Almond Haus

10100 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 537-7014

General:

Quite a nice cute newer place.  It is kind of weird as this place is a clean place in the midst of a very rundown strip mall where rundown Mi La Cay and Pho Quang Trung are also located. Their difference here is that they use almond milk. 

I have come to this place quite often as Wifey Queen Bee really likes the coffee here.  One of her coworkers colloquially calls the coffee here "liquid crack."

Their coffee offerings are generally better than their tea or smoothie offerings, with one exception that you will see in details below.

.... and the cherry on top?  Each drink would only cost you 6-8 quarters. 

Better than Starbucks, 1/2 the price.  Rejoice!

Details:

Almond Haus Iced Coffee:  The heavy almond milk is a perfect partner for a one shot of espresso here.  Hazelnut nose and overtone.  A perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. The dance partners are in tune in an almost perfect harmony.  This comes from a person who usually can't even stand the smell of coffee. Be advised that coffee is quite strong, at least for me, although they could add an extra shot or two upon request for any of the coffee drinks.  5- stars.

Caramel Macchiato: one shot of espresso and almond milk, but with caramel undertone instead of hazelnut.  Compared to the Haus Iced Coffee, it has less depth/bitterness. Very good but the Haus Iced Coffee is a notch better.  4.5 stars.

Jasmine Sea Salt Caramel Tea, with Almond Jelly: moderately fragrant jasmine tea.  Cream is made with almond milk so it is on the heavy side and is too heavy for the lightweight jasmine tea.  Detectable saltiness adds to the rich flavor profile.  Almond jelly, although add another dimension to the drink, also adds another unneeded  heaviness.  Still a good drink but I have had a better one just from down the street. 4- stars.

Jasmine Green Fruit Tea: no artificial flavoring! Great! Real strawberry and kiwi bits plus almond jelly.  Very straight forward flavor profile.  Sweet and fragrant medium quality jasmine tea with texture and acidity from the fruits.  Add the almond jelly to add another texture and a hint of creaminess.  Good but not great. This strengthens my postulate that Almond Haus is a coffee and not a tea house.  3.5 stars.

Avocado Smoothie: well, it is a straightforward avocado smoothie like what Queen Bee would make at home. Avocado, whole milk, sugar.  It is a perfectly executed one, though.  Here is an idea: what about adding 1/2 shot of your excellent espresso to add more depth to the flavor? 3.5 stars. 

Finally I found a tea drink that I liked here! I was curious with what this girl, the cashier, drank. "Whaz that?"  "Oh, it is Jasmine Lemon Tea with Strawberry and Grass Jelly."  I thought "hmmm, lose the grass jelly and it'd be a great idea."  A great idea it was.

Jasmine Lemon Tea with Strawberry: very refreshing and fragrant. A beautiful blend of mild tannin and lemon acidic body. There is just enough sweetness to support the acidity, no more than needed. Lemon and jasmine nose is fortified by an overtone from sliced lime: such a complex floral and citrus nose. Strawberry also adds texture and more acidic kick. 4.5 stars.

Almond Haus Iced Coffee and Jasmine Lemon Tea with Strawberry

Mi A Dong

16175 Brookhurst St
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 839-2286

General:

It was that shrimp fritter thing that compelled me to come here.  Observing the pictures, I decided that roast duck and shrimp fritter were the way to go.

This is one of those places where you have to stir your noodle thoroughly before you eat because Mr. A Dong is either too cool or to lazy to do it.  The fried garlic oil and oyster sauce are located on the bottom of the noodle. Or maybe they just leave it to the patron's imagination?  The generous accompanying garnishes come on a separate plate: bean sprout, long cut chive (gu choy), and shredded lettuce.  You pick what you like and stir them together with the noodle.

I like this place for a couple reasons:

1) Clean.
2) Bossman Mr. A Dong (he goes by Andy) is actually cool (I joked about it in the paragraph above). I am a single-tasker and I can't be distracted when doing something.  I was in the middle of ordering my custom order (see below) when Wifey Queen Bee distracted my concentration and insisted that she wanted the shrimp fritters, too.  So, I forgot to mention "kho/dry" at the end and my order came "nuoc/soup." I owned it because it was my fault but I was unhappy about it. There was a bit of back and forth fuss between me and her because of that.  Mr. A Dong noticed it and came and asked me "what's wrong?" I told him the situation and I admitted it was my fault and I wanted to order a new one "dry."  Mr. A Dong said not to worry about it and the made a new order for us.  The wait staff also smiled and told me "why didn't you just tell me?"  Later when we were paying for the bill, Ladyboss Mrs. A Dong apologized, too, for giving us the wrong order.  Wow, 3 times of apologies for my fault.  This was beyond my wildest imagination for customer service in the area.  Really cool.
3) The food itself, at least some of it, was unexpectedly great.  Curiously absent last time, the pork crackling appeared tonight fortifying the flavor profile to the better.  However, this raised another question: would their food be consistent?

