Momiji, Seattle

1522 12th Avenue

Seattle, WA

 

Late in the summer last year, W and I headed down to Seattle to attend a baby celebration thrown by one of W's friend. It was gorgeous outside but extremely hot that weekend! The heat really tired us out so we decided to have an early dinner before retiring back to the hotel.

 

A quick search on Google maps brought us to Momiji, a Japanese restaurant that combines the stylish with the traditional, both in terms of decor and food.

We got lucky and scored a table in their beautiful Japanese-style courtyard during happy hour!

 Lychee Lemonade ($4)

On that warm evening, I started with a refreshing lychee lemonade.

Albacore Poke ($8)

We ordered exclusively off the happy hour menu so W and I sampled 5 different small plates for our meal. First came the Albacore Poke which had cubes of Albacore tuna, cucumber, and onion slivers dressed in a spicy soya sauce. I didn't expect it to be THAT spicy so W ended up finishing this bowl.

 Sushi Set B ($8) - Yellowtail, salmon, tuna, albacore tuna

Then, the 4 piece nigiri sushi set arrived. These were well prepared with the fish being fresh and rice seasoned just right. My favourite was the Albacore tuna because it is rarely available in sushi joints back home, and for $2 to boot!

 Unagi Roll ($6)

Continuing with sushi, we ordered the simple but yummy Unagi roll.  It had avocado, cucumber and a thin piece of the bbq-ed eel.

 Crispy Calamari ($6)

Another item from the happy hour menu was the deep fried calamari. It had a nice, light, crispy batter and was delish on its own, without the dipping sauce, too. The side salad helped keep things fresh and bright.

 Grilled Garlic Short Ribs ($7)

Lastly, we had the grilled beef short ribs. They were marinated in a sweet and savoury soya sauce, similar to a Korean BBQ sauce. They were tasty but W and I thought it could have been cooked a bit longer. It was also something that we could easily make on our own barbecue grill haha.... 

Nonetheless, we were very pleased with the sushi and the cooked dishes at Momiji. We loved the decor and ambiance, while the service was attentive and polite. The prices from happy hour was definitely the cherry on top though!

Raisu

2340 W 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC


I tend to gravitate towards eye-catching food (who doesn't?!). Some time ago, I noticed a lot of people posting photos of The Ocean's Offering sushi plate from Raisu. Social media, once again, has done its job and successfully drew me in to try the sister restaurant of Kingyo and Suika.

I chose there to have my birthday dinner with some friends. As it was a nice summer day, we sat out on their enclosed patio. It was nice and bright, and I loved the deep wood, earth tones of the dining area.

Raisu Punch - Calpico, kiwi, pineapple, aloe juice, soda

I started off with one of their non-alcoholic drinks (mocktail, if you will). Refreshing and sweet!

The Ocean's Offering ($24) - Cured with salt and vinegar, varieties of visually appealing daily pressed seafood sushi will awaken your senses.

We had to call in and reserve this special dish in advance. There are only a limited number of them made each day!

Presented in a cute, jigsaw puzzle like pattern, there were a few different toppings on the pressed sushi rice like tuna tataki, salmon with salmon roe and tamago (sweet egg omelet). Not only is it photogenic, it is pleasing to the palate as well!

Seafood "Donabe Takikomi" ($24) - Sea urchin and snow crab on top of Raisu’s original broth rice in a 'Donabe' (a Japanese clay pot), topped with Shiso herb, salmon caviar, and crab miso butter

This claypot rice with sea urchin and snow crab was also an item that must be ordered in advance. When the toppings and the rice were mixed together, it produced a fragrant and creamy rice dish that felt luxurious in your mouth and warm and homey in your tummy haha... Definitely a must-try!

Ocean Green Salad ($9) - Fresh aromatic Japanese greens, mizuna leaves, radish sprouts, shredded cabbage, and thinly sliced onions balanced with Shio Konbu kelp, dried shrimp and sardines

Our obligatory "healthy" dish came in the form of the Ocean Green Salad.  It was fresh and light which balanced the remaining heavy dishes of the night hehe...

