NYC Desserts Roundup

Back from another Tour de Europe, haven't had a chance to properly rave about all of the food we ate in Greece or the Greek meal I had in Philly before I departed for the islands, but in the meantime, some new (and old) dessert finds in NYC. Spent the past 2 weekends apartment hunting and eating every chance I could get (more eating than hunting) and here are the discoveries.

Puddin' - Some of the flavors are sweeter than others (which I don't like) but the rice pudding option was amazziing and it sure beats paying the twice the price from Rice to Riches.
Big Gay Ice Cream - Have wanted to try this place since February. I think i love the concept and serious flair more than the ice cream itself
Forty Carrots - Always a good option after shopping in soho.
PopBar - Went for the sorbeto flavor instead of a gelato flavor so wasn't crazy about it.

YAY finally got to try Wafels & Dinges. Ordered the wafle that beat the great Bobby Flay.
Spekuloos: Gingerbread spread that might be better than Nutella (which I think they now sell at Trader Joe's)

Been to Magnolia Bakery before for the cupcakes but apparently its the Banana Pudding that it's really famous for. I don't even like bananas or pudding all thaat much but this might have been the favorite dessert out of everything.

Tous de Jours - I am obsessed with shaved ice and shaved ice that's the size of your face and comes with green tea is an added bonus.
Pie Face - Cute little pie shop originally from Australia. Peach Ricotta pie was quite tasty.

Back to blogging on some real food now...although who's to say desserts aren't real food.

Roma Part II

Besides pasta, what else is there to talk about when it comes to the eats of Italy? There's gelato, coffee, pizza, and meat...obviously. So let’s go in that order.

Gelato from Giolitti

Giolitti is an institution. It was founded in 1890 and even on a freezing January day, there can still be line stretching from the gelato counter across the expansive displays of confectionary goods all the way to the door. They also have the largest selection of gelato flavors we saw anywhere in Italy. V said and I quote that the pear flavor was even better than Capogiro’s. That is indeed a Big Deal. 

Left Flavors: Pear & Coffee. The coffee actually tasted like real coffee: bitter & refreshing. 

Right Flavors: Pistachio & Stracciatella. The pistachio even had real chunks of pistachio, finally! Italy is the only place where you can get pistachio flavor that doesn’t look like it resulted from a science experiment. 

Coffee from Sant' Eustachio II Caffe

This place is also an institution, hence why I am also blogging about it because while the cappuccino was spectacular, just about every cappuccino we had in Italy was spectacular. This is the reason why Starbucks doesn’t exist in Italy and I love it.

Creamy cappuccinos with perfectly foamed milk. 

Berlin (and a little bit of Dresden)

1) Eating like a Berliner: Doner Kebabs, Currywurst & Mushrooms, Pfannkuchen

Doner Kebabs from the Turkish district (after an intensive 4 hour walking tour - too hungry to take a proper picture..oops)
Currywurst in Dresden
Pfannkuchen aka the "Berliner" - yeast dough donuts covered in sugar

2) Movenpick Ice Cream

Technically Movenpick is Swiss but 1 scoop of Mrvenpick for 1 euro??? We each got 3...it was our dinner for the day.
+ chocolate chip & coconut, cappicino and straticella flavors in a waffle cone

 3) Haggen Daaz

Not really that big of deal except that we got German ice cream in Germany. Woot.
+ Hazelnut hot chocolate
+ Chocolate chip/chocolate ice cream cake with brownie filling.

4) Brunch Buffet

Almost missed our bus for this meal but it was so worth it. 12 euros for unlimited brunch buffet? Finally a city that has heard of brunch! I went for the smoked salmon, roasted veggies and caprese salad.

Cappuccino with a plate of desserts including chocolate covered strawberries, nutella crepes, fruit sticks and yogurt parfait.

Amsterdam

People and by people I mean wikitravel warned me that Dutch food was not going to very good, something about the dishes being bland and underwhelming. So it came as a big surprise when my mom and I literally spent our entire trip eating. Our schedule consisted of breakfast, walking, snack, lunch, walking, dinner, and dessert. Then repeat for 2 more days. Granted most of the food we ate consisted of crepes and french fries. Is that considered real food?

