Aburi Sushi

We went back to Aburi for Social Hour/Dinner

Social Hour is from 5-7p from Monday - Friday.  They do have it from 3-6p on Saturdays too.

I had a mocktail mule, which has lime, ginger beer and something spicy because it has a pepper in there. 

For Social Hours, we could not resist truffle fries... it comes with aioli sauce.

Their House Seaweed Salad - it has seaweed, beets (red and gold ones), cucumber and sesame.  Definitely very colorful.  

Hamachi Crudo, turns out Social Hour only comes with 3 slices, so order accordingly.  It has Hamachi (amberjack), Thai chili, onion, cilantro, and coconut yuzu sauce.  Pretty good flavor. 

Ahi Tower, which is really tuna tataki and they give you slices of toasted bread to go with it.  Pretty good, but Social Hour size again is smaller than we thought. 

This is Scallop and Foie Gras - it's pretty good, not super rich.  Thought I'd like more flavor to the foie gras.

I believe this is the Madai - forgot to write it down.

I got the spicy salmon roll, Uni from Hokkaido, Tuna, and seared salmon.

For dessert, we splatted the Oreo Chocolate Mousse dish.  For a chocolate lover, this one kinda under deliver. I don't need it to be super sweet, but would love to have more layers on the flavors for sure. 

This is Mango Panna Cotta.  It has coconut panna cotta with chunks of mango and wakamomo (green peach).  Wakamomo are baby unriped peach from Japan, and it looks like an olive, but the flavor is a cross between plum, muscat grape and a hint of peach.  I'm not typically a panna cotta fan,  but this is a hit for the table.  The texture is right, the flavor hit all the right notes. We were devouring this one.

So this is a good restaurant, and if you want to walk-in, it's do-able.  But if your party have 5 or more, a reservation is highly recommended.  When we were here for a week night, the entire place is fully seated.  Sadly, we only see 2 servers for the entire dining area.  While our server is friendly and super on top of our dishes and what's left coming out, applauds to that server.  It was also hard to flag him down.  So hopefully that gets better over time.  

Aburi Sushi

3800 Southwest Fwy

Ste 104

Houston, TX 77027

346-701-7953

https://www.aburihtx.com/

 

KOL KBBQ

A brand spankin' new Korean BBQ in Meyerland area.

I've been driving by it, and have been excited about it.  Needless to say, when I see that they're opened, I dragged my mom to try it with me. 

When you first sat down, they of course bring out the banchan.  Their salad, it's so good, I can't stop eating it.  There's onion, fish cake, kimchi, potato salad, lettuce salad, and perilla leaves. 

We got the Special Mix Combo, which comes with a stew.  We got the Mixed tofu stew.  It comes in piping hot, lots of veggie, tofu and lots of meat bits.

Our combo comes with Beef tongue, 

Brisket, and Pork belly.

As an add, we added the lobster.  And that's the best lobster KBBQ we've ever had.  

The service was great, the server explain the process, the menu, and cooked for us.  They do have beer on tap, and most of the sodas are in canned, but that did not impact our experience.  We had a great time, the food was good, and the service was great, can't ask for more.

KOL BBQ

10275 S. Post Oak Blvd

Unit B

Houston, TX 77096

713-485-4890

https://kolkbbq.com/

 

Kimono

Went inside Swan Hotel on Disney Property to have dinner.

Technically Swan belongs to the Marriott group, but they are on the property, and can take advantage of the Magic Hour. And some rooms can see the fire works at Magic Kingdom.

To start, I got the seaweed salad. It came with some pickled cucumber, but what is hidden is crab meat.  It's underneath the greens.  Very light in flavor.

We also split some gyoza. 

Then here's our goodies.  Top clockwise: 2 Tamago (egg), Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail, Shrimp, and Unagi.

Fish is fresh, service is quick and the staff are all super nice.  This is one that I like coming back to. 

Kimono

inside Swan Hotel

1200 Epcot Road

Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

https://swandolphin.com/dining/kimonos/ 

 

Hollywood Studios - Galaxy's Edge & Brown Derby

Last day at WDW - I was at Tatooine 

You can definitely get some local fare there.  

