The Well-Fed Bong

White tea, that's what is filling my insides as I type this blog. Yes I'm again at the Golden Gate Perk, partaking of free wireless along with one of ten odd types of tea they sell. And watching Leonard Nimoy being Spock on a silent television. First, about Golden Gate Perk . Ok I'm partial to this place because I helped paint the toilet here (as in, I gave useless advise to the people who were actually doing the painting), but I've been coming here long before that. Basically, it has great tea, and great value in tea. This is no teabag destination - here you get real leaf, teapot, hot water, the whole deal. Each pot makes two cups, but if you're shameless enough you can ask for hot water to make another round for free. And, there's table service if you're nice to the people behind the counter. You get herb and special teas too, including a rather nice ginger tea topped (Korean style, I'm told) with pine nuts. They even have coffee, but I've never ...

On this trip to London I decided that to be a true foodie I needed a few Michelin stars under my belt (quite literally I guess). After a bit of research, I found Pied-a-terre on Charlotte St in London - a respectable 2 michelin stars and not too many dollar signs on the rating. French food, of course, but in an obscure twist prepared by an Australian chef with a seafood allergy. And so I went after work one day, bright and early in the evening since I had no reservations. I need not have worried; I was the first person in and had the pick of tables, waiters and newspaper. I'd resolved to stick to the simple and within budget but when the menu card came filled with drooling descriptions, temptation took over. I ordered the whole deal, a seven-course degustation thingy. Then I sat down with the day's news and waited. A progression of very interestingly plated dishes followed. Pied-a-Terre is very modern; chocolate walls, thick square glass slabs as serving plates and small re...

I did, finally, go mexican - Taqueria Andale near the hotel. It is, like so many things American, a chain - leading to the usual touches of 'traditional' decor, slicked up homecooking look (down to handwritten menus), and all the staples on offer. The working fireplaces (there are two) and the outdoor seating was nice, though. The food (I had a fish burrito) was not bad. Character is too much expect in a fast food chain, but this was definitely tasty stuff; a nice tomato and chipotle sauce that had all kinds of smells and tastes leaping out of a slightly leathery burrito. Not quite the standard (or genuine local attitude) of La Taqueria in the Mission District, but satisfying enough if you want to avoid a bad meal. Of course, not to say the every chain is boring. Chipotle Grill , for instance, is as fastfoodchain as they come - it's even owned by McDonalds. However, there's something distinctly infectious about their burritos, enough even to brave the lines ...

The magic hour of dinner looms. I sit in all nicely tead up (early grey, if you must know) at my favorite cybercafe searching for where to eat. This cybercafe has some claim to a food blog too; Golden Gate Perk sits hidden in a corner of Bush and Kearny, serving free wireless and some great great tea. I think I'll go mexican. This is california, after all...

This is the opening of the blog, the slicing apart of red tape, the tearing asunder of curtains ... tan ta ra...