Tag: banh mi

Covid-19 Take Out Reviews

With a month into our self-distancing Covid 19 “quarantine”, we haven’t been able to enjoy any sit-down restaurant experiences. It’s been rough! However, many restaurants are still open for take-out and I’ve had some great take-out experiences! So, here, I’ll cover each of these and then I’ll add to this post whenever I get more take-out.

Star of India

Star of India will always be my favorite lunch buffet. Their food is always SO delicious and they have my favorite saag paneer of all time.

Luckily, for us, they are currently doing family meal deals during our “quarantine” time. Here are the options, each serving 10-12 people:
#𝟏: 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫, 𝐍𝐚𝐚𝐧, 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐞 & 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐚 $𝟒𝟎⁣
#𝟐: 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐤𝐤𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚, 𝐍𝐚𝐚𝐧, 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐞 & 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐚 $𝟓𝟎⁣
#𝟑: 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐍𝐚𝐚𝐧 & 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐚 $𝟒𝟎⁣

We ordered from Uber eats, which also has the regular menu available. We got the family meal with the saag paneer and an additional appetizer of vegetable pakora (battered and fried vegetables) for $3.50.

They aren’t joking when they say this will feed 10-12 people. Drew and I have eaten 3 meals each, and we aren’t even halfway done with the saag paneer yet! Everything is SO delicious, this has been our best take out deal yet!

To put this deal into perspective, the amount of saag panner you get in this meal deal is about 4-5 times as much as you get if you order a regular saag paneer off of the menu for nearly $11.

If this ends up being too much for anyone to finish, you can always freeze the saag paneer as well. It freezes beautifully.

Three Fold Noodles & Dumpling Co.

Three Fold is my favorite restaurant in Little Rock. They have my favorite salad, and their pork bun is my favorite sandwich!  So, today I tried their new mobile truck. The experience was great! They have the friendliest service, my food was packed so nicely with napkins and forks and placed into my car.

For the first time ever, I decided to try the taro chips. WHY has no one told me these are a must-try?! They are absolutely delicious and a great deal for a bag for $2.50. I will have to get a couple bags of these sweet and savory treats every time I go now.

I tried the salad with tofu instead of pork this time and it was delicious! The tofu is seared just right. Delicious as always, this salad hit the spot. If you’ve never tried it, it has fresh spring greens, signature cabbage slaw, signature carrot slaw, pickled veggies, cilantro, a tea-scented egg, house dressing and choice of protein. It is SO good. I always order mine (and everything else here) spicy, but I always think it needs a little more heat. I may have to try it “poisonous” (extra spicy) next time.

The pork bun is always perfection. I just love it so much. It is pulled pork on house-made mo with pickled veggies, spring greens, cilantro, and pepper sauce. It is always juicy and sweet and spicy and yummy. I got to eat it about 30 minutes after I picked it up. I think the steam from the hot sandwich just made the bread even softer and it had time to really soak up all the juices. Not bad for a take away sandwich!

         

Overall, this take out experience can’t be improved and I’ll definitely be bringing this home more often.

 

Ninja Sushi

I ordered from Ninja Sushi via BiteSquad. Surprisingly, I got the food in about 45 minutes, which was much earlier than they estimated. I was impressed. I was further impressed by how delicious the food was!

We started with fried soft shell crab and it was very good! For $8, you get two whole crabs on a big bed of iceburg lettuce and a tasty, tangy sauce.

We also got a large salad with ginger dressing for $5. It was huge, made of iceburg lettuce and sliced carrots and cucumber, and had  ton of deliciously sweet ginger dressing.

We ordered the “3 chef special” meal, which lets you pick any three sushi rolls and includes a soup and salad for $38. This is a great deal because if I had just ordered the three rolls, soup, and salad separately, it would have cost me $46.50.
We got the Johnney’s roll (on the left), the Lobster roll (in the middle) and the Godzilla roll (on the right). All three were very good! I don’t think I’ve ever tried three new sushi rolls and loved them all. Though, the lobster roll was probably my favorite with the Godzilla roll a close second. Drew preferred Johnney’s roll the best.

Overall, this was a great take-out experience and lasted us two meals.

 

Little Greek Fresh Grill

I’ve always loved Little Greek for take out. I’ve never actually eaten inside of it, but always get it via Bite Squad. Their gyros are very good, their french fries are even better. But what is my favorite thing is their hummus with fried pita bread.

The crispy, crunchy, thick fried pita is killer on its own. Such a great flavor and texture! The hummus is one of my favorites, though. It is thick and garlic-y. This snack is crave-able! The best part is the entire dish is only $5. There is literally a cup of hummus and plenty pieces of fried pita. I just love appetizer so much and it was super easy to order it online on their website and just pick it up almost immediately.

 

Guion General Store in Guion, AR (outside of Mountain View)

I’ve driven past this tiny shop in Guion, AR many times, but never went inside. I finally called in my first order and it certainly won’t be my last!

This quaint little general store has a few sandwiches to offer, which you can get with fries. They also had some fresh made banana bread and a couple other baked goods available.

