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

 

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Taste of Spices

Heard about a new. place opened up near me.  
Of course, curiosity kills the cat, and hopefully have a good find for me.

I got this purely for nostalgic reasons, it's curry fish balls.  Don't worry it's a ball made out of fish paste.  It's been soaked in curry sauce.  That's the way the street food was presented.  Of course, I'd be surprise they served it the same way, on a skewer stick.  As far as taste go, it was ok.  Was it just like how my childhood memory was?  No.  But it's a decent one to get if you are waiting for your food.

I got the Salt & Pepper Squid.  Just had a hankering for it, and to my surprise, it was pretty good.  So much so that I finished the dish myself.  Not too spicy, but has enough crisp & kick to finish off.  Definitely worth getting. 

Salty Fish and Diced Chicken fried rice - my tried and true comfort food dish.  I will say, this time there's plenty of salty fish, not just for taste but serious chunks.  It's funny because once upon a time, Salty Fish was looked down upon.  As it was only source of protein for poor families to have some taste to their otherwise plain and boring rice or congee.  Fast forward to now, it is very much considered a delicacy. 

Then I got the Braised E-Mein - which the sound of noodle sounds like a long life, that's also why this noodle dish is often ordered for birthdays; with the intention of wishing then a long life.  This is a vegetarian dish, it has carrots, mushrooms shiitake and oyster, chives (cut longways) and for sure 2 types of soy sauces.  

Overall, they are offering dishes that I don't usually get this part of town.  Nor is there a lot of places offering E-Mein.  For this area, it does the trick and it'll work.  I haven't found anything that is 100% authentic yet, but the quest continues.  Meantime, I still get to eat something good.

Seems like the owner/chef is Cantonese, I did see some BBQ duck and pork hanging.  I will say the price is high and I'm not sure if ti is because of the area or if it is because right now inflation is high.  For that meal, it was quite costly for homey dishes that shouldn't cost me equivalent of a decent sit-down restaurant meal, but that is a contentious point with a lot of the folks in the area.   Hope they picked up that fact soon.

Taste of Spices
2268 Holcomb Blvd
Houston TX 77030
713-993-6125
https://www.tasteofspices.online/menu




 

Monday, May 30, 2022

Pressed Juicery

I was in desperate need for some Juice to boost immunity.  
Saw this very nice Pressed Juicery, and peaked my curiosity.

The Left (small one) is honey elderberry, lemon, cinnamon, and cloves.  It was a bit more than a shot, and the juices and spices are compacted in there.

The Right (bigger one) is a mix of Apple, pineapple, Lemon and Mint.  I like the that combo, and it's nice not too sweet.

This just made me realized we take for granted places like JuiceWell & even Jamba Juice where they juice the fruit or mix the drinks to your order.   I tried to ask the server if I can combine, and realized that since all of their juices are pre-packaged, combining anything is not recommended and also they won't do it for you.  So keep that in mind if you do need some coffee/tea. 

Pressed Juicery
712 Yale St
Houston, TX 
281-971-4904
https://pressed.com

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Shake Shack

Went to Shake Shack for a quick lunch.
Got a Flat Top Dog and Cringle Fries (not pictured).  For the summer special, they have the Kiwi Apple Limeade.  That is actually pretty good, the Kiwi is not too sour and the apple cut the harshness it can be from the Limeade.

We sat outside not because of anything, just it was packed inside.  The servers still brought us our food and when it was wrong, one of them whose job wasn't to do food, went in and got us our correct order.  Bless her.  The staff is truly kind and wanted to make sure you have a good time.  And of course, we appreciate that.

Shake Shack
6205 Kirby Drive
Houston, TX 77005
https://shakeshack.com/

 

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Van Leeuwen - Houston

We were driving around for some ice cream and remembered that there's a Van Leeuwen nearby.
This one is hidden inside the Montrose Collective. 

Space is small-ish, but there's plenty of space in the patio area to sit and enjoy your ice cream.  Also a good spot for breeze to come thru.

I got my 'usual' Earl Grey Tea, with chocolate sprinkles on top.  I kinda regret not coming to the opening of this location.  Because there's a lot of fan fare when they open.  But lots of fun too.  If you're in the area, go have dinner, then come by for some good ice cream for the evening.

As you may have already know, the Montrose neighborhood is parking-challenged.  Worry not!  They have their underground garage.  Unless you're super lucky and able to park on the street.  But please be courteous to the neighbors and obey the parking signs.  It gets very tight around there. 

Van Leeuwen
in Montrose Collective
888 Westheimer Rd
Ste 157
Houston, TX 77006
https://vanleeuwenicecream.com