Minced Meat Cutlet Teishoku (single) - Breaded minced meat cutlet made with 100% premium wagyu beef and house special dressing on the side

Next up we tried the deep fried minced beef cutlet. Raisu actually specializes in "teishoku" (set meal in Japanese) but since we already ordered the clay pot rice as our starch, we opted out of the set meal and ordered it as a singular dish. 

Another beautifully executed dish! The panko crust was golden brown and crispy while the minced beef patty was hot and juicy.

Grilled Fish Teishoku (single $16) - served with in-house "tsukemono" pickled vegetables

Also on the teishoku menu, we chose the grilled fish without the set meal combo. I don't know what kind of fish it was though, but just like the cutlet, the meat was cooked just right. The meat flaked off with a nudge but it was not dry at all. The umami soya sauce on the side held up to the lightly smokey fish.

Wagyu Beef Hamburg Teishoku (single $23) - 100% Premium Wagyu Beef patty drizzled with a dense, rich Hatcho Miso Demi-glace sauce, served with oven roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables

Lastly, to REALLY fill up our bellies, we ordered the Wagyu Hamburger patty bathed in a seriously hearty and delicious gravy. The Wagyu beef patty was juicy and amazing as expected but the sauce was definitely a surprise star in this dish! This time, we wished we had some rice to soak up all the rich and meaty sauce :( 

Although not cheap eats, these homestyle dishes at Raisu made a wonderful and memorable birthday dinner!

Portland Lunch Eats 2017

After our time in Lincoln City, we travelled back to Portland before making our way up North. After driving hours from the coast back inland, we were famished for lunch! We stopped by the store location of Nong's Khao Man Gai to get our fix of chicken and rice!

Nong's Khao Man Gai

609 SE Ankeny Street, Suite C

Chicken and Rice (Big size, mixed dark and white meat $14.75)- Poached, organic kosher raise chickens with jasmine rice simmered in chicken stock and Thai herbs, served with sauce of fermented soybeans, ginger, garlic, thai chilies, vinegar, house made syrup and soy sauce. Garnished with cucumbers and cilantro, and accompanied by a light soup

W and I shared the large size chicken and rice and it came with an ample amount of rice and de-boned meat. At no extra cost, I asked for a side of the chicken livers too XD I am A-ok with eating offal so it was a cool accompaniment to the rice. It was yummy dipped in their special house-made sauce!

Just like their food cart, the store was a no-frills, no gimmicks kind of place. Their dishes and utensils evoked an era from the past which lends itself to a kind of authenticity. For a more comfortable place to sit down and eat khao man gai, the store location is the place to be.

 Spam Musubi ($3) - Seared marinated spam over rice, wrapped in nori (seaweed)

The next day, we stopped by the downtown food trucks for lunch. While W and I browsed all the selections, we bought a spam musubi from 808 Grinds. They pan fry the spam and hand-wrap the musubi after ordering so you know it's freshly made every time!

After walking many rounds and lots of hemming and hawing, we ended up with an order of mac and cheese from the aptly-named Mac & Cheese Bar.

 Mac & Trees ($8) - Classic mac 'n cheese with broccoli, parmesan and breadcrumbs

Lemon Shake-up ($2.50)- Fresh pressed lemonade

I chose the Mac & Trees which had their classic mac and cheese added with some broccoli florets. It made the decadent pasta a little less guilty haha... I also got their freshly-squeezed lemonade to wash down the gooey and heavy pasta.

W chose to try the buttermilk fried chicken from Just Chicken.

2 piece buttermilk fried chicken with 2 sides ($9) - wing and drum stick, kale salad, and a bag of potato chips

This combo came with a drumstick and a wing, as well as 2 sides of our choice. W left the choosing to me again so I went with the kale salad, for a bit of healthy punch, and a bag of chips (which totally negates the benefits of the salad LOL...). The chicken was pretty good. The skin was nice and crunchy while the meat was still soft and juicy. Not bad for a simple lunch.

