Australian Homemade

Australian Homemade
115 St Marks Pl
(btw Ave A and 1st Ave)
New York, NY

Like the many chocolate joints opening up in the city such as Max Brenner, Jacques Torres, etc, Australian Homemade tries to break into this saturated market by bringing their own unique flavors and styles to the public. After only hearing about this place from softrice I decided to scour this place after my hearty lunch at Pylos for a nice cup of hot chocolate.

This shop really isn’t that big. The only thing that you can order are drinks and ice cream and there are just a few seats for you to sit in. There was no problem finding a seat because most of the time it was really empty. People don’t stay here to drink, they take it to go.

Their chocolates are designed uniquely, but it just didn’t look that appetizing to me. One piece costs $1.95, 3 for $5.95, and etc. Pretty expensive, but I’m sure it tastes pretty good.

Alright time to order my hot chocolate.

Price: $4.95

Verdict: Mm, this is a nice cup of hot chocolate. It tastes nothing like the swiss hot cocoa mix probably this isn’t one of those instant drinks. This is very rich in chocolate flavor, like a very milky flavor with a hint of minty sweetness. This is indeed an unique drink and you have to try it just once.

Recommended: Yes

Dawen ordered the mochacinno:

I usually don’t like mocha-ccinos, but this one tastes pretty good. It was sweet and creamy, but it didn’t have a lot of froth which is what I would have preferred. It also had a hint of chocolate that makes this drink a little extra special.

Recommended: Yes

As I was sipping away with Dawen, we suddenly felt the need to have an ice cream since we were surrounded by ice cream everywhere!

So we decided to order a pistachio ice cream!

Verdict: For a pistachio flavored ice cream, this is very minty. I can’t say I like it that much because of this new flavor, but it is definitely a unique try.

Recommended: If you’re a fan of pistachio, go for it, if not, dont even bother.

And this place is great to for gifts!

I definitely would recommend you guys to stop by and try out their chocolate drinks.

Health Inspection Violation Codes

AUSTRALIAN HOMEMADE
115 ST MARKS PLACE, MANHATTAN 10009
212-228-5439

Current violation points: 2

Inspection Date: 03/21/2006

No violations that present a threat to the public health or relate directly to factors which lead to foodborne illness were recorded at the time of this inspection.

1.) “Choking first aid” poster not posted.”Alcohol and Pregnancy” Warning sign not posted. “Wash hands” sign not posted at hand wash facility. Resuscitation equipment: exhaled air resuscitation masks(adult & pediatric), latex gloves, sign not posted. Inspection report sign not posted.

Pylos Restaurant

Pylos Restaurant
Mediterranean Cuisine
128 E 7th St
(btw Ave A and 1st Ave)
New York, NY
(212) 473-0220

Reservations: No for lunch, Yes for dinner.
Price: Moderate

This is my second time coming to this amazing restaurant in the East Village for some warm Mediterranean food. The first I went was two years ago on a nice summer day outside of the restaurant. It was very packed that night and my partner and I opted to eat outside to enjoy the nice summer night breeze. I had a wonderful experience there and had looked forward to come back. I came back to Pylos for lunch to see if the same expectations would be met.

When first entering Pylos, you’ll get this sense of feeling of home. The big wooden door in the front, which is extremely warm from all the heat it absorbed, made me feel like I was walking into a fancy cabin. Once inside I was immediately greeted by one of the waiters who was super super nice, extra points-haha, and told us to feel free to sit anywhere. I was immediately drawn to all the claypots that are hanging on the ceiling as you can see:

(This is the front of the restaurant)

…and opted to sit in the back because I’ve never been back there. The decor looks beautiful. There are comfortable pillows for you to support your back and there was so much wine to choose from. That day I wasn’t in a “winey” mood so I just had water. But yeah, it was a nice relaxing moment especially from a day of walking in the cold.

Alright, time to sit down and order something. From a bout 11 – 4pm, it’s also considered as Brunch, and there’s a prix-fixe menu fyi.

Free Pita Bread

This warm bread really helps after coming out from the cold. I believe the waiter forgot the hummus dip, but it didn’t matter to us. But we later on find a use for this bread for something else that Dawen ordered.

Appetizers

Saganaki tou merakli three greek cheeses melted in a clay pot
Price: $9.00

Don’t worry about the pronounciation. The waiter was really understanding about it and even told us that he wasn’t greek. But he did know how to pronounce it when we asked him too, so it was very nice.

Verdict: This is very good, and you’ll love this especially more if you’re a cheese fan. Now I’m not no cheese fan, but Dawen does and it goes great with the pita bread.

Recommended: Yes. Have you see 3 cheeses melted and just served to you like this?

