Other delicious bits and pieces of NYC

 Other eats I'd highly recommend and would revisit on my next trip to New York:

Wafels & Dinges

Belgian waffle

 topped with Speculoos (caramelized cookie butter), strawberries and banana... best breakfast/snack EVER.

 Bouchon Bakery

Big macs...

Raspberry lemon macaron

Dark chocolate macaron

 So freshy and flavours so balanced, hands down better than any macaron I've had in Hong Kong.

La Colombe Coffee

Cappuccino

Blue Bottle Coffee

Drip coffee

La Colombe and Blue Bottle Coffee are must-visits for coffee aficionados.

Eataly

Vegetable station menu

Pinzimonio - bagna cauda dip with a range of raw and cooked veggies

Italian seafood soup from the seafood station

Cappuccino

Even the coffee at Eataly is really good! 

Shake Shack 

Shack stack burger

Cheeseburger and a 'Shroom burger topped with lettuce, tomato and shack sauce. Cardinal sin not to try this dish. I went to the Madison Square Park branch, of course! 

Cut in half

 I loved the fried portabella mushroom stuffed with cheese. Any vegetarians would be very happy eating just this between their buns with the shack sauce and a frozen custard. Ahhhhhhh. 

Luzzo's NYC

really good pizza

"Calzone" ($24/16-inch) - tomato sauce, mozzarella, ricotta, mushrooms, spicy salami, ham, basil

"Tartufata" ($23/16-inch) -  tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushroom and black truffle pate

The closest version to Luzzo's pizza base in Hong Kong would be 208 Duecento Otto's but still Luzzo's was a mile a head and at basically half the price?! Incomparable. 

Absolute Bagels

Look at the crazy assortment of savoury and sweet spreads!

MINE: lox cream cheese, lox, onions, tomatoes on everything bagel.

Big Gay Ice Cream 

My "Salty Pimp" of vanilla ice cream cone, dulce de leche, sea salt and dipped in chocolate

 This ice cream truck turned shop is hugely popular and any time of the day you'll find at queue. We were quite disturbed by a homeless man but we were determined to get our sweet fix.... And was it worth it? Well my salty-sweet-cold-creamy combo was definitely worth it!

Cousin's "Mermaid" - Vanilla ice cream, key lime curd, crushed graham crackers and whipped cream

This post was incredibly hard to write, mostly because many of the tasty foods on here I can no longer eat... fingers crossed my allergy will go away and get my flights booked for my next trip! ;)

Tasty eats around Providence

My stay in Providence was unforgettable, many thanks to P. Everyday was packed from breakfast to parties at night... but given this is a food blog, below is a collection of quick bites we took between activities.

Soft tacos  from Baja's Burritos - Choose any three from 7 choices of fillings (US$6.49)- I had pulled pork, buffalo chicken and grilled veggies

EATING BOSTON

Warning: this is a very overdue post from my visit to to the States last summer.

My first stop was Boston - its not hard to love this city - people are friendly, getting around is easy, although rainy summer days and winters can be tough... 

On my first night, my friend K took me to a Tapas style restaurant called Toro and I must say it was a very memorable meal. We arrived around half 9 and the restaurant was full to the brim save for two seats at the bar which was fine for us. After consulting the menu a little, this is what we shared! 

Macau Day 1

Over CNY we made a last-minute decision to go Macau, primarily to watch the House of Dancing Water, but also just as importantly, to eat. 
We were luckily able to get great tickets for the show and hotel rooms at the L'Arc, last-minute by pulling some strings since every other respectable hotel had been fully booked since last year.... 
So on the first day, without reservations, we had no idea where to go... we ended up at Rossio, the buffet restaurant at MGM. Nothing was spectacular and no photos were taken... serves us right for not planning ahead!! 

OD-ing on macarons...

Jean-Paul Hevin; Island Gourmet

Friends who have a sweet tooth like my own are hard to find.... so when A and I met up I suggested to go for macarons...little did I know we'd end up having a meal's worth of macarons....

First stop was Jeal-Paul Hevin, where we ended up getting a box of six. Because the chocolate was their best-seller we thought we'd have one each, and the other 4 flavours, to share. The amer chocolate macaron shell was not too sweet because of the cocoa in the batter and the thick luscious ganache inbetween was stellar. Two other macarons I also declared my favourites on the spot were the bergamot tea - very apparent....like a cuppa earl grey tea and the raspberry one which had a similar dark chocolate ganache which worked to balance to sweetness of the shell. 

Chez Shibata

Date of visit: 15th September and 1st October 2010

Chez Shibata @ Elements

Chez Shibata is a Japanese-French patisserie which has been franchised in Shanghai and in September, Hong Kong. My first visit to Chez Shibata was shortly after its opening, and tried out the first five reviewed desserts below, and on a second visit, tried the two signatures plus one croissant. My experiences with each cake varied, but nonetheless good overall.

 after I snapped these two pictures I was informed no pictures are allowed...!

