This time around we didn’t go too crazy with the ordering; just two sandwiches and a side.

First up was a Fall twist on their peach & bacon sandwich we had this time. Instead of peaches, they used Kadota figs ($8.25).

Once again, this was a super flavorful and delicious sandwich. The bacon was a little more prevalent this time around which contrasted perfectly with the sweet figs. The standard toppings of cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and chili mayo really brought the whole sandwich together. Fortunately, they haven’t reduced the size of the already small sandwiches since last time as some places tend to do.

The other sandwich we shared was the Boneless Spare Ribs ($8.50) with spicy tamarind glaze. The bread was packed with a nice hefty piece of short rib that made a good meat to bun ratio. The tamarind glaze brought out some great sour/sweet flavors. I only wished the sandwich was bigger!

Unfortunately, they weren’t offering a side of ribs last time, so CT opted for the much healthier Grilled Zucchini ($6.00) with sweet onions and Chive Lime vinaigrette. The zucchini was quite fresh and only grilled for a short time so it retained some crunchiness. Squeezing the lime all over the veg made it even better with a fresh citrus zing. I was pretty hungry so I even ate some of the onions, which were nice and sweet. This side was a good change of pace from more traditional sandwich sides.

Once again, Num Pang pleased us tremendously. I really like the seasonal menu changes to take full advantage of the freshest ingredients. While the sandwiches are not cheap and one alone will probably not fill you up, the quality of the ingredients and flavors more than make up for it. They even have the ordering system down pat, so don’t be scared if there is a long line.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: sandwiches

One of the great perks my company has is “Summer Days.” Everyone gets four extra days off between Memorial and Labor Day. Since August is a very quiet month in NYC especially my office, I took a Friday off to relax and also run some errands in preparation for a special dinner CT & I were cooking for my family the next day. CT’s office was also particularly quiet, so she ended up working a half day from home. Since our apartment is close to the new location of Num Pang for lunch and since we normally aren’t in the area at that time, we decided to check it out.

Num Pang is a Cambodian sandwich shop that opened their original location in Union Square a couple years ago. They just opened their new location near Grand Central back in June. They offer a nice selection of sandwiches with high quality ingredients and unique combinations that Midtown office workers have been craving as evidenced by the very long line when we arrived. Fortunately, they had a very good system in place where orders were taken at the window and then food was picked up inside. There is some counter space, but the place is pretty much take out only. The main reason why the line moved so quickly was that no changes are allowed to the sandwiches, so they could be made a lot faster.

Although we were taking the food back to our apartment to eat, we both decided to get drinks since they had Blood Orange Lemonade!! For $2.50, it was a good size and super fresh. Definitely more tart than sweet, so you have been warned.

All of the sandwiches come on a nice roll that was about 6 inches long and are topped with cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and chili mayo.

CT chose the Five-Spice Glazed Pork Belly with Pickled Asian Pear ($7.75). The pork belly was quite sizable and cooked nicely. The char and richness of the pork went very well with the slightly sweet and crunchy pear. They used a liberal hand with the mayo, which was delicious and super messy at the same time.

CT says: I really enjoyed the various flavors in the sandwich. The pear was mostly soft, but still had a little bite to it, which added a nice texture. The pork was juicy, smokey and overall delicious. My only complaint would be the amount of spicy mayo used, which overwhelmed the other sandwich flavors at times, and wasn’t spicy at all. But that was fairly easily wiped away. Plus there were bottles and to-go cups of Sriracha available to add a little extra kick. I would definitely go back for this sandwich and to try the others.

I got the Grilled Peaches with bacon, sauteed chives & jalapenos ($7.50). This sandwich has had a lot of buzz about it and for good reason. The peaches were packed full of carmelized sweetness from the grilling, which was offset by the salty bacon. There wasn’t a ton of bacon inside, but I was quite happy with the sandwich anyway. One of my first bites included a big slice of jalapeno that was super hot. I am no longer a wimp when it comes to spice, but boy did that put my mouth on fire. You have been warned!

