a spooky weekend of eats

One thing I don't really like to do is always order the same dish at the same restaurant every time I go out to eat. However, there are some places where I am perfectly content frequenting - one of them is a vietnamese place on Washington that I always go to with my parents after we finish grocery shopping. I usually get the same bowl of pho every time bc 1) I don't understand anything else that is on the menu and 2) all of the pho starts to taste the same after awhile.

Recently, I was introduced to a new pho restaurant, a place who's name I actually remembered!! And it is called Pho Ha although I thought it was Pho Hau for some reason....The pho was decent but what truly surprised me was that the other food was really good too (and not scary like the other 2 times I ventured out of pho territory).

I think this was akin to a bbq pork and shrimp dish. very tasty and massive.

Feeling even more adventurous, I also ordered a drink which came in a contraption I had never seen before. I had heard of Vietnamese coffee before and of people raving about how delicious it is. Verdict? Its actually rather tasty. There's a bold coffee flavor that isn't at all overwhelming (and the huge amount of sugary condensed milk didn't hurt either). After dinner, we went to the nearby Chinese supermarket to stock up on frozen dumplings and guess what I found? Vietnamese coffee and the strainer in a display box by the entrance door. Naturally, I bought it and made myself a cup the next morning :D

The coffee is served in a strainer that sits over a class. They put ground coffee into the strainer and pour hot water over it. There's condensed milk sitting at the bottom of the glass, and once all of the coffee seeps through, you pour everything over a tall glass of ice and mix.

Speaking of feeling adventurous (and going to the same places multiple times), I was at tap house twice yesterday. Once for my sorority's alumnnae lunch and once with my dad to catch up on life. We actually drove all the way downtown to trying something new but couldn't find any parking so made our way back to Penn.

Didn't get too many pictures of lunch, but mostly because I was starving and too busy eating. [above] Pumpkin Panna Cotta

This was one delicious (and very filling) sandwich. Pressed Chicken with Roasted Peppers. I've also never been the biggest fan of sweet potato fries but Tap House has some rather tasty ones.

Elise Mussels.

Ok on to the adventurous part. My dad and I ordered the tarfuto pizza. It sounded really fancy and we both love mushrooms, how bad could it be? Well, I actually thought the pizza was pretty good but my dad hated it. Who knew truffles were so stinky?

Tarfuto pizza with mushroom, black truffles and egg.