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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Thursday 30 August 2012

NYC 2012: Sights around town

I love to explore a new place by walking. New York is by no means a new location for me, but it is a great city for getting by on foot. Larger distances can be covered by cycling, which was what hubby and I did on our weekend in NYC. We hired a couple of bikes and a child seat, and we set off on a 11km ride from downtown up to Central Park, completed the 12km circuit around the park (which has some killer hills!), then back to downtown again. That worked out to be about 34km, and it definitely satisfied my craving for a decent bike ride. But boy, did I hurt the next day - not too surprising since it had been two years since I was on a bicycle, and the rental bikes weren't great to begin with. The last time we were in NYC, our son was only 7 months old; not old enough to appreciate this great city. More than three years later, I took great pleasure in bringing my son around NYC. This boy loves to walk and run around, but I believe I tired those little legs out within the first few days. Here are shots of some of the sights.

Concrete Jungle, as seen from the High Line near the W 16th Street entrance/exit:

A bushy-tailed dark-furred squirrel in Central Park on the alert for one particular little boy who was quite keen on chasing it:

With the Wall Street Bull (photos of me in this blog are rare, usually offered to be taken by others, as was the case here by a tourist whose photo I helped to take):

View of the Statue of Liberty taken from either the Robert F. Wagner Park or South Cove, at 32x magnification (click here for my 2007 post on visiting Liberty Island):

My son got to put on a cop's hat! He brazenly ran up to a couple of cops (presumably on a break) in a downtown park, and asked for a picture. I don't recommend tourists to do this because the police are there to do their work, but I remember doing the same 5 years ago:

A view of Columbus Circle from inside the Time Warner Center:

We walked down Wall Street (as we did most days from our downtown hotel) and happened upon the stock market debut of Manchester United at the NYSE:

Suburban landscape in New Jersey for a Sunday grill by a couple of friends (yes, I know NJ is not in New York, but it was still a part of our New York trip):

A dragonfly at the High Line:

Inside the beloved Chelsea Market, a foodie's delight:

New York is such a great city, and I will return again in a heartbeat. I will have to find cheap flights to New York so that I can visit this beautiful city more often.

Tuesday 28 August 2012

NYC 2012: Casual eats and revisits - sandwiches, falafels, pies and pretzels

We just got back to Hong Kong from our US trip, and I have a mountain of photos to sort and process. We had such a great time in California. For now, I will continue the New York series with a photolog of miscellaneous food items I picked up during our two weeks in NYC.

Whole Foods (Columbus Circle)

I don't care what people say about Whole Foods, I love this supermarket brand and really enjoy browsing through any of the Whole Foods' shops. It's pricey, but generally you get what you pay for. I love the range of organic produce available, and the prepared foods section is a feast for the eyes (and stomach)! The boy and I were in Central Park one morning, and we popped into Whole Foods at the Time Warner Center for a quick lunch.

This is only a part of the vast dining area provided for customers who wish to eat their purchased items at the store, complete with a smoothie bar and a corner with sink and soap:

My son and I shared a delicious Tandoori Chicken Naan sandwich. I only thought to take a shot after I'd already taken a bite:

Sam's Falafels

I paid a revisit to Sam's Falafels at Zuccotti Park (formerly known as Liberty Plaza) for lunch one day. The cart was where it was five years ago, but it didn't seem as popular as back then. The combo platter had increased a dollar to US$6, which is perfectly reasonable over a five-year period. It was a delicious lunch that had me quite stuffed with some left over.

Sam's Falafel combo platter included about 10 falafels, salad, dolmades, hummus and a drizzle of tahini to have with a pita round:

Shandaken Bake (Fulton Stall Market)

On our first encounter with the FSM, hubby had his eyes on the blueberry and peach pie at the Shandaken Bake stall. However there was a long queue in front, and I convinced hubby to come back for it after we'd had some lunch. Unfortunately, the pies had completely sold out by the time we went back a couple of hours later, and hubby was so disappointed that I felt quite bad. The following Saturday morning, I went to the Shandaken Bake stall again, barely after it opened, and bought a blueberry and peach pie. Hubby enjoyed it thoroughly (he said it tasted as good as he'd expected) and I felt redeemed.

