Carnivores

Two exciting meat-eating adventures from this past weekend.

Its been a bit over 6 months since Keizo Shimamoto showed up to the Brooklyn Smorgasbourg with his "more-famous-than-the-cronut" creation, the ramen burger. A certain someone, who is obsesesd with ramen has been wanting to try this thing out since August. So we journeyed all the way to Williamsburg for the Smorgasbourg but was too late in getting a head start on the 2 hour+ line of hungry eaters eagerly awaiting their chance to sample the ramen burger, of which there was a limited quantity. And then before we knew it, it was January already. Yesterday, we stumbled into the winter, indoor version of the Smorgasbourg and what did you know? There was the ramen burger stand and no line. 

Two ramen buns, secret sauce, arugula, green onions and 1/4lb chuck beef patty

So was this overhyped? Maybe I would answer differently if I had to wait for 2 hours starving to death but since I didn't, my final verdict is this is one yummy burger. Well-cooked (not dry!) patty with a secret sauce pretty similar to hoisin and nicely al dente ramen noodles mixed in. Would I order it again? Assuming there's no 2 hour line, I will say its a definite yes.  

Dinner at Peter Luger's

Unlike the ramen burger which has only been around for a few months, we had dinner at the most famous and oldest steak establishment in New York, Peter Luger's. Voted best steak of the city by Zagat for 30 years in a row, this place had some pretty high standards to live up to. Seriously, how does a place get voted #1 for 30 years in a row? Now I understand when people call places "institutions". 

Peter Luger's famous steak sauce is pretty much their version of a cocktail sauce, we weren't the biggest fans. But let me rave about the thick crispy bacon. It was life-changing good. And even the guy who hates (I mean will not eat it) bacon loved this bacon. I know this is probably blasphemous to say [but the bacon was probably better than the steak].

The star of the menu, dry-aged, bone-in porterhouse. Not sure why the portion size is meant for 2 since its enough meat to feed a small country. Half of the steak featured filet and the other side of the bone was a New York strip, cooked medium-rare with a nice char on the outside. So was this really the best steak I have ever had? In terms of pure steak, meatyness, I would say yes. The filet literally melted in your mouth. But me liking things salty wished there had been more seasoning and to the meat. And unlike korean BBQ, which we always devour no matter how full we are, we left a good portion on the plate to take home. 

Not exactly sure how we still had room for dessert but its one of those meals where you need to do it right, so we got cheesecake. Man it was some good cheesecake, served with the house made "schlagg" (aka whipped cream). And to top the meal off, some chocolate gold coins, supposedly the same ones they've been giving out sine the restaurant first opened eons ago. 

Home Cooking

A blissful Christmas week at home filled with nonstop eating, tv-indulging, and sleeping in way too late. Thought I would have been more diligent about capturing all of our meals but half of the time I was to impatient to eat.  Fortunately I was able to get a few quick snaps in between all of the eating :)

A delightful discovery - Jack Rudy small batch tonic that has elevated my favorite drink to a whole new level. Thank you Bon Appetit for introducing me to this.

A classic breakfast we always eat at home. Ever since my parents had their first crepe in Montreal years and years ago, they were hooked. We've been following the same apple crepe recipe since I was probably 12.

After our apartment had dumpling night, I was craving some of my mom's home made dumplings. And the new favorite filling of the moment is lamb with celery. Nothing beats dumplings was dumpling skin made fresh.

This is not a new favorite. For as long as I can remember, we've been eating hot put at home and it beats all the hot pot I've had in Philadelphia and New York. Our favorite ingredients include thinly cut lamb, spinach, clear noodles and a spicy sesame based sauce loaded with hot peppers and cilantro.

Showing off dad's cooking skills. Roast beef smoked in his "Green Egg", home made pickles and bread made from scratch. Dad's gotten pretty good at cooking while I wasn't looking.

A simple dinner of nachos loaded with Italian sausage, home made salsa and LOTS of jalepenos, can you tell we like things spicy?

New York sure has some great food but sometimes, nothing beats mom and dad's home cooking.

East Village & Beyond

A roundup of the notable eats from the past 2 weeks in NYC. Despite the long commute to work, East Village sure has its charms..especially when it comes to all of the great food. The night before I moved to NYC, I created a spreadsheet of 100+ restaurants/foodtrucks/holeinthewalls that I had to try. Fortunately, I've manage to slowly chip away at the list (while concurrently adding even more).

1) Asian Goodness

Totto Ramen: Spicy ramen with egg + char siu pork, Extra intense ramen with extra pork, egg and other goodies
Prosperity Dumplings: BEST DUMPLINGS I have ever had (and $9 for 50 of them???)
Brick Lane Curry House: Lunch buffet for 10 bucks!

BCD Tofu House: New K-town obsession. Spicy cold noodles and spicy hot tofu :)
Sao Mai: $6 bucks Bah Mihn and Pork Bun.Yummy and one of the cheapest eats in EV.

