robyn
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Posts posted by robyn
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It's times like this that make me glad I don't live in Japan. Life is so proscribed.
Or another way of looking at it is that life in Japan is so polite.
And there are other things. After spending almost 3 weeks in Japan - where fat people are few and far between - it was a real eye opener coming home to the land where people are eating all the time - on the street - in the mall - in their cars. Now I am not a thin person - but the number of double-wides and triple-wides I see here has always made me ill - and - after Japan - it is even more disgusting. Do you reckon that eating everything everywhere all the time has something to do with the national tide of obesity?
Perhaps if we had more rules - more proscriptions - we wouldn't be a nation that is increasingly occupied by fat slobs. Robyn
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I am new to the Miami area and and in need of suggestions of a good fishmonger, butcher and market. I am looking forward to exploring as soon as work stops interfering with food but I would love some good starting points.
Where in Miami do you live? It's a big place! Robyn
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Just wondering (I'm not sure if this LV forum would be the place to ask),
Where do you all consider as the current Joel Robuchon's best restaurant?
Would it be:
Chateau Restaurant Joel Robuchon (Tokyo) or
Joel Robuchon at the Mansion (Las Vegas) or
Robuchon a Galera (Macau) or
La Table de Joel Robuchon (Paris) or
Restaurant Joel Robuchon (Monte Carlo) or ...
Actually - Robuchon has 3 restaurants in Tokyo - the Chateau - the Atelier - and a tea salon in a department store. I assume that all 3 are either prototypes for similar restaurants elsewhere - or based on prototypes already in existence. The food in these restaurants may be good - even excellent - but the whole enterprise is starting to look like a high ---> very high end chain. Of course - that is increasingly the case for a lot of famous chefs these days. Robyn
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The thread may have been from 2003, but the gyst matched my perception of the place as well, which is one reason I resurrected it. Another is that this, surprisingly, appeared to be the closest thing to a thread strictly on The Slanted Door. Perhaps we might have ordered better things, but items like the Shaking Beef are supposed to be amongst their "signatures". None of the food was "bad", but none of it was particularly good or memorable, either.
There were some mentions of the Slanted Door in other threads - like this one - where I put in my two cents.
I thought the place was nice for an early walk-in lunch while shopping at the Ferry Building (credible food/good service/relaxing atmosphere) - but I wouldn't go out of my way to go there - particularly at dinner time (I really hate places that are super crowded - especially if they can't seem to honor reservations). Robyn
P.S. I liked the clean design lines in the restaurant (but reading some of the other messages in this thread - I guess the design isn't to everyone's taste).
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Although this is a little out of my way
I'd like to try it sometime. Ahurwich, do the photos represent a tasting menu for one or did you put together a 4/5 course meal for two? The article says the price is about $60/ea for a la cart, what are prices for tastings versus a la cart menu? Additionally, do you know how far in advance they book? I'm thinking either October or January for a visit.Thanks!
Genny
Here is what I wrote about Binkley's in 2004. I think the structure of the menu is probably the same - but I suspect the prices have gone up. Robyn
...That said - we stayed at the Four Seasons in the north Scottsdale area. It's a great property (our second stay here) - and it's relatively close to where my brother lives in Cave Creek (relatively close in this case being about 12 miles away). The first night we were here - we dined at Binkley's in Cave Creek. It was the most surprising and best meal of our trip. If anyone had told me 5 years ago that there would be a restaurant in Cave Creek that served an amuse bouche - I would have laughed at him. But now there's Binkley's. Although it only opened earlier this year - it's not exactly undiscovered - and has received great local reviews. And they're entirely justified.
There's both an a la carte menu (which changes almost every night) - and several tasting menu variations - which consist of various numbers of courses from the a la carte menu. I had the 4 course tasting menu for $45 (there's also 5 for $50 and 6 for $60). My cold appetizer was slow roasted baby beets with blue cheese cheesecake, arugula and red onion chips. Hot appetizer was bacon wrapped quail with butternut squash puree, crispy mustard greens and maple gastric. Main was a choice of fish or meat - and I had the venison loin - rare - with parsnips, blackberries and and acorn squash. Last was the cheese course. Had a choice of 6! - and I had the pecorino romano, epoisses, cabrales and point reyes blue with appropriate sides like fruit and bread. I'm not much of a wine drinker - but enjoyed champagne throughout the meal.
