San Francisco Weekend Day 1 Eats: Chaat Cafe and Patio Filipino

Last May, I got the approval to attend a Monday seminar in San Francisco.  Instead of flying in Sunday night, I decided to come into town Saturday morning just so I can check out whatever food scene I could explore in just two days. During my time there, I also had a chance to re-connect with my Norcal Food Blogger friends, the same ones who I first met through twitter and then in person last March, but not until Saturday night for dinner.

When it came to lunch; however, I decided to stick close to the place I was going to call home for the next 3 days and decided to go for Indian food at the Chaat Cafe.

 

Photo Credit to Veggin' Blog

My meal started well with the arrival of the Strawberry Lassi. Having only had mango lassi in the past, a strawberry version was a refreshing change and it was a change I loved.

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When it came to the food, I decided to stick with two items on their "street food menu" starting with the Pakori Chaat which are mixed vegetable pakoras topped with tamarind, mint chutney and spices. Unfortunately,I didn't care for it. The pakora was over-fried. All you have to do is see the photo below and see the dark brown surface to see what I mean. I also found the tamarind sauce to be too thick and a bit cloying.

The other dish I ordered was the Dahi Batata Puri which were crispy shells filled with mashed potatoes and chopped onions, topped with yogurt, spices, chutneys and sev (thin string-like fried snack preparation made out of gram flour). I thought the filling was nice, although I felt that the shell could have been lighter and crispier, but that tamarind sauce again didn't add anything to the Puri.

It was still too thick and cloying and also was just too tangy and this comes from someone who really likes tamarind. I also didn't understand the addition of the sev. It seems like the crunch component of the shell should be enough.

It's safe to say that other than the Strawberry Lassi, I wasn't a big fan of what I ate at Chaat Cafe.  It's also fair to say that I shouldn't judge a restaurant based on just two dishes, but first impressions do count. So Chaat Cafe probably wouldn't merit a return visit from me anytime soon.

Thankfully, a really good meal was on my horizon with a dinner at Patio Filipino, which turned out to be the soft opening of Kapamealya, an organization of like minded Filipino foodies and bloggers who are here to promote, highlight, and exhibit Filipino cuisine via various culinary outings. The founders of this group are my Norcal Food Blogger Buddies. So if you're in the Bay Area, be sure to check Kapamealya out.

Now on to my 10 course meal at Patio Filipino, but what came out first was a refreshing and fruity Mango Sangria, which by the way, is not on the regular menu. It was a special drink made just for the evening.

As for the food, the first dish to hit the table was the Calamares Frito which are deep fried squid that came with a Patio special sauce. What a great starter. The squid was light, crunchy with just the right amount of chew without being too chewy. I also liked the sweet and sour sauce that came with the calamari.

Next was the Gambas al Ajillo which was made up of shrimp and bell peppers sauteed in olive oil, garlic, paprika and served on a sizziling plate.  I absolutely love garlic and there was definitely enough garlic and even a little kick of heat from this shrimp dish that made me quite happy.

After the Gambas al Ajillo, our table was treated to the Balut ala Pobre, fertilized duck egg in a cream sauce. Actually, the rest of the table was more than happy to take my share since balut is not something I eat, but it was interesting to see this fertilized egg out of the shell and prepared in a way that I've never seen before. This dish was certainly enjoyed by my dining partners.

One of my favorite Filipino soups, a Chicken and Mussels Tinola Soup which is a ginger-infused broth with chicken and mussels, was our next course. I love the taste of ginger and this is one of those soups that is perfect when you're feeling under the weather.  I've only had it with chicken in the past, but the addition of the mussels made my eating experience even better.

Pork is definitely a mainstay in Filipino cooking and one dish you'll see in most, if not all Filipino restaurants, is the Crispy Pata, which is a deep fried pork shank.  I really wanted to like Patio Filipino's Crispy Pata, but I though it was over fried.  The pork meat should have been juicy and instead, was a little too dry.