The Portland food scene is always something that attracts us to go back time and time again. Can't wait to head back there again!

Mo's Annex Newport - Mo's Seafood & Chowder

657 SW Bay Blvd.
Newport, OR

My family's annual road trip destination for 2017 was the Oregon Coast. We rented a beautiful ocean-front home in Lincoln City for a couple days and spent one of those days driving and sight-seeing along the coast.

We stopped by Newport for lunch and decided to try out Mo's Annex. There was actually another Mo's diagonally across the street, the Original Mo's at Newport! But seeing that the menu at Original Mo's consisted of mostly deep fried seafood, we leaned towards the seafood served at Mo's Annex more.

Mo’s Clam Chowder (Family size $16.95) - New England Style with Bacon

We started off with the family-sized clam chowder. It was a pretty large portion, being able to fill up around 6 bowls of soup. The chowder was thick and creamy with lots of meaty clam pieces. This was delicious and perfect for a cool, windy day by the sea!

Hot Crab & Shrimp Artichoke Dip ($14.95) - Served with sour dough bread

In order to try the most amount of food as possible, we ordered a few items for sharing between all of us. After the chowder, the crab, shrimp and artichoke dip came next. There were pieces of sour dough bread to slather the creamy dip on.

 Steamer Clams ($10.95) - Pound of steamer clams sautéed in garlic butter and

white wine served with melted butter

Toasted sour dough bread also accompanied the bowl of steamer clams. It was a joy to soak up the briny and savoury clam broth with the bread! The clams were yummy too but some of them still had a bit of sand in the meat.

Best Of The Bay ($15.95) - Shrimp skewers, oyster shooter, shrimp cocktail and steamed clams. Serves 2-4

This appetizer platter originally came with a couple raw oyster shooters but the server told us that they ran out of fresh oysters that day >___<  An extra skewer of shrimp replaced the oysters but we were still disappointed. The steamed clams were the same as the Steamer Clams and the shrimp cocktail was a dish of tiny bay shrimps topped with cocktail sauce. Overall, this platter was just ok.

Seafood Cioppino ($17.95) - Yaquina Bay Oysters, Pink Shrimp, Wild Alaskan Salmon, Alaskan Cod and Steamer Clams and Crab Legs simmered in a rich italian sauce topped with parmesan cheese and served with garlic cheese bread

Our last shared dish was the Seafood Cioppino. With 6 different kinds of seafood bathing in a tangy and cheesy tomato sauce, we thought this was the best deal of the meal! 

With this seafood lunch costing just over $100 for the 9 of us, Mo's Annex was one of the highlights of this trip! No wonder it's popular amongst the locals and tourists!

Bruxie, Las Vegas

3782 South Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV

The land between New York New York hotel and Monte Carlo hotel has been revamped due to the addition of the T-Mobile Arena. This pedestrian-friendly outdoor space (named The Park) is lined with new restaurants. One of them is Bruxie, a California-based eatery from which they claim the chicken and waffle sandwich originated ("The Original Fried Chicken and Waffle Sandwich").

W and I came here for a lunch visit. We chose one savoury and one sweet sandwich to share.

Backyard BBQ Chicken Waffle Sandwich - Double-dipped fried chicken, Carolina BBQ sauce, cheddar, crispy onion straws, cider slaw

The Backyard BBQ Chicken Waffle Sandwich was their featured special that day. When it came to the table, we could barely see the waffle underneath! This was jam-packed with pieces of fried chicken that had been tossed in a tangy BBQ sauce, then stopped with cheese, slaw, and the super yummy crispy onions...mmm yum!

The waffle wasn't what we expected though. The waffles at Bruxie were thinner and more crispy than the usual buttermilk or Liege waffles. However, it held up to the filling and didn't become soggy from all that sauce. Still, the chicken and waffle sandwich was pretty messy to eat!

