It’s not too often that an all-you-can-eat buffet impresses me, but the new Kome Sushi Buffet in Daly City did the trick. Ridiculously long line aside, this buffet is actually worth it. I went for lunch time on a Saturday and they had a lot to offer: sushi, salad, Chinese food, dim sum, noodle bar, desserts (American and Asian), ice cream, and fruits. It’s more about quantity over quality here, but the food is not bad.

Of the sushi selection, the handrolls were the best. They make them fresh. In the Chinese food, I liked their potstickers and tempura – nice and crispy. Actually, anything fried that they had was nice and crispy. I didn’t get to try much of their Chinese food because I didn’t want to wait in line. They also had roasted pork where a worker chops it up to order. The skin remained very crispy, and the meat was not very fatty. Their dimsum selection is mostly desserts, like mochi with sesame (made fresh!) or custard buns. They serve Foster Farms Dairy ice cream with all the typical American flavors and green tea. They have cakes and puddings – I liked the taro one. And fruits … are fruits.

1901 Junipero Serra Blvd
#A
Daly City, CA 94014
(650) 992-8600

I never knew Daly City had a House of Silvanas bakery. I’m used to eating Sans Rival cake, usually from Goldilocks, but I’ve never heard of Silvanas, which is basically a Sans Rival cake in cookie form, until I found out about House of Silvanas. Delightfully crunchy, creamy and delicious! A layer of buttercream sandwiched between two cashew-meringue wafers, coated with cookie crumbs. It came in so many flavors – just about all the Filipino flavors you can think of, like mango and pandan. A little pricey at $1 a piece, but there’s really no where else you can get them around here. Their ensaimada was nice too – fluffy and moist.

2055 Gellert Blvd
Ste 3
Daly City, CA 94015
(650) 878-8700

It’s been cold these days and I would have gotten a soft tofu soup at International Tofu House inside the Kukje Super Market, but after having a horrible hoedeopbap experience at Stone Korean Kitchen earlier this week, I had to have it again to redeem my love for it. Now this is what a real hoedeopbap is supposed to look like. Big portion and tons of fish … tons of everything.

I had dinner with the family at Gerry’s Grill in Daly City. Jimson was the one who knew of this Filipino restaurant because he’s been to the one in Quezon City in the Philippines a few months ago. Overall, the food was decent. The adobo rice was on the greasy side, and the bami, which is a dish consisting of three different types of noodles, was on the salty side. The spicy garlic chicken wings were just okay. I’ve been eating chicken wings almost every day this week so I’m a bit more critical this week. My favorite was their grilled beef ribs, which was very tender, juicy, and crispy on the outside. Desserts were just okay – nothing too special with their turon (banana lumpia) or their buko pandan (coconut pandan).

I keep hearing people tell me about an awesome Japanese hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Daly City/Westlake and I finally got to check it out. Tani’s Kitchen really is a hole with seating of up to about 15 people at most, half the seats being counter seats. They even still have an old 15″ CRT television playing some random Japanese videos. Anyway, food there was excellent. The pork katsu was very crispy and the grilled chicken was very moist. I couldn’t get enough of the spicy mayo that came with the grilled chicken. Huge portions and average at about only $7 a dish.

I went to try out the new Asian fusion restaurant in Daly City called Grain Restaurant & Noodle Bar. The food there is amazingly good. It’s hidden deep inside the King Plaza and was pretty empty when I went, especially for a Friday night, but I think it’s only a matter of time before the place becomes jam-packed with hungry customers. My favorites  were the corn salad and the braised beef short ribs, though there really wasn’t anything I didn’t like.

Jeric, mom and I wanted to grab dim sum at Tai Wu Mr. Fong’s Restaurant at the King Plaza but it was way too crowded, as expected, so we tried the Filipino restaurant next door, Philippine Delicacies. Their food was not bad – paella had a lot of meats and seafood in it, lumpia shanghai was really stuffed and had a very thin and crispy layer of wrapping around it, and the bangus sisig tasted great with its mango salsa. I thought the pumpkin in their ginataang kalabasa at sitaw was too hard, though, and the milk was really thick. Food and service was extremely slow – we could have just waited for dim sum the entire time – so I don’t plan on coming back for food. I will, however, come back for their desserts, which is probably what’s keeping their business alive. Their karioka (think giant, deep-fried mochi ball glazed with sugar) was really good – crispy, chewy, and not too sweet.

I also had some milk tea from the new boba shop next door, Onyx Cafe. They have a 99 cents milk tea promotion. It was pretty good. I will be back to check out their other stuff.

I woke up at 5:45 am to get ready for my motorcycle lessons at 6:45 am, which lasted until noon, so by the time class was over, I was starving. I wanted something healthier because Chilli’s from the night before gave me a stomach ache, so I had the hoedeopbap (or also known as sashimi salad on the menu) from Kukje Super Market in Daly City. This is my favorite Korean-Japanese dish. It’s like a marriage between bibimbap and chirashi don. It was huge, as expected, with a lot of fresh fish. It was missing the quail egg, though. At $14, it’s a very good deal.

I haven’t been to Banana Island in years. I used to go here all the time after school with Andy, Shannon, Jennifer and Darryl when it first opened. It’s not as good as it used to be, but still decent.

This time I went with my family. We ordered the roti canal, of course, because everyone orders that. We also got some caramelized baby squid, coconut fried rice, rendang beef and their golden spareribs, which I didn’t understand because it was red like the Golden Gate Bridge.

My most favorite Korean dish is not a meat or tofu dish but a sashimi dish. It’s the hoedeopbap. I don’t think there’s a specific English translation to it, but Kukje Super Market (the restaurant portion) has it named as spicy sashimi salad on their menu. It’s like a spicy chirashi bowl, or a sashimi bibimbap – take your pick. I don’t know why this dish is always so big. I always feel that ordering a bowl of this is good for at least two people. I didn’t finish all the rice but I at least attacked the fish.