Traveling Tummy-LA: ANIMAL

While looking up places to eat in LA, I came across the restaurant ANIMAL and was curious to see what it was all about. They have an interesting menu that pushes most people's food limits (fried veal brains, veal tongue etc) but it really excited me. Since LA is not really a walking city, it was frustrating for me to read up on all these places I didn't know if I could get to because it's too expensive to cab it everywhere and I wasn't sure how much access I'd have to a car. Fortunately, my friend who I hadn't seen in years invited me to dinner, and guess where it was? YUP, Animal! haha! My other friend graciously drove me around while I was in LA so it all worked out in the end. Here's what we ate (sorry about photo quality. Stupid me forgot my camera in manila so I was on my galaxy tab!)

shrimp & rabbit sausage spring roll, eggplant, sprouts, green curry- I think Im starting to like rabbit. Well, Ive only ever had it mixed with veal or in this case shrimp, but the flavor is very mild. I wish there was more of this dish hehe!

chicken liver toast-Not a fan of chicken liver EVER. I ate some of this but I was just glad the onion jam masked the metallic liver taste.

hamachi tostada, herbs, fish sauce vinaigrette, peanut- Didn't get to try this but the rest of the table said it was great!

foie gras terrine, satsuma marmalade, endive, quarter spice toast-Something breakfast dreams are made of. Seriously. Yes with the foie gras.

veal tongue, smoked foie gras, pastrami spices, crab apple- not a fan of lengua in any form but I had more than a bite of this. It went so well with the smoked foie gras. I'd eat this again.

tandoori octopus, tamarind, kumquat, raita- Big big fan of octopus. This was a no brainer. I liked it.

polenta, six-hour bolognese, parmesan- Comfort food on its best day. If i were having a bad day, I'd wanna come home and sleep in a bed of this.

veal brains, vadouvan, apricot puree, carrot- Veal brains aren't exactly first on my list of things to eat but hey, why not. Everything else was good. They had a jello-y consistency but a very mild flavor. It's so different from what you'd think brains would taste like after too many Zombie flicks. Maybe the walking dead are actually on to something.

poutine, oxtail gravy- Thank You Canada for the wonderful thing that is poutine. Seriously. There are no words.

balsamic pork ribs, braised greens, chili oil, garlic- This was yummy but Im pretty sure I could make it at home!

My friend Chris with his wife Chrissy

With my cousin Cristina (I was surrounded by people named Chris that night haha)

Kyle and Roch, my gracious hosts for the 3 extra days I was in LA <3

Animal Restaurant 435 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036
Reservations: (323) 782 9225

Traveling Tummy-LA: Sweet Lady Jane

So, I've been in an out of Manila since the year started and it still isn't enough. If I could spend my life hoping from place to place, I totally would. I'm starting to realize that food and travel are my major vices. Forget drugs, the high you get from visiting a new place, or trying a new flavor you've never had before is SO MUCH BETTER.

So, I spent a week in LA and seriously, aside from my 15 minutes of work interviewing someone, ALL I DID WAS EAT. As someone who has never been a big fan of the city of angels, I certainly changed my mind about the place a little bit. I still would never live there, but I think future visits are now in order!
First up on my food-venture, I went to Sweet Lady Jane, a bakery along Melrose in West Hollywood (with another branch in Sta. Monica) with decadent cakes, pies and pastries. We were told that this place was frequented by celebrities so, of course, we wanted to see what kind of sugary treats passed through their lips. haha! Hey, we were in Hollywood!

My friend's Triple Berry Shortcake! Yumm-o!

This Cherry Pie was so BIG I ate a quarter of it and gave up. The guy behind the counter was like "What do you mean the servings are too big?" to which I quickly replied "We're Asian, our stomach's can't take this much food!" SOOOOO good though. The sweet-tart balance was spot on.

Red Velvet. Again, another huge slice! Cakes/Pies here are a bit pricey but they are worth it!Share!

On the way home, I stopped by the Trader Joe's 2 minutes from my hotel. If there is ANY store I want them to bring here from the US, it's this.

 

My room at The Chamberlain in West Hollywood (WeHo!) I already miss my comfy bed with my fluffy cloud duvet!

Sweet Lady Jane is located at 8360 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel: 323-653-7145

Brasserie Cicou

First of all, I have been a TERRIBLE blogger! I haven't posted anything in three weeks and I have no excuse except that I've been busy busy busy (and traveling) To make up for my delinquent behavior, I have a whole week's worth of posts and I will have something new every day starting today, I PROMISE!!!! And from different places too-from Manila to LA to Baguio and my own kitchen. Yay!

