Coat & Thai

One of my favorite things to do in Austin is to go down to SOCO and to the food truck park and see what yummy-ness I can find.

This time I decided to try Coat & Thai.

For appetizer, I got an order of spring roll.  It is accompanied by sweet sauce.

Got a beef pad thai, it was actually really good.

Couple problems I had at the food truck park, if the food truck is good, naturally you'll have to wait in line.  That, I'm actually ok with.  But, that also meats that seating in front would be limited.  I'm not sure what's the protocol if you sit at the seating that were in front of the other trucks, but that didn't seem right to me.  Another thing is bees.  Yes, bees.  I can deal with flies, but bees, no thank you.  I'm just trying to avoid getting stung, I also have to fight with them over my own food?  Oh geez.  They are quite vicious too, they have no fear that you may try to trap them into the box, or trap them and drown them in the sauce they were attracted to.  I just decided that no egg rolls is worth it.... so I barely had couple of bites and it all went to the bees.  So I was forced to throw it all out.  Hope it was as good as the bees liked them.

Coat & Thai

1600 S. Congress

Austin, TX 

512-970-2154

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coat-Thai/102909466453460

Momoko

While in Austin, I made a trip to Momoko just to have their rice ball.  Sadly, there was a long wait, and I was just not in the mood to wait 40 minutes.

I got a Melon Green Tea, not too sweet and definitely refreshing for any day.

And a rice bowl.  Frankly, I was at first hesitant to report about this because they basically just heated up a frozen rice bowl.  But then I decided that you need to know because if you spent $4.95 for lunch, you should know that while it is tasty it's from the frozen section, which you can get for $3.25.

So here's my thing, if you made it on site, i.e. the rice balls, I'm willing to wait for a bit.  But if they try to push the rice bowls, know that you're getting a re-heated frozen dish.  Better off buying it yourself and eating it at the comfort of your own home.  May or may not be with the yummy tea, but just sayin'.

Momoko Gifts

705A West 24th Street

Austin, TX 

512-469-0232

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Momoko-Gifts/159993350347

Michi Ramen

So trying to find noodles in Austin at any time you want when you want it, is no easy thing.

I barely got to Michi Ramen before they close for lunch break.

Here's your basic noodle dishes to start, you can get the broth light, regular, or thick.  You can add extra spicy, meat, veggie... etc.

I ordered some gyoza, all I can say that it doesn't taste homemade.  

I had the Sapporo, with no corn but they left the butter on, how weird is that?  They use egg noodles, and the broth is nice.  The meat has the taste of the broth, which I like how it's soaked and marinated.  

I love that they are so up to date with the iPad to take orders and use it as a check out device.  You can customize your noodles and you can even add rice if you want.  Their mochi  is from Bubbies, so nothing homemade.  Do watch out that they stop lunch service at 2pm, and won't resume for dinner until 5p.  I do love that they got parking available for customers.

Michi Ramen

6519 N. Lamar Blvd

Austin, TX 78752

512-386-1908

http://www.michiramen.com/

Fu Fu's Cafe

Remember the last trip was here for their duck, this time is for a normal Chinese style dinner.

 Greens Beans with Minced Pork, it's a nice mix to the veggie dish.  You balance out the meat with the veggie, definitely a go-to dish.  An easy crowd pleaser.

 Braised Pork Belly with sweet preserved mustard greens.  The pork belly is melt in your mouth, and the mustard greens goes well with the meat.  Of course, to balance things out a bit, they added some lettuce to make it less over powering, but the sauce is still delightful.

Pan Fried Pork Bun, I love these because on the top side they are steamed but at the bottom side is pan fried.  The bun has thick layer, but the meat nestle inside is yummy. 

Honestly, given any day, I would've sat there and eat the entire dish by myself.  Not all 3 at the same time, but as a kid, the braise pork dish is not unusual to be requested and eaten in one sitting.  The pork and minced pork is a home cook dish that people would make at home for their family.  So, definitely a great fun trip down memory lane via my taste buds!

Fu Fu Cafe

(newer location)

9889 Bellaire Blvd

Ste E809

Houston, TX 77036

713-9861-8838

Hong Kong's Cafe

I love going to HK Cafe, especially for breakfast.  They have the preset for $5.95 you get:

Eggs anyway you want it.  Your meat can be ham, lunch meat (aka spam), or sausage.  Just so you know the ham is like the slices of cold cut you get from the store, the sausage is not breakfast sausage, it's hot dog sausage.

