Last meal in Paris - Noodles Atelier

SCORE. We found a Chinese HAND-PULLED NOODLE SHOP right next to our apartment !!! AND it was full of fresh Chinese people.... you know what I mean ?

I was beyond sick of French food and given the fact that I would be moving to Philly where virtually no good Chinese food exists (by Californian standards, perhaps?), I was having a major Asian food craving. Especially noodles since hand-made noodles are probably one of my favorite things to eat next to red meat.

Check out the crazy and somewhat disturbing artwork:




This was seriously delicious!!!


Their 5-spice, beef noodle soup, which was very different from what we are used to in California (like from Taiwanese hot spot A&J's)


YES !!! This is called "Shanghai cabbage" in French.


Though I'm not too sure what region the cooks and owners were from, the tiny two-story restaurant was full of stylish Taiwanese as well as Cantonese customers. I was super happy with my dish. Another reason why I could live in Paris forever... I have my regular pearl tea cafe, gourmet coffee shop, hand-pulled noodles joint, and ramen/donburi/bento box joints on top of amazing French bistros and restaurants. Sigh.

Noodles Atelier
164, rue Saint Denis
75002 Paris, France

À Bientôt, Paris !

Sichuan NYE 2008 Dinner

Let's make the new year HOT

Beef noodle soup at ZenZoo

Finally tried the Beef Noodle Soup at ZenZoo today.











Not bad. Spices are toned down but closer to the real thing. Mango tea with pearls was excellent.

Zen Zoo‎
13, Rue Chabanais
75002 Paris
M: Pyramides or Bourse or Quatre-Septembre
Tel: 01 42 96 27 28‎

Decided to walk home.







Love floating buildings.


I love Paris. Is it strange that my honeymoon stage with Paris has not ended after over a year of being here?

Best Chinese food in Paris... thus far

Le Salon de Thé Wen Zhou
24, rue de Belleville
75020 Paris
M: Belleville
Tel: 01.46.36.56.33

I had been here previously with Kat. And then today with Amanda. Get the fresh made buns (any of them), spicy eggplant, noodles... and they even have NIAN GAO ! (Sticky rice cake). I'm getting that shit next time. (Btw, it is totally not a "salon de thé").

I felt like I was back in California... well almost.

It was nice to speak my broken Mandarin with them. And hear the owners talk really loud and say things like "crazy/mental and stupid" in Mandarin.

I even found Zhi Ma Qio (Ping ying is way off - Sesame rice balls with red bean paste) a couple doors down. It was overcooked but still tasty. I will go in the morning when they are more fresh.

This place beats all the crap that is around Paris.

I am happy. Very happy.

The end.

The Last Supper...at Tricotin

... well the last supper of the "Eating with Pim weekend."

This Cambodian owned "Chinese restaurant" served a myriad of items ranging in Chinese/Cantonese food, Vietnamese, and Thai (typical of "Chinese restaurants" in Paris).

Funky tasting Nems


House noodles with all types of goodies like shrimp, pork, and kidney. Normally, Pim just orders this here, with the soup separate so that she can season the noodles with hot sauce, etc. I will try that next time.


Fried shrimp that Pim likes to dip in the broth. Same breading as fried bananas. Ummm...


Beef "chow mein" - not your typical chow mein. It was okay - I did enjoy all the crunchy Chinese broccoli.


Overall this place is okay. Not super Chinese as it is Cambodian run but if you are looking for some cheap and quick Asian food, then why not? This place is HUGE too - crowded but probably won't have a long wait time.

Tricotin
15, Avenue Choisy
75013 Paris, France
+33 1 45 84 74 44‎
(Open late 00h00)

Mirama

Today me and Andrew went to check out Mirama in the 5th. Another gorgeous day out.



It is known for their Canard laqué. I only tasted the broth which was decent. Andrew would have preferred more crisp and shine to his duck, but I think he enjoyed it.


Tsao niu-hu (my ping-ying is terrible). This was decent.


Overall, not bad for a Chinese place in Paris.

Mirama
17, Rue St Jacques
75005 Paris, France
+33 1 43 54 71 77

Afterwards, we wandered around the streets of Paris.

Kid in a candy store - Andrew and comic books.


We walked through Saint-Michel and saw HOARDS of tourists. Like bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It was crazy. And we walked by a Subway that was FILLED WITH AMERICAN TOURISTS (well, they looked American). LIKE LINES OUT THE DOOR. I was a little hurt - how can you come to "my city" and eat Subway?! Why? How? At least get a Sandwich Grecques or baguette or something? Ah, so sad.

The rest of our afternoon consisted of more walking, gelato, Amanda, and Barbès.

California Eating Part IV

This morning, *Ginger and I met up with Carlo, Yuichi, and Brain, for some drinks at Barefoot Coffee Roasters whom really pride themselves in being real baristas and anti-Starbucks.

Ginger


They do serve excellent coffee. They also take there time with it and make cute designs in the foam.



Something I noticed were the pastries. They had things labeled like "French financiers" and "French pastries" which clearly were nothing close to what they were labeled. Am I weird for being annoyed with that? I mean the financier was a hard, square, brick. And I even told the barista ringing up my hot chocolate what a real financier is. Am I a food snob now? Really, they are desecrating what a financier really is ! Or maybe because I am just so in love with real, French financiers. Sigh. Oh and I have to disagree with Wikipedia on financiers being light. I make them with a lot of butter. And Eric Kayser probably puts 1.5x more butter than I do. I don't think I have had a light financier in Paris... yet... ummm... ok... Anyway, skip the pastries there. The blueberry muffin sucks. Sorry Barefoot - you got the coffee down but you ain't got nothing on Starbucks blueberry coffeecakes and muffins ! And French pastries ! Whatever that is supposed to mean.