Everything (food and service) was excellent. This isn't only a great restaurant for Cave Creek - or Phoenix. I'd put it head to head against restaurants in much more food oriented cities like New York. Probably 2-3 stars on the NYT scale. And the people are nice to boot. The airline lost my luggage on the way here - so I didn't have appropriate clothes to wear. Called before dinner - and the restaurant said - not to worry - and made me feel entirely at home.
Only warning is once you get out of dense near downtown Phoenix traffic - and into this part of town - it is relatively empty desert and very dark. Encountering large critters like deer and javelinas on the road is common. We took a cab there - and my brother drove us back to the hotel. I recommend similar driving arrangements if you plan to do more than a touch of drinking and/or don't like driving in the wide open spaces one frequently encounters in the southwest... Robyn
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No relation between the Louis Lunches in Gainesville and New Haven. But the one in Gainesville dates back to the 20's and is a quirky, Twin Peaksy place worth a stop.
And there is a Louie's Lunch in Ithaca NY as well - dating back to 1918. Must be a thing about guys named Louis or Louie and college campuses.
BTW to Daniel - don't forget that stone crab season ends on May 15. Robyn
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One strongly urged route suggestion: A highlight of my recent trip to the keys was taking route 41 through the Everglades from outside of Miami to before Naples. Beautiful scenery, all manner of birds, and great tourist stops for a swamp boat ride and a variety of alligator preparations. This route will take you up the west coast which wasn't all that interesting for me except for Snook Haven in Venice.
Beyond that, must stops from my site - Bowen's Island outside of Charleston if they'll be roasting oysters (might be out of season) (spend a couple of days in Charleston if you haven't before and can), the other Louis Lunch in Gainesville, Carl's Frozen Custard in Fredricksburg VA, and for BBQ, the Skylight Inn in Ayden NC and Sweatman's (if they're open) in Holly Hill SC.
In Key West, tell the folks at B.O.'s Fish Fry I said hi.
I would be careful about that route this time of year. It's dry season/wildfire season - and it's been a bad one. Where I live - we've only gotten .26 inches of rain in the last 7 weeks. Parts of Tamiami Trail (and I95) have been closed on an almost daily basis. When it does start to rain (rainy season starts in June) - you will have millions of mosquitos hatching in the Everglades (and elsewhere). If someone is interested in seeing birds - here's the link to the Great Florida Birding Trail - which has sites all over the state. This time of year - I'd stick pretty close to the east coast. Or they can come to my backyard. It's been so dry we're seeing unusual birds like hawks at the bird baths.
I think there are some great places on the west coast of Florida - everything from Sanibel in the south to Cedar Key in the north (one of my favorites for canoeing and bird watching is Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland - I think the Big Bend area is particularly unspoiled) - but you have to be willing to get off I75 and poke around for at least a few days. Ditto for the central Florida area (including places like Gainesville/Ocala/Micanopy).
There are some fun places to eat in all parts of Florda - but - in general - I don't think they're worth a detour - much less a journey. On the other hand - I think it's worthwhile for people to explore some of the less explored areas. I've lived in Florida for about 35 years now - and although I've explored the state on numerous trips - I'm always "finding" new things. It's a big state (one of the more interesting statistics is that if you're going from Florida to some places in the midwest - when you're halfway you're still in Florida!). So I guess it depends on how someone wants to plan a trip. If it's basically a week or less trip from Key West to the northeast - there really isn't enough time. Robyn
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Thank you Robyn.. Our main goal is to eat at roadside shacks and huts.. We are on a serious BBQ and Seafood mission.. The Inn at Little Washington is the only nice place just because its so high on our list of places to go.. Places like Georgia Pig or places where the shovel roasted oysters on to your table..
Georgia Pig is exactly what I am looking for.. Thank you so much..
If you want seafood - Dixie Crossings is a must. Avoid the "shacks" when it comes to seafood in Florida. Most of what you'll get is frozen and/or has been hanging around too long. You want a big busy place like Dixie Crossings - where the stuff is absolutely fresh. Note that the place isn't expensive - but it isn't a dump. Just because a place looks like a dump doesn't mean the food is good - and vice versa.
