Dinner Date with Nena at Shezan

Shezan
Cuisine – Indian
216 Castro St
Mountain View, CA 94041

Say Hello to my friend Nena! We were actually attempting to take photos of each other at the same time. Anyways, I was so happy to be able to meet up with her since it’s been a whole year since Expo. When Nena not having fabulous dinners with me, she’s getting her PHD in Maryland. Pretty snazzy! Though perhaps her beau can convince to move to Norcal and then I’ll get to have meals with her all the time.

First off I’ve been missing all my eateries in San Diego! Gosh I love my Mexican food and that’s hard to come by in all deliciousness up north.

However, the benefit is that I get to try new places. While we were walking up and down Castro street, Nena picked out Shezan to try. I’m glad that I’m getting out and about because there’s so many different restaurants, cuisines and interesting things to look at on Castro Street in Mountain View. It’s also very close to the Mountain View Caltrain station!

Shezan has a lovely interior design. It’s got a golden cast atmosphere with gorgeous modern feel chandeliers. Ha perfect date place! We were seated immediately and the server was quite attentive. I suppose it because we ate earlier dinner because the restaurant had just re-opened for supper. Another thing to note is that on their door they have sign that says they have $10 lunch buffet. Shezan dinner prices range from $7-12.
You can also purchase naan and rice as a la carte items like we did.

Mango Lassi – Yogurt & Mango Fruit Drink

I really liked the mango lassi I ordered as had a strong mango flavor. However it is a very thick drink so it can be quite filling by itself.

Regular Naan – bread
It was good but nothing special.

Basmati Rice

Matta Paneer (Vegetarian, cheese, peas)
It was a very creamy sauce. However there’s wasn’t much paneer cheese in the mixture. Nevertheless this was a way better rendition then the one I had at the Yahoo cafeteria so I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Chicken Tikka Masala (a classic chicken curry dish)
First off, I love to eat chicken so I had to try their chicken tikka masala. Their waitress even recommended it. Overall I liked it. It had nice flavor, taste and texture. It wasn’t too spicy (ha thank goodness to my intolerance of spice).

The entrees were a decent size and it was filling meal. We even had some curry leftovers to take home. I think I would love to come back to try their lunch special.

It’s funny how this meal made me quite nostaglic for Masala Art restaurant in the Expo center. Shezan was a nice restaurant, but it doesn’t hold a torch next to Masala Art. I hope next time I visit Shanghai that restaurant will still be there because I need some more of that buttery chicken.

That’s it for now
Sincerely,

-S

Happy Hour at Roppongi

Roppongi Restaurant
875 Prospect St.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Price: $$$
Happy Hour: Daily 3-6pm (discount food/drinks)
Roppongi Website
*They do no accept Happy Hour Reservations – our wait wasn’t long, immediate seating

I was really excited during my last trip to San Diego that I was able to hit up Roppongi’s Happy Hour with my best buds Max, Scott and Lynn. Usually Roppongi is a bit out of my price range but during Happy Hour they have 1/2 Asian tapas and sushi! ($4-$10 ea.) I really like the atmosphere of the restaurant and their interesting twists on Asian Fusion cuisine.

Tapas portions are similar to asian dim sum usually meant 3-4 people to try one piece each. So it’s meant for sharing. The sushi rolls are standard size.

This is my friend Lynn and her lychee martini. Boy was this drink a kicker! You could definitely taste the lychee and it was a strong martini.

Crispy Buttermilk Onion Rings, Wasabi Garlic Aioli ($7.50, HH price $3.75)
I love these onion rings. They are must have at Happy Hour. They have interesting light batter that is crispy and not too greasy. I love their house made sauce that a bit spicy.

Truffle Fries (Max’s Recommendation)
These are thinly sliced french fries with a pinch of seasoning and truffle oil. It was quite tasty though a bit difficult to pick up.

Hamachi Taro Tacos – Sweet Mango & Asian Guacamole ($13, HH price $7.50)
These are very adorable as they came with their own mini taco holder. The tacos were tiny and came in set of 4. I didn’t have one but they said that were bit mushy on the inside. I just kept wondering if there’s some store that sold tiny taco holders.

