Just as I’m trying to pare down the daily deals that land in my Inbox, I subscribe to yet another one, The Red Pocket. It’s not like I can take advantage of their deals for the forseeable future with them mostly/all with Vancouver establishments and I am in Toronto. Still, in the interest of “keeping up” and torturing myself a little, I subscribed via email.

To wit, The Red Pocket was established in late 2010 by a group of Vancouver-based Chinese-Canadian entrepreneurs who saw the opportunity to create a niche version of the the flourishing coupon sites and further make one accessible to a different (older), Chinese demographic with the interest in the deals that are sometimes inaccessible to them. It’s the kind of business I wish I had thought about creating but you need connections and marketing chops to get this started.

With a recent website revamp, I get the feeling The Red Pocket is pushing hard to get the word out about themselves. I subscribe via email because that’s somewhat easier to manage (apparently I don’t get so many personal emails anyways) but they also have Facebook and Twitter presence.

A recent deal is 50% off Church’s Fried Chicken, which appeals across cultural lines. But I was more interested in the other current and past deals at places I have a really good chance of going to (or have gone to). They include $17 for 2-course Beijing Duck meal at Bing Sheng, $11 for 2 appys and 2 BBT at Beefy Beef, $9 for 4 soy desserts and 2 2L soy drinks from Sunrise, $15 for 2 yogurts and 2 smoothies and 2 drinks from Qoola, $25 for 2 AYCE at POSH, and $20 for 10 BBT drinks from Flo, of 14 currently displayed deals. That’s a good proportion!

The site also offers some general interest articles about food, technology, entertainment, and style but I haven’t found the RSS feed to follow those easily through a feed reader.

Usually my mother only makes a getaway to Toronto for a duration less than 48 hours and she does this several times a year. But with January 1 falling on a Sunday, it created an opportunity for her to step out for a whole five days! We did not cook anything at home and made a good dent in sampling Asian cuisine around town!

Chili Secrets (3rd visit, Markham)

Why are we going back to Chili Secrets, I wondered to myself as I let Lil Sis select a place for us to go for New Year’s Day dim sum the afternoon we got into Toronto on very little sleep. Even if it isn’t the biggest name sounding restaurant–I don’t know its reputation yet–there was a substantial queue to get a table and when we had waited half an hour, mum refused to take a table that was too close to the queue as we were basically waiting on top of those unfortunate tables.

So if I’m going to be back at Chili Secrets for a third time, why not get lots of really cool food? In addition to egg tarts, they have a special house-made custard tart which was the first dish to arrive. Mum and Lil Sis ate theirs as they were hungry but I saved it as a proper dessert. Lil Sis thought it was a little lumpy but I did not notice that and the custard was creamy and the crust was beautifully buttery  and flaky. I also ordered the Dan Dan noodles since the place specializes in northern style cuisine. It looked innocently enough with a bit thin broth and looked like they forgot to put in the sesame paste. We then we all tried it and nearly choked–it was so spicy!! There is some crazy Sichuan peppercorn that is a little bitter on top of being so spicy that numbs your mouth and tongue. I thought it was fun although Mum and Lil Sis thought otherwise.

On Lil Sis drawing my attention to it, I ordered the Chinese hamburger. Why not? It was just $3. It was… cute. The bread was Northern style and great – not too fluffy, chewy, hot. I wasn’t too surprised that the meat was stewed pork belly pieces and the garnish consisted of thinly sliced green onion and cilantro. We had so many other dishes so I did not eat much of the burger.

In addition to the tofu rice roll and fried dough stick rice roll, which look remarkably similar on the plate, Mum also ordered two plates of the plain rice rolls to bring back untouched to Halifax. I don’t know why Mum urged me to order the tofu rice roll. It is not a standard offering and I did not like this incarnation too much except, of course, it has tofu. It’s because Mum went to dim sum with her older brother and they got a great egg tofu rice roll that was so remarkable she wanted it again. Then we must seek out the words “egg tofu” on the menu.

