Bodard Bistro

Last time I was at Bodard it was before the world shut down.

Even though I know they have moved from the last time I ate there, I also didn't try very hard to sought them out.

Since I was in the mood, it was lucky to find it nearby where I was.

Got their famous Nem Nuong Cuon.  Actually when I said the spring roll, they lady already know, since it's their famous item on the menu. It has grilled pork, lettuce, and crunchy layer in the middle.  The gravy you dip is like a congee texture, thicker than soup, but it's nice and warm and goes together well.

This is the Salty Fish with Diced Chicken fried rice.  It's really a Chinese dish, but I get it wherever I can find them.  I like theirs more than House of Bowls because you can tell that they actually used legit salty fish.  You can actually taste in some of the bites you take.  Versus before, I can smell it but can't the saltiness that is supposed to come with the dish.  So, this is a win for me.

They used to be inside the Beltway on Bellaire.  Now they moved across from Hong Kong City, that area is quite congested even though lots of good shops are around.  That said, the quality is definitely still there.  Even though they've opened back up for dine-in, seems like guests still like their food for party setting.  There were a line of trays with various dishes, must be a big party.  Go check them out.

Bodarad Bistro

11350 Bellaire Blvd

Ste 100

Houston, TX 77072

https://bodardbistrohouston.com

 

Haidilao - Hot Pot

Been hearing a lot about Haidilao and finally got a chance to come here. 

It's lovely that these big stuffy sat there to greet us.  Also a great way to not have guess waiting at the reception and crowd up the place.  By the way, reservations are highly highly recommended.

As we sat down, the sever gave us these.  A plastic bag for your phone, so it won't get splashed or if you happen drop the phone in the soup.  The black circle is a hair tie for you ladies with long hair.  And the red pouch is a lens wipe.  They think of everything.

We started out with a 4 soup based combo: (upper L) Classic Spicy, Pork Tripe and Chicken Soup, Signature Tomato Soup base, and Mushroom Soup base.

Sauce bar plus dessert.  It has variety of sauces and you can make combo with them.  There's 2 type of Chinese Dessert soup, some fruit and salad for starts.  That is extra charge.

Let's see what we got: Lobster fish balls, it's basically fish paste made into a ball with lobster filling in the middle.  Bottom has 'Chinese Donut/Cruller' - which is amazingly good when dipped into the soup for a min or less - nice and soft.  Then thinly sliced beef.  Not pictured: Mushroom combo with 4 kinds of mushroom and cabbage. 

Here, on top sideways is the Tofu combo that has Tofu slices, tofu skins, dried bean curd skin. 

Bottom row: Fried Pork bites, Fried steamed buns, and fish paste squares.

Also got the Seafood combo that comes with sole filet, scallops, squid, shrimp, and mussels. On the lower right is a plate of duck tongue, probably second time in my life having that.

Anyway, each soup brings in different flavor of what you put in there.  Each one is worth trying, having a 4 soup base is the best way to go, to try them all.  

They also have entertainment, in case cooking your own food is not entertainment enough.  They have a Face Changing dance, which is a traditional Chinese dance, but somehow it got paired with Kpop music.  

Also, if you order the dancing noodle the chef will come and pull the noodle for you and have a show too. We suspect the guy that's doing the Face Changing dance is the same guy that pulls the noodle, but either way, it's entertainment.

There is actually a patio outside for you to wait for your table.  Meantime, you can enjoy the snacks, water and tea they have out. 

Couple of things: reservations is highly recommended, especially on the weekend.  We arrived at 5:15p, folks are just casually walking about.  By 5:30p, the place got intense with folks waiting outside and squeezed in front of the check-in desk at reception.  So, book ahead and arrive early.  By the time we got seated the place was 85% filled.

They are very thoughtful on a lot of parts.  Like they have a robot that delivers your food.  If you want an apron, they offer it to you so you don't splash.  If you want to pack your left over, they will do it for you in big to-go bowls where you can heat it up easily at home.  

Downside? Well, unless you come here during the week at lunch, do not expect to get squeezed in without reservations.  They do come by and check and rumor has it that around 2 hrs they will kindly get you to close out tab.  If you have a big party, don't expect to get seated in big tables, they can accommodate 3 because they have 3 big tables where you and your party can sit together.  It does get crowded, which means, parking is also a challenge.  They do have parking at the back of the building, and there are walkways in between shops that you can walk thru, but not many people use them.  And if you snooze, you do lose. 

