Black & Brew in Lakeland, FL

I ate lunch at the Black & Brew Coffee House in Lakeland, FL. I'm not always happy with the food from coffee shops, but I enjoyed my sandwich at Black & Brew. The restaurant is right in the middle of Downtown with a nice view of Munn Park across the street. I ordered the Spicy Thai Peanut Panini. The sandwich consisted of chicken, red peppers, green onions, carrots, and a side of peanut sauce. It also came with a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips and a pickle. The sandwich was made fresh and tasted good. I had no complaints!

Phở 88

I have my favorite restaurants in Orlando's Little Vietnam, but on my last trip to the neighborhood, I decided to try something new. I ate at Phở 88, famous for the graffiti murals on the side of the building. I didn't know this at the time, but phở is actually the name for a type of Vietnamese soup consisting of meat and noodles. Perhaps if I knew this beforehand, I would have made a point to order a soup dish, but now I know for next time.

The meal started out with a Summer Roll appetizer. The two rolls were filled with shrimp, cucumbers, cilantro, and vermicelli noodles. A bowl of peanut sauce accompanied the rolls. These summer rolls were okay, but I've had much better elsewhere. The outside wrappers seemed thicker than what is normally served and they were quite gummy. The fillings could have used more variety as well. There was too much vermicelli and not enough vegetables.


For the main course, I had Grilled Shrimp served over vermicelli. It came with plenty of noodles with the shrimp and assorted vegetables on top. A vinegar based sauce came on the side. It was very tasty, although I remember getting a similar dish at Viet Garden in the past that came with probably double the amount of vegetables. But this wasn't Viet Garden, it was Pho 88 so I have no complaints...