rickshaw dumpling truck

locations

website

in the world of food trucks, i guess the rickshaw dumpling truck is kind of a cheater. they have "brick and mortar" stores - the rickshaw dumpling bars - which means that they can prepare the dumplings in the restaurant in order to stock the truck. other truck vendors have to rent cheap space in one of the outer boroughs and then drive the food into manhattan. whatever. i'm not a huge fan of the dumpling truck, but sometimes i'm in the mood for dumplings and today they happened to be parked a block away from my office building. i didn't get a break from work until 2 pm today, so i knew that there wouldn't be a line.

i picked up an order of pork+chive dumplings and an order of duck dumplings. quality-wise, these don't come anywhere near to being the best dumplings in the world (that honor belongs to my mom's homemade dumplings.) in fact, they taste pretty much like the dumplings i make myself - kind of overcooked and a little bland, but when dunked in sufficient amounts of soy sauce, they're quite satisfying. the duck dumplings are unique and i like the hoisin dipping sauce, but they're not spectacular. anyway, when i'm in the mood for dumplings and the timing is right, the rickshaw dumpling truck is a pretty good option.

cafe zaiya @ kinokuniya

new york, ny

website

m and i were braving the icebox that was manhattan last week in order to finish up our christmas shopping at bryant park's holiday market. at some point, however, m's toes froze and we decided to seek shelter. fortunately i remembered that kinokuniya (the japanese book and stationary store) recently moved from rockefeller to bryant park. i also remembered that jenny introduced me to cafe zaiya located on the second floor of the bookstore.

it wasn't very crowded, so m and i were able to sit down with our snacks. i had chamomile tea, which was served in a very cool clear tea-pot with an attached cup. i also ordered a strawberry shortcake, which was very tasty. i love asian-style cakes which use whipped cream (instead of frosting) layered between dense sponge cake and fruit. very light and not too sweet. just perfect.

bar room @ the modern

new york, ny

website

the modern is the super fancy restaurant attached to the MOMA. derek thinks its overrated and overpriced. fortunately, the casual "bar room" at the modern is much better and more reasonably priced, though still expensive. fellow food blogger m was visiting, so we decided to splurge on lunch at the bar room before viewing the special tim burton exhibit at the MOMA (which was wonderfully creepy).

the menu is divided into three parts. the first is soups and salads, the second is seafood and pasta, the third is meat. i tend to choose one each from the first two parts, so i can save room for the bar room's amazing desserts. i started with the mushroom soup which is served with fried chorizo dumplings. second course - scallops with pear slices and beets. for dessert, we shared the beignets with three dipping sauces - caramel sauce, mango chutney, and maple ice cream. as part of danny meyer's empire, the bar room has fantastic service. a bug drowned in the remnants of my lychee soda. i didn't say anything to the waitress about it - but she saw the bug, apologized profusely, and comp'ed both the lychee soda and my chamomile tea!

bali nusa

new york, ny

website

my friend y can speak indonesian and i always rely on her when ordering from this restaurant. derek and i went without her once and we ordered the same nasi goreng dish she usually gets - but because we are not indonesian, we ended up with a bland tasteless version. it's really amazing that indonesian food can end up bland and tasteless, but somehow they managed.

therefore i would not recommend going to this place without an indonesian-speaking person. earlier this week, with m visiting from out-of-town, y ordered delivery from bali nusa. after lots of lovely indonesian was spoken, we ended up with curry tofu, spicy eggplant, chicken satay, fried rice, and crispy onion chips. delicious!

obao

new york, ny

link to yelp

finally felt well enough to go back to work, which meant that i could finally try the recently opened obao. it's one of michael huynh's many restaurants - he also runs baoguette. i was happy to hear that a branch of the empire sits just a block away from my office. obao took over the old bunchberries space so there's some casual seating in front near the window but more standard seating in the back.

the food tends to be a twist on standard asian dishes. for example, the appetizer pork belly is served with traditional char siu sauce (although it ended up being more pork than belly.) eric joined me for lunch and as usual, i liked the dish that he chose better - the spicy radish noodles with shrimp, oyster, egg, chives, and bean sprouts. it was obao's version of the popular cantonese dish - stir-fried luo buo gao - very good. my pad see ew was pretty good. the twist was supposed to be the use of bulgogi, but it tasted like normal thai-style beef to me. still, very good and reasonably priced for midtown east. i will definitely be back.

karendipity cooks: congee

unfortunately i came down with a nasty cold after my trip to asia (thus the lack of updates). my mom used to make me congee whenever i got sick, except we called it "xi fan" and it's usually thicker than the HK-style congee. my friend CR mentioned that the steam from boiled chicken is a natural decongestant so i decided to get some chicken stock and make myself congee. ingredients: ground chicken, rice, chicken broth, scallions, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil.

stir together soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, and a smidge of sesame oil. pour over ground chicken and thoroughly mix. heat olive oil on stove and cook chicken, breaking it up into small pieces while cooking. in a large pot, add chicken broth and rice (go easy on the rice - it expands a LOT when cooking into congee.) add whole green scallions for flavor (i remove these before serving). bring to a boil then simmer for at least half an hour. cooking time depends on how much you want the rice to break up - i usually leave mine on the stove for an hour or so. stir every 15 mins and add chicken broth or water as needed. it is very important that the heat is low, otherwise the rice will stick to the pot or burn. once the congee has reached the desired consistency, add chicken and sliced thousand year old egg. add soy sauce to taste. cook for another couple of minutes then serve. i like to top mine with marinated turnips. yum!

