Danketsu in Orlando, FL

I visited Danketsu in Orlando on Lake Underhill Road. They serve Korean BBQ, hotpot, sushi, and Japanese food. I was tempted by the hotpot but it was late in the evening and I didn't feel like cooking my own food. Instead, I ordered a soup that required no preparation: The Nabe Yake Udon.

The large bowl of noodle soup contained shrimp tempura, egg, noodles, and various vegetables. It was delicious, and since Danketsu did that well, it's a reason to visit again and try the rest of their huge menu...

NY Asian Soups: Global Kitchen and Minnis Shabu Shabu

In a continuation of the last few posts on this blog where New York foods were discussed, this post is about Asian foods that consisted of soup.

We'll start at a place called Global Kitchen. This restaurant was located in the Theater District and was set up food court style. The place reminded me a bit of the nearby Oliviero Cafe which I had eaten at during a previous trip to New York. There was a station focusing on sandwiches. Another focused on salads. There was an Italian/pizza section, then there was where I ordered. I went for the Japanese/Sushi counter.

I had a bowl of their shrimp tempura udon soup. The large styrofoam bowl was filled with a tasty broth and lots of thick udon noodles. After the broth and noodles filled the bowl, the soup was topped with various vegetables, tofu, and two large shrimp fried in tempura batter.

This was a tasty bowl of soup overall. I wasn't exactly expecting much for a place which was essentially a food court, but this was a very nice bowl of udon that rivaled what I've had at fancy Japanese restaurants!



The second soupy food adventure happened at Minnis Shabu Shabu. Minnis was a Taiwanese style hotpot style restaurant located in Flushing Chinatown. Shabu Shabu is a style of eating where you cook your own meats in pots of boiling broth. I've been to restaurants where you cook your own foods and I always find them a bit intimidating. That makes food adventures much more fun!

Everyone in Minnis was seated at large communal tables. All the seats had a bowl of hot broth in front of them to cook your food.

Everyone then received a large tray of various non-meat foods items to cook. These included cabbage, corn, onions, multiple types of mushrooms, two different dumplings, noodles, egg, tofu, and more.

I ordered the lamb and pork combination for my meat. Thinly slice meat was soon delivered to the table and cooking began.

Cooking the meat was the intimidating part for me, mostly because I rarely cook meat by boiling it. I didn't want to undercook the pork, but it cooked extremely fast since it was sliced so thinly. Some of the vegetables took longer to cook, such as the corn or large pieces of cabbage.

There was a large sauce/condiment bar to add some extra flavor to the food. They seemed to like MSG at Minnis.

I also had a shaved ice here for dessert. This large bowl was filled with finely shaved ice topped with sweetened condensed milk, pineapple, and something called grass jelly. Shaved ice like this is way better than a snow cone!

Minnis Shabu Shabu was a very fun eating experience. Having a pot of boiling broth and a huge pile of raw foods in front of you, then having to figure out how to cook everything definitely makes things more interesting than just having cooked food delivered to your table.

Ru San's in Atlanta, GA (Midtown)

I had dinner in Atlanta at a Japanese restaurant called Ru San's. This restaurant is apparently a local chain in the area and I ate in the location in Midtown Atlanta. Ru San's was up on the second floor of a strip mall and is apparently under new management according to the banner hanging out front. Inside, Ru San's almost had a nightclub atmosphere with lots of color changing lights and loud music. The prices on much of their menu were very reasonable.

While the majority of the menu featured sushi, I instead ordered the Nabeyaki Udon. This large bowl of soup was packed with udon noodles, tempura shrimp, chicken, egg, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and other vegetables. The broth had a nice, slightly spicy flavor with just the right amount of saltiness. Rather than the soup's contents floating towards the top, this bowl was filled pretty much to the brim with yummy stuff with the broth filling up the space in between. With all this food in the bowl, I got about half way through before I decided I was full...

I'd return to Ru San's. The food was tasty and was a good value for the price.

