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Enjoy free-flowing bars, abundant hors d’oeuvres, endless entertainment, and dancing all night.

WHAT – San Francisco Magazine’s “Best of the Bay Area Party”
WHO – 2,000 of our closest friends
WHEN – Thursday, June 28, 2007 VIP 6-11pm, Main Event 7-11pm
WHERE – Concourse Exhibition Center 635 8th Street at Brannan in San Francisco
WHY – It benefits Family House
HOW – Get tickets now to the best party!

GO TO – www.sanfranmag.com

San Francisco Magazine’s “Best of the Bay Area Party”. Enjoy free-flowing bars, 50 restaurants, live music and endless entertainment – PLUS exclusive access to the after-party at Slide. This is the best party of the year in the Bay Area!

www.guavafilms.com

Tags: best party san francisco dancing gourmet wine chef parties event art live music magazine family house benefit fundraiser

Duration : 0:3:11

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$IMAGE$ Quickstart English Immersion  UPC: 798936828606   Mnfg. Part No: LQIMMENGLJ  Manufacturer: SelectSoft  Packaging: Retail Jewel Case   Platform: Windows   Availability: In Stock  Product ID #:  2863  $ORDER$ Learning Is Fast, Fun & Friendly with Quickstart English! For Beginners, Travelers & Advanced Speakers What is most difficult about learning another language? Getting started! Quickstart English software is designed for you to start quickly, and maximizes the full potential of the widely accepted method of learning a language–the “Immersion” Method. Designed in Europe where most people are at minimum bilingual, Quickstart English is engaging, addicting, fun and easy to learn! The learning method is similar to the way you would acquire your own native language. Each word is introduced in a context where meaning is clear and memorable. The spoken and written words are associated with visual images, allowing you to improve your listening comprehension, reading comprehension, spelling, and speaking. You will be authentically immersed in the English language with exclusive Panoramic Immersion Scenes and background sounds–mastering English in no time at all! Features: Learn Over 2000 Words & 1200 Phrases! EXCLUSIVE Panoramic Immersion Scenes Zoom In & Out, Pan Around in Interactive Immersive Scenes! Includes 240 Games (8 Games per Activity) 30 Word Activities Include: ? In the Suburbs ? In the City ? Town Square ? Streets in Town ? At the Airport ? Check-In & Customs ? Passport Control ? Boarding & Arrivals ? At the Train Station ? At the Subway Station ? At the Gas Station ? At the Hotel ? At the Restaurant ? At the Bar ? At the Museum ? At the Post Office ? At the Store ? At the Bank ? At the Office ? Business Meetings & Negotiations ? At the Exhibition ? Days, Weeks & Months ? Telling Time ? Seasons & Weather Over 50 Conversation Dialog Activities ? Asking the Way ? At the Gas Station ? Renting a Car ? Car

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Duration : 0:2:23

Well we wandered into Sally’s to try some more of the menu today and to our surprise Sally’s are stocking Cloud 9 pure sparkling Tasmanian rain water. This is a very clean cleansing drink that will accompany all the treats on Sally’s Winter menu and as the Spring menu come online over the next months I look forward to trying this drop with a salad or two.

I am usually sceptical when people market water as boutique but this was an exception similar to the original Hepburn water but with a crisp finish. I think it is worth a try at least once, what do you have to lose.

For those who are interested here’s the sales blurb:

The rugged west coast of Tasmania, is home to pristine rainforest, wind swept beaches, sheer cliffs and arguably the world’s purest air and water.

The west coast of Tasmania is so pure and untouched that it is home to a baseline station. From this point, the air quality of the rest of the world is measured against the pristine conditions experienced by North-West Tasmania.

The prevailing winds that sweep across the west coast of Tasmania create dramatic landscapes, they also carry with them pure rainwater from over the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. With the nearest landmass over 10,000 kilometres away, the Cloud Nine rainwater that is carried over the great Southern Ocean is untouched in every sense of the word.

Cloud Nine rainwater is selectively harvested in North West Tasmania and must first pass stringent quality tests to make sure that nothing but the best makes it to the table. Gently sparkling or still, Cloud Nine is the purest.

You can have a look at Sally’s or go online and review the information.

http://www.cl9ud.com.au

Can the new management inspire me more than the predecessors?

Let’s find out!

(*) Ok,ok – we didn’t notice anything had changed until late on Tuesday arvo!

Service Quality - 5.5/10

Top marks for being keen and eager to help with my meal choice upon ordering. Top marks also for providing a quite unexpected miso soup as a starter. Not so good marks for bringing the soup out 10 seconds before the main, giving me a choice of eating one of the two whilst the other one went cold. Also not so good marks for bringing the miso soup out without a spoon.

Should the customer have to go over to the counter and get the spoon themselves? Probably not!

Service Speed 6.5/10

Ordering is done upon entry to the cafe with no waiting, unless someone is in front of you of course, and I ordered one of the staples of Japanese cuisine, a Chicken Teriyaki don (my Japanese tastebuds are not as adventurous as most other cuisines). So I can only really the speed of the wait for the food to arrive.

Which wasn’t bad at all ~approx 10 mins. Although bringing the soup out straight away would also have helped boost this score, as I wouldn’t have noticed as much time going by twiddling my thumbs…

Food Quality 8/10

…and its the food the new owners score highest on. The Teriyaki don was top notch, freshly cooked in a wok, pretty much in front of my eyes, and was topped with a good array of condiments – picked ginger, spring onion and seaweed. Best of all the teriyaki source was not a heavy thick one but light not too salty and just the right quantity to flavour the steamed rice without drowning it.

I’ve had chicken teriyaki from a fair few places in town – this is easily one of the best ones.

