A few weeks ago we attended a friend’s retirement celebration on his last day working for his local fire department. After the celebration, we decided to try a new restaurant that just opened in Stratham NH, that was in the same area. I read about Sue’s Korean Kitchen in our local paper and knew it would be a great place to check out. We don’t have many Korean restaurants in our area, not to mention one that is truly authentic.

Sue’s Korean Kitchen is quite small but does have a little seating area to wait for a table or for takeout orders. The seating area is very simply decorated with canvas pictures of many of the dishes they serve. All of your senses go into overload just walking in.  The smells you get walking through the door then the beautiful pictures of the food on the walls, I was hungry before I even had the menu!

We were seated at one of the small tables in the middle of the dining room with chopsticks waiting for us along with their menu. The menu, although small, has flavors for anyone with various spice levels from mild to hot. And, don’t worry if you don’t use chopsticks they have regular utensils as well!

A quick glance at the appetizers was all it took to know that we would be ordering the beef Mandoo.  This is a Korean
pan-fried dumpling. You get six for $7.95.    You can also get an all-vegetable version as well. These were very good, crispy on the outside, soft and full of Asian flavors on the inside. The beef is very tender and goes beautifully with the vegetables in the dumpling. What a great start!

For my main course, I ordered the Beef Bulgogi ($14.95).  Beef Bulgogi is Korean marinated beef with carrots, onions and scallions served with a side of white rice. I really enjoyed my dish.  The beef was tender and flavorful with the sautéed vegetables still having a crisp bite to them and served with white rice as the perfect compliment to the dish.

Jim had the Dolsat Bimimbap. This is a Korean rice bowl mixed with spinach, carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and cucumber. You can also add an egg and the Korean beef, and Jim did. ($16.95). This dish comes in a hot stone bowl and, let me tell you, it kept the dish piping hot through our entire lunch!  No joke, it was just as hot when it was served until the time we left. This is an amazing dish with tons of flavor not to mention the perfectly steamed egg.  When you cut it open all of that yolk goodness goes all through the dish making it just a little more decadent than it already is. Both dishes came with a side of a cucumber and carrot salad dressed in a very light dressing.   Very good and so fresh,  as well as
house-made kimchi. I’m not a big kimchi fan, but Jim enjoyed it!

Check them out of Facebook and online. If you are in the area of
74 Portsmouth Ave. in Stratham NH, stop in at Sue’s Korean Kitchen for a dine-in or take out!

https://www.sueskoreankitchen.com/

Enjoy!

The past two summers we have spent a lot of time in the Bath, New York area visiting our daughter Amanda her husband Steve and the most precious twins I know. Each visit we try and go to new places in that area. There is so much to do and see in the area, tons of vineyards, the Corning Museum of Glass and many state parks with some incredible views. We also try and find popular restaurants in the area.

Chat-a-Whyle is located at 28 Liberty Street in Bath, N.Y. For a very small town restaurant, this place has so much to offer and is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Before we went we had heard that the restaurant had just changed owners and some of the locals were worried the quality may not be as good but we went with an open mind and a hungry belly.  The one item that was talked about by everyone we spoke with was their sticky buns. Needless to say, we ordered the sticky bun right away! This bun has a little crisp on the outside, tender and so sweet on the inside.  We learned just after one bite why the locals love those sticky buns and why they run out of them!

That was an amazing way to start breakfast. Next, Jim had two eggs, sausage, and hash browns. This is certainly a simple and expected dish but everything was cooked just right and Jim had no problem cleaning his plate.  I also had a very simple and expected dish. I had the banana nut pancakes. They were huge and perfectly golden delicious. I could not come close to finishing them!

Chat-a-Whyle has a great menu not only for breakfast but for lunch and dinner too.  They even have a Sunday dinner special that has a main course and two sides. Sunday looks like a great place to have dinner with items on the menu like prime rib, roast stuffed turkey or their seafood platter.  I should also mention they have a children’s menu and desserts that include homemade pies and cakes. If the pies and cakes are as amazing as their sticky buns you will want to leave room for them!

