Weekend highlights (part 1 of 2)

Here are a few highlights (and lowlights) from this past weekend:

Bowl of ramen from Republic Ramen

We metup with friends at Republic Ramen. Patty ordered a bowl of the "miso" ramen ($6.95). I had the "tonkotsu" ramen ($6.95). Both bowls of ramen looked identical, so I'm only posting one picture. We ordered both bowls with pork and egg (+$1.00). The miso ramen was, to put it mildly, not so good. The broth had an off taste. The tonkotsu ramen was marginal.  The pork they use is completely wrong...

I would recommend going elsewhere to satisfy your ramen cravings.

On to some highlights!

Meyer lemon (left) and Caramel (right) macaron from Essence Bakery

After Republic Ramen, I suggested going to Essence Bakery for dessert. Patty and I have been a few times before and love their macarons. We ordered one meyer lemon and one caramel macaron. I'm not sure if they have made some changes recently, but they seemed to have skimped a bit of the filling (the filling should go to the edges of the cookies). Overall, these were still very good.

Fried pork chop over rice at iKitchen

We stopped for an afternoon snack at iKitchen. Patty and I shared a fried pork chop with rice ($6.25). FYI - this is a Taiwanese style dish. I thought it was pretty good, but Patty thought it was just "ok". In her opinion, the pork chop should've been thicker. She's from Taiwan, so I'd say that she's the expert. Still, it's not bad for the area!

On Sunday, we went with a friend to the newly opened Nobuo at Teeter House. Here's what we ate:

Watermelon goat cheese salad $6

Panko-fried soft shell crab sandwich $10

Tonkatsu sandwich $10

Ebi salad $9

Coconut curry grilled lamb $12

Everything was fantastic! They are currently only open for lunch, but we're looking forward to returning once they start their dinner service (w/ an expanded menu).

Places mentioned:

Republic Ramen
1301 East University Drive
Tempe, AZ 85281

Essence Bakery
825 West University Drive
Tempe, AZ 85281

iKitchen
5055 West Ray Road
Chandler, AZ 85226

Nobuo at Teeter House
622 E. Adams Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004