Araya's Place-Vegan Thai Food: Restaurant Review

After a disappointing meal and food selection, my friends and I decided to walk around and see what would be another good alternative for lunch. At first we were skeptical about this place, because they were doing Thai food but Vegan! I love Thai food, and I know they use a lot of fish sauce and different meats and seafood, so I was curious to see how the dishes would turn out to be.

Walking into this place was even a nice experience. From the street, you're not quite sure what to expect, but when you walk further into the path to the restaurant, you see a beautiful deck space with seating available along with lovely decorations surrounding the space.

Inside is nice and bright with white walls and seating and open spaces for natural light. It was a very warm and welcoming place.

The Salad bar right by the entrance with different choices of condiments, salads, kimchi, fruits and different pickled veggies.

We absolutely loved the Thai iced tea/ iced coffee. Since this is a vegan restaurant, the 'cream' that was used for this drink is either soy milk or coconut milk, whichever you prefer! I had the Thai iced tea with coconut milk and it was really good and tasted almost as if it was a regular Thai tea, just with a hint of coconut to it.  Of course, since it was iced, the coconut milk would solidify a little bit, but it's nothing a little stirring can't fix. PLUS, the drinks were served in little mason jars with handles!!! How frikken cute!

 

 

We went during lunch so there was a special deal going on where you could choose either; Pad Thai, Pa-nang Curry and a couple other entrée courses, and you get rice, egg rolls, and the salad bar all for around $12. Not a bad deal!

 

 

I got the Pa-nang curry and loved the sweetness in it. It was interesting to see how the flavor would pan out without any fish sauce, but it was pretty legit! I liked the addition of the coconut milk too for a creamier touch. The only downside was the amount of zucchini in this dish. I'm not a huge fan of zucchini, so this made a good left over for my mom. The tofu was good and this was enough food for me to bring for lunch the next day.

 

 

 

 

And of course, what is a trip to a Thai restaurant without some mango sticky rice or black rice

pudding?!

The mango was nice and sweet, not too tart, and the rice wasn't mushy or too hard and was flavored just right with the right amount of saltiness.

As for the black rice pudding, it was a nice change because it had coconut ice cream on top (made vegan of course out of coconut milk).

 At one point of my life (like a couple years ago), I was addicted to the black rice pudding and would have to eat it once a week. It was just something I would crave and had to have. This definitely satisfied any craving I would have, but I just wishes the coconut milk they pour along with the ice cream was a bit more salty.

 

Overall, this was a surprisingly great experience. Everything from the atmosphere, to service to quality of food was awesome. If you are looking for a Vegan restaurant and want to try some Asian food, then this is the place for you! This will definitely cater to those who have a stricter diet, without lacking flavor! Of course I miss my dishes with shrimp and what not, but this is a good change of scenery from the usual Thai food I eat. Plus, the whole neighborhood around this restaurant is just so nice and relaxing to walk around in.

 

Do you like Thai food? What is your favorite Thai dish?!

 

 

Malay Satay Hut: Restuarant Review

Growing up with the occasional Malaysian food (my mother's family is from Malaysia), sometimes I get cravings, especially for items that remind me of the different trips I have taken to Malaysia. When my family gets a particular craving, we will go to one of the only, more authentic, Malaysian restaurants in Seattle, and that is Malay Satay Hut.

 

Located at the outer edges of the International District, Malay Satay Hut brings a slice of Malaysian flavor to the area. Ever since I was a little girl (I want to say around 15 years ago), my family and I would come here more frequently. However, over the recent years, we just never went back (not sure why?) Maybe the food quality wasn't as good or it just fell off our radar, but more recently, we have been going back and have been enjoying it.

 

 

As you can see, their menu has a lot of options, and these are just a couple pages.

The interior is reminiscent of wood and long houses in Malaysia and has pictures of a local resort, street markets and this cheerful one of a man making the every popular Teh Tarik aka Pulled Tea (I love getting this when I was in Malaysia!)

 

We started off with a favorite, Roti Canai (a buttery, crispy soft layered bread of sorts) with curry (In Kuala Lumpor, I remember having it with the sugar crystals for breakfast and that was bomb!).

