9888 Bellaire in Sterling Plaza
A very good new addition to Chinatown. I've posted first impressions on Hungry Onion after one visit. I'll post a more complete review after a couple more visits.
Website
Yelp listing, with pictures of the menu
Showing posts with label Chinatown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinatown. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Monday, July 20, 2015
More News of the World - UPDATED 9/29
King's Chicken, known for its Pakistani dishes, naan, and fried chicken, has abandoned it's longtime place on Beechut just west of Wilcrest and moved way out on Highway 6, just north of Westheimer. It's now a sit-down restaurant.
King's Chicken review in the Press.
The new name at the Beechnut location is Scarlotti's Eatery and Catering but except for a sign in the window advertising a 2 piece chicken deal, there's no indication what kind of food is served.
Johnathan's Grill Pampanga's in the International Food Court at the Viet Hoa Center on the West Belt at Beechnut is now La Fernandina's Grill Pampanga's. There are still just the two Filipino places side-by-side in the food court (the other is Pinoy Fast Food).
Haveli is a new Pakistani restaurant at 5901 Hillcroft. It's a buffet 7 days a week in a former nightclub space.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Kaung Kaung San
5757 Ranchester @ Harwin
I was excited to try our first ever Burmese restaurant. I had done some preliminary research into the cuisine but it was a couple of months before I got around to going and all I could remember was the Tea Leaf salad.
If this was all there was on the menu, it would be reason enough to go. Unless you have problems with peanuts or caffeine. Crispy, fried peanuts, and lots of them, pickled or brined tea leaves, a little tomato, a little shredded cabbage I think, a little ginger and garlic, oil -- I found it addictive.
I also had the whole steamed fish on my first visit which turned out to be two whole tilapia in a lime broth with lots of Chinese celery, a little cilantro, some pieces of ginger and lemon grass, I think. I looked this up and it may actually be a Thai preparation; there are lots of Thai dishes on the menu.
I had also ordered the Burmese Pancake as an appetizer but it wasn't available (may not be on the menu any more). Based on the quantity of food and how filling and satisfying it was it's just as well I didn't receive that.
I love salads and I have no issues with any kind of salad greens but lettuce does not grow in Myanmar and so is not only not a component of a Burmese salad, it's foreign to the concept. A Burmese salad or thoke or thohk, is centered around one ingredient with garnishes. I tried a couple of the noodle salads. Nan Gyi Thohk, translated as 'fat rice noodle salad' so I've read, includes pieces of chicken curry, hard boiled eggs, caramelized onions, garlic and oil and other garnishes. The Rakhine salad (long i sound) features thin rice noodles. Rakhine is a coastal state so this salad fittingly includes tidbits of fish; the owner said they were tilapia but I thought there was some fried fish cake present too.
I also tried the Samusa salad. Similar to an Indian samosa chat, it featured a samusa broken up on a bed of additional curried potatoes with other garnishes, though no chutneys or dahi. I found it less interesting that the other salads I tried and I neglected to take a picture of it.
Based on observations, it's okay to use just the flat spoon provided to eat these salads but I reached for the chopsticks. Regular flatware is also available. Salads are accompanied by a small bowl of broth to be consumed separately.
While some online articles name the Tea Leaf Salad (lahpet thohk) as the National Dish of Myanmar, virtually all name Mohinga, a fish stew that is commonly eaten at breakfast. This is a very hearty stew, thickned with chickpea flour I think, with chickpea patties, tilapia, hard boiled egg and thin rice noodles. The uncommon ingredient is banana tree stem. Sometimes designated National dishes really wow me, sometimes not and I was a little hard pressed to get the appeal of this other than its heartiness. Despite its status as a National dish, this is just listed on the menu as Rice Noodle Soup (# 1).
I ordered all my dishes spicy and I was not disappointed. Burmese is not as spicy as Thai or Indian but that's okay. Condiments on the tables include soy sauce, chile pepper flakes, lime juice and fish sauce so you can add heat if you wish.
I really loved the Burmese salads. I just discovered cold noodle dishes a couple of sweltering summers ago and these will be favorites of mine. There are many fried rice dishes, curries, and Thai dishes on the menu, an appetizer section, daily lunch specials, and Burmese versions of popular dishes such as Green Papaya Salad that I haven't gotten around to. The restaurant also serves sushi.
It's a small, seemingly only three person operation so service can be slow but the owner has been very helpful and friendly. There are legible pictures of the menu on Yelp! but I was told the menu is being revised so some listings will probably change. I was also told they will be hanging a big picture menu on one wall to help people who are not familiar with the cuisine, plus printing up menus to go. The current menu offers little in the way of explanation of the dishes but the owner has always been ready to help. They're closed only on Mondays.
Kaung Kaung San is a gem in my estimation and a very welcome addition to our vast array of cuisines.
I was excited to try our first ever Burmese restaurant. I had done some preliminary research into the cuisine but it was a couple of months before I got around to going and all I could remember was the Tea Leaf salad.
I also had the whole steamed fish on my first visit which turned out to be two whole tilapia in a lime broth with lots of Chinese celery, a little cilantro, some pieces of ginger and lemon grass, I think. I looked this up and it may actually be a Thai preparation; there are lots of Thai dishes on the menu.
I had also ordered the Burmese Pancake as an appetizer but it wasn't available (may not be on the menu any more). Based on the quantity of food and how filling and satisfying it was it's just as well I didn't receive that.
I also tried the Samusa salad. Similar to an Indian samosa chat, it featured a samusa broken up on a bed of additional curried potatoes with other garnishes, though no chutneys or dahi. I found it less interesting that the other salads I tried and I neglected to take a picture of it.