And the miso soup (which I tried a bit before leaving in preference of the teriyaki) was pretty good too!

Ambiance 6.5/10
Unfortunately the new place doesn’t make a good enough break from the past. I mean if you’re going to change the name, change the menu and change the furniture, why put an ‘Under New Management’ sign in the window? Its not “Monkey Magic redux” – it’s Haru and the New Management sign is just confusing. Also the interior hasn’t completely changed – sure the chefs all have brighter-than-white brand spanking new uniforms (I almost had to put my shades on!) but the drinks units, cutlery and layout of the venue is still exactly the same. The decor is an improvement though, and I guess for any new visitors are not going to notice the similarities.

Value for Money 7.5 / 10

The price has come down a bit from Monkey Magic – the Teriyaki is now $8.30 as opposed to $8.60 previously, and is also a larger serving than before. For the quality that sounds like good value for lunch money to me!

Overall Ranking: 6.8/10

In closing, the great food on offer is let down somewhat by the unclean break from the old Magic Monkey. It really needs to find its own identity if its going to flourish and do justice to the excellent array of food options and quality thats now being served under the new owners.

But if for nothing else than the love of good food, give it a try!

I went I think 3 times. Once to try, once with a friend, and once out of desperation! So I am quite interested by its closing and the opening of ‘Haru’, a more traditional Japanese alternative and dropped by there today. While it’s not perfect it is a darn sight improved on the old venue – so check the review out of Haru coming soon.

And a word on our review policy – note, unlike other Restaurant Review sites, we do not get free meals for ANY reviews we do, nor does the venue know they are being reviewed at the time – it’s a strict policy of mystery reviews. Therefore the quantity of reviews we can do is limited by our lunch budget for the week as well as the time we can spare from our respective jobs. While I’d love to review a place a day for you all and tell you everything about it, a lunch visit to the likes of a Seamstress or Flower Drum wipes our budget for the rest of the week out.

Also our formal reviews are scored out of 20, the same as The Age, but we go further and break that down into 5 categories in order to be more accurate – both to you the reader and to the restaurant, who sometimes with The Age’s reviews might not get a clear picture of why they got a particular score.  We are also not quite as tight assed as The Age mob in our scores as we do consider the relative market segment they are aimed at.  That way a more ‘low-brow’ cafe that would otherwise never hope to get more than an 11 from The Age simply because they don’t stock $40 bottles of (free) wine can score reasonably reflective of its market positioning.

All of which is a somewhat long-winded way of saying we’re not as exclusive as The Age in our reviews! And that probably works better in stretching our lunch money further too! Which is not too say we don’t review the pricier places – Movida’s (expect to pay about $40 a head) review is coming soon, and we plan to visit Long Grain in August which is similarly priced.

So if you are a small, vibrant cafe with at least a freshly cooked-to-order menu (excludes fast-food joints now Macca’s are ‘made-to-order’) then drop us a line and we’ll review fairly as per the above stipulations.

All The Best,

Jeff.

This is a new restaurant for this end of town, in fact they only opened today and we where lucky to get in during lunch to give them a try. Sally’s is a hip place with very clean lines and decor the staff are very friendly and Sally herself a darling. We only managed to try 3 of the lunch menu items, and finished with a coffee and fraiche.

The meal:

Today we tried the Pea and ham soup with freshly cooked Cabata bread ($10.00), the Beef stew with dumplings and vegetables ($15.00) and the Mushroom risotto with pecirino cheese. We chose to accompany our meal with the organic cola and creaming soda from NZ.

The decor of the restaurant is quite modern and we managed to sit at the high table, which I must admit was more comfortable than it looked.

Rating: 7/10

2. Service Speed:

Service was speedy. The entire meal process took a little over 30 minutes for lunch. There was some confusion over the correct cuttellery but that would be forgiven as it was their first day.

Rating: 7/10

3. Food Quality:

The food was of good standard and the quality appeared to be maintained with ease, the meals are a good serving for lunch which left us satisfied.

Rating: 8/10

4. Ambience:

A very modern and yet friendly eating area, very clean and welcoming.

Rating: 6.5/10

Value for Money:

This is for those seeking both good quality and medium priced eats, then you cannot go past this establishment. I would predict that it will soon be a place that is booked out for a long time ahead. Overall we thought it was good value for money.

Rating: 7.5/10

Average Rating: 7.2/10

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Well I love a bargain and thought as this is now under new owners I would give it  try, much to my surprise the service was ok but the baget was fantastic. So good in fact I almost forgot to get a picture, the let down was the coffee a bit too milky even for me. But I have given them a couple of tries and if you ask for a little stronger they will make it for you.

I would suggets giving these guy’s a go as they are convieniant and friendly. Good value for money.

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1. Service Quality
   Service was friendly with the lady at the counter greeting with a smile. The two dishes ordered Mongolian Beef and Japanese Rice.

   Rating: 7/10

2. Service Speed
   Service was generally speedy. Mongolian Beef took around 5 minutes and Japanese Rice 7 minutes.

   Rating: 7/10

3. Food Quality
   Mongolian Beef had slightly chewy pieces and had a floury taste.
   Japanese Rice had generous serves of meat hidden in the rice : chicken, beef and shrimp. The fried rice could have had more vegetables in it.

   Rating: 6/10

4. Ambience
   Magic Monkey is more a hawkers eatery with not a great emphasis on atmosphere. Having said that, Japanese art works lined the walls with contemporary lighting and visible herb containers.

   Rating: 6/10

1. Value for Money
   Both of us could not finish our meals therefore portions were more than sufficient. The Japanese Rice in particular could feed two people. Overall I thought it was good value for money.

   Rating: 7/10

Average Rating: 6.6/10

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