Desserts – Page 4

Strasbourg – Exploring, Lamian Restaurant, and L’Atelier 116

November 29, 2023 mmm-yoso Alsace, Bakery, Chinese Restaurants, Croissants, Desserts, Festivals & Events, France, Niu Rou Mian, Travel

One of the great things about being in Europe during the last of November until the end of the year are the Christmas Markets. We had really enjoyed the Christmas Markets in Strasbourg when we visited several years earlier. And the Missus just couldn't keep still for the two weeks we were in Paris, so I decided to book two nights in Strasbourg. It's less than a two hour train ride from Gare de l'Est. Because this was a rather last minute decision, I wasn't able to book anything on Grande Île. Instead, we stayed at the Hotel Tandem, which was quite comfortable right next to the train station.

It's quite convenient and just a short walk (or you take the tram) to the Grande Île. That first evening, we just wandered the Christmas Markets, which brought back wonderful memories and ate at the market. I'll do an out-of-sequence post on that when we get closer to Christmas.

The next morning, we had a light breakfast and coffee at the hotel and decided to do a bit of exploring. During our previous visit, we hadn't spent much time in the area known as "Petit France", a neighborhood which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with lovely cobblestone streets and half timbered houses. You might be thinking "wait, but this is France, right?" Well, Alsace is right on the border of France and Germany and thus, has changed hands many times. The area named Petit France is not named after it's nationality, but as I mentioned in an earlier post:

"the name "Petit France" is not named for its architecture, but because of a 16th century hospital that treated "zum Franzosel" (the French disease), aka syphilis while still a free city in the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently, the citizens of Strasbourg believed the disease was the fault of the French. Basically, the idea was to isolate those with the disease in a structure in this district."

There was one structure we saw on our earlier trip that we didn't visit. On the River Ill stands the Barrage Vauban a dam and bridge.

That passageway on the bridge is the Passage Georges Frankhauser. There's a terrace and crossing above the passage with what looked like a nice view so we decided to cross into Petit France that way.

What I hadn't read was about the passage itself.

Lining the passageway were gates that almost looked like jail cells. And within the "cells" were various sculptures and castings.

And the view from the roof was quite nice.

From here we crossed the Ponts Couverts.

And we were in Petit France…..

Love the charming houses and streets……

And the canals…..

If we hadn't already done it on our previous visit, we would have taken the canal tour.

We wandered thru more Christmas Markets.

Before ending up at Place Gutenberg and familiar territory…..

We grabbed a light lunch at one of the Christmas Markets and headed on back to the room. We took the ever popular Grand'Rue back to the Canal du Faux-Rempart to get back to the hotel.

Along the way, we passed a Boulangerie I had on my "list". The Missus wanted to get something to have with Her afternoon tea, so we stopped in.

Man, the place was super busy, but the line moved quickly and the Missus got Her treats.

She enjoyed these and we decided to head on back for some croissant and coffee before catching our train the next morning.

L'Atelier 116
116 Grand'Rue
67000 Strasbourg, France

We relaxed then once the sun set, headed on out to check out the markets and lights…..

Soon enough, it was time for dinner. The Missus had already had Her fill of Alsatian Christmas Market cuisine and because our trip was made at the last minute, I wasn't able to make reservations at any of the places I as interested in.

So, we decided on……well, Chinese of course! There was a noodle soup shop I had on my "list" and while the Missus was highly suspicious of my choice She went along. The shop was also along Rue du Fossé-des-Tanneurs, on the way back from Place Kléber. The name; Lamian.

The place was pretty busy when we arrived, but there was no wait for a table. There was one of the chefs working the "lamian" action for all to see.

So yes, they made their own hand pulled noodles here. Of course, we had to order that.

We started with a nice cold beer and some Cacahuetes au Vinaigre Pimente (3,5€/$3.75US), basically boiled peanuts with vinegar and chilies.

As for our noodle soup, we got the Soupe de Nouilles au Boeuf Braise – Legerement Pimente (14,9€/$16.35US), basically Beef Noodle Soup, slightly spicy.

No, this wasn't cheap, but the meat, while being a tad more chewy than I prefer was quite beefy, the broth had a nice beefiness, was decently rich, with good five-spice tones, not overly salty, with a mild spice to it.

The noodles, were slippery and stretchy and quite good as well.

The boiled egg was overcooked, the yolk hard and dry.

We got the Canard Laque (5,5€/$6 US) – literally translated to "Peking Duck". This was not quite Beijing Kaoya, but the skin was fairly crisp, the flesh on the dry side, but the flavoring wasn't too bad.

And for the equivalent of six bucks US, this was perfectly fine. The version of "duck sauce" was terrible though.

We also ordered some Jiaozi, the Raviolis au Bouef et Celeri (5,5€/$6 US).

The dumplings were quite large; the wrappers too brittle and chewy. The filling for the jiaozi were very beefy, with nice celeri tones, seasoned quite well, but quite tough. We were surprised that the black vinegar-soy dipping sauce was not half bad. This was our least favorite dish of the meal.

Half the fun was watching all the customers; about one-fourth were Asian, the rest were not. We got a kick watching the woman on the table next to us eat Her noodle dish. She used a fork to twirl the noodles, like you'd do with Italian pasta. She was really enjoying her meal and seemed to relish her Tsingtao! She ordered a second one, but wasn't able to finish. And at the end, she went and made sure to take some photos of the noodle maker.

Adorable! We had fun watching French folks eating Asian food on this trip; whether it was Jiaozi, Ramen, A Sando, Sichuan, hot pot, or yes, Niu Rou Mian, they seemed up for it!

There was quite a line when we left.

IMG_4624a

After all, what better on a chilly winter evening but some noodle soup, right? Even in Strasbourg.

Lamian Restaurant
20 Rue du Fossé-des-Tanneurs
67000 Strasbourg, France

We headed back to the hotel and had a nice night of sleep. The next day, we awoke our train back to Paris wasn't scheduled to leave until 1044, so we headed back to L'Atelier 116 to get some espresso and a croissant Au Buerre.

The croissant was nothing to write home about; the exterior was decently flaky, but it needed more butter and was too doughy.

As we were enjoying ourselves, an interesting thing happened, the Missus heard someone call Her name! Oh my, it was one of Her coworkers! She was visiting Strasbourg with her parents to check out the Christmas Markets. The woman's parents were so much fun; they had just come from….well, Paris of course! And loved France. We had such a great time talking to them that we had to force ourselves to leave in time to check out and catch our train. Such a fun coincidence; running into the Missus's coworker and her parents, at a random Boulangerie….in Strasbourg!

Life is amazing, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris – Musée National Picasso, A. Lacroix Pâtissier, and Brunch at Le Saint-Regis

November 10, 2023 mmm-yoso Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, France, Paris, France, Travel

Day six of our two week stay in Paris was a Sunday and I had an idea. During the first Sunday of the month, many museums have free admission. The Musée National Picasso was fairly close by and opened at 930am, which would mean less crowds. We had already been to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, so we thought this might be an interesting place to check out. After getting croissants from one of the nearby Boulangeries and a morning coffee we headed out.

The museum is housed in the very impressive Hôtel Salé, which was built in the 17th century.

One of the special exhibitions during the time we visited was an exhibition based on Maya Ruiz-Picasso, one of four known children of Pablo Picasso, born of Marie-Thérèse Walter one of seven known "partners" of the artist (who was also married twice – shades of Diego Rivera). Young Maya was quite the muse to her father as a child and became devoted to the study of her father as well as an expert on his works. She also had quite the collection which was on display as well as many photographs.

We sometimes find that the artists are even more interesting than their works.

We enjoyed our one hour visit.

Sadly, Maya Ruiz-Picasso passed away just a couple of weeks after our visit.

Musée National Picasso
5 Rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris, France

After our visit we crossed on over to Île de la Cité taking a quick look at Notre Dame, then on over to the left bank, where we came across yet another Patisserie.

Where the offerings looked lovely, thus the Missus bought a couple of items for le goûter (tea time) later in the day.

The "Notre Dame", the one looking like a green apple and full of confit pomme verte (green apple of course) was actually quite good, not sweet, fairly tart, nice with tea.

