Sarah Donuts

So I was Yelping about local donuts shops because I just wanted that homemade taste. I love me some Krispie Kreme but was looking into more options that are non greasy and less fattening donuts. I didn't want to drive to Midtown for Sublime Doughnuts or Alpharetta for DaVinci's Donuts. Plus I also wanted donuts that weren't piled on with so many toppings and let the donuts speak for themselves. Sarah Donuts got some great reviews on Yelp and thought I'll give it a try. 

Sarah Donuts is located off Jimmy Carter and I-85 between Brook Hollow Parkway & Norcross Tucker Road.

While walking in, you can see it's a small local business. Since it's Korean own, you will see cute interior decorating.

It's cozy and cute.

This pic came out blurry, sorry! On the left hand side is the coffee, free coffee too in the mornings if you buy a donut!

So I checked around and wanted to buy every donut but it was not possible. I did buy a dozen and got all the "regular" donuts. Fancy donuts were a bit more pricier so I didn't get them. So I bought 12 for $8.50 which isn't bad. It rounds off to 71 cents a donut.

These are the fancy donuts. I will get them next time. I cannot wait to try them.

Okay, wait, the ones on the left are considered fancy too. The ones on the right are the original glaze. She ran out of chocolate glaze, darn.

After taking these pics, I just realized that some of the donuts aren't labeled. Darn. Regardless, I bought each one. However, I got two of the original glaze, blueberry, & red velvet.

I picked up the business card and headed home.

Ready to open up the box of goodies.

Where do I start?

So I decided I wanted to try every one of them.

Verdict - my fave is the red velvet cake, follow closely by the original glaze. 

Tip - I learn this after leaving and not paying attention to my Yelp check-in, you get a free donut!

Sarah Donuts

5860 Jimmy Carter Blvd

Ste 155

Norcross, GA 30071

(770) 409-9020

The Palace

Being a fan of Hindi cinema and growing up with it as a little girl is no surprised to most. In the last decade, I became huge fan of Tamil and Telugu cinema too. Atlanta was already one of the few cities several decades ago that offered Bollywood films playing in selected theaters. The very first movie I watched in theater was Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, which I proudly watched it with*out* English subs. But just loving the entertainment side, it wasn't until later I started loving the cuisine.

The first time I tried Indian food was not a good experience but that changed very soon. In 2000, I received a gift certificate from Wownow to try Indian food at The Palace and was told to try the lunch buffet to see what I liked. It's located off Peachtree Parkway in the former Big Cinemas plaza and is the intersection of Holcomb Bridge.

What a great experience! I've been a fan since then. It's 14 years and I still eat at The Palace. Whenever I have a friend who is curious to try Indian food, I take them here. Every experience has been positive.

I copied the following from a previous review I've done on  Yelp

I'm serious when I say that The Palace is my fave Indian restaurant E-V-E-R. I went again over the weekend with a friend who has never had Indian food. It was a great experience. She kept raving how good the food was. She tried EVERYTHING on the buffet. Of course, she didn't like everything but she knew what she liked so she says she will definitely go back again.

Let me re-emphasize how much I love this place.

- Fresh naan brought by waiter, I dislike the naan on the buffet cause it's not fresh, most are hard
- Water always being refilled, never once have I asked for them to refill, my pet peeve at Asian restaurants
- Fresh masala dosa, this is my fave Desi dish!!! I just tell the lady that I want masala dosa, once she's done, she brings it to me
- Fresh Indo China dishes, so you want Chinese dishes made Indian style? You got it here, fresh.
- Pineapple juice in a pretty fountain, no need to order a drink, you get this drink at the buffet
- Samosas, seriously, I cannot believe so many Indian restaurants don't even have this dish on buffet

I love The Palace.

What other Indian restaurant would have North & South Indian cuisine like this? None other. If you find it, please let me know cause I have yet to find one.

Not only have I gone for the lunch buffet but also have been there for dinner. The experience was still great. I rather spend the money on the variety on the lunch buffet though.

