Quickly

My current food mission has been to keep my food radar on high alert for strange and interesting cuisine. Today, my lunch associate Gary M. and I found ourselves at Quickly. Quickly is one of the largest Tapioca Milk Tea franchises in the world with hundreds of locations spread throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. Tapioca Milk Tea is also known as Pearl Tea, or Bubble Tea. These teas offer a milk or fruit based tea with large pieces of Tapioca that are sucked through oversize straws.

Taro flavored Pearl Tea.

I've been to this Quickly before for a mid afternoon tea snack, and I while there I noticed that they offered a diverse snack menu with some very odd choices. Some options to enjoy with your tea beverage are: Lobster Balls, Squid Balls, or a Fried Black Rice Cake.

From Left to right, Taro Fries, Fried Mini Octopus, Popcorn Chicken

There were two obvious choices for me today though, the whole deep fried mini octopus and the Taro fries. Taro is a tropical plant that is grown and harvested for the corm (the root of the plant).

When they say whole mini octopus, they mean it, eyes and everything.

I'm having second thoughts here.

Eh, not so bad actually.

The Taro Fries were disgusting, not much of a texture, soft, mushy and very bland. The octopus was really very chewy, and not flavorful. Plus they give you 30-40 with every order, a great value at $2.99 but who can eat that many. Gary ordered the Popcorn Chicken, the flavor was a very solid OK, but we agreed that it was too heavy on the grease.

The verdict for today, if you want to try a new and refreshing tea beverage then Quickly is here to help. However, I would suggest you select a new restaurant while considering your last meal.

You can visit Quickly online at:

http://www.quicklyusa.com/

Or in Dublin at:

4288 Dublin Blvd. #104
Dublin, CA 94568

Papaya Grill

It's not easy finding new and interesting places to eat everyday. Today I enlisted the help of YELP!, I needed to see what other people in the area are eating and enjoying. Papaya Grill is located in San Ramon and has been getting some great reviews. It's Wednesday and I was accompanied by one of my regular lunch companions Gary M.

Papaya Grill offers Filipino cuisine either ala carte or they have 1 or 2 item combination plates served with white rice. There are 8-10 prepared items on a steam table for you to choose from.


The lady behind the counter was very friendly, offering free samples and education on the various dishes.

What's amazing is, Papaya Grill serves an authentic Filipino breakfast menu for only $4.95 available until 12pm.

Gary took advantage of the breakfast, he ordered the Tocilog, served with white rice and a fried egg. Tocilog is a Filipino sausage made with pork, it's very crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle with an exceptional pork flavor.


There were many unique and interesting choices available for me. Gary suggested I sample one of the dishes that were on display. Pork Dinuguan is the name of this strange purple colored concoction of pork chunks slow simmered in pork blood, vinegar and spices.


Ok, you can swallow your bile, it wasn't too bad actually. I've never been too keen on anything that is flavored with or cooked in blood. Honestly though, I've never tried it before. Recently I have been watching more and more food shows on the Travel Channel, and well I'm starting to get a little brave. I found this dish to have a very strong vinegar flavor to it, I couldn't taste the blood, and the pork was tender and juicy. I wouldn't eat a whole plate of this stuff, but I definitely could try it again.

For my lunch I decided to order the two item combination. One item I chose was my old Filipino stand by, Chicken Adobo (chicken parts simmered in soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, bay leaves and other spices). I needed to order something that I have tried before so that I could have a basis for my comparison. In addition to the adobo, I tried the Beef Mechado which is slices of beef stewed in tomato sauce with carrots.


The Chicken Adobo was fair, I've had better and certainly worse, but I wasn't wowed. The Beef Mechado had a great flavor and the sauce from the stew was excellent on the rice, I wished the beef was more tender though. This restaurant had some strange condiments as well. In the picture above there is a brownish grey sauce and a red sauce. Neither of these sauces went with the dishes I selected but I was curious about their flavor. I was reading the label for the sauce on top, the first two ingredients were sugar and breadcrumbs, yes it tasted strange. The red sauce was called banana sauce it was a sweet ketchup like sauce that tasted like bananas.

Let's face it, food is fun! It's enjoyable trying different ethnic fare around the bay area. I think of it as a lunchtime vacation.

If you are ready to take it to the next level, stop by Papaya Grill. For only $8 for a 2 item combo it's a great value as well.

You can visit them online at:

http://www.papaya-grill.com/

Or in person at:

280 Market Place
San Ramon, CA 94583

Halu Shabu Shabu

What is Shabu Shabu? That is a question I had when I saw the sign for this restaurant, the sign showed raw meat and declared "all you can eat". Interesting I thought, I had to call on a lunch pal that would be able to help me tackle this new food challenge.

