Food therapy

What is the best way to rewind after a week of hard classes and a little sickness?  Food, of course!

Today, I had late lunch at Rocksugar Pan Asian Kitchen Restaurant at Westfield Century City.  The decor had a Thai flavor.  I was seated on the balcony next to the man-made waterfall.  Seating-wise, I enjoyed having the sound of water flow and the open air; however, since the balcony overlooks Santa Monica Blvd., traffic sounds can occasionally disturb the mood.

A rock at Rocksugar.

I started with water and a pot of Jasmine tea while deciding my order.  In the end, I ordered two appetizers: Crispy Chicken Samosas with cilantro yogurt dip and Hand Cut Steak Tartare with chili jam, citrus-soy, cilantro, peanuts, and spiced taro chips.  While waiting for my order to arrive, I was treated to crunchy deep-fried black sesame Asian-style wafers with spicy salsa dip.  The wafers were a bit oily, but the salsa was just spicy enough to have a kick without requiring me to stick my tongue into the nearby waterfall (which would have been unsightly indeed).



Asian "bread rolls and butter"

The parsley was unnessary and did not add any beauty.

The samosas were done very well.  The filling was flavorable while the outside was crunchy without tasting like it had been boiled in oil.  The cilantro yogurt dip added a slight softer touch.  Even after cooling down, the samosas remained tasty, which is always a good sign.

The hand cut steak tartare took a while longer to come out.  To be honest, this was a bit disappointing since this dish didn't know what it was suppose to be.  The chili jam was sweet rather than spicy, which actually went fairly well with the meat, pea sprouts, and peanuts.  However, the taro chips were salty and sour.  This meant that when eaten in combination with the tartare, it was like having part of a spice rack fall on my tongue.  I would have eaten the chips had I not already eaten some super tasty samosas, which with my family history of high blood pressure, meant that my salt intake was more than sufficient for this meal. 

A rain of green on red.

The experience was decent in terms of service.  I had a happy waiter who called me sweetie, which was a bit odd.  He was very good taking things in stride, and didn't blink an eye when I ordered two appetizers without any entree.  However, when I ran out of tea and wanted a refill, it took about ten minutes of looking around at wait-staff before someone came over to see what I wanted.  So, I think the restaurant has potential, but it wasn't anything that blew my mind away.