Seattle: restaurants

Just a few of the places I ate at while in Seattle. No photos as I don't want to take photos in restaurants. In general I had good and unusual meals, proving that research does pay off. My one regret is despite trying three bahn mi from three different places (Uwajimaya, Pike Place Market and Saigon Deli) I didn't find a good one. Fortunately bahn mi are like French fries in one respect - even the not so good ones are pretty tasty.

Fu Lin (512 S. King St): my first experience of ramen ever was at this restaurant combining various ramen with traditional Cantonese dishes. A tonkatsu charsiu ramen was topped with pleasantly unfatty charsiu slices, bean sprouts, sesame seeds and bamboo shoots. Fresh noodles which actually managed to replicate the texture of instant ramen floated in a milky if salty broth. An interesting experience that left me interested in trying more ramen.

Jewel of India (4735 University Way NE): another quick buffet lunch after a visit to the University of Washington. I liked how moist their tandoori chicken was, not easy to achieve in a buffet, and how everyone gets a freshly baked naan. Vegetarian dishes were ungreasy and not too creamy and rich.

Malay Satay Hut (12th Ave): my fault for not ordering the eponymous satay, but the chef's special of mee siam on the blackboard sounded too tempting. This was an unusually dry version without the sauce which traditionally makes this dish unique. Beehoon fried with chilli, tau pok, shrimp, sprouts and topped with hard-boiled eggs is tasty but without sauce this is not mee siam!

Pho Than Brothers (Broadway): a pho tai and choux puff was delivered with speedy efficiency with the usual accompaniments of rau ram, lime, jalepeno and sprouts. A quick, tasty and cheap meal after a visit to the Seattle Asian Art Musuem and Volunteer Park Conservatory.

Purple Dot Cafe (515 Maynard Ave): pleasant and obliging servers made a dim sum lunch here more enjoyable. With some unusual dishes such as three mushroom cheung fun, which unfortunately I didn't see till after I ordered, I was content with har gow, chiuchao fun guo, wu tau ko and dou miao dumplings with an unusual green-colored skin with visible strands of sprouts in the skin as well as the filling. All dishes were OK, though the skins of the dou miao dumplings were a little mushy from being over steamed. A more modern setting of stainless steel, purple and yellow.

Seven Stars Pepper (1207 S. Jackson): I visited this restaurant on the 12th/Jackson Vietnamese restaurant hub twice for dinner. Staff were very nice and friendly both times. A huge vat of fish tofu was my first meal. A fiery looking red broth covered an immense quantity of napa, fish pieces and tofu, topped with dried chillies, coriander, green onions and bamboo pieces. This was mildly numbing indicating the presence of Szechuan peppers, but nowhere near as spicy as expected, though the heat does sneak up on you gradually. This was delicious and I ate way too much of it, though there was enough for breakfast the next morning. The second dinner was for a dish of cumin lamb. My first experience of this dish, it was flavorful and sneakily spicy, though again not extremely so. Excellent.

Shanghai Garden (524 Sixth Ave S.): my first taste of handshaven noodles with the house special barleygreen chow mein. This reminded me strongly of pasta and was a tasty mix of light green, irregularly shaped noodles with shrimp, squid, carrot and egg. Very moreish and definitely comfort food.

Tropics (606 S Weller St): roti canai was way too oily and the accompanying curry sauce was overly sweet. Har mok was a huge bowl of mussels, shrimp, fish and squid topping napa steamed with egg and curry paste. A good rendition, though a request for hot didn't really result in much heat.