BAC: Bloomfield Hills, MI 01/30/08

My host family invited me to a dinner at BAC(Birmingham Athletic Club); they basically know almost everybody here, I feel! I remember that I did not like the September 2007 Buffet that much, but the regular dinner today was good.

Burma Scallop Stir Fry

Sesame seared sea scallops with stir fried vegetables, little bit of spicy peanut sauce(not too strong peanut flavor) and jasmine rice. The scallops were plump and nice, and the sauce had enough and good flavor to go with them. A satisfactory dish!

Salmon "Great Outdoors"

Salmon mignon with sweet potato, onion and sage "hash." Linnea was happy with this salmon; I liked it too, though I've had better(this reminds me of "Liar Liar.")

Steak Sandwich with Brioche

Lizz substitued mozzarella for Blue Cheese. The steak here is pretty good! The fries were good too- well, you shouldn't be going wrong by choosing steak and fries at a club.

Turkey in Two Ways

Turkey tenderloin with cranberry glaze and turkey confit with barley pilaf. I never tried turkey confit before, and I personally would stick to the more common duck confit, though it was interesting. The turkey tenderloin was ordinary as well, but overall good, just not too special.

I would say my scallop dish was the best. Others were good too, more typical than impressive but still tasting good! And after all, not many people go to clubs expecting something exotic; they want a classic favorite.

New Bangkok: Birmingham, MI 01/2008 -2-

So this month I am visiting New Bangkok quite often, for it is my "Thai Food Season," and the food here became my ultimate comfort food; two people went for a very early (around 5pm) weekday dinner.

Pad See Ew with Chicken

Wider noodles with slightly sweet, thickened soy sauce. Quite simple with just broccoli and eggs, and beansprouts on top. This is nice when you don't like Pad Thai's sweet and sourness-tamarind-a little lighter flavor compared to rather similar drunken noodles. One of the dish that you don't have to "dare" to try.

New Bangkok Duck

The most expensive thing on the menu here($14.99): barbequed duck(half) with roasted vegetables and brown sauce. The "brown sauce" is different in each and this one is rather thick and rich compared to some other mild ones, but not too gingery or garlicky either. The sauce is nice and the duck goes well with it; the only problem is that you need to be careful with bones. It would be nice if the duck were cut in a nicer format.

The duck is good though, with a pretty nice texture on the peels and good sauce. Pad See Ew is also a decent choice; and guess what, you still have left overs due to the generous amount. This was a nice meal, and my only dismay would be the bones I occasionally bit while eating the duck.

This was another day, perhaps a week ago, three people:

Chicken Satay $6.50

The satay was a little saltier than what I remembered but the chicken is tender and sauce is not too sweet-unlike some other places I tried. It was a little bit of disappointment in that it was not as good as I remembered, but perhaps the only thing they should do is to hold the salt a little.

Pla Jien $13

Golden-fried fish fillet with ginger brown sauce, shrimp, thin pieces of pork, black mushrooms, and carrots. This is worth a try if you are a fish lover, but otherwise not too impressive. It was okay, but some ginger bites got in the way instead of being infused in the sauce.

Pad Cashew with Beef

One of the few dishes I prefer mild, so we ordered that way. This dish was better with chicken, unlike other Bangkok specialties with "brown sauce," though this one was okay.

So I tried everything on the curry section, noodle section, fried rice section, duck section, almost of the bangkok specialties(though not all are represented on this blog). Some others I have yet to try. Some I simply carry out for dinner:

Thai Drunken Noodles

Getting its name from the Thai Brandy ingredient, this wide noodle with broccoli, eggs and bell peppers has spicy and rather rich flavor compared to many other noodles. It was a yummy carry out-

PREVIOUS NEW BANGKOK:

Thai Almond Chicken, Shrimp and Scallops with Garlic Brown Sauce 01/2008

Nam Mun Hoy, Pad Kana, Sie Sa Hai(Seafood Curry) 09/2007

Fried Rice, Green Curry, Pad Thai, Pad Cashew, Potato Curry 05/11/07

California Pizza Kitchen: Troy, MI 01/23/08

Avocado Club Egg Rolls

This was one of the things I wanted to try at California Pizza Kitchen; since I am not a big fan of "pizza," I paid more attention to the appetizers and such. This had little pieces of chicken, tomato, Monterey Jack Cheese, bacon bits and of course avocado fried in a wonton roll, and served with ranchito and herb ranch sauce. I prefered the ranchito sauce with a little more spice to it, though both are basically slightly different ranch dressing. For some reason the avocado did not blend in too well-as in the case of the pizza to be mentioned later on-though I liked it overall.

