A not-so-great meal at this usually reliable Vietnamese restaurant
Last Sunday, my oldest daughter graduated from college – and them promptly left for a camping trip with her father. My other daughter had plans with her boyfriend, leaving my friend Elektra and I to celebrate the graduation on our own. I suggested lunch at Lotus Leaf for the most trivial of reasons: it has parking. Finding parking in downtown San Leandro on a Sunday which also happened to be Father’s Day can be pretty challenging.
Beyond parking, Lotus Leaf tends to be a pretty dependable place for lunch. It’s nicely appointed, it’s one of those “Asian bistros” that appeared in California in the early ’00s, offering classy, minimalist and yet still somewhat-ethnic decore and nicely presented dishes, and a comfortable place for a nice-but-not-extravagant meal. You could have a business meal here, a celebration or just a casual lunch. I’d been several times in the last year or two, precisely for this reason and because the food is generally very solid. They also have an extensive vegetarian menu. After this experience, however, I doubt I’ll be rushing back.
First, service was problematic. The waiter was a young man who seemed to have very little experience serving tables. He forgot my drink, our main dishes came only a few minutes after our appetizers had arrived, he never checked on us and we had to chase him to get us the bill. Of course, this was Father’s Day, so perhaps he was covering for someone else – and he was pleasant.
We started with the grilled lemongrass pork spring rolls ($10.5), which are served with peanut sauce. These were very good. The lemongrass pork itself was very flavorful, and it went well with the lettuce, mint, lemongrass and carrots. The peanut sauce was also very flavorful. I’m not a fan of bean sprouts myself, but I didn’t mind them in these rolls. These, I’d order again.
More problematic was my grilled beef short ribs with pineapple rice ($18). The ribs were very tasty, they had a good marinade with bold flavors. Unfortunately, they were extremely chewy and fatty. That meant that I couldn’t eat much of it. The pineapple rice had such tiny pieces of pineapple that you couldn’t taste it at all, it was just bland. And the same can be said for the vegetables. I was left hungry, which I shouldn’t have been given the hefty price of the meal.
My friend Elektra had the ginger salmon ($16.5), which also came with pineapple rice and steamed veggies. She agreed with me as to the sides, and liked the sauce on the salmon. However, it was dried and overcooked. It was also too small a portion to warrant the price.
Elektra had a fresh squeezed limeade ($5.5) which she liked, as it wasn’t very sweet.
In all, we were disappointed, with so many other restaurants in San Leandro, I don’t think we’ll rush to Lotus Leaf again, unless we have a vegetarian on tow.
Lotus Leaf 277 Parrott St San Leandro, CA (510) 877-2601 M-Th 9 AM - 9 PM F-Su 9 AM - 9:30 PM
This newish Hawaiian BBQ restaurant in San Leandro has some hits and some misses.
My youngest daughter, Camila, had had a pretty tough day so when she asked that we get Hawaiian that evening, I was willing to go along with it, even though we’d eaten out a lot that week. She had specifically asked that we go to Ono Hawaiian BBQ, our closest Hawaiian joint and one we frequented when she was younger. For one reason or another we stopped going and I think it’d been several years since we’d had Ono or Hawaiian at all. So, before I ordered, I decided to look at reviews. Alas, recent ones for Ono weren’t too encouraging.
Moana Hawaiian BBQ, on the other hand, was getting great reviews – plus it was near Ono, so not that much further from our house. Reluctantly, Camila agreed to order from there. Overall, I was happy with the meal, but there were some misses. I wasn’t too comfortable ordering online, so I sent Mike to do so at the store. It was a pretty quick trip.
Moana’s menu seems to be very similar to Ono’s, even to the name of some dishes, for example, they both feature “island white fish”. They both have a family meal ($43) consisting of three meats and two sides: rice and macaroni salad. That’s what I decided to get and it turned out to be a good deal, it was a lot of food.
Camila wanted the chicken katsu, which is also one of my favorites. It consists of fried, breaded chicken served with katsu sauce. The chicken was tender and flavorful, and appropriately cooked. There was plenty of it and Camila made three meals out of it.
Mike decided on the island white fish, fried fish fillets. The fish itself was nicely seasoned, as was the breading. Mike felt the breading was too thick, though that didn’t bother me as much – and I appreciated it when I microwaved the left overs: the breading held up fairly well. I did feel the fish was crying for some lemon juice – fortunately, a few years ago a lemon tree just started growing in our side yard (I suspect a lemon from our neighbor’s tree fell there and eventually it turned into a tree), so now we have fresh lemons whenever we want them. With the lemon juice added, the fish was just delicious.
I also enjoyed the kalbi beef ($3 supplement). Restraint was clearly used in marinating them, so that they still had a grilled beef flavor, rather than just a teriyaki or similar sort of flavor that overwhelms the meat at Ono. Teriyaki sauce was served alongside them, but I felt I didn’t need it. They were also very tender and not too chewy. I very much enjoyed them.
The white rice was exactly that, rice. It serves as a conduit for the katsu and teriyaki sauces, but I see it as wasted carbs – particularly when we had so much other food.
The macaroni salad, unfortunately, was a big miss. It just lacked the flavor that the the one at Ono has. Camila definitely commented on it – and Mike had to agree it wasn’t that great. They still ate it, though.
I also ordered the malasadas ($5.50 for 10), Hawaiian donuts with a Portuguese ancestry. It’d been years since I last had one and I didn’t remember how I felt about them. It turns out, I’m not a big fan. They were lighter than a beignet, but still denser and heavier than a donut and the salty dough wasn’t particularly flavorful. I did like the crystalized sugar on top which is a big improvement over powdered sugar. Reading back on my blog, it seems like I wasn’t too fond of malasadas when I had them in Hawaii almost 20 years ago, so it’s not Moana, it’s me.
In all, it was a good experience and if it’s up to me, we’d go back. Alas, the substandard macaroni salad might make Mike and Camila prefer we go elsewhere when we next want Hawaiian.
Moana Hawaiian BBQ 14966 E 14th St San Leandro, CA (510) 274-5777 Daily 10:30 AM - 8:30 PM
This restaurant-within-a-bar is popular in town, but did it impress me?
I’ll admit it. Until a minute ago, I thought the name of this restaurant was “Por qué no? Tacos” or “Why not? Tacos” which made quite a bit of sense to me. Why not have tacos tonight? Really, why not? Alas, after visiting their website I realize it’s actually named “Porque no? Tacos” which translates to “Because no? Tacos”. What exactly does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine. Not that any of this matters, but my daughter thought the name sounded like one that gringos would give to a Mexican restaurant, and now I have to wonder if that’s indeed the case.
Be that as it may, I wasn’t there to research the ownership of the restaurant but to have some tacos. Or rather, I had intended originally to get some tacos, but after perusing their menu and reading some reviews, I was actually more interested in a couple of other dishes – though I still had to try a taco. My experience was sort of mixed, as you can read below.
Porque no? Tacos is the “grill” part of Frank’s Bar and Grill on Marina Blvd. The restaurant part takes up most of the space. You order at the counter and food is brought to you to the table. The problem with Porque no? Tacos being located in a bar was that the music playing was extremely loud. We could hold a conversation without quite having to shout, but we did have to raise our voices. For old folks like us, that was pretty uncomfortable. If I returned, it would be for take out.
Indeed, Mike reminded me that he had gotten me take out from this restaurant some time before, but I forgot all about it. I do remember, that this place was much hyped a couple of years ago and that I had been very curious to try it. I guess it neither met my expectations or disappointed me enough to register in my memory.
The first thing I got was a grilled steak street taco ($4). This consists of two small corn tortillas filled with chopped steak, chopped onion and chopped cilantro. They have bottles with somewhat spicy green and red sauces that you can put on it. I enjoyed this taco quite a bit. The filling was abundant, and the beef was tasty, particularly after I squeezed the lime on it and added some of the sauce. I did think it needed some sort of crema, however. Maybe a lime crema? Still, I’d have it again.
