On the 2nd day in Chiapas we had the wonderful Mexican experience a lot of people go to Mexico for: drink and eat good food by the beach. Well there’s no beach here, but Chiapas has the beautiful and majestic Sumidero Canyon. We took a fantastic boat ride down the canyon that lasted 3+ hours. We saw beautiful geological formations, waterfalls and wildlife. There were only 2 restaurants toward the end of the canyon, our boat took us to this place.

His name is Paquito and he sang us beautiful songs. We all got some good tequila to go with the scenery and music.

The restaurant specialized in fresh seafood. Really good shrimp and octopus ceviche! I’ve never had ceviche so fresh and tasty before. Love how they mixed the flavors, it’s not too sour nor too overwhelming like a lot of ceviche out there. This beautiful photograph is taken by Monika, a professional photographer who’s with us.

Small crabs, a bit hard to pick out the meat from the shell but they’re tasty to chew on.

I wish I know the name of this dish, it’s incredibly delicious! Shrimp with this really tasty red sauce that’s perfect blends of tastes — savory yet sour; sweet yet spicy. The dish was gone in a few minutes.

Fish cooked in leaves. Juicy and fresh.

Love the mini merry-go-round inside the restaurant. Gorgeous view from where I’m sitting. Good food, good music, good tequila, good view…I couldn’t believe this is work!

Tags: ceviche, Mexican

I don’t exactly know where this is at Chiapas. We were on the way to an indigenous village called San Juan Chamula from the capital Tuxtla Gutierrez after arrival. We had to wait a long time to get some documents approved for our cameras which greatly delayed our trip. It was a long drive toward the mountains and all of us were starving to death. So we stopped at this small restaurant for a quick bite. It was almost 4:00 pm and all I had was a small pastry for breakfast in the morning.

I love the onion on the condiment platter. Quesos Fundidos - Melted Cheese. Love the burnt parts. We’re definitely cheese-overdose on this trip.

Quesadillas with Cactus and with Chorizo (sausage). The quesadillas were a big hit among us, I especially love the cactus one, they reminded me a bit of Chinese pickled vegetables with a more slimey texture (like natto). We added the onion, lime juice and the green sauce from the condiment platter to the quesadillas.

Huaraches - Tacos al pastor meat on top of a big sheet of tortilla with beans. The pork meat was marinated with spices and herbs, very delicious.

I was so full from this meal that I had to skip dinner that night, otherwise I felt like I would fried my stomach. It’s a pity because I missed out a lot of amazing dishes (according to my colleagues). Oh well, gotta take care of the stomach first.

Tags: Cheese, Mexican

My co-workers and I arrived in Mexico City around 11:00 pm due to frequent delays. Tired and hungry, our clients took us to this popular Taco joint that opens till 5:00 am in La Condesa to re-fuel. Apparently it’s a popular destination for club goers for late night eats. The vibe was causal and festive. It’s got an open kitchen which you can see the food being prepared and made.

Mexican makes lots of great beers, negra modelo is one of my favorites. The clients showed us Leon and montejo, both are really good too.

It’s great to let the locals do all the ordering as there’s no way I would know all these great dishes on the menu. For example, not sure what this is call in Spanish, it’s a big sheet of thin grilled cheese. Crispy with great smokey flavor, I could not stop eating it.

Very good Bean soup and chips, generally I’m not a fan of bean soup but I drank most of it. The steak with pressed grilled cheese taco was really delicious! The steak was good and very flavorful, love the slightly burned cheese.

After the meal I tried Cafe de olla - coffee with cinnamon, cloves and a bit of chocolate. It smelled wonderful and was so incredibly delicious. I’m going to try to make it at home. Though if anyone knows any cafes or Mexican restaurants in LA make this please let me know.

We were very satisfied. Pity this is the only day we get to spent at Mexico City and we had an early morning flight to Chiapas next day. Luckily, more amazing Mexican food await us there.

El Califa
Altata 22, at Alfonso Reyes, Mexico City
55/5271-6285

Tags: beer, Mexican, Taco

I just came back from a wonderful 4 days trip to Chiapas (the southernmost state of Mexico) for a project. I saw many beautiful sights and breathtaking sceneries. Of course, I had lots of amazing food there, thanks to our client Lenn. Report coming up soon. For now, got to clean up the old entries first.

