Indo Cafe

Indo cafe's bakwan malang

My favorite dish in Indo Cafe.
It is a thin rice noodles in a clear broth-soup with meatballs, tofu, and fried siomay.
Very suitable to eat during rainy days of Seattle!

P.S: dont forget to order tempeh mendoan as appetizer and es teler as dessert if you visit indo cafe!

Indo Cafe
www.myindocafe.com

543 NE Northgate Way # J

Seattle, WA 98125-6155
(206) 361-0699

Zen Garden Restaurant

Bored with the usual DimSum places in ChinaTown?

Try "Zen Garden Restaurant"
or formerly Imperial Garden Restaurant at MillCreek.


Zen Garden is cleaner and more neat than the normal usual DimSum restaurant with reasonable price. It is somewhat like Noble Court Restaurant in Bellevue. However, the way you order the food is little different. They do not offer the food in the carts like how usually dimsum is. You order your food from the menu and they will bring them out.

Food is really good, really fresh, and less oily. A must try! :)

Smoked Salmon crepe @jewel box cafe $8.95

Dilettante on Broadway

Craving for some chocolates dessert at night? Come to Dilletante!
opens until 1am on Fridays

In the pictures are their biscotti dipped white chocolates - great with coffee/ latte
and Chocolate Sundae.
Not forgetting to mention, the cake is the smooth strawberry chantilly cake.

I often wonder what is Chantilly....it sounds so nice. So, I wiki-ed chantilly.
Here is what I got:
Chantilly cream or crème Chantilly is a sweetened whipped cream,
sometimes vanilla-flavoured.

Yum!

Dilettante on Broadway
538 Broadway Ave East
Seattle, WA 98102

30 for $30 Dining in Seattle

Do you enjoy fine dining 3-course meal, but always surprised looking at the bills?
Here is an option for you.
Enjoy 3-course dinners for $30 (exclude tips & taxes)
during November 1-29 at 30 popular restaurants.
Check out:
http://www.dinearoundseattle.org/restaurants.php

Some of my favorite restaurants:
~Chez Shea - Citysearch's winner for most romantic place 2008
and
Nishino - Japanese sushi house located at Madison Park.

Ohana's Banana Foster

This is a must-try dessert at Ohana!
It kinda taste like "kolak" -Indonesian dessert..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolak
but flavored with Rum.

They usually flame the rum at your table
so that you get the fresh smell of rum,
edge-burned bananas and melted vanilla ice cream.

Describing this, I kinda feel I need one myself....... :)

TWIST

TWIST at the Pomeroy
2313 1st Ave
Seattle, WA 98121-1616
(206) 448-9478

Review is coming up on their happy hour

KuKuRuZa Popcorn Shop

After returning from Chicago last year, I keep on wanting the caramel & cheese mix popcorn from Garrett. For not so long, Kukuruza Popcorn was opened in downtown seattle and I soon am a regular customer. I love the caramel and cheese combination. But, as I also like chocolate, I usually ask them to mix the "Dark Chocolate Caramel" with the cheese. Pictured below is their flavor of the month "Egg Nog Chocolate Caramel Corn with Brandy" mixed with cheddar cheese.
Yummyyyyy!




Kukuruza Gourmet Popcorn
215 Pike Street (Pike and Third)
Seattle, WA 98101

Palisade's and Salty's Sunday Brunch

One Sunday, I decided to try Palisade's brunch (http://www.palisaderestaurant.com/page/home) since one of my bestfriend has been raving about it. It is little dissapointing for me because my friend said that it is better than Salty's (http://www.saltys.com/) Granted that Palisade's brunch is cheaper than Salty's, it might be best for less choices and portion control for brunch- where as at Salty's, people has high tendency to peak out.
Palisade's Brunch's Luau Bar cost only $27 -while if you order entree from their breakfast menu (ranges from $30-$40/ entree), the luau bar comes with it. Saltys Brunch cost $38.95.

From the view- scenery point, personally, I love the marina! It is hard to find a good day in Seattle for a clear Lake Washington view from the Salty's (last time I went there it was foggy >.<) But, anyhow, below is some of the picture from my salty's brunch. enjoy!

$8.25 Afternoon Treat

Me and my dessert addiction is back! This afternoon, I took a little stop during my afternoon errand to Belle Epicurean again. This time, i tried their rum ball, orange macaroon, and dipped chocolate black forest cake.

