Archive for "Food and Drink"
Oriental Express
Posted on April 26, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Got to try a new place while we were in Topeka this week. It doesn’t look like much inside (or outside for that matter) because it’s a bit of a hole in the wall but it came highly recommended. Lance has eaten here half a dozen times and he keeps coming back so it must be good. LOL.
For starters I recommend ordering the Oriental Express appetizer sampler platter. It’s an excellent value. You get to try several things for about $10. Can’t beat it. Oh, and they’re serious about their chicken satay. You don’t get a bamboo skewer with a little bit of chicken. You get a large piece of chicken on a skewer and you get two of these.
The crab rangoon was just okay. Very few places really have fantastic crab rangoon. It’s not a deal breaker for me. I didn’t get to try any of the other things on the plate because I wanted to save some room for my meal and I could feel myself getting full already just off the one chicken satay and one crab rangoon.
I ordered the triple delight which consisted of shrimp, beef, chicken, and broccoli. The sauce was a little too salty but it was good overall. I mean, that’s what steamed white rice is for after all — to absorb some of the saltiness. Right?
Rachel and Sally both had combination dinners. Rachel had the basil chicken (above) while Sally had the sesame chicken below.
I didn’t know you got dessert with the combination dinner or I would have opted for it also. Their cake thing looked yummy, specially after a savory meal.
Lance was all about the sushi.
I think every time he has dined at Oriental Express he’s always ordered sushi. I must say that the restaurant has quite an extensive menu. They have a full page of sushi options in addition to the Oriental food selections. They have Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai. They offered a smorgasbord of dishes. Seriously. Anything you could think of, they had. It’s easy to see why the place is favored by the locals.
The best part is they have a drive thru window so you don’t even have to come inside when you order take out. If you need food quick, forget the national fast food chains. Just hop on over to Oriental Express. You won’t regret it.
No Comments
The Moose Truck
Posted on April 26, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Did you know that the Blue Moose has a food truck? I didn’t either until we saw it the other day in front of their restaurant in Topeka.
Sally, Lance, and I were in Topeka for training last week. I had eaten at the Blue Moose once before with Tammie, Jimmy, Patrice, and Connie. I don’t really know a lot of restaurants in Topeka so I went ahead and suggested the Blue Moose as a dinner option for the three of us.
Here are some pictures of our food.
These are the shrimp wontons. Not bad. You can’t really go wrong with wontons. You can put just about anything in them. Brian and I have made roast beef and cheese before and called them Philly cheese eggrolls.
Lance ordered crab cakes, which he shared with me and Sally. They were served with two different types of dressing. They were just okay. However, the crab cakes themselves were yummy.
You won’t see any other pictures besides this one because all there of us ordered the fish tacos. There’s really no point taking three pictures of the exact same thing. LOL.
I liked the Blue Moose the first time but I liked it even more this time. I think it’s because I got to try different things this time and they were all very good.
I’ve only eaten at the Blue Moose twice but the restaurant is quickly growing on me. I think this is officially one of my favorite places to eat in Topeka.
No Comments
Fun Friday Night
Posted on April 16, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Zumba.
Had a great Friday. Zumba Master Class with ZES Tony Witt was fantastic. Thanks to Pat and Wheels Studio for bringing Tony to Wichita. What a treat!
Here are some pictures from before and after the Master Class.
After the Master Class everyone headed over to Caffe Moderne for dinner but I couldn’t join them because I was meeting Brian, Jorge, and Tobi at Sabor. It seems to be their favorite place to eat here in town. Maybe because of its proximity to the hotel. The food is great too, though.
Here are some pictures of the food we had at dinner.
This is the adobo pork which Brian and I split. This is half of the entree in the photo.
These are papusas.
Flan. Yum!
Fried cheesecake. Also yummy!
Tres leches cake. One of my favorite desserts at Sabor.
This is probably the most expensive bottle of wine that Brian has drank to date.
I got to try this 20 year old port at the restaurant. I liked it so much that we ended up buying a bottle of it at Groves the other day. It’s good but it was better that night. Probably because I was already a glass of sangria in. LOL. This is definitely one of those drinks you drink when you are finished drinking for the evening.
Had a great time with our Latin American friends as always. Any more, these are the only occasions that I get to practice my limited Spanish. I’m really shy about speaking Spanish normally because I feel very self-conscious. Apparently I get really chatty after a glass of wine. If only I can remember what I’d been talking about the next day then my Spanish skills would be further along. LOL.
What a great Friday night overall!