And wow, you can’t believe how fast their service is. It’s just one dish after the other. Maybe it helps to kind of sit near the kitchen.

Greek Yiayia’s Fried Potatoes Wedges of hand-cut fried potatoes served with grated Greek sheep’s milk cheese and oregano
Price: $5.00

Verdict: These potato wedges are very crispy and salted to perfection. The thing is that it seems a little dried, but otherwise it’s a great comfort food.

Recommended: Yes

Greek Comfort Food

Pastitsio PYLOS’ terrine of baked pasta layered with aromatic meat sauce and bechamel
Price: $15.00

Verdict: Don’t think this looks small because it isn’t and it packs a powerful punch. The top layer is very soft and cheesy, which compliments well with the pasta and the meat. This is a very filling dish and among one of the most popular because I saw many people eating it. After all, it is a comfort food!

Recommended: Yes

Ta Afrata Keftedakia tis Dianas Diane’s light-as-air meatballs, pan-fried in olive oil
Price: $9.00

Verdict: This is no ordinary meatball because it has a strong minty flavor, sort of like grape leaves. I thought this minty/herby flavor really overwhelmed the natural flavors of the meatball. After when the meatball cooled down, it was very sour to me which I didn’t like. Dawen seems to love it a lot so it’s just a matter of opinion.

Recommended: No, but it tastes better than most meatballs!

That was it for lunch. I did not finish any of my food and decided that it wasn’t wise to get dessert yet. That and I banked on going to Australian Homemade for dessert after when softrice showed me the website. Check out the website or wait for my review in a few days.

Overall it was a great lunch. It was under $40 for the both of us and we had one of the best service ever.

Rating: 4.5/5

Health Inspection Violation Points:

9- Passed

Inspection Date: 02/28/2006

Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.

1.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
2.) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Mochi Ice Cream

For more and newer posts, please visit the new site at http://finechinagirl.com! More posts for Mochi are on the new site.

MOCHI!!!!!

For those of you who don’t know what Mochi ice cream is, mochi ice cream is a glutinous rice cake that has ice cream inside, like vanilla which is shown in the above picture. This is not your ordinary ice cream and is definitely worth a try. If you never had mochi before, you can try going to a Japanese market or a Chinese bakery and ask for it. Remember it’s just the mochi itself and it may contain things like peanuts or red bean. Try and ask it when you’re around the neighborhood. It is a delicious treat and it tastes even better when combined with ice cream.

You can usually find this in chinatown like in Dynasty Supermarket for $4.68 for 6 pieces. This particular brand carries six flavors: vanilla, strawberry, green tea, coffee, mango, and red bean.

I’ve only tried Vanilla and Red Bean so far, and I really like the vanilla. Plain ol’ vanilla. I have coffee at home since mom bought the wrong one and will try to give it a shot. But for now check it out. Wholefoods sell this as well and some more expensive and higher class mochis, like Bubbies Ice Cream recommended by softrice and by Oprah herself!

Taste: Very sweet and soft with a doughy texture that is at first foreign to the mouth, but then followed by a familar pleasure that begs your mouth to have more. Try it!

Golden Unicorn – Dim sum

For more and newer posts, please visit the new site at http://finechinagirl.com!

Golden Unicorn Restaurant
18 E Broadway
Btw Division & Henry St
New York, NY

Reservations: Not for dim sum. First come first serve. Go inside and walk up to this woman w/a mic behind a podium and grab a number. The wait is not terribly that long even on the weekend. No more than 15 mins.

To start things off, for those of who you don’t know, Dim sum, or your heart’s desire, which is the English translation, (correct me if I’m wrong) where you choose from an array of small baskets of food to your heart’s desire, which is served during breakfast and lunch in China. Within these baskets that are usually wheeled by a dim sum girl with a dim sum cart who pushes her cart along the carpeted floor and yelling out names of the foods she has. Each cart is different. Some might have different dumplings, steamed or fried, others might have sweets, vegetables, and other delights. And of course you eat it with a chopstick and drink it with tea. Ahh…that is how the Chinese eat, relax, and chat with a cup of tea to start off the day.

Enough about history, let’s get on with the story. The only reason why I came out that day was to finally have miss eggrolls to come out to have dim sum with the finechina girl. That and she was craving for this one particular dim sum treat so I had to take her there. I haven’t been to Golden Unicorn in over 10 years, since I was a kid, and I was interested to see if it was the same.

So…

Sorry for the slight blurriness, I was trying to take a quick photo without being noticed, haha. They made massive renovations since the last time I’ve been here. It actually looks pretty good.

As we were seated, the waiter came and asked what kind of tea I wanted. I asked for chrysanthemum (no sugar) for Vicky and Gok Bo (what’s the translation of this?) w/sugar for softrice and nachobitch.

