Fillmore Street, San Francisco Part II (Picture heavy!)

Combining some posts again, and adding in new ones. Here are more food porn on Fillmore Street, in poor lighting that adds to their mysteriousness. Just kidding.

- La Mediterranee - Fillmore: my friend A. recommended this place to me and I owe her a big favor for it. This place singlehandedly made me a fan of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food. I always thought my tastebuds are prejudice against the cuisine. Sure hubby and I loved the Turkish Kebab Truck in Yokohama, but since that was fast food it's not a fair comparison. In Japan we've also had authentic Arabian food, complete with a live belly dance performance (Al Ain, near Kannai Station, the chef used to be the executive chef at the Kuwaiti Embassy, this was not some pretend-exotic restaurant), and Greek (Sparta Restaurant, again near Kannai). Then there was also poshy Greek food in Manhattan, fancy Turkish elsewhere, blah blah blah. Nope, none of that did anything for me. They were good, but nothing to write home about. But La Mediterranee? I ate lunch there once with A. and immediately made a reservation for dinner with hubby the Friday after. Since then, I've ordered catering from there, had lunches and dinners. Thank goodness my tastebuds weren't prejudice - I just haven't had Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food that really impressed me. Until now. Whether you're new to this cuisine or a seasoned fan, you must try this place!

SimSir Turkish Kebab Truck

The last time when hubby and I hung out with friends, we were told briefly about a kebab truck somewhere on the West entrance of the Yokohama Station. Yada yada, it all went into one ear and out the other, you know how things are after some liquor. Then I went shopping at Daiei, and lo-and-behold there it was, the Simsir Turkish Kebab Truck, parking right outside the building!

Actually, I walked right past it before realizing what I had walked by, then literally did a double take and turned back. The guy manning the truck saw me, laughed, told his friend something in Turkish, then laughed some more, probably because my eyes went all goggly looking at the menu and I was drooling. Whatever. hubby and I would really love ourselves some kebab, but I wasn't sure it was going to be good or terrible, so I was cautious and bought 2 chicken kebab with spicy sauce. They also had the original mild sauce and the garlic mustard yogurt sauce, but you know me I love spice so it's got to be the spicy sauce.

Mix beef and chicken kebab with spicy sauce.

So I brought my discovery home and presented it to hubby, whereupon he tore the bag opened and shoved one kebab into his mouth and swallowed it whole before announcing we were going right back out there for some more kebabs for dinner. We were starved for non-Japanese food, you see. Don't get me wrong, we love Japanese food and it's awesomeness. But after months of nothing but Japanese food, even awesomeness can get sickening.

Anyway, we did venture back out, this time getting ourselves the mix beef and chicken kebab still with spicy sauce because the chicken kebab tasted like spicy chicken soft taco, yummy, but not very kebab-ish. The mix beef and chicken kebab was much much more flavorful and totally hit the spot for us. It was so much fun, sitting in a corner on the street wolfing down kebabs and drinking apple juice from a vending machine nearby. Oh Japan how we love thee...

Hubby eating kebab like there's no tomorrow.