JiRaffe in Santa Monica
We were trying to get to a Mexican restaurant for dinner during my extended layover in LA when my friend drove past JiRaffe. At my request we skipped the Mexican and visited JiRaffe instead. Considering it was Friday night we weren’t sure if we’d be able to get a table but to our luck they had one open and we were quickly whisked upstairs to our table.
After looking through the menu and listening to our waiter’s heavily accented English for the day’s specials we made our order and then we waited.
Turned out we had made good decisions on the entrées. I had one of the specials of the day, foie gras served with chopped nuts and mango and this or other while my friend picked a selection from their regular menu and had their dungeness crab salad–light and refreshing, a perfect accompaniment to my selection which was much richer in flavor. Then we split an order of another entrée which I can’t remember. I think it was another special of the day. Ooops. (This is what I get for writing about it seven days later almost to the dot, minus a few hours!)
For her main she had their roasted rabbit entrée while I selected an actual main course: the caramelized pork chop.
The pork chop, aside from being too dry, was a shocking reminder of the portions served in American restaurants. After going through two entrées (well, we shared the second one, whatever it was), I was in no shape to take on this course. I ate bits and pieces of it and that was about it. I also tried my friend’s roasted rabbit and, to my surprise, I discovered I wasn’t crazy about rabbit meat. It was like chicken except with a smoother texture, which was kinda strange to my mouth. I definitely will give it a try again sometimes in the future but at the time, I really can’t say I enjoyed it all that much.
That being said, I do have a second stomach for dessert and I had their chocholate truffle cake with vanilla ice cream along with a café latte while my friend went for a black coffee. Again I found the offering to be a bit dry and I really needed that ice cream to get the cake down my throat.
Given the chance I would like to try out the restaurant again. What we had were enjoyable but I’d need a second visit to make a firm call on the restaurant.
JiRaffe
501 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Tel: +1 310 917 6671
www.jirafferestaurant.com
Also of note is that they list the 1998 Chateau Lafite Rothschild in their wine list. I would have loved to try it if it wasn’t for the USD 390 price tag. Ouch.
Sweet Home Sydney
9 total flights
SYD-xLAX-xJFK [QF107]-BOS [AA4616]
BOS-xPHL [US 779]-SCE [US 4488]
SCE-xPHL [US 4466]-BOS [US 1612]
BOS-LAX [AA25]-SYD [QF150]
Okay, so I’m cheating. QF107 is technically one flight as it has one flight number from Sydney all the way to New York, but we did have to disembark in LA for immigration and then re-board.
8 hours of the best sleep I’ve ever had in an airplane
I passed out cold for a solid 8 hours on the way back from LA to Sydney. Just when my body had finally adjusted to US East Coast timezone, I got shifted to LA which meant that 23:55 departure was now a 02:55 departure. I recall debating whether or not I should ask for the pre-flight champagne (having only taken a glass of water instead) but it soon became a moot point as I was suddenly passing in and out of sleep even while sitting in the upright position.
I wanted the plane to take-off as soon as possible and turn my seat into a bed after we reach cruising altitude (or whenever it is that the captain turns off the seatbelt sign) but then the plane moved away from the gate, and just sat on the runway. Later on I found out we were delayed about 40 minutes. I finally woke-up again around 1am and noting the seatbelt sign had been turned off I put the seat into bed mode, covered myself up and slept through the supper service.
Finally woke-up around 9am Saturday morning LA time/2am Sunday morning Sydney time. Picked-up little munchies from the “bar”, listened to my music, and just relaxed for the next 5 hours.
Now having tried Qantas’ SkyBed, I have to say I much prefer it over Singapore Airlines’ SpaceBed which was long my favorite. As a whole, it seemed to have been very well thought-out. Though like any other seat, that personal “reading light” wasn’t all that great, the light falling off just short from my book. But that aside, I really liked the meal-tray storage on the side of the seat, where the side panel opens inward at an angle from which the meal tray can be pulled out from up top.