A. Lacroix Pâtissier
11 Quai de Montebello
75005 Paris, France

We decided to cross back over one Île Saint-Louis, the island right next to Île de la Cité. Passing Le Saint-Regis, we decided to stop in for lunch. We had previously enjoyed having coffee here and had noticed that the food looked decent. Plus, those al fresco tables looked perfect for people watching.

The Missus had enjoyed the Salmon Benedict (19€/$20.35) She'd had in Montpelier earlier in the trip, so She decided to try them here.

The "salmon" here was lox, which had been nicely cured and quite tender without being too salty, the eggs were nicely poached, and the Hollandaise was smooth and not overly buttery.

I got the Salmon – Avocado Tartare (17€/$18.25).

Man, where do they get the avocado here? It was perfectly ripe and creamy. It went well with the salmon. I enjoyed the mustard vinaigrette and the pleasantly biter greens.

It was a nice brunch and we'd gladly return. Also, not sure if it was just me, but it seemed like prices in Paris were cheaper than in San Diego?

Le Saint-Regis
6 Rue Jean du Bellay
75004 Paris, France

We strolled down Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île.

Stopping to peek in at various shops….especially if we saw pooches. Like this fella' whom we deemed "Winston" as we saw him amble into one of the bakeries.

He was obviously more interested in visiting the bouchon…..

And then we crossed the Seine on the Pont Marie. This being Paris, there are many historical sites.

That is Fontaine de Jarente.

And then there are "other places" along the way….

Paris – National Archives Museum, Aux Merveilleux de Fred, and a Revisit to Maison De Chengdu

October 8, 2023 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Desserts, France, Paris, France, Travel

After our lunch at Restaurant La Mosquée de Paris we headed back across the Seine back to the apartment. There was one shop that the Missus saw on our way to the Jardin des Plantes that She waned to check out.

Aux Merveilleux de Fred is a chain of shops with branches all over France, London, Europe, New York City, and even Tokyo specializing in, well, Le Merveilleux, a meringue based dessert.

The Missus wanted to try this so we bought a couple for our "le goûter" (afternoon tea).

Aux Merveilleux de Fred
24 Rue du Pont Louis-Philippe
75004 Paris, France

We dropped by the apartment and after storing the Merveilleux, we noticed that it was still fairly early in the day. We had passed the National Archives Museum a couple of times on our walks and had noticed that there was a special exhibit on Epidemics being held for a couple of months. Since the special exhibit was free, we decided to head on over.

The National Archives Museum was formerly known as the Musée de l'Histoire de France and is located in the Hôtel de Soubise which was originally established in 1371! It's quite a grand looking mansion.

We walked thru the entrance and then up the stairway to the exhibit.

And there were boards with information and timelines of the various epidemics in France's history.

Along with documents, paintings, and other displays along the way.

There were no English translations on the labels, but when I'd come across something like this, I would go ahead and use Google translate.

Which usually did a good job in translating. In the case above:

"Instructions and memories necessary both to prevent contagious disease and to get rid of it when a city is attacked, by means of quarantine."

And sometimes, like in the case below, no translation was necessary.

There were also interesting drawings, paintings, and photographs that documented moments in history.

And lest you think this was all about long ago history, I found this photo to be quite compelling. It is a photo of the Louvre on the first day of the Covid shutdown in Paris, March 17, 2020.

After viewing this, we toured some of the other rooms of the "Hotel".

And then did a quick walk thru the gardens, which would be a nice place to relax during better weather.

All in all, a nice 90 minute stop for us.

Heading back to the apartment, while the Missus relaxed, I took a short trip out to the Carrefour for some tea. After all, we needed that to pair with our Merveilleux forle goûter, right?

These were light, not overly sweet. Not something we'd seek out, but nice for a pleasant afternoon tea.

We then settled in for a nice afternoon nap. Upon awakening, I went ahead and checked emails and such. Night came upon us quite quickly. I hadn't made reservations for dinner on this evening. We'd be spending so much time in Paris that I just made reservations for ever other night. We had been quite disappointed with lunch and the Missus wanted some "comfort food". We were pleasantly surprised with our spur of the moment selection on the first night in Paris that we decided to return to Maison De Chengdu.