old airport road

singapore

51 old airport road

after a series of faux-hawker centers (i.e. mall food courts), we finally got a chance to go to a real hawker center on our last night in singapore. it was massive - rows and rows of vendors selling all different kinds of food. it was a little overwhelming and we only had an hour. derek and i decided to take turns. first, he guarded our table while i searched for my meal. i walked up and down each row looking for indonesian fried rice but didn't find it. i ended up going with a bowl of minced meat noodles.

on my way back to the table, i noticed an oyster omelet stand but my hands were full. so i asked derek to order a plate to share with the table. really good. the oysters tasted fresh and the chili sauce was delicious. after we finished our meal, we went back to get soybean milk and almond jelly for dessert. derek and i loved the hawker center - next time we go to singapore we'll definitely visit more hawker centers and less food courts!

my humble house

singapore

website

my humble house is located in the esplanade, a giant durian-shaped arts center in downtown singapore. it serves high-end chinese food with southeast asian influences. very fancy and very tasty. pictured is the lobster salad with dragonfruit and melon balls in a wasabi dressing. it's served in a dragonfruit shell with rose petals. that's just an example of the amazing dishes that we ate here.

we had lunch here but i think it would be a very nice place to eat at night. it looks like the walls are designed to sparkle at night and there's a great view of the city. there's a sign outside that says no shorts, no sandals, and no photography. they didn't complain, however, when i walked in shorts and flip-flops and took pictures of every dish. a sidenote - the waitresses have very strange uniforms. they look like traditional chinese outfits except for the fact that there's fabric missing around the waistline. you can see the waitresses bellies and belly buttons. it's rather disturbing but if you can ignore the waitresses and focus on the food, it's fine.

food opera

singapore

website

food opera is a massive food court in the basement of the super fancy ion mall that recently opened on orchard road in singapore. derek and i actually stopped in the food opera twice - once for lunch before we started shopping and again for an afternoon snack before leaving the mall. i don't even think we managed to look at every vendor before deciding which one to order from. for lunch - derek ordered hainanese chicken, roast duck with rice, and a side of roast pork. i wanted something a little lighter and went to the dim sum vendor and ordered an egg tart and fluffy white pork buns.

lunch was just okay. it was more expensive than other food courts, but the food wasn't worth the bump in price. unfortunately i forgot to take a picture of our afternoon snacks, because those were much better. derek had bon chon chicken (yes, that's considered a snack for derek) and i had belgian chocolate ice cream mixed coldstone-style with sponge cake and strawberries from a japanese ice cream shop.

long beach seafood

singapore

website

east coast park in singapore is a beautiful park by the water with a hawker center for street food, a huge man-made lake with a waterskiing machine (a rope will pull you in a loop around the very large lake), and the east coast seafood centre which contains several seafood restaurants, including long beach seafood. we saw a few people ordering the black pepper crab, which was apparently invented at this restaurant, but we wanted the chili crab.

fatty crab in nyc has its own version of the dish, but it is more expensive and uses one small crab. plus, the singapore version has crab meat in the chili sauce itself. the sauce is extremely spicy. for me, at least. derek and the rest of the table happily dug in. i enjoyed the fact that the chili crab was served with fried mantou and i used that to dip into the crab-laden sauce. a much milder option, but still delicious. for dessert, they served an amazing almond jelly with longan pieces - very refreshing after all that spicy food.

din tai fung

singapore

website

my lonely planet guide recommended this place for its dumplings and noodles. it's a taiwan restaurant with branches throughout asia and i think they also have branch in los angeles. the singapore branch was (big surprise) in the basement of a mall on orchard road. we went on friday for lunch and it was packed - we had to wait about a half hour to get seated.

the xiao long bao is their specialty, so that's what we ordered. very very good. unfortunately there wasn't as much soup in the dumplings as i would normally like but the taste was phenomenal. that said, i think we can get the same quality of xiao long bao from joe's shanghai in nyc's chinatown. my noodle soup with pork and pickled cabbage was good, but not as good as the version my mom makes. all in all, it was a fantastic meal but between joe's shanghai and my mom, i think we've got this place beat.

food republic

singapore

website

for thanksgiving dinner, the newylweds, derek, and i had a feast at the food republic food court in vivocity mall. it's a huge food court with all kinds of food. it took quite a while for all of us to make our initial lap around. there was one vendor who just sold various fried items, another who only sold meat buns. women push around carts with more food and drinks - like dim sum and fresh juices. it's quite a spectacle.

first we commandeered a table and made sure that one person was guarding our stuff at all times. then we separately visited the various vendors and brought back plates to share. i found the taiwanese food vendor and ordered all my favorites - zha jiang mian (pictured), scallion pancakes, fried mantou, and fried red bean pancake. derek picked up beef soup with hand-shaved noodles and chicken+pork buns. in true thanksgiving style, we ate and ate until we were stuffed. it was an excellent way to celebrate the american holiday.