Dutch Pancakes at Sara's Pancake House

+ crepe with cherries, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and powdered sugar
+ cappuccino
+ legit syrup

We had our first Dutch pancake experience at Sara's Pancakehouse, a small shop somewhere in the Southern part of Amsterdam. Apparently Amsterdam is known for its pancakes? The pancake aka crepe was out of this world. It might have been the best crepe I have ever had (Shocking considering we are comparing this to Paris and Montreal). Everything about the dish was perfect and most surprising of all was the nondescript place we ate them from. After that experience, we were hooked and decided that we needed to eat our fill of pancakes before we left. I did some googling and according to the New York Times, the place to go for pancakes is none other than Pancakes! so that's where we headed the next morning.

Breakfast at Pancakes!

on left: traditional Dutch apple pancakes with raspberry sauce
on right: chocolate, banana and mixed nuts crepes

Pancakes! is a tiny little establishment with about 5 or 6 tables and swathed in typical Dutch blue and white. There was about a 30 minute wait but what's 30 minutes for the city's best pancakes? We opted for the dutch pancakes which came with fresh squeezed orange juice and a banana/chocolate/nut medley. Unfortunately, the meal was somewhat disappointing. Maybe it was all the hype or our raised expectations or the specific dishes we ordered but we both agreed that Sarabeth's offerings were definitely better.

Pomme Frites and Pickled Herring

Pomme frites with mayo
Picked herring sandwich with pickles and onions

Before I visit a new city, I compile a list of the it foods that the city is known for and I make it point to try it when I am there. Pickled herring was one of them. I've never actually encountered the concept of pickled herring as a dish before, except for the jars sitting in our fridge at home that my dad buys and then no one eats...but since this was supposed to be an authentic Dutch specialty, I had to give it the proper attention. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the combination of the herring with the sweet pickles and onions on a roll, my mom was not a fan. On the other hand, pomme frites aka french fries was something that we were quite familiar with. The way they serve them up is in big thick wedges in a paper roll with a massive serving of mayo on top (we asked for ours on the side). Golden perfection. 

Ice Cream 

Yogurt and Mango flavored ice cream

We stumbled upon this ice cream place after our breakfast at Pancakes! and lo and behold, there's a line stretching out onto the sidewalk and an award on the window stating that its been crowned the best ice cream in Amsterdam. Yea, it was pretty darn good.

Waffles

+ stroopwafel
+ waffles with dark chocolate and candied nuts

On Saturday, we journeyed  to the Albert Cuyp Market which one of the most well-known flea/foodie markets in Amsterdam. In addition to some nuts and a cornish hen (yup a whole one) that we sampled, there was also a stroopwafel and a chocolate waffle. Stroopwafels are made of two layers of as sweet cinnamony batter and in the middle is a layer of thick caramel sauce. They are fantastic. You can buy them from the grocery store or if you are lucky and happen to stumble across a little stand at the flea market, you can buy a fresh one for 1 euro. wowzers. The waffles were also absurdly delicious, made fresh to order and smothered in chocolate and nuts :)

Beer and Meat

+Cornish hen
+ beer
+ dippings for fries and meat

There's a been a big trend in microbreweries in Amsterdam in the past few years. Although the city is the HQ of Heineken, independent breweries weren't really a thing until pretty recently. We had dinner at Bier Fabriek, a rustic restaurant with a small food selection and even smaller beer selection. There's a handful of bar snacks you can order, some salads and the roasted cornish hen.  For beer, there were about 4 offerings with 2 on tap that the restaurant brewed themselves. You can see them roasting the cornish hens about 20 or 30 at time upon entering the restaurant, there's a huge rotisserie oven right by the front and 4 chefs manning the device. All in all, Amsterdam was quite the foodie adventure.

Italia Pastries

10 days of traveling = 3 meals (or more like 3.5 or 4..) a day = a lot of eating = a lot of desserts.

gelato. pizza. wine. repeat. (insert some pasta at the end).

