Friday, January 25, 2008

Chocolate Lava Cake with Blood Orange Sorbet

Dessert First.
Well I didn't have this Chocolate Lava Cake with Blood Orange Sorbet first, but if I'd have known, I would have been tempted. Lucky for me, Sachiko and I had just enough room after our feast at Betelnut to share this.

5-Spice Edamame

Actually we started with the 5-Spice Edamame. These were nicely spiced and garlicy. This promised good things to come.

Happy Buddha Dumplings

Yes, this is Yuppified Asian Fusion, but what a fun atmosphere, and the flavors were good. A nice place to meet people, and to eye them too... and why not over something called "Happy Buddha Dumplings?" These were great vegetarian bites that included corn, tofu, fried shallots and kaiware sprouts.

Green Papaya Salad

And a couple of nice drinks like "Pink Lotus" and "Green Tea Lemonade" (with a kick) made the food glide down and the sights glide by. But my eyes stayed glued to the awesome Green Papaya Salad which included (besides green papaya) shrimp, grapefruit, herbs and "nuoc cham". These flavors blended into a beautiful crispness that I could go back for.

Firecracker Shrimp

Another thing I'd go back for is the Firecracker Shrimp. These are also 5-spiced and come with a very smooth sambal dipping sauce. I don't know what is in the sambal, but I could dip everything into it, it's so nearly irresistable.

Mee Goreng Noodles

Then there was the Indonesian Mee Goreng with chicken, shrimp, tofu, cabbage and spicy soy. This was good, but a little less inspired than some of the other dishes we sampled. It made a nice foil though to the other flavors.

Betelnut Business Card

If you are looking for a fun atmosphere - warm, happy, bustling, and inobtrusive and good service, and some fun flavors with drinks, this is a nice place to stop. However, reservations are recommended as there was a large crowd waiting in the lobby even on a weeknight!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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