bangkok spoon

mountain view, ca

link to yelp

this is one of derek's favorite lunch spots near the office. he ordered the pad kee mow and i ordered the pad see ew. he he enjoys the thinner longer noodles that they use here, although i prefer thicker rice noodles, similar to ho fun in chinese restaurants. decor was very nice, prices were good, service was friendly and speedy. food was decent, although derek's was a little bit better because it was spicy. my tofu had a little bit of a char on it which i liked but others might not. overall, not a destination restaurant, but a good spot for some noodles if you're in the area.

tokyo express

san francisco, ca

website

a few co-workers and i walked across the street from our san francisco offices and found tokyo express. it's a little confusing at first because there are numbered cards sitting on empty tables. however, when you order at the register in the back of the restaurant, you can tell them which table you want and the number sitting on that table. when your food is ready, they'll bring it to your table. very fast and efficient service -- this is clearly a lunch spot catered to busy professionals. my pork katsu was pretty good, although they relied on bottled tonkatsu sauce that was a bit too tangy. it's a good spot if you've got a group of 4 people and don't want to wait for a table elsewhere.

juban

menlo park, ca

website

miracle of miracles, derek and i were both leaving the office before 7 pm. we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner. and we decided since we had so much time on our hands, we should drive over to menlo park and check out a restaurant downtown (downtown of course being a single street with a handful of restaurants and shops). juban is japanese-style korean bbq, if that makes any sense. it's similar to gyu-kaku in new york city. the meat is prepared in a soy sauce-based marinade and is usually cut to be more aesthetically pleasing than you would find in a typical korean bbq spot.

the meat was very good and it was fun to cook it ourselves at our table. unfortunately the meal was missing the banchan dishes that you usually get with korean bbq and they even made us pay extra for the kimchi. we did, however, get an excellent bowl of oxtail soup - a warm and comforting broth, filled with rice and oxtail. since you do all of the cooking at your table, this is a very efficient place to eat - it took us about a half hour from getting seated to getting our check. a pretty good option for japanese bbq in the south bay.