Glutton in San Francisco

sfo_food-003 — Hiya turtle brings you good food

During my week vacation in San Francisco, I relied a lot on Yelp and its local reviewers for advice on what to eat. The app was also very useful to narrow down eateries that were still open at the time I want to visit. A lot of the stores seem to operate at a very specific time range.

Yelp, with its HQ in San Francisco, is also promoted a lot by the restaurant themselves. A lot of the shops proudly display Yelp stickers or have Yelp-related promotions, such as the half price-coffee I got at M Cafe. I am not sure how both parties benefit but it sure benefits me as a consumer.

sfo_food — I want to be married to Yelp, in a polygamous marriage with TripIt too.

Thanks to Yelp and one or two IRL (in real life) local recommendations, I had some very amazing meals while in SF.

Bon appetit!

Sammich, panini, torta, burger

Torta from La Grande Torta in Mission district
I made one friend at the hostel! (Good job YQ!) K brought me to thirft stores and to eat real Mexican food.

My torta was stuffed with all sorts of meat. I washed it down with hot chocolate spiced with cinnamon. Mmmm…

The Godfather Panini from M Cafe
Found the shop through Yelp. The sandwich was dripping sauce when I ate it. Good but not absolutely fantastic. I love the warm toasted bread. (Psst, Wi-Fi password there is godfather.)

Sandwich from Freddie’s Sandwich at Pine Street
Daily special at the highly rated Freddie’s Sandwich. It was so big I packed half of it in a container for dinner. Yummy!

Philly Cheese Steak from Buster’s
I was looking for real steak but ended up with a sandwich. (Stupid non-local me.) Surprisingly nice with melted cheese and bits of beef.

Hamburger from In-N-Out Burger
Do burgers count as sandwiches? In my book, bread with meat in between equals a sandwich, so here it is. Jesse from Discovery Walks recommended the place as the best burger place.

Instead of cheeseburger, I went with hamburger because I am clueless about which burger to choose. It was alright. The fries felt a bit flat.

Hotdog from Zog’s Dog
Accidentally stumbled upon the stand while waiting for a walking tour to start. My first American hotdog! The meat was hot from the pan and my mustard flavored the plain bun very well.

Desserts

sfo_food-001 — Plain vanilla creme brulee

From the crème brûlée cart. Stalk them at @cremebruleecart
The cart and its goodies were something I’ve heard about even before the work trip was known. It’s quite fun to know that a food cart would announce its location on twitter for its fan to look for it.

I had the dessert when Off the Grid was happening at Fort Mason. Off the Grid gathers about 10 food carts/trucks in one location with head banging music and not much moving space.

I also picked up a nutella and strawberry creme brulee when I saw the card downtown. Sweet!

Chocolate croissant with coffee from Ghirardelli.

Not my best meal in SF .I just arrived in San Francisco from San Jose and I was really hungry for food so I picked the cheap set.

Supermarket strawberries
Straberries were humongous. I ate all, except four, in one sitting. It washed away the bad sushi taste.

Main meals

Pizza from The Golden Boy
Another Discovery Walks guide recommendatiom: a Sicilian pizza joint.

I picked the one with clam garlic topping. It tastes of salty seafood but the crunchy crust tempers the saltiness. I got one to go and sat on the grass at Washington Square while the locals lounge about soaking up the sun. (I was in the shade.) It was a very satisfying meal.

Clam chowder in sourdough bowl from Bordin at Pier 39

I had a coupon for a free drink at Pier 39’s Bordin so I got myself a clam chowder in sourdough bowl.

After a taste of the bread, I am now in love with sourdough. But the soup was already cold by the time I got it so it wasn’t fantastic.

Pho from Golden Star Vietnamese Restaurant
My very first Yelp-referenced meal, also my first sit-down meals in SF.

I was hungry for something soupy and checked for good and cheap food places around the hostel. Turns out the restaurant is around some corners so I grabbed my jacket and went in search of the place.