The All Day PQN? Chilaquiles ($20) had gotten great reviews, particularly when combined with al pastor pork, that I had to order them, despite the fact that I much prefer those with green sauce, and these came with red sauce. I wasn’t thrilled with them when I tasted them. First, I didn’t really like the al pastor pork, which had a sour-bitter though not quite burnt taste, and none of the sweetness I expected. All I can say, the marinade just didn’t do it for me. I also didn’t like all the raw red onions. When included in a bite of chilaquiles, they totally overwhelmed the other flavors. I would have preferred that they had used guacamole instead of fresh avocado. The avocado wasn’t quite fully ripe, so it made it hard to mash without breaking the tortilla chips further – plus the dish needed more acid. And it really needed some sour cream. In all, this dish was not as good as the sum of its parts.
I had the leftovers the next day – with some cream cheese, as I was all out of sour cream – and they actually were better, the flavors had combined by then and developed umami.
I was very intrigued by the Torta Jalisco ($15) consisting of “three day marinated Aguascalientes style pulled pork, tomato, lettuce, onion, avocado, house cheese and jalapeños,” so I ordered it for Mike. It came with fried potato chips. Mike liked it quite a bit – aside from the ingredients he dislikes and took off. He liked the flavor of the pork and the level of spiciness. He’d have it again. I, however, was a of a different mind. To me, the pulled pork had a similar flavor profile to the al pastor pork, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they used the same marinade. It had those bitter undertones. I wouldn’t order it again. The chips were OK, too hard for my taste but the flavor was fine.
Service was cordial and quick. I might go back for tacos and even try a burrito – and might even get the chilaquiles again, but all with steak.
Porque no? Tacos 2014 Marina Blvd San Leandro, CA 94577 (510) 984-9711
KoolFi Ice Cream is a local favorite, but does it live up to the hype?
Saturday was the Cherry Festival in San Leandro. Now that my children are gone, I don’t feel the need to join the crowds in watching a parade and listening to music, so I happily stayed home. My husband, however, is a huge fan of festivals and local activities, so not only did he go, but he brought me some ice cream from KoolFi Creamery, the Indian ice cream shop that all my friends rave about. KoolFi was having a special cherry flavor for the festival, and though Mike doesn’t like cherries, he had to try it.
This was not our first time trying KoolFi ice cream. My wonderful friend Elektra had gotten me a sampler for my birthday (I think) last year, which I’d much appreciated, even if I hadn’t been a huge fan of any of the flavors – I guess Indian flavors are not my thing.
The ice cream was, as you can expect, somewhat melted by the time Mike got it home, but I don’t think that affected it much. He had the cherry with chocolate flakes and was quite happy with it. I tried it, and frankly the chocolate flavor predominated. It was good. I had the mango lassi flavor, and I enjoyed it as well. I particularly liked the smoothness, even silkiness of the ice cream. I didn’t think, however, that it was so much better than other ice creams as to justify the steep price – I think it was $7 for a rather small scoop. The ice cream is organic, however.
KoolFi Creamery 599 MacArthur Blvd San Leandro, CA 415-390-6210 W - Su 3 PM - 9 PM
SL Kitchen opened in San Leandro during the pandemic but we never got around to trying it until last week. We are quite fond of Mai Thai and it’s where we automatically go when we are in the mood for Thai food. Still, I’d been hearing good things about SL Kitchen so I proposed we eat there when our friend Maximilian came to visit us.
The restaurant occupies the McArthur Blvd space previously held by Chang’s and Kai Bistro. It consists of two boxy dining rooms, without much in the way of decore, though they do have some lovely bronze elephant statutes outside, which I think little kids would love to play with. It’s a nice enough place, for a relaxed, casual meal.
We started with the Fresh Spring Rolls ($12), which include shrimp, bean sprouts, herbs and lettuce in a thin wrap and were served with a peanut sauce. Both Mike and Maximilian loved them, Mike thought the peanut sauce was phenomenal.
But the real revelation were the Lao Style Sausages ($13). They were fresh and vibrant and delicious. They are made with pork, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaf, and the aromas of the herbs really broke through. They were unexpected and wonderful. Maximilian thought it was worth driving to San Leandro just to have them again.
I was far less impressed with my Yellow Curry with Beef ($15). The curry was OK, but it lacked the vibrancy and deliciousness of the yellow curry at Mai Thai. The portion was also somewhat smaller. Rice ($2) is on the side, which works well for people like Mike who prefer to avoid it. In all, I wouldn’t order it again.
Mike had the Panang Curry with Chicken ($15), one of his standards at Thai restaurants. He felt the same as I felt about my yellow curry: it was fine, but not nearly as good as the panang curry at Mai Thai.
Maximilian had the Spicy Green Beans with Chicken ($16.50). He said he liked it, but he was far more effusive about the sausage appetizer.
After the amazing version of sticky rice with mango that I’d had at Jo’s Modern Thai, I was ready for another taste of the original version of this dessert. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the Mango Sticky Rice ($8.50) at SL Kitchen. It was, like the dishes before, fine – but uninspired. The rice could have been softer and had a silkier sauce. The mango could have been riper. Again, I prefer the version of this dessert served at Mai Thai.
Maximillian ordered the Fried Banana with Ice Cream ($8). He also seemed to like it but didn’t ooooh and aaaah about it.
Service was efficient and friendly, they didn’t complain when we stayed later, and it’s nice place to hang out with friends. But the food, albeit beautifully presented, is less than stellar for Thai food – which has a super high bar to begin with. In all, I continue to prefer Mai Thai, though it’s not as close to my house.
SL Kitchen 1057 Macarthur Blvd San Leandro, CA (510) 567-3529 Tu - Su 11:00 am - 02:45 pm, 5:00 pm - 08:45 pm
I’ve never been one to go to steak houses. Cooking a steak is among the easiest and quickest things in the world* and it’s far, far cheaper to do so at home. Still, after years of getting Black Angus flyers in the mail, I finally decided to give it a try and was surprised that I liked it. The steaks were fine, nothing special, but the advertised Campfire Feast came with plenty of other food that I was far less likely to cook, and was overall a good deal. Over the years before the pandemic, we visited the Black Angus in San Lorenzo many times, then the pandemic came and I pretty much forgot about Black Angus – as our local one doesn’t have outdoor dining.
For some reason, I’ve been having a hankering for food from chain restaurants lately. I can’t explain it, but just in the last week or so I’ve ordered from Panera and Panda Express and got a craving for Black Angus. Nothing specific, just the whole experience. I looked up the Campire Feast and was somewhat amazed at seeing that it now cost $69 ! That’s a 40% increase over the 2020 price ($49). Yes, I know that both food and restaurant prices have gotten ridiculous – but I thought this increase really exemplified how inflation has hit lower middle class Americans – the ones that will eat at Black Angus as a special treat. Salaries most certainly have not gone up by 40% since.
But I digress. I found a Groupon that had the meal for $54, and decided to head there a Thursday night in April, with my husband and younger daughter. I was not overly surprised at how empty the once viving restaurant was. In our pre-pandemic days, there was always a wait and it was always full. No longer.
I don’t think I like Black Angus as much when it’s so sleepy – I think perhaps some of the attraction of chains is the energy you get from other people -, but besides that, it hadn’t change much. Service was good and friendly, and the food was very close to what I remembered.
The Campfire Feast includes a single appetizer, two entrees, four sides, and a dessert. There are several options to choose from within each category, some at a premium, usually $2 to $10. My daughter is not a big eater, so she decided she’d share with us and only order a side salad.
We started with their warm molasses bread which is served with whipped butter (photo taken after we’d consumed most of it). My daughter is particularly fond of this and she enjoyed it as usual. I think the main thing this bread has going for it is that it’s served warm, but different strokes for different folks.
As an appetizer, we all shared the steak quesadilla ($15, $2 supplement to Campfire Feast). I think they might have changed the cut of steak they use in the last few years, it was tougher than I remembered and less juicy. But the quesadilla was fine. It no longer comes with guacamole, which is an additional $2.
I ordered the ribeye steak ($33, $5 supplement to Campfire Feast) with a side of mac & cheese and a side of au gratin potatoes. The au gratin potatoes were pretty good. They were cooked in a thin cheese sauce, and while I’d had preferred a stronger cheese flavor, there was enough of it to cover the potatoes.