They also were offering a special side of ribs for $8.50. Who needs a bag of chips when you can get a side of ribs? I have no idea how the ribs were seasoned, but they were definitely “Asian-y.” I was a little disappointed it was only 3 small ribs, but each had a fair amount of meat. There was a great smoke flavor from the grill and they meat was literally fall of the bone. The accompanying sauce added the right amount of sweetness to the ribs.

CT says: I just couldn’t pass these up, even at $8.50 a pop. They were very tender, packed with flavor and really did have a good amount of meat on each bone for the price. It was a special of the day, but I would happily order them again if I saw them.

We also got an order of grilled corn ($2.50). The corn is rubbed with chili mayo, coconut flakes and chili powder. As you can see for a take-out joint, they haven’t quite perfected the wrapping of the corn since it ends of being quite messy in the foil wrapping. The corn was excellent! The mayo brought a little extra moisture and spice. The coconut was quite interesting as I would never think to eat it with corn. It is also prime corn season so the ear was sweet on its own too.

CT says: The corn itself was good, but I think the mayo and coconut flakes were unnecessary. They really didn’t add much to the corn, in fact it detracted from the corn in my opinion. The chili powder was good, but the coconut flavor was too strong. Fortunately, most of the flakes and mayo had fallen off in transit.

All in all, Num Pang was worth the hype. It wasn’t a cheap lunch($34 for everything), but we were both quite full by the end of it. The sandwich combinations were great and I definitely want to go back to try the others. Thanks Num Pang for opening so close to my apartment!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Num Pang… Cambodian sandwiches, similar to banh mi.  Yes, more hype.  I don’t know about $7.50 a sandwich here, but I’ve heard good things, so I was game. 

HB and I came here after a couple of drinks to sate our hunger.  We decided to split two sandwiches, the pulled pork and

the five spice glazed pork belly!  Mmm, fatty pork belly.

I decided to snag a root beer to go with our sandwiches.  She got the Blood Orange Lemonade, which she said didn’t taste very blood-orange-y and she wasn’t too happy with because she doesn’t like lemonade and was hoping it tasted more like blood oranges, which she likes.  Boo.  My root beer was fine. 

Our two sandwiches in all their glory!

Here is the pulled pork sandwich.

I found the pulled pork itself to be a bit bland, but the overall sandwich was dripping chili mayo and a LOT spicier than I prefer.  HB had the same issue, telling me it wasn’t this spicy the last time she’d eaten the sandwich - and she can eat spicier foods than I can… boo…

Here’s the special pork belly sandwich!  Hmm, lots of chili mayo there… 

Cutting into it.  See that ring of fat peeking out? 

Hmmm… looks a bit oily. 

Don’t believe me?  Look at the bottom of the sandwich.  Bread is not meant to be shiny like that.  Oh dear…

What is this a picture of?  Oh, it’s the sandwich I left to be thrown out.  You know how much I HATE wasting food.  And it isn’t even THAT much food, so normally I’d force myself to finish anyway.  No.  It was that fatty and oily and just greasy-gross.  I was seriously unable to choke down a bit more fat.  How terribly sad for me.  I was very sad to waste expensive Cambodian sandwich.  I didn’t taste much meat, per se, but instead felt fat squishing around in my mouth.  I <3 fat, but this was just not right.  I even opened up the sandwich to see if I could scoop out the meat and just eat that, ripping some of the fat off, but that didn’t work as I couldn’t find any meat from which to rip the fat.  FAIL. 

There was also a piece of bone or something in the pulled pork that jarred my teeth when I bit into it.  I took a picture but you can’t see what it is and that’s just gross, I don’t think I’ll start posting random things I pull out of my mouth while eating that shouldn’t have been in my food… there’s probably a website for that already. 

Yvo says: The sandwiches were pretty small for the price, but I guess if no one had ever compared them to banh mi, I’d think the prices were fine.  The ingredients and the location warrant the higher price, so I’m not going to complain about that.  I’m going to complain that it didn’t taste good and wasn’t worth any amount of money to me.  I’ve been told the catfish sandwich is really good, so maybe one day I’ll go back and try that, but in the foreseeable future, I won’t be returning. 
NOT recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: banh mi, sandwiches