Japanese cookies

In case you haven't noticed, I'm on a Japanese snack kick.

I picked up a bag of chocolate covered cookie.  As a matter of fact, they promote themselves as a good afternoon snack, so let's see.

I love that the cookies are all individually wrapped.  It's awesome because in Covid times, you can put it out and everyone can pick up one and no cross contamination on the food.  

Is it a waste on the wrapping? Absolutely, but in this day and age proof to be handy.  For the Japanese, it is just good manner to not cross touch on the food. Or, if you grab a bag like this and go visit someone's home, or someone come to your home, you can easily serve this and it's a polite thing to offer with the tea.   Even in meeting rooms, they offer little plate of snacks and these are convenient for those purposes.

Ok, so what's inside?  This is what it looks like.  There's more chocolate than cookies, which we all appreciate.  The cookie is a very light in sugar since you got chocolate behind it.  It's great with a cup of hot tea.  Now, I will say, having one is never enough.  Just be careful not to have more than 4 or 5.

 

Milk & Cookies

One of my weekend 'norm' is to go grab a cup of coffee and sometimes I just can't help myself...

and order pastries. 

Grabbed an Almond Croissant - It's nice and light.  I, however, always left evidence all thanks to the powder sugar. 

Also got a Chocolate Croissant for the next morning.  I like that they have a nice filling of chocolate inside.  Do I want more?  Of course!  That said, it goes really well with a cup of coffee.  

I often come here and get the Lavender Honey latte.  As my coworker pointed out, it's such an. oxymoron, as Lavender Honey is known for soothing, while coffee is to give you a jolt.  But the taste is awesome, so I continue to get it.  They actually do a very good job making my latte.  They serve coffee all day, pastries up to around 11-ish.

Tiny's Milk & Cookies

3535 Rice Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

713-352-3086

https://www.tinyboxwoods.com/location/west-university/

 

International Kit Kats

Few years ago, I did the International Kit Kats, this is another round.

I think they finally caught on that people would like to get a variety of them instead of bag by bag.  So they came up with this box that has 60 Kit Kats with 18 different types. 

I picked out one of every kind that I can find.  Almost all are regional specialties.  Too bad I don't read Japanese.  I can't tell you what they are inside.

I can tell you that there are some from different regions, some famous locations in Japan, some with different ingredients. 

Speaking of different ingredients, there are different kinds of alcohol mix in there.  Don't worry, it won't get you drunk, but you definitely taste a hint of the alcohol.

It's cool, for the different region, even though they may have the same color, but each has their own design.  I haven't gotten thru all of them yet, but will report back if there's any super yummy, noteworthy ones.

This is one of the skinny ones.  I've never seen these before where they have the flavor on top.  These are encouraged to be part of your daily in-take.  If they're all this tiny (and if I can stop myself), that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Here's my tip, if you are thinking about getting a box.  Get them no later than April, as they have to have time to ship and depending on where you are, as you know, they may melt during delivery.  So April is the latest to order them from Japan.

 

Papparich

I don't usually get to try places the first weeks they open now that we're in Covid times.

But I saw my friend posting about this place, I was highly curious.

First thing: this is the 3 layer Iced Tea - this is a milk tea.  I haven't figured out what the layers are, but the texture is tea for sure but not super milky like a true milk tea.  If anybody knows, please educate me.

Curry Fish Ball - the texture is fresh for sure.  The curry is not too spicy, whatever left over is great to put over rice for another meal.  Trust me on that one.

This is the Seafood Kway Teow - Kway Teow is the flat rice noodle that's popular in Southeast Asia.  This one as you can see, tons of protein in the mix, no shy of shrimp and mini mussels.  I kinda wish it has more heat to the dish.  Looks great, taste average, lack heat. 

For the Hainanese Chicken rice set - it comes with broth, rice, chicken and sprouts.  It's uncommon that the broth is thin and light, I'm accustomed to seeing it accompanied by coconut broth.  The rice of course is cooked with coconut milk.  The chicken is not shabby, what was shabby was that they skimmed on the ginger sauce that comes with the dish, they didn't even fill up half of the little tiny container... that was not cool.