Haidilao

23220 Grand Circle Blvd

Ste 100

Katy, TX 77449

832-802-6666

https://www.haidilao.com

 

Da Boba

I was picking up lunch and saw this place.

I saw the bear and the bear top, I was sucked in.

The shop is at a corner, so it's pretty spacious.  They have tons of seating indoors and because they're at the corner, they have extra space out front as a patio.  Point is, if you need a spot to work, they've got space.

I've been doing a lot more fruit teas lately, instead of milk tea.  This is the Passion Fruit Green Tea with jelly and coconut jelly.  I like theirs, the 'regular' is not super sweet.  

A tip though, when they give you the receipt, keep it.  They do ask for it in order to get your drink.  I had already stuffed it in the bottom of my purse and had to dig it back out.  That was awkward.

DaBoba

11360 Bellaire Blvd

#80

Houston, TX 77072

346-570-2933  

 

Eddie V's

Had a work dinner the other day and ended up at Eddie V's

We started with calamari but it came like this, which is practically a salad to itself but in Kung Pho style.  You can munch on that  and becomes a meal, but since we were sharing, I refrained. 

These are the Tempura Lobster balls - definitely get this!

So we were recommended to get 8oz Filet Mignon - very tasty never disappoint.  Sides were Truffled Mac & Cheese which was highly recommended by our server and Brussel Sprouts, it was good.  Not as good as the steak, I tell ya.

For dessert, not pictured, we got the Banana Foster Butter Cake - flambe of course.  But what I appreciate is that it's not too sweet and the alcohol were not over-empowering.  It was just right for me.  Not too rich or filling.  I'd definitely come back for that for sure.

We were sitting by the band, and I so appreciate the band understands folks are there to chill out and have a good time.  They did a great job but not so loud that you can't hear your friends as you chat.  Great job and thoughtful on that.

Eddie V's

12848 Queensbury Lane

Houston, TX 77024

832-200-2380

https://www.eddiev.com/home

 

Dough by Mo - cookie decorating class

Since earlier we were all cooped up with these whiplash weather changes, it's nice to sit in the warm sun and do a decorating class.  Going to warn you, this is picture heavy.

The class is done by cookie maker - Dough by Mo, whom I met during Covid first got everyone into lockdown.

I'm aware that she's doing these cookie decorating classes, but I'm often too slow to snatch a spot, and finally catch them this round.  

We get 6 cookies, piping tool, icing for piping, and of course, photo guide.

First up: gum ball machine.

Didn't know flooding is a thing, and it' can come out nicely.

Of course, it's all nice and I had to add stuff to it to ruin it.  Sigh.  I swear that pink heart is not a leper.  

Then we did the rose.

We had pink on pink, came up kinda cute, I just didn't know what to do to make the edges looks smoother.

Now that you can see the 'flower', it makes more sense.  It was funny, she was telling us that we don't have to draw a perfect swirl but that's the exact thing my hand tries to do, very poorly but tried.

Then we have an envelope.  This one was harder to see the separations.

Had to have a lot of guides on this one.

Well, it sorta looks like an envelope with hearts.  Not exactly but sorta.

Then a cute stamp.  This one's difficulties as you have have guessed is the edges.  It is very hard to start and stop.  Unlike a straight line, you can definitely not do a single line.

Doing the flooding for different parts are fun though, I won't lie.

As they say, send it with live, here you go. 

Then comes the lips - except I was supposed to have some kind of dip to make it more nature... doesn't quite look like it.

Top half.  I like the extra touch of having that white tear drop to show shiny.

Bottom half, similarly has the sideway i to make it looks shiny.

This is one of my favorite.  You first flood the cookie, then quickly put lines on top of it...

Then, using the tool to drag it upwards or downwards.  Much like paper making when you try to do marbling.  

It came up with this up and down pattern, pretty.  Even though I didn't do a good job, I appreciate the cookies decorating bit that much more.

Alright here's all of them together.  Took fully 2 hours.

I will say, the instructions was action packed.  Mainly because the icing dries quickly, but also because from an expert's point of view, you need to work some of these quickly to achieve the best results.  A lot of the ladies were confused that she had us start on one, finish part way and start on another.  There were a lot of changing gears and folks were a bit flustered either because they're not working at her speed or that they are so focused that they fell behind as the teacher was changing gears.

