I Left My Heart in Seattle

During my summer holiday, I went to Seattle for a couple of times and this is one of the many trips. My brother's friend was telling him about some good places to eat and Facing East was on the list. The second place that we always go to whenever we visit Seattle is, Tapioca Express.

We had to wait for around 20 minutes for our table. The wait number was a wooden rice ladle!

Their Opening Hours.

After a long wait, we finally got our table. This dish is called Pork Burger. It tasted a bit weird to me because it was a bit sweet mixed with savory. The wrap bread was really good though. 6/10

Tea Time!

Chinese food without tea is like cereal without milk. This was Jasmine Tea served with sweet-garlic cracker. I'm not sure what that is, but it smells like garlic and it tasted sweet. Good tea and looks quite fancy. 9/10

Five Spices Beef Wrap, the wrap was soft and crispy on the edges. Inside, it's minced beef and tiny bits of onion. I liked this better than the burger because the meat was definitely softer and the wrap is more crunchy. 8/10

Rice is one of the essential in an Asian dine. This is Sakura Fried Rice, I've always loved fried rice no matter what's in it. This simple meal was definitely the best compared to the other meals I tried in this restaurant. It consisted of egg, bacon, onion, and of course rice. 9/10

Egg Tofu, this dish looks more like vegetables with tofu instead of the Tofu being the main ingredient. The was around 5 pieces of heavenly good Egg Tofu. Though I must say that I was quite disappointed my the quantity, but I was really impressed by the quality served. The tofu was really soft and fragile. The sauce was thick and not too strong, just right. 8/10

Sweet and Sour Pork, another yummy pork dish. A mixture of sweet and sour sauce, of course. The pork was really crispy and the sauce was really generous. It consists of crispy pork, onion, red pepper, and the sweet-and-sour sauce. I'm not a fan of sweet and sour, to me they taste funny. 5/10

More pork, Pork Chop. I didn't eat a lot of this because I am not a fan of pork and meat with bones/ribs/whatever you call it. I did eat one of those, it was really soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. YUM! 6/10

There's always space for dessert, am I right? Red Bean Shaved Ice for dessert was definitely the best. We were so full, but we saw a table right across us eating this sweet thing. It was a lot, but we managed to finish the whole thing. Ice was not just cold plain ice, it was sweet. They used condensed milk and some syrup on the bottom for the flavor. The red bean was fresh, soft, and kinda sweet. BEST OF ALL! 10/10

The next day, we went to our favorite bubble tea place, Tapioca Express. Their avocado with pudding and chocolate is definitely a MUST-TRY.

Avocado juice with pudding and chocolate condensed milk. You can choose to add more chocolate, no pudding, or with tapioca. To me, I've never tasted any avocado bubble tea this good. Yum! You can call first and ask whether or not they still have the avocado. 10/10

It looks like a pudding or anything other than a Taiwanese Meatball. I was hoping for something round like any normal meatball would look like. It was soft, gooey, salty with a mix of sweet, and full of meat! The sauce was really yummy and thick. The outer gooey part reminds me of pad see uw, definitely not my favorite. 4/10

Pork Sauce Noodle, YUM! Reminds me of the chicken noodle I love to eat back home in Indonesia. The noodle was soft and the pork was tender and it tastes just right. I love it! 9/10

I love any types of curry rice. This is Curry Chicken Katsu, three of my favorite things mixed in a dish. Egg, chicken katsu, and curry! I must say I loved the pork noodle better than this, but they both scored the same to me. The curry was really thick with a mix of potatoes in it. The smell of the curry was really strong, fresh. Chicken Katsu was crispy and the egg was over-and-easy. 9/10

This is Pork BBQ. The meat is tender and the portion was huge! It was definitely evenly divided, 1/2 portion of rice and the other 1/2 is something to eat it with. The salad was also fresh and healthy because there wasn't that much sauce, it could be a bad thing for some people, but I liked it that way. 10/10

This is their special dish in Tapioca Express, Popcorn Chicken! I suggest that every time you order this, ask for at least 1 star of spiciness because the spices is what makes it a good dish. Not to worry, 1 star isn't that spicy because my brother who has weak tongue could pull it off. 9/10

Last but not the least, Spare Ribs. Let's start with the egg because it's my favorite! It was over-and-easy and cooked perfectly well. The meat was tender and there are lots of fat which makes it really soft, for fat-lovers, this might tastes really good to you :) the portion was big. 7/10

The Facing East is located in Bellevue, WA and it costed around $20 per person for all the meals I ate. Tapioca Express is a whole different kind of dining, this rather small place might count as fast food and people usually hangs out here, not for a dining occasion, but they do serve good food too! It costed around $10 per person max for one drink and a meal.

