Recently in restaurant / eateries Category

Pier 23 is a bar on Embarcadero we often go to. These were taken one of our colleagues' farewell party.

After an entire month in heiatus, I finally squeezed out a little time to post an update. Yes folks, I've left Mullen Boston, and am now with Cutwater in the beautiful San Francisco. I was lucky enough to be put on a cool project for Persol, for those hipsters that knows the brand, expect some exciting stuff very soon, for those of you who don't, don't worry, you'll hear me babbling about it often.

The January trip was amazing, I got to work with one of my favorite photographers, Carlos Serrao, and his amazing crew. Aside from eating non stop at various cool places to compensate for lack of sleep (sounds really bad I know), I also got to fly on the airplane I created ads for - the A380 airbus. It's a gorgeous airplane. Business class seat that goes all the way horizontal, restrooms that's twice the size as other planes', and LED cabin lights that dims and transitions to different colors.

Ok, enough babbling, here are some pictures, more will be posted soon.

I LOVE Panera bread. The restaurant bakes fresh bread and has always got really tasty sandwiches among other things. With good food, they also offer free WIFI, its my perfect hang out. One thing I was never fond of, was it's advertising. I always thought if this company is so careful with their food, they should also put a lot of love into their advertising.

One thing I detest about restaurant advertising is over the top food porn shots, you see one, you see them all. So at Mullen, we tried a completely new approach. Instead of showing how good the food is, we wanted to tell people what Panera is all about - It serves fantastic bread, it's cozy, and warm, and that's it.

I'm really proud of this ad not only because it's an restaurant ad without food porn, it is also my first legit USA today full page ad. Special shout out to my copywriter Kerry Shea for being part of this impossible mission with me.

Meeting up with my "Thanksgiving Orphan" friends in NYC seemed to become my newest tradition. Thanks Mike for letting me stay and Dines taking me to this awesome texas bbq called Hill Country.

Also seeing the Standard finally completed was a cool thing, I know this sounds bad, but I have to say, architecturally, its very cool. "The high line" which was a park converted from an abandoned raised train track next to the hotel is a nice touch too.

Panera is a wonderful chain restaurant. I love everything they make, sandwiches, soup, bread, you name it. We're shooting a series of new items on their updated menu for this season, I was tasked to look after the shoot this time with a wonderful photographer Francine Zaslow. When she saw me carrying my bulky Hassleblad, she offered me some free film right away, that was awesome! Her studio is located in a converted drydock.

Its' amazing how much preparation we go through for shooting food porn, unlike some restaurant chains though, we're shooting the real thing, not some over waxed, airbrushed stuff.

Props for the shoot.

George is our food stylist, he prepares sandwiches with tweezers.

Every Panera restaurant has a certified baker in there, baking bread from fresh dough, I LOVE their bread.

Our AE Ryan

Drove by this Indian place one late night when I was out scouring for a late night place to eat at. It was wonderful, It had all the different kinds of indian bread, and curry was wonderful. Its very strong though, so you have to be prepared exiting the place smelling curry all night. I highly recommended non the less. It also plays all these Ballywood music videos, I enjoyed watching... some of them.

Oh, I took that picture because the girl reminded me of someone at work, hehe.

Boston is not really known for it's exposure to Asian cultures. Unlike San Francisco, LA, or New York, many people in this city still has your "Puritanical American" view on the concept of fine cuisine - Italian, French, and mayyyyybe Japanese. Sometimes I wish people in the world could just watch a bit more Anthony Bourdain.

Anyhow, The pictures above were taken last month when me and a few friends decided to try out a dim-sum place in China Town. Emperor's Garden apparently is a famous joint in Boston when it comes to Dim Sum. The place is your typical Chinese restaurant in America, loud, crowded, and barely ok when it comes to services and hygiene. If you look pass all that however, the place is quite charming, and yes, food was absolutely delish!.

I'm also amazed at how the restaurant just decided to settle into what apparently an old theater. The owner just decided not to touch a single bit of the old decor, and in a weird way, it totally works, its like as if the Chinese restaurant has some how, saved this lovely place. Also, if you're a fan of the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China, you've GOT to come and check this place out.

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! Compare to some of the other metropolitan cities, Boston still hasn't yet embraced the whole "China explosion" phenomenon. The Chinese new year here is very quite. Luckily, after some clever research, I did find the one Chinese restaurant that serves dumplings made from fresh dough. Yes I'm picky with my dumplings. To my non-asian friends whom are not very familiar with Chinese culture, its believed that you will be prosperous in the new year if you have some dumplings on new year's eve, especially in the north. As a northern boy, eating dumplings and watching the special "Spring Festival Grand Gala" on tv are the two traditions I carry every single year.

