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