Traveling the world with just your taste buds…no passports required!

Hubby and I are self-confessed foodies. No, we definitely do not favor bizarre cuisine like Andrew Zimmern (grasshoppers and bugs satay, no thanks!) or pig out like the overly ambitious Adam Richman who basically tries to gobble down enormous sized portions of food on his shows. Now, Jeff Corwin, the Animal Planet guy, is starting this show on Food Network where he travels the world and explores exotic and yes, extreme cuisine. I just don’t understand what’s all the craze about bizarre and extreme cuisine these days!

Along that line, to us Anthony Bourdain is the most original globetrotter who manages to awe his audiences with his love for travel and food without trying too hard. Hubby and I are major fans of No Reservations and feel that he is a natural with what he does. Well yeah, he did eat a raw seal in Quebec but he is so witty and it’s fun watching his shows.

Okay, coming back to us being foodies. Perhaps we are not as adventurous as any one of those highly-paid travel journalists (I’ll eat weird stuff too if it comes with a huge paycheck and fame…at least I’ll try to) but when it comes to trying out new foods with bold flavors, novel tastes and unique preparations, we are all game.

I must say that living in California has made the better out of us foodies because it is the hub for world cuisine. We can find practically all kinds of the world cuisine around us here. Every weekend we eat out to give our palates a break from tasting their regular Malaysian/Indian/American cuisine. Let me see, thus far, hubby and I have “traveled with just our taste buds” to Greece, Italy, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Mexico, Korea, Argentina, France, Persia, Peru, Japan and Mongolia!


Last week we visited the newly-opened Elephant Bar Restaurant (http://www.elephantbar.com/) located at Laguna Hills here in California for lunch. It’s a place serving Western and Pan-Pacific foods. The ambience of the restaurant was rather interesting (although the interior was a little too dark for taking pictures with iPhone) with a full bar and open kitchen and a very (I mean really very…) extensive menu! The food was good but it was difficult when we had to choose from such an extensive menu. I guess we'd have to go there again then!

Here are the cocktails we ordered (cocktails for lunch – sure, why not!):

Mai Tai (left) and Raspberry Mojito…

Appetizer:
Crab + Lobster cakes on Fresh Mango-Ginger Sauce…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Entrées:

Oak Grilled Chicken Medallion and Prawn Skewer with Marsala sauce served alongside steamed rice and warm salad...

Mongolian Noodle Soup and Crispy Salmon Sushi...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skipped the dessert menu to allocate more indulgence for dinner :)