Friday, February 4, 2011

All you can eat Korean BBQ, say what?

So I'd been hearing a lot about this $15 all you can eat Korean BBQ place called Palace particularly because a few of my friends love eating here when they are down in Federal Way/Tacoma and need a Korean BBQ fix.  I'd never been, but I just so happened to be in Tacoma last weekend and I just so happened to be with these friends that were craving BBQ..... so off we went to eat ourselves into blissfulness.


I have to say for the price we pay, this deal is amazing.  There are about seven or eight different different selections of meat from pork to beef to shrimp along with refillable banchan (side dishes), one stone pot soup, and a bowl of steamed egg.  Our first order of food allowed us to pick five items.  We had the beef marble brisket, pork belly, shrimp, grilled marinated beef, and marinated tender beef. Yes it was a lot of beef! To offset all the meat, we had plenty of banchan and also a salad.  The service was quick and they started the grill in front of us as soon as we finished ordering and brought out the banchan a few minutes later.  The restaurant was not quite full as we got there early in order to beat the dinner crowd at around 5:15 pm.

As the platter of meat was brought out, our hungry stomachs began to rumble.  We began to throw our meat onto the hot grill and soon the aroma of cooking meat began to fill the air.  Although there was a filtration system turned on above us to collect the smoke, we all still collected the smell of meat in our clothes and hair.  Delicious meat with hot rice soon began making its way into our stomachs.  We took turns cooking so that we'd all have a chance to eat. For girls we ate a lot and soon were on to ordering another plate of meat with not quite as much as the first order. 

first round of grilling

some kalbi and shrimp

pork belly and kalbi

banchan dishes and my plate 

We were stuffed beyond words at the end of our dinner. Why do we do all you can eat when at the end we feel like we are going to burst?? One answer because it tastes so good!! We are done with BBQ buffets for a while....... until the next craving strikes!  All in all, Palace is a great place with good food and a good deal.  The people are nice and the service is quick.  Love Korean BBQ? This is your place!

31525 20th Ave S
(between 314th St & 316th St)
Federal Way, WA 98003

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Fresh Bistro

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I went to try a relatively new restaurant in West Seattle called Fresh Bistro.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but since good things are what I'd heard, I was expecting what else but good things. The restaurant itself is known for cooking with a lot of local and fresh ingredients.... hence it's name.

We arrived around 7:45 pm to find the restaurant busy, but not too crazy.  We were seated in a corner booth that was comfortable and promptly given menus.  The ordering didn't take too long, but surprisingly the waiting for the food took quite a bit of time.  It was noticeably enough that we commented on it, but ok maybe the extra time spent waiting meant that more time was spent cooking the food perfectly! Hmmm.... I ordered the wagyu french dip that came on a french baguette, served with truffle fries and a side salad.  The sandwich was just ok.  If you've ever had kalbi (korean short ribs), the flavor of the meat tasted just like that.  It wasn't what I was expecting and the Asian twist didn't match too well with the au jus sauce.  However, the truffle fries were fantastic with its thin cut potatoes and truffle salt.  Some of the other dishes ordered were a mushroom risotto, braised beef short rib stroganoff, wagyu peppercorn New York Steak bourguignon, and grilled wagyu ribeye.  I had a bit of all the dishes and they were good, but not amazing.

Complimentary bread with ball butter

Wagyu French Dip
grilled wagyu sirloin, French baguette, au jus, caramelized onions, mushroom
cognac butter, truffled fries, our simple bistro salad

Foraged Mushroom Risotto 
fregola pasta, foraged mushrooms, butternut squash puree, mascarpone

Grilled Wagyu Ribeye 
shiitake au jus and granny smith apple horseradish
buttered fennel and baby carrots with chervil twice baked salted potato


Wagyu Peppercorn New York Steak Bourguignon 
peppercorn crusted grilled NY steak
pancetta, pearl onion, mushrooms, red wine demi,
carrots, truffled smashed fried fingerling potatoes

Braised Beef Short Rib Stroganoff 
mushrooms, cognac cream sauce, arugula fettuccine, baby arugula and enoki salad

We saved room for dessert as well.  They don't have an extensive selection, but there are some interesting and innovative desserts.  We tried the banana tapioca brulee which was quite good.  I'm not sure how they came up with the idea to use tapioca in brulee but it worked well.   It was served with a spicy chocolate milk on the side which I thought didn't pair up well with the brulee.  It was strong on the spicy flavor, kind of interesting and unique, but didn't work for my palate.  The other dessert we tried was the chocolate chestnut bread pudding cake which was also different.  Our waiter told us that it would be very chocolaty, which wasn't the case.  Despite that, we enjoyed the moist cake and chestnut flavor along with a scoop of ice cream.

Banana Tapioca Brulee
served with a spicy chocolate milk

Chocolate Chestnut Bread Pudding Cake
served with vanilla caramel ice cream

All in all, Fresh Bistro was a good place to eat at, clean and nice, but it wasn't a memorable place.  From some of the reviews I read, breakfast and brunch might be a bit more exciting.  Perhaps it was just our luck that night that the service wasn't up to par and the food just ok, but who knows, maybe better luck next time!

Fresh Bistro
4725 42nd Avenue Southwest
Seattle, WA 98136
(206) 935-3733

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Hawaii Visit and then some....

It was a busy past few months including a short trip back home to Hawaii to celebrate Christmas and New Years and now preparing to move back home this upcoming February.  I have neglected this blog I know but that does not mean I have not been eating and enjoying life!  Going back home always means a lot of potlucks, visiting family and friends, and enjoying the weather.  I was lucky to have missed the majority of the flash flood rain in December and blessed with beautiful sun and lots of vitamin D. 

One of the things I love about Hawaii is the feeling of ohana (family), particularly family get togethers which = lots of good food! We had a Christmas, New Years eve, and New Years Day potluck and in addition to a lot of talking, it was a lot of eating.  Example, one of my dinner plate (below in picture) consists of from top left to right, homemade maki sushi, konbu maki (seaweed wrapped pork), broccoli salad, grilled portuguese sausage, mochi rice with azuki beans, kalbi, steamed fish with rice noodle, and tempura. This was just the first plate, yes I did go back for seconds and  no that was not the end of the food. Although I didn't get to take a picture of the dessert table, it was just as full as the dinner table. Back at home for potlucks, the table is not for sitting around, no, its purpose is to hold the food.  You grab your plate and fork, go around the table collecting various goodies and then bring your plate back to the living room where you sit on the floor around a low table or lounge on the couch.  It's comfortable and relaxing, very nice close family feeling.  I enjoy that a lot! The night before we had stayed up till midnight playing fireworks as it was the last year to play without buying a permit, so New Years day was a rest and relax day.

New Year's plate

Happy New Years!

I was able to do some cooking, but since my time at home was so short not as much as I would've liked.  Besides, there are so many good places to eat at, might as well make it out.  I wasn't able to bring my camera for a lot of these outings so sadly they aren't documented, but know that it was all good! 

 Curry Fried Noodles

One other thing I love about home are the sunrises and sunsets.  I was able to wake up early enough to cath this sunrise off of Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park.  Every morning is a new day full of new adventures and surprises. Aloha until next time!

Early fisherman with Diamond head in the distance

Paddlers out for a morning paddle