Snow Monster - Westminster (Little Saigon)

After dinner at Da Nang Com Tam Tran Qui Cap - Westminster (Little Saigon), my friend Ivan and I went across the street for dessert. Actually, I was heading toward TeaZone Lollicup - Westminster (Little Saigon) for their matcha green tea snow bubble when we spied this crowd from across the street.

Ah! So that's where Snow Monster is located! In February 2013, I received an email from someone from Snow Monster who mentioned that she was a fan of the blog "for many years now" and inviting me to try a "fairly new dessert called Taiwanese shaved snow."

"Fairly new"? Really? Because I first blogged about shaved snow back in 2007. She wasn't sure if I had "tried or heard about it." I think I have when I've blogged about shaved snow not once, but twice, thrice, and a fourth time.

Look, I don't expect everyone to remember every blog entry I've ever written, but I do clearly state on my contact page to use my searchbar before emailing me. Don't pretend to be a fan or try to sell your product as something I don't know about when I've blogged about it multiple times and years ago. A simple search before contacting me would have cleared that up. She offered a large shaved snow and a Belgian waffle sundae, and asked that if I had anything negative to say to tell them in person. And to blog within two weeks after my visit. Geez, I can buy my own shaved snow, thank you very much! Pet peeves aside, at least the Snow Monster name was now on my radar?

Anyway, I wasn't going to hold that minor annoyance against them, especially since shaved snow sounded like just the thing on a hot summer evening.

King Hua Restaurant - Alhambra

It started out as a Twitter conversation when David Chan (who has eaten at 6,297+ Chinese restaurants) mentioned the crispy deep-fried milk at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra. One More Bite said she loved the dish. I haven't had sauteed milk since Macau Street - Monterey Park closed a while back and a deep-fried crispy version sounded intriguing.

We made plans to meet up and Gourmet Pigs decided to make King Hua one of her going away dinners before she moved to Boston. Well, I don't know if she picked the restaurant in particular or was more nudged in that direction, but it helped me achieve Cantonese seafood restaurant trifecta (dim sum, wedding banquet, and regular dining at one location). Not that that should be a goal, mind you, just happenstance.

A few years ago, I blogged King Hua Restaurant - Alhambra for dim sum and later that year, attended a wedding banquet so I knew it was a solid Cantonese restaurant. Part of the reason Gourmet Pigs chose it was for some fresh Chinese seafood since she doubted her options in Boston would be as good.

Sam Woo Crisp Fish Skin Laver Flavour

While at Sam Woo BBQ - Alhambra recently to pick up a to-go order, I saw a young couple in front of me buy a bag of Sam Woo Crisp Fish Skin. Huh! I've never seen this before.

Is it good? I asked the cashier.

She said it was, and at $2 a bag, not too bad of a price to experiment. They had regular and laver flavor. I opted for the seaweed, thinking just plain fried fish skin didn't sound very flavorful. I thought maybe it'd be like the salmon skin in salmon skin rolls at Japanese restaurants?

King Hua Restaurant (Wedding Banquet) - Alhambra

Let's end 2012 on a happy note. A few days before the end of the year, my sister-in-law's sister got married and she invited my family to the wedding. Well, technically, she got married last summer at the courthouse, but saved the church ceremony and wedding until now.



My brother said King Hua Restaurant was the first location they scouted and decided it was fine on the spot. Must be those gold brocade chair covers with the Chinese frog buttons. :P

I was curious to check out the banquet menu since my only other dining experience at King Hua was for dim sum.

The Chinese reception included a bit of Japanese Hawaiian touches from the groom's side. The table favor was a fruit basket with a plumeria lei. The wedding party all wore really elaborate and different leis that were handmade by a family member too.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra

My childhood friend and I recently started a tradition of meeting up for the lunar new year. Last year was the fancy afternoon tea at Tres by Jose Andres at the SLS Hotel. Two years before that was dim sum at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant - Rosemead. So for the Year of the Dragon we decided to sort of go back to the beginning. Rumor has it that some of the chefs at Sea Harbour jumped over to King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra. We were hoping for the upscale dim sum like at Sea Harbour but without the upscale prices.

