On my second day in LA, there were more food adventures to be had. I met up with a friend after church and we decided to stop by Pine & Crane to grab lunch. It's a very cute Taiwanese cafe located near the Griffith Observatory which was where we had planned to go after lunch so it was a very ideal location for us. 
They had a wide range of traditional Taiwanese dishes and a rotating selection of cold appetizers. I wish I had taken more photos of the place but this all took place before I decided to start a food blog so I only have a few photos available unfortunately. That day, I believe they had 5-6 options for the cold appetizers and I selected the smashed cucumbers for $3.50. I wanted my vegetables! The cucumbers were very good - I only wish that it was slightly more seasoned as I found it to be on the blander side. However, at the same time, it's probably a good thing to consume less sodium.
For my main dish, I ordered the very traditional Minced Pork on Rice which came with a Soy-Braised Egg and House Daikon Pickle. This dish reminded me of summers spent in Taiwan without the humid heat and it was surprisingly, non-greasy. The ones I had in Taiwan are usually on the greasy end and I was pleased to see that it wasn't so at Pine & Crane. The price was also very reasonable at $7 for my main dish which brought my total bill to about $11 with tax.
On my friend's side, he ordered the Zha Jiang Noodles (📷: Kevin). I believe he enjoyed it since he finished the entire thing and his noodles cost $8 which was also incredibly reasonable for the size and quality of the food.
On my friend's side, he ordered the Zha Jiang Noodles (📷: Kevin). I believe he enjoyed it since he finished the entire thing and his noodles cost $8 which was also incredibly reasonable for the size and quality of the food.
They also had a very cute interior design as seen depicted in the image above (📷: Kevin).
Fun fact: they are also somewhat self-service with the utensils and water. One thing to point out is that you order and pay for your food at the front first before seating yourself.
Overall Verdict on Pine & Crane: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I reserve 5 stars to those unicorn places so I am quite picky with my 5 star restaurants.
Next stop, D E S S E R T! As stated in my earlier blog post, there is always room for dessert.
My friend was craving patbingsu since it was crazy hot in LA
and of course, I agreed because I can never say no to any form of shaved ice. So we ended up wandering back to the outdoor-like mall in K-town which was where I was literally at the previous day grabbing the ice cream taiyaki. It turned out that Sul & Beans was literally right next door to SomiSomi (what are the chances of that?)
We opted for the Original Milk Bingsoo ($8.95) and decided to share at my friend's insistence. He claimed it was too big for one person but personally, I'm 99% sure I could have finished the entire thing by myself (hahaha...
).
The Original Milk Bingsoo came with a dollop of red-bean paste and some mochi-like pieces on the very top. It was also drizzled with condensed milk. This probably one of the most traditional/original bingsoo available and one of my favorites. Personally, I always end up going back to the traditional flavors because it works well. Either that or the strawberry and/or mango flavors. Everything else ends up being too overwhelming for me. There's too much flavor and tastes that it all gets lost somehow.
That being said, I really, really enjoyed this patbingsu. For those who don't know, patbingsu is the shaved ice with red bean on top which is what we ordered and bingsoo (bingsu) are the other varieties of shaved ice.
The best part for the Original Milk Bingsoo, in my opinion, was the mochi pieces. They were absolutely delicious and had just the right chewy texture. The amount of red bean on top was perfect as well - just enough to have a bit of red bean in each icy bite. This bingsoo is definitely going to be my go-to order next time I visit Sul & Beans. Now I'm just wondering if I can order more mochi on the side...
Overall Verdict on Sul & Beans: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I later met up with my sister for dinner at Mokkoji, a Japanese shabu shabu. It is easily one of my favorite places to eat in LA. As of today, I have been there three times and I have loved every second of each time.
For some reason, I do think that the price went up at Mokkoji compared to the last time I went there. Though, I did go there for lunch last time and this time, I went for dinner. So perhaps that's why.
This time around, my sister and I opted for the pick 2 combo ($19.99). I decided on the steak cut and lamb while my sister got the angus toro (later changed to wagyu toro since they ran out) and lamb (📷: Tiffany). For the soup base, I got the fire hot drop mala soup which had a drop of ghost pepper in it. I considered opting for more drops but since I still wanted to enjoy my food, I decided against it. My sister got the spicy miso which is her go-to soup base.
