My Little Piece of Paradise

Ming Kee Cha siew／叉烧／Barbecued honey-glazed pork

2011-06-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

One my besties, A and I have an annual tradition, we always catch up over Ming Kee char siew rice in Jalan Alor. Every year we will have this sinful and calorie-laden meal and it would be the highlight of the day for me. We always ask for half-lean cha siew (barbecued honey-glazed pork) and slowly savour the sweetness, and let the fat melts in our mouths. We would pause our conversation and let the food transport us to a completely indulgent world. Sometimes we would let out a few moans......really, it is that good.

Baohaus

2010-07-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

Baohaus is one of my latest neighborhood favorite. This little place with limited seating is the brainchild of Eddie Huang. Baohaus is Taiwanese-inspired, and has no relation with the German art moment (Bauhaus). No matter how fobby this place tries to be, it's still way too hipster cool probably due to its location.

The menu is very limited in this place. They only serve a variety of baos (buns), sweet bao fries (deep fried mantou), and F.O.B. drinks. I ordered the Chairman Bao (braised Berkshire Pork Belly bao with crushed peanut, cilantro, Haus relish, and Taiwanese red sugar), Haus Bao (signature all natural hanger steak bao with crushed peanut, cilantro, Haus Relish, and Taiwanese red sugar) and Uncle Jesse Bao (pan fried organic tofu coated in sweet potato starch topped with our Haus sauce, cilantro, crushed peanut and Taiwanese red sugar). I later added the Birdhaus Bao (chicken brined-overnight-and-fried-to-order bao, served with spicy seasoning salt, cilantro, and crushed peanuts). I ranked them:
1. Birdhaus Bao (Juicy, piping hot, addictive)
2. Chairman Bao (flavorful, melts in your mouth, and come on, it's pork)
3. Uncle Jesse Bao (surprisingly tasty for tofu, great seasoning)
4. Haus Bao (very similar to the Chairman Bao, not a big fan of beef so I ranked it last although this bao is Eddie Huang's claim to fame)

I got the sweet bao fries in pandan sauce. I wanted to stay true to my Asian root and picked durian at first but they ran out. The sauce is basically flavored condensed milk sauce drizzled over deep fried muntou cut up in strips. So simple, yet so good.

My F.O.B. drink of choice is cold chrysanthemum tea. I find it funny that it says "Authentic Asian Drink" on the carton. But I guess anything that reminds of Chinese New Year in Asia ought to be able to claim that title right?

If you are really hungry, you can order the combo meal, named the straight frush. It's $13 for any three baos with a free drink. Now just make sure you say it in your fobbiest accent when you order the straight frush.

Baohaus
137 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

Warung Made 2, Seminyak

2010-06-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Warung Made was my first meal in Bali. The ambience of the restaurant was nice and rather festive with all the Christmas tree ornaments hung onto the non-Christmas trees.

Most of us ordered the nasi campur (directly translated into "mixed rice"), it is an Indonesian rice dish with various small side dishes (meats, vegetables etc.) cramped onto one plate. Some of the small dishes were really spicy. Truth be told, the restaurant was quite dark so I didn't really know what I was eating. For me, this is an inferior version of the Malaysia nasi lemak.

There were also children performing traditional Balinese dances, I guess that's a definite giveaway that this place is a tourist trap. Even though it was borderline cheesy, I still enjoyed the dance performances. The girls were especially great and I still couldn't fathom how bendy they fingers are. The dance moves were very subtle but seemed meaningful. The fingers, down to the pinkies were so expressive. Unfornately food wise, the one and only meal we had in Seminyak didn't leave much of an impression. >_<

Warung Made 2
Jalan Raya Seminyak, Bali.
Tel: 31 673 2130

Kecak Bali Restaurant, Nusa Dua

2010-06-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

Initially, we wanted to go to Bumbu Bali but we couldn't get a reservation. Our driver recommended Kecak Bali as an alternative and said that the food is comparable. With no other options in sight, we gave it a shot.

We ordered the Balinese Rijsttafel (dinner sets), big skewers set and the steamboat set. In hindsight, we must have been a bit crazy to order the steamboat (hotpot) because it was sooo hot and humid in Bali, and the ceiling fan was hardly working inside the restaurant. Most of the dishes were delicious, especially the traditional Balinese dishes such as sate lilit (seafood satay), ayam betutu (chicken in banana leaf), ikan bakar (grilled fish), even the prawn crackers were highly addictive especially dipped in sambal. I started off with a voracious appetite, but as we progressed, we were all getting more and more uncomfortably warm. Towards the end, we even requested the desserts to go. We ended up back in the villa pool, we cracked open a bottle of wine and enjoyed the desserts in the pool (Yes, in the pool, not by the pool).

The fun thing about having a big group is that dinner time becomes a fun affair. By ordering the Rijsttafel, we got to sample all the various Balinese delicacies. I'd love to try out Bumbu Bali next time though and see how it compares.

Kecak Bali
Jln. Pratama Tanjung Benoa
Nusa Dua, Bali
Phone: 62 361 775533

Bebek Bengil Diner

2010-06-18T12:36:00.001-07:00

Bebek Bengil, similar to Ibu Oka, is a much-mentioned name in the culinary scene in Ubud. Bebek Bengil means dirty duck, and it got its name when one day while the owners were trying to come up with a name for the new restaurant, saw a bunch of ducks walking across the property, leaving behind their muddy duck-prints, making them the first guests of the restaurant. Unfortunately for the ducks, they probably ended up on the dinner plates because the specialty of Bebek Bengil is the crispy duck. :)

We called a day ahead of our lunch reservation to pre-order the "duck special". The duck special was basically roasted duck drenched in a special sauce, it also came with a vegetable side, satay skewers & prawn crackers. I wasn't quite impressed with the duck special, as the duck was on the scrawny side and the meat wasn't particularly tender or juicy. So we decided to order a crispy duck (signature dish) as well to try it out. I liked the crispy duck a lot more, they basically tossed the poor sucker into the deep fryer, and the whole duck was crispy (even the bones) and surprisingly flavorful.

Bebek Bengil Diner is not all about the food, in fact, I think the ambience is more of a winning point than the food itself. If you get a good "hut", you will be enjoying the view of the green paddy field while dining.

After the heavy lunch, I walked by the paddy field to take some photos. It truly was relaxing, I wish I could stay there the entire afternoon provided they add a fan to each hut, and they hire someone to keep swatting away the flies. =)

Bebek Bengil Diner
Tel: 62-361-975489
Padang Tegal - Ubud

Naughty Nuri's Warung

2010-06-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

I had the best meal in Bali at Naughty Nuri's Warung (warung means a small shop or stall). My friend G posed the question "if I can only eat one meal in Bali, where should I eat?" to his friend living in Bali, and he was recommended Naughty Nuri's Warung.

Naughty Nuri's Warung is popular with the expat crowd, and claimed to have the best cocktails in town. It is a small, unpretentious and bare-bone store which was opened by an American (guy) Indonesian (lady) couple. As I sat down, I spotted a couple of Americans (or could be Canadians) next to me, and they seemed to know what they were doing. I asked them for recommendations, and they said (in their exact words) - "definitely the ribs". As it turns out, the pork ribs are indeed the most sought-after item on the menu. We ordered three plates of pork ribs, some mie goreng (stir-fried noodle) and nasi goreng (fried rice).

Enjoying the pork ribs requires three easy steps:
1. Dig your finger into the meat and lightly tear/bite the meat off the bones. The pork ribs were really tender, there isn't much tearing to do (in case if you are looking for some hard-core animalistic act).
2. When you are done with the meat, lick all fingers now covered with the delicious sweet sauce.
3. Repeat step 1 and 2 for as many times as you can.

Incidently, I had the best mie goreng there as well. The menu is mixture of everything, from American bbq style to sushi to Balinese dishes. The vibe is relaxing and welcoming.

I now second the notion, if you only have time for one meal in Bali, then head to Naughty Nuri's Warung.

Naught Nuri's
(Across the road from Neka Museum)
Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Ubud, Bali
Telephone: +62 361 977 547
Open daily from 8am - 10pm

Babi Guling @ Ibu Oka

2010-06-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

If you think pigs are really cute & eating pork is sacrilegious, then my following post will greatly offend you. But if you are a fan of pork and think char-siew (honey glazed roast pork) is the perfect pairing for anything and everything, then you'll need to go to Ubud to sample some suckling pig from Ibu Oka in Bali (that is if you haven't already). Almost everyone who has been to Ubud will eat at this place. It's so popular that they sell out by early afternoon.

On our first day in Ubud, we went to Ibu Oka and ordered the famous babi guling for lunch. The place was rather chaotic, there were people shuffling in and out, tourists and locals alike. We scored a table at the corner after waiting around for a bit. We had to be aggressive, it's first come first serve in the sense that if you put your ass down by the table you want, then it's yours. We ordered the babi guling spesial (special suckling pig) and babi guling pisah (different suckling pig, I'm serious, that's what it says on the menu). We also saw a brand new roasted pig being dropped off at the restaurant so we hurried over to take some pictures. The lady at the stall skillfully peeled off the roasted crispy skin and I felt my mouth watering. I searched my conscience as I stared at the glossy pig and felt completely guiltless.

The thing about suckling pig is that it's all about the skin. I liked the "special suckling pig" more because the skin was crispier, the skin of the "different suckling pig dish" was thicker, stickier & a little too hard to chew. The meat was moist and the sauce & vegetables were complimentary of the dish. We also had the yummy pork rinds that came in the packets as appetizers, and found the best way to finish off the meal was with some juicy mangosteens.

I think the best suckling pig I've had is still the roasted baby suckling pig I ate growing up in Malaysia. It's a rare treat because they are mostly roasted during special Chinese celebratory ocassions as offerings to our deities or ancestors. But Ibu Oka is still really good, considering how remarkable it is to find yummy pork dishes in a country that consists of over 80% Muslims. Bali is an exception as Hinduism is the predominant religion on the island.

Babi Guling @ Ibu Oka
Jalan Suweta/Tegal Sari No. 2, Ubud, Bali 80571, Indonesia

Momofuku Milk Bar - midtown

2010-04-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Momofuku invades midtown! I associate Momofuku restaurants with East Village so it's a little strange seeing the little peach symbol in midtown. I guess David Chang is on a hot streak, not only did he open a new restaurant (má pêche) in midtown, he also opened Momofuku Milk Bar in the space adjacent to má pêche. I am not complaining, anything that adds variety my midtown lunch option is a blessing.

A few weeks ago, I checked out midtown Momofuku Milk Bar with my colleage B, who is a Momofuku virgin. I remembered trying the salty pistachio soft serve before and liking it, but I taste-tested it and thought it was way too heavy. So I ended up with the cereal milk soft serve and I was in my little happy place with an imaginary happy dance.

Momofuku Milk Bar midtown basically inherited a slightly smaller menu from the East Village location. The space is also smaller but it is well-organized. There is a wall just for cookies (see second photo below)! I noticed the pork bun was missing from the menu and they confirmed that it was not available and probably will never be. *groan*

Address: milk bar midtown , 15 W56th Street (between 5th and 6th).
mon – fri / 9 am – 11 pm
sat – sun / 9 am – 5 pm

Cupcakestop.com

2010-04-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my coworker B excitedly showed me the red velvet cupcake he bought from the Cupcakestop truck. Subsequently, the only thing I could think of all afternoon was cupcakes. Seeing how nice the weather was, I gave myself a good excuse to go out and grab two mini cupcakes. I got the pineapple one and the red velvet one for $1 each.

The pineapple mini-cupcake was extremely mini, the base was just a tad bigger than the size of a quarter). It was a little bit too sweet and the cake part was a little bit clumpy. I did however taste little chunks of pineapples in the cake so kudos for using real pineapples. The red velvet mini was slightly bigger, it had the chewy top that I like but the icing was also too sweet. My cupcake-loyalty is still with Chikalicious, sorry cupcakestop truck! If you love mini cupcakes, Baked by Melissa is better than Cupcakestop truck, in my opinion.

Cupcakestop.com website, you can check out their daily location & daily flavors on their twitter.

Colicchio & Sons

2010-04-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I brunch-ed at Colicchio & Sons. I was really excited because rumor has it that Colicchio actually puts on his apron and works in the kitchen instead of just parading his name on the marquee. When I was there, I didn't see Colicchio and I wasn't expecting to, it's Sunday brunch afterall.

The restaurant is big, lofty and "cool", all the things I expected of a meatpacking district restaurant. We ordered the pastry basket and all the patries were tasty. Funn & I got the peekytoe crab omelette while T & S got the duck with poached egg. The food was decent, it didn't wow me and the portion was a little small.

When we got seated, the restaurant wasn't even crowded and the service was already spotty. At some point, they raised the shades and we were sitting directly next to the large window. It got really hot and we asked for them to lower the shades but they just ignored us. We didn't bother to linger, and I downed my coffee so that we could get out of there. The service completely fell apart, and I walked out with a bad taste in my mouth (metaphorically). That said, after reading various reviews, I will still like to try the dinner at Colicchio (probably at the Tap Room, which is more affordable). What can I say, I am a believer in second chances.

And oh, am I am the only personwho didn't realize Tom Colicchio is on Top Chef? Apparently besides succesfully building his food "brand-empire" with the Craft restaurants, he is also a tv man now. I don't know why but it's a total turn off for me. I like mysterious, temperamental chefs....so alluring. ;)

Pio Pio

2010-03-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

Pio Pio is a Peruvian restaurant specializing in rotisserie chicken. My mouth starts watering whenever I think about the chicken, it's so juicy, flavorful and the meat literally falls off the bones.

....and then there's the legendery green sauce......I don't know what they put in it, but it's a little spicy, a little creamy, and a lot addictive. If you think I am exaggerating, I dare you try it!. Doubling the hype is the fact that the ingredients of the sauce is a secret.

The ceviche, salchipapa (fries and fried hot dogs), and maduros (sweet plaintains) are also my favorites.

I've only been to two out of their four locations in Manhattan, the one in the Upper West Side is a little bit of a nightmare, the space is small, noisy and always crowded. I love their Hells Kitchen location because it's really big and great for accommodating big parties. The vibe in the Hells Kitchen location is different from the rest, it's quieter, swankier and very new.

Pio Pio locations:
Upper West Side, 702 Amsterdam Avenue (94th Street)
Hells Kitchen, 604 Tenth Avenue (between 43th and 44th)
Murray Hill, 210 East 34th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue)
Upper East Side, 1746 First Avenue (between 90th and 91st)

Penang - Food Tour

2010-03-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

I am forever in love with Penang, be it the palm trees, white fluffy clouds against blue sky, Penang-hokkien accent, sweltering heat or horrific traffic jam, there's just something about my hometown that makes my heart ache when I leave it for too long. What Penang is known for, besides its interesting heritage, is the fantastic food. On my Christmas trip back to Penang in 2009, I took a bunch of my non-Penang friends to sample some of Penang's finest. Here are my list of "must-eat":

Perut Rumah Nyonya Restaurant is a fairly new restaurant along Kelawai Road that my friend Min introduced me to. Nyonya food, sometimes called peranakan food, is typically a fusion of chinese ingredients with Malay herbs & spices. In the case of Penang nyonya food, it is also heavily influenced by our neighbor in the north, Thailand. Peranakan culture is the result of marriage between chinese immigrants and locals in Malaysia back in the 15th/16th century, and is unique in the early British Straits Settlements of Malaya. Perut Rumah serves traditional nyonya food such as roti babi (minced pork stuffed in bread and then deep fried), nasi ulam (fried rice with local herbs), belacan fried chicken, lobak (sliced pork wrapped in beancurd skin marinated with five spice powder and then deep fried)...the list goes on and on. The restaurant is situated in a spacious and well-preserved old bungalow, and the restaurant is beautifully decorated with traditional peranakan tsotskis such as old irons, tiffin carriers and china sets.

Usually when Penangites say "let's go eat mee sotong", you'll know instantly that they are referring to the Fort Cornwalis food court mee sotong (Indian style cuttlefish fried noodle). This stall in located in a somewhat run-down food court (if you can even call it that), and for Penang standard this noodle dish isn't that cheap (about RM4.50/USD1.30) but it's worth every penny. The mee sotong here is slightly sweeter than traditional Indian mee goreng because of the sotong gravy they use. The highlight is they also pour a heap of cuttle fish & spicy sauce on top of the noodles. The best compliment for this spicy & tongue-numbing mee sotong is the delicious vanilla ice-cream coconut shake. It is the perfect thirst quencher & also the best cure on a hot day, which is most days in Penang.