Going back to the food, I told Queen Bee to order her Mi noodle with Vit Quay Roast Duck but she didn't listen to me.  She ordered Mi A Dong which was the equivalent of Dac Biet House Special.

Details:

Mi A Dong, kho: dry small yellow noodle spiced with oil infused with pork crackling and fried garlic. Clean tasting and subtle as the crackling was not overpowering the dish unlike at My Vi Mi Gia.  Spicing was a bit to timid for yellow noodle so the flavor profile was straight forward and a bit monotonous.  Toppings on the noodle included sliced pork and crispy chicken leg.  Toppings in the soup included surimi, fish balls, liver, and shrimps. Please see my previous review for the soup and garnishes.  It was pretty much an okay noodle, not flawed yet not exceptional, at 3 stars.  No story here.

Roast Duck Small Yellow Noodle (Mi Vit Quay), dry, add Shrimp Fritter: since spicing was simple, the taste was also monotonously straightforward oyster sauce and fried garlic oil: pretty average.  Yet, it was not pretentious with much oil or msg, either.  The opposite to Mi La Cay whose noodle was superb and toppings are so so, A Dong's noodle was so so and their toppings, at least the one I chose, were good.  Roast duck was Lien Hoa quality, quite good. Its flavor profile was sweet with mild saltiness and five spice overtone.  Fried shrimp fritter (Tom Chien) was crunchy with mild saltiness. Soup was quite interesting.  The flavor profile was more like beef pho's soup with a lot of sweetness flavor and gaminess nose.  Yes, there was pork bone and shrimp flavor in the soup, but was there also beef bone?  I rated the noodle 3 stars and the toppings 4 stars.  So, 3.5 stars for this combo. 

This is the story: I had been contemplating about this imaginary dish at this joint.  I thought that they had a good roast duck and a very light spicing here: "hmm, what about a dry ho fun big rice noodle with roast duck and shrimp fritters?"  So, I custom ordered it (not in the menu) and I turned out correct and got a dish exceeding my expectation.

Hu Tieu Vit Quay, kho (not in menu): dry big white ho fun noodle with roast duck and extra shrimp fritters.  The noodle had just enough oiliness and saltiness. There was just enough of pork crackling (tep mo) flavoring without overpowering the dish. There was also a fragrant fried garlic overtone.  In addition, the jus from the roast duck dripped to the noodle with some sweetness and a hint of five-spice herbaceousness.  Shrimp fritters added some texture. All these worked wonder here.  This was THE BEST DRY HO FUN I had ever tasted in the greater LA area: it was almost perfect.  It would have been perfect if the soup had been better and the noodle had been home made.  5- stars.

Before you call me crazy,check my reviews. I am a Mi & Hu Tieu Eater/Rater.

Roast Duck and Shrimp Fritter Big White Noodle, dry

Mi A Dong, dry

Roast Duck and Shrimp Fritter Small Yellow Noodle, dry

Roast Duck Big White Noodle Soup, wrong order

 

Habuya Okinawan

14215 Red Hill Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 832-3323

General:

I never had Okinawan food elsewhere.  So, I didn't really have a yardstick to compare.  However, I'll give you my take and perspective on what they proudly serve as Okinawan cuisine in the menu selections.

If I could sum their Okinawan selections in two ingredients, they are fatty pork and bitter melon .  
It seems that Okinawan, at least this restaurant owners, are obsessed about these two ingredients which I don't mind as I like them both.  The obsession is shown as they run fresh water unto the bitter melon for a long time, supposedly to reduce the undesired bitterness. 

The ubiquitous pork is everywhere in their Okinawan selections, mainly in 2 forms:  ribs and 3-layer bacon (similar to Chinese dishes).  Except for the salt-grilled pork belly, most of the pork cuisines are stewed in soy sauce based.  This intrigues me.  I am familiar with both mainland Japanese and Min Nan Chinese Fujianese (Fukkien/Hokkien) cuisines. A lot of pork preparation in Fujianese cuisine is soy sauce stew.  From my observation, the Okinawan food here is like Fujianese food but prepared with Japanese soy sauce. 

Having said this, the Okinawan offerings are all delicious.  I'd advise you to stay with their Okinawan selection and refrain from ordering "main stream" Japanese selections which are mostly just okay.  If you come here expecting satisfaction from traditional Japanese cuisine, you would get a better satisfaction elsewhere. 
 
Note: the place is quite small and reservation is recommended.