Already we see the dim sum carts come rolling by:

What I thought was cool about this place is that they have english names of the dishes that they have! Look!

This restaurant makes it very tourist friendly, but the dim sum girls still have problems understanding English. So point at the picture or come with a chinese person! Like me for miss eggrolls.

First up on the list,

Steamed green leak dumpling w/shrimp:

Verdict: This one was pretty skimpy because I used to have it deep fried and it was more round-like than dumpling-like. It didn’t taste that spectacular, but it’s good to try.

Recommended: Yes, try it if you’ve never had it.

Shrimp dumpling

Verdict: The shrimp didn’t taste very fresh and I wasn’t expecting it to be. This dish is among one of the most popular dishes.

Recommended: I would recommend it to tourists, straight up.

Shumai

Verdict: This is my first time seeing a shumai like this. It tries to imitate the japanese version, but it sure doesn’t taste like it. I actually prefer this kind of shumai than the old yellow skinned chinese shumai.

Recommended: Yes.

On the left: Chicken Feet

Verdict: Now it sounds gross, but it tastes pretty good. Don’t worry the nails are off and it’s completely edible. The skin is soft and filled with delicious sauce. Everywhere I eat, this usually tastes nearly the same. But I have to say this place is very skimpy when it comes to their food. Btw, when eating, don’t forget to spit out the bones!

Recommended: Yes

Ha Chern or Steam shrimps roll covered in sweet soy sauce

Since Miss Eggroll ate all two plates that we ordered without sharing even one plate with the rest of us, we didn’t know how it tastes like. According to her, the shrimp tastes unfresh and it was missing something. That girl ate just the skin and picked out ALL of the shrimps. People, don’t ever, ever pull a “miss eggroll,” it’s just bad taste. When eating dim sum, you need to have manners and I can’t stress that enough. When you eat, you never take the plate to yourself or at least ask first. This is the same when serving tea. Don’t just serve it to yourself, pour tea to others and they will in return respect you by tapping on the table 3x. Miss Eggroll, you need training in chinese mannerisms 101. =P

Recommended: Yes. This is still one of the most popular dim sum dishes of all time.

Intermission

Cheers!

Crispy Spring Roll w/vegetables

Verdict: This didn’t taste anything special at all, plus again, it’s so skimpy.

Recommended: No.

Fried Taro Cake

Recommended: Yes, it usually has an interesting, delightful taste. It’s very oily btw.

Fried Shrimp Balls wrapped with bacon

Verdict: According to nachobitch and softrice, this is a very very skimpy portion. It’s definitely bigger in Golden Bridge Restaurant on Bowery St. Plus this dish tastes awful. It’s so salty and I can barely taste the shrimp.

Recommended: No.

Seen-jook-gune or vegetables and meat wrapped with fried bean curd

Fried Soft Shell Crab

Verdict: This is the sickest piece of crab I have ever had in my life. The only good part about this was the fried legs of the crab and which I quote from softrice, “It tastes like Popeyes.” And it’s true. One bite onto the shell of the crab and it will give you a mouth full of poison. It is so disgusting. Never never again.

Recommended: Helllll no.

Background: Never ever correct the dim sum girl’s english because they’ll get embarrassed, pissed, and have even lower self esteem than they are currently feeling. mr. softrice could not understand a word the dim sum girl was saying when she was calling out soft shell crab. It was so fast that it sounded like sofe-chell-crab, sofe-chell-crab repeated a zillion times. Then when softrice realizes what she means, he exclaims, “OHHHHH, SOFT SHELL CRAB!” Man, her face blushed quickly and she later wheels away. I know he didn’t intend it to be that way, but please.

This concludes our dim sum. We were definitely full, but was not completely satisfied with the taste.

Here’s my report card for them:

Food: 0.7
Decor: 0.80
Service: 0.89
Speed: 0.89
Price: 0.60

Verdict: 3.88/5

This is one of the cleaner chinatown restaurant according to the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/rii/index.shtml

GOLDEN UNICORN RESTAURANT
18 EAST BROADWAY, MANHATTAN 10002
Current violation points: 0
Inspection Date: 11/17/2005
No violations were recorded at the time of this inspection.

And btw, take a look at what hung on their wall:

How can this magazine rank this restaurant with one of the finest french restaurants and some of the better know restaurants?? This was in 1996, but still. It’s just unbelievable.

Ninja New York

Ninja New York
25 Hudson St
btw Duane and Reade St
New York, NY
(212) 274-8500

Reservations: Definitely, so the people can make the proper arrangements for you and your party.