As for the steak, it was on the thin side. I was expecting this based on reviews I’d read, and would have preferred a much thicker one (and it’s definitely not worth the $33 full price), but it was OK. It was cooked medium rare as I ordered it, it didn’t have an inordinate amount of grizzle, and it was pretty tasty. It made me think I should consider cooking my steaks on herbed butter (though to be honest, it can be a bit too rich). It was large enough that on top of the potatoes and part of the quesadilla, I couldn’t finish it and I took about half of it home.
Mike ordered a full slab of BBQ pork ribs ($33, $6 supplement to Campfire Feast) to share with my daughter, and two sides of broccoli (given that each one is only a couple of florettes). They both were happy with both choices, though the ribs had too much sauce for their liking. Solid food, nothing amazing.
My daughter also ordered a Caesar salad as a side ($7 as an extra side). She liked that the croutons were made from the molasses bread and overall liked the salad.
My daughter wanted the Chocolate Chip Cowboy Cookie ($9) and really, it’s delicious. It’s hot out of the even, with melting, gooey chocolate chips. It needs perhaps a little bit more of ice cream, as without it it’s too sweet. There was enough of it to satisfy the three of us – though only because Mike only had a bite. It’s more of a two-person dessert.
My daughter had the pomegranate lemonade ($5) and she liked it. It comes in a very large glass and tasted quite fresh to me.
Service was fine, and friendly, and the whole meal ended up costing around $100 after tax and tip – not bad for these post-pandemic times, but not a bargain either.
Black Angus 15800 Hesperian Blvd San Lorenzo, CA (510) 276-1400 M - Th 3 PM - 10 PM F - Su 12 PM - 10 PM
* How to cook a steak: Heat up a skillet to medium high. Trim the steak. Place the trimmings on the pan, allow to melt, and then coat the bottom of the pan with the melting fat. Add the steak and cook for a minute, turn and cook for another minute. Turn heat to medium and cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on thickness. Turn and cook for another 3-5 minutes. You’re done.
In the post-pandemic world, Panda Chef still delivers an affordable family meal.
Restaurant food has become crazy expensive, and we’ve been eating out a lot, so I wanted someplace cheap to go for Mother’s Day. Well, not as much go – because Mother’s Day is too crazy a day to actually dine out – but get take out from. Enter Panda Express. They have a family meal that consists of 3 family size (26 oz) entrees and 2 family size sides for $35 (some entrees were an extra $5) And they had a $5 off coupon for mother’s day. And let me tell you, 78 oz of food is a lot of food, more than enough for four people. I don’t know that you can get a cheaper meal anywhere anymore.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, they also had a deal that gave you a free bowl of your choice ($9) if you bought $30 in gift cards. You can’t use more than one coupon at the time, so I had to order the bowl separately. That required a $10 minimum purchase, so I added a $2 egg roll. All in all, for under $40 tax included, we had a pretty good meal.
Now, Panda Express food is not extraordinary – but it’s consistent and fine. This is what we got:
Orange chicken has been one of Panda Express’ most popular dishes forever. It’s highly breaded, with a thick sticky sweet-spicy orange sauce, and it’s pretty tasty. Of course, you’re eating mostly breading.
Beijing beef is actually pretty similar to orange chicken, but has a slightly less orangey taste and the pieces are smaller. it also comes with slices of onion and red pepper. It consists of breaded beef in a tangy, sticky, sweet and spicy sauce. Also pretty good, though both of them were too much.
The Honey Walnut Shrimp is, once again, sickingly sweet, but Mike liked it. It’s an additional $5 if you order this.
As my first side I got the chow mein. It consists of very thin wheat noodles, with a nice chewiness, a lot of shredded cabbage and some onion slices. In all, the chow mein isn’t very flavorful and it’s in need of something else – soy sauce? They forgot to add some to my order, unfortunately. There is also way too much cabbage. It’s a cheap filler, I guess.
The second side was the “super greens“. On the website it looked like it would be steamed broccoli. Instead, it was a combo of cabbage leaves and broccoli, heavy on the former. Yes, I know, cabbage is cheap. But it’s definitely not a super green. The veggies are steamed and made up for the very sweet entrees.
I also ordered a chicken eggroll ($2) and it was pretty good. It’s rather large, so well priced, and while the flavor is mild, it’s pretty good for an egg roll.
Not long after this order, my daughter had a hankering for Panda Express again, and given how affordable this deal is (particularly if you first buy a gift card and get a free bowl out of it), I decided to go for it.
I got the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken, and I think this will probably be my to-go choice in the future, because it does seem to be the best value. Unlike the picture in the website, this consisted of grilled chicken thigh, coarsely cut into pieces and mixed with their mandarin teriyaki sauce. The chicken itself lacked seasoning and there wasn’t enough sauce, but that was simply remedied by adding salt and more teriyaki sauce. It was good. Not great, but good for the price.
I can’t say the same about the Broccoli Beef. The dish consisted mostly of large broccoli florets with very few thin slices of beef – I think there might have been a dozen and a half in this family portion. Most importantly, the sauce was very milk and lacked flavor. You get a much better beef with broccoli from your local Chinese joint.
Panda Express 1271 Marina Blvd San Leandro, CA (510) 667-9585 M-Su 9 AM - 10:30 PM
Located near Casa Peralta, Rocky’s Charcoal Grill has long been a favorite among burger aficionados in San Leandro. I reviewed it many years ago and I’d visited a handful of times over the years, mostly when I was in the neighborhood. I’ve never been a huge fan of it, but thought I’d give it another try in my quest for finding the best burger in San Leandro. So far, I’m sad to say, this isn’t it.
Rocky’s is a cute, tiny place. It has a handful of tables inside and outdoors and a small kitchen. They serve a large variety of burgers, some grilled sandwiches as well as a steak and ribs. They also have well regarded shakes. Burgers come without condiments, which you add yourself. They are all 1/3 lb.
I had the Guacaburger ($8.75), which came with guacamole. It was OK. The patty was thin, so on the dry side. I prefer juicy burgers, and this was not that. It did have a nice, not too strong, charcoal flavor but I felt the meat was under-seasoned. In all, this felt like a home made burger, which is not what I’m looking when I order one.
Mike had the Oaklandburger ($10.25) which includes Cheddar and Jack cheeses and bacon and comes in a sourdough bun. Mike liked his burger more than I did, though not as much as Nation’s.
I ordered a peanut butter milkshake ($6.25) to take home and wow, was it good. I’d definitely go back for those.
The people who work at Rocky’s are very friendly and the food was prompt.
Rocky’s Charcoal Grill 300 W. Estudillo Ave San Leandro, California 94577 (510) 351-6228 rockyscharcoalgrill@comcast.net
The other night I had a craving for a burger, which had me thinking: where can I get the best burger in San Leandro? We are not a city known for burgers. There are lots and lots of places to have burgers here, to be clear, but none that are particularly noteworthy. Still, I haven’t visited many of those places for years and I thought trying the different burgers available in San Leandro might be a fun project for the upcoming year (or two). I had planned to start with Rocky’s Charcoal Grill – a place beloved by many in San Leandro. I have not liked their burgers in the past, but it’s been fourteen years since my last visit, so they may have changed. My old review is definitely ready for an update. Alas, Rocky’s wasn’t open (it was a Sunday) and Nation’s is very close by, so Mike went there instead.
I like Nation’s burgers. As far as fast food burgers go, they have always been my “default” for over three decades – though they now share this “honor” with Habit Burger. At 1/3 lbs, the burgers are fairly large, they ooze with American cheese and they are very generous with veggies and toppings – though I always get mine with just tomatoes, while Mike prefers his with lettuce and onions. The burgers are smothered in mayo, probably enough to cause a heart attack to someone with cardiac issues. For this reason, I feel that they mostly taste of mayo and American cheese, though enough to not really be able to forgo it. But I like them. If I had to grade them – and I do, because this is a project about finding the best burger, I’d give them 8/10 as far as “fast food burgers” go, and a 5/10 as far as all burgers go. Indeed, I will make Nation’s my standard for an average burger, and grade others accordingly.
