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I love afternoon tea, high tea, any kind of tea + dessert type events where you can relax, eat, and hang out with your friends. :) I went to a few tea places while I was in Vietnam in August, so it was fresh on my mind. So me and another blogger friend of mine decided to take action and actually plan one. We were searching for some options of places to go when I came across someone's Instagram post on the tea at Bangkok on Beltline. Now this was already on my radar, but I had for some reason forgotten about it. They only have high tea on Saturdays from 2-4PM and it's by reservation only because they have to prep all the goodies. The date we had planned was a Saturday so this worked out perfectly. And to our luck, the PR company for Bangkok saw my comment to that post and reached out. Yay!
Bangkok on Beltline - Thai High Tea
100 S Central Expy #108
Richardson, TX 75080
(469) 930-9755
http://www.bangkokatbeltline.com/
Price: $35 per person
Most of the group were already food bloggers so now we are being hosted! Woohoo!! All of us got half off the regular price. It was great, since we were initially planning this as just a casual outing with friends. Yay. Thank you so much for hosting us, Bangkok on Beltline and Red iD Agency!!
I had seen pictures, but it was even prettier in person. We arrived on Saturday and the table was decked out with three 3 tiered tea trays FILLED with beautiful and colorful creations. I think it took us a full 30 minutes to get all of our photos taken... haha. Food bloggers, amiright? :P
We then met the owner of the restaurant and he proceeded to explain all the different items and the progression of the tea service.
We started with the Bottom Tier and work our way up. It has all the savory items. It is also paired with a Chinese Green Tea. With unlimited refills. I think I had 4 cups of this. I drink a lot of tea.. haha. Especially when I'm eating sweets too. The tea is light and unsweetened. There are sugar cubes for those who wanted sweetness.
Pad Thai Croissant. What a creative combination! East meets West. I wished the pad thai was warm, but I think that's kind of hard to do since the tea trays have to be prepared before the party arrives. Also... we took forever taking pictures. haha. The pad thai had a sweetness to it which I wouldn't have liked if I was eating it for dinner, but since this is mainly pastries and desserts, it worked well with the buttery croissant.
Chicken Satay Sandwich. This was my favorite. It had really great flavor. Almost a curry flavor in there.
Yellow Curry Puffs (filled with potato). This was also really good. The crust was flaky, not dry. The potato had good flavor. I'm assuming this is a vegetarian friendly item.
Middle Tier:
This one is paired with Chrysanthemums Tea, one of my favorite teas of all time. When I go to dim sum, I ALWAYS have to order this. It's a flower, and you can definitely get the florally fragrance when you sip it. I lost count on how many cups I had of this one. haha.
This tier had most of the Asian influenced desserts.
Black Rice Pudding (with coconut milk, palm seed jelly on top). Reminded me of all those Asian desserts I grew up eating. I enjoyed the rice pudding texture and I love coconut milk. Can't say I've had palm seed jelly before though. Yay for trying new things!
Rice Crackers with Caramel Coconut Sauce. The rice crackers were Asian style... so there's basically no sweetness to it. Just the slight nuttiness from the rice. If you are expecting a rice crispies treat, this ain't it. You can spread some of the caramel sauce over the rice crackers. The sauce itself was quite interesting. It was almost more savory than sweet... reminded me a bit like peanut sauce in Vietnamese/Thai cuisine.
Sticky Rice (with Thai Coconut Custard). I still don't fully know what all is in this. But the sticky rice was inside a layer of pastry or something. I liked this a lot, especially the coconut custard.
Top Tier:
Unsweet Thai Tea was served with this tier. I was curious to try it because I've never had Thai tea without the condensed milk or sugar... I really liked it. It almost tasted sweet on its own without adding sugar. It went really well with this tier. Actually all of the teas were paired really well with their respective tiers. I was quite impressed!
Pistachio and Raspberry Macarons. Beautifully made macarons. The colors were so pretty with the Matcha Tiramisu. The textures of both macarons were both really good. I especially loved the pistachio's flavor.
Green Tea Tiramisu (with red bean). This was the favorite of the group. Not only was it beautiful, it was delicious. The matcha cream had a rich matcha taste. I was surprised to find a layer of red bean in there, which added an interesting texture. Again, this is where the Asian influences play into a typical dessert. Definitely one of the best desserts in the display. I wished I could've taken some home... but it was in a glass so I couldn't.
We also got some of their signature Flower Sesame Cookies. These are light and crispy and really cool looking!
We were all stuffed! Some people couldn't even finish all of the different items. A few of the girls came in and scoffed at the amount of food saying they were still gonna be hungry after. They ate their words. It was a lot. I would recommend eating a very light lunch or none at all before you go to high tea in general. You'd be surprised how much little sandwiches and cakes can fill you up! Plus you're drinking a ton of tea. Well, at least I was. I had to go to the bathroom twice!! haha. I think I drank well over 10 cups total.
