Eat Like Ushi

I was really excited to learn of 2 fusion Asian restaurants in Houston. One was Blood Bros. BBQ - a Vietnamese-inspired smokehouse that unlucky fate would mean would be closed during the one week that we passed through. Oh well, it was not to be. The other was this Viet-Cajun crawfish place that although not in Louisiana, would bring those fusion flavours to the plate.

After a late morning, a late lunch, wandering through the local sights and The Menil Collection and the Houston Centre For Photography, we weren't all that hungry. However it was late afternoon, there wasn't much else to see, the weather wasn't so favourable, and traffic was only going to build. So we decided to make the slow journey home via Crawfish and hope for a table.

Luckily there was no waiting at all, and we could see the tables around us with enormous serves of crawfish. There's not much to muck around with the menu, and at USD12/lb we ordered 2 lbs at medium spice with potato and corn. Maybe they were a little surprised that we didn't order more, particularly compared to the table of Asian aunties and their massive amount.

The flavours were chilli with lots of garlic and a touch of tangy flavour (maybe lemongrass) and fish sauce. The little fresh crawfish were juicy, the heads did not much brain and little meaty tails. The white waiter serving us had to demonstrate the art of opening them without spraying your eyes with chili. The delicious sauce would be great with noodles. Boiled potato and a bit soft corn rounded out the meal with a bit of carb and vegetables to interrupt the flavour.

I really liked the flavour (even if the small meat was a little less satisfying) and if hunger permitted would have gotten more.

It did remind me of the insanely spicy version in Beijing (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/huas-restaurant-beijing-01-2010-1) but this was much more pleasant.

I didn't realise Houston had such a large Asian population and we were staying in the west area which was conveniently where all these places were. The main reason was to try Vietnamese crawfish, but it was fortunate that it gave us the time and opportunity to look around the area. I searched for an Asian supermarket and came up with Hong Kong City Mall (and their Food Market). What I didn't expect was an enormous Asian grocer full of Vietnamese foods ready to eat including grilled meats and several varieties of che including some I hadn't seen before. Incredible.

The inside shops also were full of Vietnamese restaurants with the older (and younger accompanying) generations sitting around having a chat and a drink. Just like being transported to Asia (or the similar places in Melbourne).

A random banh mi place was USD3.5. The ladies spoke Vietnamese and we had our cold cuts and bbq pork. Overall much better (especially the bread) than the last offering in New Orleans's best (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/dong-phuong-restaurant-and-bakery-new-orleans-07-2021).