Travel – Page 91 – Elsie Hui

November 28, 2011June 2, 2019

Giraffe – Waterloo London

During our trip to England, we had to visit London. Our first night in London, we met up with my cousin there and she brought us to Giraffe which was located on the Southbank near Waterloo. It was a beautiful location as it was right off the river, and a great place to stop in for a bite to eat as it was just beginning to pour that day.

I ordered a Smoothie as I wanted something sweet and fun! I tried the Mango Mama which was a smoothie made with mango, strawberry, banana, orange, apple juice. I ordered mine without the banana, since I’m allergic to bananas, so it wasn’t as thick and creamy. It was still a delicious drink though, full of fruit flavours! The best thing about this drink I must say was the awesome giraffe stir-stick standing in my smoothie! The giraffe was just tall enough so it’s head would stick out of the drink! My little nephew loved these giraffe stir-sticks too!

I wasn’t too sure what to try – the menu was massive, so I just picked something I thought I would enjoy instead of venturing off and trying something new. I ordered the Rodeo Chicken Burger which was a huge burger of grilled chicken breast with melted cheddar, fried mushrooms, BBQ sauce and onion ring. It had the usual condiment suspects such as lettuce, tomato and mayo. It was weird, as I’m not normally a fan of chicken breast – they’re normally kind of over cooked and dry, but this chicken breast burger was actually juicy, mouth-watering good! With the crunch from the onion ring, and the extra sauce from the BBQ sauce, it was a delight to eat this burger!

I split my meal with my husband, and he ordered Grilled Mojito Chicken which was something completely different from what we’ve ever ordered or tried to make at home. This was half chicken marinated in mint, lime and rum. Served with sin on fries and a home made poppy seed celery slaw. This half a chicken was really unique as it was infused with mint and lime flavour. It’s like no other roasted chicken, but it was extremely enjoyable.

My cousin enjoyed a Szechuan Sesame Noodles which was basically fried vegetables and egg noodles in a Szechuan pepper sauce with ginger, garlic, fresh mango and fried shallots. It was definitely Asian style and it must’ve tasted good as she almost finished the entire bowl. This bowl of noodles was the best smelling dish, and it looked really good as well!

My little nephew ordered a kids Pasta Pomodoro fresh penne pasta with pomodoro sauce, and of course he had fun eating this plate of food! He actually enjoyed it so much, he ended up eating it with his hands instead of his utensils! The little kid finished everything, and had some of our french fries as well!

Overall, this was an amazing place to eat! The atmosphere was fun, the prices was reasonable – especially considering the location of the restaurant! Best of all, the food was great, and the service was fine. Our favourite course from the evening would for sure be the Grilled Mojito Chicken, and we would order that again!

Giraffe

Southbank Centre
Waterloo
Belvedere Rd
London, UK

November 27, 2011November 27, 2011

Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie Bellagio

From last time I went to Vegas, I discovered Jean Philippe Patisserie, and I knew I had to go back. I went back everyday this time, and I don’t regret the extra sugar at all! It’s a wonderful place to go to get delicious baked goods and sweets! This time, I even went to the Jean Philippe at Bellagio, where there is the tallest chocolate fountain, and it was amazing!

After reading some reviews when I got home last time, someone told me that the Jean Philippe Crepes was a must try item, so I had to try it this time. It was a fun experience as they make it in front of you after you order. I ordered a Dulce de Leche Crepe which was a crepe with dulce de Leche caramel sauce, and then topped with chocolate shavings and whipped cream! I didn’t eat it there, I brought it back to my hotel room to enjoy, so it fell apart a little by the time I got it back. But, it tasted wonderful!

The crepe for the most part was in good condition, all except the whipped cream that started to slide off and was half melted as the crepes was hot when I got it. It was good that it was quite cool outside in Vegas so it didn’t do any further damage.