In addition to burgers, Nation is known for its pies. These are of a similar quality to their burgers: enjoyable. On this occasion we got the blueberry pie which was on season, and we liked it.
Nation also has breakfast items, which also are totally fine as far as a fast food place goes.
The tastiest ready-to-heat meal service I’ve found so far.
Updated in January, 2025. Scroll down for a review of my local shefs and dishes.
If you are on Facebook, chances are that you’ve seen ads for Shef*. It’s a ready-to-heat meal delivery system, where the catch is that the meals are individually made by home cooks in their own homes, rather than in large industrial facilities. That can have both pros and cons, but it’s quickly become my favorite of the ready-to-heat meal services (I’ve also tried Locale, CookUnity, Thistle and Freshly) .
How it works
Shef allows you to order meals individually or subscribe to a weekly service. Their website, however, is very clunky – though they are improving it. In order to use it, you need to enter your zip code. You are them prompted to create your personal profile by choosing the type of cuisines you prefer (I recommend you select “all cuisines”) and how many meals you want to get a week (between 3 and 10). You then choose your delivery date, at which point you can create an account or (now) browse the offerings available for that date from shefs in your area. You can then select as many meals as you signed up for, from as many shefs (home cooks) as you want. The website allows you to look at the profile of each shef, including a photo and some biographical information. After you choose your meals you are prompted to select side dishes, limited to rice and Indian breads (at least for me).
You can also order meals without subscribing to a weekly plan, which each meal priced independently.
Cost
Meals cost around $10-11 per meal, depending on how many you order. Side dishes – rice or Indian breads – are $3. There is also a shipping fee which seems to average $7-8. A typical order of 8 meals and 1 side is about $93, or about $11.50 per meal. That is equivalent to what Locale charges and what the regular discounted price of meals at CookUnity are. They also prompt you for a tip.
Packaging & Delivery
One of the things I love about Shef is that the food is delivered in reusable cold bags with frozen water bottles instead of freezer packs – I always end up throwing away the latter in the garbage as disposing of them is such a pain. As far as I can tell, the bottles are sealed so you can drink them. Dishes do come in plastic containers (the same type used for take out food), though one of my shefs uses compostable containers (but plastic lids). Of all the services I’ve used, I’d say this is the greenest one.
You will get e-mails and texts the day your order will be delivered mentioning the time period (something like 3 hours) where the meals will arrive. So far, all of mine have arrived within the promised time.
Type of food available
Shefs are local to you, and what they offer will thus depend on where you live – and also, for which day you schedule your delivery. Below, you can see my reviews of the shefs and dishes that were available to me in San Leandro – a small city in the San Francisco East Bay. Shef has made a particular effort to recruit immigrant cooks – and originally, immigrant women cooks, thus the name . They have been particularly successful with Indian and other Asian cooks. If you love Indian and/or Asian cuisine, Shef is definitely the service for you. If you don’t, this is your opportunity to learn to love it. There are a few other cuisines represented, though not many, at least in my area.
How long the food keeps
While dishes from other subscription services are cooked in commercial kitchens and professionally packaged, the ones from Shef are cooked in home kitchens and cooled down in home refrigerators. This means you should treat them as leftovers and consume them within 2-3 days at most. I have frozen dishes I wasn’t going to consume in time in the containers they came in – just popped them in the freezer – with no issues whatsoever, however. I just defrosted them before microwaving them.
Making changes & cancelling
Unfortunately, once you subscribe, Shef does not offer you much flexibility for subsequent orders. You can change what dishes you will get in subsequent weeks and you can skip a delivery, but that’s about it. If you want to change the delivery day (e.g. from a Monday to a Wednesday), the number of dishes you order or even the number of side dishes you want for the week, you have to cancel your subscription and then re-subscribe. Fortunately, cancelling and re-subscribing is painless. Shef saves all your information so you don’t have to re-enter it. I’ve now done it multiple times – practically very week, really, as my needs change from week to week.
Problems and Customer Service
Shef’s main issue is its very clunky website, which makes it hard to search for what shefs are available on which days without having to re-enter all your preferences, and makes it impossible to make changes to your subscription. But I’ve also had some other annoying problems.
I’ve had a few orders had missing meals, though this hasn’t happened for a while. I contacted customer service and they said they’d give me a refund. They did the first time, but not the second time so you need to keep track of whether they do in your credit card statement.
Twice, one of my meals had a missing item – and a key one. Customer service gave me a discount code for a future purchase, but those don’t work for subscriptions, so they are sort of useless. In a couple of occasions, a meal wasn’t properly sealed – while the food didn’t spill, I’m concerned about contamination.
More problematically, one week I was charged five times for my order – Shef has indicated they are refunding the duplicate charges, but if I was operating close to my credit card limit having an extra $400 charge would have been quite problematic.
Another issue is that Shef seems to have an issue keeping home cooks. Five or six of the shefs I ordered from, including the one non-vegetarian Ethiopian shef they had locally, whose food is amazing, are no longer working for them.
Reviews
The Shef website now allows you to review individual dishes. Before, you could only review your whole order at once.
The following are my reviews of most of the dishes we’ve had from Shef so far. They are organized by the shef who makes them. I’ve boldened the names of active shefs whose dishes we’ve liked most.
I was very disappointed on this dish. I love bulgogi. I make bulgogi frequently (at least, when I’m cooking). It’s a pain to cut the meat (though you can buy shaved beef, and this is clearly what Shef Aejung has done), but it’s otherwise not too laborious to make. You let it marinade and can pan fry it as you go – or just cook it all at once and then reheat it. But the secret, the basis of bulgogi is the marinade – and this marinade just wasn’t there. The beef barely had any flavor. It also had barely any veggies – some shredded carrots but maybe a couple of onion strips. It wouldn’t take much to improve things, as either the marinade he used was flavorless or, more likely, they were not marinated for very long. The portion had a fair amount of meat and it came with white rice, but without any sauce, there was little point to it. I wouldn’t order it again and neither should you – just your make your own bulgogi or buy the amazing frozen bulgogi at Trader Joe’s.
Shef AMIT R. – Indian · Himalayan · Indo-Chinese · Southeast Asian · North Indian · Chinese ✔
Shef Amit provides a great introduction to Himalayan/Pahadi food. Most of what we’ve had has been delicious.
Pahadi Chicken Curry ✔
This was a nice curry. It tasted like your regular Indian curry – made from spices, not curry powder. It didn’t have any sweet notes, so given a choice, I’d go for a korma or a tikka masala (or a pasanda!). But as far as regular curries goes, this is a good as you can get in a restaurant. It was very mildly spiced.
Pahadi Fried Chicken ✔
My husband loved this dish and would “absolutely” want it again. I had a couple of piece and thought it was nice, the chicken was extremely moist and soft. The flavor was unusual, with some hints of sweetness and of peanuts (!), and some spiciness. I think it could become addictive.
One problem: the container wasn’t fully sealed and it leaked a little bit in the bag and over the other containers. Just in case, it was the first dish we heated.
Pahadi Fried Chicken Momo ✔
These were delicious. The filling of the momos was fragrant, with strong notes of cumin. The dumpling dough was on point, moist and chewy. I wasn’t a super fan of the sauce they came with, but it wasn’t needed.
Pahadi Grilled Chicken
This dish was OK, though we wouldn’t order it again. The chicken itself felt like was marinated in a wet, ground masala. It came with a sauce which was rather good, but there wasn’t enough of it.
Shef ANAND A. – Indian · Tandoori · BBQ · Clean · Low Carb · Low Sodium · Contemporary
Kadi Murgh Karachi Wala (Chicken Curry) ✔
My husband ate this dish and he enjoyed it a lot. He still prefers Thai curries, but he’d have it again.
Mutton Rogan Josh (Goat Curry)
I think this was a good curry. I say I think because it was so spicy that I couldn’t really taste it. My tongue and lips were burning too much to taste anything at all. Underneath the burn, I think the flavors were good and balanced. The meat was quite tender. And I did manage to eat the small amount I had served myself. But clearly, this is not for me. It was advertised as being non-spicy, btw (and rogan josh doesn’t need to be), which makes me reluctant to order anything else from this shef. My husband didn’t find it as spicy and he liked it, except for the bones.
