Royce Chocolate

So a while back, Royce came down to Houston tagging along with Lady M back in May. 

But you can also order online, or the nearest store would be in Plano, TX.

When you order online, since it's so hot in Texas, they come in dried ice pack and cold pack to keep your chocolate cool.

I got the Matcha (aka Green Tea) flavor

And the dark chocolate (aka Bitter) flavor.

It comes in a box and cut into 20 pieces.  They have a little pick for you to pick up your pieces.  I've seen alot of shows in Asian drama that this is the thing to give to their lovers, so it must be known of that over there.  LOL.

The other thing I ordered was the Variety Pack.

It comes with 9 different treats.  It has chocolates, wafers, and little chocolate tubes.  It has their famous Green Tea, Hazelnut, Bitter, Milk Cocoa, and Gianduja.  It is a perfect gift or a great treat at a party or gathering.  Again, this came in a ice pack, so no chocolate was hurt during their travels in Texas.  

While they are expensive, the quality is worth it.  Their chocolate are super creamy and supposedly they are known for the dairy they used from Hokkaido.  They yield great product because they have the fresh air, natural terrain, and the cows were in an optimal environment.  One thing I really want to try of theirs is the chocolate dipped potato chips.  I recall my friends Nat and Scott had thought about up years ago, and now I'm seeing it in real life.  That's just something unique and never seen before.  

Royce Confection

https://order.royceconfectusa.com

Peli Peli

Had a business lunch at Peli Peli.

I have always enjoyed their Kingklip, this time I just got the lunch portion without the scallop.  Instead, I chose the Brussel sprouts and South American rice.   There's a small bed of spinach underneath the fish, and there's bits of scallops on top.  The sauce is fantastic and mix w/ the Brussel Sprouts that are crispy, it was delightful to say the lease.

Service is good, not great, as our person was training.  While she had a great attitude, she doesn't know her stuff yet.  And on top of it being Restaurant Week still, the traffic is higher than usual.  Not a bad thing just that other staff including the host had to step in to serve and take drink orders.

Peli Peli Galleria

5085 Westheimer Rd

Ste B2515

Houston, TX 77056

281-257-9500

https://www.pelipeli.com/

White Oak Kitchen

Had a business lunch at White Oak

Not one of my favorite places to go to.  It is more hotel style restaurant that happens to be attached to the mall.  Alot of business breakfast and lunches conducted there.

To start, we ordered Zucchini fries, it comes with chipotle radish dip.  I like these fries, it is zucchini, which is healthy to begin with, it is battered with almond flour, so it's definitely gluten free.  

I ordered a Pad Thai for lunch.  Typically, it comes with shrimp too, but between the chicken, egg, and tofu, I felt like there's too much protein on the plate.  It is made with rice noddles, comes with sprouts, scallions, and chili flakes.  Pretty normal dish, can't really screw that up.  The sauce is right no complaint, but nothing spectacular either.  

My only compliant is the service.  They don't have enough staff for the lunch crowd, so what happens is the the kitchen and the wait staff were overwhelmed and order took a long time, and the check was equally as long.  As working folks who wants a decent lunch, this is not going to cut it.  I don't need them hover over me, but they're so busy that they didn't come back to check a table of 8.  That was tough on us, which I'm sure on the staff there as well.

White Oak Kitchen

Westin Oaks Hotel

5011 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77056

713-960-6588

http://whiteoakhouston.com/index.cfm

Oh My Gogi - pop up

Went back to Oh My Gogi in Evelyn's Park for the pop up.

I really hope they get to stay.  Their food is just as good like from when they were on the truck and best of all, there's easy parking and the lines are not horrible.

Here's my damage, don't worry, I had share this with someone else.

OMG fries, with bulgogi beef, colby jack cheese, onion, cilantro, and spicy mayo.  YUMMO!  It has carbs, protein, veggies, all rolled into one.  Last time I added an egg, and while that makes it yummy, gooey, and sticky; ultimately, it was a bit overboard for me, so I scaled it back some this round.

Pork fried dumpling with the sweet sauce, it was very meaty and warm.  Perfect for a quick lunch.

Hurry up and go see them, the OMG team will be at the yellow house in Evelyn's Park till 8/31!  Don't miss out!

Oh My Gogi!

https://www.ohmygogi.com

Evelyn's park:

https://www.ohmygogi.com/evelyns-park

Tea Top

While in Katy's Asian Town, found a cute place called Tea Top.

