Trader Vic's Lounge at The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills - USA

If you are looking for a cozy venue to catch up with friends or relatives while sipping cocktails and enjoying light bites by the pool with light music on background, we could recommend Trader Vic's Lounge at The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills. Nothing fancy about this venue despite it's located in a well known hotel that often hosts red carpet events, but it certainly welcoming. 

We visited Trader Vic's at The Beverly Hilton as a small party of four and we chose to sit outside. We started off with exotic cocktail, Bahia, a mixture of white rum, coconut and pineapple. Such a delight. As snacks we chose calamari, spareribs, selections of sushi and almond duck tidbits. 

The taste of the food were average. Certainly not mind blowing, but still a good companion to our drinks. Especially when we got into the mood of exploring the cocktail menu. The calamari was not the best quality but at least they were not chewy or rubbery. The spareribs were a little bit dry just like the almond duck tidbits, but still tender and the sushi selections were quite adequate, to be frank. We found the cooked sushi tasted better than the ones with fresh fish topping. We doubted the fish served were fresh. 

Had enough savoury light meal we fancied some sweet ending and for that we ordered apple crumble served with vanilla ice cream. To be honest, the crumble tasted like a supermarket bought one, topped with a big dollop of ice cream with a few fresh raspberries thrown in. It was 'okay' but we were expecting something better being in America, the home of apple pie. Such a simple dessert, it would have been much better appreciated had it was homemade. 

Just like we have mentioned earlier, Trader Vic's Lounge is a cozy venue to unwind and enjoy some polynesian drinks with a few snacks on the side. But don't expect fantastic food or service. Selections of food offered are considerably large, a mixture of asian and american light dishes. Portions are good too, nothing over the top. Service can be a little bit slow, but the waiting staff are very friendly. 

The music arrangement is good too, even with the DJ playing the latest numbers was not too loud to the point that you have to shout to be heard by your companions. And if you are lucky, you may spot hollywood stars or famous socialites. 

Trader Vic's Lounge at The Beverly Hilton

9876 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Phone: +1 310 274 7777

Website: http://www.beverlyhilton.com/Dining/trader_vic.asp

Opening hours: Sunday - Wednesday from 5 pm - midnight

                          Thursday - Saturday from 5 pm - 1 am

Beach Cafe at The New Tropicana Las Vegas

Beach Cafe is one of dining venue at Tropicana Las Vegas next to Biscayne, Bacio and South Beach food court . We have written about Biscayne on our previous blog and explained how disappointing it was. So, we were rather reluctant to try Beach Cafe. As if we had rather bad experience at supposedly the high end restaurant, what the chance we have in a cafe? But too hot to venture out and we thought it would not do us any harm to try we found ourselves at Beach Cafe. 

Beach Cafe offers quite a selection of food, mostly snacks. From soup, quesadilla, sandwiches, burger to asian bites. We tried to keep or orders simple by choosing fried calamari, lobster mac and cheese pops to start with and followed by fish and chips and 8 oz NY steak. Easy. 

Calamari and lobster mac and cheese arrived first. They were served nice and hot, but tasteless. The calamari were tender and the crispy coatings were crispy but they did not taste of calamari, very bland. The lobster mac and cheese were more or less the same. We hardly tasted any lobster, to be honest, just a taste of cheese. The cheese dip helped to bring out some flavour, but no sign of lobster though.

Before we had the chance to finish the starters, our main courses have arrived and just literally pushed in next to our starter plates. Strange service etiquette, we thought. Luckily, we had a table for four just for two of us, so we managed to squeeze in both starter and main course that we had no choice but to enjoy it almost simultaneously. 

As we have suspected, the fish and chips were not made of fresh fish just like the calamari. The batter was not seasoned well and quite soggy. The steak was not too bad though, had it taken off the heat a few minutes earlier it would not have been too dry. We were not quite sure about the mushroom sauce it has a hint of mushroom and a hint of red wine but lacking of seasonings. The mashed potato was average it appeared to be fluffy and creamy but it was just fluffy and not creamy. The asparagus was pretty good, we thought it must be the only fresh ingredient served throughout our meal as we noticed the asparagus actually tasted of asparagus. 

We did not bother with the dessert this time, as we could just imagine how it will turn out, so we picked up a couple of chunks of brownies from Starbucks to take back to our room. 

For what it was served, although the prices on the menu at Beach Cafe are not that expensive, but considering it's quality and service, we did not think we got the value for our money. But then that's what is available in the resort. Unfortunately, to get better quality of food, you would better off venture out to next door hotel such as MGM Grand or Aria. 