Anyway, first up is Brasserie Cicou---had dinner here with Abdul before I left for the US. He took me out on a real date! That doesn't happen very often so it was a treat hehe plus we went somewhere I had been wanting to try for awhile now.

L' Assiette de Pates---Pork rillettes, pate en croute or pork head. Abdul couldn't eat this, so yeah I had to eat it all myself haha! I wanted to be adventurous and it was pretty good but it's not something I would look for often.

Abdul got the Coquelet - Pamora Farm Spring Chicken. He said it was good (but tasted like something I make at home ;p) and the order was huge. He took half home :D

We also got marinated sardines with goat cheese to share. So good. I really liked this. It was simple and awesome!

My new favorite dessert: Kouing Aman. I dunno what it is exactly but it's flaky dough that's caramelized with salted caramel ice cream. I was so stuffed at this point but I ate it all!

I dunno why this photo came out last haha but this was part of their daily specials. It was a really tender beef belly with beans and potatoes. It had a hint of cumin and I really enjoyed it. I think I had every last bite!

Kitschen Chaos: Dinner for 10

Last night, my dad invited 9 strangers into our home for the 3rd installment of his "Nights of Passion", wherein he gets people who don't know each other to get together and share their experiences, stories and etc with each other. Something like this could be done over wine and a bag of chips, but he asked me to prepare a good, casual meal for his guests. This is what I made :)

Something new and fun: Pumpkin soup with maple-cinnamon cream and candied bacon

Made this for Valentine's Day but it was so yummy I had to make it again :D: Mixed greens with roasted tomato, fried brie and honey vinagrette

I hadn't made Parmesan chicken in a long time so I decided to make that and serve it with sun dried tomato and rosemary rice and a side of onion jam

And lastly, I finished the meal off with a hot and cold dessert-Creamy Vanilla ice cream with flambeed peaches, dulce de leche and toasted almond and graham crumbs

Kitschen Chaos: Valentine's Day

Abdul and I never really go out for Valentine's Day. It's always too traffic and the thought of dealing with the millions of cars on the road AND overpriced set menus always turns me off. I usually cook something and we enjoy a nice dinner at home. This year we invited my dad to join us since my mom is all the way in Sydney and Abdul's parents joined us to instead of going out for their usual dinner/ concert in a hotel. His family can't eat pork so I had to make some adjustments (I super take for granted stuff like bacon bits in some of my dishes) Anyway, here's what we ate:

Roasted Pumpkin soup to start. Tip: Always use fresh herbs! Makes a difference.

Salad: Mixed greens with rocket, roasted tomatoes and fried brie with a honey vinaigrette.

Slow cooked lamb adobo with crumbled feta, basil and fried onions on couscous.

Baked Parmesan crusted salmon with roasted garlic mashed potatoes

And my favorite-Dessert: Panna cotta with mango compote. Use real vanilla bean and taste the difference!

Kitschen Chaos x 13: Burger Battle

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being such a bad blogger and not posting anything for over a week. Life has taken over my schedules and I am usually so tired when I get home that I want nothing but to read a good book or watch a crappy movie. The other night was Breaking Dawn (I know, gross and 2nd, I'm so behind lol) Before I get on with the actual entry for today, can I just say that the weird baby vampire birthing scene was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

ANYWAY... back to the topic at hand. Burger Battle. About 12 other friends and I decided to have a contest for the best burger. This seems fun and easy, yes, but on the day of, we realized that we EACH had to eat 13 burgers. Sure, they were all mini versions, but 13 mini burgers still equals about 3-4 real sized burgers. Bueno, but no bueno.

Sarah's chorizo, manchego, goat cheese and nutella burger

My wine and cheese burger-beef patty, chorizo, melted asiago, fried brie and honeyed arugula

The Nakayama's Big Mike--> tastes JUST like a Big Mac!

Dee Jae's Banh Mi Burger-> Pork burgers with cilantro, pickled veg and sriracha aioli

Rae's chicken fillet burger with cranberry, camambert, arugula and wasabi dressing

Hylton's beef burgers with duck confit, truffle cheese on a foie gras brioche bun

Banj's Ranch chicken cheeseburger

Sassa's Ensaymada, scrambled egg and longanissa burger

Abdul, Winner of the night's prize pot!

Sarah and I, best friends forever. In sickness and in health, til burger deaths do us part.

Abdul's winning Salpicao burger! It was Salpic-WOW!

Kitschen Chaos: Bangers n' Mash

My own version--> Honeyed Sausages, roasted garlic mash and onion dip on the side.