Lungomare – Oakland, California

We decided to take a walk in and around Jack London Square where we decided we wanted to sit down and have an early lunch. We walked into Lungomare as there was a lot of people sitting on the patio – and we wanted to be there as well.

I really wanted a Hot Tea and they have a nice assortment of teas to choose from. They give you a nice tea pot for you to steep the tea to your liking. I got their Breakfast Blend which is pretty standard – but I was looking for something basic on this morning.

I ordered their Bagel Sandwich which was a bagel with house smoked salmon, eggs over well, cream cheese and other various toppings with a bed of potatoes on the side. It was really good and the house smoked salmon was fantastic! They do a lot of in house smoking according to the menu and I’m sure they’re all very tasty!

My husband got their Shrimp & Grits which was really seasoned quite well. The shrimp was huge and very tasty – excellent texture and cooked to perfection. He got a side of their house smoked bacon and that was magnificent! It was really nice, the texture was fantastic and it wasn’t overly salty!

Overall, we had a fantastic experience here and would return as service, atmosphere and food was all very good and memorable.

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Lungomare – Jack London Square

One Broadway
Oakland, CA
(510) 444-7171

Saigon Seafood Harbor – Richmond, California

We went to celebrate family members birthday and they choose to go to Saigon Seafood Harbor as they’re regulars there – always good food and service at a great rate. I’ve been here a few times for dim sum and dinner before as well and we never have a complaint.

We decided to order their special, a 10-course meal for 10 people. It started with an order of Jelly fish, Seaweed, Octopus, Beef shank and Chicken which is a great take on your traditional cold starters! We really enjoyed the octopus and I’ve always loved Jelly fish!

Afterwards, an order of soup came and they split it up into individual bowls ahead of time to save some space, which was pretty brilliant! We had the Crab Meat & Fish Maw Soup 蟹肉魚肚羹 which was tasty and pretty standard at the same time.

In no order that the dishes came (as some of them came all at the same time), we enjoyed tons of good food where all the plates was something special! There was an order of Braised Cod fish with Roasted pork & Tofu 紅燒斑腩煲 in a clay pot. This was without a doubt one of my favourites as seafood (fish) is something I always crave when I’m away from home!

One of my husbands favourite of the evening was their Honey Glazed Walnut Prawns 蜜桃蝦球 which was giant shrimp deep fried and glazed with some glazed walnuts on the side. I’m sure together, we finished this plate – leaving only a little for the rest of the family!

Then came a dish with some fish and bok choy. We’re not sure what it’s called, but the fish was cooked really tenderly. We assume it was cod as it was a nice white fish, mild in flavour.

Some greens came too, there was a plate of Green beans with Spicy Pork and it was really good. It was spicier than expected but delicious and addicting from the flavours.

Another dish of greens came out which was Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas and it was sauteed with garlic and scallops. It was pretty tasty and the food was really fresh.

A neat thing that came was their Peking Duck and we loved the wraps it came with. It’s very different from the style we’re use to with the thin pancakes – but these you can stuff a lot of duck into and it absorbs the flavours. It was a little strange that there was bones once in awhile, but it must be their style.

From there, we got our Fried Rice which they splited into individual bowls again to save space. I always love fried rice, so this one was pretty good!

The last course was the dessert, where we didn’t actually eat their Red Bean Soup as we showed up with a birthday cake instead. Our overall experience here was excellent. The food was fantastic, the portions was huge and the price, I was told was really a good deal for what we got.

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Saigon Seafood Harbor – El Cerrito

3150 Pierce St
Richmond, CA
(510) 559-9388

Suzu Japanese Noodle House – San Francisco, California

This one evening, we didn’t know where to go for dinner. We were on the San Francisco side as we were doing some sigh seeing, so we decided we would go for Japantown for some ramen for dinner and we ended up finding Suzu Japanese Noodle House inside a little mall. The place was little and packed so make sure you have some patience if you want to try them – it’s worth it!

We started with an order of Gyoza as well all know, I love dumplings. They pan fried the dumplings here really nicely and the pork inside was really well seasoned. It was a thin skin and delicious!

I ordered their Cha Shu Ramen with Shoyu flavour soup and it was actually really delicious! The broth was excellent and the cha shu was tender, juicy and flavourful! The texture of the ramen was really nice and the noodles were really fresh!

We saw a news article outside the window of this restaurant where someone was showcasing their Suzu Ramen so my husband got that! It was quite different as it had karaage, fried gyoza and corn in his soup. His soup was miso flavoured and that was super tasty as well. We didn’t like the fried gyozas nearly as much as the pan fried ones that we got as an appetizer but the noodles are as tasty as it looks!

We also ordered a bowl of Kakuni Ramen with shoya flavour – which was their braised pork belly. It looked and smelled delicious and it was eaten completely withouth a word! So, it was awesome!

Overall, we loved our experience here. We all thought it was worth the wait and we know we could be back! The prices were reasonable, the service was quick and friendly and most importantly, the food was so good!

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Suzu Japanese Noodle House

1825 Post St
San Francisco, CA
(415) 346-5083

Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We didn’t know where we wanted to go for dinner this one evening, but we were checking some stuff out over at Sundridge Mall in the Northeast where we saw Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant and figured I haven’t been here in ages, we would come back – remembering it was decent food. We did come closer to closing time, but when we were done, they closed the gate off and wouldn’t let us go back through the mall, so we walked back in to take a picture.

This restaurant is ran by Chinese people, so it’s not authentic. We weren’t actually hungry so we decided to order a Sushi and Sashimi Combo which had 7 pieces of sashimi, 5 pieces of sushi, a California roll and 2 pieces of house special rolls. The quality was decent!

Then, we decided we wanted a bowl of udon, and decided we’d do something a little different – so we got their Spicy Chicken Udon which was really different. It reminded us of a Chinese dish, but just using udon noodles. It was tasty actually! They used ground chicken which was interesting as it fell to the bottom of the soup.

Overall, a decent experience. We don’t have much complaints and the nice thing it’s in the mall – which would be ideal for cold days! But, they close the gate before the mall closes.

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Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Sunridge Mall

2525 36 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 568-6886

Menyatai Japanese Noodles – Calgary, Alberta

I recently wasn’t feeling too great and all I really wanted was a bowl of noodle soup. I was expecting something a little more bland but we pulled up to Menyatai Japanese Ramen where I couldn’t decline the offer to eat here as I’ve been meaning to try here for awhile now.

Once inside, it’s a small but cute location where the staff is friendly and authentic! We were excited to be here so I ordered their Miso Ramen. I’ve tried a few in the city so it’s fair that I order this to compare! I found that the ramen had a great texture, the soup was fantastic and the piece of pork was amazing! This miso ramen has just found it’s way to the top of my list in Calgary so far! Pretty exciting news!

We also ordered a bowl of Beef Udon which is another one of our favourites to order when at a Japanese restaurant. Although the udon and the beef was excellent, it wasn’t any different that can set itself above anyone. Definitely not a bad bowl though! The beef taste in the broth was amazing, the bee was tender and delicious and the udon texture was really good.

We added an upgrade to one of our meals by having their Inari Set which basically comes with 2 pieces of inari and I love them, so we figured we’d go for it. It was good, no complaints – although we thought it was weird as it didn’t come with wasabi or soy sauce. So, we just ate it plain.

The overall experience was amazing. Even though I was sick the food tasted great and the staff was amazing. The prices seem costly but the portions are massive and the food was perfect. The location is tucked off the main street, but there’s quite a bit of street parking available.

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Menyatai Japanese Ramen

24-12 St NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 263-3666