Lebanese @ Alfanoose, NYC

Yes, I'm still blogging about our NYC eats even though we've been back in Tokyo for over a week now, but this is the last one. Rob's auntie arrived in New York two days before our flight back to Tokyo, so we met up with her for dinner on that Thursday. Rob and I actually had no idea where to bring her, only that it had to be somewhere downtown near our apartment because we had an early morning flight the next day. The problem was, good restaurant eats are hard to find in the financial district of the city. In the end, we decided to go to Alfanoose, which was a 5-minute walk from our apartment, and it has plenty of good reviews so we knew the food would be decent enough. However, we didn't expect it to have such a casual setting, but this is not a really bad thing. It's the first time we've brought her somewhere we haven't been before. (By the way, the spellings of the dishes names are as given by the restaurant's menu, which differs slightly from the more usual spellings.)

We decided to go for the Combination Meat Platter (US$18) where you can choose two types of meats, and it comes with a pita bread, the choice of mojadara (lentils with wheat or rice) or salad, and either homous, baba ganouge, tabouli or foul mudammas. I was overwhelmed by the unfamiliar terms and the variety of options to choose from, and it didn't help that Rob and his aunt left it up to me to choose dinner, so I just chose the meats and let our server decide what would go with the meats. We got the Lamb Shawarma (sliced lamb meat marinated in vinegar and spices, US$13.25) and Shish Tawook (charcoal grilled cubes of marinated chicken breast). I honestly do not remember which side dishes were chosen for us, only that they were yummy. We also shared a serve of Meat Kibbeh (ground lamb with cracked wheat, stuffed with chopped meat, onion, walnut and spices, US$7.95). This was nice, but I probably preferred the falafel which I'm comparing to because they're both deep-fried balls. Rob mentioned that although the meats tasted good, they were pretty dry on their own, but that was easily fixed by liberally using the dipping sauces that came with the platter.

Combination Meat Platter with Lamb Shawarma and Shish Tawook; and the Meat Kibbeh:


In addition to the meats, we shared a Combination Vegetarian Platter (US$12) with a choice of three vegetarian dishes. This option is served with a pita bread and mojadara or salad. I chose the Falafel, Stuffed Grape Leaves and Foul mudammas. The vegetarian musaka was also on the plate, so I guess the combination vegetarian platter included an additional side dish. The falafel was pretty good, and Rob said it was his favourite item out of everything. I enjoyed the musaka too.

Combination Vegetarian Platter:


I liked the generous serving sizes - although there were four of us sharing the two combination platters, we couldn't finish everything. I also liked that you could choose wholewheat pita bread here. And also the fact that this place caters to both the herbivores and carnivores with plenty of choices. Rob always has room for dessert, and Alfanoose has a decent selection of Middle Eastern desserts. He selected Namora (US$1.75) and Kinafa (US$2.75). The Namora was a rather dense coconut cornmeal cake soaked in sugar syrup, and it proved too sweet for us. The Kinafa was a light and creamy cheesy dessert, which was really nice! So nice that Rob went and enquired more about it. It uses shredded phyllo dough called kataifi, which gave it a lovely light texture to the dessert. And it wasn't too sweet, which made it all too easy to eat too much of it.

Namora and Kinafa:


This is a great little place for Middle Eastern food in a laidback atmosphere. Friendly and helpful staff too.

Street and deli eats, NYC

After our dimsum lunch at Red Egg, we headed towards Little Italy in search of the nougat/torrone stall we encountered last time. When we couldn't see it anywhere (admittedly, we weren't looking very hard nor going very far to look for it), we decided to buy a cannoli. (Actually "cannolo" is the correct term for singular cannoli, but our NY foodie guru Michael said that most New Yorkers (even the Italian-Americans) would use cannoli/cannolis for both singular and multiple.) This one was chocolate covered cannolo (US$4) filled with a creamy cheese (which I think was mascarpone because it was too smooth and creamy to be ricotta). It was quite rich, and I'm glad we shared one between the two of us.