For some of you who don’t know, Ninja is a themed restaurant with of course your ninjas in a ninja-like setting. This was one of softrice recommended places to go to and I thought it was the perfect place for me to take my boyfriend for his birthday since he loves ninjas. Let me stress that even through it is a theme restaurant, you shouldn’t take the quality of the food less seriously than it’s other similar counter parts, like, Mars 2112. And of course it might not be the best japanese food as well because it’s a theme restaurant.

Ninja is hidden in lower manhattan, a few blocks away from City Hall. The reason why I probably didn’t see this restaurant is because Ninja does not have fancy flags with its logo waving around and from far away, it looks like another apartment, to me anyways. The lamp gave it away because it has their initials and the paperwork on display behind the glass are their menus. Not bad.

Once you step pass that door, you’ll be in a dimly lit room that looks like a cave cause the walls are rocky, and there’s one woman standing behind a computer that will look you up on their reservation list. That is it for the whole room, including an elevator. When I went there it was pretty quiet, but later on more people started to come in, mostly the older adult crowd – early 30s and up. Anyhoos, my bf and I were the first to go in, and the lady pressed up to the second floor. Based on what I heard from my friends who went, I was on alert mode! I held onto my bf’s hand and he stepped out first where a ninja yelled a quick, “HIYA!” Scared the sheit out of me. Then afterwards, we had to climb down the stairs in complete darkness, where I almost fell down the stairs if it weren’t for my boyfriend.

My flash is pretty dam powerful don’t you think? And when we got to the end of it, another ninja popped out and said the same thing. Whoa, nearly had a heart attack, haha. We decided to check our coats there since they did it which was nice, but that part wasn’t even part of the restaurant. There’s was more to go an I was already out of breath from all that flinching. Man…I am so paranoid. When we stepped into the restaurant, wow, it looked like a little hidden Japanese town. Luckily there were no more ninjas to scare us, it really depends on which ninja is free, so we were guided by one ninja to take us to our table.

The people here really encourage you to take pictures here. They actually like it, so I’m already giving them points for that, haha. On the left is my little “private” booth to sit in. And yes, you do sit on chairs and use tables to eat off of.

My super nice ninja/waitress because she’s willing to pose for me. Extra points again. That scroll is my menu!

All your different menus combined into one scroll. Cute.

Ahh what a pretty little area to sit in. We can see others eating in their own booth, but it was far away enough that I can’t hear their conversation which is perfect.

Drink for the night:

Toh sweet champagne with one lychee
Price: $12

Verdict: I decided to go with champagne because it was good for the occasion. It’s probably not I would get next time because it’s just regular champagne with one lychee in it, but it was alright. Very sweet.

Recommended: No, unless you’re celebrating something.

Dawen doesn’t like alcohol so he chose Coke instead, but they didn’t have that – only Pepsi which is even better. Haha. There are no free refills here and it costs $5 for a cup of soda.

Cold Appetizer

Tamate Bako* treasure box, us prime beef tartar topped with boiled egg yolk and white, served with minced shallot, tomato, chive and caper on the top

Price: $14

This is the ninja that served me my box.

Verdict: I will probably never order a cold dish again. It is my fault for not knowing that the meat is completely raw! Uggh, I thought it was tomato because I was under dim lighting and it tastes weird to me. This is only because my mind is not opened to raw foods. But even then, I don’t think anyone should eat raw meat like this. Well, at least my appendix will start to work on this.

Recommended: Definitely not. You’re better off with something else. It’s a cool concept, but it’s not that tasty. Maybe if it’s just with the tomatoes. But otherwise, yeesh.

Sushi Rolls

Summer Roll shrimp tempura and avocado wrapped with saffron rice and rice paper, served with sesame sauce

Price: $12

Verdict: Holy crap, this is the best summer roll I have ever, ever tasted before. I’ve had viet and thai ones, but this japanese one, oh my god, it’s so good. This is very soft and seasoned to perfection. Unlike the other rolls, this roll is not wrapped like a burrito and it is more tasty than the others.

 

Recommended: I highly recommend it, especially if you’re not a fan of raw sushi.

 

Korean BBQ Roll grilled beef and pickled daikon kimchi wrapped in rice and sesame
Price: $12

 

Verdict: This roll isn’t that special, but it was still a treat to me because I was starving. It’s essentially just meat wrapped up with rice and seaweed. But I do like this because the roll is big and it is packed with rice, just the way I like it.

 

Recommended: Sure! But for you hardcore sushi lovers, you might want to avoid it.

This is how it looks like when you’re being served with more than one sushi roll. I thought the presentation is very cute.

