Soseki Modern Omakase

 If you’re a fan of sushi, than Soseki needs to be on your bucket list. 

As a fan of food, I find myself looking for places that will allow me to experience the best flavors, dining experience is a plus but not a requirement. A second gen Filipina, I would say I have a modern mediocre pallet that appreciates authentic and fused flavors from international cuisines or American bistro. 

I found Taglish probably from my sister Sarah who seems to find places for me to eat before I do. Taglish is located inside the Lotte Market on the corner of John Young and 50. An Asian grocery store that has a few Asian eateries that serve up a variety of Asian culture favorites like pho, ramen, tteok-bokki, galbi, boba tea and a biased favorite, sisig and garlic rice. 

Having fallen in love with Taglish's sisig bowl, with it's perfectly made egg yoke, and pickled jalepeno that decorates the bowl over a bed of beautifully made garlic rice and sisig with a touch of calamansi zing - I started to follow Taglish on IG. Many of the local Filipino community come to support Taglish which has resulted in great success of their business that Chef Mike is opening a second, non-related restaurant called Soseki. Before I move to Soseki, let me just say that there are other Filipinos that might feel compelled to criticize Chef Mike for his inauthentic flavors stating that it "it doesn't taste like filipino food" or "its not traditional", and what I would say to this is, it doesn't have to be. What Chef Mike has done is he fused together his craft of food and flavors to cultivate a new flavor that is expressed in the restaurants name "Taglish" - Tagalog and English. It's meant to have the essence of our culture with the funkiness of America. Eating food for its flavor and being less judgmental about how authentic it is or is not is not how I roll. I like to eat delicious food. Period and End of Story..

So let's move on to Soseki. 

My sister made sure I saw the post on Soseki. God Love her for always keeping me in mind when she finds things for me to try. I pondered making reservations for weeks, not exactly sure if I wanted to spend the hefty $85 per person fee for a 10 course lunch tasting menu. I thought over all of the food experiences I've had the privilege of eating and mentally calculated the amount of money I spent or would've spent (if I were invited) and decided, $85 isn't horrible and if I love the food, then it would be worth it. The only thing is, I'm really horrible at socializing and a 10 course meal with 9 people I didn't know was making me nauseous. If I decided to go, I had to bring someone to be my buffer which meant I was about to pay double (without gratuities). I landed on Phyre who I knew could eat sushi like a champ and she's my daughter so, spending money on her to eat was within my parental duties and she's a pretty decent buffer. 

Soseki's restaurant doesn't open until February 2021 in Winter Park so it's currently hosting a pop up in various places, we chose the Edible Education Experience Garden, a charming home kitchen nestled on the borders of Winter Park and College Park right off of Princeton. The garden is perfect for the kitchen where fresh herbs, peppers, onions, etc can be picked to be used in the dishes served. 

The beautiful and expansive kitchen opens up to the garden. Whether you're preparing the food or partaking in the food, the views are beautiful. 

Let's get to the food. 

First Course

Soseki is meant to take the guess work out of choosing what to eat and allows the chef to choose for you which is where the name Omakase comes from that translates to "I will leave it to you". If you're reading this and saying, I can't do that, I'd recommend you try it out. If you don't like it, then at least you know, but I'd make a small wager you'd like what Soseki brings to the table just as we did.

Chef Denni expertly prepares each morsel of sushi with precision and grace that you almost wish there was a train of sushi coming from his hands directly into your belly. I wish I caught the first fish served up but I can tell you it was amazing and the ingredients I did catch were both surprising and tasty - fuji apple, daikon from the garden and fresh truffles! 

Second Course - 45 day aged Kimchi with beets, asian pear and blood orange 

Third Course-Smoked Salmon

Fourth Course - Japanese Flounder and Prawn

 

Fifth Course - Nine Day age Japanese Sebring with Key Lime juice and zest

Sixth Course - 14 day aged yellow fin tuna with wasabi stem

Seventh Course - Umi Masu Trout - torched with Black Garlic molasses and chives

Eighth Course and my person favorite, Eleven day age striped base with chimichurri 

Ninth Course - Australian Wagu beef over rice with a mushroom jam, crunchy shallots and shaved truffles and your very own soy to squeeze over to taste. 

