La Hacienda

La Hacienda Restaurant Review 🍽

Chicken

🐔Chicken🐔

Satkar!

Satkar is an Indian cuisine, located on 1253 W. El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, California. The restaurant is the size of an average living room and has five wooden tables to dine at. It is designed like so to spread a sense of homeliness and comfort. It is very small, with subtle green walls, a small flat screen TV displaying Indian musicals, and a unique kitchen that contains traditional Indian machinery. The utensils are very simple: clean, porcelain plates and metal spoons. It almost feels as if you are eating in our own dining room.

Apart from its unique theme, this restaurant also offers very friendly service. It is a family run business, which contributes to the compatibility and efficiency of the service. Everyone knows each other really well, and all the waiters are always upbeat. The price for food ranges from $11-13 per person, and is enough to get some real quality food.

The two specials at this restaurant are the samosa chat appetizer and chicken tikka masala. The samosa chat looks very appealing with its dark green and red coloring. The taste varies from sweet to spicy at different parts of the dish, something many Indian restaurants don’t incorporate. The texture is very soft as if eating a piece of bread. The chicken tikka masala is an appealing light orange color and is very thick. It’s packed with mild spice, tikka masala and chewy boneless pieces that are well marinated and heated into tandoori. Tandoori is a popular way for making chicken, but in chicken tikka masala, this way of cooking chicken is very rare and unique when compared to Shalimar, Peacock, or other Indian cuisines.

In brief, Satkar is a restaurant that is very comfortable, friendly, and offers high quality food.  However, its ambiance may not be appealing to non-Indian individuals and is not the best place for fine dining. It is perfect for fresh takeout or a quick home like dinner.

Doughnut Reviews

When you think of glazed doughnuts, you often times don’t think of negative thoughts. You look forward to the glossy, airy, and sweet taste of the sugary treat. In this food tasting, my taste buds took a sweet journey, experiencing the different tastes, textures, smells and looks of three doughnuts.

#1 Krispy Kreme

Thoughts:

As soon as you open the box, a sweet, doughy fragrance fills your nostrils putting a smile on your face. Staring into the box, we can see perfectly round doughnuts that are evenly glazed. The glaze softens and melts as soon as your fingertips make contact and they leave a sticky residue since the glaze melts onto your fingers. Biting into the doughnut is initially soft with an obsessively sweet taste. A couple chews in, the sweetness fades and you experience a doughy texture in your mouth. After finishing the doughnut, you are left with an artificial sweetener aftertaste, and yet it makes you crave more.

“Hand me another one.”

Score: 3

#2 Rolling Pin

Thoughts: The smell of fresh dough protruded the box, you could smell it from across the room. You know the fragrance filled the room when you had classmates come up to you and ask for a doughnut. When we opened the box, we were slightly disappointed. The doughnut’s glaze had de-materialized and made them droopy and soggy. There was the one exception, where the glaze had maintained it’s original form. The doughnut was large, which made it hard to bite into since the it caved into your face, making your face sticky. The taste was fair. It wasn’t overly sweet, so finishing it wouldn’t be unbearable. By far the most airy doughnut of the three. I would have ranked them higher if they weren’t soggy.

“Ew they’re wet and soggy.”

Score: 1.5

#3 Safeway

When it comes to packaged doughnuts, you can’t expect much in terms of quality. Safeway doughnuts, were no exception. They were funnel shaped, dense, dry, and crumbly. The glaze was like a fondant paste that tasted like pure sugar mixed with plastic. The doughnuts reeked the smell of old, stale candy that you had forgotten about since trick or treating when you were six years old. After a couple bites, you want to vomit since the artificial sugar is overwhelming. Overall, although these doughnuts were cheap, you should never buy these if you have any self respect.

“I feel sick to the stomach.”

Score: 0.25

Doughnut Review

Doughnut testing, who even knew there could be horrible doughnuts? Throughout this testing process my group and I tasted and rated three different kind of doughnuts and how we felt about their taste, smell, texture and appearance. Many doughnuts are pretty much made the same and have the same ingredients in them, but they can actually taste really different. We just had to try these doughnuts for ourselves and see if they were actually as good as people said they are.

Doughnut #1: Krispy Kreme

Tasters’ Thoughts: It tastes overly sweet, doughy and artificial.The texture was soggy, sugary, and super doughy. It smelled like a fresh doughnut but it was bought the night before. The overall appearance was perfectly round and donut-esque.

“It tasted like something you shouldn’t eat but then end up eating five more.”

Score: 3.5

Doughnut #2: Safeway

Tasters’ Thoughts: The Safeway doughnut tasted a very artificial vanilla, like it was made out of cake mix. The texture was very cakey and dense.The glazed sugar was super hard and it was little bit dry for a doughnut. Its overall appearance was funnel shaped and very rigid.

“It smelt like stale candy from halloween you found under your bed.”

Score: 2

Doughnut #3: Rolling Pin

Tasters’ Thoughts: It tasted like an average doughnut soaked in water and that the glazed essential wasn’t even on it. The texture of the doughnut was very hollow, empty, wet, fluffy and very disappointing. It smelled like a real doughnut that you would love to eat, until you ate it. It appeared to be a very squashed doughnut.
                             