The presets on the seat were also very well done. Regular upright mode, work/meal mode (the back slightly leans forward to provide more support), “Z”/relaxation mode, and of course the bed mode. Very simple. As for the actual seat itself, it was also quite comfortable, the same if not more so than the SpaceBed. (And yes, Cathay’s current business class offering is still at the bottom of this list. Their re-launched product, however, is an entirely new ballgame.)
6 days in the US of A
Meetings in Cape Cod followed by a quick trip to State College, PA and then a day in Boston followed by a day in LA (extended layover, really) before finally taking off for Sydney.
5 airplane meals eaten
Yeah, I’m getting desperate here. Notice I skipped 7. On the positive, the fresh fruits on QF were actually decent, and I also liked the muscat they offered during dessert. I made a note of it but have since forgotten it. On the other hand, I must note that my BOS-LAX flight with American Airlines was a two-class flight and my business class booking netted me a first class seat. WHOO-HOO. Not.
True, the seat was bigger and more comfortable than economy, but with the lack of sleep, that flight could’ve been in economy and in all honesty I wouldn’t have noticed.
But this section is about the meals, so let’s talk about the breakfast service, which was decent. Though that had to be the first time flying in a premium class that I heard of a meal selection not available. Depending on the cereals offered I was thinking of going for cereal + milk + fruit instead of their fluffly egg omelette. Turned out the cereal wasn’t available by the time they got to me so I had the egg .. it was quite decent and not bad at all, even if in other airlines this would’ve been an economy class offering and not a premium class meal, much less a first class offering. (I mean, hell, SQ hands out hot-towels in economy for crying out-loud. AA’s first class netted heated wet wipes! Setting aside that I truly hate wet wipes, heated wet wipes, which I encountered here for the first time, are disgusting.)
I honestly can’t imagine why anyone would want to pay the premium to fly business/first within the US. I wouldn’t mind paying for United’s p.s. flights, I’ve heard that the business and first class offerings for these flights are within par of other airlines’ international business and first class offering. But in general? Maybe if I wanted heated wet wipes. Yikes.
4 hours hanging out with a friend in LA
Went to dinner at JiRaffe (review upcoming) in Santa Monica followed by a short walking tour of the area around it. Not bad at all–felt like a mini Sydney–and I wish I could’ve spent a whole day touring LA and the area around it but such is life.
(3.5 hours at a Westin Junior Suite.)
I checked-in at the hotel on Tuesday night to find out I had been upgraded to a Junior Suite because they were sold out–nevermind that I had made the booking far in advance. I dumped my stuff in the room and proceeded to go out for a drink with a friend of mine. Came back at midnight and slept at around half past midnight only to wake-up at 3am to catch my 5:30am flight to State College. Left the room around 3:30 or so.
-sigh-
3 lost luggage bags in one week
My two bags didn’t make it with me to Boston–and I’m not sure if it was in LA that it missed the continuing QF107 flight or if it was in JFK connecting from QF107 to AA4616. Fortunately it was delivered to me by about 10am Sunday morning (the next day) but unfortunately I noticed a particularly nice belt I owned was now no longer in my possession. On top of this Qantas had misplaced my jacket as they never returned it to me prior to landing in LA and I forgot to ask for it.
These didn’t make for a good start, but I thought I had left it all behind when my one bag (I had left the other in Boston) didn’t make it back with me to Boston from State College.
Again, thankfully, this was delivered later in the afternoon though I didn’t find out until about 6pm. With an 8am flight the next day I was nearly going mad!
2 new airports visited
Philadelphia (PHL) and State College (SCE). I wish all my friends lived in major airline hubs. SCE-PHL is served by a Dash 8 TurboProp plane. Fun! It really made me that much more appreciative when I finally stepped into a 744 in LA.
1 crazy loon on the plane
With about an hour or so left into the LAX-SYD flight one of the flight crews approached the man sitting in the aisle seat on the left side of the plane before turning to me. He had a lady with a mental stress disorder or something other and he wanted to get her off the plane as soon as possible when we arrived in Sydney, and since I sat in the first row right by the door, he was wondering if I would mind moving up into the upper deck. I really didn’t mind at all considering: 1) It wasn’t a downgrade and 2) I was hoping to sit upstairs anyway but check-in had told me that business class was oversold.