Also note that I can't speak for other states - but - in general - in Florida - you don't want to eat raw oysters (or other raw seafood) - especially in the summer - especially in "shacks" - and especially after last year's storms (too many beds were polluted - and not everything you get is from beds that are supposedly "open"). Robyn
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Thanks for your help Robyn.. We are flying from Vegas to Key West and then driving back to Manhattan..
OK - that explains it - I was confused
.We've made the trip from south Florida (where we used to live) and north Florida (where we live now) up north (to various points - especially North Carolina - because that's where my husband's folks used to live) many times before.
Frankly - most of the trip along I95 or US1 is a big bore. Don't know how much time you want to take for the trip - or how far away from the I95 corridor you want to get - but the best overnights for overall ambience/eating are St. Augustine and Savannah. Maybe Fernandina Beach. There are other nice places - like some of the islands off the Georgia Coast - and Charleston - but they are kind of far away from I95 for an overnight (although Jekyll Island isn't that bad).
Perhaps I am partial (because it's in my backyard) - but I like St. Augustine. It's an easy 2 day trip from Key West - you can arrive early and do some sightseeing - and then eat at Opus 39.
In terms of the first night - I recommend Palm Beach (although it's a fairly long drive from Key West). I think it's a neat place - it has some very good eating - like Cafe Boulud - and you should be able to get low season rates now.
If you have time for a 2 night stop - I'd proceed to Charleston for the next 2 nights if you've never been. There is certainly plenty to keep you busy there in terms of sightseeing and eating for 2 nights/1 day. Robyn
P.S. Forgot Dixie Crossings in Tutusville - great stop for lunch a couple of miles off I95. Terrific seafood. Try the rock shrimp - the best I've ever had. Try to get there a little before noon. It's a huge place - but it's usually slammed for lunch.
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I think the restaurant that suzilightning is talking about is the Georgia Pig. The pork is actually chopped - not pulled. I know it is a "big deal right-off-I95 attraction" - and my husband likes the pork sandwiches - but I don't much like the place because it stinks to high heaven from sulfur water. So bad that you don't even want to wash your hands in the bathroom. So bad they don't dare make iced tea! But it's hard to go wrong when you're making a 20 minute stop for a sandwich.
On my part - I like the Western Sizzlin' in Pooler Georgia (a little north of Savannah about a mile off of I95) if you happen to be passing through at lunch time on Sunday (there's a veritable feast of southern vegetables for "after-church supper"). There is also a pretty good Western Sizzlin' off I95 in Florence SC. I know this chain is pretty dismal up north - but it is frequently good for southern veggies in the deep south. Robyn
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Its about that time again.. We have rented a convertible and will be heading from Key West to Manhattan.. We have never been there and are obviously very excited..
We'd like to hear what stops can't be missed between Key West and Manhattan...we'll be travelling mostly on US1 during the day making stops at various recommended places. However we will be hitting I95 from time to time as well. Love to hear your recommendations! A big help so far on this trip is HollyEats.com.
Besides the five days, we have a reservation at the end of our trip at the Inn at Little Washington.. Other then that, we have no plan.. Would love to hear about best cities to sleep in also..
Thanks for your help as always..
I don't know how much of this trip you've done before - but US1 is pretty dismal for most of the trip - and slower than I95. I'd probably alternate between I95 and roads that are smaller and slower than US1 (like A1A in Florida - which is nice in NE Florida).
Don't know how much mileage you plan to do each day - but I'd recommend St. Augustine as a dining/sleeping stop in NE Florida if you've never been there before. As for stops in Georgia and/or the Carolinas - again it depends on how much time you plan to take going north. I recommend taking the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel route instead of I95 once you get to the mid-Atlantic states. Robyn
P.S. I am a little confused - you said your trip was from Key West to Manhattan and that you'd never been there before - but your profile location is in Manhattan. Is your trip from Manhattan to Key West?
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Jason:
Year, it is tough. Sushi restaurants in TOKYO exceed ramen
shops in number. Even out of them which are receiving
the ultimate praise, it still is difficult to tell which is
the best.
Here are some lists which I have been dreaming of visiting.
