Everything Truffle at Umami Burger

I love burgers and heard a lot of good things about Umami Burger so it was a must try when I was in San Francisco.

Umami Burger offers freshly ground, premium beef patties that are infused with secret ingredients that have umami (a flavor that falls outside salty, sweet, bitter, and sour) properties. Umami induces salivation and a sensation of furriness on the tongue, stimulating the throat, the roof, and the back of the mouth.  

Umami Burger has full bar service and wait staff, concepts not common for most burger joints.

Umami's Bar Menu

I had a hard time narrowing down my choice as I wanted to try a lot of things on the menu!!! In the end, my meal consisted of The Royale Burger with a side of truffle fries and root beer.

Abita Root Beer

Bottled root beer is the best!

Truffle Em' Thin Fries

Fries are topped with truffle cheese and truffle salt.  Sad that they scrimped on truffle.

The Royale 

Beef patty topped with braised short rib, roasted garlic aioli, and truffle cheese.

Just look at that beautiful chunk of meat! The patties at Umami Burger are always cooked medium rare just the way I like it! Flavors were spot on and the melt-in-your-mouth ribs tied the Royale Burger beautifully. 

Umami Burger has multiple branches in California, Florida, and New York. For more information, click here.

Diners in San Francisco

I love diner food so I made sure to have my fill of classic greasy Americana that these late night joints offered when I was in San Francisco.

I'm glad to have had the chance to visit the iconic Fog City Diner at Embarcadero before it went on a serious remodel. It has now reopened minus its neon lights and black & white tiles which is sad because I loved it the way it was.

Mac & Cheese

Bacon Burger

Lori's Diner,  located at the heart of Union Square, reminded me of Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe from the Archies. 

Food certainly didn't look appetizing but it sure was filling. I have to admit though that Lori's Diner was my least favorite among the diners I tried.

Buffalo Wings

Lori's Garden Salad

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Reuben Sandwich

Chicken Fried Steak

Lori's Signature Burger

Vanilla Milkshake

Hot Chocolate

We also went for snacks at Mels Drive-in which has many locations in California. Some might recognize this diner because there are replicas of Mel's Drive-in at Universal Studios theme parks worldwide. 

Photo Credit: http://www.melsdrive-in.com/

Mel's Drive-in also gets a failing mark in presentation just like most diners but food, I promise, tasted better than it looked.

 Cheese Fries

Short Rib Sliders

The Famous Melburger

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Spaghetti & Meat Balls

Cheeseburger

Fog City is located at 1300 Battery St, San Francisco, California 94111, United States. For more information click here.
Lori's Diner has multiple branches in San Francisco. For more information, click here.
Mels Drive-in has multiple branches in California. For more information, click here.

Keeping Fresh at In-N-Out

A trip to the West Coast isn't complete without visiting In-N-Out. Lucky for us, there's an In-N-Out branch at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

Fisherman's Wharf branch

In-N-Out appears to have a very basic menu, but you can click here to learn more about their not-so-secret menu.

Everything tastes 100 times better with fresh ingredients and this is exactly the reason why In-N-Out has an almost cult-like following. It has managed to keep its ingredients fresh and has avoided using preservatives unlike most burger joints.

Our Tray

Cheeseburger

Perfectly Toasted Bun + 100% pure American Beef Patty  + American Cheese + Fresh Vegetables = Burger Heaven

Double-Double Cheeseburger

Double Beef Patty + Double Cheese = Double Happiness

Animal Style Fries from the Not-So-Secret Menu

Hand Cut Potatoes + Special Spread with Pickles and Onions = Best Fast Food Fries 

For the best bang for your burger buck, In-N-Out is it!

In-N-Out has locations in Northern California, Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah & Texas. For more information, click here.

Denny's!

Move over IHOP...

If there's one casual American joint I want here in the Philippines, it got to be Denny's!

Denny's is a no-frills quick service restaurant that serves hearty comfort food. It is open round the clock with breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus to serve hungry stomachs any time of the day.

We trooped to Denny's one morning and below are the food we ordered from their breakfast menu:

Buttermilk Pancakes

French Toast 

Grandslam Breakfast of Eggs, Bacon, Sausage and Hash Brown

Country Fried Steak and Eggs

Biscuit and Gravy with Hashbrown

Fried Cheese Melt with Fries

Chicken Strips with Fries

The plates at Denny's sure aren't pretty nor healthy; however, for a taste of classic Americana, Denny's is the place to be.

 Denny's has hundreds of branches in the United States. For more information, click here.

In A Land Far Far Away...

Wish I could say the trip to Katipunan for Boulevard Diner was worth it...

BUT 

cheap cheese,

 sour wings,

and soggy buns just won't make the cut.

Tried to erase the memory of dinner with desserts at Mom And Tina's.

I can't say it worked.

Boulevard Diner is located at 91 Xavierville Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. For more information, call 5045634 or click here.

Mom and Tina's has three branches in Metro Manila. For more information, click here.