What came next was the Callos ala Madrillena with tripe, tendon, Spanish chorizo, olives and garbanzos in a tomato sauce.  The only time I ever really eat tripe is in Menudo and I'm also not much of a tendon eater, but I have to say, that I really liked this dish. The tendon was soft, not chewy, which worked for me. I also loved how the olives and chorizo added flavor to the tomato sauce.

My favorite dish of the entire meal was the Sizzling Bangus Sisig which is boneless and shredded milkfish cooked with spices and jalapeno. My sisig experience in the past has only revolved around pork, but this Bangus Sisig was amazing. I couldn't stop eating it. In fact, I could have easily eaten the whole fish all by my lonesome.

The last savory dish of the meal was the Lengua Champignon, beef tongue stewed with mushrooms and cream sauce. The sauce rocked and I would have loved it with pasta; however, I had an issue with the tongue. It was cut a little too thick as well as too gamey for my liking.

Two desserts ended our meal. One was the Panna Cotta with drizzled caramelized honey and topped with dry roasted almonds. The panna cotta was light and creamy and with the other components, it's a dessert that wasn't overly sweet, but still hit the sweet spot.

Our second dessert was the Buko Con Seta which has coconut juice that has been made into a jello-consistency with sweet beans and topped with ube ice cream. What a wonderful unique creation. One thing mentioned by the restaurant was that if they didn't have the freshest coconut water available, this dessert wasn't going to be served. I liked that conviction and I loved this dessert. That coconut jello tasted so fresh and refreshing and if that coconut water wasn't fresh, you'd be able to taste it.

Overall, while my lunch experience at Chaat Cafe was quite unsatisfactory, Patio Filipino was another experience altogether. Except for a couple of dishes, Patio Filipino is most certainly worth a return visit and if I find myself up North or in the San Bruno area in the near future, Patio Filipino would definitely be worth a stop.

Cafe Chaat
320 3rd St
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 979-9946


Patio Filipino
1770 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650) 872-9888


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Gujrati-Style Dim Sum at Rajdhani

Usually one doesn't associate Dim Sum and Indian Food together; yet, at Rajdhani, there actually is a connection between these two thoughts, albeit in a round about way. Like Dim Sum, there are servers that dispense food from table to table, from patron to patron, plus it's not going to cost you an arm and a leg to eat at Rajdhani. A mere $13.99 plus tax and tip is all you have to pay.

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Instead of carts, the food is served from hand carried bowls or platters. Instead of small portions of dumplings, rice noodles and other similar dishes, you will be treated to small servings of various vegetarian Indian dishes, but what moves Rajdhani a little ahead of the pack is the set price you pay above is for an all you can eat meal. Once you're seated, you're given what's referred to as a thali plate, which is basically, a large silver plate with smaller silver bowls. Think of it as an empty canvas from whence the food will eventually paint what your meal will be like.

At each table, you will find a trio of condiments that include tamarind chutney, carrot pickles and mint chutney plus you will be served a glass of chass, which is a salty buttermilk.

As soon as you've settled in, the servers start coming around and serving the food. They basically will keep coming until you raise the white flag of surrender. The complete meal itself will consist of around 10 different courses, with the menu slightly varying each day. What may stay consistent are three different types of Indian breads like the Pappadam, Puri and Chapati.

For my particular visit there with my dining group, we were first served the Khandvi, a pasta made from chickpea flour, buttermilk and sprinkled with coriander seeds and shredded coconut.

Following the Khandvi came what almost seemed like a tomato salsa, but didn't taste like one and another dish that I can't identify. Unfortunately, I didn't take any notes during this meal and the only reason I'm able to even identify some of the dishes now is due to the postings on Food GPS, Street Gourmet LA and LA Weekly.

Next up was Daal, a spicy lentil stew and Kadhi, a yellow spiced yogurt.

Soon after, a trio of stews appeared. One of the stews had chickpeas and paneer cheese as ingredients while the other stew was chock full of eggplant, potatoes and peas. As for the third one, I'm not sure, but at least, you can see a picture of it below.

By now, my empty plate was actually getting quite filled up, but I managed to save some room for the Khichari, a boiled rice dish seasoned with yellow mung beans.