Penang Road teochew cendol is another hot-day savior. It's been in a small lane off Penang Road (Lebuh Keng Kwee) for as long as I remember. Cendol is a typical Malaysian cold dessert made with shaved ice, coconut milk, palm sugar, red beans & green glutinous jelly (flavored with pandan leaves). This is, in my opinion, the best cendol in Penang, and there's something about standing by the roadside, inhaling the fumes from cars & buses while devouring a bowl of cendol that is so undoubtedly satisfying.

If you ask any visitors what they want to try in Penang, most will say Char Kuey Teow (fried flat rice noodle). One of the most famous Penang char kuey teow is the Lorong Selamat char kuey teow. I am personally a little turned-off by this place because the line is always ridiculously long & sometimes you get yelled at if you want the Lady Goggle (note: not related to Lady Gaga whatsoever) to "customize" your char kuey teow. If you have time and don't mind waiting for at least half an hour for a plate of char kuey teow, then by all means. Otherwise my advice is to go during the midday lull. The lady who's been cooking char kuey teow at this stall is famous for her red beret, yellow goggles, and unfriendly attitude. That said, hoardes of locals and tourists keep coming back for more because it is indeed THAT good. The char kuey teow is fried with a well-season wok, with chunks of crispy lard, chives, cockles & big prawns. Yummy-ness comes with the price tag of RM6.00/USD1.75 (for the smallest plate), which is ridiculously expensive for Penang standard but it's life-changing, in a good way, unless you have to cholesterol issue.

Genting coffee shop is a personal favorite because there is a great variety of food stalls here so it's a one-stop food hunting. The duck egg char kuey teow is good, the laksa is super sour but delicious, and they serve my favorite chee-cheong funn (rice noodle role topped with various sauces). Two doors down from Genting coffee shop is my favorite taufufa 豆腐花 (soy bean custard) store. The version of taufufa here is unique because it it typically served warm, and comes with the sweet & fragrant palm sugar.

Perut Rumah Nyonya Restaurant (11am to 10.30pm)
17, Jalan Kelawei, 10250 Georgetown, Penang.
Tel: +604-227 9917

Hameed Pata (open for lunch only)
Food court next to Fort Cornwalis.

Famous Teochew Cendol (12pm to 7pm)
Lebuh Keng Kwee (off Penang Road).

Kafe Keng Huat Char Kuey Teow
Lorong Selamat, just look for Lady Goggles.

Genting Coffee Shop
Lorong Delima 6 and Lorong Delima 3. Opposite the Hamid Khan School.

Noma

2010-03-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

It was by sheer coincidence that my friend S. sent me a blog review on Noma after I got my plane ticket to Copenhagen. After I read the review, I knew it had to be on our itinerary. I made a reservation about 2 months prior to the trip, and when JL decided to join the trip, I made the change and they were really accomodating. For a restaurant which is ranked #3 on the San Pelligrino's Top Restaurants in the World, the online reservation process was easy-peasy.

Noma is located inside the North Atlantic House by the waterfront and looks out towards the Royal Playhouse of Copenhagen and Nyhavn. The interior exudes a rustic and calm vibe. As soon as we arrived, we were seated promptly, I was a little surprised to see that the restaurant was not completely filled.

Once we settled down, they brought out the first amuse-bouche, a savoury cookie (bottom) with speck (middle) and blackcurrent powder and pine (top). The sourness of the blackcurrent powder was a nice contrast to the savoury cookie & speck. The pine, however, was relatively tasteless. The cookie was quite crumbly and crispy, I rated this 6 out of 10.

The next amuse-bouche was the crispy chicken skin (bottom) with cheese & lumpfish roe (middle) and rye bread (top). This was really appetizing, I was really wow-ed by the paper thin chicken skin as well as the paper thin rye bread top. I'm sure a lot of science went into creating those two elements, I guess this is the brilliance behind the concept of molecular gastronomy. I liked this a lot, it was a 9 out of 10 for me.

Next up is a Noma signature-creation, it's a pot of fresh raddish with soil, and not just any soil but edible soil. This was really fun and eye-opening. We ate the raddish whole. As for the soil (it looked 100% believable as real soil), it was made of dark beer & walnut. To make the texture more interesting, the "soil" was made in two batches, one with butter which made the texture softer and clumpier; and one harder, which I assumed was dehydrated-rehydrated in some complicated process. The green mousse was made from herb & cream. Taste wise this was a 7 out of 10, novelty factor wise, this was a 10 out of 10.

The next thing they gave us was a crispy toast, cod emulsion with herb & vinagrette powder. The toast was really tasty, it had the texture of a cookie and the herb was really fresh and subtle. It was also so darn pretty. This to me was an 8 out of 10.

After the amuse-bouche, they brought us freshly baked sourdough bread with flower from Sweden (not sure what flower but at this point I think my feet was no longer touching the ground, and my brain ceased to function as my belly took over), with goat's milk butter, and lard with aquavit and pork crackling. The bread was really delicious, and I particularly liked the goat's milk butter. They also brought us the menu. I was really excited to finally see what was on the menu. It consisted of 3 choices - 4 courses, 7 courses or 12 courses. We went with the conversative 4 courses because we didn't want to over-eat and ruin the experience (sudden flashback to dinner at Per Se in 2005, when towards the end I was so full I almost needed a stretcher to get me out of the restaurant).

...and just because they could, after we ordered, they brought us another "teaser", they described it as beetroots and mulled fried bread with salt. The beetroots were thinly sliced, and covered in some sort of black chalky sauce which I couldn't figure out what it was and forgot to ask. This was overall quite tasty, and visually appealing, the colors from the beetroots & sauce created a cool abstract painting on the plate. I thought this was a 7 out of 10.

The first lunch course was the razor clam with parsley jelly with "snow" in natural (razor clam) juice and dill oil. The "snow" was a tribute to the weather and it was made with buttermilk and horse raddish. The razor clam was so fresh, and the dill jelly was subtle and complimented the clam really well. The "snow" was the mind-blowing part of the dish for me, it was like one of those liquid nitrogen thing, which was frozen but melted really quickly in your mouth. The horse raddish gave it a wasabi-eque kick, really really well done. We all loved this, and to me this was a definitely a 10 (maybe 15) out of 10.

The second dish was caramelized onion with juice from early grapes (from the isle of Lilleø) with tapioca and lemon thyme leaves. The cook who brought out the plate (a young Californian guy) pointed out that the grapes were early harvest grapes that they pressed and aged for a few months, they liked the taste and incorporated it into this dish. There were so many competing flavors in this plate that I didn't really think it worked that well, at least for my friends and me. The onion was really strong, and grapes juice was sour, and the lemon thyme was pungeant. I thought it was just way to "busy". I guess just like science experiments, some are succesful and some aren't, this one to me wasn't bad, but wasn't great. I gave it a 5 out of 10.

The next course came with a viking knife wrapped in beautiful leather. My friend BK instantly felt guilty because she is a full-time vegetarian but goes on breaks when she travels, which I am utterly thankful for. We had ox cheek, the green vegetables on the front of the plate was cabbage folded into wafer with cabbage compote inside. The middle part was poached cabbage with rose hip, pickled cardamon, lingonberry, and capers on stems. It was a really beautiful-looking dish, bursting with colors. I liked how they balanced the dish with very light flavors, and the ox cheek was really tender and soft. I never knew poached vegetables could be so tasty. This was a 9 out of 10 for me.

For dessert, we got walnut ice cream with walnut & blackberry powder. This dessert was a tribute to the wintry & snowy weather. It looked plain and boring but the ice cream was quite delicious, the hint of sour blackberry powder really brought out the walnut flavor. This was an 8 out of 10 for me.

Feeling extremely greedy, I decided to order one more dessert. I asked the staff what I should order and without blinking he suggested the Øllebrød with skyr ice cream, foam and rye bread crumbs. He also explained that Øllebrød is a traditional Danish porridge, usually served for breakfast, it's made from rye bread (usually leftovers or stale bread) soaked in beer & sugar. Øllebrød is one of those dishes that every Danish family knows, and has their own little versions. The Øllebrød was a little sour, the skyr (Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yogurt. although technically it is a very soft cheese) was a little sweet. This to me was really the perfect way to end the meal. I gave this a 10 out of 10.

I have to also mention that the service was exceptional, they were attentive but relaxed, and most of the food was brought out by one of the cooks and they explained the dishes really well and answered all my questions patiently. I was told that there were about 15 people working in the kitchen, and I am sure the are more during dinners & busy nights. For me, this was a relatively reasonable meal considering the ranking of the restaurant and also it being in Copenhagen (where a sandwich costs USD20). My lunch at Noma was not only enjoyable, but was also educational. I came back reminiscing how understated, unpretentious yet elegant everything was. At times I think some chefs are trying to be food-magicians but came out looking so passé, my experience at Noma was nothing but interesting & invigorating, especially since I am completely unfamiliar with Scandanavian cuisine. I hope Noma keeps pushing the envelops because they are definitely on the right track.

As we sauntered out of there after 3 hours of really enjoyable lunch, we couldn't give a damn that it was all foggy and the weather was disgusting. Our tummy was happy and that's all we needed.

Berlin & Copenhagen

2010-02-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

I am skipping town again, this time to Berlin & Copenhagen, I am really excited. I will be meeting three of my friends who are flying from different parts of the world. I look forward to absorbing the city vibe in Berlin, and trying out amazing food in Copenhagen. I've been doing a lot of reading on food in both cities, and I have to say I haven't read anything remotely compelling about food/restaurants in Berlin. On the contracy, Copenhagen seems to be the Scandanavian gastronomy city with various amazing restaurants & avant-garde chefs that are experimental and inventive. I am particularly excited about Noma, which I scored a lunch reservation at. It was voted #3 on The World's 50 Best Restaurant, just behind El Bulli in Spain & The Fat Duck in the U.K. Will definitely report back!

...and it's a new decade....

2010-01-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

I've been staring at my blog for the last few weeks not knowing what to write, especially since I kept re-reading my last post & couldn't ignore the pain & emptiness in my heart, it's a strange contradicting feeling.

So I left for home before Christmas, I left in such a hurry that I ended up bringing more stuff that I needed, which is very unlike me because I really pride myself in being a light traveller. I saw a lot of people, connected with a lot of old friends, but the person I wanted to see the most wasn't there anymore. I still talk to her, in my head, and I still visit her, in her new "apartment".

I've shared with a few people my recent musing. Life, is so bizarre, there is no other way for me to describe it. Ten years ago, most of us were in college and we mostly talked about schools, boyfriends, ambitions, worries. All those seemed so trivial now, now we added new vocabularies such as spouses, kids, marriage, divorce, health, death. Really, nobody ever told me that sometimes you get more than what you bargain for in life.

I know it's a little late but I want to wish y'all Happy New Year, tomorrow is a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life....for me...and I am feeling good. *cue music, the Michael Buble version*

"Feeling Good" by Michael Buble

Letter to my best friend

2009-12-06T19:09:00.000-08:00

Dear HN, the thing with us is that there's very little left unsaid, but I will say it again, you are my sister, my best friend, my better half, my rock, my moral compass, my lighthouse...well, u get the idea. You know I will support the decisions you make as I have for so many years so I trust that you will be where you choose to be. The selfish part of me wants us to celebrate many more quarters century of friendship, and grow old like we planned, I know you will try, try for yourself and for all of us. Even though I am not physically by your side now, know that I am holding your hand, like how we did in standard 1. I love you my dearest and bestest friend, always.

Sushi Seki

2009-11-18T12:06:00.002-08:00

I've been a fan of Sushi of Gari for a while, Seki is a protege of Gari-san, hence the style is very similar. I haven't been to Sushi Seki until a few weeks ago (apologies in advance if the descriptions aren't clear, I had a difficult time understand the server).

I went with three other friends and we did the chef's tasting menu (omakase). We started a trio of tuna, fluke & salmon. All three were very simply-prepared, I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a very avant-garde sushi experience since I am familiar with Sushi of Gari's menu, and I thought what we got was rather "safe".

Things took a turn for the better with the salmon with avocado & seaweed. The crispy seaweed on top gave it a great contrast to the texture.

The next piece of sushi made me want to scream in ecstacy. It was sauteed buttered whitefish. Holy sushi-o-la, the fish had a really fragrant smokey taste to it, and it disintegrated in my mouth. It was buttery, warm, soft and definitely not something I've had in Gari.

The next piece was also excellent, it was tuna with sauteed onions. The onions really gave it a kick to the flavor, great combination.

Then came the oysters handroll, the oyster tempura was excellent.

Feeling like we still had space in the stomach, we asked for more pieces. They gave us uni, torched toro & seared eel with avocado. Again, loved the oysters the most, the creamy sauce was a big plus.

Lastly, they gave us the yummy sauteed whitefish again, toro & mackarel. I am not a big fan of mackerel because it's quite fishy, and they said the toro was hagashi toro and was rather rare.

We ended with three desserts, I especially loved the mochi. The ice cream tempura I thought was quite subpar because the crispy skin wasn't that crispy.

So Gari vs. Seki? What's the verdict? I still prefer Sushi of Gari. I think the sushi I had in Gari were slightly more creative, most pieces I had in Gari had sharper contrasts in terms of taste & texture. I think Sushi Seki is equally good in terms of food quality but might have err on the safe side in terms of creativity. I am sure I have some friends who would disagree, I think the vote is rather split down the middle. Well, when in doubt, try both! :D

Address: Sushi of Seki, 1143 1st Ave (between 62nd St & 63rd St), New York, NY 10021

Vanessa's Dumplings

2009-11-08T21:59:00.000-08:00

What: Sesame pancake with stewed pork belly (My TV dinner).
Where: Vanessa's Dumplings
How much: $2

Yup, no need to rub your eyes, you read it correctly. $2 dinner, that's the "luxury" I enjoy. Vanessa's Dumplings has a cult following, this restaurant is very bare, slightly dingy but consistently busy. 4-5 Chinese ladies run around trying to take your order and prepare your food in the open kitchen. The menu is pretty extensive, from various dumplings to noodle soups, but the favorite here seems to be the sesame pancake. You can choose either pork/vegetables/beef/fish in your pancake sandwich. I went with pork for my TV dinner. The pancake was just freshly made so it was warm and slightly crispy on the outside (love it!). The pork was stewed in the rice cooker with black soy sauce so it's flavorful and it's definitely the fatty pork belly type, the sandwich also came with cucumber, pickled carrots & cilantro. I'll try the other variations next time and report back!

Address: 118 Eldridge Street, New York NY 10002 (between Grand Street and Broome Street).

Theeeeee Yankees WINNNNNN

2009-11-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm gloating because the Yankees won the 2009 World Series. I thinks some of my friends are surprised that I am such a big fan. OK, fine, I'm not really that big a fan, but I'm excited when they make it into the post-season.

Baseball wasn't something I grew up with, I only learned to understand baseball in 2002 after I moved to New York, and I learned baseball watching the Yankees so it's only natural that I like the Yankees. Baseball appeals to the inner geek in me, I like numbers and baseball is all about numbers & statistics. In 2003, I went to the games more times than I could remember, I even watched the World Series in the Yankee stadium, and I remembered that stupid kid Josh Beckett that crushed my hope *digging fingers into my mousepad*. Then came 2004, ok I'll just stop there before I develop Tourette syndrome.

There's a point to this post, which is, it's amazing how an event/a victory/a tragedy can unite people ever so briefly - 9/11, Yankees winning the World Series, free concert in the park. It's about the camaraderie, the sense of pride, the mushy "I love NY" feeling. The parade was great, although I mostly saw other fans & a few glimpses of the float. But it was still fun, especially when you see people who would do anything to celebreate the champions (climbing on top of a dump truck/tree/building).

Chez Panisse

2009-10-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Chez Panisse has made the list of Top 50 Restaurants in the World for many years, and I put it on my "must go" list on my recent trip to SF. The restaurant is in Berkeley, we got a reservation for lunch at Chez Panisse cafe (upstairs). The restaurant (downstairs) only serves dinner with a pre-fix menu. I've read the the cafe serves equally good food, and you can order à la carte. The cafe opens for both lunch & dinner.

We ordered two appetizers to share -Ricotta with cucumbers & walnut and eggplant toast with salad. Both were simple, tasty and the ingredients were extremely fresh.

For entrées, HN & Clemont ordered the quail with pâté and they liked it. I took a bite and the quail was very moist.

Eugene ordered the pizza with wild nettles, sausage & garlic. Eugene mentioned that nettles was something that used to grow wild in the woods back in his home country and it wasn't considered edible. Some nettles in the wild sting when you touch them. I guess this is why they say "one man's trash is another man's treasure".