Turned out the seat I was re-settled into was free the whole night.
As for the poor woman, I wasn’t sure what happened to her. I hope she’s allright. Stories had it that it was her first time flying long-haul. Poor woman.
Other things of note:
1. Wait-list system for using the showers at the LAX Admiral’s Club. I guess this is better than having to stake out your shower, though for a minute I was quite worried I wouldn’t get a chance to take a shower before my LAX-SYD flight. Thankfully I got the summons just minutes after settling into my seat.
2. The AA pilot on BOS-LAX was the most chatty I’ve heard in awhile and I really wished he’d just shut-up. Of particular note was the instruction not to use the toilet for too long, or to congregate around the toilet area. Really makes me embarassed as an American.
3. When we landed at LAX from Sydney and were waiting for our bags I noticed two carousels: one for first and business and the other for economy. I was surprised such a system existed in an American airport and I was pleasantly surprised. NOT.
Turned out the first/business carousel was for our flight arriving from Sydney and the other was for a flight arriving for Melbourne.
When told that for a good 20 minutes or so the Sydney carousel had no new bags appearing, a supervisor asked us to be patient as they had two planes being unloaded.
Did they not know far in advance they were going to have two full 744s arriving from Australia at about the same time?
Thank you unions. You are the backbone of America indeed.
4. Screaming airport workers. It wasn’t until my return to Sydney airport that I realized what it was that really differentiated surly American airport workers and other surly airport workers in AsiaPac. Ours don’t scream and look annoyed at us honest paying passengers.
American ones even speak with atrocious grammar over the loudspeaker while making supposedly calming announcements.
5. I checked-in one bag in State College, PA, made a 30 minute connecting flight in Philadelphia onward to Boston and my bag didn’t make it in time.
Oh, thanks again to labor unions.
I get the feeling that Australia also has labor unions, but why is it that priority tagged bags still come out first, the airport pleasant, and things just work in general? (My missing jacket aside.)
Boy am I glad to be back home.
Flying in comfort
I was just thinking the other day: why don’t airlines have more widescreen/letterboxed movies? My favorite airline when it comes to the onboard entertainment is Singapore Airlines because they have a decent selection of Asian movies subbed and in widescreen. But in this regard, they’re the same like any other airlines: the foreign movies (i.e., non-English) are mostly letterboxed and subbed while the regular movies (e.g., Mission: Impossible III) are pan’n scan.
What gives?
Then it dawned on me. Economy class PTVs, where they exist, are tiny–this was driven home on my Sydney – Jakarta flight at the beginning of the month. Understand that I started flying SQ in business and only flew economy with them only once and I don’t recall a PTV during that flight. Either way, I had always thought the PTV in business class was kinda small, but very watchable, and was standard.
WRONG.
I took a rough estimate of the PTV in SQ’s economy class and they came out to about six inches. That 10″ PTV in business now seemed like a luxury.
I’ve also wondered just when it was that they’d design an economy class cabin where a reclining seat wouldn’t bother the person sitting behind.
Well, wonder no more.
I decided to hop over to the FlyerTalk Forum earlier this evening (writer’s block) and discovered that Cathay Pacific has unveiled a refresh of not one, not two, but of all three classes! The most amazing was the economy seat recline that doesn’t disturb the person sitting behind you, but next after that was the nine inch PTV!
I checked out their new business class offering as well and it looks like they’ve done away with their angled bed seats (ala SQ’s SpaceBed and QF’s SkyBed) and have gone with true flat-bed seats ala NZ’s new (as of late last year) business class seats with the major difference being that CX’s lie-flat seats goes into recline without the customer ever having to get off the seat, the major reason I disliked NZ’s offering.
Then I saw the PTV offering: 15″ 16:9 screen!
If it weren’t for PPS Club with SQ and SQ’s service (which I do think is better than CX), CX is going to quickly become my new favorite airline.
Really makes me wonder what SQ’s new offering will be like for first and business (not sure if they’re refreshing their economy class cabin as well). While I’ve never tried first, even I’ll admit the SpaceBed is aging at the moment.
