A log of uber yummy food I've had since starting my adult life!
Mediterannean-Lebanese (allegedly) There's a Mediterannean place on the corner a couple blocks from our place that according to my husband serves Middle Eastern food prepared by Hispanic people, which is the best combination you could ever have the pleasure of trying. I've been sick for a week and unable to eat anything but saltines, so my husband and I went to have the our first big fancy meal in a while.
Hummus and Pita: tbh I've never had such soft, fluffy pita bread in my entire life, almost with that steamed-bun sort of quality. The hummus was tangy, rich, and layered with spice and a really high quality, luxurious olive oil. We got a huge amount, and took some home :3
Beef Shawarma Sandwich: Beef, tomato, red onion, lettuce, and sauce in a soft wrap. The first taste you get is the warm, gentle tinge of cinnamon?? It was suuuuuper delicious, especially when mixed with the fatty cut of beef, and the acidity and sweetness of the onion and tomato. It had a slight lemony/cilantro combination to it too, and came with a super delicious dipping sauce, which was mayo based. All the components were perfectly balanced in terms of intensity, and ended up being such an interesting, delicious dish. I kept eating the sauce with the pita bc it was so good lol.
Deluxe Platter: Kafta, gyro, rotisserie chicken, and steak, with yellow rice and salad. Everything here was soooooooo good. Kafta is a meatloaf, and in this case I believe it was beef and lamb. It was tender and had a really nice citrusy undertone! It went really well with the rice. The gyro meat was sweet and had that satisfying munching texture you get from slightly more chewy meat, and I liked having it with the salad :D The chicken was super juicy, perfectly seasoned, and had a caramelized crust on the outside from grilling/rotisserie that was really awesome. The steak was honestly way higher quality than I thought, too; the whole platter was delicious. The tomatoes in the salad were super juicy and sweet, and the rice was aromatic! I've never seen my husband eat so fast in my entire life lol.
Ferrero Cheesecake: Not just a cheesecake with a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on the top! The cheesecake had chopped nuts on the top, AND the crust had that subtle, nutty aroma to it that rounded off the dessert really well. It was also super cute, with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and waffle cone pieces decorating the plate. Really, really good.
Verdict: I would love to go there again and try what else it has to offer! Every single dish we tried there I would rate a 5/5, and the waitress was super cute and sweet, and the restaurant was the cutest place ever. For about $80, I'd say it was a really awesome place to go on a weekend date or something like that.
Vietnamese-French Okay we didn't really try the french food here. But we went to celebrate one of my papers getting accepted to a conference :D
Shrimp spring rolls: Super yummy. The bean sprouts were sweet and crispy, the shrimp was plump and juicy, and the peanut butter dipping sauce was really tasty... Would probably say that I don't think it should've been $5 for just two rolls, though...
Wagyu Pho: Sublty rich beef bone broth, satisfyingly textured rice noodles, again crispy bean sprouts and tangy lime. The wagyu was cubed up and simmered with the soup until delicious, and the brisket in it was so soft and tender that it blew me away. I thought it was super yummy, but I can't help but think that the soup lacked a lot of the complex cilantro-fueled spice network that pho usually has...
Chicken Rice: My favorite dish we had that night! Rice was aromatic and fragrant and made with coconut milk, the chicken was incredibly tender and glazed with a sweet sauce. Sauce was accompanied by crunchy garlic chips and peanuts (probably). Truly a stellar combo that made me want to have Singaporean chicken rice...
Verdict: The food was good! But a little lacking? Perhaps another trip and different dishes would raise my opinion of it, but the wagyu pho was sort of their headlining dish and it didn't really do it for me, and I think some of the dishes were overpriced. They do have boba that is pretty okay too, but I don't know if I'd go back unless I was really craving Vietnamese food nearby.
Peruvian It's so crazy that this place is just a sports bar with two locations because the food is literally fine-dining quality. The appetizers were the most delicious seafood I've had in a really long time, and I'm Asian...
Mixed Ceviche: Dude the ceviche................... The sweet potato, the huge sweet corn kernels, the fried corn kernels in that tangy citrusy sauce, the SEAFOOD?????? God I've never had better seafood in my entire life.
Choritos a la Chalaca: These mussels were so good. There were so good. God they were so good. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Similar taste to the ceviche but so uniquely different... It had more of that marine taste, but not in an unpleasant way. I don't know if I've had such good shellfish in me entire fucking life.
