Attractions

Crispy, freshly baked-to-order empanadas that come piping hot. We especially like the criolla, which has steak, onion, olives, and egg in it. They'll be at the wedding for lunch!

You have to make a reservation. We would recommend going with a larger group of people so you can enjoy multiple pots of tea. Get the full tea service for the full experience.

Our favourite for brunch food, especially their eggs benedict and the variety in their pancakes. This place is brunch only — they close down at 02:00 PM every day.

We go here specifically for salads, since they're usually full of flavors and feature a wide breadth of ingredients to make the texture different between each one. Don't let that they're salads fool you; they're big enough to be a meal by themselves. We always get the Tea Leaf Salad and the Rainbow Salad here. They'll be at the wedding for lunch!

They specialize in Cantonese-style noodle dishes (egg and rice), both fried and in soup. Their fried noodles in particular have that charred 鑊氣 (wok hei) flavor that makes these kinds of dishes so fragrant.

All-day dim sum! Instead of carts, dim sum here is made-to-order, so it takes a bit to get out, but tastes fresh. Don't forget to get some lava custard buns for dessert!

We strongly recommend the century egg and eggplant dish. However, if you don't like century egg, this may not be the dish for you. The minced pork with pickled vegetables and bamboo shoots is pretty good too, but very spicy.

Pulled noodles restaurant, so get their pulled noodle dishes. We particuarly enjoyed their tomato and egg with pulled noodles.

Szechuan/Sichuan food. Everything is fairly spicy here, so be warned.

Everything we have got there we have enjoyed, so if you enjoy Ethiopian food, we would reocmmend this place. For folks that are not familiar with Ethiopian food, some things to consider. The flatbread - injera - is sourdough based. Curry is often eaten with said injera.

Features primarily Latin American dishes with an Asian spin on them, like Thai tea-flavored flan for dessert. We get their Lomo Saltado, which is best eaten right away since their fries are soft and fluffy on the inside and the beef flank is juicy when chewed on. Their drinks are good too: We loved the Maracuyá (passion fruit juice) and Yuzu Lemonade.

We go here specifically to get some form of katsu, since they know how to get it with crispy, crumbly breading outside and tender, juicy meat inside. For something less crispy, try the Katsu Don, which has an egg fragrantly cooked over it.

Fairly expensive, but tasty modern omakase. You may need to make a reservation.

They do a little bit of everything with Japanese cuisine, but we particularly like their bento sets.

Our favorite for ramen overall. Their specialty's chashu, which is full of flavor that comes out the longer you chew on it. We also liked how much lighter the broth is, relative to many other ramen places, so it avoids being too rich to finish at the end. Go here if you care a lot about the chashu and the broth.

A local favorite for ramen, especially for their made-in-house noodles and softboiled ramen eggs. Go here if the ramen noodles themselves and the ramen eggs are a bigger deal to you.

All-you-can-eat shabu shabu, but they start putting food away an hour before they close, so you can't eat whatever they put away.

We particularly like their eel kamameshi, and the bento sets are pretty good too. You can't really go wrong here, as all the food has been delicious.

They do more modern sushi rolls here. Everything that we've gotten has been good.

Upscale Edo-mae sushi. Sit at the bar if you are able and get the omakase. Be prepared to spend money.

All you can eat Korean BBQ with delicious sides. For the sides, we like the pickled radish wraps, kimchi, and rice paper. We often get the brisket meat to grill.

They specialize in beef bone broth, but their seafood pancakes are good as well. The seafood pancake is a large portion, so we would recommend getting it for the table.

Mediterranean build-your-own bowl/pita/salad. We like their Chicken Shawarma bowls, and load it with all of the toppings (including the extra ones) to eat with their Garlic Sauce. They'll be at the wedding for dinner!

We go here specifically to get seafood dishes. They make our favorite Mexican shrimp cocktails (milder in flavor to let the shrimp itself shine) and we love getting their ceviches too. If you're looking for something more spicy, give their shrimp aguachiles a try: It's too fiery for either of us to get a full size of regularly, but Huy enjoyed it (with some breaks between bites).

(multiple locations) 30 minutes from the border is a cafeteria-looking thing where you line up to ask for tacos to be made-to-order. They're open late too, complete with brightly lit parking lot, if you have the late night munchies.

(multiple locations) Yeah, it's called The Taco Stand, but get the burritos here. Oh, and the nopal taco's pretty good too.

(multiple locations) Their main specialties are tacos. They serve more modern tacos rather than street tacos. They'll be at the wedding for dinner!

Works for both a meal and dessert: Their Aussie Meat Pie makes a great meal, and we end with the Lemon Curd and Mixed Berry Hand Pie (Yan's favorite) and a Guava Cream Cheese Hand Pie (Huy's favorite). They'll be at the wedding for dinner!

