Great Places to Have Brunch in Atlanta I

After visiting Cafe Jonah and the magic Attic last month, I felt so inspired to share this post. To be honest, there are more than ten places for good brunches, and I'm not going to cover it in one post. Sometimes, it is imperative to order shrimp and grits, or chicken biscuits. But if you are feeling adventurous, those wonderful places will fill you up with innovative ways. The only down side is the wait time. That usually means 30 minutes or an hour without a reservation in a Sunday morning.

1 Highland Bakery
Address: 655 Highland Ave NE Ste 10 Atlanta GA 30312
Phone: 404-586-0772
Website: http://www.highlandbakery.com/
Highland Bakery is THE place to have breakfast. It not only provides peanut butter french toast, but also delicious grits. It is also the place you need to arrive early and beat the crowd. The first one is so successful that they continued to open another three. Still, the original one one Highland Avenue is the best. Try their sweet potato pancakes, peanut butter french toast, and pack some made from scratch pastries to go.

2 Cafe Jonah and the Magical Attic
Address: 3188 Paces Ferry Pl Atlanta GA 30305
Phone: 404-343-4107
Website: http://www.cafejonah.com/
Cafe Jonah is perfectly picturesque inside out. The view from the outside of the restaurant is stunning, especially in spring and summer, when pink flowers blooming on trees. Inside, even their salad combinations are full of colors and mixed with healthy grains. While their menu changes daily, you could choose $20 for Sunday brunch buffet. Surely, it's a little pricey, but well worth it since all the ingredients are of good quality, and counter culture coffee is included. They even have psychic, astrologer and the like hosting events upstairs at weekdays.

Atlanta's Best Vietnamese Restaurants

I'm trying to cover some deep Asian restaurants lists in Atlanta, partly because I haven't finished European and South American restaurants.

Speaking of Vietnamese restaurants, people always think about a huge bowl of pho (Pronounced as 'Fuh' by the way) with customized herbs and bean sprouts. But don't forget about delicious meat dishes and cheap fresh bahn mi, Vietnamese sandwich. Plus, most dishes are cheap!

1 Lee's Bakery
Address: 4005 Buford Hwy NE Atlanta GA 30345
Phone: 404-728-1008
I cannot stress enough how I love Lee's Bakery. Atlantans lined up in Saturday for lunch; New York Times ranked it as Top 10 bahn mi places in this nation. Yes, it is THAT good. They have a secret sauce to make those sandwiches extra delicious. Compare to other restaurants, waiters speak good English, and services are also very good. What's worth noting is even they are so popular, they don't raise their bahn mi's prices, $3.25 for one sandwich!

2 Pho Dai Loi
Address: 4186 Buford Hwy NE Atlanta GA 30345
Phone:404-633-2111
Pho Dai Loi is commonly acknowledged as the best pho place. They've developed three restaurants at different locations, and inevitably, raised prices. Anyway, the pho soup is still solid, but you might need to size up to at least medium bowl. Don't forget to order paper wrapped spring rolls. They are the best!

Best Bubble Tea in Atlanta

Having been busy with moving, I couldn't have enough time to finish this post. Now that everything is settled and I live in metro Atlanta again, I need to write more posts about all the delicious restaurants.

 It is amazing that in Atlanta, so many options for bubble teas and snacks. Especially when you are on Buford Highway, or Duluth. Now here are some of the best.

1 Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe
Address: 5150 Buford Hwy Ste A-100 Doraville GA 30340
Phone: 470-545-2585
Website: http://www.sweethutbakery.com/
Cheap authentic Cantonese bakeries, bubble teas, snacks and more. Who can deny that?! Sweet Hut is so popular that it's hard to find a seat in busy nights. Almost every Asian knows this place and goes there. What's more, they close late, 3AM late. Try their grass jelly bubble tea, egg tarts and chicken nuggets. Egg tarts run out quickly. They has a midtown branch newly opened, and is coming to Duluth, nearby Great Wall Supermarket.

2 Quickly
Address: 5090 Buford Hwy Ste 106 Doraville GA 30340
Phone: 404-348-8847
Headquartered in Taiwan, opposite to Sweet Hut Buford Highway location, Quickly is seriously Sweet Hut's biggest competitor. I like their grass jelly bubble tea much better, since they put more stuff as original ones. But they only accept CASH. The Duluth Quickly looks better than Buford highway one.

Some Healthy Japanese I

When we are sick of oily restaurant food, healthy Japanese is Always a good option. Fortunately, Atlanta got a bunch of them. This list is more focused on OTP, I need to do another one later.