Chocolate-covered cannolo:


Other than the ubiquitous street carts all around NYC, delis are a popular place to grab breakfast and lunch. My last day in NYC saw me with an empty fridge, so I headed down to the nearby Champs Deli for a takeaway lunch. I got the Grilled Chicken & Fresh Mozzarella Panini (US$7.45) which also had arugula and tomatoes in foccacia bread. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that sandwiches at Champs came with a choice of either chips, coleslaw or baby carrots. The panini was delicious with generous amount of chicken breast, and the mozzarella, arugula and tomatoes were a great combination - I guess that's why those ingredients are a popular pizza topping! It was a very filling lunch.

Grilled Chicken & Fresh Mozzarella Panini from Champs Deli:

Dimsum @ Red Egg, NYC

On our last weekend in NYC, we met up with Michael, whom we lunched with two times on our previous trip to NYC. We went to Red Egg, which is a rather curious name for a dimsum restaurant. A few reviews of the restaurant seem to indicate that this is a rather pricey option for dimsum, but most agree that the food is pretty good and quite authentic. We hadn't eaten dimsum for a long time, so we were looking forward to this lunch. We weren't disappointed, and the bill was a rather pleasant surprise, which elicited a somewhat embarrassing (involuntary) reaction from yours truly. Those who said that Red Egg was expensive for dimsum have certainly not had dimsum in Tokyo where one can expect to pay around US$40 per person, which was how much we paid at Red Egg for four people. Of course

The one dish that deserves a special mention is the Durian Puff. Flaky pastry with a creamy filling made with real durian flesh, this is one great way to enjoy durian without its "perfume", for those who are strongly opposed to the smell (for me, the durian fragrance is part of enjoying the fruit). Another dish I particularly liked was the Taro Cilantro Dumpling. The other dishes were more or less the standard dimsum fare, most of which were done well and delicious but there were a couple of disappointing ones. Rob said the only dish he was disappointed with was the Ha Cheong (steamed shrimp rice roll), one of his favourite dimsum dish, because the prawns and sauce weren't that tasty. For me, the dish that disappointed would be the Chicken Feet, because the sauce just wasn't that great - I definitely have had better ones. Other than those, everyone agreed that the food was pretty good.

Durian Puff (US$3.75); Pan-fried Turnip Cake (US$3.75):


Ha-cheong (Steamed Shrimp Rice Roll, US$4.50); Steamed Fun Gaw (US$3.75):


Lormaikai (Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf, US$3.75); Chicken Feet (US$2.75):


Taro Cilantro Dumpling (US$3.75); Charsiu-pao (Roast Pork Bun, US$3.75):


Stuffed Green Pepper (US$3.75); Sesame Ball (US$2.75):




By the way, today is Rob's birthday :)

Austrian brunch @ Wallsé, NYC

I stumbled upon Wallsé while looking through the list of restaurants on OpenTable.com, a web service I use for making reservations online for NYC restaurants. Wallsé stood out to me because I've never had the opportunity to try Austrian cuisine before, and also because it is a Michelin one-star restaurant (yes, yes I know I'm a sucker for the Michelin-starred restaurants). I booked us a table for lunch time on a Saturday, and eagerly looked forward to our introduction to Austrian food. (Lately we've been dining out during lunchtime because Zak tends to be a better dining companion early on in the day. I'm amazed that many fine dining restaurants in NYC are baby-friendly, but I feel that most of them would be more accommodating to a baby during lunch time than during the dinner rush.)

Since we knew very little about Austrian dishes, and I didn't want to spend too long making our decision at the restaurant asking too many questions, we had a look the brunch menu available online and googled the names of the dishes beforehand. Hence we knew what we were going to order even before we stepped into the restaurant, which was good because our walk from our downtown apartment to the restaurant had worked up an appetite in us (it took about 45 minutes one way, carrying an 8kg baby in a carrier). Service was great and our waitress (with her gorgeous accent) really looked after us.

