Scala's Bistro Dinner, San Francisco

Back to Scala's Bistro for dinner again. We have been here many times, probably each time we come to San Francisco. Sometimes, it's not my choice to come, but when you go with others, you just have to follow the rests.  It is a rather dark place and it is challenging to take pictures. My Leica did quite a good job with taking pictures with very minimal lighting.

We had Fritto Misto to start with.

A pizza was ordered by Miss K, but we participated a little bit.

Who else, but DH, orders Seafood pasta,

My order was Ricotta Gnocchi, served with roasted forest mushroom, asparagus, parmesan brood and fine herbs.

Jamie's Italian Lunch

It was Sunday, our second day in London. After church in the morning, we did a little shopping along Oxford St then headed to Shepherd's Bush for lunch. Our destination was Jamie's Italian (again!!). 

First, we had a couple of starters to share among the three of us. The above is our usual order, Baked Chestnut Mushrooms and below is Arancini Margherita.

I tried their Rossini Spritz, i.e. Prosecco with red berry purée. No biggie.

What I like best was my Main, Porchetta, which was pork belly with herbs & garlic, fennel crackling & wild mushrooms. It was really good and tender. Yum!

Miss K chose Ricotta dumplings with sage, lemon & Parmesan butter while DH had Crab Spaghetti. We could not order desserts because they stopped taking order after Westfield mall was evacuated due to suspicious package. So that's how it ended.

Lunch At Gran Diva Caffe, Sapporo

Back when we were in Sapporo, the two people that I went with let me choose the place for lunch after seeing the places they wanted to have lunch in, in the area, were full and had long lines outside their premises. I picked an Italian restaurant, which would not be my priority, but it's a place that the other two would eat. Both of them like Italian cuisines. 

DH, consistently, picked Seafood pasta (wherever he goes, almost!). The dish looked attractive and was generous with the amount of the seafood and more importantly tasted good.

I had Gnocchi Salad (above) which was just okay and had the others tried some as well. Miss K had Penne with Mushroom and we also shared Pizza Margherita. Not bad!

La Nonna Lunch

The five of us were together for the holiday, it does not happen very often recently. The last Sunday before one started school, another went back to college and one more were about to travel for business, all of us had lunch at La Nonna, again. 

We had Calamari with Arrabbiata sauce and Caprese salad to begin, both of which we enjoyed.  We also had pizza to share, with the egg put on the side inside of center, to accommodate those who did not want to have egg on pizza.

DH continued with pasta trip, ordering similar dish again and again. I believe it was either crab or seafood linguine. 

Miss K had gnocchi and I tried thier Pork Sausage with roasted potatoes.

Miss L had the pan fried fish above and Miss P had Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto. Lots of food for us, really!

Revisiting La Nonna

We got the full team at home this Summer. Last Sunday,  everyone went to church together and we got to have dinner together after the mass.  We were back to the place that most of our family members would not say "no" too. It's La Nonna time. We always enjoy their bread basket, the breads are always warm and that make a big difference to the taste.

It was an easy pick for me. I stayed with my favorite, salad with mozzarella wrapped in Parma Ham.

DH also picked his safe favorite, Linguine with crab meat. The five of us also shared a Pizza Margherita.

Miss K always loved Gnocchi with Porcini Mushroom and Cream sauce.

One of the specials of the day (or evening in this case) was Cod Fish and Miss P had it.  All were full and satisfied. It was a nice Sunday evening dinner.

Il Teatro, Wynn Macau

Il Teatro is one of our favorite restaurants in Macau. We put special effort to eat here when we visit. We enjoy the view of the dancing fountain outside the window. The staff is accommodating and knowledgeable and more importantly, we love the food they serve. I tend to think that the bread they serve is the indicator of the quality of the dishes in the restaurant. Their bread selection was good, they were delicious and warm and the amount served was generous as well.

DH's favorite is Pizza Margherita and of course we ordered one to share. Our starter was Crispy Eggplant with Mozzarella and herb Ricotta Cheese, Cherry Tomato Sauce.

Miss K ordered a plate of Gnocchi al Gorgonzola. It is sweet potato gnocchi, pancetta, gorgonzola cream and roasted hazelnuts. It sounded good, looked good and tasted really good!

DH had Linguini alla Scoglio, which was Seafood pasta with marinara sauce. He loved it!! (Yes, two exclamation marks, he cleaned up the plate!)

I had Halibut del Pacifico, which is grilled halibut with crispy potato casoncelli (stuffed pasta), basil aioli and salsa verde. It was a great dish, super delicious! 

It's hard to remember the name of these dishes if you do not know Italian, but the taste, we simply can't forget. They were fantastic. I wish there's a restaurant like this around here. Just one more reason to go back to Macau!

Pan Fried Gnocchi With Mushroom Sauce

We had home made gnocchi for dinner last night. We had them pan-fried before serving them with the sauce made with porcini mushroom, grated cheese and cream.

Scala's Bistro, First Time!

This is Scala's Bistro's Bostini Cream Pie. We ordered a small bite as were so stuffed by the time we finished our dinner. We simply could not help it. It looked so gooey-chocolatey, because it was, it was so delish! Although, it's a small portion, we had to really stretch out our tummy to fit it in. I knew then that I had to come back for more.

When you are in a place that you are not familiar with, asking someone with great familiarity could do you a favor. DH likes to ask where to eat, his question to the concierge normally would consist of, where's the best Italian around? Then he asked them to make a reservation. That's how we got to know Scala's Bistro.

It was our first meal in Scala's. The place was packed, we were glad that we had reservation. Upon waiting shortly, we were led to our table and got a basket of bread and a nice experience of having great meal commenced...

This is their Fritto Misto (calamari, white prawns, padron peppers, fennel, green beans, sherry-cayenne aïoli). It's a generous amount and very yummy way to begin our meal with.

DH was in the mood for pizza, he had Pizza Margherita.

I believe mine was Seabass with fingerling potatoes and beans. I like it so much, it was really superb.

Miss K loves gnocchi and had it served with basil pesto, pecorino, nasturtium flowers, pine nuts. It must have been great, she cleaned up the plate very well.

Anything Else But...

Nearly all the food that we saw in Sapporo was tempting, the food that we ate were great. The ramen was fantastic, the tempura was delicious, the gyoza was superb and the cakes, the bread and everything else were amazing and so well done. But after a few days of those, I could not hep feeling a bit tired of all the goodness that the Japanese food brought.

By the time we arrived in Tokyo, I felt like eating something else. Anything, but Japanese dish. So did my little partner. We walked along the small streets nearby our hotel in Akasaka area and saw a couple of Italian restaurants. While DH was still trying to get in his Japanese meal, we all finally decided to go for Italian.

Thank God, they had English menu! We had salad to share and three individual dishes. The salad had some mozzarella, the dressing was pretty mild and for us, it was a nice change. We really wanted our vegetables.

The Quattro Pizza came next, with three little plates. DH had all the intention to share it and we tried some while waiting for our dishes to come.

After we finished the pizza, we waited a while before I asked the waitress to bring both the dishes that we were having at the same time. I knew that she understood what I meant, given her limited English. She told the cooks, I saw. I started to be anxious as I saw the next table of ours had their pasta arrived one by one by one. Each plate was for sharing. I started to think, maybe this was the way it is in Japan.... Then came Gnocchi, alone. That's K's order.

As I waited long enough, looking at my daughter finishing her food, I had to ask. I did. Of course, I was told it's coming. My risotto with porcini mushroom, came much later.... It was really good though. I saw a big table with a family and some adults, eight people altogether and told my buddies, they will finish their dinner at midnight!