AsLongAsYoureHappy.com » soup

Beque Korean Grill – Santa Clara, CA

Jo — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:49:23 +0000

Although I am not usually fond of the service I receive at this particular establishment, the side dishes and Galbee Tang lures me back. Overall the restaurant is very clean and has a trendy upbeat atmosphere.

The most wonderful thing about the experience at Beque is probably the side dishes. There are variations on a day to day basis, but there’s about 9 side dishes that are replenished upon request. My favorite dishes are the fish cake, potato, and potato salad dish (not pictured). The potato dish is absolutely delicious, the potato is cooked to just the right degree of done-ness and the marinade’s flavor is fully infused with every bite. The kimchi is also quite nice, but I found it a bit sour tonight.

Now on to my favorite entree: The Galbee Tang, which is basically the short rib soup, is AWESOME. I find myself ordering this entree EVERY SINGLE TIME I visit this restaurant. There are about 4 large pieces of short ribs in the extremely flavorful beef broth. The short ribs are cooked until tender, the meat literally falls off the bone, but it also still offers enough bite and texture for chewing (it doesn’t turn to mush). The broth is also seasoned just right, no need to add any salt at the table. There’s a mixture of ingredients in the soup including egg, onions, green onions, daikon, dried seaweed, carrot and cellophane noodles. The soup portion is a good size and is served with a bowl of rice on the side. I like to eat half my rice “dry”, and then put the remaining half in my soup. Its NOMELICIOUS!!

My mom ordered the Dduc Maandooguk which is also a soup based entree. Her soup is also the short rib soup but has dumplings and rice cakes in it. There are pieces of beef in the soup, but not large chunks like in the Galbee Tang.

New Year’s Eve Dinner – Home

Jo — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:39:14 +0000

Ah, Chinese New Year. Definitely one of the BEST times of the year for food. My mom and dad cooked a delicious dinner (I helped with Egg Rolls!) that we enjoyed with just the immediate family. Unfortunately I can’t name each dish because I don’t know what they’re called in English, but pictures should offer a good illustration. :)

If anyone really wants to know what something is, feel free to contact me via the “Contact Us” page.

Pho – Union City, CA

Jo — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:57:17 +0000

Every so often I get a craving for a deliciously rich beef broth, and when that craving hits… I know its PHO time! :D Tried a new Vietnamese restaurant last night, and ofc, had to have the Pho noodles. While not as good as the Pho restaurant that I usually frequent, it was still NOM. :D I ordered a rare steak, brisket, flank steak, tendon, and tripe Pho noodle soup, and had the rare steak on the side so they don’t get cooked before arriving at the table. I usually prefer not to have tripe in my soup, but I didn’t see a menu item that offered the kinds of meat I wanted without the tripe. I guess I could have asked for no tripe… but the thought didn’t occur to me at the time.

After dinner, I wandered over to the asian milk tea shop nearby to grab some chocolate milk tea (no pearls/boba). :D My favorite! :D

Here are some photos of dinner!

Hot Pot! – Milpitas, CA

Jo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:45:43 +0000

One of my favorite meals.. ever. The way it works is that you cook the food right there at the table where you are sitting. Typically you’ll receive a pot of soup base on top of a portable stove, and then all the items you want in raw form. Raw beef slices, pork, chicken, fish fillet, vegetables, tofu, noodles, etc.

The restaurant we went to last night features an all-you-can-eat hot pot meal, where you order as much as you want provided that you finish all the food (extra $6 charge if you don’t). The food quality isn’t top notch, I found that it was a bit unrefined, but its not too shabby. I was a bit surprised to find “luncheon meat” on the menu, I have not seen that anywhere else. Several kinds of soup bases were available, anything from the normal “Chicken Soup” base to “Preserved Egg & Cilantro”, or even “Kimchi Soup” were on the menu. I ordered the Chicken Soup, just because I really like to taste my food as it is and not get distracted with so many extra flavors. Yeah, I’m pretty plain when it comes to eating.

They also offered a couple of different “appetizers” on their menu, I ordered the “Fried Tofu” which came with a garlic soy sauce dipping sauce on the side. Pretty good, the tofu was crispity crunchity on the outside, but soft on the side. Lemme tell ya, the garlic soy sauce really added the finishing touch. NOM!

Below are some photos I took before digging in, I apologize for the photo quality as they were taken via cell phone… am in the process of procuring a real digital camera for future photos. :D