I ordered the sweet corn soufflé with chanterelle mushroom, sweet corns, & cucumbers. I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. The soufflé was soft & and the crusty part had a hint of burnt cheese taste to it. They weren't kidding when they said "sweet" corns, those were probably the sweetest corns I've ever tasted. I loved the subtle contrasts between all the flavors - sweet (corns) vs. earthy (mushrooms) vs. clean (cucumbers) vs. creamy (sauce). I had to remind myself to eat slowly so that I don't inhale my food.

I love Chez Panisse, and I'll definitely love to go back again. This is the first time I really experience what "California cousin" is, and I think what Alice Waters (co-foundeder of Chez Panisse) do is important, she doesn't only make delicious food, she also changes the way think of food - certainly makes me realize that sometimes the best ingredients doesn't have to come from some exotic places, instead they are fresh, local back-yard grown produce. In terms of comparison between Chez Panisse & Blue Hill in Pocantino Hills (upstate NY), which share very similar concept, I'd say Blue Hill is more refined, but I love how laid back and casual Chez Panisse is. Plus it's in California, and whenever I think of California, I think of sunny blue sky, gorgeous coastlines and my best friend HN (we are celebrating our 25th friendship anniversary next year) and my heart smiles.

I wish they have this in NYC

2009-10-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

In-n-out burger!

My last trip to SF, I demanded that my best friend take me to in-n-out burger. Upon arrival, I told her "What do you want? I'll jump down the car and get it". She looked at me like I am a caveman and said "Huh? Why do you need to jump down? It's a drive-thru". Holy macaroons, have I lived in New York for so long that I forget drive-thrus exist?? Anyway, we both spent a good 5 minutes laughing about my ignorance.

So why is In-n-out burger so good? Well, it's $2.10 for a cheeseburger, the burger patty was thin, but I loved the generous lettuce & tomatoes on it. These weren't the typical fast food half dead lettuce & tomatoes, these lettuce & tomatoes looked freshly cut. Is this as good as my favorite Shake Shack burger? Well, in terms of quality, it's inferior to Shake Shack. But in terms of price, it beats Shake Shack, hands down. I call it a tie.

Marco! Polo! (I like stinky ice cream)

2009-10-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, my best friend who lives in South Bay shoved a tub of durian ice cream to my face when I visited her. Since then, whenever I am in SF, I NEED to get my fix of durian ice cream at Marco Polo. This little ice cream parlor has a really outdated signage, but don't be fooled, the gelato is so creamy it's out of this world!

It's very difficult to find durian desserts in America because the smell is so pungent (some say stinky) and it's one of those "love it-hate it" type of fruit. The durian gelato at Marco Polo has real chunks of durians, it's like eating frozen durian but better. The first spoonful is so good it makes me emotionally levitate. They also have other more exotic flavors of ice creams such as jackfruit, mango, taro, red bean, black sesame, and yuzu. I also read that the lychee gelato is amazing!

Address: Marco Polo, 1447 Taraval Street(between 24th Ave & 25th Ave), San Francisco, CA 94116

Tea & Sympathy

2009-10-18T20:57:00.001-07:00

If you want a dose of England in New York, Tea & Sympathy is the place to go. I like the yummy scones with butter & jam, and the pretty granny china. Everything is on the pricey side - $6.25 for scones with butter & jam, $4.50 for a pot of tea. The only time I went they told me that there is a minimum $10/person, with that kind of price list, it's not hard to spend $10 there. They also serve a full lunch and dinner menu, which including Shepard's pie, Bangers & Mash, Yorkshire pudding...well you get the idea. I didn't try the food, but I did try the treacle pudding and it was very sweet, like all treacle puddings, but still pretty yummy.

They also have a small grocery store next door with English imported goods. I spotted a variety of tea, including PG Tips tea bags. They also have Ribena syrups, McVities digestive cookies, jams and scone mixes. Suddenly I wish Marks & Spencer will open a store in New York.

Address: Tea & Sympathy restaurant, 108 Greenwich Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (between 12th & 13th Street, opposite the entrance to Jane Street)
Address: Tea & Sympathy store, 110 Greenwich Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (between 12th & 13th Street, opposite the entrance to Jane Street)

Fuzhou cuisine

2009-10-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Fuzhou is the capital city of Fujian province in Southeastern China. Fujian province is one of the most linguistically diverse province, so the idea that people from Fujian province all speak Fujian dialect is apparently not true. Anyway, so why am I so interested in this? My paternal grandparents are from Fuzhou, so technically, I am a Malaysia-born-Chinese-Fuzhou, my paternal grandmother speaks Fuzhou to my dad and his siblings, unfortunately I don't speak one word of it. I did grow up eating some Fuzhou dishes, and my favorite to this day is still the Fuzhou fishball soup that my grandma & aunt make.

Fuzhou fishballs are slightly different from the regular fishballs because they usually come with stuffed minced pork inside. If you don't know what a fishball is and you are starting to wonder if fish have balls, or if I am talking about fish genitals, then sorry to disappoint, it's not that exotic. Fishballs are made by pounding fish meat into a soft paste, adding flour and making into round shapes. The end result is these little yummy things cooked in clear broth (see second photo).

On the corner of Eldridge & Broome is this unattractive looking small restaurant that sells Fuzhou food, I always see people eating there (note: only Chinese though) so last weekend I went and ordered the fishball soup & ban mien (noodle with peanut sauce). The fishballs weren't as good as the ones I grew up eating, but it was comfort food nonetheless. I thought peanut sauce (and some soy sauce) on noodles would be a bit weird but it was actually quite delicious. And the best part was, two ban mien and a bowl of large fishball soup (with 11 fishballs) only came up to $7 for two people!

Address: Fuzhou restaurant (no idea what the name is in English), corner of Eldridge & Broome.

Burger Joint

2009-10-15T20:30:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I was on lunch-hunting with my colleagues and we ended up at Burger Joint. Who would have thought that you can find this hole-in-the-wall burger place in a fancy hotel? It looks so unpretentious I couldn't quite believe it. Alright, granted the burgers aren't McDonald's price but they aren't exactly hotel price either, it's about $8 for a decent sized cheeseburger.

I got mine medium-well with everything on it, I thought the burger was tasty, it had the strong smokey taste to it that I love. I am sure if you order the burger medium or medium rare it will be a lot juicier, but overall, I was really happy with it.

This place is small and it gets crowded quickly during lunch hour, so if you want to eat-in, go early. The turnover is pretty quick because it functions almost like a greasy fast food place but the burger is great, the vibe is cool & I just love how it's hidden and the only thing that hints that this place exists is a neon burger sign tucked in the corner in the lobby & the line spilling out of the door.

Address: Burger Joint. Inside Le Parker Meridien Hotel, 119 West 56th Street, New York NY 10019.

Pinto

2009-10-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Helen introduced me to this place after a shopping outing in Chelsea last week. Pinto looked like a pretty fancy place from the outside, it's small but the decor is quite pretty, modern minimalist-chic. They even have their restaurant logo on their dishware. I thought it would be a pricey place but turned out the price was pretty reasonable. My favorites from there was:

Braised leg of lamb with massamam curry & crispy potato. This was excellent! The lamb was really tender & flavorful, the curry was creamy & really fragrant. I loved it!

My second favorite was the appetizer special, roast pork satay. It was glazed with a sweet sauce, again, quite juicy & flavorful. However, the sticky rice that came with it though was disappointing, it was hard as a rock when it was cold & I suspected that it was old and they microwaved it.

The shrimp & herb dumplings with truffle oil infused soy sauce was good as far as dumplings go.

The crab fried rice baked in young coconut was quite normal. It looked pretty but it was a little bit on the bland side.

The crispy chicken wok tossed with cashew, macadamia, almond, peanut & chesnut in chili jam and asian kale was probably my least favorite. It sounded quite fancy but the sauce didn't really do it for me.

The two desserts we ordered - cheesecake & chocolate cake were both great. We all had a satisfying meal there. They also serve some really nice looking cocktails. I'll definitely go back again to try other things on the menu.

Address: Pinto, 118 Christopher Street (between Bleecker St. & Bedford St.), New York NY 10014.

Saigon Bakery

2009-10-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

...and I'm back online. I actually miss writing, it's one of those things...when I was writing, it felt like a chore at times, but I am glad I realized it's more than just that.

So back to food, do you know that for $3.75, you can get a banh mi (vietnamese sandwich) that is uber delicious? Well the name is Saigon Bakery. It's this little shop on Mott Street, in the back of a store that sells jewelry/stones (something, I can't remember). I usually zoom past it and head straight for the order counter. They also sell some Vietnamese/Thai/Malaysia pastries.

The baguette was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, the pork was marinated with a sweet sauce and the pickles were yummy. You can order it spicy or not spicy. For $1 more, you can add pate. This is definitely one of my top cheap eat pick!

Addresss: Saigon Bakery, 138 Mott Street (between Grand & Hester), New York, NY 10013

Hiatus

2009-09-15T10:04:00.001-07:00

It's half way through September, and I haven't had time to write one single post, just been busy with too many things & I am busy packing up & moving to a new place.

Anyway, I just want to announce that I am taking a September hiatus from blogging before my friends start flashing me yellow cards (you know who you are). And for those of you who didn't know, these are the people who define who I am today, if you think I am crazy, wait til' you meet them. :D These are the people I grew up with, I wouldn't know where to begin if I have to write about them.

PKS, I love you, you, you, you, all of you! Even though I am far from home, you are always close to my heart.

Apiary

2009-08-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Spotted: Scott Conant (Executive Chef of Scarpetta) in his fancy jacket at Apiary one Thursday evening attending a birthday party. Someone hired a lady dressed as a bunny to sing to the unidentified birthday man. My guess is they are people from the culinary world.

Apiary is a relatively new restaurant, the kitchen is handled by Scott Bryan, ex-chef at Veritas. The restaurant decor is simple yet chic, somewhat cheerful with fun fixtures like the one below.

From Sundays to Thursdays, there is a three-course pre-fix dinner menu for $35. I started my pre-fix dinner with the Tuscan mushroom soup with sour dough croutons & parmesan. I loved it, it's not the typical creamy mushroom soup, instead it was a tomato-based soup with heaps of mushrooms, I called this the summer version of the classic mushroom soup. This was simple but done to perfection.

For entrée, I ordered the Atlantic skate with smoked bacon razor clam chowder, corn, tarragon. I found this too heavily salted, the portion was gigantic though (two large pieces of skate fillet). Everyone who ordered the skate agreed that it was too salty.

I ordered the blackberry financier for dessert, and I really liked it. I haven't had a financier dessert in ages, this one wasn't the fluffy version, it's cakey but in a good way. They added fresh blackberries & blackferry sauce & some creme fraiche, very yummy.

I was really really full from dinner, my friend who ordered the duck for entree liked it. If I do go to Apiary again, I'll swap the skate for duck.

Address: Apiary, 60 3rd Avenue (& 11th Street), New York NY

Oak Room at The Plaza

2009-08-30T21:51:00.001-07:00

I took some friends from out of town a few weeks ago to Oak Room at The Plaza during lunch, they were still serving restaurant week lunch menu (which is turning into "restaurant month", not "restaurant week").

I started with the lobster & sweet corn bisque, it was very delicious, with chunks of lobsters.

For main course, I had a tuna salad club sandwich with avocado & bacon. The portion was very generous, I only managed about 2/3 of my plate and had to raise my white flag (in order to save some room for dessert).

Lastly, for dessert, I had the strawberry shortcake. I was expecting the shortcake to be fluffier, again, very generous portion.

mind-blowing, but was very delicious & the service was decent. I did feel somewhat out of place sitting next to a table filled with ladies in pearls & Chanel jackets, but it's the Plaza after all. The Oak Room, which used to be a gentlemen's bar was built in 1907, I felt transported back into time as soon as I walked into the restaurant.

Address: Oak Room at The Plaza, 10 Central Park South, New York, NY 10019.

Momofuku FRIED CHICKEN

2009-08-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wonder, how many more gimmicks can David Chang throw at us, and when will be stop biting the bait. Well, I don't know when but at least not this time. One of Chang's latest crazy adventure was the Fried Chicken Dinner at momofuku noodle bar. The description on the website reads: two whole fried chickens, one southern style and one korean style – mu shu pancakes, long spicy peppers, baby carrots, red ball radishes, shiso leaves, bibb lettuce, four sauces and an assortment of herbs.

Our resident chef Nick got us a reservation at 11:55pm on a Friday night (oh lord, fried chicken dinner at midnight, I really need to start working out). I was watching "Julie & Julia" prior to the fried chicken dinner and my stomach was growling all through the movie and by the time I got to Momofuku noodle bar, my friends were already there and they shoved the roasted oxtail infront me and said 'OMG you have to try this'. The 'omg' part was absolutely necessary because it really was tasty. Next up, the humongous platter of fried chicken showed up. I have to admit the chicken was really fresh, very moist & flavorful. I can't really say which one is better either, they were both good & different. They gave me a bunch of condiments that you can eat with your fried chicken, but I thought the fried chicken was good enough to hold its own. The only caveat is that it costs $100/platter, so bring friends!

We also ordered the roasted rice cakes with roasted onions, red chili pepper, sesame. I really liked this, it reminded of a hawker dish - "chee cheong funn" from Malaysia.

We packed up the rest of the chicken in the box for Gan who couldn't make it, and we finished off the night (by then 1:30a.m.) with the angel food cake & strawberry lemonade soft serve. The strawberry lemonade soft serve totally hit the spot, there were some kind of crumbly clusters in there that made it even better.

Address: Momofuku Noodle Bar, 171 First Avenue (btwn 10th & 11th Street), New Yor, NY 10003.

Azuri Cafe falafel

2009-08-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

So the last time I got sidetracked while trying to get falafel from Azuri Cafe, but this time I made it without any detours. My coworker P read rave reviews about Azuri Cafe online and as usual, we gathered a few more people and went on a food-hunt.

Azuri Cafe is a small place on 51st Street, I will categorize this as a "gourmet" falafel place. I ordered the falafel sandwich which was recommended in the reviews I read, and the guy behind the counter started to "assemble" my sandwich. He stuffed a piece of falafel inside the pita bread, added a bit of cucumbers, a bit of tomatoes, a bit of onions. Then he stuffed another piece of falafel, then he added some lettuce, some mixed vege, some green sauce...it was quite fun to watch how meticulous he was.

The falafel was really tasty, all the condiments they put in there really gave it the extra flavors. The pita was fresh, the only thing I wish was for the falafel to be warm. All in all, I liked it, it was definitely a cheap & satifying lunch.

Address: 465 W 51st St (between 9th and 20th Ave), New York, NY 10019

Sacco Pizza

2009-08-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

On my way to grab falafel one day for lunch, I got talked into getting pizza by my coworker J instead. He was so passionate about the pizza - he analyzed the crust, talked about the cheese. I wondered to myself "is it really that good?", well, the only way to find out is to try, so I happily agreed to ditch falafel and opted for Sacco Pizza.

Sacco Pizza is this little place in Hells Kitchen, the signage upfront is very generic, and the tables & benches look like it's been there for the last 20 years or so. I got two slices of regular pizza & a Boylan rootbeer. The regular pizza is the New York style pizza, thin-crust, cheese & tomato, I figured the best way to be introduced to Sacco is to start with the basic. The crust was extremely thin, slightly crusty but chewy at the same time, and they weren't stingy at all with their cheese. I have to insist that the pizza must be consumed as soon as it comes out of the oven, there's nothing like battling a perfect flimsy slice of pizza, and to top it off with root beer was perfection.

The verdict's in, it's better than my default New York pizza place - Lombardi's. Thinking of the Sacco Pizza makes me drool a little, I think I'm ready for it again tomorrow!

Address: Sacco Pizza, 819 9th Ave (& 54th Street), New York, NY 10019

Craving Truck

2009-08-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Seems like all my recents posts are all related to food trucks. Today the buzz in the office was NYC Cravings Truck. Working in midtown, hunting down food trucks for lunch is as exciting as things get around here. In my last post about the Top 10 food truck in America, Cravings Truck was listed and I vouched to hunt it down and try the food, and I did, today (yay!).

The lunch box comes with two pieces of deep fried chicken, minced pork sauce (with 5 spice powder), and pickled vegetables. I added a tea egg, and the whole thing was $8. The food was pretty good, the portion was generous, the fried chicken was flavorful. All in all I was pretty satisfied, although I wish they've given me more sauce. They park their truck on different spots on different days, best to follow them on twitter to find out exactly where they are on a daily basis.

