[Restaurants] Mama's @ San Francisco, CA, U.S.

During our visit to the Coit tower in San Francisco last year, we walked passed  this unique, little, but cozy restaurant with a super long queue outside. Usually a scene only seen at popular restaurants in Asia, such a long waiting line at a U.S. restaurant was a rare sight, which got JieJie extremely excited and eager to give it a try! At that very moment, all of us felt as if we were back in Asia! It goes without saying that we were clearly intrigued by this restaurant named 'Mama'. So we vowed to join the party line outside this restaurant at some point in time.

[Restaurants] Falafel’s Drive-In @ San Jose, CA, U.S.

This Mediterranean eatery is one of our all-time favorites. We often made the effort to visit this extremely humble “Drive-In” for some incredibly tasty falafel sandwiches located in San Jose (next to the Santana Row and Valley Fair shopping center). Today is no exception, as we drop by the eatery en route to Santana Row for some shopping =)

[Restaurants] Turmeric @ Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.

We are already in the month of May, but the temperature at night can still be punishing. Wandering in the revamped downtown Sunnyvale on a chilly evening, we made up our mind to warm and spice up our stomachs & souls...

[Restaurants] Song Ngu @ Milpitas, CA, U.S.

A deal on the Groupon sparked this outing to Song Ngu, a newly opened Vietnamese restaurant in Milpitas. Being a huge fan of Pho – the Vietnamese vermicelli soup, this obviously is an irresistible deal!

[Restaurants] Yan Can @ Milpitas, CA, U.S.

Lunchtime quickly rolled around while we were studying in a cafe of the River Mark plaza on Saturday. Looking for a quick fix before resuming our studies, we made our way across the street to try out Yan Can Cook restaurant.

It actually wasn't that long ago when Martin Yan was a much celebrated chef, with his own cooking show that was being broadcast around the world. If you are clueless about who he is, you probably have heard the catchy slogan of "If Yan can cook, so can you!", which is Yan's most famous phrase.

Still no idea? Here's a clip for ya

[Restaurants] Prolific Oven @ Milpitas, CA, U.S.

It was a perfect day for a nice cup of tea and brunch. Enjoying the breeze in our hair and basking in the sun we drove down to our local semi-high end plaza and decided to get our food at The Prolific Oven.

The Prolific Oven is a local breakfast restaurant famous for its sandwiches and panini, hence the 'Oven' in its name. Desiring something light, yet packed with enough energy to get us going, we ordered a meal high in protein and carbs while still having an abundance of vegetables.

Didi ordered Veggie Scramble with a sliced sourdough bread. Being an egg addict, if didi is allowed to, he will have eggs in every meal he eats. So its a natural choice for him to choose something like scrambled eggs for breakfast.

[Restaurants] Five Guys @ Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.

Hailing from the city of Arlington, Virginia, Five Guys has consistently received rave reviews for its burgers and fries. For some reason, maybe because we are located on the west coast, the arrival of this relatively young burger chain almost feel like the twin-version of the extremely successful In-n-out burger chain.

With recent expansion of its operation to the west coast, we decided to give it a try!

First came into view was the big standard red fonts...very inspiring...haha

There was already a huge crowd inside the restaurant. We ordered Veggie sandwich and Cheese veggie sandwich. At that point, there was a major difference comparing to other burger store – which is you get to pick your toppings! “ALL THE WAY” means getting all the toppings in black, and you can add even more toppings such as relish, jalapeno, A-1 sauce, BBQ sauce, etc. all for free. 

In addition, we also got the Cajun style fries to go with our burgers. The Cajun fries are topped with special spices to enhance the flavor (rather than standard french fries).

While waiting for our orders, we noticed an interesting feature of the store, that Five Guys offers complimentary roasted peanuts! It almost feels like getting free side dishes to our entree.

[Restaurants] Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot @ Cupertino

It was a cloudless and warm night for our latest foodie outing, not the typical weather where one would venture into a hotpot restaurant, but we did anyway... Well, because the Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot is in town and we have been dying to try it out for a while! Finally we got the chance to check it out on a warm early summer night! Does it remind you of enjoying a tub of ice cream in a chilly night? That's the spirit! 

Anyway, Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot is a well-known chain hotpot restaurant hailing from China with international presence in multiple countries. We used to have to commute some 20 miles to get to the nearest branch in Union City, but now we no longer have to do so! As you can see, the interior of the store is pleasantly designed with a fusion of both western and oriental elements with lukewarm lighting. All seats are cushioned with hotpot boiling away on electronic stove in each cove.

In spite of the warm weather, there was already a crowd gathering in the front lobby waiting to be seated. We waited for about 30 minutes before being called on to be seated...pretty good business huh?!

[Restaurants] Birthday Celebration - Thaibodia @ Santa Clara

Happy Birthday Will! Wish you healthy and accident free for the rest of the year!


Today Wasabees celebrated our good buddy's 27th birthday! Wanting to reflect our sweet and spicy friendship with Will, we decided to eat at a Thai restaurant. It is not easy to find a good Thai restaurant with nice ambiance in San Jose area. As a result, we had to put some extra effort on Yelp this morning to find a suitable restaurant for the birthday dinner. With a 4-star rating on Yelp and some nice pictures taken by other yelpers, "ThaiBodi" was the winner for the day.

By it's name, "ThaiBodi" is a Thai-Cambodian fusion restaurant located on El Camino Real near San Thomas Express way. When we first arrived, we were somewhat taken back by the cheap looking plaza and the restaurant building. To our surprise, the interior design of the restaurant immediately changed our first impression by 180 degrees.

[Restaurants] Loving Hut @ Milpitas Square

From my friends' point of view, it is a lot harder to find your significant other after you graduate from college and work in Silicon Valley. I guess it's true in some way when you spend so much time in your cubicle and Mr. Cupid wouldn't be able to find you. Trying to eliminate one pair of singles in the valley, we used the "love" of "Loving Hut" to bring the two together on Friday night~

[Restaurants] Curry House @ Cupertino Civic Park

Today was cold, wet, and gloomy in the bay area. So, I felt like getting some warm and golden curry. Wanting more sweet than spiciness, we went for Japanese curry. One of the more dedicated place that we know is Curry House at Cupertino.

[Restaurants] In-N-Out @ Milpitas - McCarthy Ranch

When people visit California, one of the food memories that they leave with is the textures and flavors of the In-N-Out burgers.