Exotic Foods 101: Alligator and Snake Edition

(In line for snake & rabbit and alligator and pork hot dogs with the boyfriend. The line went all the way out the door.) 

So if you haven't noticed by now, I have a slight obsession with food. I have a very, very long list of must-try restaurants that just keeps getting longer and longer. BUT-luckily I recently was able to check one of those restaurants off my list. Meet Wurstküche- A German hot dog place that is also a bar. It's most famous as a LA hipster joint since it's located in the Arts District. You must be thinking hot dogs? What's the big deal? Well, I braved the 40 min. drive to try Alligator  & Pork hot dog and a Rabbit and Snake hot dog. 

Excited me! 

Nom, Nom. So how it works is first-you order that type of sausage you want. Don't worry they have normal ones too. My friends got veggie hot dogs. Then, you choose your 2 toppings such as spicy peppers or bell peppers. 

Close up of my hot dogs. 

But the most famous dish here was supposed to be the truffle fries, which we thought were just okay. It did smell very good though!

The alligator tasted like beef and the snake just tasted normal to me. I definitely enjoyed the snake more. 


Exotic Foods 101! Would you do try it?


Happy Eatings!


You can try it at 800 E 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90013

Last Hong Kong Post

Goodbye Hong Kong. Since I've been back in LA for about 2 weeks now I decided that's its about time to put an end to my HK food journey until next time... which no worries will be in December. Place #1 is Lee Bistro in Times Square. We had the typical Cantonese dimsum. 

 Radish cake. 

 Spicy wontons. 

 Pear juice

 Bamboo shoots and some other veggie

veggie dumplings!

Place #2 was in TST, but unfortunately I don't remember the place name. It was Western food though and it was super cute!

Happy Eatings! Bye bye Hong Kong. Next posts will all be from the U S of the A!

Fine Dining in HK

Italian fine dining at Cova is one of THE places to be in Hong Kong. Basically it's the Ivy of Hong Kong where people go eat to spend money and to be seen. I got a free dinner out of it so I won't complain. How's the food? Not bad but unless you want to go scope out Hong Kong movie stars, has beens, and rich people there's nothing too appealing about the place. 

 Our lovely salad

 Aged vinegar-soooo delicious

 Yum! I usually order my steaks medium rare, but I'm seriously considering going rare. 

 olives

Our mango dessert

I don't know maybe it's me-but when I'm in Hong Kong I want street food. I want everyday food. I don't like to sit at places just to be considered 'awesome' because I naturally am obviously. 


Happy Eatings!

Healthy & Yummy? Yes!

Herbal tea drinks-Hong Kong is filled with shops that sell them. Usually these teas taste as nasty as they sound since most of the ingredients are herbs and bitter blahness all tossed together. This was a particular combination that I really enjoyed. Canto for it is zee bui tian kuai. No english translation but it's good for clearing your body and helping out when you eat fried foods AND it actually tastes good and is good for you! WIN-WIN!

Mine is the middle cup. I'm not a big fan of liang cha but I can drink this all day! 

Happy Eatings!  Drinkings!

The Real Hong Kong

You want a dose of the real Hong Kong? Then you should head over to  63, Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei. You have a Ladies Market on the side to shop at while gang controlled streets and stands give you a bunch of attitude and try to sell you stuff. It's pretty easy to get to just go to Yau Ma Tei MTR Station, Exit B2. Their pan fried noodles are very popular as well as their ying yang milk tea. And the ambiance of the place is truly old school Hong Kong. Even the cash registers they used were really old school. Looked like something from a time warp. Loved it!

 And of course my favorite condensed milk fried toast with butter. 

 The not impressive ladies market next to Mido. Blah.. Mong Kong still has the best ladies market hands down. 

Mido Cafe aka 美都餐室. Honestly not in an area I would recommend going at night. The familia wasn't too happy I was in the area late at night but hey-the things I do for food.


Happy Eatings!

Trip Along the Yangtze River & Three Gorges Dam

I took a 6 day cruise/trip to Chongqing, Fengdu, Shibaozhai, Wanzhou, Fenjie, Wuahan, Yichang, Shashi, Wuhan, etc. to see the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges Dam. It wasn't as fun as my Yunnan trip but the food for the first two days and last day were decent. Why? Because in the middle we were on the boat for the whole time with Hong Kong andMainland Chinese tourists-all of whom do not eat spicy food. GR! Really? You go to the home of some awesome ethnic minorities who put peppers on everything and you stick to eating the stuff you eat everyday at home? NOT COOL. Here were some of my better meals before my fellow people on the Hong Kong tour complained that they couldn't eat spicy. BLEH!

 Yummy cucumbers and pork I believe. 

 String beans

 Egg plant-always a favorite of mine.

 Ma po tofu. They made it really good. Got the ma la part down. Love when that happens.

 Spicy peanuts.

 Even the veggie was spicy. I really enjoyed this meal, until people on my tour flagged down the guide and made sure he knew they never wanted another meal like that again. They complained that it was too spicy and that they could only eat  2 dishes the whole night. I, on the other hand enjoyed all the food and even had 4 bowls of rice. Yes, I counted. 

 My favorite candy as a kid except made into the shapes of turtles and dragons. 

 Cute huh? Little girl about to eat her dragon candy.

 Hot Pot! The middle hole was spicy and the outside was not. I of course was pretty much the only one that ate from the middle. 

 Yum! We had lots and lots of plates coming and going. It was pretty good. Not the best hot pot I've ever had though. 

 Pork, veggie goodness

 More goodness

 Yummy crab, egg goodness. 

 Salt & peppered pork

 Spicy fish

 Delicious tomato soup!

 And of course more non spicy food. Seriously Hong Kongers need to get with the program.

 Look at the mini shrimps!

 Yummy tofu! Reminds me of the Japanese kind I like to get. 

 Fried taro and sweet potato balls.

 Sweet and sour fried fish!

Towards the end of the trip, I just realized I wasn't going to be having any real authentic food. I really would advise people who like to eat to never join a tour with Hong Kong people. I did it once many years ago (10?) when I made my first trip to Vietnam and I swore never again. Apparently my mom really enjoyed it. I am boycotting any trips like this ever again. My stomach is protesting.

Happy Eatings!

Sorry about not putting captions on the rest of the food. I just got too upset thinking about how I missed out on some good, spicy food. Hmph!