Indian Restaurant in Cupertino - Bombay Oven

Many many years ago (back to year 2004-2006 I think) when I have had business trip in Cupertino, CA, my ex-colleague brought me to an indian restaurant for lunch buffet. Since then I have been lunching there for multiple times during the business trip. I enjoyed the food so much that I couldn't find similar taste in Singapore for years. The lunch buffet was cheap then too, about USA$10 only. When I tried to recall many times, I couldn't remember the name of the restaurant. Finally, I found the menu today, somewhere in my drawer. It reminds me of the good time in Cupertino.

The restaurant is called Bombay Oven (http://www.dinebombayoven.com/). I enjoyed the Masala Tea very much and it was cost USA$1.50 only, which I couldn't find the taste again when I back to Singapore and Australia. The Nan was only cost USA$1.50 per piece. Of course the price now has been adjusted, the Masala Tea now costs close to USA$2.00 while the Nan seems has a huge jump to USA$12.50 where I am not sure what has been changed in terms of the food serving.

I'll definitely recommend my friends to try this restaurant while in Cupertino! (Hopefully the food is still as good as before.)

Bombay Oven
20803 Stevens Creek Blvd,
Cupertino, CA 95014,
Tel: 408-252-0520
E-mail: restaurant@bombayovenca.com

Sydney Seafood Price in Restaurant

This list of seafood price is from Sea Treasure Sydney Restaurant (海宝酒家) - Eatability Review . They are in australian dollars. I consider this a bit pricey generally.

Sydney Restaurants

Some restaurants in Sydney:

Temasek @ Parramatta
Address: The Roxy Arcade, 71 George Street, Parramatta NSWS 2150.
Phone/Fax: 02-96339926

This is famous of Hainan chicken rice. It tasts OK though not 100% what I would like it to be. The chicken is dry (not that oily that I found in Singapore). The extra chilli and dark soya sauce itself cost $2, which I think it should go with the chicken rice for free (unlimited) because the best part of eating Hainan Chicken rice is because of the sauce. It will generally cost you about $30-40 for two person with one more dish, such as fried kang kung with sambal. If you really miss Singapore food, then you can go for this (but be prepared it's not 100% authentic for Hainan chicken rice but you can try other dishes too which are quite nice).

De Malaya Restaurant (Buffet Restaurant)
Address: 122-124 Wicks Road, North Ryde NSW 2113
Phone: 02-98783833

Sambal Restaurant (Malaysian Food)
Shop 7, 285-297 Lane Cove Road, North Ryde NSW 2113
Tel: 02-98897977
Email: sambal@iinet.net.au
Price indicator: Nasik Lemak costs AU$13.50 per plate.

North South Indian Flavour
1003-1005 Pacific Highway, Berowra 2081
Tel: 02-94567033
Price indicator: Chicken Tikka Masala costs AU$13.90, Biryani costs AU$13.90

Top Speed Thi (my favourite)
331 Penshurst Street, Willoughby, NSW 2068
Phone: 02-94177500 / 02-94177555
Lunch special @ about AU$11
Price indicator: Massamn beef curry AU$13.90

Rice Kitchen
111 Longueville Road, Lane Cove
Tel: 02-94276688
Price indicator: Chicken Laksa costs AU$11

F&L Gourmet (Asian food)
Shop 81C Level Three, Macquarie Center, North Ryde
Phone: 02-98872787
Price indicator: Red bean in ice costs AU$4, Chicken Laksa costs AU$10.50, Sliced Pork Shanghai Noodle AU$12.50
* The food here taste too salty for me.

aj's Indian Restaurant
http://www.ajsindian.com.au/
58A Balclava Road, Eastwood NSW 2122
Tel: 02-98749090
Price indicator: Aloo Gobi costs $11.05

Traditional Indonesian Cuisine

302 Penshurst Street, North Willoughby 2068

Tel: 02-94173521

Note: This is small restaurant mainly for take-away. I quite like this personally. I enjoy the homemade chilli Sambal which cost AU$3 per box.

La Fiammu Ribs & Pizza
URL: http://www.lafiammaribsandpizza.com.au
Address: 304 Penshurst St, Willoughby NSW 2068
Tel: 0-94171211
Price indicator: Ribs for Two (Two racks of ribs with two potatoes & two corns) enough for 2-3 persons costs AU$28. Hawaiian Pizza M $13 L $15, Beef Lasagna $10, Bolognese $11.

Car Repairers in Sydney:

老蒋汽车修理厂
Address: Unit 3, 11a Harp Stet, Campsie NSW 2194 Australia
Tel: 02-97878988

Computer Shops in Sydney:

MSY Technology Pty Ltd
Address: http://www.msy.com.au/ 60A/55B Jones Street, Ultimo NSW 2007
Phone: 02-92803123 / 02-92803126

The Toyota Saga - What a Cook Think of the Flaw

All people eat, and many (if not most) people drive. Out of those who drive, many are driving Toyota, or have driven a Toyota with cruise mode on. It is interesting that Toyota and the US government is taking a hard time finding the root-cause of the flaw in Toyota cars causing sudden acceleration when cruise mode is on. On the other hand, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the root-cause, as anyone who can cooked, like me, can pinpoint the root-cause to a failure in the PID controller algorithm of the car.

Let's get to some basic from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller, a control algorithm with feedback usually have 3 components; the proportional, the integral, and the derivative. Adjusting the integral component will potentially decrease the steady-state error, but has a side-effect of increasing overshoot, or lead to instability.

Let's forget what Wikipedia said, assuming that we are at 50km/h, going to set to 110km/h cruise mode with Kp = 0.2, Ki = 0.2 and Kd = 0.2, this is how our acceleration looks like:

Not bad huh, so it takes about 25 seconds to match 110km/h cruise mode. But as Toyota is always emphasizing on performance, let's see whether they can do it better, so they adjust the integral component to Ki = 0.5, and get this:

And in 8 seconds, it has achieved the cruising at 110km/h. Now it's getting fun, let's do that for Ki = 0.9?

Now, the fun part begin, in 2 seconds, it's cruising at 110km/h, and as a bonus to the user, it is going to 156km/h or 97 miles/h in 38 seconds and continue to dance happily.

Based on the description of Steve Wozniak in the news, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a5Ow0uquBidc, the car suddenly accelerated when cruise mode is turned on. Sorry to Steve, I salute you for founding the great fruit company, but this is not software bug, it is strictly speaking a control algorithm design issue, and I don't think restarting your car is a good workaround for this issue. Unfortunately, I don't have the fortune of Steve to buy 4 Priuses, and not even 1 Prius to perform future analysis on this. Though Steve is still happily using his Prius, sure I don't want to have a dancing car to buy my ingredients for my next recipe.

Sorry to Toyoda-san on this crisis, you really have to go back to basic control to check your algorithm well before you deploy your next baby. And as you see, it doesn't take a rocket scientist, any cook can help you with that. :)