Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop @ San Francisco

Ghirardelli (pronounced as Gear-ar-delly) is the second oldest chocolate company in United States, after Baker's Chocolate. Founded by Dormingo Ghirardelli, an Italian chocolatier in 1952, the company prides itself for being one of the few American manufacturers that controls the entire chocolate manufacturing process, from cocoa beans to finished products. 

Ghirardelli Square is located at the corner of Beach St. and Larkin St. (west side of Fisherman's Wharf)

Even though Ghirardelli's chocolates are available in most of the U.S. grocery stores. Nobody would want to give The Original Chocolate Shop a miss. 

 Stop by the World Famous Ice Cream Shop for an intense chocolate fix.

Ghirardelli roasts the cocoa beans in house and uses a comprehensive refining process to ensure that the chocolate truly melts in your mouth!

Ghirardelli's product line includes its signature squares chocolate, chocolate bars, other chocolate confections, baking chocolate and chocolate beverages.

Baked treats: Chocolate Strawberries, brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone loves chocolate - A chocolate in the mouth is worth two on the plate!

Domingo Sundae (US$6.95) - A tribute to its founder, Domingo Ghirardelli. Two scoops of premium vanilla ice cream, homemade hot fudge, surrounded by bananas and topped with whipped cream, chopped almonds and a cherry. 

Midnight Reverie (US$7.95) - Two scoops of chocolate ice cream, homemade dark chocolate hot fudge, sprinkled with dark decadent chips and a Midnight Reverie 86% Intense Dark Chocolate. 

Hot Cocoa (US$2.95) - An aggressively intense cup of hot cocoa.

Chocolates are substitute for love. Let's face it, Chocolates are far more reliable than man. =)

Verdict : TOTALLY SMITTEN

R & G Lounge @ San Francisco

While most restaurants serve formulaic renditions of Chinese food, R&G Lounge sets a different expectation, playing with fresh ingredients and spices to create flavorful Cantonese dishes. It is arguably the best Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. 

Soya Sauce Bean Curd (US$9) - Dredged in light soy sauce seasoning, the tofu struck a harmonious chord of sweet and salty. 

Live Crab with Salt and Pepper - After being tossed with salt and pepper, the crab was flash fried for texture. We were smitten by the light crispy batter and finger licking good crab meat. 

Soya Sauce Duck (US$16) - Tender pieces of duck are marinated in Chef's special soy sauce. The result? Juicy meat under a veneer of well seasoned skin.

Fresh Lobster with Ginger and Scallions - Noodles are tangled in between sweet chunks of lobster, ginger and scallions. The dish was phenomenally layered with surprising texture and a catchy combination of flavors.

Bright leafy greens danced beautifully with a bowl of rice. 

Steamed Clams with Egg - Fresh clams submerged from a bed of silky custard - A reminder of how simple food can be so sophisticated. 

Few in this town can conquer Cantonese dishes quite like R&G Lounge do. In the end, we fell hard for all the dishes we ordered. 

Verdict : TOTALLY SMITTEN

Emmy's Spaghetti Shack @ San Francisco

Emmy knows its all. She cooks, she dances and she loves her shack. For the past 10 years, Emmy's Spaghetti Shack has been attracting a steady stream of diners with its simple but perfected menu. This girl power restaurant is located off Mission Street on the border of Bernal Heights. It is a comfortable little place that fits right into the neighborhood. It is also possibly the best hidden restaurant in San Francisco. 

This dark dive restaurant had a rather interesting decor with aprons and t-shirts strung across the bar.

Walls are decorated with corrugated metal, splashed with colorful stickers.

Owners Jay Foster and Emily Kaplan had created a seasonal menu that will tantalized your taste buds.

The decor was fabulously eclectic

Hand written menus with no two that look alike. - Chic -

Spaghetti Meatballs (US$12.95) served with house marinara and parsley. The marinara was on the tangier side but it went perfectly well with the homestyle meatballs. Not to mention, the meatballs were ginormous - bigger than a ping pong ball! It was indeed big and beautiful.

Spaghetti maybe Emmy's specialty but this Panko encrusted pan seared cod fish with lemon caper butter sauce, roast leek and potatoes (US$17.50) is something you gotta try! Crusted fish coupled with the flavorful sauce was heavenly delicious. 

Fettucine with spicy Italian sausage, roasted cauliflower in a Parmesan cream sauce topped with herb bread crumbs (US$15.95). The cauliflower and spicy sausages helped to balanced the richness of the Parmesan cream sauce, while the bread crumbs added another spectrum of crunch to it. Bravo!

It may be called a shack but A Sexy Shack with Big Flavors!

Verdict: TOTALLY SMITTEN

Turtle Tower @ San Francisco

When you walked into Turtle Tower, don't expect the usual pho where the bowl is flooded with bean sprouts, mint leaves and lime. At this Northern style restaurant, you will only find clear broth soup accompanied by green onions, coriander leaves, thinly slices meat and of course noodles.

Iced Vietnamese Filtered Coffee (US$3.20). The freshly ground dark roast coffee are individually brewed with a small metal filter drip, yielding a cup of  incredibly rich, smooth sweet concoction. Vietnamese coffee is not for the faint of heart as it is much stronger than the usual Western style coffee.

Pho Chin (US$6.20) - Well done flank and Brisket Beef Noodle Soup (US$6.20). There are three important elements to make up a good bowl of Vietnamese noodles: clear fragrant broth, silky soft noodles and succulent meat - Pho Chin fitted just right in. 

Pho Bo Dac Biet (US$7.20) - Combination of rare beef, tripe, well done flank and brisket noodle soup. The broth needed no additional seasoning or garnishing, it was good, warm and satisfying.

As you can see, Northern style pho tends to be simpler and is made with less ingredients compared to Southern style pho. 

Verdict: TOTALLY SMITTEN