@movernie
During my 1st Press Trip in Houston, Texas back in February 2022, Houston First Tourism Board brought the media to Kau Ba which is an award winning restaurant serving Vietnamese-Cajun fusion dishes from celebrity Chef Nikki Tran in a casual-chic space. And I immediately felt in luv with this resto. I luv the food, drinks and the overall atmosphere.
This time around, for my 2nd Press Trip, I requested Houston First once more that I would like to dine there again and this time, I would like to bring along my 2 team members, Steven and MoKenny.
If you wonder why I luv this restaurant so much? It serves amazing food dishes here. The cocktails were amazing. The appetizer, entree and every dish were top notch.
I also like the decor and the posters and pictures on the walls of this restaurant made it authentic Vietnam.
The BEST part of our dining experience? Owner/Chef Nikki was presence to greet us and unexpectedly, she sat with us for almost the entire time. We chatted about travel and food and she recommended a number of her favourite dishes at her restaurant. She also told us why she implemented several new dishes and what it meant to her. She grew up eating these comfort food and she wanted to introduce these dishes to her patrons.
It felt like a family dinner with Chef Nikki and Chef is very easy going, down-to-earth and kind. We really appreciate Chef Nikki for taking the time to join us and meet with us.
Thank you for the wonderful meal and what an amazing hospitality at Kau Ba. We highly recommend you to come and enjoy the food and drinks here.
Let us show you all the drinks and food that we ate here at Kau Ba.
This dish in the picture below was one of the dishes that Chef Nikki implemented into the food menu. Chef said it’s comfort food that chef grew up eating and wanted to introduce to the Houston communities.
Simple strands of pork meat with green onions and the STAR of this dish was the rice. The heat on the pan made the rice crispy and crunchy. It’s so good!
The cocktails are amazing here. I just can’t get enough of all these special creations by Chef Nikki.
Pho-Loma – Arette Reposado Tequila ∙ Habanero Tincture ∙ Peychaud’s Bitters ∙ Pho Syrup
In this cocktail, there were vermicelli type of noodles at the bottom of the bowl. This cocktail was not served in a typical cocktail glass but instead, in a very traditional Asian bowl. It’s very visual, tasty with creativity and the execution weas top notch! Impressive!
Pho is a main stable food in the Vietnamese cuisine but most of the time, it’s the typical beef pho. What’s interesting here at Kau Ba is the unique variety of pho being served here. For example, I ordered the seafood pho which is a rarity back home in Toronto, Canada. Most of the seafood in Toronto are frozen but since Houston is located so close to the ocean shore, they do get fresh seafood.
This bowl of seafood pho was filled with lots of variety of seafood (just look at the photo below). There were pho noodles underneath the broth. But look at the mussels, shrimps, huge clams, scallops and so much more!
The broth was super flavourful. Trust me, I gobbled up all the broth with nothing left in the bowl, that’s how good it was.
Additionally, have you ever heard of Wagyu Short Rib & Truffle Pho? It’s available here and Steven ordered it. The Waygu & truffle made the broth super rich!
Last time I was here, I ordered Texas-Style Smoked Brisket Pho, coz no other places in the world offers Texas-Style smoked meat. I really luv the creativity by Chef Nikki.
Kaubaccio – thinly sliced Wagyu, red onions, lemon juice, honey, peanut, basil, mint, nuoc mam sauce
Group photo with Chef Nikki.
Our dining experience during this press trip was provided by Kâu Ba and Houston First. However, as always, the opinions expressed in this post is entirely my own.
Kâu Ba – Houston, Texas, USA
Website
Address: 2502 Dunlavy St Suite B, Houston, TX 77006, United States
Phone: +1 713-497-5300
Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gDc7qcTn3M532gNNA