We selected our favorite dish from that visit; the Intestine Dry Pot and it was indeed a winner again.

Crisp pork intestine, nicely moderated spice, a bit of ma, just a nice dish with rice.

We also selected a dish we saw several of the tables of Chinese customers order the last time; the green beans with pork.

Another winner here! The beans still had a nice crunch…there was some "wok hay" going on, smoky tones, a touch of spice, a good amount of savory soy sauce and white pepper.

In "bean mode", we also got the long beans with pork.

This one was a bit on the bland side.

This was a nice dinner, straight forward Sichuan style cuisine, something I wish we had here in San Diego.

Maison De Chengdu (古味成都)
16 Rue Volta
75003 Paris, France

We had a nice post-dinner stroll; something that we should actually do more of here at home as well. Life was good!

ASA Bakery a Quick Look

October 2, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts

**** An updated post on ASA Bakery can be found here.

So, the Missus on Her forays thru social media asked me if I knew about the new Japanese Bakery that opened in the East Village. Well, I'd seen the sign for ASA Bakery while taking a walk and waiting for our takeout order from Sovereign and I'd read the post on Eater. So yes, I knew about the place being opened by the owners of BeShock Ramen, they also opened a speakeasy type establishment and a omakase only sushi bar discreetly hidden on the premises. Now, in spite of my love of croissants, I was going to wait this out a bit as I figured the opening hype machine was in full swing. But since I had a weekday off, the Missus wanted me to check the place out. So, I figured I'd at least get a croissant out of it, right? Seeing that they opened at 9, I headed on down to East Village, found some parking and arrived at 920, only to see the line. On a weekday!

Asa Bakery 01

Sigh…… You know, we love lines in Taiwan, but our experiences here….well, not so much. But I'd already found parking and had walked on over…..so I guess I was (or should have been) committed.

Asa Bakery 02 Asa Bakery 03 Well, along with lines, I found that ASA likes their signs. Like the one above that states only 3 pastries per person. Good thing I didn't promise anyone else some goodies from here right?

The line moved rather slowly, though folks seemed quite excited about the place which I took to be a good sign. The gentleman to the right in the photo seemed to be a regular because he knew the employee checking the line and they had a nice chat while waiting.

Asa Bakery 04

And more signs……

Asa Bakery 05

Wow, they open at 8 and pastries are only available until 1030. Well, according to this "sign" they had opened at 9am on this day.

Well, that's some demand I guess. Speaking of demand, the clock had nearly hit 950 when I got my turn to order and take a look at what's available!

Asa Bakery 06

Whoa…it was barely 930 and there were only four items left. On a weekday.

Asa Bakery 07

I think the back kitchen must be pretty small to only be able to make small batches; for such a large space? And sigh…..no croissants aux buerre. I ended up getting my allocated three items and walked out at 940. Check out the line as I left. I'm wondering if these folks were just getting coffee or drinks because, ahem, according to the signs other stuff wasn't available until 1130?

Asa Bakery 08

On the way to the car I did get to check out some interesting machinery on display along 14th street.

After doing a bit of "Googling", I came to find out these are "Industrial Artifacts" from the Sinclair Collection, in case you're interested.

I drove home and the Missus opened things up.

Since there were only four bakery items left, I got three. One of the items was the chocolate-macadamia "baguette".

Asa Bakery 09 Asa Bakery 10 This is baguette in name only and absolutely does not have any attributes of bread. It was hard as rock….hope you have good teeth if you get this. You basically didn't tear this; you cracked it into pieces. The chocolate was fine, not too sweet, but since whole macadamia nuts were used, the distribution was haphazard and you'd only occasionally find one.

I also got the Custard Choco Crunch and the Chocolate Danish.

Asa Bakery 11

The Missus had a bite of each, made a face and put them back in the carton. She was going to throw it away; but I told Her "I spent over forty minutes in line for this, so you're going to have to finish them." She told me to have a taste of the Chocolate Danish. The chocolate on top was fine, but the pastry was hard and dry, like cardboard. Wow. I left the carton on the dining table and it "mysteriously disappeared" a few hours later. Hmmm…….