In terms of Taiwanese style fried chicken or fried pork rice, my favorite is Wah Mei (used to be Mei Wah) in Chinatown (190, Hester Street). When I worked in downtown, I used to order from them or walked there to pick up for lunch. I haven't been there in a good 3 years, perhaps one of these days, I need to re-visit to see if they've kept up the standard.

GQ Top 10 Food Trucks in America

2009-08-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

GQ's Top Ten Food Trucks in America are listed here:

1. Spencer on the Go!, San Francisco. Definitely want to hunt this down the next time I go to San Francisco. HN, jom mari kita pergi.
2. Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, New York City. I've written about it here, love it!
3. Kogi BBQ, Los Angeles. Been hearing news that they are opening one in NYC next year, please God, let it be true!
4. Mmmpanadas, Austin, Texas. I'm not that crazy about empanadas but my Columbian coworker said if it's ain't deep fried, it ain't empanadas.
5. Cravings, New York City. Taiwanese Fried Chicken with pork sauce, they park near my office on Mondays, MUST HUNT THEM DOWN & REPORT BACK by stalking their twitter.
6. Fojol Bros. of Merlindia, Washington, D.C. Direct Quote from GQ "Fojol’s food actually comes from a reliable D.C.-area Indian restaurant whose identity the “brothers”—four young white dudes manning the truck in sparkly turbans, neon coveralls, and paste-on mustaches—won’t disclose."
7. Marination, Seattle. Hawaiian-Korean-Mexican taco, anyone?
8. Fresh Local, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Somehow this one sounds the best to me.
9. Border Grill, Los Angeles. Gourmet taco truck, another taco truck?
10. Streetza, Milwaukee. Pizza recipes by popular demand.

Kwik Meal & The Treat Truck

2009-08-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

If you've paid attention to the New York street cart lunch business, you know it's uber competitive, it's serious business, so much so that every year they hand out Vendy Awards for the "best of". I've been hearing about Kwik Meal for as long as I've worked in midtown but I haven't had the chance to try it out until recently. Why is the Kwik Meal cart so famous? For one, the Bangladesh-born chef used to be a sous-chef at Russian Tea Room so he wears a chef uniform & hat while he tends the cart. Secondly, instead of the lamb gyro you see on other carts, he uses marinated chunks of lamb meat. So what do I think?

I don't know about you, but the picture looks a bit sad right? Unfortunately the pictures sums up the experience - I was disappointed. The portion was tiny, it was more expensive than the standard midtown $5 plate (they charge $7.50 for lamb over rice), the lamb meat wasn't particularly tender or juicy, and when my coworker wanted barbeque sauce, he was passed the bottle and had to squeeze his own sauce. I've been reading about the famous "green sauce", but they gave me so little of it that I could barely tell what it was.

I also tried the Treat Truck across the street, and I ordered the adorable looking mint-chocolate-cupcake-cone. I am a bit of a cupcake fanatic, and this one didn't quite do it for it. The cone was a bit stale, and the cupcake was way too sweet. But I will definitely visit the Treat Truck again, the cookies & brownies look divine. As for the Kwik Meal cart, nah, I am going back to my new favorite - Shendy's on 6th & 52nd street.

Speaking of the Treat Truck, my favorite "truck" is still the Dessert Truck, and I will like to take a moment to mourn the fact that the Dessert Truck lost their permit and will be on indefinite hiatus. Damn you New York Department of Permit or whatchumacallit (if you do exist), why must you forsaken me my little dose of happiness??!

Address: Kwik Meal, SW corner of 45th St & Sixth Avenue.
Address: Treat Truck, they move around, but you can find out their schedule here.
Address: Shendy's, NW corner of 52nd St. & Sixth Avenue.

Hot hot hot!

2009-08-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

How the heck is it August already?? I haven't had time to write and update my blog, it's summer and that means, plenty of fun summer activities.

One of the hot events I went to was All Point West Art & Music Festival, it was a three-day festival but I went on the last day. It had rained heavily on Friday and Sunday morning, the festival ground was a mud put. The mudfest was probably nothing compared to Woodstock 1969 but it made me wonder how I used to go camping and would stick my face in the mud and thought it was fun. That said, besides the smell, it was really fun. I tried to keep my nose up, the smell of the aromatic illegal substance is much better than mud.

We saw some great bands such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Silversun Pickups & We are Scientists, and the headliner of the night was Coldplay. I wasn't really a big fan but after seeing their performance, I was truly impressed. They were amazing live, I thought it was going to be a fairly short set, at most 1 hour, but they sang for almost 2 hours - with props, lighting, background graphics, it was a full on concert! The highlight of the night for me was when they walked down to the middle of the field onto a small temporary stage, I was 5 feet from them, totally squealed like a three-year-old, I was beyond excited even thought I stepped into a ankle-high pool of mud. I was so close I could see Chris Martin's black Banana Republic boxer briefs, and I also discovered the bassist, Guy Berryman is super hot!

I am on a roll now, planning to go to more concerts this year, this is my summer of PEACE, LOVE & MUSIC. Next year, I want to go to Coachella!

Governors Island Food Adventure

2009-07-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was City on Water Day at Governors Day, it sounded like a fun event, there were free ferry rides from Manhattan, but what really caught my eyes were the words "Delicious food from Vendy Award winning vendors from the Street Vendor Project", absolute music to my ears.

I dragged S&G along with me, we got to the Governors Island ferry terminal at around noon and the line was pretty long, we waited for about an hour for a 5 minute ferry ride. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day, by the time we got to Governors Island, we spotted the first street vendor cart - Veronica's Kitchen, which is usually parked at Financial District. We got the jerk chicken, curry shrimp & oxtail platter with various sidedishes. The service was uber slow, and a lot of their side dishes were gone, but we were happy we got a variety of stuff. Thumbs up on the oxtail and jerk chicken. The oxtail was flavorful, and the jerk chicken was well-spiced. The curry shrimp on the other hand wasn't impressive, the shrimps were not fresh and the curry was diluted.

We also got some arepas from the famous "Arepa Lady" from Jackson Heights (she has a myspace page, how cool). The Arepa Lady cart apparently caters to the late night crowd on Fridays & Saturdays from 10pm to 5am. Just a side note, she used to be a lawyer and a judge...WHOAH! We got the arepa de queso, which was thicker and smaller, stuffed with melted cheese & topped with more grated cheese. The other one was the corn arepa, arepa de choclo, it was flatter & wider with grated cheese in the middle. I absolutely LOVED the arepas, they both had the savoury sweet taste that I have a weakness for, and the texture of both arepas were amazing. We also got the skewered sausages, which came with smaller arepitas, but I was not that impressed with those.

We wanted to try more stuff, the Kwik Meal cart & Dosa cart were there as well but we were stuffed. We took a quick walk around and caught the ferry back to Manhattan. There were a lot of free activites/events that sounded fun, I'll definitely be back next year, I hope the street vendors come back as well!

As I rode back to Manhattan, I was admiring the skyline of downtown Manhattan. Beautiful, isn't it?

All Governors Island photos here.

Convivio for Restaurant Week

2009-07-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

I must have ADD, I really wanted to stick to writing about Morocco but got sidetracked, but for a good reason, and the reason is...*drumroll*...Convivio. I'm a fan of Convivio, I've been there three times now, I think this restaurant has one of the best 4-course dinner $59 can buy. The quality of the food and the level of service are impeccable.

Last weekend I went there again for their restaurant week menu. I started with Zupetta - chilled heirloom tomato soup, seafood salad, marinated cetrioli. I LOVED IT! The tomato soup was perfectly chilled, there were 4-5 mussles in it, and they were so fresh! Not briny at all.

I also tried the salad CP ordered, Maiale - grilled pancetta fresca, roasted figs, rucola, pecorino, vin cotto. It was a fairly simple salad but the grilled pancetta was so flavorful, and the balsamic vinegrette was not boundary-breaking, but done just right.

For entree, I had the Orecchiette - little ear pasta, crushed pomini tomatoes, ricotta al olio, basil. It was a very clean & simple dish, the orecchiette was perfectly al dente. I am still thinking about the orecchiette as I write now.

CP ordered the Manzo - grilled creekstone hanger steak, grilled eggplant in scapece, young spinach, olive vinaigrette. I didn't try it but he said it was good.

WY ordered the Cernia Rossa - roasted grouper, sweet corn caponata, roasted pepper crema. I tried it and the fish was quite flavorful.

For desserts, WY & I had the Cioccolato e Caramelle - valhrona chocolate ganache, salted caramel, vanilla gelato. Again, this was simple, not gimmicky, and a great compliment to my earlier dishes. I took a bite with a layer of chocolate, a layer of caramel with a spinkle of salt, and it was the perfect bite. I love sweet-savoury desserts, and this did it for me.

CP ordered the Affogato - zabaglione gelato, freshly brewed espresso, vanilla bean crema, I've tried this before and loved it. I like to have coffee after my desserts, so this was perfect, sort of like killing two birds with one stone.

All in all, two thumbs up for Convivio's Restaurant Week menu, again, they did not disappoint, their execution was spot on. I'll write about other Convivion experiences the next time.

Address: Convivio, 45 Tudor City Place, New York, NY.

Morocco - Casablanca

2009-07-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

So I want to take a break from writing about food and write about my recent travel to Morocco. My trip started in Casablanca, the largest city in Morocco. What I thought interesting about Morocco is the fact that it's located in the African continent, it is a Muslim country, has a deep Berber root, but bears a heavy French influence due to French Protectorate. It seems like with all these contradicting elements, this country will be conflicted with its identity, but my impression of Morocco is that it is a country of peace, of cultural richness and is blessed with its beautiful & diverse natural landscape.

Anyway, back to Casablanca. You are thinking Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman, oh-so-romantic city? In reality, Casablanca has no significant characteristics and is merely trying to be a functional city. We arrived in the late morning, exhausted, hopped into a petite taxi and got to Novotel (picture below), we wanted to check in an hour earlier than the usual noon check-in time but was told that we would have to pay for half a day's room fee, f*ck no! So instead, my stomach was growling and with the trusted Frommer's Guide, we found a little restaurant and I had my first meal in Morocco. I tried my first Harissa soup, which is essentially lentil & tomato, heavily spiced. It was surprisingly a little bland but perfect for my tired body. I also ordered a Moroccon tea, which was way to sweet. After lunch, not seeing anything particularly interesting in the old town area, we checked into the hotel and passed out.

In the evening, after a very refreshing nap, we took a petite taxi to Le Corniche, which was once a glitzy resort area, with restaurants, hotels & clubs along Boulevard de la Corniche, facing the ocean. Some of the houses we saw around the neighborhood reminded of Beverly Hills, but a lot of the hotels & restaurants looked like they desperately needed a facelift. We had dinner at seafood restaurant, fried seafood is a specialty in Casablanca, the fried calamari in particular was delicious.

The next morning, we woke up and went to the Hassan II Mosque, the third largest mosque in the world and one of the few in Morocco that is open to non-Muslims. It is a fairly recent addition to the city, with contruction completed in 1993. The structure is massive, and apparently the minaret is the tallest in the world. We took a tour inside the mosque, I thought the fountains underneath the mosque for worshippers to wash their hands & feet before they pray were pretty cool. This mosque was commission by the former King, Hassan II and cost something like $800 million to built, all from public donation. Just wondering, wouldn't it be more beneficial building schools & improving the education system with that money, considering the illiteracy rate is 50% in Morocco...I don't know, just my 2 cents.

After Hassan II Mosque, we hopped on a taxi to the train station for our train to Marrakesh. Btw, just a tip if you ever go to Morocco, always insist on the taxi drivers using the meter instead of negotiating the price, the latter only cause unnecessary aggravation. :)

All Casablanca photos here.

Soft Tofu Restaurant (So Kong Dong)

2009-07-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

I call this place the "New Jersey Tofu Soup" place. The restaurant name is so nondescript that I don't even know what it's called until I went for the second time and took a picture of the restaurant sign. My favorite yaokui friends S&G took me to this place end of last year/earlier this year and I absolutely loved it.

This is one of those places you need a car to get to it, and there is always a line outside. Once you get there, get a number, and soon someone will call your number, but don't be too happy because it doesn't mean your table is ready. Instead, they will take your order. They basically only serve two things: Korean tofu soup (soondubu), and bbq short ribs (kalbi). MUST ORDER THE KALBI! For the tofu soup, you can pick what it comes with (either beef or pork or kimchi or mushrooms etc.), the second thing you need to specify is the spice level. I ordered medium spicy both times and it was perfect, any spicier I think I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much because my tongue would be numbed out, and I would start perspiring like I was eating on the roadside in South East Asia.

This place has simple decor, you don't go there to hang out or linger. They are pretty militant about getting people in, serving the food, and getting people out. Once you sit down, the food is pretty much served right away. I love how "streamline" they are, to me, this is by far the best Korean tofu soup & kalbi restaurant in the Tri-state area.

Address: Soft Tofu Restaurant (So Kong Dong), 130 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ 07024.

Gottino

2009-07-12T09:15:00.001-07:00

In the food world, it seems like gastropub is the new black. Recently, a gastro"teca"/Italian gastropub called Gottino popped up in the West Village and it was getting all the hype.

The restaurant/wine bar space is long and narrow, there is a long bar in the front where you can drink & eat, there are few tables behind, and a cute outdoor garden as well.

I am not a wine aficionado so I won't comment on the wine. In terms of food, the best thing I ate there was the rabbit pot pie. It was creamy & yummy, the meat was tender.

The prosciutto was pretty yummy & flavorful. I also liked the cheeses we had.

Overall, I wasn't blown away by Gottino but it's definitely a nice place to hang out, drink, eat & be merry. More pictures here.

Address: Gottino, 52 Greenwich Avenue (near 7th Ave), New York, NY 10011

Size matters?

2009-07-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

A little Sunday humor.

Sripraphai

2009-07-09T07:34:00.000-07:00

The name itself is a bit of a tongue-twister, but if you know what & where Scripraphai is, then you know where to find good authentic Thai food in Queens, New York.

The menu comes in the form of a binder, it's massive! Thank goodness it's a picture-menu. For my first ever Scripraphai visit, I tried a few things and below are my favorites:

Papaya salad with dry shrimp & peanut. We ordered it mild, and like all typical Thai papaya salad, the spicyness kicked in 2 minutes after consumption. I've definitely had better ones in Bangkok - especially the spicy papaya salad I had in Suan Lum Night Market in Bangkok last year..it was so spicy I was tearing up & perspiring like crazy, but OH SO GOOD.

Fried shrimp cake. Very yummy, soft on the inside, crispy & slightly crunchy on the outside.

B.B.Q. pork tender. My absolutely favorite thing @ Sripraphai, very tender and the sweet sauce was perfection.

Bean curd soup with ground pork. Smooth & silky tofu with flavorful soup, I imagine this to be a great cure for a hangover.

I also tried the Green curry with chicken, we ordered it mild and it was slightly spicy, I heard they are pretty generous with making things spicy so be warned.

I also tried a few of their desserts, the black sticky rice & coconut milk was ok, the green mango came with a weirdo savory sauce. We really wanted the mango with sticky rice but it was sold out by the time we got there..oh well, next time then.

Scripraphai, 64-13, 39th Avenue, Woodside, New York. New Location coming soon: 280 Hillside Avenue, Williston Park, New York.

Shack-a-licious

2009-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Now that the weather is nicer, I can visit my favorite shack - Shake Shack in Madison Square Park.

My friend Cyn was visiting from L.A. last week and I took her there. It was a Thursday afternoon at 4pm and there was still a line, albeit only 15-20 minutes long. I've seen the line wrapped around the park, and that to me, is pure insanity, well at least they acknowledged it in this cute little baby onsie. Noteworthy though, is that there is a "shack cam" on their website that you use to monitor the line situation, brilliant!

My default order whenever I go to Shake Shack is the "Single Shack Burger" - it comes with American cheese, pretty fresh lettuce & tomatoes & the secret shack sauce. The portion is perfect for me, I usually also get the milkshake just because I am a glutton. The fries are pretty decent, and they also have special monthly custard flavors if you don't like the traditional vanilla, strawberry & chocolate flavors.

Cyn loved the burger, and was surprised they served decent quality wine (what can I say, New Yorkers love over-the-top things). Shake Shack is my favorite burger joint in the city, the burgers are incredibly juicy & the buns are soft & yummy, I also love the fact that it's in the park in the middle of New York City. They recently also opened an Upper West Side outpost, and get this, the new Mets Stadium, Citifield serves Shake Shack burgers too! But but but...what about the Yankee Stadium??

Address: Shake Shack, Madison Square Park (Madison Avenue & East 23rd Street)/366 Columbus Avenue (at 77th Street)/Citifield, Home of the New York Mets!