Main Course

Sukiyaki Ninja Pan fried sliced Wagyu Beef seasoned with Sukiyaki Sauce, Grilled Tokyo Negi (scallion), Pan fried Tofu Lightly deep fried Half steamed Whole Egg wrapped with Pate Filo
Price: $35

I had to order this with rice because I just can’t eat a chunk of meat at a japanese restaurant without my rice. That and I felt that I got so little because I was starving.

Japanese Rice: $5

It comes in a very cute orb, haha whoa.

Anyways to continue, the wagyu beef is very tender and sweet — even sweeter if you dip it more with the sauce it comes with. The waiter told me to cut the egg right down the center so that that egg yolk will come spilling down the center onto the meat. Well I didn’t have such luck, and probably I didn’t want it to be like that, but here’s how it looks like:

I’m impressed on how they make the egg, very interesting.

Verdict: The wagyu beef is definitely good. Everything else doesn’t taste anything special, but I would get it just with the beef.

Recommended: Yes, also get a bowl of rice to eat with it. It definitely fills you up without eating more.

Ninja T-bone Steak us prime t-bone steak prepared in your choice of garlic, wasabi or teriyaki sauce served with fried and marinated cucumber, bell pepper and eggplant
Price: $35

Garlic was chosen for this one:

 

Verdict: This medium slab of meat is jam-packed with flavor. It tastes especially good when it’s hot because then it’ll lose flavor and it’ll become hard when it’s cold. The potatoes are great, feels like I’m eating it with butter, but then again it’s my favorite vegetable. This steak looks bigger than the one softrice had at STK and I really liked it.

Recommended: Keep in mind that you’re at a japanese restaurant, so you might as well try something else. There’s nothing wrong with this steak, but I think you might get more for your money with something else.

Magic Trick

After your main course, you’ll have a magic that will pop into your room to show you some cheesy magic tricks. I guess I was slightly buzzed from my champagne that everything and anything entertained me. The first trick was with playing cards, where you pick a card and your card will automatically appear on the first deck. I see him hiding a card on his curve palm. Haha kinda lame.

The second trick was with rings and him using a light blue rope to magically get the rope to be untied. Eh….

And the last trick was with two different dollar bills. I held one $10 bill and he held the other $1 bill. he told me to hold his wrist and then magically both my bills where in my hands. Which was cute. Dawen watched the whole thing so he knows how it works. We ended up tipping him $10 because he was standing there for a while looking at us like we’re supposed to tip him. I guess that’s what his bills of money in his pockets are from!

Dessert

Bon Sai tiramisu with a twisted sugar
Price: $12

Verdict: This tiramisu is very bitter. You have to poke your spoon all the way to the bottom of the bowl to get to the creamy part. Even then it was still nasty. The branches are alright, tasted like crossants, but it was nothing special. Nice presentation, sub par taste.

 

Recommended: No

Rating: 4.5/5

Food: 0.85
Decor/Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Speed: 1
Price: 0.70

Now how clean is this restaurant? Well NYC Dept of Hygiene says this:

NINJA RESTAURANT
25 HUDSON STREET, MANHATTAN 10013
212-274-8500

Current violation points: 23

Inspection Date: 10/18/2006

Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.

1) Milk or milk product undated, improperly dated or expired.
2) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used
or stored.
3) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
4) Hot food not held at or above 140°F.

Now you know!

P.S. Don’t forget to ask for several keychains if you want it!

Restaurant Health Inspection Info

My mom keeps telling me that Golden Unicorn is the dirtiest restaurant in chinatown. So I went to do a little investigation for myself and look what I found:

GOLDEN UNICORN RESTAURANT
18 EAST BROADWAY, MANHATTAN 10002
Current violation points: 0
Inspection Date: 11/17/2005
No violations were recorded at the time of this inspection.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/rii/index.shtml

This site is really useful in telling you which restaurants are considered to be clean and which are not.

Oh I didn’t stop there. I decided to check softrice’s claim about how disgusting Ping’s Seafood restaurant on Mott is, and here are the results:

PING’S SEAFOOD
22 MOTT STREET, MANHATTAN 10013
212-602-9988
Current violation points: 17
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.

- Non-food contact surface improperly constructed.
- Unacceptable material used.
- Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
- Pesticide use not in accordance with label or applicable laws.
- Prohibited chemical used/stored. Open bait station used.
- Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil,
improperly used or stored.
- Personal cleanliness inadequate. Clean outer garments, effective hair
restraint not worn.

And he is right! Disgusting!! I would never go there ever again. Thank goodness I went there only once.

So there was only one more thing to check and that was on Golden Bridge restaurant because today me and the gang debated whether or not we should go there instead. Let’s check out the findings:

GOLDEN BRIDGE RESTAURANT
52 BOWERY, MANHATTAN 10013
Current violation points: 24
Inspection Date: 06/29/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.