Based on observations, it's okay to use just the flat spoon provided to eat these salads but I reached for the chopsticks. Regular flatware is also available. Salads are accompanied by a small bowl of broth to be consumed separately.
While some online articles name the Tea Leaf Salad (lahpet thohk) as the National Dish of Myanmar, virtually all name Mohinga, a fish stew that is commonly eaten at breakfast. This is a very hearty stew, thickned with chickpea flour I think, with chickpea patties, tilapia, hard boiled egg and thin rice noodles. The uncommon ingredient is banana tree stem. Sometimes designated National dishes really wow me, sometimes not and I was a little hard pressed to get the appeal of this other than its heartiness. Despite its status as a National dish, this is just listed on the menu as Rice Noodle Soup (# 1).
I really loved the Burmese salads. I just discovered cold noodle dishes a couple of sweltering summers ago and these will be favorites of mine. There are many fried rice dishes, curries, and Thai dishes on the menu, an appetizer section, daily lunch specials, and Burmese versions of popular dishes such as Green Papaya Salad that I haven't gotten around to. The restaurant also serves sushi.
It's a small, seemingly only three person operation so service can be slow but the owner has been very helpful and friendly. There are legible pictures of the menu on Yelp! but I was told the menu is being revised so some listings will probably change. I was also told they will be hanging a big picture menu on one wall to help people who are not familiar with the cuisine, plus printing up menus to go. The current menu offers little in the way of explanation of the dishes but the owner has always been ready to help. They're closed only on Mondays.
Kaung Kaung San is a gem in my estimation and a very welcome addition to our vast array of cuisines.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Mama Yu Indonesian Bistro - Halal
10815 Beechnut @ Wilcrest
UPDATE 8/2015: THE RESTAURANT NO LONGER SERVES CHINESE FOOD.
I am indebted to Zain Mohammed for introducing me to this one. Zain is a UH student who blogs about Halal places; he tipped me off to his blog recently and when I read his review of this place I headed right over. The restaurant has been in existence for around a year and a half but I just haven't been paying much attention to the restaurant scene and I had not heard of it.
I had the Nasi Goreng Jawa on my first visit. Jawa means this is a Javanese version of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) with a fried egg on the side instead of scrambled egg mixed in. This came with some sambal, the Indonesian hot sauce, and kecap manis, the Indonesian syrupy soy sauce sweetened with palm sugar. I had ordered the spicy version of the dish and didn't need the sambal but really enjoyed adding a few drizzles of the soy sauce around the edges to mix in. I got the version with beef, shrimp and chicken.
My only visit to our other Indonesian restaurant had left me underwhelmed and I've never gotten around to going back. I may have just ordered wrong or caught them on an off day because I know a lot of people rave about that place. It was just the opposite here - I went back very the next day (and once again within a week) and tried the Ayam Goreng Mama Yu - traditional Indonesian fried chicken (1/2 order). The chicken has a lite crispy batter and came with a dipping bowl of a spicy shrimp paste sauce; I also ordered a small side of rice and Teh Botol, one of the two packaged jasmine tea drinks available. Indonesians eat rice with everything but if you don't order one of the rice dishes then rice is extra.
I went back for another visit really craving some more of the Nasi Goreng but once I started looking over the menu again, I realized there were so many things I wanted to try it would be foolish to start picking favorites now. I wound up with an Indonesian 'meat 'n 3' dish, Nasi Padang Rendang. This had been recommended by one of the staff and the description on the menu sounded fantastic but the picture hadn't really appealed to me (there are pictures on the wall of many of the dishes). It exceeded my expectations considerably. It was a portion of tender beef rendang, cooked in coconut milk with spices, rice, of course, a vegetable curry with some variety of green bean, cabbage and jackfruit, a hard boiled egg in a spicy sauce and an anchovy sauce at 9 o'clock.
My only disappointment so far has been Tongseng, a lamb stew that I ordered on a day when I wasn't feeling very well and thought a hearty stew would be just the thing. Nothing really stood out about the dish and it got rather monotonous by the time I finished it. But clearly there are many more things on the menu here to try.
The restaurant is open 7 days a week and also serves Halal Chinese food except on Mondays.
Mama Yu is a great addition to our international food scene.
Mama Yu
I see the Facebook pages say they take orders for Tumpeng, just this year declared the official national dish of Indonesia by the Ministry of Tourism.
UPDATE 8/2015: THE RESTAURANT NO LONGER SERVES CHINESE FOOD.
I am indebted to Zain Mohammed for introducing me to this one. Zain is a UH student who blogs about Halal places; he tipped me off to his blog recently and when I read his review of this place I headed right over. The restaurant has been in existence for around a year and a half but I just haven't been paying much attention to the restaurant scene and I had not heard of it.
I went back for another visit really craving some more of the Nasi Goreng but once I started looking over the menu again, I realized there were so many things I wanted to try it would be foolish to start picking favorites now. I wound up with an Indonesian 'meat 'n 3' dish, Nasi Padang Rendang. This had been recommended by one of the staff and the description on the menu sounded fantastic but the picture hadn't really appealed to me (there are pictures on the wall of many of the dishes). It exceeded my expectations considerably. It was a portion of tender beef rendang, cooked in coconut milk with spices, rice, of course, a vegetable curry with some variety of green bean, cabbage and jackfruit, a hard boiled egg in a spicy sauce and an anchovy sauce at 9 o'clock.
My only disappointment so far has been Tongseng, a lamb stew that I ordered on a day when I wasn't feeling very well and thought a hearty stew would be just the thing. Nothing really stood out about the dish and it got rather monotonous by the time I finished it. But clearly there are many more things on the menu here to try.
The restaurant is open 7 days a week and also serves Halal Chinese food except on Mondays.