The Spotted Pig

2009-06-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

So here's the real confession, I LOVE the West Village. I love downtown in general, especially the West Village, which is slightly ironic because I've always lived on the East side. To me, The East Village all about the convenience, but the West Village is a gem. It is less hectic, a lot of more quaint, and somewhere tucked in the narrow streets with pretty names like Jane Street, Gay Street, Horatio Street is an establishment which is conceptually still quite new to New York called The Spotted Pig, and it's a gastropub. If it sounds very English, that's because the chef April Bloomfied (also executive chef at John Dory) is from England.

For a restaurant with the word "pig" in its name, they actually don't serve a lot of pork dishes. The decor is simple, with wooden tables & chairs and a long bar in the front.

I tried a few things on the menu on a recent late night visit to The Spotted Pig. I loved the Sheep’s Ricotta Gnudi with Brown Butter & Sage. After doing some reading online, it seems that chef April Bloomfield started a gnudi frenzy. A gnudi is a small dumpling but instead of potato, it's made with ricotta cheese. It's more delicate than a gnochhi and the brown butter & sage sauce was simple yet fantastic.

The Prosciutto & Ricotta Tart with Marjoram was another hit, the ricotta tart was so fluffy & buttery, and I've never even heard of the word "marjoram" until I went to The Spotted Pig. After reading an interview online with April Bloomfield, sounds like she loves marjoram & think it's underrated. It's a green herb with aromatic leaves, it looks a little bit like the rocket/arugula.

I heard the Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings was popular, turned out it's special not in the burger but in the cheese they put on top of the burger. Roquefort cheese is made with ewe's milk. It had the pungent taste of a blue cheese. Sounds fancy? Now you know what I mean by a gastropub?

The Deviled Eggs on the other hand was very so-so, it was very vinegar-y, I've definitely had better ones.

I laughed out loud when I read this interview on NYT - April Bloomfield said that her guilty pleasure is condensed milk, directly quoting her - "until you boil it for four hours and then it becomes sex in a tin!".....now where's my condense milk? :D

Address: The Spotted Pig, 314 W. 11th Street @ Greenwich St., New York, NY 10014.

Skinny Bitches @ Rice to Riches

2009-06-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Last week, I went to Rice to Riches after dinner with my friend YS. There was a sign on the door of Rice to Riches that says "no skinny bitches allowed". We looked at each other and laughed....theoretically, we should be rejected from this establishment but our goal is to walk out of there looking less skinny. We got the mango rice pudding with oatmeal coconut crumble topping. It was yummy. We shared the smallest rice pudding ($5) and yet, we couldn't finish it. The creaminess just gets to you after a while. I was never a big fan of rice puddings for this reason. I would suggest getting a fruitier flavor instead of the heavy chocolate or cheesecake, unless you can handle the creaminess. Or if you are completely shameless, you can try all the flavors until you decide what you want. :D

One thing I do like about Rice to Riches is the way they market themselves - edgy & hip. It seems like they take their rice puddings seriously but not themselves (in a humorous way).

I want to share my post-dessert-dessert story because it was THE highlight of the evening. I was walking home saw lots of girls standing behind a barricade on Mott Street (first picture below), there seemed to be a movie shoot going on and when I found out who it was that they were waiting for, I almost hyperventilated. If you read my previous post, you'd know that I was obsessing over the twilight books; low and behold, Robert Pattinson aka Mr. Edward Cullen was in the movie shoot!! He is SO the flavor of the month for me right now. Anyway, I saw the filming from across the street, somewhere in the second photo below (towards the right) is him. I could see him filming a carnival scene and he looked pretty delicious, more so than the rice pudding, so I have to say my post-dessert-dessert was better than my dessert. :)

Address: Rice to Riches, 37 Spring Street
(between Mott and Mulberry St.), New York NY.

Centovini

2009-06-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

Recently, I went to Centovini in Soho for dinner with my gfs prior to our girl-movie-night-out. Centovini is currently serving a 3-course pre-fix menu for $38, which is great for value but I was more in awe of the restaurant decor more than the food. I believe they get some of their furnitures & fixtures from Moss, which means, we were staring at some pretty expensive chandelier.

For appetizers, nothing really stood out but I thought the Fried Duck Egg with Asparagus Salad and House-Cured Duck Prosciutto was quite good. The Rolled Braised Pork Belly in Ragù wasn't as fatty as I expected but it tasted like meatballs, very homey.

For entree, my favorite was the Seared Sea Scallops with Fava Beans, Spring Onions and Castelvetrano Olives. The scallops were fresh and all the vegetables went really well with the scallops. The Lobster Filled Ravioli, with Herbed Butter Sauce and Corn Shoots was decent, but nothing earth-shattering. I later read that their Cavatelli (Apulian Flour Dumplings with Broccoli Rabe) is the star on the menu but we didn't try.

I had the Espresso Granita for dessert, and it was delicious. It was basically shaved espresso ice with panna on top. The other one I liked was the Steamed Chocolate Pudding with Crème Fraiche and White Chocolate Tuille, you can never go wrong with chocolate. :)

Worthy of a mention is the movie we watched - Departures (Okuribito), which won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars last year. I loved the fluidity of the movie similar to the hand gestures/mannerism of the main actor in the movie), and what I find unrivaled in a lot of Japanese films is their success in creating subtlety, without sacrificing the message they are trying to deliver. There is an aspect of the movie that is slightly morbid, but not in a scary way, and I highly recommend bringing tissue. It wasn't a pretty sight with four girls sobbing and none of us had a tissue!

All Centovini Pictures
Address: Centovini, 25 West Houston Street (Between Greene & Mercer), New York, NY 10012

2nd Avenue Deli (not on 2nd Avenue anymore)

2009-06-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

I used to go to 2nd Avenue Deli quite often when it was still in its original location on 2nd Avenue & 10th Street but since they re-opened in the new location in midtown, I haven't been until three weeks ago. And check this out, 2nd Avenue Deli actually has a wikipedia entry! Hah! I don't know if it really is the "best kosher deli" in New York but it certainly is one of those vintage New York establishment. Not to mention, it serves my favorite matzoh ball soup in the city.

What they are really famous for though, is their delicious sandwiches, the most popular are the hot corned beef (see below), pastrami & tongue sandwiches. The sandwiches are huge, I can barely finish half a sandwich unless I REALLY REALLY try.

Another of my personal favorite is the salami omelette, it's brunch food but I can eat it at anytime of the day, how great is that!

Sometimes free stuff are just as good - they always bring out the sour pickles and coleslaw as soon you sit down. I love the coleslaw, not a big fan of sour pickles in general because I can't eat them without making a, well, sour face.

Address: 2nd Avenue Deli, 162 East 33rd Street (between Lexington & 3rd Avenue).

Minamoto Kitchoan

2009-06-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

I am not that crazy about Japanese wagashi, that said, you can bet your dollar that everytime I walk into Minamoto Kitchoan, I'll end up buying some delicate little Japanese treats because everything in there looks so darn nice!

The Japanese really know how to package their products, everything you purchase comes in this beautiful box or bags, I do think they are wasting a lot of resources & creating unncessary trash with the elaborate packaging but if you want a pretty gift for a friend who appreciates traditional Japanese confectionary, this is a good place to go. Be prepared to spend though because it's not cheap. Most pastries are $2-6, and it adds up very quickly. Some of the pictures have prices for the wagashi, so you have an idea of the price range.

Address: Minamoto Kitchoan (photos). 608 5th Avenue (between 48th St & 49th St), New York, NY 10020 (by Rockerfeller Center).

Peet Peet Peet.....

2009-06-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

So my friend BKC flashed me the yellow card today for having an idle blog, I figured before they red card is out, I should write something to entertain.

First of all, I must explain my absense from the blog after my return from Morocco & Paris. The reason consists of two words - Twilight Saga. I couldn't put the books down, the last time I felt so compelled to breeze through hundreds of pages & sacrifice sleep was reading Dan Brown's books. The Twilight Saga consists of four book, it's a love story between a teen girl, and a vampire stuck in the body of a 17 year-old....Trust me, I know how ridiculous it sounds, and the truth is, it's even cheesier than you can ever imagine, not to mention the dialogues gave me goosebumps (not in a good way). I was secretly embarassed when I decided to read it, thinking that I am too old for this teenage soap opera bullsh*t. Turns out, the story was elaborate, the plot was interesting, the writing was smart, and most importantly the love theme triggered my estrogen & f*cked with my hormones. I am a woman, and an emotional one at core, so how can I not like it?? I went from feeling all gooey in the first book, to actually shedding a tear (don't worry, happens very often, the crying thing) reading the second book, to getting annoyed at the character in the third, to lastly having an adrenaline rush reading the last. This is a total guilty pleasure, it's so BAD it's GOOODDD...all my girlfriends (& gay friends) loved it.

So there is a point to this post, that is, how many of us believe that we don't get to choose who we fall in love with? When that happens, why does it always seem like it's with the wrong person, and how far will we go before you realize that you have to amputate the bad leg to save the rest? Anyway, let me know what you think. Meanwhile, I think it's about damn time I clean my apartment, do laundry, download pictures from my trip, and get back to reality (aka writing about food)....

Back!

2009-06-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

So I disappeared for a while, took some time off to travel, did some interesting things and now I am back. Took Air France from Paris and landed safely in New York, thank goodness. I was obsessed with the Air France 447 news, still am, it's so puzzling to me. Whatever it was, I just hope that it was over quickly for the people onboard. It made me wonder, if it happened to me, what would be the last thing I would say, and what would be the last thought on my mind...

Anyway, hate to sound so morbid, I am still trying to get my groove back and my appetite back. I had food poisoning in Morocco, not sure what I ate wrong or where I hate it, but for about two days, I couldn't really eat much and my stomach made the weirdest sound. It was so unfortunate because even by the time I got Paris, I really had to force the last bits of the food at Pierre Gagnaire down my throat. I'm happy to report that I am starting to feel hungry again..and strangely, craving Asian food like nobody's business.

I'll be BACK!

Txikito

2009-05-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Within the last 2 weeks, I’ve been to Txikito three times, and that alone sums up how I feel about this relatively new restaurant. Txikito (pronounced chee-kee-toh) which means small is a Basque Country tapas restaurants.

The first time I went there, we ordered up pretty much all the tapas on the menus. We sat at the bar, and the bartender, Brian, who incidentally holds the worlds record for the most Pete Townsend armswings took really good care of us. The food & alcohol kept coming and the fun didn’t stop. The food, oh my gosh, the food was amazing. The foie gras on toast was great, the mentaiko fries was sinful, the Conchinillo (slow roasted suckling pig) was to die for, and the txuleton….Peter Luger, watch outtttttt…..!!!Before we left, Brian told us that in a week, Txikito is doing a txoko, which is essentially a private food tasting event. Without hesitating, we signed up.

So Monday came, and we showed up and was promptly seated at the bar. Brian whipped up a special drink which is a mescal (type of tequila) with coconut foam. It was very delicious. You usually see an adverse reaction from me when the word tequila is mentioned (college-era cheap tequila days were not pretty) but a mescal is slightly different in the sense that it is made with the heart of the Algarve plant. We also had honey glazed pork rinds as “teaser”.

Before I go any further I think it’s important to mention the guest chefs - Ruben Garcia, Ramon Martinez and Will Goldfarb. There is one thing in common with all three of them, and that is “El Bull”. Ruben Garcia and Will Goldfarb met while working in El Bulli, Will consequently went on to open Room for Dessert, and Ruben Garcia ended up at THINKfood Group, which is based in DC under Jose Andreas (famous restaurant – Minibar), and Ramon subsequently joined. When I heard these three chefs were El Bulli trained, I sort of expected that this would a molecular gastronomy type of evening.

Now onto the food, the first course that arrived was the mussel blanched in its own “juice”, with pepper and oil, This was a cold appetizer and boy, did I wish they served a dozen instead of one each. The mussel was really fresh, and the sauce was so good my friends licked up the sauce. The sauce tasted like mussel soup condensed into cream with fragrant oil.

The second dish was the little triangle of bacon, almond & bleu cheese, it was very simple but delicate.

Quickly followed was the steamed bun, topped with sea urchin, shisho pepper & lemon. This dish was quite a pleasant surprise, the ingredients were very asian, but it was what I would call “the perfect bite”, everything worked.

I took a look at the next course and I knew it would not be something I eat everyday. It was chicken hearts on skewer with tximitxuri sauce. Mind you, I felt slightly guilt-stricken when I saw the little hearts but the minute I bit into one, sorry chicken, your sacrifice was worth it. The chicken heart wasn’t gamy at all, and it was grilled to perfection, a little charred, and the texture was slightly springy, simple amazing.

Next came the highlight of the night for me, it was the heart of sea cucumber with sherry reduction, praline pine nut sauce and some other things I don’t remember. Sea cucumber is a delicacy and the fact that they got it in NY was pretty impressive. It was again, lightly grilled to bring out the flavor and the praline pine nut sauce was out of the world. It was truly orgasmic.

Then came the tender loving ajo blance – almond gazpacho, garlic oil, fig snow, early almond and vinegar. I have to say it was the most refreshing gazpacho I’ve ever had. It was milky with a subtle hint of almond, The early almond was interesting, it wasn’t the crunch almond nuts I had in mind, instead it had the texture of boiled peanuts except crunchier.

(I am sorry guys, this is a very long post)...

After the refreshing gazpacho, the chef hit us with the pleasant "ocean" dish of cigales - gambas, baby cucumber in blossom, sea asparagus, marigold flower, lemon juice & soy air with a side of the gambas head "juice" (sounds dirty I know, but it was delicious - imagine sipping the essense of prawns). By this time, my feet was no longer touching the ground. I was on this incredible gastronomy journey, and the fact that the chefs put all these complex ingredients and thoughts into one plate just blew my mind.

The last savoury dish was the hearty veal cheeks, cape gooseberry, pumpkin seed oik, basil, licorice air. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it..nada.

For desserts, the gave us the amuse bouche of lemon meringue, tomato, basil, campari, grapefruit sorbet, white asparagus, mustard oil (bold choice) & sprayed dried coconut. This was so refreshing & palatte-cleasing. The sourness hit the right spot & I was ready for more.

The main dessert was rum gelee, preserved apple, chocolate cream, chocolate nougatine, pine nuts with greek yogurt sorbet. Holy smoke, it was sweet, sour, salty, nutty...mindblowing!

Lastly, we had the marshmallow with dark rum sugar, tarragon & passionfruit smoked salt. This was simply marshmallow done right (and I am running out of adjectives). :P

The chefs came out afterwards and we got to talk to all three guest chefs and owner Alex Raij.

This post officially wore me out, and I just want to say, go to Txikito, actually no, RUN to Txikito!

Address: Txikito, 40 9th Ave (between 24th & 25th), New York, NY 10001

Cafecito

2009-05-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

I hardly venture east of Avenue A, so when my friends were meeting at Cafecito on Avenue C for dinner, it gave me the perfect reason to venture into unfamiliar territory. Cafecito is a Cuban restaurant, for the price & quality of food, this is definitely a place worth going out of your way for.

For appetizer, I loved the ceviche with fried plantains. The ceviche was very fresh and the fried plantains were perfect with the ceviche.

For entree, most of my friends ordered the "Bistec De Palomilla" - sirloin marinated in garlic and extra virgin olive oil, topped with sauteed onions served with white rice, black beans and tostones. The steak was juicy, flavorful and get this, less than $15!

The "Camarones Al Ajillo" - shrimp with garlic, citrus and butter served with yellow rice and sweet plantains was also delicious. For dessert, the best was probably the flourless chocolate cake.

Nothing is super-extraordinary at this place but for the price, the "view" (great people-watching, our waitress was gorgeous), and the fun & relaxing atmosphere, this is definitely a place I would go back to, it's also date-worthy spot (take note B).

Address: Cafecito, 185 Avenue C (Btwn 11th & 12th St), New York 10009

Cupcake tasting party

2009-05-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

My friend "Cher" decided to organize a cupcake tasting party last weekend in conjunction with her birthday, what a brilliant idea! I LOVE cupcakes, and my girl friends and I are always talking about which bakery has the best cupcakes, so why not sample them all in one night?

Isn't it an overwhelming sight??? We had cupcakes from nine different bakeries, they were from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery (Lower East Side), Amy's Bread (various NYC locations), Billy's Bakery (Chelsea), Dessert Club Chikalicious (East Village), Two Little Red Hens (UES), Butterlane Cupcakes (East Village), Tribeca Treats (well, Tribeca), Kyotofu (Hells Kitchen), Sage American Kitchen (Long Island City).

