When we sat down, DLS got excited and started talking about mini fried buns.  I had no idea what he was talking about, so he ordered these – I guess they’re fried, though I wouldn’t have guessed that.  The outside texture was like it’d been glazed with sugar – slightly crunchy – but not really that sweet.  The inside was plain bread – mantou for those familiar with Chinese cuisine (a very plain baked bread that is like ‘poor food’ in China when eaten plain; it’s a great foil to very flavorful dishes, in the part of China that eats bread as its main carb).  And that little dish on the side?  Because the exterior isn’t sweet, you can sweeten it… with a little dish of sweetened condensed milk.  I ate one and was done – definitely not a dish invented for people like me.  And definitely not an appetizer in my opinion, but DLS was happy to have found this, and nommed away. 

When the soup dumplings arrived, I almost laughed out loud – look at them!  They’re so heinously ugly.  The one in the middle looks like someone got angry and just twisted off the top ‘nipple’ and didn’t care.  Really sloppy.  I shrugged though and soldiered on.  The wrapper was thick and slightly gummy, but even weirder, it was oddly dry, so they stuck to my lips as I tried to eat them – I really wanted to lick all around the outside so it would slide into my mouth more easily.  Instead, as I tried to shove the whole thing in my mouth, it just stuck to my lips and tore as it entered, which left greasy soup spilling out of the sides of my mouth.  DISLIKE.  And oh yes, the soup itself was greasy, oily, and not in that lovely luscious fatty porky way that soup dumplings should be – but rather in an unpleasant icky way.  I wasn’t too thrilled with these dumplings at all – they were pretty bad. 

For the sake of consistency, the rest of our order mimicked our order at Shanghai Cafe Deluxe.  Spicy double cooked pork, which was markedly spicier here, and the vegetables were an odd mix of cabbage, eggplant, and peppers.  I thought it was OK, but DLS didn’t like this dish much if at all. 

This time, our fried rice cakes were ordered with ‘subgum’ which basically means a mix of proteins – beef, pork, whatever.  The flavor here was better than it’d been at Shanghai Cafe Deluxe – someone who wasn’t afraid of salt (or soy sauce, really) had cooked this dish – but that person may have also absentmindedly left the rice cakes out somewhere to overcook.  They were mushy and lacked the chewy texture that Shanghai Cafe Deluxe had had, and in fact, the very characteristic of rice cakes that makes me like eating them – the chewiness – was obliterated into a gummy mess.  Blegh. 

Yvo says: More misses than hits, I don’t think I’ll be returning to Joe’s Shanghai in the near future or ever, really.  Not the one in Chinatown – I’ll do my journalistic duty and visit the one in Flushing for comparison’s sake (and to see if DLS deserves any food cred in my eyes, haha), but that’s it.  Joe’s Shanghai offered me nothing of value, and I don’t intend to return so he can laugh in my tastebud’s face again.  Dislike.
not recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, dumplings, rice cakes, Shanghainese, soup dumplings

There has been a proliferation of Filipino restaurants in Manhattan over the past year of so, which I heartily welcome since our fantastic brunch at Maharlika. One restaurant, Sa Aming Nayon has been on our radar since it has opened a few months back. We knew we had to go once I read our friend Tia from Bionic Bites’ review that featured the Crispy Pata. This is a whole, fried pig’s foot. How could we not try that? For the icing on the cake, we bought a $25 gift certificate for ONE DOLLAR from Restaurant.com. Thanks Mom for telling me about that website.

After arriving, we knew this place was the real deal since many of the other customers appeared to be Filipino. Always a good sign when an ethnic restaurant has people of that ethnicity eating there. To drink we both had San Miguel beer. It was a nice, light pilsner that ended up pairing well with the food(as expected). When traveling I almost always try the local beer and usually do the same at restaurants.

I decided we should order the Sizzling Sisig ($12) to compare to the version I previously had at Maharlika for brunch. Here it was listed as an appetizer. It had three kinds of pig parts (ears, belly and snout). It came out steaming on the plate which made for a bad picture. Our friendly waitress offered to mix up the egg for us. The first thing I noticed was that the pork pieces weren’t as finely chopped as the Maharlika version, which gave it a better texture and less corned beef hash-like. I would definitely order this again.

All mixed together!

To counteract all of the pork, we also ordered one of the salads, Ensaladang Pipino ($5). This was simply sliced cucumber served with a special vinaigrette. Clean and refreshing, exactly what we wanted.

