Claes Ovlation at Hotel Laguna

This restaurant has ocean view, but we weren't able to see it as it was night time. However, we couldn't hear the sound of sea view. They gave us complimentary rice cracker in the shape of sea shell with 2 kinds of dips - ginger lemon and sweet chilly. However the meal was kind of a let down, not worth the price. The Waygu beef was chopped up, we expected beef slices. Lobster spring roll was ok but not spectacular. The vanilla sauce didn't go well with scallops. The monkfish was good but portion was that big. Two people cost $80 without wine.

Bonjuk Korean Traditional Porridge Restaurant

This place only serves porridge and nothing else, located in Koreatown. My wife ordered pumpkin porridge and I had chicken ginsang porridge. Pumpkin porridge had korean rice cake inside. Overall dishes were good, $24 for two people. A lot of people seems to have ordered take out from here.

Olive Garden in Irvine

An Italian chain restaurant. Most dishes come with refillable free soup or salad. I ordered Seafood Portofino and my wife ordered half sided panini. The spaghetti was slightly salty. $37 for 2 people. For the price we paid,  food was okay and we had plenty of leftover to take home.

Anjin (燒肉) Japanese Restaurant in Costa Mesa

A Japanese BBQ restaurant in Costa Mesa that opens till 1am. The marinated beef was very nice. That also came with corn as side dish. We also ordered seafood dishes, which served inside tin foil, included salmon, scallop, prawn, enoki and onion. We enjoyed our food here. The only problem was a bit smoky inside.

Palsaik (팔색 삼겹살) Korean BBQ in Koreatown

This restaurant is famous for serving pork dishes. We ordered set dinner which came with BBQ pork and seafood soup. Pork were marinated in 8 different flavor: wine, original, ginseng, garlic, herb, curry, miso paste and red pepper paste (hot). They were cook on a titling grill where fat and oil got filtered out to drain. The only minus point was that chairs had no back support.

This is the best place to eat BBQ pork. Parking may be an issue as there are many other shops within this complex.

Daily Grill in Irvine

A restaurant in Irvine that labelled themselves as 'Classic American with a Contemporary Twist'. This was our second time to this diner. We first came here for brunch and we were really impressed with their chicken hot pot. It reminded me of the great British pies back home. Apart from this dish, their strawberry lemonlade was nice as well and deserved a mention. However, other dishes weren't that good. It cost a little over $80 for 3 people, not that value for money.

The Balcony Grill & Bar in Irvine

A Taiwanese restaurant that serves Shabu Shabu. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center in Irvine. They also serve fresh soy drinks by Soyumi - a fresh delicious healthy soy drink. Portions are pretty big. We ordered pineapple fried rice, braised pork chop noodles and shrimp in spicy garlic tomato sauce. My wife likes the desert from here. Dinner cost $50. As this place has a bar, lighting is dim (the only negative point for me).

Gourmet Island (街坊美食) in Alhambra

We came to this restaurant for my mum's birthday. This restaurant has recently changed ownership and under new managment. It wasn't busy on the night with many spare tables. Food was surprisingly good and portion was big as well.

Myungdong Kalguksu in Tustin

This restaurant is famous for noodles, and its most popular dish is Kalguksu. We also ordered dumplings called Mandu. Kimchi was fresh and garlicy, we both loved it. Customer services was good too. Dinner cost $35 for 3 people. Reasonably priced and definitely worth coming back.

Thai Cafe Irvine

This Thai restaurant is conveniently located off freeway 5 Jeffery exit. We ordered Tom Yum Koong, Papaya salad and Pad Thai. The soup was fantastic, but my wife seemed to be allergic to the spices. She also preferred the Papaya salad from Busaba Eathai back in London. Portion was big, dinner cost $40 for 2 people.

Sagan (사긴) Korean Restaurant in Buena Park

A Korean and Japanese cuisine restaurant. They have sushi bar at the front and Korean BBQ at the back. The restaurant was big in size and look kind of posh. We turned up at the restaurant around 9-ish but they closed at 10pm, so we were one of the few remaining tables. We spent just a little less than 100 dollar on dinner for 3 people, which include BBQ meat and beer. Food was okay, nothing spectcular, not worth the amount we paid for. The waitresses were so keen to go home and close down, they hurried us to pay the bill and asked us to wait at the door when my wife went to restroom. Definitely poor service!

Chili's Grill & Bar Restaurant

A typical US diner. Always want to try out as food on their TV ad look tasty. We had Old timer burger with cheese, shrimp taco, blackberry ice tea, etc. Looks good but taste was ordinary. When we first arrived, the waitress gave us pieces of paper for coloring/drawing, apparently they were collecting donation for the St Jude Children's Research Hospital. The finished artworks were hanged on the ceiling as part of the deco.

Green Island Asian Fusion Restaurant in Monterey Park

A typical HK style cafe located in the new Atlantic Blvd plaza. Loved the free underground parking and flat screen tv for each table seatings. The portions are pretty big and each lunch special comes with either beef fried rice or eels fried rice. They also have daily special entrees for $4.99.

Gourmet Vegetarian (御素坊) in San Gabriel

Vegetarian food has never been my cup of tea. Located at San Gabriel Valley. Portion is in decent size. Apart from that, there is nothing much I can comment.