Sakura Sushi & Grill in Tallahassee, FL

 While in Tallahassee, I had Japanese food for dinner one night from Sakura Sushi & Grill. This restaurant was located relatively close to downtown and FSU. The outside was nicely decorated with wood panels and lit by paper lanterns.

 Once seated, we had an unobstructed view of the sushi bar.

 My meal started with a side salad. This was the typical Japanese restaurant salad, consisting of iceberg lettuce topped with carrots, cucumber, and ginger dressing.

I also had the Shrimp Udon Soup. This huge bowl of soup was filled with many large shrimp, sliced mushrooms and other various vegetables, and thick udon noodles in a very flavorful broth. Like most main course soups at Asian restaurants, this udon was really filling. It was a good deal for the price and tasted good too!

If I'm ever back in Tallahassee and make it back to Sakura, I'm going to have to try the Volcano Roll. I saw one of these get delivered to a table and this roll is literately erupting when served. The whole roll is wrapped in foil, with the excess foil being made into a basin that was filled with some sort of flammable liquid.While being served, the volcano roll was ignited resulting in huge flames. It is the dream sushi roll for any pyromaniac foodie!

 

Lotus Blossom Cafe at Epcot

During a visit to Epcot, I had lunch at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in the park's China pavilion.

It was a fast food restaurant serving mostly Americanized versions of Chinese dishes such as sesame and orange chicken.

I ordered the one thing on the menu that I don't see in every Chinese restaurant I visit, that being Beef Noodle Soup. The menu described it as shredded beef, onion, and fresh vegetables over noodles in broth. I'm picky when it comes to beef, I don't like the taste of burgers and find steak disgusting, but beef in Chinese restaurants I normally don't mind. This soup was no exception and was really tasty. There was plenty of beef and noodles and lots of a leafy green vegetable (possibly malabar spinach?). The portion was huge and was reminiscent of Vietnamese pho or Japanese Udon soup. I don't know if this soup was more of an authentic Chinese dish than Orange Chicken, but it was really tasty regardless.

As I ate, I had a nice view of pavilion's recreation of the Temple of Heaven.

Just as I was finishing my meal, a Chinese Acrobatic troupe was starting their show...



(This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival)

Happy Teriyaki in Longwood, FL

I had dinner at Happy Teriyaki in Longwood, FL. This place has been here for a really long time, as long as I have lived in the area. They never seem busy, but must be doing something right to still be around after all this time. Their menu is mostly Japanese/Sushi with some Chinese items mixed in.

I had a bowl of Udon Soup. This huge bowl of soup came filled with chicken, shrimp, fish cakes, a fried egg, assorted vegetables, and udon noodles, all in a clear broth. It was really tasty and was way too much food! The egg was a bit too runny for my liking, but otherwise I had no complaints!

Ethos Vegan Kitchen

I ate at Ethos Vegan Kitchen in Orlando, FL. I am not a vegan, but it's fun to venture into the non-meat, non-dairy, animal product free world of vegan food.

I ordered the Udon Asian Odyssey, which was supposed to be Udon noodles with assorted vegetables. If you look at the picture below, those definitely aren't Udon noodles on the plate. Udon noodles are thick, round noodles that somewhat remind me of fuzzy worms when cooked. What was served were wide, flat noodles that seemed more along the lines of chow fun. I wouldn't have had a problem with the chow fun noodles if I was told that is what I was ordering, but I was expecting some udon. I'm guessing either Ethos was out of the udon and made a substitution without informing the customer, or they are assuming that the average vegan doesn't know much about Japanese noodles. I really don't like it when I order one thing, and get something else.

I also found the noodles to be way too salty. I love salty foods, but the amount of salt in here was over the top. Besides from the type of noodle problem, the pasta seemed like it would have been really good if it wasn't for the salt. Instead, I had to eat some bread and drink lots of water to counter out the overpowering salty taste.

While I have my complaints, I did think Ethos was better than some of the few other vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Orlando that I've tried. They have a long way to go before they can compare to Angelica Kitchen though...