Hi guys! It has been a while since I've written a post for this blog, part of my new year's resolution is to write more so lets hope I stick to it!

Before I get into the Thai food and Tacos I wanted to write about today let me give you an update of where I've been to recently as this will outline some of the posts to come. Towards the end of 2017 I traveled to Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, I also made a trip to Shanghai (eating toads!) and I made a couple of trips back home to Melbourne so please look forward to these posts, I promise I will try my very best to update this blog more frequently :).

This would be the last US related post I'm going to write about for now, it's been a year an a bit since I came back from the US so I don't want to drag on these US posts any longer.

You may have noticed if you go through my previous posts that I write a lot about Thai Food, I'm always a 'Yes' for Thai food so I'm always in search of good Thai food wherever I go.

I decided to try out Ruen Pair, a Thai restaurant with quite good reviews (according to Yelp), that was also close to our hotel in Los Angeles. By the time we got out of the airport and picked up our car we reached Ruen Pair at around 11PM on Christmas Eve! (The restaurant opens till 3AM).

Ruen Pair

5257 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90027

Tel: (323) 466-0153

Being quite late and on Christmas Eve the restaurant was quite empty.

We ordered the: Tom Yum Goong (Hot Pot), Larb Pork Salad, Thai Boat Noodles, Sauteed Morning Glory and Thai Ice Tea.

Time for the foooooood pics!

Sauteed Morning Glory - This was served fresh from the wok! I always seems to order morning glory every time I go to a Thai restaurant because I love the seasoning and flavour they put into the dish. The morning glory itself was quite crispy however the dish was a little salty for my liking. The dish was served with a sauce that I think (according to my tastebuds) is made from fish sauce, chilli, lemon juice and sugar. The sauce complimented the saltiness of the dish which made the dish overall quite alright!

Larb Pork Salad - This is another favourite dish that I always order, it's a little bit spicy but I would prefer it to be more spicy. Again this dish has a little sour flavour in it which is quite a common flavour in Thai cuisine. The only thing I would say about this is "less onions please" A little less onion would have been better for me because I don't like to have onion breath after!

Thai Boat Noodles - This dish is not very common in Hong Kong or back home in Melbourne hence this is the reason why I picked the dish. I remember enjoying boat noodles a lot in Bangkok! (You can view my post I wrote about boat noodles in Bangkok here: Boat Noodles in Thailand). The verdict is: it's not as good as Bangkok and also quite sweet and has some strong cinnamon flavours, it's not bad but I wouldn't pick it again.

Tom Yum Goong - A Thai meal is incomplete without Tom Yum Goong. I loved the soup, sour spicy and sweet all quite equally however the only thing is I'd prefer if it's a little spicier since I love spicy food.

Thai Ice Tea - The Thai Ice Tea was good but nothing too special, it's smooth but a little creamy though so if you don't like creamy things then stay away.

Condiments for your noodles - Chilli sauce, dried chilli flakes, sugar & vinegar

So my final thoughts on Ruen Pair: it's definitely a great restaurant that serves authentic Thai food in my opinion. Most dishes I tried are great only some can be better if it was a little spicier but that's just my opinion, I'm sure if you ask someone who can't take spicy food to try it they'll give the exact opposite response. I love the fact that Ruen Pair opens till late, if Melbourne has Thai food that opens late it will be like a dream come true :). I haven't tried any other Thai food places in LA but I'd say if you're around the area and feel like Thai food then definitely try it!

The second place I wanted to post today is "Leo's Tacos Truck". We visited Leo's Tacos Truck for dinner on Christmas Day, we completely forgot that most things are closed on Christmas Day because it's the complete opposite in Hong Kong. Plan carefully if you're visiting the US during the holiday season, not everything may be open.

The Leo's Tacos Truck we visited was located at:

Leo's Tacaos Truck

1515 S La Brea Ave Los Angeles, CA 90019

Leo's Tacos Truck was bustling, with long queues. Their menu is simple (picture below).

The menu consists of Tacos, Burritos, Tortas, Quesadillas etc. You can choose from a range of meat such as chopped beef, chicken, pork off the spit etc (pork off the spit is the popular one). You can view the menu on their website here: https://www.leostacostruck.com/menu.html

We tried chopped beef, chicken and pork off the spit with beef and pork being my favourite, we also ordered a drink off the menu, the bebidas drink. I didn't like the bebidas drink, it felt like they put a lot of cinamon in it which I didn't like at all.

The above photo is the pork off the spit (Al pastor) with a few pieces of pineapple. Also a little bit away from the kitchen/cashier towards the right there is a vegetable and sauce station.

The vegetable station includes limes, onions, coriander and some sauces such as salsa and guacamole (I don't have the photos of that).

So what's the verdict? I loved it! I loved the experience and the food. The food was delicious and I would definitely go back! I really loved how the place was bustling with couples and families all just coming out to order their tacos, meats and standing around to eat them. We stood around the area to enjoy the tacos but we also had some in our car because it was a bit cold. :D

That's all for now!~