Baked by Melissa

Given the little options we had on Thanksgiving, we stumbled upon Baked by Melissa. A few of my New York friends had raved to me about Baked by Melissa so I bought into the hype and I got some miniature cupcakes. We got 6 cupcakes for 5.50. Long story short, these were so over hyped. I really don't understand why anyone would want to eat such small cupcakes. If you want a cupcake, do it the right way and get big cupcake. We chose red velvet, smores, chocolate pancake, and the mini of the month, the chocolate graham. My favorite was the red velvet. My friend's favorite was the chocolate graham.

They sure are cute

Momofuku Noodle Bar

This place was rather hard to find. It was packed with people on the eve of Thanksgiving. We waited for about 5 minutes before we were seated. We were seated at the bar facing the open kitchen and while we waited we watched the chefs prepare dishes. We ordered two momfuku ramen bowls and one dish of pork buns. The pork buns came promptly though the portions were definitely on the scant side. It came with two pork buns marinated with duck seasoning, a small stalk of celery, and pork belly. The pork belly was very succulent and tender, very juicy. I've have Ippudo before so I was not sure if Momofuku would meet the standard that Ippudo had set. The portions were generous. It came with pork round, pork belly, raw egg, dried seaweed and some lettuce. The noodles had a slippery kind of texture while I prefer a more grainy kind of texture that has that homemade feel to it. The noodles were infused with a smokey taste. I found the broth to be too salty and the smokey taste of the noodles was overall too overpowering. The broth was too seasoned and had so many flavors jumbled together. I didn't end up finishing my bowl. I left disappointed and not completely satisfied.

Clinton St. Baking Company

While searching for good brunch places to eat, this place popped up on several best brunch places of New York lists. My friend was sold on the pictures that people submitted of their food on Yelp. Clinton St. Baking Company is located on the Lower East Side between Ave B and Houston St. Getting there was a bit of hassle since I asked about five people where Clinton St. was and they all did not know. Eventually we got there and stood in a long line of well-dressed posh New Yorkers waiting patiently to be called. About two hours later, we finally were finally seated. When we walked in, we were greeted by the scent of freshly made buttermilk pancakes.

We ordered the spanish scramble, eggs benedict, and the grilled chicken sandwich. I was bummed that I couldn't get the southern fried chicken sandwich since that was only a dinner special. The spanish scramble comes with three eggs, chorizo, tomatoes, caramelized onions, scallions, melted monterey jack, with hash browns and sourdough toast. It was delicious and it didn't taste too heavy or greasy.  The two hour wait was well worth it. For drinks my friend and I shared the vanilla classic thick shake which is made with locally made ice cream. It was really rich, topped with whipped scream and some chocolate sprinkles. A little indulgence never hurt anyone.

Eggs Benedict

Spanish Scramble

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...

Blue 9 Burger

A friend recommended this place to me once claiming that this was better than Shake Shack. It's been so long since I've had a burger so I wanted to try this place yesterday. I ordered the Blue 9 burger with caramelized onions topped with the mango sauce, an extra 50 cents. The burger itself is only $5.30. The burger was juicy but the portions were too small for me. I was left wanting more after devouring the burger in a few bites. Though it was a good burger, I don't think it surpasses Shake Shack's burgers.

Blue 9 Burger with Mango Sauce

Takemura, Harvard Square

I've been awfully neglectful of my food blog but I was recently so inspired by a couple of newfound food blogs that I decided to post after my 3 month hiatus. When a dear friend came to visit me, naturally I took her to Harvard Square since she's never been to Boston before. We ate dinner at Takemura, a small Japanese restaurant located near IHOP at Harvard Square. The atmosphere was low key and I thought the walls were really cool since they were rice paper with Chinese calligraphy. I rarely have udon. I've only had it once in New York at St. Mark's Place but I remember that it was really good. I ordered the Nabeyaki Udon which are udon noodles with shrimp tempura, egg shrimp and vegetable served in a hot pot. Overall, I was disappointed. The shrimp tempura was not that crispy or fresh. The udon noodles were over cooked so they were too soft. The soup itself was bland so I had to add a lot of hot sauce. I think the next time I come here, I will try the sushi instead.

