but the restaurant uses organic produce and ecologically farmed meat, which I think is fantastic. We enjoyed everything we ordered, and I think the food is well-priced considering the high standards of service and food quality, the waterfront location, and the fact that Slanted Door supports sustainable practices.

Grapefruit and Jicama Salad with red cabbage, pickled carrot and candied pecan (US$12) - I really liked this crunchy salad, and I made a mental note to try and source jicama in Hong Kong since it is a key ingredient in a few of my favourite foods:

Mesuite Grilled Becker Lane Pork Belly with red leaf lettuce, shiso, lemongrass and spicy gingered tamarind sauce (US$18) - tender and juicy pork belly that we wrapped inside the leaves (we weren't sure of the right way to eat it). This is big on flavour especially with the gorgeous flavour imparted by the shiso and the gingery tamarind sauce. I'm a big fan of eating using my fingers, so this gets my thumbs up:

Organic Chicken Claypot with caramel sauce, Thai chili and fresh ginger (US$19). This was a homey and rustic dish that our boy loved. Need a bowl of rice to soak up the delicious broth:

Pan-seared Day Boat Scallops with braised frisée, chili-lime butter sauce and rau ram (US$28). The creamy butter sauce paired nicely with the scallops, which were large and juicy and seared to perfection:

No meal with hubby is complete without dessert, and there were a handful of desserts on offer. All five desserts looked interesting, but the most innovative one was the Hot Chocolate Croquettes with avocado ice cream and sweet chili jam (US$10). It's an unusual combination of flavours, but strangely it worked. The hot chocolate croquettes was crispy on the outside with a dessicated coconut coating, and oozing with liquid dark chocolate in the middle. Lovers of chili-flavoured chocolate will love this dessert. The avocado as an ice cream flavour was probably a take on the Vietnamese avocado milkshake, and I liked it!

Hot Chocolate Croquettes with avocado ice cream and sweet chili jam:

The dark chocolate center of the croquettes oozing out:

I saw cotton candy on the dessert menu, and I couldn't resist getting one. We thought our boy would enjoy the fluffy candy, but I should have known better since he's rather picky about textures, and he refused to touch it. It was extremely sweet, and proved too much of a sugar overload after the hot chocolate croquettes.

Bergamot Orange Cotton Candy (US$5):

We had a great dining experience at Slanted Door, and I highly recommend it. There is Out The Door located adjacent to the restaurant in the same building, which is the more affordable and take-out cousin of the Slanted Door. We will definitely make an effort to try the food at Out The Door next time we're back in San Francisco.

Slanted Door
Marketplace Shop #5
1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111
United States
Tel. +1 415 861-8032

Cycling San Francisco Part 2: Golden Gate Bridge - Sausalito - Ferry Building Marketplace

Hubby and I loved San Francisco when we were there in August. Continuing from the first part of my recount of our cycle through this beautiful city, here are a few more photos. The best part of that day was finally realising my 20-year dream of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, and I never thought I would be biking across it! The most amusing part of our ride was seeing gloomy and grey San Francisco on one side in stark contrast to sunny and blue-skied Sausalito at the opposite end. We arrived at the bridge at 3:30pm, where we discovered that bicycle access on the East Sidewalk are restricted to 3:30pm. We were glad that we didn't take longer to eat our lunch(es)! I spotted emergency phones offering crisis counselling at regular intervals along the bridge, which I pointed out to hubby, and he told me a very sad fact about the bridge. I was sad for about a second, but the fact that I was actually on the Golden Gate Bridge cheered me up instantly. We battled against the wind for a little bit, but the ride into Sausalito was pretty sweet and downhill most of the way - a nice change to the uphill ride towards the bridge. Click on images below for larger views!

The red Golden Gate Bridge, the top enshrouded in fog. It was very windy!

I was ON the bridge!

View towards San Francisco, where it was grey, gloomy and still slightly foggy...

... in contrast to the other end of the bridge where it was bright and sunny with blue skies:

We arrived in Sausalito around 4:30pm and headed straight for the ferry pier where we saw a long queue of cyclists waiting for the ferry ride back to downtown San Francisco. The ferry service was not running very frequently, so we opted to stay in line and didn't get to see much of the town. It looked like a pleasant place, with a more laidback and relaxed atmosphere than downtown SF. Perhaps next time we're in SF, we will hang out in Sausalito longer, enjoy a meal in one of the restaurants, and perhaps even cycle back to SF.

The ferry route took us close to Alcatraz (click for a larger image):

The city skyline as the ferry approached San Francisco:

Docked at the Ferry Building:

Inside the Ferry Building Marketplace, in search for dinner:

It was successful day!