Mama Yu is a great addition to our international food scene.
Mama Yu
I see the Facebook pages say they take orders for Tumpeng, just this year declared the official national dish of Indonesia by the Ministry of Tourism.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Vegetarian for a Week, Part 1
After reporting on the vegetarian restaurant Quan Yin recently I made the observation that I sometimes think about becoming a vegetarian, not for ethical, health or religious reasons but just because the food at Houston vegetarian restaurants is so good. But I never thought about doing it on a dare.
A couple of weeks later one of the moderators on eGullet announced he was going to try to go vegetarian for a week and challenged other eGulleteers to join him. The response was a little underwhelming at first but I was interested. His thread is really about cooking vegetarian rather than dining out so I'm posting about my dining out adventures here.
Of course I know people, including many of my relatives, who are of the firm belief that they will keel over and die, possibly within mere minutes, if they don't have meat at every meal, but I have long liked my veggies at least as much as meat. I was a vegetarian for about 6 or 8 months back in the 70s and most of my meals at home these days are meatless unless they include take-out or leftovers. Though I keep fish on hand in the freezer and there's probably some pork and chicken somewhere in there too, I bought beef to prepare at home only twice all of last year. I don't think I've gone as long as just 48 hours without meat in a long, long time but I didn't think this would be much of a stretch for me.
After a false start one morning when I absent-mindedly munched on some leftover cha lua from Banh Cuon Tay Ho as part of breakfast, I started in earnest with lunch at Cedars Bakery, 8619 Richmond. I'd been to this Middle Eastern bakery/cafe only once before and enjoyed a kafta manakish and remembered they had a veggie pizza on the menu, specifically the Harhoura Veggie Pizza.
Just what the difference between a manakish and pizza is here I'm not sure; they both appear to be cooked in the same brick-lined, gas-fired oven on the same thin pita bread crust. At least I never saw a saj, the domed cooking surface that a manakish is typically cooked on. But while the manakish was cut in quarters and was thin and flexible enough to be foldable like a New York style pizza, this was cut in thin wedges and wouldn't hold up when picked up. With no cheese on the pizza, the toppings just toppled off. It was just chopped tomato, onion and bell pepper but did have a very nice heat level, which is kind of unusual for Middle Eastern food in my experience. A couple of their other pizzas may be meatless, too. I should have asked first.
I did pick up a package of their beautiful, aromatic, tissue paper thin markouk, the thinnest flat bread I've ever encountered, and it was very useful in the ensuing week in meals I prepared at home.
My friend Ziggy Smogdust has been telling me about Pine Forest Garden, 9108 Bellaire, for at least a couple of years. The chef adheres to strict Buddhist vegetarian cuisine principles and it's one of Ziggy's favorite restaurants. I'd been just once and asked Ziggy to meet me there and help me pick the good stuff for lunch on Day Two.
The best thing on the first plate was the fried tofu skin wrap at 11 o'clock, wonderfully juicy with a crisp and crunchy, fresh tasting filling that I never took the time to examine, thinking I was going to make a second pass at the buffet and get another one. I'm pretty sure it had some sort of sprouts in it and possibly some nuts. I also enjoyed the turnip cake and the long beans and zucchini; the long beans still had a good bite to them. The greens in the middle of the plate were something of a mystery (the buffet is not labeled); Ziggy had always thought they were Chinese broccoli but Samuel, the chef, recognized Ziggy and came over to chat. He told us what they were - the Chinese name - and I cannot recall it. My guess would be Chinese mustard greens. The mock meat at 1 o'clock was even more of a mystery; neither one of use could figure out what it was supposed to be. It had a texture more like pieces of chicken skin than muscle meat which wouldn't have been bad had I not be expecting a fibrous texture like meat.
New things are constantly being brought out for the buffet and on my second pass through either there was no more fried tofu skin or I missed it because there were so many other things I wanted to try. By the way, vegetarian food is very filling and I was getting very full already. The big hits of my second plate were the deep fried mushrooms, the tree fungus, aka wood ear mushroom, at 1 o'clock, and the 'salmon croquette.' The deep fried mushrooms were just a little sweet and a little crispy; I could have eaten a whole plate of them. I've had the tree fungus only minced in banh cuon before and never encountered it like this; I loved it. I'm not really sure what the little fried ball was supposed to be but the texture reminded me very much of a salmon croquette. The disks at the top are mock fish. I've had these before in plates from San San Tofu and liked them just fine but here, braised, the texture became too soft and mushy.
Ziggy also had a second plate, with a big piece of the fungus and some sweets which he wanted me to try including lightly deep fried sweet potato and a Buddhist 'jello' - actually a cross between jello and custard in texture - and mango flavored. I'd noticed them on the buffet and just assumed they were pieces of mango and had passed them over. They were, however, virtually impossible to pick up with chopsticks.
Pine Forest Garden is going to be one of my favorite restaurants, too. I'm looking forward to going back sometime to try their dim sum service, from 3 to 5 as I recall.
I had made a list of all the vegetarian restaurants I've been to in Houston and had scheduled a visit to Georgia's Farm to Market on I-10 for Day Three, but I was still full from the feast at Pine Forest Garden and didn't want to deal with the temptation to over-eat at their large salad bar so I opted instead for something much closer to home, Saba's Kosher Cafe, 9704 Fondren @ South Braeswood, previously reported on on this blog.
Saba's has remodeled, possibly to counter the new competition in the neighborhood, and is a nicer room for dining-in now. The menu has been in flux and my favorite item, which I had decided on in advance, the Moroccan Cigars, is not currently on the menu, although they said it will be coming back. I opted instead for the Sabitch Baguette.
