Doko

Yesterday I talked but Bar Doko.  Once you done your happy hour,...

... just conveniently walk across to have a full meal. 

Clean and sleek designs.

I got the Nisemono Highball, it's Peach bitters with sparkling ciders.  On the top is candied Shiso, which is a Japanese leaf it's a herb from the mint family.  It's a fun candy to try.

Love the details - it's the origami crane to hold your chopsticks. 

First course, we got the Masu Crudo - that's Cherry Trout in Japanese. it has Serrano pepper, Furikake seasoning, a bit of Vietnamese fish sauce, and bits of orange. 

Got a plate of shishito pepper, grilled, togarashi seasoning, shaving of smoked skipjack tuna on top.  I was enjoying it, but bit into a super hot one by accident.... gulp gulp on the water. 

I got the chef's nigiri 4pc - it has Masu, Yellowtail, Blue Fin Tuna, and Madai.  Super fresh and delicious. 

This is mushroom nigiri - it has a unique texture, it's harder in texture than the mushroom we are used to. 

This is the Negitoro Roll - it has Blue Fin tuna, chives, cucumber, and Kaluga caviar on top.  It has alot packed into a little bite.  This is definitely a must-get!

This is the Kawa Skewers - chicken skin.  The texture was harder than I thought. 

Of course, cannot miss the Pork Belly with wasabi mustard.  That's a must-order too.  Very delicious. 

This is Tebasaki - this is an interesting dish.  If you imagine like a chicken wing - no bone, except inside is stuffed with fat cooked rice and fried.  You dip it into aioli sauce.  That's totally make the dish.  It was alot of food by this point, even though they're all small dishes.  So it's easy to fill it all up. 

Doko

3737 Cogdell St

Ste 145

Houston, TX 77019

713-505-1282

https://www.sushidoko.com/

 

Bar Doko

So my friend told me about Doko, and then I realized they have a bar right across the way.

Of course, indeed, we have to have a Happy Hour over there. 

You have to make a reservation ahead of time, the place is small.  Not that they can't accommodated, but depends on the day, you may have a longer wait, or sitting out in the hallway. 

First, we ordered the Chef's Choice Oyster.  The oyster itself is from Boston, which gives it a nice and clean finish.  He added chive and Thai chili oil.  It has a great finish.

Not to mention when we first sat down, we got a complimentary plum wine.  Super delicious.   

As all bars, they give you a little box of snacks.  

But we also ordered some Toasts.  We got the Egg Toast (left) and Waygu Toast (right).  The Egg Toast has egg salad with smoked trout roe.  It's pretty light in texture and very light flavor.

The Waygu Toast is so delicious, it has waygu beef tartare, truffle aioli oil, and topped with kinoko mushroom.  It's cute, but also delicious. I can literally eat the entire plate. 

When we go to pay, they gave us chocolate cookies as a thank you treat.  Pretty good.

So as a bar goes, it is a very intimate setting.  I did get a drink, I got the Hakuto - it has peach sparkling juice with grapefruit and lemon juice.  It's pretty good. 

Bar Doko

3737 Cogdell St

Ste 135

Houston, TX 77019

713-393-7725

https://www.bardoko.com/

 

MFAH - Cafe Leonelli

After visiting the Museum, we decided to get some dessert at Cafe Leonelli. 

After walking around a bunch, it's nice to grab a dessert and a coffee and just chill a bit.  Even the space is artsy. 

I got the Ganache Tart.  It has whipped chocolate ganache with sea salt in a cookie tart shell.  It pairs well with a cup of coffee and perfect after a fun day at the museum.

The cafe is super easy, you walk in and they grab your food and drinks.  The line move super efficiently and they have dessert and gelato too.  They are closed Monday and Tuesday which matches the museum's opening days. 

Cafe Leonelli

5500 Main Street

Houston, TX 77004

713-714-3014

https://www.cafeleonelli.com/

 

il Bracco

Went back to Il Bracco for lunch.

Let me get an Arnold Palmer to start. 

Last time, I had their focaccia bread, it has rosemary and garlic baked in and with the whipped butter, it was very good and great start for the meal.

This time I got the Chicken Piccata.  It came with alot of capers, which enhanced the salty part of the dish.   It sits on top of lemony sauce, which all works together.  Then you get a side of kale salad, which is good on its own.  I almost wished that they are separate so I can have the kale salad with a dish that's more 'dry' by nature. 