prima tower

singapore

website

derek and i had lunch at prima tower's revolving restaurant. as it was our second lunch of the day, our focus was mostly on the awesome views of singapore. the restaurant is located at the top of the prima company's flour silo and the entire restaurant slowly rotates so that during an hour-long meal you can move about 180 degrees. we saw mount faber, sentosa island, and the port of singapore (the busiest port in the world).

dim sum was pretty good. i took a picture of the lovely chicken feet. unfortunately it's been a while since we ate there. we didn't pay for internet while in singapore because i found a mall near the hotel that had free internet kiosks. that's why i waited until we returned to new york before posting about the many singapore restaurants we went to. so i can't really remember what else we had other than the fact that it was dim sum, but i do remember the incredible views being the focus of our meal.

bread talk

singapore

website

i love chinese pastries - the big fluffy buns filled with various pastes and the not-too-sweet cakes topped with whipped cream rather than frosting. the versions i find in nyc's chinatown are usually greasier and heavier than the pastries i find on the west coast or in asia. i didn't get to go to very many bakeries while in hong kong so i spent much of my time in singapore searching for chinese bakeries. unfortunately, most of the bakeries are french-style with a lot of tarts and croissants. good, but not what i was looking for.

breadtalk is a chain of bakeries that can be found in singapore malls. although it was mostly french pastries and breads, i did find a few asian-style buns and cakes. nothing with red bean paste or anything like that, but the almond bun (pictured) from the breadtalk in paragon mall was close enough. it was delicious - filled with a light white chocolate cream and topped with toasted almonds. it was so good that even derek liked it - in fact, he ate half of it ...

lucky plaza food court

singapore

lucky plaza on orchard road

as you will see, derek and i ate in a lot of food courts. every mall in singapore had a basement food court filled with all kinds of food - indonesian, korean, indian, chinese, etc. - there's even usually a stand devoted solely to hainanese chicken rice. although not as cheap as the hawker centers, it was still great food for reasonable prices. every time we went to a food court, derek and i took a preliminary lap to survey all of the options.

pictured is the duck and wonton noodle dish that i ordered from "roasted delight" in the asian food court. we were drawn to the hanging roasted meats displayed on the counter. i was surprised to find out that the wonton noodles are not served in soup. instead, the plate is covered in a sweet soy sauce that you can mix into the rest of the ingredients, while the soup is served on the side. it really highlights the taste of the noodles and wontons.

pu tien

singapore

website

pu tien is an area in the fujian province in china and also a restaurant in a mall in singapore serving food from the region. it seems like all the good restaurants in asia are in malls. this was yet another feast with dishes i have never had before. some highlights - the deep fried thousand year old egg with sweet and sour sauce, the steamed cold pork belly with garlic, deep fried yam, and butterflied shrimp with massive amounts of freshly chopped garlic on them.

my favorite, however, was what the natives at our table referred to as the "singaporean hamburger." stir-fried beef strips with caramelized onions as the "patty." the "bun" is a deep-fried mantou pocket (the kind they serve with peking duck at most chinese restaurants on the west coast.) the restaurant also provides a plastic glove and a knife. directions for eating: place the plastic glove on one hand, use it to hold the very hot fried mantou and use the knife to slice open the pocket portion. then fill with the stir-fried beef and enjoy. delicious and a little dangerous (try not to burn your mouth on the hot oil still coating the mantou pocket).

hang heung's kitchen @ HKG

hk int'l airport, hk

level 8 of T1

derek and i were craving one last bowl of congee before boarding our flight to singapore. thankfully there's a full chinese restaurant in terminal 1. it took a few escalators to get up there, but the interior looks and feels like a normal restaurant, which was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the airport.

we both ordered the preserved egg and pork congee and an order of you tiao. our congee came out immediately, but our you tiao took a while. turns out they were frying it fresh. it was worth the wait -- crispy and delicious. congee is a perfect pre-flight meal -- warm and comforting. i wish they had a branch in JFK.

dynasty

tsim sha tsui, hk

website

turns out there was a great chinese restaurant right in our hotel. we went out to eat with derek's mom and two aunties for yet another feast. crispy shrimp, chicken feet soup (with an amazing yam-looking turnip), pigeon, dou miao (pea shoots), rice steamed with various chinese sausages, roast pork, and sago pudding with mango and grapefruit.

this was our last night in hong kong. we must have had a massive feast every night that we were here. and usually a massive lunch too. and afternoon tea. and breakfast. i don't think i really ever stopped eating. at dynasty, while reaching for one of my favorites - the pork ribs with strawberry sauce - i actually got a cramp in my chopsticks-holding hand! must stop eating. at least until we get to singapore.

tien yi

the peak, hk

website

there is a huge mountain on hong kong island that overlooks the downtown skyscrapers. we took a tram up, which looked like a san francisco trolley, but this one goes up an extremely steep incline and you feel like you might fall out of your seat. at the top, there's a lot of touristy shops and tourist-priced restaurants with a view of downtown. we chose tien yi, the chinese restaurant. there were other cuisines, but we had learned our lesson from SML and decided to stick with chinese food.

tien yi is an appropriate name for this restaurant - it translates into "sky one". derek's mom requested a table with a view and as you can see, we had a great view of the harbor and downtown hong kong. what a light show! downtown new york seems so old and boring in comparison. oh yeah - there was great food too - soy sauce chicken with crispy skin, sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf, and sweet and sour beef rib. everyone else loved the chicken, but my favorite dish was the fried noodles topped with seafood. in the US, this is referred to as "hong kong style" or "cantonese style" noodles. and this version was the best i've ever had. it had just the right amount of sauce so that some noodles were softened and others still retained their fried crispiness.

