Sushi Wave

You know, I was all set to say Sushi Wave was average.  I had been there fore a lackluster lunch service, and had some Chicken Jalapeño, some Teriyaki Salmon, Spicy Scallop sushi roll, and a Blue Georgia roll.  In a word, everything was pretty average.

Because Sushi Wave is the favorite place of a few close friends, I gave it another shot.  That time, I ordered a Cool Spring roll and Lollipop roll.  Here are the pics:

These pictures are worth a thousand words.  Craftily put together, delicious balance of flavors, imaginative.  I loved them.  The first wasn’t –that– imaginative, but it was a little, and the second roll was.  I also happen to be a sucker for sweet shrimp.  And that was sweet shrimp interspersed with avocado.

Freaking fried heads.  I love it.  The Cool Spring roll was a much more interesting, and delicious, take on the "classic" "American" Spider roll.  So, here is my verdict.  3 for the first trip, 4 for the second.  3.5 in total, and above average.  I would recommend giving them a try, in particular given the dearth of good downtown Seattle sushi lunch joints.  I’m excited to drop by for a dinner service and see if it’s better so maybe they can earn and out and out four.

Sushi Wave
2904 1st Avenue  Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-4348

Mon-Fri	11am–2:30pm, 5–9:30pm
Sat	5–9:30pm
Sun	Closed

3.5 of 5

Buddha Ruska Thai Cuisine

My wife has very few food cravings.  She craves ice cream.  She craves chocolate.  She craves crappy pizza.  She craves potatoes, sweet corn, and hamburgers.  And she craves Thai.

Larb

We decided to give Buddha Ruska in West Seattle a shot one day.  It came pretty highly recommended, and it was not disappointing.  It just wasn't fantastic.  We ordered Chicken Larb, Lemongrass Chicken, Crispy Garlic Chicken, and Pad Thai.  The Larb was good.  The Pad Thai was good.  We still talk about the Crispy Garlic Chicken, it is crave worthy.  The Lemongrass Chicken was only ok.  A quick word on their spice levels, with the Larb you can taste it - but it's mostly just adding extra red pepper (lazy spice).

Pad Thai

Lemongrass Chicken

The Winner - Crispy Garlic Chicken

So what did we think in the end.  If you are in the neighborhood, it's a solid option.  If we do find ourselves again in West Seattle, there's a good chance we'll stop by for some of their Crispy Garlic Chicken.  I am not sure we would go out of our way to Buddha Ruska though, in particular as the service is a bit slow. 


Buddha Ruska 
3520 Southwest Genesee Street  
Seattle, WA 98126
(206) 937-7676
3.5 of 5

BaFang YunJi (Dumplings)

Located near Causeway Bay Metro in Hong Kong, on Hong Kong Island (and elsewhere around) is the dumpling chain restaurant BaFang YunJi.  I ate at one between Perceval and Patterson Streets on an unnamed road also near Jaffe Rd.  My pot stickers were devoured too quickly to get a picture, but luckily I snapped one of the place.  Here is another review and a few good pictures.

Apparently this is a Taiwan-based chain which loosely translates to "Everywhere Gather Here."  I gathered, and got some super delicious street food.  They had a perfectly crisped skin, porky-vegetable flavor, and just the right amount of oil. Unfortunately, the guy charged me a bit more than he should have (pictured below).  He must have added a "tip" for himself, though even after that they were dirt cheap and some of the best pot stickers I have ever eaten (Taiwanese McDonalds or not).

BaFang YunJi (Dumplings)
Causeway Bay
Near Perceval and Patterson (though locations vary)
Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
4 of 5

Iggy's at the Hilton Singapore

Iggy's is listed as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world according to Restaurant magazine.  Passing through town, it was impossible not to indulge.  The restaurant is very small, and reservations are a must.  You are given a "Gastronomic Menu" reflecting their seasonal menu on the weekend and this prix fixe is your only option.  Weekdays there is a slightly less expensive "Dinner" prix fixe menu.  Here was mine:

           -Eel

Avurga, Yuzu, Silver

           -Sea Urchin

Cauliflower, Abalone, Shiso

           -Chlorophyll

Sea and Soil

           -Sanma

Wild rice, Olives, Thyme

           -Pigeon

Beetroot, Hickory, Lentils

           -Epoisses

Yukon gold potato, Winter black truffles

           -Cantaloupe

Raspberry, Peppermint

           -Watermellon

Pepitas, Goat's cheese, Milk ice cream


It was one of the best meals I've ever had.  However, it was not "better" than the best meals I've ever had.  It did have some of the best courses that I've ever had.  This is an interesting dichotomy.  Here are the details:

First, there were two bonus courses at the beginning of the meal.  These courses were, in a word, outstanding.  Iggy's "sushi," a toro, wagyu (possibly Kobe) beef, and beautiful seasonal white fish (not white fish, but a white fish with which I could not pick out of a lineup - possibly Bonito fish) was phenomenal.  The pieces were not served on rice, but "gnocchi" in the loosest of senses.  It was more a cracker, though it's hard to make "cracker" sound fine dining.  These gnocchi exploded with flavor in your mouth, and gave a crunchy textural contrast to the soft fish and beef that was most welcome.