2) Flushing

Hahm Ji Bach aka the most famous Korean BBQ in Flushing, Queens. Michelin recommended to boot.
Pork Belly & Gal Bi

Li's Noodles, Kung Fu Bubble Tea, Xiao Long Bao from Nan Xiang Dumpling House, Portuguese Egg Tarts from
New Flushing Bakery.

 3) Drinks

Cucumber cocktail, Punch bowls from CienFuegos, happy hour at 10 Degree Bar.

4) Gourmet Fast Food

Crif Dogs Hot Dog
Luke's Lobster Lobster Roll

  
5) Good Old Fast Food

Japadogs: Beef hot dg with spicy mayo, seaweed and other Asian flavors
Mark's: Bacon, regular, and pulled pork sliders & cheese fries

Revisiting Lunch

Finally got around to taking my drug test for work and decided to make a little road trip adventure out of it. Kept hearing how good this Vietnamese place was so finally decided to check it out. The ironic part of the whole thing is I have been going to the same Vietnamese place next door with my parents for 6 years and never realized Nam Phuong was in the same parking lot. Maybe now I'm just biased but I still think the one next door is better.

Went back to Barbuzzo and Matyson for lunch because I realized there are only so many good places to go for lunch in Philly (and I also wanted better pictures).

Got the hanger steak with truffle fries again because the steak is cooked perfectly and I freaking love french friers.
Also ordered the BBQ brisket sandwich. BYOBed this time with some white wine.

We walked down to Barbuzzo since the weather was nice which meant we were starving by the time we got there. Last time I complained the meal was too carby, but this time that carbiness was perfect.

[Sheep's Milk Ricotta]: Classic
[Prosciutto Pizza]: Loved the white sauce on this pizza

Grilled Mezze Platter of: asparagus, beets, romanesco, snap peas, farro salad, mozarella, broccoli rabe

[Salted Caramel Budin]

Thai Cooking Class

About 1.5 years late but better late than never. Was going through my old photos and realized I never blogged about this!

Last last winter break, some girlfriends and I traveled to Southeast Asia and for part of our trip, we went to Bangkok for a few days (which I might add was nothing like what was depicted in The Hangover 2). One of the items on our to-do list was to take a Thai cooking class and we found an adorable place called Silom Thai Cooking School which was owned by an equally adorable man who had traveled the globe and then retired to open up this cooking school (gave me some ideas for retirement). We made 3 "real" courses and 2 mini courses which in total spanned about 3-4 hours. Everything, from all of the fresh produce to amazing spices to anthropolgy-like dishwear made it such a memorable experience (the 150+ photos I took also helped).

Having authentic Tom Yum Soup in Thailand was a dream. Cooked with the right ingredients, its light, savory, spicy and so satisfying.  

Part 1 of Tom Yum Soup involved making fresh coconut milk (ahh so exciting). Who knew it was so easy, all you actually need is just fresh coconut meat from the market...nbd.Oh well, everything else international has already become part of the foodie lexicon (and part of trader joes), hopefully this will soon too!

Ingredients for Tom Yum Soup, too bad I can't just stroll into FroGro or even Whole Foods and get some kaffir leaves and lemon grass whenever the mood strikes.

Never made soup in a wok before but it actually worked quite well. 

Mmmm Pad Thai, who doesn't love pad thai??

I wish I could remember all of the spices and sauces we used for everything...fortunately we did get a cookbook to go, I think it might still be in my suitcase in the attic..
.

A light chicken salad that involve a lot of lime and herbs.

Never realized you made curry from pounding peppers into a pulp, this dish sure was hardwork, not even sure if we got it right...

Mashing the curry in a GIANT motar and pestle was also quite fun.

A giant basket of goods from the open air market.

My mom has been wanting to go to Thailand ever since I went (I've also been bugging her and my dad to go ever since I went). Hopefully, they'll be able to get some of their own pictures soon!

Roundup of Philly Eats

#1 Green Eggs Cafe

The "new" Sabrina's. Enormous portions, decadent dishes and serving up brunch 7 days a week. We went on a Monday at 2:30pm so managed to avoid the 2 hour lines. Still need to go back to try the famous red velvet pancakes.

The Kitchen Sink: Potatoes, Sausage, Biscuit, Swiss Cheese, Hollandaise Sauce
French Toast Tiramisu: Brioche Bread, Espresso Mascarpone, Mocha Maple Syrup, Lady Fingers, Chantilly Cream

#2 Chifa

Jose Garces' Peruvian & Latin inspired restaurant. Heard mixed reviews about this place but the food is quite good; especially the happy hour which has $3 dim sum specials.

+ Duck Confit Tacos
+ Pork Belly Buns
+ Curry over Rice
+ Short Ribs
+ Fried Wontons

#3 Monk's Cafe

Belgian beer cafe with limited seating but great beer selection. Don't know how I feel about the ridiculous wait for the bucket of $10 mussels although they are tasty.

+ Bucket of Mussles
+ Belgian Fries
+ Duck Sandwich

#4 Zahav

Our new favorite restaurant in Philadelphia! This place is always super packed but even outside of Restaurant Week, they have a five-course $39 tasting menu which is an amazing deal. The Israeli inspired dishes are full of flavor and so delicious. The owner, Mike Solomonov, also owns my other new favorite place in Philadelphia: Federal Donuts.

