Nam Giao

This is my first time coming to Nam Ciao.

Been reading alot about them, just haven't had a chance to come here. 

Bahn Beo Chen - steamed pancake, it has dried shrimp on top, pork crackling, scallion, and is served with fish sauce.  It's pretty neat, like a mini dish you have the flavors all in one bite.  

Also go the Bahn Quai Vac - which is shrimp and pork glass dumpling, which uses thinner skin for the dumplings than you're used to seeing.  It is stickier by texture but pretty good. 

Got the Com Thit Nuong - which is grilled pork with rice, it came with pickled vegetable and sliced tomato, it's very well balanced.  We had gotten the sugarcane juice, but to be honest, it's doesn't have any flavor.  A legit cane juice is naturally sweet and should've came out a tad more watery than green, so won't be getting that again. 

Overall the meal is not bad, the service is quick as most Asian eateries are.  Buy once they get busy they do get busy, so food might have to wait, but they're quick as soon as they can get to it.

Nam Giao

6938 Wilcrest Dr, Ste C

Houston, Tx 77072

281-568-4888

 

The Mexican

Got to go to the Mexican for work dinner. 

The place is pretty swanky.  If you got on a weekend, be sure to check out the dress code.  If you go on weekday, they're mostly business dinners or people come after work, all are very much business/business casual attire.

Got a Beso de Verano - which is a soda with blueberry and lemon agave. 

There are Tostadita - truly mini tostada, it has black beans, avocado cream, pickled onion, queso fresco, with barbacoa meat on top.  It's delicious. 

This is the Coriflor Asada - little bits of cauliflower and cheese, chili and seasoning.

Of course, I have to have some truffle fries. 

You can't tell by looking at this, but it's lobster enchiladas.  It has lobster, onion, garlic, bacon, 2 type of cheese, tequila and salsa on top. 

For a place like this, a reservation is expected.  Although, they did look like they have a decent bar, so that's possible.  Also valet parking is the easiest but there are street parking too.  Just read the signs. 

The Mexican

1401 Turtle Creek Blvd

Dallas, TX 75207

214-210-5700

https://www.themexican.com/

East Hampton

Working in Dallas again, and I'd like to grab a sandwich at East Hampton.

There's a trick to coming here.  You have to go early like 11:30-ish and start your order.  Or! If you were even smarter, you should order ahead online to skip waiting in person.

I got the Italian Club, it has Ham, Prosciutto, and Coppa cold cut.  It has thinly sliced mozzarella, with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. and red wine vinaigrette.  It has alot of flavor for a little sandwich, which is why I'm willing to stand around for at least 15 minutes to wait for the sandwich.  

So if you go in-person, have to watch the line because a large order (must be for the entire office) got in right before ours.  And by the time the others place their orders online, we were waiting for eternity.

East Hampton Sandwich Co.

200 Crescent Court

Ste 100

Dallas, TX 75201

214-698-5108

https://www.ehsandwich.com/ 

 

La La Land

Went back to La La Land.

Didn't know this, but if weather is good on a Saturday morning, the line for coffee is at least 20 mins and another 10+ minutes for them to catch up on the orders. 

Might as well get something while I wait.

Got a cookie, and yes I asked him to warm it up.   Having a warm cookie makes the wait more bearable. 

I grabbed a cooler that is to go with the Idea of You movie (on Prime).  

If you've read the book or seen the movie, you'd know the quote.

The content inside the cup: strawberry cooler with white tea.  They have bits of dried strawberries floating around, kinda cute.  And by the time you're done drinking, you can chomp on the bites, because they're not dried by then.

Despite how crowded that place is, aka line out the door and around the corner on a Saturday.  Parking is amazingly ok.  Now, granted, the parking is not just for the coffee place, it's for alot of other shops in the complex, but that works out. 

La La Land Coffee

at MKT

600 N. Shepherd 

Ste 140

Houston, TX 77007

https://lalalandkindcafe.com/

 

Mango Mango

Went back to Mango Mango for something to drink.

I got the Mango Coconut Smoothie - majority of it is mango based, there's mango bits at the bottom, the blended part, and then coconut milk on top.  To top it off, they added mango chunks.  It was very nice for a humid day.  I just have a thing for mango when it's in season, delicious and quench thirst.

Mango Mango

10603 Bellaire Blvd

#B105

Houston, TX 77072

281-809-3723

https://www.mangomangodessert.com/

 

Captain Bang

Dragged my friend to the 2D cafe for dessert.

It is pretty neat, they have waffle-based dessert (Hotteok - Korean sweet pancakes) and...

sugar iced fruits for an element of health.

They have coffee and tea too, I got a mango tea.

I've been wanting to try the Red Bean Taiyaki - love these!  They're literally hot off the press.

I also got a Penny Bbang, which is penny shaped bread/bun.  Inside it has Oreo and Nutella, but obviously didn't eat it all in one setting.  Had it the next day after warming it up, still very good. 

They took over the old Beard Papa's location on Bellaire.  Parking is always challenging since all their stores are popular in all hours of the day.  But do try your luck at the parking structure.

Captain Bbang

9393 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77036

https://www.instagram.com/captainbbang/

 

Hamdam BBQ

Been meaning to try the Handam BBQ, so glad my friend is in town to go with me.

I got smart and booked ahead via Yelp waitlist and even though it told me to arrived 20 mins prior, which what is the point of of me booking it at a certain time if you want me to arrive 20 mins earlier.  I will say, it was nice that we walked up and they were ready to seat us.

We literally just sat down and all the banchan arrives. Seriously, it's like a meal all right there.  Salad, veggie, egg omelet, kimchee cucumber, fish cake, potato, kimchee, broccoli, japchae, tofu.

We got LA Kalbi, LA Kalbi Suwon Style (that's just means using salt instead of soy sauce as marinate), Bulgogi and Pork Belly. 

Another protein we got was the octopus.  Our server said that it's cooked, just basically reheat.  I can see why, it's not easy to cook octopus fully and you don't want to risk people not know how to cook it and get sick.  So here's the pre-cooked ones. 

If you get the $35 pp combo, you get 2 special items.  The night we were there, we got seafood pancake and kimchi stew, which in addition to the meat, the banchan and the miscellanies it's a lot of food.

You can order a la carte, or family combo or individual combo.   Each combo allows for different options.   Since the combos are technically all you can eat, there's a 2 hour limit and obviously they will not let you take a box.  To be honest, the a la carte item doesn't look bad but if we order the combo we could get the seafood pancake, so I was a sucker for it.   This is a KBBQ where you have to do the cooking.  I've gotten so spoil that places would cook for me, it's definitely distract me from eating.

Handam BBQ

6609 W. Sam Houston Pkwy S

#92

Houston, TX 77072

346-261-1500

https://handam-bbq.club/