Oyakodon

Oyakodon also known as Chicken & Eggs Donburi is a very popular Japanese rice bowl that are served in almost every Japanese restaurant. The chicken (parent) and egg (child) and soup broth combination made this a very tasty and very comforting food especially in cold weather.

There are many ways and variation in making a donburi. The recipe below is of a classic Oyakodon, but in the picture, I made a variation by adding button mushrooms to the soup broth. You can add 1 1/2 cups of sliced mushroom if you also like mushrooms. But yes, feel free to add ham, bacon, etc etc to make this hearty dish.

~ 4 Servings

Ingredients:

4 cup steamed rice
3/4 lb chicken thighs or chicken breasts
1 onion
1 2/3 cups chicken stock or dashi (Japanese fish stock)
7 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sugar
4 eggs

Instruction:
1. Cut the chicken into small pieces and slice the onion.
2. In a frying pan on medium heat, add tiny bit of oil and stir fry the onion until a little bit translucent.
3. Add in the chicken and cook until it's half cooked.
4. Pour in the chicken or dashi stock, then soy sauce, mirin and sugar.
5. Bring all to a boil.
6. Pour egg over the chicken and soup mixture.
7. Turn the heat on low, close the lid and let simmer.
8. Turn the heat off after a minute.
9. Scoop the chicken, egg and soup mixture over steam rice.

Banana Island

416 Westlake Center, Daly City, CA

(650) 756-6868

http://www.bananaislanddalycity.com/

Banana Island was one of my favorite family-style restaurants of all time since the very first time I went in high school. It serves Malaysian, Singaporean and Thai cuisines; and because of the types of cuisines it offers, the menu had many varieties. After dinning there so many times though, I must say most of its food resembles more of Malaysian and Singaporean than Thai. Also, every meals I had there never disappointed me.

I decided to take my family there for Father’s Day this year as a last minute decision. Upon entering, it was packed with families. I know, bad day to dine out. The hostess told me that the wait would be about 45 minutes, so my family and I wondered around the mall plaza while waiting. Regardless of a busy night, the service was great. Our waitress attend to our table very often, and I was amazed at her great memories on what we ordered—she did not take out a notepad to take our orders…just memorize. Everything came out in an orderly and timely manner.

For appetizers, we ordered the Roti Canal, Chicken Satay and Baby Oyster Omelet.

Roti Canal is a Indian-inspired Malaysian crispy thin pancake that serves with a curry dipping sauce. The bread is very thin and crispy, so pretty light at the same time. The curry sauce compliments it very, very well. I always order this when I go to Banana Island and it is a must try if you haven’t!

I had both the chicken and the beef satay skewers before, but I would recommend the Chicken Skewers over the beef. The chicken skewers are very tasty and tender, whereas the beef was pretty rough. I had a hard time chewing it apart. The peanut dipping sauce was good because it didn’t really just taste like peanuts, it tasted more like a satay sauce made with peanuts. Yummy!

Coming from a person who usually doesn’t like oysters, the Baby Oyster Omelet was really good also! The oysters seemed a little too big to be baby oysters, but still tasted good and not overly fishy. I really like this dish because it reminded me of the oyster omelet I had as a child in Hong Kong.

For entrée, we ordered Sizzling Beef, Sarang Chicken, Kang Kung Belacan, Hokkien Mee and a side of white rice.

Sizzling Beef - Stir Fried Sliced Beef with Green Pepper, Black Pepper, Onion & Bean Paste

My younger sister is a fan of meat. So I never forget order an entree of meat. This was my first time ordering the sizzling beef, and boy, I was disappointed because it wasn't sizzling when it got to the table. Also, the beef were sliced but very choppy--some big pieces and some small. It was pretty salty and even though I saw black pepper on it, it wasn't very peppery at all. Kudos for the colorful onions and peppers but I'm definitely not ordering this next time.

Sarang Chicken - Shaped fried taro stuffed with baby corn, snow peas and mushrooms, topped with cashew nuts

I wanted to order a chicken dish because I love chicken. While waiting to be seated, I saw a couple of this dish, the Sarang Chicken, going back and forth...it had to be good if that many tables order it right? So I ordered the Sarang Chicken. This dish was delicious! It was super unique because the chef made a basket with deep fried taro and then filled it with stir fry chicken and vegetable. The taro was very crispy and light. The cashews added a crunch to the chicken and vegetables. I would order this again next time!

Kang Kung Belacan - Sauteed convolus (ong choi) with spicy Malaysian shrimp paste sauce

Convolus or ong choi is one of my favorite vegetables while I was growing up in Hong Kong. My mom likes to cook it with fermented soy or shrimp paste. At Banana Island, they used Malaysian shrimp paste and it is very tasty. It's very garlicky and a little spicy. The ong choi was still crispy at the stem and perfect texture on the leave...delicious!

This restaurant is something that I can go back to any time and be sure to get a satisfying meal. It is best to go in a group so that you can try out all the different dishes since majority of them are meant to be share.

Delica

1Ferry Building, Shop #45, San Francisco, CA 94111

(415) 834-0344
www.delicasf.com

Delica is like the cleanest fast food and deli-liked place I'd ever been to. This little store is like a Japanese and European fusion deli, serving some of the prettiest, healthiest and freshest mini bites. Delica serves bentos, salads, fried items and deli items by boxes, pieces or by the pounds.

One of my favorite salad there is the Spinach and Sesame Salad. The spinach was boiled in dashi or Japanese fish stock, and then marinated with sesame oil and sesame seeds. The salad itself is very light and refreshing. I could eat a load of this.


