Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Astro's Doughnuts & Fried Chicken (Downtown LA)

Doughnuts. We can't get enough of them. The popular DC-based Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken is now open in downtown LA. It's been named one of the best donut shops in America, so of course I had to try them! And I tried quite a few of them ..
Astro Doughnuts

Astro's has a selection of three hot cake doughnuts that will be made fresh to order, and you don't want to miss these. I got the Nutella hot cake doughnut (but it was a tough choice between this and maple bacon).
Astro Doughnuts
You have to get one of these made-to-order donuts if you have time to eat in the store! Warm donut with melted Nutella. So good! I'm normally a fan of yeast donuts more than cake donuts, but this was an exceptionally good cake donut.

Made-to-order donuts aside, Astro's doughnuts are made fresh in small batches throughout the day, and their batter is never frozen. Look out for their special seasonal flavors, like this Chocolate Banana Daiquiri filled with banana custard
Astro Doughnuts

Friday, October 20, 2017

Taste Across the Mediterranean at Georgie (Montage Beverly Hills)

Last year, Geoffrey Zakarian took over the restaurant space at Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, now known as Georgie. The chef restaurateur hired Wilfrid Hocquet as Executive Chef. Chef Hocquet has worked for French restaurants like Le Louis XV by Alain Ducasse, then at Daniel in New York City.

Being the classy establishment that this Beverly Hills restaurant is, Georgie has tableside martinis, which you should definitely consider if you like martinis. I had to get mine with the flamed lemon peel.
Georgie
Since it was my first visit, I got the tasting menu to get a good feel for the whole menu. The tasting menu is $85 per person for six courses plus amuse bouche. The amuse bouche was a smoked salmon tostada that night.
Georgie
There are two levels of wine pairings. The classic wine pairing is $55 while the reserve wine pairing is $75. We started off with a glass of Fantinel prosecco.

First course: Corn soup, corn waffle, goat cheese mousse
Georgie
I did say I wanted to eat all the sweet corn while it's still in season, and this was one of the best corn dishes I had this summer.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Wagamama Seaport (Boston, MA)

Wagamama is a chain of restaurants serving Asian food - primarily Japanese - which started in UK. I wasn't familiar until I moved to Boston 3 years ago, and I actually only tried it for the first time recently. Wagamama had opened a new location in the Boston Seaport district and invited some bloggers and instagrammers to try them out.

We started with a plate of Chili squid (crispy fried squid, shichimi, chili cilantro dipping sauce, $9)
Wagamama
For calamari lovers, this squid dish is a great variation. It's crispy but tasted light and spiced just right. I couldn't start eating them.

We also had some dumplings, both steamed and fried. Our favorite was the fried duck gyoza ($8)
Wagamama

The drinks at Wagamama are better than I would've expected from a chain restaurant. While a lot of them tended on the sweet and fruity side, they're not overly sweet and fairly well balanced. What I like most is the fact that they use spirits from Asia as much as possible.

For example, the Wagamama Mai Tai is made with Tanduay rum which is from the Philippines. They also use Iwai Whisky from Japan
Wagamama

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