Dolce Delight

For an afternoon break, Mom and I went to Dolce Delight.  It has been a while for me, so it was nice to go back and chill out.

This is my 'artistic' shot.  LOL.

This is the Banana Chocolate Mousse cake.  It's very cool, you cut into it, the outer shell of chocolate is not hard, and it's not super sweet at all.  But it's just right in the balance of cake to chocolate and banana ratio.  So, it's not super sugary as you may find at the grocery bakery.  It has a layer of cake, some light chocolate mousse, and roasted banana, covered with a layer of chocolate on top.

We also had the Lavender Lemonade (not pictured), it's actually very refreshing for a hot summer day.  Stop by and grab one.  Of course, drool over their beautiful cakes and macarons too, but definitely as good in taste as they look.

Dolce Delight

3201 Louisiana

Ste 100

Houston, TX 77006

713-807-7575

http://www.mydolcedelights.com/index.php

Osaka

Went to Osaka for a quick lunch...

More and more I embrace the Chirashi lunch box.  You get just as fresh fish with rice, it cost less than if you were to order each of those sushi individually, and you get a variety of sashimi.  If you are like me, who have a set of go-to sushi, you don't get a chance to try the other fishes that might be just as good.  For instance, I am super partial to the 'standards', such as Salmon, Tuna, Unagi.  Here I get those plus Shrimp, Tamago (egg), Yellowtail, Masago, Crab and few others.  

Osaka Sushi Bar

4001 J Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77025

713-838-9812

House of Bowls

I had a friend came into town from San Diego, and from what I understand all the authentic Chinese went to the hub such as LA & SF, so while San Diego's Mexican food is authentic, not so much for the Chinese food.  Figured, Houston can't do worse right?

For a little bit of everything, I like to go to House of Bowls.  

You get Hong Kong style Lemon Tea

Dried fish and diced chicken fried rice.  The dried fish provided the saltiness needed for the dish, it's so tiny you don't even notice it's there.  

This is curried fish balls, no not the body part but the shape.  It's a normal street fare in Hong Kong, where I remembered 50 cents, you get a small skewer of 3 or 4 of these things.  And yes, you eat it on the street.  But in order for a restaurant to make it worthwhile, it became an appetizer type dish and has a little more.  They used hot sauce as the curry, as opposed to curry sauce.  Still achieve the same result, and these things are really for nostalgia.

On weekday it's not as busy as weekends, and as Chinatown slows down, dinner time there do ramp up.  Stop by and check it out.

House of Bowls

6650 Corporate Dr

Houston, TX 77036

713-776-2288

Jenni's Noodle House

Went to meet up with some friends for lunch in the Galleria area.  The difficult part is that you have to drive wherever you want to go unless you want to eat inside the mall.  So, we went to Jenni's. 

This, in a normal Vietnamese restaurant, would be Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio, which is grilled pork with eggroll over vermicelli with fish sauce.  Which at Jenni's, it is Egg Roll Vermicelli Salad with either pork or shrimp.  Either way works, I just gave you a translation should you want to order something similar at another place for comparison.

I love going to Jenni's in Galleria, the staff are always upbeat and friendly.  Even if you're in a hurry, they know and they want to get you in and out fast, but service is still with a smile, which makes you slow down and feel grateful.

Jenni's Noodle House

in Galleria

2027 Post Oak Blvd

Houston, TX 77056

713-NOODLES

http://noodlesrule.com/

Bite Macaron - Mother's Day Tea Recap

This is another Mother's Day delayed post... I had gone to Bite Macaron's  for Mother's Day tea.

Their menu was basically you get 2 course for $15 or 3 for $20.  Since we were splitting so we won't get sugar overload, 3 was fine.

This is the set up... tea plus macarons...

A closer look: we have Pistachio & Passionfruit paired with their Detox Tea.  At first, that was surprising, but the flavor does balance each other out.  So you're not overwhelmed by the citrus taste in the passionfruit.

Here's the 2nd course: the tea was St. Petersburg Tea.  Since I'm not a tea expert, I can't tell you what I taste.  I just can tell you that it's thicker in texture to match the macarons, which accomplish yet another balance.