Every time I passed by the restaurant, I always wondered what the inside was like. The interior was a lot nicer than I expected with the gold brocade-covered chairs and the pretty Chinese frog buttons down the back.

Oh My Pan Bakery & Tea - San Gabriel

So, as I was saying, when I went to visit my new nephew, I wanted to bring my sister-in-law something that her parents were unlikely to have brought. Remembering that she likes the black sesame soy milk from VP Tofu - Monterey Park, I figured black sesame cream puffs seemed like just the thing.





My first visit to Oh My Pan Bakery and Tea in San Gabriel was in the late afternoon on New Year's Eve, lil' sis and I went with the oldest '87 and the older '88, since the latter two were skipping out on my brother's party that evening. The oldest '87 said Oh My Pan was her newest favorite tea house, pushing out her previous favorite, Half & Half Tea House - Monterey Park.

Christmas Eve Goose Dinner

For Christmas eve, my brother bought a roast goose for dinner. Comes from all the years of watching "A Christmas Carol, he said. Made him curious to find out what roast goose tasted like. I don't recall Ebenezer Scrooge bringing a goose to dinner?

He got it from Sham Tseng BBQ Shop - Monterey Park, which replaced Sam Woo. The goose was roughly the same size as a roast duck, and to be honest, tasted mostly like duck too, although a bit deeper in flavor. It was more than double the cost though!

Mama's Lu Dumpling House - Monterey Park

For a while a few years ago, Right Way to Eat kept trying to convince me to try other dumpling houses, but I wasn't willing to give up my favorite -- Luscious Dumplings, Inc. - San Gabriel. Well, I've certainly tried other dumpling houses, I just refused to relinquish the title of "favorite" to any other. :)

After going back and forth on various places, we decided to eat at Mama's Lu Dumpling House in Monterey Park. This was partly because it's owned by the daughter of the original mama Lu herself of Dean Sin World - Monterey Park fame, and partly because I was curious about the restaurant that replaced Heavy Noodling, which I liked more for its name than its knife-cut noodles.

Dai Ho Restaurant - Temple City

In August 2007, I joined lil' sis and her best friend for lunch at Dai Ho Restaurant in Temple City. The owner has been dubbed the "Noodle Nazi" for his brief noodle menu and short hours. Which was news to lil' sis's best friend, who's been dining at the restaurant since he was a kid. He said the owner has always been nice to him.

How bad could the owner be? And just how good were his noodles?

Well, on my two visits, the owner wasn't there because he was battling some health issues. As for the latter, apparently the noodles were so good that a Los Angeles Times reporter stole my photo and uploaded it onto his personal Facebook page without acknowledging that the "two thumbs up" in the picture weren't, in fact, his thumbs at all.

On my first visit, we arrived shortly after opening. Dai Ho is only open for three and a half hours a day for lunch.

Ding's Garden - Alhambra (Closed)

Speaking of cold noodles, and in my attempt to clear out old photos by reorganizing them by date, I stumbled upon these pictures taken on June 13, 2007 of Ding's Garden in Alhambra. I usually try to visit a place at least twice before blogging it, but the restaurant closed before I got around to it.

Besides being a loose online diary of what I ate, the pictures sometimes remind me of dishes that I'd like to recreate later.

Le Arbre Tea House - Rosemead

Back in March, Tony of SinoSoul and his missus went to check out the mango shaved ice at Le Arbre Tea House in Rosemead. They invited me to join them since the shaved ice will be too big for the two of them to finish. So off I went, looking to find another tea house to replace my usual spot at Tapioca Express Inc. - San Gabriel.

This next photo is pretty hilarious, but if you're easily offended, just bypass it and go down to the third photo.

Half and Half Tea House - Monterey Park

After dinner at Noodle Guy Vietnamese Restaurant - Alhambra my brother wanted to try Half & Half Tea House in Monterey Park because he had heard us talk about it.


Mostly because the tea is fresh-brewed, comes in giant cups, and is cheaper than Tea Station - Alhambra. Those are my and my siblings' pudding tea, passionfruit tea, and milk teas above.

Those are Half & Half Tea House's normal size cups.

Really.

Volcano Tea House - Las Vegas

After lunch at Pho Kim Long Vietnamese Restaurant, we went over to the neighboring strip mall for some boba tea for the road.