My suggestion when taking these classes, go with the flow.  Leave any Type A personalities behind.  It'll all come out tasty.

Dough by Mo

https://www.doughbymo.com

Aka Sushi

Went to Aka for a pickup order.  To my dismay their quality and service had gone down.  Now, I understand that's not unique to them, but to a point that it was decent to subpar, was a great disparity.

I got an Unaju lunch set - which comes with salad and miso soup.  But was very curious that they boxed the entire meal in a small box.  That was a head scratcher, but ok, since I'm just eating it.  Whatever.  Taste was missing something but passable.

I ordered the sweet potato tempura.  Now, I have to be lenient because it cool down when I drove home.  But it did not come with any sauce, which was a big part of the dish.  But not only that, the inside was soggy... I only thought it'd be soggy on the outside since it was fried.  But inside mushy???  That's odd.

At any rate, I'm pretty sure I was the first phone in order.  The person who answered the phone sounded disheveled, maybe caught him off guard.  Then I tried to place my order, and he sounded unfamiliar.  Then that makes me worry, in theory, menu should be nearby.  When I arrived, sushi chefs were busy cutting but no one acknowledge my present.  I finally had to get their attention to flag down someone to assist.  This is a drastic different from the services they have in the past.  Not to mention, their website is down, which makes me think that they're on the decline and may possibly exit the business.  I hope that's not the case, ad they go back to their once glory state.  While I know this is a super first world problem, I hope that was a fluke.

Aka Sushi House

2390 W. Alabama 

Houston, TX 77098

713-807-7875 

 

Heartful Cane

So excited to see freshly pressed cane juice.

I don't see fresh cane juice in town often, if at all.  So imagine my delight when I saw a pop up for that.  

So they have ginger lemon, and couple other flavors besides just cane.  Cane to me, by itself is sweet enough.  Don't know if you ever know this, but the canes they got is already washed and cleaned and ready to be pressed.  They don't prop them against the ground, not only it's because the ground is not always clean (especially we were at a pop up at a brewery), but it's because cane is very porous it will easily absorb anything nearby or on the ground, and that will distort the taste and quality.  Now, you know.

If you want to try them, don't have to wait for a pop up.  You can go to Samaurai to pick up a bottle.

Heartful Cane

https://heartfulcane.com

 

Mama Express Indonesian Street Food

This is my first time trying Mama Express.

They were quite popular and definitely a mom and pop outfit.

That was the day's menu. 

And Mama systematically grill each of the satay (aka skewer) of chicken.

I'm not going to lie, I saw the cute basket, I went and line up.  They do give you very generous portions.  They give you 5 skewers of chicken meat, rice, and fresh veggies, but what I love most is their peanut sauce, it literally was the smell that brings childhood memory, though I was lucky enough to eat Indonesian food once a month growing up.  Can't complain, for what they charge, the portion is good enough to fill you up.  So bring a friend to share.  

Mama Express

https://mama-express.square.site

 

Tanuki Go

Excited to Tanuki Go at the Otaku Fest.

Since they make flavors tailored to the audience at an Asian fest they'll have my favorite, red bean.  I'll say this one the batter seems to be crispier than the last time I had theirs.  It's pretty good, and definitely my go-to comfort food. 

In Japan, they have fruit with cream cheese or Nutella.  Here they had red bean, chocolate (which was more of a pudding consistency.  Of course their lines were one of the first ones that filled up. So I was super glad that I got there first.  If you see them, make sure to go to their line first, you won't regret it.

Tanuki Go

https://www.instagram.com/tanuki_go/

 

Teagu Cafe

I finally was able to try Teagu Cafe.

He's been getting a lot of attention and traction via social media.  One of their signature is that the chef would do the noodle dance to pull your noodle before cooking it.

I got the Gentle Biang Biang Braised Pork Noodles.  So like I said, he pull the noodles right in front of you before cooking them.  The braise pork was more like a meatball consistency.  The noodle itself is kinda spicy even though I'd asked for Gentle.  Just glad that I had a bottle of water near me. 

Anyway, meal and a show, and a good meal and a good show at that.  Definitely come back and support him.  

Teagu Cafe

https://www.instagram.com/teagucafe/