Facing East
1075 Bellevue Way NE 
(between 10th St & 12th St) Bellevue, WA 98004 
(425) 688-2986
YELP


Tapioca Express
(NEW, better interior and larger)
15230 NE 24th Street. #R
Redmond, WA 98052 
(425) 643-9406
YELP

(OLDER, I like it here better, run out of avocado faster)
22315 Highway 99 Ste. #A
Edmonds, WA 98026
(425) 774-6764
YELP

Yuzu: Best Japanese Restaurant in Portland

This Japanese restaurant is located in Southwest Portland, Beaverton. Yuzu is probably the best Japanese restaurant I've ever been to. Also my favorite place to eat supper or dinner. Monday - Friday, they open 6pm-9pm and on Saturday, 6pm-9pm. Sometimes it gets crowded around dinner time, 6-8 so be prepared to wait. Two best dishes I ALWAYS order are Kakuni Ramen(ramen and Pork belly) and Katsu Don(chicken katsu and rice).

Gyoza or potstickers. This was very crispy and full of meat and vegetables. The sauce was salty and a bit sweet. Big portion  for appetizer, perfect for sharing and starter. (7/10)

Every time you order their Ramen, they always give you the garlic and sesame seeds. Add these to your ramen!

Menchi Katsu, This is a breaded and deep-fried ground meat cutlet or croquette; a fried meat cake. The meat is pork. It was really soft and the teriyaki sauce makes it even more tasty, also the mayonnaise makes it a perfect combo. (9/10)

Katsudon, this is my favorite dish in this restaurant. They offer 3 different sizes for this dish; mini, regular, and extra rice for the hungry ones. The white thing on top is egg, with the chicken katsu below it and rice on the very last layer. The egg is somehow what makes it good because it is half-cooked and when you mix it with the rice, it adds flavor to it. (10/10)

Here's the signature dish, Kakuni Ramen. Spring onions, red ginger, pork belly, ramen, and the amazing broth. The pork belly is one whole square cube that melts in your mouth. The broth was something extraordinary as it tastes something like I've never tasted anywhere else. The broth was strong, but no too much. The ramen was soft, but not still munch-able. The best! (10/10) 

Here's the amazing piece of pork belly. Very generous, thick, and huge. Isn't it tempting? If you are interested in trying the ramen, but not a fan of pork belly, you should order the Tonkotsu Ramen. It is the same as Kakuni Ramen, only without the pork belly.

The total cost for all these delicateness was around $15 per person, DEFINITELY WORTH THE MONEY. 4.5/5 rating on Yelp and 90% 'like it' on Urbanspoon.

Yuzu
4130 SW 117th Ave
Ste H
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 350-1801

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From Portland to Seattle, Japanese to Chinese

I finally have time to write a blog. It's been, let's see... a few weeks since the last time I wrote something on this site. I guess I was too busy having fun with my family. Sometime last month, we went to Seattle for holiday. Here are some of the food we ate and Hakatamon is my brother's favorite. 

Chicken Curry Rice, Yin and Yang of rice and curry. I always come for this. 9/10

Wakame Soba. Seaweed, noodle, and some broth. Healthy and yummy! 7/10

Dragon Roll, Unagi and avocado and sesame seeds on top. It was crispy and a bit sweet from the avocado. Shareable and I shall give this a 8/10

Every time you order a set meal, you will always get a miso soup. By set meal, I meant curry rice, noodle, and all the single meals. 

This place is rather small so sometimes it can be quite packed. That small door leads to an asian market, Uwajimaya.

Next, I'm gonna move on to what I ate in Seattle, Washington. My family would go head over heels for pork. This is our first time to visit this place and it was worth it. It was recommended by my brother's friend and now I'm recommending this to you all. Hue Ky Mi Gia is a chinese noodle house and their specialty is pork noodle. The business started in Saigon, Vietnam in a food cart, they got more popular and now opened a restaurant with 2 branches.

So this is the barbecue pork noodle I was telling you. Those brown stuff are crispy and that's pork. 9/10

This is fried chicken wings. Crispy on every sides, you won't miss it. Yum! 8/10

Warm and soothing wonton soup. This is perfect for dinner! The wonton was FULL of pork. 8/10

Last but not least, roast duck! It tasted like chicken, but better. 7/10

Hakatamon
10500 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 641-4613


Hue Ky Mi Gia
1207 S Jackson St
Ste 101 (between S 12th Ave & S 14th Ave)
Seattle, WA 98144(206) 568-1268

The other location:
18230 E Valley Hwy
Ste 152 (at 184th St) 
Kent, WA 
98032(425) 282-1268
WEB

Chart House: Hot Chocolate Lava Cake

It's summer here in Portland and the heat is killing me. It was a perfect day for my favorite dessert. I brought my family to my favorite dessert place called Chart House. Every time my family comes for a visit, we always never forget to visit our favorite place. This place is all around US, you can find their branches on their website under Menu. The average price per person is around $10+ per person, for dessert.

You can enjoy the great view of Portland while you dine. Even better at night!

