Blue Fin Fish & Roll Restaurant

During my first visit to Blue Fin Sushi & Roll, my dining partners and I found some interesting special rolls, which I recommend you all to try!:

Tokyo Express Roll- A sweet roll

Mexican Roll- Instead of the sushi wrapped in nori, its wrapped by a tortilla! 

Other rolls I enjoyed were the Garlic Tuna Nigiri and Blue Fin Special Roll- Cajun albacore, cucumber, blue fin tuna, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, cilantro with the chef special sauce.

Salo-Salo

For a lunch outing with my dad and aunts, we went to Salo-Salo Grill & Restaurant in West Covina. 

I decided to get the Spicy Coconut Chicken combination plate which comes with the soup of day - Beef Mami noodle soup:

Beef Mami - Filipino comfort food

Here's the main dish with egg rolls (you may choose among vegetable, pork, or shrimp egg rolls) and garlic fried rice (or you can get steamed rice).  The suka (vinegar) that came as a dip for the egg rolls was sourly superb:

Spicy Coconut Chicken - it was mildly spicy, the coconut sauce was subtle, and it paired well with the garlic fried rice.

Boneless Bangus - A grilled deboned, lightly marinated milkfish.

Pinakbet - Mixed vegetables (squash, okra, long beans, eggplant) with bagoong alamang (shrimp paste), shrimp, and pork.

For dessert we shared a halo-halo.  Before you eat this dessert, you have to mix the shaved ice, ube (purple yam) ice cream, evaporated milk, fruits, and boiled sweet beans.  These various ingredients include kidney beans, kaong (sugar palm fruit), langkâ (jackfruit), macupuno (coconut) strings, nata de coco, leche flan, etc.:

Halo-Halo - I'd choose this over a smoothie any day, sarap!

Bar + Bistro @ The Arts Factory

For my first First Friday experience (finally!), I first went to Bar + Bistro for a birthday dinner:

Everything on the menu were enticing to me!  My friend and I wanted to try the same exact items (Grilled Fish Tacos, Spiced Salmon Salad, and 4 Cheese Mac), what a coincidence haha:

Since we didn't want to order the same foods we made a compromise.  I got the Grilled Fish Tacos (tapas style):

Mahi mahi fish, jicama slaw, mango salsa, & tomatillo sauce

And Reggie got the Spiced Salmon Salad:

Organic greens, tomatoes, pecans, cured ricotta, & citrus dressing

The birthday lady got Tempura Alcachofa (there were more pieces).  The tempura was perfectly puffy to me and the curry aioli had a strong curry taste.  So if you enjoy curry, this dish is for you:

Long stemmed artichoke hearts in tempura and curry aioli as a dip

Cecilia got Donut Churros in substitution of a birthday cake.  This was a interesting twist because they were softer and moist than the typical long churro:

Topped with cinnamon sugar and comes with a Spanish chocolate dip