Lady M Confections- Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake

At a house warming party, a kind guest bought Lady M Confections Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake fresh from New York. The cake was hands on one of the most heavenly cakes I ever ate. The cake was a multi layer of crepe, cream, and matcha tea. It was mouse-like with all the cream. It sort of melted in your mouth except for the thin layers of delightful and somewhat chewy crepe which only required light chewing. As for the taste, it was creamy, sweet, and green tea-y. Every mouth full was just wonderful. It is amazing when I think about the tedious work that went into building this delicious creation. I tried counting the layers and I would say there were about 20 layers. This is definitely one of kind cake. I wished I could have more than one slice, but unfortunately, it was a party and you have to share 😞.

Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake

According to the Lady M Confections website, it has multiple locations in NY, a place in CA and MA as well as multiple shops in Singapore and Hong Kong. You can also order online the cakes online. I would highly recommend Lady M Confections. When I get the chance, I would like to visit one of its boutique in NY. Since it is quite pricey, I might only get these cakes for very very very special occasions.

Cafe Olé- Shakshuka

Cafe Olé (147 N 3rd Street) is a Mediterranean cafe offering coffee, tea, baked goods, breakfast and lunch foods, and Shakshuka. The cafe had a good number of seating outside and inside. It was quite busy when my friends and I visited the cafe for brunch. There was a continual flock of people ordering take out drinks and foods. 

Three of us shared the Vegetable Shakshuka. Shashuka as described on the menu is "a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine featuring three eggs poached in a lightly seasoned tomato sauce." Cafe Olé's Shakshuka is from a family recipe originating from Tunisia and has been passed down to many generation. I was very excited to try the Shakshuka because it looked delicious from the yelp pictures and it seemed like something I would like (l love eggs and tomatoes). The Vegetable Shakshuka supposedly had spinach, chick peas, potatoes, and mushrooms; however, my friend and I noticed that there were no potatoes. We were disappointed but later excused that fact because we asked for two servings of bread which essentially made up for the missing starch. The flavorful and delightful tomato sauce was served with bread. The bread reminded me of the one from the Cafe Fulya featured on this blog and unfortunately closed down. It was soft and airy inside, but hard and somewhat crispy on the outside. The bread soaked in the warm tomato sauce was amazing. The runny yolk from the eggs definitely positively added to the eating experience. In addition, there was a small bowl of feta cheese soaked in olive oil that come with this order. I am not sure if we were suppose to pour the cheese into the Shakshuka or dip the bread into the cheese. I just ended up not touching the cheese. I really enjoyed the Shakshuka. It was so tasty and hearty.

Vegetable Shakshuka

Of course, one of friends and I were being fatties and decided to share something sweet together. We got the waffle and fruits on the breakfast menu. It wasn't as good as I hope it to be. The waffle wasn't crispy on the outside and the dough was subpar. My friend commented that the dough tasted like pancake mix. I agree. It tasted like pancakes made in a waffle maker. It was dissatisfying to get a waffle that tasted like pancakes. On the bright side, the fruits were fresh and sweet.  Overall, I would like to come back for more Shakshuka and to try other things on their menu such as the pastries and sandwiches. 

Waffle and Fruits

Cheu Noodle Bar

Cheu Noodle Bar is a small restaurant located on 255 S. 10th Street with limited seating. I would say the food is fusion and gourmet. They are known for their ramen noodles.

I got the Buttersquash Rangoon as an appetizer. Rangoon is deep fried filled wontons. These rangoon were stuffed with squash, goat cheese, and poblano. One order came with four wontons placed on top of a plate that was drizzled with sweet and sour sauce. There were thin red strings on top of the wonton. I didn't know what there were and I was too afraid to eat it so I will just leave it as that. The wonton texture was great. The skin was crispy and the filling was creamy. This dish was a combination of sweet, savory, and spicy from the buttersquash, goat cheese, poblano and sweet and sour sauce. The wontons were absolutely delicious. I have not experience anything like this; hence, these wontons are considered spectacular under my standard😉 

Buttersquash Rangoon

For my entree, I ordered the Mushroom Yakisoba. The noodles were stir fried with snap peas and mushroom and topped with a pouched egg. The noodles were also sprinkled with sesame seeds and some unknown white flakes. The yolk from the eggs created a creamy sauce for the yakisoba. The noodles were soft. They tasted like ramen noodles that have been stir fried. The tendered mushrooms and crunchy snap peas added to the texture of the dish. Overall, the Mushroom Yakisoba was good. Considering the weather that day, I did wish I got noodles in a broth, but I didn't know yakisoba would be dry. Oh well, my fault for not asking or googling😟 . I know for next time.

