Eduard

[Closed several years ago and is now Tastea Grill as of 2009]

After lunch at Hanaoka's in National City with a very good friend, we went down to Eduard - A Taste of Europe in the Otay Ranch Heritage Town Center (Here's another review). By the way, if you try to link onto the various dessert offerings on their website, all you will see is a huge moose (or elk or whatever). Uhhhh, WTF? I wanted to see pics of cakes and pastries, not Bullwinkle! Anyways, looks like they need to fix their website!
I just read Chrissy from Manitoulin's blog and she had okonomiyaki when her former Japanese ESL student visited her. Unfortunately, that item wasn't offered at Hanaoka's. I think I would have to go to a more hardcore Japanese restaurant to find that. My friend ended up getting the chicken katsu lunch special while I got the mixed tempura and California roll lunch special. Nothing too earth shattering which is why I didn't bother taking photos. It was a fun lunch, just catching up on our lives and rehashing the reunion details (since he didn't attend) as well as dirt. So, back to dessert. We went to Eduard's and perused the offerings in their window....This was the dark chocolate Napoleon ($3.25) which I selected for myself.

More goodies. I had the flash off so everything looks like it's yellowish.

Eduard's is a tiny little place with limited seating. We ended up having our desserts outside so we could speak more freely! There was an echo in there and we didn't want to be the only loud people in there!

Display case:

My friend's cute little teapot with teacup set; he had Mango Ceylon tea ($1.75 with free refills).

I splurged and got us some chocolates ($1.75 each). One thing - these chocolates are not made by the shop. Clockwise: Mango Mint Coriander (with red smudge - their placard did not have a description), Croquantine (a crunchy almond wafer base with a layer of rich Madagascar dark chocolate encased in bittersweet Swiss chocolate ---description from window case!), the polka dotted one was the Apricot Coconut (a layer of Apricot puree followed by a layer of toasted coconut ganache and another layer of dark chocolate ganache coated in bittersweet Swiss chocolate), and lastly, the Gianduja (sorry - no detailed description here, but it's chocolate hazelnut). I didn't really like the Mango Mint Coriander - something about a sweet fruit with an herb flavor didn't mesh well with my taste buds. So, my friend polished it off for me. I snarfed the Croquantine and the last two are in a box on my kitchen counter waiting to be consumed.

[Update - one day later - I noticed on my receipt that the girl had overcharged me for the chocolates. She rang it up as if I bought a truffle box or somethin, so I went back to get my refund. The guy working there remembered me from yesterday, apologized for the inconvenience and even offered me something out of the case, which I declined. I just wanted my $1.40 back! Damn, that's like another chocolate!]My dessert companion had the dark chocolate mousse truffle torte ($4.95)

This magnificent confection ended up being boxed up to be enjoyed later today (I presume). It was really rich and a bit too much to finish in one sitting.

My dark chocolate Napoleon. I ended up eating most of the top layer (dark chocolate - mmmmm)...

and picking at the pieces later. The flaky puff pastry layers were light and crackly as I stabbed it repeatedly with my fork. There was some cream layers interspersed with the dark chocolate filling as well, but I really only wanted to eat the top layer.

We ended up going to JNC Pinoy Foodmart to pick up some Mama Sita flavor packets. He needed Caldereta mix so I told him we could go there since it was close by. I was just there yesterday to get Afritada mix. Hey man, 89 cents is a bargain! According to my friend, 99 Ranch sells it for 30 or 40 cents more!

Movie currently watching:

Princess Mononoke- by Studio Ghibli, (screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki)

Bert and I only watched 3o minutes of this last night (tired!). Kind of violent, but excellent animation. Kicks ass on anything Disney cranks out. Also, Studio Ghibli's offerings are much more thought provoking than Disney swill anytime. TC really liked My Neighbor Totoro, The Cat Returns, and Castle in the Sky, while I really enjoyed Spirited Away. Although Disney repackaged these movies for the US market, we prefer to watch them in Japanese with English subtitles instead of hearing B-list movie/tv stars voice the characters.

Book currently finishing:

The Nasty Bits - by Anthony Bourdain

This guy is a riot! I really liked his previous book, Kitchen Confidential.

CDs in my car:

Staring at the Sea by The Cure

I'm in my 80's time warp.

Aperitif for Destruction by Richard Cheese ,

Oh my God! Richard Cheese is brilliant and so fkn hilarious! No one can swankify modern songs like him, especially when he does rap songs - the lyrics are downright absurd! Just listen to 'Me So Horny'! I also like his mambofied version of U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'!

and The Simpsons - Songs in the Key of Springfield. "I hate every ape I see, from Chimpan-A to chimpan-Z, no you'll never make a monkey out of me!" (Troy McClure, voiced by the late and great Phil Hartman, playing Charlton Heston's character in the musical version of 'Planet of the Apes'). Pop culture at its finest!