Shabu Shabu is a form of Japanese food. Translated it means "Hot Pot", in the 13th century hungry Mongol soldiers used this type of cooking to efficiently feed many troops and conserve food resources. The concept of the "Hot Pot" spread throughout Asia and now many other ethnic groups have their own version.

We were seated quickly by the restaurants only server. She took our drink order, as she sat us. She returned ready to take our order, we ordered the all you can eat lunch special. Before you could say "Shabu Shabu" she was back with a large pot of hot water. Each table has a heating element in the middle of it. She placed the pot on the the electric burner and turned it to high (there is a digital box under the table that controls the heat). Next she brought us a plate of thinly sliced beef, a plate of thinly sliced pork, a bowl of rice, a plate with assorted vegetables, fish balls, mushrooms, tofu, and last a square bowl of "Satay" sauce used for dipping.



We were definitely surprised at the amount of food that was in front of us. Nothing to do but scoop it all into the pot. Gary M. took over all the cooking duties, as I was busy snapping pics.


Also, we found it odd that there was a mysterious green chunk of what looked like seaweed floating in the pot. We asked our server if you could eat it, she said, "Nobody does, but you can if you want". I wasn't excited to eat it, it looked more like green pork rinds. It's actually wasn't very flavorful, not sure why it was even in the water to begin with.


Once the meat is dropped into the boiling water, it cooks almost instantly, you can literally watch the pink disappear. As soon as the meat was set in the hot pot, our server brought another two plates of meat and the other "assorted" plate was delivered, we didn't even have to ask. This was done 4 more times, before we had to ask that she STOP bringing us more food. They aren't shy about giving you all you can eat. Honestly, I had all I could eat and another plate more.


The meat was tender and surprisingly flavorful. The fishballs were like an amalgum of scallops pressed into a ball, tasty but weird, two or three and that was enough. The vegetables, and tofu were a fun addition, but after two plates, we focused on just the meat. For me the surprise VIP of the hot pot was the mushrooms. They were very "meaty" in texture and flavor, pairing perfectly with the other proteins. Each time we dipped into the Satay sauce we were puzzled as to what it actually was. We probed the server, who with only 4 tables, but multiple plates to carry was not interested in chit chat, not un-friendly, just efficient.

Is Shabu Shabu something that I will find myself craving? Most likely not, certainly this type of meal is an event and can be fun with a large crowd I'm sure. My guess, twice a year, just for the novelty. Also, quite a bargain, all you can eat for only $9.99.

You can visit Halu Shabu Shabu online at:

http://halushabushabu.com/about.html

Or in person at:

4288 Dublin Blvd. #110
Dublin, CA 94568

T-Valley Korean BBQ

Introducing our very first B-Food Blog special Lunch Guest.....Gary Metcalfe. Gary and I decided to try T-Valley Korean BBQ today. We walked in and were quickly seated. The restaurant was very brightly lit, via natural sunlight coming though the front windows.


T-Valley Korean BBQ has many menu choices, varying between "Bento"-style lunch boxes and also, cook your own meat specials. To take full advantage of the the whole Korean BBQ experience, you should bring $20-$30 per person. We opted for the lunch specials, as they were reasonably priced from $8.99-$14.99.

Gary ordered the LA Kal Bi, Beef Short Ribs.

I ordered the Dwae Ji Bui Goki, Pork in House Special Spicy Sauce.

Each of our orders came with our chosen meat and:

Bowl of Rice
Kim Chi
Bean Sprouts with a Sesame sauce
Glass Style rice noodles with beef, mushroom and a light vinegarette style dressing
Green Salad
Orange Slices

The short ribs were better than any Hawaiian BBQ joint, and most Japanese restaurants. Fairly lean (for short ribs) with great flavor, could have been more tender though.

The spicy pork was very flavorful, not terribly spicy though. Tender, lean, bright in color, went well with the white rice.


All the food was well seasoned, no need for any additional condiments, everything you desired was in the lunch box. Spicy, salty, sweet, bitter, a veritable smattering of flavors.

The portions were very generous, which is always a plus. The food arrived quickly after we ordered it. Then the service got spotty, we found the service to be friendly but not attentive. Gary had to ask both times for refills on his Sprite and I had to reques extra Kim Chi more than once.

For you Sprite drinkers out there, Gary said that the carbonated soda to Sprite Syrup mix was perfect and that he would come here just for a refreshing glass of Lemon-Lime Sprite.


I also decided to order their Soft Tofu Soup served in a Clay pot. We found the Soft Tofu Soup to be like an "Asain Style Chili". It was loaded with Soft Tofu, Zucchini, Green Onion, White Onion, Beef, and mushrooms.

If you are in the mood for something different, and can deal with fantastic food over fantastic service, give T-Valley Korean BBQ a try.

You can visit them at:
7877 Amador Valley Blvd.
Dublin, Ca 94568