Mushroom Yakisoba

Street Food Philly Food Truck

I have only seen the Street Food Philly food truck during special events in the city, but according to facebook, they can be found on 66N 33rd St. The truck belonged to the owners of Revolution Taco restaurant at Rittenhouse Square. The truck is green and the menu rotates which I thought made it unique. When I visited it at the Clover Market, the menu at time consisted of mostly sandwiches.

I got the Chickpea Veggie Po Boy sandwich. Usually when I think of Po Boy, I envision fried shrimp, but this sandwich didn't have any shrimp. I think they might had called it Po Boy because they were trying to shape the chickpea to possibly look like fried shrimp. 

The sandwich was made to order. The sandwich was neither hot nor cold when I got it. It felt like room temperature, but it didn't taste like it was sitting out there. It came on a toasted roll. The bread did not look toasted and I wasn't expecting toasted bread so I was pleasantly surprise. Inside the sandwich were cube like tannish nuggets that look like fried tofu. However, they were neither tofu nor fried. They were seasoned mashed chickpeas shaped like cubes. Also inside the roll were some lettuce and pickles and some kind of light dressing. I added some smoked hot pepper sauce offered at the stand. I didn't really taste the hotness so I am assuming the sauce was not really hot. Overall, the sandwich was well made and all the ingredients went well together. It was tasty and delicious. 

Chickpea Veggie Po Boy

Magpie- Caramel Apple Pie

Magpie (1622 South Street) is an artisan pie shop that offers a number of savory and sweet pies. Their pies are a little on the pricier side. One night I was in the neighborhood for dinner and I thought since I didn't get to go to Linvilla Orchards to pick up a pie, I could get a Caramel Apple pie to satisfy a craving I been having. I ordered the slice of pie to go. I slightly heated it in microwave for breakfast the next day. The pie had the perfect amount of filling to crust ratio; however, I didn't like certain things about the pie. The sliced apples were not as tendered as I would like. The filling was a little overwhelmed with cinnamon for me. The crust texture was great, though. It was in between firm and flaky; however, it was sugared. It would have liked it more without the sprinkles of sugar on top. Overall, it was a good pie, but I prefer Linvilla Orchards' Caramel Apple pie more.

Caramel Apple Pie

Teassert Bar

This is actually from summertime. Teassert Bar (227 N. 10th Street) is one of the thai rolled ice cream places that popped up this summer. In addition to rolled ice cream, it offers sorbet, drinks, and hong komg style waffle ice cream. I like this place because I thought the menu was a combination of American and Asian taste and the ingredients are very fresh. Everything is made to order. The shop is also very bright inside and inviting. I been here a couple of times of already. Below is one of the things I got during a visit. 

I got the Taro roll thai ice cream with blueberry, strawberry, mango, green tea party, and a torched marshmallow. The taro ice cream was absolutely delicious. It was basically ice cream they made by pouring a cream base onto an metal ice plate and mashing chunks of taro in it. The workers continually mixing and chopping the ice cream until it hardens. When it almost solidifies, they flatten the ice cream and roll them into rolls and put them into a cup. The ice cream was creamy and not too sweet and I could taste the bits of taro. The fruits were fresh and complement the ice cream well. I was very pleased with my treat. If you are looking to try thai rolled ice cream, I would definitely recommend trying Teassert Bar.

Taro Thai Rolled Ice Cream

A Taste of Britain

My friends and I had a tea party gathering at A Taste of Britain (Eagle Village Shops, 503 West Lancaster Ave, Wayne PA 19087). It was a cute cozy little shop tucked away inside a shopping center. You don't really see a lot of tea party themed cafes in the city. Since we had a relatively large party, we were seated in a separate section behind the front counter wall. To really get the tea party experience, we ordered the full afternoon tea.

The full afternoon tea came with a scone, assorted tea sandwiches, some mini pastries, and condiments assembled on a tier plating. In addition, each of us got our own mini tea pot with the afternoon tea. All of our tea pots were different color or shape. We shared the food on the tier plating. I got a lemon scone. I thought it was too dry. There were butter, jam, and lemon curd in these cute super mini mason jars to go with scone; however, I didn't really think it helped with the dryness and the lemon curd was actually to sour for my taste. The assorted sandwiches that my vegetarian self could eat were the egg salad and cucumber cream cheese. They were good, but there wasn't anything special about them. As for the pastries, there were a chocolate cake, raspberry cheesecake, and zucchini molasses cookie. I thought the pastries were good, but similar to the sandwich it wasn't anything spectacular. For my tea, I got lavender and chamomile tea. It was delicious. Overall, I wasn't too impress with the actual tea foods but the tea, setting, and food presentation were great. I am glad I got the experience:)

Full Afternoon Tea