Beach Cafe at The New Tropicana Las Vegas

3801 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas - NV 89019

Phone: +1 800 462 8767

Website: http://www.troplv.com/EatDrinkSubPage.aspx?page=BeachCafe

Opening hours: Open 24 hours 

Grand Wok and Sushi at The MGM Grand Las Vegas - USA

We went back to MGM Grand with the intention to revisit Hakkasan (for the peking duck, of course) but unfortunately we arrived far too early. Unwanted to let down rumbling tummy, we looked for another restaurant with similar theme and we found Grand Wok. A restaurant tucked in one corner of casino floor of MGM Grand that has a bright dining area and open kitchen so we could witness the chefs in action, rather appealing indeed. Menu seemed interesting too, a fusion of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreanese and Malaysian. 

Had a fancy of a chilled sake, we ordered a bottle of Junmai Ginjo sake which is 50% polished, so we expected it to be nice and smooth. Unfortunately, to our surprise, although the sake has a nice and distinctive flavor, it was quite sharp in texture. Mind you, we are no expert when it comes to sake department, we just make do with what we thought it would be a nice. In other word, we chose sake randomly and hoping for the best :)

Determined to have dinner at Hakkasan as soon as it opens, we kept our meal light by choosing a bowl of miso soup, lettuce cups with chicken and a few selections of sushi to match the sake. The miso soup was very good, we were quite impressed. It has the right components such as seaweed and thinly sliced spring onions and the correct consistency. The selections of sushi did not meet our expectation though. The fish did not smell quite fresh despite the shiny look and quite tasteless. But the lettuce cups with chicken that let us down the most. We hardly tasted any chicken or seasonings, only the taste of carrots that came out most, they were under cooked too. We were not quite sure the chef's idea about the dish. We tried to spice it up with the chili paste and condiments that came with it, but still lacking of flavor. How disappointing.

Still craving for something tasty and have some time to kill we looked at the dessert menu hoping to find something interesting. We decided to share a bowl of black bean soup. Although the presentation did not look very appealing, the taste was not bad at all. Sweet bean soup with glutinous rice balls filled with ground sesame seeds. Not everybody's cup of tea but it's quite comforting. It something that you would have during the cold and bitter winter afternoon. Considering that we were in the middle of summer in Las Vegas at 38 C, us having the soup was a little bit out of place :)

Cut the story short, our visit to Grand Wok at The MGM Grand Las Vegas was rather disappointing. Taking into account the inconsistency quality of food, very average service and the price they charged. Which is such a shame as they have a very good location on the casino floor. With a considerably improvement on the quality of food served and the service, they could fill up the restaurant easily. 

Grand Wok and Sushi Bar at The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino Las Vegas

3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas - NV 89109

Website: http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/grand-wok-sushi-restaurant.aspx

Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday from 11 AM - 10 PM

                          Friday to Saturday from 11 AM to 1 AM

Biscayne Steak - Sea - Wine at The New Tropicana Las Vegas - USA

Biscayne is advertised as one of the top rated steakhouses on the strip of Las Vegas, we were immediately intrigued to try it. As we had plenty of time to kill, we took the opportunity to check out the venue. It's located at the mezzanine level of The New Tropicana Las Vegas, facing Bacio Italian Cuisine. It's a little bit secluded from the casino area and frankly speaking, the set up failed to impress us. Too casual and too ordinary as one of the top steakhouses it claimed to be. We were expecting to be wow-ed, judging from the pictures on the adverts. But anyways, we went ahead to book our table.

Exactly at 5 PM, we were already at the entrance of Biscayne. The staff still busy with preparation, so we could not be seated immediately until about 10 minutes later. And finally we got shown to our table. It's quite comfortable seats and good size table, but poor lighting, in our opinion. Poor in the sense that not bright enough if it meant to be summery, or dimmed enough to give an intimate ambience. It gave us the impression that nobody bothers to switch on the lights. Oh well.. never mind, it's the food that we went there for. 


As usual, we started with campari and soda, while deciding what appetizers to have. So we could cover  both ends, we chose to have something from the sea to start with, which were selection of sushi and griddled lump crab cakes accompanied by a glass of chardonnay and followed by Biscayne specials which were XXL Kobe Burger and 8 oz Fillet Mignon, creamed spinach and sauteed mushrooms, accompanied by a good bottle of Joseph Drouhin Gevrey Chambertin. 