The roti was good and nice and light, but the curry alongside it was only so-so. As you can see we only had one potato piece per order and the curry itself was a little salty.

 

My cousin and I both wanted the Teh Tarik (pulled tea, black tea with cream and sugar) and I have to say it was pretty decent, for not being from Malaysia. It obviously isn't the best Teh Tarik I have tasted but it definitely satisfied the craving for the tea.

 

Now for our main courses. We of course love the Hainanese Chicken rice. My mom and my aunts will make this specifically for special occasions (like Chinese New Year) or sometimes on some random weekend, but they don't make it often because it takes a lot of work. You have to cook the whole chicken a specific way to make sure the flavor and texture is right. Then you have to take the fat from the chicken to use to flavor the rice and you have to cook the rice Juuuust right. Eating this at a restaurant is a nice treat because we get the great flavors without the work! Their rice was especially good. The texture wasn't mushy or too dry and the chicken flavors were perfect and it wasn't too salty. The chicken was nice and firm without being to chewy, yet it was nice and moist. This dish was on point!

 

 

We had another Malaysian (and my personal favorite) dish called Nasi Lemak which is a flavored coconut rice dish with eggs, peanuts, anchovies, and some type of curried meat ( I think this is lamb) and some sambal (a type of chili paste/condiment). I mainly like this dish for the coconut infused rice and when you mix it with the different sauces, it just makes for a flavorful combination!

 

 

We then had Fish Head Curry which I didn't really care too much for, besides just to have the okra. My mom really enjoyed it so it must've been good. I just wasn't in the mood for fish this day!

 

 

We had a salt & pepper frog leg dish. Not really sure that this is a "Malaysian" dish, but Malaysia cuisine has a lot of strong influences from Chinese cuisine so this may just be that typical salt & pepper combo used in a lot of Chinese dishes. This was a little too 'fresh' tasting for me. It was definitely better the day after. I just don't think the frog legs had enough time to soak in the salt to add flavor to the meat. Definitely not one for the faint of heart (especially when you tell people) but they really do look like mini chicken wings! The texture is similar too, just a lot more chewy.

 

 

This next dish is something translated to Buddha Taro Bowl, or Buddha Yam Pot which is basically fried taro (to act as the bowl) with stir-fry veggies and seafood in the center. I personally like the fried yam/taro part the best, I don't care too much for the items inside, except maybe just the shrimp. The presentation on this is definitely fun to look at though!

 

 

One of the last dishes we had was the Belacan okra, which is by far one of my most favorite dishes of all time! #1) I love okra, #2) I love shrimp and #3) When both are combined with onions and the belacan (which is a fermented shrimp paste that is fried) just makes for the most aromatic dish that is intense in tasty flavor. If you're not into 'fishy' items or are picky about it, this is definitely different than that and just smells and tastes amazing!

 

It was good coming back to this restaurant and I plan on going back again soon! My mom had already brought home food to-go from here including another one of my favorites, Char Kuey Teow, which is a wide rice noodle stir fry dish with a thick gravy. The owner even remembers my mom from coming that long ago and they talk about going 'back home' all the time and sort of reminisce also. Everything is reasonably priced, nothing super cheap, but nothing too expensive either. I would probably avoid rush hour times at lunch/dinner, but other than that, our service was good and we got our food in a timely manner.

 

Have you ever tried Malaysian food before?

Rockcreek Seafood & Spirits: Restaurant Review

My family and I always like to try new places to eat so a few weeks ago, we went to the Fremont area of Seattle to a newer placed called Rockcreek Seafood & Spirits.

This place had a very open feel to it, with it's high ceilings and long glass windows making it feel less stuffy and more welcoming. The seating is spaced out well, except for the weird part where the higher bar stool seating is right above a dining table (yea it was weird because it feels like they can see you eat). Other than that, the graphic imaging of a natural landscape stands right by the entrane and gives the entire place an outdoorsy vibe. Now on to the food!...

