This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least once.
As colorful as the rest of the pastries and assorted treats at Parisian Bakery III are, it's still difficult not to notice the bright-green pandan waffles amongst them all. It looks like something off the pages of a Dr. Seuss book, practically begging to be explored.
And although it may look slightly cartoonish, it tastes anything but. The waffle has the same sweet, eggy taste and texture as a regular waffle, but with a few tropical notes from the pandan itself. Pandan is a non-flowering plant that's native to Southeast Asia and has a nutty taste on its own that's further developed by steeping the pandan leaves in coconut milk. The result is a waffle colored green from its cholophyl and sweetened with a very light, very clean coconut flavor.
I recommend eating your pandan waffle with some of the bakery's Vietnamese-style coffee, black as hell and strong as death -- but then dosed up with just the right amount of sweetened condensed milk to bring it all roaring together.
The list so far:
No. 100: Dumplings at Heights Asian Cafe No. 99: Mixta Pizza at Friends Pizzeria No. 98: Veggie tacos from Radical Eats No. 97: Bean pie from Conscious Cafe No. 96: Swiss chard crepes from Giacomo's Cibo e Vino No. 95: Eggs Mia Bella at Mia Bella No. 94: Mulligatawny soup at the Queen Vic No. 93: Helado de Lúcuma from Pollo Bravo No. 92: Black bean burger from Natachee's No. 91: Chupacabra pizza from ERA No. 90: Roast chicken from El Norteño No. 89: Eggs El Salvador from Brasil No. 88: Frank the Pretzel from Eatsie Boys No. 87: Caldo Tlalpeño from Tacos del Julio No. 86: English pea soup at Brasserie 19 No. 85: Falafel from Zabak's No. 84: Buttermilk-fried pork loin with fried eggs at Canopy No. 83: Grillades and grits from BB's Cajun Cafe No. 82: Haemul dolsot from Seoul House
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