Only recently did I notice that gluten-free food has become such a craze here in New Zealand. I see gluten-free muffins and cookies all the time at the cafes, gluten-free cakes at the bakery, even a gluten-free menu at this Asian restaurant:

According to the glutenfreekiwi website, there’s a menu available if you want to find out which dishes are gluten-free. That’s what I call keeping up with the trend!
Off-topic though, it bothers me to have found out that the restaurant claims to have food choices from the Philippines when they actually don’t on their menu. =(

Asia’s first recognized guide to the best restaurants, The Miele Guide, placed Antonio’s Fine Dining 10th (among 20) in their list. The chef and owner, Antonio Escalante, must be very proud to be the only Philippine restaurant to top the list. I know of a lovely married couple, close to my husband and I, who got engaged there. The cuisine and the ambience must really be that good!! I must remind my hubby to take me to Tagaytay for a romantic dinner if we ever make plans to come home for a well-deserved vacation.
Image credit: Our Awesome Planet’s …read more

From the San Francisco Gate
Click to view the architectural fly-through (wmv file).
The exciting preview.
Asian dining establishments you’ll find at this newest Westfield location:
Charles Phan’s Out The Door (Modern Vietnamese) –
Muginoho’s Beard Papa, famous for its cream puffs
Coriander Gourmet Thai
Mr. Hana (Japanese)
Sorabol Korean BBQ & Asian Noodles
Chris Yeo’s Straits (Singaporean) (on the Fourth Floor)
Fifth and Market Street
San Francisco, CA
Phone: 415-495-5656

This press release was issued by the US Census Bureau in March. As of July 2004, there were 14 million Asians in the US. It is projected that by 2050 Asians will comprise 8% of the population.
And some statistics found in another, related press release,
Asian-Owned Businesses
* There were 1.1 million Asian-owned businesses in 2002, up 24 percent from 1997. Their receipts were $343.3 billion, up 13 percent from 1997.
* An estimated 319,911 Asian-owned businesses had paid employees and their receipts totaled $307.6 billion, or about $961,379 per firm.
…read more