Phat Eatery - Woodlands

This is my first time to Phat Eatery in the Woodlands.

This location is great, though hidden, there's ample parking space.

I got the Malaysian Milk Tea, which has a kick of caffeine in the drink.

So happy to see the food arrived.

First of, we got Roti and you dip with the curry.  Don't be fooled, that roti looked like it's balled up, but when you unfold it it is huge and fluffy. 

Then the 'must get' of Hainanese Chicken.  Not only do the debone the chicken, the soy sauce was nice and soaked.  But the yummy part are the sauces that comes with.  There's more soy sauce, hot sauce and my favorite ginger.  And of course it came with the rice, which is cooked in chicken broth. 

This is the Char Kway Teow - there's enough wok taste to the dish.  This is flat rice noodles, shrimp, calamari, Chinese sausage, smokey soy sauce, egg, bean sprouts and chive.

It is so good, that I ate it next day and it was still great!

I love their interior decor, they have the street food signs, very cool, but has their food offerings on there.  Super Kitch.

So you don't have to make a reservation on a weekday, but on the weekend, I think you should.  They even have happy hour offering from 5-7p.  But even then there are plenty of seatings inside, but there's an extra bunch of seatings on the outer part of the shop too.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Phat Eatery

2290 Buckthrone Pl

The Woodlands, TX 77380

832-562-3775

https://www.phateatery.com/thewoodlandsmenu

 

Del Frisco's Grille

Went to business lunch at Del Frisco. 

Got me an Arnold Palmer to start.

Got a Steakhouse Salad - it has filet mignon, 2 deviled eggs, bites of avocado, tomato, bacon, blue cheese chunks over a bed of lettuce and horseradish dressing.  

The steak was medium and the horseradish was match to perfection.  Add the bacon bites and blue cheese, it's a wonderful bite.  Literally cleaned the plate on that salad. 

The outside is so pretty, definitely worth hanging out by the lake. 

I will say that as much as a fancy place this is, the service was not great.  We sat down for more than 5 minutes before water came to the table.  And by the way, our party has 6 people but table for 4 got served first and fast.  It was really odd.  

Then, our server offed to boxed up our food, yet the person helping the server totally cleared the plates and our friend missed out on her part of the steak.  That was awkward and no attention was paid.  I will say for service at an established brand like this, it was surprising.

Del Fisco's Grille

1900 Hughes Landing Blvd

#500

The Woodlands, TX 77380

281-465-0300

https://www.delfriscosgrille.com/location/del-friscos-grille-the-woodlands-tx/

 

Ninfa's

Came back to Ninfa's for Happy Hour. 

They now have zero proof agave tequila for any mocktails. And I can have a decent margarita that's not filled with (too much) sugar. 

Catering is so fun, you get so much on display.  You got your guac, pico, salsa, sour cream.

Two kinds of flautas - beef and chicken.  YUM!

Empanadas which has Spinach & Cheese, Chicken, or Beef. It comes with an avocado verde salsa.  It's lighter texture than the guacamole. 

Then rows and rows of quesadillas - there's mushroom and cheese, chicken, and beef.  

Not pictured: grilled shrimp and bacon wrapped shrimps.  Both are delicious.  Of course a giant vat of queso for all your yummy cheesiness needs.  No one is complaining about that. 

Since it was a private party, the service is super good, our staff totally gets the mission and took care of 20+ of us, and we all had a great time!

Parking is super convenient, the garage 2nd floor's escalator take. you straight to the front door of Ninfa's.  Plenty of parking even after work.  Definitely a fun place for happy hour. 

Ninfa's Uptown

1700 Post Oak Blvd

Houston, Tx 77056

https://ninfas.com/

 

Nori Nori Omakase

Been hearing an All You Can Eat Omakase and highly curious.

The shop is tucked in a corner shopping center. 

I got the Hibiscus Tea - it has hibiscus, passionfruit, citrus and tonic, which is not too sweet but has enough flavor. 

This is Amaebi Tai Chanh - which has spring mix, pineapple anchovy, lemon, shallot, shrimp chips to go with the flavors. 

This is oysters from PEI, Namjim (Thai spicy sauce) & Ikura (caviar) on one and ponzu & toro in the other.  Small, clean and fresh.