+ Salmon over Cous Cous
+ Lamb Meat Balls
+ Salatim (daily selection of salads)
+ Pumpkin Cake with Custard
+ Apple Tart & Ice Cream

#5 Prix Fixe Brunch @ Tinto

Tinto is actually my favorite restaurant by Jose Garces although I've never done a proper blog post on it. They also offer a 3 course + side brunch on weekends for only $35. This was from a while ago and they've changed their menu significantly so I don't remember everything we had but it was one luxurious brunch.

+ Not sure what this was...
+ Asparagus with Hollandaise
+ Duck Salad with Poached Egg
+ Some sort of Egg Sandwich
+ Grapefruit Brulee with Foam
+ Fritter, Ice Cream, Caramel

New & Improved

Nan Zhou La Mian has gotten a face lift. Bigger store, bigger menu and a new location. My mom and I journeyed over for a quick lunch and opted to order our respective favorites despite the extended menu.

Aromatic Platter of tendons, pig ear and beef

Beef Shaved Noodles

Beef Pulled Noodles

Loving the upgraded camera!

May Eats - Prague & Beijing

May literally came and went: semester finals, Prague farewells, sojourn to China, move to NYC and now the first week of June is already reaching its conclusion. With the end of May, it also meant the end of my travels (and eating) through Europe. I am so extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to experience not only Prague but all of the  vibrant culture and history that each city I visited had to offer. I know for a fact that this will not be the last time that I journey to Europe (especially with many countries left to visit!). It also really does not feel all that long ago that I was blogging from NYC  about all of the ramen and cupcakes I was planning to feast on for the summer. Now, here I am once again in the Big Apple having completed yet another week of training (ironically, it was the exact same training program) - what a weird sense of dejavu. So here is the official wrap-up of my  final days in Prague and an overview of my eating adventures in Beijing.

1) Back to Aromi 

+ Seafood tomato soup with fish sashimi on croutons

Linguine with crab and tomato; Agnolotti filled with cooked ham and ricotta served with asparagus

Aromi quickly became one of my favorite restaurants in Prague. With michelin level quality of service and a bowl of authentic pasta for around 15USD - its one of the nicest experiences I discovered in Prague, too bad the only place you can find a deal like that is in Central Europe. Compared to the pastas that I ate in Italy - Aromi's pastas are easily just as good as what you would get from the home country.  During our visit, we were given an amuse bouche of smoked salmon and a hummus-like puree as well as a refreshing lemon sorbet drink. I never got a chance to post the pasta dishes I had for my first visit at Aromi (mostly because I devoured too much of my meal before I remembered to take a picture) but those dishes we ordered were also amazingly good and that was right before my Italy trip.

2) Completing the trio - Mlynec 

Veal Sausage with Celery puree; Deer Medallions with potato dumplings; Crispy Roasted Duck with bread dumplings

Mlynec is owned by the same restaurant group that also owns V Zatisi and Bellevue (probably one of my favorite restaurants of all time). The three together are some of the most popular and prestigious restaurants in Prague. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to post about V Zatisi or Bellevue since all of those food pictures are on V's phone (maybe I'll have a nostalgia Europe post on all of the eats that I missed). Mlynec is located right next to Charles Bridge and the menu has a heavier emphasis on Bohemia and Czech cuisine compared to its sister restaurants. The meal was hearty and satisfying and pretty much what you would expect when it comes to Bohemian cuisine.

3) Oh Hello Beijing & Ding Tai Fung

Spicy Wonton dumplings; Dan dan mian; Seaweed & tofu cold salad

Shanghai juicy buns: original pork and crab roe (look at those 18 folds on each dumpling!)

Sweet red bean buns; grass jelly ice dessert

Noodles in Paris

Why would I get noodles in Paris of all places you ask? I am in one of the best culinary destinations in the entire world and I opt for the type of no-frills ramen shop that I could easily find in New York.  Well there's sort of a reason to my madness. Sort of.  I was craving noodles.

Many famous diners have come to Higuma including "The Last Samurai"!

Nestled in between a handful of other Japanese and Korean shops, Higuma, is a local and tourist favorite. You can easily tell that it stands out among its competitors from the line of American, French, and Asian patrons spilling out the front door. Can you say Ippudo? It is also one of the cheapest places on the block with a bowl of ramen starting from just 6.5 Euros. I'm pretty sure our cup of hot chocolate cost more than that...

CHECK OUT THAT MASSIVE GYOZA STEAMER

After 6 weeks in Europe without seeing anything that even remotely resembled a noodle shop or dim sum stand, I needed an Asian fix. Finding Higuma on googlemaps was a godsend. The open faced kitchen greets you as soon as you walk in and right away, you see the most efficient gyoza cooker you will ever see in your life: churning out something like 200 gyozas in one go. 

+ Kimchi Ramen with Pork
+ Butter Corn Ramen

Ask V and I and we will pick the cheap bowl of ramen over the plate of foie gras any day. No offense to French cuisine of course. We still love the croissants and eclairs :)