Here's my attempt to be artistic on the shot... On this plate, there are Salted Caramel on top, and Chocolate.  Which, it makes sense to have a 'heavier' texture tea to mellow out the caramel and chocolate.  I think the would've been perfect for a cold winter day to warm you up with the macs.

Last but not least, we have Raspberry mac with Rose mac paired with Rose Green tea.  It was served cold, and personally, I like the bitterness of green tea but since this is infused with rose, it's not so strong.  The theme just nice, but I liked the tea so much I drank it all.  I'm also a fan of the Rose mac which is not too over-empowering on the rose flavor, so it's a nice mix.

It's nice of Bite to have special events for Mother's Day and such.  I hope they do more of these pairings.  Look out too!  I know they are rolling out bacon macarons!!!!

Bite Macarons

5172 B Buffalo Speedway

Houston, TX 77005

714-664-2483

http://www.bitemacarons.com/

Kata Robata

I'm a bit behind with all the posts, this one is from Mother's Day.

Went to grab a quick lunch at Kata.  

Aji - Horse Mackerel & Chopped Scollop

Spicy Salmon Roll

Salmon & Soft Shell Crab Roll, it's pretty good.  Then again, I never had any roll or sushi from here that I didn't like.

As a Mother's Day special, they gave all mothers at each table a creme brûlée.  Since I had my baby with me, that was an obvious one for our server.  Which is my favorite thing there, the servers.  They are always attentive, knowledgable and friendly.  Now, then again, we do go when it's off peak hours, which is a good time as any to get good food and good service.  Not to mention easy parking in a very busy parking lot.

Kata Robata

3600 Kirby 

Suite H

Houston, TX 77098

713-526-8858

http://katarobata.com/ 

Ramen in Common - BYOBowl event

This is the most recent Ramen in Common gathering.  

We were at Soma, and Chef Gabe were describing the tonkatsu ramen we're about to enjoy that evening.  

Carl Rosa (founder) was telling us that RIC has now over 800 members, and as the Ramen craze started to sip into Houston, there's more opportunity to be had and more ramen places for us to try and possibly more events too.  Yay!

Even though this is a Bring Your Own Bowl event, Soma gave us some yummy starter.  This is Ceviche with a twist.  This is more Filipino style ceviche with snapper, citrus & tamarind and coconut milk you see on the dots.  You do feel like you're enjoying a dish on the beach (without the sand).  Though, not sure how the tomato fits here, or in a normal ceviche either.  That was a bit of a head scratcher.

This is a Koteri Ramen - which has fatty braised pork fat, with seaweed, scallion, egg and of course the noodles.  The noodles is not house made, it's the Sun Noodle.  It's your basic egg noodle.  The soup is super fragrant, in a good way, very fresh, very fitting for summer.  My only complaint is that the pork and the soup is not harmonious.

This is the Hakata Kuro Ramen - which is a darker soup base made with black garlic.  This smell much more smokey than the first one.  And it's much heartier too.  In compare to the amount of fat in the soup, this one has more than the previous one, though he told us that would have more.  The pork is much more harmonious with the soup, and it's definitely brings out the taste of it.  Very delicious.  I'm not a big fan of the corn, but I know it's a big thing in Japan.  Keep in mind, neither of these are traditional Japanese Ramen, more a fusion creation.

Luckily, they didn't ask us to bring bowls for dessert, because I was running out of bowls.  In keeping with the noodle theme.  Chef made the noodle nest, hosting a scoop of red miso ice cream, with pineapple chutney and coconut shaving on top.  Not to be a party pooper, but this is the least of all the dishes I like.  I'm not a fan of mixing savory into dessert.  In my mine, a dessert should be sweet to close out the evening and cleanse the pallet, that's just me.  The pineapple chutney was good, but the rest I did not enjoy, nor did I finish.  Good concept, not sure if it's fitting. 

Don't know how long this ramen wave is going to go.  In other cities, Ramen chains are willing to invest in them knowing there's a following.  Somehow Houston always gets the shaft.  Maybe they think no one would appreciate or that we don't know how to appreciate.  Let me tell you, good food translate to all cuisine and all people alike.  If it's good, people will go there.  This only give way to smaller companies and independent chefs a way to break into the market.  I, for one, is looking forward to couple more ramen places.  Can't wait for another Ramen In Common event!

Ramen in Common

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