I'd had the Sabitch plate before, grilled eggplant, hard-boiled egg, Israeli salad (diced cucumber, tomato and bell pepper) and hummus, which comes with a pita on the side. You can get this as a pita sandwich, too, but this was excellent. There was some hot sauce, I think the Yemeni skhug is what they use, similar to harissa. The server might have noticed some consternation on my face, though, as initially I thought this was going to be a very dry sandwich, so he offered some tahini sauce too. Turned out it didn't need it, though I added it for flavoring, but there was probably at least a quarter cup of hummus on the sandwich and by the time I got through, the oil in the hummus together with the moisture from the salad was turning the lower part of the sandwich rather soggy.
See the second part of this series here.
A couple of weeks later one of the moderators on eGullet announced he was going to try to go vegetarian for a week and challenged other eGulleteers to join him. The response was a little underwhelming at first but I was interested. His thread is really about cooking vegetarian rather than dining out so I'm posting about my dining out adventures here.
Of course I know people, including many of my relatives, who are of the firm belief that they will keel over and die, possibly within mere minutes, if they don't have meat at every meal, but I have long liked my veggies at least as much as meat. I was a vegetarian for about 6 or 8 months back in the 70s and most of my meals at home these days are meatless unless they include take-out or leftovers. Though I keep fish on hand in the freezer and there's probably some pork and chicken somewhere in there too, I bought beef to prepare at home only twice all of last year. I don't think I've gone as long as just 48 hours without meat in a long, long time but I didn't think this would be much of a stretch for me.
After a false start one morning when I absent-mindedly munched on some leftover cha lua from Banh Cuon Tay Ho as part of breakfast, I started in earnest with lunch at Cedars Bakery, 8619 Richmond. I'd been to this Middle Eastern bakery/cafe only once before and enjoyed a kafta manakish and remembered they had a veggie pizza on the menu, specifically the Harhoura Veggie Pizza.
Just what the difference between a manakish and pizza is here I'm not sure; they both appear to be cooked in the same brick-lined, gas-fired oven on the same thin pita bread crust. At least I never saw a saj, the domed cooking surface that a manakish is typically cooked on. But while the manakish was cut in quarters and was thin and flexible enough to be foldable like a New York style pizza, this was cut in thin wedges and wouldn't hold up when picked up. With no cheese on the pizza, the toppings just toppled off. It was just chopped tomato, onion and bell pepper but did have a very nice heat level, which is kind of unusual for Middle Eastern food in my experience. A couple of their other pizzas may be meatless, too. I should have asked first.I did pick up a package of their beautiful, aromatic, tissue paper thin markouk, the thinnest flat bread I've ever encountered, and it was very useful in the ensuing week in meals I prepared at home.
My friend Ziggy Smogdust has been telling me about Pine Forest Garden, 9108 Bellaire, for at least a couple of years. The chef adheres to strict Buddhist vegetarian cuisine principles and it's one of Ziggy's favorite restaurants. I'd been just once and asked Ziggy to meet me there and help me pick the good stuff for lunch on Day Two.
The best thing on the first plate was the fried tofu skin wrap at 11 o'clock, wonderfully juicy with a crisp and crunchy, fresh tasting filling that I never took the time to examine, thinking I was going to make a second pass at the buffet and get another one. I'm pretty sure it had some sort of sprouts in it and possibly some nuts. I also enjoyed the turnip cake and the long beans and zucchini; the long beans still had a good bite to them. The greens in the middle of the plate were something of a mystery (the buffet is not labeled); Ziggy had always thought they were Chinese broccoli but Samuel, the chef, recognized Ziggy and came over to chat. He told us what they were - the Chinese name - and I cannot recall it. My guess would be Chinese mustard greens. The mock meat at 1 o'clock was even more of a mystery; neither one of use could figure out what it was supposed to be. It had a texture more like pieces of chicken skin than muscle meat which wouldn't have been bad had I not be expecting a fibrous texture like meat.
New things are constantly being brought out for the buffet and on my second pass through either there was no more fried tofu skin or I missed it because there were so many other things I wanted to try. By the way, vegetarian food is very filling and I was getting very full already. The big hits of my second plate were the deep fried mushrooms, the tree fungus, aka wood ear mushroom, at 1 o'clock, and the 'salmon croquette.' The deep fried mushrooms were just a little sweet and a little crispy; I could have eaten a whole plate of them. I've had the tree fungus only minced in banh cuon before and never encountered it like this; I loved it. I'm not really sure what the little fried ball was supposed to be but the texture reminded me very much of a salmon croquette. The disks at the top are mock fish. I've had these before in plates from San San Tofu and liked them just fine but here, braised, the texture became too soft and mushy.Ziggy also had a second plate, with a big piece of the fungus and some sweets which he wanted me to try including lightly deep fried sweet potato and a Buddhist 'jello' - actually a cross between jello and custard in texture - and mango flavored. I'd noticed them on the buffet and just assumed they were pieces of mango and had passed them over. They were, however, virtually impossible to pick up with chopsticks.
Pine Forest Garden is going to be one of my favorite restaurants, too. I'm looking forward to going back sometime to try their dim sum service, from 3 to 5 as I recall.
I had made a list of all the vegetarian restaurants I've been to in Houston and had scheduled a visit to Georgia's Farm to Market on I-10 for Day Three, but I was still full from the feast at Pine Forest Garden and didn't want to deal with the temptation to over-eat at their large salad bar so I opted instead for something much closer to home, Saba's Kosher Cafe, 9704 Fondren @ South Braeswood, previously reported on on this blog.
Saba's has remodeled, possibly to counter the new competition in the neighborhood, and is a nicer room for dining-in now. The menu has been in flux and my favorite item, which I had decided on in advance, the Moroccan Cigars, is not currently on the menu, although they said it will be coming back. I opted instead for the Sabitch Baguette.
