Before I arrived in Frisco, Texas I was expecting nothing but crowds and greasy BBQ. Only to be blown away by all the authentic Asian influence, and Indian influence these pockets of Texas have!!
The intent behind visiting Frisco, TX was to capture and help launch the Grand Opening of The Pop Parlour Newest Location in Frisco (be sure to check them out if you haven’t already!). But while I was there, I had to check out some local spots along the way!
BIG thank you’s to my Texas friends who were willing to chauffeur me around town, I would’ve never been able to check out all the things I did if it weren’t for y’all!
I wanted to provide a little list of all the spots I visited during my 5-day trip, in case you are in the area or wanting to make a little road trip!
In-N-Out Burger
It might be a regional chain, but when Texas is closest East you can get a Double Double, you go for it!
I ordered a Double Double: animal style. Which means mustard fried into each patty, plus pickles, chopped grilled onions, and an extra helping of In-N-Out's famous sauce.
Another hack I’ve learned since my last visit is to order the fried well-done. This makes them nice and crispy and I didn’t have to add salt to them at all!
All ordered with a Pink Lemonade, I also do half water half lemonade because sugar isn’t my fav. We ate here twice on our trip, another added benefit to In-N-Out is their hours are a lot later than normal restaurants around town. So when we were out later, we knew we could always have a top-quality burger!
Yama Izakaya & Sushi
Yes, another chain. But wow, it was INCREDIBLE Japanese cuisine. I ordered the TONKOTSU Ramen (豚骨) $10.00 Tonkotsu Flavored, Cahshu Pork, Egg, Vegetables. I added spicy garlic chili (which was a bit of a mistake) I should’ve ordered it on the side instead because there were A LOT of seeds.
I fought through it though. The ceramic bowl kept the Ramen nice and hot the entire meal. Even though I was snotting and crying, I still really enjoyed it. It was the best thing to have before bed!
I also learned a tip for when you are consuming hot/spicy foods: don’t drink cold water. Drinking cold water makes the hot food congeal in your stomach. Instead, go for a hot tea. I ordered a hot green tea when I realized I need to simmer myself down, and it did the trick!! I was able to come down a notch from experiencing spice-overload.
I wasn’t able to try any other Ramen shops during my visit, but I know there are many more to see!
The Pop Parlour
I would be silly not to mention the Pop Shop based around my whole trip! I have always been a big fan of The Pop Parlour in Orlando, and I have been SO thankful I get to work with them professionally now!
To me, it felt like home away from home. Because they carry Lineage Coffee at this location as well, and I was able to have my Kenya Drip Coffee in a different state. Blessed.
I got to try a lot more adventurous flavors this time around! I really liked the Banana Coconut and the Peach IPA. I’m very glad there are always so many vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free options. The Pop World is your oyster!
For Drinks (when I’m not getting drip coffee) I really like the Iced Dirty Matcha, I tried the combination at a Vietnamese restaurant and have been hooked on it since!
Sometimes they will do an Affogato special (double or single shot of espresso with a creamy pop) for $5. OMG, it is SUCH a nice treat! It’s the perfect thing to have after a meal or a mid-day pick-me-up.
Carrollton, Texas - New Koreatown
This is a GREAT place to spend the day with food-adventurous friends with an APPETITE! Thankfully, that is exactly the type of people I had with me.
We started our journey at the place recommended by Mike Chen, a foodie vlogger who just so happened to go to this place a week before us.
Oh-K Dog
I have seen Korean Corn Dogs on the internet for a while now, and I was always curious as to how it could taste as good as people exclaim.
It is a Korean Rice Dog that comes with either mozzarella cheese stick or hotdog. ROLLED IN SUGER OR CINNAMON SUGAR, then dressed with your sauces of choice:
Ketchup
Honey Mustard
Sweet Chilli
Cheese Mustard
Gochu Hotsauce
Garlic Sauce
I ordered the Squid Ink Dog ($3.99) which was half cheese and half hotdog with the ends clipped so it looks like a little squid! Dressing it in Sugar, Mustard, Ketchup, and Garlic Sauce.
It wasn’t until I took a bite when I totally understood why it makes sense: it’s sweet and salty all in one snack! It works across the board and I ate the whole thing! I also ordered the Egg Toast ($4.99) It was literally a big scrambled egg with sweet chili sauce and garlic sauce, couldn’t go wrong 🙏🏻
We almost stopped our journey right there! We were like ‘this was great, we can just get some drinks from here and head out!’ But we were determined to explore more.
Our next stop was Super H-Mart! Specifically...
Mr. Dumpling in H-Mart
H-Mart is an Asian Market that also has vendors within the store selling their own specialties.
We saw a bunch of baskets of dumplings and noticed soup dumplings! I didn’t see them on the menu but they said they make them so we ordered a batch! I think it was around $6.50 for TEN SOUP DUMPLINGS!
There are places in Orlando that sell soup dumplings for $4.95 for ONE Soup Dumpling. So I was super impressed when we got so many! They gave us 2 sauces: one spicy soy and one sweet soy saw, along with pickled radishes. Paired with some tea for all of us.