We tasted and voted the best of the best, and the result was...*drum roll*....
1. Chikalicious (also my personal favorite, the key was in the icing, it was light & fluffy, not too sweet, and the cake was perfectly moist).
2. Butterlane Cupcakes (another one of my top choice - I usually go there and ask them to pick a fresh cupcake from the oven, they lather on the icing and I gobble it down quickly because the icing will start to melt as the cake is warm. Icing is slightly sweeter than Chikalicious).
3. Tribeca Treats (small dainty cupcakes with pretty icing toppings, the cakes were a little dry compared to the first two).
4. Kyotofu (last weekend was the first time I had Kyotofu cupcakes and the green tea cupcakes were divine. No icing on top, but the cakes were dense & moist, the chocolate one was also amazing, I believe they sprinkled salt in it because it was savory sweet).

This is such fun that I think we need to organize more tasting events, maybe fried chicken, gelato, cheese etc...

Grand Sichuan on St. Marks

2009-05-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Grand Sichuan is a successful Sichuan restaurant chain in NY & NJ. It serves authentic Sichuan & Hunan food (as authentic as it gets outside of Chinatown), the price is reasonable and the menu is pretty extensive.

I frequent the St. Marks location and I definitely have my favorites:

The cold cucumber with scallion sauce is a must have, it is a cold appetizer, it's garlicky (which I don't mind) & extremely appetizing.

The asparagus, egg & crab meat soup is something I like to order on a cold day in NYC.

The smoked tea duck was something I just discovered at lunch today, this is a Hunan dish, the skin is crispy and the duck meat is juicy from the duck fat.

Other favorites include Chong Qing dry & spicy chicken, which isn't as good as what I've had in Hong Kong but at least it has the same tongue numbing effect due to the giant heap of peppercorns. The chicken with spicy sauce (also called Saliva Chicken with direct translation from the Chinese menu) is a cold appetizer which reminds me of Hainanese Chicken in a spicy & sweet sauce. The desserts are great too, I tried and liked the pumpkin cake (deep fried) & sticky rice ball with sesame in soup.

Address: Grand Sichuan, 23 St. Mark's Place, New York, NY 10003.

Pig-a-licious

2009-05-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Cafe Colonial is an old favorite of mine, I haven't been there for a while but I suddenly though of it today, maybe I'll go there this weekend for brunch. My absolute favorite thing there is the Warm Pulled Pork Loin Sandwich in a anjo mole sauce, served with guacamole, sour cream, fries and corn on the cob.

For brunch, I also like their Banana French Toast (made with challah bread and stuffed with fresh bananas) and Basket of Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese puffs). This is a very small cafe, it is very quaint and I especially love the big windows. The space is flooded with light during the day - you get to sit in the cafe where they don't rush you and you can watch the world (well, just Houston Street) go by.

Address: Cafe Colonial, 276 Elizabeth Street (corner of Houston), New York, NY 10012

Yummy cookies alert!

2009-05-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

My coworker Jimmy is an avid baker and this week, he started a trial run selling his baked goods through Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Café. Yesterday, two of my colleagues went to Lily O'Brien's to pick up his chocolate chip cookies with shaved coconut and almonds, they were DELICIOUS! I LOVE soft baked cookies and those were done to perfection. In the past, he's brought in cookies randomly and they were all really good. He also made a fresh batch of brown sugar brownies, which are apparently heavenly with Lily O’Brien’s chocolate dipping sauce. I didn't get to try the brownies it was all gone because no one had any leftovers. :(

You know that scene from American Beauty with Mena Suvari swirling in the rose petals? I don't mind doing that except with cookies instead of rose petals. :)

Address: Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Café, 36 W 40th Street (between 5th and 6th), NY 10018

Baoguette Cafe

2009-05-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

Baoguette Cafe is now in my neighborhood! Yay! The first time I went, a few days after the St. Marks location opened, chef & owner Michael Bao Hyunh was working in the kitchen.

The spicy beef noodle soup (below) was pretty great, the broth was a little spicy, slightly sour & very flavorful.

Their signature baoguette - with pork terine, pate, pulled pork & fresh herbs is a little bit different from the typicaly Vietnamese sandwich(bánh mì). I liked it a lot, the ingredients were fresh, the baguette was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

They also had pandan soft serve with condensed milk. It was soo creamy, too sweet but very yummy. The color looked very artificial but it tasted better than it looked. They also had a durian flavor one that I did not try. I spoke to Michael Bao and he mentioned that they will expand the flavors for the summer.

I've also tried their cat fish sandwich with cucumber relish, pickled red onion, and honey mustard sauce. You can customize how spicy you want it to me, I picked medium spicy but it was spicier than I expected, the japeno really packed a punch. The green papaya salad with tiger shrimp, mint, peanut & lime dressing on the other hand was very light and refreshing.

Looks like Michael Bao Hunyh & his wife Thao Nguyen are very savvy business people, there are already 3 baoguettes in the city now.
Address: 37 St. Mark's Place(between 2nd Ave & 3rd Ave), New York, NY 10003
Address: 61 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10010
Address: @ Pho sure, 120 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014

Sun Ma in Brooklyn

2009-05-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

I just polished off my nasi lemak from Kak Liza (her sambal ikan bilis is delicious!) and now I am craving more Malaysian food. I suddenly want Malaysian food at Sun Ma (in Brooklyn).

From top left clockwise:

Malaysian ice cofee, bak kut teh, seafood wat tan hor, Hainanese chicken, cereal prawn, curry yong tau fu & marmite ribs.

My favorites from Sun Ma were the marmite ribs & curry yong tau fu.

Address: Sun Ma (Formerly called Sun Kay), 5918 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220, USA

I found my ice cream truck!!

2009-05-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last year, I was in Soho on a hot day and Van Leeuwen ice cream truck showed up like a knight in shining armor. Ok, it didn't just "show up", I stumbled upon it. I ordered a small cup of ginger ice cream and instantly fell in love with the ice cream. I chatted with the guy, assumingly Ben Van Leeuwen and he was telling me about the difficulty of obtaining a street permit, we parted ways and then life took over, I went to Hong Kong and I forgot about it.

Last week, I was at Saigon Grill for dinner and lo' and behold, the ice cream truck was parked right infront of the restaurant on University Place. I was delighted, Sasha (my friend's 3-year-old) wanted ice cream so she got him the strawberry, I tried a little and it was very creamy & yummy (think more milk, less strawberry).

Ben Van Leeuwen apparently sources his ingredients from all over the world, and he only uses hormone-free, organic milk and turbinado sugar. His packaged ice cream is also sold in Whole Foods. The flavors are very basic but the ingredients are of very high quality. if you have lactose intolerance, this is a no-go for you. He also uses bio-degradable cups, and I read on gourmet.com that one percent of his profits go to protecting the Congo Mountain Gorilla. I am glad I know where to find it now, I am sure it will come in handy as summer is approaching. :)

Address: Truck locations, corner of Greene St. and Prince St., 1-7 P.M.; University Pl. between 10th St. and 11th St., 8-10:30 P.M.

Really mini cupcakes

2009-05-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

I was walking around Soho this evening trying to help stimulate the economy and I stumbled upon a tiny store front that sells mini cupcakes. The store is called 'Baked by Mellisa', the cupcakes are bite-sizes, and there are seven flavors. I ordered six of them (they were tiny, and yes, I ate them all), I got all the flavors except the "tie-dye" and "peanut butter & jelly".

The cupcakes were really moist, and it had the sticky cake top that I like. They were a bit on the sweet side but the flavors were really fun. You need to get 3 minimum for $3, I got 6 for $5.50. It is pricey but they were so incredibly cute!

Address: 529 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 (window is on Spring Street between Mercer & Broadway).

The 3 minutes that touched my heart

2009-05-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is so good I have to share. In the industry I work in, we often talk about the influence of viral videos. This is technically not a viral video but a tv commercial by Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) in Singapore. With a great thing called youtube, I get to watch amazing commercials like this halfway across the world. Warning: tissues needed, I sobbed like a mofo watching the 3 minute video.

ThinkFamily video

The second one is a less touching commercial, but it's pretty sweet still.

Another ThinkFamily video

Corton

2009-04-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Corton is one of the hottest place in town at the moment, I've been trying to get a reservation with no luck, but somehow last week when I was clicking around opentable, I found a reservation for 6 on a Thursday night! Hi ho, hi ho, to Corton we go!

The space that Corton now occupy used to be Montrachet, which I went to many many years ago and remembered the food being good and refined. I am not sure what happened to Montrachet, but with rockstar executive chef Paul Liebrandt (who used to work at Restaurant Marco Pierre White & Pierre Gagnaire amongst others) manning the kitchen at Corton, that sounds like a winning recipe, no?

I started the night with the delicious salted seaweed butter & sweet butter on my thinly sliced craberry toasted bread. They also gave us small savoury choux pastries with cheese (gougère) & vegetable sponge breads (génoise) prior to our appetizers. The amuse bouche was cooked hamachi (yellow tail) on top of a permesan crackers.

I picked the "Vou-la-vant" as my appetizer. A typical voulavent is a small puff pastry with savory fillings. The voulavent I had was completely deconstructed, with a few rings of puff pastries on top of crayfish, morrel mushrooms and foam. I wish I wrote down all the ingredients because it was so interesting and intricate. Every bite tasted different, it was complex, yet it worked.

I also tried the foie gras with hibiscus, beet gelée & blood orange, that was relatively less impressive; meanwhile the "Flavors of Early Spring" which consisted of crab meat, durade & scallops (3 different plates) looked nothing like what it should be - figuring out what was really in the food was like solving a crime mystery.

For entrée, I had the John Dory & Diver Scallop with Tokyo turnip, white miso purée, black olive & dried orange. This was in-cre-di-ble. I especially loved the french curry sauce that complemented the fish, but the biggest surprise to me was the side dish of squid gnocchi with cheese, the squid taste was very subtle, and dare I say, I liked the gnocchi even more than the main plate.

Lastly, for dessert, I had the brioche with passion fruit, coffee & banana. The black square in the picture is the coffee - imagine putting a piece of paper thin coffee in your mouth with it melting on your tongue...mmmm....the brioche was coated in caramel with a dollop of passion fruit sauce in the middle and caramelized banana, and strangely, there was a small piece of cheese which was a bit puzzling. I also tried the chocolate fondant and oh man, it's a complete chocgasm. The Vacherin (meringue crisps) with pineapple, earl grey, rhubarb & honeydew was so light and refreshing, and visually stunning.

There were some hits and some misses but it was overall good. The wine we picked, which was an in house wine - Corton Rouge Edmond Cornu Aloxe-Corton ‘Valozières’ Premier Cru 2004 (thanks HC) was light & yummy. Paul Liebrandt is an ambitious guy, and it's apparent in the food. Corton is technically a French restaurant, but the ingredients he used was truly international. I appreciate his drive to push the envelop, and he succesfully did so. I read a few of the interviews with him, seems like a funny & eccentric guy. Unfortunately he didn't let us take pictures of him in the kitchen, not sure if he was shy or he was not in a good mood. Mr. Liebrandt, come on now, that baby face of yours need to be on camera more often.

All Corton Photos here

Address: Corton, 239 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013

回应

2009-04-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

曾经
我也有过一把钥匙
房子的未来有我的名字

有一天
发现戏演得太久了
心还在但人已经太累了

其实
常常埋怨自己失责
如果我坚持结果如何?

最终发现
看到终点并不代表什么
原来一直是在自讨苦吃

P.S.- 花了很长的时间才写完. 中文写得比小学时的还要烂, 很多字还是必须用 "google translation" 找的, 都忘了. 真没用!

The Perfect Storm

2009-04-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

I suckered my friend DM into guest-writing for my blog because I was lazy. In exchange of doing me a favor, I've promised to advertise him to my single lady friends. Ladies, if you are single & bilingual, send me your resume. :) Lastly, a shout out to S&G for a fantastic house party, you guys are the awesomest hosts.

My best foodmories (memories of fantastic eating experiences) are not of the latest creations fashioned in the kitchens of three-star restaurants, but meals cooked at home and shared with family and/or friends. And like family and true friends, such meals can not be bought. Having dined at some of this city's fine establishments, I still pine for my mother's clay pot rice and soya sauce chicken. My greatest foodmory of all time was my first bite of the teenage mutant ninja turtle ice cream cake she baked for me on my 6th birthday. I have not purchased or tasted better cake.

The damp drizzle that began early Saturday morning had transmogrified into a vengeful April shower. As I walked to S&G's apartment from the Pavonia PATH station, I mumbled curses at the chubby rain droplets that plopped unceremoniously on the pavement and my face. After a walk that seemed almost eternal, I was ushered into their apartment by much needed warmth, the yelps of an adorable Welsh Corgi and the aroma of bah ku teh ("BKT"). A finer welcome I could not imagine.

Turning to the source of the aroma, in the middle of a cozy round table sat a clay pot containing a steaming herbal liquid, spicy and sweet simultaneously. The key difference between Malaysian and Singaporean style BKT is the consistency of the soup. Malaysian style BKT is slightly thicker and darker, with a herbal and sweet aftertaste accompanying the characteristic salt and pepper of the dish. It's Singaporean counterpart is lighter in both color and consistency, with a distinct focus on saltiness. Swimming in the soup were hunks of garlic, strands of Chinese celery, whole Chinese black mushrooms, tau pok and of course, generous portions of pork darkened and softened after stewing slowly in the boiling soup. The piping hot soup and the flavorful pork were accompanied by fried yew tiao, cut into manageable pieces and inspected by Ein. As second and third servings of BKT were doled out, chicken wings lathered in marmite were fried in the pan by S&G and quickly devoured.

To satisfy our love of things sweet, an assortment of cupcakes (both mini and large) purchased from Magnolia and Two Little Red Hens were laid out before still hungry guests. Red velvet cupcakes topped with heavenly cream cheese icing were the celebrities and were mobbed as soon as they appeared. Poofy soft cream puffs and green tea and strawberry cakes hailing from Jas Mart were also proffered to the manic street eaters, who wasted no time laying waste to the assortment of desserts.

Appetites satiated and cravings satisfied, it was time to shift focus to more visual, tactile and interactive pleasures. I had the privilege of holding precious baby Emma in my arms and I watched with a mixture of horror and amusement as she slathered drool on my chest and shoulders. Who could say no to such a rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed baby? The Xbox was broken out shortly thereafter and the rock stars came on stage. Belting out the words and riffs from songs such as "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Under the Bridge" on Rock Band, we were brought back to our rocking glory days and for a short moment, semi-realized our dreams of being rockers. With sore throats and various other body parts making themselves felt from our exertions, we adjourned to more physically manageable games that only involved shooting bullets and calling air strikes on friends. Others interested in more cerebral pursuits had back-to-back games of Dai Dee raging on behind us, as Squad Singapore continued to take on Team Malaysia to score the most kills in Call of Duty 4.

Days like these are hard to come by. But when they do, you remember them forever. It was time to prise myself away from the couch and head back through the lingering cold and go home. It was difficult to do, but at least the storm had passed. As I walked away from the apartment, I realized that I had forgotten to ask S for her BKT recipe. But after further thought, even if I had it, the BKT wouldn't taste the same if I made it on my own. Missing ingredients: love, camaraderie and laughter.

All BKT Party Pictures. Yaokuis, if you want the full res, email me, you know who you are.

Salumeria Rosi

2009-04-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Dining at Salumeria Rosi is like dining at a high end delicatessan. It is a restaurant and a salumeria (cured meat shop) all in one. The salumi (cured meat) comes from the Rosi family in Parma who produces and distributes high quality salumi since the 70's under the succesful label Parmacotto. The brainchild behind the kitchen is Cesare Casella, who met the Rosi family through a chanced encounter.

I heard about Salumeria Rosi through my regular yaokui friends, S&G, the minute I heard the magic word "guanciale" (pork jowl), I knew I had to go.

I went with my usual hungry friends on a Friday night. We started with the salumi. We ordered a plate of Prosciutto di Parma, Guanciale, Pancetta, Speck Alto Adige, Soppressata and God knows what. That was our first plate of salumi and there were many more that followed, and I think we tried almost everything on the salumi menu. The quality was superb, and I felt like I was attending a salumi tasting event, they were all different, but I liked the coppa & guanciale best. I love how they teach you how to pronounce the names of salumi on their menu and website.

Now, on to test out Cesare Casella's creativity. We ordered a bunch of small plates. These are a few of my favorites:

Insalate pontormo - Cesare's signature salad of soft- scrambled egg, pancetta and market greens. The combination was pure genius! I've eaten scrambled eggs with salad on the side, but putting them together worked 100%. Cesare, you rock!

