L'Avenue Bistro

Another Groupon adventure: $89 for two 3 course meals and bottle of wine. I'm not a wine drinker, so unfortunately deal was lost on me.

However, the menu looked really good. 

French crusty baguette and room temperature butter!


The white wine

Escargot with garlic, leeks, white wine, cream and toasted brioche
Very yummy escargot in a garlic butter sauce.  It was delicious and not too rich or heavy as a starter.


Beef Bourguignon and frites
The bourguignon had a hint of red wine with super tender beef.  It was nicely done and pretty tasty.
The frites were okay.

Steak and frites
I wasn't a fan of the lemon aioli they had accompanying the fries (so I asked for ketchup). The steak was okay - a little on the tougher side for medium and there was a lot of butter on top making it a tad salty.

Espresso Cheesecake at the top and Pistachio Crème brûlée
The cheesecake was really rich and heavy and probably not the best way to finish off our meal.  

I loved the pistachio crème brûlée! It wasn't the best crème brûlée I've ever had but pretty good with this decadent creme that was saturated with the nutty pistachio flavour.

Overall: It was a nice meal (if a little on the pricier side) and the service was great!

Website: http://www.lavenuebistro.com/

Yummy Zone

Taiwanese lunch box

Chicken filet with mayo, Soy Sauce egg, broccoli, tofu and rice

It's a pretty balanced meal and large portion size.  The food was all pretty tasty with lots of yummy fried chicken on a bed of rice, some simple tofu (not spicy or anything) and steamed broccoli. You can also upgrade your drink to a bubbletea for an extra $2. I got the taro bubble tea which was pretty good. 

Tout Sweet - SF

I picked up some treats at Macy's as a souvenir (I'm a big fan of edible souvenirs).

 
Macarons!

They survived the plane trip much better than I did (it was a bad idea taking a red-eye from SFO to CLT then CLT to YYZ).


Clockwise from the top yellow: Exotic Banana, Burnt Caramel, Raspberry Hibiscus, Lemon Yuzu, Peanut Butter & Jam, McEvoy Olive Oil, Lime and Sea Salt and Sicilian Pistachio & Ceylon Cinnamon
The Exotic Banana was a very accurate description - it had this hint of exoticness (tropical notes?), but it also tasted like a regular banana.  Even though I'm not a big banana dessert fan, I actually really liked this and would eat it again.
Burnt caramel unsurprisingly tasted exactly like burnt caramel (can't say I was a fan of it). 

Raspberry hibiscus had a flowery note, but the flavour was predominantly raspberry.
Lemon yuzu had a nice citrus punch and a light lemon flavour.
Peanut butter and jam tasted like they used really good quality peanut butter and instead of using jam in the middle as the filling, they had jam in the feet of the macaron.  It was interesting, but I didn't really like it.
Mcevoy olive oil, lime and sea salt - I liked this! It was such an interesting and fun combination and I didn't really get overwhelmed by the olive oil taste (which I'm not a big fan of). 

Sicilian pistachio and ceylon cinnamon: I thought the cinnamon overwhelmed the pistachio in this case and I love the taste of pistachio desserts, so this was a miss.

Website: http://www.toutsweetsf.com/

Nabe - SF

I was trying to get a Lyft to the Golden Gate Heights Mosaic Stairway/16th Avenue Tiled Steps from Mission, but I ended up at the Hidden Garden Steps instead (the GPS was a little confusing and both my Lyft driver and I had no idea where we were going LOL). Still pretty cool! I actually started at the top of the hill and walked down to find out that I was at the Hidden Garden Steps. 

Afterwards, I met up with my friend and we went for a lighter and healthier Japanese meal (since we were both feeling a little sick from Coachella) before I went to catch my red-eye flight back home. 

 

We got the Shabu Shabu with Wagyu Beef, vegetables and udon. 

Wagyu beef was so tasty with all of the marbled fat...mmmm

This was great comfort food with veggies, beef and soup! Then after we finished all the meat and veggies, the server came by and mixed some rice, egg and a few other ingredients with the leftover broth to finish. 

This was pretty yummy too! It was the first time I've had shabu shabu like this!

Overall: Good experience at Nabe! I had yummy wagyu beef, the server was really nice and helpful and I learned something about shabu shabu that I didn't know before. 

Philz Coffee - SF

 

Fisherman's Wharf, Sea Lions and City Skyline!

I was a little worried I was lost in Mission (a district in SF) after wandering away from Balmy Alley - but I found a coffee shop and WiFi! And interestingly enough, this was a coffee shop recommended to me by another friend who visited Mission a few years ago:
 

Turkish Coffee
It came with mint on top and they customize drinks - so I got mine with less sugar. 

It was a strong bold coffee with a nice aromatic smell and the coffee shop was cozy and really fit in with the artsy-feel of Mission. 

The Cheesecake Factory - SF

For more on my day exploring SF, check out my Travel Blog!

 

Union Square and Lombard Street (and my cool Lyft experience around town). 

I actually bought my Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor of Macy's, but I didn't really get around to eating it until I was near Lombard Street (so I could enjoy the view)

I love the Cheesecake Factory - the cheesecakes are AMAZING.
This one in particular had so much oreo flavour and the cheesecake part was so delightful. And to top it all off, it had whipped cream and an oreo cookie! Heavenly...the downside was that this was 1,370 calories - which is INSANE - but it's a nice treat every once in a while (well - it's a treat I only get in the US).