Barefoot Coffee Roasters
5237 Stevens Creek Blvd
Santa Clara, CA 95051
Phone: 408-248-4500

And after, met up for lunchee with the fam.

Hi, I'm Zacky. Aren't I the cutest baby in the world ?


Terrible pic of me, but Zacky is so cute !


Can you say SZECHUAN SPICE ? Lots of lamb and beef.






Fish and tofu soup


Every time I would eat, lil Zacky would stop whatever he was doing and give me a serious look. It was SOOOOO cute ! Aw, he takes food seriously; he must take after auntie !


Excellent restaurant. Sorry, can't help you with the names of the dishes because my mom ordered everything.

Szechuan Era Restaurant
10971 N. Wolfe Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 873-8628

My fam. Love you all ! Bro - Huang, Mom, Pops, Sister - Sue, Zacky, me, and Raffy (Bro-in-law Rick is taking the pic)


And of course, afterwards we had to get tea at Fantasia. A couple of my favorites.

Zhenzhu Cafe


Zhenzhu chamai nyunai


Zee family again


Fantasia Coffee & Tea
10933 N Wolfe Rd # 120
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 865-1689
(I used to work here, btw... oh like 10+ years ago? OMG I am getting old. JK JK !)

For dinner, I ended up cooking a simple and traditional 3-course meal for a couple friends who have immensely helped me out by taking care of Ginger, as well as a couple other friends.

First course was a Velouté Dubarry (cauliflower puree soup) with lots of cayenne - yes, very untraditional. ;) Second course was Striped sea-bass with a beurre blanc, potato purée (cannelled of course), asparagus and cherry tomatoes. Third course, I made my brownie recipe that I had been working on for quite awhile, and crème anglaise. Ah the butter and chocolate are 100000x better in France. I didn't like my brownies here, but the others enjoyed them. =) It was nice to be able to see my family and close friends in such a short period of time.

Until August, j'espere !

California Eating Part III

Today, my buddies Yuichi and Carlo took me to eat an American breakfast at Lou's Coffee Shop of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. And of course, watered-down coffee. Ummmmm. Never thought I would appreciate American breakfasts but Paris can do that to you. Also spent some time mingling around downtown Los Gatos, getting some tea, and finally buying a microplane.

Lou's Coffee Shop
15691 Los Gatos blvd
Los Gatos, CA 95032
(408) 356-8383

After, I went to meet Charles, Phuong, and baby Kyle in San Mateo for Shanghainese food at Little Shanghai. We got chong yuo bing (green onion pancake), xiao loan bao, nian gao (Shanghainese rice cake), nyu rou mien (beef noodles), and tang ren (sesame tapioca in a wine broth). My ping-ying is way off, but anyway it was soooo good. I loved it.

Kyle has gotten so big !


Little Shanghai
17 E 25th Ave
San Mateo, CA 94403
(650) 573-7161

Then I had to meet the family for good old Chinese Muslim food. One of my favorite Chinese cuisines.

There are a few of these restaurants in the Bay Area, but this one is by far one of my favorites. The chef here actually trained the chef at another very popular Chinese Muslim restaurant called Darda. I still prefer the consistency of the noodles at Darda, but everything here was better in terms of flavor and freshness. Fucking delicious.

Chinjin Eastern House Restaurant
1530 South De Anza Blvd.
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 865-0302

I have been eating so much that I actually felt sick today after dinner which really isn't all that surprising. Since I don't have much time here, I have been trying to meet up my closest friends as well as spend enough time with the bf and family too. And of course, everyone wants to meet up over food. I wish I was here for longer! It's so good to see everyone.

Chinese Restaurant Discovery ! And La Loco

Andrew and I stumbled upon this Chinese of all Chinese restaurants while we were in the 13th. I mean everything about it screamed Chinese. The decor, the oversized banquet room. The karaoke stage. The TV screens. Tablecloths. Tanks of fish. Waiters uniforms. You name it. You see Chinese food isn't really great in Paris. At least compared to California, and of course, China. BUT based on the decor, we had to try this place. Now most of the Chinese people in Paris come from Wenzhou. At this restaurant, they had things like Peking duck, and dim sum (which is from the South), but why not try it anyway? I mean come on, the decor was catered for Chinese customers!

Hello, Chinese restaurant !


So we ended up ordering some typical fish stir-fried with ginger and green onions. And also Cha niu hu (yes, my ping-ying is way off), which is a flat, rice noodle with bean sprouts, onions, soy sauce and beef - typically a southern Chinese dish. All in all, not bad! Especially for Chinese food in Paris. Granted, it wasn't the best per se, BUT it was good enough to satisfy your Chinese food craving.



It was quite a nice discovery =).

La Chine Masséna
Centre Commercial Masséna 13
18, Avenue de Choisy
75013 PARIS
Tél : 01 45 83 98 88

After dinner, we met up at Canadia's place to pre-game. I think it was about 1am when we decided to leave his apartment. The metro closed already, so we were waiting for a taxi. This random guy asked us if we wanted a ride so we hopped into his car. Why not? I was with three guys, no biggie right? He decided to be a really nice guy. We gave him 20 Euro for driving us all the way to the 18th to meet up with Ede at a club called La Loco. A very Euro-club that played a lot of trance, but they did have a good 10 minutes of hip-hop and NELLY FERTADO. The crowd was a bit icky at first, but it got better towards the night.

Looking sharp


Hi Ede !


Afterwards, we went to a pub next door which turned out to be free and played better music. The entertainment was quite interesting as well.


The night ended at 6am. SIX AM. I need to remind myself that I am older now and that I can't pull all night partying anymore. I was so tired the next day. Never again! HAHAHA