Destination Yucatan

As a travel destination, Yucatan has it all. A range of hotels to fit every need (from luxury to budget, large scale to small scale); a range of activities (beach, cenotes, caves, jungle, Mayan ruins) and a lot of good food. Here's my recommendations for Yucatan.

Accommodation

Luxury All-Inclusive

If you have young kids and want to take advantage of the kids clubs, you can choose to  stay in an all-inclusive. For all-inclusives, the general rule of thumb applies - you pay for what you get. $600-1000 gets you a room at Finest Playa Mujeres, a luxury resort North of Cancun. It's newly built in 2015 and the furnishings are all good quality. (Hansgrohe taps, rain shower, jacuzzi bath in your balcony, etc) This was the view from our room. The resort was big enough to occupy you for at least a week. Added to that, everything from the landscaping to the  service was wonderful. They had 12 restaurants with decent food. We tried the Spanish Tapas and French restaurant and were not disappointed.  

More Affordable all-inclusives

There are more affordable all-inclusives. I took note of Secrets, a new all-inclusive resort located on beautiful Akumal Beach (Turtle Beach) We stayed at Sirens Riviera Maya, which had slightly dated rooms and facilities plus mass-market appeal. However, if you can overlook that, there are some nice things like their beach, their rooftop bar, where you can watch the sunset over the mangroves and the lazy 'river' where kids can sit on tubes and float around. I would not be going back to Sirens Riviera, mainly because the large-scale mass market hotels don't quite suit me. 

Boutique Hotels

Head down to Tulum for a more intimate experience. Boutique hotels dot the coastline of Tulum. Hotels like El Pez, Zebra Club, Mezzanine, Alaya are smack on the beach and have nice atmosphere. 

Beaches and Cenotes

Warm tropical azure blue waters, teeming with life. This is one of the reasons we chose have our vacation in Yucatan. The beach off Sirens Maya Riviera was great. They had a beautiful cove where fish would be swept in by the waves. You can stand a few meters from the shore and see schools of fish swimming around you. 

Tourists flock to Akumal Beach to swim amongst giant loggerhead and green turtles. I saw at least 10 giant turtles grazing on seagrass and I could almost touch them. There's hardly any waves on this stretch of beach so it's great for the kids. One downside is that it is super crowded so watch your valuables! 

Akumal Beach

My favorite beach hands down is Paradise Beach in Tulum. The sand was powder fine, the water was a beautiful blue and not too crowded! Extra bonus: lifeguards! 

Paradise Beach

When you're tired of the beaches, you can head to one of the many cenotes (underground sinkhole watering holes) Cenotes were considered by the Mayans to be sacred wells. These caves and underground rivers were created thousands of years ago. Gran cenote has something for everyone. For kids and snorkelers, they can explore the freshwater pools outside the caves and see fish and turtles. Serious divers can explore the surreal subterranean caves and admire the stalactites and stalagmites. Another cenote worth exploring is Yal Ku, a lagoon off Akumal (where fresh water meets salt water) and it's a great environment for kids to snorkel without waves. 

Entering Gran Cenote

Restaurants

There was no shortage of good eating places. There are many affordable seafood options in Akumal. 

We ate lunch at Lol Ha, a beachside restaurant with a big seafood menu. The deep fried grouper was fresh and crunchy, soft on the inside. Also at Akumal, Cueva Pescador is a great place to go local and enjoy Mexican food and seafood! We enjoyed a generous plate of ceviche for USD7.  

Mezzanine dishes up delicious Mexican breakfasts. The Chichen Itza breakfast consists of runny eggs on beans, roast potatoes and sausage crumble. You may not be a bean fan but this dish will win you over. For lunches and dinners. Mezzanine serves Thai dishes.

One of the upside of staying in small hotels is that you are more likely to explore local digs. We loved this small grocery filled with festive pinatas for the christmas celebration.

Downtown Tulum has a number of good restaurants too. La Estancia Jujena serves Argentinian meat and has a nice courtyard atmosphere.  

If you can your act together and reserve a table at Hartwood a month in advance, Tulum's farm to table restaurant, you certainly won't regret it. The restaurant recommends that you email them for reservations. An open-air restaurant helmed by New York expats, Hartwood specializes in seafood and food cooked over a woodfire. 

Unfortunately, we were not as organized this trip (the waiting list was 3 months in the Christmas season) So we opted for Kitchen Table and we had no regrets. As the name suggests, the 'Kitchen Table' is the center of activity in this small and excellent restaurant. The whole restaurant has a rustic 'open air' appeal to it. With a menu of 5 or 6 mains, your choice might be limited but be assured that all the dishes are excellent. We had the roasted octopus which was cooked to perfection, with slurpy gravy. And the pork ribs were delicious to the bone.   

