*** BE WARNED, THIS POST IS IMAGE-HEAVY / INFO-HEAVY ***
My friends visited me from Rochester this past weekend. We decided to do the 'Ultimate food tour of New York City'. These Rochestarians especially, never really get the opportunity to have amazingly DELICIOUS asian cuisine, so asian food was a must have during their trip here, mixed along with a lot of other good treats.
So, our 'Foodie Team' consisted of:
Cindy (yours truly) Christine, Jocelyn, Alex, Jack, Caleb, Leo (troopers that made it through the entire day) Jean, Oliver, Dan, Christy, Oronde, Brian, and PaulFrank(LOL) that made some great special appearances.
CLICK HERE TO SEE ACTUAL PLANNED MAP
A recap of the day:
It started out in Flushing, where Christine, Alex, Jocelyn and I started with an infamous Congee and fried dough combination. The four of us shared 2 bowls of congee and one order of fried dough. It was a good kick-off meal and would hold us over til we got into Manhattan. The congree is great here and they give you a lot for a good price. (Price range: $3/ person) We got on Chinatown van to meet up with the rest of the crew at Jing-Tong Dim-Sum Restaurant.
There, we ordered a good number of little dim sum dishes, a lot in which I'm not sure even if I described it you would understand. To be honest, I am not a fan at all of Dimsum because I have subjected to it since... forever. Being born into a cantonese family, I have been to dim-sum one too many times already and could go the rest of my life without it and be okay. But my friends really wanted it. So we got it. Had to manage their intake so they wouldn't get too stuffed because there was so much food coming up at a later time! We ended up splitting it to $5 / person and we had about 12 people (which was a pretty good deal)!
Afterwards, we walked down to Mott Street and got some "bubble tea" from Ten Ren Tea House. (Price $3.50/ cup - in Flushing you can get it for $2.50 a cup!!) I've always been a fan of their bubble tea's because they are made with real tea leaves and not powder.. you can really taste the elegant TEA-TASTE! One of my favorite orders here is Green Tea-Milk Tea with Tapioca. Their tapioca is also one of the best kinds out there because there's a inner sweetness in the actual tapioca. It's also very soft, moist and goes well with the tea.
Our next stop was over to Kat'z Deli. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you guys have already tried it. But this was my first time. Basically we walked in and saw a HUGE MASS of human beings! When you first walk in, you get a little ticket that they mark when you order. And you can't actually LEAVE the deli until you show them a blank ticket, or pay for your marked ticket. I thought this was a great system and somewhat interesting. (I thought I had lost my ticket halfway through our meal! >__<) Anyway, the sandwiches were GREAT !! They totally pack the bread with tons of meat, and its tender, juicy and warm! It was little on the salty side for me, but the pickle on the side definitely made a huge difference in battling the saltiness!!
As I was walking around the whole place, photographing it, I saw this big guy, wearing a cute 'KATZ DELI' Sweatshirt- that I thought looked really cool. So me, being me, I asked him if I could take a photograph of him. So he was like, "Uh sure". Then he ended up telling me he was the owner of the place! And that I should hurry and try some food because I've been missing out since I've never been here. HAHA! (GG, cindy).
Here's the owner, Alan Dell (left)
Between the 9 of us, we shared 2 sandwiches, which cost about $4/ person. Since it's around $15/ sandwich. Pretty good deal for just "trying it". I think I would definitely go back some day and try it out.
After that, we went over to the Momofuku Milk Bar. Okay, for most noobs (like myself), there are 3 Momofuku restaurants. There is the ssam bar, noodle bar and milk bar. (the milk bar was the targetted place, but we ended up walking into the ssam bar and noodle bar before finally finding the milk bar!)
I got the "Crack Pie" slice, which is a rich mix of butter, heavy cream, brown sugar, sugar, and a little corn flour. Contains no actual crack- but I'm sure if you were starving, that sweetness that bursts in your mouth could have you wanting more...I shared a pie slice with a friend and was pretty much satisfied with that small half. The price for the slice was a bit steep, seriously, $5 for a slice of PIE?! But it was definitely worth trying. Christine tried the "Red Velvet Custard", which I took a spoonful of and it was super-RICH. (I wouldn't be able to finish it without a cup of milk by my side). Alex got the Pork-Bun (which to me, seemed like paying $12 for a McMuffin... haha.. no joke..)
After that, we all walked over to Ippudo. I've been here before, and wasn't impressed the first time; and again was not impressed this time either. Perhaps I'm not that big of a fan of Japanese noodles or something, but this place just gave you a hefty bowl of ramen that puts you to sleep. I'll admit, they give you a lot of pork/meat with your ramen, but the taste was just so-so. My friend got the pork buns (pictured below) and I hear those are good too, but I wasn't about to pay $10 for 2 little pork buns... at least not this time.
After wards, we walked up to Shake Shack (definitely also, again, not my choice). The line was extremely long, since it was a beautiful day outside, after such a long winter... A few of them got burgers/fries/shakes. I passed on this. I could go here anytime I want. (I work a block away. Haha) I'd admit though, their burgers are pretty good. Their shakes always seemed a little TOO thick for me, to the point where I have to use a spoon and eat it like ice cream... but the atmosphere around here is great when the sun sets =)
Finally, after a few more stops around town, we ended the night sharing Hallal Food (Chicken/Lamb over rice) on 53rd and 6th. It's one of those places that you go when you're having a strange craving. The Hallal man only opens after 7:30 PM, and there's generally a huge line for it. The cost is $6 for a huge platter of rice/chicken and lamb. It's a good deal, and even better if you share it!!
** I told a lot of friends about this tour idea, and a lot of them seemed genuinely interested in doing one with me also. It'd be great fun to go with a lot of people, and its definitely a great way to try a lot of different things without stuffing yourself too full! So I'll be trying a "pizza quest" sometime soon. let me know if you're interested! **
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment