A Columbus Food Adventure has been on my radar since the start of our Adventure dates, so when our friends Brent and Jenny asked if we wanted to do one with them, our answer was immediately yes! After figuring out food preferences and schedules, we decided the Alt Eats II Tour would be the best fit. It was so much fun you guys! And the food was amazing – I can actually see us going back to each place and I’ve promised my dad some Korean food the next time they visit. 🙂

Our tour started at Jiu Thai Asian Cafe. They serve northern-style Chinese cuisine including their hand crafted biang biang noodles. Along with the noodles, we had dumplings and skewers of lamb and fish tofu. We were concerned when we saw the chili pepper flakes in the noodles, but they were not too spicy when paired with the other food. The dumplings were our favorite, but we did not have anything we wouldn’t try again. The most unique thing was the fish tofu. It was not tofu, it was made from fish but had a soft texture like tofu. Not bad, but interesting and definitely different.

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Our next stop was Tea Zone Bakery & Cafe. It was a 30 second drive across the Microcenter parking lot. We were there to sample the Bingsoo, a yummy shaved ice/ice cream/fruit/tapioca dessert, but they had oolong tea and baked goods to take home, so we had to do a little extra shopping. The rice flour donut with red bean paste in the center is especially good, and the kids liked the mocha cake we got for them. We really enjoyed the Binsoo – definitely something you want to split with at least one other person, though. A really nice summer treat.

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The third stop on our tour was actually a little grocery called Mediterranean Food Imports #2 with a small kitchen in the back. We were told they made the best falafel in Columbus. After trying it, that may just be the case. We had some time to check out the store while they were making the falafel, and we spotted these Smurf marshmallows from Haribo – haven’t seen Smurf merchandise for quite a while.

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The next stop was Poong Mei Asian Bistro for some Korean food. We were pretty thirsty by this point, so we got some adult beverages to enjoy as we waited for our food. Plum wine and Asahi definitely take us back to our time in Japan and make us smile! The Korean dishes we tried were so good! We had bibimbap, a green onion omelette, and mountain yam noodles. We also had some little dishes of “snack” foods like kimchi, steamed egg, pickled radish, etc. We will definitely be taking my parents here the next time they visit and we highly recommend it if you want Korean food.

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Our final stop on the tour was Hong Kong House. This restaurant specializes in foods from Sichuan province which had me a little worried. I don’t necessarily enjoy super fiery foods. I didn’t need to worry, though, because the dishes we had did not start out super spicy and I could stop eating (or had to stop eating because I was full!!) before they built too much heat. We had a noodle dish, a fish dish, some great green beans, and really delicious crunchy chicken. I was enjoying the food, company, and conversation so much I forgot to take photos until I was almost done eating. Sorry about that! We were told that summer is their slow season – once Ohio State is back in session it is quite busy with all the students from China. So, if you want to check it out, be quick! 😉

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We were loaded back into the van one more time to be taken back to our cars a Jiu Thai Asian Cafe. We really enjoyed the tour and it was fun to have an adventure with another couple. Have you been to any of these restaurants? What is your favorite Asian dish? Let us know in the comments!