The Shandaken Bake stall at the Fulton Stall Market:

Blueberry and Peach Pies lined up for sale:

The one that didn't get away:

At a friend's house in New Jersey for a grill

We were invited to one of hubby's colleagues' house for a Sunday grill. This guy is really good at the grill! It was our first time outside of New York in the US (even though this was our third visit to US), and it was really lovely to see some suburban landscape and beautiful houses. We are grateful to our friends' hospitality and kindness, and hope to return the favour one day.

The beef tenderloin, all prepped for the grill hours before our arrival (photo courtesy of our friends):

Moist and flavourful - this tenderloin was one of the best I've ever eaten:

Auntie Anne's Pretzel

On one of our final days in NYC, my son and I went over to the South Street Seaport to have a taste of a soft pretzel from the same stall where I had my first taste of a soft pretzel. Apparently Auntie Anne's pretzels are pretty popular because we saw it advertised in San Francisco. It's pretty pricey (~US$3.50), but it's pretty good as far as soft pretzels go.

There was the choice of salted, unsalted or sweet, and I got the unsalted savoury pretzel. Delicious without salt and only a touch of sweet:

I have many, many more photos to share, so stay tuned!

Thursday 23 August 2012

A quickie from California

This is only a short update, as we have been pretty busy since my last post. On Saturday, we said goodbye to a rainy New York, and hello to a sunny San Diego! We spent a glorious three days there, then came to foggy and chilly San Francisco yesterday afternoon. We have seen a lot and, as is our style of travelling, eaten plenty of delicious food. Today we rented bicycles, and we cycled from downtown SF to the Golden Gate Bridge via the beautiful scenic coastal route. We rode across the bridge into Sausalito where it was bright and sunny in contrast to the foggy San Fran, and then caught a ferry back to San Fran. It took us half the day, but I finally realised my goal of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge ever since I first learnt about it in school almost 20 years ago. I never would have thought that I would be biking across it!

The red Golden Gate Bridge, the top enshrouded in fog. It was very windy! (Click image to view larger version):

We have cycled in all three cities of our US trip, which has satisfied my craving for a decent bike ride. I hadn't used a bicycle for almost two years since we moved to HK, where biking is a very impractical and unsafe mode of transport. I really miss being able to get around on a bicycle. Anyway, we are in San Francisco for only a short while, and in less than two days time, we're back to Hong Kong. Stay tuned for lots more!

Saturday 18 August 2012

Revisit: Chinese @ Congee Village, New York

I can't believe we're already on the last day of our 2 week stay in NYC. We've been making the most of our time in this city, and boy, do I have lots to show on this blog! Here's our first restaurant eats on our first day here. After a lengthy stroll, we had lunch at Congee Village, which was where we had our last meal on our New York trip five years ago. Nothing has changed - the decor, service and food quality were the same as back then.


We just had to order the lamb again, which we'd enjoyed a lot last time (this is coming from a person who disliked lamb!). It's not on the general menu given to us, it's a dish that has to be requested. The Fried Lamb Cutlets ($25) came out in a different presentation, but it was really the most tender, juicy and tasty lamb I'd even eaten. There was not much of that strong gamy smell that I find hard to like, and I would love to know how the chef prepared it.

The special not-on-the-menu lamb dish that got us coming back to Congee Village:

I was craving for some vegetables after enduring two airplane meals, and this plate satisfied it very well. Crunchy and lightly seasoned:

Special Fried Rice, for the boy. It was a huge serving, with shrimps, peas and chopped onion. Fragrant and tasty:

House Special Seafood in Pineapple Boat. Nicely presented, and seafood was fresh and flavourful. At this point we were already full, and could only have a few spoonfuls each (the boy and I had the leftovers for lunch the following day while hubby was at work):

That was a good first eats in NYC, and I was glad to introduce our boy to the delicious lamb cutlets. (I enjoyed the irony that the first thing we ate after leaving Hong Kong was Chinese food!)