After being seated and settling in, I decided I also wanted to try one of the cocktails they had on the brunch menu. Neither of us are alcohol drinkers and we hadn't heard of most of the alcohol names in the cocktails, so I kinda randomly chose the Lingonberry Rob Roy (US$13), a combination of Dewar’s, Sweet Vermouth, lingonberries, and bitters. Apparently they'd decided the day before to remove that cocktail from the menu, but the manager (who was also the bartender) whipped one up for us anyway. It was berry good (sorry, couldn't resist that one). Bread and butter was brought to the table for us to munch on while we waited for our food, and it was hard trying to resist filling up on these yummy carbs.

Complimentary bread and butter; and the Lingonberry Rob Roy coctail:


Rob ordered the Palatschinken with smoked trout, apples and organic greens (US$16). It is like a rolled-up crêpe with a smoked trout filling. Delicious, but this one is definitely a light brunch option or for those with a much more tiny appetite. I got the Spätzle with braised rabbit, wild mushrooms, sweet corn and tarragon, which was really good, but I felt it was a bit over-seasoned with salt. Obviously this was clearly a matter of taste because Rob thought it was seasoned just right. I loved the mushrooms.

Palatschinken; and Spätzle:


For dessert, we chose the Kaiserschmarrn with fruit compote and marinated raisins (US$12) and the Apple Strudel with Schlag (US$12). The kaiserschmarrn was actually on the brunch section and not under dessert, and for a good reason too - it was a huge serving! It was so deliciously eggy and fluffy, and was absolutely divine with the caramelised apple and vanilla ice cream. I loved seeing the tiny black specks of vanilla seeds in the ice cream. The apple strudel was nice, but somewhat overshadowed by the kaiserschmarrn.

Kaiserschmarrn with the caramelised apple and ice cream in the background; and the Apple Strudel with vanilla ice cream in the spoon and cream:


This was an excellent introduction to Austrian cuisine. I would jump at the chance to have Austrian food again if the opportunity presents itself.

Porky goodness @ Porchetta, NYC

One of Rob's colleagues is a big pork fan, and he recommended Porchetta as the best place to eat pork in NYC. This is a no-frills place specialising in Roman-style roast pork, so don't be surprised to see only ten items on its menu. There are limited seating at this tiny eatery (maybe 6 stools by the corner bar lining one wall and window, and a couple of small tables outside), and this place gets crowded during peak meal times.

Roasted piggies on display:


We got the Porchetta Sandwich (US$9) and the Porchetta Plate (US$14). The sandwich was pork and crispy crackling presented in a toasted ciabatta bun with nothing else. The pork was so good that it really doesn't need anything else. The simple sandwich is a great way to enjoy the roast pork for all its deliciousness, unspoiled by condiments and other ingredients that usually accompanies sandwiches. Meaty, juicy, tender and crispy with the fragrance of herbs - I honestly did not expect it to be this good. The plate was the same roast pork served with chicory and beans. The sides were not that great - the greens was swimming in oil (although it was nicely garlicky) and the beans was rather tasteless and bland. Not necessarily a bad thing as it emphasises the fact that Porchetta focuses on its specialty (pork) and not much else, and hence do a fantastic job at it. I reckon the toasted ciabatta was a better accompaniment to the pork, but Rob said he liked that he could enjoy the pork on its own with the plate.

The Sandwich and the Plate:


Porchetta is a must for pork fans in NYC!



This will be my last post for a few days because I will be busy with preparing for our return trip back to Tokyo.

Burgers @ Shake Shack, NYC

Okay, I admit that I'm not a burger person, yet I've managed to eat burgers three times in the last few months. Perhaps Rob likes burgers? The Shake Shack in Madison Park is touted to churn out the best burgers in NYC, and what better place than New York to try a good burger? Unfortunately, like with most things in NYC where the popular places gets the most publicity and hence even more popular (even if they're not necessarily good), you can expect a huge line at the Shake Shack during the peak meal times. The website even has a live webcam so that you can check out just how bad the line is before you make the trek to the shack. Rob was keen to check out just why the Shake Shack's burgers are so good to draw such crowds, and we headed there on a chilly Sunday early afternoon for lunch.

