Cupcakes on Rivington

I just realized that the majority of my posts are about Asian restaurants. This probably leads my few readers to think that all I do is eat Chinese/Japanese/Taiwanese food. This is not the case. Usually when I’m done stuffing my face with noodles, I end my meal with a dessert. I absolutely love desserts. My current favorite desserts are (in no particular order): cookies, brownies, cupcakes and NY-style cheesecake. Once in awhile, I’ll have Ladurée macarons when I’m in Europe or my awesome friends/family bring them back from Europe. They are an expensive treat (about 3 € per macaron) which is a bit ridiculous considering how tiny they are.

For those living under a rock, ever since Sex and the City came out, there has been an intense cupcake craze in New York City. I have tried the famous Magnolia since the ladies in SATC were always eating their cupcakes. It was a much better cupcake than another chain, Crumbs (they seem to be EVERYWHERE these days), but still I wasn’t that impressed. Plus, their prices are bit high for my tastes. I might be one of the few people who prefer more cake than frosting. I know plenty of people who prefer to have a lot of frosting. Crumbs cupcakes are huge firstly, and almost 50% of the cupcake is frosting. Also, I disagree with their pricing. You can get a cupcake for more than $4 there!

Lemon Yummy on the left and Sunshine on the right

I’m not sure who first told me about Sugar Sweet Sunshine, but I am glad I finally found the perfect cupcake for me. They are located in the Lower East Side, which is an area I don’t frequent because the green subway line doesn’t go there. This could probably explain why I only recently discovered this bakery. The cupcakes are normal sized and are priced at $1.50 and their prices haven’t gone up in over 4 years! My favorites are the Bob, which is yellow cake with chocolate almond buttercream frosting and the Lemon Yummy, which is lemon cake with lemon buttercream. Other popular flavors are the Sunshine (JRA’s favorite), which is yellow cake and vanilla buttercream. Besides serving up great cupcakes, they have a variety of other desserts such as apple cake and banana pudding. The bakery has a cozy feeling and is decorated with old furniture so it feels like home for me. You can also special order cakes, which are also decently priced. If I ever get married, I may have to consider to have my wedding cake made there! If you’re ever on Rivington and craving a nice pick me up, RUN to Sugar Sweet Sunshine. You won’t be disappointed!

 
Sugar Sweet Sunshine
126 Rivington Street (between Essex and Norfolk Streets)
New York, NY 10002
212.995.1960
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Back from Taiwan

Hello my few readers! I just got back from my vacation in Taiwan with my wonderful boyfriend. OK, it’s been two weeks, but who’s counting? I wish I was STILL on vacation. I thought about whether I should write about my food adventures in Taiwan, and the logistics are a bit difficult since I don’t know all the names/addresses of these places I visited during my stay, but I’ll do my best. I will just go over a few of the places I dined at while in Taiwan. We’ll start with Taiwanese breakfast since there are limited options here in New York. My boyfriend, J and I stayed at a hotel in the Da-An District at a very cute and modern Fullerton South Hotel thanks to my Mom’s recommendation. The staff was extremely helpful and our room was clean and compact. We even got a welcoming plate of fruit. I devoured the mini pomelo and was surprised how sweet it was!

My daily breakfast in Taipei for a week!

After my good friend W dropped us off at the hotel, she mentioned that there was a famous Taiwanese breakfast place just down the street from our hotel. I was very excited since I love carbs and Taiwanese breakfast is every carbaholic’s dream come true. On the first morning, J and I headed to the hotel’s free breakfast buffet. I had an omelette and some fruit. The rest of the buffet wasn’t too interesting to me. It was mostly western style, which meant I didn’t want to waste my time/calories with it. The following morning, I only had fruit at the buffet and then told J I was heading to Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang – 永和豆漿大王 [King of Yong He (city/province of Taiwan famous for soymilk) Soy Milk] breakfast place to check it out. It was glorious! There was a long line, but it moved briskly. This was the first time I witnessed a man making fresh shao bing (sesame pancake/bun that can be used to contain anything your heart desires). I love shao bing because you can put whatever you want inside. A common dish in Taiwanese breakfast is shao bing you tiao － 燒餅油條 (sesame pancake bun with a fried crueller). It’s really good! However, I controlled myself and stuck to my “healthy” breakfast which is shao bing jia dan－ 燒餅加蛋 which is the shao bing with a scallion egg omelette inside. I also am a big fan of xian fan tuan － 咸飯團 which is a salty sticky rice roll with dried pork floss, salty pickled turnip and chopped up you tiao all inside. After my first breakfast at Yong He, I never went back to the hotel buffet again! I even convinced the boyfriend to try my egg sandwich and soon I converted him as well!