Shef Anu’s butter chicken curry was all you want it to be: perfectly balanced, only slightly spicy, brimming with umami and absolutely delicious. It’s definitely restaurant quality. The chicken itself, however, left much to be desired. It was a little bit tough, a bit under-seasoned, and mostly it tasted like it had been cooked by itself, shredded, and only then incorporated into the curry. I understand that can be a time saving method, but it really fails here. Still, the curry was sooooo good, that I imagine I’ll order it again.
Shef AYSHA S.– Indian · Kerala · South Indian · Halal
This shef doesn’t seem to be active in the platform anymore
Kerala Style Chicken Stew ✔
My husband found this pretty tasty, but once again he disliked that the it consisted of chopped up bone-in chicken, which forces you to pick up the small pieces and eat them with your hands. The sauce was tasty and not at all spicy. He’d probably have this again.
We’ve gotten three dishes from this shef so far and they all showed a very sophisticated use of whole spices in his cooking. He is now one of my favorite shefs.
Butter Chicken (Boneless) ✔
This butter chicken was a bit different from others, but still very yummy. It was on the spicy side, and mostly lacked sweetness, but the spices, tasted fresh and were very forward. It felt like a mixture between a butter chicken and a chicken curry, but very well balanced. My one complaint was that the chicken cubes were dry. The bowl was enough as a meal without rice, but could have been extended with it. My husband would definitely want it again.
Punjabi Style Kadai Chicken ✔
This is the third winner from shef Balihar S. This was a rich, complex, deep, wonderful curry. It was perfectly seasoned, and had achieved that perfect umami state that you so much want from a curry. The small pieces of bone-in chicken were a pain to eat, but it was worth it. And this is another curry in which you can taste Kadai’s mastery of cooking with fresh spices. It’s definitely restaurant quality. The curry was so thick that it does not need rice.
Tari Wala Chicken
I haven’t had this Punjabi chicken curry before, so I can’t make any comparisons, but it tastes like a pretty generic Indian curry. It’s clearly made with whole spices, rather than garam masala or another such mix, and I appreciated the balance and fresh flavor of the sauce. I’m less fond of the bone-in chicken. It was on the lower side of medium spicy, which meant that it had some heat but I could deal with it. Still, I wouldn’t order it again, simply because I prefer sweeter, creamier curries. But this one is perfectly well made.
Shef D C. – Mediterranean · Italian · American · Comfort · Baked Goods · Vegetarian · Irish ✔ ✔
This is an awesome shef who understands his craft, I just wish he would expand his repertoire.
Beef Osso Buco ✔
Another winner from Shef D C. The osso buco meat was extremely tender and the dish was very flavorful. It was, perhaps, too intense, but I had frozen it previously and was heating it up from a semi-frozen stage and overheated it a bit. The sauce really needs a starch to absorb it, so plan on eating this with something.
Chicken Cacciatora ✔
This chicken cacciatora tasted exactly what you expect chicken cacciatora to taste. It came with both a chicken thigh and a leg, but I was still a bit hungry after eating these and needed something to soak up the sauce – I heated up some frozen naan and it worked well. I was afraid the chicken would be dry – often the case with chicken stews – but this one was pretty moist. It needed some extra seasoning, but it brightened up after I added salt. All in all, it was what I expected and I enjoyed it. I’d have it again.
Irish Guinness Beef Stew ✔
This was a good, basic beef stew. Not as good as a tomato based stew, but that’s not the chef’s fault. The meat was tender but a little chalky (typical for beef stews). I’d order it again.
Pollo Al Ajillo – Spanish Garlic Chicken ✔✔
This was a delicious, homey dish. It consisted of three drumsticks, deliciously garlicy, in what I think was a sauce that was thickened with flour, giving it a smooth texture. Not that there is much of a sauce, but whatever remains from it. I ordered it again and enjoyed it just as much.
Shef Dmitriy L. – Korean · Central Asian · Comfort
Combo Beef Pigodi With Carrot-Cha And Cabbage-Cha
I’d never even heard of “pigodis” before I ordered this dish, but I was curious. Basically, they are like a steamed Chinese pork bun but with a ground beef filling. I found the breading a little too dense and heavy for my taste, and I wasn’t too thrilled with the beef filling either. The cabbage flavor was a little overwhelming. I didn’t actually eat the sides. I wouldn’t order it again, but I’m glad I tried it.
Shef ERENDIRA E R. – Mediterranean · Californian · Italian ✔
This shef mostly serves pastas, including handmade ones. Her food is very good and authentic.
Almond Pesto With Fresh Garganelli Pasta
My daughter had this dish and she liked it overall, the pasa was well cooked and the almost pesto was very tasty. However, there was an overwhelming amount of peas – more than shown in this photo. None of us are huge fans of peas, so we probably wouldn’t get this again. Great pesto, though.
Baked Penne
My daughter wasn’t a great fan of this dish, again because it had corn and peas. They were less abundant than in other of Erendira’s dishes, but she wouldn’t want it again.
Bolognese Fresh Pappardelle Pasta ✔
This was a pretty tasty Bolognese. The thick noodles were soft and the Bolognese sauce tasted exactly like you expect Bolognese sauce to taste. The portion was sufficient for a meal. My daughter, who ate it, wouldn’t want it again – but she’s not that great a fan of bolognese. I, however, would order it for myself. Update: my daughter has had this dish again, and she now enjoys it.
Bolognese Penne Pasta ✔
Similar to the dish above but with penne instead of thick noodles. My daughter actually liked this a lot and would want it again. I guess the noodles made a difference.
Cheese Orecchiette Pasta ✔
This was another winner. I missed the suppleness of the homemade pasta, but the cheese sauce was very good. The bacon bread crumbs were too salty, however. Next time I’ll try to brush some off before heating it up. But I’d definitely order it again.
Lasagna ✔
My daughter had it. At first she thought it was just OK – not quite meeting her Stouffers frozen pizza standards – but she appreciated the fresh ingredients the more she ate of it and concluded she’d had it again. I had what she didn’t eat and I thought it was great. It tasted fresh and home made. The pasta was soft – though apparently the sides had gotten crispy – and chewy, the cheese melty and the sauce light enough to allow the other flavors to shine. Basically, a very good, home made tasting lasagna. I’ll order it again for myself.
Orecchiette Italian Sausage
I didn’t really like this dish. First, I’ve realized that orecchiette is not a particularly successful pasta. It’s thicker than other shapes and it can feel heavier. But the real problem was the sauce. It was just blah. It tasted a lot of tomato paste, was too acidic, thick and heavy. The only thing that livened it a little were the olives, but I’m not a huge fan of them. Adding Parmesan cheese helped a little with flavor, but not enough. I did like the small pieces of Italian sausage, but there were really very few of them. I would not order it again.
Vegetarian Fresh Fettuccine Pasta
This was a dish of fresh pasta with a tomato sauce and a lot of veggies. My daughter liked it overall, particularly after we added extra Parmesan, but she felt there was too much corn. She probably wouldn’t want it again.
Francisco sells mostly empanadas. The portion has only two, but they are larger than usual and overfilled. After trying two of his offerings, I think he’s good enough to open an empanada shop in Argentina. I’ll keep trying his other varieties.
Cheese Empanada Saltena✔
These empanadas include a variety of cheeses, egg, potatoes and green onions. I, personally, liked them quite a bit. I appreciated the brightness of the onion and the mixture of cheeses – I didn’t even notice the egg. My daughter, however, didn’t like how onion-forward it was and prefers my cheese empanadas (I use Monterey Jack cheese and sprinkle them with sugar before baking).
Chicken Empanada Salteña ✔
These empanadas were good, but probably my least favorite of all of Francisco’s empanadas. That’s because the chicken was ultimately dry. The flavor was great, for chicken. I would get them again, because they were good, but I’d prioritize the other ones. These ones are slightly spicy. I also think these might be less filling than the other empanadas. Or maybe I’m just really hungry.