My passionfruit green tea, $2.99. So yummy. I saw them put in a huge dollop of passionfruit syrup so it was very passionfruity.

Capital Seafood Chinese Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park

I usually go to Capital Dim Sum & BBQ - Monterey Park, the take-out shop version of the restaurant for quick dim sum fixes. But for the new year, lil' sis and her friend and I figured we would dine in the restaurant. I guess everyone else had the same idea, because even though the restaurant is huge, we still had to wait for a table.



But once inside, the dim sum plates come fast and furious. 

Phoenix Dessert - Alhambra

A few months after my dad's friend's daughter's last visit, our dinner at Viva Madrid - Claremont, she moved to SoCal. We stopped in for a quick dessert at Phoenix Dessert in Alhambra. Unlike the other Phoenix Food Boutiques in Alhambra and San Gabriel, this location obviously only has dessert. But if you specifically want Chinese puddings, pastries, or jellies, Phoenix Dessert has a better selection than the Phoenix Food Boutique restaurants.

Mmm. Chinese puddings. Mango, durian, taro, red bean, black sesame.

MoMo Bakery - Alhambra

After picking up fruit at Chi Ut Trai Cay - Rosemead, we stopped off at MoMo Bakery - Alhambra to get some mini cakes for my dad's friend's daughter to bring back to Portland. We already had other mini cakes from Vanille de Patisserie - San Marino when we had afternoon tea the day she came into town, but MoMo Bakery had some cute ones too that were less expensive.


MoMo Bakery is in the space that used to be Kiki Bakery - Alhambra. as I said before, there seems to be some head-to-head competition since Kiki Bakery moved out of this spot only to re-open a few blocks east. The ownership changed, but the employees here are still the same as before. Which also means my favorite pastries and breads were still the same, such as the taro mochi buns and panda cookies!

Dean Sin World - Monterey Park

For more than a year now, I've been getting my potsticker and soup dumpling fix at Dean Sin World in Monterey Park. The dumplings are good and cheap, and mama Lu is way nice and almost always gives me freebies. So I tip very generously. And she gives me more freebies to make up for it. So I tip very generously again. And well, you see where this is going? I've also dragged various friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, cousin's cousin, cousin's uncle, nephew, nephew's friend, dad's friend's daughter... I guess I should finally blog about Dean Sin World then huh?

As with many places that have gained popularity among food bloggers, many times the person who discovered the restaurant doesn't get proper credit. You know how I feel about attribution. So it's not just because he's my friend, but because all Dean Sin World hype should be properly credited to Tony of SinoSoul, who discovered it back in 2008.

I first read about Dean Sin World on Pepsi Monster of Right Way to Eat, who said that mama Lu supplies many of the restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. Not the dumpling houses, but the restaurants who offer dumplings in addition to their menu. But I didn't visit Dean Sin World until last August when Danny of Kung Food Panda took me here since they don't speak English.

Kiki Bakery - Monterey Park

Back in April, shortly after Kiki Bakery in Monterey Park had just opened, I stopped in with my third cousin who wanted some nice bread and rolls to take back with her to Orange County.

This location was pretty spacious, with a boba shop inside.

Kee Wah Bakery - Monterey Park

Past Wing Hop Fung, and on the other side of Capital Dim Sum & BBQ, lies Kee Wah Bakery. The first time I stopped by in the late afternoon, I saw a bunch of Chinese customers grab trays so I dutifully followed suit.

They were loading up on freshly baked rolls, which were still warm from the oven.

Wing Hop Fung - Monterey Park

Three years ago, I attended a traditional Chinese medicine luncheon hosted by Wing Hop Fung. While, the luncheon was certainly an experience, I was more interested by the Wing Hop Fung story. What began as a mom-and-pop shop in Chinatown in 1985 has grown into an operation with two stores of 20,000 and 18,000 square feet selling Chinese medicinal products, teas, gifts, and fine wine.

The children of the original owners gradually took on their parents' business. The daughter works out of the Chinatown location, while the son is often in the Monterey Park store. He was interested in wine and thus began acquiring it to sell. A store selling traditional Chinese medicine side-by-side with fine wine? This I had to see. Especially, when I read that they also hold wine tastings.