I was served a medium pot of tea. It wasn’t really good tea but I drank probably the three-quarters of the pot because I am that thirsty.

The dish itself wasn’t salted enough. But it was satisfying because of the hot soup and the large chunks of meat. Mmmm….

Breakfast at M’oz Cafe near Union Square
I was heading to the SF MOMA on Bay to Breakers day so I looked up breakfast places around the area.

The hash brown is flaky and tastes 10 times better than the piece of potato McDonald’s gives me when I order its breakfast set.

Royal prince burrito at Sushi Taka on Kearny-Sacramento Street
A sushi place just around the corner of my hostel. I found it funny that its opening hours was from 8am to 2.30pm on weekdays. It feels like they don’t need to earn money.

The sushi was so much better than the crap I bought from the supermarket. The rice flavored and the salmon sweet.

My picnic was at the square which I don’t remember while I wait for the Chinatown tour to start. I felt like I was intruding on the local old Chinese granpas’ place.

Lunch set at Scoma, Sausolito
My most expensive meal in San Francisco area. It was a posh seaside restaurant at Sausolitio which is opposite San Francisco.

I had cycled there and was hungry. I got the clam chowder lunch set as well as three raw oyster.

Yummy!

Drinks

Caramel macchiato
I like the stamped logo. The coffee is good too but I probably should have ordered something more plain.

Can’t get enough of San Francisco? Me neither!

What do you think is the best meal in San Francisco?

Falling in love…with San Francisco

I was planning to go with “I left my heart in San Francisco” as my blog title so it would mirror my San Jose entry’s song title as blog title. In the end, I decided to skip the cheesiness since it’s too predictable to use that.

Anyway, I’ve fallen in love with San Francisco. Although it’s blasphemous to say this, but, yes, I’ve fallen in love with the City more than I did Paris.

Before the trip, all I ever heard from people was how much they loved San Francisco. Not a bad word was said.

It was annoying and also scary. How is it possible for everyone to like a place so much?

So I decided I would buck the trend and not like SF. I came to the place expecting to dislike the weather, the buildings, the smell of the subway (Paris’s Metro smells like piss), the touristy Golden Gate Bridge. Basically, I was being a psycho.

But in the end, I didn’t. I fell in love instead.

Beautiful things

At first glance, the City feels like any other city. The buildings are not as nice as Europe where the old buildings are amazingly gorgeous.

But San Francisco grew on me.

At every other corner, there’s something beautiful. Mostly the sea, sometimes bushes of flowers (lavender grow aplenty here), murals, the sky, metrosexual men and cute babies.

The museums and exhibits are great too. I never thought I would like the Aquarium but the beautiful jellyfish made me stop and stare.

sfo — Beautiful jellyfish at Aquarium at the Bay

Yelp is heavily promoted by businesses and that’s what I used to help me find good food. I had lots of great food–not the stuff I see on American shows but good stuff.

The place is also walking friendly (if you don’t think about the hills). I got lost about once everyday but with each turn, I would get closer to my destination so it was alright.

Checking the To-Do list

I went back to my pre-US blog post and found the list of To-Do’s. Here’s a check to see how many I’ve conquered.

–~~eat burgers~~ at ~~McDonald’s~~
+I ate In N’ Out burgers, also had breakfast at McD’s. That counts, right?

–~~eat hotdogs from hot dog stands~~
+I had a Zog’s Dog.

–run for cover while super aliens destroy the city
+Hmm… Planet of Apes didn’t happen.

–~~drink soda~~ (what flavor is it?)
+Had a watermelon-flavored soda.

–buy Old Spice
+As I tweeted: bought @OldSpice shower gel to bring back to Singapore. Need to find a man to make him smell like “the man your man could smell like”

–watch Mad Men on TV
+My hotel didn’t have AMC. :(

–~~watch Game of Thrones on TV~~
+I only caught bits of it at the hotel. The hostel is TV-less.