Of course, we get excellent service there.  The staff are all very courteous and since it's lunch hour, they are also very efficient, and that is greatly appreciated.   If you're here during weekday lunch, you are likely to get a good table for lunch.  But for dinner, a reservation is a must.

Il Bracco

1705A Post Oak Blvd

Houston, TX 77056

713-532-9950

https://www.ilbraccorestaurant.com/location/post-oak/

 

Local Foods

Went back to Local Foods for lunch.

I got the Salmon Poke Bowl.  It has ponzu salmon, sesame rice, cabbage, bok choy, pear, edamame, radish, egg, and aioli sauce.  Do the sauce sparingly, as good as it is, it can be alot.  I ended up using the sauce as a dipping sauce.  

I like going there around 11-11:30a, easy to find a parking spot and less busy.  Once lunch time rolls around, the place does get packed.  There's plenty of seating inside and outside.  So once you place your order, just grab a table and the staff will deliver the food to your table.  It's a quick business lunch place. 

They also has a great kids menu and brunch menu, I just recently found out.  Not to mention alot of gluten free and vegan options too.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Local Foods

1709 Post Oak Blvd

Houston, TX 77056

713-789-0642

https://www.localfoodstexas.com/location/local-foods-postoak/

 

Kaisen Sushi HTX

An article was comparing Kaisen to Oru so I got curious and conducted my own test.

It's inside Blosgett Food Hall.  Not having been here, it was my first visit here.

There's nobody works here, there's a giant window that the kitchen can look out, but otherwise, there's a wall of locker.

I place my order on their website, and I got a text message on the status of my order.  Once I arrive, my order sent a text with a QR code and you scan it to a tablet by the wall and the locker opens. 

There's some seating inside and some outside.  So I just grabbed a seat and checked out my goodies.

They did a great job packaging it.  The bag is insulated and cute design because not only does it have sturdy handle, they have a fold over tab to keep the food cold.

The nice part is that they have an ice pack, so that was nice and thoughtful. 

This is the omakase bento set A - It comes with 4 pieces of nigiri - there's Buri, Salmon, Tuna, and not sure what the other one was.  Then there's 2 pieces of Inari AND 2 pieces of sashimi.  To be honest, that's pretty filling, not to mention the fish is fresh and tasty.  So the roll really put me over.  That being said, that is also the best damn roll I've ever tasted.  I'm not typically a roll person, but for convenient sake, I do.  But out of all the rolls, that's the best one yet.  All that for $30

Then I got an Unagi Roll.  I didn't know what to expect to be honest since the roll from the bento was really good, this can go either way.  They had your usual unagi (eel) with avocado, inside out style with panko bits to give it more texture.  I love how they go you fresh ginger and soy sauce.  Of course the wasabi is tubed.

First off, don't worry I did not eat all of that in one sitting.  Second, I didn't know what to expect from Blodgett Food Hall, they have a whole array of food offerings, but didn't realized the set up is like this.  It's neat, it's futuristic, but if you decided to eat it there, and got thirsty, guess what, they don't even have a vending machine on site.  So you'll have to start an order all over to get a drink.  They did make me feel better that they have ice pack in the bag to keep the food cold, depends on how far you're going to take the food, may not be a bad idea to bring a couple more just in case. 

Kaisen Sushi

https://www.kaisenhtx.com/

 

Fuji Tea

This is my first time stopping by Fuji Tea.

Again, must've passed by here many times, but never stopped to check it out.

I know there's so many bubble tea places in the 1 mile radius, but curiosity and what not.  They pride themselves on using 'real' ingredients, to set them apart. 

I got the watermelon + passion fruit tea.  It's kinda cool that they came in separated colors.  I will say, it does tasted natural - or as they say, using 'real' ingredients.  Doesn't taste powdery as some of the shop does.

The place is cute and quiet when I was there.  Plenty of places to relax, especially when this is in the midst of a very busy shopping center.  

Fuji Tea

9312 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, Tx 77036

https://www.chinatownhtx.com/locations/MetropoleCenter

https://fujitea.us/

Weights & Measures

It's been many years since I've been back to Weights & Measures.

Down in Midtown it's tucked in a little corner. 

But first! Coffee! 

I got the S'more Latte.  No real marshmallow chunk on here, but they do a bit so they can burnt the top, and it does have that smell and feel of a real s'more.

I got the omelette, boy is that thing huge or what!  In it has cheddar, bacon, and veggies with tomato sauce at the bottom.  There's also diced potato to accompany all that.  It's crazy big plate of breakfast, obviously cannot finish all that. 