Drew and I both got a reuben sandwich, no cheese, for $7.25. While the sweet lady working the register joked about how it won’t be as good without the cheese, they sure did their best to make it one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

This reuben was stuffed with so much corned beef and delicious “special sauce”, it made this a moist, crazy good reuben! Everything about the sandwich was wonderful, even the buttered grilled bread. Whew, I enjoyed that sandwich! Can’t wait to get another one.

 

Pho Huyen in Conway

Conway finally has a Vietnamese restaurant that has banh mi sandwiches, my favorite! Yay! I ordered 4 pork ones to go at $6 each. The other option they have is chicken.
While the bread is absolutely perfect, the sandwich was tiny. There was no sauce on it either. So, I added some hoisin mayo when I got home and that definitely helped. The pork was good, as were the vegetables. However, I don’t think I’ll go back. Nothing about the teeny tiny sandwich made it miraculous.
The people there were super friendly and their menu has plenty of other Vietnamese options, like pho and vermicelli bowls.

 

Food Review: Saiwok Vietnamese Street Food in Rogers, AR

All of the ratings online for this place were amazing. It is the #1 restaurant on Yelp in Rogers now. So, I had to check it out. Here’s the breakdown:

ENVIRONMENT

Located in a new shopping center, this place looks like every other business here.

When you walk in, you grab a menu or read it on screen. You order up front, take a number, then find a seat.
There is a bar area with t.v.s to watch or plenty of wooden stools and tables to enjoy.

Overall, it is very modern. Each wall is unique with different modern wallpaper. A large “Saiwok” sign is lit up on one wall. It is very fun.

Where you get your own drinks, you can also pick up sriracha, hoisin, soy sauce, salt and pepper, and sugar or sugar substitutes.

MENU

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Saiwok/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1844062562490958

Their menu can be found on their Facebook page, linked above. However, this menu is a little outdated. The cucumber salad is missing.
Overall, there are a lot of options: fun appetizers such as fried brussel sprouts or street corn, banh mi sandwiches, baos, bowls, soups, salads, and even desserts.

FOOD

Cucumber Salad, $9
Description: Cucumber cubes, heirloom tomatoes, wafu dressing

We started with this beautiful cucumber salad. One of the best veggie dishes I’ve ever tasted was a cucumber salad in Chinatown in NYC. So, I expected flavors of heat, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar.
While this was gorgeous, the flavor was lacking. Their “wafu dressing” is tasty, but there’s no heat. There’s not much salt either. So, I added some soy and sriracha and that made it enjoyable.

House Salad, $6 or $2 to add on to a meal
Description: Mixed greens, cucumber ribbons, heirloom tomatoes, red onions, ginger sesame dressing

We also got our add-on house salad for $2 before our entrees, which I requested. This salad was as tasty as it looked. And it was beautiful! Ribbons of carrots and cucumber, heirloom tomatoes, perfect greens. The dressing was just the right amount and very flavorfully sweet. Loved it!

Saiwok Bowl with Grilled Lemongrass Pork, $9.95
Description: Choose your meat, choose your base, add any additional items. All bowls come with pickled veggies, tomato, cucumber, scallion oil, and chili lime vinaigrette.

Our first entree (I make Drew share everything we get so I can taste it all) was the Saiwok bowl. I choose the grilled lemongrass pork, which was amazing! It was large, tender, so flavorful, and juicy. We put it on top of greens, which may have been a mistake as we just ate two salads already. Rice may have been a more satisfying choice. And I topped it off with an over easy egg.
The egg was perfect! The veggies were perfect. I couldn’t tell there was any scallion oil, it was very dry. So, I used the entire small side of chili lime vinaigrette. After it is all mixed up, it was very tasty.
My only issue was there were no knives to cut the pork into smaller pieces. The pork pieces were about 3 bites each, so I ended holding a piece of pork in my hand and taking a bite with every forkful….it didn’t look very graceful.

Pho Au Jus Banh Mi, $9
Description: Sliced brisket, pho broth, hoisin sauce, sriracha, with shrimp chips. All banh mis come with two small ones.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. I was weary of these banh mis, as they look very bread-heavy. However, I was mistaken. The bread is perfect. The inside is so soft, it is hardly there, just enough to keep your juices in….well, mostly.

This little baby was so flavorful and juicy. I loved every bite. I didn’t even need to dunk it into the pho broth on the side. It was one of the best banh mis I have had…and I’ve had MANY.

The pho broth was delicious on its own, I would definitely suggest trying it!

The problem came with the shrimp chips. I LOVE shrimp chips. I buy them by the bags when I can find them at Asian grocery stores. These, however, were horribly stale and had no flavor. They were left un-eaten.

OVERALL

This is definitely a place to try while in Rogers. It is fun and casual, and can make quite the tasty, healthy meal if you order right…..or it can be as carb-filled and fried as you please. So, really, it’s the perfect place for a group that has varying dietary wants.

While the service is almost missing, you aren’t going to be treated as if you are at a 5 star restaurant. But that’s ok. In fact, I kind of enjoy that. Get what you want, take care of yourself, you’re an adult.

You MUST try the banh mis. Add on the $2 house salad.
Let me know any other must-tries for my next visit.