–drink lemonade
+I didn’t!!! OH NO

#FoodFri California rolls are undeniable

Who says my #FoodFri has to be about good food? Not everything I put in my mouth taste yummy–especially that mouthful of detergent I once accidentally sipped.

So today, I shall show you one of the most disgusting meals I had in the US. Hmm… I think it’s the *only* disgusting meal I had.

I knew I needed to eat sushi in San Francisco but I was too timid to enter posh looking shops. In the end, I picked up a sushi set from Safeway supermarket.

If I could travel back in time, I would devote all my energy to change the course of my life around 8-9pm May 23. I would stop myself from buying this set even if it means physically forcing Marty McFly out of the time machine.

The wasabi tasted suspiciously like chilli. I wonder if they put jalapenos in it.

The California roll was sad. It has the traditional avocado in it–leaving me feeling “UH?”. The not yummy taste could not be covered up by the wasabi. Sad!

The salmon. Is this San Francisco? How could your fish taste so bad? They must have been made in China.

But what can I expect? It’s supermarket sushi. (Although I still can’t believe Cold Storage sushi can be better.)

A hostel is not an ISFP’s natural habitat

Despite my blog title being “YQ, travelling ISFP”, I haven’t talked much about being an ISFP while travelling.

forever alone — Nobody wants to be lonely?

Part of the reason was that I’ve been travelling with my friends so the shy-ISFP part of me is dormant.

But for this trip, I needed to stay in hostels to save money. Since day 1 of hostelling, I realized how serious the introvert part of me could be.

It’s a bit of a generalization to say all ISFPs are like me, but here’s a few things I found out about myself during this trip:

I am comfortable being alone.
I can talk to strangers but only in a small groups (of two).
I try to avoid crowds (difficult when the hang out area is on the way to the bathroom).
I smile at people but avoid actively greeting them in case I’m brought into a conversation (or maybe that’s the Asian part of me).
I take an extra 15 minutes pretending to pack my stuff for the shower, all this while, I’m bracing myself for the walk past the crowd.
When I walk past the crowd at the hangout area, I look at the floor or my destination and AVOID EYE CONTACT.
After showering/washing my hands, I stare at the mirror. Again, bracing myself for the crowd.
I cringe when I am brought to attention among a crowd.
I dislike being in crowds, just thinking about it makes my stomach churn in a bad way.
I think it’s very nice that other people can be carefree when they are in a crowd. I want to do that but just thinking about it stresses me out.
I cannot flirt even if I think if someone in the hostel is cute. (Usually my flirting skills involve AVOID EYE CONTACT or a faint smile that looks like I have muscle cramps.)
Even if there is only one wall socket in the room, I’d rather not go out into the hangout area to charge my laptop.

I would say I am comfortable being socially awkward so I’m not very sure if I want to be hyperactive and friendly while on the road.

What’s your personality type and how are you like when you travel?

Toured: Fisherman’s Wharf Tour with Discovery Walks SF

I picked up a pamphlet for Discovery Walks SF when I was at the airport. Since I had no plans for the day I checked in, I decided to join the Fisherman’s Wharf tour since my hostel was just nearby.

I don’t think I’ve ever joined a walking tour before. Hmmm… I did try to join one in Paris but I was too stingy to pay the tips so I didn’t.

I’m glad I did for this tour. I didn’t have breakfast so I grabbed a small bite (croissant and coffee at Ghirardelli, a combo offer) before heading to the meeting point.

I looked around to find someone wearing orange. I saw a girl in an orange T-shirt and a dark jacket taking pictures. She then walked away so I had to look some more.

Then I saw a guy with a lump of orange next to him. The lump of bright orange turned out to be a vest and he zipped it on.

Putting on my not-shy, cheerful face, I went to ask if he was from the tour and he was. Jesse, the bearded tour guide.

No one else went up to him so we started the tour with only one participant (me!). It was great because I didn’t have to share tour guides with other people.

The tour was great. The sun bright and warm while the wind chilly.

Jesse was a very engaging guide too, always accommodating even when I ask questions like: “What do they call Irish coffee in Ireland?” “What is the size of San Francisco when compared to London?”

The greatest tip I got from him was that Bay to Breakers was happening this Sunday. (I had the impression that it was a weekly event but turns out it’s only an annual thing.)

He said the event is one of the two in SFO where “everybody” would have the same amount of fun. Other events, take Gay Pride parade for example, makes people happy but the most happy would be the GLBT folks. The other everybody happy event is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

While I’ve read a lot of guidebooks about San Francisco. Jesse shared other tips that I haven’t come across. These include

Don’t stir your Irish coffee.
The company which made glasses for Irish coffee went bankrupt and one of the coffeeshops bought ALL the leftover stock and is not letting them go.
Don’t drink the Irish coffee if it’s in a mug. Tastes not as good.
In N Out serves the best burger in the US and its special menu doesn’t sound too appealing to me.
Berkely will make a really nice day trip (though I’m still more into Sonoma.)
Tram is better than cable car as it passes cooler neighborhood.
Locals don’t visit Fisherman’s Wharf’s Pier 39 as much as tourists do.

Interestingly, I’m liking the US more than I thought I would. Blame it on the TV and the dark side of the Internet for making me think that the country’s weird.

#FoodFri Chinese food in America

Reporting from the US of A. I had two Chinese meals on the first two days.

Honestly, they were good. A 9.1 out of 10 good. Maybe it’s because they weren’t very cheap meals.

The crabs were huge! One crab could feed 6 persons, seriously! The lobsters weren’t as fantastic but still good.

Funny thing is, the vegetables here aren’t really chopped up nicely. I feel like I’m eating a bonsai sometimes.

Hungry for more? Check out my other #FoodFri.

Trials and tribulation of a TV reporter

I’ve been assigned to group with a bunch of Taiwanese journalists. Lucky me, I speak good Mandarin and they are a bunch of great people.

Today, we were sent off on a tour of San Francisco with a Taiwanese tour guide. The 60-year-old-looking tour guide was from Taiwan and has guided some famous Chinese government official.

He was supposed to bring us to Stanford then to San Francisco. However, when he drove past Apple’s HQ, the whole van of tech journalists begged him to let us go down to take a peek.

Caught red-handed at Apple Campus

The TV reporter decided that she need to take a short reel of the campus for work. The cameraman who came along was setting up the videos and suddenly (really, within one minute) a patrol car stopped next to him.

The security started asking questions: who, what, when, where, why, how. They took down notes, talked on walkie-talkie.

Later, two other patrol cars came. The lady reporter had to explain for about 20 mintues before they let her off. She then took a few time to film her piece.

One Infinite Loop

To be honest, I expected Apple’s HQ to be a lot more futuristic. Heck, even Oracle has an amazing building.

The address however is damn cool. “1 Infinite Loop”. Wow!

I take my hat off to the lady reporter because she has to come up with her lines on the spot. Plan her walking routes, put on makeup, talk to the camera and all that ASAP!

PS The only reason this piece is on my “travel” blog is because I’m travelling. See you guys later this Sunday!

Do you know the way to San Jose?

All guide books seem to have a line about how asking, “Do you know the way to San Jose?” would lead to stinkeye from the locals.

Anyway, by the time this post is lived, I will be on the 18-hour flight from Singapore to San Francisco. (OK, a 1 hour 45 minute stop in Tokyo Narita in between.)

It will be a week of work in San Jose, covering a very cheem (Singlish lesson: cheem=profound) event, then a week of being a tourist in San Francisco.

You know what will be the first thing I do after I toss my luggage into my room? Toiletries shopping!