We had SO MUCH FUN! It was a super unique experience with the Thai inspired flavors. I've definitely never had a tea experience like this before. For the price point, this is a great value in Dallas for high tea. Most other places I know are at least $50+ a person. I highly recommend you try this. Great for a girls' day out, or a bridal shower. I'd even do this for a birthday party! :)
Thanks again for hosting us!! :)
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
I came across this place on Yelp while researching for places to eat in Houston. Snow ice, a Taiwanese dessert that is basically shaved flavored ice. It creates these amazing ribbon-ish shapes and it's almost like eating ice cream. But... it's ice! And probably less fattening. :P
I have it in Taiwan whenever I go back to visit. And in the past few years, Dallas started getting a few places that sell this. However, nothing is as good as what you get in Taiwan.
Hippo Ice
3737 Hwy 6
Sugar Land, TX 77478
(832) 532-7562
Price: $
I was excited because this place was close to Sugar Land where they live. Normally you'd have to go into Houston (Bellaire) to get good Asian food, so the short drive is nice.
We went on the Sunday before Labor Day, the place looked closed when we arrived, I got worried. Luckily it wasn't! We took a look at the menu and my fiance told me he was getting his own. I asked "are you sure?" since they're usually piled pretty high and he said yes. So I guess we're all getting our own! Sharing is for the weak. hahahaha. :P
I got the Genmai Matcha (Brown Rice Green Tea) $4.75~ Plus Ghiradelli Chocolate drizzle and sliced almonds +$0.50~
I love how snow ice looks, so whimsical, beautiful and weird. haha. This was yummy. I liked the dark chocolate sauce paired with the green tea. My fiance said the chocolate overwhelmed the ice flavor. For me it didn't. And the almonds were a nice added texture. It was a huge bowl. He was pretty shocked when he saw this. The texture of the ice is pretty comparable to Taiwan, although I think the one's in Taiwan is even creamier and fluffier. But this is definitely better than any of the ones I've tried in Dallas.
Genmai Matcha (Brown Rice Green Tea) $4.75~ Plus Condensed milk and red bean +$0.50~
He also wanted green tea but with different sauce and toppings. Green tea and red bean are always a winning combo. The condensed milk added another level of richness. Also very delicious.
Almond $4.75~ Plus Tapioca (boba) +$0.50~
His sister chose the almond flavor. Which was my 2nd choice. The almond flavor was strong, yet the whole thing was light and refreshing. I think that was the winner, even though they were all good.
Watermelon Basil (to-go) $4.75~
His sister was meeting up with a friend after so she got this to go. So pretty. We got to try a bite. Very interesting. You can definitely taste the basil. And super refreshing. I'm just not sure how long it would last during transport. hehe. I hope her friend was able to enjoy the fluffiness of the snow ice.
My fiance and his sister both really enjoyed it. It was their first time trying snow ice. And guess what, none of us finished it... hahaha. Snow ice - 1, Us - 0.
This place is legit, for all you people in Sugar Land. No need to fight the traffic and drive to Bellaire! Now I only wish we can get this quality in Dallas...
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
Can't go to Asia without getting some bakery goods and street food! And Taiwan is known to have some of the best of both around!
Hogan Bakery
Discovered this bakery by my grandma's house earlier in the year when I went in March. I love this place because they gave samples for almost every kind of bread/pastry they had. I can go there just for a meal. :P
Another bakery...
Matcha Red Bean Bread
Cheesecake
Shilin Nightmarket
Downstairs Food Court
Stirfried Water Spinach
Fried Chicken
Noodles
Mango Snow. I'm allergic to mango so I watched my sister and cousins devour this. It looked really good. And they said it's awesome.
Green Onion Pancakes. With Egg! Yum! And you can add different things to it. I added some pickled mustard greens.
Gaykes - Shilin Nightmarket Vendor.
Randomly walked by this food stand. OMG!! Never seen this before. I can't NOT post this!! Asians and their weird food creations. haha. Initially I just took pictures. But for the sake of my blog, I have to taste test too. haha.
Sweet Gayke (red bean filled with green tea glaze) NT$60
Quite good actually. It's the same as the normal red bean filled cakes in nightmarkets but just in penis form. hahaha. We were saying they should have different sizes since they have different colors. LOL! Plus the current size is a bit too big to eat for one person. #thatswhatshesaid The green tea glaze was yummy. I should say I didn't enjoy it and it was just material for my blog but I'd be lying. haha. It was tasty and we had a long laugh about it. Yes, there are pictures of me eating this. And no, you will not see them on my blog. hahaha.
I needed a snack before a late lunch one day so I just walked down the street from my grandma's place. Came by this Gua Bao place I've seen many times and this was my chance to try it!
Combination Pork Bun (fatty and lean pork with pickled veggies) NT$50 Super big pork bun. The meat sure was fatty and yummy. It filled me up more than I'd liked. haha.
Pearl Milk Tea. Cheap and good here. Have to at least get one on every trip.
Matcha Latte. Still on my matcha high from Japan earlier this year. It was really good... but not quite Japan caliber. haha.
Best breakfast... We have to come here at least once every trip. This time we had it twice!
Rice Noodle Soup
Pork Intestines and Tofu
Tong Hua Nightmarket
Skewered Octopus
Skewered Squid. We searched all over the nightmarket for this, finally found it right before we were headed home. My sister wanted to get one before we left for the US. Spicy and tender. Mmmmm!
Pork Blood Cake. My cousin's favorite. It's everything he's dreamed of since he had it 15 years ago. haha
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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