Moxie's

Finally gotten a chance to check out Moxie's

It's in the same shopping center as Old Navy on Westheimer & Post Oak.  Where Canyon Cafe used to be.

Also has a very instagrammable wall for you to take a few snaps.

Had my first poutine outside of Canada.  It has chives, cheese, beef gravy with chunks.  It sure was delicious.  I can eat this entire thing easily, but I won't.

I got the steak salad.  The steak was cooked at medium, covered with chimuchurri sauce on top.  3 slices of toasts covered with goat cheese on top.  Bed of veggies, tomato, onions, bits of goat cheese sprinkled everywhere. 

It is alot of food even though it may not look it.  I is very filling mainly because of the steak.  We came during lunch on a weekday, and it was so busy that we were grateful that we had a reservation and came early.  So, make sure you do that.  If not, they do have a small bar area down on the 1st floor to help levitate the traffic, though you may have to share a table.  There are seating out at the balcony and patio, but in this heat, may be better to stay in.

Moxie's Grill & Bar

5000 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77056

346-571-6164

https://us.moxies.com/restaurant-locations/tx/uptown-houston-post-oak

Cafe Ginger

Went to a get together dinner at Cafe Ginger.

I never gotten a chance to go to the original location in the River Oaks Shopping Center down on West Gray.  Now they're further down, also on Gray but closer to Montrose.

I got a bowl of the wonton soup.  I like that it has pork and veggie inside in a meat broth.

I got Mongolian Beef, haven't had that for a long time.  This is my junk food, the brown sauce has lots of sodium, but it's so darn good.

The place has a very dramatic decor inside, there's tons of seating that can be seated comfortably for big or small parties.  But if you do have a large party, it's best to call ahead.  The service is spot on.  Our server was attentive but not disruptive.  They serve happy hour till 6:30p, has various rolls to choose from.  Very pleasant experience over all.

Cafe Ginger

1952 W. Gray

Houston, TX 77019

713-528-4288

Andalucia Tapas & Bar

Went to Andalucia for tapas before a show at Toyota Center.

Between happy hour and dinner is a very popular time.

We got the meat and cheese plate.  The toast with the brie like cheese went swimmingly well.  The sharp cheese with the prosciutto was delightful.

Here's the crab cakes, I liked the sauce and the crisp leeks on top.  Nice and crunchy.

This is the chicken skewers, it was ok, but nothing super special.  The rice that came with was nice though.

This is an empanadillas with aioli balsamic sauce drizzled on top.  

The inside is spinach with apricot bits.  Not too heavy, even though it's fried.

Paella!  Came here must get this dish!  This is a seafood paella, and there's tons of clams, shrimps, squid and mussels.  It was super delicious.  The size is a bit larger than a dinner plate, very easy to share. 

This is a Bastilla, very new to this...

When we opened it up, it has chicken, roasted almond in the phyllo dough and a dash of cinnamon sprinkled on top.

This is the Mereguez Sausage.  It's ok, but I would say save the calories for other dishes.

My friend, Julia was checking in on Yelp, if you mention it to the server, they will complimentary bring you a plate of Patatas Bravas.  It's diced potato and aioli sauce as topping.

Lastly, we go the Tortilla Espinola.  Potato omelet with spinach with aioli sauce.

In case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of aioli sauce in all the dishes.  Second, since I knew it'll be busy, I made a reservation, and that paid off.  We were downtown because we have a show to get to, having a reservation totally blows everyone out of the water.  They do have live music and diners there.  Don't forget to clap and tip them if you can.   

Andulucia Tapas & Bar
1204 Caroline St
#161
Houston, TX 77002
832-319-6673
http://www.andaluciatapas.com

Grotto downtown

Another downtown eatery.  

This Grotto location is technically part of the Convention Center building.  