Mushroom Empanda ✔
These were two very large and overfilled empanadas, with a very tasty mushroom filling. The mushrooms were only slightly gummy after I reheated them in the microwave (it’s recommended that you reheat them in the oven), but the flavor was there. Another winner by Shef Francisco.
Sausage Empanada ✔
The steak empanadas were so good that I decided to give the sausage empanadas a try. Once again, the portion consisted of only two empanadas, but they were on the larger side. The empanadas had Argentinian pork sausage (no idea where he gets it), provolone and mozzarella cheeses, hard boiled eggs and raisins. They were super cheesy and the sausage was also very tasty. There wasn’t much in the way of eggs and raisins which was great, as I don’t like eggs and my husband doesn’t like raisins. We’d both order them again.
Steak Empanada Salteña ✔
Empanadas salteñas refer to the type of empanadas typical of the Argentinian province of Salta, in the northwest of the country. They are considered among the best in Argentina and differ from standard beef empanadas because they contain knife-chopped beef (instead of machine ground), potatoes and green onions.
Francisco also only includes two empanadas in the meal, but I decided to get them because I thought they might be somewhat larger than usual – and because while I can easily make empanadas myself, knife-cutting beef and chopping potatoes is a pain. This ended up being a good decision. These empanadas are delicious – as good as mine, but without my trick of adding spaghetti sauce to make them seem moister. There was a perfect combination of ingredients and they were well seasoned. They came with a little pot of chimichurri, and while it’s not traditional to dip your empanadas in chimichurri and these one definitely didn’t need it, the chimichurri itself was also delicious.
The only issue is that empanadas need to be reheated in the oven for the empanada shell to keep its crispness. It’s the middle of the summer, so I was not going to do that and I reheated them in the microwave (30 seconds for 1). That, of course, softened the shell, which is not ideal but c’est la vie.
I liked them enough that I’d order them again, and I do think they’re larger than the standard.
This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef, which is unfortunate as her Ethiopian food was awesome.
Beef Stew (kay Sega Wot) ✔✔
After getting the combo twice, I decided to go for the kay sega wot by itself. It was delicious, but spicier than the meat combo. I actually think I prefer it mixed in with the chicken. This one did remind me far more to the Ethiopian food you get at restaurants. It was sooo good
Meat Combo ✔✔
This plate of food was absolutely delicious. It didn’t taste that much like the Ethiopian food I’ve had at restaurants or cooked myself, perhaps because I asked for “mild” (and yes, everything was mild) – but it was very, very good and addictive. So much so that I had it again the next week.
Shef GEETWANI R. – Fusion · Indo-Chinese · Indian · Comfort · East Indian · Hakka ✔
Butter Chicken ✔
Our second attempt at butter chicken was more successful than the first. This was a spicy dish, what one would normally call “medium” at a restaurant. Mike ate it and liked it, though he didn’t think it was restaurant quality but he’d have it again.
Pompano Curry In Mustard Sauce ✔
I didn’t actually order this dish, but I’m glad I got it. The pompano was well cooked and the sauce was quite good, vibrant with the flavors from the chilis but only lightly spiced. My husband liked it, sans the bones. I’ve made this dish before, so I was happy to see it measured up against the real thing.
Shef GRACHIK P. – Mediterranean · Middle Eastern · Ukrainian · Armenian · Georgian · Russian · Belarussian
I’m a big fan of Caucasian and Eastern European food, so I was excited to try Shef Grachik’s dishes. Unfortunately I didn’t like any of the three I tried, so I think I’m done ordering from him. It’s a pity because he is often the only shef cooking these cuisines in my area.
Beef Meatballs In Tomato Sauce ☹
This was once of the worse dishes I’ve gotten from Shef. The meatballs has an OK, though perhaps overly soft, consistency but they managed to be both bland and somewhat spicy, and taste completely of some green – bell pepper, according to the ingredients listed. There was no beef flavor whatsoever. The sauce tasted exactly the same. The portion was generous, four meatballs plus rice, but so unappetizing.
Pan-Fried Chicken Cutlets With Creamy Mashed Potatoes
My youngest daughter loves milanesas, and this was the closest thing I could find in Shef. It was OK, but she wouldn’t have it again. The flavor was a little strange, I think it has a spice that is not disclosed in the description. I couldn’t quite identify it – maybe dill? In any case, she wouldn’t order it again. She did like the mashed potatoes and there were a lot of them, one could say, too much of them.
Scrambled Eggs With Tomato Sauce (Shakshuka)
The description of this dish as “scrambled eggs with tomato sauce” is far more accurate than that of shakshuka. This basically was an omelet with some tomato sauce added to it. My daughter thought it was fine, but she didn’t like that it had bell peppers and wouldn’t get it again.
Massaman curry is my favorite Thai curry, pretty much the only thing I order at Thai restaurants. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this one. It just lacked flavor. It came with a lot of sauce, so maybe reducing it would help, but I couldn’t even start to tasting hints of spices. On the plus side, combined with an extra side of rice (and there was plenty of sauce for it), this was a large meal. It includes a full chicken leg as well as a few pieces of potato and some occasional peanut.
Panang Curry Pork With Rice ✔
My husband liked this dish. It was an average panang, which is not a bad thing. The portion of pork was fine, but there was way too much rice. Still, he’d have it again.
This beef stew tasted exactly what you expect beef stew to taste. It was meaty and rich and very homey. The meat was a little chalky, but I have the same results when I make stew, so I’m not going to blame the cook for this. The portion was fine, though it could have used a couple more pieces of meat. There was a lot of sauce, so get some rice to soak it up. I’d order this again.
Shef JOINA L. – Latin American · Asian · Fusion · Brazilian · Korean · Chinese ✔
This is another amazing shef. As a Taiwanese-Brazilian she grew up exposed to a lot of diverse cuisines and knows how to make both traditional and fusion dishes. Unfortunately, her portions are skimpy.
Arroz Con Pollo ✔
We’ve gotten this dish twice. It consists of a chicken thigh and Spanish rice. The chicken was bursting with flavor, was slightly spicy and yet still very much chicken. It was quite moist. The rice was also nicely spiced, though it could have used a tad more flavor. I did like the tomato and sausage. Definitely had a homemade taste. The portion is on the small side, so it’s probably best for lunch or those with smaller appetites.
Beef Steak With Onions And Tomatoes ✔
When I was a young teen, I spent a year living with a maiden aunt who suddenly found herself in the role of substitute mother – a role that involved cooking for a picky teenager. I had gotten tired of eating plain steak and my aunt had devised a piquant tomato sauce to put on it that I became quite devoted to. It’s of that dish that I thought when I saw Shef Joina’s beef steak with onions and tomato. It wasn’t quite what my aunt prepared – really nothing like it at all – but it was quite good. The sweet onions and the tomatoes merged beautifully, achieving that umami sensation, and the beef went well with it. The beef was a tad in the chalky side – but you really don’t want to ruin good meat with a sauce anyway. It was an adequate portion, though I wish I’d had some rice or bread to soak up the remaining sauce (the rice side dish I had ordered was missing this week).
Brazilian Chicken Pie ✔✔
My husband thought this was delicious and enough for two servings for himself (but he tends to only eat half a meal at the time). The crust didn’t maintain too well, it got sort of mushy, but the flavor was amazing.
Brazilian Chicken Stew Galinhada
I had high hopes for this chicken stew but I liked it less than I hoped. It was just underseasoned, and while I added salt to it, it really needed it during the cooking process to bring up the umami in the sauce and get into the chicken. On the plus side, it was a large portion, which included both a plump drumstick and thigh as well as a couple of large pieces of potatoes and carrots.
Cilantro Chicken
I got this dish thinking I was getting the Roasted chicken with cilantro garlic crema reviewed below – my mistake. I thought it was pretty tasty, but my daughter liked it far less than the aforementioned one. She wouldn’t want it again. The sauce in this one was very watery and it seemed more like a soup.
Roasted Chicken With Cilantro Garlic Crema ✔
This was another very tasty dish. The chicken was moist and nicely seasoned, and the accompanying crema was absolutely delicious. Alas, the portion was also skimpy and not enough to fill you up for dinner. They really need to add an extra chicken piece.