Lomo Saltado: The beef was cut into chunks rather than strips and was steak quality... the tomatoes were juicy and delicious... the potato wedges were crunchy on the outside and softly steamed on the inside... The savory and sweet sauce mixed so well with all the components together... Delectable
Jalea Mixta: The deep fried yucca!!!! My god. The fried seafood was good, but I'd never had yucca before.
Sauces: THE DIPPING SAUCESSSSS I'll never forget them... we got three that were sooooo good. One was an oil based herb sauce, one was mayo based, and they were so fucking yummy. Also the deep friend corn kernels boggled my mind it was insane.
Banana Cheesecake: This wasn't just a cheesecake. Dude it was a banana-based cheesecake filling with a deep fried crust on the outside. It was sooooo bonkers it was delicious. Moist, soft, sweet, aromatic on the inside, crunchy, exciting, crisp on the outside. My god. Who thought up these dishes.
Verdict: Out of all the places I've mentioned in this log, this is probably the best. It certainly was the best seafood I've ever fucking had!!!
Snacks My cute husband is Argentinian and he got a bunch of snacks for his birthday! I won't go into the details of each, but here are the ones I've had: Opera Wafers, Anillos Terrabusi rings, Lincoln Terrabusi chocolate flavor, Sonrisas smiley cookies :D, Don Satur Biscuits (Bizcochos Salado), and some more. I find that the snacks in the US are all sugar and fat or salt and no nuance. These snacks were subtly sweet or citrusy, or salty, or yeasty... super delicious. An unrelated snack I also like for the same reason are the Japanese matcha Oreos!
Actually Fancy Vietnamese Cuisine My family is from South East Asia, so when I eat Vietnamese food I'm often reminded of food from that area. In itself, Vietnamese food often feels like a joyful collision of tastes, a celebration of flavors that have all come together in one place, for better or for worse. I know firsthand how Asian people hate each other, so I'm not even going to begin to talk about Vietnam... End of the day, the chef at the place we went to is a genius. You can tell that dishes that have been historical records of exchanges and interactions were transformed into something even more than that. I've never eaten food that felt like a narrative or like art before this so I'm not sure how to describe it T0T It's like the chef decided to take the dishes into her own hands and continue to tell the story herself... something like that...
We've been here multiple times so I won't talk about individual dishes right now, but I'd highly recommend going to Z-Asian for yourself, if you're in Orlando, FL.
Mediterannean-Lebanese (allegedly) There's a Mediterannean place on the corner a couple blocks from our place that according to my husband serves Middle Eastern food prepared by Hispanic people, which is the best combination you could ever have the pleasure of trying. I've been sick for a week and unable to eat anything but saltines, so my husband and I went to have the our first big fancy meal in a while.
Hummus and Pita: tbh I've never had such soft, fluffy pita bread in my entire life, almost with that steamed-bun sort of quality. The hummus was tangy, rich, and layered with spice and a really high quality, luxurious olive oil. We got a huge amount, and took some home :3
Beef Shawarma Sandwich: Beef, tomato, red onion, lettuce, and sauce in a soft wrap. The first taste you get is the warm, gentle tinge of cinnamon?? It was suuuuuper delicious, especially when mixed with the fatty cut of beef, and the acidity and sweetness of the onion and tomato. It had a slight lemony/cilantro combination to it too, and came with a super delicious dipping sauce, which was mayo based. All the components were perfectly balanced in terms of intensity, and ended up being such an interesting, delicious dish. I kept eating the sauce with the pita bc it was so good lol.
Deluxe Platter: Kafta, gyro, rotisserie chicken, and steak, with yellow rice and salad. Everything here was soooooooo good. Kafta is a meatloaf, and in this case I believe it was beef and lamb. It was tender and had a really nice citrusy undertone! It went really well with the rice. The gyro meat was sweet and had that satisfying munching texture you get from slightly more chewy meat, and I liked having it with the salad :D The chicken was super juicy, perfectly seasoned, and had a caramelized crust on the outside from grilling/rotisserie that was really awesome. The steak was honestly way higher quality than I thought, too; the whole platter was delicious. The tomatoes in the salad were super juicy and sweet, and the rice was aromatic! I've never seen my husband eat so fast in my entire life lol.
Ferrero Cheesecake: Not just a cheesecake with a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on the top! The cheesecake had chopped nuts on the top, AND the crust had that subtle, nutty aroma to it that rounded off the dessert really well. It was also super cute, with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and waffle cone pieces decorating the plate. Really, really good.