Creme Brulee Waffle Sandwich - with seasonal fruit

My absolute favourite was the Creme Brulee Waffle! My mouth just salivates thinking about it! The waffle has been slathered with a vanilla custard, sprinkled with sugar and torched until brown and crunchy. Then, fresh strawberries were placed in the middle before closing up the sandwich. Oh my goodness, the soft but crispy waffle + the bruleed custard + fresh strawberries = best combination EVERRR!! 

Green Eggs and Ham - grilled ham, melted cheddar, two large eggs, mayo, arugula pesto

Before our flight back home, we stopped by Bruxie for breakfast. The whimsical name caught my attention so I chose the Green Eggs and Ham waffle sandwich as our savoury item and, of course, I couldn't resist ordering the Creme Brulee waffle sandwich again. 

The flavours of the breakfast waffle was pretty typical. I was surprised that the arugula pesto was not as pungent as I thought it'd be. Overall, the sandwich was tasty but we were not "wow-ed" by it.

Obviously, the creme brulee waffle was, once again, a superstar in my books!! It was made with strawberries again so I'm not sure what other seasonal fruit would be used during other times. They should just stick with the strawberries forever LOL...

Aside from In 'n Out, Bruxie is now one of our must go-to places when visiting Vegas!

Market Street Cafe, Las Vegas

12 East Ogden Avenue

Las Vegas, Nevada

Aside from all the trendy, upscale restaurants, there are many down-home, bargain eateries in Las Vegas. A quick Internet search led me to Market Street Cafe. Their website boasts their famous ox-tail soup, a $9.99 prime rib dinner special and many other awesome deals!  

The cafe is actually a 24-hour diner located within the California Hotel and Casino. Their extensive menu offers various American dishes and Hawaiian specialties.

Ox-tail Soup ($10.99)

For some reason, their ox-tail soup is only served from 11:00 PM till 9:00 AM the next morning. Well, it worked out perfectly for us because after attending the Backstreet Boys concert, W and I were hungry and the serving time has just started!

I don't know if my brain was fried from all the excitement of the BSB show or what but I did not have any pre-conceived notions of how the ox-tail soup would be like. W and I both ordered a soup for ourselves but when it came, it was a ginormous bowl of beef broth filled with stewed tender ox-tail pieces. There were also lots of simmered carrots, celery, tomato and onion chunks AND it came with a bowl of white rice! 

As a fan of meat and bone broth, this was simple and hearty. There was so much meat on the ox-tail that I didn't even touch the rice. For the ample portion of meat, veggies, soup and even a side of rice, the price was good. However, if you want to talk about price and portion, probably the best bang-for-your-buck at Market Street Cafe would be their prime rib dinner special.

From 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM every night, their Prime Rib Dinner Special is only $9.99!!

It includes soup or salad, an 8 oz. prime rib, veggies, a choice of starch, and Cherries Jubilee for dessert.

Both W and I went for the DIY salad at their old-school salad bar. Sure brings back memories of my childhood! The selections were typical buffet salad bar items (think canned corn, iceberg lettuce, imitation bacon bits, and goopy salad dressing) but for this price, we were A-ok with it.

Medium rare prime rib - served with horseradish and au jus for the steak, green beans and baked potato with butter and sour cream on the side

Our main event has arrived! I ordered my steak medium rare and it turned out pretty pink! I was quite pleased at the doneness! The meat was tender and juicy but the outer crust could have used more seasoning. The prime rib came with a side of green beans (which W did not touch), and I chose the baked potato as my starch. The green beans were salted well but overcooked. The potato was not bad. It came with butter and sour cream on the side. I used my artificial bacon bits from the salad bar to sprinkle on the potato too lol...

Cherries Jubilee

Finally, dessert time! The Cherries Jubilee was like a parfait of sweet cherry compote, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top. A piece of wafer cookie was placed on the side. I'm not a big fan of cherries but it paired nicely with the vanilla ice cream. A nice bit of cold creamy sweetness to end the meal!

For all this, we dropped $20 (plus taxes and tips) and hugged our stuffed tummies back out the door! It wasn't like amazing, gourmet food but definitely something to experience while in Vegas.