Snooze

Was craving pancakes, so went to Snooze

Watch out for beautiful weather, it means it would be busy everywhere.  So find parking where you can, and grab a bar stool when you can. 

Just staying hydrated - coffee and OJ

Got my pancake flight - (L-R) Creme Brûlée pancake, Strawberry Shortcake pancake, and Pineapple upside down pancake.  The Creme Brûlée one was sweeter than I expected.  The Strawberry pancake was really good.  And the pineapple one is my favorite, so that's my staple. 

Watch yourself on timing, if the weather is beautiful more folks will come out but likely want to sit outside. So inside seating chances are higher.  If it's sorta good, you're more likely to have to wait.  But don't be afraid to grab a bar stool, sometimes those comes up quicker.  And it's fun to make friends there too. 

Snooze

3191 W. Holcomb Blvd

A95

Houston, Tx 77025

832-856-6950

https://www.snoozeeatery.com/restaurant/texas/west-university

 

Rumi

My first time brunching at Rumi's

They have valet parking, and some retail parking, just watch the signage. 

To start, I got the Honest Woman, pomegranate, lime, non-alcoholic riesling shaken up.

Pita with mint, pecan, cheese, greens and radish... 

that was all for Lamb Merguez - which is lamb sausage with hummus that has pine nuts and paprika.

This is actually a very delicious one, I definitely want to get this again.  Very good. 

This is Persian Omelette - it has sujuk which is dried, fermented sausage mainly ground beef and lamb. The egg is soft scrambled, very soft.  It has tomato mixed in there and spices. 

I like the combo, but separately, I would definitely only want the sausage.  It's very yummy on its own. 

Olovieh Toast - there's Persian chicken with potato salad, sliced heirloom tomato, with brioche toast. 

This is a great dish too, really enjoyed this one and would get it again for brunch. 

We indulged for dessert. 

We got the Burnt Honey and Pistachio cake - love the pistachio praline, like the cake, liked the filo crisp, but the lemon sherbet seemed out of place.  It sounded good, but it doesn't mesh well on the taste part.  So yes to the cake, goes great with coffee.  Maybe not the sherbet. 

When we came to brunch it wasn't busy but they do have a good flow of people coming in.  So make a reservation is a great idea.

Rumi

1801 Post Oak Blvd

Ste 120

Houston, TX 77056

713-715-7020

https://www.rumiskitchen.com/houston-home

 

Postino

Met up with my friend for Happy Hour

He suggested Postino in the Montrose area, I actually don't ever recall knowing they opened a place in the area.  

Luckily parking was easy. 

This was actually a bartender's choice, so I can't even tell you what it is, what's in it, but I can tell you, it's delicious.  I often time when I go to somewhere new (to me), I ask the server/bartender what they like and make me that.  And usually it hasn't stirred me wrong. 

So we shared a bruschetta board.  It has (L to R): Sweet and Spicy Pepper Jam and Goat Cheese - to my surprise, it wasn't spicy and the combo is super good.  Then Mexicon Street Corn.- it has corn and the queso fresco on top.  Then it's the Apple, Brie and Fig spread - that one is also very good.  Then we got the warm artichoke spread - that one is pretty filling too.  I don't mind doing that one again. 

Of course, we needed some carbs.  So we ordered the sweet potato fries, it has a sauce and I believe that's the Calabrian chili tahini mix.  It's really good and I kept dipping into it.  Definitely recommend. 

The food is great, the space is low chill.  Afterwards, I was asking my friend, which building is that.  I was so confuse because it was across from SoBe and JR's, but I can't figure what building that looked like this.  And he confirmed they tore down the Old Mining Co. and rebuilt the place to look like this and it's very fitting for Houston, and the neighborhood.  They even have outside seating for the bar and patio on the side of the building.  Ahh the good old days of partying in the area. 

They have a parking lot attached to the premises, the space next door is not in business, you can use that too. But across you can get street parking too, just have to watch the signs. 

Postino - Montrose

805 Pacific St

Houston, Tx 77006

713-388-6767

https://www.postino.com/locations/postino-montrose

 

Kitchen Rumors

When I was looking up the address, I was wondering why it looked so familiar.  

Trek down the memory land realized it was Xin Chao with Christine Ha and before that it was Beaver's with the yummy Bacon Jam. 

First sit down, we ordered some drinks and all of them are super colorful. 

I got the Love Marriage which has cucumber, lemon, salted pistachio, lemon honey, and rosewater.  Usually when they have rose water, I get a little apprehensive because it's very fragrant and a little goes a long way, but this drink worked.  It was light and refreshing, and the side of the cup was covered with crushed pistachio.  It's a nice touch. 

This is Infladita - it's basically puri puri - little puffs and you put the lamb keema ghugi and spiced avocado with apple mix, you add tamarind sauce, and mint chutney sauce and add a dash of the passion fruit water.  It's a challenge to get all that into a small little puff, but when you do, you get to take it all in one bite, it's super delicious.  And our server is so nice, saw we had extra dips that offered to get us extra puffs. 

Lobster Dumpling - it's like a siu mai style dumpling, it has lobster, malabar sauce and caviar on top.  Pretty delicious. 

Blue Cheese Chicken Kebab - it's not super blue cheesy, but it is yummy.  It's Cheese fondue style, and chicken in garlic and butter, and on top they have that mint chutney sauce, pretty dang good.  Then again, I don't usually say no to cheese. 

This is Chili Cheese Kulcha - which is cheese already covered the bread and it's nice and hot.  

This is another side: Crispy Cauliflower with Tajin - it's very good, I can eat this bowl all by itself. 