Thanks to the internet and Qingtao Garden in Cambridge, I was able to do both this year again. The restaurant is not by any means fancy, but is very cozy. The dishes are authentic, and I suspect its a family ran business as it offered a lot of home cooked style dishes rather than your typical cuisine items. The patrons there that night were really nice, while we were the only "asian table" in there, EVERYONE there knew whats up, and greeted the waitresses with "happy new year". The family sat next to us even came by and complimented our huge order of food. another one even said "xie xie" as we held the door open for him when we left. I was... very impressed.

Thanks to Nui and Popita for coming out with me. It was fun. Now Nui, I'm sorry for not posting your polaroid, since you didn't like that one. Hehe.

I haven't seen Vivian since forever, she took me to this sea food place called the boiling crab. Its known for the craw fish they serve. It was delicious and we had fun playing with our food. Thanks Viv for showing me around OC. Sorry Adam for... grossing you out, hehe.

Boy what a scary month November 2008 has been. I decided to spend the holidays with some friends in New York. Here are some Polaroids.

Coolest thing about New York is its' endless offerings of amazing places to hang out and eat at. This is at a restaurant not far from Union square called Dogmatic, a really cool hot dog place.

Near Adam's place

Squirrel as big as a cat!

Man, I can't get enough lobsters, they're so good. On Friday there was the all you can eat Lobster bowl! Allie brought the whole table down though, by saying its basically the rat of the sea, and its true :-/ Anyways, I think this is like, my high point of this summer, I ate so much good food at the Mullen office. The weather's been awesome too lately, I'm in a good mood.

Cory brought us to his favorite tea house tonight. One interesting aspect of tea drinking is the relationship between water and tea leaves. Unlike coffee, the leaf releases its flavor bit by bit, so naturally, as the water sit longer, the flavor becomes stronger. The tea drinking etiquette therefore involves an "interim pot" which is called "公壶" (sharing pot). A pot full of tea is poured into this pot first, and then poured into the cups of each drinkers, this eliminates the concern of uneven flavors between the first guest and last guest.

This pot is an interim pot. It only receives brewed tea without leaves. The designer got rid of the lid entirely, and made the entry system on the bottom. the design inside essentially is an upside down funnel, water is pured into the pot and when its flipped, water stays around the funnel and doesn't spill out. To emphasize the design even more, the shape of the pot is made into an lucky peach, a symbol for longevity and long life. I loved this design decision, its one of the few shapes that involves a vertical line. The designer is using it to contrast how the lid, which will require a horizontal line for the cut, is not there. Very clever.

The tea house is on Dong Si Shi Tiao street. near Sony Certified service center.

Sorry people, for lack of posts. I have been trying to sort out somethings recently, with work, travel, friends, a new phone and a new laptop. Had dinner with Chloe two days ago in No Name bar, a place Me and Lu scouted for our Redbull shoot once upon a time. It was really good, in fact I think I had the best Yun Nan food in beijing that night, so I recommend that to all. The big story here is that Beijing finally has the type of soda cans that had the push-in kind of openings instead of the grenade rings, I was literally waving my arms in the air for this... improvement, hehe.

Believe it or not, I do know the reason behind two designs. The grenade ring was never intended for it to be fully pulled off, once it pops, it was designed for people to pull it far enough for them to insert a straw. This design exists in developing countries because product's retail environment isn't clean enough. To have the can come in direct contact with your lip would be regarded as something dangerous.

The new design, obviously needn't much explanation, it opens faster, pours out smoother, and you end up with kids that won't have a chance to play with the ring and cut them selfs by accident.

Back to in the restaurant, I was shocked, actually shocked at the coke can when the waitress brought it to me, look folks, Coke cans in Beijing, has finally changed to the western push in style!!!!!!!!! The grenade ring style can opening is disappearing FINALLY... I sat there in amazement for literally 2 minutes speechless. Now if Beijing can make the smokers disappear like they did with the old cans, that'll really be something.

Breakfast: Soy milk plus steamed dumplings. I didn't think much about it when production people offered to order them for me. After all, I've had both for about a thousand times already, they have become things you just shove down your mouth without much reaction. Guess I was wrong that morning when I had these. First of all, when it comes to steamed dumplings, they usually have thick skins, because steam tend to melt the bread if its thin. This time, I was amazed, its like... almost steamed wontons, they're really thin, and the stuffing is really good too. The soy milk, is also very delicious, nice easy- to -open- package that some of the beijing restaurant could really take note of.