First were are small plates and appetizers. We had this calamari "kari out' where it was an asian inspired calamari dish served in an actual take out box with chopsticks.

I like that these were whole baby squid that was deep fried. It was served with a salad that was in a sort of sweet and sour dressing, that tasted like a Chinese chicken salad or something of the sort. I thought it was a cute presentation and the flavor was really nice.

Next we tried the grilled ocotopus with kidney beans and tomato. Some of this was better than the other.

I say that because a few of the octopus pieces were very tender, but then some of them were tough and chewy. It had a smoked flavor to it that complimented teh freshmness of the tomato and beans.

Next was a sardine salad that I actually really enjoyed.

It was a bit fishy, so if you are not into that type of tase or if you aren't used to fishier fishes, then I would stay away from it. I loved it however. There was an eggplant puree as a base for the fish along with pickled veggies and some fresh herbs and fried onion/shallot pieces. I loved the freshness of everything blended with the sardines.

We also had fresh oysters on the half-shell. I am such a lover of raw oysters and these did not disappoint. Sorry though, I can't remember the names of all of them, but we did try 4 different kinds from around the Pacific NW.

My beverage of choice was this infused dandelion wine with raw egg white served in this mini vase looking glass. It was very refreshing and light, but not overly sweet. The egg white is basically cooked from the alcohol so it added a nice layer of texture to the drink.

Now for my main dish. I had the hawaiian seared tuna with pickled onions, celery, sliced potatoes, olives and Italian flat leaf parsley over a tomato vinaigrette. I liked how raw the center of the tuna was, but honestly wished for even less cook time on the tuna than it had because it left some parts a bit tough. I also wish the tomato vinaigrette had more flavor to it, or perhaps with something else added. I know you don't want to overpower the tuna so you can taste it's flavor, but there was something about the sauce that just didn't quite match up to the tuna and pickled vegetables. Overall though, I did like this dish but would probably not re-order it. My brother had the black cod dish and I think I would opt for that instead. It was just more pleasing to the palette and had a nice variety of complex flavor without being overpowering.

And lastly, the dessert! Whenever we try a new restaurant, it is almost inevitable that we try the dessert as well! This time we opted for 2 dishes.

This first one was a ricotta apple beignet with a caramel anglaise, topped with powdered sugar. This was a really delicious treat. I liked that they were nice and bite sized and were not overly sweet. I wish there was a bit more ricotta to them and a stronger apple flavor. I was expecting a bolder apple flavor when I read the dessert menu, but didn't really notice it.

The last thing we tried was the RockCreek S'mores which consisted of a Valrhona chocolate mousse, smoked meringue, caramel, sea salt, and a graham tuille (cookie cracker thing). I loveeeed this dish, I think mainly because of the salted caramel flavor melded with that smoked meringue on top. It balanced out the creamy sweetness of the chocolate pudding below. The graham tuille was a nice touch too because there was a bit of saltiness to it as well.

Overall, I am highly pleased I was able to try this place and would definitely want to check out their brunch and happy hour items. This place in the mid-range when it comes to pricing--not overly cheap, but not over-the-top pricing either. Items ranged anywhere from $10 to around $24 with dessert and oysters being less than $10. If you are looking for a new restaurant to try in Seattle, and you love seafood, I would recommend this place!

Do you like seafood? What is your favorite seafood dish?!

Brass Tacks: Georgetown, Seattle, Restaurant Review

I have seen this place many times and I don't even know how many times I've actually drove by it but never ventured in. Well this week, my parents decided to try this place out for lunch and I of course jumped at the chance to join them seeing as I work not barely 2 minutes away.

What you get when you enter is an open space, almost like a warehouse feel, yet a somewhat vintage feel too with the decor and flooring.

I didn't get much time to look around since I had a short amount of time to eat, but at least once I got there the food was ready! I ordered the Artichoke Agnolotti, a pasta dish, my mom had the Washington State grass fed burger, and my dad had the smoked brisket mac n cheese. All of our dishes were amazing and you can definitely taste the quality behind the ingredients. Nothing was overly salty, or fatty, or whatever other negative adjective you can think of. Yes the items are a bit more on the pricey side ($14 and $16 on average per large dish) but it was well worth it for a satisfactory lunch.
My dish was a bit on the smaller portion compared to both my parent's dishes, but the overall taste of the dish was very good. The fried chokes were salted and paired well with the freshness of the arugula pistou sauce.
 

