dinner / nyc / Thai / vietnamese — No comments
07
Jun 13

Pig & Khao – Intensely Flavorful SE Asian Cuisine

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I want write about somewhere that I eaten more recently (by recently I mean in the past three months) – Pig & Khao. Having a two star review on the NY Times I was intrigued by Leah Cohen, a Top Chef contestant, opening this restaurant under the Fatty Crew Hospitality Group (who has brought you restaurants such as Fatty Crab and Fatty Cue). It was a MUST TRY on my Mon.je list so I was lucky enough to grab a friend and go.

I started off with their black tea which was described to me as a coco chai. It was normal tea, nothing out of the ordinary.

Pictured above is their Sizzling Sisig which was comprised of pork head, chili, an egg, lime and cilantro. It was a dish that is meant to eat with rice or noodles (basically something neutral in taste) to complement the flavors from this dish. The fat from the pork head combined with the egg made for a very rich dish. Luckily there was some lime and cilantro to cut some of that fat flavor making this dish delicious and not for the faint-of-heart.

The Khao Soi was a red curry base dish with egg noodles, coconut milk, chicken, egg, noodles, pickled greens and shallots topped with cilantro and lime. I didn’t find the need to have a lime there but definitely asked for more cilantro. The dish was good but not memorable.

Grilled curry lamb ribs was one of the dishes that I was excited about as I saw numerous orders of these pass me by. Overall it was good though a bit salty. The cilantro helped in cutting the fat and it was tender as well, but for me personally it needed to be eaten with rice / noodles to cut the salt.

Last but not least is the dessert! This dish was really good – the turon - which was banana fritter with salted caramel ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce. Yes, it was as good as it sounds.

Not pictured in this post is their coconut rice, which was REALLY good. I highly recommend you get that with whatever main dish you’ll eat it with. Definitely worth having!

I would be willing to go back and try a few more dishes to see what the rest of the menu looks like. Overall a good place. If you find yourself there soon, be sure to prepare yourself for some intense flavors.

Pig & Khao
68 Clinton St
New York, NY 10002
Phone: (212) 920-4485
Website: http://www.pigandkhao.com

dinner / Korean / nyc — No comments
24
Feb 13

Alive At Last! Returning with Jungsik

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Hello long-lost food blog! I’ve finally had the opportunity to find time and take care of some backlogged food pictures, including my time at Jungsik. My friend Eric, huge foodie, wanted to check out the up-and-coming restaurants in NYC and luckily I read a NY Article on this restaurant. Refined Korean cuisine? Yes please!

Their menu is similar to that of Eleven Madison Park where you can pick the dishes you want from certain sections. We opted to do that versus their tasting menu. These menus can be found here: http://jungsik.kr/#eat/menu1.

Being that this post has taken a while, please excuse the lack of detail around how good things taste…hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves!

 Mushroom dish

Octopus with Ssamjang Aioli

 Wagyu Tartare

Spicy Ramyun with Crispy Pork Belly in a Savory Broth

Black bass

Smoked Pork Jowl with Pickled Ramp

Monkfish Duo - Monkfish Liver in a Sea Squirt Broth

AND onto desserts…

Plum with Lychee-Rose Mousse and Sablé Crumble

Green Team Cremeux with Sweet Red Bean and Roasted Soy Ice Cream

Jang Dok - Chocolate-Mandarin Mousse, Banana Jam

Last bits of sweets – macarons, chocolates and green tea mini muffins.

Something I DO remember is that I would recommend to allow this meal to be 3 hours. Things took quite a long time, and even though everything was great, it definitely made us sleepy by the end of the meal.

Jungsik
2 Harrison Street (Hudson Street)
Telephone: (212) 219-0900
Website: jungsik.kr

American Traditional / lunch / nyc — No comments
06
Jul 12

Nougatine: Delicious Lunch Prix Fix

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Prior to a NY Philharmonic concert, I decided to take my mom to Nougatine which is the front dining area of Jean Georges. We were able to eat a 3-course prix fix menu for $32, which is reasonably priced considering the level of the food and service that we experienced there. Good food, great company, and overall positive experience. Now for the food porn…

For the first course I got a Peekytoe crab cake with celeriac Remoulade, pink grapefruit and ginger. The crab cake had a good amount of actual crab in it and had a nice crust to it.

The salmon baked with lemon crumbs, sweet chili glaze, and swiss chard was well cooked. I particularly liked the lemon crumbs because it cut the sweet chili sauce and paired nicely with salmon as well.

The chocolate cake served with vanilla bean ice cream was rich and delicious. How can you go wrong with warm chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream?