Adobe Chicken Chowder

A thick soup with texture and a bit of spicyness. There are chunks of chicken and the tortilla chips on top are crispy: also are the corn, rice, green chilies and onions. Though not my favorite kind of soup, pretty good.

California Club Pizza

Lizz's favorite, she says. Though I got a little worried about avocado, aka "king of calories" among some Asian women, this was good; in fact even without avocado, though it looks rather nice on top. The main ingredients are chicken, tomato, bacon pieces and mayo lettuce. Interesting: for me the lettuce did the job. It's not very "pizza-like," but isn't it why people like this place?

So the bill for two was about $30 excluding tip. Located in Somerset Mall, a nice casual dining place with interesting stuff to try: usually packed and requires waiting during lunch times, especially during weekends, of course.

New Bangkok: Birmingham, MI 01/2008

Lizz and I took an off-campus lunch(01/16/08), a senior privilege in Cranbrook. In Birmingham, the closest hangout, one of our favorite places is New Bangkok where we can find Thai-style Comfort Food and pleasant servers, including my favorite Kay. The lunch entrees are approximately $2 cheaper than dinner entrees, but enough to fill up. Also served with soup.

Thai Almond Chicken $7.25(L), $10(D)

Breaded chicken breast is fried and then served with yellow brown gravy. Lizz ordered it mild as a non-spicy eater, she finds medium here a little to spicy after a while. However this is a mild dish and she thought it was rather bland. I agree that perhaps things were held a little too back, though I still thought the flavor was there. I personally enjoyed it.

Kra Tiem Prik Tai with Shrimp and Scallops $8.25(L), $9.95(D)

This is one of the "Bangkok Specialty" dish that comes with slightly different "brown sauces." This one's main ingredients are garlic, black pepper and green onions and whatever you choose to go with is served over some lettuce. It has a stronger taste than other dish primarily because of garlic. Previously I had it with pork and thought the sauce was rather pungent, but with seafood which soaks up less of the sauce, it was much better. Surprisingly enough, Lizz, normally not a seafood eater, enjoyed it as well.

Some other pictures from New Bangkok:

Bai Ka Prow with Shrimp

This is another stir-fry dish with bell pepper and basil leaves. I used to get this with beef, but once tried with shrimp for carry out and I liked the combination.

Pri-Khing with Beef and Tofu

This was one of the curry dish at New Bangkok, red curry with string beans but without the usual coconut milk. Therefore it is much stronger and rather salty when the meat hold the sauce in. The dish itself is not bad but it should be less salty or tried with other ingredients, perhaps. Now I know why our server emphasized that, "that one does not have coconut milk in it."

Pad Almond with Beef

Along with Pad Cashew, probably due to its nut contents, Pad Almond is one of the milder brown sauce dish. Though not my favorite, this is a non-risky dish along with Thai Pepper Steak for beef lovers.

Previous New Bangkok:
Nam Mun Hoy, Pad Kana, Sie Sa Hai(Seafood Curry) 09/2007
Fried Rice, Green Curry, Pad Thai, Pad Cashew, Potato Curry 05/11/07

Brio Tuscan Grille: Troy, MI 01/08/08

Three people went to Brio for lunch

The light is rather dim for lunch

Lizz ordered Mezz Lasagna & Insalata $11.95

Her choice of salad was Bistecca, a wedge of lettuce with tomato, gorgonzola, bacon and then parmesan dressing on top.

Lasagna that was pretty good

My choice was also a dish + salad combination for lunch $12.95. Shrimp Arrabbiata risotto was made slightly spicy, made with peperonata. The risotto was nice but the caesar salad was a failure.