- Non-food contact surface improperly constructed.
- Unacceptable material used.
- Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
- Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or
backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or
floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not
functioning properly.
- Facility not vermin proof.
- Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist.
- Evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility’s food
and/or non-food areas.
- Evidence of roaches or live roaches present in facility’s food and/or
non-food areas.
- Cooked or prepared food is cross-contaminated.

Verdict: GOLDEN BRIDGE IS EVEN WORSE. I WOULD NEVER EVER EAT THERE AND THANK GOODNESS I DON’T. Guys, today we did good in selecting Golden Unicorn. Never again.

And one more just for softrice.

DIM SUM GO GO
5 EAST BROADWAY, MANHATTAN 10038
Current violation points: 10

Inspection Date: 10/11/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.

- Facility not vermin proof.
- Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist.
- Evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility’s food
and/or non-food
areas.
- Evidence of roaches or live roaches present in facility’s food and/or
non-food areas.
- Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

We did the right thing.

Btw before I freak some people out, I would like to say that 27 points is the maximum amount of points to pass inspection.  Man, to me, any amount of points is still not good at all.  You all would be surprised to find out that your favorite restaurant can be one of the dirtiest!

Li Hua

Li Hua (Korean Cuisine)
171 Grand St
(at Baxter St)
New York, NY
(212) 343-0090

(Sorry about the rain drops, apparently my camera picks everything in the air. Wicked cool?)

Reservations: No

This restaurant belongs to my list of cheap eats in NYC.  This is probably the only Korean restaurant that I can think of in chinatown so don’t expect anything spectacular like the ones in K-town in midtown but don’t think that it’s disappointing.

So when I went here with Griever and the place looks:

Look, kinda desolate? Maybe because this was at 6:30pm and that it was drizzling outside.  But, but later on there will be more customers.

Anyways, this restaurant is literally located right next to Little Italy, a block away, and it’s located in a nice quiet location, which is why the place is not packed to the max.  The decor is alright and the restaurant is — cozy, literally.  This restaurant is not bad for chinatown!

Drinks:

Nothing special, just ginger ale and coke.
Price: $2

Free Appetizers

Yeahh free appetizers, but they look pretty skimpy. I had a review on other korean restaurants on Xanga, but I will bring them back and re-review it.

Clockwise from top left: Kimchi, spicy pickled cucumbers, korean pancakes, last one I don’t know what it is but it tastes like either tofu or noodles. It tastes pretty good. Of course they’re all cold except for the pancake.

Verdict: It didn’t taste anything special, but it’s good to munch on.  It’s for free so you definitely cannot go wrong.  This is a sample taste of what korean food can be.

Appetizers

Goon Mandoo Lightly pan-fried dumplings filled with pork and vegetables
Price: $3.95

Verdict: I actually like this, I really do. I’ve never seen a dumpling like this and it’s very crispy on the outside and the pork is tender and juicy on the inside. I loved it. Drools, I want more of it. It was very fun to eat.

Recommended: Yes!

Duk- Bok- Ki Korean rice cake, fishcake, and vegetables, sauteed in a sweet and spicy sauce
Price: $4.95

Verdict: As I chewed on the soft ricecake, I can taste a hint of sweetness followed by a strong lingering spiciness; this is the same for the fishcake and vegetables. I’ve had this dish before in other korean restaurants, and this one is pretty skimpy compared to that, but for the price of it, it’s not too bad. I can’t eat too much spiciness anyways, so this suited me well.

Recommended: Yes.

Entrees

Bulgogi Hot Stone Bibimbab Sliced beef and vegetables over rice in a hot stone bowl. (Red pepper paste or house special soy sauce recommended)
Price: $11.95

Oh man, it’s 1:15am and I am getting hungry looking at my pictures. Ha, softrice mentioned that I need to be more objective and mention that I am hungry on my blog. Well I am certainly getting there and of course this means some dishes gets more points. Don’t worry I’ll give the necessary changes when I’m not hungry or full if there needs to be.

Verdict: Sorry about not taking a picture before it was mixed in. The waiter offered to mix in my hot scorching bowl because I’m scared that I will be burned, plus he can do it fast enough so that the bottom part of my rice will not burn. He mixed in the house special soy sauce that I requested to have, you can add hot sauce if you want too, which intensified the smell of the bowl. This is a smaller bowl than the korean restaurant in K-town and by St Mark’s place, but it is one gorgeous bowl.

Recommended: Yes. I did like the crispiness of my rice from the bottom of my bowl that was burned. You might need to add the soy sauce to this because it gets pretty dried. I really liked this, I highly recommend this dish for you to try.

