Chaophraya

There are no shortages of restaurants in Edinburgh, but there is a big variation in quality.  My wife and I both love Thai food and Chaophraya came highly recommended by food bloggers, travel sites, and a couple of locals we met.  This restaurant is located on the fourth floor of a building located on Castle Street and offers an amazing view of Edinburgh Castle if you are lucky enough to secure a table with a view.  We waited too long to secure a reservation with a view, but we were still able to get into the restaurant with only one day's notice.

Asian Platter Appetizer

Following the recommendation of our waitress, we ordered  the Asian Platter as an appetizer.  This large appetizer included chicken satay, prawn tempura, chicken spring rolls, marinated pork with honey and Thai herbs, and a crispy duck salad.  Each one of these items was delicious, but my favorites were the prawn tempura (6-8 inches long and fried to perfections) and the marinated pork with honey (think sweet bacon).  My wife was partial to the spring rolls, which were also quite delightful.

Chicken Pad Thai

Spicy Fried Rice with Beef and Basil 

Coconut Rice

For entrees, we share an order of Chicken Pad Thai and Spicy Fried Rice with Beef and Basil.  The Pad Thai was amongst the best I have ever had and the other entree, which was the chef's signature dish, was delicious, but not overly spicy.  My wife and I also ordered a side of the coconut rice, which was sticky and went well with the two dishes.  I really couldn't pick which entree I liked best, because both were amazing.

Thai Mango Sticky Rice

For dessert, we shared an order of Thai Mango Sticky Rice.  It was not overly sweet, but was a tasty and light, which we needed after eating way too much prior to dessert.  Chaophraya  was arguably the best meal we had in Edinburgh and perhaps the best Thai food I have ever had.  In addition to the wonderful food, the service was spectacular.  The restaurant has beautiful decor and the views are hard to beat.  If we ever return to visit Edinburgh, this restaurant would be #1 on my list to revisit!

My date for the evening 

Chaophraya
http://chaophraya.co.uk
Livin the Good Life Rating=5

Tokyo Joe's

Colorado-based Tokyo Joe's recently opened up a couple of Texas locations in McKinney and Richardson.  They pride themselves on being a Japanese style restaurant that is a healthy alternative to fast food and Chinese food, which is often fried or wok cooked.  Since the McKinney location is right by my house, I have had a chance to sample this restaurant a couple of times.

Peanut Skewers

For starters, I really like their edamame and peanut skewers.  The edamame was perfectly steamed and had just the right amount of salt.  The peanut skewers had chicken breast on a skewer that is topped with peanut sauce, green onions, and cilantro.  The peanut sauce itself might be the best that I have ever had.  

Chicken Spring Rolls

As much as I liked the edamame and peanut skewers, I really did not care for the chicken spring rolls.  I like the ingredients, but I did not care for the chilled rice paper wraps.  Perhaps I just prefer the fried spring roll, but I am not a big fan of this appetizer, which reminds me of a wrapped salad.  

Although the restaurant offers sushi and bento boxes, I have ordered bowls as entrees on both of my visits.  I have had the MoJoe bowl (chicken, pineapple, eggs, red onions, red pepper, and sweet and spicy sauce) and a Build Your Own Bowl (BYOB) that included chicken, brown rice, peanut sauce, broccoli, bean sprouts, edamame beans, cilantro, green onions, and carrots.  Both were outstanding and I wouldn't hesitate to order either again.

BYOB-Build your own bowl

I was pleased with both of my visits to Tokyo Joe's.  The food is fresh and at least, somewhat healthy.  The staff is friendly and well versed in regards to their menu.  I would certainly go here over about 90% of the other Asian restaurants in McKinney and I will make a point to try out their sushi on my next visit.

Tokyo Joe's
http://tokyojoes.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

The Red Lantern

Finding good Chinese food in McKinney has been a struggle ever since I moved here seven years ago.  While I have found some halfway decent Chinese restaurants, I have not dined at any that I absolutely loved.  Recently, a fellow foodie posted a picture of their lunch at The Red Lantern.  It looked delicious and they gave it such high praise, so I decided that I must try this relatively new restaurant that specializes in Northwest Chinese cuisine.

Dining area with red lanterns above

Their menu is quite extensive and I actually had a hard time choosing what I wanted to order on my first visit.  I finally decided to start with the Chicken Pot Stickers and then have the Soup Noodle Combo for my main course.  The pot stickers were filled with shredded chicken and were perfectly cooked.  While I couldn't pinpoint the ingredients in the dipping sauce, it was very good as well.

Chicken Pot Stickers

For my Soup Noodle Combo, I ordered the Spicy Braised Beef Noodle Soup with a Spicy Chicken Stuffed Bun.    While the soup didn't have as much kick as I hoped, it was very flavorful and I can honestly say that it was the best Chinese noodle soup I have ever had.  The noodles were great, the soup stock was very flavorful, and the braised beef was of much better quality than one would expect from most Chinese restaurants.  The stuffed bun was exceptional as well and was much spicier than the soup.

Spicy Braised Beef Noodle Soup and Spicy Chicken Stuffed Bun

I enjoyed my first visit so much, that I actually returned two days later and ordered the Chicken Spring Rolls and the Urumqi Beef Fried Rice.  Although I am usually not a huge fan of spring rolls, the ones at The Red Lantern totally changed my outlook on what spring rolls should taste like.  They were the best I have ever had and I will certainly order these again on my next visit.

