Pho Thikh

I think we have found a new favorite hideaway restaurant in Spokane.  It is Pho Thinh, located  in the Spokane Valley,at 12012 E. Sprague.

This little place serves great Vietnamese food and we loved everything about it.  It has been here for two years under this name, before that the place was called Saigon.  (Saigon is where we thought we were going when we set out to try a new restaurant today... and to our pleasant surprise Pho Tinh was here instead.)

What did I like so much about it?  Well, first of all it is just plain pretty inside.  Not only that, the service was quick, the food was fresh and best of all, it was delicious!  Of course, I love pho to begin with, but we just simply enjoyed everything from our Spring Roll appetizers to our fried banana dessert!

At first, as usual, Geo and I couldn't quite decide what to order... however, we knew we wanted Pho... but he wanted the Beef Noodles and I opted for Chicken.  We would have probably gotten both, but chicken won- only when he saw it was served with a drumstick and shrimp.

I let him picked the next dish though and he picked one recommended on the menu, a curry.

The first thing served was our Thai tea  (really good!)
and our appetizers....

Spring Rolls with peanut sauce...  These were very good.

When the food was served to us, Geo was given the Pho

and I the curry...

and we ate accordingly, sharing, of course, along the way.

We might have fought over the curry a bit, if the chicken pho was not so good!  It was fun to share, actually and so we both got the best of both worlds.

For dessert, we tried the fried banana, something I know I have tried before somewhere, but I do not remember it quite like this.  I think it was in pieces.

When I think of bananas and ice cream, I think of "banana splits"... where the banana is not fried and it is served with ice cream and sauces.  I like that, but if you are going to eat the calories, really.. it should be THIS good!  This was banana, wrapped in a thin covering of some kind that was then deep fried served with ice cream and some kind of delicious fruity nutty sauce.  I am not exactly sure what it is... but it is delicious.  YUM!

And to top it all off, Geo really liked the ice cream dish!

The fish tank was pretty cool too!

Madeleine's Cafe & Patisserie

Today, it was especially fun .  I went with two friends who, along with me, set out on an urban excursion.  We actually walked from a downtown apartment through the streets of Spokane, marveling at the architectural creations, statues, bus stops and pretty gardens planted in from of big high rise business buildings along our way.  We felt the wind in our faces, the sunshine on our hair and heard the pitter-patter of our bustling feet, as we made our way to our destination, 707 W. Main Ave...  Madeliene's Cafe. 

The first time I ate at this busy little downtown "patisserie," was this summer.  I ate the Ruben, which was a great sandwich if I may say so.  In fact, it was so great that  I think I now have a new sandwich addiction!  I have had it several times now in different places around town and I can only say, I love the Ruben!

I didn't order a Ruben today, I was in for trying something else on their menu.



It's not just the food that I like here at Madeline's, it's the lovely decor.  I also like the experience of sitting outside in the pleasant summer weather, watching the busy world go by.







I like the sound of brakes on buses, looking through the crowds to see if I know anyone passing by, and I usually do!  I enjoy watching the little little birds that sit on the fence hoping for a morsel to eat. There is just something I like about being downtown in the middle of the city environment, relaxing as the rest of the busy, moving, world goes by, doing all the things there is to do.  It's a moment to stop and reflect on life, to feel the movement of  life in the city all around you, and eat some good food..

This is one of those restaurant management methodologies that  I don't like too well.  It's a method whereby the customer stands in line for a while, ogling at the menu on the wall and the items in the cooler case, trying to decide what they like before their turn comes up and the time is over.  Finally, you step up to the register and place your order.

You pay, and take a number to your table and then the server comes and finds you when your order is ready.  Meanwhile, you self-serve your own water and utensils, even find your own place to sit.

It's not my favorite way to dine in a restaurant by far.  In fat, I wonder if the servers like it.  Do they make more or less tips working this way?  Do they really serve more people?  I do not know, but I wonder if it is something cultural; something I missed learning to accept?  It seems to be an increasingly popular way of doing business serving food.  I think it to be worse when there is a crowd, but since "variety is the spice of life!" and dining is often more than about food, it's about experience, sometimes, it's an acceptable way to dine out..  Today it was not too long a wait in the line.. there were tables available and my friends helped pick the food.

Even when busy, Madeline's is a terrific place to enjoy French food, particularly sweets.  They have  éclairs, crepes, tartlets, brioche and napoleons, as well as cookies, some of which are quite large and.croissants.  There are some seriously nice food options as well.  They serve salads, paninis and French dishes like coq au vin, beouf en daube, honey rosemary butter salmon, quiche and vol-au-vents.  Here are some of the colorful things they offer in their cold case.

  We were smitten by the welcome sign, inviting us to try the Sliders...

There were three of us, and three of sliders on a plate, so the special worked quite nicely for us.
We could also choose three salads with that... so we did.  In fact, the The Caprese Salad looked so good we ordered two of those and the Antipasta Salad too.


Then we ordered some desserts!

 The server brought out our desserts first... saying that the reason he did it was because the food might take a while... 

Farthest in this photo, is our Lemon Meringue Pie, to the right of that the Napoleon, and the chocolate treasure in the forefront is the Cigle...  my personal favorite by far.  It is a thin, crunchy, curled-a round cookie filled with chocolate mousse. We tasted them all!  And just so you know, we didn't eat our desserts first... we waited until we finished eating our food. 

It did take a while for our food to come, and it was also quite a wait for the people at the table next to us, which we a bit of an opportunity to make friends... waiting.  ( This is obviously not a place to go if you are in a hurry.)  It's a place a lot of people like to go, I understand that sometimes the line, waiting to come in.  Sometimes it even circles out along the street.. 

I am glad a little bird told me about this place. 

Savanny Food Express

I read on Urbanspoon that this restaurant is closed.

Savanny ...11808 E. Sprague Ave,  is a little tucked away place.  It has only been open since the beginning of this year.  It is run by a husband and wife team.. Savan and Ny... so the place is appropriately named, "Savanny!"





We were driving by, noticed their sign that said Thai Buffet, and since we have never seen a Thai food buffet before, and because we love Thai food, we just had to stop and have dinner there.  It  also just happened to be a Saturday, which is one of the buffet nights, so we were in the right place at the right time.

The place was busy since there was a party going on in part of the restaurant.  It was spacious and pretty, with real live flowers on the tables, and nice buffet selections.

There were yummy things like  Mussaman Curry, Phad Thai, Tom Ka Gai, Orange Chicken, Spring rolls, and bamboo skewered barbecued chicken and pork.. and a few other things too.

The "All you can eat" buffet was 9.95, but there was a lovely menu too.  The Soup, Thom Ka Gai, was not really spicy, so I asked if there was a way to make it spicier.  We were brought some spices and shown how to use them to make our soup the way we liked it best. 

The "All you can eat" buffet was 9.95, but there was a lovely menu too.  We enjoyed our dinner very much.  This is one place we would like to visit again, especially for the buffet!  It was great!