I'd had the Sabitch plate before, grilled eggplant, hard-boiled egg, Israeli salad (diced cucumber, tomato and bell pepper) and hummus, which comes with a pita on the side. You can get this as a pita sandwich, too, but this was excellent. There was some hot sauce, I think the Yemeni skhug is what they use, similar to harissa. The server might have noticed some consternation on my face, though, as initially I thought this was going to be a very dry sandwich, so he offered some tahini sauce too. Turned out it didn't need it, though I added it for flavoring, but there was probably at least a quarter cup of hummus on the sandwich and by the time I got through, the oil in the hummus together with the moisture from the salad was turning the lower part of the sandwich rather soggy.See the second part of this series here.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Some Places I've Been Eating Lately
When I'm not hung up by a major obsession (most recently Sichuan cuisine and soup dumplings) I like to keep trying new things. These are some of the places or dishes I've tried recently and really liked.
Fainmous BBQ
10400 S. Post Oak # E (back in the corner)
Not all that many places around here serve pulled pork and even fewer do it well. Jamie Fain is from Tennessee, where pork barbecue rules, and turns out some very good pulled pork. Lightly smoked over hickory, my sandwich was juicy and flavorful, about as good as any I've had in Houston. There are two Tennessee style sauces (not sure what that means) - a mild one and a surprisingly spicy one. I thought the spicy one overwhelmed the meat and preferred the mild one.
The link sandwich was good too, a mildly seasoned pork sausage with a nice snap from a natural casing and likewise very juicy. The pulled chicken turned out to be chunked and I thought the spicier sauce helped that one out, while the sliced brisket was a disappointment. If you're looking for the intensely smoky sort of brisket you'd get from a Central Texas style joint you're not going to find it here and I gotta have that when I have brisket.
Sides include a creamy slaw (you can get that added to a sandwich to create a Memphis style pulled pork sandwich for a little extra), baked beans and potato salad, plus smoked, stuffed spuds. There are also ribs and half chickens, which I haven't tried. Sandwiches come in regular (4" buns, pictured), large and jumbo.
I'm a native Texan but I think the pulled pork sandwich, done well, trumps a chopped barbecue beef sandwich any day and I'm glad to have this place on this side of town.
They're open Tuesday thru Saturday for lunch and early dinner and have been very busy on Saturday when I went in.
Don Cafe
9300 Bellaire
I've recently gotten interested in banh cuon (Vietnamese rice crepes) and remembered I'd read Don served a good one; I stopped in intending to get a banh mi to go but spied this on the menu and requested it instead. I'm sure this would have looked better plated up in the restaurant, but it was very good. This was with the more common pork filling instead of the shrimp I had recently at Banh Cuon Hoa II on Beechnut and I liked it better. I'll be trying this again in-house as well as several other places in Chinatown that specialize in banh cuon.
Thuan Kieu Com Tam
10792 Bellaire Blvd, Suite A
Another dish I've been interested in trying lately is com tam - Vietnamese broken rice dishes. I was headed to the eponymously named place in Hong Kong City Mall when I spotted this one, which hadn't been on my list, and decided on a lark to save myself the hassle of the hordes at HK Mall on a weekend and try it. It's a large and noisy room; the young host virtually ran to the front door to welcome me and I was seated less than 2 minutes when a server appeared to ask if I was ready to order. It's a large menu and normally I would have wanted more time but I knew what I wanted and went straight to the Com Tam section of the menu and went with the first choice - Com Tam Thuan Kieu Dac Biet Mon A - bi (shredded pork) - barely visible under the fried tofu skin, baked egg, lap zuong (sausage), charbroiled shrimp (tom nuong), tofu skin with shrimp (tom hu ky), and pork chop (suon), plus garlic chives, pickled and fresh vegetables. A completely lame imitation of a tomato came on the plate and my pork chop was overcooked and dry but otherwise I liked this dish, especially the baked egg and pickled veggies. As is the case about half the time when trying a new dish, I really didn't get the appeal of the broken rice but as is also the case a lot of the time when I try it several times, I grow to like it so I will be having it again. There are several places in Chinatown which specialize in these dishes with com tam in the name of the restaurant; there are an amazing 50 varieties of com tam on the menu here.
Quan Yin Vegetarian Restaurant
10804 E Bellaire
I had seen this place several times before but never remembered to put it down on a list of prospects; it's been around a long time. I spotted it again pulling away from Thuan Kieu and finally remembered to make a note to go back.
The interior is in more appealing shape than that rather shabby shopping center; service was quiet and very courteous. There are signs in the windows proclaiming it's a vegan restaurant but not all dishes on the menu are identified as vegan. There is a menu book but also a big picture menu which I found most helpful/tantalizing in picking a dish. The picture menu is available on the website, too, and I had an idea what I wanted before I went in.
The Hand Roll was delightful - peanuts, lettuce, shredded cabbage, mock cha lua and vegetarian cheese plus a veggie mayo, wrapped in seaweed. Move over spring rolls - I just may like this better.
I seldom order soup at a restaurant; soup is one thing I do pretty well at home and seldom feel like paying someone else to serve me something I can fix at home but the Quan Yin Special Soup (Sup Dac Biet) was calling out to me. Mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, carrots, bamboo shoots, cilantro, and mock chicken breast in a veggie broth, about 6 cups worth overall. Add a little acidity, a little heat or a little umami to your individual servings with the condiments on the table and have a feast. This was just what the doc ordered.
I left very contented, feeling extraordinarily virtuous for eating such healthy fare, thoroughly hydrated and looking forward to going back. Sometimes I think about becoming a vegetarian in Houston, not for ethical, religious or health reasons but just because the vegetarian food in this town is so damn good.