Had dinner at Lao Nong Tang. From its name, and its nice niche typeface design, I totally expected nice service and excellent food. I... as wrong again, the restaurant is just average. Food.. tollerable, but when it comes to service its shit. I don't mind being asked if I wanted to try some expensive dishes, or drink their overpriced tea, but being repeatedly asked by the waitress is annoying, then the dishes were slow, and overpriced. I won't go back to Lao Nong Tang again.

walking out of the restaurant, I saw these two statues, and thought to my self, o, cool, year of the mouse, gold mouse, i get it.

then I waked around it, they have bear faces!!!! Its year of the bear mouse!!! run.....

Went to two nice restaurants over the weekend, Vineyard Cafe on Friday with Mr Nick Smith, and 楚畹圆(chu wan yuan) with Silvia and Dad.

楚畹圆 is a fairly inexpensive restaurant that serves some delicious southern chinese dishes. Like the problem with all Chinese restaurants in Beijing. It doesn't really use superbly fresh materials to start off with, but what I liked about this restaurant is the quality of their executions and price, you're looking at a 30% compare to other well known restaurants that offer the same dish. The place is next to 湖广会馆 (hu guang hui guan) a place thats well known for peking operas. What I also loved is the fact that it has these two adorable cats roaming around the place, I first found one just caressing across the rooftop, then the second one came over to my table looking for scraps. I picked her up and put in my laps and she's very friendly. I guess this poses a health risk, since pets are in a public eating place, but in a generic "ancient chinese" decor, the cats add personality. Overall, good food, cheap prices, cool cats, dirty floors, lots of smokers, average restrooms... I might go there again when I'm in the area.

Vineyard Cafe
This is Nick's nice little discovery, I don't have the pictures but I have their link. A simple, no frills french steak house, it serves superb steaks and amazing deserts. I haven't tried their wine yet, but the selection seems pretty respectable. The price is what you'd expect out of a typical expat place, nothing outrageous. It has a romantic setting, so its a good place for a date. The bathroom has a sign that says "do not poop" don't really know whats up with that. Overall, good food, amazing apetizer and desert, romantic setting, smaller than average restroom, and barely functions i suppose. Do think I will go back there again.

I really wanted to eat at this place for a while now. For Siliva's b-day dinner, I took her here. It is a
spanish tapas place similar to Mare, but way better and way more expensive.

Tapa dishes are great. They are very creative and unique, however, the fish they used are not as fresh as their price would suggest, but they're tollerable, especially in a city like Beijing.

The environment is quite nice, with proper restaurant lighting, and the space its self is somewhat interesting. The last time I saw a red brick restaurant interior was when I was in New York. I liked that.

The price is on the uper 100s (RMB) per dish, so be prepared. The main course we ordered were fabulous and worth the money I think.

Mare is a lovely restaurant, since it was my first time to eat spanish cuisine, I can't say whether its authentic, but I can say it is very tasty. I love how the sauce contains bits of seasonings and chopped veggies, sorta like more ground up salsa, very lovely. Definitely try the lamb steak, it is very tender, the only other time where I had a plate of lamb steak this good was in new zealand. The bass was a bit over baked for me though, but it is still very good.

One of my dear colleagues Grace Ma took me to have dinner at this very cozy Hu Nan flavoured restaurant two weeks ago. Since I'm committed to document as many restaurant I liked as possible, I brought my camera. Ok, also I suck at taking pictures with my leica m3, I decided to practice. The Place is not easy to find, its a small court yard west of National Art Museum. The restaurant its self is about 50 sq meters, and has two stories. It's gotta be the smallest full bar restaurant I've eaten in, smaller than Manhattan's Yakitori Tojo on St. Marks even. The food was decent, and arrived on time and in order, something not common in China. Staff were very friendly, I was very happy about that too. O and sorry Grace... there are no pictures of you because you sat right next to me and my lens wasn't able to capture you that up close. :-/

Stupid work got me bogged down at the office after 6 again. Decided to hang out and just let lose after that. Ate at this restaurant in San Li Tun called The golden elephant, they served some wickedly delicious curries. Then the 7 club with Stone, David, and Kama and girlfriends. There were so much cigarett smoke in there that it burned my eyes, and I left with Silvia soon after that.

This past friday, our nice AE Jessica took some people from work to her favorite Xin Jiang Restaurant, since she's from Xin Jiang, and most of us loves the "chuar" aspect of Xin Jiang food, we went along.
The restaurant, which was simply called ... Xin Jiang Restaurant, hides its self next to Xin Jiang provincial representative office served the best Xin Jiang food I've ever had, place is fairly clean, and staff is fairly responsive. Just a bit above average compare to the normal everyday restaurants in Beijing. The food though, is great. Although when it comes to "chuar" or lam kabobs, I have to say I've had better else where in Beijing. Jessica and her boyfriend is the couple in the picture.