Heated hand towels

Nabeyaki Udon 

I like the walls

Egg 135 N 5th st Williamsburg

Waiting for a table

A couple of weeks ago I was in the mood for brunch. We went to Egg for brunch. Egg is located in trendy Williamsburg. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, not too humid or hot and the streets of Williamsburg were packed with people, hipsters mainly. The interior of Egg is modern and understated. I was confused as to why there were crayons in a glass container on the table but then I realized that the tablecloth was just a large white sheet of paper so while I was waiting to be served, I started doodling. It was a fun way to pass the time while waiting for the food also. I couldn't decide if I wanted either the chicken club sandwich or the black forest ham on a biscuit but eventually settled on the latter. I was disappointed that their milkshakes were sold out so I just ordered sweet tea to go with my meal. I figured brunch is a very southern thing so I thought sweet tea would go well with the southern theme. 

My black forest ham on a biscuit looked small to me at first and I wasn't sure if this would fill me up considering that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and it was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Our meal came with habanero sauce and ketchup and if you know me, you know that I like to put hot sauce on everything so of course I had to put some on my biscuit sandwich. The biscuit was delicious. I didn't know that biscuits could taste so good. It was perfectly toasted with just the right amount of butter, crunchy and golden on the outside while the inside was soft and fluffy, chewy melted cheese with bits of pulled black forest ham on top of an egg. I happily gobbled up the rest of my sandwich, in all its buttery toasted goodness. I will definitely come here again.

Black Forest Ham on a Biscuit with a side of bacon

Dig in!

Magnolia Bakery 1240 Avenue of the Americas

 I love cake, and especially cupcakes. Recently cupcakes have been huge lately with new cupcake places popping up everywhere. Magnolia Bakery was one of the first. I've had Magnolia cupcakes several times already but I've never done a post on them before. I was in desperate need of some sugar while shopping around 5th avenue yesterday and I was going to walk to the Sprinkles cupcake store on Lexington and 59th but then I remembered there was a Magnolia Bakery close to where I was. They didn't offer that many varieties so I just ordered the plain vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. Though it was buttercream frosting I felt there was too much icing. It was too sweet and starchy. The cake part of the cupcake also was somewhat dry. Magnolia cupcakes do not live to its hype.

Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream and Sprinkles

Vivi Bubble Tea

Ten Ren has long been my favorite bubble tea place in the city but not anymore. Vivi Bubble Tea is now my favorite bubble tea place. The line for bubble tea stretched well into the street and I had to wait quite a long time before I was served granted it was a beautiful Sunday and there were many tourists in the Chinatown area. Vivi Bubble Tea offers more varieties of bubble tea than Ten Ren and also offers snacks like crispy chicken, similar to Quickly. I ordered the Green Milk Tea with bubbles though I was tempted by Red Moo Milk which is milk tea with red bean and tapioca bubbles. The bubbles were very chewy and the green milk tea actually tasted like green tea. I forgot to take a picture of my bubble tea...whoops

Vivi Bubble Tea 49 Bayard Street

Wall collage featuring the workers there and snacks

Shanghai Cafe 100 Mott Street

Okay I know that I have not been keeping up with my blog posts so now I'm going into blogging overload and doing two posts, one right after the other! I got my wisdom teeth removed recently so I haven't been able to eat hard foods but I could eat soup dumplings. On Father's Day my friend and I met up at Shanghai Cafe. I actually mistakenly thought we were meeting up at another restaurant also called Shanghai Cafe and it was quite hilarious when I called my friend and told her I was there already and she said she was there too.
Shanghai Cafe offers cheap Chinese food. It is a casual dining area.  I have had really good soup dumplings before and I wondered if this place would match up to my expectations. My friend was certain that this place would be better. I ordered the pork and crab soup dumplings and was pleasantly surprised when they arrived at our table within a few minutes after we ordered. Soup dumplings can be tricky to eat. Either you can poke a hole through the skin with your chopstick and suck the juice out or you can just shove the whole dumpling into your mouth, which can be quite messy. Sadly, the dumplings did not meet my expectations. I found the soup dumplings to be lacking in juices from the crab and pork meat. Joe's Shanghai dumplings are plumper and contain more soup. Also from what I recall, the meat is more tender. Joe's Shanghai is still the best in my opinion.

Close up of crab and pork dumpling

Doughnut Plant

After we had lunch in Korean town I had a craving for dessert. What's a better way to satisfy your sweet tooth and stay on budget than having a donut? Doughnut plant offers many varieties of donuts. Inside the shop there is an abundance of things resembling donuts. The chairs and tables are round and circular like donuts. The walls are adorned with donut shaped pillows. I had a hard time deciding between the creme brulee and the oatmeal cake donut. I felt that oatmeal cake was more unique so I got that and an iced coffee to go with a super sweet snack. The bitterness of the coffee is a good way to dilute the sweetness of the donut. The top of the donut was sprinkled with oats and glazed over. The inside of the donut contained bits of dried fruit. I felt the donut was too heavy for my liking and it was too over the top for me. It was a good donut, but I should have tried the creme brulee, something simpler. I definitely will be going back here to try the other varieties.

