Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Hao Hao

So heard a few hub bub on IG about this place and I am easily swayed. 
I was lured here by the rice cake dish and wonton noodles... that's what I got.

This is Rice Cake stir fried with eggs, there's scallion and onion. I think all Asian culture has a version of the rice cake, this is Vietnamese, and I do remember having this growing up.  This one you get a bit of scallion wherever you turn.  You do need to dip the sauce and it would be less dry.

I just never found a place that has that or don't know how to order it if it's not on the the official menu. It's a nostalgic thing.

So their claim to fame was Hong Kong style Wonton noodle.  And as it arrived, there's way too many scallions, this place love their scallions.  The wonton is decent but doesn't carry the taste that the Hong Kong Wonton does.  Adding the Cha Siu was good, but it didn't necessary add to it.  The noodles was ok but the more important part is that the broth has no taste.  

This place does serve Vietnamese and Chinese style dishes, but it was strange that when I ordered couple dishes before landing these, none of those were available.  But the menu was huge, too huge.

I will say, I got suckered by the great job the influencer had done.  I'm was excited for a bit on the Bot Chein, but if I were to come back, probably get a traditional pho instead of a wonton noodle.

Hao Hao
12302 Bellaire Blvd
Ste A-6
Houston, TX 77072
281-933-9464  

 

Monday, June 13, 2022

Clutch City Coffee

Monday morning, of course the most important thing is... Coffee.
Here's a drive thru for you.

You can get your coffee, tacos, muffins and smoothies here all in the comfort of your car.  There are 2 lanes for ordering.  Everything they have is made to order, so you do have to wait a bit but it's all done fresh.  If you have the time they also have a small little table on the side if you want to enjoy your coffee and watch traffic rolls by.

Clutch City Coffee
4733 Richmond Ave
Houston, TX 77027
346-718-2197
https://www.clutchcitycoffeehtx.com/gallery
 

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

North Italia

As an office lunch, we decided to order from North.
The process was not a good experience for sure, but luckily, that doesn't impact the food.

I got the Prosciutto with fig, arugula.  That's one of my favorite from that place.  Good quality ingredients everywhere.  It was so good.  

Don't mind the corner, I grabbed a handful of Zucca Chips.  This time it's not as crispy as before, but I felt healthy for having some veggie, whichever shape it comes.

So, let me share my online ordering experience as a cautionary tale.  I placed the order via their website and it is by way of Doordash to take the payment and delivery.  In theory, it's great right? You got that piece out-sourced, all. you have to do is to manage the kitchen piece of it.  

I placed the order before they even open for lunch.  At first, they provided very good updates, we got your order, we confirmed your order, and to be delivered between X time and X time.  Well, the time past, it gave update that they are waiting on the kitchen.  Well, ok, things happen, I had it scheduled early and taken delays into account.  However, it kept getting postponed and postponed, then no updates altogether.  

I finally called the store myself.  I mean, if the issue was pending a driver to be assigned, I can just go there myself and pick up the food.  I know it's a privilege to use a service like that, but going to pick up in person is not beneath me.  As I talked to the Manager, turns out: if you order thru DoorDash's site direct, it goes thru the bar.  If you order on North's website, the order goes directly to the kitchen.  The poor Manager I spoke with was checking both front and back of the house.  As he discovered no order to be had, he went ahead and took my order via phone - the good o' fashion way.  When it's all said and done, it was over 2 hours over the previously scheduled delivery time.

So, here's the kicker.  It's not the Manager or the restaurant's fault because they didn't get the order, nor would they have known or predicted the issue.  DoorDash best effort is to cancel the order on their end.  So, even though they took, confirmed, and charged my order, their person on the support line can only cancel the charge.  Of course they were kind enough to re-do my order, but that's pointless at the point.  Which, by the way to connect with a natural person (not a chat bot) is very difficult on DoorDash's site.  So the only person that lost out was me, the user.  No compensation or the like.  As a matter of fact, somehow the order placed via phone is $7 more than what I placed on the website.  So, then now I lost on time, my personally going to pickup, and got charged more.  Let that be a lesson to you...

