Brunch at Portage Bay

Portage Bay is probably one of the most popular brunch place in Seattle, or at least that's what I heard from my friends. I never been to this place before so I thought I give it a try. I visited the Ballard location one and the interior of the place is pretty nice. High-ceiling and windows with lots of light coming in. My friend and I had to wait a couple of minutes for our table, but the wait time wasn't too bad since we've already called in for a reservation an hour before. The meal was nice. Can't say that I taste anything special, but it was definitely not bad at all.

Dungeness Crab Cake Benedict

Basa Basa

After walking around Pioneer Square, we headed to Basa Basa to grab some dinner. It’s a small Korean fried chicken wings joint that I read about online, so I thought I wanna try it. It is one of the Ocean micro-restaurants that is located at NE Gilsan St & NE 24th Ave. There are neighboring restaurants in the same complex that share common space. So you can order at any of these restaurants and eat wherever you like. (Eater PDX has some articles published about these restaurants.) I have to say that the architecture of the buildings, both interior and exterior, are very interesting.

Update: Basa Basa has been closed down apparently. You can read about it here. 

President's Day Weekend

Last weekend, I took a short trip to Portland, Oregon with a bunch of my friends. We drove down Saturday morning and made our first stop at Tasty and Sons for brunch.

The place was packed and we waited for a good hour for our table to be ready. (It’s probably a good idea for you to make reservation if you are going to go there on weekends.)

Polenta & Sausage Ragu with mozzarella & over easy egg

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

Hot Pot Night

One of the best thing to eat in the winter is a good, warm soup. We decided to go to dinner at Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot in Bellevue. They have a couple of different locations in the US and has been one of my go-to place since I was in San Francisco.

If you’ve never been here, I would recommend trying out the place. When you step into the restaurant, you’ll be immediately welcomed by the wonderful smell of their simmering broth. Their Original Soup Base—the herbal broth— is made out of 36 spices and ingredients, which make the taste very flavorful. If you are a fan of spicy food, you should definitely try their spiced up version of the original soup base, the Spicy Original. Or if you can’t decide which to get, you can always go with Half & Half. A couple of my favorite items on the menu are the Beer flavored Beef and the fried fish tofu. But since they have a good range of meat options, you can pick and choose according to your taste.

Welcoming 2013

Growing up away from home, there are lots of things that I can’t always do with my whole family. Spending New Year’s Day is one of them. This year, I’m really happy that I could do that with my family who is in town for winter break. We treat ourselves to a Korean BBQ dinner with a couple of my friends who are visiting Seattle for the holiday season.

One of my favorite Korean BBQ place that I recently found is Sanmaru Grill up in Shoreline. They have a good selections of meat and they’re delicious. The place is a good spot for big groups since they have plenty of tables available.

Marinated short rib, marinated sirloin, beef brisket, pork belly, and soy bean paste stew.

Samgyeopsal (삼겹살)