1 Sushi House Hayakawa
Address: 5979 Buford Hwy Atlanta GA 30340
Phone: 770-986-0010
Website: http://www.atlantasushibar.com/
Sushi House Hayakawa is a staple on Buford Highway. They keep the restaurant small enough (35 people at the same time), to make sure the chef can complete every job impeccable. You can definitely have an intimate dinner with good vibes. Their sashimi plate (omakase) is out of this world.

2 Tomo Japanese Restaurant
Address: 3630 Peachtree Rd Ste 140 Atlanta GA 30326
Phone: 404-835-2708
Website: http://www.tomorestaurant.com/index.html
While Hayakawa is a solid old-fashioned Japanese food, Tomo is more about modern Japanese. Located in Buckhead, it presents elegant, subtle and sometimes innovative dishes. The dessert Mango Sunny is my all time favorite, which uses healthy ingredients to imitate breakfast.

Let's Grab a Cup of Coffee

Weekends are always good time to hop on coffee shops. So follow me, and jump onto any one of them, you'll get your caffein fixed. Who wants to go to Starbucks if you have those choices.

1 Octane

Address: 1009 Marietta Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
Phone: 404-815-9886
Website: http://octanecoffee.com/
Hands down, best coffee in town. Their barista actually won the national coffee roasting competition.  They also sell King of Pops and other pastries. Parking of the one that is close to Georgia Tech is really tough, more than likely, you need to park somewhere else. There's a new Octane in Buckhead!

2 Condesa Coffee

Address: 480 John Wesley Dobbs Ave, Ste 100, Atlanta, GA 30312
Phone: 404-524-5054
Website: http://condesacoffee.com/
Condesa is also a contender for the best coffee. Great customer services, pastries from Alon's market, and free board games. You can also get cocktails, beers and wines like Octane. It's just too far away from me...

Atlanta's Chinese Restaurant Collection II

Last week, I talked about Chinese restaurants that are famous and popular. So today, I'll focus more on completing the collection with Sichuan and Cantonese food. To make it not so crowded, other specialty food, such as hot pot and grills will be in the next collection.

By the way, I wouldn't list all those American Chinese restaurant, because my taste buds said no :P To be honest, they are just not authentic. Even if you are in a good Chinese restaurants, always ask for CHINESE MENUS. That's where you would get good quality delicious food.

Sichuan, a province of China, is famous for its spicy food and beautiful ladies. If you are confident about your spice tolerate level, try those dished stacked with chilies and hot sauces.

1 Liu Fu 六福
Address: 11625 Medlock Bridge Rd, Duluth, GA 30097
Phone: 678-957-8889
Website: liufuatl.com
Located in Johns Creek, they have nice decorations and delicious dished. It is definitely worth trying if you are around the area. Liu Fu is quite on the top of my favorite Chinese restaurant list.

2 Cafe Q Sichuan Restaurant
Address: 10475 Medlock Bridge Rd, Johns Creek, GA 30097
Phone: 770-813-0063
Another solid Sichuan restaurant in Johns Creek. Again, clean and nice ambience with decent food. They also have generous portion. I personally adore them, especially their pork intestine dish.

3 Sichuan House 老四川
Address: 5900 State Bridge Rd, Johns Creek, GA 30097
Phone: 678-417-7168
Website: http://www.sichuan-house.com/

My Chinese Restaurant Collections I

Being in Atlanta for more than three years, I feel almost justified to put down a part of my Chinese restaurant collection list here.

1 Bo Bo Garden 煲煲好
Address: 5181 Buford Highway, Doraville, GA 30340
Phone: 678-547-1881
Lobsters, and authentic stone bowl rice are must try. Apart from that, they almost always provide good authentic Cantonese food. Every one would have a good time, since their cuisines tend to be sweet, and not hot.

2 Gu's Bistro (Closed for now) 渝蓉和 (CLOSED)
N/A
Spicy Alert!! Solid Si-chuan style food(川菜). They are only open for dinner time, and prepare to wait for 45 minutes if you don't reserve. Gu's Bistro is a paradise for people who love spicy food. Their price is more to the high end. Unfortunately, they are closed at the Buford Highway location, and will reopen in downtown area.

3 Royal China 金冠酒楼
Address: 3295 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd Atlanta, GA 30341
Phone: 770-216-9933
Definitely go there at dinner time. It has nice ambience and solid family dishes. I personally enjoy their novelty dishes and seasonal dishes. Really, skip all the ordinary fish and beef and adventure to some other meat, such as peking duck, chicken feet, you will thank me late. Trying their dim-sum is still on my to-do list.