Although the food was all delicious and those amazing sticky buns won’t be forgotten either will the service and atmosphere. From the moment we walked in we felt like old friends and family with not only the people working there but with other guests. Our waitress was very friendly and while talking with her she asked where we were from and when we told her New Hampshire everyone in our area dining started sharing their favorite places to go in the area. It was such a fun breakfast chatting with all the locals and dining on some delicious food. What a great way to start our day.

Just down the road from Chat-a-Whyle is a park with water fountains and the beautiful church. There is a lot of history in this area with so much to see and do. If you find yourself in the Bath, NY area be sure to stop at Chat-a-Whyle and visit the vineyards, museums and state parks. Niagara Falls is about two hours from the Bath area so don’t forget to stop there in your travels. You can find the full menu and all of Chat-a-Whyle specials on their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Chat-a-Whyle-Family-Restaurant-1634662776655317/

Enjoy!

Last year while we were In Durham, NH at The Candy Bar candy store we were speaking with the owner who told us they were opening another candy and creamery shop in Dover, NH at 53 Washington Street, Suite 100. We could not wait for this new shop to open as we love their Durham store. Well, the day has finally come and we were happy to stop in on their opening day!

Likee’s and Chewy’s is a nearly 5,000 square feet of candy, chocolate and ice cream perfection that is located just across from the Children’s Museum. The amount of candy in this store is staggering and every child’s dream…big kids and little kids alike! They have 150 bulk candy options, almost 100 different types of chocolate bars, every flavor of Jelly Belly jelly beans they have, 60 flavors of bulk gummies along with a section of gluten-free candies.

Some of the things they do best include their amazing caramel apples, homemade truffles and giant peanut butter cups to just name a few. One of the things they are most known for in their Durham, NH store is their creative shake creations! They have 28 flavors of ice cream, yogurt and sorbet.  Let me tell you they put that ice cream and all of their chocolate creations into some spectacular shakes! When we stopped in today Jim and I shared a hot fudge sundae with cookies and cream ice cream. It was chocolatey, creamy and delicious! I forgot to take the picture before we dug into it! Yikes!

There is plenty of seating at Lickee’s and Chewy’s.  Enough for groups and visitors to the Children’s Museum and also some outdoor seating in the summer. One of their tables they had made with some of their expired candy placed inside the table from the Durham store.  Such a cool addition to the Dover location.

Lickee’s and Chewy’s are open  10 am to 8 pm and they can also handle your wedding or special event confections. Find them on FaceBook for more information. Take some time out to visit this fun new Dover location!

https://www.facebook.com/lickeesandchewys/

Enjoy!

As you know I have been on the hunt for a new Chinese restaurant and guess what just opened in Rochester, NH.   A brand new pretty Chinese restaurant! Eastern Paradise is located at 150 Market Place Blvd. It is open Monday through Saturday at 11:30 am and open Sunday at noon. The first thing we noticed as we walked through the door was how big the restaurant is. They have a full bar area and a long sushi making area.  You can sit in the bar area and watch all of the sushi being made along with an entire hibachi room. Plenty of seating no matter how large your party is!

We knew we wanted to get a variety for an appetizer’s  so we got one of the combination appetizer plates with egg roll, chicken fingers, beef teriyaki and crab Rangoon’s served with duck sauce.
This came out super fast and everything is just as expected, crispy, warm and flavorful especially with the duck sauce. The beef teriyaki was very tender and the first to be gone!

No sooner did we have our appetizer when ALL of our lunch was served. We would have enjoyed a little bit of time before our main course came out, as it was really too much food all at one time.
Jim had the lunch special for $8.25. This came with a soup or salad, Jim chose the salad.  His choice of appetizer, the crab Rangoon’s, and he chose the General Tso’s Chicken with fried rice. The salad was fresh and crisp with a nice light dressing. I have to say I loved the General Tso’s chicken here. The chicken was crispy and lightly coated with the dressing but it’s the dressing that caught my attention as it did not overpower the chicken with too much spice. I think I went back to Jim’s plate more than my own!

