Untastiest Weekend

Last weekend, we had very bad food experiences. We went to International Blvd. in East Oakland to try a Vietnamese place my husband found on Yelp.com. It's called Cam Huong Cafe. We wanted the BBQ pork sandwich and it got good reviews there. Well, out of 26 reviewers, it got four out of five stars. When we arrived, we were met with a coughing homeless guy in front of the entrance. When we got inside, it looked hopeful when we saw a line in there. Thought that it was weird that a lot of the prepared food like the spring rolls, bento-like plates, and desserts were on a shelf without any refrigeration though... Well, we got in line and noticed that there were tables that were not cleared off yet. And that really put off my husband. So we decided to take it home. My husband got the grilled pork sandwich, and I got the BBQ pork sandwich. I also ordered the Thai ice tea which tasted standard. But my husband got a sugar cane juice. It was so yummy! It was sweet but it had a citrus taste to it that made it quite refreshing. Our sandwiches were... blech! My pork was the red char-siu pork. I was surprised that it didn't really have the bold flavor. The jalapeno slice gave it the spiciness. The bread was good - it had the crispiness. Oh, and the pickled veggies didn't have its pickle flavor that I love so much! My husband's tasted a lot better, but not good enough. He said that it tastes better than Lee's Sandwiches. I disagreed. I would much rather have Lee's. Ever since I had a fresh one at Pho 89 in Richmond, I compare all banh mi to it. The sandwiches my husband gets from SF are also very good. Anyways, we will not be going back there again even though the sandwiches were super-duper cheap.

We also tried Boran Thai Restaurant in Berkeley. We didn't know what to eat, so we drove around until something caught our eye. I saw a cozy looking place as we drove by this place, so we went. It looked very similar to another Thai place we've tried before, but after looking at the menu, I realized that it was a different place. Anyways, that's not the point. When we sat down, we were given a basket of those fried fat chips thingies (is that what it is?) with a side of sweet dipping sauce. The place is definitely homey. I liked that atmosphere. So, we ordered a calamari appetizer, a BBQ pork dish, and a dish that sounded like the fried tofu and eggplant dish we had at Thai Basil in Fullerton. While we waited, we got a soup of just chicken broth with chopped cabbage in it. It was so simple and very yummy. So I was very excited to get my food. When we did... Oh my... How can anyone mess up on Thai cuisine?! All the flavors of Thai cuisine are yummy and so boldly flavorful. You're using the best flavors!! And all the dishes we got came out super sweet. We didn't finish eating everything. Our server looked was this grandpa looking guy who was so smiley and sweet. This was the only time I was ever glad that when the server came to check on us, that my mouth was full. He asked if everything was okay, and I just gave a polite nod with, "Mm-hmm." Later when he asked if we were done, we asked for boxes. We didn't have the heart to tell him that we didn't want to take the leftover home. We then walked over to Andronico's and got salt and vinegar potato chips to balance the sweet taste in my mouth. We then left the leftovers by a trashcan in front of Walgreens where I know I've seen homeless people hang out before. As soon as we got home, we checked it out on Yelp.com, of course. I don't know why people like it. *sigh*