Charlie and I went to Atlanta, Georgia to celebrate his birthday and we left feeling refreshed and with happy bellies. If you’re ever looking for a quick getaway this city is only an hour plane ride away. Most of my vacations are planned around restaurants/cafes to try and I want to thank all the people who gave me recommendations!
My favorite place on this food adventure was Food Terminal which serves Malaysian influenced cuisine and everything on the menu sounded amazing. We opted for the garlic bone marrow noodle soup, wonton BBQ pork dry noodles, and Hainanese chicken rice. These dishes definitely satisfied my umami cravings. Bonus: cheap prices and big portions!
The owners also own Sweet Hut, which is a cafe that sells bakery goods. I tried the taro bun and matcha roll, both were pretty good. I do prefer the taro bun from 85 Bakery in California though. What is cool about Sweet Hut is that it’s open until midnight so a great place for the local college students to hang out or study.
Ponce City Market was a favorite place of mine (I visited 3 times within 4 days haha), it’s essentially a North Market on steroids but also with retail stores like Anthropologie, Madewell, Sephora, West Elm, and local store brands! The building used to be owned by Sears. Most of the eating is downstairs and the local shops are on the second level. One of the stores was Citizen Supply, a curated marketplace with different vendors, including a plant shop The Victorian Atlanta.
Inside Ponce is an Italian spot Bellina Alimentari that makes handmade pasta featuring squid ink pasta with spicy tomato sauce and octopus! SO yummy! First meal I had on the trip and it was a great start.
I did eat the squid ink pasta from Boccalupo too, which had sausage and shrimp, but sorry no pics of it. I enjoyed this one a bit more because it was spicier and I liked the round style noodle.
On top of Ponce City Market is 9 Mile Station that is an amazing place filled with plants and open windows. You have to take an industrial style elevator up to the rooftop where the restaurant is located and surrounded by fair games and a slide, and if you’re into games you can also visit wildcardcity to play online casino games as well! They even had an outdoor ice skating rink! We enjoyed brunch here and I had the best mimosa meets mojito cocktail.
I stayed in an Airbnb located in Midtown, which is the perfect location for sightseeing since it is a short Uber ride to lots of popular places. We were 1 block away from the Starbucks Reserve, an elevated Starbucks serving more options you can’t find at normal locations.
Another food hall was Krog Street Market which has The Little Tart Bakeshop selling the best croissant I have ever had! I went to go buy another one of these pistachio chocolate croissants to take home, but it was sold out! At least I have the memory and this picture to remember.
We had to try out the highly rated and talked about dumplings from Gu’s Dumplings and they were yummy! The wrapper was soft and spicy chili oil had my lips tingling.
The Korean BBQ in Atlanta did not disappoint thanks to 9292! All you can eat options offering tender cuts. That bottle of soju had me feeling extra happy. It’s also a couple blocks away from Paris Baguette where we enjoyed strawberry matcha cake.
Momo Cafe satisfied more of my matcha cravings, this time in cookie and brownie form!
One of the most simple things I enjoyed during this trip was this cappuccino form Octane Coffee. When I was researching places to try in Atlanta I looked to see where Anthony Bourdain went and this was on the list. It’s amazing how a small delicious cup of coffee can help you feel more connected to the place you are at – and to the world.
Other places we went to: Lenox Mall, Atlantic Station, the Aquarium, Piedmont Park. I had a great time exploring and eating my way through Atlanta. Would definitely go back to revisit some of the spots and try out new ones!
Great article!!!!!