Ankimo - spicy ponzu sauce, masago (smelt) and negi (scallion)

Scallop Crudo - it has cucumber, leeks, puffed rice, and golden berry vinaigrette.  Light texture, not super empowering. 

This is Uni Chirashi - small bed of rice at the bottom, Hokaiddo uni, covered up by Ikura's on top. 

Toro (sushi - fatty tuna)

Fatty torów ich fried shallot to give it the crunch. 

Spicy Hokkaido scallop handroll

Salmon nigiri

This is Japanese barracuda - it wasn't marinated very well, but it was cooked well. 

Scallop nigiri with foie gras on top, which brought out the flavors over all. 

Chawamushi (egg custard) with foie gras, caviar, and chive

Yellowtail with apple slices in the roll

Spicy Tuna with pickled diakon handrail.

Uni from Hokkaido - pretty smooth going down.

Chu Toro- it melts in your mouth good.

Saba- which is mackerel with lemon on top. 

Madai with Japanese seaweed - the seaweed brought ou the saltiness of it all. 

Kanpachi (amberjack) with chive nigiri - pretty yummy.

It's funny because the menu listed 15 items, but since it's all you can eat up to 90 mins.  It's either you tap out or if you stay the full 90, they keep making stuff.  Which is very different than the other omakase, which typically save that time for when you want to order what you enjoyed most during the course.  But no complaints here, we really enjoyed the courses, the staff were super friendly.  Both our servers and the chefs that brought our food out each course. 

Reservation is highly recommended, simply because they do have seatings for 14 people each seating.  Staff is friendly.  The parking is small especially during dinner time.  Just have to keep an eye peeled.  

Nori Nori 

9938 Bellaire Blvd

Ste G

Houston, TX 77036

281-888-5302

https://www.norinorihtx.com/

 

Maison Chinoise

We saw on IG about Maison Chinoise 

It's an upscale Chinese place. 

The decor with the window seats are fancy.

Even the ceiling is fancy.

I got the Pom-Lycee Fizz - it's not too sweet.  It has Pomegranate juice, lychee, ginger, lemon, and sparkling water.  It's pretty good, has a little bit of a kick.  

The Apps & Dim Sum has arrived. 

Crispy Rock Shrimp - It's fried shrimp with a little spice, and you can pair that with basil aioli sauce or jalapeño aioli dipping sauce.  (pssst - the basil aioli is better)

Then we got the Waygu Pot Sticker, this was legit delicious . We were really worry because it's fancy that the last might not deliver, but this was surprisingly good. 

This is the lobster dumpling with caviar on top.  It was fine, wasn't as good as the other dishes. 

Xiao Long Bao - the soup is legit.  The skin is not super thick, but the meat to soup ratio is good, and it was good.  Definitely would come back for it. 

This is the Iberico Pork Char Siu - this is really a top notch char sir.  The way they marinate it is good, the pork is good. and sauce it came out was good too.  Now I just needed some rice to go with that. 

For entree, we got half a duck.  Cute presentation. 

You can pair it with either bao or pancake, and you dip either Hoisin Sauce or Mustard, with scallion, carrot, and cucumber into the wrap. 

Just for some greens, we got the XO Stir Fried Green Beans.  Even the beans is delicious.  If I had that growing up, I'd eat more veggies. 

It's birthday for one of the girls, they gave us mochi.  It has the vanilla one and a chocolate one.  Those you can tell they are not made in-house. 

Since we already got one dessert, we only got another one, this is Banana Egg Roll pair with coconut ice cream.  It's actually thin crepe wrap and the fried with cinnamon sugar, inside has banana, cream cheese and little bit of other fruits. 

The service is good for an upscale place like this.  They came back to check on us often but not so much that's disruptive.  The booth sits low, if you don't like that be sure to tell the host staff.  Obviously reservation is needed.  We've seen folks walked in and walked right back out because it was peak dining hours. 

In terms of parking, there are parking at the surface, parking lot down by Barnes & Nobles, or if you valet, they are part of Brasserie 19 & Hudson House where you pay $10 + convenience fee, and tip at your discretion. 

Maison Chinoise

1958 West Gray

#102

Houston, TX 77019

713-565-4111

https://www.maisonchinoiserestaurants.com/htx-location