Congee Village
100 Allen St
New York, NY 10002
United States
(Lower East Side)
Tel. +1 212 941 1818

Congee Village on Urbanspoon

Tuesday 14 August 2012

NYC 2012: First day - Fulton Stall Market, Vinny's Nut House

It's so good to be back in NYC. It's almost like we never left. There's something about the gritty streets, yellow cabs, the ever presence of the NYPD officers and the amazing food that is so uniquely New York. I laugh now to think that I had been so apprehensive about this city before my first visit five years ago. We're here for only two weeks this time, and I'm glad that we already had three months in this city back in '07 and '09, so we don't have to squeeze everything into this little trip. Not ones to waste valuable time, we were out and about only a few hours after a 16-hour flight. We reacquainted ourselves with familiar streets and sights, and filled our bellies with goodies. Here are some shots of what we saw and ate on our very first day back in this smelly and dirty but wonderful city. We walked a lot that day, starting from downtown where our hotel is, northward along the East River Greenway, then through Chinatown and Little Italy.

As we walked just past the Seaport, we came across the Fulton Stall Market by chance:

A stall for Taza Chocolate, selling stone-ground chocolates, a Mexican chocolate tradition. This is chocolate with texture and good flavour. We bought a bar of their darkest chocolate, which at 87% was not bitter compared to other 87% chocolates we've eaten. US$6 a bar, it's organic and direct traded:

A Hot Bread Kitchen stall, selling a range of baked goodies from different ethnicities. The slogan "Preserving tradition, Rising expectations" refers to their mission to help the foreign-born and low-income people:

M'smen, Moroccan flatbread. We bought a filled m'smen for US$4, which was tasty:

We also bought a bialy (US$2), which I probably favour more than the bagel:

The footpath by the East River along South Street has excellent views of both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. A family asked us to take a photo of them, and then they kindly offered to take one of us (not the first time it's happened, nor the last):

We kept walking north along the riverside footpath, which is a great sheltered walkway for pedestrians, rollerbladers and cyclists. We turned west just before we reached the Manhattan Bridge and headed to Congee Village for a revisit lunch (review coming up soon). Then we headed back south via Little Italy, where our main objective was to obtain the delicious nougat and cookies from a street cart called Vinny's Nut House. We first encountered these guys 5 years ago, and we were delighted to find them where they've always been: on the corner of Mulberry Street and Grand Street. And the nougat and biscotti were selling for the same price as 5 years ago! We bought some biscotti and nougat, and enjoyed the stash over the following few days.

Vinny's Nut House stand on the corner of Mulberry Street and Grand Street in Little Italy has some of the nicest Italian nougat we've eaten:

Oh, how we've missed these nutty sweet:

Chocolate almond biscotti, plain almond biscotti, and chocolate and fig pastry too:

That's all for now. I have so many more photos to share of what we got up to during our first week and weekend back in NYC! Stay tuned!

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Vietnamese @ Le Soleil, Hong Kong

Hello from NYC! How we have missed this city. We arrived in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning after a lengthy 16-hour flight, and we are still adjusting to the opposite timezone. Our almost-4-year-old boy was a champ on the flight, something I attribute to being well-travelled since infancy. The lack of sleep didn't prevent us from going out and about on Sunday and eating good food, and I will share photos on my blog later. For now, I want to share about the delicious Vietnamese lunch we had last weekend at Le Soleil, the Hong Kong branch of the popular San Francisco restaurant.

A nice water feature in the middle of Le Soleil's dining area:

Le Soleil's location on the open mezzanine level of The Royal Garden doesn't allow for much privacy, so it's probably not suitable for an intimate date. I liked the open atmosphere and the natural light, although not so much the fact that anyone walking out of their hotel room on the upper levels have full view into the restaurant. Service was professional and attentive, and our trainee waitress did a pretty good job. The food wasn't strictly Vietnamese, and many of the dishes were Thai or had Thai influences. We could order from the a-la-carte menu as well as the tasting menu, but I couldn't go past the attractively-priced lunch sets.

Our table's centrepiece were fruits of the lotus, which was very green. The lotus flowers, seeds, leaves and "roots" are edible and widely used in Asian cooking:

All of the lunch sets were priced either at HK$128 or HK$148, and included appetiser, main and dessert courses, with a few options to choose for each of the appetiser and main courses. Vietnamese coffee and lotus tea were also included.

