Kuru Kuru Sushi

First off, I have to say I am a huge fan of sushi. HUGE. I'm also picky.

My apartment mate and I stumbled upon Kuru Kuru Sushi on Yelp one night when we didn't feel like cooking and had finished all of our leftovers. We have eaten there twice in one week.

It's a bit of a hidden gem. Situated in a shopping lot with many other small businesses, it doesn't necessarily catch your eye. The interior of the restaurant doesn't necessarily leave an impression either.

There are booths and tables and also a sushi bar. Not a lot of seating but the two times I was there, this didn't seem to be a problem. The waitresses are all extremely friendly and many customers seemed to be frequenters so they were treated especially nice.

There were so many selections on the menu! And everything was so affordable. I ordered an NBC Roll (the rolls were named after media networks and broadcast terms!) and a Donburi with chicken. My apartment mate got a Production Roll.

NBC Roll had shrimp tempura, crab, cucumber, avocado and crunch on top. It was so fresh and the crunch on top added so much to the sushi. Sushi is really soft usually so the crunch added to the texture. The sauce drizzled on top also complimented the sushi very well. Perfect roll.

Production Roll had salmon on top of crab, cucumber and avocado. Again, the salmon was very fresh and when it comes to raw fish, that's very important.

The donburi was sub par. It was a good amount for the price that I paid, but there wasn't much flavor in it. Perhaps they forgot to add salt? I ended up pouring soy sauce over it and mixing it up.

This is a great place to go to if you want some good quality, cheap sushi. Not the best for taking someone out on a date or a fancy dinner with family, but definitely a great restaurant overall. I give it 4.5 stars!

"Outcome of a dream..."

...is an accurate description of Mantee Cafe . Another family owned and operated restaurant, Mantee Cafe is a quaint and elegant place serving authentic Mediterranean cuisine.

This was one of the few times I decided to try something different than what I usually eat and I was decently satisfied.

We had apparently walked in from the "back" of the restaurant and the actual entrance of the restaurant is in the back patio. This was interesting and when we got to the patio, it was so beautiful. I loved the decor. It was elegant yet cozy. The yellow lighting through the entire patio (lamps, chandeliers, ceiling lights, candles, Christmas), antique furniture and decorations.

When we got there (around 5:30 pm) there were a few open tables and we were lucky to get the last one outside in the patio. Throughout the night, every single party that came in had reservations and the wait time was about one hour 15 minutes. If you plan on coming here, make reservations!

We had a hard time reading the menu because everything was so authentic! We asked the server to explain the dishes to us and she did a great job. She also recommended some dishes that were popular.

Based on her suggestions, we ordered a hot appetizer called Mantee's Traditional (what the restaurant is named after), a house special called Mantee's Basterma and an entree called Kashkash Kebab.

As we waited for our dishes, we got pita bread and a type of flat bread along with a sesame/olive oil sauce. I love it when restaurants give you bread or something to keep you munching while you're waiting.

Mantee's Traditional is baked ravioli stuffed with Angus ground meat that is covered in garlic yogurt sauce. When I dug into this dish, I had expected to see raviolis the size of those in Chef Boyardee's microwaveable cans. However, the raviolis were tiny. They were the size of seashells. They really were bite-sized. Nonetheless, I still really enjoyed this dish because the raviolis were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The tangy yogurt sauce also made my mouth water so I just wanted to eat one ravioli after another. Because they're so small, you don't even realize how much you're eating. We had almost finished this dish before the house special came.

Mantee's Basterma was slices of baguette topped with Armenian beef prosciutto and a quail egg. I love baguette and proscuitto so I ordered this. It was indeed tasty. Also bite sized, the food disappears quickly. The baguette was crispy and the meat was tender and juicy. However, I wasn't a fan of the quail eggs. For some reason, they tasted a little game-y. But the consistency was perfect. Not too runny but not too hard.

Kashkash Kebab is seasoned ground beef topped with spicy charbroiled tomato. It comes with rice. I usually don't like sausages but this was delicious because the ground meat wasn't packed too tightly. When I cut into it, the meat would come loose and it was seasoned thoroughly. The rice was infused with some kind of soft, brown, stringy thing. I had no idea what it was but it added a bit of something extra to what is usually bland rice. It was a nice touch and complemented the strong flavors of the meat and sauce well.

I love trying new food so I really enjoyed my dining experience here. In addition, the decor and atmosphere really added to my meal. 4 stars!

"Seoul" Food

If you find yourself tired from a long day of shopping at Burbank Town Center, you can grab a bite to eat at Seoul Korean BBQ located conveniently right next to the shopping mall. I'd definitely recommend it.

Seoul Korean BBQ is a family owned and run restaurant. Who doesn't love those? Parents Tae and Kyung brought their family along with extraordinary cooking skills to the United States in 1998. The restaurant opened in 2000 and they are the first and only Korean BBQ restaurant in Burbank up to this day.

So if you've ever had Korean BBQ, you're probably thinking grills, unlimited meat and self cooking. Seoul Korean BBQ doesn't provide grills for you to cook your own meat, but that doesn't mean the meat they cook in their front kitchen isn't delicious.