SML

causeway bay, hk

website

SML stands for small-medium-large. it's basically italian tapas and you can choose the size of your portion. maybe you want to share a bunch of large plates family-style, small plates tapas-style, or order medium-sized entrees. it's located in times square mall (does every major city have a times square?) on the 11th floor.

i ordered a rocket (arugula) salad which was served with a massive amount of balsamic dressing. the crostini topped with tomato and basil was basically chunky prego on a piece of bread. derek's pesto pasta was similarly overdressed and unappealing. basically, the menu of 'inoteca with the taste of the olive garden. ugh. derek's mom's shrimp toast (pictured) was better. from now on, we're sticking to chinese food.

super star seafood restaurant

tsim sha tsui, hk

website

downtown hong kong seems to consist of a maze of malls and shops. you could probably walk from one to the other without ever seeing the sun. at the top of one of these malls, harbour city, was the super star seafood restaurant. it's a chain of restaurants and when we visited other malls later in the day we saw other branches. and it was 50% off before 12 pm - discount dim sum!

if only US malls had food this good. the best tofu i've ever had. it has a salty, crispy, lightly fried exterior. the tofu interior was like a creamy silky pudding. amazing! also: fantastic stir-fried turnip cake with XO sauce, cheong fun, fried chicken with taro, and sticky rice. we also ordered taro cakes, which are like turnip cakes but with taro. my mom used to make these for me when i was younger - delicious.

hop fung noodles restaurant

tsim sha tsui, hk

website

after getting some excellent cocktails at the starck-designed felix in the famed peninsula hotel, we decided to find a late night noodle bar. we wandered around TST (tsim sha tsui - the downtown area of kowloon) looking for a good spot. one of our friends suggested hop fung and as our large group of hungry asians approached, the man cooking tripe in the front window eagerly waved us in.

cheap greasy food - perfect after a late night of drinking. i had the mai fun with preserved cabbage and pork. derek had the salted fish and chicken fried rice. both were good, although i liked his better and kept sneaking bites off his plate.

lamma hilton shum kee seafood restaurant

lamma island, hk

26 first st, sok kwu wan

it took about a half-hour by boat to get from kowloon's public pier to lamma island. it's a beautiful lush green island and we took a walking tour to see a temple and some caves. but this is a food blog and all that walking made us hungry.

the newlyweds and their families had arranged another huge feast for their guests. the freshest seafood that i've had so far on my trip: scallops, fish, giant crawfish, crab, and squid. amazing. pictured is one of my favorite dishes - swimming shrimp are plucked from the sea, thrown briefly into a steamer, and then served on a huge plate with a spicy soy sauce. delicious.

cafe at hyatt shatin

shatin, hk

website

i love breakfast buffets at hotels in asia. unfortunately, this one was over $210 HKD (almost $30 USD). but there was a lot of food. a noodle soup bar, a congee bar, continental breakfast, various pastries, fruit, cereal, and other typical breakfast buffet stuff.

derek and i liked the congee bar the best. flavorful chicken congee with an array of possible toppings. i topped mine with thousand-year-old egg, dried pork, pickles, and you tiao. derek chose salted duck egg and pickles. yum. but everything else was just okay and it is outrageous to pay 30 bucks for congee that we can get in NYC for 5. we'll probably try to get our congee fix elsewhere.

chung chi college staff club

CUHK, hk

website

we just dined at the clubhouse restaurant at the chinese university of hong kong. 12 course traditional chinese meal. which means, just when you think you can't eat another bite, they bring out another plate. you think - okay, i'll have some of this and then i'm done. but no, out comes another plate. and another. and another.

i think i might be too full to type. sliced meats. jellyfish. tofu hot pot. veggies in white sauce. black chicken soup. shrimp with noodles. bird's nest with squid. soy sauce chicken. abalone. crab maw. fish. fried rice. e fu noodles. red bean soup. i have to say - chinese people know how to eat.

yan toh heen

kowloon, hk

website

derek's mom took us to a fancy restaurant with a great view of the harbor and hong kong island. all of the utensils were made of jade and metal! even the menu had a jade piece inset into the front. we were there for dim sum, although the other items on the menu looked good as well.

decent dim sum, but derek really liked the fried rice with spicy XO sauce. it had a lot of green onions in it and somehow they managed to keep the beef bits nice and tender. i might try making this at home. for dessert, we had chilled red bean and coconut jelly which was excellent and mochi balls with red bean paste and a giant sweet grape inside.

fung lum restaurant

taiwai, hk

45-47 tsuen nam road

i think a picture of a cooked pigeon head is a great way to start off what will be a series of posts from asia! honestly, the plate of pigeon was really good - it was juicy, full of dark meat, and with crispy skin. i even tried eating one of the heads, but could only figure out how to eat the meat on the neck, which was tasty.

we also had shell-on head-on crispy fried shrimp, beef with asparagus, and a spicy lamb stew (amazing and i don't even like lamb). the fried tofu was pretty good, although the dipping bowls of vinegar and sugar were a little odd. the pigeon, however, was the restaurant's specialty and definitely the highlight of the meal. note: if the restaurant does not have a website, i will include the address instead.