First to arrive were our starters. The sashimi looked okay, fresh-ish, but the sushi roll looked dry and almost falling apart. The crab cakes didn't smell very crab-ey but looked good. The presentation actually explained the taste of both appetizers. All of the components were there but not put together properly. The sushi rice was not polished, that's why it's dry and the sashimi were just stacked up on the side as if an unimportant part of the dish. The crab cakes weren't made with fresh crabs as we hardly taste the crab. And it was under seasoned too.. What a disappointing start. The only good thing that came out reasonably good on the first part of our meal was the chardonnay.


Disappointment did not end just there though. We ordered a bottle of Gevrey Chambertin. The first bottle that the waiter brought us was corked. Which he had the suspicion even before he opened it. Of course we asked it to be replaced. Thank goodness the second bottle was okay. 

Happy with the wine, we're looking forward to our main courses. Fillet mignon was looking good, so did the kobe burger apart from the dark looking french fries. It looked as if it has been fried in an old oil. So we did not touch it. The burger was enough to handle as it was. Not forgetting the creamed spinach and mushrooms. 

Out of those dishes that we had, we could safely say the fillet mignon was the best, though we had better somewhere else. Reasonably tender, juicy, cooked and seasoned just right. Mashed potato was all it needed. We should not have ordered the creamed spinach and mushrooms, as they were under seasoned and simply too much. The kobe burger was huge but nothing extraordinary about it. It such a   a let down as considering it supposed to be on of Biscayne's specials. 

After such going through such large and savoury meals we looked for sweet comfort before we end our evening. We had choices of apple tatin, key lime tart, coconut candy bar, chocolate truffle torte, ice creams and sorbet, but we went for tahitian vanilla creme brûlée instead. Call us boring, but sometimes after few disappointments at the beginning, we'd rather go with the safe option at the end. 

We found the creme brûlée as another 'okay' dish. We suspected it was not freshly made but it's a mix as the texture was rather heavy and floury. We didn't see the point of the short bread and the raspberry reserves were there for, but they went very well with a pot of green tea that we had at the end. 


A rather expensive evening indeed, considering the price that we have paid and our disappointment topped with the fact the check arrived before we even asked. We would totally understand if the restaurant was packed with people queueing which it was not the case and the waiter purposely hovering about to make sure we pay immediately and leave. Very intimidating in our opinion. And as soon as we have paid, no after sale service whatsoever.  

We would not recommend Biscayne to our readers to experience fine dining, as you would be disappointed. Unless of course you do not mind quick meal with a minimum service. 

Biscayne Steak - Sea - Wine at Tropicana Las Vegas
3801 Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV - 
Phone: + 1 702 739 2222 
Website: www.troplv.com
Opening hours: Sunday - Thursday 5 PM - 10 PM, Friday - Saturday 5 PM - 11 PM

Hakkasan Restaurant and Nightclub at MGM Grand, Las Vegas - USA

We never thought of having chinese food in Las Vegas until, Juan - barman at Javier's recommended Hakkasan Restaurant and Nightclub at MGM Grand. He told us how amazingly delicious the peking duck at Hakkasan. The best peking duck in town, he claimed. Well.. that's something for us to check out. You know how much we love good peking duck :)

We went to Hakkasan on Thursday evening without a reservation and we could not get a table straight away. So, we had to wait about half an hour at the bar, which is not too bad considering they make good cosmopolitan. And just before we were about to finish our cocktails, a very friendly waitress , Marina, came to inform us that our table is ready. Great!

Bear in mind that the interior of Hakkasan is dark, it's designed to be a club like. It's open yet it feels private and intimate. Though, we could just imagine that after a couple of drinks, some customers here might find the restaurant looks like an endless maze. But no worries, the staff will show you the way.

Without looking at the menu, we made our order straight away, crispy duck salad and selection of dim sum to start with and the famous peking duck with caviar and beef in black pepper sauce to follow with egg fried rice on the side. The peking duck will be presented in two ways, the crispy skin on the pancakes with a dollop of caviar and the meat will be cooked in either spicy sichuan sauce or black bean sauce. We chose the black bean sauce. Yes, that's a lot of food for just three of us! Not to forget a bottle of chardonnay grgich 2010 from napa valley to accompany those dishes. We believe a good food deserves a good wine :)

When the crispy duck salad arrived, we wasted no time get stuck in. Then we realized that we haven't taken any picture for our reader to see. Apologies. But we could tell you how good it was though. The crispy duck was mixed with pea shoots, pomegranate and pine nuts with slightly sweet dressing, that we guessed it's a mixture of sweet soya sauce, sesame oil and maybe a little bit of tamarind. It's a great combination indeed, but we think it would be even better if we add some thinly sliced bird eye chili to give it a kick. And it worked!! Perfect! For you who are not a big fan of fresh chili could replace it with thinly sliced ginger, we think it would do the trick. 