For brunch, making a reservation is wise.  What I have a problem with is that they seated us on high tops.  For brunch, high top is hard to relax into.  I feel like high top is great for happy hour, but for brunch, please let us seat at natural sitting level to enjoy our food instead of having our feet dangling.  Anyway, our server definitely fluttered everywhere, and literally touched our table and flitter away.

What was a nice surprise though, was we got to meet the brain behind Love Croissant, Omar Pereney.  He was super friendly and we chatted a bit.  Fun fact: my favorite of mini croissant, Omar made it for his nephew, and hence a product to share with us peons.  Thank you, nephew!

Weights & Measures

2808 Caroline

Houston, TX 77004

713-654-1970

https://weights-measures.com/

 

Taste of Korea

Went to try a new place on Wilcrest

KBBQ? Sign me up!

Very impressive presentation through and through.  This is our protein.  From L to R: Boneless Short Ribs, Pork Jowl, and Bulgogi.

Dude! The banchan is crazy. We must've like 12 dishes of them, plus rice.

You got your salad, daikon, kimchi variations, veggies, potato.  My favorite out of this bunch is the egg.  For whatever reason, the way they marinated the sliced egg was super delicious. 

Then you have sausage (yes that's unusual), sliced daikon, and kimchee. 

Then perilla leaves, seafood combo (shrimp and mussels), shredded onion, and sliced red daikon.

Not to mention the sauces for your to dip your meat into.  Whew!  

For the boneless rib, the staff was kind enough to cook and cut it up for us and served (thank you - just because I'm either too focus to cooking or too focus on eating.  This way someone stepped in to assist). 

Forgot to take a pic of the pork jowl but lovely fat and meat combo, not too heavy and not too rich.

The above is bulgogi, and of course, it went with rice so nicely.  

Our combo also came with a soup from a choice of 4 types of soup.  So we got the seafood tofu.  There's tofu and seafood at every spoonful.  Was super impressed.

What we chose was a set meal.  There were 5 kinds to chose from and it is mainly depended on the size of your party and your focus.  If you wanted all beef, they do have a all beef combo (large and small serving), we got the mixed combo (which they also offer large and small), all those comes with a choice of a soup from 4 kinds that they offer.  And there's a premium mixed combo that has it all and you get to choose a soup plus pancake.  It's alot of food, so come hungry with a lot of friends. 

This is newly established, but the service is great everyone was thoughtful and polite.  Looking at the menu, besides cooking table top, they also have noodles, stew/soup, and fish courses too.  Of course, by this time, we were super stuffed and cannot even entertain more food.  But definitely want to come back to try to other dishes. 

Taste of Korea

6968 Wilcrest

Ste A

Houston, TX 77099

346-374-7407

https://www.tasteofkoreabbq.com/

 

Turan Uyghur Kitchen

I saw this place was featured on  someone's IG.

It's funny because I come to this shopping center regularly, yet never thought of stopping in, so very happy to give this place a chance. 

First thing first, let's get some tea.  This is the Turan Special tea, came in a pot, and it has date and other herbs floating around. 

Lamb Kebob - that is very very delicious!  Definitely get this one. 

This is also very yummy Turkish Sumit - it's like a nice bagel but it's less dense and lots of sesame.

Then we got the lamb fried rice, the problem is that it's the meat is a little bit chewy but the cucumbers that came with it was very good though.  Is it bad that we did not finish the fried rice but clean off the plate of cucumber? 

The server is great and majority of the food is good (beside the fried rice).  But as we eat, alot of patrons get alot of different dishes and they all look delicious.  So we will have to come back and try the other dishes.

Turan Uyghur Kitchen

9330 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77036

281-888-5118

https://www.turanuyghurrkitchen.com/

 

Earthcraft Juicery

Went back to Earthcraft's Juicery. 

I got Victor's Secret - it's a protein filled smoothie.  It has peanut butter, banana, blueberries, plant-based protein, apple, date, and almond milk.  It's such a good combo, and definitely very filling, and of course, it tastes good too.

If you want any cleanses, or cold press juice, they have it here.  They also have coffee, super bowls, and fancy toasts.  This place has more to choose from than you think.  And if I have more time, I'm definitely going to try one of the bowls. 

Earthcraft Juicery

2400 Mid Ln

Houston, TX 77027

832-516-9050

https://earthcraftjuicery.com/