Cafe Orchid – Millbrae, California

We went for HK Style food on our last day before we went to the airport to come home, and went to Cafe Orchid in Millbrae – which is pretty close to the airport. Parking for this restaurant is a little tricky, but we’ve been here before and both times we’ve lucked out.

I ordered one of my favourites for HK style Chinese breakfasts, which was the Preserved Vegetables with Pork Noodle Soup but with Lai Fun. It’s really typical and you often get it with a drink in the mornings. This isn’t my first bowl of noodle soup from here as I like it so much, it’s what I ALWAYS get!

Then, we got a order of their Jook with Fried Noodles as I really wanted some fried noodles. The jook was pretty good, but the noodle was the highlight of that breakfast!

With these breakfast combos, it comes with their fresh baked buns and hot drinks. The food here is always fresh and amazing and at a great price! We will definitely be back as we love stopping at this place when we get off the plane and before we get on!

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Cafe Orchid

9B El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA
(650) 697-3988

New Gold Medal – Oakland, California

It was a late night before we had time to go have dinner. By the time we were ready, I just wanted some simple Chinese food and so we went to New God Medal Restaurant in Oakland Chinatown. It’s opened until late, and I hear they open early as well – so they’re always opened for business!

I ordered the BBQ Pork Lai Fun which is something I always love. Here, it was so good I ate everything and even finished the soup. Although the BBQ Pork was in soup, the meat had tons of flavour and the soup was really tasty as well. The Lai Fun was really nice textured and wasn’t soggy at all.

My husband ordered one of his old time favourite which he hasn’t had in awhile, the Beef Stew Ho Fun. This bowl was amazing and the beef stew was well flavoured, tender and juicy. They had some tendons which was a treat as well!

We then decided we needed a plate of greens, which is typical that you order a plate of veg when you’re out eating noodle soup. We just don’t do it all the time, but we had an order of Garlic Yu Choy and the choy was really nice, a little over cooked but it was decent! It’s very standard and not something you really can mess up on!

Overall, everything was amazing! The food was excellent and we still talk about the dishes from here as it was a recent, very satisfying dinner! The prices are priced well, the location is pretty good and like I’ve been mentioning, the food has been excellent!

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New Gold Medal

389 8th Street
Oakland, CA
(510) 465-1940

Saigon Seafood Harbor – Richmond, California

We went to celebrate family members birthday and they choose to go to Saigon Seafood Harbor as they’re regulars there – always good food and service at a great rate. I’ve been here a few times for dim sum and dinner before as well and we never have a complaint.

We decided to order their special, a 10-course meal for 10 people. It started with an order of Jelly fish, Seaweed, Octopus, Beef shank and Chicken which is a great take on your traditional cold starters! We really enjoyed the octopus and I’ve always loved Jelly fish!

Afterwards, an order of soup came and they split it up into individual bowls ahead of time to save some space, which was pretty brilliant! We had the Crab Meat & Fish Maw Soup 蟹肉魚肚羹 which was tasty and pretty standard at the same time.

In no order that the dishes came (as some of them came all at the same time), we enjoyed tons of good food where all the plates was something special! There was an order of Braised Cod fish with Roasted pork & Tofu 紅燒斑腩煲 in a clay pot. This was without a doubt one of my favourites as seafood (fish) is something I always crave when I’m away from home!

One of my husbands favourite of the evening was their Honey Glazed Walnut Prawns 蜜桃蝦球 which was giant shrimp deep fried and glazed with some glazed walnuts on the side. I’m sure together, we finished this plate – leaving only a little for the rest of the family!

Then came a dish with some fish and bok choy. We’re not sure what it’s called, but the fish was cooked really tenderly. We assume it was cod as it was a nice white fish, mild in flavour.

Some greens came too, there was a plate of Green beans with Spicy Pork and it was really good. It was spicier than expected but delicious and addicting from the flavours.

Another dish of greens came out which was Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas and it was sauteed with garlic and scallops. It was pretty tasty and the food was really fresh.