arirang

new york, ny

link to yelp

korean comfort food! who knew? well, jinny. she brought me to arirang in k-town. it's a little hard to find, so i'm going to include the address in this post: 32 W 32nd St. we ordered the seafood pajeon and chicken soup with homemade noodles (kal-jaebi). as you can see from the photo, the portions are huge. and very filling. be careful, the noodles will expand after you've eaten them...

the pajeon had fresh tasty bits of seafood, lots of green onions, and wasn't too greasy. i usually prefer my pajeon flatter and crispier, but it was still good. the noodles are like thick jiaozi wrappers - chewy and doughy. the soup was very rich and hearty - like a poultry version of tonkotsu broth. tastes just like the chicken broth my mom makes at home. this noodle soup is perfect if you're ever feeling under the weather or otherwise in need of doughy noodles.

rare bar & grill

new york, ny

website

the best thing about rare bar & grill is the "french fry tasting plate." everyone here orders it. three types of french fries: shoestring, "cottage" (they call them waffle fries where i'm from), and sweet potato. it's a perfect basket for me and derek to share. we both like waffle fries, i love sweet potato fries and derek loves shoestring fries. the sweet potato fries are served with a honey maple sauce that tastes like the icing on a maple bar. the fries also come with chipotle aioli, mexican ketchup, and garlic aioli. since everyone orders them, they're always fresh and crispy on the outside, soft and steamy on the inside.

they make burgers too and some people really love these burgers. derek and i don't. but we couldn't eat fries for dinner (could we?), so we each ordered a burger. you have to order these burgers medium or rarer otherwise they turn out like a hockey puck. we ordered ours medium and they were pretty good, especially when i added the chipotle fry sauce. derek liked his because it was covered with mushrooms and gooey swiss cheese.

clo wine bar

new york, ny

CLOSED

this wine bar was so much fun that i didn't mind paying over $40 for 8 oz of wine. it's a small space with a single long table surrounded by cabinets storing over 100 bottles of wine. from overhead, a wine list is projected onto the table which you can control by moving your hand over the images (pictured). you can search the list based on wine feature or simply scroll through every bottle with a wave of your hand. the "waiter" gives you a card and an empty wine glass. once you make your decision, you find the right cabinet, insert your card, press the button in front of your wine bottle, and it automatically fills your glass with 4 oz. it took me a while to master the hand-waving interface (hint: you don't have to touch the table, just guide the orange circle over the buttons), but i really enjoyed being able to read the descriptions of each wine.

my first choice was the 2006 gramercy cellars lagniappe. this wine was meant for me: (a) gramercy is my nyc hood, (b) the wine is from the columbia valley in washington state (as am i), and (c) the wine's cabinet location was K8 (!!). 'twas fate, so i didn't mind the $17 price tag. it was an excellent medium-bodied red with a good spicy kick. (note: an entire bottle only costs $40 in a seattle wine shop). my second wine was described as "belonging in a starbucks" and tasting of chocolate and espresso. another amazing wine - it's really a pity i can't remember the name. despite the exorbitant markup, i will definitely visit this place again. it has a beautiful view of central park, i enjoyed being able to make an informed decision about which wine to try, the hand-waving was super-fun, and now i know about an amazing wine that i will purchase from a wine shop next time i'm in seattle.

burrito box

new york, ny

website

i'm surprised this place even has a website. jenny dragged me all the way across town to try her favorite hole-in-the-wall burrito place. i happened to be carrying a giant binder of documents in my bag so i was constantly getting bumped and pushed trying to order and wait for my food.

of course, such places inevitably have great food. i took a picture of jenny's veggie wrap (with avocado and cheese) because it was much more photogenic than my quesadilla filled with ground beef. but both were tasty and definitely worth the price. $8 for a huge quesadilla (with guac, sour cream, and pico de gallo), plus chips and salsa. my quesadilla was on par with blockheads, but i think jenny's wrap is worth trekking to the west side for.

sugar sweet sunshine bakery

new york, ny

website

i've never really liked frosting (in contrast to my brother, sister, and nephew who could eat tubs of the stuff.) at weddings or birthday parties, i always scrape off the frosting before eating the cake. i'm the kind of person that walks into a cupcake shop and requests unfrosted cupcakes. (the usual response is "um, isn't that a muffin?"). then JINNY (she deserves all caps for this one) introduced me to sugar sweet sunshine bakery cupcakes and i've been a frosted cupcake fanatic ever since.

sugar sweet sunshine's frosting is amazing - it has just the right amount of sweetness. when fresh, the cake is extremely moist and tasty. even derek likes the cupcakes here. my favorite cupcake is bob. he's a yellow cake with chocolate almond buttercream. the frosting tastes like rich chocolate ice cream, which can be a bit intense but it is balanced out by the yellow cake. skip magnolia bakery and its ridiculous line and sugary frosting. in my humble opinion, bob is the perfect cupcake.

resto

new york, ny

website

i love the rustic interior of this restaurant. it feels like we're sitting in a pacific northwest lodge and that if we looked out the window, we'd see an evergreen forest instead of apartment buildings. makes me a little homesick. i've been here a few times for dinner, which was amazing - pork toast with caviar, anyone? the theme is belgian, but the real focus is fresh quality ingredients from local farms (um, as local as you can get to manhattan). derek and i have been searching for a great brunch spot in our neighborhood and i think this might be it.

