Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Saigon Bay
2373 E Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33612
I don't understand how some restaurants are willing to spend plenty of money on decor but then don't have any web presence whatsoever which could cost them pennies. Saigon Bay is a well designed and clean restaurant. I especially dug the ceiling tiles and the tables which I might have sold to them. A deciding factor on my choice however was that they had advertised with the Entertainment guide coupon book and had a two-for-one coupon. Considering how cheap most things were I felt a little sheepish doing it, but I finally made up for the cost of the coupon book. On average, you'd be spending about $5-7 for an entree. For the specialities, you could spend up to $15 but more likely around $12.
Much to the appreciation of Athy, there were plenty of vegetarian options. By plenty I mean more than 4 bland items. The spring rolls could have just vegetables or shrimp - we took the latter. In the end we both got crepes (I forget the name in Vietnamese), vegetarian and Imperial respectively. As you can guess, the Imperial crepes are not Vietnamese. Finally, though I come to expect it in every restaurant these days, only a few follow through with having both Sriracha (preferably Huy Fong) and Hoisin Sauce.
The photos are on the way, Athy took them with her phone and is still trying to figure out how to get them off.
2373 E Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33612
I don't understand how some restaurants are willing to spend plenty of money on decor but then don't have any web presence whatsoever which could cost them pennies. Saigon Bay is a well designed and clean restaurant. I especially dug the ceiling tiles and the tables which I might have sold to them. A deciding factor on my choice however was that they had advertised with the Entertainment guide coupon book and had a two-for-one coupon. Considering how cheap most things were I felt a little sheepish doing it, but I finally made up for the cost of the coupon book. On average, you'd be spending about $5-7 for an entree. For the specialities, you could spend up to $15 but more likely around $12.
Much to the appreciation of Athy, there were plenty of vegetarian options. By plenty I mean more than 4 bland items. The spring rolls could have just vegetables or shrimp - we took the latter. In the end we both got crepes (I forget the name in Vietnamese), vegetarian and Imperial respectively. As you can guess, the Imperial crepes are not Vietnamese. Finally, though I come to expect it in every restaurant these days, only a few follow through with having both Sriracha (preferably Huy Fong) and Hoisin Sauce.
The photos are on the way, Athy took them with her phone and is still trying to figure out how to get them off.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Byblos Cafe
2832 South Macdill Avenue,
Tampa, Fl. 33629
I'd been here one time before but it was a sit-down dining experience with the obligatory belly-dancing. That was with one Shaun Berthelsdorf who had never had eastern mediterranean type food before nor anything from that part of the Orient. So that time was more spent explaining a lot of the things to him - not a chore but the focus was less on the quality of the place.
This time I went there with Megan and as we stepped into the restaurant on a rain-drenched Saturday night, we saw it was packed and braced ourselves to be turned away. The friendly hostess said it would be a 20 minutes wait in the bar area, apparently where we could also eat. As we were lead into the bar area, I realized it was silly not to eat in the bar area. No wait, comfy couches - though not so practical for eating unless you want to eat off your chest. I didn't understand why everybody didn't eat in that section.
We had the Byblos Mezze and a Beef Showarma. With the amount of food in the Mezze sampler, we didn't need an entree. The food was great; lots of purees to dip pita bread in; but what made it great was the atmosphere. The only thing that was missing was a hookah. Alas, the smoking ban in Florida restaurants has already taken place.
The belly dancing is a little distracting since I always feel the urge to put food on the women who do it. It's either that or put money in her belt which is also no good for me. I'm too poor and would feel weird tipping her like I would a stripper.
So Megan and I lounged there and ate the mezze and showarma slowly for about 3 hours. S'that invitation enough to say it's good?
2832 South Macdill Avenue,
Tampa, Fl. 33629
I'd been here one time before but it was a sit-down dining experience with the obligatory belly-dancing. That was with one Shaun Berthelsdorf who had never had eastern mediterranean type food before nor anything from that part of the Orient. So that time was more spent explaining a lot of the things to him - not a chore but the focus was less on the quality of the place.