Since I just had lunch, I didn't go crazy and get a bubble tea.  They do sell them. They have traditional type tea like Oolong, black tea, earl grey.  Milk tea, Matcha (Green) tea, Slushy, and of course, hot tea.  Duh!

You can add Tapioca, agar jelly, mung bean, adzuki bean.  They also have Pop Boba, which is an explosive (I imagine pop rock-like) tapioca.  Very curious!

This is the Cold Brew Osmanthus Oolong Tea.  It comes with this cute container, very slim, and a tea bag inside ready to drink.

I'm not going to lie, after I finished mine, I refilled it several times and tried to get more out of the tea bag.  It does last long enough for me to enjoy during a scorching hot day.

Tea Top

23119 Colonial Pkwy

Ste C7

Katy, TX 77449

832-437-8786

https://www.facebook.com/teatopkaty/

Phanh Ky

While in Katy Asian Town, we saw a noodle house, figured, why not.

The place is decent size in space, but it was packed.

As the name goes, they are a noodle house, and sell ... noodles.  There's half and half noodles (egg noodles & vermicelli), there's with soup, without soup (aka dried), think noodle, thin noodle.  They come with pork, pork liver, shrimp, rib, and sprout.  There's a reason why it's $9 a bowl.   

I got a Pandan Soy milk.  The soy milk is like a lightly flavored, not too sweet.

I got the thin egg noodle, and they come with shrimp, pork, pork liver, scallions, sparerib.

There's noodles, I swear.  See!  I also get to pick regular size or large size.  The regular size is really plenty enough.

Don't expect service to be top notch, they are mom and pop run, so they are already all hands on deck.  They're not fully equipped to have a full house for a long time.  I will say though, they put your order in their app, and then the food shows up less than 5 minutes.  Well, of course, the variation are limited, so they can do that.  They do have a Bellaire location if Katy is too far for you.

Phanh Ky

23119 Colonial Parkway

Ste C11

Katy, TX 77449

832-437-4703

https://www.facebook.com/PhanhKyKaty/

Beard Papa

So this much anticipated cream puff place finally landed in Houston!

Located in Katy's Asian Town, Beltway & 99, this was an exciting add to the metroplex.

Originally based in Osaka, Japan story goes (paraphrased), the village has a Master Baker, and he has a fluffy white beard.  The children ask what new treat he's going to make next, and he came up with cream puff with fluffy cream inside.  You can read all about it here.

Cute Kitsch!  The mug, by the way, can be yours for $12.

Funny wall art!

What they look like?  These are glazed on top, green are green tea, the white one is creme brûlée, and chocolate, of course!

What take them so long?  The puffs are all baking, and you can smell that as you walk in.  But each one is individually filled by staff there.  So, they are pretty much made to order.

Yay!!!  My own box!!!

What's inside?  I had 2 originals with vanilla cream filled, chocolate with chocolate cream filled, and green tea with green tea filled.  

They also have ice cream as a filling.  But as the opening weekend, for efficiency sake, just chocolate, vanilla, and green tea for now.   

Yes, they are individually packaged, and for good reason.  As I'm eating this yummy treat, realized that the cream is coming out, so oh-wise-ones, I praise thee for thinking of everything!  One puff is 228 calories, not so bad, eh!  More importantly, it tastes fresh and not too sweet, which I appreciate.

Beard Papa

23119 Colonial Parkway

Unit A13

Katy, TX 77449

832-913-1257

https://www.facebook.com/beardpapaskaty/

http://beardpapa.com 

House of Bowls

Went back to House of Bowls for some comfort food.

It was particularly busy, so we ended up sharing table with another family.

This is Ribena and Sprite.  Ribena is a drink concentrate that is blackcurrant taste.  Growing up, my parents would add that either with Sprite or water for me to drink.  They have it, so figured, I'll grab one.

This is Salty Fish (fermented) and diced chicken fried rice.  They use salt sparingly on this because the dried fermented fish already salty on its own.  But it's very flavorful too.  Comes with aforementioned salty fish, chicken, rice, eggs, lettuce. 

Beef Rice Noodle stir fry.  It's called a dried fry because it uses soy sauce instead of a special wet sauce.  It comes with slices of beef, rice noodles, scallions, sprouts.

Parking can be challenging during peak hours.  As usual be aware of your surroundings.  When it gets crowded, bring patience, not only for a table, for the food to arrive as well.