In addition, here is a "bonus" salad course:

The eel course was smoke infused with an upturned "bowl."  I don't normally buy into this gimmick, but the chef was able to infuse a great deal of smokey flavor into the eel and caviar, making the dish a complete success.  

Sadly, however, the sea urchin was not on the same level.  I first tasted the sea urchin and gel-like broth.  Independently they were a little disappointing.  When eaten together, they ceased to be disappointing, but only arose to "good," and additionally disappointing, the shiso flavor was really not present.  Even sadder, I neglected to snap a shot of it.

Chlorophyll, however, was spectacular.  If you were going to have a disappointing dish, go ahead and put it before this dish.  You quickly forget all about it, since this was the single best vegetable/vegetarian-friendly dish I have ever eaten.  It had no salt, creme, or stock added, according to the server.  It was, in a word, plants.  The amount of flavor that Iggy was able to get out of plants was amazing, and the roasted buckwheat seeds about stole the show.  They were so salty and delicious, it was hard to pay attention to the okra, seaweed, and other elements.  With each bite, however, you were reminded of just how harmonious this dish was.  I don't know how it would impact it, but I for one would have enjoyed a few seabeans in this dish - not to say it wasn't individually a five of five.

Another example of the nice textural touches within the dish were puffed rice pieces amid the wild rice that accompanied a perfect medium sanma.  The thyme was nice, but the sprig included on the dish would have blown out anyone's palate.  While pretty, frying it to a crisp and diffusing some of the thyme flavor, or transforming the ingredient in some other way would have been a better option.  Since the oil on the plate was already infused with thyme, you wouldn't lose anything.  This is a minor complaint, a garnish issue, but to me it is the difference between a great meal and a perfect meal.

Pigeon.  Why it wasn't called squab, is beyond me.  The woman next to me commented, pigeon, I don't think I want pigeon.  What she wouldn't have known would not have hurt her.  She probably would have gotten the dish, eaten it, declared it was the best squab she had ever eaten, and then later in telling her friends would have found out squab is actually pigeon.  Technically, again, the protein was cooked perfectly.  The lentils, of all things, about stole the show though.  They had this almost intoxicating, berry flavor that paired perfectly with the beetroot that was infused with a nice delicate smokey flavor.  Throw on that the pickled treatment that a few pieces of beet get, with micro-beet greens and you have another winning dish.  

The potatoes and cheese.  My goodness.  They were irresistible, with the truffle adding this magnificent earthy "umami" flavor.  I don't use the word umami lightly, or to be trendy.  This dish just had it.  This dish showed how amazing potatoes can be, and made for the best "mashed" or "scalloped" potatoes I have ever eaten.  

The (former) pastry chef, really had a stroke of brilliance when he created this cantaloupe soup.  It was like an injection of cantaloupe, so much flavor you might as well have stuck it straight into your veins with a needle.  In addition, I'm sure this is a fine dining trick, but to freeze and break apart individual raspberry cornels shows both patience and ingenuity.  Absolutely loved it!

The final dessert (or so you think), had a goat cheese infused vanilla ice cream.  The woman next to me (a different woman from the last time) declared, oh, goat cheese, I don't like goat cheese.  The chef convinced her to give it a try, and she gobbled the whole thing down.  The goat cheese wasn't prominent, but used to break up the sweetness of the ice cream.  The watermelon and pepitas were just winners.  

When you think you're done, they bust out a chocolate box.  I said yes to every one, after consulting with the pastry chef and him telling me that he would absolutely take one of each chocolate in my place.  The apple-flavored piece was outstanding.  I was glad to have grabbed one of each, because I wouldn't have grabbed the apple chocolate if I had only picked 2 or 3.  The white chocolate with pink peppercorn was good enough, and my least favorite was the pistachio (which would have been my first choice).  They had some delicious caramels, truffles, and macaroons.  I guess picking a least favorite was like picking a least favorite child.