There was already a quite a queue up to the shack when we arrived at Madison Park around 12:30 (we aimed to get there earlier, but you know how it is with a baby). This is not the place to go to if you're on a diet (or just like to eat healthy), because the only healthy thing on the menu that's not laden with fat and/or sugar is bottled water. Even the vegetarian burger has been junkified: fried cheese-filled mushroom burger. And with the small-ish sized burgers served, you'll most likely be tempted to order a lot more than just burgers if you came hungry. According to their menu, the burgers are served plain, and extras like lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles have to be requested. Rob got the single ShackBurger (US$4.75) which already comes with cheese, lettuce, tomato and the "Shack sauce". He requested pickles and onions, but unfortunately it came without both, and he couldn't be bothered making a complaint. I ordered the single Hamburger ($3.75) and requested lettuce and tomato with it.

The hamburger and the ShackBurger (with the cheese):


So the verdict? The burgers were good - the burger patty was juicy, and I appreciate the fact that the burgers are ground daily to ensure good quality. The lettuce and tomatoes were nice and fresh too. I liked the soft and slightly sweet bun which I thought went really nicely with the burger, although it is clearly a matter of preference because Rob said that the bun was the only thing he didn't like about the burger. Our only gripe with the Shake Shack is the fact that this place is so popular and busy that
1. the girl who took our orders didn't get it right - it was good that she repeated what she thought we'd ordered so that we could correct it, otherwise we would have ended up with two cheeseburgers (which sounds nothing like "shackburger" or "hamburger", right?);
2. there was a rather long wait for our food. We probably waited about 30 minutes from arriving at the shack to eating the burgers.

Overall, I do think it's worth the wait, especially if you like burgers.

Italian @ Lupa, NYC

We had a delicious experience at Lupa, which is one of Mario Batali's many restaurants. We have been to another of this American Iron Chef's restaurants before, but we were hoping for more than just pizza and pasta from the main course menu at Lupa (although the desserts were fantastic at Otto). This is a fairly casual restaurant, and we were given excellent service right from when we stepped in the door and greeted by the maitre'd. I like that it's a kids-friendly restaurant, and they provided a high chair for the 7 month old. Lupa serves Roman-style Italian food, and like Otto, it has a rather extensive wine list. However, we weren't there for the wine, but for the food! The complimentary focaccia with a small plate of olive oil was delicious and posed a dangerous threat to hubby's low(ish) carb diet.

Bub was perfectly happy munching on the table before him (don't worry - I did sanitise that area of the table):


For starters, we shared three Antipasti e Salumi (US$10 each) chosen from the pesce (fish) options: Tuna & Cannelini, Octopus with Ceci & Sorrel and Clams with Fregola & Basil. All three were great, and our favourite was the octopus. Big, meaty chunks of octopus. The tuna did not look nor taste like fish - it resembled more like red meat, perhaps because of the curing. Frankly, I expected these to be either too salty or too vinegary because they were cured, but they were all done very well and I really enjoyed eating them.

Antipasti: Tuna & Cannelini, Octopus with Ceci & Sorrel, and Clams with Fregola & Basil:


For our main courses, we went with the two specials of the day - Duck Leg and Fish (US$20 each). Unfortunately I don't have the details of each of the dishes (such as the ingredients) but they were really good. The duck was tender and perfectly matched with a slightly sweet sauce made with rhubarb. The fish had a deliciously crispy skin and the flesh was juicy and tender-cooked, but it was a little bit too salty for me. Nevertheless I still enjoyed the taste and texture of the fish. I loved the crunchy greens served in both dishes.

Duck and Fish:


For dessert, we had the Tartufo (US$8), hazelnut gelato covered in chocolate and sprinkled with nuts. Decadent stuff, which, according to some, is the best tartufo in NYC.



It was a great dining experience and we walked out with happy satisfied tums.

