Grotto downtown

Another downtown eatery.  

This Grotto location is technically part of the Convention Center building.  

Got the Straw & Hay pasta, which is egg, spinach fettuccine with chicken and prosciutto, mushroom, and peas.  Of course, tons of parmesan cheese too.  I love the texture and taste.  Not a fan of peas, so had a fun time picking them out.  Wish the sauce was creamier, but over all good flavors.

We were there for dinner, and though they're not really suitable for children, and they do get their fair share, overall their hostess is poor at handling situations like that.  We had 4 children in the party, and while we don't have a reservation, the hostess was suggesting having us sit at the fire pit to accommodate everyone.  First of all, they have a reserved large table, which we all know is for last minute or VIPs.  However, this is where we fit in, last minutes.  Seeing that we have 4 children under 5, seating us by a fire pit, how does that makes sense.  Not to mention, if we sit there, with the dishes we ordered, everyone would be eating from our laps.  

They actually have more than 1 large table, and though it was in the corner, it fit us for what we needed.  Luckily, our server was pretty good, which made up for the poor hostess' bad seating job.

Grotto downtown

1001 Avenida de las Americas

Suite A

Houston, TX 77010

713-658-0752

http://www.grottorestaurants.com/locations/houston-downtown.asp 

Walker St Kitchen

This week will feature a few eateries in downtown, namely by George R. Brown Convention Center.

This time it is Walker St. Kitchen inside the Marriott Marquis hotel.

This is the Smoked Brisket Hash.  They have pouched eggs on top, brisket diced, potato, onion, and verde salsa on top.  This is one of those dishes where it will definitely fill you up for at least 2 meals.  The other thing I wasn't thinking about was that the more you eat, the spicier it gets.  Towards the end, I wanted to finish it, but it was just too spicy overall for me.  I was drinking more water and filling up my tummy than the food.  It was good nonetheless.

Weekday they do have breakfast for $18 per person with a very nice spread: pastries, eggs, bacon, grits, waffle...etc.  Since I was by myself and knew I couldn't eat alot, ordering the dish is more than enough.

The service here is awesome, from the hostess to our server to the guy who's filling up my water, were polite, kind, and just true sense of Southern Hospitality.  Very friendly place to be.

Walker Street Kitchen

inside Marriott Marquis Hotel

1777 Walker Street

Houston, TX 77010

346-229-2575

http://www.walkerstreetkitchen.com

Singapore Cafe

Happened to be in Sugarland and thought we'd go back to the Singapore Cafe.

On weekends, you really walk up to the counter, order and grab a seat.  But the guy saw that we're not very familiar, seated us and took orders for us.

This is the weekend special: Nasi Lemak, which has a bed of rice made with coconut milk, fried chicken wings, and fried fish with a sliced egg and cucumber on the side along with a dab of hot sauce.

I didn't touch the hot sauce, just because I'm a wimp.  But the fish or the chicken went very well with the rice.  I'm totally in love with rice made with coconut milk.

This is the Fried Hokken Mein, which is vermicelli with egg fried noodles with chicken and shrimp.  We didn't realized that this is a wet dish.  Had it been the dried stir fried, I think I would've like it more.  But it's wet, it felt like soup but with fried stuff, which makes it awkward for me.

The place is super casual and the staff are friendly.  However, if you want to pack up your leftover, they have a station with all the amenities, you just have to help yourself.

Singapore Cafe

3149 Hwy 6

Sugar Land, TX 77478

832-532-6277

Bebidas

Had only 20 mins to spear, so decided to stop in Bebidas for a quick breakfast.

Grabbed an iced matcha latte and a breakfast taco.  The Matcha Latte was a tad more milky than I'd like, but not sweet at all, and that's helpful.  The breakfast taco is your simple egg and bacon with a little container of salsa.  As usual, even though they're busy, the drink and food comes out super quick.  