The next item I will discuss before my drool all over my keyboard is my love for noodles. It began when I was young. I remember vividly eating dinner with my sister and parents in Flushing on the weekends. My sister and I would get Pork Chop and Noodle Soup (Pai gu mian – 排骨麵）and it just became something I look forward to as a child. Then my parents took me to Taiwan and I became obsessed. I always told my mom that I should be a Northern Chinese because all they eat are noodles. I always begged my mom to make noodles instead of rice for dinner. How could anyone eat rice EVERYDAY? Noodles yes please. I like almost all noodles, but I especially like thick chewy (QQ) noodles. Fresh noodles are always a plus for me.

My favorite noodle dish at my favorite noodle shop in Taipei!

Well, everyone, Taiwan is full of noodle/dumpling shops. It is my dreamland! I could probably have noodles for two meals a day in Taiwan and be insanely happy (of course I’d have Taiwanese breakfast for breakfast). However, J is not a big noodles fan so I had to save my carb overloading to later in my vacation. My dad and I stopped by my favorite noodle place near my grandparents’ old apartment. We arrived at 11:15am (it was a bit early) and I almost cried when I saw the “Closed until 5pm” sign on the door. I asked my dad if there was a holiday? He said nope, but then I spotted an employee inside the dimly lit restaurant. Then I spotted one of the owners and I forced my dad to ask her if they were indeed closed until 5pm (I know they are open for lunch!!) She said of course they are open and let us into the restaurant. We were the first customers of the day! Then I saw the other owner (they are sisters) and she warmly greeted me with “You’re back?” Anyhow, we placed our orders. I ordered my usual, zha cai rou si mian- 榨菜肉絲麵, which the literal translation is pressed vegetables with shredded pork and noodle. I don’t even remember what my dad got because I was too busy waiting anxiously for my dishes. I believe he ordered some kind of soup and fried noodle. We also ordered some green veggies to get some fiber. My noodles came out quickly and they looked and tasted just like I remembered them to. The noodles were thick and chewy and there was a lot of the salty pressed veggies. I find that it’s hard to find a good version of this noodle soup in New York. Sometimes the pressed vegetables are not crunchy enough and usually there’s not a lot of it in the soup. My friend W suggested that I ask the owner if I could buy the pressed vegetables so I could bring it back to the states. Unfortunately, the last time I was in that alley, it was before they were open so I did not have the chance to ask. I’m sure she woud have laughed at me! Perhaps I will do this on my next trip to Taiwan!

Due to Taiwan’s extremely hot and humid weather for the most part of the year, there are bubble/shaved ice shops at every corner. This was great for J since he loves ice and cold drinks. We made sure to have a tea drink/icy/shaved ice at least once a day. I stuck to my regular Passion fruit with Green Tea (half sugar) and J would get a mango icy. However, I made sure that we visited the famous Ice Monster (now Yong Kang 15) right by the famous Din Tai Fung (more on this restaurant in a future post) for dessert. Even though mango was out of season in the rest of Taiwan, they had sweet and ripe mango available (could it be canned?).

Shaved ice with mango, kiwi and strawberry topped with mango ice cream

I have a confession to make. I am not a fan of the traditional Taiwanese shaved ice. I am one of the few people who dislikes red bean and chewy sweet things on shaved ice. I do make an exception for Ice Monster/Yong Kang 15. The shaved ice is huge and I recommend sharing it with at least two other people. I heard that they closed the original store due to marital problems with the owners. When they reopened under a new name, they kept one of the owners as an adviser, so I had to find out if it was still good. The final verdict? It’s still good, but the prices are slightly higher (almost $5-6 for a shaved ice). It’s good for a splurge!