It was super easy to share with my 2 friends, plus we got to people watch and see what other people were ordering from vendors around us!
All that soup made us ready for dessert, which brings us to our next stop! This was outside of New Koreatown, but still very close by!
Snow City Shaved Ice Cafe
This place is such a cute cafe, having many flavors of shaved ice to choose from!
The texture of the shaved ice here was a little different from what I’ve had in the past. In Hawaii, shaved ice there is more of a fine powder (like snow!) This ice resembled the look of coconut flakes but still had that melt-in-your-mouth taste.
I ordered the Matcha Powder with Red Bean, which comes with Mochi and Condensed Milk ($6.95 - small). It was just what I was looking for, something that was light, and not too sweet.
My friend Ana ordered the Cheesecake ($7.95 - small) which came with an ACTUAL slice of cheesecake on top.
When we were waiting for our desserts, we were wondering how they could make a cheesecake ‘flavor.’ All our questions were answered when it arrived! We stayed there a while to sit and chat, and we were able to finish all our desserts, I definitely recommend stopping in if you like lighter–slightly sweetened desserts vs ice cream or chocolate lava cakes.
Pop Pot at 99 Ranch Market, Frisco
The next day took us to Frisco's local 99 Ranch Market.
If it weren’t for the internet, I would’ve completely overlooked the vendors that were waiting for us around the corner.
There’s a BIG Chalk Board listing out all the vendors just around the corner, but if your mind is on groceries, it’ll be out-of-sight-out-of-mind for you.
Thankfully, I was on a mission! A mission to try some personalized hot pot, you get a tin bowl and your own personal flame. I already saw multiple people eating their personalized hot pot so I knew I was in the right place!
There were SO MANY GOOD OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM!! At the end of the day, I ordered the #2 Cilantro with Preserved Egg Hot Pot. I will admit, the preserved egg was not for me, but everything else was incredible! I ordered mine with Medium heat and wow, it was putting me through it. I feel like I’ve gotten weaker with spice as I have gotten older, but I won’t stop!
Again, the soup was temperature hot the whole way through. The soup was super relaxing, especially that day because it was raining a ton. So what better way to spend a Sunday than cooped up in an Asian grocery store eating hot pot?
Windmills Restaurant - The Colony, TX
Windmills is an Indian-American fusion concept that not only had great food and cocktails, but also a very architecture forward design and ambiance.
This was the last place we went in Texas, as a celebratory goodbye to the city that was so kind to us.
We tried a ton of different dishes and were very communal about sharing. I’ll list out the dishes below:
- Truffle & Wild Mushroom Kulcha
- House-made naan dough stuffed with caramelized red onions, cremini, shiitake, and button mushrooms, seasoned with truffle zest and served with labneh yogurt dip
- Potato Tikki Chaat
- Spiced potato patty, sweetened yogurt, tamarind and mint chutneys, chickpea fritters, red onion, tomato, fried potato threads, pomegranate seeds
- Windmills Classic Wings
- Slow-smoked whole chicken wings, choice of ancho-honey or chipotle hot sauce (THIS IS HOT!!!), poblano ranch dressing
- Tandoori Half Chicken - Easy to split between 2 people!
- Half of a chicken marinated overnight, tandoor-roasted and served with buttered black lentils, nigella naan, and kairi mint chutney
- Texas Bourbon Ribeye
- 21oz bone-in USDA Prime Ribeye steak with Balcones bourbon-brown sugar marinade and garlic-herb butter, served with warm Hill Country potato salad and roasted broccolini
- Sour Cherry Kulfi
- Pistachio and saffron kulfi ice cream glazed with ruby chocolate coating served over chickpea noodles, saffron cream, sour cherry compote, and sweet basil seeds
- Coconut Tres Leches Cake
- Traditional tres leches cake soaked in coconut milk and cream, finished with a coconut buttercream, toasted coconut, and raspberry gelee
- Salted Caramel Pie
- Flaky buttermilk pie crust filled with salted caramel, caramel custard, and fresh-baked brown sugar-molasses meringue, garnished with pecan brittle
This restaurant is one you would WANT to dress up for. Normally there is live music, creating such a special environment. I could post up there and easily spend 3 hours there with a nice group of friends. I’m shocked I didn’t try more beers since it is a brewery. But that’s alright because I would definitely go out of my way to enjoy another meal here.
Holy Cow, that’s a lot of Chow!!!
If you are ever in the Frisco, Carrollton, Plano, or The Colony areas of Texas (I’ve learned there are A LOT of sub-cities there) I highly recommended any of the locations I mentioned. If you only have a chance to visit one spot, I’d definitely tell you to go to New Koreatown and get a Korean Corn Dog at Oh-K Dog. I can almost guarantee you haven’t experienced anything like it before!
If you do wind up visiting any of these places listed, let me know!! You can tag me @allysoneatz or #allysoneatz so I can see what you got!
Until next time!!! 🤗
- Allyson