North Italia
1700 Post Oak Blvd
Ste 190
Houston, TX 77056
281-605-4030
https://www.northitalia.com/locations/houston-tx-blvd-place/

 

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Brian's Bitchin' Bakery

Went back to support Brian and get those crack cookies of his.
I love how they are super positive and nice, good food to boot.

I love that they are always adding fun items to their menu.

I had done a pre-order.  That way, it's guaranteed that I will get some cookies and not have to rush.

I like how they always come with a menu of what I'm getting in the box.

First we have Ube. This is more like a brownie texture to me . There's some white chocolate bits in there too.

I quite like this Cookie Butter flavor.  It does remind me a lot of like Biscoff, except thicker, and it is definitely more oomph in there.

One of my favorite ones, Matcha Macadamia.  I think it's mainly because it has macadamia, but the matcha doesn't come across heavy, just a hint enough to have a taste. 


One of my favs, Earl Grey, Lavender and Blueberry.  I just love that combo. I know I said this before, ti really is like a muffin flavor plus tea. 

Lemon Poppyseed is probably one of my least favorite from the box. Just not much of a lemony flavor person.

Of course, the tried and true Chocolate Chip.  It is Thicc... if you warm it up 10 seconds before eating, it's even better.  Take my word for it.

Of course I have to get his Teamisu.  This is the Match flavor, but my favorite is the Thai Tea, which I had already ate it before taking a picture.  That said, the flavor is good, true tea, but most importantly, it's moist and creamy. Truly a great job!

Brian's Bitchin' Bakery
https://briansbitchinbakery.com



 

Monday, June 6, 2022

Uwa - Monthly tasting

Went to another Omakase, this one only does a monthly tasting.
They are created by the team at Kanau Sushi.

The pretty envelope has a very nice lacy card with menu on in it. 

First of all, this is picture heavy.  So you've been warned. 

Amuse Bouche is Pomme De Terre - fried potato bite with hone creme fraise injected and a dab of truffle aioli on top and bottom and topped off with a bit of caviar.

Front row seat to watch the chefs hard at work.

Not pictured, but super nice was Amberjeack with soy caviar and slices of kiwis cooked in cucumber fish stock.

Then we go outside to enjoy the skewers that is miso seabass.  It was literally falling off the bone as you bite into it.  The sauce they used is super delicious, and of course I loved the shishito peppers skewers.

Here's the salad course: it has feta & goat cheese with watermelon and concasse tomatoes topped with olive oil.  Super refreshing for a summer evening.

This is the Molecular Noods, I've seen a lot of molecular artistry on TV, never experienced in person.  This has Vermicelli with crab, tomato and their sauce on top and the foam is made with Vietnamese fish stock. 

I liked the fish stock foam a lot, bun the noodles was too thick for what the combo and taste.  The mixture on top was great though, wish it can be done by itself. 

Here's the mood and atmosphere of the place.  It's super nice and classy.

This is Medusa, it is made with jellyfish with compressed cucumber (thinly sliced on there) with yay citrus and topped with King crab and caviar.   

I've never had jellyfish before, this was my very first time. It reminds me of sea cucumber prepared Chinese style, cold and chewy.

For Intermezzo - also a palette cleanser, is the caviar course, but not that normal caviar mix that I'm used to.  It has Soy, Citrus/Lime, Strawberry and regular Roe.  

So you have a bit of sweet, a bit of savory and altogether all refreshing when it's all cold together.  You know what the taste remind me of?  The poppin' boba, where the juice and flavor all came out when you bit into it.

This is the Pea Course.  I have to fess up with full disclosure, I am not a fan of peas.  As a matter of fact, when I see them, I pick them out.  I've once had a dish with a bed of peas as part of the dish, I ate all but the peas.

That said, and being up front.  I actually ate EVERYTHING on that plate.  That is pea soup with ribbon carrot, ribbon cucumber, and beet, even the flower on there are edible.  The dish is served cold, and like I said, I ate every single bit on that plate.  That's a first for me.  Mainly because I do not like my peas fraternizing with my food.

