Zhabuki

For this #FridayEats, we went out on the limb… not only did we try a new restaurant, we tried out a new cultural experience. Have you either driven by a place and often thought, “I need to try that place out?” or “Man, that place looks happening, must be good.” This is one of those places. Except in this case, Tracy always also thinks, “This would be a great place to be driving by when playing the ABC game on the road.” Zhabuki is one of, not two, but THREE Z named restaurants in a row. No kidding! Everyone could win the ABC game at the same time, and everyone can be a winner on 75, around park-er-ish (because Dallasites gets confused easily because WHO PUT PARK RIGHT NEXT TO PARKER!?!).

Now when it comes to the thought of “Man, that place looks happening, must be good.” You can’t miss it when you are driving home, and it’s late night… Most places are closing down, and this place is just getting started for the night. Their parking lot is full from the 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. time range, no joke. Just imagine, the anticipation we have to finally try out this hopping place for ourselves. Then we pull into their parking lot around 6:00 p.m. and it looks quite empty… We are now thinking… is this place open??? I quickly pull up Google to confirm, yes, it is open.

As we get out, we are even doubting Google as we look around. There are some workers washing the entryway. Tracy asks them, “Are y’all open?” They confirm that they are. Now seriously comes the dilemma of getting inside. I mean the whole the entryway is filled with soapy water (again at prime dinner time, right?). We managed to tip toe inside to a huge restaurant. It looks massive (with maybe two families eating, I’m being optimistic), but we decided that we definitely had to sit outside on this nice sunny day. They have a great, colorful patio so we made our way outside.

Zhabuki is an Asian Fusion kind of restaurant; don’t ask me what that means. I googled it.
That’s enough to know that I’m out of comfort zone in my level of pickiness. Thankfully, there was lots of pictures! Just looking at the menu and restaurant alone, you could tell this was authentic to the max. Unsure of what to expect and quite frankly a little scared (of
the “spicy”), I ordered the Spicy Heaven Beef Fried Rice with fake confidence; it was one the waiter recommended so I went for it. I don’t regret it! Wasn’t even a bit spicy, and it was a LARGE portion. They weren’t kidding around. Tracy ordered shrimp dumplings for an appetizers. It was interesting for me. Code for I didn’t hate it but didn’t want to keep eating it. It truly wasn’t bad, but I’m weird about the texture of my food. I wasn’t feeling the texture of this spongy like dumpling, though the taste was good once I get past the spongy outside. Tracy absolutely loved them, of course. For her meal, she got the Spicy Basil Minced Chicken. She loved her meal. Check out the pictures of what our meals were on the menu compared to actual presentation. They did pretty good! Don’t let anything “spicy” scare you away. I’m considered a wimp in the spice world. So be brave!

Zhabuki has a full bar, and we discovered while dining that they have a happy hour that starts at 7:00 p.m. This might explain why they are so happening so late! They had some cocktails and wine/beers on the menu for happy hour so it seemed like a good deal. The patio was awesome. Except this happened to be a hot day! I don’t regret sitting and sweating out there as we got to watch the sun set. Keep in mind they we are sitting basically next to a highway so don’t get too dreamy when I say sunset. Imagine some 18 wheelers passing by in front of your sunset imagination. But God’s creation is beautiful even in the city. Quite frankly, it’s beautiful anywhere.