Overall, I think the dishes can be better, I have yet tried their Nasi Lemak which is popular in Malaysian dish.  So I'll hold my judgement there, but I'll come back in a few months to see how these dishes are as the new shop get acclimated to the business.

Papparich

9393 Bellaire Blvd

Ste A1

Houston, TX 77036

281-974-1115

https://papparichusa.com

 

Ovaltine cookies

You read correctly, this is the Ovaltine you know and love. 

Who knew that outside of the country, they are making these varieties that we've never heard off, but just as delightful.  

Basically, this is Chocolate Waffle cookies made with wheat.  The 'chocolate' portion of the program of course came from Ovaltine.  The texture is is like a waffle cookie, not too dense and not too dry.  Not too much of chocolate flavor to speak of, but definitely not like you have vanilla style, which is sweeter.  

A box like that comes in 2 medium size bags.  Seeing how small the cookies are, with added air to protect the crunch and the cookie from being crushed, there is a lot in the box.  It is good with coffee or hot cocoa.  

 

Anmitsu - Japanese Dessert

What did I get this time at the Asian grocery store?  

Anmitsu is a Japanese dessert invited in the Meiji era. 

Traditionally, you will see it come with anko (adzuki beans) with mochi of some kind.  As you know the Japanese gets creative with their food, and you will see the non-traditional places sells with it with seasonal fruit.  Serves it hot or cold, and some comes with syrup, or fruit compost. 

The one I got from the store is pretty straight forward.  The white stuff is mochi, not particularly chewy.  Red stuff is the adzuki bean stew.

Since it's cold, it is sitting on top of a layer of green tea ice cream.  This is a traditional Japanese flavor as they come.  That is very signature flavor palette of Japanese dessert.  Both goes well together, green tea brings a tad of bitter, and adzuki brings a bit of sweet and tang.  As you make the red bean, you boil them in water mix with sugar and boil it over a bit of time so it's softens.  Of course, naturally it'll break apart and it becomes stew-like.  It is a popular Chinese dessert as well. 

 

Aka Sushi House

I like Aka Sushi, their food is fresh and the process is efficient.

I think what would make it more efficient would be to have parking spots designated for pick-up only.

What did we get?  Happy Hour was in full force, so we got some HH stuff.

Agedashi Tofu - I do miss them coming in the warm shoyu sauce.

Nesu (eggplant) Tempura - not my normal go-to, but was in the mood.

Takoyaki - which to my surprise they include big chunks of squid in there.  Now, it came with sweet and sour sauce here.  I may not be a traditionalist, because I think its weird to pair it with a S&S sauce, it works.  I kinda was missing the eel & mayo the most.

I got the Salmon & Smoked Hamachi Samplers.  Each sampler came with 2 pieces of nigiri and 2 pieces of sashimi.  Perfect for a HH meal!

Don't forget HH are 3-7pm Monday thru Friday and weekend all day.  Go take advantage of that!

Aka Sushi House

2390 W. Alabama

Houston, Tx 77098

713-807-7875

http://www.akasushi.net

 

Pepperoni's

One of the thing about staying at home is that you can still try different places and sometimes make you go out of your 'usual' places and check out new ones.

This time we're trying out Pepperoni's.  Truth be told, they're not actually new to me.  I used to office nearby and it's easy to order pizza from them to do an office lunch.

I got the Pepperoni from Pepperoni's.  I like their thin crust and not too greasy, which is my primary complaint for a lot of the places.  I do wish they'd throw in extra pepperoni's, but it's protein to space ratio is ok.  

We order from here mainly because they also have a decent gluten free options.  They use either their original recipe but with gluten free flour; or, they have a cauliflower crust option.  What I appreciate is that they also have a separate box to separate from their normal boxes, so no one gets confuse.  That is actually not done in many places that offer GF options, so I applaud them for going the extra mile.

Pepperoni's

3005 West Loop South #120

Houston, TX 77027

832-998-8777

http://www.pepperonis.net

 

Panera

It's been a long time since I ordered food for lunch.

It've never had their flat bread before, so I thought I'd give that a shot.

