Kuen Noodle House

With the fluctuating weather, we took advantage of a cold day for some noodles.

Went back to Kuen Noodle House, which has been a while.  I forgot how good their noodles are.  There are so many new eateries in the area that choices are abound.

For starter, we got the green scallion pancake, which while it's oily, it is dang delicious.

My go-to dish here: Stewed Beef Tendon cut noodle.  Yes, the noodle was cut by the robot.  But I love the soup.  Nice and rich with different layer of flavor.  The beef is nice compliment to the dish.  Definitely a must!

Kuen Noodle House

9140A Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77036

281-888-9236

Hong Kong's Cafe

I am a creature of habit.  If I like something, I'm not going to lie, I'll keep going back for it.  Like the breakfast at Hong Kong's Cafe.

Get my favorite Lemon Iced Tea.  By the way, if you were to try to recreate it at home.  Do it with Lipton Red Tea, lemon slices, and sugar syrup as sweetener.

The breakfast set comes with a drink, a noodle which I picked vermicelli with mustard green and shredded pork.

For the main, I got eggs sunny side up, with spam as my protein, and they give you buttered toasted.   The whole meal set doesn't cost more than $6, by the team you do tip, it is still less than $10.  Definitely worth the money.

Hong Kong's Cafe

9108A Bellaire Blvd

Houston, Tx 77036

713-772-9633

Smashburger

For a quick bite, went back to Smashburger.

Got me a Classic Smash with some tator tots.

I love their burgers, just because the beef patty taste fresh every time.  Having Angus Beef really makes a difference, of course having great tator tots helps too.

Smashburger

5220 Buffalo Speedway

Houston, TX 77005

713-343-0191

https://smashburger.com

Tiger Noodle House

I always like to go back to Tiger Noodle House, 

good food, easy access, and close to me.

Yum Yum Xiao Long Bao.  For inside the loop, this is decent.

Next is my favorite, Ma Po Tofu with pork.  Keep in mind, you can request to have no meat.  Make sure to tell your server.  

Most importantly, this dish is great for going over rice.  Do keep in mind, if you take it home, the spices will marinate over night and make it a tad spicier than you get it the first day.

Another one of my favorite, Beef and Broccoli.  I know, I'm so basic sometimes.  That said, the sauce is also great for going with rice.  Unlike the Ma Po Tofu, it won't be too spicy over night, but the sauce is good in its own way.

As usual, in Rice Village, when you park, be sure to look at the signs, and pay for parking, because they do have their little attendants that will write a ticket there.

Tiger Noodle House

2424 Rice Blvd

Houston TX 77005

281-974-4083

https://tigernoodletexas.com

Mango Tree Thai Bistro

Here's another version of Desktop Cafe (aka eating at my desk)

Today's recommendation is for Mango Tree Downtown.  For lunches, it came with soup of the day. This is the Coconut Milk Soup with scallion, tofu, and cilantro.

The entree is Yellow Curry with beef and veggies.  It comes with egg rolls, small salad, and a side of rice.  It is actually a lot of food, but for $11 lunch, it is pretty awesome with so much food.

The taste is good, nothing fancy, tried and true.  You can tell by there is not an open seat in the house.  Luckily, I had the order to go, they were pretty fast with the order.  They told me 15 mins, and you know in downtown, that is pretty fast for a full-fledge restaurant.

Mango Tree Downtown

914 Main Street

Houston, TX 77002

713-659-1600

https://www.mangotreethaibistro.com/menu

Shabu Zone

Friend of mine wanted to do Shabu for dinner, so I happily oblige.

Been meaning to try them, so glad to have an excuse to go.

Set up is a little different.  It's all you can eat, buffet style.  You can see the prices here.

In case you're a novice or new to this restaurant, they even have step-by-step instructions.

But here, you can see they have 7 types of soup base to chose from.

Here's some of the proteins.  They limit 4 per table at a time.  So, if you're still hungry after your first 4 plates, you can get more.  

Individual hot stove for your individual pot.

Here comes the part of All You Can Eat: first is the salad bar, or rather, veggie bar.

Mushrooms, tofu, corn...

Calamari, fish slices, there's oysters and shrimps.  Don't worry, they're all frozen.

There's also a whole side of the bar dedicated to the sauce you can dip.  Since the restaurant is Korean based, you'd get more spicy sauces than you would otherwise.

Here's Waygu and Beef Belly

Lamb and chuck round

Some vermicelli, cabbage, mushroom, and squid...

...fish cake, meat balls, crab meat, and fish balls to boot.

It looks like a lot of food, because it is.  However, keep in mind the noodles and the veggies will shrink as you cook them.  Overall, you can easily over eat here.  They also have a dessert bar that has fruit, cookies, ice cream and toppings.  Have to make sure you don't go overboard.

For that price, all you can eat with great service indeed is a rare thing.  That's why you can always see a line out the door.  We find that if we go between 5:30-5:45p just before the dinner rush will do the trick.  We sat and talk for a bit, and didn't leave until 9-ish but the line wasn't getting any shorter.  So, plan accordingly and do not get hangry.

Shabu Zone

on the side of Hong Kong City Mall

11201 Bellaire Blvd

#2

Houston, TX 77072

832-850-7849

https://www.shabuzone.com

La Creperie inside Paris Hotel

One of my tradition is to get a crepe from La Creperie inside Paris Hotel.

As usual, the line is long.  Most folks are ready to check out, just trying to grab something quick.

But because of the line, it's basically not quick, really.  It's quicker than a sit-down.  But not for a bakery, say.

This time I got a Savory Crepe, it's a Ham and Guyere with béchamel sauce over it.  You don't notice it until more than half way thru.  But with the sauce it is very rich, and you fill up very quickly.  So keep that in mind when you're ordering.

One of the places I must visit every time I'm in Vegas is Bellagio's Garden.  It is literally in front of the Bellagio's Buffet, but they always have the most creative and beautiful flower sculptures.  

Since it's Chinese New Year, they put together the garden that has a water arch that leads you to the Golden Rat.  The whole production really took them overnight to make.  We came the first night we arrived in town, since we were over for dinner.  They weren't ready yet but showed various rendition of the garden designed by the designer.  We came back the next day, everything was already installed and working.  That's the power of Vegas, I tell you.

This concludes my report from Vegas.  Going back to Houston food tomorrow.

La Creperie

inside Paris Hotel

3655 S. Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702-946-7000

https://www.caesars.com/paris-las-vegas/restaurants/la-creperie