Man, this was so disappointing. We'd been to our share of Japanese style bakeries in Japan, here in the states, and other countries as well and never had anything close to this. Perhaps there was a reason these were the only items left? Though folks before me seemed to be buying them up? Oh well, after this and our visit to Jiou Chu Dumplings, if the Missus wants to check a place out and mentions Instagram, I may just run away. As for ASA, well, unless folks tell me their croissants or if any other items here are outstanding, I'm just going to stick with Izola Bakery when I'm in the area.

ASA Cafe & Bakery
634 14th St. Suite 110
San Diego, CA 92101

(They seem to keep changing hours so I'm not going to be listing any)

Mad For Cheesecake (National City)

August 25, 2023 mmm-yoso Desserts

**** This location of Mad for Cheesecake has closed

Recently, the Missus had an appointment in National City and wanted me to drive and wait for Her. Sigh…… Her appointment was in the South Bay Plaza Shopping Center, you know, where Seafood City is located. Her appointment was going to be for at least an hour so I thought I’d find myself a place to sit and have some…..

Well, perhaps another day.

I just wanted some tea and saw this shop next to Seafood City.

Mad 01

I walked on up to the counter and ordered some Oolong unsweetened and heck, since the Missus really enjoys Japanese Cheesecake, I decided to get one for Her. The folks working the counter were so friendly and told me they had just opened a little over a month ago.

Mad 02

Well, when we got home the Missus tucked right into the cheesecake, She cut a slice and wouldn’t you know….it actually jiggled! Just like what we’d had in Japan. I was allowed a taste and the cake was light, fluffy, and not overly sweet! The Missus thought it was better than where I was commanded to we currently get the Missus’s cheesecake, Uncle Tetsu.

So, of course I’ve now been back a couple of times to get the Cheesecake ($13) here.

Mad 03

The Missus loves the texture and flavors in this. Slightly “cheesy” with a clean, almost lightly citrus finish, without being overly sweet.

Mad 04

You’ll notice that the logo on the cheesecake says Cheese Garden. Well, according to this post in Eater, the owner who also owns the Bonchon franchise in San Diego, brought and runs the Toronto based Cheese Garden in Carmel Valley, which will soon be changing its name to Mad For Cheesecake as well.

There’s a whole list of desserts and drinks listed, including a Baked Cheese Tart, Double Fromage Cheesecakes, and so on. It’ll be interesting to see how the Missus’s taste evolves with this one.

The folks running the place are very friendly.

And Uncle Tetsu is now a distant #2 on the Missus’s “list”.

And so you could say that at this moment, the Missus is “mad for cheesecake”.

Mad For Cheesecake
1420 E Plaza Blvd Suite B-5
National City, CA 91950
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 10pm

Mad 05

Hola Paris

August 22, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, French Restaurants

**** Hola Paris has closed

Back in May, I was doing a morning walk around Old Town, when I walked into Old Town Urban Market mainly to see what was going on with the location of Barrio Donas that was opening there. You can read about my visit to Barrio Donas here. When I noticed that the shop opening right across from Barrio Donas had some activity going on. It was called Hola Paris, a name which harkens to some of our favorite places to travel, so of course I was interested. There was a nice couple setting things up, when I inquired about the name, the nice owner named Gabby is Mexican and her Husband who is handling the chef duties named Benjamin is from the outskirts of Paris! Thus, Hola Paris! Of course, I then cracked them up when I left saying "merci, adios, au revoir"!

The place opened a couple of weeks later. Looking at the menu, which featured pastries and crepes was perhaps not going to be our cup of tea. We had spent two weeks in Paris during our last trip to the city and one of the places we tried was the ever popular crêperie Breizh Cafe. It turns out that we didn't care for the savory crepes there.

Still, the owners of Hola Paris seemed so nice. So, I decided to check things out. I went on one quiet morning to the very "Instagrammable" looking shop in the Urban Market.

