Another visit to Saigon Grill, and this time, a Vietnamese friend recommended the egg noodles. I ordered the "special", which is egg noodle soup with a pork broth base, char-siu style sliced pork, shrimp, squid, and imitation crab. They also provided an additional plate of sprouts, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime for you to add if you want, just like pho.
I liked their egg noodles better than their pho - the noodles had the right texture, and the soup had more flavor than their pho soup (I think it was from the celery). I'm not a big fan of squid, but the char-siu style sliced pork was very tasty.
If you're in the mood for noodle soup, then you should definitely try something from the egg noodle section of the menu over the pho.
2009-08-30
2009-08-29
Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert
I don't know how many of you reading this are lactose intolerant, but if you are, and if you have ice cream cravings, go to Whole Foods and get yourself a pint of Purely Decadent frozen dessert. Seriously. It's amazing.
I didn't even like ice cream very much, but my mom bought me a pint of the turtle trails when I was home a couple of weeks ago, and this stuff is good.
Turtle trails is vanilla based with chocolate-covered pecans and caramel (my favorite). I've also tried the blueberry cheesecake, which has cheesecake crust pieces and dried blueberries. You should try every flavor and tell me which ones are the best. You should try it, even if you're not lactose intolerant.
Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert, Turtle Trails flavored
(If you go on their website, you can print a coupon for $1 off, too!)
I didn't even like ice cream very much, but my mom bought me a pint of the turtle trails when I was home a couple of weeks ago, and this stuff is good.
Turtle trails is vanilla based with chocolate-covered pecans and caramel (my favorite). I've also tried the blueberry cheesecake, which has cheesecake crust pieces and dried blueberries. You should try every flavor and tell me which ones are the best. You should try it, even if you're not lactose intolerant.
Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert, Turtle Trails flavored(If you go on their website, you can print a coupon for $1 off, too!)
Sushi Love's non-sushi
Being Asian, we don't think most of the things on Sushi Love's menu are authentic enough for our taste (Asian fusion doesn't really float our boats). Being cheap college students, we always go for the House Fried Rice, which is $8 for dinner.
We decided to share a Salt & Pepper Calamari appetizer ($6) and a Beef Fried Rice...
Salt & Pepper Calamari
House Fried Rice with Beef
The calamari was served over crispy straws with a "yum yum sauce" that tasted like soy sauce, a bit of vinegar, sugar, and water. But it went well with the calamari, so I have nothing against it. I also love the calamari. It didn't have a strong squid-y taste, and just the right amount of chewiness.
The fried rice is your typical fried rice: an assortment of vegetables (carrots, sprouts, scallions), eggs, beef. Some of my friends have complained that it's not salty enough, but I don't like things with too strong of a flavor, so for me, it's just right. Also, if you're not a big eater (like me), the fried rice is probably enough for you to share with another non-big eater if you order an appetizer.
In the past, I've tried a few different things off of Sushi Love's menu, but in the end, I felt like the fried rice was still the best deal (keep in the mind the "cheap college student" part!). If you want to spend a few extra bucks, the pineapple fried rice is indeed very good (get it with shrimp). Just my two cents - let me know what's your favorite at this restaurant...
Restaurant: Sushi Love
Price Range: $10-15
We decided to share a Salt & Pepper Calamari appetizer ($6) and a Beef Fried Rice...
Salt & Pepper Calamari
House Fried Rice with BeefThe calamari was served over crispy straws with a "yum yum sauce" that tasted like soy sauce, a bit of vinegar, sugar, and water. But it went well with the calamari, so I have nothing against it. I also love the calamari. It didn't have a strong squid-y taste, and just the right amount of chewiness.
The fried rice is your typical fried rice: an assortment of vegetables (carrots, sprouts, scallions), eggs, beef. Some of my friends have complained that it's not salty enough, but I don't like things with too strong of a flavor, so for me, it's just right. Also, if you're not a big eater (like me), the fried rice is probably enough for you to share with another non-big eater if you order an appetizer.
In the past, I've tried a few different things off of Sushi Love's menu, but in the end, I felt like the fried rice was still the best deal (keep in the mind the "cheap college student" part!). If you want to spend a few extra bucks, the pineapple fried rice is indeed very good (get it with shrimp). Just my two cents - let me know what's your favorite at this restaurant...
Restaurant: Sushi Love
Price Range: $10-15
2009-08-23
Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Five Guys is pretty well-known already for its great-tasting burgers, but I thought I'd give it a review anyway.