Quan Yin
Fainmous BBQ
10400 S. Post Oak # E (back in the corner)
Not all that many places around here serve pulled pork and even fewer do it well. Jamie Fain is from Tennessee, where pork barbecue rules, and turns out some very good pulled pork. Lightly smoked over hickory, my sandwich was juicy and flavorful, about as good as any I've had in Houston. There are two Tennessee style sauces (not sure what that means) - a mild one and a surprisingly spicy one. I thought the spicy one overwhelmed the meat and preferred the mild one.
The link sandwich was good too, a mildly seasoned pork sausage with a nice snap from a natural casing and likewise very juicy. The pulled chicken turned out to be chunked and I thought the spicier sauce helped that one out, while the sliced brisket was a disappointment. If you're looking for the intensely smoky sort of brisket you'd get from a Central Texas style joint you're not going to find it here and I gotta have that when I have brisket.Sides include a creamy slaw (you can get that added to a sandwich to create a Memphis style pulled pork sandwich for a little extra), baked beans and potato salad, plus smoked, stuffed spuds. There are also ribs and half chickens, which I haven't tried. Sandwiches come in regular (4" buns, pictured), large and jumbo.
I'm a native Texan but I think the pulled pork sandwich, done well, trumps a chopped barbecue beef sandwich any day and I'm glad to have this place on this side of town.
They're open Tuesday thru Saturday for lunch and early dinner and have been very busy on Saturday when I went in.
Don Cafe
9300 Bellaire
I've recently gotten interested in banh cuon (Vietnamese rice crepes) and remembered I'd read Don served a good one; I stopped in intending to get a banh mi to go but spied this on the menu and requested it instead. I'm sure this would have looked better plated up in the restaurant, but it was very good. This was with the more common pork filling instead of the shrimp I had recently at Banh Cuon Hoa II on Beechnut and I liked it better. I'll be trying this again in-house as well as several other places in Chinatown that specialize in banh cuon.Thuan Kieu Com Tam
10792 Bellaire Blvd, Suite A
Another dish I've been interested in trying lately is com tam - Vietnamese broken rice dishes. I was headed to the eponymously named place in Hong Kong City Mall when I spotted this one, which hadn't been on my list, and decided on a lark to save myself the hassle of the hordes at HK Mall on a weekend and try it. It's a large and noisy room; the young host virtually ran to the front door to welcome me and I was seated less than 2 minutes when a server appeared to ask if I was ready to order. It's a large menu and normally I would have wanted more time but I knew what I wanted and went straight to the Com Tam section of the menu and went with the first choice - Com Tam Thuan Kieu Dac Biet Mon A - bi (shredded pork) - barely visible under the fried tofu skin, baked egg, lap zuong (sausage), charbroiled shrimp (tom nuong), tofu skin with shrimp (tom hu ky), and pork chop (suon), plus garlic chives, pickled and fresh vegetables. A completely lame imitation of a tomato came on the plate and my pork chop was overcooked and dry but otherwise I liked this dish, especially the baked egg and pickled veggies. As is the case about half the time when trying a new dish, I really didn't get the appeal of the broken rice but as is also the case a lot of the time when I try it several times, I grow to like it so I will be having it again. There are several places in Chinatown which specialize in these dishes with com tam in the name of the restaurant; there are an amazing 50 varieties of com tam on the menu here.Quan Yin Vegetarian Restaurant
10804 E Bellaire
I had seen this place several times before but never remembered to put it down on a list of prospects; it's been around a long time. I spotted it again pulling away from Thuan Kieu and finally remembered to make a note to go back.
The interior is in more appealing shape than that rather shabby shopping center; service was quiet and very courteous. There are signs in the windows proclaiming it's a vegan restaurant but not all dishes on the menu are identified as vegan. There is a menu book but also a big picture menu which I found most helpful/tantalizing in picking a dish. The picture menu is available on the website, too, and I had an idea what I wanted before I went in.
The Hand Roll was delightful - peanuts, lettuce, shredded cabbage, mock cha lua and vegetarian cheese plus a veggie mayo, wrapped in seaweed. Move over spring rolls - I just may like this better.
I seldom order soup at a restaurant; soup is one thing I do pretty well at home and seldom feel like paying someone else to serve me something I can fix at home but the Quan Yin Special Soup (Sup Dac Biet) was calling out to me. Mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, carrots, bamboo shoots, cilantro, and mock chicken breast in a veggie broth, about 6 cups worth overall. Add a little acidity, a little heat or a little umami to your individual servings with the condiments on the table and have a feast. This was just what the doc ordered.I left very contented, feeling extraordinarily virtuous for eating such healthy fare, thoroughly hydrated and looking forward to going back. Sometimes I think about becoming a vegetarian in Houston, not for ethical, religious or health reasons but just because the vegetarian food in this town is so damn good.
Quan Yin
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Beef Tendon at Friend's Kitchen
9889 Bellaire
Once upon a time (recently) Ziggy Smogdust and I set out to visit Cafe Singapore on Bellaire but found it closed (Mondays). We studied the menu posted in the window and knew we had to come back and try it. In the meantime, we had both mused about spending some time working our way thru the restaurants in the 9800 block of Bellaire, just inside the Beltway. I've been to San Dong, Cafe Fu Fu, and Banana Leaf in there, Ziggy has been to Jang Guem and some others.
We drove back toward town and started strolling along the sidewalk in front of Fu Fu, QQ, and others, reading the menus posted in the windows. Many of the places were packed, a few were closed. Toward the back we came across Friend's Kitchen, a place which neither of us had ever heard of before. Ziggy saw something on the menu he was interested in, a cold appetizer of beef tendon. Sounded good to me; there were some available tables in the place which had a mixed but mostly Asian crowd.