We also ordered one of the noodle dishes, Bihon Rice Noodle with Chicken & Shrimp. They offer a regular ($7) or large ($9), I think we ordered the regular. Since we weren’t very familar with Filipino food, we were a little surprised the noodles were served with some white bread. We didn’t end up eating the bread as we had too much food to eat already. The noodles were light and not very greasy, almost like lo mein. There wasn’t that much chicken or shrimp, but we didn’t need any more proteins. The veggies were good and plentiful.

The MAIN EVENT: Crispy Pata ($12). A whole pig’s foot deep fried. It was quite the sight to behold. I was happy to see so much crispy skin! Although the meat was only lightly seasoned, if at all, the accompanying chili vinegar gave it some great flavor. The meat was nice and juicy and pretty much all of the fat was rendered out. The rendered fat and cartilage had that lip sticking aspect to it that you get from eating connective tissue. I couldn’t believe how cheap this dish was, so I didn’t feel bad about leaving some leftover. I would also order this again, but my cardiologist said I can only have it once, maybe twice a year.

Almost like roast beef!

Crispy skin FTW!

It was served with some rice.

All in all, Sa Aming Nayon knows their pork! We were quite happy with all of the dishes, so much so that we inevitably overate and put ourselves in a pork-coma. It was also nice to have the gift certificate to save a few bucks. You should definitely check out the sisig and pata for yourself!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: restaurant.com

One December Friday evening, DLS and I decided we should get ramen.  I’d just heard a few people talking about Ramen Misoya on St. Mark’s, so I suggested we head over there.

DLS suggested we start with an appetizer, so we ordered tofu.  I don’t think either of us expected it to look like this – a small cup full of very soft tofu, topped with a jelly of sorts and shreds of bonito.  The tofu itself was light and sweet, but the shreds of bonito mixed with the jelly to create a sort of chewy mass that DLS really didn’t like.  I just didn’t like the overall texture of slimy jelly on top of soft tofu, though I appreciated the umami from the bonito shreds… just a dish that neither of us appreciated. 

DLS went wit the char shu ramen, which looked really good.  He seemed to enjoy the char shu a lot, though I declined trying a bite. 

I chose the regular ramen, to see what was up.  While the noodles were springy and perfectly fine, I found the broth to be a little too creamy for my liking.  It is the same problem I had at Totto Ramen – very thick mouth-feel to the broth, which can be good but isn’t always my preference for ramen.  Unfortunately, since the noodles here were just perfectly fine but not super great, and the broth just wasn’t to my liking, I’ll have to keep searching for my new favorite ramen place (as my favorite actually seems to have disappeared, sigh).  

Yvo says: Overall, the ramen was sufficiently tasty, but I found no reason to rank this above any other ramen place.  If I wanted ramen and was nearby, I might wander in if there was no line (we lucked into a table immediately, but shortly after, a line began forming), but I won’t go out of my way to eat here.  It was satisfactory… that’s all. 
middle of the road

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, Ramen

With the proliferation of deal websites out there, I have come to the realization that these deals can end up being the proverbial albatross around my neck. It seems most of the deals I purchase, I end up using close to their expiration date. It has gotten to the point where I have pretty much stopped buying these deals. (Not to mention that it’s usually for some pretty unhealthy foods that I am trying to avoid.)

Regardless with only a couple weeks left to use the deal, CT and I decided to go for lunch one day over the holiday break.

Neither of us were in a drinking mood, so we had to over-order on the food in order to get up to $40 worth. Although the deal was for dine-in only, it didn’t say that we couldn’t take home leftovers. SCORE!

First up was an order of fried calamari ($10). It was seasoned with black pepper, garlic and parmesan. These were quite heavily breaded and reminded me of onion rings. It was very tasty and I enjoyed eating it, but the calamari was completely lost in the breading.

Next was an order of bulgogi tacos/wraps ($11). The menu calls them tacos, which they are not. I tried these on a previous visit when they were only opened for a few weeks and they have improved these tenfold. The meat was juicy and sweet while the sauce was creamy and spicy. The lettuce helped to cut some of the greasiness of the meat. Fortunately the flour tortillas were warmed before being wrapped which improved their flavor too. I would be quite happy just ordering this for lunch next time.