A neat thing that came was their Peking Duck and we loved the wraps it came with. It’s very different from the style we’re use to with the thin pancakes – but these you can stuff a lot of duck into and it absorbs the flavours. It was a little strange that there was bones once in awhile, but it must be their style.

From there, we got our Fried Rice which they splited into individual bowls again to save space. I always love fried rice, so this one was pretty good!

The last course was the dessert, where we didn’t actually eat their Red Bean Soup as we showed up with a birthday cake instead. Our overall experience here was excellent. The food was fantastic, the portions was huge and the price, I was told was really a good deal for what we got.

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Saigon Seafood Harbor – El Cerrito

3150 Pierce St
Richmond, CA
(510) 559-9388

Ole’s Waffle Shop – Alameda, California

We have been going to Ole’s Waffle Shop for many years now and the place is always packed. I love this place as it not only had the best breakfast food, it’s in an old fashioned style diner with the long bar, swivel seats and booths! Located right on Park Street, you won’t miss it at all as there’s always a line and street parking.

Once we sat down, we ordered their fresh squeed orange juice which is one of my favourites. They have really good orange juice as there is a juice extractor. Plain and simple, really fresh and tasty!

I ordered their Waffle Combo which comes with a waffle, eggs and I ordered mine with a sausage patty. It was the perfect amount of food and everything tasted so delicious. They even warmed up the syrup which was really a nice treat as no other waffle/pancake place has ever done that!

My husband ordered his favourite, the Corn Beef Hash thinking there was hash browns in with the corn beef hash, but it was more just flat grilled corned beef, no has.. and we got grits on the side. It was still really good although not what either of us was expecting.

Overall, this waffle shop has been a favourite of ours for many years and we will always continue to go here. It’s close and convenient and delicious. The staff is always friendly even though they’re really busy!

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Ole’s Waffle Shop

1507 Park St
Alameda, CA
(510) 522-8108

Kapok Seafood Restaurant – Alameda, California

We went out for lunch and decided to go for dim sum – somewhere more local with great rates for dim sum at Kapok Seafood Restaurant! All dim sum dishes here were only $2.00 and the place was quite busy for a weekday!

We just ordered a bunch of stuff and shared it at our table, which is the traditional way to having dim sum. They don’t give you any bowls here though, just a plate and chopsticks (which isn’t very traditional). We started with an order of Chive Dumplings that were steamed. It was really quite delicious and the skin was thin and delicate.

Then, we ordered some Fried Taro Dumpling which isn’t something we normally get. But, it looked really nice and light, and fresh here. And, it was! We hate it when it’s cold and hard, but it was delicately fried and the filling was hot and fresh. The pork was well seasoned, so we enjoyed this quite a bit!

We don’t normally go to dim sum without ordering my husbands favourite, lo bak goh and it wasn’t bad. Of course, nothing as good as homemade, but it was still really fresh with lo bak shreds thoughout! We love it when there are noticeable shreds so they are amazing that way!

Some more steamed dim sum for our table, we got an order of Spare ribs and it was really well seasoned here. The spare ribs were not too fatty at all and like everything else, it was really tasty and fresh. The meat was tender and it came off the bones without being over cooked!

Another dish we always order is the Steamed Beef Balls which is another of my husbands favourite, especially with Worcestershire sauce! The balls were excellent here and not made with overwhelming amounts of parsley so it was nice to actually be able to taste the meat balls here!

Just as you would think we’re done, we ordered something quite amazing! It’s their Lobster Noodles for only $8.88! It doesn’t get better than that! It was an awesome little lobster that sat on a bed of yee mein which is one of our favourites and never really order as it’s costly here. With this price, sure it’s little, but it was definitely enough as we’re having it WITH our dim sum!

Everything was amazing here and the price of the experience seems to have made us extra happy! So, if you’re looking for fresh dim sum at a great price, then you should come try here! It’s not clean, service is average, but you get good food and a great rate!

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Kapok Seafood Restaurant

1511 Webster St
Alameda, CA
(510) 865-5405