Then we have Bagel and Lox.  It has cream cheese at the bottom, house cured lox (very flavorful) with caper and red onions. 

Unlike a regular bagel & lox., there's no bread, but macaron.  I will say that this is a very well done Mac.  Typically when people pull this trick, the Mac shells are just less sweet.  But they took it to another level, where they have some special seasoning in the shell.  So when you take a bite by itself it is slightly savory/salted, and when you combine with the rest, it's very true to the bagel and lox you would have.

Here's their Tuna & Egg Salad.  I would say, out of all the courses, this is my least favorite. It has squid ink rice at the bottom - that piece is fine, egg with vinaigrette on top - that's fine.  Then tuna tartare in the middle and seaweed on the side.  It was not great when you put them all together.  On to the rest.

This is the Waygu course, it has a 100 layer potato chip at the bottom.  Meaning, it has 100 thinly sliced potato chips all compressed together then fried.  Topped with Texas Waygu beef tartare with Korean Gochujung sauce mixed with dehydrated egg yolk (the yellow bits).  

This is definitely unique.  I will say the beef wasn't the best, turned out to be chewy.  The potato chips was very good, and we were hoping there's more of those.  

For dessert, it has a very poetic name, called Spring of Antheia.  It has Kiwi sorbet with dehydrated meringue with mascarpone bits.  So the meringue, they actually use dried ice to make right in front of us.  it took less than a few minutes to solidify, and he just crack them like chips and it's done.  The sorbet is also made in house so it was super fresh.

Antheia is a Greek Goddess, as our chef explained, of swamp and flowery wreaths.  So this is sorta look swampy.  But don't let it fool you, it tasted awesome.  And our chef was making it right in front of us bit by bit and we didn't even realized. 

At any rate, the whole meal cost a pretty penny and it's hard to get in.  They offer wine pairing which is another $85, and don't forget to tip your servers.  In order to get in, you have to stalk their Instagram account and as soon as you see the announcement, you have to ask them to put you on the list.  There are 2 seatings, 5:30 & 7:30 but truly it's 8pm.  If you can't get in, you can ask them to put you on a waitlist.  They are very responsive, though slow, they do answer.   

They have valet parking complimentary and also street parking.  Towards the evening the meter will stop, so you don't have to pay for the full duration of the meal.  If you can't get into the dinner, go to Kanau Sushi, they also have a good menu on their book and they will do an Omakase as well.  Another thing they will do at Kanau is Tuna Break down, you will get super fresh Bluefish Tuna.

Uwa
https://www.instagram.com/uwahtx/



 

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Melange Creperie

I don't get a chance to come by Heights as much as I used to, so I do try to stop by Melange, when I can. 

I also don't usually get savory crepes, so decided to do that for a change.

Not going to lie, it's not much for appearance, unlike the ones in Japan.  BUT!


There's egg (sunny side ones at that), ham and gruyere.  The cheese brings out a lot of the flavor and the egg was a nice surprise.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm still a huge fan of the Patty Specials (Nutella with banana and strawberry) but having some savory ones are nice once in a while too.  

When you come here on the weekend, check if there's a market going on.  That may hinder you finding a parking spots.  But if you do find a space, hang out and support the small businesses and come grab a crepe.

Melange Creperie
http://www.houstoncrepes.com 









Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Aleng Nina's

Walked by and saw this cute little booth and decided to stop by.
A Leng means Aunty in Tagalog 

The offering for the day was: Mango Cheesecake, Peach Mango Graham cracker cake, Ube Brownie

This is the Mango Cheesecake.  It's definitely very cheesecakes, the crust felt like have all gone on top instead of the bottom to support it.  Flavor is good, but it does get soggy if it has to travel.

Ube Brownie is interesting.  Obviously has Use, but topped with toasted coconut and white chocolate drizzle.  It was nice and soft and it is definitely the brownie texture.  I'm surprise it is not more 'cake' texture, but it came out nicely.

I did taste the Peach Mango Graham, next time if I have room and calories to spear, I would get that next time.  Follow their IG to see them at their next pop-up.



Aleng Nina's
http://www.alengninas.com