They must be really good, but quite expensive as well.<p>BENTENYAMA MIYAKO
2-1-16 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo
81-3-3844-0034<p>SUKIYABASHI JIRO
4-2-15-BF1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
81-3-3535-3600<p>KOZASA ZUSHI
8-6-18 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
81-3-3289-2227<p>If you are looking for the cost-perfomance, the best choice
is DAIWA ZUSHI in Tsukiji fish market.Though you must wait in
line, it's worth.<p>5-2-1 Tsukiji,Chuoku, Tokyo
81-3-3547-6807<p>The quality of sushi is basically depending on the freshness
of NETA(seafood material). In that DAIWA ZUSHI is enjoying the
advantage of its location.
We ate at both Kozasa Sushi and Daiwa Sushi. The concierge at the hotel reserved the former (we requested a recommendation for a high end sushi restaurant) - and we ate at the latter by mistake (we were looking for Sushi Dai and wound up in the wrong restaurant).
I will be the first to say that I am no sushi expert (although I have eaten high end sushi before a few times in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Hawaii). I hadn't realized how famous Kozasa Sushi was until I got home and started reading about it!
Both restaurants seemed excellent to me in their spheres (one is very high end - about $130 for lunch - and the other is more "middling" - about $35 for breakfast). The main difference in terms of cost is probably how expensive the raw ingredients are (and I didn't recognize a lot of them at either restaurant). Plus the preparations are different. Those at Daiwa are "rougher". It is perfectly acceptable to dip your sushi in soy sauce at Daiwa. On the other hand - the sushi at Kozasa is perfectly seasoned. No one would dream of dipping it in anything.
Note that English isn't spoken at either restaurant. You can get away with pointing at Daiwa (locals eat there - but there are a fair number of tourists too) - but it's best to take someone who speaks Japanese with you if you go to Kozasa (we had told the concierge that our party would include a person who spoke Japanese before making the reservation).
Also note that I'm not a large person - and Daiwa was a bit claustrophobic in terms of seating. And Kozasa is hard to find (bring a map - and when the cab driver lets you out - go up the alley he lets you out in front of).
I recommend both of these restaurants. Robyn
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OK - let's try to narrow it down. You can do this 2 ways. First - limit the area geographically. Where will you be staying (you don't want to spend more than half the evening getting to where you'll be dining)?
Second - most forms of non-vegetarian Japanese cuisine are only seafood or emphasize seafood. If your partner truly wants to avoid seafood (as opposed to raw seafood) - and you're looking for something relatively high end (as opposed to a tonkatsu or yakitori place) - you're pretty much left with a Japanese steak restaurant. So let us know how much you want to avoid seafood. Robyn
P.S. I assume you're looking for Japanese food. If you aren't - there are endless possibilities (French - Italian - etc.).
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Either I didn't take a picture of take-out dumplings - or I can't find it (haven't organized all the pictures yet). Did find this "take-out" picture though:
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The dumplings were really excellent. And who can complain about a complete lunch for 830 yen (about $7)?
Here's a website for the place where the restaurant - Chao Chao - is located. It's part of the "market" at the aquarium - and - if this restaurant is any guide - this part of the market has terrific food for a "tourist attraction". Note that you can also get Kentucky Fried Chicken if that's your cup of tea
.By the way - we had a fair number of dumplings on our trip. Perhaps our special favorite was "take-out" dumplings from the Isetan department store in Kyoto (we had a couple of "take out" dinners from Isetan in our hotel room near the end of our stay - we were getting very very tired!). Picture to follow. Robyn
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Though always dismayed when people are disappointed by a particular episode, one of the things I'm proudest of about NO RESERVATIONS is that each week differs in mood, tone (and to whatever extent possible) content--as well as degree of "success" or "failure" in capturing a place or a culture. It's a show with noticable--often violent-- mood swings, practically schizophrenic at times. There are numerous examples of places or countries that I clearly--no matter how deserving the subject--I just didn't "get" or do justice to. The end result of a shooting period in say..Iceland--is entirely dependent on a number of factors, both entirely subjective (Was I in a good mood? Was I tired? Was I cranky? Did I just not connect on a personal level with the people I met during my limited time in country?Did I bring some prejudice or off-camera peronal business to the experience?) to external (Was our fixer not so dynamic? Was the weather bad? Were we just not lucky? Did the reindeer not cooperate...
Perhaps it helps when a country is "smoking friendly"
?
I found it very refreshing that smokers aren't pariahs in Japan. Robyn
P.S. This is a picture of one of several hundred street vendors at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Osaka in mid-April.