No Comments
Little Saigon
Posted on April 13, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian had a comp day on Friday because of the long hours he worked during National Sales Meeting. He asked if I wanted to take a day of vacation from work. I thought about it but I had a lot of work to catch up since we’ve been in a bunch of meetings over the last couple of weeks. That, and I usually save my vacation days for taking an actual vacation or for when I’m sick so I don’t have to use my sick leave. I collect sick leave hours like I collect food pictures. LOL.
Brian spent his comp day with Mr. Sprinkler (time to start watering the yard) and also visiting his grandma. It was a productive day for him overall. However, that meant I was on my own for lunch. Faith and I decided to have lunch at Little Saigon. Here are some pictures of our food.
I’m so glad she suggested it because I’d never be able to go otherwise. Brian doesn’t really like these types of restaurants. Actually, he doesn’t like eating out in general.
Anyway, I hadn’t been to Little Saigon in years. I believe the last time that I ate there, the restaurant was called something else. The restaurant’s name was Kim Huong then and, several years before that, it was Pho 99. The restaurant served Vietnamese food then just as it does today. The food is pretty good and the selection is vast. The menu choices are pretty much the same as before actually.
I had the chicken curry when Faith and I were there the other day. It was one of the restaurant’s specials that day. It was delicious but it was a tad too spicy for me. Faith didn’t think it was spicy. I’m just a wimp, I guess.
Little Saigon is one of the better Vietnamese restaurants in town. The interior is bright and wide open with ample seating. It’s not dark and compact like other Oriental restaurants in town. I’d go back to try some of the other items on the extensive menu. Hopefully I can talk Brian into going with me in a few weeks. Ya’ll are welcome to join us. Just holler.
No Comments
Brian’s First Time at Hibachi Boy
Posted on April 13, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian had never been to Hibachi Boy so I took him there on Thursday night while we were in Derby to check out some jeans that Jenni no longer wanted. The story about the jeans is that some of them were actually mine originally. When I gained weight and got bigger, I gave them to Jenni who has always been a smaller size than me even at heaviest. She had a dozen jeans for me to look through and I ended up taking home three of them. There was only one that I’d never seen before so two of them actually came from me and I was finally getting them back after all these years.
The jeans were all low waisted, which is not really my style anymore. I prefer higher waisted jeans. Brian calls them mom jeans. They are not truly high waist jeans but jeans that hit at your natural waistline rather than well below your navel. I like them because they hold my gut in better. The low waisted jeans tend to make me bulge at all the wrong places. Maybe I’m an old lady now. I accept it. LOL.
Anyway, I told Brian that I didn’t really want the those three jeans back. They weren’t my style anymore. Mostly I just took them back to prove a point: that I could fit in them again. Yes. Everyone needs some validation every once in a while. Even me.
So that was the primary reason that we found ourselves in Derby the other day. We hit Hibachi Boy on the way home because Brian had never been there and I figured I would take him to try it. Here are some pictures of our dinner.
We started with the appetizer sample which is supposed to be two fried dumplings, two spring rolls, two crab rangoon, and two chicken wings. They were out of wings though so they just gave us three of everything, which was fine. Although I’m wondering if the wings were really good. They must have been for them to run out of them that early in the evening.
The spring rolls are not really great. Some people probably think they are, but we are spoiled because we are used to lumpia. Any kind of spring roll just pales in comparison.
The fried dumplings were decent. They’re as good as the fried dumplings that you would get at any other place. What Hibachi Boy really did great on this platter was the crab rangoon. The filling had nice creamy consistency and was the just right hint of sweetness. Next time I’d probably skip the sampler platter and just go for an order of the crab rangoon.
Brian had the hibachi chicken and I had the hibachi shrimp. I thought it was pretty good. Brian thought it was just okay. But then he doesn’t really enjoy eating out these days so nothing is ever as good as just eating at home.
What I like about Hibachi Boy is that they give you a little bit of everything. You get both noodles and rice. At other places you have to choose one or the other. You get some vegetables. Not a lot. And you also get bean sprouts. So you get everything that you would get at hibachi restaurants.
The best part about Hibachi Boy is the price. It’s hibachi food at half the price. Then again, it’s more of a fast food setting rather than a nice sit down restaurant setting and the chefs aren’t performing for you but if you really don’t care to have that experience and just want the food just go here. You can even get it to go.
Brian may disagree with me on this one but I really like Hibachi Boy. If I have to eat out anyway and I’m in Derby, I’d probably pick Hibachi Boy. Go check it out if you haven’t already. Hibachi food at half the price. That’s all I got to say.
No Comments