I ordered this chicken again, but it came without the cilantro crema. The chicken was very good. The chicken had a garlicky/cinnamon flavor. My daughter liked it but missed the crema.
Shef KELLY L – Greek · Mediterranean · Street Food · Comfort · American
This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef.
Salmon Caesar Salad
My husband overall liked this salad. It wasn’t made with iceberg lettuce but with another leaf, and he was a bit iffy about it, and it had tomatoes he doesn’t like, but otherwise it was just a Caesar’s salad. The very top of the salmon was sort of crusty and it seemed dried out, but when you got past that, it was fine. He’d have it again, but it might be better to just buy a Caesar salad at the supermarket and add some salmon – it’s not like grilling some salmon takes any time.
Shef MAK M. – Chinese · Hong Kong · Asian · Fusion · Low Carb · Comfort
This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef.
Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice Bowl ✔
This was really a very simple dish, just ground (or maybe chopped) pork on a bed of white rice, but boy, was it delicious. The pork had been braised in a delicious sauce (though none of it was in the dish), and it had a very intense, well balanced flavor. I couldn’t really distinguish any of the flavors (soy? five spice?), but it was just good. The flavor was intense enough that it married very well with the plain rice. I’d order this again.
Shef MANDIRA D. – Bangladeshi · North Indian · East Indian · Bengali · Halal ✔
Shef Mandira makes amazing, flavorful and new-to-me curries, but she uses bone-in meats which make them annoying to eat.
Bengali Duck Egg Curry
I got this for Mike – as I don’t like eggs – and he was a bit disappointed. It came in an 8-oz container and included just two duck eggs, two pieces of potatoes and the curry. The eggs were eggs – I mean, they are eggs, I’m not sure what else one can expect from them – and the curry itself was a good, solid curry. But there was nothing out of this world to it. He’d have it again, but wouldn’t seek it out. He did feel it needed something else, maybe some some sliced meat?
Chicken Malai Curry ✔
As a curry, this was delicious. Made with a combination of malai – a thick Bengali cream – and coconut cream, it’s basically an Indian curry with hints of coconut. The flavors do work very well together. The problem was the chicken. It was bone-in chicken cut into pieces. That made it super difficult to eat, as you basically have to use your hands if you want to get the meat off the bones, or transfer it to a plate, wipe away the curry, and try to cut it off. Now, having traveled throughout India I know that this standard for curries in the subcontinent, but it’s still annoying. We’re not sure if we’d have this again, though I’m giving it a tentative check mark. The curry was delicious but it’s soooo annoying to have to deal with the bones.
Murgir Mangsher Jhol (Bengali Chicken Curry)
I was very disappointed on this curry. It had the mildest of flavors, almost none at all. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t. Granted, I had frozen and then defrosted this dish, but that shouldn’t have interfered with the flavor radically. In all, I wouldn’t order it again though I might try Bengali chicken curry from another shef.
Rui Macher Kalia (Rohu Fish Curry)
My husband loved he taste of the curry, it was delicious. However, the fish had too many bones, making it vey difficult to eat. For that reason, he probably wouldn’t get it again.
Shef MANIDA T. – Thai · Southeast Asian · Korean ✔✔
Chicken Kaho Soi (Northern Thai Curry)✔✔
Wow. This was a “new to me” dish and an absolute winner. The light, creamy curry seems to exist at the mid-point between Indian and Thai curries, with a flavorful that is not unlike curry powder but still bright, delicious and complex. It’s a little bit spicy and a little bit sweet and I ended up licking my fingers. My husband also loved it.
Lychee Red Curry Chicken ✔✔
Another winner from Shef Manida, this is another delicious Thai curry and one I hadn’t tried before. I loved the curry itself, with was fragrant, and the lychees in it. The thinly sliced chicken was a bit dry, but it served as a conduit for the chicken as anything else. I’ll order it again and my husband thinks this is his favorite so far.
Massaman Braised Beef Stew Curry ✔
Massaman curry is my favorite Thai curry. This was a competent version of it, though not as good as that of my favorite restaurants. I can’t quite tell what was missing. Maybe more intense flavor? Though it was saltier than many. One welcome surprise is that it had small pieces of pineapple. The portion was very large, with lots of beef and potatoes. I’ll get this again.
Red BBQ Chicken
This was an interesting dish, though not one I’m sure I’d order again. The boneless chicken was tender and supple. It was dusted with a rub based on red pepper, that was a bit too salty and only slightly sweet. It had a peppery flavor as well. It wasn’t bad, and all in all I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t completely won by it.
Roasted Duck Curry (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang) ✔✔
This was another winner by Shef Manida. The curry was light and rich, very fragrant (abundant with kaffir lime leaves), somewhere between mild and medium spicy and full of flavor. The portion is generous, if you add rice it should be enough for two people for lunch. There are only a few pieces of duck, but it’s abundant in veggies. I’d definitely get this again.
Yellow Curry ✔
My husband loved this dish of boneless chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions in a very thin yellow curry. I liked it too, but I felt the curry was too thin, it would have benefited from boiling it off some and concentrating the flavors. Still, there was plenty of chicken and plenty of curry for rice. We’ll order it again.
Spicy Smoky Pork✔
This was another winner. It had a crisp, delicious and unusual flavor. My husband loved it, but it was too spicy for me.
Ganesha Chicken Katsu Curry With Rice- Japanese Curry With Chicken Cutlet
This dish was just OK. The chicken katsu was tender, as one would expect, but it wasn’t very flavorful. The Japanese curry tasted just like Japanese curry, but unfortunately Japanese curries while tasty, are very heavy, so dipping the chicken in the curry helped, but it soon made the dish too heavy. I don’t think I’ll order it again.
Karaage Don – Japanese Fried Chicken Over Rice ☹
This was the fourth time I ordered this dish from Shef Masanori – and the first time I got it. I really shouldn’t have tried so hard, but I was curious about what Japanese fried chicken would be like. The answer, not great. It consisted of boneless strips of chicken in a very soggy breading. Extremely soggy. When you have nightmares about soggy friend chicken, it’s about this dish. Now, I realize that I microwaved it, but I microwave fried chicken all the time without this issue. The breading softens but it doesn’t disintegrate into mush as it did here.
The flavor was OK – though the white rice was sort of a waste who wants to eat white rice without a sauce? I definitely wouldnt order it again and I’m left with the doubt if this is how karaage don is all the time, or just how this shef cooked it.
Garlic Honey Glazed Grilled Chicken And Garlic Rice ✔
This was a pretty basic dish, but very homey and tasty. The flavors were not gourmet, but they were pleasant, and garlic rice is addictive. I’d have it again.
This was a very homey dish, just kofta and large chunks of potatoes in a thin tomato based sauce. It was good and very satisfying. Not something you’d have at a restaurant, but that’s the point of Shef – homefood. I’d get it again.
This Argentine couple makes good empanadas, but the meal consists of only two, which is not sufficient and makes them more expensive than those at local empanada restaurants.
Mushroom & Gorgonzola Empanadas
As an Argentinian who loves to make empanadas myself, I’m particularly picky about empanadas, so you shouldn’t be surprised about how critical I am of these ones. The main problem was how small the portion was. You only get 2 empanadas, which is fine as a snack, but not enough for lunch, much less dinner. As a child, I used to get 3 empanadas for lunch – you need at least 3 or 4 for an adult, particularly when they have a light filling such as mushrooms and gorgonzola. The filling was actually pretty good, not great, but good enough. The shells, however, needed more salt. They came with a little tub of chimichurri, which was good by itself, but didn’t compliment the flavor of the empanadas. I wouldn’t get them again.
Traditional Beef Empanadas
I had the same issue with these empanadas than the ones above. Two empanadas are just not enough and the shells are not that great. I did like the knife-cut beef, which was nicely flavored. It had that briny undertone of olives and a note of sweetness – though I didn’t see any raisins. I also loved that it didn’t have any hardboiled egg. But I wouldn’t order them again, mostly because they are a poor value.