Phyre's favorite, seaweed taco with tuna and onion relish

and for Dessert - a Roasted Sesame ice cream with salted miso crumbles and truffle powder

To say that I enjoyed myself is an understatement. Every bite was an architectual masterpiece of flavors  that you can’t  find in an normal sushi restaurant. Chef Denni pairs latin flavors in the chimichurri, bright citrus flavors of Florida, sweet and savory all with different types of fish that won’t come close to any other place in town. The service was amazing -with Somm Charles and Chef Mike looking after you. You can definitely see and taste the love of food and the skills both Chef Denni and Mike have in each bite and I'm so excited for Soseki to open up in February so I can experience it all over again! 

Craving Indian

Last year in August, my sister and I traveled to South Florida to visit our other sister with the goal of eating our way through some carefully chosen restaurants. The first place on our list was Bombay Darbar. A colleague recommended this place being the best Indian restaurant he's experienced and he's Indian living in Chicago so I had to try it out myself!

This leads me to present day. In quarantine, I can't eat out at my favorite place or try new experiences but I was craving Indian food as I thought back to my experience in Fort Lauderdale at Bombay Darbar. I was almost certain there would not be a place in my little town but lo and behold my internet search brought me to Guru Restaurant just a short 15 minutes from our home. I was so excited to read the reviews and the accolades the Chef here has received. I had a really good feeling about Guru but a tiny bit of me was wanting Bombay Darbar.

For this purpose, I'm going to review both Guru and Bombay in one post.

At Bombay Darbar Fort Lauderdale, we came in to a mostly empty dining room having come between lunch and dinner (around 3pm). Decor was dark and elegant - walls painted with either dark blue or black paint and accents of gold a silver. We started off with vegetable samosas, a crunchy pastry filled with potato veggie base. The pastry was light but the potato base made this appetizer very filling, It paired well with the tamarind sauce.

We order plain naan and Tandori parathi naan.
Very similar but the Tandori parathi naan has a subtle buttery garlic flabor like Italian garlic knots.

We also ordered Tandoori Chicken - it had a red coloration and was cooked in a clay pot with yogurt, ginger and garlic. It was a very flavorful chicken. I can see why it is a common favorite.

And Lastly - the reason why I was craving Indian food is for Lamb Biryani. Bombay Darbar makes their lamb biryana very flavorful. I recall distinctly the cardamom and tumeric flavors but when you exhaled the mint was refreshingly present. I love the texture, taste and long grains of basmati rice. With this dish, there was a subtle sauciness about it that allowed each spoonful ease of passage down to your belly. the lumps of lamb pieces throughout the dish is like icing on a cake - tasty morsels of perfectly flavored and tender pieces of lamb. A complete dish. No need for anything else.

What I disliked about Bombay Darbar is the presents of nuts in so many of their dishes. They make lots of their dishes with cashews - even their butter chicken which I also knew was a common favorite was made with cashews. We ordered it but I was not able to try it here.

THANKFULLY! - Guru Restaurant makes their butter chicken without the presents of nuts. I re-asked, likely at the expense of annoying the person who was taking my order to reassure me there were no nuts - so I ordered butter chicken, Lamb Biryani and lamb naan.


Full disclosure, I was so excited to eat that I neglected to take pictures of how it was package but I was still excited for the leftover the next day when I realized a picture was needed!

The Lamb biryani was not as flavorful as I recalled and the mint was barely present. Still a very delicious dish and when adding on the sauce from the butter chicken, I created a power pack of flavors by marrying the two.  Alone, the butter chicken literally has a creamy buttery flavor with a slightly acidic tomato finish. It's a wonderful flavor added to basmati rice and you'll be full with delight before you know it.

The lamb naan was not as I expected it to be. More like a warm thin pita with lamb crumbles in it.

Since this experience, I've craved Indian food more often and I'm so happy that I have Guru here to help satisfy these cravings!

Go check them out - even if you don't live in Clermont - it's worth the drive.

Serving up Sushi!

My family celebrated Valentine's Day at Seito Sushi on Sandlake.

Prior to actually visiting, I thought Seito was more of a fast food sushi place until I started looking up where to eat on Valentine's Day via Open Table. I was seriously incorrect about Seito and became very excited about eating as I normally do but more so since we are big fans of sushi.