Crisp Romaine, shaved Parmesan, Croutons, and our own Caesar dressing. It was honestly the best salad I've ever eaten. It tasted a bit sweet and sour.

Clam Chowder, New England Style Chowder. It was so good! Creamy, delicate, generous amount of clam, and great price too. 

Closer look of the Clam Chowder. I think I need another bowl of that.

Hot Chocolate Lava Cake. It is a must to order this when you dine at Chart House. A rich chocolate cake with molten center, made with Godiva liqueur. Served warm, topped with chocolate sauce, Heath bar crunch and vanilla ice cream. Please allow 30 minutes for preparation. This is why Chart House is my favorite dessert place.

We ended up ordering 2 of this, because one is not enough!

Molten center and a bit crispy on the outside. It was thick and condensed and sweet. Perfection!

Chart House

5700 SW Terwilliger Blvd
Portland, OR 97239

(503) 246-6963

WEB

British Columbia!

I finally have the time to update my blog, again. A few days after my trip to Las Vegas, we went to Vancouver and ate at this place called 'Sun Sui Wah' or the right place to eat King Crabs. It was definitely worth it!

Alaskan King Crab. Before they cook it, they bring out the crab for us to take pictures and or to show us how big the crab we ordered. Fresh from the water!

We tried their special dish, pigeons. It was amazing, tastes like chicken, but softer. The skin was a bit crispy and oily, it was the best part of all to me.

Here is the crab on the previous picture. Cooked, seasoned, and delicious. So, we got to pick different styles of how we want the crab to be cooked. For the legs or 'chelipeds'(?) we wanted it to be steamed in garlic.

For the body, we wanted it to be cooked in "Salted Egg Yolk", but this is what they gave us... Salt and Pepper. It was disappointing, but we managed to complain and they cooked it again for us!

They finally gave us the dish we wanted, good service! This is what we wanted, Salted Egg Yolk. It was amazing!

This is the crab shell, we wanted it to be cooked as Portuguese Fried Rice. The sauce was something similar to curry, but it was not spicy. Inside the shell is rice mixed with a bit of prawn and bits of crab meats.

Portuguese Fried Rice!

Freebies from Sun Sui Wah, warm red bean was a perfect dessert!

After we ate, we decided to walk around Vancouver's downtown and see what is there to see. I found this chocolate place called "Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory". All the things inside looks so cute and appetizing, makes me want to eat everything.

This was in Rocky Ice Cream! Cute designs for chocolate dipped apples, so not sugar-free.

I can't stop staring at the Angry Birds characters, too cute!

More chocolate dipped apples :')

Chocolates, sugars, and more sweets.

Enough for day 1 in Vancouver. The next day, we went to a Greek Restaurant called "Stepho's Souvlaki Greek Taverna" to eat their lamb chops. I don't love it too much, but it was okay. The place was really crowded, but luckily the place was huge. I love how the decoration makes me feel like I'm eating at a Greek house.

All the food they serve!

Just like every Italian restaurants, they serve you bread for appetizer before your entrée. This is Pita Bread.

Their special lamb chops and this is what we came here for.

Medium-well lamb chops with roast potatoes, bege briami (greek salad) and rice pilaf. The briami was really good, you can order separately.

After a yummy Greek lunch, we decided to go to Whistler, BC. Just when we were walking around their street of shops, we found this long queue for ice cream. It's weird how it was cold, but people were buying ice cream. We decided to try "Cows" Ice cream.

Different choices just for their cones!

These are the flavors they offer for the day I came. I think it changes everyday. 

They have waffles too!

We decided to try the Messie Bessie

YUMMMMM! :') It has some brownie bits in it.

That was the end for our Vancouver trip. Just yesterday, we went to Canada again just to eat lunch at 'Sun Sui Wah' and we ordered the exact same dishes for all. I would want to go there for the third time. I found reviews and critiques from newspapers all around the world.  This time, we tried the Russian King Crab, it was definitely better than Alaskan. It was sweet and juicy.

In the afternoon, they also offer Dim Sum. This is Shumai, dumpling filled with prawn. 

This turns out to be their signature dish, "Roasted Squab"

Crab legs steamed with garlic.

Crabs cooked with Salted Egg Yolk

Portuguese Fried Rice!

These are their aquariums for all of the sea creatures you are going to eat.

Mango pudding from the Captain. Yum!

Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant (Where I went to)
3888 Main St
Vancouver, BC V5V 3N9
(604) 872-8822
WEB

Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant
102-4940 No 3 Rd
Richmond, BC V6X 3A5
(604) 273-8208

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
1017 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6E 1A9
(604) 688-4100
WEB

Stepho's Souvlaki Greek Taverna

1124 Davie St
Vancouver, BC V6E 1N1
(604) 683-2555

Cow's Whistler
4295 Blackcomb Way RR 4
Whistler, BC V0N 1B4
(604) 938-9822
WEB