The rum ball is very good, even though kinda too sweet for me. Everything is a little too sweet for me, but I guess if I had paired them with black coffee or plain tea, it will be perfect. You can certainly taste the rum that makes you warm inside- highly recommended for a cold day like today.

The macaroon is ok.....I like Bakery Nouveau's parisian macaroons better (pictured below) - it is more fluffy..



The black forest dipped chocolates is the best! Cute small size with heavenly strawberry layered cake inside. I love the sweet and sour-y taste from the strawberry jam.

After all of these, I am paying the calories off by swimming- I think I still owe some to my body :P

Facing East Taiwanese in Bellevue

My friends keep on recommending this restaurant to me before.
They say it is one of the best Taiwanese restaurant in town. I imagined that the place will be like the usual Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (small and a little dirty)- or like Cafe Ori and Yea's Wok (normal Chinese dining places- white with decent tables and chairs without any interior designing) However, this Facing East restaurant is quite different. Though the place is small, it is nicely painted with somewhat earthy-toned bold colors and nice lighting that make the place a little romantic (- I say it is comparable with Tamarind Tree restaurant in Chinatown in terms of their ambience)

There is not a lot of choices in their menu either. I tried their pork burger, which I like, made of pork with basil, pickled lettuce, sweet and sour sauce, and brown sugar.

The other food that my friend recommended me was the spiced pork over rice. This is tasty, but not really that special, because I think you can get it somewhere else as tasty as this.

I also tried their five spiced chicken and It was OK. I prefer Chiang's Gourmet in Lake City's five star chicken. By the time I am almost full with all the food, I am ready to save room for their shaved ice. I read at Yelp's review that they have the beans shaved ice that's really good. I didn't see it on the menu, but I asked my server for it, and they have it. It is shaved ice with seven different beans combination together with grass jelly. It is really good!!! -The small bowl of the shaved ice is big enough for two or three people.
I will come back alone just for the shaved ice (and the pork burger probably, if im that hungry ;))

Nijo Sushi

Yesterday, I went to Nijo Sushi with two of my girlfriends after work.
Located at the corner of 1st and Spring St, it is a cute small restaurant.
They have quite lot of selection for happy hour food (from $3-$5/ portion)
and great cocktails choices.
The only downside from the happy hour is just that you have to order a drink, although non alchoholic beverages is fine (Coke is $2).

I tried their Bainbridge Islander, Agedashi Tofu, Chef Selections, Green Tea Tempura Ice cream ($3 during happy hour- normally $5) and Blueberry Morning cocktail- Stilo Blueberry with Cranberry & Pineapple juice =)

The Blueberry Morning cocktail is great- it is not too strong & not too sweet. Their Agedashi tofu is firmer than the usual tofu, I'd say it is an ordinary agedashi tofu- "so-so" and for the sushi......it is fresh! they don't mix their sushi with cream cheese/ mayonaise/ or other seasonings. it is what it said it is- like the bainbridge islander (pictured) is just asparagus, cucumber, salmon, and shrimp. Plain, fresh, and orgininally flavorful.
I will come back when i want plain fresh sushi.

Mi La Cay

As mentioned earlier in my blog, I was craving for roast duck at certain period of time.
I wasnt satisfied at all after I tried the roast duck over rice at Regent Bakery & Cafe. So the weekend after that, I went to Mi La Cay with friends after church and got this Roasted Duck with noodles. It was really good!!! The meat is tender and flavorful- combined with the thin egg noodles....it's great!

The other picture is the crispy noodle with seafood that my friend ordered. I think it tasted ok. It is decent good for seafood crispy noodle- balanced amount of the veggies and the seafood.

Belle Epicurean

Belle Epicurean
"bringing a piece of Paris to you" is their motto.



I have been a loyal customer of this cafe shop after I tried their dark chocolate walnut brioche bun- I was hooked immediately!
Since it is located only one block away from my workplace, I often go there in the morning before work to relax and refresh myself. Coffee & sweet pastries complement each other perfectly!