So yea, its true. Italy has the most consistently best gelato. I had it every day, sometimes twice a day. I had it by the leaning tower of Pisa, in the train station of Florence, by the Rialto bridge in Venice, in Trastevere in Rome and whenever else I saw it. 

Hazelnut & coffee in Rome; stracciatella and pistachio in Pisa; strawberry in Venice; cookies and vanilla in Pisa.
We made a promise to try a different flavor every time we had gelato but after about the 6th time, it was pretty obvious which flavors we had a preference more. My favorites: tiramisu, stracciatella, pistachio (only if its dark green!), coffee and caramel.  

There were also a lot of pastries. One which I had never encountered before is the sfogliatella, most well-known in Naples but also found in nearby cities such as Florence. There are two kinds, frolle (smooth) and ricce (curly). The curly one is infinitely better as it resembles a very crunchy multi-layered croissant filled with cream. The smooth one is more like pound cake and has a ricotta-like filling, but there was something slightly unappealing about the texture and there was also weird fruit pieces on the inside. Without the filling though, it was quite tasty.

Scaturchio - the nost famous pastry shop in Naples selling both versions of  sfogliatella. The curly one is on the top right and the smooth one is on the bottom left. The pastries on the bottom right were spongy and soaked in liquor. We were not a fan lol. But the eclairs here were very tasty. 

More sfogliatella, donuts filled with chocolate, nutella and vanilla, and a pastry filled with cream and covered in hazelnuts. 

+ Roasted chestnuts by the Medici Palace in Rome!! Ate these after about 10 hours of walking, tasted SOOO good
+ Chocolate liquor shots in edible chocolate shot glasses from Caffe Vicolo Del Cinque in Rome! A super cute book store that also sells 10 different versions of chocolate shots.
+ And one of the few times that we actually drank beer. 

To be continued....Venice, Rome, wine tour of the tuscany country side and the pizza of Naples!

Sausages & Poland

Oop, almost forgot to blog about one of the best eating experiences in Vienna. Viennese Sausages. The best (according to a trusted source) are the Bitzinger sausage stands located stand behind the Viennese Opera House and by the 100 year old ferris wheel (which we got to ride!). We tried the the Burenwurst (or Kolbasse) and another variety that was apparently spicier. We both liked the spicier one better. Best part was the amaazing beer that it was served with. Apparently, the sausages' fat content is so high that you need to drink coke or beer with the meal to prevent indigestion. lolz. Either way, it was delicious. Somebody *cough* liked them so much that he ate them three times in less than 24 hours. 

Weird that one of the best beers I've had in Europe came from a sausage stand. hehe.

MMMM. Rows on rows of sausages. 

So yes, these are hands down the best sausages I have had in Europe. They easily surpass the sausage stands in Wencelas Square. Although the sausages my mom and I recently tried this past weekend have come a lot closer. Did I also mention that V and I fell into a food coma nap for three hours immediately after? Well no one said all of these foodie adventures are easy. Ok so that should wrap up all of Vienna's eats.

Moving on to Krakow, Poland! The city was absolutely adorable and we did manage to get a lovely tour of the square market and castle. But of course, we spent most of the time eating a lot of meat and pierogies.

On our way to the market square, we passed an adorable bakery bustling with people (who were Polish!) so we figured the place must be legit. I bought a box of cookies for my mom and then we tried a sample of everything that looked good.

Pastries from a very famous bakery (who's name I have of course forgotten), from top left to bottom right: apple cake, chocolate wafer, tiramisu tart, chocolate tart, meringue cookie

Czech Round Up

I found a random sampling of food pictures in my albums from the past few weeks. Since there's no particular theme, I figured I would post them all together.

#1) BEER 

The X33 at U Medviku. One of the strongest beers in the world. I think it was almost 20% alcohol? Either way, probably the best beer I have ever tasted since it was so sweet. U Medviku is one of the more famous micro-breweries in Prague. the X33 is one of their most famous beers. They have another version in a smaller bottle that's apparently even stronger but it was all sold out when I went. I also bought a few bottles of a lighter version for my dad...perhaps x16? can't remember...

