Close To Home And Yet So Far - Indochine

When Josh used to work in Tacoma Art Museum he had lunch in Indochine once. He thought it was pretty good. And so, last Monday we decided to give Indochine a go. I even dressed up in my Baju Melayu just for kicks.

We were well attended and did not have to wait to be seated as the server gracefully walked towards us with a warm and sincere smile on her face and seated us around the pond. Yes a pond. Even before the menu catch your attention, I can bet on a stack of cook books that you'll be awed by the interior design of this restaurant. Gleaming hardwood floor and 'furniture', unique settings, a pond in the middle of the restaurant - it is hard to believe that this restaurant's space used to be a warehouse. I always fancy adaptive reuse of space.

We had ourselves Thai iced teas and a Drunken Buddha. Good presentation, not so sure about whip cream on the iced tea but the Orchids definitely made it look delicious. The iced tea was very good, thick, perfect consistency, unlike in some places where the tea is very watered down or the milk is almost overpowering the tea.

We had fresh spring rolls and and the curried vegetable empanadas. I can't help but to smile and laugh when they served the empanadas. It's basically 'karipap'... For a second there I felt at home. The spring rolls are made of literally fresh top grade lettuce,basil and cilantro with shredded chicken and symmetrically split shrimp. It is served with a watery garlic chili sauce. It taste good with or without the sauce anyways. The 'karipap' was served with thick peanut sauce. Josh admire the sauce, I was fairly indifferent. I grow up eating 'karipap' the way it is - with peanut sauce is a strange novel experience indeed.-------------Rolls = $7.50 Karipap = $9.00

I found it rather typical for me to order Tom Yung Gung or Tom Ka Gai whenever I go to a Thai/Asian restaurants. So at Indochine I ordered something different - Tomato Soup with Blackened shrimp (3 star spicy level). It swear they used Naga Jolokia or something like that in that soup. It was a very spicy tomato soup even for 3 star. I didn't get to enjoy the soup since it was too spicy even for someone who grows up eating spicy food everyday.---------- $12.95

Three Flavor Wild Salmon Steak. a pound of salmon steak cooked with basil, bell peppers, garlic and smothered with the typical Thai 3 flavored sauce. Sweet, sour and spicy. Not one taste is superior than the others and yet each are clearly distinct on the tongue. Personally the dish would have been better served on a different kind of fish. The sauce would ruin the Salmon's taste. Salmon lovers would find that the sauce hides or even overwhelms the unique taste of Salmon. For people who are not big with Salmon, this dish will not be your enemy.--------$26.95

The Black Sea. It's paella with black rice and instead of the tomato and pepper based sauce, coconut milk is used as the substitute. It is weird even for me, but the weirdest combination turns out to be quite appetizing. I have never thought seafood will taste good with black rice let alone cooked as paella. however I prefer the original paella over this dish any day, Provided of course the paella is a good one. Thumbs up for the creativity in making something new and different.-----------$25.95

We topped our dinner with the warm coconut cake. The waitress was amazing - she added a complimentary scoop of orange cranberry gelato on top of the cake. She also didn't charge us for our 2nd glass of iced tea. Coconut cake was my choice only because that seems to be the only thing that is different on their dessert list. It was fortunately a good choice. the warmth of the cake coupled with the smooth cold taste of the gelato made a whirlwind of sensation in my mouth. the texture of the cake was rather exquisite in taste. The soft cake with coconut shaves and the melty gelato combined in a great harmony of multiple texture. I am glad I didn't ordered the usual creme brulee or sticky rice and mango. -------$7.95

Price-----8/10. I'm amazed at how the price of all the entrees are cheaper then the House Speciality. not by a dollar or two but by almost 10 dollars. Appetizers are a little overpriced. I do however believe that I paid for the ambiance and the experience.
Food------8/10. PF Chang has got nothing on this restaurant. You might want to be careful when choosing the level of spiciness.
Service-----10/10. Top Notch. Enough said.
Ambiance--------9.5/10. If only there are flowers on my table.

I definitely will come back.

Tacoma's Best

Last night I was thinking of taking my boyfriend, his sister and his mom to The Melting Pot in Tacoma but since it was rather a spontaneous decision, we ended up not being able to get seatings. Note to self: Always make reservation even if it's 20 minutes away. Making the story short, we decided to go to Tacoma Pacific Grill instead and here is what I have to say about it.

The ambiance of the restaurant is pretty laid back. even at the busiest hour this place seems calm and mellow. Jazz was playing when we were there. I personally like the dark wood furniture and finishes - it compliments the dimmed lighting and the slow Jazz. Most patrons are in their late 30s and above - not very much of a surprise considering the environment of the restaurant is pretty lavish and sophisticated, suitable for the fancy diners.