"Tranche Maccha" ($40)

green tea mousse, chocolate mousse, sponge, green tea powder and crispy chocolate balls

this was naturally my first choice, since i love matcha and chocolate (both separately and together!). but i must say this was one of my least favourites from Chez Shibata, since this was poorly executed. the cake comprised of green tea mousse, chocolate mousse, and (orange?) sponge, all of which were overly 'wet' and not very pleasant in the mouth. green tea mousse could have been stronger, and so could the chocolate mousse. sponge layers were so thin and drenched you could hardly taste them. i have no idea if they are always like this, or if it was just my unlucky day, but a pastry chef should know when his batch of cakes have gone bad and therefore not allow them to be sold... 4.5/10

"Mont Blanc" ($38)
chesnut, cream, chocolate flakes, chocolate sponge
this was E's first choice, as she loves all things chesnut! as far as I remember, the top underneath the chocolate flakes were chesnut puree and beneath that layers of sweet cream and chocolate sponge. the whole dessert was not too sweet and was quite good, balanced, but again towards the bottom of the cup was wet cake... 7/10

"Macaron Emotion" ($34) 
cream, macaron, strawberries, custard, jam. 
my favourite so far, the crispy macaron shells were surprisingly not overly sweet, and the filling of fresh strawberries, custard and strawberry jam worked very well, was balanced, and very enjoyable. 9/10

"Verrine Plaisirs" ($36)

white chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse, passionfruit jelly, mango

mousses were not set properly (i.e. liquid when spooned), and I didn't really think the sour fruits went with the white and milk chocolate mousses at all... 2/10

 "Mi Cuit Fromage" ($36)

cream, berries, cheesecake

this cheesecake was a toned down version of the American cheesecake - a lot smaller and much less sweeter for the Asian palate. one thing we noticed was the lovely strong fragrance of the cheese when we opened the box, and the taste and texture definitely did not disappoint. before you reach the biscuit base there's a thin layer of berry puree as well. would definitely recommend if you like baked cheesecakes! 8.5/10

 "Éclair au caramel" ($32)

choux, caramel, salted butter cubes

upon examination, this eclair is slightly different to the standard pastrycreme filled choux pastry and a glaze. this thinner and longer version had no pastry creme, but only layers of a strong and wonderful caramel. the cubes of salted butter melted instantly in the mouth, and matched nicely with the already-perfect caramel (strong in flavour yet balanced in sweetness). my only complaint would be the texture of the choux - if it could be crisper this pastry would have been peerrrrrfecttt! 8/10

"Couer de bois" ($38)

sponge, peanuts, mousse, raspberry mousse, raspberry jam, red sugar, raspberries. 

this, being one of Shibata's signatures, as well as its perfect red heart shape prompted me to pick this. the red exterior is simply coloured sugar (very thin layer), and inside is a very light mousse-type layer, sort of like whipped mascarpone, not very strong in taste. in the middle you will find raspberry mousse and raspberry jelly, which gives the cake a tangy/sweet punch of flavour - quite refreshing indeed. lastly, at the bottom is a thin sponge as base sprinkled with some peanuts, which I disliked passionately. I believe the purpose was to add crunchiness and textural differences to the cake but the taste of peanuts really did not match the sour raspberry and light (mascarpone) mousse...! 7/10

"Raspberry almond croissant" ($20)

croissant, custard, jam, almond topping. 

definitely not something for breakfast. this pastry is sweet with its raspberry jam and custard filling,  as well as the sweet almond and butter topping. again, better if the croissant could be more crisp. 6.5/10 

on both times I had the desserts to-go, but had them around 10 minutes after being packed. there are a couple tables in-store if you wish to have them there, but this will cost you an extra $5 per piece, plus 10% service...

Food: ♥♥♥

Service: ♥♥

Price: $-$$

Chez Shibata 

Shop 2003, 2/F, Elements, 1 Austin Rd West, 

Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2196 8921

Singapore, Day 4

Date of visit: 21st July 2010

As our last real day (day 5 would be our flight back to HK), we decided to visit China Town, but first, some more shopping!

We began Orchard Road's 313 @ Somerset mall, and then lunch was at the more touristy Newton Food Centre. We arrived at around 3pm, so many stalls weren't open yet (all of them open for dinner, but not lunch). After walking around we decided on a Laksa ($5?), some BBQ Stingray ($10), Singaporean Chilli Crab ($32), and a plate of fried Kang Kong ($10).