I enjoyed my experience at Iggy's.  It was expensive, fine dining anywhere in the world expensive-expensive.  Do I think it was worth the price tag?  Yes.  I would strongly recommend it for a special occasion or business meeting.  Do I think given Singapore's food culture, that it is wise to spend some 50 times the cost of average fare on a single dinner?  Well, that's a tougher one.  I think in a nutshell that this is what cost Iggy's the last half of a "star" to me.  While the meal was fantastic, at the price (in Singapore), it needs to be perfect and it wasn't perfect. The wonderful staff really does lift your experience as well, each member is knowledgeable, friendly, and on task.  If your paradigm is Panda Express for Asian food, this will blow you away!


Iggy's

The Hilton Hotel

581 Orchard Road Level 3 
Singapore 238883 
Tel: +65 6732 2234 
Email: marcom@iggys.com.sg
*Google has not updated the address from the Regent Hotel - Beware!
4.5 of 5

Square Lotus

Square Lotus in Bellevue, Washington was an average Vietnamese place that seemed to cater to vegetarians.  It had a Four Star rating on Yelp (but in our opinion was not deserving).  The place had a very strip-mally decor down to faux brick wall paper, wobbly tables, and plates with the Square Lotus logo.

We ordered a few things, summer rolls, tropic rolls, stir fried soft egg noodles with beef (spicy style), and  super pho bowl (pho tai bo).  

Summer Rolls

Summer Rolls: They were a few herbs on the inside away from perfection, but they were very well done here. I prefer the fried wonton to be rolled in the middle, but to their credit they did include them flattened and in small pieces in the center.

Tropic Rolls

Tropic Rolls. We loved the combination of flavors and grilled chicken, but this roll was also missing a few herbs.  It was a nice variation from the classic summer roll, but was a little bland.

Stir Fried Noodles with Beef

Stir Fried Soft Egg Noodles with Beef - Spicy.  The portion was very small compared to other noodle or Chinese places.  The flavors were subtle, they don't jump out and slap you and "very very spicy" turned into barely spicy when it hit the tablet.  That was a tremendous disappointment.  The dish was good, in an average sort of way, but at over $9 I would not order them again.

Super Pho Bowl. Pho Tai (Bo).  The Pho broth was light, flavorful, and meaty, and the bowl is spacious (a personal preference I have come to view as vital).  The dish was very meaty when ordering the "super," but we can't comment on the regular (and judging by the noodles I suspect it may be very different).  The broth to noodles to meat ration was, therefore, quite on point if you order the Super Pho.  On the dig side, the broth was quite cloudy, which my wife assumed was due to not pre-boiling the beef bones before adding them to the pot with the other components (a quick was to make cloudy Pho broth at home).   

The biggest problem was really the poor, poor service.  Although we appeared to catch them during their lunch, the staff was not attentive at all.  We also got no hoisin sauce, crushed red pepper, or anything else out on the table (nor was it brought to us for quite some time after we had our food).  It was average, but with so many Vietnamese places in the Seattle area, there is no reason to overpay for noodles and get good (but not great) Pho with bad service.  I suspect if you are a vegetarian, you like this restaurant more  because they clearly cater to you with a large portion of the menu highlighted as Vegetarian.  If I were you though, I'd keep looking, because there are better places out there that also have vegetarian fare...



Square Lotus Fine Vietnamese & Vegetarian Cuisine
3540 Factoria Blvd SE # A
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 679-0680

2.5 of 5

Kabuki Fusion Sushi and Grill

Located just outside of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee was a surprising tasty little sushi joint named Kabuki Fusion Sushi and Grill.  Gratefully, it was close to my hotel, as well as a gaggle of other major hotel chains, and I was able to just mosey on down there for the Kabuki dance.  The decor was tacky, the service was stingy, but the sushi was solid.

I ordered:

Fresh scallop nigiri (pass)

Spicy scallop (pass)

Soy kingdom roll (good)
-tuna, salmon, mango and avocado wrapped in soy paper served with wasabi sauce

California roll (ok)

Oscar roll (good)
-Spicy salmon, asparagus, cucumber with white tuna, jalapeno and sriracha hot sauce on top

Phoenix roll (good)
-Yellow tail, spicy crunch, asparagus, and scallion with spicy tuna on top

The prominently displayed sushi bar on the left of the restaurant tried to be trendy, playing top 40 music with the staff in dark uniforms.   It was sort of cheap, with a modern feel that said both Japanese and middle of Tennessee.  However, the mix of paint, seat, table, and light colors can best be described as discordant.