House of Bowls

6650 Corporate Dr

Houston, TX 77036

713-776-2288

HRW: Caracol

Another HRW: Caracol. 

Don't under estimated that just because lunch you can waltz in and get seated.  I'm glad that we had our lunch early and we made a reservation.  By the time we were leaving, the house was packed and there's a line waiting by the door.

Got my drink of choice: Arnold Palmer, nothing fancy.

First course, I got the Chile Poblano soup.  It has corn, chorizo verde, tomatillo, and of course, poblano pepper.  It is not spicy, but definitely flavorful.  Since I sit in A/C all day, having some soup warms me up did the trick.

Main course I've been eyeing the deconstructed enchilada.  Like, what exactly would it be?  Well, it is with brisket, the tortilla has salsa already on it, with veggie and queso fresco, which if you lump them into one bite, it's  pretty good.  Looks different, but they get the flavors across to you.

Lastly, I got the tres leches.  Oh my goodness, it's divine.  Very light, not heavy, but definitely soaked up the milk and moist.  The fruit around it, I don't hate them but didn't think they enhanced anything either.  But it was definitely a good choice on my part for this.  So good.

Since Post Oak is under constructions, I'd highly suggest sparing extra time for travel.  They offer free parking if you were to self-park in the garage.  Don't forget to give your ticket to the server or the hostess to get it stamped.  So you don't have to pay on your way out.  You can also valet, but even though it is complimentary, make sure you tip them, since these guys are out there in the hot sun doing this all day.

Service as always are top notch.  Our server, even as it gets busier, came by just to make sure we were doing fine.  Everything is very well organized and well run there.  Between the delivery of food, and the delivery of service, I really felt that the team came under pressure and still come out beautifully.  I'm glad they're participating in HRW.  Go eat and do good!

Caracol

2200 Post Oak Blvd

#160

Houston, TX 77056

713-622-9996

Oui Eats

So when I heard that there was Vietnamese food in the mall, I was quite surprised.

I mosey my way down to the skating rink, on the entry side, and there it is, Oui Eats.

To my surprise, they not only have sandwiches, they have vermicelli (bun) and noodle soup (pho) and rice (com) dishes.  I guess it's pretty much identical you got your carb, your protein and a little bit of variation.

I got me a Vietnamese Iced Coffee, it's a tad stronger and bitter than I'd like.  I usually like a decent amount of condense milk to stir things up.  I'm sure they premade this for ease of lunch crowd.

This is my version of Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio, the egg roll doesn't come with the original dish.  I was greedy, and added that.  Unfortunately, it was dry and not warm.  The pork was ok, not dry, but could hold more flavor.  The Vermicelli is ok as well.  When you mix it all up, it's do-able, but I was thinking next time I should pair it with rice rather than vermicelli.  

It is on the far side of the skating rink, but if you found the entry of the rink, you'll see Oui Eats on the side in a kiosk stand.  They are affiliated with Oui Ba Mi on Richmond and Mandell near Montrose.  From the looks of things, they're opening one up near U of H, that's a great thing for the students.

Oui Eats

5085 Westheimer Rd

K125 (rink level)

Houston, TX 77056

832-940-2163

https://squareup.com/store/oui-eats-galleria

HRW: Bistro Menil

So Houston Restaurant Week, also a good excuse to meet up with some friends.

The pick this time: Bistro Menil.  

I just love how the little details they have.  So pretty.

Starting with Arnold Palmer.  I love that I have my own carafe.

Thanks to my friend's suggestion, Eggplant fries.  Great suggestions, I feel like I'm eating something bad yet not really.

Grilled Octopus, grilled with olive oil.  Pretty fresh and not too over empowering.  

For the main course, I got the duck confit, with mashed Yukon potato and house salad.  The duck was good, nice and crispy and not dry.  The potato sadly wasn't that moist, and the house salad was ok, not worth mentioning though.

For dessert, I got the Lemon Tart, which according to our server is the top seller.

I just find it unique that they use filo-like base, so I basically ate the entire base and the middle was a bit too zesty for me.  The top is good, but the lemon must be super zesty fresh.

Anyway, always happy to do HRW to help donate to Houston Food bank.  Of course, you should make a reservation and especially at a nice place.  We had a big group in our party, so having a reservation helped.  Do good and eat out!

Bistro Menil

1513 W. Alabama

Houston, TX 77006

713-904-3537

https://bistromenil.com