Yes, Las Vegas, Nevada, is well known for food! They have many fancy hotels, casinos, and of course, excellent restaurants. Quite a few top culinary gods live in this location or own restaurants in Vegas – for Christ’s sake, Hell’s Kitchen is produced in Vegas. I was excited to go to Las Vegas for these very reasons. Being led by two friends, I was diverted to an area known as Chinatown even though it’s home to many Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, and Thai eateries. I found it odd that it was simply called Chinatown, which didn’t truly do justice to how diverse the Asian community in this area is.

My mini food adventure began with a weekend getaway, which included a 4-hour road trip from California to Nevada to meet an old friend. The trip’s focal point was a 4-hour hike to and from the Arizona Hot Springs, also known as Ringbolt Hot Springs. We drove from California to Nevada, then from Nevada to Arizonais to enjoy a day’s hike that turned out great, but not without its fair share of hiccups. I will leave that tale for another time, but I will say that I am nursing a very sick Canon 80D camera. I do not mean sick as in awesomely cool. I am talking about sick as-in the camera may need life support soon. I tripped and fell into the hot springs while holding it, and now it’s sitting in a bag of rice with my fingers crossed, hoping it will work. 

On a side-note, I discovered early-on that one of the perks of living in Nevada is that they do not have rigid lockdown rules. Unlike California, where dining-in is non-existent or extremely limited, Nevada has allowed at least 25% occupancy, so you can dine-in with fewer people, but there is a lag time between changing tables for hygiene purposes. 

Eatching at Michi Ramen during my first hour in Nevada 

The first place we ate at was Michi Ramen in Henderson, which specializes in different ramen dishes served in a very quaint atmosphere. I did not know what to expect when I sat down to eat at this spot, but I was quietly amazed at the noodle dishes. I ordered a ramen dish with tempura shrimp, 2 slices of lemons, Brussel-sprouts, sesame seeds, and cilantro in pork and shrimp broth. The dish was very hearty, clean, and uncomplicated with bold flavors and the presentation was very satisfying. While I hate giving comparisons, I can only compare Michi Ramen to Katsuya by Starck restaurant when it comes to some of its dishes. While it has been almost a year since I ate at the Katsuya in Abu Dhabi, something about Michi Ramen Spicy Shrimp Cilantro reminded me of the fond memories of eating at Katsuya in the Middle East. 

When I say comparison, I don’t mean that they are totally alike. They just have a slightly similar flavor and mood profile. This comparison is only for the people who may be wondering what the feel and style of the food at Michi Ramen might be comparable to. 

The food is quality for the price, the staff is friendly and funny! According to the owner,

Fen J.

I opened this to serve customers good food.

As a customer I can say cheers to Fen, sucess has been met. While it may seem like an all to simplistic comment from the owner, it gets to the point with no frill just the truth. I couldn’t find a website for Michi Ramen, but they are on Yelp and TripAdvisor so go check them out.  https://www.yelp.com/biz/michi-ramen-henderson

 

Dining at the New Asian BBQ 新松记Tan Tung Ky on my second night in Nevada

Hours after falling into the hot springs, I ended up at New Asian BBQ. This place helped to check a few dishes off my food bucket list, and of course, I have a food bucket list, which was fosted mostly by the long hours of watching content creators like Liziqi, Polin Lifestyle, Dianxi Xiaoge, Drunkard Lee, and many more. I have longed after some of the dishes they create that I’ve never eaten and possibly wouldn’t be able to get at a generic “Chinese Restaurant.” You know the ones that most boring Americans rave over with a menu of fried-rice, wontons, dumplings, noodles, or crab rtangoons, but the truth is that they very rarely venture pass these items to try anything else. Let me stop fronting I am the same way despite not being a boring American. Sometimes I go to these restaurants, and I just know the real food is the food the restaurant owners serve their friends and family and not what’s on the menu.  

I ended up at New Asian BBQ thanks to a friend and had the time of my life. This place serves traditional Chinese BBQ, seafood, and dim sum, but the day we went here, we were after the BBQ and seafood. I had the lobster with ginger and scallions. We also had a roast duck, steamed buns, crab rangoons, Jasmine tea, and shrimps in lobster sauce. 

The food at Asian BBQ was delicious!!!!!! We enjoyed the food, company, and price and ended up with many leftovers that didn’t remaim leftovers for very long. Curiously enough, I have to comment on the Chinese steamed buns. I’ve seen a host of food creators on YouTube, making these and I always wondered about the taste and consistency. I am here to say that they are incredibly soft and held their shape evenwith sizzling duck meat piled inside. The steam buns were delicious with the roasted duck with a bit of cucumber and spring onions. Also, the crab rangoon was the best I’ve had in years. 

So, I’ve now officially checked off traditional roast duck and steam buns from my food bucket list.

Check out their yelp page

Check out their Yelp page – https://www.yelp.com/biz/new-asian-bbq-las-vegas-4

Final lunch at Orchids Garden Restaurant 

I was taken to this location to indulge in the all-day Dim Sum. Before this visit, I did not truly understand what Dim Sum was and only understood it to be steamed dumplings. I later found out it’s more than steamed dumplings, but can have a host of small dishes ranging from chicken, pork, shrimp, rice dishes, and vegetables served up in bitesize serving usually eating for breakfast or lunch. For me, the experience was almost comparable to go to a tapas resturant. I found out from wiki that Dim Sum is a large range of small plates that Cantonese people traditionally ate in restaurants for breakfast and lunch. I got to experience this at Orchids Garden for myself for an extensive range of traditional dishes served by ladies wheeling carts of delicious delights around.

My favorite dim sum items had to be the sticky rice wrapped in what looked like grape leaves and the fried shrimp balls. 

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For more information about Orchids Garden checkj out their site at http://www.orchidsgardenrestaurant.com/

I have come to the end of my travel for the food weekend getaway edition. I enjoyed all my dining-out experiences and counted it as a privilege because many people are still under strict lockdown orders. Cheers to those who have the choice and ability to go out and eat the world, and we pray for those who are sick and unable to. As I proceed with caution, I hope that things will get better so we can travel for food again, but if I cannot, I will always savor the memory of the days when I could.