 Seito sits on the corner interior plaza where Whole Foods is at the corner of Sandlake and Turkey Lake Road. We went on a slightly rainy evening but most of the side walk was covered.
It has a very modern Asian theme with natural elements throughout the restaurant. It is much fancier than I imagined it would be which was a pleasant surprise.

Since we made a reservation, it didn't take us long to get seated. Once we were seated, the lovely server asked a question I'm often surprised about when I'm dining out. She asked if there were any allergies😳. I immediately thought about my experience at Wing Lei in Las Vegas, where this question was also asked and it delights me that someone would be so considerate as to ensure the safety of the food that we were about to partake in. However, I did not make it easy. In my own ignorance and embarrassment, I did not divulge the exhaustive list of allergens for myself and my son. For me, it's pretty easy. For my youngest, it is extensive.
 Phantom wanted to eat sushi. He was allergic to shellfish and only recently did that fall off but we don't take chances. He's also allergic to milk, eggs, and slew of other foods. We typically get an imitation krab roll for him with no cream cheese and he loves it.

That wasn't an option here as the imitation krab roles come premixed with other products in it that he's allergic to. I tell you this now easily but I made it so difficult for our server because I didn't say it all at once and when she brought out a dish, she had to bring it back.

If I were here, I would have been very annoyed and frustrated but she did not lead me to believe she was feeling either of those emotions which made her even more incredible. All she wanted to do was bring my son something he could eat and I was entirely grateful for her patience.

Let's talk about food now.

 We ordered the calamari to start. It was absolutely delicious! So much so that we ordered a second serving at the end of our meal.

Phyre order their sobo noodles but instead of steak or chicken, she got seafood with a side of tempura shrimp and veggies. She was giddy with happiness because the egg was nearly cooked on the inside which made the egg yolk runny which she loved! She slurped up every ounce of liquid and noodle in that bowl and left the fried stuff to her brothers.

Phoenix ordered the Beauty and the Beast roll which was quickly devoured with little remanence of what it once was.

Phantom mostly ate the calamari having gone through many different options that he couldn't eat but in the end, they were able to make him a plain tuna roll that he was satisfied with.

Jimmy had the steak yakisoba but instead of noodles he opted for fries.

And lastly I had the spicy tuna crispy rice small plate. The only thing I can describe because it was the only thing I ate that night.

I was thrilled to see this on their menu having had a similar dish in Las Vegas's Tao Restaurant. You can read that review here. I really loved Tao's version of the tuna on crispy rice that I was secretly hoping I'd find somewhere in Orlando that served it. And here we are - happenstance at Seito.

The crispy rice was tough to eat. It balanced on undercooked and stale. My memory of the crispy rice ball at Tao's was light and fluffy and I was really hoping for this same experience so it was underwhelming for me and also very heavy.

The rice piece is also much larger than Tao's so the bite size morsel of memory was actually two bites worth making this plate a full meal.
The tuna tasted like tuna. I wasn't expecting to feel full from this but it actually makes you feel very full due to the hardiness of the rice. I would have loved each piece to be smaller, with airy balls of rice topped with their avocado and tuna.

Nonetheless, I have to give my experience here 4.7 stars on the 5 points scale. The service alone deserves a 5 star rating. The best I've had in Orlando by far.

I'd love to go back and try something new and maybe not with the kids this time. I love them dearly but I clearly can't think straight when I have to worry about what everyone is eating.😂

If you haven't tried Seito Sushi for yourself, definitely stop by. Ask for Cholata (probably didn't spell her name correctly). She was our server and the most accommodating person I've seen in the business.

Elixir for food?

And so it begins. 

For over a year Jimmy and Dave have told me of the best wings and patty melt in our city. Having a limited scope of patty melts, only having the burger served on toast as a fast food option, it isn’t my go to option when ordering out. Today was the day I try it at restaurant (Elixir not exactly being a restaurant but not exactly not being a restaurant) and not through a drive through window. 

Before I get to food let me tell you about Elixir. Elixir is an establishment in downtown Orlando off of Washington and Orange. My whole life I’ve associated Elixir to a place where you gather with people socially, drink and be merry. I’ve only been to Elixir one other time for a going away party for a friend. Other than that, my limited knowledge of this place was radio ads and word of mouth of a place you can hang out and drinks spirits.