Hola Paris 01

Benjamin broke into a big smile and laughed when he saw me…….I guess he remembered me! We had a nice conversation and I mentioned I don't care for sweets much. I also mentioned that during our last stay in Paris, we tried crepes and didn't care for it. He asked where and I told him Breizh Cafe. Benjamin quickly explained that Breizh Cafe makes Bretonne style crepes, which uses buckwheat. The style made here is based on the sweeter style crepes made with wheat flour. He also pointed out, because of the Mexican touches, the several of offerings are quite savory and even have some spice.

Hola Paris 03

He recommended I try the Ham y Queso ($13), which includes jambon and queso fresco.

Upon turning, I noticed this sign, which gave me flashbacks!

Hola Paris 04

I asked him about it and was told Gabby loves Chanel! I mentioned the Cambon location….and apparently Gabby loves that location as well! Oh boy…….

Anyway, I went and had a seat and soon enough my crepe was delivered.

Hola Paris 05

The crepe was light and at first a bit too sweet for me.

Hola Paris 06

But as I tucked into it, the saltiness from the ham and the mild, rich milkiness of the queso fresco started coming to the forefront. While this was still a bit too sweet for my taste it was not bad!

I waited about a month, before revisiting. And Benjamin greeted me with a smile. In thinking about what I'd had on the previous visit, I thought that a bit of heat might really spice up things a bit. So, I decided to order the La Suiza ($14), which included tomatillo sauce and a green salsa.

Hola Paris 07 Hola Paris 09 This time the crepe was delivered with a fork and knife. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy chicken in a crepe, but it wasn't bad at all. Actually, the bite of tangy-sour heat from the sauces/salsa really made it enjoyable to my palate. The sweetness was tempered and the cheese really helped to balance out the flavors. I do think this could have used a bit more salt. And heck, even more spicy too!

Hola Paris 10 Hola Paris 11 I'm glad I tried Hola Paris. While it's not something I crave, Benjamin and Gabby are so nice and friendly. I really enjoyed chatting with Benjamin about Paris.

It'll be interesting to see what other savory items make it to the menu…and heck, I might even just have a Kir Royal here once day!

Hola Paris
2548 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 9am – 6pm
Sat – Sun 9am – 7pm

Barrio Donas Opens in Old Town and Phuong Nga Restarts Dining In

June 20, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts, Exploring San Diego, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Barrio Donas has closed their Old Town location

I recently saw the banner up for Barrio Donas in Old Town when dining at El Cata (post coming up). I had been waiting for the shop to finally open in the Old Town Urban Market. I decided to check the place out the following weekend. Of course I went early, this location of Barrio Donas opens at 9, so I could find some parking.

The shop is in a nice bright stall in the market.

Still, the young lady was still putting things out and told me if could wait another 10-15 minutes. So, I decided to take a nice stroll in Old Town. Which I think is a pretty nice when it isn’t over run with crowds.

As I walked past the Church of the Immaculate Conception, I realized that I had never taken a look in the church. It was before the daily mass times, so I took a quick peek in.

I think I’ll drop by for a longer visit one of these days.

Looking across the street, I noticed that the long standing O’Hungry’s/Hungry’s had closed!

Man, I think the place had been around for almost 50 years? Quite sad…..

When I returned to Barrio Donas, half of the stock was up.

By the size of the shop, I knew that I wouldn’t be getting tortas like A la Mexicana which I enjoy so much. So, I picked out something on lower end of the sweet scale; the Horchata Donut.

Now, I could have had a seat in the peaceful patio area, which would have been great. But, since things were so quiet on this morning, I decided to head on over to one of my favorite places in the area; Heritage Park.

I’m not sure if it’s generally known.

But if you head to the right of Christian House, you’ll find a short trail.

It’s not difficult; heck I did it with a coffee and donut in hand. Just don’t fall on any of the cactus……that might not be very enjoyable.

Soon enough you’ll see a bench. There’s even a trash can there.

It was so serene on this overcast morning.

And was a nice place to have a pastry or breakfast of your choice. In this case the Horchata Donut.

And enjoy the “best seat in the house”.

Barrio Donas – Old Town
2548 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Tues – Sun 9am – 5pm
Mon 10am – 5pm

Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga has been a takeout staple for us the last couple of years. And on last Sunday, the Missus requested Her Bun Rieu fix so I drove on over.

