Georgian Hotel and Chef's Inc

Georgian Hotel: My second meal here, 1pm on a Sunday. A great time because there were a few other diners, but plenty of spaces available on the patio. Wonderful view of water, hills, sun, etc. Almost overshadowed by the food. Deep, slightly sweet French Onion soup...the gruyere was great. Mango and brie quesadilla appetizer with candied pecans and excellent guacamole with a touch of jalepeno. For a main course the salmon was recommended, with a salty crust, served over mashed potatoes asparagus and carrots. The potatoes and asparagus were fine (if a bit tasteless), and the carrots may have been slightly toothy at the core, but those are really just nitpicks so I have something to say...and the fish was so good. A bit of salmon flavor, extremely moist, perfect texture (especially when biting through the thin "crust"). A wonderful dish.

Also tried the Cobb sandwich. Like my previous visit (French toast/bread pudding), this is a reconstruction of another dish...so just imagine a Cobb salad on bread, minus the egg and much of the lettuce. The layering of flavors in a Cobb is key, and was pulled of extremely well (especially with the excellent bacon and avocado they used). I was excited to try it and very appreciative, but discovered that I really like the lettuce in a Cobb salad...it's the base that ties the flavors together and keeps it from being too heavy. On a sandwich without that bed of lettuce it's a different beast.

Oh, and the cappuccino hit the spot. It was a bit cool, perhaps, but had just that "edge" of coffee that you feel on the sides of your tongue, without being bitter.

Minor issue with soapy water glasses, but that was cleared up instantly and politely.

Chef's Inc: Took my first class of Beginner chef 101 at Chef's Inc. We made vegetable spring rolls with peanut sauce, chicken noodle soup (including the stock), rosemary chicken breast, herb roasted potatoes, caesar salad with pancetta, and apple crisp. An absolutely wonderful experience. Lots of fun in the kitchen. There were 17 students and four instructors. The food was excellent and easy. I learned several small things, including a different way to hold a chef's knife, a different honing technique, how to tell if meat is done by touching it, and that I need to get a non-slip pad to put my cutting board on. My highlight of the evening was being credited with saying that the peanut sauce would be better with more soy sauce, though really the whole time was entertaining and enlightening.

The Counter and Mariscos Chente

Mariscos Chente is still good, though it's really not in a good location, and the decor is really poor (compared with the quality of the food). Unfortunately they didn't have a 1 kilo of the snook so instead of going with the 1.5 kilo we got a grilled filet that was ok, but not as good...I don't recall the spices used but they didn't work for me. If they'd let us know they didn't have what we ordered soon after we ordered it I wouldn't be so miffed about it, but we didn't find out about the fish until after we'd already eaten the two shrimp dishes we ordered.

The Counter was excellent food as always. love their shakes and burgers. I wish they'd turn the lights up a bit and put in some sound dampening materials so it isn't so loud, but that's because I'm not hip like their main clientele. A very good experience regardless.

Mitsuwa, Mariscos Chente, Angel Maid, Tudor House

Mitsuwa Marketplace: A Japanese market plus foodcourt. We ate a bento box at Misasa. It was chicken teriyaki and tempura with miso soup, rice, potato salad, cold tea, and a couple of pickled veggies. Pretty good food, though the chicken wasn't the highest quality. Oh, and the tea was bad. (How does that happen? Or is it my fault somehow?)

Mariscos Chente: Great fish and shrimp. Very flavorful. Get the whole fish. Served with cucumber, and green (lime) salsa. The peppered shrimp sauce wasn't as good as the wine-based "barrascus" (?) sauce...but it let the flavor of the shrimp come through much better.

Angel Maid Bakery: Bead pudding, chocolate mousse (wonderful), puff pastry with custard & strawberries & kiwi. Highly recommended. We got ours just before closing, and then ate dinner next door at Mariscos Chente.

Tudor House: Cream of carrot soup (hint of ginger) with carrot chunks (good texture). Cornish pastie tasted like Christmas. Welsh Rarebit as good as homemade. The sausage roll was surprising because the sausage was smooth, almost like a cream, so it went well with the crispy pastry dough. The house tea, Red Rose, was a pleasant discovery and I took home a box of loose leaf from the attached shop. The entrees came with simple salads that were excellent. We also got scones with rasberry jam and clotted cream. Mmmm, clotted cream. One scone was light and fluffy and the other was denser with raisins. Both were tasty. For today they had a special of free Mimosas with the entrees, and the Mimosas were quite welcome. For dessert we had an almost perfect strawberries & whipped cream, and a rather lackluster sticky toffee pudding (not quite as bad as "storebought", but dry, flavorless, and a poor mix of textures...couldn't it at least by sticky or have toffee?). All together a wonderful experience that I hope to repeat again in the future. Perhaps next time as an afternoon tea (we so wanted tea sandwiches).

Angelato Cafe: Bleh bleh. Tastes artificial. Walk the extra block to Pinkberry at the East end of the promenade.