I enjoyed my time at Nougatine. The waitstaff were attentive, the food was well seasoned, and the view was really nice (they’re located right by the entrance of Central Park). Their lunch menu is definitely worth it so make sure to check it out sometime if you have a nice lunch break.

Nougatine
1 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
(212) 299-3900

American Nouveau / dinner / Molecular Gastronomy / nyc — No comments
05
Jun 12

wd~50: New Menu, New Tastes

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For my birthday I was lucky enough to be taken to wd~50, a restaurant that has been on my to-eat list.  We all know about Wylie Dufresne and how he’s changed the food scene with molecular gastronomy earning himself Best Chef in NY for six years (James Beard Award).  Being that they recently changed their menu, I was lucky to taste their new dishes!

Sesame “bread” was provided for the table.  Surprisingly, this provided a great savory palette cleanser in between each course.

The Mackerel Nigiri with salsify, seaweed, and sesame started us off.  The mackerel was very fresh and smooth.  The rice was kind of warm when served, which caught me a bit off guard, but I enjoyed it as a first course.  Light and fresh.

Lobster roe served with charred lemon, green grape, and coriander-brown butter was enjoyable and all the flavors worked together.  The grape provided a nice sweetness to the dish, and charred lemon added a nice bit of texture.

This was one of the best dishes of the night – pho gras with foie gras, noodles, and mint leaves.  The fois gras melted into the broth, which was light and nicely salted.  The noodles seemed like it was cooked for slightly too long, but I really enjoyed the interpretation of pho.

Covered in carrots and “peas” (which is actually something else covered in pea powder) is amaro yolk with chicken confit.  The presentation was interesting but I personally was hoping the yolk would be runny and it wasn’t.

Another highlight of the meal was the veal briskey with za’atar, plum, and mustard.  The thinly sliced veal was nicely flavored with the sauce.  The plum slices added a nice texture to the veal and all the flavors blended well together.

Crab toast with saffron, kaffir-yogurt, and arare was pleasant and had a good amount of crab meat on it.

The turbot with black licorice-pil pil, fried green tomato, and fennel was nicely cooked though I mainly enjoyed the fried tomato. The turbot definitely had the texture on the raw side, but nothing wrong with that!

Lamb sweetbreads served with nasturtium-buttermilk, zucchini, and pistachio. For some, sweetbreads could be hard to stomach but this dish made it a lot easier.  I felt like the texture of the zucchini definitely helped and the sweetbread was flavored nicely.

Their root beer ribs with rye spaetzle and apricot was nicely cooked – tender and juicy paired with the apricot sauce helped make these ribs sweet.

I really enjoyed the palette cleanser - Jasmine, cucumber, honeydew, and chartreuse.  It totally did its job after going through all the savory dishes; it gave my senses a blast of refreshment!

The first dessert was yuzu milk ice with hazelnut, rhubarb, and basil.  What is milk ice?  I think it’s basically puffed up ice cream as you can see from the white sponge-like blob in the middle of the picture.  It didn’t have a sponge-like texture once I ate it, but it was more like it “melted” in my mouth.

This was one of the most impressive dishes of the night for me.  Their version of the s’mores with bitter cocoa, meringue, and black currant was delicious.  The “marshmallow” on top is actually marshmallow ice cream that’s in the shape of marshmallow!  GENIUS.  It was perfectly bitter and sweet, plus the marshmallow helped cut any intense chocolate-y goodness.

FINALLY, the last bite is the white chocolate covered with freeze-dried raspberries and gjetost in the center.  Delicious!

WD~50 was a great adventure into the world of molecular gastronomy.  Dishes were familiar enough for you to feel comfortable, but at the same time, each dish was innovative in the changing the familiar forms of the ingredients within the dish.  I really enjoyed my time there since the waitstaff were informative and casual, food was good and interesting, and I got a tour around the kitchen!

WD~50
50 Clinton Street, New York, NY
(212) 477-2900 ‎

dinner / Japanese / nyc — No comments
17
May 12

Yopparai: Sake and Snacks Abound

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Atop a narrow stairway seemingly hidden in the Lower East Side rests a Japanese izakaya, a type of Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food to accompany the drinks, named Yopparai.  As if entering an apartment, with the buzz of a button this tranquil restaurant appears and you are quickly transported to Japan.  There are only 30 seats in this place, again resembling the tiny spaces in Tokyo, and sake is the name of the game.

However, my interest lies beyond the drinks and into the snacks that are meant to pair with the drinks.  Yopparai takes pride in using high-quality ingredients and an open grill, which only means I gotta try, I gotta try! The first dish pictured above is their Masu Tofu (升豆腐), chilled tofu served in a masu box with benito flakes, seaweed, and other condiments.  The tofu was silky smooth so you’ll definitely need the spoon.

The Uni (sea urchin) mixed with squid topped with seaweed was creamy and fresh tasting.  The squid provided an added layer of chewy texture, and was easily finished by everyone.

With a list of daily specials, the scallop is served in a shell with broth and a flame.  Yup, that is real flame on top of salt.  Sadly enough I can’t remember how this dish tasted, but was definitely memorable in its presentation.

The Chutoro (中トロ), fatty tuna, was like its name – fatty and melted in the mouth.

Grilled octopus, how can you go wrong?

The assortment of six oden (おでん盛合) was good though I found the broth to be a bit salty. Still, it was nice to be able to try out the various odens that had different textures.

There’s the Isobe Yaki Mochi (自家製磯辺焼), homemade pounded rice cake grilled with soy sauce, that had a great chewy texture but a bit salty for me.

How can you have yakitori without tsukune (名物自家製つくね) a.k.a. meatballs?  Here there was both the free-range chicken (地鶏つくね) and the washu beef (和州牛つくね).  Both good but on the salty side.

The Kakuni (黒豚の角煮), Kurobuta pork belly simmered in dashi broth, was extremely salty and I would highly recommend you eat it with some rice.

Where are the veggies?  No we did not forget that food group!  We got an assortment of grilled vegetables, which were perfectly charred.

Ochazuke (茶漬), dashi broth poured over rice, was served with cod roe.  It was light and tasty, standard rice with broth dish.

The Yaki Onigiri (名物関ヶ原たまりの焼おにぎり), crunchy rice ball grilled with Sekigahara soy sauce, was surprisingly salty and a bit hard to finish. It was served warm but had too much soy sauce to it.

Overall, Yopparai is a place that definitely needs its snacks paired with drinks.  Many of the dishes were too salty for me, but I did find that their seafood was very fresh.  Their sake is also undeniably good so I would definitely come here for its drinks.  It’s not an easy find and a small restaurant so I wouldn’t be surprised if you walk past the stairway a few times before finding it.  Happy drinking! Gan-bai!

Yopparai
151 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 777-SAKE

Chinese / Events / nyc — No comments
04
May 12

Cinco De Mayo: Eating Tour Anyone?

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Taken by Vivienne Gucwa

Despite the fact that Cinco De Mayo is a Mexican holiday, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat your heart out right?  Save some room for an eating tour being held by MOCA (Museum of Chinese America).  It’ll feature the food establishments in Chinatown that have made a mark on NYC’s food culture.  Did I also mention that there’s going to be a wine tasting to end off a great event?

 That’s right – take a look at the description and vendors that are participating:

“Reserve your spot here: https://mocanyc.obsres.com/Info.aspx?EventID=7

Every restaurant is a story.

There are stories of legacy: Chinatown’s sons and daughters who grow up to be entrepreneurs and restaurateurs. Stories of diversity: the flavors of China’s regional cuisines converging in New York City. And stories of evolution: a constant weaving between the classic and modern, the old and the new.

Join the Young Professionals of MOCA for “Beyond Takeout: A Culinary History Of Chinatown.”

A MOCA educator will lead you on a tour through Chinatown to learn about the past and ongoing histories of some of your favorite eateries. End the day at the Museum for a food and wine tasting while mingling with your fellow MOCA YPs, members, and friends.

Exclusive offers for tour participants in celebration of Asian American Heritage month:
- free admission to MOCA for the month of May
- a chance to enter a raffle for two tickets to the Museum’s First Annual Celebration of Community Heroes dinner on May 16 (total value: $300)
- the following establishments are offering a 10% discount from May 5 through May 31:

Hong Kong Station (45 Bayard Street and 45 Division Street)
Red Egg* (13 Doyers Street)
Nom Wah (202 Centre Street)
Quickly** (11 Pell Street)
Won Ton Garden (79 Mulberry Street)
Kung Fu Tea (234 Canal Street)
Harney & Sons (433 Broome Street)

*dine-in only and cannot be combined with any other offers or promotions (e.g. happy hour)
**tour participants will receive 20% off their Quickly purchase at the 11 Pell Street location

To take advantage of these offers, tour participants will be given a designated card during guest check-in on May 5 that they can present to the various business partners from May 5, 2012 through May 31, 2012.

Reserve your spot here: https://mocanyc.obsres.com/Info.aspx?EventID=7

Breakfast / dinner / lunch / Taiwanese / travels — 2 comments
03
Apr 12

Taiwan: Foodie Heaven Pt. 3 – Delicious Meals

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If you haven’t noticed already, Taiwan is full of food and frankly I have too many pictures to show for it.  Because Taiwan is full of street stands, it’s hard to tell you where half of where these dishes are found.  Just know that this tiny island right next to China is truly a heaven for those who love food and want to be surrounded by it constantly.