Since the start of the pandemic, Phuong Nga has only been doing takeout. And in the last six month or so, the days that Bun Rieu was available had shrunk. At last check it was only available on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays.

And I’ve visited on a couple of weekends when they just didn’t have any Bun Rieu. On this day I walked on in and the young lady, the owner’s daughter I presume, smiled at me and said, “we have Bun Rieu every day now!”

And then she pointed over to the former dining area which was covered with supplies. There were now four tables clear.

She told me “we now have enough staff and can open dining in and make bun rieu everyday”. Good for them!

I did still get my bun rieu to go though. When my order was ready, “Mom” brought it out to me. She then shook my hand and told me something in Vietnamese. Her daughter translated, “she said thank you very much for helping us stay in business.” Whoa, I never thought she even knew who I was. Somehow I was deeply touched by this. It made my weekend.

Phuong Nga
4016 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

It’s those little moments that can always make my day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Matcha Cafe Maiko

June 18, 2023 Cathy Desserts, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for dropping in to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog, in the midst of this three day weekend. Cathy is writing today.

Summer is almost here, indicated by our "June Gloom", when overcast skies cover the coastline until early afternoon daily.

Lately, The Mister and I are making an effort to stop and enjoy some sort of 'treat' after lunch and the Matcha Cafe Maiko has been on our radar. The flavor of matcha-the finely ground powder of specially processed green tea leaves ("Specially processed" means shade grown for about three weeks before harvest) is unique/ has a strong tannin note and the tea powder has more caffeine than sun-grown leaves. The powder is consumed as a suspension in water or milk, not steeped as a tea leaf is consumed.
Walk up, order and pay (no cash; cards only) and your order is prepared and your number called out.

The menu boards are straightforward. There are pastries also available to purchase as well as a few items made in the kitchen (bubble waffles, Basque burnt cheesecakes). We are here for the matcha.
A Matcha Frappe (premium matcha blended with ice) and topped with whipped cream ($8) is filled with matcha flavors- a sweet nuttiness, along with a grassy note as well as some slight tannin bitterness..a flavor explosion which is satisfying.
A matcha affogato ($8.90)- an excellent coffee blended with premium matcha and topped with a soft serve swirl of matcha and yuzu ice creams (there are four soft serve ice cream flavors offered daily). We added a waffle cone ($1.50) just because. Multiple flavors and textures. An excellent bit of dessert.

Quality in flavor and presentation and a good place to stop and relax. Soo was here last year!

Matcha Cafe Maiko 8072 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (858) 667-4597 Website Open daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Taichung – Taichung Second Market, Taichung Sixth Market, and a Visit to Dawncake

May 14, 2023 mmm-yoso Desserts, Markets & Grocers, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

For our stay in Taichung, I selected Le Meridian. The rooms were the most comfortable of all the places we stayed at in Taiwan.

And there was a vast and good breakfast buffet.

The variety was quite impressive. A nice variety of Western and Asian dishes.

You were provided with a card for your table. You left it on the "green" side for when you went exploring for food…..

And then flipped it to "red" when you were done to let the folks know they could clear your table.

We enjoyed our breakfasts here.

We enjoyed our time here.

Unlike the other places we'd be visiting, I hadn't made any plans for our full day here. We had one destination in mind for the day, we needed to get some pineapple cake from Dawncake for my MIL. And while Miyahara was owned by Dawncake, we decided to walk on over to the main store on Taiwan Boulevard.

During our walk it seemed like Taichung is a bit spread out and there was only 1 MRT line in the city at the time of our visit. So, we didn't do much except explore. Like in other cities in Taiwan we found an interesting contrast of the modern and stylish….

With the old…..

As the architecture seemed to change on every block on this portion of Taiwan Boulevard.

There were many alleyways winding their way around, with some of them specializing in electronic shops or hot pot and the like…..

There also seemed to be a large number of 24 hour arcades in the area.

One of the places the folks at the hotel and the Missus's Instagram searches recommended we visit was Taichung Second Market. While we weren't very hungry due to just finishing breakfast, we headed on over to have a look.