Linna's crab cake with citrus pesto $11.95 that was okay, but just that.

I mistook the daily special scallop dish $13.95 as an appetizer and ordered an extra dish. However these sea scallops with lobster bercy sauce, based on olive oil and of course lobster, was good.

Chocolate Panini with strawberry and vanilla cream $4.95

This sweet dessert was very good. I always had a good experience with the friendly servers here, and though my caesar salad was horrible and crab cake was just mediocre, other dish were worth coming. The bill was $60 excluding tip.

Palisades Club: Hong Kong, 01/05/08

It is nice that there is a place so nearby to have lunch


Lunch times they have 38HKD and 48HKD sets, and they do offer dish other than Chinese; my mother likes their club sandwich and my sisters like pasta or beef. They are not super but for the price it is good, even considering that this place is limited to Pacific Palisades residents. Hong Kong people like club culture and many big apartments have such accomodations even though each household may have a limited space. Coming back to the point, I prefer the Chinese dish here.

Beef with Black Bean and Pepper, 52HKD(7USD)

Chicken with Cashew, 52HKD (7USD)

Assorted Mushrooms with XO sauce, 45HKD (6USD)

Scallops with Asparagus, 88HKD (11USD)

Tofu dish, 45HKD (6USD)

Previous Palisades Club: 12/25/07

Miga: Hong Kong, 01/04/08

This is a Korean restaurant in Causeway Bay; three people visited for lunch. They offer lunch menu mostly in 49HKD(6USD), Some closer to 60HKD(8USD). This is a good deal because in Korean meals, you always get banchan(side dish), and banchan here is decent.

So here are the banchan: in the middle raddish, top middle mook(crop powder hardened like tofu)with beef and vegetables, clockwise- kimchi, sweet marinated woo ung(type of vegetable with texture similar to pickeled radish), potato, spinach, and beansprouts.

Also lettuce in Korean style dressing

One of the lunch choice: Hae Jang Gook

Other choice: Galbi JJim, beef stew

Service steamed egg dish: one of our dish was served late

My choice, Je yook Bok eum (spicy pork with kimchi) served with mi yeok gook(seaweed soup). Overall all the dish were satisfactory and with the banchan it is a very nice meal. It opened relatively recently but is becoming known to Korean residents around the area, as well as other locals.

Maxim @ City Hall: Hong Kong, 01/03/08

Four people went to a place called Maxim in City Hall. This is a well-known place and during lunch they serve yamcha(small lunch dish with tea); you always have a line unless you arrive at opening hour, 11AM.

It is a pretty big place and the ladies pull the carts around calling out the name of the items they carry. It is nice if you know several dish names in Chinese, but usually foreigners uncover so that they can see what is in. Sometimes the ladies inform you briefly by saying "shrimp" or "pork" or such.

Some carts looks like this; it is easier to pick out.

Table setting and hot pepper sauce to dip

*

So here is what four people ate:

A pork dish

Shiumai, A type of Shrimp Dumpling, one of the most popular

A Different one with shrimp and other ingredients

With mushrooms and vegetables

Shaorungbao, another popular one: You usually put it on a spoon and eat because this pork dumpling is suppossed to be full of juice- beware, because it can be hot.

Rice dish - not my favorite

With barbequed sweet shredded pork

Rice cooked with leave cover

Fried Squid

Hagau, probably the most popular and my favorite too: the delicate thin outer layer and the chewy whole shrimp inside is simply the best.

Well, chicken feet!

One of the dessert, custard too sweet for my taste

So everytime you order they give you a stamp, and later on they use it for the bill. With the 10%service charage the bill was 510HKD(65USD) for four. Though the individual dish are small, we were quite full. Maxim in Central City Hall is one of the popular yamcha places in Hong Kong and I would say it is pretty good. It is nice to go in group of three or four to try lots of different stuff, though if you are not accustomed to this type of food, it won't be "fantastic." I still say it is worth trying as a tourist, since yamcha is a part of Hong Kong culture.