#2) PASTRIES

The "kolac": a traditional Czech pastry filled with either sweet cheese, poppy seed paste, apple filling or plum jam (or any combination of the 4). You can find these almost anywhere whether it be the corner bakery or the supermarket. The best ones I've sampled are from Country Life, which is an organic mini version of Whole Foods right by our flat. Kolac also spelled Kolache is apparently a big deal in Oaklahoma and Minnesota (random). The NYC version is pretty much a donut with strawberry filling. Personally, I think the Prague ones much better :)

#3) ICE CREAM

The weather has been sporadically getting warmer. With that a bunch of ice cream places have become increasingly more popular. My favorite thus far has been Cream & Dream which is about 30 seconds away from my flat.  Although their selection is smaller than Zoom (another ice cream place), I think the quality is much batter. We sampled a small bowl of caramel which was quite tasty.

#3.5) ICE CREAM CONTINUED

I forget the name of this place but you can buy a tiny (and I mean tiny) scoop of ice cream for 10 cents hence I thought it was worth mentioning. This place is located under the tunnel right by the secret garden in Wencelas Sqaure.

#4) CREPES

Crepe time! My roommates Czech buddy came over and made us a HUGE stack of crepes. It was quite an epic moment. Also great hangover food. We ate them with nutella, homemade jam, sweet yogurt, lemon & butter and cinnamon sugar. I was quite happy to discover that crepes are kind of a big deal in Prague. You can buy them almost anywhere since there is a crepe stand on every other block. They are made fresh to order and you have your selection of various fillings from nutella to strawberry jam.

#5) MACARONS

I've gone back to Bake Shop a few more times. Apart from Paris, this place definitely has the best croissants that I've had. Since my first visit, I've also tried out the quiche, an apple and cheese croissant sandwich and some macarons.  Surprisingly this is one of the few places in town that actually sells macarons.

The Last Hurrah in the Big Apple

Gelato from Eataly. Ok Capo, I think you've met your match. Pistachio + Hazelnet in a waffle cone? ZOMG I'm in heaven. 

Is it already almost the end of August? The experience of a milestone birthday, the end of a whirlwind internship, a spontaneous trip to Montreal and now I am back in my bed at home furiously sending out emails in preparation for the upcoming semester. I don't think I even remembered to do anything particular for the one-year anniversary of this blog or take any pictures of my Bday dinner. Sigh. Is this what happens when you officially grow up? Life starts moving like a fast forwarded movie? 

At least I'm still making time to smell the pork ramen along the way :) Leave it to me to wait until my last day in NYC to finallyy check off some foodie adventures that have been on "the list" since day 1. Guess that's why they always say better late than never. 

Momofuku Noodle Bar.  Momofuku Ramen with pork belly, pork shoulder and poached egg. Pork buns with hoisin and cucumber. I think I like the noodles at Momo better but the broth at Ippudo was definitely more flavorful. Pork buns are comparable although Momo's was clearly a lot fattier. Good food is still good food  :p

Momofuku Milk Bar. Cereal Milk Ice Cream & Grasshopper Pie (not shown).  For someone who doesn't really like the taste of milk (and yet ice cream is still my favorite food group...huh), cereal milk flavored ice cream was not really my thing but you gotta praise David Chang for his creativity.

After raving about Tamarind to my co-workers the first time around, guess who was lucky enough to go back for another spectacular (somewhat gluttinous) three-course lunch? This time it was with a new friend from work. Life is at its best when moments are the most serendipitous - especially when its the start of a new friendship :)

Spicy Lamb. Curry Chicken. Sadly, I do not remember the name of these dishes (not that I even knew how to pronounce it the fist time around).

Kashmiri Murgh (Chicken) and Bhagarey Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

Amritsari Machli (Marinated Fish) and Pudina Gosht (Boneless Lamb)

Side of Nan and Root Vegetables

Rice Pudding that wound up seeming more like Vanilla Mousse but still delicious :)

Norma's at Le Parker Meridien

My LAST brunch in the city. The brunch was decent but the servings were ENORMOUS including the coffee where they served you an entire kettle (per person).  Guess who was uber caffeinated for the rest of the day?? Check out their very expansive menu.