I usually don't like fried food, especially fried potatoes with the exception of French fries. But when my friend Diana let me had a bite of her steamy hot Potato Croquette, gosh, I wish I could have gotten a few myself. These croquettes are made with Russet and Yukon gold potato and sauteed onion. They are lightly coated in batter and then fried to perfection. The onion added so much flavor to these little goodie. One bite--light crunchiness on the outside and sweet creaminess on the inside. So so good!

Another thing I tried at Delica was Tofu and Chicken Patty with Hijiki. At first I thought it was outrageous that a patty was priced at $4.25 a piece, not to mention it was served cold! But after a couple bite, boy, I guess it was worth it. The patty was pressed together with tofu, chicken, hijiki seaweed and carrots and then glazed with thick soy sauce. It wasn't as overly salty as it looked because the patty itself wasn't too salty and was very light and not overly meaty, so the soy sauce glaze was perfect. Also, it was meant to serve cold, otherwise they would have kept this under the hot lamp.

Another one of the delicious goodnesses I had at Delica was the Roast Beef Sushi. You heard me! I know huh? When I first saw it, I knew I had to try it. The sushi was made with hormone -free beef and then topped with baby arugula, shallots and rasdish. The sushi also contained wasabi within. Usually roast beefs are very salty, but like sushi this one was more bland thus more natural in the beef favor. It is pretty good, something definitely worth trying if you haven't done so before; but yes, I would not go head over heel for it.

Despite some of the fried items they have and with many simple and fresh items in store, I do feel like I was eating lighter and healthier at Delica. I think I would always stop by and order a little something from Delica when I am near. I think what Delica has to offer makes very good snack items since it is sold by pieces and pound.

La Pinata

2699 Merced Ave, San Leandro, CA. 94577 (510) 352-8901
http://www.lapinata.com/

I have been to La Pinata three times so far, and each time it was passed 10pm at night. I think if there is one thing I have to say about La Pinata, it would be pretty decent Mexican food that open later than In & Out. La Pinata opens unil 3am at night--large portion of late night food for decent price.

After being seated, a basket of tortilla chips and home made salsa were brought to the table. The chips looked pretty ordinary but the salsa was mighty delicious! It had a tang and spicy hit to it.

So far each time I was at La Pinata, I ordered a different thing off the menu. The menu was extensive--it was one of those that would take me ten minute or so to look through and pick out from. Geez, I never knew there were so much to a tortilla!

Anyhow, I ended up ordering a tostada and soup.

Tostada de Ceviche

My coworker Dezirae was the first to ever introduce me to tostada de ceviche. It is a fried small crunchy tortilla topped with lime juice-cooked fish and/or shrimps top and salsa. Oh yes, and in many occasion, topped it all off with slices or chunks of avocado. The portion of the tostada is huge. The fish was a little too chewy, otherwise, very good and refreshing! Also, it's awesome how the tostada was still crunchy after soaking in the lime juice and seafood for awhile.

Spicy Chicken Soup

I love this soup. Not only was it tasty, it was also filled with chicken pieces and vegetable. I ordered a small and I felt like they put half a chicken in there. Despite the chicken mainly pulled from the breast, it was very juicy and tender. The soup also came with avacado, which sounded weird at first, but after adding chunks of it into the soup--man o man, delish! They also have a similar one that is not spicy.

Even though I am not a huge Mexican food fan, I say La Pinata is very authentic and a pretty good place to go to especially late at night when everything else is closed.

Nopalito

306 Broderick St, San Francisco, CA 94117

(415) 437-0303

http://www.nopalitosf.com/

It took my friend Victor and I three tries to get seats at Nopalito. This place does not take reservation, but you may put down your name by phone as you are on your way there. I did that two times, which still left us needing to wait for an hour or so. But by the third time, like a charm, we got seated right away.

Vic and I came here to try their carnita because it was on the 7x7.com 2010 SF Big Eat List. If it's on the list it must be good right? That wasn't the only reason I wanted to dine at Nopalito though. It was more so because Nopalito is not any Mexican restaurant...it is an ORGANIC Mexican restaurant. Also, I'd been wanting to try this Mexican stable sauce call Mole.

Upon seated, the waiter gave us water and a small bowl of fried chickpeas. And as hungry as I was, I started munching on them. They were good. Not too greasy, not too salty, just how I like them to be. I had looked at the menu so many times before since I'd been wanting to try this place for awhile.

We ordered what was on the list, the Carnitas.

Carnitas - Long braised pork, orange, bay leaf, cinnamon and beer, cabbage salad, pickled jalapeños, salsa de tomatillo 

I think what got this carnitas on the list was that unlike many Mexican restaurant, which served their carnitas shredded, Nopalito served it as a whole in a baked parchment paper. Using a folk, the carnitas could be easily shredded apart. Very juicy and tender, but just not as juicy as most carnitas you get at other Mexican restaurants. I think it was because other Mexican restaurant then soaked them in grease. Nopalito's carnitas was good, but just not something I would go back purposely for.

We also ordered Mole Chicken since I wanted to try Mole.

Mole Poblano con Pollo - Sauce of toasted chiles, chocolate, cinnamon, nuts, sesame seeds, onions, poached chicken leg and rice

My coworker told me about how mole was made with chocolate, so I expected it to be sweet, but it wasn't as sweet as I could have imagined. The sauce tasted very unique. It was a little sweet yet bitter as the sweetness trailed off. I didn't really enjoy it much. I had to scoop some sauce away and just ate the chicken by itself. The poached chicken was really tender. I like it a lot. The rice was really good too. It was cooked with tomato, so it was very appetizing.

Housemade Corn Tortillas

Both the entrees were served with homemade corn tortilla. Now I think this tortilla should have been on the list instead. It was so good, especially when warm!

I don't think I would wait in line too long for Nopalito, but I would order take out as they have a take out window. Other than that, I am not sure if I would actually come back here, maybe just whenever I feel like it.