Hubby ordered a coconut milk drink with coloured strips of jelly and tapioca - it was nice and refreshing:

Appetisers

Hubby chose the Coconut Soup with Seafood for his appetiser, but I have neglected to upload the photo which is sitting on the computer at home on the other side of the world. It was sour, similar to tom yum but with coconut milk added. It's a nice choice if you like sour soup like me.

The boy's appetiser: Fried Spring Roll, Vietnamese Sausage and Fresh Roll with Prawn. All three were delicious:

For my appetiser, I went with the Vietnamese Cabbage Salad with Chicken. This was very tasty, with the right balance of sweet, sour and salty, and the crunchy cabbage was a nice textural contrast to the tender shredded chicken:

Main Course

For main course, hubby went for the Thai Green Seafood Curry, served with pandanus rice. The curry was very flavoursome, thick and creamy with coconut, and surprisingly fiery:

The kid wanted the Fried Noodles with Grilled Pork Cheek, which was a tasty choice. It was similar to pad thai, with an unexpected wok hei aroma. The strips of pork cheek were too tough and chewy for the boy, but this was a good plate of noodles in general:

I chose the Baked Cod with Mango Sauce, served with toasted garlic bread. This was such a pleasure to eat. I loved the juicy tender cod, and the mango sauce complemented it well. I only wished there was more of it:

Dessert

Dessert was mixed jelly with mango and coconut cream, which was refreshingly light and a colourful end to the meal:

We had an enjoyable meal at Le Soleil. The restaurant was quite popular for lunch that Sunday, and it didn't take long before the tables filled up and a queue started up. It's probably worth making reservations in advance to avoid having to wait for a table.

[Prices quoted above are exclusive of the 10% service charge.]

Le Soleil Vietnamese Restaurant
3/F, The Royal Garden
69 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel. +85 2 2733 2033

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Italian @ Grappa's Cellar, Hong Kong

Italian cuisine is not lacking in Hong Kong's restaurant scene, but we don't tend to choose Italian when we eat out. Perhaps this is due to its ubiquity, but Italian food is actually a great choice for my son's food allergies, hence an easy option when eating out with him. We were given a HK$100 discount voucher for Grappa's Cellar to be used by the end of July, and it gave us an opportunity to try out a popular restaurant. Grappa's Cellar is quite spacious and has a nice set up for live entertainment for both music gigs and theatrical events; their website lists upcoming events. The interior has a vintage feel, and it had comfortable booth seating. The service we received was average quality, but it was adequate for this casual setting.

Vintage-style decor:

The pizza kitchen:

The menu had a fair selection of pizza and pasta dishes, but neither hubby nor I chose from that list. The dessert list looked quite enticing, but unfortunately we didn't have time for dessert. Perhaps if we can score another voucher for Grappa's Cellar, we can try out the pizza, pasta and the dessert.

Bread is baked fresh daily in the kitchen:

Risotto al Granchio e Gameretti (HK$135) - risotto with crab meat and prawns in lobster sauce. This was delicious, and I really enjoyed the seafood and the rice that had absorbed the gorgeous lobster flavour:

Insalata di Spinaci (HK$95) - spinach salad with crispy pancetta, mushrooms, grated eggs and pinenuts, with dressing on the side. This is one of Grappa's Cellar's signature dishes. The greens were fresh, and the bacon, eggs and pinenuts added nice flavour and crunch:

Salsiccia Luganega (HK$125) - Grappa's homemade Italian sausage, grilled and served with polenta and spicy tomato sauce. This signature dish took 20 minutes to prepare. The sausage was meaty and substantial, with none of that gristly stuff that sometimes finds its way into inferior sausages. A good choice if you like sausages:

The food at Grappa's Cellar was of good quality, tasted great and reasonably priced. It's a great option if you're after home-style Italian food in a casual atmosphere.

[Prices quoted above are exclusive of the 10% service charge.]

Grappa's Cellar
Basement Level, Jardine House
1 Connaught Place
Central, Hong Kong
Tel. +85 2 2521 2322