Risotto di Zucca Butternut squash risotto. Are you kidding me?? It was creamy but light, sweet but savoury, I demanded one more bowl AND I wanted to marry it (yeah, the risotto).

Zuppa carbonara - egg with bacon & parmensan soup with croutons. This dish summed up comfort food in a pretty bowl. It had all the elements I love - egg, pork & cheese. Actually, I take back my earlier statement about marrying the risotto, I want to marry the Zupp Carbonara now.

Rigatoni Mezze all'Amatriciana - Artisinal pasta with cured pork, red onions and tomatoes. The pasta was perfect cooked, and the tomatoes did not overpower the cured pork. Too bad Cesare wasn't in the kitchen that night, if not I would've given him a hug for the good food.

Ok, so he's not perfect - on to the things I didn't like that much. The Soppressata di Polpo - Terrine of Mediterranean octopus, olive and caper sauce was bland and somewhat tasteless. The Trippa - Slow cooked tripe stew was probably as well cooked as tripe goes, but I am not a big fan of the texture. (It's not you, it's me, Cesare).

Lastly, for desserts, we had he cherry & almond bread pudding, ricotta cheesecake, chocolate mousse and a cheese plate. The bread pudding stood out for me, and the cheese plate we ordered were pretty good as well, there was an unusual goat+milk cheese that was outstanding.

Will I go back to Salumeria Rosi again? In a heartbeat, even if it's just to grab some salumi to go. The interior of Salumeria Rosi is pretty cool, it's chic and trippy. Cesare, who is usually seen walking around the restaurant with a piece of herb (it was rosemary that night) in his shirt pocket adds a lot of character to this place.

All Salumeria Photos

Address: Salumeria Rosi, 283 Amsterdam Ave. (between 73rd & 74th St), New York, NY 10023

Going Green

2009-04-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

I'm giving my blog a new look - I'm going green. The blog was previously pink, I love pink in general, but somehow on my blog, not so much. Personally, I am also trying to go green by printing less paper, using less plastic bags, recycling as much as I can, switching off lights everytime I leave the room, unplugging charges not in use and nagging people around me to do the same. :) I believe every little bit helps, so you (yes, *pointing at you*) should try your best to go green.

Brasserie

2009-04-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

There are two reasons to go to Brasserie Restaurant:

1. Onion Soup Gratinée with Gruyère & Emmenthaler Cheese - the cheese on top is crispy, once you crack that open, the cheese inside is gooey and flavorful.

2. Chocolate beignets - deep fried with delicious melted chocolate. Awesomeness!

The decor is also prety groovy, they serve french brasserie type food but the decor is hip, sleek and cool, completely not what I expected. I love french onion soups, throw me recommendations if you have them.

Address: Brasserie, 100, East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

Daniel

2009-04-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

My memory of Daniel circa 2003/2004 was its seriousness and stuffiness, unfortunately, no memories of the good food whatsoever. After learning that Daniel had a recent facelift, I was eager to find out if it is new and improved.

Dare I say, if the old Daniel smelled old money, the new Daniel definitely represents new money (or whatever new money that's left in New York City). Mr. Boulud finally realized that frou-frouness is out, simplicity is in. The minute I walked into the restaurant, I was impressed, the bar room is really sexy. The decor in the dining room is beautiful, very subtle yet still cozy, there are contemporary artworks on the wall, the old opulent ceiling tent was gone, thank goodness.

On to the food, the Maine Peekytoe Crab with Fuji Apple, Celery Crème Fraîche & Hearts of Palm was a great starter. The peekytoe crab was very fresh and the dish was light but at the same time complex. I thought this was incredible, until I took of a bite of special appetizer of the day, seared foie gras and I almost collapsed on the chair in ectasy. I've had a lot of awesome foie gras and this was one of the top 5.

My entree was their new classic fish dish - Halibut baked on Himalayan sea salt with Fennel Confit, Thai Basil, Old Chatham Yogurt Curry Sauce. From the sauces, you can definitely tell that Daniel had ventured into Nouvelle French, and I can vouch that they did so, succesfully. The halibut was tasty, the sauce was subtle but just right. AX ordered the Trio of milk fed veal - veal cheeks, tenderloin and crispy sweetbread. The orange thingy on the right was actually a vegetable sculpture wrapped in thinly sliced carrots. I didn't try everything he had on that plate but he didn't talk after the plate arrived, I guess that says it all.

Lastly for dessert, we had the Cilantro poached pineapple (with coconut, accompanied by lime-Rum Gelée & Piña Colada Sorbet) and the Basil marinated citrus (with bergamot cream & olive oil sorbet). I definitely think the former was much better, the thin sheet on top of the poached pineapple was like a coconut candy that melted in my mouth, and the Piña Colada Sorbet tasted like a beach vacation. The latter dessert was a bit strange for me, the citrus tasted like blood, i know, don't ask me why, but that's the first word that came to my mind, the the olive oil sorbet didn't do it for me.

Overall, it was a very satisfying meal, well it better be for $105 for the pre-fix. I also want to mention how impeccable the service was. The restaurant was filled (what recession?) but the minute I looked up, someone was there tending to my needs. AX wasn't sure which dessert wine he wanted to get, and they let him tried both, still undecided, they actually poured him half of each. The service definitely enhanced the dining experience, and not in an annoying or intimidating way.

Address: Daniel, 60, East 65th Street (between Park & Madison Avenue), New York, NY 10065.

Village Voice Choice Eats 2009

2009-04-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

My coworker B told me about this event months ago, and as usual, I procrastinated and by the time I wanted to get the tickets, they were sold out. Luckily one of his friends couldn't make it so I took the spare ticket.

The event was a huge success, a lot of people turned up, so much so that they line extended from Lexington all the way to Park Avenue. New Yorks would do anything for food.

There were 50 odd restaurants, and it was quite a feast. Luckily we got there pretty early, below were my favorites:

Porchetta. Roasted pork with crispy skin mini sandwich, need I say more?

Fette Sau. By 7:30 it was "finito", but luckily I got to taste the beef tongue pastrami and bourbon brined pork cheeks before it ran out. I ♥ Fetty Sau.

No. 7. I haven't heard of this place before but the vanilla pudding with miso banana was insane, I ate it, twice!

Extreme Hungary. I don't know what the pastries were but Mr. Hernandi, I don't think you need your day job at the Hungarian Consulate anymore because this is your true calling!

Peppa's Jerk Chicken. It was very tasty, I love jerk chicken, it reminds me of my Brooklyn days. The sauce it came with was tongue-numbing spicy though..

BarBao. The last thing I ate of the night was the spicy beef salad with pomelo (although I didn't taste any pomelo in it) - it was sweet, spicy and light. An absolute delight. BarBao is the mastermind of Chef Michael Bao, who also opened Baoguette. He was there that night at the baoguette stall.

I also had:
Fatty Crab. They were serving nasi lemak. The rice was too mushy, the curry was too watery but the sambal packed a punch. I wished they did one of their tea sandwiches, those are so yummy.

Mama's Food Shop. Decent mac and cheese with white and cheddar cheese with smoked ham hocks.
Motorino. Jelly bombolini, a little too sweet for my liking.
Margon. Good cuban sandwich but slightly forgettable.
Pinche Taqueria. Great fish taco, and very generous portion.
Salumeria Rossi. They were serving some panchetta, sopressata, and some good quality stuff. I've been to the restaurant and loved it.

Some of the things I missed were:
Momofuku Milk Bar. By the time I got around to it, which was around 7:30, it was all gone! I overheard a few angry people complaining.
Baoguette. I tried twice, the line was insane, and I was too full for a sandwich. :(

I wished I wrote down what I tried because I definitely ate more than what I wrote here but who could remember once the food coma kicked in? I took some pictures after I finished eating and by then (around 8pm) it was uber crowded and I didn't want to deal with the crowd and went home - happy, stuffed!

More pictures of Village Voice Choice Eats 2009, The 69th Armory @ 68 Lexington Ave & 26th Street, NYC here<

Flushing Food Tour

2009-03-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my friend and I did a Flushing Food Tour.

1. Before we hit our first stop on our itinerary, CP couldn't wait and got us the lamb & chicken skewers. This one is by Chase Bank on Main Street/39th Avenue. I still think the one on 41st/Kissena Blvd is fattier, hence better. I absolutely love the picture below with WY holding the skewers with her cute dimples.

2. Our next stop - the $1 peking duck bun. This little take-out window is on Main Street & 40th Rd. The lady working carved out the crispy skin of the roast duck with a little bit of meat attached, added some hoisin sauce, some cucumbers, wrapped it with steamed muntou bun, and there you have it! One of the tastiest treat a dollar can get you. I read a blog that said it was 75 cents back in 2007...*shakes head*..inflation sucks!

3. Next up is the "Golden Mall" on Main Street & 41st Road. Seriously, if my friend didn't point out exactly where it was, I wouldn't have noticed it. This mall is a food paradise! Once you walk through the small door, down the stairs into a narrow corridor, you'll find food from different regions in China - Xi'an, Fujian, Sichuan, Zheng Zhou. I mean, who knew??!

3A. Across from a very old school looking hair salon is a small restaurant with about 4 tables and some plastic chairs called Shu Siang Yuan (蘇香園). This restaurant serves Zheng Zhou (鄭州) cuisine. A little search on Wiki tells me that Zheng Zhou is located in the Eastern part of China, in the Henan Province. Mutton noodle soup (羊肉烩面) and beef noodle soup (牛肉拉面) are apparently must-eat in Zheng Zhou. The lady at the restaurant recommended the mutton noodle soup and dumplings. The mutton noddle soup was really delightful, the noodles are hand-pulled so it was slighty chewy and it didn't get soggy. The soup was mutton-y and tasty, with chunks of mutton, served with some cilantro & mushrooms. The soup went down the throat and I went "ahhhh" (with a smiley face). The dumplings were pan-fried with beef & vegetable fillings. It was really good with the chili sauce. Check this out, halfway eating, some dude brought out Anthony Bourdain's book "No Reservations" and showed us the book he gave them and signed, he also whipped out his camera (God knows why he had it with him) and showed us the pictures of Anthony Bourdain visiting the restaurant, I look forward to seeing this being shown on TV.

3B. We stopped at a Malaysian grocery stall (kedia runcit style) on the way out and suddenly CP hollered and said "Hey, over here, second stop"...WHAT?? He found this Tianjin (天津) food stall called Wang Zhen Qing Zhen Xiao Chi (王鄭清真小吃). 天啊！我都還沒有開始消化之前那一餐! He ordered the chive pie, beef pie and something else (brain fart). Note: no pork here because this place is halal. In case you are wondering, China has a large Muslim population, even outside of Northen cities such as Xinjiang. While sitting in the snack stall, I peered over and saw a Fuzhou food stall called 老王记, and I saw the magic words - Fuzhou Fish Ball Soup (福州魚丸湯 )! So what's so special about Fuzhou fish balls? There are basic fish ball but with meat fillings. Ok, so these were nowhere as good as the ones I used to eat growing up, but I am 10k miles away from home, these more than made me happy!

3C. On the way out, we checked out the Xi'an (西安) Restaurant which sells the popular lamb burgers & pork burgers. The lamb burger was heavily spiced with cumin, it reminded me of falafel, not very Asian I have to say. The pork sandwich, which I bought and ate the next day was essentially pulled pork stewed in a big pot for a long time, it's very tasty and it doesn't have the heavy cumin taste. By the Way, they even have a website, no joke!! Everything on the menu looks delicious, I must go back.

4. We were all having food coma. So we decided to give our digestive systems a break and went to Rose House in the Queens Crossing mall. I was warned by S. that this place is very over the top, and indeed it was! The place was covered in flowery wall paper, and there were paintings of roses all over. This place is apparently a very succesful franchise now, especially in Asia. The Taiwanese guy who started this has a little bio here that you can read, I imagine Simon Cowell will say that it is very self-indulgent after reading. Anway, back to the Rose House, the place smelled of roses, in a good way, the atmosphere was very relaxing, we sat by the big couches in the middle of the room by the fire place, they used the prettiest china, and the scones & rose jam were pretty spectacular. The tea itself was not too shabby, I had the "Nirvana herbal tea" (no I felt no difference after), the description in Chinese is pretty over the top as well. I wish I could share more photos but the manager barked at me "NO" and walked away, I guess I'll think twice before spending $9 on tea in this place again.

5. Last but not least, we went to Ah Zhong (阿忠面線) and 66 for take-out dinner. They are both Taiwanes restaurants, I ordered similar things at both places - the stew pork rice with eggs (乳肉饭). I think the one from 66 was slightly better, plus the stewed cabbage on the side was pretty tasty. They must've cooked the cabbage in chicken feet stock because I saw a few random pieces of chicken feet, a bit creepy visually....

Anyway, the picture below says it all. By the time we were done with all the eating, and grocery shopping, we were EXHAUSTED! Even writing about it is exhausting. But will I do this again? HELL YEAH!

Address: Golden Mall, Main Street & 41st Road, Flushing, NY 11354.
Address: Rose House, Queens Crossing Mall, 1st Floor, 38-10 138th St, Flushing, NY 11354.
Address: Ah Zhong, Flushing Mall, 13331 39th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354.
Address: 66 Restaurant (Lu's Seafood), 38-18 Prince St. Flushing, NY 11354

All Flushing Food Tour photos here

Fette Sau & Engagment News (not mine)

2009-03-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Just heard from two of my friends that they are engaged! What great news, I am so happy for them. I also wonder where JL will have her wedding...Texas? BK, start planning your USA trip. ;)

Last night, I finally fulfilled my Fette Sau craving! We rode the "satay car" into Williamsburg, and when we got there, there was already a line (@ 5:30pm)!

We ordered a tray of food, and it looked glorious!! We had the beef cheeks, pulled pork, spicy berkshire pork sausages & black angus briskets (my favorite of the night). Too bad the pork belly wasn't available yesterday, I had it the last time I went to Fette Sau, it was sinful but worth every single calorie I consumed. If you are wondering why the meat looked so burnt, no worries, we weren't consuming cancer, it was the spices & rubs they used for the meat. Imagine espresso rubbed ribs...do I get your attention now?

Fetty Sau is owned by the same folks who owned Spuyten Duyvil, a beer bar across the street favored by many. Fette Sau means Fat Pig in German, if you are a vegetarian, there's no point coming to this place. Even the baked beans and collard greens (which were truly to-die-for) were cooked with meat. Sorry no dice, maybe you can chew on the pickles they get from Gus' Pickles from the Lower East side and guzzle down some beers. They have a great variety of beers on tap, and an absurb selection of whiskey & bourbon. Fetty Sau has a rustic feel with it's wooden picnic tables and wooden benches in the airy space, which was once a garage. Check out the wall painted with cuts of meat (below).

Ahhh Fette Sau, I.WILL.BE.BACK...

Address: Fette Sau, 354 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Kunjip

2009-03-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am not a big fan of Korean food, except for the tofu soup (soon doo boo chigae). The best is still the one in Fort Lee that fellow yaokui S&G took me to, but Kunjip is a pretty close second. The standard of food in Kunjip is consistent and fairly cheap. The only problem is that the restaurant is pretty small so you usually have to wait.

My favorite is the seafood soon doo boo chigae (first picture below), it's very flavorful, the tofu is so soft and yummy. The other one I like is the budae chigae (second picture below), although it's not the most appetizing looking dish. This is served in a prisonware-looking silver pot, and the ingredients include spam (yumm!), sausage, pork belly, thin vermicelli noodles, and curly ramen noodles. It's like one of those dishes where you empty out your fridge and just throw it all into the pot (一锅熟), which is exactly how this dish came about. It started during the Korean War era, when food was scarce and people made this stew out of leftovers.

One more thing, Kunjip serves purple rice with the soup dishes. The rice tasted just like regular rice, I did some research and found out that it's rice cooked with adzuki (azuki beans), and is apparently packed with antioxidant. Purple rice is THE way forward!

Address: Kunjip, 9 W 32nd St (between 5th and Broadway), New York, NY 10001

Pork-ed out!

2009-03-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am saying this, but I think I ate too much pork yesterday.

It started with lunch at Excellent Pork Chop House in Chinatown. Excellent Pork Chop House is a Taiwanese restaurant, and for $5.75, I got a big bowl of rice topped with minced pork, preseved vegetable, a few piece of pork chops, and an egg cooked in soy sauce (hence the color). It was yummy, the pork chop wasn't as greasy as the typical deep fried version in Taiwan. I also liked the wonton in spicy oil, which is another of their signature dish.

Interesting, on their menu, they wrote *M.S.G.*....(see picture, below the telephone number). No idea what they are trying to say, maybe it's a warning?

