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

Eats: The Pass

Between the craziness of moving countries, having babies and living apart... my husband and I haven't had a date night in over 9 months. In fact, we can't even remember our last date night! While he was in town, I took the opportunity to make reservations at The Pass. I've always wanted to try them but, it's a little hard to eat here when one's pregnant. So yes, this dinner was my treat to myself and it didn't disappoint.

When I called to make reservation, they asked for a credit card to secure the reservation. I was determined to eat here so I never really asked what the cancellation policy was.

We chose to do the 8-course "regular" tasting. I emphasize "regular" because they also offer a vegan, gluten free tasting menu as well. You can choose to do either a 5-course or 8-course tasting from either menus. I will stop here and let the food pictures speak for itself because, while having a baby doesn't allow me much time to blog, I also lost all my notes related to this tasting when I was forced to restore my phone. Long story... Just, enjoy the pictures and know that it's worth it!

Oysters

Mushroom 1/2

Mushroom 2/2

Hamachi

Potato

Foie Gras

Lamb

Chocolate

Stilton

Petit Fours

The Pass

807 Taft St.

Houston, TX

http://passandprovisions.com/

Eats: BRC Gastropub

For some reason, I never really cared to try BRC until recently. With a girlfriend, we were supposed to go to Max's Wine Dive but, changed our minds last minute and decided to try BRC instead. I'm glad we did. Their brussel sprouts are amazing! The word "cream" kind of put me off at first but, it was light and the combination of it and their bacon jam really worked.

The sandwich that I ordered was pretty good as well. I really like their bacon jam and pickled jalapeno. If it weren't for that, it would've been just an average chicken sandwich.

As is the case with most restaurants in Washington area, the restaurant's drawback is their lack of parking. We had to circle around a few times before we could find a spot.

Brussel Sprouts
sultanas, bacon jam, cream, parsley

Fried Chicken & Cheddar Biscuits
cheddar cheese, cream gravy, bacon jam, sweet jalapeno

BRC Gastropub

519 Shepherd

Houston, TX

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

Eats: River Oaks Donuts' Cro-wnut

Cronut (croissant donut) is a big hype at the moment, especially in NYC. In Houston, there are a handful of donut shops that make them, River Oaks Donuts being one. They only make about 30-40 of these a day and they sell out fast! You can call in advance to reserve them, which is what I did.

This is the first time I tried a cronut. The River Oaks Donuts' version taste like a dense donut. Personally, I'm not a fan since I like my donuts soft and pillowy. Maybe I need to fly to NYC and try the original cronut! Yea, I like that idea!

River Oaks Donuts

3601 Westheimer Rd.

Houston, TX

http://www.riveroaksdonuts.com/

Eats: Tasty Tuesday's Food Truck Meetup

The Galleria area is finally getting it's share of food truck love! Every second Tuesday of the month, several food trucks gather around Apache/Stewart Title's office complex from 11am-2pm. This month, approximately a dozen food trucks participated.

Skratch Food Truck

Honestly, there are so many food trucks popping around Houston now, I can't keep track anymore. I've never heard of Skratch before. Passing by, a sign that said "lobster roll" caught my attention. I couldn't help but to get one. Their lobster roll was pretty good for Houston standards and I like that it wasn't doused in mayo. 

Lobster Roll
Live Maine Lobster, Chives, Dill, Celery, Mayo

Golden Grill
I've actually heard of them before but, I don't always crave grilled cheese sandwich (their specialty) so I don't usually seek them out. That day, a grilled cheese sandwich sounded good. I ordered the Hamlin which had prosciutto and jalapeno jam. The jam was definitely the highlight of the sandwich! Without it, it was just an average grilled cheese sandwich.

The Hamlin
Prosciutto, american cheese, jalapeno jam

The Waffle Bus

I've been wanting to try them for some time now. I debated whether to get a savory or sweet waffle. In the end, sweet waffle won me over. I got the smores and it was really good! The only drawback was the wait time - think I waited close to half an hour for my waffle.

Smores
Chocolate ganache, graham cracker crumble, toasted marshmallow

Muiishi Makirritos
This is one of my favorite food trucks in Houston. It's the only one that I've tasted so far that puts out restaurant quality food out of a truck. My favorite things to order from them are the shwimps 'n grits, bacon jammin' biscuits, and anything with pork belly whether it's the rice bowl or sushi roll.

Shwimp 'n Grits
Spicy stone ground grits, 62° egg, tempura shrimp, sous vide pork,
fried shitake mushrooms

Pork Belly Don Juan
Sous vide pork belly, 62° egg, fried shittake and oyster mushrooms,
pickled cucumber, takuan and kim chi.

Mac 'n Cheese Eggroll
Redneck cheddar, marieke smoked gouda, ground beef, applewood bacon.

Tasty Tuesday

1990 Post Oak Blvd

Houston, TX