Chinese

Oh, how I miss you New Chinatown! That was my go-to for Chinese Food, but it’s long gone. No Name was in South Miami for a while, but that was a twist on Chinese and pricey. It’s also now gone, replaced with Cracked, Chef Adrianne’s restaurant. So where do I go to get Chinese? The plus to both of these spots, is they serve Dim Sum! In fact, that is what I usually order there. Disclaimer: I haven’t been to Canton Palace in a while, but just went to Kon Chau.

Kon Chau Chinese 8376 S,W, 40 Street, Miami 33155

This place is in a strip mall where a Lucky Asian market is also located. They have the traditional Chinese Favorites- Egg Foo Young, Lo Mein, Happy Family, Mongolian Beef, Moo Goo Gai Pan and General’s Chicken. The dim sum I’ve tried were: Steamed Shrimp & Pork Dumplings, Chive Dumplings, Steamed Roast Pork Bun, Green Tea Duck Dumpling, Roast Pork Noodle Crepe, Deep Fried Taro Dumpling and Soup Dumplings. Yum yum! By the way, their website announces No Delivery! so plan to eat in or take out.

Canton Palace 7980 S.W. 8th Street, Miami 33144

This spot is also located in a strip mall, right off the Palmetto Expressway. Although I haven’t been in a while, we always came for the Dim Sum, which you check off on a sheet by the piece. Favorites on Yelp include: Steamed Shrimp Dumplings, Fried Rice and Salt and Pepper Squid. This place is totally no frills, but they do take out and delivery.

Japanese

Matsuri 5759 Bird Road, Miami 33155

Hands-down, my favorite Sushi Spot, especially for lunch, where they have great lunch specials. It’s in a strip mall in the Red Bird Shopping Center and parking tends to fill up quickly. I almost always get the same thing for lunch- Bento Box Lunch Special C. Chicken Teriyaki. It comes with Miso Soup, House Salad, California roll and an orange for only $9! That’s the best deal in town. Zeke usually gets A- Sashimi and Tempura. There are also dinner specials. Matsuri has super fresh sushi and my meals here have always been good.

Runner Up: Su Shin Izakaya

When I used to meet Zeke for lunch, we would often come to this spot in Coral Gables. The owner greets you with “Hello!” and says “See you tonight!” when you leave. An Izakaya is a Japanese restaurant where businessmen/women stop on their way home from work. When we go, it’s usually packed with people on their lunch breaks. They have lunch specials, but are a little pricier than Matsuri ($12.95) and fair warning, their ginger salad dressing is rather tasteless. Lunch Specials comes with Miso Soup, Salad, Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura, California Roll and entree of your choice.

Thai

Atchana’s Homegrown Thai 3194 Commodore Plaza 33133

Atchana’s restaurant was in a hotel in Coconut Grove, but now has found a permanent home on the corner of Commodore Plaza. My husband and I went there for lunch, pre-covid, but have since ordered food to-go from there. I would recommend the Mee Grob ($14) or Steamed Asian Dumplings ($9) to start, with Pad Thai as an entree and Thai Doughnuts ($10) to end. Just like the old days. There are many other dishes, plus a Thai Trio with salad, summer rolls and soup for $13 which sounds like a great, light lunch idea. There’s also a neat Sriracha menu with a wide array of Thai hot sauces. And I thought there was only the one with the Rooster!

Moon Thai & Sushi 1118 S. Dixie Highway, Coral Gables, 33146

This place, right across from U.M., is fun because you can get Thai or Sushi, depending on your mood. Honestly, we usually get the sushi rolls- Sloppy J and Spicy Lover’s Rolls are two favorites, but there’s also a full selection of Thai, which according to the menu is a blend of Chinese and Indian, based on Rice and Noodles.

Vietnamese

Miss Saigon Bistro 148 Giralda Avenue, Coral Gables, 33134

The only Vietnamese restaurant I know of in Miami, now that Hy Vong is closed, is Miss Saigon Bistro in Coral Gables. They used to have an outpost in Pinecrest, but that has changed to a Pho restaurant. I love coming here and seeing the servers in their beautiful Thai gowns. I always get the same thing- the Miss Saigon Rice Noodle Bowl ($13.95), because it’s so delicious. Rice noodles are tossed with herbs and include pork, chicken, shrimp and chopped up crispy spring rolls, which are then tossed, table side with chopsticks, with hot sauce. It’s a big serving, but I usually seem to finish it. When I don’t, it makes good leftovers. I’ve tried to replicate this dish at home, without success.

