Our Day Exploring Chinatown

In my twenties, before I was married, I frequented Chinatown - primarily to visit its beautiful Buddhist temples. My husband, on the other hand, has always been familiar with its bevy of restaurants. So, now that our two worlds have converged and our children are old enough to explore it with us, we took this chance to spend an afternoon there.

First, we started off at the Teo Chew Buddhist temple. Such a majestic place, as soon as you enter a barrage of Chinese Gods stand before you in awe-inspiring shrines.

Dripping in gold, one would almost forget the minimalism that Buddhists are known to possess. Nonetheless, despite being strangers in this grand place, we followed the cues of others and enjoyed lighting incense and asking for good luck.

Our prayers were answered. Next on our stop, we ended up further down Bellaire at a place called “Olympic Bakery.” The name, while seeming at first glance, fit perfectly once we tasted the treats they served. Truly gold medal stuff!

We bought an arm-full of goodies without blinking an eye! Moon cakes, peanut bread, and pork buns – oh, my! Also, wife cakes and almond cookies. And, dare I say, the cookies were quite possibly the best I have ever eaten.

After that, we strolled around for a short while before heading to dinner at Mala Sichuan, one of Houston’s top 100 restaurants. Sure enough, we ordered a feast and they did not disappoint.

Spicy and Crispy Chicken, one of their specialties, was AMAZING!

The Black Pepper Beef was also an excellent choice, with a broth so simple, it just added a really great richness to the dish!

For the kids, we ordered the Combination Chow Mein, though truth be told we ate a good portion of it ourselves!

And who could forget the dumplings! They were coated in a mildly spicy red oil - SO DELICIOUS!! This place was worth the hype! It really is one of the best places to eat in town. And, as affordable as the meal was (our whole feast teetered around the $40 mark), we will certainly be coming back for seconds...and thirds...and much more than that!

After that, we ended up at the Six Ping bakery while on our way back to the car. And, since one can never have enough sugar or wheat, we ordered some more treats. A custard cake, two GIANT macarons, coffee sponge cake, chocolage sponge cake and bread in the shape of a pig. Diet schmiet...when we explore something, we go all out!

Why not?! After all, we are trying to EAT THE WORLD!!