Once I got my fork through the crepe, I knew I was going to love this dessert! The texture of the crepe was warm, soft and chewy with a very subtle sweetness to the crepe itself. I’ve had crepes where it was hard and just not very pleasant, but this one alone was decadent! The batter was perfection and with the Dulce de Leche Caramel Sauce inside, it was really good!

I believe if I ate this on location, the warm caramel sauce would have oozed out a bit and made it even more wonderful – but this is a good excuse to go back next time! 🙂 From this Bellagio location, I bought also a Cinnamon Bun and saved it for breakfast the next morning. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it as I love cinnamon buns.

Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie

3600 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas
(702) 693-8788

November 26, 2011May 11, 2019

Fiamma Trattoria – Las Vegas, Nevada

We were staying at the MGM Grand Resort & Casino, and didn’t want to venture out too far one evening. We actually wanted to try Nobhill by Michael Mina, but they were closed, along with Seablue by Michael Mina. So, we opted for Fiamma Trattoria on Studio Walk inside the MGM Grand.

Fiamma is an Italian restaurant, and in the past, they have been a 4 Diamond AAA Recipient from 2006 – 2010. This restaurant does feature a delicious and large selection of items on the menu. I ordered the Grilled Atlantic Salmon and it was cooked to a perfect medium as requested. The salmon wasn’t tough or fishy but it was tender and flaky. A large piece of salmon portion was on the plate, and it was sitting on a bed of vegetables which was sauteed zucchini and peppers. On the side, there was a dipping sauce that was a parsley and chive sauce with lots of lemon juice in it! The acidity was really nice to balance out the salmon, and the fresh vegetables. This dish was absolutely fine and I would order it again!

Our table also had the Roasted Petaluma Chicken which came on a large plate with chicken stacked up to sky high! There were 2 large pieces of roasted chicken, roasted to perfection as it was super tender and juicy and fall off the bone goodness. These pieces of chicken rested on a tall bed of sauteed swiss chard, roasted fingerling potato – cut up into smaller pieces. This entire plate was then drizzled with the sauce from roasting the chicken and was really a great home cooked meal masterpiece!

Finally, we ordered a plate of Fettuccine, and custom ordered our to use Alfredo Sauce instead of the Basil Pesto sauce that is stated on the menu. It was delicoius and this bowl of pasta had Santa Barbara Spotted Prawns, which were extremely large prawns, sweet, crispy, fresh and awesome!

The food from Fiamma was really good, portion sizes was large, service was excellent and the prices was very reasonable! It’s a place I wouldn’t mind going back to and even taking family and friends. They’re only opened for dinner, so be sure to book a dinner here one day!

Fiamma Trattoria

3799 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 891-1111

November 26, 2011November 27, 2011

Lupo – Wolfgang Puck

Dinner in Vegas is always interesting, but we made it over to the Mandalay Bay Resort where we decided to eat at Wolfgang Puck‘s first Italian Restaurant called Trattoria del Lupo. We didn’t make any reservations, but the wait was about 30 minutes – which isn’t bad considering last time we went to Vegas, we had to have reservations for every dinner place we ate at – otherwise, they had nothing available! The dining room at Lupo was quite large, and they were able to squish a lot of tables in to accommodate a lot of seating.

Our first impression when we finally got in was it was quite dark and romantic. It was interesting as we sat at the tables behind the bar, and the hostess had to ull out the table to let us sit into the banquettes – and then after seated, they pushed the table back in.

Lupo - Breadsticks with white bean sauce and roasted garlic in evoo

The service was great, and after we were seated, we were brought our drinks and awesome Breadsticks. The breadsticks were really thin and long, and from the look, you can immediately tell they were home-made. These long crispy breadsticks was accompanied with roasted garlic and olive oil dip and white bean sauce. It was really fun to break off pieces of this delicious bread and dip into either sauce.