An appalling Nepalese dining experience
I was out for a drink with a friend last night before we found ourselves wandering up and down the streets of Surry Hills looking for dinner. After a while we ended up in the cramped quarters of The Nepalese Kitchen with their mouth-watering menu. Shortly after ordering I popped-out quickly to the bottle shop next door when we discovered the restaurant was BYO.
This turned out to be a good decision.
After the ling fish entrée (which I thought was probably catfish) we were quite excited and had already added the restaurant to the “We’ll have to come back again soon”, until we got the rest of our order. What came afterward were way too salty and I barely touched my goat curry. Likewise my friend barely touched her chicken curry and as the night continued, we also found the dal to be quite salty as well. Trying to make-up for all this by simply eating the paratha and rice also didn’t quite work out as one of the waiters knocked my friend’s wine glass into her plate, causing us to throw away about half the paratha.
What did we get out of this?
A clueless “Sorry” delivered with one of the most helpless faces I had ever seen. It was as if there was nothing he could do and that we had to just suck it up. We tried ordering another paratha but he simply got us a new plate, and when I checked if it was coming we discovered that they had run out of it, and that they were just going to strike-out the paratha out of our bills.
After the over-salted food we had downgraded the restaurant to “We’ll be back, but not anytime soon” but this was quickly downgraded to “Not coming back anytime soon” aka “Never coming back” after the shit service and the nasty toilet.
Yeeesh. Good riddance.
Thank goodness I lucked-out with the wine.
The Nepalese Kitchen
481 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Tel: +61 2 9319 4264
Can it get any cuter than this??
I was walking up Hunter St. after picking-up my lunch earlier this afternoon when I noticed a man on the sidewalk taking pictures with what seemed to be a camera-phone. Disturbingly, it looked like mine, so I peeked at it as I walked past him and noticed that indeed it was the K800!
Damn!
Well, anyway, it was at this point that I noticed two other people taking pictures as well and when I looked over to see what they’re taking pictures of, I saw …
I’m not sure why, but I turned on the BestPic feature of my K800 and I’m glad I did! The picture above is the first picture in the series of nine. If this feature really worked as advertised, that it takes four pictures prior and after the shutter button is pressed, then had I not turned on BestPic I wouldn’t have gotten the picture with the dog in the back seat looking at me.
The most surprising thing is that as I crossed the street to get a closer picture, the dog in the driver seat, as if sensing my intention, turned to face me and hung his fore-leg out the window. I kid you not! And yes, the dog in the back also turned toward me as well. Strangest thing. Well, in a good way. It was pretty cute and really made my day.
“Kodak moments” such as this really makes it hard for me to swallow the argument that camera-phones are gimmicks. In fact, the other people taking pictures aside from myself were all using camera-phones. Maybe one was using an actual camera, but my memory fails me. I do know for a fact that aside from the other K800 dude, there was another guy taking a picture with a camera-phone.
TV sucks
There I was, enjoying a hot bowl of teo-chew porridge with a friend at some eatery at Jalan Kayu in the middle of nowhere in Singapore during my layover on the way home from Jakarta this past Sunday when my attention was diverted to the TV hanging from the ceiling. It was set to a channel that was showing the second Charlie’s Angels movie.
As we continued our conversation I realized my visual attention was now diverted not just between my friend and my food but also to the TV. It was then that I noticed a family sitting one table over, all four (or maybe five) enjoying a bowl of porridge, and all but one of them were staring at the TV.
It was one of the saddest sights I had ever seen. Here was a family dining out and yet there was absolute silence from their table save for slurping noises punctuated by the sound of spoons scraping against bowls every now and then. There was no conversation, no exchange of stories, experiences, jokes (even bad ones). Nothing.
The image is now burned in my head, of a TV hanging from the ceiling, sucking out the life and soul of that one family.
And sometimes I wonder if perhaps I don’t own a TV partly because of this hatred I have of it.
Or is it fear?