I will end my first wordy Taiwan blog with a picture with my favorite passion fruit green tea. I tried to have one everyday, but due to the typhoon and some logistic problems, I was unable to have it on the last two days of my vacation. I guess I’ll survive! I am going to try really hard to write another entry about other Taiwanese delights (shabu shabu, soup dumplings, superior Taiwanese fruit, scallion pancakes, etc). We’ll see if I write it within the next month.

Notice there's fresh passion fruit at the bottom. Yum!

Late Dinner at Westville

Tuesday night before going to bed, Cousin Jane, who was staying at my apartment mentioned that she and my sister DL would be having dinner at Westville on Wednesday and that I was invited. I have looked at the menu before and agreed that I would attend. The extensive list of market sides piqued my interest. Also, I skimmed through the Yelp reviews and there were mostly positive. It also helped that even though they serve market fresh dishes, the prices were reasonable.

On Wednesday, CJ, DL and I met at the restaurant at around 8:45pm. I was the first at the restaurant and I was surprised to see a line of people waiting in the drizzle. I went in and asked the hostess how long the wait was and she said it would only be 10-15 minutes and that I need to let her know when everyone is here. Within five minutes, CJ and DL arrived. I updated the hostess and we waited outside and checked out the list of the daily market sides and specials. There was a seared pork chop that sounded delicious and I actually thought about getting it. Once we were seated (it did take about 10 minutes), we were handed updated menus and to my disappointment, the pork chop was crossed out.

My delicious dinner. I love sides!

I decided to go with the grilled chicken just so I could have two market sides. I ended up picking green beans with almonds and sweet potato fries. I was thinking that the green beans would cancel out the sweet potato fries. DL also got the grilled chicken, but with pesto mashed potatoes and roasted zucchini with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. CJ was indecisive at first and was going to get an entree that did not come with any market sides. In the end she caved and got the four market sides for $13. She picked green peas with shallots and bacon, soy glazed tofu with broccoli, brussel sprouts with honey dijon and mushrooms with leeks and herbs. When our dishes came out I was very excited. I love love love sweet potato fries and these were very tasty. They weren’t too crispy. The string beans were crunchy and tasted fresh. The chicken breast was nicely seasoned and not dry at all. I tried almost all the sides, but was too busy enjoying my meal. I had my first brussel sprouts ever and it was exactly what I imagined it to be: eating a tiny head of lettuce.

Ice cream + cobbler = yummy

DL has been to Westville many many times since it’s probably her favorite restaurant. She mentioned that the desserts are really good here as well. Conveniently there was a chalkboard with all the desserts of the day. There was apple pie, blueberry pie, chocolate souffle and mixed berries cobbler. There was also a list of cookies. For oreo cookie lovers, they had homemade oreo cookies! At the end of our meals, it was decided that CJ and I would share desserts since DL had finished up CJ’s sides and was now too full to eat anything else. CJ and I agreed on the mixed berries cobbler and the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. The cobbler ended up being in one of those souffle dishes, but it ended up being very tasty. Inside, there was strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. CJ and I gobbled up the cobbler with some vanilla ice cream. The cookie was also very good. It wasn’t too buttery or even peanut buttery, but there was still the peanut butter and chocolate flavors. All in all, we were pleased with our meals. I ended up paying $23 for a delicious and fresh dinner!

 
Westville (East Location)
173 Avenue A (between 11th and 10th Streets)
New York, NY 10009
212.677.2933
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Delicious desserts at Kyotofu

I have been to Kyotofu countless times and I was even mayor on Foursquare at one time. I have decided to write about this hidden gem located near my office. LTR and I stopped by Kyotofu for the first time after a boozy brunch in Hell’s Kitchen. We were actually on the way to Red Mango. Anyhow, we were intrigued by their outside sign which mentioned soymilk soft serve. LTR who is lactose intolerant was excited to try it. I’m not a huge fan of soymilk, but I did have a bite of her soft serve and it was actually pretty good.

