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I was finally able to go check out Trinity Groves a few weeks ago. It's been on my radar since forever and just never made it out there. I had planned to meet up with 2 friends for dinner on a Friday night. My fiance was busy so I was on my own to do some damage. :P
I tried to get to that area earlier so I could bypass the nightmare that is Dallas rush hour. And on a Friday... Unfortunately I didn't leave work early enough! Took me a little over an hour to make it down there. I was still quite early for dinner so I had planned to go check out Cake Bar. This is probably one of the places I was most excited about. I mean... it's a freaking cake shop, what could be better?
I did walk around Trinity Groves before going to Cake Bar, just to get an idea of the area. It's much smaller than I had expected, but it's still growing. Lots of patio seating, and cool places to chill with friends. Although, after the sun went down, there were more issues with flies and mosquitoes... you'd think they would have some lamps or torches for a place that has a ton of outdoor seating. Maybe they should look into that! *hint*hint*
Cake Bar
3011 Gulden Lane, Suite 117
Dallas, Texas 75212
(972) 684-5801
http://cakebardallas.com/
Price: $
Walking in, I was a little overwhelmed. You immediately see all the cakes on display. In front you have the refrigerated display case with all cakes of difference sizes. To the left is a bunch of cakes displayed at the window. I thought the layout of the shop was a bit confusing, with the displays wrapped around the middle area and the register is facing the inside wall of the store. I dunno, it would be better if it was more open.
I was the only customer in there... it was around 5:15PM. I wasn't really greeted when I walked in. There were a few employees in the shop. A couple were talking to each other and some were in the back prepping. I didn't really feel welcomed....
All the cakes look amazing, but I've read some reviews saying their cakes are really dry. :-/ But a friend recommended the red velvet, saying it's really good. I do like red velvet! So I decided to be safe since it was my first time there to get something I know will be good.
Their cakes are all made from scratch. They have 15+ flavors. They also sell a variety of pound cakes, quick breads, cookies, ice cream, and drinks. I had to resist the temptation of getting more than one thing. I was by myself and I was going to eat dinner in an hour! XP
Red Velvet Cake (moist red cake with a mild chocolate flavor, iced with cream cheese frosting) - 1 slice $4.50~ It was a pretty big slice. Although I wouldn't mind it being bigger. hehe. My friend was right. It's really good! Probably one of the better red velvets I've had in a long time. The cake was super moist. It was super red but didn't taste artificial at all. The best part was the frosting to cake ratio. It was perfect. I hate it when cakes have too much frosting. This was just enough and not overly sweet. I liked the addition of pecan bits in the frosting for some added texture. I enjoyed it a lot. If all their cakes are as good as this... this place will be around for a long time! It was so hard not to eat the whole slice too... Ackk! haha.
Hot Tea $2.50~ I also got a tea, which pairs well with desserts. They use Mighty Tea leaves which I really like. But I thought the size of their cups was almost comical. It was tiny! For $2.50?!? Damn... It's almost like the size of those cups you get at the water cooler. At least they let me get a refill on the hot water so I was able to get 2 cups out of it.
After I sat down, business picked up. There was a steady stream of people coming in. Most people got cakes to go though. Only a few stayed to eat it. I'm assuming they get more dine-in customers AFTER dinner time.
Service wasn't that great. There were only 3-4 tables and I was the only one sitting there for a while. No one asked how I was doing or how I'm liking the cake. They're lucky that the cake was good! Otherwise I would probably never go back again.
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I've been hearing rave reviews about this place from multiple people. However, I've also heard bad reviews... mainly my sister and my parents, who I totally trust when it comes to Chinese food. So I was skeptical, but I needed to try it for myself. I also heard that there's always a line, the service is really slow (and not very good), and that they're closed on Sundays and Mondays. Well... that doesn't really work for me since I'm not in the area on the weekdays, and Saturdays are usually already packed with other activities.
Taipei Station Cafe
930 W. Parker Rd. Ste. 410
Plano, Texas 75075
(972) 423-7576
Price: $-$$
One Saturday, my fiance's morning plans fell through so we were able to go check this place out right before it opened its doors. We arrived at around 10:55AM. There were already 2 people waiting in front. I think we waited for at least 20 minutes before they opened the door. Their listed hours says 11AM but according to the 2 people in front of us, they never open on time. By the time we went in, there were around 4-5 other parties waiting to go in. We were seated immediately. The place is more like a hole in the wall. Random decor, the chairs and tables were not anything fancy. But I wasn't expecting it to be anything more anyways. I'm here for the food! :P
We looked through the menu. I liked that they showed a lot of pictures of the different dishes. I wanted to try a bunch of different things, but 11AM is way too early for lunch typically so neither of us were really that hungry. We decided to be good and just order one thing each.
OH YEA... it's CASH only!! So make sure you hit up the ATM before going.
#R03 Marinated Chicken Over Rice. He wanted to try a rice dish but didn't want anything fried, so I said this was a good choice. It was a big plate, lots of chicken. The chicken was a tad greasy but very tender and juicy. Careful of the bones! :P It was pretty good and definitely very filling.