Normalita's Huevos Rancheros.

Crunchy French Toast with Warm Caramel Sauce. So this might just put RX's crunchy french toast to shame. IF only there had been some fruit with this dish! One can only take so much of super sweetness and dense delicious carbyness.

Dinner with T. at Pipas y Mas. The lighting at the restaurant was way wayy too dark for me to get any good ambiance shots but the restaurant's website does a pretty darn good job highlighting their extravagant lighting decor of 20 something chandeliers. We didn't really explore the full tapas menu but what we did get was yummmmy. And we took NYMag's recommendation on the piggy back dates which were indeed very tasty.

Catalan Flat Bread - Slized Chorizo, artichoke, tomato and piquillo pepper

Catalan Flat Bread - wild mushrooms, serrano ham, manchego cheese, caramelized onion, almonds and truffle oil.

Piggy Back Dates - almond stuffed, bacon wrapped dates with endive leaves.

Cooking class and dinner at the Institute of Culinary Education. We had the choice of helping with one of three courses - guess who opted to help with the peanut butter/chocolate goodness dessert?? 

Making caramel (apparently you are supposed to add salt at the end of the heating process to make the flavor pop which in hindsight is kind of intuitive considering PinkBerry now sells salted caramel fro-yo but still...now it makes me want to go make caramel!), whipping up peanut butter mousse and stirring up chocolate cake batter.

Risotto with medley of vegetables.

Steak with fingerling potatoes and asparagus.

Chocolate cake with peanut mousse and caramel sauce.

Not to shabby for a wrap-up of the city that never sleeps. Lets see if I can crank out the posts I have from Montreal before I head out to Penn. Farewell NYC! Until next time ;)

Little Things

Life is full of wonderful little things that never fail to make me (or anyone for that matter) happy, and one of those little things is ice cream. Ice cream in any form is delicious but an ice cream sundae equal childhood happiness.

Located  next to the 2nd Market Street station, 1 block over from Han Dynasty and next to everything Olde City has to offer, Franklin Fountain has been an icon of the Philadelphia food scene since its inception in 2004. It is no surprise that the line we waited in stretched around the block because the ice cream is absolutely delicious.

The place is perfect from its old time radio to the servers in bow-tie to the homemade strawberry lemonade. The founders, the Berley brothers naturally took some of their inspiration from their mother who owned an antique furniture shop in Media. Check out their adorable website and blog.

[Lightening Rod Sundae] Coffee ice cream with a shot of espresso, chocolate covered espresso beans, white chocolate shavings, whipped cream and a pretzel rod. 

Another one of those little things that always makes me feel better is a really good cup of coffee. My roommate and I have literally lived in Capogiro for the past semester, and I have sampled almost everything from the perfectly foamy cappuccino in the cold month of January to the double shot iced latte in the heat of May during reading days (and of course everything in between). Here are some fun shots from the phone.

Sarah, the owner and founder, also has a very cute foodie blog you can check out here. I have this tendency of really disliking anything that turns into a chain or a franchise because the quality of the food and service always inevitably goes downhill. Fortunately for Capogiro, they've managed to keep everything pretty top notch even with three different locations.

An adorable teapot that they sometimes will serve your tea in. 

[double shot iced latte] the perfect way to start a day full of studying

The last little is more of a big meal but you should know by now how obsessed with brunch I am :) What makes brunch so perfect though is all of the wonderful friends you get to share it with. [and of course all of the yummy pictures of food I get to take]

[Hangover Pizza]

[Eggs Benedict] Hollandaise Sauce, Chorizo and Cheddar Biscuit.

[Almond French Toast]

[Steak and Eggs]

Find more brunch posts here and here. Home has been very relaxing and rather unproductive. My goals of cooking up a storm haven't really materialized but maybe that will change tomorrow...