Asian Fusion

Lan Pan Asian Cafe 8332 South Dixie Highway, Miami, 33143

This restaurant in Dadeland Station, is part of the same restaurant group as Su Shin Izakaya, the Japanese restaurant above. Bright, light and usually crowded, I love to stop here for lunch while shopping. Lunch Specials are a great deal with Soup, Salad, California Roll included with your entree. I always used to get the Chicken Dumplings ($11.95), but have branched out to try Tamarind Shrimp, Thai Basil Chicken and Grilled Salmon. Please note, this is the ONLY place I’ve had cooked salmon that I like, but my friend Tami wasn’t a fan.

Noodle Restaurants

OHHO Noodles Market 1100 S. Dixie Highway, Coral Gables 33146

This restaurant, near Ponce Middle School, is usually filled with U.M. students. You order at the counter, get a number and wait in the funky, grafitti-decorated interior. They have other menu items besides noodles- buns, dumplings, chicken dishes and Bibimbop. The most popular noodle dish, and my favorite, is the Singaporean Laksa Lemak ($18) with rice noodles, spicy coconut broth, chicken, shrimp, bean sprouts, tofu and egg. There are a variety of hot sauces on the counter to be added to your dishes, if desired. They offer Pick-up and Delivery.

InRamen 5829 S.W. 73 Street, South Miami, 33143

This restaurant, in South Miami, is super casual with the doors open and indoor and outdoor dining. It was the first place I saw the (now ubiquitous) QR code, as they wish you to open it on your phone, order and even pay contactlessly. Genius! (They do have paper menus for the technologically-challenged.) They have other menu items than noodles- buns, dumplings, bibimbop and chicken dishes- but the noodles are hand made right in front of you, so that’s always what I get. It’s pricier than Ohho, with the Ramen Beef Short Rib Ramen my daughter recently got costing $26. I’ve gotten the most popular dish- Chashu Ramen with pork belly, tonkotsu broth, noodles, egg, corn, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The Spicy Chicken ($18) sounds good and I like the music they play in here, which is a sometimes overlooked feature in restaurants.

Sea Siam 12735 S. Dixie Highway, Pinecrest, 33156

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Sea Siam, in a strip mall in Pinecrest and where we used to meet our friends Brooks and Sharon. We would sit at the bar and all always got the same appetizer- Steamed Shrimp Dumplings with Spicy Mayo and extra scallions (off menu). For entrees, we were all over the place. The Crispy Duck ($26) is delicious, and was my favorite, Brooks liked the Ginger Fish ($26), which is a whole fried snapper and Sharon usually got a sushi roll, like SuSa ($20) with tuna and avocado.

So there is a by-no-means complete list, but some of my favorite places to eat Asian food in Miami. I’m also dying to try Zitzsum in Coral Gables, with the chef from No Name Chinese. It has been nominated for a James Beard award Best New Restaurant.

In a Good News/Bad News situation the principal plays with Hy Vong restaurant were doing Pop-Ups and Pick-ups of some of their food during the Pandemic. They participated in the South Beach Food and Wine Festival this year and, since Hy Vong closed, had been doing Pop Ups and pick-ups of their food in South Miami. Their last pickup was March 12 and they announced they’ve officially hung up their aprons and will no longer be offering their delicious food. The Good News is they will be doing Cooking Videos on how to make some of their dishes. I will definitely sign up for that!

Up Next: The Villages

I almost always read the book and, when it comes time to pick the book for hosting, I have thoroughly vetted the choices. I scour the New York Times Bestseller list, read Oprah’s and Reese Witherspoon’s picks and talk to friends in other book clubs to find out what books they have loved. In our Book Club, if you host the book club meeting, you get to pick the book.

This year I choose The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. I had sent one of our Book Club books (The Elegance of the Hedgehog) to my friend Katy in Orlando and she loved it. I went to visit her in February 2020 and when we visited Epcot, the Japan pavilion had a beautiful rock garden. I took photos because I’ve wanted to make a rock garden for a while and Katy said:

I think your Book Club would like this book The Samurai’s Garden. It’s similar to the one you gave me- simple and elegantly written.