Shef RUMEE S. – North Indian · Lucknowi · Delhi · Mumbai
Chicken Malai ✔
Chicken Mali is quickly becoming one of our favorite curries. My husband had it this time and enjoyed it a lot. It was well balanced, flavorful and just tasty. However, this curry suffered from the same issue as the last one we got (from a different Shef): bone-in cut up chicken. It’s impossible to get the meat from the small pieces of chicken using a fork and knife, so you have to pick it up with your hands, which is a mess given that the chicken is in the curry.
As usual, I understand that it’s authentic, but using boneless chicken – or even full thighs and legs – would be much more convenient.
Shef SARJO B. – Senegalese · African · Gambian · West African ✔ ✔
Another excellent Shef, her dishes are little more spicy than I like, but all very flavorful.
Jollof Rice With Beef ✔
This is another winner by Shef Sarjo. Both the beef and the rice were great, though a little more beef would have been better. They were very nicely spiced and better than any jollof rice I’ve had.
Jollof Rice With Chicken ✔
Another good meal. Loved the rice, the chicken was flavorful. I’ll definitely order again for myself. My daughter didn’t like it, which I’m noting to remind myself.
Peanut Butter Stew (Domoda) ✔
Mike liked it. He thought the sauce was very peanut buttery and the meat was tender and moist. He’d have it again. I just tasted the sauce and I felt the one I’d made was better, this one was missing some umami flavor.
Yassa Bone-in Chicken ✔
This dish was absolutely delicious. Yassa is one of my favorite dishes, and I have made it many, many times since I first started cooking over three decades ago – but this one was far better than any of mine. I don’t know what the secret is, though I did think I distinguished some mustard notes, and when I make it again I’ll see about adding some mustard. In any case, I really enjoyed it. There were a few problems, however.
First, as you can see from the photo, the chicken wasn’t cooked through. While chickens today are safer than in the past, there is always the risk of salmonella, and home cooks, as well as professional ones, should make sure the chicken is fully cooked. Second, the portion only came with one chicken drumstick – that was definitely not enough protein for a meal, even a lunch. The cook should add a second drumstick or a thigh. Third, the dish was too spicy for my taste. At an Indian, Thai or BBQ restaurant, this dish would be characterized as “medium spicy” and it’s just at the edge of what I can stand. To eat the onions – and boy, were the onions delicious – I had to add some rice. So when I order it again (and I will, despite these caveats), I’ll have to make sure I either order a side of rice or that one of the other meals comes with some.
I got this for my daughter who enjoyed many kosharis in Egypt. She liked the dish, but wasn’t fond of the sauce. I wouldn’t order it again.
Shef SHILPA P. – West Indian · Maharashtrian · Malvani · Marathi
This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef.
Kolhapuri Sukka Chicken
This was a very garam masala forward dish, slightly spicy – in the way garam masala is – but not particularly complex. The chicken was tender but also very bony, so a pain to eat. I’ve made Kolhapuri lamb before, and this dish reminded me of that. Mike liked it, though he also wished the chicken was boneless. I’m not huge on garam masala, so I wouldn’t order it again. Mike probably wouldn’t either.
Shef STACY L.– Southern · Soul Food · American · Comfort · Asian · Fusion
Fried Bbq Chicken Plate
I was intrigued by the idea of both frying and bbq’ing chicken. As it turned out, the extra step of frying was unnecessary. The chicken was moist, so there is that, and it had a nice flavor – but nothing to write home about. It was just a little bit spicy. It came with overly salted mash potatoes and corn. I don’t think we’d order it again.
Southern Fried Chicken
Shef screwed up for me this week and sent me two dishes I didn’t order instead of two I did. One of these was what I presume is Shef Stacy L.’s Crispy Southern Fried Chicken. It came with mashed potatoes and corn.
The dish didn’t work for me. I found the chicken was nice and crispy but the piece of chicken I ate had a disconcerting sour taste. I’m not sure if it’d gone bad (I didn’t have intestinal problems later, so I’m going to guess it didn’t), or if it’s something in the ingredients. In any case, I wouldn’t want to eat it again. My husband had the other piece and didn’t find it sour.
I was hoping that the mashed potatoes would be the saving grace, but they were impossibly salty. My husband agreed. The corn was just corn. I would definitely not order this again, as you can get better fried chicken at the supermarket for less.
Shef SUKHDEEP K.– North Indian · Punjabi · Clean · Desserts · Comfort · Vegetarian ✔
Butter Chicken ✔
Our third Shef butter chicken was the winner among those Shef has sent us. While the sauce was on the thin side and the dish could have used a little more chicken, it was very tasty – almost restaurant quality. It was mildly spiced. You definitely need rice to eat this with. Most importantly, my daughter liked it and would want it again
This was a fairly generic meat and potatoes stew. I wouldn’t call it a “curry” per se, in the sense of the spices and flavor profile that the word “curry” usually alludes to. However, according to my notes from when I cooked this dish myself years ago, this is precisely what it’s supposed to taste like: homey. As someone who likes meat and potato stews, I was pretty happy with it. The portion was generous.
This dish was OK. I enjoyed eating it, though I don’t see myself craving it. I think it might be better at a different time of year when basil is brighter/fresher – as it had a slightly bitter taste. It could have used a tad more sweetness, but the spiciness level was good, medium-mild, I’d say. It was an adequate portion. I might order this again.
Shef VANITA YADAV M.– Indian
This shef doesn’t seem to be listed anymore.
Andhra Chicken Curry (Kodi Kura) ✔
I gave this curry the old college try, but after a few bites, I just had to abandon it. It was way, way too spicy for me. In a restaurant, it would probably be described as somewhere between medium and hot. This is a pity, because the curry was very good. The chicken was so moist and tender that I actually thought it was lamb, and there were lots of it. I tend to prefer sweeter curries, this definitely was not that, but the flavor was complex and developed. It did not taste of curry powder, garam masala or anything of the sort. In all, a very successful dish even if I couldn’t eat it.
Chicken Adobo With Pickled Leeks With Jasmine Rice ✔
My husband really liked the chicken, it was very tasty and it didn’t have the skin on, which is a plus for him.
Chinese Cured Pork Belly And Sausage With Jasmine Rice
This dish was OK. Half of the tray was cabbage, which is not my thing. The sausage and pork belly were fine, not exciting, and there was something crunchy, brown and weird that neither I nor the dog liked. I wouldn’t order it again.
Shef VICTORIA S. – International · Southeast Asian · Vietnamese ✔
Caramelized Spare Ribs ✔
This dish came in several containers, and I didn’t realize that I was supposed to put them together into one until after I had eaten the actual spare ribs and looked at the picture of the dish online. Basically, it comes with a tub of spare ribs, one of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, another with two hard boiled eggs and a final one of rice (white, not seasoned as in the website photo), and you are supposed to put it together into a plate. Together, they form a substantial plate of food – the ribs alone might be too little for a meal, though they are so rich, that I wouldn’t have been able to eat any more of them.
The ribs were very tender and tasty, but only slightly sweet and they had a tad too much fish sauce. Each bite is mostly bones or tendons which makes it a bit difficult to eat. But the flavor was there. Mike, in particular, really liked them and would want to order them again.
Shef WAYNE F. – North Indian · Indo-Chinese · Fusion · Indian
Butter Chicken ☹
This plate came in a 16 oz container, which is the container size you get at most local Indian restaurants when you order take out. The dish, however, contained relatively little chicken – it was mostly sauce. The chicken came in large chunks, but was tender enough that it came apart when cut with the fork. Unfortunately, the chicken itself lacked seasoning.
The sauce was just OK – somewhat better than jarred butter chicken sauce or the ones that come in frozen entrees, but not nearly as good as the best butter chicken sauces from our favorite Indian restaurants. It had some disconcerting bitter notes, that I couldn’t quite place, and it was a bit too acidic. It was only slightly spicy, which was to my taste. I wouldn’t order it again, but I didn’t mind eating it.
While I’d say there is only enough chicken for one meal, there is enough sauce for another half-meal if you eat it with rice or naan bread. For the price, I think I’d order it at a restaurant instead. —
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