Friend Bakery Chocolate Cookies

Here's another International snack from Japan.

It's chocolate dipped on one side cookies.  

Chocolate is milk chocolate.  The cookie was so-so, not too flavorful, kinda serve as a vehicle for delivering the chocolate.  I'll take it, but probably won't get it again. :-/

 

Tea Fix

Was on Instagram, and I usually get suckered into trying something...

This is one of those.  Luckily, it has an interesting result.

Came over to Wilcrest for Tea Fix.  Their signature drink is the Egg Coffee.  Yes, you've read that right.  The one on the left is the Iced Egg Coffee.  It has house coffee, bit of milk and omega egg foam.  And lucky that the barista recognized that this is my first time trying it, so recommended that drink it from the top down otherwise, you sucked up all the coffee and left the foam.  OR!  You're welcome to shake it all up then consume.  Of course, I'm doing it for the gram, so let's do the pic first.

The other drink I also quite enjoyed.  That is the Grapefruit Lime Tea.  It's actually well balanced and not too over powered by all the citrus.  I can imagine coming back in the summer and getting this tea alone.  They also have a wide variety of teas and coffees, you can try them all.  

This is a true mom and pop shop.  As a matter of fact, I happen to saw their office was converted to a nap room for their kiddos.  Then grandma and grandpa came to help baby sit.  I can totally see myself hang at this shopping center that has lunch, dessert and now tea.  

Tea Fix

6938 Wilcrest Dr

#E-1

Houston, TX 77072

281-721-2692

 

Dim Sum King

Since we've been staying at home, we haven't had dim sum very frequently.  So we decided to order some.

This is their Egg Tart - the crust is super flaky which is one of the 2 popular ways of making the tart crust. I usually judge how sweet in the custard mix with how the crust is made.  This one so far is decent out of the gate.

Top: Xiao Lung Bao, Shu Mai (shrimp dumpling), and Har Gow (pork dumpling).  So far pretty norm.

Turnip Cake - this is veggie style not meat in the middle.  Flavor is ok.

They were out of one of the dishes I ordered, and they comp this meat ball dish in return.  It was weird because it congealed together.  And it tasted strange... hmm.

Plain Cheung Fun - rice noodle.  You MUST dip it with soy sauce.  Not just any kind of soy sauce, it's a specific type, so take whatever sauce they give you.

Char Siu Bao - Steam Pork bun - it's lots of bread not enough filling.

This is sticky rice.  I swear they usually come with chicken and in banana leaf, but this came with neither and I had to awkwardly put some protein with the sticky rice.  

Overall, the to-go process is not hard.  You can call in or go place the order.  Once you placed the order, go run errands or check out other small businesses and come back to pick up.  For me, the regular dishes they done well.  For some other ones, I'm not sure what happened there.  They used to be so much more on top of it.  Of course, we always said, eating at home and eating at the restaurant is very different.  So I'm not quite sure which it is.  I can just say this experience is not what I remembered them to be. 

Dim Sum King

9160 Bellaire Blvd

#B

Houston, TX 77036

713-270-6788

https://www.dimsumkingtx.com

 

Fancy Kit Kat

Back to my Japanese snack kicks

This is Kit Kat Luxe for me.

I've always known about Kit Kat Chocolatory in Japan.  Which is basically an upscale Kit Kat product shop.  Think Ethel's for Hershey's chocolate bar.  But at the Chocolatory, you can make your own Kit Kat even and of course, rare Kit Kats like these.

These are truly luxe.  There are 2 types, the Sublime's which there are 5 kinds and 2 kinds of fruit ones.  The Sublimes are basically used premium chocolate that is aged in Whisky Barrels dipped.  The fruit ones are used fruit juice.

Apparently in Japan, one stick like this cost $2.88 - $3 per stick.  

It is longer than a regular Kit Kat.  And honestly you have done is plenty.

So is it worth it?  I think if you want to experience some high quality chocolate on a Kit Kat wafer, this is a good one to try.  I will say, my favorite are the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate.  The flavored ones I can do with or without.  I will say the fruit ones aren't my favorite out of the box.  I've had Kit Kat with fruit before, but maybe because it's too concentrated, not my jam.  Too bad I cannot customize the box, but if I were in Japan I would definitely make my own AND pick my own for a box.  Give that a shot. 

 

Croissant Broiche

Needed an afternoon pick-me-up

Drove myself down to the Village to and grab some coffee.

I got a tiramisu with a latte.  This is a nice reprieve after a long day of work.  I will say this is nice a rich, and much needed sugar.  Trust me, I was glaring at their counter for a long time.  Very tempted to get one  of everything from there.  They all looked great.  I must come back and try their danish, they looked good too.

I love that they have designated parking for the cafe.  There are seating outside and they still open the door for air flow.  The staff are young, presumably from the university.  But they can still make my latte and that's all that I care about.  

Croissant Broiche

2435 Rice Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

713-526-9188

https://croissantbriochehouston.mybistro.online

 

Japanese Senbei

More International Snack from Japan.

This is Buson Haiku senbei.   Senbei's are Japanese Rice Cracker.  The ones they see a lot in Asian Grocery stores are rice crackers wrapped with seaweed.  But there are more varieties out there.

This one, like its name, has a haiku poem on it. 

What's inside: It has different shapes and colors.  There are burdock root, wasabi root, ginger, sakura (yes the flower), shrimp, shoyo (soy sauce), sweet potato, matcha, sesame, and sugared wrapped peanuts.  

This is a pretty neat pack.  Can't say that I liked the wasabi or the burdock root.  The rest are not bad.  What I like about these is that it's a small tray with variety.  It's definitely portion controlled so you don't over snack.  Pretty good deal.

 

Mutiny Wine Room

This will mark the 2nd time that I've been out to a restaurant.

This time, we're at Mutiny Wine Room, thank to a fellow mom's recommendation.

To start, we ordered the Coastline Board

It has a side of shrimps.

Salmon, bread, olive, sardine, and pickled veggies

Also some asparagus and smoked trout dip with caviar on top.  It's pretty decent.

I got the Cacio e Pepe. This dish is like risotto except with longer grain rice.  It is topped with an softly poached egg at 63 degrees.  Cacio e Pepe is really Cheese and Pepper.  The cheese is in the sauce, which they used pecorino cheese.  You see pepper on the dish there.  They had these crispy garlic flakes that reminded me of the fried onion from the casserole.  Overall, not too empowering, it's has definitely cheese flavor, just that I wish there's more and have some meat to it.

For dessert, I got the Horchata Flan with mini churro and dulce de leche.  I will say the little brown poo looking things are not poo, they're chocolate-toffee texture.  So if you dip your churro with the whipped cream and grab that chocolate together, it's pretty decent.  

The flan is pretty decent, I can't tell if it is truly horchata, but it is cinnamon-y enough for me.  

What as not shown, a glass of wine (I actually had one) and bread basket.  The bread basket was a hit, it came with several varieties and with different spread.  I would recommend getting it.

Overall, food is good.  Disappointed that the wine list is limited.  By limited, I mean they don't have what I want.  I was surprised that they don't have a more full bodied white.  They truly just serve wine and water in terms of drinks.  Their interior is super cute, but if you're like me, who's uncomfortable dining indoors, they have a lot of tables outdoors in their patio, worth doing.  They have a mini parking lot, they also have a valet.  If not, you can park down the street and be sure to watch the signs.  

Mutiny Wine Room

1124 Usener St

Houston, TX 77009

https://www.mutinywineroom.com