#N03 Spicy Beef Stewed Noodle.
This was at the top of my list. My next choice was the Chinese Style Bean Paste noodle, which is usually one of my favorites. But everyone hyped up the beef noodle soup, saying how legit it is, so I had to try it. It was a big bowl, with lots of tender beef. I liked the texture of the beef a lot. The noodles were the wide, hand-pulled kind. My favorite. It was slightly softer than I would've liked but just slightly. I enjoyed the noodles a lot. As far as flavor goes... it was good! Comparable to King's Noodle and Mian Cuisine (I can't say anyone is better than the other.) I don't know why my family would say it was terrible (although both my mom and sister are a lot more picky than I am...). My sister had said the soup was too sweet, which I can kind of see. The tomatoes made the broth slightly sweet. And she doesn't like the sweet and savory combo. But I do. I could taste the spiciness, which was important. My only complaint (aside from the slightly softer noodles) is that it's quite greasy. I could feel a layer of greasy developing inside my mouth the more I ate. Definitely drank a lot of tea during this meal! But I would eat this again.
So... pretty good experience here. Not the most fantastic food, but with limited Taiwanese food in Dallas, I'd say it's up there. I definitely have to go back and try other dishes though.
Now to the other aspects of the meal. The waiters are hit or miss. There seemed to be one guy that knew more than others. We had ordered hot waters at first, which they brought out in mugs. When we ordered the food, we also ordered a pot of tea. They brought the tea with no cups and wanted to dump out the hot water and give us back our existing mugs. I said I wanted to keep my water. They took that as me saying I don't want tea. They never brought me another cup. I had to go up to the counter later and ask them to pour the water out... Really? No extra cups to spare? But again, it's a Chinese place... can't say I'm surprised. -__- Sigh...
I was also excited to know that they do an afternoon tea thing between lunch and dinner. All the desserts looked so amazing on the menu. However, I went up to the counter where they kept all the desserts and it looked terrible. The place just opened but all the desserts look like they've been there for several days. I'm assuming they keep the cakes until they sell out. Ew... I guess I won't be doing afternoon tea there anytime soon.
Oh well, some pluses and some negatives. The main thing is the food was good. Not sure when's the next opportunity is to go and not have to wait in line, but I'll probably go again.
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This is quickly becoming one of our favorite places in Rockwall. Last weekend I went there twice. :)
The Life House
506 N Goliad St.
Rockwall, TX 75087
(469) 264-7962
http://www.thelifehousetx.com/
Price: $
I stopped by on Friday afternoon just to pick up some pastries. They had new items that I didn't see last time I was there so I wanted to try everything...
The Matrix (danish dough topped with mocha and caramel drizzle, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar) $4~
The way they described this to me was their version of a donut. They don't fry the dough though. The dough texture was fine but there wasn't enough drizzle to dough ratio. It looked better than it was... If they had filled the pastry with some sort of cream or custard, it would've been a game changer! :P
Strawberry Hibiscus Scone $2.50~
Last time I was there, they were out of scones, so I got to get some this time. I love scones. I like the denseness of it (which is also the reason why some people don't like it... including my bf). But it's so good with tea! I really liked this one. It wasn't overly sweet and it wasn't as dense as most scones I've had before. It's actually a little fluffy! The hibiscus gave it a hint of floral flavor which I quite liked. It wasn't enough to make it taste like soap, just enough to make the flavors more interesting. I'd totally get this again.
Caramel Cinnamon Scone $2.50~ I got this for my bf's friends that were visiting from Austin...so I didn't get to try it. I hope they liked it! :)
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie $2~ There were only 2 of these left, and they were my favorite out of the batch of stuff I got the last time. So I took both of them. Still so awesome!
Fig and Honey Empanada $2~ I didn't like this so much. I tasted goat cheese (so I'm assuming they put goat cheese in all their empanadas??) The goat cheese flavor was much stronger in this one than the Ambrosia one I got last time. Yea... wasn't for me.
So that Sunday, we went back to get some late lunch. I've been wanting to try their sandwiches for a while.
I got the Garden Melt (spinach, onions, mushrooms, garlic chevre, in a pretzel roll) $5~
The pretzel roll is what sold me. They bake all their bread in house too so it's a homemade roll. It was yummy! Slightly salty from a bit too much cheese, but there were lots of veggies and I didn't really miss the lack of meat. The pretzel roll was great too. I'd get this again, but I would request less cheese.
I also got a Roasted Almond Tea Latte. I smelled their roasted almond tea blend and it smelled really good. It was nutty and fragrant. The latte was very lightly sweetened. Even though it had milk, it wasn't heavy at all. My bf liked it even more than I did! (He ended up drinking half of it... ) :P hehehe.
He got the Zebra Latte. We didn't see the zebra stripes, but I guess they shook it up before we got it. It was pretty strong coffee!