My matcha green tea cupcake

Since then, I have been back with MM to enjoy their cupcakes to go. I usually get the Matcha Green Tea Cupcake which is so tasty. I am a green tea fiend. A couple of weeks ago, MM & friends and I actually sat down for dessert. They have a special dessert menu, and I was sad to see that my green tea cupcake wasn’t on it. I asked our waiter if I could still get this delicious cupcake and he said yet. When it came out, he mentioned that he had given me some chocolate soft serve soymilk ice cream. So good! The following week, MM and I sat down for dessert and after some convincing, I agreed to share the Kaiseki dessert with her. It was three courses: black sesame sweet tofu, green tea creme brulee, strawberry shortcake, soft serve soymilk ice cream and green tea chocolates. Everything was really delicious. We also shared two drinks: the pomegranate shiso mojito and the ginger margarita. Please note that they have a happy hour special from Tuesday-Friday 5:30pm-7:30pm where all their cocktail drinks are 50% off. What a great deal. I preferred the pomegranate mojito and I hope to order the passion martini next time I go. Currently, Kyotofu never gets too busy and that is another thing I love about Kyotofu. I have never waited for a table and I hope I never have to. During our last visit, our waiter was a bit slow in getting us our check, but he gave us a small bag of mini cupcakes as an apology. It was great. I definitely will be back again soon.

 
Kyotofu
705 9th Avenue (between 48th and 49th Streets)
New York, NY 10019
212.974.6012
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Japanese BBQ? Yes, please!

I have heard a lot about Gyu-Kaku. I’m not much of a meat eater. If you haven’t been able to tell, I much prefer stuffing myself silly with bad carbs! Anyhow, Gyu-Kaku specializes in Japanese BBQ. I am always open to try Japanese restaurants, so I met MM at the Cooper Union location.

Ooh, you get to cook your meat on the hot BBQ grill!

We both already viewed their menu online and I already knew I would be ordering the Chicken Garlic Noodles. MM took care of the meats we’d be BBQing. Lucky for us, they are celebrating the Sakura Festival so there were some items on “sale”. We both had a glass of champagne for $3.99/glass. I believe we ordered two types of beef, duck, boneless chicken wings and garlic cloves for the BBQ. We also shared the Tofu Salad. The tofu was very soft and tasted fresh. I quite enjoyed the salad! We received our BBQ items from our very informative waiter and then we started to cook our meats. I liked the beef the best because there was less visible fat. The duck was also very tasty. The Chicken Garlic Noodles were garlicky and flavorful. It’s just what I wanted! Also, it came out in a sizzling bowl and then our waiter split it into two smaller bowls. Yummy. I just read MidtownLunch’s review about Gyu-Kaku’s Korean bim bim bap, but I’m more of a noodle girl, so I didn’t want to waste my time with rice.

I finished these delicious noodles very quickly. I love garlic!

After Minnie and I finished up our plates of meat (the noodles disappeared quickly), we decided to order dessert. I have heard a lot of about the famous Lady M Mille Crepes Cake, and to our luck, Gyu-Kaku serves their Green Tea Crepes Cake. We decided to end our very filling dinner with a bang. Why not order cake? I have a soft spot for green tea and baked goods (please refer to my previous entry). Our slice of came out very quickly and it looked perfect. It even came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I am partial to Japanese ice cream. I feel that it’s less icy than regular ice cream for some reason. Anyhow, the crepe cake was delicious. We tried to guess just how many crepes were in the cake, but it was really hard to tell. The crepes were so thin. There could have been at least 100 layers! We left the restaurant happily full. The check was a bit higher ($42/person) than our usual weekday dinners, but I think it was worth it. The next time I do go back, I’ll probably skip the BBQ and focus on the soups and noodle dishes. Oh yeah, I will definitely leave room for cake!

Green tea crepes + vanilla ice cream = AWESOME!

 
Gyu-Kaku
34 Cooper Square
New York, NY 10003
212.475.2989
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Weekend trek to King 5 Noodle

LTR, ST, MM and I planned a Saturday trip to my favorite Flushing restaurant that does Taiwanese Breakfast: King 5 Noodle. I have been going to this noodle restaurant for years. I remember that during my first ever trip there, the restaurant forgot to bring one of the items we ordered. My dad went Napoleon on the owner and it did not go well. Despite the missing dish, the meal was very good and I was worried that my family would not be welcomed back. Fast-forward a few years, my dad made amends with the owner and my parents were even invited to the owner’s daughter’s wedding!

