Eats: Mama Yu

Since my last post on Mama Yu, my family and I have visited it multiple times. Sometimes we dine-in but, most of the time it's take-out.

The family who opened Mama Yu are Javanese. Because of that, their specialty is in Javanese and Sundanese cuisine. I know that means nothing to most of you so I'll just give you my recommendations:

• Ayam Kremes (whole fried chicken with crunchy flakes). Get this, you won't regret it. Their version is very authentic.
• Mie Ayam Jawa (stir-fry yellow noodle with chicken). You can ask to substitute the chicken with beef. It's typically a non spicy dish but you can ask them to cook it spicy. 
• Nasi Padang Rendang (rice with beef rendang and various sides). They also have a chicken version but, I prefer the beef rendang one. 

They have different specials every weekend. Check out their Facebook page for updates. Of their weekend specials, I've had:

• Lontong Sayur
• Nasi Rames Pepes Ikan (rice dish steamed fish in banana leaf with deep fried tofu and tamarind soup served with spicy shrimp paste sauce)

I highly recommend both!

They used to offer passion fruit soda but, lately I don't see it offered anymore. They still serve teh botol though and that's good enough for me!

Lontong Sayur

Mie Goreng Jawa (with chicken)

Sate Padang

Nasi Padang Rendang (with beef rendang)

Nasi Padang Ayam (with chicken)

Mama Yu

10815 Beechnut

Houston, TX

https://www.facebook.com/MamaYuRestaurantHouston

Eats: Chuan's

The first time I ate at Chuan's was on Chinese New Year. I kinda stumbled upon it because I didn't feel like fighting Chinatown traffic that night. It sounded interesting so I decided to try it out with my family. We really liked the food and I would've blogged about it earlier but, I was with my family and before I could take any pictures, all the food was gone! Yup, my family don't mess around.

When we paid, they gave us a coupon for future visit. Since then, my life has been a little hectic. I totally forgot I had this coupon until my mom reminded me.

I like this place compared to Mala Sichuan because they're not as oily and salty. It's also an added bonus they're closer to me than going to Chinatown.

Twice Cooked Pork w/ Szechuan Guokui

As you can see, they serve this dish with buns. Similar concept to Peking duck, you stuff the pork in between the buns. The buns itself is rather bland but, it's useful to soak up grease from the pork belly. My British husband joked it was basically a bacon butty, Szechuan style. Yes, I suppose it is!

Chongqing Spicy Chicken

I'm not a big fan of this but my brother was. He dubbed it the perfect beer snack.

Stir-fry Snow Pea Leaf

I like their's because it's not as oily compared to other Chinese restaurants around town.

Steamed Tilapia

Not exactly Szechuan style dish but my son loves it so this was his dish. Yes, he can almost finish a whole fish to himself.

Chuan's

5901 Westheimer Rd (at Fountainview)

Houston, TX

Eats and More: Doughmaker Doughnuts at Midtown Mobile Cuisine

More and more food truck parks are popping around Houston. The most recent (that I know of) is Midtown Mobile Cuisine that just had their grand opening this past weekend. They're located on Almeda Rd under US-59 overpass.

Considering this was their grand opening weekend, there weren't a lot of food trucks in attendance - when I went, there were only five. Perhaps with time they'll have more food trucks around...

The only food truck that caught my interest that day was Doughmaker Doughnuts. I recently followed them on Facebook. They've only been in operation for about 3 weeks. They have donut flavors like blueberry lemon, orange pistachio, coconut caramel, and apple caramel to name a few. I'm not a fan of caramel so I got the orange pistachio and blueberry lemon donuts. Of the two, I prefer the blueberry lemon. The donut itself was softer. The shell of the orange pistachio was hard but, I liked the icing - it had a hint of sea salt on it. I'm always a sucker for salty/sweet combination.

Orange Pistachio and Blueberry Lemon Donuts

Midtown Mobile Cuisine