Anand "teh ai" I.'s Profile

Is it a men's spa? A bar? A barbershop? A shoe-shining place?

This is truly a man's retreat in the FiDi. I mainly went there today to get my hair cut. But would you believe it that they had no (useful) mirrors around the hairdressing area? I had no idea how my hairdresser was doing. At all. In fact, I almost had to ask her to see a mirror before I left. I found that a bit weird.

MR definitely makes you second guess yourself when you walk in because its a swanky joint and you're not exactly sure how to navigate it. I felt a little apprehensive today as I walked in.

The clientele this afternoon comprised of mostly middle-aged men. Not sure if that's a common theme though.

The staff is great. The service was really good. And I'm happy with my hair. Looking forward to coming back here for happy hour some time.

Nice, I like.

I was telling my friend earlier today that I went to Eos. I was asked to describe the cuisine, and I was stumped. They have everything from shitake mushroom dumplings to madras curry chicken. Go figure.

You almost want to go to this place with a giant party. The dinner portions are small tapas sized. The wait was excusable, but the bartenders at the bar could work on their attitude a tad.

Definitely recommended.

overrated

I was running around one day looking for what I thought could be a good gift. Are flowers are too old school now? I dunno.

Anyhow, I was running around pretty aimlessly for something to occur to me when I drove by Hoogasian - right next to Room and Board. This place seems like a flea market for flowers, of sorts. I wasn't really sure what I was doing there, of I was even supposed to be *in* there. I I was greeted by a "flower elf" in a few moments. Soon, after seeing the really really fresh collection of flowers, I was telling them exactly what I wanted. And this guy created this awesome arrangement right in front of me in about 10 minutes. *I* thought the whole ensemble looked really good.

I liked how they walked me through my options and told me what does and does not work together. Well done. Being a no0b in the flower world, I was impressed. I recommend this place if you don't want to just get somtehing off of ftd.com and want to get your own arrangement together.

Hoogasian is also a FTD.com florist, btw.

This is probably the best tapas place in the city. That's a strong statement, but find me another place that's this good.

The beauty of tapas is that you can try several several plates before you actually convince yourself that you need to stop eating. There's very little on the menu that I haven't tried, and there's nothing there that I haven't liked.

Except this one time we had a waiter who very rudely cut my friend off (he literally said, excuse me, stop talking) or something... But that was very much a one-time isolated incident (worth taking one star off).

I love the fact that if you're gonna be waiting a while, you can actually get a carafe of sangria and wait outside. That's amazing to me!

Oh also, do NOT leave without having tried the lamb chops. Trust me. :)

Something about a place that makes you feel welcome right from the get-go. I was greeted by the manager, then several servers, the bartenders, the chefs and pretty much everyone else you can think of in this joint.

The salad was great, the chicken I got was awesome and I had no room for dessert as you can imagine. And the best part was I didn't feel like I'd just gorged down 800 million calories worth of anything. The food was 'light'.

Service is a little sluggish, but when you're wining, it doesn't really matter.

I'd strongly recommend this place.

Talk about your fancy upscale Mexican eatery with a Union Square-ish feel. This isn't a fast-food, or Mission-like Mexican joint by any means. But the food is good, the ambiance is welcoming, service is nice, and the guacamole is to die for. The guac is made either mild, medium, or hot spicy and served with nice warm tortillas (as opposed to chips). Very nice.

The $$$ is right on. This place isn't cheap, no sir. The guac alone cost us $10. They have pretty every tequila you can think of on the face of the planet and the drinks are also priced well.

PS: I'm still struggling to figure out how exactly you pronounce Colibri

Disclaimer : I've been going to Nara once a week for a few months now.

What really works for me and my friends are the chefs. We've become good friends with these guys and they are extremely friendly.  Their sushi is fresh, and the chefs usually make recommendations on fresh sashimi.

Their waitresses are temperamental and a little quirky - I would avoid getting a table if I can help it and I'd recommend sitting at the bar.

Above all, how often do you find a Sushi place that's open late (something like 1am Thur-Sat, IIRC).

My favorite roll here is called the "Mikey". Check it, yo.

Unbelievable. I tried the blackberry, the mango and the thin mint flavors. So delicious. I'm definitely going back. The mango was just to die for.

You know, I think we should be able to give restaurants 6 stars. But you can only use the 6 star rating once every day or week or something. And then there could be a whole barter system setup between friends - so if I go to 2 places that are worth 6 stars in a day or a week, then I could trade up with my friend - you know a whole 6 star ecosystem thing.

But, I digress. Ana Mandara deserves 6 stars.

My co-worker got the signature thing, and he loved eveyrthing he got. From the shrimp appetizers to the soup to the beef main course and the banana boat appetizer. I got the clay pot fish and the garlic noodles. And we both had ana mandaras (drinks). One word to describe my culinary experience this evening - awesomes. Just freaking teh awesomes.

I'm definitely going back to try the rest of the dishes. Service was a little slow, but I hadn't hung out with my friend in a while, so the 2 hours just kinda went by. Everything about this place is amazing.

And, oh, the ambience deserves 6 stars as well.