There are two things that I love about Mokkoji:
All of the dishes were very fresh and you can tell that the quality is also top-notch. The service was also very good as even the cashier lady (is that the correct title?) was very engaging in conversation. The wait for the food also did not take very long. I believe all of the food arrived within 10 minutes of ordering.
Overall Verdict on Pine & Crane: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I reserve 5 stars to those unicorn places so I am quite picky with my 5 star restaurants.
Next stop, D E S S E R T! As stated in my earlier blog post, there is always room for dessert.
My friend was craving patbingsu since it was crazy hot in LA
and of course, I agreed because I can never say no to any form of shaved ice. So we ended up wandering back to the outdoor-like mall in K-town which was where I was literally at the previous day grabbing the ice cream taiyaki. It turned out that Sul & Beans was literally right next door to SomiSomi (what are the chances of that?)
).The Original Milk Bingsoo came with a dollop of red-bean paste and some mochi-like pieces on the very top. It was also drizzled with condensed milk. This probably one of the most traditional/original bingsoo available and one of my favorites. Personally, I always end up going back to the traditional flavors because it works well. Either that or the strawberry and/or mango flavors. Everything else ends up being too overwhelming for me. There's too much flavor and tastes that it all gets lost somehow.
That being said, I really, really enjoyed this patbingsu. For those who don't know, patbingsu is the shaved ice with red bean on top which is what we ordered and bingsoo (bingsu) are the other varieties of shaved ice.
The best part for the Original Milk Bingsoo, in my opinion, was the mochi pieces. They were absolutely delicious and had just the right chewy texture. The amount of red bean on top was perfect as well - just enough to have a bit of red bean in each icy bite. This bingsoo is definitely going to be my go-to order next time I visit Sul & Beans. Now I'm just wondering if I can order more mochi on the side...
Overall Verdict on Sul & Beans: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I later met up with my sister for dinner at Mokkoji, a Japanese shabu shabu. It is easily one of my favorite places to eat in LA. As of today, I have been there three times and I have loved every second of each time.
For some reason, I do think that the price went up at Mokkoji compared to the last time I went there. Though, I did go there for lunch last time and this time, I went for dinner. So perhaps that's why.
This time around, my sister and I opted for the pick 2 combo ($19.99). I decided on the steak cut and lamb while my sister got the angus toro (later changed to wagyu toro since they ran out) and lamb (📷: Tiffany). For the soup base, I got the fire hot drop mala soup which had a drop of ghost pepper in it. I considered opting for more drops but since I still wanted to enjoy my food, I decided against it. My sister got the spicy miso which is her go-to soup base.
There are two things that I love about Mokkoji:
- Unlimited refills for the veggies excluding enoki (not really sure why since they're not expensive), udon and their house-stamped tofu
- The sesame paste sauce is absolutely delicious. It's flavorful but not overpowering and it works well with all of the ingredients in the shabu-shabu.
The service at Mokkoji is sometimes a hit or miss, though. This is mainly due to the refills. Sometimes when I go, I ask for a refill on certain veggies and they come back with the tiniest portion. I'm talking about 2-3 pieces of broccoli or 5 spinach leaves. It's miniscule. So you have to constantly ask for refills. However, this last time that I went with my sister, the waitress came back with overfilling plates of veggies so that was a surprise. Other than that, I have always been satisfied with the service.
One thing to note that when you first come in, you need to write your name down on the clipboard. I've noticed that a lot of places in LA do this so I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise.
Overall Verdict on Mokkoji: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I N F O R M A T I O N O N R E S T A U R A N T S/P L A C E S M E N T I O N E D
Pine & Crane
1521 Griffith Park Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Silver Lake
(323) 668-1128
Website | Yelp
Sul & Beans (many locations)
621 S Western Ave
Ste 208A
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Koreatown, Wilshire Center
(213) 385-5510
Website | Yelp
Mokkoji (many locations)
815 W Naomi Ave
Ste F
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 254-0018
Yelp
1521 Griffith Park Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Silver Lake
(323) 668-1128
Website | Yelp
Sul & Beans (many locations)
621 S Western Ave
Ste 208A
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Koreatown, Wilshire Center
(213) 385-5510
Website | Yelp
Mokkoji (many locations)
815 W Naomi Ave
Ste F
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 254-0018
Yelp
SomiSomi
621 S Western Ave
Ste 208-A
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Koreatown, Wilshire Center
(213) 568-3284
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