Then I walked by this bakery with very fancy looking cakes. I wonder if they make cakes in the shape of a stripper, hah! Just a thought, in case I need to order one for my friend's bachelorette party.

A quick pit stop in Quickly for bubble tea....mmm....bubble tea is a genius invention in my opinion.

Ok, so back to pork. For dinner, I went to Momofuku Milk Bar. I am grateful to Chef David Chang because with Momofuku Milk Bar, I get to eat the pork buns without having to deal with the crowd at Momofuku Ssam Bar (which is next door). But it's so expensive, $9 for 2 pork buns!! It's a bit of a daylight robbery, but I am that sucker, who willingly paid too much for two slices of fatty pork, with cucumber, hoisin sauce and a lot of sriracha sauce.

I am also infatuated with the soft serves they have. I loved the cereal milk soft serve ($4), the marshmallow cereal soft serve is their top-seller, and it is equally good. I also got a slice of chocolate/passion fruit cake ($5!!) because it was calling my name, but turned out it was just ok, a bit dry actaully.

Address: Excellent Pork Chop House, 3 Doyers St (near Bowery Street), New York NY 10013
Address: Quickly Bubble Tea & Shabu Shabu, 237B Grand Street (near Bowery),
New York, NY 10002
Address: Momofuku Milk Bar, 207 2nd ave. (near 13th Street), New York NY 10003

Such a pain in the back...

2009-03-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

I've been having lower back pain for the last few weeks and it worsen over the last two. Last week I sneezed and was in a lot of pain after and couldn't move for a day. Anyway, long story short, today I visited a pain management doctor (fancy title) and he confirmed my suspicion of herniation in my disc. In fact, he thought I might have two herniated discs....UGHHHHH....I was only mentally prepared for a doctor's consult but before I knew it, I was lying face down with two drips (anesthetic) in my left arm and I vaguely remembered a needle going into my back with slight discomfort, and then a chaser of steroid injection.

So what does a girl do when she feels defeated?? Simple, OD on something sweet! I was walking towards the subway to go home and saw Magnolia Bakery and figured why not?!! They were making the red velvet cupcake when I walked in so I HAD to get one. I also got the banana cream pudding, which to me, is better than their cupcakes. I would rate the red velvet 8 out of 10, the icing was less heavy and sweet than Buttercup Bake Shop, but the cake itself was not as moist in comparison. It was also quite small, and they charge $3 for it....but whatever, it was the pick-me-up that I needed.

So next up is an MRI, I hope I am not claustrophobic. As a side note, I was googling my doctor to check out his credentials because he seems rather young, and I found him on facebook and friendster with pictures of his shirtless. Mildly disturbing.... But who am I to judge, at least he assured me that he will try to get me back in tip top shape and he will do everything he can to prevent me from having to go under the knife.

This is why I called this post "such a pain in the back", literally...

Hot pot 火锅 party

2009-03-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last Friday my friends and I were at Salumeria Rosi (which deserves a post by itself) for dinner and I said to HC "dude, when are you having another hot pot party?", and HC organized one right on the spot for dinner the next day (such a good sport).

We arrived the next day and the hot pot dinner was glorious, we had a lot of food and I ate myself silly.

After dinner, we had dessert - our invention of ice-cream+presecco and sorbet+moscato. My favorite was the mango sorbet with moscato. Sounds a bit gross but it was very yummy!

I've concluded that with our current gloomy economic situation, the best way to enjoy the weekend is to have a BYOB house party such as last Saturday - we filled our stomach, put our liver to work, watched various things on youtube and did some spontaneous karaoke-ing, it was fun and we didn't break our banks.

The Modern Dining Room

2009-03-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

The Modern is located in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) space. There are two parts to this restaurant, the bar room and the dining room. The restaurant design is beautiful, there is a sleek tunnel/corridor leading into the restaurant space from 53rd street, next to the entrance of MOMA. The dining room has this incredibly high ceiling and it overlooks the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden.

The Modern is one of Danny Meyer's creation, his other "babies" include Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Park Madison etc etc. I did the three course pre-fix for $88 when I went to The Modern Dining Room (they only have pre-fix menus).

The amuse-bouche, the spinach pie on the top right corner was delicious.

For appetizer, I had the seared Sullivan country foie gras with medjool date and lemon confit, chestnut tuile. The foie gras was fatty and the date was a great compliment. I love anything foie gras in general, this dish was good but it wasn't life-changing in any way. AX had the Dorade Royale - flashed cooked with sea urchin, yuzu & American caviar. I thought the dorade was quite fishy, and the sea urchin wasn't as fresh as some of the ones I've tasted in say 15 East or Le Bernadin.

For entree, I ordered the chorizo-crusted codfish, with white coco bean puree and harissa oil. The chorizo crust was a great touch, the codfish itself was quite soft, but the sauce was just ok. AX ordered the fine herb braised suckling pig with parsnip puree, roasted pineapple & natural jus scented with cardamon. His dish was pretty amazing, the suckling pig was strong (a tad porky for my liking) but tasty, the crispy layer on top was the winner. He definitely had the better entree dish in comparison to mine.

For dessert, they bought us an amuse-bouche which was actually the highlight of the evening for me. It was a cream cheese ice cream on a mini waffle (no picture unfortunately). It was very refreshing and palette cleasing. AX got the baba grand marnier, vanilla ice cream & lime sabayon. The baba cake was very soft and delicious and completely soaked in alcohol. The grand marnier taste was very strong (recommended for my alchi friends :P). I got the recommended signature dessert, milk chocolate & hazelnut dacquoise with raspberry sorbet. Again, it was good, not mind-blowing. They also bought us a small tray of complimentary chocolates, macaroons and sweets...by then I was beyond stuffed.

I thought the overall dining experience at The Modern was pleasant, but I think the space outshone the food. The menu was a bit tired and needed a facelift in my opinion. The French-inspired cuisine was neither traditional nor inventive. Perhaps the next I'll try the food in the bar room, which is Alsatian-inspired, and see how that goes...

On a completely separate note, I took a few pictures of the cutesy art installation at the Lever House building (on Park $ 53rd) on my walk over to The Modern.

Address: The Modern, 9, W 53rd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenue), New York, NY 10019

Full set of The Modern Photos

Aburiya Kinnosuke

2009-03-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

Aburiya Kinnosuke, Yakitori Torys & Yakitori Totto are Japanese robata grill restaurants owned by the same restauranteurs. Of all 3 establishments, Aburiya is my favorite because it has the most extensive menu (I think...). Also, they take reservations. Totto's & Tory's on the other hand do not accept reservations during peak hours.

Robata grilling is a form of Japanese barbecue method which is simple and rustic. At Aburiya, a pile of charcoal is built on top of a sand pit, and instead of grilling above the fire, they stick the skewers into the sand around the charcoal, and the ingredients are slowly roasted/grilled vertically for 20-25 minutes.

I loved the tsukune (grilled ground chicken), they brought us a raw egg and we poured the raw egg over the lightly marinated tsukune, and it was heavenly...

The kurobuta (black peppered bershire pork) was slightly fatty and had a great texture and flavor. The mushroom was very smokey and juicy.

We also ordered the homemade cold tofu, which was simple & clean.

The kakuni (organic berkshire pork with brown sugar soju) was soft with equal lean and fatty part, and it required very little chewing, it just melted in my mouth....mmm....

I also had the miso & houba leaf special on the shichirin grill over bincho-tan charcoal. The sichirin grill is basically a small portable grill, and the binchotan charcoal is also called "white charcoal" which produces little smoke (COOL!!) and apparently quite costly. They brought out the fish (can't remember for the life of me what fish it was) and the grilling process was really fun. Although it didn't have the same smokey taste of the robata grill, it was very tasty with the miso and scallions.

Address: Aburiya Kinnosuke,213 East 45th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue), New York, NY 10017

I ordered other stuff at Aburiya Kinnosuke, and the rest of the photos are here.

Nice Matin & Harlem Walking Tour

2009-03-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

On a recent Saturday morning, I woke up wanting to have a nice brunch at a new brunch spot, in a different neighborhood, and this, is how I ended up at Nice Matin on the Upper West Side. Nice Matin is a french restaurant that serves bistro type food. I ordered the creamy parmesan polenta, which came with two fried eggs over grilled radicchio, grilled asparagus & polenta, with shaved parmesan cheese on top. Mr. PIC (Partner-in-crime) had the scrambled eggs with spicy lamb sausage served with a salad. I loved my brunch dish, the grilled radicchio & asparagus was very tasty, and I LOVED the polenta & egg combination. Interestingly, I am currently reading "heat" by Bill Buford, and there is this whole chapter about polenta-making which is absolutely fascinating.

After brunch, we decided to head up to Columbia for a little walking tour and for Mr. PIC to visit his old playground. While we were walking around,2 asians approached us, and their first question was "are you Christian?". Knowing what they wanted to tell us, I politely declined their offer to join the church, they kept asking questions and by then I got irritated...

The ironic part was, we did end up going to a church..haha..well, not to pray but to sight-see. Church? Sight-see? In New York? YES my dear. It's called the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue & 112th street. I've seen the church from the outside quite a few times, it's gothic and looks a little bit out of place in New York.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine was first built in 1892, until today, it's unfinished. The church is really big, and cool part is, there are seven chapels inside the church - French, Italian and so on....catering to the diversed immigrants of New York city. There was a school tour while I went so I stalked the guide and heard some interesting anecdotes & stories about the church.

This is not the Notre Dame or the Duomo, but you know, like all things New York, if you look carefully, there are important treasures to be found. :)

Address: Nice Matin, 201 W 79th St, New York, NY 10024
Address: The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025

All photos here

Curry-Ya & Udon West

2009-03-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

Japanese curry rice falls under the comfort food category for me. Curry-Ya is located in the East Village, next to Rai Rai Ken (ramen place), and is co-owned by the same folks. A few weeks ago, I went to Curry Ya for the first time. I ordered the berkshire pork curry rice and a hamburger on the side. The waiter asked if I wanted "mild, medium or very spicy". Not knowing what to expect, I chose the middle road, medium spicy and a ramune soda. Ramune is a Japanese soda that comes in a cute glass bottle with a marble in the middle. More on Ramune here. There are no tables in Curry-Ya, only stools alongside the bar. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food there. I found comfort in the fact that they cooked in front of me and I knew exactly what went into my curry. Another thing I really found great was the condiments they provided on the side, the picked onions & raddish were great!

The only issue, an a significantly one (considering the economic situation we are in now) is the price tag of the curry rice. It's $10-$15 for each dish, my pork curry rice was $15, I found it a little hard to justify paying so much for curry rice when the instant ones cost about $2. I know....I know, it's not the same but you get my point.

A slightly cheaper option for Japanese curry rice is Udon West on St. Marks. I had the shrimp tempura curry rice when I went for lunch a few months ago and it came up to around $10. Perhaps Udon West is less refined than Curry-Ya but it hit the right spot. Their udon dishes are also delicious, perfect for a cold cold day like today (weather.com says "32F, feels like 28F")..brrr..

Address: Curry-Ya, 214 East 10th St. New York, NY 10003 (bet. 2nd & 1st Ave).

Mercat

2009-03-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

Dining in Mercat was a spontaneous dining decision on a late Saturday evening. Mercat means market in Catalan, Catalan is a language spoken widely in Catalunya, the Northeastern region of Spain. Spanish cuisine varies a great deal from region to region, I am more familiar with the basque cuisine & catalan cuisine. Having been to Barcelona a year ago and loving the food, I knew I was in for a real treat at Mercat.

Mercat is located in a beautiful lofty space in Noho. The right word to describe the restaurant is "sexy". I particularly loved the split upper loft filled with wine bottles. I got pretty lucky too, with a last minute reservation, I somehow ended up at the chef's counter.

The tapes (tapas) on my AAA (awesome, awesome, awesome) list are:
The Col de Brusseles - brussel sprouts with chesnuts and romesco. The outer layers of the brussel sprouts were crispy, it was lightly salted. The remesco sauce, which is a Catalan specialty, was pretty good, although I ate the brussel sprouts mostly without the sauce.

Fideua Negra Amb Allioli - short noodle wih sepia in its ink. The noodle reminded me of the beehoon (thin rice vermicelli) often used in Southeast Asian cooking. This dish was very similar to what I had in a semi-hidden restaurant somewhere in the hip El Born area in Barcelona, where my friend Anja took me. That was when I had "omg, I love Catalan food" moment.

Coca D'Anec - coca bread topped with duck, pearks, spinach & hazelnut. This was my ultimate favorite dish of the night. The duck made me want to do a happy happy joy joy dance around the restaurant! It was seared, a little fatty, drizzled with some sweet/savory sauced with chunks of hazelnut, served over a bed of spinach on top of the coca bread (Spanish flatbred)....it was pretty darn great!

The tapes on my AA (pretty awesome) list are:
The Bombas - chicken, pork & beef meatballs with aioli was really delicious. Initially, I thought mixing chicken, pork & beef might be weird but the minute I bit into the meatball, I changed my mind. Somehow it worked, and the aioli added a lot of flavor, and the spice they dusted on the outside and had a hint of "Indian" to it.

Canelons "Mar I Muntanya" - oxtail canelone served with shrimp, lobster caramel & shaved manchego. This raicons (large tapas) was delicious. The shredded oxtail was wrapped in canelone (thin pasta sheet) & the shrimp was grilled. I couldn't really tell where the "lobster caramel" was though.

The tapes on my A (kinda awesome) list:
Patates Braves. It was a simple deep fried potato dish with garlic & spicy sauce. Most of the reviews I read highly recommended this dish. I was a little underwhelmed by it, it was good but it wasn't that memorable.

While cooking, the chefs were drinking from the wine porrón and passing it around to the customers. The first time I saw a porrón was on Anthony Bourdain's Spain episode. A porrón is a wine pitcher with a long nose, and you pour the wine directly into your mouth. Some experts can pour wine accurately into their mouths while holding the porrón very far away. The chef offered for me to try, but knowing how little hand-eye coordination skills I possess, and wondering simultaneously how difficult or expensive it would be to get the red wine stain out of my sweater, I politely declined. Maybe next time I'll wear a black top. :D

All Mercat Photos
Address: Mercat, 45 Bond Street (between Lafayette & Bowery), New York, NY 10012.

Mary had a little lamb? 小肥羊

2009-02-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Hot pot ("steamboat") restaurants are something I wish I can easily find in New York City. Besides Quickly Shabu Shabu on Grand Street, which is decent but very small, I can't recall a hot pot restaurant that I really like in New York until....*drum roll*.....Little Lamb hot pot restaurant in Flushing came into the picture.

Little Lamb hot pot restaurant is great in many ways - the fresh meat, the amazing sauces & the most important, the SOUP!

When I went there a few weeks ago with a bunch of friends, we ordered a pot of plain herbal soup, and a pot of half & half. The half & half was half herbal soup & half sichuan spicy soup. The Sichuan spicy soup was as usual, very spicy, filled with peppercorns. My favorite was the herbal soup, it reminded me of the herbal 六味汤 my grandmother used to make.

We ordered the lamb meat, pork & beef, and they were all fresh. The lamb meat in particuarly was very tasty. My evil friends also ordered the "drunken shrimp", but luckily we didn't eat it alive. Drunken shrimp is a dish originated from China, the shrimps are often eaten alive, but stunned in strong alcohol (according to Wiki). The waiter brought out the shrimps in a plate, he then put a lid over it and slowly poured the alcohol into the small hole on the lid. The shrimps were all jumping around, I didn't really want to look because for once, I actually felt a little guilty sending them to their deaths. Once they were heavily intoxicated (about 15 minutes of shrimp-struggling later), we poured them into the hot pot to cooked it briefly. I have to say, as soon as I tasted the shrimp, my guilt was out of the door! They were very sweet, very fresh & very drunk.

On a side note, I am currently developing an addiction to the lamb skewers from the Xinjiang (an autonomous region in the North West of China) Barbeque cart on 38th Avenue, near Main Street (by the Flushing public library). The lamb meat is fatty, tender and smoky. And for $1 per skewer, you really can't go wrong.

Little Lamb Photos
Address: Little Lamb Hot Pot, 36-45 Main St, New York, NY 11354

Lower East Side

2009-02-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

Since I was writing about 'inoteca, I figured I should follow up with another post somewhat related to 'inoteca. Below are a series of photos taken from inside 'inoteca about 10 months ago. It was one of those New York City nights which I felt sentimental for no particular reason. I remember that night so clearly like it was yesterday - how the city smelled, how the air was a little crisp, how I thought the shadow from the street light made everything looked so perfect but imperfect...

All photos here