Jimmy always told me that Elixir has the best wings and after our last experience with a similar establishment in South Florida (review - Tap42) I became really curious if all of the like should be created equal. I’m happy to announce that they should not!
Elixir has a similar feel, lots of wood, full length bar, indoor and outdoor seating. Nothing glamorous but comfortable. A place you can feel you can relax without judgement. We were concerned if our daughter could come with us to dinner due to its night time festivities, but when we got there we were relieved to see children in the courtyard eating with their families!

Now let’s get to food! That’s why you come here right?

I ordered the patty melt with fries. Jimmy had the wings with medium hot wing sauce and Phyre ordered the flatbread with shrimp. Now that I’ve recovered from my cold, it was fair game to try everyone’s food as I like to do when I go out to eat. Jimmy and I agreed to swap half of my patty melt for four of his wings! This allowed me to fully embrace the flavors of the food I was about to partake in. 😉  I did not get to eat Phyre’s flatbread but I assumed it was delicious since she ate all of it.

I tried the wings first. It was well seasoned with medium spiced hot wing sauce. As far as hot wing sauce goes, Jimmy said the temperature was accurate but I would call their medium, my mild. Still it was flavorful but there wasn't a uniqueness to the hot sauce that differentiated it from any other wing sauce I've had. The chicken was cooked thoroughly and it wasn’t dry! I would have preferred a little more crisp to it but overall it was pretty well done. Far better than the other establishment😒.

The patty melt is served on thick slices of grilled sour dough bread with their signature house aioli, melted cheddar and Fontina cheese, with the signature caramelized onions on top of a beef patty.
The bread was perfectly crispy and not soggy, the combination of caramelized onions and their house aioli gave a sweet and slightly sour flavor that paired well with the cheeses! Overall the first bite was delightful! A very enjoyable experience that I ate my half and a quarter of Jimmy’s because it was that good! I tend to not like thick slices of bread. It’s a personal preference but this patty melt is well worth the calories!

Having experienced Elixir now as a food venue, I look forward to trying something new the next time I visit and you should too!

Tapping out - don’t waste your time

I have never felt so strongly about a restaurant as I do about Tap 42. This weekend we planned to see family and friend and on Sunday we planned to meet for brunch in Ft. Lauderdale. Having not known the local Brunch establishments, many recommendations were presented and we landed on this one. Great reviews. Landed on many top 20 list of brunch places in the area so why not.
The venue itself is very nice! A Modern Industrial feel with hanging fixtures of mixed sizes and shapes of Edison bulb lighting, dark wood tones, aluminum siding and bar stools. Outside of serving brunch with bottomless mimosas on Sunday it is apparently a popular night venue.

When we arrived there was a line of people that gave me comfort in the quality of food I was about to partake in.  We made reservations in advance for 11 and they took us to an 8 top. Could it be a sign? They recovered fairly well and made up for the mishap and extended a nearby two top to the 8top and stuck a chair at the end. Our server Stephanie was very good. I don’t envy her knowing that when you have a line of people waiting you have to know that you’re entire section will get seated all at once. And she and all of the other servers handled their business professionally.
The menu seemed pretty promising with things like Chicago style steak and green eggs Benedict. I had chicken and waffles - one of those classic dishes I like to try when I see it on the menu and compare.

I did not try the other dishes that we got as I usually like to do because I was feeling under the weather earlier in the week and still recovering so no germ 🦠  spreading for us. So this review is simply based on my own food and the observations of my party.

In the picture there are two slices of watermelon missing because I’m allergic but the watermelon comes with it. Seems a bit racially stereotypically for the pairing😳. The presentation was nice on heavy ceramic like plates and a tiny gravy dish of syrup.

So here it is. The chicken and waffles cost $17.50 for two waffles about the size of larger coaster and four chicken fingers - oh and the two slices of watermelon. The chicken fingers lacked flavor and were dry. Better tenders can be found at any of your local fast food establishments for far less money than what you get here. The waffles also lacked anything memorable but did have sugar crystals in the batter to make it sweeter. I’d rather eat cake if I wanted to eat sugar. Tap 42’s Chicken and Waffles lands at a 1 on the scale. The worst I’ve ever had.