220 West 23rd Street

Oatmeal Cake Donut

Penelope

159 Lexington Ave (30th st)

Since I'm on a tight budget for the summer I decided to try different sandwich places in the city. Sandwiches are inexpensive and can be as good as a main course. In the summer, I don't like to eat food that is too heavy or too greasy. I prefer eating light, fresh meals. A friend recommended Penelope to me. She had I feeling I would like it given its quaint decor and she raved about the sandwiches. Penelope is in fact really cute. The walls are powder blue and they also have a bakery inside. 

I was seated promptly. I gazed at the menu and settled on the chicken club sandwich, one of its grilled options, because I saw that bacon was included and so I just had to get it. The Grilled Chicken Club sandwich consists of grilled chicken (duh), crispy bacon bits, fontina, dijon, mayo, tomato, and lettuce on a toasted baguette. The order also came with a side of fries. When I bit into the sandwich, the chicken was juicy, cooked to perfection. The dijon mustard complemented the sandwich well by giving it that sweet honey taste with the spiciness. My mouth was tingling. I found that half a sandwich filled me up which was surprising, given my voracious appetite. It was very filling and I was forced to take the rest to go.

yum!

Our bill came in this tin can which I thought was really cute

Gandhi Cafe

For dinner we had Indian food since it was the only thing that me and my friend could decide on and so we went to Ghandi Cafe, which is located in the West Village. I had been to this place before and it was quite good from what I remembered.

It is a small restaurant. The layout is long and narrow. When you walk inside you feel like you are in an old lavishly decorated train car. In fact, the ceiling is actually the ceiling of a train car. The walls are velvet and decorated with plates, paintings, and soccer posters--an odd combination.

I ordered chicken vindaloo. Vindaloo is a curry meat dish with potatoes from the region of Goa in India. I was hesitant to order because I noticed in the menu it was listed as very hot. When the dish came out I was surprised to see how red it was. I'm used to my curry being more of an orange color than a vibrant red. I couldn't tell what was potato and what was chicken. The spiciness was a slow, build-able burn but in the end it wasn't too much for me to handle. I love spicy food. When eating Indian food, I like to dip nan into the curry sauce. I was disappointed with the chicken. I think they used lean chicken because it was quite dry and not very juicy. We ran out of rice and the waiter was kind enough to give us more rice for free. After we were done with our meal, the waiter brought out tea and dessert. I'm not sure what it was called but it was like rice pudding but a heavily watered down version. Something sweet is always good to counterbalance spiciness.

Nan! It was very soft and chewy just like the Indian place that I usually order from at school.

Chicken Vindaloo

The Rice Pudding Soup?

Xi'an Famous Foods

Today for lunch I was craving beef noodle soup from X'ian Famous Foods located at 81 St. Marks Place.

My friend standing in front of the place when she came to visit.

Sometimes it can be refreshing to have a bowl of hot soup amid the summer heat.  I remember the first time that I came here I had difficulty finding the place since it's such a small space. I ordered the Spicy and Tingly Beef Noodle Soup. I was debating between Cumin Lamb Noodle Soup and the beef noodle soup but in most cases, when I like something I stick to it. So next time I go there I will definitely be ordering something more exciting like Oxtail or Concubine's Chicken. Their pork and lamb burgers are really good too.

The beef noodle soup was just as tasty as the first time that I tried it. The noodles are made from scratch. They are thick and irregular shaped. They have a homey feel which I like. I'm more of a thin noodle kind of person but I really enjoyed these. The noodles balance out the intense flavors of the soup and the beef. The top of the soup is sprinkled with cilantro, adding extra flavor. I don't really like cilantro, but I thought it worked well in this case. The beef was really tender, very chewable. I was disappointed that the dish was not as spicy as I was hoping for. After I devoured the thing, I did experience that tingly sensation as the name suggested. For only 6.50 you can get that feeling too!

Spicy and Tingly Beef Noodle Soup

A close-up of the noodles.

All done!

We All Scream for Ice Cream

Momofuku Milk Bar

I want to try this place which supposedly has really good soft-serve.

251 East 13th Street (between 2nd and 3rd avenues)

First Post

Well my friend recently showed me a food blog and I was so inspired that I decided to make my own food blog! That person's food blog included reviews to restaurants all over the world. I am far less worldly than her so I'm just going to review restaurants in my backyard, New York City and perhaps even attempt to make some things. I've already concocted a list of places to eat at! Let the pigging out begin! Bon Appetit!