My mom's burger was really good for the couple bites I had. It was huge and the quality of the meet was excellent and it came with a crap ton of fries. Cooked with some pink inside, the meat was nice and juicy and didn't have any gamey taste for being grass-fed natural. She added bacon to it which gave it a nice salty and smokey flavor (but she really should've added the egg!)  

The pickles they used weren't typical ones you find at like McDonald's. These were definitely less sour and overall more pleasant to eat. The grilled onions wre nice and sweet and the white cheddar glued everything together perfectly. This burger was definitely one where you needed that knife to help you out!

My dad's dish was very good too. You could really tasted the smokiness of the brisket which was nice with the mac n cheese. There was also a lot of the brisket hidden underneath the macaroni and it wasn't overly chewy either. I'm not sure what type of cheese they used but it complimented the meat really well

Overall, I am glad I went here for lunch and look forward to trying out a brunch here! The staff is friendly and comes by often to refill ice teas and see how you're doing. Also, at around 12pm (when we went) the place wasn't overly busy so it was a relaxed setting. Plus, there is a cool alien figurine there right by the entrance. #riphrgiger

Mobile Food Truck Rodeo 2014

Despite the pouring rain, I was still at the 2014 Mobile Food Truck Rodeo that featured a 'Taco Libre' battle of the tacos showdown (even though I didn't really see any tacos or eat any). Besides that, I still got to try some yummy food! Here's a look below!

I've had these donuts before (last year I believe) but I tried a different flavor profile: Cinnamon and Caramel. The little donuts are freshly made and fried in front of you with the cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top and topped with the caramel sauce. These were very hot and fresh, but the only down side is that some of them were a bit doughy--as if they weren't cooked inside long enough. But for $4 at a food truck event, it isn't too bad a price since everything else is pretty pricy.

My main meal was a Shrimp Sandwhich at Papa Bois, which is Caribbean inspired? I think? I may be wrong..

The sandwhich is on a French baguette (like the Vietnamese Banh Mi) but it is toasted. Inside the sandwhich was a pickeled onion, some sort of cole slaw type cabbage and the marinated shrimp.

At $12, it was a bit pricy but the sandwhich was good. It was nice and hot and had a spicy/smokey flavor to it.

Here's a look of the people baring the rain to get some Food Truck food!

I needed a drink and I wanted to try something different, so this Soda Jerk stand looked promising with their different flavored sodas.

I tried their Lime Cilantro Jalapeno soda and quite liked it. It definitely reminded me of Pho noodles though, especially when I squeeze the lime into the broth, which is weird to say but if this product wasn't sweetened, it would definitely be a Pho veggie version of Pho. I did enjoy it though, but once again, found the 12 oz size to be pricey at $3.00.

Below are items my friends ordered and tried out.

Coconut curry w/ Tofu (this was a bit too sweet for me).

Shwarma (my friend only tried it since the Avengers had it. haha.

Garlic Fries with Hummus and a Yogurt dip. These fries were hella salty! You def need to dip them in either the hummus or yogurt.

This Gourmet Grilled Cheese food truck had a consistent busy line so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. It was also pricey for what you ordered so I decided on the original grilled cheese with grilled onions and bacon.

I have to honestly say that this wasn't anything special and quite disappointing, especailly for the $7 I paid for it. The bottom yellow cheddar cheese, as you can see, wasn't evne melted all the way and still kind of hard and the bacon wasn't as 'thick' as I thought it would be.

Lastly, here's a look at the Luchador wrestling ring!

I love food truck events and am glad to have tried different food trucks. I probably would have enjoyed myself much more if there wasn't any rain! However, I look forward to future food truck events in the Seattle area!

Do you like food trucks? What types of food would interest you in a food truck?? Let me know!