Now food. We had the Steamers and Scallop Crudo. The Steamers is a bowl of steamed Manila clamps served with garlic and herbal broth with two medium slices of home-made croutons. It is definitely the best Manila clamps I have ever tasted since I first came to Seattle in fall 2007. I am a huge fan of shellfish and I have tried almost all shellfish dishes served in famous Seattle restaurant. I used to think that 13 Coins pesto Manila clam was the best but Pacific Grill definitely changed my mind. The clam was cooked carefully to the point that every clam managed to absorb even the smallest hint of herbs used in making the broth. I usually end up having at least one unopened clam in most restaurants I've been too but Pacific Grill made sure that did not happen.A flavorful dish it was with a nice garlic taste Though there are plenty of garlic bits visible in the broth, the taste of the garlic was rather subtle. I would have ordered a second serving but I decided to leave the room for something else since it was my first time there and I wanted to try as many dishes as I can.--------------$13.95

Scallop Crudo. My weakness. Raw jumbo scallops thinly sliced into for 4 slices served with fresh chopped basil and pepper. There are some other herbs as well that I can't really tell. I tried one slice without any lime juice and I have to say it did taste better with the lime wedges squeezed on it. They served it with lime wedges for a reason I guess. Forget sashimi, this crudo is fantastically flavorful that it rid off the strong taste of the Caipirinha I had with it. For something like this crudo, even those who squirm at the thought of eating raw food will ask for more.---------------$8.50

For main course we had their special 'Asian-style Mahi-mahi', The Pacific Grill 'Lobster Bake' and 'Halibut and Caviar'.

Let's start with the Mahi-mahi. So, I was told that it is a tropical fish, then how is it that in all my days back in Malaysia, I have never come across this fish. That besides the point, let me just say that the Mahi-mahi last night was nothing less than exceptional. I remember 'the piece of block' served at Oceanaire last year's Mother's day. It was a piece of Mahi-mahi cut into a thick block served a little shy from cold on a barren plate - that's when I knew that I wont be coming back there. Cheesecake factory 'fish of the day' has most often been the Mahi-mahi as well, cooked in 2 different ways grilled and another in Marinara sauce. I tried both, twice, utter disappointment. And yesterday Josh and I finally decided to give the Mahi-mahi its last chance and to our delight it has claimed a great reputation in our palate. The Pacific Grill Mahi-mahi is apparently seasonal, therefore I am very glad we came last night. Cooked with multiple Asian herbs served on a perfectly portioned bed of rice, this dish is a must try. Stereotype would have you believe that 'Asian-style' equals to 'spicy' or 'hot' but I can assure you that this dish is neither bland nor unbearably spicy. All four of us unanimously agreed that it was the best fish we've had in a long time. Ivar's Acres of Clams has got nothing on this Mahi-mahi.-----$32.00

Lobster Bake. The lobster bake consist of a medium sized lobster tail, cracked open for convenience, chopped red potatoes, scallops, Manila clams, mussels, PacGrill's own special sausage, artichoke heart and an out of place corn on a cob.It seems almost disappointing that the broth used for this dish is the same as the one used in The Steamers. The downside is, with all the other stuff in this dish, the broth did not taste as good anymore. The sausage and the corn on a cob definitely brought this dish down. Josh's sister,Mary, said the corn tasted like as if it came straight from the refrigerator. I don't even understand why would there be a sausage in bowl of seafood anyway. The dish would have been better without those two. Nonetheless this dish taste good for what it's worth. Definitely no something any of the four of us would try again but maybe there is someone out there who thinks having sausage mixed with four different kind of seafood is a great idea.-------$28.95

Halibut and Caviar. I definitely would rather have the Halibut without the 'sevruga' caviar on top. If I had a say in making this menu/dish, I would serve it without the caviar and slash the price because we know that one teaspoon of caviar on top of the halibut (which did absolutely nothing to improve the dish as a whole) probably make up 20% of the dish's price. Aside the unnecessary speckle of caviar on the halibut, everything else about the dish was amazing. The fish itself was tender, not chewy like some halibut I've had. Perfectly seasoned as it should be considering the nature of Halibut being bland. good portion, served on a bed of one of the finest mashed potato I have tried in Seattle. The mash potatoes was not too creamy, not too thick, greatly seasoned and would leave you scraping the dish for more. The asparagus on the side was just asparagus, Nothing really special about it. It didn't taste bad, it was not great either.------$32.00

DESERT

Julia Child's Brownies. It is more of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream served with Julia Child's brownies. The brownie itself is over-portioned by the ice cream. Nothing special about this dessert, though I can see how people would think that the brownie is slightly better than Betty Crocker's.-----$8.50

Crème brûlée. It was like any other Crème brûlée I have tasted in countless places. It made me wonder why I was stupid enough to order it. I was expecting it to be different I guess.------$8.00

Sorbet du jour. We had 'Margarita Mango'. Definitely one of the best Mango flavored sorbet/ice cream/gelato around. And I thought Whole Food's Malaysian Mango Gelato was great, until last night. Margarita because they put the sorbet in a salt rimmed glass. The salt didn't really do anything. Too bad the sorbet isn't technically made by PacGrill but purchased from the Olympic Mountain Ice Cream & Sorbet.----- $6.50

Wrapping up.

The food: PacGrill is good for their dishes but I will have my desert elsewhere. Definitely a place to come again for business lunch or just dinner. 9/10

The ambiance: classy, enough room between tables, music is neither loud nor too subtle, comfortable for a feel good dining experience or even for business lunch. 7.5/10

Price: Except for the dessert everything else is well portioned and priced. 8.5/10

Service: I had one of the most unfriendly server in my dining experience. Maybe because I was wearing shorts and fitted t-shirt and not some fancy dress shirts like what she usually gets. I tipped 20% nonetheless. 5/10.

p/s: PacGrill is VERY generous with their alcohol. You really just need one cocktail drink for the entire dinner. the Urban Bourbon will send you to bed earlier than your usual time.