I had a good feeling as soon as I walked in and could clearly see the kitchen right next to me. Second, the chefs were all Korean. It feel reassured when I can see what kind of process my food is going through before it lands in front of me on a plate. It's also reassuring to know that it's handled by people who have been eating the food they're cooking for me their whole lives.

The dining area has expanded since the restaurant first opened so there is a nice big area for seating. I was a little surprised when I got the menu that was one sided and had 10 pictures. There were a total of 10 items on the menu. Five of them are meat (BBQ) dishes. This includes kalbi, chicken, bulgogi, spicy pork and a combo with kalbi, chicken and bulgogi. For Korean BBQ virgins, kalbi is beef short ribs and bulgogi is thinly sliced beef rib eye steak. Meat dishes come with rice and vegetables (including kimchi). The other five dishes include traditional Korean rice, noodle and dumpling dishes.

My mom ordered Mandoo-Soup, which is Korean dumplings, but we were told that the chef who makes that was not in that day. It was disappointing that we couldn't eat that dish but at the same time it was also interesting to know that they had designated chefs for each dish. I definitely think this is a plus.

We ended up getting Bibimbap and Kalbi.

 Bibimbap

Kalbi

This place definitely deserves 4 stars for the quality and quantity of food. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner.

The Bibimbap had fresh vegetables, salted nicely. The rice that came along with this dish (and also Kalbi) was the perfect sticky-ness. Rice can be hard to cook because often times, too much water was added and the individual grains of rice become too mushy.

The Kalbi was so tasty. Personally I'm a meat lover so I can be pretty critical of meats. This is the most tender Kalbi I've ever eaten. Usually when I order Kalbi, the meat can be a little bit tough. But the Kalbi here was perfect. It was soft but at the same time not undercooked. It was marinated very well also. The amount of meat that was given for the cost of $10.95 was a good amount. Back in Northern California, the same plate of meat would have cost me $18. Also, the rice that came with this was perfect and you could ask for refills on the veggies.

One thing that I wish Seoul Korean BBQ had is tofu stew. Most Korean restaurants I go to have this so it would be nice if they could add this to their menu.

If you've never had Korean BBQ, go to Seoul Korean BBQ and they will leave a good impression.

"All Pleasure, No Guilt"

After a one hour long flight from San Jose and a slow but successful drive through the infamous LA traffic (it really wasn't that bad), my mom and I arrived at the apartment that I would be living in this summer in Burbank. The apartment was beautiful but that couldn't stop the sharp pangs coming from my stomach. My mom, apartment mate and I relied on the ever so great Yelp to direct us to something nearby to satisfy our hunger. It seemed like Burbank boasts a large number of Thai restaurants, sushi, Mediterranean and Mexican restaurants. We decided to try Gindi Thai. Its website refers to their food as "All Pleasure, No Guilt." Yelp gave it four stars and two dollar signs.

When we first arrived, I was surprised that it also served sushi and had a bar. I had thought it was a family owned Thai restaurant. The decor was very classy, with all white tables, chairs, walls. Accompanied by black, brown and earth green pillows, the decor was modern and simple. This place does a good job of attracting families, couples and young professionals. The bar is a great place for socializing and it is at a corner of the restaurant, lending plenty of space that can be used for quiet, serene dining for couples on dates or family dinners.

Typical at any Thai restaurant, the menu offered Pad Thai and "Pad See-U" as they like to call it. For the rest, they separate everything into different categories such as appetizer, salad, curry, wok, grill, seafood, just to name a few. The selection is large and there are some creative sounding dishes like "Rib-Eye Steak a la Panang." Given their selections and some dishes that combine Eastern and Western style food, I'd definitely say this place is Asian Fusion, not Thai.

We ordered Roti with Green Curry as an appetizer, Tangy Thai Cashew, Drunken Noodles and Talay Pad Thai.

Top left: Drunken Noodles, Top right: Tangy Thai Cashew, Bottom: Talay Pad Thai

The food was tasty, but overpriced. We definitely paid for the milieu and service, not the quality or quantity of food. The waiters were prompt and friendly... a little too friendly for my taste. We were asked "How's everything going?" about five times in the hour we were there. The entrees were definitely big enough for one person, but again, could have been cheaper.

The Drunken Noodles lacked in taste. Spicy was all there was. However, the noodles were soft, but still stretchy in texture. The Tangy Thai Cashew was indeed tangy. The only downside to this dish was the very small portion of rice that accompanied it. Towards the end of the meal, I wanted to eat more of this dish but we ran out of rice. The Talay Pad Thai was a little disappointing. This dish comes with breaded seafood (shrimp, calamari, scallop, fish) but when I got the dish, the breading was soggy already. The texture became mushy. The Pad Thai itself was delicious. Just the right amount of sweet and sour.

I would come back here if I wanted to take friends or family out to eat at a nice place. Alone, I would not come back because of the prices. It's a nice place to enjoy with good company (which is exactly what I did), not a restaurant known for its culinary skills.

Overall: 3 stars