To get over the $40 threshold, we had to get a large order of fried chicken too. We got half & half mixed ($22). It had half spicy, half soy garlic and a mix of drums and legs. The waitress probably thought I was crazy when I ordered this for the two of us on top of the other food we already got, but I knew that we would be taking 99% of this home. The chicken was good as always with the same great crunchy exterior. The spicy was no joke, so be prepared if you haven’t had it before. The chicken heated up pretty well later too.

Those drumsticks are Jurassic Park sized!

All in all, it was a nice gluttonous lunch at Bon Chon. I had never been for lunch before and glad the food was just as good as later in the day. The things I do to try to save a couple bucks…

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: in bundles, korean fried chicken

After arriving, the first thing you see is the very small bar area up front and the tiny open kitchen. It is pretty amazing how chefs manage to work in the notoriously small kitchens that are all too common in the East Village.

We started off with a special cocktail crafted for the night called a “Year of the Dragon.” It had Batavia-Arrack, Calamansi, Lime and Salt. The friendly bartender informed us that Batavia-Arrack was basically Singaporean rum. It was created when the Dutch controlled Singapore. It was super tart from the calamansi, but quite refreshing. Unfortunately, the rim of the glass was salted a bit too much for me. My fault for not asking for no salt.

I quickly moved on to Tiger Beer. They also had a white and red wine on offer.

To whet our appetites, they put out bowls of arrowroot chips with sea salt. These were quite delicious and addictive. Super crunchy, yet not greasy from frying. I think Terra Chips have arrowroot in them? Yvo informed me they were gluten-free, if that’s your thing.

After we sat down to dinner, Chef/Owner Larry Reutens came over to talk to us for a minute. He informed us that Masak is a Singapore-influenced restaurant, so not all of the dishes were 100% authentic. As for the special Chinese New Year menu, he also took some liberties and mixed up some traditional dishes, family recipes and his own. It is always a good sign, when the Chef truly makes the menu his own. I guess it can’t hurt when you are the owner also?

Since the restaurant and kitchen was so small, everything was served family style. (Thanks to Yvo for taking all of the pictures, even if some were slightly askew. )

Yvo says: Yeah… I have no sense of horizon, my pictures are often crooked.

Yue Sang Salad- artic char, carrot, radish, pomelo, peanuts, sesame seeds, blood orange, papaya. I was not expecting a raw fish salad (since I don’t read Chinese), but was pleasantly surprised by this. Yvo told me this was a super traditional dish shared with your family, except hers haha. Fresh fish and citrus, what’s not to like? The veggies were lightly dressed and worked well with the crunchy peanuts. I liked this a lot.

Yvo says: I’ve read in the past about Chinese families that celebrate the Lunar New Year with ‘yue sang’ (literally, fish raw). The plate is meant to be served as a huge platter with layers upon layers of the ingredients, and then everyone sticks their (clean) chopsticks in and helps toss it around to create some sort of beautiful tossed together dish. I first read about this on an Australian-Chinese girl’s food blog years and years ago (when I first started reading food blogs, a lot of them were written by Australian-Chinese girls for some reason).  I was like WAHHH I want to do that! and my mother told me that it’s specific to certain regions of China/Asia (I imagine the coastal ones), and even if we were from that area, since she doesn’t like or eat raw fish, we wouldn’t have been brought up eating that. Boo on you, FeistyMom!  In any case, I really enjoyed my share of this dish – light, refreshing, and a nice start.

Bamboo Mushroom & Crab Soup. Yvo had way more crab in her bowl than mine, but one of our table mates didn’t get any soup. Apparently they didn’t prepare the right amount, strange considering they knew the exact number of attendees. Apart from the sweet crab, the soup itself was pretty flavorless. Yvo and I both picked out some shell bits too, which wasn’t very appetizing.

Yvo says: I found the soup to be sufficiently tasty, but fairly bland, like someone pressed the mute button. Looking at the photo now, I wouldn’t have found it odd to have some red vinegar added, but I suppose in Asian cultures, since everything you do during the 15-day New Year is meant to have some symbolism and indicate what you’ll do for the rest of the year, vinegar – with its sour taste – would be forbidden.

Nantucket Bay Scallops with Chinese leeks, roasted hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and garlic chive. This was one of the prettiest dishes of the evening, but the flavors weren’t really up my alley. The scallops were quite sweet, while the garlic chive sauce was quite powerful. The mushrooms were good, but nowhere near as good as the ones I had at Maialino a while back. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy this dish.