(multiple locations) Fish and chips, featuring crispy ~~fries~~ chips with soft, potato-y goodness on the inside. Their more street food-y dishes like fish tacos or fish and chips shine the most.

Southern-style food with a different menu (Surf vs. Soul) depending on the day of the week. Both are great, though it almost feels like two separate restaurants from how they run. Their blackened seafood dishes are full of sauce, and they devein their shrimp to avoid that stench from it. Their hours vary a lot, so don't forget to check before going.

Fairly authentic Thai food. We would recommend the Tom Yum and Tom Kha.

We go here for their Uyghur noodle dishes, in particular the House Laghman and the Laghman Soup. We haven't found them on the menu after they rebranded from Kroran Uyghur Cuisine, but they still offer it when we ask. The House Laghman features tender beef in a gravy sauce mixed with vegetables. The Laghman Soup is a smooth tomato-based soup with that features the same noodles as the House Laghman.

Our favorite phở in San Diego County, which could easily match up against what Orange County has to offer. Service here is efficient, so waiting to get a seat or to get food never takes long.

European bakery featuring less sweet desserts. Get their bear claws, apple turnovers. We would not recommend the small cakes. The pastries are where they shine. They'll be at the wedding as a dessert for dinner!

Cantonese bakery. It's tasty. Get their egg custard buns and cocktail buns.

A more novel Chinese bakery that sports desserts like jujube cake, fruit mochi (with actual fruit inside!), and miniature cakes. Nothing there is all that sweet, which keeps them from becoming fatiguing. They'll be at the wedding as a dessert for lunch!

Makes one of the smoother black milk teas out there in their Black Jade Milk Tea Creamomo, which comes with soft, chewy boba, and optionally cheese foam or tiramisu foam on top. That said, the milk tea itself is worth it on its own too, even without the fancier toppings like the boba or foam. It frequently has lines out the door, so expect to wait a bit unless you show up at opening.

This is Huy's favorite for Okinawa Milk Tea for how roasty and full of brown sugar flavour it is. Their Jasmine Milk Tea's also pleasantly floral. Their strength is in milky drinks.

We usually get fruity drinks here, which tend to use fruit in the drinks like lychee bits, passion fruit seeds, or lemons. They have a good selection of both caffeinated and non-caffeinated drinks. Their Lady Bug and Guava Sunset are our go-tos. They'll be at the wedding as our boba bar!

We enjoyed the Aloha Mango Green Tea, Urban Milk Tea (black milk tea), and mango sago. Lower the sweetness though. Don't use the kiosk, order at the counter. Also, the line forms to the right, not to the left.

Cookies! These will be at the wedding for folks looking for snacks.

The constant part of their menu comes out so fresh out of the oven that it actually hurts to pick up, and has nice soft consistency when eaten. Their seasonal menu features a ton of options, with a big box at the cash register just to showcase what they offer.

Heavier, cake doughnuts that are not too sweet. Even their more boring flavors end up tasting good since you can taste the flavor of the doughnut itself. They'll be at the wedding as a dessert for lunch!

(multiple locations) All their gelato is good.

Tasty gelato that has more modern flavors rather than traditional flavors of gelato.

Japanese bakery making fresh, soft mochi featuring a variety of flavors. Since it never tastes all that sweet, it avoids being fatiguing. It was originally owned and run by an elderly couple until their recent retirement, though the quality still remains as good.

A more novel Chinese bakery that sports desserts like jujube cake, fruit mochi (with actual fruit inside!), and miniature cakes. Nothing there is all that sweet, which keeps them from becoming fatiguing. They'll be at the wedding as a dessert for lunch!

(multiple locations) Despite their name, they're a bona fide ice cream shop. Each location has a different name, but they all start with "An's". If you want something dairy-free, try their Palate Cleanser, which is a mojito sorbet! Their other sorbets are all refreshing too, and mix well together. For milky ice cream, Velor is the way to go. However, if you're indecisive, they do tasting tours where you can try a little bit of everything and then decide.

Julian Pies are that local dessert that most San Diegans know and love, but isn't often well-known to visitors. While their full menu is available at the Julian location, their more standard flavors are usually available at grocery stores here like Jimbo's, which is great for anyone not interested in making the 1 hour trek out to Julian. For anyone who does though, give their apple cider doughnuts (which run out quickly) and natural apple pie (an unsweetened apple pie) a try.

Works for both a meal and dessert: Their Aussie Meat Pie makes a great meal, and we end with the Lemon Curd and Mixed Berry Hand Pie (Yan's favorite) and a Guava Cream Cheese Hand Pie (Huy's favorite). They'll be at the wedding for dinner!