Brewery Bhavana (Restaurant Review)
Raleigh is really stepping their cookies up! I would have never thought that one of our local restaurants would appear in Bon Appetit Magazine's top 10 Restaurants in America.
A couple of weeks one of my dear friends, and fellow MasterChef contestant, Cesar Cano came to visit. Cesar and I bonded while in the competition because we shared similar culinary interests and had a passion for bringing our culture and heritage into our food. I wanted to take Cesar to the best places Raleigh has to offer so we started off with a little day of pampering and paid a visit to Blue Water Spa. The staff there is so welcoming and friendly, I would highly recommend them. They have helped keep my skin looking youthful and not a day over 12, because here I am quickly approaching 30 but am still built like a 12 year old boy. But that is beside the point, check them out. You wont be disappointed.
After we got a little bit more beautiful it was time to hit up my hairstylist. I don't think you guys understand how hard it is to keep my hair on point, literally. While filming we had pretty much a whole team of hairstylists, physicist, and rocket scientists making sure my hair defied the laws of physics. I have been incredibly lucky to find a hairstylist that knows just what I want and has treated my hair with such care. I have trusted Taylor from Troutman Beauty Affaire for probably the past 4 years to keep my hair looking amazing. She is someone I can go to blindfolded and trust that my hair will come out looking great.
Now that we were all beautified, we needed to find some outfits and dress to the nines. We went to Triangle Town Center and did a little bit of shopping. Being the self proclaimed fashionista that I am, I took it upon myself to help Cesar find a nice outfit so that he doesn't like a substitute teacher. I think I did alright with what I was working with.
Brewery Bhavana is so popular you have to make reservations weeks in advanced unless you want to wait hours to get a table. I was able to get us a reservation on a Tuesday night and we came hungry! The restaurant, if you're not familiar with it, is a very interesting concept. They have a wall full of various brews, and double as a book shop and flower shop. The atmosphere was everything I could ask for! Shortly after we were seated we were approached by a few fans who recognized us so we took some cute pictures with them. I still find it a little odd when people ask to take pictures because just a couple of weeks ago I felt like a nobody, still am one but now a nobody with a handful of fans.
The menu had various vegetarian options which I was happy for, sometimes it is difficult to find restaurants that have vegan or vegetarian options that are filling. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been to nice restaurants and the only thing I could eat on the menu was a sad side salad. The restaurant specializes in dim sum so we ordered pretty much one of everything. We ordered some drinks and they were to die for! Our favorite hands down was the spicy jalapeño and cilantro margarita. When the food started to come out we were so ready to dig in! We tried scallion pancakes with bone marrow, vegetable curry puffs, dumplings, crab rangoon, vegetable egg rolls and something else the chef sent out. My mouth is watering as I'm typing this that is how good everything was. I, of course, didn't get to eat the meat dishes but all the veggie options were DELICIOUS. We scarfed them down as if we had not eaten in days!
We ordered some entrees too. We ordered the Nasi Goring Crab Fried Rice, Pork Belly Rice Cakes, vegan Ma-Po Tofu, Sweet Soy chicken, and the Beef with Long Horn Peppers. We all reached over the table and started digging into each other's dishes. There was nothing that could've been done differently in any of the dishes. They were perfectly balanced in salt, sweetness and spice. I want it all in my mouth again! I don't know where we put it all because we still had room for dessert. We all split a banana cake and fried ice cream. The cake was moist and delicate and with a nice banana flavor that was not too overpowering. The ice cream was creamy and crunchy and oh so good! I could probably go on and on about how amazing our experience at Brewery Bhavana was but you guys will just have to try it for yourself to see why I am now obsessed with this place.
On my scale of “No ma’am to Yass gawd” I give Brewery Bhavana a -Yass Gawd- with a handstand dropping into a split.