Compared to other Indian restaurants, The Palace is more upscale holding events inside the restaurant. Other Indian restaurants I've been to are styrofoam city and isn't as fancy.

Some of the items at the lunch buffet from tandoori chicken to sang paneer to chicken makhani to biryani.

Depending on the event and day you come, the setup for pani puri (also known as gol gappa, depends which movie you got it from, Hindi or Telugu) and masala dosa could vary.

Pani puri all done, you don't have to crack it and do it yourself, they do it for you. (I never knew this when I ordered pani puri elsewhere.)

When you ask for masala dosa or manchuria noodles, it is made fresh and brought to your table when done.

Masala dosa

Macnhuria noodles

Fresh naan brought to your table. When you're done, you could get refills.

Not many restaurants offer samosas or medu vasdu on the buffet. Only a batch is brought out every time. The employees monitor it very well and always refill with fresh ones.

Other extra goodies from chaat to chana masala. 

There's a pineapple fountain too! Sorry, quality sucks. Most of the time I don't order any drink and just drink water. I mean, come on, get your drink on here.

Or get a Mango Lassi.

Depending on the weekend, you may have the option to get gulab jamun. If you don't know what that is, you have to google it. So yummy and full of awesomeness. You'll usually find the fruit salad (in condensed milk) & kheer (rice pudding) for dessert.

Yummy. Eat until you're full (or can no longer walk).

The Palace

6131 Peachtree Parkway

Norcross, GA 30092

(770) 840-7770

website

VN Tofu

Jimmy Carter Blvd is home to a handful of Vietnamese joints - Hong Kong Supermarket (it's Vietnamese, don't let the name fool you), Nam Phuong, Huy's Sandwich, Bambu, to name a few. In no way does it compare to Pleasant Hill with the fast growing Korean community and joints.

VN Tofu is located off I-85 and Jimmy Carter, next to the Hong Kong Supermarket on the left side. It is one of my favorite place to get Vietnamese street foods! It's not a restaurants but more of a shop that sells the yummy dishes. There are tables and chairs outside if you want to just chill and eat a little. The food is fresh and authentic, judging from what many has said in Yelp also. I've been going to VN Tofu for several years and my experience keeps getting better. Not only that, I keep expanding my food taste buds when I go there, trying more snacks. They have so much variety there.

Since I'm the very few who do not like to eat pho but what I do love is banh mi! I venture out to try more and more places that serves banh mi. My favorite is the banh mi thit nuong (pork bbq).

I usually get veggies on outside because like to take it home to fill it up with veggies since the kids don't like the veggies, they eat it plain with just meat and bread. Vn Tofu does *not* have my favorite banh mi. However, it does give the most meat compared to all others. My family is satisfied with just getting banh mi here for that reason.

There's lots of refridgerated goodies next to the banh mi station. I haven't tried most of them in there. Nor have I tried all the drinks offered.

But I cannot resist getting the freshly squeezed sugar cane juice, so yummy!!

End result.

Station of hot che desserts. Tried them all. Favorites are taro and banana. For the banana, they usually put peanuts on top but we get it without it.

On the right side next to che station, many different types of snacks packed available.

And more...on weekends, there are a lot more variety, especially rice dishes with chicken and/or pork.

I usually just grab the banh trang cuon (summer rolls but spring rolls to others).

It's VN Tofu after all, gotta have your tofu. My favorite is the fried lemongrass tofu.

More goodies to choose from and I didn't take a picture of everything since I don't see the sesame balls, wait it's one more left lol.

 

In the corner there are bags of lotus flour cookies along with other snacks.

Since I didn't take a picture of everything that I could, like the freshly made soybean milk and desserts like banh tet (banana wraps with sticky rice and meats) because when I went they ran out so wasn't able to do so.

I love love love VN Tofu. It's one of my favorite to-go places for yummy snacks.
PS - credit cards accepted and very affordable

VN Tofu
5495 Jimmy Carter Blvd
Norcross, GA 30093
(678) 691-0628