Verdict: I would love to go there again and try what else it has to offer! Every single dish we tried there I would rate a 5/5, and the waitress was super cute and sweet, and the restaurant was the cutest place ever. For about $80, I'd say it was a really awesome place to go on a weekend date or something like that.
Vietnamese-French Okay we didn't really try the french food here. But we went to celebrate one of my papers getting accepted to a conference :D
Shrimp spring rolls: Super yummy. The bean sprouts were sweet and crispy, the shrimp was plump and juicy, and the peanut butter dipping sauce was really tasty... Would probably say that I don't think it should've been $5 for just two rolls, though...
Wagyu Pho: Sublty rich beef bone broth, satisfyingly textured rice noodles, again crispy bean sprouts and tangy lime. The wagyu was cubed up and simmered with the soup until delicious, and the brisket in it was so soft and tender that it blew me away. I thought it was super yummy, but I can't help but think that the soup lacked a lot of the complex cilantro-fueled spice network that pho usually has...
Chicken Rice: My favorite dish we had that night! Rice was aromatic and fragrant and made with coconut milk, the chicken was incredibly tender and glazed with a sweet sauce. Sauce was accompanied by crunchy garlic chips and peanuts (probably). Truly a stellar combo that made me want to have Singaporean chicken rice...
Verdict: The food was good! But a little lacking? Perhaps another trip and different dishes would raise my opinion of it, but the wagyu pho was sort of their headlining dish and it didn't really do it for me, and I think some of the dishes were overpriced. They do have boba that is pretty okay too, but I don't know if I'd go back unless I was really craving Vietnamese food nearby.
Peruvian It's so crazy that this place is just a sports bar with two locations because the food is literally fine-dining quality. The appetizers were the most delicious seafood I've had in a really long time, and I'm Asian...
Mixed Ceviche: Dude the ceviche................... The sweet potato, the huge sweet corn kernels, the fried corn kernels in that tangy citrusy sauce, the SEAFOOD?????? God I've never had better seafood in my entire life.
Choritos a la Chalaca: These mussels were so good. There were so good. God they were so good. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Similar taste to the ceviche but so uniquely different... It had more of that marine taste, but not in an unpleasant way. I don't know if I've had such good shellfish in me entire fucking life.
Lomo Saltado: The beef was cut into chunks rather than strips and was steak quality... the tomatoes were juicy and delicious... the potato wedges were crunchy on the outside and softly steamed on the inside... The savory and sweet sauce mixed so well with all the components together... Delectable
Jalea Mixta: The deep fried yucca!!!! My god. The fried seafood was good, but I'd never had yucca before.
Sauces: THE DIPPING SAUCESSSSS I'll never forget them... we got three that were sooooo good. One was an oil based herb sauce, one was mayo based, and they were so fucking yummy. Also the deep friend corn kernels boggled my mind it was insane.
Banana Cheesecake: This wasn't just a cheesecake. Dude it was a banana-based cheesecake filling with a deep fried crust on the outside. It was sooooo bonkers it was delicious. Moist, soft, sweet, aromatic on the inside, crunchy, exciting, crisp on the outside. My god. Who thought up these dishes.
Verdict: Out of all the places I've mentioned in this log, this is probably the best. It certainly was the best seafood I've ever fucking had!!!
Snacks My cute husband is Argentinian and he got a bunch of snacks for his birthday! I won't go into the details of each, but here are the ones I've had: Opera Wafers, Anillos Terrabusi rings, Lincoln Terrabusi chocolate flavor, Sonrisas smiley cookies :D, Don Satur Biscuits (Bizcochos Salado), and some more. I find that the snacks in the US are all sugar and fat or salt and no nuance. These snacks were subtly sweet or citrusy, or salty, or yeasty... super delicious. An unrelated snack I also like for the same reason are the Japanese matcha Oreos!
Actually Fancy Vietnamese Cuisine My family is from South East Asia, so when I eat Vietnamese food I'm often reminded of food from that area. In itself, Vietnamese food often feels like a joyful collision of tastes, a celebration of flavors that have all come together in one place, for better or for worse. I know firsthand how Asian people hate each other, so I'm not even going to begin to talk about Vietnam... End of the day, the chef at the place we went to is a genius. You can tell that dishes that have been historical records of exchanges and interactions were transformed into something even more than that. I've never eaten food that felt like a narrative or like art before this so I'm not sure how to describe it T0T It's like the chef decided to take the dishes into her own hands and continue to tell the story herself... something like that...
We've been here multiple times so I won't talk about individual dishes right now, but I'd highly recommend going to Z-Asian for yourself, if you're in Orlando, FL.