All the food was actually quite filling just with the first pass, although I did get seconds of a few things. When you've had your fill, part of the meal included a choice of one dessert. I went for the Gawar Halwa, which are grated carrots cooked in sugar, milk and cardamon and garnished with pistachios and almonds.

Other dessert options included Besan Halwa, roasted gram flour simmered in milk, sugar, and cardamom topped with shaved almonds and pistachios and Gulab Jamun, fried milk powder soaked in cardamom and saffron syrup.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Rajdhani. I wouldn't say the food is mind blowing, but everything tasted good and so reasonably priced that I'd definitely make my way there again.

Rajdhani
18525 Pioneer Blvd
Artesia, CA 90701
(562) 402-9102


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Marvelous Mumbai Vegetarian Street Food at Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se

When it comes to choosing a restaurant to bring my dining group to for a meal, there are a lot of restaurants listed in my to go list. At times, it may take several months, even a year before I cross a restaurant off that list; however, as soon as I finished reading an LA Times Review about Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se, I knew I had to go there. Who could resist a restaurant that specializes in Mumbai Street Food? Within minutes, an outing appeared on my group's dining calendar and it took only minutes for the event to fill up. Apparently, I wasn't the only one interested in Mumbai street food.

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Before, I talk about our meal, I want to briefly talk about Owner, Sailesh Shah. A few days before this outing, I got an email from him offering to put tables and chairs together for our party as well as mentioning that if there's anything we needed from him, all we had to do was ask. When I did end up calling him with a couple of requests, he was more than happy to accommodate me and when we arrived, he was very welcoming. Another to mention is that when he talked about his food, there was such passion in his voice, that it was catching.

In fact, his whole family is passionate about food. Both Sailesh and his wife, Shruti, developed the recipes and do the majority of the cooking at the restaurant. Interestingly, there's one particular dish that only Sailesh will prepare because he has such exacting standards about how he wants it to turn out. For our lunch there, two of the 12 dishes we ordered were even prepared by his teenage daughter and 10 year old son. I already see a restaurant family dynasty in the making. You can read more about Sailesh and Shruti in the India Journal.

So let's get into the food now. Currently, the all-vegetarian menu at Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se consists of nearly 100 items and encompasses everything from Punjabi classics to South Indian standbys to Indochinese fusion cuisine, but for the purposes of our visit and with two exceptions, we centered our meal around the Mumbai Street Food mentioned in that LA Times article. The beginning of our 12 course meal started with the Dahi Batata Puri which are wheat puffs filled with potatoes, sprouted mung beans and black chana. They were topped with green and red sauces, fried noodles, cilantro and sweet yogurt. A puri is meant to be eaten in one bite so as to capture all the flavors, and the crunch of the crispy shell all at one time. The Dahi Batata Puri was definitely a wonderful bite. I enjoyed the textures and both the sweet and the little bit of heat that came from the ingredients.

Next to arrive was the Sev Puri which was a mixed flour cracker with potatoes, onions, splash of lemon, fried noodles and cilantro. I really enjoyed the crunch that came from both the cracker and the fried noodles and the lemon added a nice hint of tartness that was refreshing.

Before our next dish arrived, we all received our order of the Priyush. The Priyush is a housemade lassi drink with saffron, cardamon, almonds and pistachio. It's a drink that's been a part of the Indian culture for 100 to 200 years and is made from scratch at the restaurant. In fact, it actually takes 3 days to make. This is a must have drink. Actually, as soon as Sailesh told us about the ingredients, I was already sold. I really enjoyed the use of the cardamon and two types of nuts. It's creamy and just thick enough to enjoy without a straw.

Following the Priyush came the Sabuduna Vida with an outer layer made of tapioca and crushed peanuts and a filling of potatoes and green chilis. This particular item had an interesting texture that I didn't necessarily dislike, but wasn't in love with either. I'm not even sure how to describe it, but it was a little dry, chewy and stretchy but also had a little crunch from the peanuts. I actually enjoyed the filling more the than outer part, especially after adding a little spoonful of cilantro sauce which added some lovely peppery notes.