The Olde Ship in Santa Ana

This pub has all the favourite British dishes on the menu. I had fish and chips - the chips were fresh and crispy, just like those in the UK. The fish wasn't as deep fried as I would have hope for. Nonetheless it was a proper fish and chips portion, not like the US diners which serve fish fingers instead of cod. My wife had lamp shank, portion was huge and it was very tasty. I loved the mash potatoes with gravy that came with lamp shank. We also ordered custard toffee pudding, the custard was nice and warm. They have another pub in Fullerton, 709 N. Harbor Blvd.

Koba Tofu Grill in Irvine

This restaurant locates in the Heritage Plaza, off 5 freeway. The plaza's undergoing renovation at the time of our visit. We ordered a seafood combo to share, it came with fish, BBQ beef, seafood tofu, stone pot rice. It is same style as BCD Tofu House. The beef smell really good. Other than that, nothing special about this place. They have 3 other branches, one in south Irvine (UCI campus), one in Fullerton and one in Diamond Bar.

Buca di beppo in Irvine

An Italian restaurant recommended by my brother, located in Irvine, close proximity to Tustin Marketplace. When we first entered the restaurant, we had to go through the kitchen area before you arrived at our table - that's certainly a different experience. Decor is kind of European style, with Italian photos and artefacts on the walls as well as inside the restrooms. They had 2 portions size for most dishes - small (feeds up to 3 ppl) and large (feeds up to 5 ppl). They used sweet red peppers cans as stands for pizza plates. In fact these cans ain't empty, wonder whether red peppers are actually inside or not. We ordered margarita pizza and seafood linguine to share, plus a small cesear salad. Food was tasty, cost us $44. Likely to go back for more.

Ayame Shabu Shabu Hot Pot in Irvine

Located at the northern part of Irvine. It is not a big restaurant. Service is good. Everyone has his/her own hot pot set for Shabu Shabu, which is kind of cute. I had Thai Tom Yum soup base and my wife had spicy miso soup base. They also had sushi on the menu. We ordered the 'Oh my god' roll, it's really yummy! As tasty as the title said. Desert was delicious too, she enjoyed it very much. We were happy that we found this place. $60 in total for 2 people. They have a sister restuarant called Zipangu at 2930 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Newport Beach

We came to this steakhouse to celebrate my new job. A nice posh restaurant with great delicious food. We had a 8:15pm booking and arrived on time, but the place was so packed and we stilll had to wait for a further half an hour before we got our table. The food was delicious, and it's worth the wait. Service was good too and our waiter was particularly helpful. We ordered prime rib-eye steaks as well lobster tail with veal chop (around $40 mark each). The rib-eye steak was definitely better than the veal chop. We also had 2 side orders, the sweetcorn with jalapeno was creamy and tasty. We finished off with desert - a yummy chocolate souffle which took 15min to prepare. All in all a good dinner place, will definitely return some day!

To Bang (트방) Korean Restaurant in Fullerton

My wife likes this place especially their pancakes. Thin, crispy and... oily. The small side dishes were fresh too. Lunch was reasonably cheap, around $14 for 2 people. This restaurant isn't big, 8 tables and can seat 40 people at most. Open between 11am-12am. A great place to grab a quick bite.

Korea House BBQ Restaurant in Irvine

As we are not too happy with the service we got last time at Arirang  and Shik Do Rak always has a long queue, we decided to try a new Korean BBQ restaurant in Irvine today. This restaurant is closed to the University of Irvine, with many tables and private rooms. I was immediately attracted to the unlimited BBQ for $19.99 per person - choice of 5 types of meat (chicken, pork and beef). The quality of meat wasn't good (not nicely cut) and the small Korean side dishes weren't freshed. Plus on occassion I could smell odor coming from the restroom. The only good point about this restaurant - great friendly customer service! Doubt we will return though.

City Cafe (都市美食) in Monterey Park

Another Hong Kong style cafe in Monterey Park, very similar to 'Harbor Kitchen'. New and spacious with wall-mounted flat screen TVs in the premise. Parking is at the back. Food was okay, nothing special, reasonable pricing. Around $8 a dish. We had Korean marinated T-bone beef (not enough favor), baked seafood rice (creamy and nice) and beef brisket. All dishes came with a choice of spaghetti or rice.

Elite Restaurant (名流山莊) in Monterey Park

We came to this restaurant for my aunt's birthday and we had the private room with 2 tables. There was also a karaoke machine, but we didn't sing. Food was good and pretty large portion. Loved the fish in the picture.

Ka Ju Tofu (가주순두부) Restaurant in Garden Grove

This is another Korean restaurant named Ka Ju. It has the same logo as the one in Irvine, so I can only presume they are the same chain. This small tofu house is in the same complex as H-mart, and has nice decoration. Unlike most restaurant, it opens even after regular lunch hour (i.e. 3pm). The food was okay but my wife didn't feel too well afterwards. They must have used quite a bit of MSG. Also when we asked the waitress whether we could order the tofu sets with lunch pricing, she said yes... but when we received the bill, the sets were charged at dinner pricing. We weren't impressed, and won't go back there.