Unfortunately, Belle Epicurean decided to discontinue the dark chocolate walnut brioche bun and forcing me to try their almond croissant - Usually I do not like almond croissant because it's always too sweet for me and the paste is too thick (custard like paste) Surprisingly, their almond croissant is very good! Its flaky and salty on the outside, sweet and light on the inside. I have to say, this is the best almond croissant i've found in Seattle.

Ohana Happy Hour

Ohana
~Happy Hour - until 11pm every Monday!

Ohana (means family - if you watch Lilo & Stitch you're surely remember this)
Located at heart of Belltown (1st & Bell St.) is a Japanese-Hawaiian Fusion restaurant.

reviews coming up on my fave Beef Robata & their hand roll crunch spicy sushi..

and mouth-watering banana foster dessert! ~This flambe banana dessert is a must try. I won't post the picture because I am afraid you will drool over your keyboard ;P

.Beef Robatas.
These are the marinated beef skewers to die for!

The meat is tender, the sauce is perfect, accompanied with asparagus ;)

Crunchy Spicy Salmon Hand Roll

DragonFish -Happy Hour

Dragonfish Downtown Happy Hour

reviews coming up soon on their Lime Rock Shrimp! - awesome!!
great deals, loaded shrimps for only $5!

Wann- Japanese Izakaya

Wann-Japanese Izakaya
http://www.wann-izakaya.com/

Their happy hour is all day on Monday!
Compared to Umi and Wasabi Bistro, Wann has less selection on their happy hour sushi menu. Wann offers more traditional japanese tapas like Tatsutaage (Japanese Fried Chicken) and takoyaki.
Personally I think their happy hour menu is not that cheap (only $1-$2.50 difference from their regular menu) and rather small portion, but it tastes good.
I'd recommend their Simply soft tofu and Fire Castle Sushi roll.

Melting Pot happy hour!!

One of my favorite Happy Hour place- They have 2 locations: in Bellevue and Seattle...
The location in Bellevue looks more upscale and newer than the Seattle one.

When I go for the happy hour, I always order the "Brown Sugar and Walnut Brie Cheese" - perfect combination of sweet & salty.

Brie is a soft cows' cheese named after Brie, the French province in which it originated (roughly corresponding to the modern département of Seine-et-Marne)
- learn more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brie

It is not in the regular dinner menu - it is available at their lounge menu, but you can ask the server to bring you the bar menu and you will have more choices of the appetizers than just the normal salads.

I have tried both their happy hour and their regular dining. The regular dining has more choices of chocolate fondue dippings. (The Yin-Yang is quite popular - a combination of white chocolate and dark chocolate) Last time, I also created my own chocolate fondue of milk chocolate & Bailey's - its yummy!

Last tips from me, for Microsoft employees, do not forget to bring your Microsoft Prime Card- you can get some discounts ;)

Regent Bakery & Cafe

Regent Bakery & Cafe
(425) 378-1498
15159 Ne 24th St
Redmond, WA

I went to Regent on Saturday noon. I have never been there for the food, even though i have tried their well-known pretty & delicious cakes! I love their cakes...however, I didn't have pleasant experience with the food and I thought that the service was bad (the server was sort of rushing us... keep on asking whether we were ready to pay, we were done, took our plate and didn't really fill our water)- to top it, I was in shock when my meal (seafood crispy noodle+ taro bubble tea) came to $19.57!- for lunch! i think it's way too expensive, I'd be able to get it for half if i'd gone to another restaurant in china town. I am not planning to come back for the food =(

Roast Duck over rice (my friend said Kau2 has better one)
Buddha Feast Crispy Noodle (I'd say this is the one worth trying)

This seafood crispy noodle is loaded with squids, but it is not worth $13.95@~!@ =( The taste is nothing special that can make me wants to come back.

H-Mart Food Court

Today I went to H-Mart supermarket in Lynnwood (I love the supermarket!!) It is very complete with Asian stuffs (especially their meat & vegetables sections!)

After shopping for several hours, we headed to the food court for dinner at 8.30pm.
We chose the korean place, Hometown and the japanese restaurant, Kobe for the tonkatsu. They also have Pho Vietnamese restaurant and mini belt-sushi place.

The food are great although it is not as cheap as the usual food court food. My Korean Soup (juk-gae-jang) was $7.80 and their bimbimbap is $8.63.

Here are some pictures:

bimbimbap jukgaejang

And the tonkatsu (came with japanese curry):