I also appreciated that they made more room for parking, that's very helpful when the turn for the parking is already small.  While it may not look like it, there are alot of traffic from Westheimer using Edloe to cut thru, so backing up is not easy for any driver.

Bebidas

2606 Edloe St

Houston, TX 77027

713-554-0023

http://www.bebidashouston.com

Sushi Sakura

Went back to Sakura for dinner this round.

They're basically as busy at dinner as they were at lunch.

One of my fav: seared tuna.

Spicy Tuna with avocado roll.  I like how you get half a roll, so you're not filled up.

Peppered seared tuna sashimi

Yellowtail and salmon nigiri

Octopus nigiri

This time, they had more rolls and the other stuff (fruit, dessert, fried stuff) than sushi.  So we asked them to order more.  Actually, what that does is just that they have the chefs make them and circulate more.  They don't bring them to your seat per se.  So, if you ordered stuff, keep an eye, because it may have float you by.

Sushi Sakura Express

1014 Wirt Rd

Ste 263

Houston, TX 77055

713-263-7552

https://www.sushisakuraexpress.com

Papa Yu

More poke places popping up around town, that just means more to try. 

Found this one at I-10 & Blalock in the same shopping center as Ranch 99 on I-10.

Like how the other ones operate, it depends on the size, you get that many scoops.  You can also pick and choose the different sides.

This is a regular size, if you dine in, you get a bowl of miso soup to go with it.  By the way, that's alot of food.  Anyway, for regular size that's $8.99, you get 2 scoops of protein.  

I started my bowl as a salad based, chose salmon and unagi for my protein, got cucumber and onion.  Then, for my sauce I used the house shoyu which is my standard way of testing each place.  I like theirs, very light, not overwhelming at all.  For topping, I had crispy onion, nori strips, and tobiko (caviar).  

Like I said, that's alot of food.  My little complaint is that they were quite stingy on the cucumber.  Seeing that mine is a salad, having a little bit of cucumber is nothing.  But they were like rationing it out by slice.  That's was odd.  

Papa Yu

1037 Blalock Rd

Houston, TX 77055

832-301-3723

https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantPapaYu/

Wanna Bao

Been hearing alot about this new Chinese place in Midtown.

 How their Xiao Long Bao is so amazing and what not.

 As you know, curiosity kills the cat.  Or feed me fat...

 Cute place and simple decor, not too complicated but got my attention of their details.

 First dish: salt and pepper squid.  Unfortunately, not enough salt or pepper, just kinda bland.

 Dancing Pork Belly, this is kinda interesting...they bring out a dish of the rice cracker and veggie, then in a separate bowl, they pour the pork belly and sauce over it.  

 So the story on the rice cracker: the original dish is to use the burnt rice from the bottom of the rice cooker or pot, scrap them up and you get the sauce over it to soften it and you have sauce and rice with the protein.  Since, these days are hard to burnt any rice, they substitute with rice cracker instead.

Finally, the reason for being here: Xiao Long Bao.  I will say, I'd wish they give personal serving of ginger and soy sauce to each diner instead of split.  I got the dip and double dip feeling when I dip my spoon in there to get some sauce.  

Anyway, the consummate in the bao were amazing.  The other dishes were so-so, but this one really hit it out of the park.  I can see why people were oohing and aahing about their XLB.  Definitely is a must try.  Watch out though, they have a shrimp one and a pork one, so make sure you ask for the right one.

The location is a tad on the side, but not hard to get to, despite the nearby constructions.  There are plenty of parking on both sides of the building.  It was previously an ice house/bar, but they closed things up nicely and it's very spacious.  The wait wasn't long on a weekend, but they do get crowded. The servers are nice and quick, didn't take long to get our food.  The signs outside of the building said they're still in soft opening mode.  Definitely coming back.

Quick tip, if you pay with cash, they give you 9% discount on your tab.  Might not be a bad idea.  We basically did that and the servers get to keep the tip in cash.  Good for everyone.

Wanna Bao

2708 Bagby St

Houston, TX 77006

832-623-7265