As we finished with the salad, piping hot prawn, scallops and pork dimsum served in bamboo basket arrived to our table. The steam brings out the scent of seafood really entice us to devour selection of freshly made dim sum. Yummy!

First round of duck skin on pancakes with a dollop of caviar served. Out of one whole duck we get four plates, with four pieces of pancakes on each. It's like a sandwich of pancake, spring onion, cucumber, crispy duck skin and caviar. Oh that was good!!! The pancake is slightly sweet, contrast the saltiness of the caviar. The duck skin, spring onion and the cucumber balance it all. Divine!!

Okay, first part of the duck done, now we got to the main course. The rest of the duck meat cooked in black bean sauce, beef in black pepper sauce and egg fried rice. Both meat dishes were so delicious. Melting in the mouth and full of flavor. The beef has a little bit more heat due to the black pepper but nothing over the top spicy. If there was a flaw, we would say it would be the fried rice. Taste wise it was perfect, but texture wise, it was dry. We expected the rice to be fluffy and moist. 

Time for desserts! Yes, we were already full by the time end of the main courses, but the desserts selections sounds so enticing, we simply could not resist. And it was hard to make our choices. We liked every single dessert available. We finally decided to have the Coconut pudding and Strawberries & Champagne. 

The coconut pudding was a star. It's a mix of coconut pearl pudding, lime financier and caramelized spiced pineapple. Sweet, sour, creamy but very light, just the perfect subtle ending to a delectable dinner. For you who prefer refreshing and slight sharpness dessert, should go for the strawberry & champagne. It's simply a beautiful collaboration of fresh strawberries, creamy panna cotta, rhubarb and champagne foam. Delightful!

To sum it all, we are so pleased to have dined at Hakkasan. It has the best quality of asian food and consistency, good standard of service and excellent venue.  We could just go back there over and over again. The Hakkasan night club is just next door of the restaurant, hosting famous DJs such as Tiesto, Calvin Harris and many more. What are you waiting for?? 

Hakkasan Restaurant and Nightclub

MGM Grand Hotel and Casino

3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South,  Las Vegas - NV 89109

Phone: +1 702 891 7888

Website: www.hakkasan.com

Opening hours: Monday to Wednesday from 5 PM - 11 PM,  Thursday to Sunday from 5 PM - 12 PM

Zeffirino Italian Restaurant at The Venetian, Las Vegas, USA

Italy is one of our favourite countries around world. We love the history, the people, the countryside and of course, the food! Too bad we haven't had the chance to revisit it recently. Therefor, while we are in Las Vegas, we're taking the opportunity to pop in to the Venetian, the only hotel and resort in Las Vegas where the whole set up is inspired by the beautiful city of water, Venice. It brings us back a fond memory of Italy. 

Along the Canal Shoppes of the Venetian, we come across to Zeffirino Italian Restaurant. And we are eager to try. It may seem small from outside, but as we come inside, the restaurant is actually very spacious. It has rather impressive high ceiling with wooden beams and decorated in rich red, green and 

terracota. 

                                                

The dining area is divided into two levels. Ground floor is both bar and casual dining, while upstairs is  more formal dining area. Don't get put off by the amount of steps on the staircase, there is a lift tucked  away behind the wall that will take you up with no effort. 

Not wasting anymore time we take a quick look through the special aperitif menu and our choice goes to basil and grapefruit cocktail with lime juice and belvedere. Refreshing drink that is equally measured sweet and sour with a hint of fresh basil. We barely taste the vodka, but trust us, it's there..  :)

We know, it may sound boring, as yet again we are having calamari fritti. It is not because we are not adventurous, but we are intrigued by how each restaurant served its version of calamari. It's such a simple dish, but not every restaurant gets it right. We had calamari that is tasteless and rubbery in the past. Fortunately it doesn't happen at Zeffirino. Although we must admit it's not the best we ever had. Zeffirino's style of calamari is mixed with battered zucchini sticks, which is not bad at all, but it was under seasoned. 

Next to the calamari, we also having prosciutto di San Daniele served with cantaloupe melon and parmigiano - reggiano chunks. The melon is beautiful, very sweet and juicy, goes nicely with thin sliced of good quality ham, but we are not too keen on the cheese, though the idea is great. Just the quality of the cheese isn't up to the standard that we normally get. Quite tasteless in fact. We wonder why.

We are not having our normal 3-courses meal routine this time, but instead, we're having several appetizers. And following the calamari and prosciutto, we're having bruschetta - toasted bread with tomato salsa topping. On the scale of 1-10, we would score bruschetta at Zaffirino as 6. We have our own version of  it, which we don't mind sharing with our readers. 