This time I went there with Megan and as we stepped into the restaurant on a rain-drenched Saturday night, we saw it was packed and braced ourselves to be turned away. The friendly hostess said it would be a 20 minutes wait in the bar area, apparently where we could also eat. As we were lead into the bar area, I realized it was silly not to eat in the bar area. No wait, comfy couches - though not so practical for eating unless you want to eat off your chest. I didn't understand why everybody didn't eat in that section.
We had the Byblos Mezze and a Beef Showarma. With the amount of food in the Mezze sampler, we didn't need an entree. The food was great; lots of purees to dip pita bread in; but what made it great was the atmosphere. The only thing that was missing was a hookah. Alas, the smoking ban in Florida restaurants has already taken place.
The belly dancing is a little distracting since I always feel the urge to put food on the women who do it. It's either that or put money in her belt which is also no good for me. I'm too poor and would feel weird tipping her like I would a stripper.
So Megan and I lounged there and ate the mezze and showarma slowly for about 3 hours. S'that invitation enough to say it's good?
602 North Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33609
Went to a Korean sushi restaurant Matoi. Used to be called Sam Oh Jung back in the day, but I'd never been there when it was Sam Oh Jung anyway. We went in and to our surprise it was TC Choy's Asian Bistro's old sushi chef, Hide. He seemed genuinely glad to see our group and went out of his way to hang out with us. Of course, he was busy only watching TV when we came in.
The food was overall good and average priced. About $20 per person. Well, it was Hide's sushi we had anyway so it should be at least equal quality to what I'm used to at the Bistro. They make a big deal out of the "best sushi in the bay" thing - don't know if that was before or after Hide. The Korean stuff was alright too though less variety in the little dishes of stuff than at Sa-ri-one. The galbi was good and was recommended to us by Hide. The chop chae was so-so; they used bell peppers in it. Never seen that before.
Had conch, mmm.... conch.
Oh, conch. What was my life before you?
I read some reviews on it already and it seems to get good reviews on the service. Maybe they were by white people because as the only group of all asians in the restaurant, we got sub-par service. White folks sitting in the booths seemed to get better service. To my surprise, while we were ordering, the waitress actually said, "Hurry up!" I would have been offended if I didn't find it so funny. As expected, it's the kind of place where they try to take the food away from you when you are still halfway through it.
We had a choice of the waitress who was mean and the one that was less mean. As we were leaving they decided to be a little friendlier. Maybe they thought we would forget that they were really bad waitresses, and might write a blog about it. They even mustered up the gumption to say byebye.
By the way, isn't it cool that I can post images on the blog now?
Tampa, FL 33609
Went to a Korean sushi restaurant Matoi. Used to be called Sam Oh Jung back in the day, but I'd never been there when it was Sam Oh Jung anyway. We went in and to our surprise it was TC Choy's Asian Bistro's old sushi chef, Hide. He seemed genuinely glad to see our group and went out of his way to hang out with us. Of course, he was busy only watching TV when we came in.
The food was overall good and average priced. About $20 per person. Well, it was Hide's sushi we had anyway so it should be at least equal quality to what I'm used to at the Bistro. They make a big deal out of the "best sushi in the bay" thing - don't know if that was before or after Hide. The Korean stuff was alright too though less variety in the little dishes of stuff than at Sa-ri-one. The galbi was good and was recommended to us by Hide. The chop chae was so-so; they used bell peppers in it. Never seen that before.Had conch, mmm.... conch.
Oh, conch. What was my life before you?
I read some reviews on it already and it seems to get good reviews on the service. Maybe they were by white people because as the only group of all asians in the restaurant, we got sub-par service. White folks sitting in the booths seemed to get better service. To my surprise, while we were ordering, the waitress actually said, "Hurry up!" I would have been offended if I didn't find it so funny. As expected, it's the kind of place where they try to take the food away from you when you are still halfway through it.
We had a choice of the waitress who was mean and the one that was less mean. As we were leaving they decided to be a little friendlier. Maybe they thought we would forget that they were really bad waitresses, and might write a blog about it. They even mustered up the gumption to say byebye.
By the way, isn't it cool that I can post images on the blog now?