Katy

Shortly after my visit to Katy and our trip around the world (via Epcot), the world as we knew it shut down. My Book Club, however, never stopped. We kept meeting, sometimes outside, sometime inside. This year, we hoped, everything would be different than 2020. Not quite, but we did keep on keeping on with our meetings. Katy sent me The Samurai’s Garden soon after my visit to her. I read it, loved it and picked it for my Book Club Meeting.

I realize why the book occurred to Katy while we were in the rock garden of Japan. While the main character maintains a beautiful garden in Japan at a beach house, his love interest in the book, has a rock garden, just as beautiful, but completely different. When I finished the book, I was determined to make my rock garden a reality by the time I hosted the Book Club.

It wasn’t easy.

First, I had to eradicate all the weeds, next, level out the dirt so it was a flat playing field. After that, I secured black weed blocker material to the dirt with giant metal staples, cutting holes around my two rose bushes and a sprinkler head. The final detail was ordering gravel for the rock garden. For this, I went to Bernie’s Rock and Garden in Homestead. The saleswoman recommended getting a gravel called Zen confetti (black and white), which the Fort Lauderdale Bonsai Garden used for their Zen garden.

The night before my gravel was to arrive, I was like a kid the night before Christmas. So excited to finally complete this project I’d dreamed about for years! Two huge bags of gravel were delivered in the morning and I immediately started spreading it over the black fabric. It looked good! After all the rocks were distributed, a feat accomplished by my sweet husband as I was at a Girl’s Weekend in the Keys, we lugged three huge boulders over to the rock garden in the back of our house. The boulders are supposed to represent the mountains in the landscape and the gravel is supposed to represent the water.

I ordered (for $70!) a wooden rake that rakes the gravel into rows resembling waves. Around the boulders, I raked graduating circles to look like the ripples in the water . I already had a yellow garden stool, and some metal bells hanging in my mango tree for a Zen feel; rattan fencing I hung hid the ugly chain link fence lining the garden. I wanted a bench to meditate on, but lacking a Zen-looking one, I spray-painted one I already had black. Finally, my rock garden was complete! My thoughts turned to what to serve for dinner for my Book Club Meeting.

Food was mentioned a lot in the book, which takes place in Japan. There was a lot of rice, soup, fish and mochi. For appetizers, I made Summer Rolls. These are rice paper discs, soaked in warm water to make them pliable and stuffed with vermicelli noodles, fresh veggies and herbs. I served them with a creamy peanut sauce. Summer rolls were a refreshing and interesting start to our meal and Sumita, who started the club, is vegetarian so I always try to have something she can eat.

Since the dining rule is to follow a cold course by a hot one, I served Miso Soup for the first course when we sat down at the table. I’d set the table with a red tablecloth, aqua napkins and chopstick, with orange zinnias in clear vases as the centerpiece. I bought the Miso Soup at Matsuri, one of my favorite sushi restaurants. For the main course, I decided to have “Make Your Own Poke Bowl“. Jasmine Rice and/or Spring Greens were the base and then I had Ahi Tuna Chunks, Chopped Chicken Breasts and Tofu for protein choices. There were lots of toppings to choose from to accompany the bowls- chopped green onion, cilantro, edamame, fried onions, sliced jalapeno, ginger, chopped cashews and sesame seeds. I offered a variety of sauces- Bang Bang, Ginger Dressing and Siracha- to complete the bowls.

I think everyone liked the Poke bowls. It makes it easy for everyone when they can tailor their meal exactly as they like it. For dessert, I went easy on myself and got Mochi from Trader Joe’s in Green Tea, Vanilla and Mango flavors, served on a banana leaf. I also served sliced orange, as they do in sushi restaurants. Guta brought a coffee cake and I made Hot Lemongrass (from my garden) and Jasmine Tea to go with dessert.

When you make a signature cocktail, even people who have sworn not to drink usually can’t turn it down. The Signature Cocktail I made was called a Sparkling Elderflower Sake Cocktail by Cake & Knife. It had sake, lemon juice, Elderflower liqueur, Pomegranate Juice and was topped with Prosecco and a lemon peel. It was a light and refreshing drink, perfect for a hot night and was also, pretty to look at. It had been raining off and on all day, but luckily stopped just before the first guest arrived. When everyone arrived I led them, signature cocktail in hand, into my new Rock Garden.

We get it almost every night When the Moon is big and bright It’s a supernatural delight Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

King Harvest

Up Next: Sparkling Elderflower Sake Cocktail