It was a baking hot late afternoon and cold beer sounded very good. We walked by Good Microbrew and Grill and went in there randomly. I was delighted to see the huge selections of beer they have, they also have beers from around the world. We got Austrian’s Salzburger Stiegl and Czech’s Czechvar. Both are really good and reminded me of the wonderful Prague/Vienna trip earlier this year. I especialy love Stigegl, it had a wonderful rich malty taste and not bitter. I’m not familiar with proper beer descriptions, but it felt smooth when you gulp it down the throat and it left a nice slightly sweet aftertaste.

Food wise it’s mostly pub grub on the menu so I had no high expectation. We weren’t hungry so we got the Sampler Platter: potato skins, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Onion Rings and Armadillo Eggs. Trashy pub food but satisfying for us at that time and went well with the beer. I like the armadillo eggs the most, it’s actually cream cheese with jalapeno, not really eggs of armadillo.

We went back on another night for some good beer while watching the Olympics (there’re several big screen TV inside). Jon was hungry and got a Skirt steak. Surprisingly pretty good and well plated.

They have mystery beer night on Wednesday and dinner for $9 on Tuesday. Definitely come here for the wide selection of beer, they have several tap beer also. I just wish it would stay open later in the night.

Good Microbrew and Grill
3725 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026-1527
(323) 660-3645

Tags: beer

I’ve been working on the westside recently and we had lunch at this cute Santa Monica breakfast joint.

Even though most customers stopped by for take outs, it have a pretty outdoor patio for sit-ins.

We waited a bit for a table. The menu is generic Los Angeles cafe food: salad, sandwiches, soups. Fresh and big portion.

I have a Egg Benedict…hmm..’healthy’ tasting. The taste is pretty generic overall, which is alright for a local neighborhood joint. You mostly come here for the casual vibe, familiar breakfast/cafe essentials and cute patio.

Tags: Breakfast

We randomly went inside this Taiwanese place when we saw the “all handmade” signs on their windows. They specialized in Taiwanese style Fried Buns that are made to order (with variety of flavors to choose, including Vegetarian). It’d take awhile so you have to order it once you sat down. There’re instructions on the wall recommend calling before you arrive.

Fried Bun with Pork, Sea Cucumber and Shrimp: The skin is fluffy and smooth.

The three ingredients (Pork, Sea Cucumber and Shrimp) created a very smooth but chewy texture. It’s juicy and delicious~

The menu also offers a Noodle + 5 Dumplings set. Sole Fish with Leeks Dumplings, the skin is very thin and light but won’t fell apart. The fish filling is smooth and tasty, I can’t help gulping them down.

Pork with Herb Dill Boiled Dumplings: the dill gave an unusual aroma to the standard pork dumplings. Beef Noodle: the broth is too light for my preference, but the noodles are fresh and light.

Dan Dan Noodle. I thought I was ordiering the spicy Sichuan kind, turns out it’s the Taiwanese kind that’s served with peanut sauce. It’s a little dry and heavy, bad idea to get when you already have so much dumplings and buns stuff your stomach with.

The pickled cucumber are very good. They also sell variety of breads for take-out only (wheat, flower-bun, etc). We bought some Brown Sugar Buns and steamed at home, the mild sweetness is very pleasant. Joan concluded that she prefer Kingburg to Luscious Dumpling.

Kingburg Kitchen (626) 282-2386
715 W. Las Tunas Dr. San Gabriel, CA 91776

Tags: Chinese, Dumplings, Noodle

We went to Breadbar at the Century City Mall for a light meal. From the menu their sandwiches didn’t attract us as much as the salad and bread. So We got the French Country Salad: brie cheese, mesclun greens, figs, granny smith apples and honey-balsamic vinaigrette and balsamic reduction. When the plate arrived we were quite taken aback by how little mesclun greens there were. The star was definitely the slightly baked figs with melting brie. It’s a very delicious combination. I wish there were a tad more balsamic reduction too for it was very tasty.

BREADBAR’s Bread Basket for Two: Chef’s selection of four different breads, comes with butter and spreads. I didn’t notice at that time but we only got 3 kinds of bread instead of four. Later on I saw the table next to us had baguette in addition to their basket. Oh well, too late to complain. The bread were very good indeed, definitely live up to their name. Great spongy texture, perfectly crispy crust, I especially liked the olive one. Wish I could try their baguette instead of the the double amount of walnut-raisin bread though. I prefer eating the bread with just butter or olive oil/balsamic vinegar. The spread didn’t do much for me.

Their bakery section has many other delicious looking pastries and bread too. Next time if I found myself at the Century City mall again I would just get the pastries and eat them at the bench outsides or at the food court upstairs.

Tags: Bakery, bread