Anyway, since this is really a work trip, most of my time in San Jose will see me stationed at the convention center and my hotel room, busily taking interview notes and typing out–what I hope is–brilliant articles that would make Hemingway proud.

But since this is a travel blog, I’ll share some of the interesting San Jose sites which hopefully I would get to visit after typing out the brilliant articles mentioned above.

Winchester’s Mystery House

Official site: http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/ (Creepy music on the site. Blah.)
Nice tour room-by-room description: http://mysteryhouseguide.com/

When I first saw the house in a TV program about scary places, I was very intrigued. Doors that lead to nowhere? Wealthy widow who keeps on building her house so spirits will be pleased?! WOW.

But then it’s not really that haunted so I’m not very impressed. I think I should get this off my list on Day 1.

Also, I’m really disappointed that I won’t be able to go on the Flashlight Tour which happens only on every Friday the 13th and on Halloween. Imagine a night tour of the mansion!

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium

Official site: Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium

Ancient Egypt has been a fascinating topic for me, although I haven’t read as much of their legends as I do Ancient Greek stories.

But a chance to see artifacts from that time period means a “must go” on my list.

Unfortunately, a lot of the Yelp reviews of the museum are negative.

The Tech Museum

Official site: http://www.thetech.org/

My hotel is really near the Tech Museum. Think it’s a must-drop by since I am working in tech (sort of).

San Jose MOMA

Official site: http://www.sjmusart.org/

I’m a fan of old art more than modern art. If I have time, I might drop by.

Gilroy Premium Outlet

Ok, a premium shopping outlet is not supposed to be even on the indie traveller’s list. But it’s been recommended by a lot of my work acquaintances who, come to think of it, probably earns 5 times my salary.

Even though it’s on my list, the place is very out of the way. I’ll have to change trains and everything. Plus, I need to visit here before heading to San Francisco or else I’ll need to put in 4 hours of return trip and $52 for the Greyhound bus.

Yucks! (Maybe I should get the bags at the airport.)

First time in US of A

This will be my first trip to the US and I’m not very sure what to expect. Too much TV makes me think that I actually know the place and the people.

I’ll need to do a couple of American things while there:
–eat burgers at McDonald
–eat hotdogs from hot dog stands
–run for cover while super aliens destroy the city
–drink soda (what flavor is it?)
–buy Old Spice
–watch Mad Men on TV
–watch Game of Thrones on TV
–drink lemonade

What else should I do?

#FoodFri Silk pudding @ Tokyo, Japan

On today’s menu, it’s the Asakusa silk pudding which can be found near the famous Asakusa Temple.

The store is located in a pedestrian lane, far enough from the main street for us to enjoy the quietness.

The store front was plain–a display fridge, two round tables outside. There were two bins by the wall, telling customers to recycle its glass bottle and plastic cap and spoon.

The pudding, like its name, tasted silky and the caramel tasted slightly burnt. I’m not sure if it’s deliberately like that to contrast the sweetness of the custard or if it was fluke.

Anyway, mom and I polished the glass bottles clean. Yum!

Here’s a Google Map of the place if you happen to be in Asakusa.

Stay: Ipoh Tune Hotel review

I’ve only stayed at Tune Hotel once before the Ipoh Tune Hotel stay. It was in Kelantan and the twin bed room wasn’t too bad. My parents who have stayed at Tune Hotel KLIA-LCCT complained that their room was too tiny they can’t even open their luggage.

Tune Hotel Ipoh opened in March 2012. They had a sale in mid-January and I snatched up two RM39 double-bed rooms.

Similar to AirAsia’s tickets, the bare price only includes the minimum “comforts”, so I had to pay an extra RM15 to buy a package of 12-hour air conditioning, rental towel and “free essentials toiletries kit”. All together, it was RM61.14 for the room, with service charge.

The hotel is in the “new town” side of the river. The location is not too bad as it’s within walking distance to a lot of the famous eateries nearby.
Continue reading “Stay: Ipoh Tune Hotel review” →