Really though, you care about the food.  They had a decent menu.  The scallops were not fresh enough, and not the right kind for raw preparation.  They were ok, just not that good raw.  The Oscar roll, and Soy Kingdom (which actually comes out with a maraschino cherry) were standouts.  The rice was well cooked, and the overall value for what you have to pay is quite outstanding.  The Phoenix roll was good (just not as good as the Oscar and Soy Kingdom).  The place was lacking specials - you know the kind, displayed prominently on a chalk board by the sushi bar.  Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their sushi since Tennessee can hardly be considered a sushi mecca.  If I were you, I would go by on a Weds for half off (select) sushi.


Kabuki Fusion Sushi and Grill

10901 Parkside Dr # 101
Knoxville, TN 37934
(865) 288-9119
3.5 of 5 (overall)

4.5 (knoxville sushi)

wild ginger in bellevue

My wife and I decided to visit Wild Ginger in Bellevue.  I had heard that Wild Ginger was lauded locally as one of the best new restaurants in Seattle in 2010.  As it turned out, it was Restaurant Week.  We were able to have three courses for $28, a fair price.

Wild Ginger has pan Asian fare.  Think, PF Chang's.  As we walked in, the hostess looked harried.  It turned out that an event bought out half of her restaurant, and with the Microsofties having easy access to it due to its location in the Bravern and Restaurant Week in Seattle, it was jumping.  She promised a 20 minute wait, and I responded by asking if she meant a real 20 minutes or optimistic 20.  If it was optimistic, we were out of there before dinner started.  She said real, and to her credit, we were seated at about 13 minutes into the wait.

My wife, who has been reading a book by Ruth Reichl, noted both that we were sat in the back corner of the restaurant, and that the chairs were comfortable.  This was, in her estimation, a minus and a plus (in that order).  Speaking of, we ordered fried oysters, pork (meatball) satay, Singapore beef, spinach prawns, banana bavarian cake, and pumpkin cheesecake mochi.

As for the food, the appetizers came out quickly and the pan fried oysters were good sized, fresh, tasty oysters. The sauce was sort of a jazzed up version of tonkatsu sauce.  (For those uninitiated, Tonkatsu sauce is used frequently in Japanese cuisine with, surprisingly, Katsu's [fried schnitzel-like dishes] and tastes like a sweeter version of A-1.)  The house-made pork satay, a pork "meatball" on a stick of sorts, was juicy with onion, pepper, and was grilled to display nice char marks.  It was very tasty, but its sauce was average - a basic sort of fish sauce with vinegar, a la egg roll sauce you can buy in a bottle at the Asian supermarket for $2.00 per jug.  The meatball-on-a-stick did come with a few house made pickles, which did a good job of cutting the fat and adding a nice pop of flavor.
 
The main courses were not what we anticipated.  The Singapore beef, my wife dubbed "eggplant seasoned with beef."  Frankly, it tasted like any good Szechuan beef with eggplant.  There was nothing distinctly Singaporean about it.  It was a good spice level for me, but too much for my wife - who had to give up after a small portion.  The spinach prawns surprised us too. Not necessarily in a good way.  As the picture makes clear, it was almost a creamed spinach with some fish sauce served over medium-large shrimp.  It started off pretty decent, but not reminding me of anything particularly "Asian" I have eaten, but lost its appeal after cooling.  Beyond the visual of a plate of green "gloppy" substance, it also had a bit more fish sauce than it needed.  The entree came with a  string bean plate that was no different than Chinatown for $5.  That said, it was a good rendition of the dish, and also had a good spice level. 

 

In the end, the desserts let down the rest of the meal.  The banana Bavarian cake was dry.  It had the flavor of banana, but didn't hit you on the mouth with banana like you may expect from a desert named "banana Bavarian cake."  The mochi, don't even get me started.   The pumpkin cheesecake was more like pumpkin pie filling, and the outer layer of the mochi was so thick as to almost make the dessert inedible.  They really let down the rest of the meal, which was itself a better rendition of PJ Chang's.

The service, in a word, was average.  It didn't take anything away from the meal, but certainly didn't add anything either.  Our drinks were filled, sometimes, and the waitress came around to ask about us, occasionally.  For the first time in awhile, a server earned a tip of 15%.  Average, but below my defacto average of 20%.  I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who wanted to go to a slightly upscale version of an average International District restaurant when a group, or husband/wife, cannot decide between Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese.

