Sakana Seafood Restaurant – Arcadia

 

We always eat here for lunch since the combinations are decently priced.  My boyfriend ordered the Chicken Teriyaki Combo ($8.95) while I got the Fried Chicken & Sashimi Combo ($10.95).

I’m in no way an expert on miso soup, but I think it tasted a bit watered down (which actually works out for me since I don’t like things too salty).  The seaweed was really good though.  As for the sashimi, the tuna tasted kinda fishy but the other pieces tasted fresh.  Definitely not the best I’ve had; just average.

The chicken teriyaki is probably the only reason we like to come here.  The chicken is always moist and the sauce tastes so good.  The salad, on the other hand, had too much vinegar for my liking.

FYI, there was more chicken but I ate some before I remembered to take a picture.  ^_^;;  This was our first time ordering the fried chicken since we wanted to try something new.  It was actually really good (but I don’t think it’s too hard to go wrong with fried chicken).  The chicken was pretty moist and it wasn’t overly fried.

The staff is always attentive (but we usually go early when there aren’t too many people yet).  The place itself has cute decor and the atmosphere is pretty quiet.  Overall, Sakana is the place we go when we’re craving some chicken teriyaki for lunch.

Sakana Seafood Restaurant
713 W Duarte Road, Suite H
Arcadia, CA 91007
626.821.9800

 

Vanille de Patisserie – San Marino

 

My boyfriend took me here for dessert since it was a few days before my birthday.  I really love cute cafés and bakeries like this (and he doesn’t really), so it was nice to go to one.  Since I have a huge sweet tooth and chocolate obsession, we got two chocolatey cakes.  I preferred the square cake more since it had a bunch of chocolate shavings and had a sweeter taste (plus the sugar coated strawberry never hurt!).  Although the cake slice was good, the chocolate was more bitter.

I think each cake was about $4.50-$5.00, which is pretty pricey considering how tiny those cakes are!  I was a bit confused about one thing though … we ordered to eat in, and it took them like 10 minutes to get our cakes out to us.  I guess it takes time to put them on the plate?  :P

This is a type of place I’d probably go out with my girlfriends to drink coffee and chit chat while snacking on sugary goodness.  But then again, I could probably do that at a Starbucks.

Vanille de Patisserie
2998 Huntington Drive
San Marino, CA 91108
626.286.3600
http://www.vanillecakes.com/

 

Hwa Ro Korean BBQ & Tofu – San Gabriel

 

From the outside, this place looks pretty ghetto.  At least it has a grade of A.  ^_^;;

Inside was a *lot* nicer.  The big wooden benches had these cute flowery cushions and everything was super clean.  Similar to Kanpai, the grill was embedded in the table.  I like that a lot since the oil doesn’t splatter out as much.

We ordered the All You Can Eat BBQ ($12.99/person for lunch) and had the marinated chicken and bulgogi.  They also had a nice variety of pan chan, my favorites being the jap chae, pickled cucumbers, and the kimchi.  They also brought out this miso-like-but-not-miso soup along with the side dishes.  (It wasn’t all that great, but I was happy that they gave us soup!)

I thought that the beef was good, but the chicken wasn’t that great (but it seems to always be like that when I go to all you can eat places).  They gave us those big lettuce leaves to wrap around the beef (just like in the korean dramas!) which was delicious.

For the price, I think this place was really good.  I loved their kimchi and bulgogi, and they even gave us free shaved ice afterwards.  Since I’m often in this area, I would definitely come back to fulfill my korean bbq cravings.

Hwa Ro Korean BBQ & Tofu
227 W Valley Blvd, Suite 138A
San Gabriel, CA 91776
626.282.6632

 

CRAVE Fruit Bar – Thousand Oaks

 

A new plaza has opened up in Thousand Oaks called Paraiso.  Although there are still a lot of vacant buildings, they have a bunch of new eateries and restaurants.

CRAVE Fruit Bar focuses on healthy eating, so most of their ingredients are fresh and light.  The interior looked pretty nice.  They had seating both inside and out on the patio area.

They offer a nice selection of items on their menu (salads, wraps, smoothies, juices, yogurt, and shaved ice) which are all made from fruits and vegetables.  I’m not a huge fan of fruit/veggies as a meal, so I decided to only get drinks. 

We bought the Antioxidant Acai and Peaches ‘n Cream smoothies ($5 each).  The drinks were fine … but I feel I could get the same drink from Jamba Juice. 

CRAVE Fruit Bar
330 Via Las Brisas, Suite 180
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
805.499.4443
http://www.cravefruitbar.com/

 

Kaminari Sushi – Westlake Village

So this weekend, my friend and I decided to try out a new sushi place in Westlake Village.  We love to eat different kinds of rolls, so we always try to find a good sushi place on our weekend eatings.  There’s an abundance of sushi places in the Conejo Valley area, and we’ve tried most of them (not always that great though).  But from the reviews from yelp, I hoped this place would be extra good.

We were the first people to arrive since they opened at 5pm for dinner.  They gave us a pickled cucumber appetizer and those toilette towels to clean your hands with.

Our first order consisted of: Salmon and Octopus nigiri, a shrimp tempura roll, and “Love Love Roll” (only because it said it would be shaped like a heart).

The salmon, my favorite fish, was reaaally good.  *^__^*  It seriously melted in my mouth, yum!  The octopus was good also, and the shrimp tempura was average.  The Love Love Roll was super cute and tasted pretty good too.  It was like a california roll with salmon wrapped in pink soy paper.  XD

We then ordered a Rainbow roll and Caterpillar roll:

The caterpillar roll was good (gotta love that eel sauce!).  I don’t really like eel that much since it has those tiny little bones (I know you can eat it -_-;;).  The rainbow roll was normal (only the salmon tasted better than average).  I didn’t get to taste the tuna (my friend was too quick for me!), so I can’t really say for that.  ^_^;;  But for $14, the Rainbow roll wasn’t worth it.

The place was really small and definitely did not have a nice atmosphere.  (They didn’t have Christmas lights in this one!  j/k)  But then again, I don’t really eat at places for their decor.  :P

The bill came out to $57 before tax/tip, which is kinda pricey for what I got.  Although the salmon was like heaven, I don’t think I’d come back for another visit since everything else I ate was only mediocre.

Kaminari Sushi
2891 Agoura Rd
Westlake Village, CA 91361
805.446.7001