Super Q Mart, Germantown MD

We've been to Q mart food court numerous times for lunch and dinner, and we were pleasant surprised to find they have renovated the food court lately!  The food vendor has been combined into one central one with Chinese dishes and Korean dishes, and the dining area looks fancy now!

Fancy dining area

food vendor with lots of options

I always loved the food court here since you can get delicious food cheap and fast.  We ordered 3 entrees for dinner since we both knew what we wanted but they also advertised this 'award winning' beef noodle soup that we both wanted to try, so ....we just ended up ordering all 3 dishes.

Korean style jia jang myun, $4.75

spicy seafood noodle soup, $5.75

beef noodle soup, $5.75

They were all pretty descent, the beef noodle soup had good flavors even though not a lot of meat.  It had thinly sliced beef instead of big chunks.  But for $5.75, I definitely had no complaints.  Jia Jang Myun actually went up from $3.50 to $4.75, but still pretty cheap compared to Korean restaurants.  I've heard Lotte serves better Jia Jang Myun though, so I'll have to give it a go to compare.  Lastly, the spicy seafood noodle was descent, but Lotte spicy seafood noodle definitely wins on both the noodle texture and soup base.

Overall, we were happy with the prices and the selection Q mart food court provides.  We even picked up a few grocery items after so it was super convenient as well.  When you're in the area and in a mood for a quick bite, definitely give this 'upscale' food court some consideration!

FoodPop's rating: 4/5

Super Q Mart
19721 Frederick Rd
Germantown, MD 20876

Luke's Lobster, Washington DC

Yummy lobster rolls!!  We took a spontaneous trip to the National Gallery of Art on a Saturday morning and stopped by Luke's lobster for lunch since it's close to the museum.  We loved everything we had there!  The rolls were buttery and seafood fresh, and I even loved their lemon lime soda!  Luke's Lobster is a small restaurant situated across from the AARP building on E street, luckily there were plenty of street parking when we arrived, oh how I love the new mobile park app/feature!

Luke's Lobster

lively chalk board menu

dining space

order window

We picked a roll combo for each of us, additionally we also got the clam chowder and 4 Jonah crab claws as side items.  They were all pretty yummy!

Maine soda: lemon lime and root beer flavors

crab roll, full of yummy crab meat and seasoning, combo $13

lobster roll, look at all the meat! Combo $17

I forgot to take a picture of the clam chowder.  It was really good though, definitely worth the $7 price tag.  The soup had enough creaminess but not overly salty like most places, and the potato pieces were small rather than large (i hate clam chowder loaded up with huge pieces of potatoe - cheap!).  I'd definitely get the soup again if we make it back to Luke's Lobster.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the lunch at Luke's.  Word of warning though, the portions are all pretty small, so you're really hungry, you will be spending a fortune since one small roll will unlikely fill your stomach.  But they're definitely yummy and worth a try if you're into seafood rolls Maine style!

FoodiePop's rating on seafood rolls: 4.2/5

Luke's Lobster
624 E St NW
Washington, DC 20004

Mosaic Cuisine & Cafe, Rockville MD

We've actually been to Mosaic cafe 2 times already, the food is always descent, but does not stand out when compared to other brunch venues.  But since IHOP and Original pancake house all had at least 30 min wait on a weekend morning, we've decided to support the local small business and brought ourselves to Mosaic cafe again.

From exterior

I like the interior decor, it's decorated with nice pictures and the lighting provided was warm and cozy.  I took this picture with some minor adjustments to show the interior decor.  It's one of those small places that makes you feel welcomed as soon as you walk through the door.  The menu is clean and shows a good selection of menu items for brunch, with lunch menu on the back.

view of interior

Menu

I ordered a decaf Cafe Au Lait to start the morning.  Then we proceeded to order our brunch dishes.

my decaf Cafe Au Lait

I ordered the egg white omelet with sauteed vegetables.  It was pretty good, nothing too surprising here though, basically egg white omelet with some vegetables smeared with a bit of pesto sauce.  It came with a side of a half waffle.  The waffle was good, it had light and crispy crust on the outside and was soft in the center.  The best waffles I've had from  restaurants is still none other than Pocahontas Pancakes in Virginia beach though....

egg white omelet with vegetables

He ordered the traditional breakfast with couple strips of bacon, one piece of waffle, scrambled eggs, and a potato hash.  Again, nothing too surprising here, the scrambled eggs were delicious and fluffy though.  The potato hash made the grade too.

traditional breakfast

Overall, we enjoyed the brunch at Mosaic cafe.  Everything was descent and the restaurant had great ambiance.  Would we come back just for the food?  Probably not, but I'd come back to skip the 30 minute line at IHOP again.

FoodiePop's rating: 3.6/5

Mosaic Cuisine & Cafe

186 Halpine Road
Rockville, Maryland 20852

East Pearl, Rockville MD

We had a hard time deciding on what to eat for lunch on president's day, and finally decided to try Pho Nom Nom (opened where Bale used to be on 355).  When we got to the spot, we saw the new Cantonese restaurant opening sign on the same strip, so we changed our minds and figured we'd give it a try!

The restaurant just opened its doors on 2/15 Wednesday, so not many people know about it yet.  We arrived a little after 1pm and the restaurant seemed busy still.  We were greeted by nice waitresses and handed a couple of menus, including lunch special menu and a nice pot of pu-er tea (typical of Cantonese restaurants).

special noodles and rice menu

regular menu

roast meat display case on the left & bar on right

plate setting, Paris??

