Losing weight is hopeless, but I've unlocked the secrets of a seasoned foodie.
I eat out four or five days a week, earning me a lot of weight and the title of "veteran foodie."
Norinori: A sushi and hand roll shop in Chinatown. Overall, the food is delicious, the ingredients are very fresh, and the hand rolls are all quite good. The black truffle lobster, soft-shell crab, and scallop foie gras are all delicious. Don't order the A5 Wagyu hand roll; it's filled with a bunch of random fried ingredients, and you can't taste the Wagyu beef at all. My favorite is the lobster dip in picture 2—crispy toast topped with lobster, which is in the chief's special.
YUKDAEJANG: Apparently a chain Korean restaurant, their signature dishes are steak hot pot and pork belly. The pork belly roll with cabbage and kimchi is not bad, but the steak hot pot is just too sweet—it's too sweet for someone from northern China. The ingredients are high-quality, all boneless short ribs (although, at $80 a serving, I could buy so many short ribs), but I really can't handle sweet and spicy food.
Hongyunlai: The wall is decorated with pictures of Jiangnan Village, formerly Xiangzhehui. This is terrible. Their signature stir-fried beef with green peppers is now like this (the beef is cut along the grain). It's probably close to closing down.
Liang Mama Dumpling Restaurant: The best value-for-money option in Houston for its xiaolongbao, dumplings, and braised pork buns. Their other stir-fries and noodles are about Mexican standard.
Lao Xing's: Recently obsessed with braised pork belly noodles in a clay pot. Only people from Henan understand this; nowhere else can compare.
Brisket & Rice: Michelin-recommended Texas barbecue and fried rice. Just average, really average. The brisket wasn't flavorful enough, not as good as some other popular old restaurants.
Turan Xinjiang Cuisine: Is the stir-fried pork noodles and stir-fried hand-pulled noodles the same thing? I ordered two portions and they were exactly the same. Too much tomato flavor, and a small portion of noodles costs seventeen or eighteen dollars.
Street to Kitchen: Another Michelin-recommended restaurant. It's arguably the best Thai food I've had in Houston. Some of their dishes are quite unique. Chives pancakes, ispy pork, and drunk noodles are all highly recommended.
Sanchuan Jiuwei: A newly opened fusion restaurant in Katy. The decor is nice, and the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) are excellent—the broth is plentiful and flavorful. The boiled beef is quite to my liking; it's not overly thickened or sticky, but rather thin overall, with a very fragrant chili oil and crisp bamboo shoots—very delicious.
Oporto: A popular Portuguese restaurant, but nothing special. The grilled octopus with mashed potatoes is good, and the seafood paella is a large portion, but it has an inexplicably strong curry flavor?
Ryori Lab: Don't order the Wagyu beef rice bowl; the quality is terrible—mostly fat. The foie gras rice is bad; it doesn't taste like foie gras at all. The eel rice and chicken ramen are good, and the prices are reasonable, suitable for a light meal.
Cha Redefine: The best drink is the water chestnut and longan ice. The lychee rice wine, even with the minimum amount of ice, was still more than half a cup of ice; it was gone in a couple of sips.