wicked spoon

las vegas, nv

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love the name. love the food. jenny and i were kids in a candy store. except instead of candy there were all kinds of foodie treats, including piles of bones from which you could extract delicious bone marrow. unlimited! well, i'm sure at some point they would run out of cows. but otherwise unlimited amounts of bone marrow! of course, there was more than just roasted bone marrow (you can only eat so much before you can start to feel your arteries clog). my next favorite was the french toast, which i topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream. yum.

jewel of india

new york, ny

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i love indian buffets. i'm not an expert on indian food by any stretch of the imagination, especially since i have a low tolerance for spicy, but i know what i like. i was very excited when jinny picked yet another indian buffet for lunch with y and myself. there are two levels of the restaurant, plus a bar area in front. the first level is for ordering off the menu and the second floor is the buffet. so to the second floor we went.

the first thing i spotted at the top of the stairs was a giant vat of rose ice cream - i made a mental note to save room for dessert. the buffet itself was much spicier than other buffets that i've been to, but i compensated by eating a ridiculous amount of naan. someone was constantly coming by the table with a platter full of fresh naan - how could i resist? again, i have no idea what the specific dishes were, but they were delicious.

bombay palace

new york, ny

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it is difficult to find good places to eat in midtown, if you couldn't tell from my many complaints on this blog. jinny, however, is an excellent source for restaurant recs. and this was another one. this indian buffet is an excellent lunch spot - no wait for a table, you can immediately grab food from the buffet, pleasant atmosphere, and attentive service.

i enjoyed everything on the buffet - from the rice, deep fried veggies, creamy spicy entrees, to the deep fried ball of something sweet that i had for dessert. unfortunately, i don't remember what anything was called. but it was all good.

cafe at hyatt shatin

shatin, hk

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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.

dishes

new york, ny

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jenny and i have been here a few times but i waited to write a post on it until i (1) had an aesthetically organized takeaway box and (2) remembered to take a photo before scarfing it all down. so here you go. quality buffet in midtown, but it's pricey ($10/lb). the noodle soups look intriguing but we've never managed to stray from the buffet bar. there's usually a line out front but it moves quickly.

now that we've been a few times, jenny and i have identified our favorites: hers is the mashed potatoes, mine are the sesame-tahini asian noodles. suprisingly, the tofu reminds me of the dried tofu my mom used to buy from seattle's chinatown - very good. the pasta special can be hit (ravioli) or miss (gnocchi). the baked goods all look delicious. so far we've tried the rugelach and blueberry-apricot coffee cake. both were tasty but rather filling. good for a late afternoon snack or evening meal replacement.