I'd have to say one of the toughest decisions in life is figuring out where to eat for OC Restaurant Week, but lucky for me it comes around twice a year.  After studying the menu for a couple of days, I narrowed it down to a couple of restaurants and Royal Khyber took the final win.  I met up with a friend at the restaurant for lunch and was promptly seated.  The restaurant was dimly lit with a nice warm atmosphere.  The seating along the wall was one long couch with bright colored pillows.  The restaurant was on the smaller side but had a homely feel to it. 

My friend ordered the passionfruit tea, which was in a nice glass bottle and I settled for a good ol' glass of ice water.  We looked over the restaurant week menu and we were faced with another tough decision, what to order. They have two options for you: a $10 meal or $20.  Both meals come with either soup or salad and dessert.  We both chose the $10 option, I opted for the Saag Paneer and my friend chose the Karahi Vegetables. 

First came our salad, with the dressing on the side.  Our salad consisted of fresh greens topped with carrots, walnuts, and apples.  The dressing was a nice thick tamarind ginger honey dressing.  When our entrees came out, it was accompanied by some basmati rice, veggies, and a piece of naan bread.  The naan was warm and fluffy, perfect for dipping into my Saag.  I ate a chunk of the home made Paneer and it had a nice chewy texture to it.  This was the first time i tried the Saag Paneer and i definitely won't be the last time I have it.  My friend said that her Karahi Vegetables had a nice spicy kick to it.  From what I saw, it was a nice amount of veggies in her dish. 

After scarfing down my meal, I quickly remembered we still had dessert.  When I see mango on a dessert menu, I am very quick to order it.  I love mango anything and this Mango Kulfi did not disappoint.  It was thick chunks of ice cream cut up and taste like real mango chunks.  This isn't your typical ice cream that you scoop out of a Dryers box, this was obviously home made.

Overall, it was a wonderful lunch and a great choice for OC Restaurant Week.  Although the portions look small, it is very filling.  Great food and great company makes for a great meal.  I will definitely come back and try more items off their menu.  They also have a lunch buffet that I am dying to try and its only $16.95!

I finally made it over to AnQi, the new gourmet Vietnamese-fusion bistro at South Coast Plaza that is a sister of the celebrity-patronized Crustacean restaurant in Beverly Hills. The interior has an incredibly unique ambiance: it’s dark, candle-lit with little pots of moss on each table. Wine cellars are visible at both ends and traditional Asian screens break off the otherwise large dining area into smaller, individualized, separate ones.

The area where my friend, Justin, and I sat was made up of what resembled a large couch on one side, with small, two-person tables lined down it. I got to sit on the couch side which was really cool because my behind’s not used to sitting on such a comfy texture while dining.Being amidst Orange County Restaurant Week, Justin and I decided to take advantage of the Restaurant Week lunch special. The three-course prix-fixe meal included corn soup, a main course and dessert. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive and we also spotted one of the managers making her way around various tables to check in with guests and make sure their dining experience as well as their food was enjoyable.

I started off with a passion tea that closely resembles the infamous passion tea of Starbucks fame. It was great, a nice diversion from the typical-flavored teas that most restaurants offer. I had about six refills … then subsequently, peed twice. Bathroom was very unique, too: dimly lit, with whicker trashcans, soap and lotions dispensers that you’d find in a home rather than a restaurant, along with thicker soft paper towels. Definitely not the standard, cheap kind.

Anyway, I’d never had corn soup before but it was actually quite good. It comes with avocado and chicken though I had mine without since I don’t eat meat. The soup was very soothing and the avocado provided just the right kick. Our main-course options included garlic noodles with beef sirloin, a salmon caesar wrap and a meal titled “vegetable delight”, which includes organic tofu, asparagus, shiitake mushroom, green bean, oyster mushroom with jasmine rice. I chose the veggie delight by default and Justin did, too, despite being a meat eater.

The vegetable delight meal was more than enough food; I ate half and took the rest home to finish for dinner, though Justin finished his there in its entirety because he’s a boy and they do that. The sauce was the perfect flavor to compliment the veggies and the rice was quite tasty as well. I would definitely return just for this meal, if not to try the garlic noodles which several sources claim are to die for.

The dessert that accompanies the restaurant week meal is called “molecule cheesecake.” Justin and I had a fun time assessing why it might be referred to as such. After much debate, we inquired with our waiter who explained that it’s cheesecake, demolished and put back together in a ball. Who comes up with this? When our molecule cheesecake balls presented themselves, we discovered two round balls accompanied by three little berries. The outer crust was comprised of what would typically be the cheesecake’s crust, while the innards were just a typical cheesecake-tasting filling. Needless to say, we polished these babies off in about 20 seconds. Delicious. And, there was fruit there so it’s healthy, right? Right.

Just walking by Boudin Bakery is like a whif of heaven. You can smell the  sourdough bread baking in the South Coast Plaza corridors.

Boudin is a nice place to stop for a nice quick lunch. They serve sandwiches, soup, salad, and pastries and are known for their sourdough bread and clam chowder. I can easily eat here twice a week because of the convenience of being so close to the parking lot and the low prices of the food.

I recommend any of the sandwiches paired with a bowl of chowder or spring mix salad. There's a Boudin Combo where you can choose two from a salad, soup, or sandwich.  

I normally stick with the Chicken Pesto Sandwich.  It comes on a sourdough baguette with chicken, arugula, tomato, pesto and vinaigrette dressing. I always ask them to add Havarti cheese and onions on it. If you don't like baguettes, they have a fluffy croissant that goes great with the sandwich. All their sandwiches are fresh and nicely put together.

The soups will warm you up on a cold day.  Their Tomato Basil and Clam Chowder is perfect with their sourdough bread bowls. They also have different soups depending on the season, so they are always changing their soup specials. If you're not into the whole soup, sandwich, salad deal, they have burgers there also! They used to have pizzas and pastas, but I'm assuming they weren't popular because they cut them from the menu. 

The prices are pretty decent, a meal will run you from $7-$10, depending on what you get. The best bargain here is the Boudin Combo, which is about  $7.50 I believe. You can't beat that price for a good quick lunch in South Coast Plaza or their other location right across the street at Metro Pointe.