Jimmy has the Chicago steak that was served on “classic hash browns” topped with sunny side up eggs. I do have to say that all the dishes served at our table with eggs were all perfectly made. But classic hash browns are the ones you get at McDonalds which requires you to have a deep fryer for the prepackaged and processed hash browns they serve (nothing fancy or hard about making it). The small amount of filet served on top was insignificant and flavorless. This didn’t come from me- that was Jimmy’s opinion.

So I came away knowing that Tap42 isn’t known for their food but for the atmosphere it provides to its patrons. The ability to get hammered on bottomless whatever for a low price of $25.
Having experienced brunch here, I have no desire to see what dinner looks like. It’s not a place I would spend money to eat at ever again and if you are a person who loves tasting great food- you’d want to avoid this place. Your hard earned dollars can find a better place to eat like First Watch.

On a side note: patrons there are inconsiderate rich kids driving fancy cars that rev their engines when children are close by very loudly for no reason at all.  Thanks to Pizzaa and McMellon🤬. Just adding to the reasons to avoid this place.

The Outpouring

Let me start this entry by giving you some background.

Two months prior to the start of 2020, I made a list of commitments to myself as I've self-proclaimed it the ME year.
Highlights from this list are:

• Journal 2-3X a week
• Review every place I visit, eat,explore
• Read more
• Exercise 4-5 times a week
• Draw more
• And my last one - which is the purpose of this entry, No more buying made to order coffee.

Today I failed myself by buying coffee. 

Further background so I can set the stage for the review.

I love coffee. I love the taste. I love the smell. I love the versatility of flavors not only in drinking it black depending on the region of the bean but also utilizing it in food recipes.  

Every where I travel, I like to buy coffee beans to bring home. I like to taste the different roastings that come out of the bean and there is nothing like making the first batch of coffee from a newly opened bag of beans where you see the oil sweating from the bean still. After the bag is opened the oil sweat evaporates and I believe this is when the coffee bean's potency and flavor starts to diminish. The first cup is the best cup and that can only be done from a new bag of coffee beans or from a fresh batch of roasted beans. Since I know this, and I've stocked up on coffee beans, there was no reason for me to buy coffee that I can easily make at home. However, everyone knows that it just taste better when someone else makes it for you. Or does it? We're in the second month of the year and I can now say, it doesn't. I love the coffee I make at home or at work ( I have a full set of brewing types at each location). So today, while taking Pharah to the groomers, I saw a sign that says new coffee shop. I turn to Phyre and asked if she wanted to try it out, and we nodded "why not". 

Walking into The Outpouring, you'll  find open space, two long dining tables to sit out and three conversational lounging areas. A boho-chic/hodge podge of furniture put together that feels very warm and welcoming but is obviously done on a low budget. Completely understandable when you start to learn more about The Outpouring.

The Co-founders opened up their children's home in Malawi and the coffee shop is a non-profit company helping the communities they serve in Africa.  On the wall near the coffee bar, there is a sign that reflects the amount of children in their home that they are servicing. 💗

It's a beautiful cause and something I would be happy to spend money to aid in their efforts. However, I believe operationally their coffee shop can improve. Because of their non-profit status, funding is likely low taking care of the necessities so investing in what may be superficial or not needed may be a reason for the shortcomings. I think if enough of the right people knew about their cause, they may provide services, items and man power voluntarily to help make this a business that stays. 

Go check them out if you're in Clermont. They are next to Tijuana Flats on Highway 50 and Hancock. 

And if you need a groomer, the people at Something to Bark About are awesome. 

Tasting in the Tasting Room

It's been a while since I last wrote. I made a commitment that this year, I'll be writing about all the new things I experience. It has taken me into the second month of the year to finally get to something new but here we are! Tonight we go into Downtown Winter Garden. A place I actually frequent to places I've always loved like Axum Coffee, Winter Garden Pizza Company, and the Crooked Can. But today, for the first time since I've lived in Florida (and in the area) I get to experience The Tasting Room. This is not to be confused with The Chef's Table which is a different restaurant but the same kitchen (I know, its confusing, but not really). 