Got the Straw & Hay pasta, which is egg, spinach fettuccine with chicken and prosciutto, mushroom, and peas.  Of course, tons of parmesan cheese too.  I love the texture and taste.  Not a fan of peas, so had a fun time picking them out.  Wish the sauce was creamier, but over all good flavors.

We were there for dinner, and though they're not really suitable for children, and they do get their fair share, overall their hostess is poor at handling situations like that.  We had 4 children in the party, and while we don't have a reservation, the hostess was suggesting having us sit at the fire pit to accommodate everyone.  First of all, they have a reserved large table, which we all know is for last minute or VIPs.  However, this is where we fit in, last minutes.  Seeing that we have 4 children under 5, seating us by a fire pit, how does that makes sense.  Not to mention, if we sit there, with the dishes we ordered, everyone would be eating from our laps.  

They actually have more than 1 large table, and though it was in the corner, it fit us for what we needed.  Luckily, our server was pretty good, which made up for the poor hostess' bad seating job.

Grotto downtown

1001 Avenida de las Americas

Suite A

Houston, TX 77010

713-658-0752

http://www.grottorestaurants.com/locations/houston-downtown.asp 

Walker St Kitchen

This week will feature a few eateries in downtown, namely by George R. Brown Convention Center.

This time it is Walker St. Kitchen inside the Marriott Marquis hotel.

This is the Smoked Brisket Hash.  They have pouched eggs on top, brisket diced, potato, onion, and verde salsa on top.  This is one of those dishes where it will definitely fill you up for at least 2 meals.  The other thing I wasn't thinking about was that the more you eat, the spicier it gets.  Towards the end, I wanted to finish it, but it was just too spicy overall for me.  I was drinking more water and filling up my tummy than the food.  It was good nonetheless.

Weekday they do have breakfast for $18 per person with a very nice spread: pastries, eggs, bacon, grits, waffle...etc.  Since I was by myself and knew I couldn't eat alot, ordering the dish is more than enough.

The service here is awesome, from the hostess to our server to the guy who's filling up my water, were polite, kind, and just true sense of Southern Hospitality.  Very friendly place to be.

Walker Street Kitchen

inside Marriott Marquis Hotel

1777 Walker Street

Houston, TX 77010

346-229-2575

http://www.walkerstreetkitchen.com

Singapore Cafe

Happened to be in Sugarland and thought we'd go back to the Singapore Cafe.

On weekends, you really walk up to the counter, order and grab a seat.  But the guy saw that we're not very familiar, seated us and took orders for us.

This is the weekend special: Nasi Lemak, which has a bed of rice made with coconut milk, fried chicken wings, and fried fish with a sliced egg and cucumber on the side along with a dab of hot sauce.

I didn't touch the hot sauce, just because I'm a wimp.  But the fish or the chicken went very well with the rice.  I'm totally in love with rice made with coconut milk.

This is the Fried Hokken Mein, which is vermicelli with egg fried noodles with chicken and shrimp.  We didn't realized that this is a wet dish.  Had it been the dried stir fried, I think I would've like it more.  But it's wet, it felt like soup but with fried stuff, which makes it awkward for me.

The place is super casual and the staff are friendly.  However, if you want to pack up your leftover, they have a station with all the amenities, you just have to help yourself.

Singapore Cafe

3149 Hwy 6

Sugar Land, TX 77478

832-532-6277

Bebidas

Had only 20 mins to spear, so decided to stop in Bebidas for a quick breakfast.

Grabbed an iced matcha latte and a breakfast taco.  The Matcha Latte was a tad more milky than I'd like, but not sweet at all, and that's helpful.  The breakfast taco is your simple egg and bacon with a little container of salsa.  As usual, even though they're busy, the drink and food comes out super quick.  

I also appreciated that they made more room for parking, that's very helpful when the turn for the parking is already small.  While it may not look like it, there are alot of traffic from Westheimer using Edloe to cut thru, so backing up is not easy for any driver.

Bebidas

2606 Edloe St

Houston, TX 77027

713-554-0023

http://www.bebidashouston.com