It comes with a drink, this is a lemon iced tea.  The difference between this iced tea and the ones you get from other places is that this comes sweeten with syrup, not sweeteners.

It also comes with noodles on the side, you can have egg noodles, vermicelli, macaroni or add $1 for ramen noodle.  You can have mustard green, sichuan green with different meat.

They only serve this from 10am thru 11:30am, that's daily.  Of course, time yourself wisely, they do get busy at lunch time, and also Sunday after church let out.  So, go early is the best policy, guaranteed to have a nice seat.

Hong Kong Cafe

9108 Bellaire Blvd.

Houston, TX 77479

713-772-9633 

Underbelly

For one of my birthday dinners, my friend and I decided to meet up at Underybelly.  

Owned by Catalan famed chef, Chris Shepherd.  I'm so excited to try their food.  Since they are known for being localvore.  You know their revolving menu is all based on local farmers markets and suppliers. 

We got the Grilled Seasonal Tokyo Turnips, the I was surprised, they give you some spicy powder on the side or the miso vinaigrette on the side for you to dip.  Doesn't matter if you try one or the other or both, they come out yummy.

This is the Korean Braised Goat & Dumpling.  This is their signature dish and probably the only dish that is available all the time.  It does have the nice spicy kick to it, but the shredded goat meat tasted yummy.  Balanced by the dumpling worked out nicely.  The dumpling is like the annual dish that the Korean/Chinese/ and Taiwanese have.  It has nothing inside, just the noodle cake type pieces.  So, it's dense but flexible to all flavors. 

Then we have the Korean style bulgogi.  They served it lettuce wrap style, you can put the lettuce, parsnips, picked veggie with the meat.  It is pretty good no matter if you eat it their way or straight   Definitely great marinate! 

This is the Waygu Shank Bibimbap.  I love how they take stretch across cooking style and we happened to picked all things Korean that night.  

But that said, once you mixed up the entire thing, the sauce and the meat, which are piping hot, mixed in the luke warm veggies, makes the entire thing hot and same temp.  This dish is so good! 

For dessert, both of us were curious about the Fried Strawberry pie.  So, that it is!  It comes with toasted rice ice cream.  You can't really taste the different by itself, but if you mixed it with the salted strawberries underneath, the rice flavors comes out.  Of course you have to mix it all together with the fried pie.  It really is like a fried strawberry jam leaking out.  Definitely yummy.

Our server gave us a very good tip, and that is if you have a 3-4 group, having the dishes on the Family Style serving is definitely the way to go.  You get more bang for your bucks.  But since there's only 2 of us, 4 dishes on the Today's Plate is plenty and satisfying.  And he was right... we barely had enough room for dessert.  That's definitely the way to go.

Definitely make reservation, they are closed on Sundays, go early.  There are plenty of parking in the back.  And they really meant it when they say they use local famers and vendors.  They give you a brochure of their recommendations, places they go to eat and visit, that really gives you a good view of the city from a Local's point of view.  

Underbelly

1100 Westheimer Rd.

at Commonwealth

Houston, TX 77006

713-528-9800

Torchy's Tacos

I've been wanting to try Torchy's for a while now, since I didn't grow up with Torchy, I fully treat this Austin transplant as just another place.

I know alot of people have fond memories of place, so let's see if they measure up.

This is the green chile queso.  They weren't joking to say that there's a kick.  But you can see the chile, more cheese on top of cheese, and hot sauce.  Truthfully, it's not as spicy as it looks, it does have a kick but not hot.

This is Mr. Pink, they got my order wrong and gave me my friend's.  This is seared salmon, queso fresco, cabbage, and chipotle sauce. 

I had ordered the green chile pork, hope to try that next time.

This is the Democrat, which has barbacoa, avocado, queso fresco, cilantro, onions to boot.

If you go to the Shepherd location, go during non-prime time, you can get a parking AND a seat.  Parking there sucks, but do go around the building to try your luck.  I will say that there are times you may run into unneighborly people who are not polite, won't back up, and will make you go around the building.  I advise you to bring your patience.  Once you get in, the line maybe long, your luck of finding a seating may be just that, luck.  But, the food is not bad.  Is it good enough for me to come back and put up with the parking and seating?  Probably not, but if another location pop up with friendlier circumstance, I'd be happy to give them another shot.

Torchy's Taco

2411 S. Shepherd

between Westheimer & Fairview

Houston, TX 

713-595-8226

http://torchystacos.com/