Jewish cuisine @ Noah's Ark, New York

With NYC being home to the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel, we had to have at least one proper 'Jewish' meal that consists more than a bagel. Last Sunday, we headed towards the vicinity of Chinatown in search for lunch. We were actually intending to re-visit a favourite, but on the walk there, we changed our minds to trying something different instead. I consulted my NFT guide (the 2007 from our previous visit) and found Noah's Ark Original Deli was nearby our initial choice. It's a casual restaurant, with warm and comfortable atmosphere. The staff were friendly and helpful, and we were served complimentary pickles and coleslaw even before we placed our orders.

Being new to the cuisine, we took awhile pondering the menu, and being presented with so many options, we had to ask our waitress many questions. We settled upon her recommendation of the Hot Juicy Pastrami Overstuffed Sandwich (US$11.95), which she said was large enough for to share with a side dish. There was an impressive amount of meat for a sandwich - 1/3 pound, according to the menu. The pastrami was indeed juicy with grease, but we didn't think it was spicy. For our side dish, we got the Stuffed Knish with Sauteed Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions (US$5.95). The knish (the 'k' is not silent) came out looking like a sandwich, and Rob was surprised to find that it wasn't a bread sandwich, but a potato dish instead. It was so yummy in all its carby goodness. The waitress was right - the sandwich and the knish was plenty for the both of us.

Pickles and coleslaw; and the Pastrami Sandwich:


Knish stuffed with mushrooms and onions:


Simple but delish stuff. I hope to have the chance to try more Jewish dishes during our stay here in NYC.

New York quick eats

The first couple of days after arriving in New York city, being somewhat sleep-deprived, I really wasn't in much mood to prepare any meals. Instead we wandered around downtown near our apartment for some food.

Our first meal in town was a late lunch at a cafe called Stir Cafe that offered a large variety of sandwiches, burgers, pasta and salad. After eating airplane food for the previous 12 hours, I wanted something refreshing and light and also something substantial so we ordered a Grilled Chicken Burger Deluxe (US$5.95) but without the fries, and a large Salad Toss with dressing on the side (US$7.65). I think we got the Ranchero salad which contained a combination of vegetables, crispy bacon and chicken pieces with a very creamy dressing. These were substantial enough for us to skip dinner and opt for an early night to ward off jet lag symptoms.

Chicken burger (without fries) and salad, taken with Rob's iPhone:


The following day, lunch was at Zeytuna, a market/deli where I often get my fresh fruits and vegetables. It's also a popular take-away haunt with a cafe and al-fresco dining area, and although I shopped here for two months during our last stay in NYC two years ago, this was my first time buying prepared food to take away. We got the Italiano Chicken Panini (US$6.45 per piece) and a piece of Chicken Lasagne (US$5.95/lb, this piece cost around US$4). The panini was a delicious combination of chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. The lasagne was also nice with generous amount of minced chicken, but it paled in comparison to the panini. There were many more delicious food behind the glass in the display shelf, and I hope to get more opportunities to try them.

The panini and lasagne (it only occurred to me after we ate that I should have unwrapped the panini for the shot):

Hello NYC again!

We are back in New York again, this time for only a month. After a long 12 hour flight from Tokyo, and only 5 hours sleep in a span of 52 hours (an hour's sleep was taken during the flight), I was in a bit of an exhausted zombie state after arriving in NYC around 1pm (2am in Tokyo time). I resisted having naps to help me transition to this timezone (although there were a couple of times I dozed off while breastfeeding Zak) so by the time I got to bed around 9pm, I was so tired that I didn't have too much trouble getting to sleep. Although I did wake up a few times during the night (such is the life with a baby), I didn't have long periods of frustrating insomnia that comes with jet lag. Hopefully that's a good sign that jet lag will not hit me as badly as it did last time. The baby seems to have adjusted quite well to the timezone, and I think that has a lot to do with him having only having two hours sleep on the flight.

I was woken up at 5am by the baby for his morning feed, so after unpacking the rest of the luggage, I went out for an early morning walk to the groceries stores that I usually went to. We're staying downtown Manhattan, close to our last apartment so I do know my way around. It is so good to be back :)