Turning 30 wasn’t as horrifying as I dread it to be. In fact, it was a good day! My boyfriend drove up from San Diego to pick me up to go to Las Vegas. Why? I had two objectives: I’ve always wanted to try Gordon Ramsey’s beef Wellington since I became a foodie; second, while we were out there I might as well attempt to climb this rock for months. It was called the wave left, a v4.
We arrived at about 3-4pm in the afternoon. It was blazing hot. Any type of movement, let alone climbing a rock, left me breathless. I was tired and almost felt defeated by the heat already. But thank god, my boyfriend kept pushing me to stop sitting and keep trying. After familiarizing my body with the moves again, I did it! Yay 🙂 My boyfriend also surprised himself and did the pearl, a classic v5 so it was an extra good day!
Okay, let’s go eat because I’m hungry. After checking in and showering and what not, we walked over to the Cosmopolitan to eat at Momofuku. I called first to ask if there were no wait and there wasn’t! We quickly got seated at the bar.
Penicillin. Scotch, ginger, honey, smoke. My boyfriend got this drink. Besides the pretty wrinkle fruit slice, the drink did not please my tastebuds at all. Way too strong for me.
Peruvian Sour. Piaco, yerbe mate, lavender, citrus. This drink was pleasing to my eyes and tongue. The touch of lavender gave off the nice sweet scent every time I put my lips to this drink. It tasted pleasingly sweet and lightly sour. I also always enjoy drinks with a layer of foam at the top for that duo texture.
Shishito peppers. Smoked salt, lime. Okay, this was surprisingly so good. I’m just okay with shishito peppers but I loved this. The way it was cooked made it so soft. The skin was thin, which I liked even more! That smoked salt sprinkled on top just hit the spot. It made a good finger food to pick at throughout the meal.
Hawaiian Kampachi. Lemon dash, snow peas, chives. We ordered this to see if we would like it as much as Otium’s kampachi. Nope, it doesn’t even compare! It was good, but did not wow me. The texture of the kampachi was very tender and firm. The sauce was very, very light.
Pork belly buns. Hoisin, cucumber, scallion. These were SOOO good!! I’ve had them in Toronto and these never fail to amaze me. The pork was extremely juicy and tender and thick. There is so much savory juice that drips out while I bite. Plenty of olive oil. Light touch gives it a light sweetness.
Ginger scallion noodles. Pickled shiitake, wakame. This was a dry noodle dish. It was covered with scallion and seaweed. The mushrooms had a light sour taste to it. The noodles were perfect. This dish hit the spot and took me back to my childhood and reminded me of mi goreng noodles. This was the adult version. Delicious.
For dessert, I hopped on over next door to Milk Bar and treated myself to the classic cereal milk with cereal crumbs for dessert. It was soooooo good! The ice cream is so milky and smooth. The crumbs are thick, crunchy and sweet.
—- The Next Morning —-
My friends, my sister and her boyfriend, my boyfriend and I had made reservations for 8 at HEXX kitchen + bar for brunch. We chose this place for two reasons: bottomless mimosas and the fruit plate. The second reason sounds silly right? Just keep reading to find out why it’s not so silly..
To start off, half of us didn’t want bottomless mimosas so we ordered “potions” instead. Both potions are very strong in alcohol content but didn’t taste like it at all! The waitress gave us boba straws to drink it like a punch bowl but we asked for small cups instead! They were served in pitchers anyways.
Magick Dragon, bacardi dragon berry, skyy kinky pink, passion fruit purée, blood orange purée. This one was very sweet and fruity!
Purple Haze, absolut açaí, stoli razberi kinky blue, blueberry schnapps, berry purée. Also sweet and fruity.
Jumbo lump crab cakes, spicy chili aioli, herb salad, lime vinaigrette. These crab cakes were very good. There was a lot of crab that made up the dense crab cake. The aioli sauce was creamy and spicy.
Chilaquiles, chicken, roasted salsa, tortilla chips, two eggs, avocado mole, sour cream, asadero. I have had better chilaquiles. The chips were just so soggy. I can appreciate a good chilaquiles when the chips are still crunchy.
Fresh fruit plate, fresh seasonal fruit, banana nut muffins, coconut whipped cream. This plate surprised everyone. It was just fruit, which was refreshing on a hot Vegas day. But what made this dish amazing was the coconut whipped cream. It was so light, so fluffy, so coconuty!
HEXX Benedict, poached eggs, scalloped potatoes, Canadian bacon, asparagus, Hollandaise. This was really good!!! The scalloped potatoes were well seasoned and savory. It made a perfect bed for the poached eggs and the hollandaise sauce. The eggs were done perfectly, oozed plenty!
Margherita pizza, fresh mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, olive oil, basil. This was yummy! Boyfriend wanted it!
Chicken & waffles, apple-cheddar waffle, house made sweet and spicy pickles, bourbon maple syrup. Chicken skin was very crispy and fatty; tore off the meat very well.
Protein omelet, egg whites, chicken, spinach avocado mole, home fries, English muffin. One of my friends ordered this for himself because he didn’t eat meat.
Carrot cake pancakes, spiced butter, carrots, walnuts, cream cheese frosting, maple syrup. This was very interesting and surprisingly good. Smelled and tasted mildly of carrot. The cream cheese frosting reminded me of carrot cake with the frosting. Dessert done breakfast style!