Japanese restaurants in the Peninsula

As I have grown up in Asia and have been exposed to Japanese restaurants in Tokyo, I'm picky. My husband proposed to me in Japan so it holds special memories. Tokyo is teeming with foodie gems (restaurants, street eateries and food stores) I'll bet that anyone who's been to Tokyo has a "Tokyo Food Story" - a food experience so good, they were blown away.

I have many Tokyo food stories but one of my memorable ones is in Sogo food hall, Shibuya. We were captivated by this fishmonger carving out a huge tuna head. (Some of the best cuts of sashimi comes from the head). We ordered the sashimi and the fishmonger was really nice, he gave us a complimentary 'butcher's cut' slice of fish that he usually consumes for himself. I am struck by the generosity and perfectionist culture in Japan.

What's your Tokyo food story? Leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you... 

So I have been delaying this but here is my list of Japanese restaurants in the Peninsula SF.

Sushi Kuni (Sushi)
10211 S De Anza Boulevard, open tues-sat, 11:30-2pm, 5-9:30pm
The chefs at sushi kuni are serious about their craft and that's why I am a fan. You can tell that they source their ingredients carefully (their latest offering is an octopus sourced from Tsukiji market, Tokyo). Be sure to sit at the bar and watch the sushi master Kunio put together the sushi. And I would recommend the Omakase (your dishes will be selected by the chef). It's worth it.

Sushi Tomi (Sushi)
635 W Dana St, Mountain View, open daily, 11:30-2pm, 5-9pm
This is my go to Japanese restaurant off Castro Street. It is very popular but the tables turn-around fast. They have all the standard favorites and they do it well.

Sumika Grill (Yakitori)
236 Central Plaza, Los Altos, open daily except monday
This is hands down my favorite Japanese yakitori in the bay area. It's perfect for a casual date or a girl's night out. Tucked away in a car park in Los Altos central, it reminds me so much of the small hole in the wall restaurants in Japan that I love so much. The most popular dish seems to be the pork belly yakitori. Don't forget to check out the seasonal menu, filled with inventive dishes - melt-in-the-mouth eggplant tofu and deep fried octopus are clear winners. Just pick a few dishes to go with you sake and you're in for a great night out.

Ramen Dojo (Ramen)
805 South B Street San Mateo, Open daily except tuesday, 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-9pm
Ramen Dojo is the smaller sister restaurant of Santa Ramen. It was clear from the concise menu that the focus of the dining place was ramen - spicy ramen, to be precise. The restaurant opens at 11:30am and there will be a queue of at least 25 people waiting to get in. Not to worry, tables move quickly. It is known for its spicy ramen. I ordered the garlic pork ramen (tonkatsu soup broth) It is topped with a delicious roasted black garlic sauce. At $8.95 for a basic bowl, it was worth the wait.

Taka Ramen (Ramen)
2219 The Aladmeda Santa Clara
Their thin taka ramen features thin ramen noodles (which I prefer) and their broth is not overly salty. Looking forward to trying the Tsukamen (dipping ramen) They are family friendly, automatically dishing out cute dishes cutlery cups and even a little scissors for the kids to cut their ramen. But get there early. Like all good ramen restaurants, there's a strong following and it's popular.

Shabuway (Shabu Shabu)
Various stores in San Francisco, San Mateo, Mountain View and San Jose http://www.shabuway.com/
Shabu Shabu is a Japanese hotpot of thinly sliced meat and vegetables. It's interesting to note that Wikipedia mentions that Shabu Shabu is an onomatopoeia, referring to the sound emitted when ingredients are stirred in the cooking pot. Shabuway uses good quality meat (like prime angus beef from Meyer ranch, premium lamb from Niman ranch) and the broth is MSG free.

Watch this space as my list grows.
Remember, not all restaurants with queues guarantee good food. Sometimes, it is just hype.

Jaan - freshest ingredients taken to new culinary heights

Singapore is indeed a food paradise. Every time I return, I am struck by the choice of good restaurants and eating places. From hawker establishments to gastronomic restaurants, you're spoilt for choice.

This time, my friend, who is a chef at Jaan, invited me over to sample a complimentary lunch. Helmed by British born chef de cuisine Kirk Westaway, Jaan currently ranks 11th place in Asia's 50 best restaurants awards and creates modern French culinary masterpieces. I was excited to sample their signature dishes.