We called ahead but even calling ahead doesn't guarantee a seat will be available so we waited an extra 20 or so minutes. While we waited, we walked over to Way Chocolate & Coffee and perused the chocolate delicacies available there. This was also my first time experiencing this place so I took this opportunity to try something. I didn't take a picture of what I had here but will try to paint you the best picture possible. I ordered the Chocolate cup with Passion fruit Mouse and an Americano Coffee black. It was a petite chocolate tea cup filled with a creamy yellow passion fruit mouse with two pink candy hearts on the top and a chocolate spoon inside the mouse. It was the most adorable little dessert I've seen at a whopping $10 price tag. The mouse was not tart as an onlooker asked as I tasted it. It was perfectly sweetened and balanced out the chocolate shell well. Biting into the shell and mouse was actually a very good combination until I dropped the last half of it on the floor. Sadness ensued. It was a delightful dessert but not one I'm willing to pay $10 for again. My coffee took longer to prepare and was not ready by the time The Tasting Room was ready for us so I had to get it to go.

Back at the Tasting Room, the staff there are all very kind and excited about their establishment and food. A friend of ours joined us for dinner who was the person recommending this place and raved about its food providing suggestions as we looked over the menu. A small paper menu came with the large bound menu that signified items that are available for the evening. In observation of the menu, I noticed only two pages listing food items while the rest are alcoholic beverages of which we did not take partake in on this eve. From the paper menu I ordered the Crispy Mushrooms. It was tempura battered mushrooms (thick stemmed mushrooms of an unknown origin) over a black garlic sauce. It was a lovely small plate appetizer. I wish I knew the type of mushroom they used because I really enjoyed it but most of all the combination of the tempura batter, mushroom and black garlic sauce was so delightful that the dish was nearly gone as soon it hit the table. 

If you've read any of my previous blogs, you may know that I like to try dishes that I love and compare them. Shrimp and Grits is one of those dishes that will always be ordered so I can compare. Before I begin on this, I failed to tell you The Tasting Room serves Tapas Style food. However, the Tapas portions are actually quite generous. If you've been to places like Tutu Tangos or Ceviches, I would say The Tasting Room has larger portions. So back to Shrimp and Grits. Here they use Red Shrimp with the tails still on, Creole bbq sauce and cheddar grits. I thoroughly enjoyed the consistency of the grits as it wasn't clump, very creamy and the sauce was on the side with the shrimp so you can add as much or as little of the sauce to the grits that you wanted. The sauce definitely has creole origins with a tomato base but is not too acidic. The perfectly cooked shrimp that was not rubbery but fluffy and easy to cut and chew through combined with the sauce and grits were a little slice of amazing (heaven was close by). On the S&G scale this one was an 8.5.  I was not able to share the dish... Well, to be fair, I don't share my food anyway so no one was really expecting me to share. :-)


Another thing I always get whenever I see it on the menu is beet salad. It's not a common menu item and I love beets! Like really love it! Here the description of Beet Salad was mixed greens, feta, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and apple cider vinaigrette. The first salad that came out to me had a piece of hair in it so we sent it back not expecting for it to be returned. BUT as nice as the staff is, they did remake another one for me. As you can tell by the picture the mixed greens was actually just one type of leaf and to be honest, I can't tell you definitely which one it was. The beets tasted as if it was pre-soaked in tap water and the beets had absorbed the water because it had that distinct pipe water flavor to them. There was a clump of dried cranberries at the center of the salad. It was poorly made and didn't taste very well. Not something I would order again here.

Jimmy ordered the Tasting Room Wings. It has a very unique flavor. Smokey but the bbq flavor of the wings was unlike any flavor I've tasted which is why they trademark the wings naming it after the restaurant. They were well cooked and tasty. A dish I would recommend but if you're a wing connoisseur you may find that these wings, while good, aren't the best wings.

And lastly, the infamous Duck Fat Fries. These are hand cut potatoes with parmesan cheese, truffle oil, onions, and smoked aioli. I don't know why I expected something grand but for me, these were just fries. In general, aioli is fancy mayo. This one just tasted like mayo with a hint of flavor. The fries nor the aioli were anything that wow'd me. They were ordinary at best. Not a dish I would waste calories on.

Overall, I loved the atmosphere the Tasting Room provides, the staff were all very kind, they took care of the salad due to the hair which was very nice of them. We only sampled a few things on the menu but it is a place I would like to try again. I can see that there are unique flavors that the chef is creating. The environment the Tasting Room provides to its patrons is lively and almost gives the feeling like you're in a place "where everyone knows your name". Go check them out. Find out for yourself the flavors and let me know your thoughts on items I've tasted. 😄