Brioche French toast, powdered sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup. The brioche made it more rich. I love brioche bread! I actually used this to wipe the rest of the hollandaise sauce clean off my plate.
Thank you friends and sister and boyfriend for celebrating my birthday with me! They gave us a chocolate mousse ice cream as a free birthday dessert!
Happy birthday to me 🙂
During the walk around, we found Sprinkles so that I could redeem my free birthday cupcake. I got the chocolate peanut butter. It was richly and creamy and sweet. The cake part was dense and had chocolate chips in it.
For dinner, I made reservations months in advance for Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. For so long since I became a foodie in college, I wanted to try his beef Wellington. He had a rooftop restaurant somewhere in LA that served it, but it closed down. Now, when I finally turn 30, I finally get to try his beef Wellington. I cannot wait!!!!
Turning 30 means I wanna grow up a bit. Personally for me, that means forcing myself to step out of my comfort zone a little bit in terms of fashion. I wanted to be more comfortable with my sexually and my physique: be proud of my body and of myself for working out for it.
I chose this romper because 1) I like the style and 2) I’ve always wanted to wear certain cute tops or dresses I think is cute but too shy to wear anything without a bra. Now I feel like I am brave enough to do it. Sounds silly but it’s a big step for me! 🙂
The restaurant is modeled to look exactly like the TV show. I will owe it to myself to watch an episode after eating here. But for now, beef Wellington is my goal.
Meet your Maker, maker’s mark bourbon, domains de canton, mint, apple, strawberry, cinnamon. One of my friends chose this drink. A classic bourbon drink done up Ramsay style. It was fruity and sweet.
Notes from Gordon, Plymouth dry gin, green tea, lemongrass, peach, lemon, message from Gordon. I chose this drink mainly for the message and for the green tea. It smells like green tea, has a hint of green tea. The message was interesting! Interestingly, there are a few variety of messages but our waiter told us this was the coolest one!
Wagyu meatballs, slow roasted tomato sauce, polenta croutons, Parmesan cheese, basil. These wagyu meatballs were very meaty and savory and good. The tomato sauce hit home and was very tomato-y in a pulpy way.
Lobster risotto, butter poached lobster tail, truffle risotto, crispy onions. This was everyone’s favorite dish of the night! It was surprisingly so good. The lobster was extremely soft and tender, lightly chewy. The dish smelled of truffle and was saucy. The risotto was soft and chewy. The onions gave a contrast in texture with a light hint of salty.
Pan seared scallops, English pea purée, pickled fennel, sherry braised bacon lardons. This was one of the famous dishes from the show. It was part of the prix fix menu. The scallops were soft and tender. The purée was very light. I enjoyed the slight saltiness from the bacon.
Golden beet salad, Greek yogurt, kumquats, pistachio granola, white balsamic vinaigrette. The beet were in huge thick chunks. Reminded me of sashimi bits.
Crispy skin salmon, beluga lentils, shaved fennel salad, citrus herb beurre blanc. THIS WAS SO GOOD! The skin was its own crispy sheet of savory crunch like a chip. The salmon itself was very tender and flaky and soft. It just smoothly fell apart. The sauce was unbelievable.
Braised short rib, Yukon potato pancakes, bloomsdale spinach, crispy fried onion rings, beef jus. This was a bit dry. I say, leave it to the Asians to know how to cook delicious short rib.
Roasted rack of lamb, chickpea panisse, olive pepper relish, romasco sauce, lamb jus. Cooked very rare, very tender, very soft.
Baked macaroni and cheese, smoked Gouda, crispy prosciutto. Very cheesy!
Wild mushrooms, shallot white wine glaze.
Beef Wellington, potato purée, glazed root vegetables, red wine Demi-glacé. And finally, the famous beef Wellington: his iconic dish did not disappoint. The steak was extremely tender, cooked perfectly medium rare. The coated pate and wrapped prosciutto was very soft, chewy and added an even more savory element to the fillet steak. Not only that, but the puffy pastry was baked perfectly golden brown with the light butter glaze. It was so good. So so so good. I’m so happy to finally be able to try it.
Sticky toffee pudding, speculoos ice cream. This dessert, like everything else, was so big, so decadent, so dense. We were so full but tried to stuff ourselves because it was so good.
Pineapple carpaccio, citrus foam, coconut sorbet, passion fruit, corlander. The pineapple was a bit too sour for me but the coconut sorbet was very light and creamy and hit the spot. It was a refreshing break from all the heavy food.
I don’t know what else to say but thank you to all my family and friends for celebrating my birthday with me. Turning 30 wasn’t depressing at all like how I dreaded it to be. The goals and distracting reservations I made were good distractions. I didn’t think too much on that day. I just lived in the moment!
I finally got to finish the wave left that I’ve been obsessing about for months!
I reunited some of my friends back to Vegas years later for my birthday again.
My sister came out to hang out with my friends!
I finally got to try Gordon Ramsay’s beef Wellington. I’ve been wanting to try it since… 9 years ago? It’s been a long time coming!
I got to spend time with my dad and mom.
At my daddy’s, we had homemade spring rolls. Everything was made and grown homemade! Even the fried small sticks were home fried!! It was really good and light and refreshing. We had a lot of fun comparing our homemade spring rolls with each other!
