Exploring the Bay Area

  Daeho Kalbijjim & Beef Soup Situated in Japantown, this Korean masterpiece of a restaurant is not a secret. People line up for a chance to dine in their small, dark, and mysterious dining room. It’s not just a meal; it’s an entire experience. You don’t come just to eat; you come to be treated to a beautiful and luxurious, entertaining and colorful, and complex and delicious culinary adventure. You won’t have second thoughts about waiting in line for this one. Made using only the best ingredients, including USDA Prime Beef/Certified Angus Beef and delicious rice, each dish is carefully created to both adhere to Korean culinary tradition, serving up well-loved Korean favorites, and to surpass your expectations in terms of the high quality of each element of the dish and the harmony between contrasting textures and flavors. There’s a certain depth and richness to each dish that is hard to replicate. Everything comes perfectly executed with a noticeably Korean flavor profile. The...

  Little Plearn Downtown Berkeley has another Thai restaurant you should take note of. It’s called Little Plearn, and it’s a beautifully decorated Thai spot with great food and low prices. Little Plearn is decorated with Thai artwork, dangling artificial flowers, large windows on the storefront, and a mirror along one wall that helps illuminate the long, narrow eating area. It has great service and a lovely ambience. It makes even an everyday meal feel like a festive occasion. Little Plearn is a fantastic place to get a lot of food for only a little money. The menu shows pictures of the different options next to their rather affordable prices. For example, the Pad Thai with chicken, tofu, or beef is only $16. They also have a fantastic lunch special available from 11-3. You can pick from seventeen stir-fries and noodle dishes and pair them with rolls and salad for $16.95. Rice and peanut sauce are an extra dollar each.  The huge portions come out from the kitchen hot and beaut...

  Souvla Soulva is a Greek restaurant in the Dogpatch neighborhood that draws a casual crowd for some good times. The vibe is chill, and the small dining room decorated with white tiles and neutral tones fills up quickly. The menu features sandwiches (wraps), salads, and lots of alcoholic drinks, among other things. It’s a place adults come with their friends for a relaxing, good time. The menu is short and simple, and the food is relatively inexpensive. You order and pay at the counter and receive a number to take to your table; they’ll bring your food to you shortly. This system is perfect for groups of adults who want to pay separately. The staff is very friendly; they know you’ve come here to have a good time, and they do nothing to interfere with or dampen the mood. My friend was disappointed he didn’t order any “Granch” dressing with his salad and sandwich, so they threw some in for free. And the cashier smiled at me and thanked me for my business and 15% tip. The food here i...

  Asaka Sushi and Bar Asaka Sushi and Bar is a cute little Japanese restaurant in North Berkeley that creates great food with good service. It's a wonderful place to bring family and friends to enjoy a truly amazing meal. Food  Proudly using only natural, organic, and local ingredients, Asaka Sushi and Bar distinguishes itself in terms of quality as it pursues providing North Berkeley with interesting, modern, and authentic spins on Japanese cuisine. With lots of gluten free items and menu items that don't utilize raw fish, this long menu has a large appeal. The food here is delicious and hard to dislike.  Menu Highlights  The menu includes hot and cold appetizers, like Hamachi Capriccio, Cajun Tataki, Edamame, Chicken Karaage, and Beef/Vegetable Gyoza. They also serve a variety of salads from the House Salad, to the Wakame Salad, the Sashimi Salad, and the Tempura Salad. If you want noodles, they have several types of udon....

Panda Express I’ve been known to enjoy the authentic Chinese food served in many proud Bay Area restaurants, but authentic Chinese food just met its trendy American cousin called Panda Express. Panda Express is a chain founded in California back in 1983, and its influence has spread like wildfire through the nation. It’s famous for being cheap, yummy, and filling. It’s a restaurant that proudly does things its own way; it puts its own spin on Chinese food, one that appeals to a broader audience in the United States, and it does not apologize for having a personality of its own.   When you enter the restaurant, you will see a wide variety of entrees and sides displayed under the glass. The work of preparing these satisfying options is already done. All you have to do is pick. The sizzling woks in the kitchen behind the counter keep working all day to make sure there’s plenty of each item in the buffet for the staff to serve when ordered. The food is kept under a glass case with labe...

  Yin Ji Chang Fen I am so glad I discovered this exciting Cantonese food chain with a small shop in Berkeley, California, on Shattuck Avenue! The food here is excitingly inexpensive, but it doesn’t taste cheap, and the portions are a very respectable size. Best of all, the food comes prepared with careful attention to taste and Cantonese tradition. It’s popular here, partially because it has not yet given up on a truly unique and lovely finished product and partially because it’s affordable. Environment   When I visited, I noticed the eating area was bright and clean, creating the optical illusion of being more spacious than it is. In reality, it’s a small business in Downtown Berkeley, California. But it doesn’t feel like a small business in Berkeley. It resembles someplace bigger and gives off very Chinese vibes. Everything about the dining room was appetizing and appealing, and made me really want to sit and eat. And judging by the number of tables filled, even at odd...

  Burma Spice Burma Spice is an attractive full-service sit-down restaurant in Redwood City that serves delightful, artistic, and tasty Burmese dishes at reasonable prices. The servers here know the menu and perform their duties with the type of natural ease that comes with experience, and the chefs work quickly and carefully to make aesthetically pleasing and tasty dishes without overcooking the meat, using too much sauce, or adding too much of any one flavor. The result is a dining experience that is completely satisfying. The food is—without fail—something you will enjoy eating, your water cup seems to fill itself automatically, and the eating area is quiet and clean. All this makes it the ideal place to eat with people you really want to spend time with—it’s a comfortable and enjoyable place to relax together, and the food, which is cooked perfectly, only adds to your enjoyment. Although Burma Spice serves a specific type of cuisine, Burmese cuisine, and it is decorated with so...