Laksa was S's brave choice. Not a person for spicy food, she still managed to enjoy this. This bowl of noodles consisted of dried tofu (doufu pok), fishballs, cockles, rice stick noodles and of course a spicy curry broth with a visible amount of chilli oil. Hong Kong laksas are much milder in my opinion, as any bowl you find in Singapore is almost always quite spicy. This particular bowl (save for the quite fishy cockles) was good nonetheless, and the fishballs were damn good. 

I had to try the Singaporean Chilli Crab because A. I've never had it and B. its their bloody national dish! I told the man I wanted it less-spicy and it was for one person but I guess he gave me a bloody big one any way and just charged me more. Whatever. The crab was very meaty and good, but I thought the sauce was prepared poorly - should probably have asked for black pepper crabs instead?? The sauce was more like sweet and sour sauce... the chefs poor attempt to make it 'less spicy' I'm guessing? Wasn't bad, just not what I expected or wanted.... 

This Kang Kong was not bad, slightly chilli and much like the one I had at the Thai restaurant Cafe Sapunsa night before.

Initially I was going to order either this or the crab...but I gave up debating in my head and went for both. Not a good idea since I was stuffed for 7 hrs after this meal, but good because I've never tried stingray and this stingray was damn tasty. I didn't think a BBQ stingray would be dressed in a thick layer of chilli sauce but it was...more lemon would have helped cut the heat but it was so good I didn't care. This is a piece of the fin of a stingray, which has bones which are attached together so it forms one big piece, and the meat sits on top ready for you to scrape it off the bone. Stingray's flesh is quite meaty, soft and succulent...definitely something I'd eat again.........

 and again....and again....=P 

[This lunch was S's fave meal of the trip because it was a really unique and tasty experience for her. So so proud! =)]

Before we hit China town we decided to get a caffeine fix back at 313@Somerset. We went to the newly opened Oriole Cafe (this was a new branch), and after looking at their relatively short drinks menu, S went for a vanilla latte, and me a cappuccino. 

Vanilla latte was very aromatic, quite milky but enjoyable for S. 

My cappuccino certainly looked impressive - latte art and all - but it tasted more like a latte and the use of whole milk was so apparent I couldn't bring myself to like this drink... the foam was also sacrificed for the bit of latte art =(.

K Ki on Ann Siang Hill was one of the patisseries I wanted to visit, but sadly when we visited they were sold for the day.... the aroma of baked goods was soooo strong just sitting in there felt as if we were consuming something........ 

At around 9.30pm hunger struck us and so we walked over to Robertson Walk's Queens Tandoor for some indian fooooooodddd. The restaurant was very fragrant of the many spices and so we opted to sit al-fresco tonight.

The menu was pretty long, lots and lots and lots of choices, be it chicken / fish / lamb / vegetarian.... yummm. 

A fish tikka (S$7 - bar size) was my choice. This was cooked in high temperatures so the exterior was nicely charred and flavourful. The fish was I think a bass/cod variety, soft and oily =)

How I ate my fish tikka ..... wrapped it in a chappati of course!

Paneer Makhanwala (S$17.90) was your standard butter chicken but with paneer cubes instead. The paneer was slightly chewy / rubbery, which is what I think paneer is meant to taste like, but S didn't like the texture too much... softer would've been better in her opinion and I agree. The sauce however was simply heavenly...and with the rice it topped any butter chicken sauce I've tried in HK.

The chapati (S$2.9) was hot and very soft, much like a tortilla and not like the ones I've sampled in HK. Plain Basmati Rice ($4.90) was pricey, but well-cooked - fluffy and none of the grains stuck to each other. Our total came to S$38.50, and this was expected given this area is more touristy and 'up-scale', not that we minded because the restaurant is actually very decent and we would have dined inside if we weren't afraid of smelling like Indian food when heading out to the bars nearby after....

After several random bars and clubs in Clarke Quay, I went into Nectarie, a pastry shop (still open at 1am...why doesn't HK have this????) between the many bars and chose two desserts for myself after a talk with the very sweet lady working in there. I chose a kiwi blueberry tart and she suggested I try their strawberry shortcake which doesn't have cream like the many other shortcakes available in Singapore (people love their shortcakes here). 

The fruits on the tart was fresh and custard was okay (using real vanilla pods like Mandarin Oriental's would have made a big difference), but I didn't like the pastry base so much - it was made with ground almonds and was just too thick... not so good. 

The strawberry shortcake on the other hand was really good. The best cake for me on this trip. It was a sliced cake, consisting of layers of sponge (moist), custard (same as the tart) and sliced strawberries, which came together very well. The outside rim of the cake was also coated with sliced almonds...

For the two pastries I paid S$14.20, although I think I was overcharged because I didn't have it dine-in but to-go...(service charge and gst was on my receipt) didn't notice until now so nevermind! I'll definitely visit Nectarie for other yummy pastries on my next trip to SG!