Chicken Hot Stone Bibimbab Sliced chicken and vegetables over rice in a hot stone bowl. (Red pepper paste or house special soy sauce recommended)
Price: $11.95

See, this is how my dish would have looked like this instead of the chicken. Looks better if it’s not mixed. But it tastes better if it’s mixed. MM…. Because I chose all of Wing’s dishes, the Goon Mandoo and the Bulgogi Bibimbab, he had to choose the dumplings, which I liked too and the Chicken Bulgogi.

Verdict: The chicken is pretty dried and isn’t as flavorful as my beef. Griever poured all of his soy sauce to give the chicken more moisture.

Recommended: No, try the beef instead. Griever, you can prove me wrong about this.

So overall it was a tasty night. The waiter was nice, but he’s so impatient so I minus-ed some points for that. I hate being rushed. Let that be known for the rest of your waiters, never rush your customers. Pretty soon they’ll come to you.

Rating: 3.8/5

I’ve tried some crappy korean restaurants around St Mark’s place that was more expensive and definitely not worth the money. For the price, Li Hua do give you a good portion. This is the best korean restaurant in chinatown, maybe cause it’s the only, but I got a good impression already. You guys should try it out when you’re out in chinatown.

 

Pommes Frites

Pommes Frites
123 2nd Ave
btw E 6th & E 7th St
New York, NY
(212) 674-1234

Reservations: There’s no such thing. It’s a fast food joint.

This delicious Belgian Fries shop was featured on food network as one of the best french fries places. If you might not have learned, Belgium claims that they are the country that invented the french fry, not the French. Their countries are really close together so who really knows.

So let’s see if the Belgians do it better than the French! =)

I went into the shop without knowing anything even though I’ve been on their website, and was speechless when it came to ordering a sauce because there were so many. The man who worked behind the counter asked if it was my first time and gave me samples of mango chutney, which was their #1 selling sauce, rosemany garlic, garlic, peanut butter, and spicy mayo. I first tried the sample belgian fry without any sauce and my god, it tastes unbelievable. I can taste the salt, the oil, the fried up potato skin. “Mmmmmm I cried in front of the guy.” So I picked rosemary garlic one because I didn’t like the rest. So Kim was so kind to buy me the fries, a regular which was a small but don’t call it that because the guy get tick off, which was about $6.50

Price: $6.50
Size: Regular

The belgian fries are so delicious. Very crispy and flavorful. You must try this at least once before you die, it is just so good.

Jeff here ordered the mango chutney (right), which I’m not too much of a fan of:

But it turns out my rosemary garlic tastes like crap and the mango chutney has the smoothness I like. But I prefer ketchup straight up.

Guys any recommendations?

And here’s a shot by the lovely Kim of the restaurant:

It got extremely packed as we were leaving. So guys, you know what to do, give this place a try!

And yes, in my eyes, Belgium wins!

SEA Thai Bistro

S.E.A (Southeast asian cuisine)
75 2nd Ave
Bet E. 4th & 5th St
New York, NY
(212) 228-5505

Reservations: Not necessary. First come first serve because of the size of the restaurant.

One of the many SEA thai bistro restaurants in NYC, I chose this one because it’s in the village which is where I wanted to go. I’ve heard many good things about SEA, well the brooklyn restaurant anyways, and I thought to try it myself. I’ve always wanted to go to a thai restaurant that is trendy and chic with a friendly atmosphere and SEA is definitely the place to go. The location that I went to isn’t that big really, and it gets pack real quick, look:

Courtesy of Kimberly who has the guts to flash my camera over her head. Of course we were sitting by the front of the restaurant.

As we came into the restaurant, we were greeted by a very cute and friendly maitre’d who accompanied us to our seats. I didn’t that spot because I felt really cramped and claustrophobic so I asked him to change our seats and he was very nice about it and let us do so which was very nice of him.

So we got the menus and was in no rush to order, which I like as well. More points more points! For drinks we started off with:

Drinks:

Lychee Thai Ice Tea
Price: $2.00

Verdict: This is a very sweet decadent drink with coconut milk, tea, sugar and lychee. There’s only a hint of lychee flavor, but it’s good enough. For $2, you can’t lose! Plus the sodas are the same price too, so you might as well give this a try.

Recommended: Yes

Pomegranate Mojito
Price: $5.75

Verdict: A very bitter drink, but it also has the crisp minty after taste from the leaves. Kimberly had one sip and she was instantly buzzed.

Recommended: If you want that buzz, take a sip. Pome is too bitter and thick for me, but if you’re a fan of pome, give it a whirl.