We wanted something quick and easy for lunch.  So we each ordered the Cantonese style noodles.  I ordered the wonton without noodles, and the hubby ordered the dumpling noodles.  Of course we can't settle for just two bowls of noodles.....so we also ordered the double roasted meat platter with roast pork and roast duck.  We were later informed they ran out of roast duck, so we got the soy roast chicken instead.

wonton soup, look at the size of these Wontons, $7.50

dumpling noodles, but they forgot the noodles, $7.50

double roast meat platter, $12.95

They made a mistake in the order and gave us dumpling in soup (sans noodles) instead of dumpling noodle soup.  But their lady manager quickly fixed it and gave us another big bowl of noodles with soup, so it was all good!  The wontons and dumplings were all excellent and portions were big.  The roast meats tasted fresh, definitely freshly made on the same day!  Hopefully they will keep the quality of the meats up and not use overnight leftover meats like ** some other restaurants (no names given here.....)

We liked the overall quality of lunch and the restaurant seemed new and clean.  The lady manager kept apologizing because they made a mistake in our order and their staff still needs training, but we were compensated nicely and we will definitely be back again to try the other dishes!

FoodiePop's rating: 4/5

East Pearl
838 B Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852

Clyde's Tower Oaks Lodge (revisited), Rockville MD

We gathered at Tower Oaks Lodge situated off Wootton Parkway to celebrate two friend's birthdays last week.  I've always liked the place, and definitely enjoyed the food again this time!  We had a reservation for 8pm and were seated promptly at 8 when we arrived.  Parking was a bit difficult since the place was packed Friday night, but you can always opt for the valet park option.

We were greeted with menus and filtered water after we sat.  The menu consisted of variety of dishes, from seafood to steak (even cow liver ??).  The February month special is the cowboy steak for $19.95.

filtered water pitcher, cute

We had 2 orders of the jumbo shrimp cocktail.  It was fresh and delicious, nobody opted for the raw oysters this time since we had people with limited diet (okay, that person is me....)

4 jumbo shrimps in one order

The hubby ordered the cowboy steak so I could steal some off his plate.  I ordered the rock fish with mussels.  Everything looked and tasted delicious!  The cowboy steak was especially a steal for $19.95, it was cooked perfectly medium with some red and darn tender to the bite.  Rock fish portion was a tad small, but it had great flavors and flaked easily with the fork.

Feb month special, cowboy steak $19.95

rock fish with mussels

At the end of the night, we all enjoyed our entrees and each other's company.  It was a fun night and a shout out to my two best girls for their birthdays!!  Happy birthday and may the two of you look 18 forever :)

FoodiePop's rating: 4/5

Clyde's Tower Oaks Lodge
2 Preserve Pkwy
Rockville, MD 20852

Panera Bread (revisited), Gaithersburg MD

I have been trying to eat a low carb diet, and since I love the Thai chopped chicken salad at Panera.  I visited Panera bread twice in the last week.

I usually end up getting the half and half deal, which consists of a half salad and a bowl of soup.  It's the perfect combination for a stomach warming meal in winter!

Thai chopped chicken salad

hearty chicken stew with scone on top

To stick with low carb diet, I picked an apple for the side item, I'm glad they had it listed as a choice!  Even though I love Panera baguettes, I had to opt for the low carb option.....

On the second visit of the week, I picked the salmon salad for a $1 more.  The salmon was a little fishy for my taste.  Thai chopped chicken salad still wins hands down!  I picked the vegetable tomato soup to go with the salmon, it was just okay as well.

salmon salad

vegetable tomato soup

I still love Panera and will always give the place high ratings.  My only gripe is, it's so hard to find seats during lunch hour!  Apparently everyone loves Panera as much as I do, on top of that, they provide free wi-fi so I'm guessing a lot of guests linger all day.  But, I'd definitely go back and fight through the crowd for their yummy lunch combos again!

FoodiePop's rating: 4.2/5

Panera Bread
285 Kentlands Boulevard
Gaithersburg MD 20878

Ren's Ramen (revisited), Wheaton MD

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, a few friends and us visited Ren's ramen again at their new location in Wheaton.  We've visited the spot once before and we both thought it was really salty the first time, plus parking was not easy for the location.  Since a friend of ours wanted some ramen, we came back again to give it another shot (yes the one who wanted ramen ended up not making the trip.....)

They had some daily specials that looked very enticing.  One was the Bakudan ramen which was extra spicy and the other was 'ga-tree miso ramen' which had extra bean sprouts and cabbage toppings.  We ordered both to try!

today's special menu

We also ordered 2 gyoza small plates.  They were actually really good!  The wrapping was thin and the meat abundant, even though it was pricey, I'd probably order it again.

gyoza $4.95

Then the ramen came!  This was the Bakudan ramen, it was more spicy than I thought but I loved it.  Their imported ramen noodles were good and chewy as always, broth a bit on the salty side but acceptable.

Bakudan ramen $11

This was the 'ga-tree miso ramen', it had extra cabbage and bean sprout toppings that shaped into a tree top. It was pretty good as well from what I heard.  Reminded me of pho toppings though with all the extra bean sprouts!

ga-tree miso ramen $12

This was a regular tonkotsu ramen, it was consistent with what we had before.  Still, everything was on the salty side, but nothing a glass of water can't fix afterwards (or maybe 2 or 3....).

large tonkotsu ramen $12

We thoroughly enjoyed the ramen experience on Sunday, the wait wasn't too bad.  We waited about 15 minutes after arriving around 1:15pm on a Sunday.  The only issue I have with the place is the 'cash-only' policy.  There are very few restaurants that don't accept credit card nowadays, especially when the prices are toward high-end such as $10 and above.  I really hope they can add a credit card machine so people don't need to be surprised and stranded with not enough cash...

FoodiePop's rating on ramen: 4/5

Ren's Ramen
11403 Amherst Ave
Wheaton, MD 20902