Wild Ginger in Bellevue
11020 NE 6th St. Ste 90. 
Bellevue, WA 98004 
(425) 495-8889
3.5 of 5

pho hai yen (seattle)

a 2. no, a 4. no, a 3. no, 3.25. no, 3.5. no, a 0. maybe a 5?

oh pho hai yen, how i want to love you. how i want to tell all 3 people who read this blog how they should run, not walk, to buy your bahn mi and fresh spring rolls. the bahn mi are the best in seattle, and come in a pork or chicken option. the pork, depending on the day, is either a thin-strip-less-tasty-but-still-good variety, a la the spring rolls, or bbq - which is excellent.

alas pho hai yen, i cannot. why? no, not because your pho is little better than average. or your bbq meat noodle bowls are likewise only 'good,' but because i cannot trust how you would treat my friends and strangers. your prices are an ever moving bullseye that i cannot comprehend.

your bahn mi, and spring rolls, have cost me a myriad of amounts. your menu says one thing, you ring up another in your register, and in the end it almost seems you're adding a 25% tax. an idiot tax? but i can count! your food is still a good deal, but the practice is dishonest. and i don't like it.

there is no real way to justify it. i have asked you more than once. you have shorted me an order of fresh rolls that i called in, and later when i told you (and had paid for it), you acted incredulously. you then did nothing. my last visit, you overcharged me a phantom $4 on top of the overestimation of tax and rounded up price rates. $2.75, for example, becomes $3.00 at a minimum.

so what do i do with you? first, i reflect upon my experience with other vietnamese people. while certainly a generalization, and maybe unfair, i have never met a group of more chinsy and schiester-y folks. always trying to get one up on you or cheat you (not all, but many), it's not like a flea market where it is in your face. it's not an indian or iranian rug merchant, or american used car salesman, or chinese herbalist. nay. and i have had no such problem with most thai folks, or filipino or malaysians, so it's not southeast asian. no, this seems a vietnamese thing. maybe a hold over from war-era animosity in the north (from whence pho came) or french colonial days. who knows! i expect you to make faces when i ask for sauce containers, and to give me one, or two, when i order 5 or 6 orders so i have to ask for more like the ugly, sauce-whore american that i am. but to so blatantly overcharge me, and different sums, every time?! even when your hand has been caught in the cookie jar? many times! i wish you'd learn, so you could earn the accolades your bahn mi deserve.

pho hai yen
810 rainier ave s
seattle, wa 98127
(206) 323-5570
4.5 of 5 (bahn mi and fresh rolls)
3 of 5 (pho)
2.5 of 5 (overall)

(pho) vina asian restaurant

little did i know that spokane had any real ethnic foods. sure, they have a fantastic new ethiopian place, which certainly rivals any in seattle - but pho??

yes. they have great pho. not good, not average, but great. this review is going to focus on vina asian restaurant's pho. they have other things on the menu, a hodgepodge of chinese, vietnamese, and thai-ish fare. the rest of the food looked marginally better than average, and the fresh rolls were ok. just ok. they were missing flavor in the pork. they were on the small side, and had some nice fresh herbs but not many. to be really good, they need to grill off the pork or do something to make them stand out. the sauce they serve with it could also be improved, and more herbaceous. while the fresh rolls seem be be an ok deal, compared to other vietnamese places they're on the pricy side for the portion they offer. if you haven't had fresh rolls, these are a fair rendition and you won't be disappointed, but don't go out of your way for them.

but do go out of your way for the pho!

the broth flavor was very good. so good i tried to coax my waitress into telling me about it. she wouldn't. the green onions were a nice touch, in particular as it's not unusual to order some fresh onion for 50 cents to a buck at other places. they also had the fresh regular onions too, gratis. the bowl itself was very reminiscent of hanoi pho because the broth is incredibly light, but flavorful and herbaceous. at the same time, it was better than any of the pho I had in vietnam. the sawtooth cilantro (coriander) was a welcome surprise. this southeast asian delicacy (the sawtooth cilantro herb) seems to be too expensive to be a mainstay at american pho restaurants. the warmed bean sprouts were also an interesting touch. warming them turns them an unsettling brown, but the addition of a small amount of heat keeps them from cooling down your broth! maybe if they were grilled, to add a smokey flavor, that would be the best of all worlds. (i digress.)

in addition, while a trivial thing, I love love love the size of the bowl!! the soup fits in it, with room. see. no overflow issues! it's such a small thing, but makes the experience of eating it less -stressful maybe- than even normally.

my only real dings: the restaurant was sparing on the meat they included compared to most other places and there was no brisket option.  oh well.

(pho) vina asian restaurant
2303 n ash st, #a
spokane, wa 99205
(509) 328-2197
4.5 of 5 (pho only)