Appetizers

Summer Roll with tamarind sauce, peanut and smoked tofu
Price: $4

This dish was actually recommended on SEA’s website so I decided to give it a whirl since I wanted the thai version of the summer roll since I’ve tried the vietnamese one. The difference between the thai and the viet rolls is that this roll is smaller and that the material inside is completely different.

Verdict: As Jeff and I said, it tastes interesting, we just can’t phrase it into words. It is not the best tasting roll I’ve had nor is it the worse tasting roll I had. The peanut sauce was good to go with, but it did not taste anything special, it has a very calm healthy taste.

Recommended: I can’t say I loved it but I urge you guys to try it and tell me how it taste.

Martini Crispy Shrimps w/basil tomato sauce
Price: $5

Verdict: Oh my god this tastes extremely good. I did not know it was shrimp until Jeff told me that that it was because it look like chicken tenders from a distance. This was sweet, like it had a hint of coconut and it was nice and crispy.

Recommended: Yes, absolutely. I cannot get enough of it.

Entrees

Grilled Thai Spice Salmon
grilled salmon marinated with chili, garlic, served with sauteed mixed vegetables
Price: $14

Verdict: Kim ordered this dish and I had a sample of hers. I didn’t like it too much because the salmon tasted pretty fishy, which unfortunately was not covered up by it’s surrounding vegetables. Need ginger I guess. But Kim seem to finish her plate within 5 minutes, so I figure it is a good sign.

Recommended: Kim says yes, but like me who’s not a fan of seafood, I wouldn’t really want it. Try it, it’s one of SEA’s specialty dishes.

Chu Chee Crispy Fish
crispy salmon with chu chee coconut sauce, zucchini, carrot, snow peas
Price: $11

Verdict: I’m not a fan of seafood and especially with curry so I can’t really say if this is good. I can say that this tastes better than the salmon one because the fish is fried.

Recommended: If you’re a seafood fan and you want a light meal, this is the thing for you.

Volcanic Chicken
with stir-fried napa cabbage, carrot, zucchini, snow peas
Price: $11

I love this dish, mainly because I chose it. Because of my slowness, I fail to capture the flame that engulfed my chicken, way cool. All my dinner neighbors were in oohs and ahhs. That’s right people oohs and ahhs all you want cause it is wayy cooler than your pad thais.

Verdict: The chicken tasted very succulent, tender, and has a hint of sweetness that makes me want to scream in pleasure. Never have I had a chicken this good in a thai place this good. BUT some of the vegetables tastes like crap cause it soaked up all the alcohol that contributed to the fire, hence making it bitter. See without the alcohol the veggies would have tasted pleasant.

Recommended: Yes!

This is what I didn’t like:

Such tiny riceballs of rice. Look like the size of my chest, kidding, but really I want separate bowls. Next time I’ll ask for it.

But all else aside, I loved this place and would highly recommend it. I had a lot of fun with my friends and my friend Kim wanted to pick up this waiter:

But, he told her that he was gay but he will still take a picture with her. How sweet.

Rating: 4/5

Moment of the night was when Kim said this while looking at the menu:

“What are these numbers that are next to the dishes?”

 

Ahh, I love this girl, hehe. The answer is, “They’re the price of the dish”

 

Elixir Juice

Elixir Juice
2 World Financial Center
(Lobby Level)
225 Liberty St
New York, NY
(212) 945-0400

After a long lunch at Chipotle, softrice and I waddled over to the world financial center to grab ourselves some smoothies since I was raving to him on how good it is. I’ve tried almost every single drink on the menu, except one or two, and I was excited to try the last two although I did not had such high expectations for those two. In softrice’s mind, he was bent on his apple pie smoothie, not the signature Elixir smoothies. If that’s what he wanted, that’s what he will get.

I ordered the Work Out boost that has apple cider, banana, orange juice, strawberries, spirulina, and muscle protein. The last two are active ingredients to give you an extra burst of energy, hence work out boost. I was disappointed when received it because it was brown! Look!

Price: $6.50 (small)

This looks like a chocolate shake except that this has traces of red specs on it because the strawberry. Yeee-uck. That’s right, it even tastes yeee-uck. But the texture was expected to be superb, it was nice and thick, not like the ones you’d see in Jamba Juice or Smoothie King. This is grade-A quality texture.

Verdict: This tastes horrible. For a boost of energy, try Smart Start instead. Check out the menu on the website.

Recommended: Of course not. Yuck.

And unfortunately softrice did not like his large Power Apple Pie smoothie. I tried it and it tastes fine, like a real apple pie. I thought it was good, but he thinks it’s too thick. Well it’s supposed to be thick. Next time, try the fruity ones! I higly recommend that.

Yes, these smoothies are very filling and can help you lose weight.

I love this place too much, but not everything tastes heavenly. I recommend you guys to go and give it a try.