During the Japanese Colonial Period, this was known as Shintomichō, a high-end shopping area.

Now it's known as a place to get "good grindz"………

And as we soon learned, lines are usually a good thing in Taiwan and they can move pretty fast, like at this Lu Rou Fan stand.

There's quite a variety of food available.

Along with the expected produce, seafood, and meat purveyors.

Taichung Second Market
No. 87, Section 2, Sanmin Rd.
Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan

We stopped for a short tea break.

Where the Missus noticed a super long line going down around the block. She went to investigate and I crossed the street to take a photo.

Apparently, this is a very popular place selling Castella Cake, named Banshin Castella Cake.

Yep, those lines……

All of this and it was just after 9 am!

We headed further up Taiwan Boulevard, to the rather modern Xitun District, full of office towers and high rises.

We came across what looked like a hotel….it turned out to be the Splendor Hotel, with a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of plants and crafts. The Missus read one of the signs and noticed that the building is called "Park Lane" and on the third floor was something called "Taichung Sixth Market". Since it was still early and Dawncake didn't open until 10 we decided to check the place out.

We caught the elevator up to the third flood and arrived at what I'll call a very modern food hall/market of sorts. There were some food stands but they weren't open yet.

Like I mentioned earlier; we were struck by the contrasts of the old (Second Market) and the new.

While all the food stands were closed, we found this tea booth.

The young man working the stand was so kind and friendly. The Missus loves Her tea and he took the time out to explain the source and flavors of all the tea; which was from his family's farm in Alishan and told us to have a seat.

He proceeded to make us multiple samples of each! Telling us to take our time and enjoy.

It was such a nice experience and we bought a couple of bags of tea.

We'll make sure to return if we're back in Taichung!

Taichung Sixth Market (in Park Lane by Splendor)
403 Jianxing Rd.
West District, Taichung City, Taiwan

By now it was after 10am and Dawncake was open.

The Missus's Mom enjoys pineapple cake, so we decided to pick some up on every stop during our trip. Dawncake is probably the best known brand from Taichung.

The shop is large and bright. We were given some samples and the Missus got Her Mom a box.

Meanwhile, I came across something I had seen the previous night at Miyahara.

And this time I just had to get it.

It's actually tea that is sold in what could pass as an album cover. So, the Missus got more tea and I got that wonderful album cover…because "I'm forever missing them….."

Dawncake
No. 512, Section 2, Taiwan Blvd.
West District, Taichung City, Taiwan

Happy Mother's Day!

Yiko Yiko Soft Opening – A Quick Look

April 26, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts

The Missus was looking for some dessert (other than pineapple cake) to go with the tea we brought back from Taiwan. So, She thought we could stop by Uncle Tetsu. I mentioned reading that Yiko Yiko had opened while we were in Taiwan and maybe we should check them out. So, we headed on off to Mercury Village Shopping Center to see if they were open.

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And indeed they were.

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They're in soft opening mode and unlike what I and many other folks thought, it's not a cheesecake purveyor. I read in the Eater post that the owner is from Xi'an and the menu, at least right now is limited to what's on the hand written list.

YikoYiko 03

And on this evening, they were out of several items as well. The Missus wanted the Sea Salt Caramel Cake, but they were out.

As you can see by the "case", there's not much.

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And there were even three people still working in the kitchen at this time of the evening.

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The Missus chatted with the young lady working in Mandarin and ended up ordering the Mung Bean Cake ($15).

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From left to right, red bean, matcha, and white bean flavors.

The Missus enjoyed this and I had a taste….I enjoyed the red bean the best. These aren't sweet confections and go really well with tea. The ingredients are all organic according to the young lady. Not overly eggy or buttery, these have a nice smooth texture. And since I really don't have much of a sweet tooth (you can tell by the lack of dessert posts, right?), these did fine by me. The Missus thought they went well with the tea we got from the shop of a Tea Master in Shiding, Taiwan.

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No, this stuff isn't cheap, but according to the Missus the quality is worth the price.

The shop is still in soft opening mode, so availability of items and the hours may vary.

So, if you stop by, let me know what you think.

Yiko Yiko
8008 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111