JJ Cafe in Monterey Park

A Hong Kong style cafe in the main street of Monterey Park. The portion was big and we barely managed to finish the dishes. Parking is at the back. Reasonably priced and service was quick too. I prefer this restaurant than Harbor Kitchen.

Freshia Market in Tustin

Freshia Market is a Korean supermarket in Tustin and Torrance. Things are generally cheaper than H-mart and they have over the counter marinated meat for sale. Within the same complex, there is a small food court, a boutique shop and a mobile phone shop. Korean beer also seems to be cheaper here.

Henry's Farmer Market in Tustin

A good fresh food/organic supermarket in Tustin. Compare to The Whole Food Market, it is much smaller in size. But everything is so easy to find and the staff are extremely helpful. While we were shopping inside, one of the staff was wheeling a trolly of freshly baked french bread and offered to customers... which I think it's a very nice touch. Price is also inexpensive, we will definitely shop here more often from now on.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza in Carlsbad

We came to this restaurant after we went shopping at the Carlsbad Premier Outlet. The restaurant itself looks like a sports bar kind of place. There were quite a few choices for think crust pizza on the menu. We were genuinely surprised by the quality of pizza and spaghetti, both dishes were delicious. The spaghetti dish wasn't too authentic though as noodle was used. $35 dinner for 2 wasn't bad at all. If we ever go to the outlet again, we wouldn't mind coming to this restaurant again.

Honda-Ya Japanese Restaurant in Tustin

We tried out this popular Japanese restaurant at Tustin this evening - as recommended by my brother. There's usually queuing at this restaurant but not today though, maybe because it's a Monday. We had yakitori, salmon avocado, grilled Shishamo (Willow Leaf Fish), chawanmushi and more. We were most impressed with a dish called Avocado Volcano... it's not only delicious, but it also look the part (see photo). Service was good. Two people for just less than $70. We would come back for more at this cozy looking place.

Cocary BBQ Restaurant (可加麗) in Monterey Park

Cocary is a Taiwanese hotpot/BBQ place. They serve hotpot/BBQ on a table for 4 peopl as well as on the rolling-belt at the bar individually (as seen in picture). You just grab the meat plates ($2.99/dish) and veggie plates ($1.99/dish) from the fridge, and cook that yourself. Tea, rice and sweet potatoes congee are all included. There is currently a 20% off for lunch. Only $20 for 3 of us, that's a bargain. There was also a railway train going around the rolling-belt, but no food was on those small plates on the day. Recommended.

MPV BBQ & Seafood Restaurant (新順景海鮮燒臘) in San Gabriel

It's the second time we came to this restaurant. If your order is over $30 (dinner only), you have a selection of dishes that can be ordered with a discount, e.g. lobster for $1.99, baby pigeon for $2.99 each, prawns for free, etc. We opted for the lobster as usual. Peking duck was only $9.99. However, the scallop weren't that good, they were rather small and overcooked. Apart from that, food was great but the restaurant does need a good renovation.

Capital Seafood Restaurant (金都) in Irvine

First time we tried dim sum in the Irvine area. We came to this restaurant inside Diamond Plaza along Jamboree Road. We ordered 8-9 dishes and cost less than $30 for 3 people. I still prefer dim sum restaurant up in Monterey Park area.

The Cheesecake Factory in Irvine

We had lunch at the Cheesecake factory inside the Irvine Spectrum today. Service was good and the waitress was very friendly. I had fish and chips for the first time since I left England. It's certainly different to the fish and chips that I used to have. Instead of a single fried cod, the fish was given in several portion. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the dish and the colesaw was fresh and good. My wife ordered the meat loaf. It's also different to what we used and it didn't taste that good. Mind you the brown bread was soft and the best so far. If we come back to Cheesecake factory again, we definitely stick to desserts haha.

New Capital Seafood Restaurant (半島海鮮酒家) in San Gabriel

A great seafood restaurant inside a Chinese shopping center in San Gabriel area. We ordered the Alaska Crab cooked in garlic soup base, that's delicious but it did take almost 45 minutes to get the dish.

Byul Daepo (Star BBQ) Korean Restaurant in Garden Grove

This Korean BBQ restaurant has a all-you-can-eat menu. The menu contained two choices: $15pp or $19pp. The difference was the choices of meat on offer. We ended up having 4 dishes of meat to share among 3 people. After the meat feast, we each had a bowl of hot noodles (as seen in the picture), that's actually my favourite dish. It's a great place if you're seriously hungry.

Daphne's Greek Cafe in Irvine

First time we tried this little Greek cafe restaurant. The food was tasty and the price wasn't expensive. I had burger, which wasn't like your regular American burger. The fresh fries was freshly made. $20 dollars for 2 people ain't bad.

BCD Tofu House in Irvine

This is a Korean tofu chain store that opens 24 hour. They have many branches in Los Angeles area and Irvine alone has two. We went to the one in Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center. Each tofu set comes with grilled fish and small side dishes. Dinner was less than $20 for 2 people, which is fairly reasonable priced.

Whole Foods Market in Irvine

We first came across Whole Foods Market in London, UK. They sell quality organic food as well as health products. You can certainly get all kinds of health supplements there. This store is ten times bigger than the one in London. This place also has a food court/counters and you can eat before you shop. I just love the digital price tag display on the shelves, pretty high tech.

True Food Kitchen in Fashion Island Shopping Center, Newport Beach

A very nice place for organic food and drinks. The service was great too, the waitresses were very informative. There was a great selection of deserts, but the chocolate cake was really rich. Definitely a good place to dine after some serious shopping at the Fashion Island Shopping Center.

85 Degree Bakery Cafe in Irvine

There's always long queue inside and outside of this bakery shop in Irvine. The breads are definitely tasty but I am not sure whether it is worth queuing for 20-30 min. To avoid queuing, always good to go there around 3-4pm. You won't be able to get anything after 9:30 though as most of the stuff are gone. Also tried the chesscake, but that's thick and chessy. Stick to the breads lol.