Chicken Spring Rolls

The Urumqi Beef Fried Rice lived up to the expectation set forth by the other items I have tried here.  The portion was very large and the beef was the same quality as the noodle soup I and tried on my previous visit.  Brown stir fried rice was served with eggs, onions, and braised beef.  This dish was basic, yet excellent, and had what tasted like a hint of ginger to it.  If I had one complaint, it would be that I would have preferred more of the beef mixed into the fried rice.

Urumqi Beef Fried Rice

The Red Lantern is certainly a welcome addition to the West-side McKinney restaurant scene.  This casual restaurant serves up the best Chinese food I have ever tried in McKinney and it is only a couple of minutes from my house.  I also found out that they make their own hand pulled noodles, which can be ordered with any noodle dish after 5 p.m.  Since everything I have tried so far has been top notch, I cannot wait to try some new dishes on my next visit. 

The Red Lantern
http://www.theredlanternexpress.com/index.html
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Mama Fu's

When looking over my blog one day, I realized that I have never blogged about an Asian restaurant.  That seemed odd to me considering how much I love to eat Thai and Chinese food.  I tend to find a restaurant or two that I really like and then frequent those without really bothering to blog about them.  Since I didn't have a blog post about and Asian restaurant, I decided I would rectify the situation by trying a new place.

Mama Fu's is a small chain that opened up it's first DFW location in Frisco.  I dined there for dinner one night and was surprised to see that they had a hostess and waiters.  I was expecting a place where you order at the counter and seat yourself.  Apparently you order and pay at the counter for lunch, but you get a full wait staff for dinner.  I happened to have a short window for eating on this particular night, but I was quickly seated and my order was placed within minutes.

Dining area at Mama Fu's

The menu had several different Chinese dishes, but also had Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean food as well.   I started off with a cup of wanton soup.  The chicken wanton was flavorful, but the broth was enhanced by having plenty of carrots, scallions, and spinach.  Too many Chinese food places just give you a wanton in broth with a couple of tiny pieces of vegetables, so I was pleased to see that this was not the case at Mama Fu's.

Wanton Soup

For my entree, the Sichuan Kung Pao Chicken.  The dish was piled high with onions, celery, water chestnuts, red bell peppers, peanuts, and chili peppers.  If you looked hard enough, you could even find a piece of chicken or two.  The dish had good flavor, but was not as spicy as I had anticipated.  On the menu, the dish had the little flame beside the name which was supposedly the "whoa mama" rating in the heat department.  Despite the rating on the menu, the dish was very mild.  

Sichuan Kung Pao Chicken

I left Mama Fu's with that glass half full feeling (or perhaps it was a glass half empty feeling).  Although I would have preferred that my entree had more chicken and was a little spicier, it was still a flavorful dish.  The waiter was friendly and had adequate knowledge of the menu, but I did have to wait several minutes to have my tea re-filled while I was eating my entree.  I guess I should count myself lucky that the dish wasn't spicier, because I didn't have a drink to quench my thirst for a good portion of my meal.  There are several items on the menu that I would still like to try, so I do see a return visit in my future.

Mama Fu's
http://www.mamafus.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating=2

SUSHISAMBA

During a recent trip to Las Vegas, some friends and I had the pleasure of eating at some great restaurants.  SUSHISAMBA was one of the places where we dined.  One of my friends had previously dined at the location in Miami and assured us it was phenomenal sushi. There just happened to be a Vegas establishment located in in The Palazzo, which adjoined our hotel, The Venetian. Normally I am not a big fan of sushi, but I thought I would give it a try.  After eating at SUSHISAMBA, I have a new appreciation for the cuisine.

The sushi bar

While perusing the menu, we started with the Edamame.  It was really good and perfectly salted.  We then ordered the Yellowtail Seviche Crispy Tacos and the Sea Bass Rabata served with Peruvian corn.  Both were absolutely fantastic, but I was particularly impressed with the sea bass.  The tacos were great too and much different than other fish tacos I have had because they were served cold. 

Edamame

Sea Bass Rabata

Crispy Fish Tacos

For our main course we ordered the Japanese A5 Wagyu Beef Gyoza, Main Lobster Crispy Tacos, Samba Strip,  Neo Tokyo,  Bobo Brazil,  Carnaval, California Rolls, and a side of the steamed Japanese rice.  It was all amazing, but the Samba Strip (main lobster tempura, mango, tomato, chive, crispy rice, soy paper, and peanut curry) was my favorite of these.  Even though I usually don’t care for items with raw fish, the Neo Tokyo (bigeye tuna, tempura flake, and aji panca) was great too.

A5 Wagyu Beef Gyoza 

Various roll items we ordered.  My favorite was the Samba Strip at the top of the photo.

Before eating at SAMBASUSHI, I normally associated sushi with bait I would use to catch fish that I planned on cooking.  This dining experience totally changed that.  I told my wife that I enjoyed it so much, I would even be willing to try a local sushi place with her (as long as it was highly rated by local publications of course).  I would rate SAMBASUSHI a solid 4 on a 5-point scale.  On top of having great food, the service was second to none. The hostess was extremely courteous and set us up at a great booth and the wait staff was very informative while giving us terrific service.  This establishment has restaurants in Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, Miami, and London.  I most definitely plan on eating here again.