everything on the menu looked so good that it took me about 10-15 minutes to decide what to order. eventually, derek had to pull the menu away from me. i had the eggs benedict - two eggs over two belgian waffles stuffed with ham, served with a side salad and home fries. the waffles had a hint of sweetness so i decided to treat those as dessert and eat the eggs with the crispy onion-y home fries. the fries were a little salty, but matched well with the eggs. the waffles went very well with the excellent bowl-sized "cup" of coffee. (i think they ship their coffee in from portland!) derek had the chicken and waffles (pictured), which were pretty darn good. one of the menu items that caught my eye was the "belgian hangover pasta" with vermont ham, gruyere, sunny egg, and black pepper. i may have to drink myself into a hangover just so i can order that the next day.

mary's fish camp

new york, ny

website

i have to thank jenny for introducing me to lobster rolls. i'm not normally a huge fan of lobster, but when it's coated in a lemony mayonnaise and served on a toasted and buttered roll, it's heaven on a plate. at mfc, there are other entrees on the menu. various seafood dishes. apparently people order those as well. i don't really understand, but i'm not going to complain as long as they don't run out of lobster. i think jenny and i ordered appetizers while we were there, but i've completely forgotten what they were. the desserts were not great - the hot fudge sundae had cold fudge and weird peanut brittle in it and the gingerbread was just okay. but the lobster roll ... divine.

mary's fish camp is a very popular spot and there's always a long wait. jenny and i sometimes worry that they're going to be out of lobster rolls before we manage to get a seat. but so far we've been lucky. honestly, the only time i'm going to find out what other entrees they serve is when they run out of lobster and we're too lazy to go down to pearl oyster bar instead.

sweetery

locations

website

since sapporo had such speedy service, jinny and i had time to stop by the street sweets truck before heading back to training. whenever i'm on the west side, i want to try one of the food trucks that i read about on nyc food blogs. so during the morning session of our training, i checked the ML twitter tracker on my blackberry to see which trucks were in our area. that day, the street sweets truck was conveniently parked just a block away from the training site.

thankfully there was no line because jinny and i spent a few minutes asking about every single item in the display case. finally, jinny decided on four petit fours and a cupcake. i got a cup of joe, the pumpkin whoopie pie, and a flourless chocolate walnut cookie. the coffee wasn't very good, which was okay because the desserts were amazing. the whoopie pie was made up of two soft cake-like pumpkin cookies with sweet cream cheese frosting in between. so good, but so sweet that i had to wait a few hours before eating my chocolate walnut cookie, which was deliciously dense and fudgy. both cookies had such rich flavor that i could see them being served as a final dessert plate at any fanchy white-tablecloth restaurant. i love the fact that you can get such high quality treats from a truck!

NOTE: street sweets is now known as sweetery, changed title of post.

sapporo

new york, ny

website

if you're craving ramen, but are stuck in midtown - this is the place to go. this place has been recommended to me by both jinny and eric (both work in midtown west). day 2 of our training and jinny and i needed to get lunch in a hurry again. there was a bit of a line when we arrived at sapporo, but it moved fast. this place clearly caters to the lunching workers who have to get back to their offices within an hour. fast and courteous service - perfect for stressed-out new yorkers.

since i love the shio (salt) ramen at ramen setagaya, i decided to try sapporo's version. the sapporo noodles were properly dense and chewy - like a higher quality version of the instant noodles you can make at home. the broth was much better than instant noodles, of course, but still a little bland. next time i'll order one of the more flavorful broths - like jinny's miso with kimchi. i was quite envious when our neighbors' orders arrived and they had both ordered the thick and porky tonkotsu broth. next time ...

tonic

new york, ny

website

as jinny pointed out, the exterior of this bar/restaurant looks like you're about to walk into a strip club. fortunately, it's just a sports bar with huge television screens. jinny and i only had an hour-long break for our all-day training in midtown west, so we had to find a place that wouldn't be too busy, had comfortable seating, and was close to the training site.

tonic satisfied all three requirements, but i wouldn't pick this place as a food destination. my fish and chips were pretty good and cheap - the fish was surprisingly tender and flaky, but the breading was over-seasoned. i think there are better choices if you have the time to travel to them, but that's pretty much the story of midtown.

bibim bar

new york, ny

link to yelp

derek and i were in the mood for asian food and decided to wander down to st. mark's and try to find something around there. we ended up at bibim-bar, which i read about on serious eats. it's actually one avenue past the main st. mark's strip. we both ordered the dolsot bibimbap with bulgogi and shared dumplings and kimchee pajeon.

the bibimbap in the hot stone bowl was pretty good. better than manna kitchen, i expect, but not better than k-town. dumplings and pajeon were good, but not great. derek pointed out that it's probably meant to be a late night spot. the evidence - they had a wide selection of sake, it was empty at noon on sunday, the fabric on the seat cushions was stained and dirty, and none of the furniture matched. definitely not worth hiking all the way to first avenue for - might as well walk north to k-town instead.

kitchenette

new york, ny

website

one of my favorite spots near my old apartment in morningside heights. great comfort food - amazing brunches - delicious baked goods. now that derek and i live further downtown, we try to go to the tribeca location whenever we can, which is not that often. derek, however, has the luck to work way downtown, so kitchenette delivers to his office through seamlessweb. to celebrate me running 6.2 miles this weekend without dying, he ordered a slice of my favorite cake and brought it home for us to share!