Yvo says: I’m only recently discovering how much I enjoy scallops – when they’re cooked properly.  No complaints here on the cooking – the scallops were tender, with the centers just barely cooked. Not chewy at all!  I’m extremely familiar with garlic chives, as they are a staple of Chinese cuisine, and love their garlic taste, though I think TT was not expecting such a pungent punch!  I didn’t find them overwhelming but instead I thought they complemented the sweet scallops nicely.  And the mushrooms were meaty, wonderful swiped through the puree.  Mmm.

Roasted Quail with salted duck yolk, lotus seed, pea greens, glutinous rice, five spice jus. The quail was actually stuffed with the yolk and rice, which was quite nice. It was a nice dish, but the flavors were pretty muddled. Nothing really stood out for me. With Asian cooking, I look for strong flavors, but that was not the case with this dish.

Yvo says: All I can say here is that I really wanted more sticky rice.  Quails are too small to be properly stuffed with a good amount of sticky rice.  Where is my sticky rice?

Grandma’s Chicken Curry with fingerling potatoes. This curry looked a lot better than it tasted. The flavors were on the bland side. While coconut curries tend not to be as spicy as others, they usually still have a big wallop of flavor. It tasted as if the curry was quickly made, not allowed to simmer for hours on end for all of the flavors to develop. However, the chicken and potatoes were cooked perfectly.

Yvo says: I am no expert on curry, particularly not those made with coconut milk (I’m allergic). Actually, I make a mean Japanese curry, but that’s completely different.  Anyway, I was really hungry still – eating lots of small portions confuses my stomach and makes me want to eat more and more and more until I scream from pain – so I actually ate some of this.  And then ate some more.  Yes, I knowingly ingested coconut, and my tongue swelled up painfully to the point where I couldn’t really taste the heat anymore.  I thought it was spicy but TT knows I’m a spice wuss…

Unfortunately, our table mates had to leave early, but that meant we got dessert all to ourselves!

Carrot Cake with kaya ice cream, condensed milk, gingersnap and cashews. Carrot cake happens to be one of my favorite desserts when I am in the mood for dessert. This was a good Asian interpretation of it. The ice cream was nice and creamy, no ice crystals whatsoever. The gingersnap and cashews were a nice topping for some added crunch.

Yvo says: I would normally just leave this area blank but I’m sure someone will ask me why I didn’t comment. I had like half a bite because I am not a carrot cake person. It tasted OK, but I was way more focused on the other dessert.

Tang Yeng dumplings with roasted peanut, chocolate ginger ice cream and cocoa nib crumble. The Chef came over before dessert and had a nice conversation with Yvo about Tang Yeng. He basically explained how he makes it and serves it in an untraditional manner. Basically they were a Chinese version of mochi. I enjoyed it since it had just the right amount of chew. It played well off the chocolate crumble.

Yvo says: Dude, the Chinese invented everything. Including mochi. Ahem. In any case, I’ve actually been on a weeks-long search for ‘tong yuan’ – which you’ll read about in a few weeks (I post chronologically) – and was super excited to see this on the menu. Unfortunately, TONG in TONG YUAN means ‘soup’ and as you can see, there is no soup here.  Chef explained that he serves it dry, and I joked about asking for a bowl of the ‘soup’ on the side (it’s really a ginger sugar syrup that the dumplings are boiled in) but none came. Sadface… I wasn’t really joking.  In any case, these were way smaller than I am used to, and I prefer mine to be filled with black sesame while these were peanut, BUT. taking these as a dessert on their own – served still slightly warm, with a nice chew to them and a teeny peanutty filling? – well, I enjoyed it just fine.  The crumble on the bottom stuck to each piece, and the textural contrast was very nice.  I would prefer these not be called tong yuan – lest they get my or other people’s hopes up – but they were quite tasty.  (And TT consented to me eating the lion’s share – yay!)

All in all, it was a nice meal to celebrate Chinese New Year. Of course, some dishes were better than others, but that can be said at most restaurants. I didn’t have a chance to ask, but I have a feeling the Chef toned down some of the flavors to appease the American palate. If that’s the case, that’s a shame because I think we can handle it! These dishes are available through Sunday February 5th so head on down the Masak to try it yourself. Thank you again to our hosts for having us.

Please note that everything was courtesy of Masak Restaurant. I received no monetary compensation for this review, nor was I obliged in any way to post about the food and drink, positively or otherwise. This is my own opinion and I feel it was unbiased; you are free to take from this what you will.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chinese New Year, Singaporean