I ordered the Sweet and Sour Chicken with white rice for $10.50. They serve the chicken with pineapple, carrots, and scallions on a large plate and the rice and sauce on the side. I totally appreciate that as if the sauce sits on the chicken it tends to get soggy fairly quickly.

My lunch was very good, the chicken was definitely freshly cooked with the nice crispy coating. Overall lunch was very good. This is a large spacious restaurant serving fresh excellent quality food, if there was one downfall it would be the very small ladies room. For the size of this restaurant, you might expect a larger ladies room. That certainly won’t stop us from going for some tasty Chinese food or sushi!
Check out their website and Facebook page for a full menu and specials!

http://www.easternparadisenh.com/

Enjoy!

Silver Fountain Inn And Tea Parlor is located at 103 Silver Street in Dover, NH. The beautiful three story Victorian Inn was originally built in 1871. This is not only a quaint bed and breakfast but also a tea parlor. The tea parlor portion of the bed and breakfast is open Monday through Saturday from 11:30 am to 3 pm. Although they do take reservations, walk in’s are also welcome. I highly recommend making reservations as they do close down for private events as well. This lunch was not our average lunch, this was a very special lunch for a very special lady, my Mom, Lydia.

It was Mom’s birthday and although she originally thought we were celebrating MY birthday, that is later in the month, I had a few surprises for her. We were not celebrating my birthday, but only HERS.  Without her knowing, I changed the reservation from two people to five and invited a couple of surprise guests. Our dear friends Margaret, Penny, and Mary Ann. We celebrated with flowers, cards, gifts and a fabulous lunch.

It was a crazy hot day when we went so we opted for the iced tea, we all ordered the “Berry Kisses” tea with flavors of candied apple, strawberry, pear along with marigold and hibiscus blossoms. Everyone agreed the tea was really good, fruity and not too sweet although there was sugar on the table if you wanted it sweeter.
There are a number of ways you can order and various combinations, if you want to just stop in for tea and scones you can do that too.  On this special day, I took it upon myself to order for the table. We each had what they call “The Dutchess”. This is the largest selection that they offer and it includes a taste of almost everything. The Dutchess is $26.00 per person. But there are many options to choose from. The Dutchess arrived on a three-tier cake stand with the bottom tier holding four different sandwiches. They change the menu monthly but our sandwiches consisted of a turkey cheddar sandwich with a tomato jam and arugula, a dilly egg salad croissant with homemade dill and chive egg salad, our third sandwich was the walnut cream sandwich made with white bread, slathered with cream cheese spread made up with walnuts, onion, parsley, and nutmeg. Our last sandwich was the basil artichoke melt with herb bread, layered with basil, pesto, artichoke and Havarti cheese. If you asked all of us what sandwich was our favorite I think you would get all different answers, they were all very good with fresh ingredients.

The middle tier was a favorite for us all. This was the blueberry scone and homemade lemon curd tier. These scones were everything you would want, sweet but not too sweet, a little crumbly but not too much. When you add that lemon curd it was purely a bite of heaven! Did I mention you can order scones and lemon curd to go? Oh, yes you can, it’s just a phone call away!

By the time we got to the top tier we were slowing down but that did not stop any of us, how can you resist such cute little two-bite dessert? You can’t, or well we couldn’t! This tier had peach and blackberry cakelets, lavender and Earl Grey cheesecake, strawberry champagne shortcake and a couple of petit fours. Between all of us we tried all of the desserts and I can say the table turned quiet for a moment when we tried them, each of us enjoying these sweet bites. We all had plenty to eat and even some to go home.

There are so many great reasons to visit the Silver Street Inn and Tea Parlor. What a wonderful place for a wedding shower or baby shower, maybe a daddy-daughter date.  You could be like us and celebrate a birthday with a group of friends, although you don’t really need a special occasion to go for a unique and tasteful lunch! Be sure to check their website and Facebook page for further information.

https://www.silverfountain.com/

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Silver%20Fountain%20Inn%20%26%20Tea%20Parlor

Enjoy!