Details:  

Their two main bitter melon dishes are the bitter melon salad and bitter melon omelet.  Bitter melon salad is spring mix salad with sesame dressing served with fried bitter melon (4 stars).  The omelet is lightly fried bitter melon rolled into egg omelet (3.5 stars). In addition to these two, they also serve bitter melon stir fried with bean sprouts and beaten eggs.  I chuckled when I first saw it as you could call it *gasp* Fujianese home cooking (3.5 stars).

 
Their specialty Soki Soba is very similar to Fujianese peddler ribs noodle soup.  The noodle is thick noodle similar to what is commonly used in Fujian noodle soup (it has a quality between linguini and fettuccine when it is cooked on the soft side).  The soup is closer to Fujian soy-based (soy sauce usage here is VERY light) noodle soup than what you'd expect from a Japanese soup. 4.5 stars.

Pork belly and daikon stew: this stew is really what would happen if a Fujianese cooked it with a Japanese soy sauce.  Sake-fortified fragrant soy sauce. Sweet and salty. Daikon gives a nice earthiness contrast. Unfortunately, pork is a tad hard. 4- stars.

They also have what they call Sukichi.  This is a deceptively simple dish of salt-grilled sliced pork belly, finished with a squeeze of lemon.  However, it is very delicious and makes an excellent pairing with the Soki Soba. 4 stars.

Another interesting offering is Okinawan tofu dish.  It is raw tofu served with assortment of fermented seafood toppings.  Again, you'd find something similar in Fujian. 4+ stars.

Some examples of "mainstream" Japanese offerings:

Uni pasta: al dente soki soba,  cream, strong nori overtone.  Yet, uni is not only scarce to find but is also overpowered by cream and nori. Nothing special. 3+ stars.

Grilled Akanishi clam: crunchy texture, grill char, topped with mayo mustard sauce. Better served at Sushi houses. 3.5 stars.

Soki Soba

Bitter Melon Salad

Anakashi Clam

Uni Pasta

Sukichi

Merry's House of Chicken

2550 E Amar Rd
West Covina, CA 91792
(626) 965-0123

General:

My normal yardstick for an Indonesian restaurant is their "Nasi Bungkus":  It is an exotic mixed-dish on rice served and wrapped with a banana leaf. Think of it as a Tour de Cuisine on Indonesian multi-regional dishes presented in almost tester-size format.  There is also an overtone of the exoticism of the fragrance from the banana leaf. If you can't wait to know how the Nasi Bungkus here: it is the best in the Greater LA area at 5 stars.

However, Merry's is also proud of their fried chicken (or else why bother have it as a part or the place's name?).  There are 3 chicken dishes on the menu.

I also found out that the owners of Merry's used to open a noodle house before they decided to diversify their offerings.  Their menu reveals that they have dry noodles.  So, I also tried them to complete the cataloging of dry noodle taxonomy of species! If you are adventurous in your dry noodle quest, it is worth to give it a try. The texture of the noodle itself merits a tasting.

I believe they are still the best representation of authentic Indonesian food in the greater LA area. The food selections are quite comprehensive:  it covers traditional food of Java as well as some popular Chinese Indonesian dishes and Indo-Dutch snacks, not to mention 2 choices of dry noodles! The food is also consistent, the place is clean mom and pop, and staff are friendly.  Thus, the place is noob friendly.  My review here is based on multiple visits.

Details:

The fried chicken dishes:

House Specialty Ayam Goreng Kremesan: it is a whole chicken fried chicken using a small chicken (could be a capon instead of a hen).  It is served in an anti-Col. Sanders sort of way.  While the Colonel's chicken has a sticky breading, Merry's house chicken comes "de-breaded."  "Huh?" you said? Apparently, it is the norm that the spices marinade crumble separately during the frying process and comes as a complimentary condiment to the chicken.  The crumble has a depth of mixed spice taste with a not unpleasant almost-metallic quality finish.  How exotic.  Served on the side is a chili and fermented shrimp based "sambal" hot chutney, used by brave Indonesians to dunk their chicken meat in (some hardcore Indonesians would mix the chutney with Indonesian sweet soy sauce which I am willing to bet is the ubiquitous ABC brand ;) ). Interesting.  4  stars. 

Ayam Kalasan: this is an almost honey-sweet un-breaded fried chicken. Surely, the ubiquitous ABC sweet soy sauce is the back bone here ;).  A nice alternative if you prefer your food on sweet than savory side. 3.5 stars 

Ayam Penyet: the dominant spice here is yellow tumeric, giving the chicken a very distinctive flavor. Chicken is served exotically on a stone mortar. 3.5 stars.