We make our bruschetta using a baguette, cut open in the middle so you can take out the soft part of the bread and it leave you with two pieces of bread in the shape of boat. Use the soft bread crumble and mix it with small diced tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and then season it with salt and pepper. Stuff the mix to fill in the bread and add mozzarella cheese on top and bake in preheated oven until the cheese melt and turn slightly brown. Easy, yet very tasty. Tell us what you think about our recipe. We like to put a lot of garlic into our bruschetta. Yes, we know it smells, but hey.. garlic is good for you and keeps the vampire away...:)

As we already suspected, three appetizers to share between the two of us is adequate. And we still have  some space for tiramisu. Nice home-made tiramisu too... Just missing out the coffee liquor. Maybe so it can be served to young customers too.. But, to keep everybody happy, it should be made optional. That's just an idea.. 

At Zaffirino, there's a live piano entertainment starts at 6 PM daily. The piano player plays and sing his own chosen numbers such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, but he takes requests too.. Pass on a note to him so you can sing along. 

Quality of service at Zaffirino like their food and prices, are average. Waiting staff is reasonably friendly but not very informative or engaged with their customers although we came during a quite afternoon. In our opinion, the main unique selling point of this restaurant is the ambiance, the fact that you can take your time to enjoy your meal or socializing. Next time we revisit Zaffirino, we will try their selection of entrees and we will let you know how they are like. 

Zeffirino Italian Restaurant at the Venetian Las Vegas

3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas - NV 89109

Phone: + 1 702 414 3500

Website: http://www.zeffirinolasvegas.com

Opening hours: Daily at 11.30 AM - 12 AM

Javier's Finest Foods of Mexico at Aria, Las Vegas - USA

After spending hours in front of the machines and roulette table and keep losing, we just had to put a stop to it. We knew we had to stick what we are good at, yes, it's eating!!! Too hot to venture out, we looked around what's available at the Casino floor of Aria. Within seconds, our eyes caught the sign for Javier's - Finest Foods of Mexico. We didn't need to think twice, so went straight away to get ourselves a cosy booth to start our ritual of long lunches. 

The waiter offered Javier's Signature margarita while going through the menu. An offer that's obviously hard for us to resist. Within few minutes hand shaken margaritas arrived to our table. Lovely! Well balanced of sweetness and sourness, very refreshing indeed, great choice of an aperitif to wake up the taste buds. With a bowl of crispy tortilla with spicy salsa on the side, we're set to go. 

Javier's has a large menu that offers mouth watering authentic taste of Mexico. Since we already have something to nibble, we skipped the starter and went straight to the main course. We chose Callito Mazatlan - fresh scallops sauteed in garlic, butter and cipotle sauce served with rice, black beans and avocado slices and Filete Ladrillo - 16 oz rib eye bone-in prime centre cut beef steak with grilled poblano chile stuffed with cotija cheese served with refritos and guacamole. To accompany those dishes we chose a good bottle of chilled Castello Banfi Pinot Grigio. Nice and light. 

After a short wait, our food were served to our table. Nothing fancy or pretentious about the presentation but the smell sent us to heaven. We could not wait to get stuck in. And as we have expected, the scallops and the steak were cooked to perfection. They were both tender, succulent and well seasoned. Flawless. 

We would normally have a good red wine to go with the steak, but the pinot grigio actually wasn't a bad choice at all... Or even the margarita. The fruitiness from the drinks and combination of herbs mingling beautifully together. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch. 

But, no meal is complete without a sweet ending. We decided to have the fried ice cream, which is vanilla ice cream rolled in corn flakes, nut and honey, deep fried. Warm, cold, creamy, crunchy, nutty and sweet.. delightful! Certainly not to be missed!!

Finished with the lunch, we moved slightly to Javier's bar. We love its unusual setting. A touch of Aztec rustic influence put together elegantly and so cozy. The bar staff not only good in making cocktails they are very friendly too. We had a long chat with one of them, Juan. He told us the history behind Javier's that started originally in San Diego, California. Very interesting. 

While enjoying a few more margaritas at the bar, we could not help to have something savoury to munch. So, we ordered Nacho de la Casa with shredded beef covered in Monterey Jack cheese, refritos, guacamole and sour cream. Never mind the calories, this house special is worth trying. 

Javier's Finest Foods of Mexico at Aria - Casino Level

3730 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas - NV 89149

USA

Phone: +1 866 590 3637

Website: http://www.arialasvegas.com/dining/restaurants/javiers

Opening hours: Daily from 11.30 - Midnight