“Eww...Gross”

Score: 1.5

Emerald Hills Coffee & Roastery

You are welcomed by the bitter aroma of coffee, and the bright colors of Grateful Dead posters plastering the walls. A tall man in a loud sweater greets you as you walk up to the counter, faint classic rock playing over the speakers. He lists the daily specials of a creamy mocha, and frothy lattes, an endless list that fills one with anticipation. Beside him is a large glass container with pastries delicately stacked and positioned. Vegan bars, donuts fresh from San Francisco, and decadent banana bread laid strategically in front of you, tantalizingly perfect. He scribbles down your order, and hands you the banana bread on a small, simple dish. You sit down, magazines scattered on a table next to you. The small tables and warm decorations give a sense of coziness and comfort as you look out the window as rain soaks the pavement. "Friend of the Devil" by the Grateful Dead begins to play as your coffee is set down in front of you; A warm almond milk latte with a delicate design drawn into the foam. You feel bad ruining the design as you bring the cup to your lips, the light and creamy liquid filling your mouth, combining the sweetness and bitterness of coffee to create the perfect winter drink. You tear a piece of banana bread from the plate and pop it in your mouth. The moist thick bread spreading the sweet flavor, adds a balance to the bitterness and warmth of the coffee. It is golden and crisp on the outside, while being sticky and soft on the inside. You are reveling in the combination of these two foods, which are lifting your spirits for the day. You drain the cup and leave the remains of the rich bread as you step out of the cozy little cafe and back into the cold of winter.

Little Skillet Chicken

Yesterday was a long day. My teammate and friend decided to volunteer for a robotics event and if anyone ever been to any event sponsored by FIRST, they are aware of the twelve long hours that have moments of the high, the adrenaline rush, especially toward the end. However, one must first get through the first few hours of inspection and preparation, and the, unfortunately inevitable, technological mishaps.

That is all to say, I was tired and was looking forward to the little tavern my friend was singing high praises about. And I don’t blame him, the so-called tavern was a small hole-in-a-wall, which I wouldn’t have even noticed if it wasn’t for the sign on the pavement. What I also don’t blame him for are the high praises. Coming from the cold air of San Francisco into the warmness of Little Skillet felt oddly soft and welcoming. I immediately noticed the country-like look the dining room had, with brick walls and wooden furniture. It also had potted plants, which complimented the dark blue curtains beautifully. The green walls were also pleasant with the warm tint to them.

Much like a tavern, we had to order at the front and then choose our seating. I left the ordering in my friend’s hands, since he was the regular here. He ordered us an 8 piece dish of chicken, which came with four waffles and a serving of maple syrup. As drinks, we got the two types of lemode they offered: ginger and hibiscus. The drinks were served immediately. I am a long-time fan of anything hibiscus and I was not disappointed. Both the drinks were served in clear jars, the colour of the drinks consistent. The hibiscus started off a bit bitter, but grew into a more sweet, flowery taste. The taste left a rather pleasurable warm feeling for quite a while. Ginger lemonade on the other hand, started off deceptively sweet and mild, but boy does that change when it enters your throat. The spice hits suddenly, making you blank out and only taste the rich ginger. The taste itself lasts only a few seconds yet you remember it for a while afterwards. I have never tasted ginger so raw in a drink.

The chicken and waffles come quickly, within the first twenty minutes of our order. It’s served on a metal platter with a hefty pile of chicken on one side and four belgian waffles on the other side. In between the stacks of goodness is a small container of maple syrup. My friend and I start of simple; we each get the chicken leg. I carefully peel away the breaded skin to look closer at the meat. It looks like your common chicken, whitish-beige, the reddish undertones closer to the bone. However, when you take a bite of it, your mouth feels warm and full. The buttery taste makes it taste rich and flavourful. The breaded crust doesn’t truly taste fried, but rather crunchy and easy on the taste buds. I grab a waffle next, the size proportional to the chicken. I don’t drench it with the maple syrup, but I don’t drizzle it either. The syrup feels average, but the waffle truly completes the taste. The said friend from earlier dares me to add the syrup to the chicken. I look at him funny, but still take him up on the dare. And oh my, this shouldn’t work, but it does. I suggest putting small pieces of chicken into your waffle and taking a bite. Yes, I know it sounds absurd, but the sweet taste of the syrup works well with the buttery chicken, the taste full with the flavour.

After my third piece of chicken, I picked up the menu again, a one-page list on the plastic sheet. I saw Mac & Cheese on there and couldn’t resist. I am a fan of this particular side dish and I believed a place like this had its own way of making this. The macaroni came in a small bowl, a deceiving size really, and some drizzled crumbs over the top. The small spoonful was truly enough, my taste buds overloading with the melting cheese that was a mix of something sharp and something more milky. The macaroni itself was chewy and wasn’t breaking apart, which was a surprise to me because I’ve never baked macaroni that didn’t at least partially over-bake.

I haven’t had a meal so fulfilling as this one in a while. The atmosphere was perfect for a meal after a long day and the serving was quick. The food was amazing and the price range was affordable, between $11-$20 per person. I enjoyed myself and can strongly recommend you Little Skillet if you like fried chicken,  meat in general, rich food, and exquisite drinks.