French-Viet Fusion in Surry Hills
I really should have written this as soon as I left the restaurant, or at least last week when the memories were still fresh and unsullied by the weekend trip to Jakarta. But here goes …
Last week a good friend of mine took me to Cochin Restaurant in Surry Hills for dinner for my birthday. It was a Tuesday night and when we first stepped into the restaurant I felt like I had entered a small boutique fashion shop with its contrasting dark leather and soft white walls, and the fact that we were the only two patrons in the entire restaurant. But just as were seated and I thought she had booked-out the entire restaurant just to celebrate my birthday, in came two other customers (didn’t think so).
We had apparently arrived on the night of the unveiling of the spring menu and we chose the degustation menu, volunteering to be their guinea pig. While some items could’ve used a bit more work, especially that salmon course that was too dry and too salty, the rest were excellent. The best parts included the amuse-bouche of green-pea and something or another soup. I remember there was this sweet flavor that takes me back to something I had eaten in the past but couldn’t quite recall.
The other star entry was the pork belly, flavorful even if it wasn’t as tender as I wished it (especially when Busshari’s pork belly entrée is absolutely amazing and tender).
They also served us a sampling of their duck dish as a bonus, which unfortunately I wasn’t too crazy about. My friend liked duck and if she weren’t so full I swear she would’ve finished the entire plate (kidding! just kidding!). As for me, maybe I was too full? I can barely remember everything that came to our table that night but let’s just say it was a pretty rich menu and having a duck course at the end probably just threw the whole thing off.
The fact that besides us there were only three other groups of people probably made the entire evening a much more pleasant one with just enough ambient chatter and music but not a singularly private experience.
I hope I get to go back there soon, and not simply to confirm my initial response but because I really did like the food.
Cochin Restaurant
61 Fitzroy Street
Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Tel: +61 2 9358 5388
cochinrestaurant.com.au
Last notes: strictly BYO … bring a good bottle!
Office chatter
Maybe it’s just our office, but one social characteristic of the Sydney office that I found to be extremely different from the Boston office (that is, where I work) is that people here talk. But they don’t really talk.
One thing that I still miss, after over 2 years of working in Sydney, is the office banter where a few people would get into really focused discussions on one thing or another. It’s not unusual to hear two or three people discussing something with a certain dedication, whether it be a discussion of the Matrix trilogy, the latest bone-headed move by our government, whatever. Or heck, even celebrity gossip.
Steve Irwin’s death, had he been an American, would’ve provoked major congregations at the helpdesk and at other spots around the department in our Boston office. In Sydney?
“Hey, guys, did you know Steve Irwin’s dead?”
“Yeah … read it earlier, that was sad.”
That was the extent of the response that I got. And I didn’t see anyone really discussing it either.
Maybe we just work harder.
RIP, Steve Irwin
Or, as I call him, “The Crikey! Guy”. I was quite surprised at my own reaction when I read the news earlier Monday afternoon. I don’t particularly care much for him since I don’t have a TV, and the last time I saw him behind a TV screen he was lecturing passengers in my flight about Australia’s quarantine laws and whatnots, cutting off my movie. Grrr.
But, as I said, I was quite shocked. He really is such an Australian icon that even to a non-fan like me his death made an impact. But afterward, reading and thinking some more about it, something familiar surfaced.
“Freak death.”
“Accidental death.”
“He probably died almost instantly.”
“He died doing what he loved best.”
Reading these words triggered something in me. They sounded so familiar, not to mention outright banal and empty. If you think for a second that telling his closest friends and family that Irwin died “doing what he loved best” is going to comfort them, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
I truly and absolutely despise that phrase. It is such a common utterance completely devoid of sensitivity, care, and emotion. It is not at all comforting to the person grieving. In fact, it is the most positive and upbeat thing one could say, but no more comforting than “He’s dead Jim.”
The next time one of your close friends is grieving, do not tell them that “at least” their friend/family/etc. died doing what they loved best. If you think they’re in any shape or form to be positive or upbeat, do you think they would be grieving? To make matters worse, “at least”? What do you mean, “at least”?
Insensitive bastards.
Hyde Park on a Friday night
![Hyde Park, Sydney [1 SEP 2006]](http://altanone.smugmug.com/photos/92564676-M.jpg)
Hyde Park, Sydney — Avenue of Figs (?) [1 SEP 2006]