In order to get this delightful meal, one must travel either by LIRR or the 7 train. During the weekend the 7 runs local so it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Flushing. Also, if you live downtown, you could pay about $3 to take the Chinatown->Flushing mini bus and arrive in about 30 minutes. Since I live in the UES, it’s a bit inconvenient. Anyhow, my friends and I met at the Old Navy and perused for a bit since my mom and little sister, JL, were running late. My mom, also a big foodie, was picking up my FAVORITE Taiwanese cake from Red Leaf Bakery. This is the only Chinese/Taiwanese cake I will eat. I find that most other cakes are dry, tasteless, and the canned fruit is not appealing to me.

My favorite is the beef in sesame pancake. They usually run out of the sesame pancake (shao bing), but we were in luck yesterday!

We arrived at King 5 Noodle at about 2:30pm and we were surprised that it was still packed. I was happy because that means business is good! We were lucky to snag the only circle table left for our party of six. I quickly ordered some Taiwanese breakfast items since they were still available on the menu. We started with: beef in sesame pancake, scallion pancakes, fried crueller and an order of pan fried dumplings. We devoured the majority of our “snacks” before JL and my mom arrived. I warned my friends that my mom has a tendency to over order and that they better be ready!

King 5 Noodle's famous Beef Noodle Soup!

JL and my mom arrived. My mom ordered three noodle dishes, water spinach, a squid dish, pork belly (per LTR’s request), soup dumplings, and I can’t remember what else. I was hesitant to try the soup dumplings because I wasn’t really expecting much since King 5 Noodle’s strengths are noodles and Taiwanese breakfast. I really doubted that their soup dumplings would be any good. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dumplings were actually very soupy and the skins were thin. Just the way I like them! For noodles, we got the restaurant’s famous beef noodle soup. The beef was very tender and the broth was very beefy. You can tell that the beef has been stewing for hours. I prefer to have beef noodle soup with minimal tendon/cartilage and this is how they make it at King 5 Noodle. Yum. We also got an order of the “Chinese Spaghetti” as LTR calls it. It’s just noodles with minced pork in soybean sauce. We especially like King 5 Noodle’s version because it has actual soy beans and bean curd in the sauce and makes the dish more hearty. MM ordered Sauteed Noodles with Beef Satay and it was also very good. There was a slight kick to the noodles.

LTR and her dish of the day. It was a bit spicy, but we all enjoyed it.

After our feast on delicious carbs, my brought out the cake that was chilling in the restaurant’s fridge during our meal. My mom was smart to bring paper plates and utensils. I sliced up this cake that I’m always talking about with my friends. I told them that this cake has “fresh cream” and that’s why my mom ordered the cake. If we were to just buy slices of the cake at the bakery, it would be “regular cream”. I was a little nervous that my friends would not love the cake, but they were all impressed. Most of us forced a second piece down our very full stomachs. I would have loved to bring home the leftovers, but the cake needs to remain chilled otherwise the cream will melt. We offered our delightful leftovers to the owner. She accepted our offering and informed her staff NOT to throw out the cake.

Only my mom would order a cake for no special occasion. Yum!

My friends and I rolled out of the restaurant and then headed to get some bubble tea at Ten Ren. We then resisted going into bakeries and headed food shopping at Hong Kong Supermarket. We all bought a bunch of snacks (pork jerky for me & MM and candies for ST and LTR). We then walked back to the 7 train stop with our stomachs still full and headed back to Manhattan and Brooklyn. I am known to eat a lot and I get hungry easily. I did not have dinner until 9pm (we left Flushing around 5:30pm) and it consisted of a half a Japanese yam. That’s all I really needed after my FEAST!!
 
King 5 Noodle
39-07 Prince Street (between Roosevelt and 39th Avenues)
Flushing, NY 11354
718.888.1268
Cash Only
**Arrive by 12pm to get all the good Taiwanese Breakfast items.

 
Red Leaf Bakery (Yeh’s Bakery)
57-25 Main Street (between 57th Road and 58th Avenue)
Flushing, NY 11355
718.939.1688
Cash Only
**Limited English spoken. Order cakes in advance.