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More plastic food - this is a lunch we ate at a small Korean restaurant in the market near the Osaka aquarium. Robyn
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Even though my husband studied Japanese for a year before our trip - it is a difficult language - and his language skills were limited to essentials (where is this - that or the other thing) and pleasantries. Also - there are - if I recall correctly - 3 forms of written Japanese. Kanji (based on Chinese characters) is the most difficult - and it is also the one in which most menus are written. It really isn't posssible to learn Kanji in a short period of time.
So what came to our rescue repeatedly when dining was "plastic food". I am not sure why - but a very large percentage of restaurants in Japan have "plastic food" renditions of their menus in their windows. There are a fair number of stores which sell nothing but plastic food for restaurants.
I'm not sure why that's the case. It isn't for tourists (at least not western tourists). For example - we ate a restaurant named Edogawa. A well known eel restaurant in Kyoto on the top floor of a department store in the rail station. Not exactly a place where a lot of tourists wind up. But whatever the reason - plastic food is extremely useful.
Here is the plastic food rendition of what my husband ordered at Edogawa:
Looks good enough to eat
. Robyn -
I've read many times that the food of Japan is - at least in part - the foundation of the "tasting menu" as we know it in the west. After eating in Japan for almost three weeks - many different types of Japanese meals - and looking for common ground - I have my doubts.
There are many kinds of "formula" formal meals in Japan. Including sushi - tempura - kaiseki - etc. - each with its own structure (there are also less formal meals - frequently served as a whole in a "bento box" - but I'll stick with the formal meals for now).
These meals have a fair number of courses - but usually no more than you'd find in a classical French meal. Courses aren't tiny either (although they're small - you don't wind up with a huge amount of food no matter what you eat in Japan - unless you eat 2 meals
). Nothing like the 10-15-20 course "tiny bites" menus we've come to associate with the concept of "tasting menu" in the west. Even at a sushi restaurant - you traditionally get two pieces in each course - not one. Also - each type of meal tends to have a pattern. Most end with some form of the traditional rice with "something" plus a few sides (like pickles). Must say - I haven't seen too many tasting menus ending with rice with something and a few sides in the west .While eating these meals - I expected to have some kind of epiphany. Like - "oh - this is where tasting menus came from". But no such lightbulb went off in my head. Most of the meals we had were very good ---> excellent - but didn't remind me of anything familiar - including tasting menus. Instead - the occasional familiar "fusion" touch - like a forlorn piece of French bread at a "French Fusion/Kaiseki restaurant" in Osaka - seemed really out of place (although the restaurant was otherwise excellent).
Perhaps I'm not operating on a high enough intellectual plane. Then again - I have to catch up with 13 time zones
.So where did tasting menus come from? Robyn
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Answered my own question by calling the restaurant. It's Monday and Tuesday.
We won't be in Atlanta on those days - so I just made a regular reservation for Sunday - my husband's birthday. Should be fun. Robyn
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Dave - When is the tasting menu served? One recent message of yours says Monday/Tuesday - the other says Sunday/Monday. Robyn
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Read some of your prior messages - and have some additional suggestions.
With regard to Kaiseki - like I said - it is fairly ascetic. You can wind up poor eating it - but you'll never get fat
.And up to about $150/per person - you are mostly paying for food. After that $150 to who knows what price - you are paying for presentation. The pictures of the food I saw on the Hyotei web site were relatively simple presentations compared to those we had at Kitcho. On the other hand - we enjoyed the food at Roan Kikunoi more (even though it was cheaper).
You kind of have to ask yourself what you're looking for. Forget about the concept of "the best". Even if there is a "best" in a particular geographical area in a particular category - you will likely not be able to dine there because many extremely high-end restaurants do not accept non-Japanese patrons. So try to find the good - and the excellent - and the kinds of food you're looking for in the neighborhoods you're in.
With regard to menus and reservations and the like - use your hotel concierge. English is not spoken at all in most of the restaurants we've dined at in Japan. We did ok in most places because my husband learned some Japanese before this trip - but it was useful having Japanese-speaking friends with us when we dined at higher end places. You don't have to speak Japanese if you are pointing at the "plastic food" (although a few polite words in Japanese are always appreciated) - but it is a problem if you're trying to decide between 3 different set menus in a Kaiseki restaurant where the menu is written 100% in Japanese. E.g., at the Kitcho branch we ate at - which is in the Granvia Hotel at the rail station - we asked the concierge what the differences were between 3 menus costing between $150-$300/per person. We couldn't have figured it out on our own since my husband can't read Kanji (the form of Japanese in which most restaurant menus are written).