rich, almost dark, chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. seriously amazing. i also love their fake hostess cupcakes - same great chocolate cake, but filled with a light whipped cream. chocolate trifle to die for. their restaurant menu is great too - very comforting comfort food. sandwiches are made with challah bread, the best grits in the city, yummy omelettes, good fried chicken, etc. it's really hard to go wrong there, except when you forget to save room for dessert.

bar americain

new york, ny

website

one of bobby flay's many manhattan restaurants. not a huge fan of his foodtv shows - i'm more of a paula deen and alton brown kind of girl. derek and i enjoy watching throwdown on foodtv, but we usually root for the other team. that said, the food at bar americain is pretty good. i had a hard time labelling it because even though the style is southwestern comfort food, the prices are not very comforting. this is a fanchy white-tablecloth place, which is probably why it was barely half-full when we walked in at 7 pm on sunday without rezzies.

although our steaks were very good, the highlights for me are the sides. BEST fries ever (thanks to y&a for the rec). super crispy, not too potato-ey, and served with a smoked red pepper mayonnaise. amazing. also BEST cornbread ever. buttery, crispy, and with a unique seasoning i couldn't identify. it's served in the bread basket with dinner rolls that remind me of grade school cafeteria rolls (but in a good way). basically - if you want some cheap comfort food, come in here, order fries, ask for the bread basket, and hope they don't kick you out. customer service here tends to be on the snooty side.

casellula

new york, ny

website

highly recommended by kate and y&a. the three of them suggest ordering the amazing truffle fries, but i have yet to see it on the menu (and i've been three times already...) the cheese plate is my favorite part of the menu. before casellula, i didn't even know that fromagers existed. they do. and the one at casellula is brilliant. you tell your server your cheese preferences (derek and i don't like bleu or stinky cheeses) and how many cheeses you want (at $6 each, be cautious). then the fromager works her magic and throws together a cheese plate that delights and surprises. each cheese comes with a specific condiment that matches the cheese perfectly. our gouda came with a vodka mustard sauce - amazing. our middle cheese came with a sweet brittle - delicious. and derek loved the corn pudding that came with the brie. so good - if you like cheese you have to try this place.

oh, there are other things that are good too. the pig's ass sandwich. it tastes as good as it sounds. the mac and cheese has comte and bacon in it. ridiculous. for dessert - order the chocolate cake. just before you dig in, your server will pour a cup of cool fresh cream over it. a few months ago, my sister cindy and i dined here with y&a before our broadway show. we nearly missed the start of the show because we were in chocolate-cake-fresh-cream heaven...

initially posted 8/31/2009 -- reposted with better photo (but different cheeses...)

madison square market

new york, ny

website

for the rest of october, there's a daily outdoor food court just outside the northwest corner of madison square park. along the west side of the park, there's a crafts market which is a minature version of the union square holiday market, with most of the same vendors. this past weekend, derek and i bypassed the crafts and headed straight to the food court. it's a nice set-up. there are several tables and chairs in the middle of the square surrounded by about eight food booths.

after perusing the menu at hill country's booth, we decided on fatty crab's booth. i ordered the "fatty dog" with XO sausage, pickled radish, cucumbers, and cilantro for $8. it was about half the size of a normal hot dog at 4x the price, but worth every penny. derek had the chorizo taco and slider, which were also very good. small portions meant that we got to order from a second booth - we chose crepes from suzette. i requested a plain crepe with sugar which confused the crepe-maker ("are you sure you don't want bananas?"). derek really enjoyed his chicken-basil crepe. if only all nyc street fairs and markets had food this good.

porchetta

new york, ny

website

finally the day came when jenny and i made it out of our offices early enough to get to porchetta before the crowds hit. we managed to snag 2 of the 6 bar stools inside the restaurant. there's an outdoor bench where another 6 people can sit, but it was cold outside. despite only seating 12, this place gets very busy. the namesake, porchetta, is the highlight and pretty much all they serve. we each ordered a porchetta sandwich and shared the honey-covered brussel sprouts.

eating an entire porchetta sandwich was an incredibly delicious, but a once-in-a-lifetime experience because twice might kill you. only two ingredients - porchetta and bread. the pork, flavored with italian herbs, was juicy and fatty goodness. the chewy and dense ciabatta bun perfectly soaked up all of the extra pork juices (okay, grease). pork gluttony at its best. our advice - don't order an entire sandwich - split it with someone else and then go for a salad afterward. but i know that when you're in the moment, you're going to think, "i have to finish this incredible sandwich." fine. but just this once.

barros luco

new york, ny

CLOSED

given the success i had with the last recommendation from midtown lunch, jenny and i decided to try another - barros luco. i was drawn by the delicious-looking baked empanadas and jenny was drawn by the massive amounts of avocado used on everything.

unfortunately, they were out of the baked empanadas (by 1:00 pm!) so i ordered the greasier, less-filling fried empanadas. the meat inside was very good, but there just wasn't enough of it. sweet potato fries were bland and soggy. jenny got the hot dog, which was good but again, not very filling. i might come back to try one of the baked empanadas, but this seems like a snack spot rather than a lunch destination.