I had never heard of this before but Ziggy had been doing some research on it; it was excellent, with crispy vegetables, cilantro and Sichuan peppercorns. The tendon itself was tender, slightly chewy, and very tasty.
Thank goodness Ziggy was willing to share - I ordered the fried dumplings and shrimp and tofu off the lunch menu. I was very disappointed in both although I think Ziggy found the dumplings interesting - I thought they were not as good as I've had at Fu Fu and San Dong and perhaps were only the frozen pot stickers like you can buy at Sam's. We saw several good looking dishes being served to other customers, however, so I chalk it up to my poor ordering.
Revisit 5/11: I stopped by to get something to-go recently. The menu is still posted in the window like most of the restaurants in that strip so I looked it over before going in. The sign in the window still says Friend’s Kitchen but the business card and take-out menu call it My Friend’s Home Restaurant - Classic Home Style Chinese Cooking. The place was packed when I was there before but had only a few tables occupied this time and I was worried about maybe a change in ownership and decline in the food but they say the name actually hasn’t changed?
Anyway, there are some interesting, exotic dishes on the menu including Qingdao Seaweed Jelly, Wuhan Duck Neck and Cabbage with Jellyfish but I stuck with something more familiar, squid with mustard greens. As a lunch special this was only $4.95, a bargain, and was very good, not quite as good as the beef tendon had been but better than the other dishes I’ve had. The squid (the body, not the tentacles) was firm but not tough or chewy; the mustard greens, apparently pickled Chinese mustard greens, were very aromatic with lots of crisp diced stem pieces to contrast with the leaves. They were also very, very salty. I really liked this despite, or perhaps because of, the saltiness but I watch my salt intake and am not used to this much so I was guzzling water for 24 hours.
I will be back but I think I’ll stay away from dishes with Chinese mustard greens though I really love greens.
Belated Update: I realized I'd never added the following - I went back a week later as part of a tour I was doing, trying to find steamed soup dumplings.
I really liked the ones I had here. The skin was a little thick but each dumpling was steamed atop a slice of carrot, adding both a new dimension of taste and texture that I found very likable.
The waitresses I have encountered on my several visits have all been very nice and there’s been no problem communicating because of a language barrier. B4 has this listed as Shandong Cuisine but there's a sign on the building that says Shanghai Cuisine and there's a story there, too. The restaurant at one time was called Shanghai Cuisine and is still listed that way on some restaurant review sites; Robb Walsh visited it in 2009 and said it was the first Chinese restaurant specializing in Shanghai cuisine in Houston at that time.
I've scanned the take-out menu here. Prices and Dishes may vary at the restaurant, of course.
Once upon a time (recently) Ziggy Smogdust and I set out to visit Cafe Singapore on Bellaire but found it closed (Mondays). We studied the menu posted in the window and knew we had to come back and try it. In the meantime, we had both mused about spending some time working our way thru the restaurants in the 9800 block of Bellaire, just inside the Beltway. I've been to San Dong, Cafe Fu Fu, and Banana Leaf in there, Ziggy has been to Jang Guem and some others.
We drove back toward town and started strolling along the sidewalk in front of Fu Fu, QQ, and others, reading the menus posted in the windows. Many of the places were packed, a few were closed. Toward the back we came across Friend's Kitchen, a place which neither of us had ever heard of before. Ziggy saw something on the menu he was interested in, a cold appetizer of beef tendon. Sounded good to me; there were some available tables in the place which had a mixed but mostly Asian crowd.
I had never heard of this before but Ziggy had been doing some research on it; it was excellent, with crispy vegetables, cilantro and Sichuan peppercorns. The tendon itself was tender, slightly chewy, and very tasty.
Thank goodness Ziggy was willing to share - I ordered the fried dumplings and shrimp and tofu off the lunch menu. I was very disappointed in both although I think Ziggy found the dumplings interesting - I thought they were not as good as I've had at Fu Fu and San Dong and perhaps were only the frozen pot stickers like you can buy at Sam's. We saw several good looking dishes being served to other customers, however, so I chalk it up to my poor ordering.
Revisit 5/11: I stopped by to get something to-go recently. The menu is still posted in the window like most of the restaurants in that strip so I looked it over before going in. The sign in the window still says Friend’s Kitchen but the business card and take-out menu call it My Friend’s Home Restaurant - Classic Home Style Chinese Cooking. The place was packed when I was there before but had only a few tables occupied this time and I was worried about maybe a change in ownership and decline in the food but they say the name actually hasn’t changed?
Anyway, there are some interesting, exotic dishes on the menu including Qingdao Seaweed Jelly, Wuhan Duck Neck and Cabbage with Jellyfish but I stuck with something more familiar, squid with mustard greens. As a lunch special this was only $4.95, a bargain, and was very good, not quite as good as the beef tendon had been but better than the other dishes I’ve had. The squid (the body, not the tentacles) was firm but not tough or chewy; the mustard greens, apparently pickled Chinese mustard greens, were very aromatic with lots of crisp diced stem pieces to contrast with the leaves. They were also very, very salty. I really liked this despite, or perhaps because of, the saltiness but I watch my salt intake and am not used to this much so I was guzzling water for 24 hours.I will be back but I think I’ll stay away from dishes with Chinese mustard greens though I really love greens.
Belated Update: I realized I'd never added the following - I went back a week later as part of a tour I was doing, trying to find steamed soup dumplings.