If you're only going to order one thing there, you have to get the Dabeli, a potato slider with Dabeli masala spices, pomegranate seeds, peanuts, green grapes and a tamarind and garlic sauce. While I wasn't so into the texture of the Sabuduna, I was all about the textures and the flavor combinations of the Dabeli. You get tart, sweet, sour, nutty and a little pungency fom the garlic sauce. Then there's the juicy crunch of the grapes and the pomegranate seeds and the nutty crunch of the peanuts. This was was one of my favorite items of our meal.

Soon, the Kachori arrived, which is deep fried wheat batter stuffed with green peas, coconut and spices. Green peas and coconut aren't ingredients I'd think to mix together as a filling and in all honesty, the Kachori wasn't a favorite. On its own, it tasted a little dry. It only improved with the addition of the cilantro sauce and in fact, I only liked it with the cilantro sauce.

Following the Kachori was the Samosa Chat, which was a deep fried samosa stuffed with potatoes, green peas, lentils and onions in a red and green sauce topped with cilantro. I've definitely had my share of samosas, but this was the first time that I've had it doused with different sauces. I actually didn't miss having a crispy samosa to bite into because those sauces really added more nuances of flavor than a samosa could ever have on its own.

Moving right along, it was time for the Dal Vada which were made up of roasted, crushed lentil batter with onions, coriander and tamarind sauce. The Dal Vada had a texture similar to corn bread and sometimes like corn bread, was a little too dry on its own. Dipping it in the tamarind sauce added both moisture and nice hit of sourness.

The next dishes actually came from the Indochine section of the menu and were recommended by Sailesh so that we could sample the Indian-Chinese fusion food that they represented. First, there was the Chinese Fried Rice that was cooked using Indian spices. It was actually quite addicting and I could have easily eaten a big bowl of it just by itself. This dish should also be noted for the fact that it was prepared by Sailesh's young son.

Sailesh's teenaged daughter cooked the Mixed Veg Manudura which were vegetarian meat balls made with cabbage, green bell peppers, carrots and daikon in a Chinese brown sauce. A few of us found it a tad salty when eaten on its own while the rest of the group didn't; however, when eaten with the rice, it was just right.

I mentioned earlier that there was one particular dish that only Sailesh would prepare from the menu and it's the Pav Bhaji, a tomato based sauce made with mixed vegetables, garam masala, topped with cilantro and served with garlic bread. Along with the Dabeli, the Pav Bhaji is a must order. It's eaten simply with bread dipped into it, but I could easily see myself pouring this on pasta. I can't even begin to describe what it tastes like, but there's a complexity to the flavors that is clearly evident with every bite. All I know is that you can not leave Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se without having tried it.

Two more dishes to go and one of them is Puneri Missal. Ingredients included sprouted mung beans, black chana and cilantro with a sauce made from red onions, tomatoes and garlic Sauce with deep fried toppings. This would be the perfect dish for a cold night. It reminded me of a lentil or bean stew but very much prepared using Indian spices.

Last, but not least was the Masala Bhath which was a rice dish with garam masala spices, cauliflower and bell pepper. Sailesh had mentioned that the Masala Bhath was pretty spicy and initially, I didn't think so. However, as you ate into it, there was a little bit of a slow burn at the back of your throat. It wasn't incendiary hot, but the heat made its presence known.

The perfect drink to have at the end of the meal, according to Sailesh, was the Kashimiri Soda, a housemade drink made with club soda, cumin, black pepper, lemon and salt. Apparently, its sole purpose is to help with the digestion of one's food, especially if you've just eaten a meal that was heavily spiced. I decided to try it just because I was curious as to how it would taste and I loved it. It was actually a great palate cleanser and although I only took small bites of everything we ordered, 12 dishes is still a lot and I found that the drink actually had a settling effect on my system.

Overall, our meal at Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se was fantastic and made even better because of how welcoming Sailesh was to our group as well the passion his whole family put into the preparation/cooking of our food. Regardless of where you are coming from, Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se in the city of Artesia is definitely worth the drive and your taste buds will love you for it, too.

Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se
17705 Pioneer Blvd
Artesia, CA 90701
(562) 860-6699




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