Houston Eats: The local’s food guide

This past weekend, my appetite took me to Houston. I spent most of my time stuffing my face and being stuck in traffic trying to get place to place. Despite the crappy, rainy, muggy weather that is so Houston, I had a lot of fun. Luckily for me, my hosts/foodie tour guides did a fantastic job of feeding me great stuff. Asian food is exceptional in H-town so that was basically the theme all weekend.

 Friday Night:

Pork Belly Yakitori.

Aka Sushi’s Reverse Happy Hour: This is probably one of the best reverse HH menus I have ever seen. Everything is so cheap. An average of $5 for a variety of rolls, drinks, and appetizers, it was great. We got in a bit late and this place was so packed. But for $20, I had the Negihama, tuna, and spicy salmon rolls, a Lychee Blossom drink (made of lychee liquor and sake) and some pork belly yakitori. My belly was happy.  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy sucking down all those lychee blossoms to care. Pork belly however…very pic worthy.

 Saturday:

Bun Bo Hue

Duc Chuong Bun Bo Hue: This place only serves bun bo hue, the popular noodle counterpart to pho. The consensus remains that Pho Tay Do in Dallas still has the better flavor and recipe. It was still pretty delicious though.

Spicy Pad Thai that rocked my world.

Raad Na

Thai Gourmet: This place is ……tucked away next to some sketchy looking buildings, but man this is some of the best Thai food I’ve had. Their Raad Na is better than my moms! Don’t tell my her I said that. We all shared Pad Thai, Crab Fried Rice and Raad Na, thick pan fried noodles serves with a savory brown gravy, Chinese broccoli and slices of beef. Drooool. All I can do is drool and wish for more.

 Sunday:

Don’t let this photo fool you. It was aitee.

Fung’s Kitchen: This dim sum sucked. Usually on a Sunday, I wake up and I’m ready to eat something amazing for brunch. I’m either in the mood for eggs, hash browns, and pancakes or some serious dim sum destruction. I was ready for those shrimp dumplings and chicken feet, all of which is smothered in soy sauce and chili, but alas…it was overall disappointing. I cried a little on the inside when I was done sucking all the meat off the bones and realized it wasn’t as good as I hoped. Boo. Sticking to Kim Son or those other dinky little dim sum place next time.

Steamed Banh Bao

The Holy Grail of banh bao deliciousness.

TP Banh Bao: This. THIS. Omg. This was so good. Of all the things I had to eat, this was my favorite. I had no idea what it was, but after throwing down a few and then realizing there’s nothing like this in Dallas, I was really heart broken. Basically, they are small buns with ground pork, some egg, and chives on the inside and they are normally served steamed. This place, however, serves them steamed AND fried. I could slap myself for not buying 3 boxes or more to go. My friends say it taste magical. I think it’s more like crack, because now I can’t stop thinking about them. This place is hidden away in the Hong Kong Market, which was hell finding, but well worth it.

Beignets

Chez Beignets: Nothing compared to Café Du Monde in NOLA. They are probably nothing like the light delicious authentic stuff, but there was powdered sugar on it. I didn’t ask anymore questions.