Monday, August 31, 2009

Layang Layang

We've been eating out a lot lately, so I don't have many new recipes, but I do have some restaurant reviews. :) The best impression I've gotten from a restaurant lately was when we went to Layang Layang in San Jose for a friend's birthday. The setting was kind of sub-optimal - it's a chain restaurant, but this location had a very hole-in-the-wall-ish appearance. I've been to the one in Milpitas, which is much cleaner/newer looking. At most Thai/Singapore/Malaysian/other SEA restaurants, I normally go for the Thai iced tea/coffee if available, since I rather like them. But this looked too good to pass up giving a try - it's a drink consisting of red bean, coconut milk, and shaved ice. And I've just gotta say - it was delicious. :)

I'm normally quite carnivorous (I'm from Shanghai; I grew up on pork of all forms), but I got really excited at their vegetarian menu. I ended up ordering the Veggie Pineapple Chicken, which was basically vegetarian chicken (tofu) and pineapple. But! It was served in half a pineapple shell, on a boat-shaped platter, with a little paper umbrella. ♥ I was really excited at the presentation. It tasted really good, too - a little on the spicy side for my tastes, but balanced well by the slight sweet and sour of the pineapple. It wasn't exactly what I'd expected, which I guess was partly my fault. I was thinking vegetarian chicken (素鸡) like the kind we have in Shanghai, but it was totally different - though not in a bad way. A couple other people tasted it and the general comment was, "It... tastes... like chicken..." It really does! I'd say it tastes more like chicken than the Shanghai style 素鸡, so I give it two thumbs up.

Oh and just because I can, here's a picture of the desserts we got. One came out first with a candle in it for the birthday boy, then we ordered two more for the rest of the table. Fried ice cream with fried bananas - always a crowd pleaser. I really liked that they added a little leaf on top - doesn't it look like an orange freshly picked off the tree? So cute!

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