We went to the one in Southpoint Mall's food court:
The standard toppings on your burger are mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, and pickles. You can also request onions, relish, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, A-1 sauce, BBQ sauce, and/or hot sauce at no extra charge, which is pretty sweet.
The regular burger is a double, and the little burger is a single.
I got a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, pickles, green peppers, A-1 sauce, and hot sauce - and it was awesome. They didn't add so much sauce that the buns were soggy, and the patties were very juicy as well.
The fries are also delicious; they're fried in peanut oil, and you can get them cajun style or regular style. (Both are pretty unique; pictured here is the regular style.)
Compared to OnlyBurger, I think Five Guys' burgers win, only because they have so many different toppings and sauces. However, I still prefer OB's thin, crispy fries. It's still hard to pick a favorite burger place, but you should not miss out on Five Guys when you're shopping at Southpoint.
Restaurant: Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Price Range: $5-$10
We went to the one in Southpoint Mall's food court:
The standard toppings on your burger are mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, and pickles. You can also request onions, relish, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, A-1 sauce, BBQ sauce, and/or hot sauce at no extra charge, which is pretty sweet.
The regular burger is a double, and the little burger is a single.
I got a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, pickles, green peppers, A-1 sauce, and hot sauce - and it was awesome. They didn't add so much sauce that the buns were soggy, and the patties were very juicy as well.
The fries are also delicious; they're fried in peanut oil, and you can get them cajun style or regular style. (Both are pretty unique; pictured here is the regular style.)
Compared to OnlyBurger, I think Five Guys' burgers win, only because they have so many different toppings and sauces. However, I still prefer OB's thin, crispy fries. It's still hard to pick a favorite burger place, but you should not miss out on Five Guys when you're shopping at Southpoint.
Restaurant: Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Price Range: $5-$10
Recipe: Lemon Bars
Lemon bars are a delicious treat for the summertime (or anytime, I suppose) and almost all occasions. They consist of a buttery shortbread base, topped with a zesty lemon "filling". Here is a wonderful recipe, shared by Ann Prospero on her website, annprospero.net, with a couple of modifications.
Lemon Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup butter
For the filling:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
3/4 cup to 1 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup whole milk (alternatives: half-and-half, light cream)
Powdered sugar for dusting
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line of 13x9x2inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a few inches of overhang (you will need to remove the foil from the baking pan later). Grease the foil.
2. Combine the 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt. If using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resmbles coarse crumbs. (If mixing by hand, melt the butter and stir the mixture.)
3. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, until the edges turn golden.
4. In the meantime, prepare the filling: whisk together the eggs, sugar, the 3 tablespoons of flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, and milk. Pour filling over the hot crust.
5. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until the center is set (toothpick comes out clean). Remove from the oven and cool completely.
6. Remove from the pan by lifting the foil overhang. Cut into bars. Sift powdered sugar over the bars before serving.
When I made this, my pan wasn't large enough, so I had a bit of the crust and the filling left over. Therefore, I made...
Individual Lemon Tartlets
Exact same recipe as above, just served in ramekins. Also, reduce the baking time as needed since the portions are smaller. (I only baked 3 ramekins and halved the baking time.)
Good luck, and have fun!
Lemon BarsIngredients
For the crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup butter
For the filling:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
3/4 cup to 1 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup whole milk (alternatives: half-and-half, light cream)
Powdered sugar for dusting
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line of 13x9x2inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a few inches of overhang (you will need to remove the foil from the baking pan later). Grease the foil.
2. Combine the 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt. If using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resmbles coarse crumbs. (If mixing by hand, melt the butter and stir the mixture.)
3. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, until the edges turn golden.
4. In the meantime, prepare the filling: whisk together the eggs, sugar, the 3 tablespoons of flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, and milk. Pour filling over the hot crust.
5. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until the center is set (toothpick comes out clean). Remove from the oven and cool completely.
6. Remove from the pan by lifting the foil overhang. Cut into bars. Sift powdered sugar over the bars before serving.
When I made this, my pan wasn't large enough, so I had a bit of the crust and the filling left over. Therefore, I made...
Individual Lemon Tartlets
Exact same recipe as above, just served in ramekins. Also, reduce the baking time as needed since the portions are smaller. (I only baked 3 ramekins and halved the baking time.)
Good luck, and have fun!
2009-08-16
Shanghai House Restaurant (No 1 Panda House) Breakfast/ Brunch
(Didn't bring my camera for this one - sorry.)