If you want sit down service, or special bar service like Oga's Catina, making a reso in advance is the way to go. 

But really you can get fully emerge in Star Wars land if you really want the experience. 

I'm good with a little Coke for now. 

Like I said, if you want to have a sit down meal, a reso is a must. 

At my friend's request, we booked the Brown Derby.  Mimicking the original Brown Derby in Hollywood, it is the pinnacle of the glamorous Hollywood era.

I am pretty sure there's nothing blue and glowing for a drink in the Glamorous Hollywood era.  But this is a Maliblue Beach, it has lemonade and blue raspberry syrup, and they drop one of those bling bling ice cube in there. 

Bread and butter and a pinch of salt. YUM!

Since this is lunch, I went easy.  Had the Prosciutto Croquette, which has the proscuitto inside.  It has pickled onion, herb gel, and aioli sauce all in one bite, it's pretty dang good.  Wish there's more on that plate. 

This is the Cream of Chicken and Asparagus soup. It's  pretty hearty.  Imagine the cream of chicken Campbell soup but elevated plus asparagus. It's that!

To top it off, for dessert, I got the Creme Brulee with citrus and cherry spiced compote on top.  It does taste very nice combined together. The big stick there, it's a biscotti, which is softer than it looks here. 

After lunch, we strolled and came to the Trolley Car Cafe which is a fancy Starbucks.  So got a Strawberry Acai Refresher with lemonade.  The staff were all smiles, joking with guests and making the entire place very light and fun.

Alas, this is the end of WDW Parks.  One more meal in Orlando to go!

WDW Hollywood Studio

Brown Derby

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/hollywood-studios/hollywood-brown-derby/

 

Orlando - Giordano's

Another non-theme park food. 

Here's a brand I know: Giordano's hailed from Chicago, known for Deep Dish Chicago style pizza.

Get a starter, Cesar Salad with real cheese, Romaine lettuce, garlic croutons, parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, and asiago cheese.  

Because I can't get one-slice of deep dish pizza, I ended up with pasta because... I'm on vacay!

I got the Rigatoni Bolognese - the good o' meat sauce, it has some spice but just like the old fashioned Italian restaurant with the pasta and meat sauce. It's just nice and comfort food.

If you want a frozen pizza to be shipped back home, they can do that too.  Get some of that good o' deep dish right to your door.

Giordano's - Orlando

12151 S. Apopka Vineland Rd

Orlando, FL 32836

407-239-8900

https://giordanos.com/locations/lake-buena-vista-disney-area/

 

Orlando Hotel breakfast

Even if you don't stay on site for Disney World, you can still get decent deals.

You can stay at the Good Neighbor hotels right outside of their property.  There's actually a lot of hotels leading up to Disney Springs, where you can grab a bus from those hotels to the Disney properties.  Actually, some go to Universal too.

Anyway, after all the theme park food of carbs, fried carbs, and sugar carbs.  I needed some real food.  And I know this looked super boring, but sometimes simple is good. 

American Breakfast at the hotel with 2 eggs, I asked for sunny side up, but it came as over easy.  Bacon, and hash brown. Of course, I need some coffee to boost myself up before tackling the Parks!  They also have a breakfast buffet too, but sometimes, you just order what you need.  

And here's the beautiful castle!

Yes, sometimes, other than junk food, we need something that's not junk.  May you have a great breakfast this morning. 

 

Magic Kingdom - Desserts!

One thing I got happy seeing is the Confectionary. 

Look at all these yummy goodness. 

Not only candied applies and cupcakes which you can get at Disney Springs.  But the cookies is to die for.   There's Rice Krispies in Mickey and Minnie's shaped, pretty good too. 

Of course, you cannot forget the Mickey's bar when you're there. 

Honestly, this is my first time having the Mickey's bar.  I was warned that it can get messy but I got away unscathed.  It's chocolate shell and vanilla ice cream inside.  It's $6.50 for one, so if you're on the meal plan, plan accordingly. 

Main Street Confectionary

on Main Street USA in Magic Kingdom

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/shops/magic-kingdom/main-street-confectionery