Paneer - again, you give me cheese, I'm not going to say no. It's pan fried paneer in tomato sauce, and the sauce is so good, we have thought about ordering more bread to dip the sauce. 

This is the Bison Short Rib.  It's so soft, fall straight off the bone. The sauce again is so good that you want to lap it all up. 

Now for apres - coffee to start. 

Shahi Tukda Panna Cotta - definitely not the panna cotta that I'm used to.  This is a soft solid, not creamy.  Inside is milk soaked bread, and it has pistachio both inside and on top, with rose.  The texture definitely threw me off there, but it's not a bad dessert. 

I'm all game on this one. It's the Chocolate Cardamom Mousse - the outside is a little shell and you cut it is all mousse.  Super delicious and goes great with coffee.  It's a good one to get. .

If you plan on coming here, do try to get an earlier seating because the parking here is super limited.  And the weather is nicer now that you can sit in or out, and can't go wrong with either choice.  But a reservation is strongly advised.  We went on a Saturday night and the dining room fills up fast and they have to turn away a few walk-ins. 

Kitchen Rumors

2310 Decatur 

Houston, TX 77007

713-380-2452

https://www.kitchenrumors.com/

 

Bambu

Went to dessert in Chinatown, and trust me, there's no shortage there. 

I've seen Bambu on IG before, just never've been. 

So happy to just get the Che Ba Mau - the 3 color Vietnamese drink.  From what I understand, Che is any drink with coconut as ingredients.  Here, they're called Awesome Trio.  It has Coconut (the white part), Pandan Jelly (the green stuff), Adzuki Bean (the red stuff), and Mung Bean (the yellow stuff).  

What I like to do, is to mix the crush ice in and stir everything up.  I stir until all of the colors are mixed up and no concentration of color clumps together.  Then drink/eat from that.  Great sunny day kinda dessert. 

My friend got the Snow Ice - so you pick a base (here we have matcha) it's shaved ice at one point, but I think for their convenient, they had pre-made it into a cup, and when ordered, it's easy to serve and plot it on a plate.  Then, you pick toppings, they have strawberry popper boba, and adzuki beans on the side.  Then you pick a syrup, in this case, condensed milk drizzled on top.  

Honestly, I like the combo of matcha with adzuki bean and condensed milk already.  The place is quite busy with to go orders, and I see that their website can accommodate that.  But just sitting to hang and enjoy is a comfortable space too. 

Bambu

10613 Bellaire Blvd

Ste 150 (on the back corner by Kim Son)

Houston, TX 77072

832-328-3900

https://www.drinkbambu.com/location-pages/bambu-houston-bellaire

 

Golden Dim Sum

Went back to Golden to have dim sum the other day. 

As usual, we got in right before the wave of people strolled in.  That would be around 11:30a.

Photo credit: Yelp

We got the lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice with chicken and dried scallops.  It's pretty delicious.  I like ordering this dish simply because it's not easy to make sticky rice at home.  So, when I go out and it's on the menu, I take advantage of the chance. 

Char Siu Bao - steamed pork bun.  The bun is fluffy, the char siu is legit.  No complaints there. 

This is pan fried rice roll (Cheung fun) in XO sauce.  One of my favorite dishes here.  I will say, the other places have done similar, but this just hits right for some reason.  So we'll go with that. 

Turnip Cake - but this was kinda easily fall apart.  I do like the flavor, but I also like to be able to grab a hold of it. 

Siu Mai - pork dumpling, their's mix in shrimp in there as well. 

Deep Fried Taro Puff - the Chinese name is more apt, it mentioned something to do with a nest and the way, this came out, does look very nest-like.  It has ube in the middle, nice and crispy. 

This is Salt & Pepper Squid - it's more puffy and fried than squid.  The batter is tasty, but there was more of that, than the squid. 

Congee - we got the Preserved Duck Egg and pork.  The meat was good, did not hate on the scallion.  The egg was more added for the saltiness of the congee.  Came out very nice.  

Growing up, congee is usually associated as food for the sick.  Whoever is sick, young or old, the first thing the family members will say is to have some congee.  I'm not much for soupy rice, so that's what I associated congee with: food to eat when you're sick.  Much like the Westerners think of Chicken Soup.  Same idea.  But it's not until I was older, got the independence to go eat on my own, that I order this on my own.  It has texture, it has flavor, and it's not as sticky soupy as much as hearty.  Not sure what changed, maybe I never realized it was tasty, or as I grow, my taste buds got more mature, but that's now my go-to.  Yes, even when I'm sick.  

p.s. I'm not sick the day I went to dim sum, just nostalgia. 

Golden Dim Sum

10600 Bellaire Blvd

Ste 105

Houston, TX 77072

281-495-1688

https://www.goldendimsumtogo.com/

 

Dutch Bros Coffee

Drove by another Dutch Bros, and decided to try drive thru instead.

This one has the zipper type drive thru lines (2 merge into 1), so picking the shorter line seems to be advantageous. 

Then a staff came out and took my order, and then I can pull up to the window after I paid.  

I got the Cookie Butter Iced Latte. And upon first sip, it does taste like the famous cookie butter. 

It has espresso, cookie butter flavor, milk, and Soft Top.  Soft Top is their signature sweet and fluffy cream  on top.  So if you get a regular latte, you get foam from the milk.  Cold drinks you don't because foam came from steamed milk.  Here the Soft Top is like a half texture of whipped cream, but drinkable and thicker than a cold foam.   Pretty delicious.

If you're a fan, download their app and you can order online, so when you drive thru, they just match your order so their staff can start preparing and you'll be on your way with a beverage. 

Dutch Bros

at the Rice Village

2301 University Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

https://www.dutchbros.com/locations/tx/houston/2301-university-blvd