jamaican dutchy cart

locations

website

i had a meeting in midtown near times square that thankfully ended just before lunchtime. i didn't need to be on the east side for another hour, so i thought it was the perfect time to meet up with a west side friend and try out one of the delicious carts that i always read about on midtown lunch, but that are too far away from my office. so i walked around, hoping to run into one of the recommended carts.

fortunately, i managed to find the jamaican dutchy pretty easily. and managed to get eric out of his times square office to join me. the cart is hard to miss - there's a huge flatscreen tv mounted on the cart playing reggae music videos. place your order at the front window and pay/pickup at the side window. we took our lunches to an outdoor seating area just east of the cart. stew chicken with rice and plaintains was amazing. jerk chicken was just okay - a little too spicy and dry for my tastes. next time i'll stick with the stew chicken. good price for great food - i'm really starting to catch on to this whole food cart thing.

ippudo

new york, ny

website

eating a bowl of ippudo ramen brings me back to the ramen bars that were on every street corner in tokyo's shinjuku district. the noodles are perfectly chewy and the broth is perfectly flavored. but what i love about ippudo is that (1) it's walking distance from my apartment and (2) every time i go, they put a unique twist on their standard bowl of tonkotsu ramen. this time, it was a tomato red sauce with sausage that you mixed into the broth. delicious. remember: do not drink all of your broth just in case you want an extra order of noodles. (ask for kaedama!)

this place gets crazy busy, so derek and i usually go at off-peak hours, either early (6 pm) or late (10 pm). otherwise it could be an hour or two before you get a table. at off-peak, it's still a 20-30 minute wait. fortunately, you can get a refreshing sake cocktail at the small bar in the waiting area. you can also admire all of the ramen bowls from japan on the wall behind the bar. don't worry, it is well worth the wait.

donburiya

new york, ny

link to yelp

cindy c chose this japanese comfort food restaurant in midtown east for lunch today. what is japanese comfort food? lots of bowls. bowls filled with various combinations of rice, egg, fish, meat, sauce, and pickles. all served with a salad and ridiculously good and mayonnaise-y potato salad. and very good tea.

yup, that's about it. solid spot. will definitely go again when i'm in the mood for some katsu. and potato salad.

tanti baci caffe

new york, ny

CLOSED

apparently this restaurant is located in the west village. derek and i have never seen it. it's one of our favorite places to order from on seamlessweb. order online, pay with your credit card, and the food is brought to your door. seamlessweb is daunting - it lists over 300 restaurants serving everything from malaysian to peruvian to dim sum. and that's just the restaurants that will deliver to my apartment. it can be hit-or-miss, so once we find a place we like, we'll usually order from there again.

tanti baci caffe has excellent homemade pasta. i prefer the egg fettucine with bolognese. derek likes the wheat pasta in pomodoro with a side of meatballs. the garlic bread is buttery garlicky goodness with flecks of red pepper flakes. i don't know how they do it, but the pasta arrives perfectly al dente and the garlic bread is crispy on the edge and soft in the middle. why bother cooking when high-quality meals can be delivered to your door?

karendipity cooks: kimchi fried rice

lest you think that my kitchen is used solely for storage and reheating leftovers, i will from time to time post items that i have cooked myself...

made a giant pot of kimchi fried rice, which derek loves. not as good as the restaurant version but that's probably because i use a little bit of olive oil instead of the sticks of butter that koreans prefer. ingredients: kimchi, sirloin steak, green onions, olive oil, eggs, rice, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, garlic, sesame oil.

chop kimchi into bite-size pieces. thinly slice steak, mix with cornstarch, then season with soy sauce/sugar. heat a bit of olive oil, add onions, then add steak. chop up cooked steak into bite-sized pieces. separately, do the same thing with the scrambled eggs. in a giant pot, heat onions and garlic in olive oil, add rice, season with a bit of soy sauce, fry for a while. add kimchi. add sesame oil. continue frying to preferred crispiness level. try not to burn anything. eat.

the redhead

new york, ny

website

tonight jenny, r.g. and i managed to escape from our respective offices for a night of good fun, great food, and strong drinks. the redhead is famous for receiving a rave review from frank bruni, his last as a ny times food critic. so we were worried about the wait when we showed up to the tiny restaurant at 8 pm on a thursday night (thursday being the new friday). the hostess said it was a 30-45 minute wait, but it didn't seem that long. it was just enough time for me to finish a redhead fizz (absolut mandarin, elderflower cordial, fresh lemon juice) and start on a revival (beefeater gin, white lillet, triple sec, fresh lemon juice). by the way, i recommend the fizz if you want something light & refreshing and the revival if you want a real drink.

properly liquored up, the girls and i sat down at the corner table (nice) for our meal. which was amazing. even the little dinner roll and soft butter they serve were delicious. i highly recommend starting with the mushroom flatbread and definitely add the sausage if you're a meateater. the consensus at the table was that the best entree was the shrimp with andouille sausage and grits. everyone in the restaurant was ordering the fried chicken, so we tried that too. good, but lacked flavor. the trout was good for a "lighter" entree. no need for dessert - they give complimentary chocolate espresso cookies at the end of the meal. this place definitely deserves the praise that it has received and i look forward to returning.

5/13/2010: updated with better photo of the mushroom flatbread.