Smoked Salmon Roll ($12, HH price $6) – Salmon, Philadelphia Cheese, cucumbers
Spicy Tuna Roll ($11, HH price $5.50) -Tuna, Raddish Sprouts, Cucumber

California Roll ($10, HH price $5) -crab, cucumber, avocado, sesame seeds
Rainbow Roll -2 rolls ($16, HH price $8) – crab, tuna, salmon, yellow tail, albacore, avocado, cucumber

I came to Roppongi this time to eat their sushi. I really like their sushi and their 1/2 Happy Hour prices. Anyways, I adored the California roll since it was made with ACTUAL crab meat and not imitation crab. It was sooo good and made a huge difference. The Rainbow rolls were gorgeous. Overall, everyone seems to enjoy the sushi. They were basic but tasty.

Other dishes:
Sorry our 2nd round I forgot to take photos for.

1) Chicken Satay, curried peanut sauce, chips ($11, HH price $5.5o)
These tasted ok, nothing too special.

2) Pan Seared Sea Scallops on Potato Pancakes ($17, HH price$8.50)
OMG I wish I took a picture of these. I believe it came with 4 scallops. The scallops were HUGE, tasty and fresh. I’d recommend checking these out if you love scallops.

Overall, it was a great meal with great friends! I think it’s was worthwhile visit.
Definitely great place for a date, for celebrations or just good eats.

Oh next time I’m going to try Polynesian crab stack. It looked gorgeous and I swear every table got one but us. So I need to go back and try it. ^_^

-S

Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery

Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery
8855 Villa La Jolla Dr
San Diego, CA 92037

Sprinkles cupcakes has been quite famous in California. They claim to be the first gourmet cupcake bakery. They only sell cupcakes. However my experience is of Sprinkles infamous $ gourmet price on their cupcakes and their signature dot design. Nevertheless I had to try them out and see what the hype was about.

The San Diego store is very tiny. The store is always busy with customers and smells very sweet. There’s very limited indoor space but they do have a couple of tables outside.
I wait about 10 min which isn’t bad because when the bakery first opened I heard the wait was 1hr+. You can also order the cupcakes online and they hold promotions for when buy 3 dozen, you get 1 dozen free?

The cupcakes are the size of store bought muffins.
Oddly I thought they were more expensive. They cost $3.50 each.
Caveat- Some of the flavors that they offer are only available on certain days like Banana.

They had wooden forks!

Max and I decided to try a couple of their cupcakes:
Key Lime
Red Velvet (classic)
Chocolate Coconut

Their cupcakes were good portion, the cake was moist, and the frosting was flavored depending on the cake base. I really like their simplistic dot design which designates what flavor the cupcake is. The red velvet was our favorite out of the 3.

I felt there was too much frosting and the frosting was very sweet. I prefer Asian and French style desserts as their frosting tends to be lighter. This frosting was very sweet similar to American grocery market desserts.

Overall, I think Sprinkles is a nice place for a quick dessert. However, I’m unlikely to go back as it was too sweet for my tastes.

Food Court Eats: Sarku Japan

Sarku Japan
Japanese Fast Food made to order teriyaki, grill and sushi

Location: Food Court in Valley Fair
2855 Stevens Creek Blvd
Santa Clara, CA 95052

Prices: $

Good Morning!
A couple of weeks ago I did a shopping trip to the Valley Fair mall. I like this mall because it has fairly large selection of stores. June is the month to go shopping!!! It seems like every single store was having a semi-annual sale and/or mad discounts. No worries! I’ve heard reports that due to the push for fall clothing these sales will likely continue into July = more summer stuff will be on clearances soon!  ^^

Anyways, this is just a quick review of place you should try out if you stop by a mall food court. I think Sarku Japan’s only in mall food courts. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Yummy! Freshly grilled stir fry fried rice & chicken entree. I think it was $6.50 + tax?
Hahah I got the drink at McDonalds because their drinks are way cheaper!

Sarku Japan is a fast food Japanese chain that sells teriyaki grill and sushi.
I am pretty sure they hooked me because they are always giving out little samples. I really like their teriyanki I think it’s tastes better and afterward I don’t feel sick. Some reason other “Asian” fast food usually makes me feel like it’s very greasy and filled with msg. Bonus is that they cook it on the grill when you order it so it hasn’t been under heat lamps all day long.

{Questions!!!}
What is your favorite mall food court eat?
Have you tried Sarku Japan?