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

 

Urbe

Lucky to be back to Urbe for Happy Hour. 

Love the funky designs that honor Mexican heritage, but also its diversity amongst the country. 

Ahh, they already set up their ofrenda for Dias de los Muertos. 

Got the mocktail, which has cucumber, lime, mint, passionfruit, sparkling water and Tajin. Not sweet at all, it's pretty refreshing. 

Elote Asado - Mexican street corn with aioli, cotija cheese, and Tajin pepper.

Little corn tortillas with cheese, squash, corn.  Very yummy. 

Little tostada has mesa chip at the bottom, guacamole, radish, cheese it's pretty delicious. 

Mini taquitos, chicken taco with salsa on top, crema queso Fresca on top.  One of my favorite. 

I like going to Happy Hour here, you can try so much at a happy hour pricing.  Of course, coming here for a full meal is also good.  They've renovated since I've been here a couple years ago, and everything is brighter, there's more seating both high top or table.  It's very inviting.  And now that the weather is so nice, definitely try to enjoy the weather at their patio. 

Didn't have any issue with parking.  You can see if businesses nearby are closed and park there.  Or they do have valet.  Otherwise, plenty of parking on the side of the building in the open lots. 

Urbe

1101 Uptown Blvd

Ste 12

Houston, TX 77056

713-726-8273

https://www.urbehouston.com/

 

Ngoc-Lan Bakery

Saw on IG these cute little buns, and decided to go check them out. 

The bakery is literally in a corner of the L shaped shopping center, so go to the very corner, you'll see them.  They are on the outside of the center. 

The case have all these colorful buns. 

They have some sweet and some savory.

I picked 3, and they were saying they got a promotion of buy 3 get 3 free, I just can't eat so many, so 3 it is. 

This one is red bean bun - steamed. 

You cut it apart, you can see the filling. 

This cutie is adorable.

Inside filling is Black Sesame. 

Then we have little piggy.

Inside is ube filling. 

As you can see, they have all sorts. 

So basically, the buns are all in the fridge.  So by the time you get home, you're supposed to wet a paper towel, wrap the bun and microwave for 30 seconds.  The trick works, it's nice and moist, not dried out at all.  My only complaint is the flavor for the filling, it's too light.  It's like a hint of the flavor, not strong enough for my liking.  Unlike the ones you get during dim sum. 

Ngoc-Lan Bakery

on the outside of Hong Kong City Mall

11205 Bellaire Blvd

Ste C14A

Houston, TX 77072

832-646-3555

https://www.instagram.com/banhbaongoclan/

 

Creamery Teahouse

Went to grabbed a drink at Hong Kong City Mall. 

Saw this place...

and I was sold on having Sugarcane Juice. 

The Regular size is 16oz, so it last me a while.  It's nice, all natural, not too sweet, I also didn't add anything into my drink, so it's nice and pure.  Would you try it? 

The location is inside Hong Kong City Mall, at the beginning of the food court section of the mall.  And they have some seatings right in front, in case you are buy some snacks, you can grab a seat.  There are elderly guys that hang out at the food court playing Chinese Chess (Xianqi), so that's kinda neat.  

Creamery Teahouse

11201 Bellaire Blvd

Ste A13

Houston, TX 77072

https://www.instagram.com/creameryhouston/