I really liked the ones I had here. The skin was a little thick but each dumpling was steamed atop a slice of carrot, adding both a new dimension of taste and texture that I found very likable.The waitresses I have encountered on my several visits have all been very nice and there’s been no problem communicating because of a language barrier. B4 has this listed as Shandong Cuisine but there's a sign on the building that says Shanghai Cuisine and there's a story there, too. The restaurant at one time was called Shanghai Cuisine and is still listed that way on some restaurant review sites; Robb Walsh visited it in 2009 and said it was the first Chinese restaurant specializing in Shanghai cuisine in Houston at that time.
I've scanned the take-out menu here. Prices and Dishes may vary at the restaurant, of course.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Banana Leaf
9889 Bellaire @ Corporate, # 311
We lost several of our Malaysian restaurants last year, at least three I think, including the two I was familiar with, Nyonya Grill down in Sugar Land and Kuala Lumpur on Bellaire. There's been a lot of buzz about Banana Leaf in the interim but I'm just getting around to trying it out. Got a craving for roti canai, what can I tell you?
I was surprised at the size of the place when I walked in. To tell the truth, I don't pay much attention to those details in the reviews I read (actually, I just look at the pictures), but I expected a banquet hall sized-room, packed with a throng of people. Instead, it's the size of your typical Houston hole-in-the-wall eatery, though much more nicely appointed than many. There was a throng - the tables are rather close together.
The roti canai was heavier than what I'd had before at Nyonya or K.L. and had picked up more oil than those, as I remember. Still I had no trouble finishing it off. While that's a bit of bad news the good news is, because of that I may actually have the will power to forgo one of these on every visit, thereby saving 5 or 600 calories, probably, and have room to try some dessert. The ginger dipping sauce was great.
I tried to order the Malaysian Buddhist, a vegetarian stir-fry, but the pretty and helpful young waitress said it wasn't very good and tried to steer me to some other dishes. I realized she might be assuming I'm not very adventurous but I didn't want to leave on my first visit actually having had a bad dish so I went with her advice and settled on the Eggplant/Shrimp stir-fry.
Whether I had been steered toward a dumbed down, Americanized dish or not became irrelevant when I tasted this; it was great. I'd had some very good dishes at K.L. and Nyonya but I believe this topped them all. I couldn't wait to go back.
This came with a separate pot of rice, about 4 cups worth and I also got the Hot Black Rose tea which has a very delicate, wonderful aroma. I dug into the rice the way the proprietor of Nyonya said is the way Malaysians do it, picking up clumps of it in the fingers. I noticed I was the only one in the restaurant doing this.
On another visit a few days later I wanted to order something off the lunch menu as I wasn't very hungry; I did forgo the roti canai but the dish I wanted - I think it was the Masak Lemak - the waitress (same one) said was not available. Hmmm. She tried to steer me toward a tofu dish or a pork chop dish but I wound up settling for a shrimp curry. It was a wonderfully savory curry, only mildly hot, not quite as awesome as the eggplant dish but still quite good.
While waiting, I saw several of their sizzling platters coming out and they looked incredible. I know what I want the next time (assuming it's available).
There are small flat screen video screens next to the tables along the walls on both sides which show a progression of pictures of their alluring dishes but both times the ones nearest me have been stuck on the crispy, fried calamari. Maybe they're trying to send me a message?
Banana Leaf
We lost several of our Malaysian restaurants last year, at least three I think, including the two I was familiar with, Nyonya Grill down in Sugar Land and Kuala Lumpur on Bellaire. There's been a lot of buzz about Banana Leaf in the interim but I'm just getting around to trying it out. Got a craving for roti canai, what can I tell you?
I was surprised at the size of the place when I walked in. To tell the truth, I don't pay much attention to those details in the reviews I read (actually, I just look at the pictures), but I expected a banquet hall sized-room, packed with a throng of people. Instead, it's the size of your typical Houston hole-in-the-wall eatery, though much more nicely appointed than many. There was a throng - the tables are rather close together.
The roti canai was heavier than what I'd had before at Nyonya or K.L. and had picked up more oil than those, as I remember. Still I had no trouble finishing it off. While that's a bit of bad news the good news is, because of that I may actually have the will power to forgo one of these on every visit, thereby saving 5 or 600 calories, probably, and have room to try some dessert. The ginger dipping sauce was great.
I tried to order the Malaysian Buddhist, a vegetarian stir-fry, but the pretty and helpful young waitress said it wasn't very good and tried to steer me to some other dishes. I realized she might be assuming I'm not very adventurous but I didn't want to leave on my first visit actually having had a bad dish so I went with her advice and settled on the Eggplant/Shrimp stir-fry.
Whether I had been steered toward a dumbed down, Americanized dish or not became irrelevant when I tasted this; it was great. I'd had some very good dishes at K.L. and Nyonya but I believe this topped them all. I couldn't wait to go back.
This came with a separate pot of rice, about 4 cups worth and I also got the Hot Black Rose tea which has a very delicate, wonderful aroma. I dug into the rice the way the proprietor of Nyonya said is the way Malaysians do it, picking up clumps of it in the fingers. I noticed I was the only one in the restaurant doing this.
On another visit a few days later I wanted to order something off the lunch menu as I wasn't very hungry; I did forgo the roti canai but the dish I wanted - I think it was the Masak Lemak - the waitress (same one) said was not available. Hmmm. She tried to steer me toward a tofu dish or a pork chop dish but I wound up settling for a shrimp curry. It was a wonderfully savory curry, only mildly hot, not quite as awesome as the eggplant dish but still quite good.
While waiting, I saw several of their sizzling platters coming out and they looked incredible. I know what I want the next time (assuming it's available).
There are small flat screen video screens next to the tables along the walls on both sides which show a progression of pictures of their alluring dishes but both times the ones nearest me have been stuck on the crispy, fried calamari. Maybe they're trying to send me a message?
Banana Leaf
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