Castaway Brunch

i made another trip to castaways again! this time i am here for their brunch. I always heard their brunch is good and it actually did impressed me!! their brunch is much better than i thought and it's definitely worth the drive! I was surprised when i walked in the lobby b/c i saw the chocolate fondue with full of desserts!!! all the cakes look cute and it's unlimited fondue that you can dip it yourself. since we made reservation, we were sited in 10 min. I wish we had requested to sit at the balcony b/c the weather was really good on that day... they get huge selection on the hot food and sea food include roast beef, lamb, sushi, omelet, pasta, waffle, and king crab leg. i can't believe they also get osso bucco as one of their hot food!! it usually pretty costly when order off the menu. the king crab leg is a bit icy, but i still had a lot b/c it's still good. they also get flaming banana ice cream that's made to order!! i think everybody had this dessert and all love it!
4.5 ★★★★ for the food
$$ 30 per person include tax&tips
after eating, we went outside to take some pictures. the morning view is not much different than at night. since i think Castaway is pretty far away from the city, i think there's not much to see on the hill. but i would really recommend to have brunch here rather than dinner b/c their brunch is so much better than their dinner menu.

Chef's Kitcken 牡丹

i came here last time with friends and thought their food is pretty good. so i brought my parents here again for dinner. it's a small place located on Fairway and it's hard to notice it. Although it's kind small, the interior is nicely designed. The dish portion is a bit smaller compare with other Chinese restaurants around the area and they don't take credit card... I get to try different dishes such as 槽溜魚片 & 酸白菜牛肉, but i would recommend their 左宗雞 & 五更腸旺. i think it's the best! the total bill came around $35 which is decent. but i believe there are other places to go to that are cheaper and serve good food as well.

Potluck Dinner

i love to have potluck among friends once in a while. it make me feel like we are one big family. we went to ranch 99 to get some food for the dinner. We have lamp soup, steam buns, pork bbq, fried rice, and cold tofu. it's just a simple gathering on a Friday night, but i enjoy the dinner with friends. the highlight is the Tiramisu from Trader Joe's. i love that dessert!! the cake has a strong coffee taste and it's very good. i think i'll try Trader Joe's mango mousse cake next time b/c i heard it's good too. i also get to eat the egg tarts from 85C. it gets mochi in it which remind me the egg tart from KFC in taiwan.

Farmer Boys

sometime i crave for junk food~~~!!! I've only ate at this place for couple times. i free like Farmer Boys is more of a combination of fast food/restaurant. the interior has a bit of restaurant feel while the counter is designed as fast food with a drive through window. the food is somewhat fast food/restaurant taste and so is the price. their burger is a bit expensive compare with Mcdonald or Carl's Jr. i ordered 2 combos and a bowl of calm chowder end up to be $18 dollars!! since i don't know what's their best choice off the menu, i try to stick with the original, a cheeseburger! but after eating it, i think i still like In-N-out better. Something to mention, Farmer boys get better breakfast menu with pancakes and eggs w/ bacon which i think is better than other fast food places. I want to try The Counter or Habit Burger next time when I hit the area next time.

Souplatation

Become a vegetarian on Monday!! haha~ i just happen to come here on a Monday and it reminds me of this phrase. i usually come here when i get coupon of buy 1 get 1 free! otherwise i think the original price is too expensive! although is a buffet, i wouldn't pay $10 bucks for veggies~~ souplatation gets good salad, but i think their choice of pizza and pasta are too little and the dessert section are weak!! i still like to come here once in while when i want to act more healthy. maybe i'll come here for breakfast next time for something different.

Grey Stone Park

i randomly found this place online while surfing around. this place looks pretty nice so i decide to come here over the weekend to take a look. it was really sunny on the day we went and the place looks gorgeous!! the garden looks beautiful!! Since the mansion is not open to the public, the garden only take about 30~40 min to finish. too bad we cannot enter the mansion, we tied to peak inside, but there's nothing inside.

we went to eat korean BBQ for dinner. this place is located next to the Korean supermarket on Noglas. i like the bbq from this place, but it's not all you can eat. so the meal is kind pricy compare with other bbq around the area. i found out they also get porridge!!! maybe i'll come here next time for the porridge only!!

UCC Cafe

I heard some pros and cons about this place before coming. i heard the interior looks pretty nice, but the food sucks and pricy too! but I've always want to come here at least once! So I came here on Sunday morning and was planning to have some breakfast. but i end up ordered an omurice which I regret a lot. I should stick with the breakfast menu as i was intended b/c their breakfast looks soooo much better. the food on the menu looks a lot different than it actully came out. The rice was a little hard and it tasted just ok.

i also order a iced vienna coffe which tasted bitter, but no coffee taste. I expect their coffe suppose to be good since UCC is famous for their sumiyaki coffee, but the coffe is not as strong as i thought. the meal came out $30 for two of us which is a bit pricy. i think i wouldn't come back for their food, but maybe for the dessert and defintly another try on their breakfast menu. it's a nice place for couples or friends to hang out for an afternoon tea, but not a place for foodies.

Half & Half Tea House

Speaking of this place yesterday, i get to come to San Gabriel for dinner again. so i decided to stop by to get some tea. This place actually is pretty small. I heard they get some pretty good ice milk drink, but i haven't really try it yet b/c i always get caramel milk tea from here. Then, we went to B20 around the area for a friend B-day. We used to go to Indian a lot. But since we always need to wait for a long time to get a seat at Indian, I guess it's good the eat and try somewhere else instead. Similar to Indian, B20 is actually a beer house that serves Taiwanese style food.

something different about their food is their fried sticky tofu. they cut it in slice rather than minced. other than that, i think the food from beer house are just average. but it's a fun place to come with friends when you want some beer.

Jazz Cat

i heard of this place for a long time, but never get the chance to eat it. we went to the new location and the restaurant looks very nice and hip. it's actully a pretty cute place to hang out. their menu is basiclly hot pot with a lot of differnt soup base you can choose from. i had their spicy house special hot pot and the best thing i like about their meal is they get 魚漿!!! i haven't had 魚漿 in hot pot except in taiwan. also, the protion is pretty large. but i ordered a hokkaido milk tea which is a bad choose.. it's kinda plain~ i think even Apo Apo has better milk tea than they do. or i would go to Half&Half Tea House around the area.

Alice in Wonderland

I've been wanting to see this movie since last year!!! i love Johnny Deep and Tim Burton! so it's a must see!! it's my 1st time experience 3-D w/ IMAX! i was kinda scared that i'll get dizzy during the movie, but it turns out ok and I really enjoy the experiance watching it in 3-D. I went the 2nd day after the movie released, so it was really packed with a lot kids... the story turns out different than i expected. it's a after story for Alice in Wonderland when I expect it should translate the original plot. or i would expected some twisted Alice!! i still like how the story was interpreted, but after seeing the movie, i feel the movie is not cute at all!! maybe if i was a little child, i would think the characters in the movie are cute. but as an adult, i just can't love the Heart Queen and the Tweedledum... the only character i like is the Cat!!! and i don't remember if Mad Hatter exist in the old story, but i love Mad Hatter just b/c Johnny Deep plays it.