Asian Food Tour in LA (Chinese, Korean, and Thai) & What I Cooked Last Week
A fun staycation idea, spaghetti aglio e olio, Mom’s shrimp fried rice, ginger milk pudding
Hi everyone,
Hope you’re having a fantastic start to 2026 and staying cozy despite the cold weather in most parts of the country. I’ve been feeling good and trying to stay really focused on marketing my cookbook, which comes out in less than two months. I honestly can’t believe it’s almost here, and I’m so excited for you to finally hold it in your hands. My mom was in town this week and helped me shoot a bunch of new recipes, which is always so fun :).
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, Doug and I were supposed to be in Hong Kong and Taipei over New Year’s, but we were both feeling pretty burnt out. We decided to cancel the trip and give ourselves some downtime in LA instead, which ended up being exactly what we needed. It felt so nice to be home and properly recharge.
To make it feel more special (full staycation vibes!) we came up with the idea of doing our own mini Asian food tour. LA is so sprawling and full of amazing restaurants we still haven’t tried, so this felt like a fun way to branch out from our usual spots. Each day focused on a different cuisine: Chinese, Korean, and Thai, with the goal of hitting two to three restaurants per day. Below you’ll find a full rundown of everywhere we went and what we ordered.
First, here’s a recipe for spaghetti aglio e olio that I cooked last week. It may seem simple at first, but the end result is so delicious. Once you have the proper ratios and technique, it really becomes greater than the sum of its parts. You’ll make a quick garlic-infused olive oil, then toss in the spaghetti, parsley, and cheese.
What I Cooked Last Week! ↓
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
This pasta is deceptively simple and so delicious. It’s made with just a few pantry staples (olive oil, garlic, parsley) and comes together in 15 minutes.
You can download the PDF recipe above and watch the video here :)
Mom’s Shrimp Fried Rice
My mom says that the secret to the best fried rice is letting the rice fry undisturbed in some melted butter until it gets crispy and golden brown around the edges. This way, you’ve got all those little pops of texture running through the rice.
Ginger Milk Pudding
This traditional Chinese dessert is made with just three ingredients. When ginger and milk come together, they transform into an immune-boosting creamy pudding.
I also made a few dishes from my cookbook, including a sweet and savory Vietnamese caramel chicken that explodes with flavor. It’s from the Monday chapter, which is all about quick, easy meals. Most of the recipes in that chapter take 30 minutes or less and use short ingredient lists, because I know making dinner on a Monday isn’t usually a top priority. I organized the cookbook by day of the week because I find that the rhythm of the week determines what I’m in the mood to cook and eat. You’ll start the week with quick, healthy meals, then indulge a little as the weekend approaches, and use your days off for a more immersive cooking project.
Three-Day Asian Food Tour in LA
First, we made a list of spots we wanted to try for the day. We’ve been loving an app called Beli that a lot of foodies use to rate restaurants. It’s great for finding new spots, and then I always cross-reference by reading Google reviews. Since we’d be eating a lot for lunch and dinner, we decided to fast in the mornings.
Day One: Chinese
The best Chinese food in LA is in the San Gabriel Valley, which is farther east than where we live. We did our food tour the week between Christmas and New Years, and luckily the traffic wasn’t too bad. We brought Kimchi along, since she can stay in the car with the dog mode (it keeps the air-conditioning on). We decided to try two spots for lunch and order light at each one.
The first stop was Long Xing Ji Juicy Dumpling. You could see them making fresh soup dumplings right there in the restaurant, and honestly, they were the best I’ve had in Los Angeles. We also had a really yummy wonton soup. It was nice to start our food tour with such a win.
We got back into the car and drove to Hong Kong Dim Sum House. There was a bit of a line, so we went to a nearby boba shop and sipped on those as we waited. (It’s our favorite little treat when we’re on vacation or weekend mode!) The food at Hong Kong Dim Sum House was really fantastic. The restaurant is a smaller and more casual setting unlike some of the other dim sum places where you’re in a big banquet hall with carts going around. The highlight was the pork bun, which turned out to be the best I’ve ever had. The dough had an amazing chewiness but was also really moist, and the filling was delicious. We also enjoyed the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, shumai, and shrimp dumplings. I definitely want to go back and try more items on the menu.
In the afternoon, I started to feel like maybe we didn’t need to eat more Chinese food that day, but Doug was good at keeping us on track, saying “This is our mission, today’s Chinese day!” So we geared up again for dinner. We wanted to try Mala Class, a new Szechuan restaurant in Highland Park, because Doug and I love Szechuan food. It’s super spicy and the Szechuan peppercorns give you a numbing sensation in your mouth that not everyone loves, but we do. The food at Mala Class was great. I sound like a broken record, but their dan dan noodles were the best I’ve ever had. Most dan dan noodles at other restaurants fall kind of flat, whereas these had a lot of that tingly mala sensation. Of course we ordered them extra spicy :)
Our Chinese day was a 10/10. We loved every single spot we went to.
Day Two: Korean
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