Heard some good things about the Chinese breakfast/ brunch foods at Shanghai House Restaurant (上海人家) on Guess Rd, so we decided to pay a visit. The sign still says No. 1 Panda House as its name, but officially I think it has changed to Shanghai House Restaurant.
We didn't look at any of the entree dishes because we've heard that they tend to be super oily, so we just stuck to the breakfast/ brunch items (labeled "dim sum", although there's no such thing as dim sum in Shanghai cuisine, as far as I know...)
We started out with both 甜豆漿 (sweet soymilk) and 咸豆漿 (salty soymilk). The sweet soymilk tasted very Asian, although it was quite expensive ($1.80 for a tall glass). The salty soymilk was interesting: it came with 油條 (fried dough) already soaked in, scallions, and chili oil. I was not expecting the chili oil, and thought it was a bit too oily, but otherwise, the taste was pretty good.
蔥油餅 Scallion pancakes （congyou bing)
- These tasted wonderful - very crispy but not overdone. The scallions' fragrance was also plentiful. However, I have no idea how they managed to make these so oily.
小籠湯包 Shanghainese soup dumplings (xiaolong tangbao)
- Personally, I am not a huge fan of these in the first place, plus the one I tried didn't exactly have a lot of soup in it, so I wasn't too impressed with these.
生煎包 Fried pork buns (shengjian bao)
- I thought these were great - the dough was extremely fluffy and fried to perfection!
豆沙酥餅 Red bean paste layered bun (dousha subing)
- This was very good (probably because it wasn't oily at all). The bean paste was hot, and the dough was flaky and crispy.
咸飯糰 Rice roll (xian fantuan)
- This was also one of my favorites (in fact, I ordered another one for myself later on). Inside the rice roll, they added pickled radish, pork sung, and a small slice of fried dough for plenty of flavor.
Overall, I felt that however well-made these dishes were, the greasiness was too much for us to handle. Perhaps it will be all right for some other Chinese foodies out there, but I don't think I'll be visiting again anytime soon.
Restaurant: Shanghai House Restaurant/ No 1 Panda House (Breakfast/ Brunch)
Price: Around $10
Heard some good things about the Chinese breakfast/ brunch foods at Shanghai House Restaurant (上海人家) on Guess Rd, so we decided to pay a visit. The sign still says No. 1 Panda House as its name, but officially I think it has changed to Shanghai House Restaurant.
We didn't look at any of the entree dishes because we've heard that they tend to be super oily, so we just stuck to the breakfast/ brunch items (labeled "dim sum", although there's no such thing as dim sum in Shanghai cuisine, as far as I know...)
We started out with both 甜豆漿 (sweet soymilk) and 咸豆漿 (salty soymilk). The sweet soymilk tasted very Asian, although it was quite expensive ($1.80 for a tall glass). The salty soymilk was interesting: it came with 油條 (fried dough) already soaked in, scallions, and chili oil. I was not expecting the chili oil, and thought it was a bit too oily, but otherwise, the taste was pretty good.
蔥油餅 Scallion pancakes （congyou bing)
- These tasted wonderful - very crispy but not overdone. The scallions' fragrance was also plentiful. However, I have no idea how they managed to make these so oily.
小籠湯包 Shanghainese soup dumplings (xiaolong tangbao)
- Personally, I am not a huge fan of these in the first place, plus the one I tried didn't exactly have a lot of soup in it, so I wasn't too impressed with these.
生煎包 Fried pork buns (shengjian bao)
- I thought these were great - the dough was extremely fluffy and fried to perfection!
豆沙酥餅 Red bean paste layered bun (dousha subing)
- This was very good (probably because it wasn't oily at all). The bean paste was hot, and the dough was flaky and crispy.
咸飯糰 Rice roll (xian fantuan)
- This was also one of my favorites (in fact, I ordered another one for myself later on). Inside the rice roll, they added pickled radish, pork sung, and a small slice of fried dough for plenty of flavor.
Overall, I felt that however well-made these dishes were, the greasiness was too much for us to handle. Perhaps it will be all right for some other Chinese foodies out there, but I don't think I'll be visiting again anytime soon.
Restaurant: Shanghai House Restaurant/ No 1 Panda House (Breakfast/ Brunch)
Price: Around $10
2009-08-09
Short vacation...
Going home for a week or so, so I won't be scouting out/ reviewing any restaurants in the RTP for a few days. See you back soon!
