~ seeking peace spice by spice by spice
While visiting friends living in Houston, we went to eat at this pizza joint. I think run by Greeks or Persians, but the meat is halal, though if I’m not mistaken they do sell pork too (cooked separately).
The pizza was good. As always, we’d order the cheeses pizza. And on our drive back to Dallas, we ordered a pie for break fast. We drove to a nice rest stop, and had our pizzas with our fried mozzarellas and buffalo wings. Yum.
It’s been months since I came back from visiting The Man in Texas. But now that it’s the holidays (nearing the end of mine actually 😦 ) I thought it’s time to update the blog.
Texas was great fun. To be fair, we didn’t really travel to all of Texas, I mean, this is like the biggest state in the US. Most times, we stayed in the hotel room and ventured to the neighbourhoods. Halal food is difficult to find…well, not so actually if one drives. It’s definitely not easy like here in SG, but I’m going to say it’s way easier than let’s say…Japan.
The best place we went to was this burger joint called Olive Burger. It’s so good that even the locals go there. And it’s completely halal so no worries about the meat or alcohol use here.
American burgers are huge. Nothing like the babies we get here. And…they are juicy with lots of delicious toppings. We even thought of opening one in SG – the thought lasted for a good 5 minutes. It fizzled out after the thought was uttered and expanded – high rental costs, good suppliers, ready Muslim market, long hours, competitors…
In the meantime, we were enjoying Olive Burger’s every week. Drool over the pictures…one day, one fine day when we’ve retired, we might travel all the way to Dallas to satisfy our cravings… ;p
Though, it’s better if you go to the website: http://olive-burger.com
Wingstop, an American chain of buffalo wings opened here a few months ago. Their halal version, Wing Zone, just opened and yesterday I just had to try them. Fried chicken wings? Bring it on!
I had to try the spiciest of the lot-Habanero. Prior to that, I had told The Hubby about my plan to eat here. His reply was that I’d be sorely disappointed because its not spicy at all. He said that the Wingstops over in the States where he’s been at for the past few months are almost always empty.
But I was going to try nonetheless. I brought The Kids and The Helper along on my chicken wings trip. I must say, looking at the menu, I feel like trying them all! Looking at the price, I chickened out. Hur hur.
In the end, I ordered the habanero, the Tokyo dragon and honey BBQ chicken tenders for the kids. And for The Boy, onion rings.
I was sorely disappointed with the Habanero. They weren’t exactly mild but it was sooooo vinegary! The heat itself I could handle but the vinegar. Urgh. I’ll never order that again. I’d rather order something milder and dip the wings in Tabasco habanero for the extra kick.
The Tokyo Dragon on the other hand was good. It was sweet yet spicy.
The onion rings were very crispy too! The Boy enjoyed it a lot.
When I told The Hubby the price, he was surprised and said he could get 3-4 flavours for half the price I paid for. I then had to remind him we are living in the most expensive city in the world. Hur hur.
The trip, however, has fuelled my drive to make buffalo wings at home. I’ll try with different flavour combinations, and maybe make my own habanero version – without all that vinegary taste!
I’ve never shown food from eating places before but since this mommy has not been cooking for quite some time, I can afford to share what I ate. Besides, they might serve as an inspiration. Already I’m inspired to try and cook some of the dishes from fika’s exciting menu.
Today I tried three dishes. Out of the three, the best for me was the mushroom crepe. Yummy! The second dish was crayfish pasta. I didn’t care much for the sauce. Lastly was the Swedish meatballs. I definitely prefer this to IKEA’s halal meatballs. They were softer and the cream sauce was more authentic than the brown processed looking one at IKEA’s. The next time I eat here, I’ll be having creeps and their famous lingonberry cheesecake. Fika has been operating for years already yet today was the first time I tried their food. Talk about procrastination…
The Occasional Cook 