The Chipotle Chicken & Bacon Flatbread has tomato, chicken, bacon.  The orange sauce is the chipotle aioli sauce, which is the key item here.  The whole thing is very filling, but the sauce is also addicting which makes you want to eat the entire thing.  The texture is really pizza-ish, not as flat as I'd thought they'd be.  Either way, it was good, so I'm good with that.

If you're super hungry, you can do a flat bread meal, and pick either soup, sandwich or salad to accompany your flatbread.  Definitely can be saved for the next meal. 

Panera Bread

1201 Lake Woodlands Dr

The Woodlands, TX 77380

281-363-1056

https://www.panerabread.com/

 

Seiwa Market - prepared food

So buying prepared meals is not new, but the variation is what makes it interesting.  

This time, we ended up at Seiwa Market.  We don't usually go to that part of town, but just for the sake of change of scenery....

This time, we headed towards the cooked items.  Though they also sell a lot of sashimi and sushi sets.  I was just curious about their cooked item.  Some of it came from next door at Ramen Ichi.

For appetizer, I got takoyaki (Japanese snack that's ball shaped made with batter and octopus chunks) and Calamari.  Yes, totally recognize that it was octopus on top of squid and fried with fried.

For the main entree for me: Unaju.  For the price it's very filling.  Though it's cold when we picked it up.  They do have microwave there at the store by the cashiers.  You can totally pick up all the pieces and go to a nearby park and have a picnic Japanese style. 

As mentioned before, they get some cooked items from next door at Ramen Ichi - they even have pieces of chasiu (pork) for ramen for you to make at home.  Better yet, they even have chasiu, chives, egg, bits of mushroom to go with your home ramen.  All you need is broth & noodles - give that a shot.

Seiwa Market

1801 S. Dairy Ashford

# 116

Houston, TX 77077

281-920-1906

http://www.seiwamarket.com/home/houston-tx-store/

 

One Dim Sum

Was craving for some dim sum during the holidays.  So I decided to order One Dim Sum again.

First off, I got the Singapore stir fry noodle.  It's one of our go-to dishes.  A tad of curry taste, and it mixed with veggie and chicken.  

Then, we got (clockwise): turnip cake, siu mai (pork & shrimp dumpling), and cheung fun (rice noodle) with BBQ pork. 

Here we have (clockwise): Glutenous Rice with Chicken wrapped in lotus leaves.  Har Gow (shrimp dumpling), and BBQ Pork puff.  I actually really wanted the bun but since they only have the steamed one for take-out, I decided on the puff instead.  

Honestly, out of all of these, my favorite was the BBQ Pork Puff, it has a good dough and layers on the side.  Even for reheat, it tasted just as good as when we got them.  The rest are up to par, nothing disappoints.  My only complaint was that we had trouble confirming our order ever since they moved the ordering system to Grubhub.  Then, they were behind by 10+ minutes from the time where they say our order would be ready.  That was inconvenient.  Also, a lot of their better known dishes are also not on available for take-out, which limits the experience.  Otherwise, the food itself was fine.

One Dim Sum

510 Gray Street

Houston, TX 77010

346-293-9188

https://onedimsum.com

 

Dish Society

So there's a new Dish Society opened up in my 'hood.  Needless to say, we're thrilled.

I've always liked their dishes at the San Felipe & Finn Hall locations.  So, them being so close to me is exciting.  Plus, there are ample parking and the staff has been awesome.

First and foremost, I must have a latte.  I love their coffee. 

I picked up the Brisket n' Eggs.  2 eggs Sunny Side up, with brisket on the side, topped with tomatillo sauce, pickle, corn kernel all sitting on top of grits.  Normally, I'm not a grits person, but theirs are pretty good all mix together.  The flavor of the brisket is nice and when you add the tomatillo sauce together, it is even better.  I love their dishes.  

It's very convenient to order online thru their site.  They did miss a drink, but they quickly took care of it, and no questions asked, which was appreciated.  I look forward to more visits there.

Dish Society

4191 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77025

713-966-2737

https://www.dishsociety.com/location/dish-society-west-u/