Located on the 70th floor of Swissotel Stanford, the view of the Singapore skyline is stunning. The sea of buildings below is testament to the rapid development of Singapore - from colonial times through postmodern and on to present day Singapore. The colonial Raffles Hotel sits next to Sir Norman Foster's latest skyscraper which boasts a bold undulating roof. Further away, rows of housing board flats stand in symmetry and on the other side we could see the marina barrage and the iconic Marina Bay Sands casino. Against this backdrop, we were served a beautifully executed lunch. Here are some of the highlights below:

Our starter was a majestic Irish oyster with artichoke puree and caviar. The artichoke was a good contrast to the rich succulent oyster. I must say this was my favorite dish.  

One of Jaan's signature starters was the Heirloom Tomato with burrata cheese. It was composed beautifully. I was told later by the culinary team that this is a hard dish to execute as it is quite intricate.

The team at Jaan really knows how to whet an appetite. For one of their signature dishes (rosemary smoked organic eggs with ratte potato) They brought out a basket of eggs and cracked it open in front of us; it was accompanied with a dramatic smoke effect. We were intrigued from the start to the last bite of the dish.

Our main dish was a forest pigeon, roasted with rosemary on a bed of hay.

The immaculately prepared chocolate dessert was a fitting end to a magnificent meal. I would definitely recommend Jaan. I heard there is a waiting list for a table but the wait is worth it. Thanks to the young dynamic team at Jaan, the freshest of ingredients are taken to new culinary heights.

http://www.jaan.com.sg/

Mee Pok in San Francisco

Let's talk about noodles. To the uninitiated, noodles are just that. But there's so much variety - the type of noodle, the type of sauce or soup can be mind boggling and then you have the different types of dishes from different regions - China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, etc.

One of my favorite noodles growing up in Singapore is Mee Pok (noodles from Chaozhou, South China). El dente wide noodles with a soya-chili-vinegar sauce. It is topped with fish ball, minced meat, sliced meat, fried garlic and sometimes fried lard. It is highly popular and good Mee Pok stalls always have long queues of customers. My favorite store growing up is Tai Wah Pork Noodles. The eatery used to be situated in a corner shophouse on the banks of the Singapore river. I would remember watching the workers ferrying goods into the godowns from the wooden bumboats as I slurped on Mee Pok.

San Francisco has it's very own Mee Pok store too! Hai Ky Mi Gia is a Teochew Vietnamese noodle house (Vietnamese Chinese from Chaozhou province) in Tenderloin (707 Ellis Street). The noodles were bouncy and el dente and the fish ball tasted home-made. You will have to add the soya-chili- vinegar sauces yourself.

In search of the perfect bowl of ramen in the bay area

There's ramen mania going on in the Bay Area. Queues of hungry diners waiting for a nice comforting bowl of ramen.  Truth be told, I've already tried a few ramen places - Santa Ramen, and Orenchi Ramen which has a following. I must say I was disappointed with both. The first ramen joint was alright but for all its hype, I was expecting something more. It was an ok bowl of ramen. And to top it off, they served me cold tea. I was also excited about Orenchi Ramen because of the queues of people waiting outside and because I like their sister restaurant Sumikagrill. However, their ramen broth was overly salty. 

I think my ramen fascination is somewhat like a fussy twenty something year old princess trying to find the perfect man. There are good guys out there...but they're not perfect, and you keep searching. The same with ramen. Some are better for their broth, some for their chewy noodles, some for their fatty pork and some have the perfect soft boiled egg. Occasionally you find a joint that does everything right.  

So today, I tried Ramen Dojo, which is actually the smaller sister restaurant of Santa Ramen. It was clear from the concise menu that the focus of the dining place was ramen - spicy ramen, to be precise. Ramen dojo opens at 11:30am everyday. I arrived at 11:25am and I was surprised to see a queue of at least 25 people already waiting. So I didn't get to be seated in the first seating when the restaurant opened. But tables move pretty quickly here. I ordered the garlic pork ramen (tonkatsu soup broth). I was surprised when my bowl of ramen was served. It had a thick black sauce on top of it. I was told it was roasted black garlic sauce. I tucked in and for the first time, I enjoyed my ramen. The noodles were nice and chewy, the soup was porky, garlicky and not overly salty, the black garlic sauce was a nice distinctive touch. At $8.95 for a basic bowl, it was worth the wait. I didn't order the spicy version (although I was tempted) as I was sharing my bowl with my three year old. This is my fave joint for now and I will be back to try the spicy version with a soft boiled egg!

Ramen Dojo, 805 South B Street, San Mateo, Open daily except for Tuesday
11:30am - 2pm, 5:30am - 9pm