2009-08-06
35 Chinese, Part II
Went back to 35 Chinese with a different group - this time, with people who were more tolerant of spicy foods (yippee!). We still ordered the same appetizers: 夫妻肺片/ sliced roast beef and tendon (fuqi feipian) and 蒜泥白肉 / sliced pork belly in garlic sauce (suan'ni bairou). Otherwise, I think most of the dishes were different, so here we go...
五更腸旺 / chitterlings with tofu hot pot (wugeng changwang)
- The photo really doesn't do this dish justice, because it was one of my favorites of the evening. It had a lot of flavor besides just straight-up spicy, which is always nice. The dish does contain pork intestines and pork blood, which might turn some of you away... although I do have a friend who doesn't eat intestines but makes an exception for this particular dish here - so really, it's worth it.
The only downer to this is that the pork blood is kind of dry, so I wouldn't expect too much from that. Otherwise, thumbs up.
The only downer to this is that the pork blood is kind of dry, so I wouldn't expect too much from that. Otherwise, thumbs up.
蔥爆牛肉 / beef with scallions (congbao niurou)
- This is my favorite dish EVER at this restaurant. Ever. Probably because I haven't had the authentic version of mapo tofu for a long, long time. It was served in a 砂锅 (clay pot) instead of plate - the way that it's supposed to be, and it has plenty of the 麻 ("numbing") element, which means you should probably save room for this dish last. Overall, I was impressed and happy with the authenticity of this mapo tofu.
清炒丝瓜 / cooked loofah
- Yep, loofah. I was really excited about this dish because I love loofah vegetable, but we were appalled to discover that it tasted bitter (might have spoiled). We sent the dish back in exchange for 乾扁四季豆 / string beans Western style (ganbian sijidou), which was pretty much the same as the last time.
Overall, with the exception of the disappointment of the loofah, it was an enjoyable meal. Their service does slow down as the evening goes on (they seem to be short on staff), so you should arrive early and order quickly. Between six of us, we ordered six dishes and it ended up being $15 each. Not particularly more expensive than any of the other Chinese restaurants that I've reviewed so far, I think.
Overall, with the exception of the disappointment of the loofah, it was an enjoyable meal. Their service does slow down as the evening goes on (they seem to be short on staff), so you should arrive early and order quickly. Between six of us, we ordered six dishes and it ended up being $15 each. Not particularly more expensive than any of the other Chinese restaurants that I've reviewed so far, I think.
Restaurant: 35 Chinese Restaurant
Price Range: Around $15
2009-08-03
Eastern Lights
Eastern Lights... I've been coming here since freshman year (I believe it was my first Chinese restaurant in Durham), and now it's time to give it a proper review.
We ordered mostly from the Chef's Specialties menu, which features more authentic Chinese dishes:
麻婆豆腐 (mapo doufu; Mapo spicy tofu)
- Whatever this was, it was not mapo tofu... please do not order this dish here and think that this is real mapo tofu. It was not spicy, the flavoring wasn't right, and the tofu had a strangely sour taste (not because it was going bad, but just not the right kind of tofu).
Overall, Eastern Lights' flavor is just very heavy and oily - you'll leave feeling full and probably collapse in a food coma pretty soon. For Chinese food, there are definitely better choices out there in the RTP - we probably won't be back here anytime soon...
Restaurant: Eastern Lights (燕京)
Price Range: Around $15
We ordered mostly from the Chef's Specialties menu, which features more authentic Chinese dishes:
香乾肉絲 (xiang'gan rousi; Pork and bean curd slices)
- This has always been my favorite dish, probably because it's the lightest dish of the five, and the flavoring is done pretty well. 
魚香茄子 (yuxiang qiezi; Yu-hsiang eggplant)
- The eggplant itself was good, but it did not have the yu-hsiang flavor at all. It was basically eggplants soaked in yu-hsiang sauce.
麻婆豆腐 (mapo doufu; Mapo spicy tofu)
川辣炒牛肉 (chuanla chao niurou; Szechuan-style beef)
- The beef was very tender, but the sauce was so heavy for this dish that I couldn't enjoy more than a few pieces of it...
爆炒五花肉 (baochao wuhuarou; Stir-fried pork belly slices)
- Another dish that we've always ordered since freshman year. Again, it was delicious, but the flavoring is so strong that you just can't take too much of it.Overall, Eastern Lights' flavor is just very heavy and oily - you'll leave feeling full and probably collapse in a food coma pretty soon. For Chinese food, there are definitely better choices out there in the RTP - we probably won't be back here anytime soon...
Restaurant: Eastern Lights (燕京)
Price Range: Around $15
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