BTW - I don't think you should miss the eel. The eel restaurant we ate at here in Kyoto was Edogawa - top of the Isetan department store in the train station. Excellent. Better than anything you'll have in the US - and it has plastic food (don't knock plastic food - it's a great way to communicate - because this restaurant - like all the others - didn't have any staff who spoke a word of English). Middle of the road prices - about $50 for lunch for 2 people. Robyn
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Where are you traveling from? I assume jet lag will not be a problem (we couldn't make it to dinner for at least the first 5 days of our trip due to jet lag from the east coast of the US). Also - it sounds like an awful lot of food (I can't do justice to 2 big meals a day - much less 2 with breakfast).
Finally - perhaps I am just a traveler on a "slow" track - but I would always give myself some room to "stop and smell the flowers". To explore areas - and happen on places (except perhaps at dinner - when you want to be relatively close to your hotel to minimize travel during rush hour).
E.g., we didn't eat breakfast at Tsukiji until about 7:30 - because we spent about 2-3 hours poking around all the markets (both the fish and the vegetable/fruit areas).
And in Kyoto - I assume you want to see the sights (which are quite extraordinary). Are the sights close to the places you want to eat?
I think you are eating too much sushi to the exclusion of other styles - like tempura. We've eaten at a couple of wonderful tempura places - but I wouldn't necessarily structure my day around getting to them (we just happened to be in the areas where the restaurants were located for those lunches). Or eel - we ate at an excellent eel restaurant in Kyoto today for lunch.
And I think one of the most fun things you can do is order "take out" from the food basement of a major department store (we've done that a few times because we've been too tired to eat out).
By the way - in terms of kaiseki - we've eaten 2 high-end kaiseki meals here in Kyoto at relatively famous restaurants. One was about $100/head for lunch (Roan Kikunoi) - the other $200/head for dinner (and the most expensive menu was $300/head - that was the branch of Kitcho in the Kyoto station). Those restaurants weren't considered the "tops" though. The very top restaurants are about $300-600/head. We didn't go to them because they were pretty far away from where we are staying. Kyoto Kaiseki is very beautiful - but very ascetic. Not my favorite.
Perhaps I have been in Japan too long (almost 2 1/2 weeks now) - but I have adopted a very zen approach to travel here. Just let it flow. There are over 100,000 restaurants in Tokyo - and I don't know how many in Kyoto. There is no best restaurant - in any category. There are simply dozens of excellent ones. So relax - and enjoy.
By the way - we found a very excellent English speaking cab driver/guide for sightseeing in Kyoto. Not that expensive either. Used him for 2 days. If you are interested in his services - PM me and I will give you contact information. It is harder to get around in Kyoto to see the major sights than in Tokyo and it's nice to have a driver/guide. Robyn
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Robyn,
That photo looks like okonomiyaki on a stick.
I think that's what it is too. FWIW - it looked better than it tasted (but at 100 yen - about $1 each - there was no downside in trying). Robyn
Slanted Door Review
in California: Dining
Posted · Edited by robyn (log)
When we ate lunch there - the people on both sides of us were local business people having lunch. So were most of the other people in the restaurant judging from the number of dark suits. Anyway - the people on both sides of us were quite friendly - and recommended various dishes to us. Since we were only 2 people - dining at what was basically our breakfast time - we only had 2 light dishes. Fit the bill in terms of what we were looking for - light and reasonably tasty (I am certainly not an expert on Vietnamese food - or Korean or Japanese food for that matter - I admit I had to work in Japan to appreciate the subtle differences between high end kaiseki meals - and *really* high end kaiseki meals - but anything that tastes good is ok by me).
Perhaps the problem with this restaurant is mostly a dinner/perceptions problem. It isn't cheap - people have unreasonably high expectations - and waiting an hour to be seated after your dinner reservation has come and gone doesn't put people in a good mood. Also - I guess there are people who think that if an Asian restaurant isn't cheap and doesn't look "authentic" - like a dump - it can't possibly be good (anyone who has notions like that should go to Japan - where it's possible to have extremely expensive authentic excellent food in very contemporary very minimalist surroundings). Robyn