The dinner entrees was excellent! I ordered the Bucatini all’ “Amatriciana” which was house made pasta with roasted onions, pancetta, tomatoes, chili flakes, basil and pecorino. Pecorino would be sheep or ewe’s milk cheese (a hard cheese), and even though I thought it would be strong, they didn’t use a lot, so the dish was perfectly balanced, especially with the saltiness of the pancetta. This dish was excellent, the texture of the pasta was really good, and all the ingredients was fresh – and the plate of pasta just seemed really light. It was one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had in a long time – if not ever!

The other entrees we enjoyed was Scialatielli “Ai Quattro Passi” which was also house made thick noodle pasta but with “Quattro Passi”, sausage bolognese, cream, basil and Parmesan cheese. This is a much heavier pasta dish that really fills you right up – not only was it a nice meaty dish with the sausage bolognese, but it had a nice thick cream sauce. The flavours of the meat sauce was so hearty and excellent, it really was a dish to remember!

Finally, the last dish was not a pasta dish, but it was Filetto d’Agnello which was marinated bone-in lamb loin with garlic spinach, chanterelle mushrooms, tomatoes and Gorgonzola cheese.

Overall, we were extremely satisfied with Lupo and will be returning in the near future as they were able to provide us with great food, great service and all for a really great price! We were really shocked about the quality and the portion size from Lupo, so we have no negative thoughts to tell you about!

Trattoria del Lupo

3950 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas
(702) 740-5522

November 25, 2011March 24, 2019

BBQ King – Las Vegas, Nevada

Chinese food is no longer a specificity in Las Vegas. We use to go to a Chinese location that was closer to the South end of the strip, and now there seems to be a lot of new options. We came by BBQ King for a quick late lunch, and the place seems quite reasonable! The location of this restaurant is a stand alone building in a strip plaza – so there was a lot of parking spaces and made it easy to get in and out of the parking lot.

I ordered the Beef Stomach with Ho Fun and it was actually on special for $4 only! The portion size didn’t seem any smaller, or if it is, then they have large bowls of noodles!

Another noodle dish that we ordered was a Hong Kong Style Wonton Noodles and these were pretty decent! The best part is, it was also on special for $4! You really can’t complain for a nice hot bowl of noodles for less than what you’d pay for a fast food hamburger combo. The wontons was quite large in size, and it was stuffed with a large piece of shrimp and just a little bit of pork to bind. Sure, the bowl only had 5 of them, but at least it was cheap in price and the quality was there!

After 2 soup dishes, and still wanting “noodles”, we decided to order a lo mein, which is basically taking the wonton noodles and not putting it in the soup, but instead you’re mixing it with flavours of the soup (on the side). This makes for a drier noodle dish and the soup helps mix it. To mix something is called lo in Chinese, so essentially, you’re just mixing the noodles. Anyway, we tried tried Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein from BBQ King and a large plate of noodles came out. The soup wasn’t on the side as they did the mixing for us already. There was a lot of pieces of pork mixed throughout the noodles and vegetables almost as a garnish. The lo mein was really good and flavourful even though it didn’t look like much. They did their lo mein with oyster sauce, sesame oil and of course the soup – and this is quite standard for lo mein. Overall, this noodle dish was delicious even though standard.

Finally, realizing that we needed another vegetable dish, something interesting caught our eye when we saw a dish Fermented Bean Curd with cooked Lettuce. The title is the direct translation of the actual dish, as I have no idea what they called it on the menu (I didn’t see or pick it). Usually when we order the cooked lettuce, it comes cooked and flavoured with oil and oyster sauce. This one was a little more unique as they used the fermented tofu and I quite enjoy the flavour of it. It was subtle and added another dimension of flavour that I wasn’t use to in cooked lettuce.

This is a very decent restaurant especially when it came to portion size and price. There isn’t anything too special – as it doesn’t deviate from the normal Chinese food, but it was good food! Definitely a place I would return to if I was in the area and wanting Chinese food quickly and inexpensively!

BBQ King

5650 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 364-8688