For lunch he got the Hole in One (egg, cheese, and choice of addition) $5~ He chose chicken sausage as his free add-on and then also added mushrooms +$0.50~ And got it on wheat bread.
I really wanted to try this. It would've been my choice if I didn't get the Garden Melt. It looked so cool. The egg was so perfectly nestled in the toast and cooked well. The yolk ran out as you cut into it. The extra piece they punched out was slathered with honey. It was delicious! I kinda just want a whole piece of toast like that! It was a really good sandwich. I think next time I'll get that.
One of his friends got the Chocolate Almond Croissant $3~
And also the Claudio (chicken, grapes, walnuts) $5~ This looked pretty fresh.
The other friend got The Captain (almond bread, cheese, choice of addition) $6~ He added chicken sausage and spinach, and mushroom +$0.50 each. He also added an egg to make it a hole in one.
This wasn't what I expected at all. I thought it was going to look more like the hole in one, but it's actually more of an open faced sandwich. The almond bread was interesting. A little grainy, kind of like a drier version of polenta. Smothered with cheese, you can barely see the egg in the middle. :P It was pretty tasty. A little too salty as well since there was so much cheese.
We also got some pastries to go. They had a basket of discounted items that were $2~ each. Those were items baked the day before.
Chocolate Chip Muffins (usually $3~) We later heated this up. It was good, wasn't too sweet. I liked the dark chocolate chips in there. Was good with tea!
Vegan Brownies (usually $4~) The texture was more like a muffin or cake. It wasn't as dense or fudgey like normal brownies but I didn't mind it. It was a nice light version.
It was a yummy weekend. Everything's fresh and homemade. And I like how in a matter of 2 days, I got to try a bunch of different things. I wonder what goodies they'll have the next time I stop by? Oh yea... My bf went back just 2 days later on his own. :P hahaha.
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When in England... gotta have afternoon tea! I was the most excited for this. I love afternoon tea and really wanted to do an authentic English tea time. I wanted to do 2 different afternoon teas but there just wasn't enough time and stomach space to take it all in. haha.
I chose this place after reading several reviews online. It had good ratings and was more affordable than some other more fancy hotels.
Harlequin Restaurant in Kingsway Hall Hotel
(Holborn Station)
66 Great Queen Street
Covent Garden, London WC2B 5BX
020 7309 0909
http://www.kingswayhall.co.uk/afternoon-tea.html
We arrived for our reservation at 1:30PM. The place was dead. But I didn't mind. It was like a private dining room for us. hehe. We were seated by the windows so it was nice and bright. I thought it was a nice setting.
They had a set menu for £15.95 per person. And it comes on one of those 3 tiered carriers.
YAY! That's what I wanted! :) The items we got per person were pretty standard afternoon tea foods. Start with sandwiches on the bottom, then scones in the middle and cakes/pastries up top. OMG! Sooo much food and it looks awesome!!
Sandwiches:
- Egg Mayonnaise & Mustard Cress - White Bread
- Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese with Chives - Brown Bread
- Cucumber & Maldon Sea Salt - Basil Bread
- Ham & Mustard Mayonnaise - Walnut Bread
The sandwiches were presented very nicely. I like the look with the crusts cut off. My favorite was the egg. Most people think the cucumber sandwich is kind of a throw-away but I still liked it. It was refreshing in the midst of all the sugar and carbs. hehe.
Freshly Baked Scones
I really wanted to try British scones. I love scones in general but I'm pretty sure what I have in Dallas is not what they have in London. My friend, who has had many afternoon teas in London said their scones were much denser than usual. I'll have to take her word for it. But I loved it. I tend to like denser desserts/pastries anyways. But the inside was still moist and outside had a really nice crunch. With the clotted cream and jam it was awesome. My favorite part of the menu.
I was eager to try the clotted cream. Never had it before but I always thought I would love it. The one they had was really hard...it was basically butter. My friend said it was not right at all... booo. So I never really got to try real clotted cream. However, whatever we got here was still really good on the scones so it's all good.
Chef Selection of Afternoon Pastries
Wow... really so much food. I ended up taking a bite of everything just so I could try it all. But did not finish... The top layer had eclairs filled with lemon curd, pistachio macarons, fruit tart, strawberry cake, chocolate mousse cake, and coffee walnut pound cake. My favorite on this tier were the two cakes. Very light and creamy at the same time.
The eclairs were good too. I was surprised by the lemon filling. I'm used to having chocolate or custard. The macaron was no good. My friend said they put too much food coloring. It tasted artificial to us so that's probably the reason.
Unlimited Tea from Twinings Selection.
Can't be afternoon tea without the tea! haha. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't loose leaf teas, but oh well. You can choose from their selection of flavors and you can choose more than one. I liked that we could change it up. I started with a White tea then moved to Earl Grey.
I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Although some aspects weren't as authentic as I wanted, it was still really cool. I wish we had more places in Dallas that does afternoon tea. It's really a relaxing and fun way to spend an afternoon. :)
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