And now…onto the food porn!

Typical breakfast – soy milk with fried culler.

Scallion pancake with egg. I really would like to eat this everyday for breakfast!

Tofu with cilantro and sauce. Light and tender.

Tomato beef noodle soup. Delicious…perfect for any occasion!

Minced pork with sauce noodles, right by Taiwan National University.  Very solid and hearty.

Hand-pulled pancake. It’s crispy and light, not oily, and perfect with some soup!

Oyster vermicelli noodles.

Rice ball stuffed with fried culler, pork, and pickled vegetables. SO good to eat in the mornings.

One of my most favorite noodles – yi mian. Every single time I go back, I MUST EAT THIS.

Taiwan has some nice pastries too!

Peanut milk shaved ice. It tastes like peanut butter!

Alright so I think I’ve made all of us hungry, but hopefully this just shows you how tasty Taiwan is so make sure you visit! If you do, let me know when you’re there so I can make some food recommendations!

 

dessert / lunch / Taiwanese / travels — 2 comments
22
Mar 12

Taiwan: Foodie Heaven Pt. 2 – Honey Toast

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One of the latest dessert crazes in Taipei right now would be for an item called honey toast.  It comes in different flavors and from my understanding, is made popular by Dazzling Cafe.  Located in one of the younger trendy areas in Taipei, it is fair to say that getting a table is hard, (try fighting through all those girls and claim a place on line for a table before opening time).  However, it’s worth trying it out and at least staying at this place for lunch if you’ve waited for a while on a line.

This is the pan-fried duck breast spaghetti served with a cream sauce.  As a pasta fiend, it was actually acceptable as a pasta; the spaghetti was al dente and the duck breast helped with providing a savory flavor to the dish.

I got the scallop and crab meat spaghetti with olive oil, which is light and refreshing.  I didn’t really taste too much seafood, sadly enough, but it was lightly tossed with olive oil, tomatoes, and broccoli.  Always good to get those greens in!

 And now…onto DESSERT!

Pictured is the inside of the banana chocolate honey toast.  You can see that they hollow out this large piece of toast and fill it with deliciousness: vanilla ice cream, chocolate, cashews, sugar coated fried pieces of toast, and topped with whipped cream.  Of course you can’t forget the banana pieces on the side as well.  It’s a box of sweet toast intensity.

Yup, a close-up of that vanilla bean ice cream with cashews.  Delicious.

It is worth a trip to this place if: (1) you’re a huge dessert fiend, (2) willing to wait (even before opening time), and (3) willing to spend above average amount for a meal / dessert.

Dazzling Cafe Pink
台北市忠孝東路四段205巷7弄11號1樓
02-8773-9238
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dinner / Japanese / Recipe — 1 comment
12
Mar 12

Ramen: My Go-To Meal

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Nothing beats a really good bowl of ramen.  It is reliably good, soothing to the stomach and soul.  With the ramen crave in NYC still going strong, I think it’s important to think about – how much do we really love ramen?  Check out this infographic to see how much we consume, innovative ramen recipes, and interesting general facts!

We Love Ramen Infographic
Created by: Hack College

Chinese / lunch / Taiwanese / travels — No comments
08
Mar 12

Taiwan: Foodie Heaven Pt. 1 – Minced Pork Rice

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It’s been a while, but I am back and ready to blog about all these food journeys that I’ve gone through in the past 3 months!  I’ve been working on lots of food pictures so there will be more posts to come (woo hoo!).  Anyway, in December I went to Taiwan, one of the best places to eat-your-heart-out, and I felt like I was home; all I did was eat, shop, and eat some more.  You’ll see what I mean with my pictures:

One of the places I must talk about is 天然紅豆腐, where I ate one of the best minced pork rice (滷肉飯) in my life.  The rice glistened as it was topped with marinated minced pork belly.  Not only did it have the perfect ratio of meat to fat, but it was perfectly salty and the red bits on the side gave it a slightly sweet flavor.  I quickly gobbled up my bowl and wished I had some more. Delicious.

They are also known for their pork blood soup (豬血湯).  Texture-wise it is not like anything you can get in New York; the pig’s blood pieces were soft and tender, paired with a clear soup that was seasoned with scallion made the soup easy to finish.

For those who are thinking about taking a trip to Taiwan, this is definitely a place I would recommend you go to for minced pork rice and pork blood soup.  You will not be disappointed.  In fact, you will want to bring friends and spread the joy of minced pork!

Restaurant Name: 天然紅豆腐
Address: 台北市吉林路319號
Telephone: (02) 2586-2201
Hours: 10AM~10PM
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