The home-made noodle dishes: 
Chicken Mushroom Noodle (Mie Ayam Jamur): what's up with Indonesians and their obsession to top dry noodle with mushroom (see Janty's and Bakmi Parahyangan)? Well, as long as it is good, sure, why not: chicken and mushroom sauteed in light soy sauce, resulting in a hint of earthiness from the soy sauce and mushroom. Small-size deliciously chewy home-made noodle has a hint of natural sweetness and a texture similar to Japanese soba. The noodle is the star of the dish as it has that addictive chewy yet slick light oil sensation in the mouth. Garnishes include fried shallot and green onion.  Unlike the pork-based soup that Mi Nam Vang places use, the side soup here is chicken based.  Soup is garnished with green onion.  Delicious, but next time I will opt for no fried shallot (my personal preference as I don't like fried shallot to overpower my noodle).   Available with optional beef balls. If you prefer a lighter taste, this is your choice. A solid 4 stars offering.  

Wonton Noodle (Mie Pangsit): two protein toppings.  The main topping is supposedly pork filled wontons. However, it is actually the second topping that dominates the flavor. Minced pork is braised in its own juice with soy sauce and dried squid.  The resulting flavor profile is: rich,sweet, and salty with a hint of anchovy aroma on the nose.  This topping has a much stronger flavor and richness than the mushroom chicken.  Noodle profile is same as above.  I prefer the lighter profile of the Chicken Mushroom but I can appreciate this style.  It doesn't really matter, anyway, as I state that the noodle, not the toppings, is the star of the dish.  Also available with optional beef balls. If you prefer, a richer and a more substantial taste, this is your choice.  Another 4 stars offering. 

If I am splitting hair, technically the "Wonton Noodle" is closer to Fuzhou style Gan Ban Mian than Chaozhou (Chiu Chow) or Kejia (Hakka) noodles.  However, it seems that there is an agglomeration of Chinese sub-styles in Indonesia.  So, it is quite hard to split the hair.  I can appreciate the style, anyway. 

As a note, Merry's also has that fried dough thingy that they call "fried meatball" similar to Janty's: baking soda-puffed fried dough fortified with tiny chicken lardon and msg. Crispy on the outside, almost mushy on the inside. Dipping sauce here is a sauce based on garlic, sugar, and chili.  A natural pairing to a bowl of noodle according to their playbook.

The Chinese-influenced dishes: 
Siomay Bandung: similar concept to Singaporean Hakka Yong Tofu but with the Indonesian twist.  Fish cakes shaped in balls and fish-paste-stuffed-tofu. Steamed. Noticeable fish meat, not only tapioca filler. Salt, pepper, and a touch of msg for these.  Sauce is two fold.   First, it is the ubiquitous Indonesian sweet soy sauce (it tastes like a mixed between soy sauce and molasses).  Second, it is sweet peanut sauce. Lime overtone, special Indonesian lime. 4+ stars.

Kwee Tiauw Goreng (Char Kway Teow): fried flat rice noodle. Char smokey. Soy sauce back bone. Protein includes chicken dark meat,  sliced beef ball, and scrambled egg.  Vegetables include mustard green and bean sprout. Flavor profile is medium salty with mild sweet. Egg overtone. 4 stars.

Southern Indian-influenced dish:
Martabak Telor: Singaporean knows their murtabak egg pancake.  This is the same derivation of Southern Indian dish.  Egg-based thin skin . Ground beef and diced onion filling spiced with herbs that include cumin and turmeric.  Flavor profile is medium salty with herbs overtone that smells like a very mild curry. Served with a side contrasting of pickled cabbage and cucumber.  Delicious! 4+ stars.

 

Another notable combination dish is "Nasi Gudeg."  This dish comes from a famous cultural center of Indonesia in the heartland of the island of Java.  Food in this area is famously strongly sweet or sweet and savory.  This is a VERY exotic dish with exotic ingredients recommended only to the most adventurous and acquired palates (I heard that even some Indonesians from different Indonesians can't stomach this).  The main ingredient is sweetly stewed jackfruit(!).  Boiled eggs are also stewed together here, become brown, and served together with the jackfruit.  In the great Javanese tradition, the sweetness of the jackfruit stew is countered by the savoriness of pork rind (chicarones) curry(!).  Wow'ed for exotic yet?  There is a third element that unifies the Yin and Yang of sweetness and savoriness: I look at it as chicken in white curry: it is a both sweet and savory dish whose depth is given by pure coconut milk.  All these Thali-like elements are served with a side of rice.  If you can appreciate this dish, it is a pure oral orgasm.  I don't think any other Indonesian places serve this exotic dish. The bomb: 5 stars.

Nasi Bungkus

Martabak Telor

Kwee Tiauw Goreng

Siomay Bandung

Mie Pangsit, after stirred

Ayam Kalasan

Nasi Gudeg

Mie Ayam Jamur