SLS Hotel @ Beverly Hills Trilogy, First Chapter: Bar Centro

Last night was the beginning of my interesting food journey at the SLS Hotel,
Started out with a few bites and drinks at Bar Centro,
Then changed venue to SAAM, the intimate chef's tasting room,
Well well, that was a "journey" indeed,
Our dining experience went from 7 p.m. till after midnight,
You see why I had to made my blog entries "trilogy" style?

SLS stands for Something Lovely's Started,
It's one of the luxury collections managed by the renowned Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
Besides standard extravagance hotel services, SLS also offers exquisite food and beverage venues such as:
The Bazaar (Chef Jose Andres's creation in a lounge-like environment)
Bar Centro (cocktails and mostly Spanish influenced food)
Rojo y Blanca (tapas)
Patisserie at SLS (sweets!)
SAAM (Chef Jose Andres' prix fixe menu)

6:45 p.m. @ Bar Centro

The entire space (including SAAM) was born under the creative eyes of Philippe Starck and Moss (Murray Moss, Franklin Getchell),
Unique details can be found not only in large piece furniture, but also various small objects such as menu and candle holders.

Feasting our eyes with SLS' amazing interior design and furniture selections weren't enough,
It was 7 p.m. and our dinner reservation at SAAM was at 8:15 p.m.,
Our stomachs were rumbling,
To make our time go by faster, a few drinks and tapas will do the trick.

7 p.m.

Pardon my blurry pictures, everything happened too fast.
Our waitress brought over this cotton candy drink - magic mojito,
Well, she actually brought over a glass of cotton candy and the alcohol part on the side,
As she quickly (really quickly that I wasn't fully prepared to take pictures) poured the mojito over the candy, my drink was completed, in a blink.

It's not as sourish as regular mojito,
Yet it comes with a slightly burned cotton candy aroma,
Very good, delicious for both the eyes and the taste buds.

My friend's monkey drink (beg for forgiveness again, what is thy name!?)

The waitress noticed we had 3 gigantic cameras sitting around,
Nice of her, she specially pointed out the monkey face so we can take pictures before the drink gets devoured.

7:30 p.m.

Drinking alcohol with empty stomach is not recommended,
So two orders of small bar food were sent to us,
"Bunuelos (cod fish fritters, honey aioli) -

Solid balls of fish, seriously, I got a full bite of fish meat in that tiny round thing,

The sauce has a strong honey aroma, can't really taste the garlic at all.

7:50 p.m.

Sea urchin sandwich -

A wee bit Asian influenced dish, using Asian buns instead of Western bread for the sandwich,

P.S. Sea urchin is like garlic to me, they're both good with everything!

8:10 p.m.

Bill arrived. Closed the tap and we're ready for our real food treat, SAAM.

To be continued...

*Cindy's Rating for Bar Centro: 8

Bar Centro @ SLS Hotel

465 South La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 246-5555
http://slshotels.com/
http://www.sbe.com/sls/bazaar/

Stir Fry Veggies with Tiny White Fish - 吻仔魚炒菜

I'm back to California!
My exact one month stay in Taiwan surely spoiled this little rat (yes, that's me!),
I was being fed well with all the yummy homemade food - by my mom!

Sadly, this little food blogger is not so welcomed in the kitchen back in Taiwan,
Reason?
No one will want to eat my bad tasting food!
( > __.< )
Sometimes I wonder, does my food really tastes that bad or my parents just happened to be extremely picky?
Either way, since I'm back to my little kitchen in CA, it's time for "ME" to cook!

Ingredients?

1/2 small cabbage
1 medium carrot
3 garlic cloves
1/4 small onion
Some tiny white fish (about a handful)
Toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of ponzu sauce
Olive oil
Salt

How?

Let's do the preparation work first,
Slice the carrot into little round pieces,
Dice the cabbage and onion into smaller squares,
Peel the garlic cloves and slice them.

Drizzle some olive oil in the pan, turn to high heat,
Toss in onion and garlic, sprinkle some salt, cook till the garlic almost gets burned,
Toss in sliced carrot, sprinkle some more salt,
Cook for about 1 minute,
Add the tiny white fish (can be found at local Asian grocery stores) and cabbage,
Add about 2 tablespoons of ponzu sauce, give it a quick stir, wait for about 2 minutes,
If the mixture looks a wee bit dry, add more water instead of ponzu sauce.

Cook till all the ingredients turned soft,
Taste it and see if more salts are needed.
Transfer the ingredients to a plate, sprinkle some sesame seeds,
That's it, my first "delicious" energy boost dish after Taiwan!
(Maybe I should FedEx some to my parents, hopefully I won't get a return package!)

Cindy's Rating: 8