It seems that dumplings were on special so we ordered some pork and bok choy dumplings (8 for $4) and what they labeled as Beijing-style Xiao Long Bao. Since I was fairly certain what they called the Shanghai-style Xiao Long Bao is another order of dumplings, I wanted to try whatever it is they called Beijing. Which turned out to be buns with a minced, marinated pork. I kind of like the chewy bun while Mum and Lil Sis favour the fluffy Cantonese bun.

Gourmet Vegetarian Restaurant (Markham)

We were so full for so long after that dim sum lunch at Chili Secret so when it came to dinner time, we weren’t so hungry at all. I had been harping about having my Gourmet Vegetarian Groupon ($15 for $30 of food) so to shut me up, Mum and Lil Sis agreed to go. Ever since having good Gardein at Loving Hut and NPY’s mother brought back imitation meat from temple, I’ve been fascinated by good fake meat. As I was considering buying the Groupon, I read the discussion forums and diners’ reviews elsewhere and got quite nervous–everyone was saying the food was so greasy! Well, we would just avoid the deep-fried foods like “sweet & sour” and “battered”, won’t we?

The restaurant was fairly busy when we arrived and as they were setting up our table, I nearly turned on my heel and walked out because their sign at the door suggested they would not accept the Groupon on holidays (like January 1) and Chinese holidays like the upcoming Lunar New Year and the Fifteenth Day of the Lunar New Year. But they were accepting it on the western folks’ New Year so we sat down and it was clear we were there only because I had a Groupon. Oh, and I stopped everyone from eating to take photos with a flourish. I wonder if the food always arrives so quickly or just because I was a bit of a nuissance…? :)

I ordered a small mixed “cold cuts” platter to get a sample of imitation meats and it came right away and it was larger than our appetites were at the moment. In addition, it didn’t look very appetizing. There was thinly sliced firm tofu, marinated tofu puffs, imitation BBQ pork, imitation beef slices, and spongy gluten pieces. I don’t usually eat this stuff but it was easy to tell the quality was not good. Mum urged me to order the jellyfish as we love jellyfish and I was intrigued how it would be rendered. When it arrived, we looked at it in wonder and she confessed that in a lapse of memory, she forgot that jellyfish is meat and we would receive an imitation. And quite a poor imitation at that. The dish is essentially crunchy savoury wild-coloured jello with some seasoning that did not much resemble the delicious spicy and salty marinate that penetrates real jellyfish.

Mum is on this funny bender about having eggplant and she’s rolling out Thai dishes at the restaurant so we ordered the Thai style eggplant. With the name so generic, we had no assumption what the dish would be like. “Sweet & sour eggplant” is an apt description. The first bite of fried eggplant was really nice. The eggplant as fried tender and batter is a nice complement to sweet & sour sauce. But it got to be too much and I don’t really enjoy “Thai style” meaning “sweet & sour”.

Given we weren’t very hungry, Lil Sis requested we order something spicy or curry that would “open” our appetites and I know what she means. I skipped over plain old curried vegetables, vegetarian fare like that, and picked the one that was named Veggie Meat and Tofu Curry Sauce. A big bowl of curry minced “meat” and big bricks of soft tofu appeared and I was happy. The tofu watered so I had to eat it fast and the curry was plain old, delicious Chinese style. The jury is still out whether there was vegetarian meat that appeared like ground meat or, mum’s version, it was just beaten egg as the server did inquire if we could eat eggs.

Sukho Thai (Toronto)

Since Mum is introducing Thai cuisine at the restaurant, she was practically demanding that we take her to a Thai restaurant. Lil Sis was game to find one and the one with overwhelmingly positive reviews on Urbanspoon was Sukho Thai. As we walked into the small restaurant with the additional dining room in the basement, she recalled she had been there before. Our chef cousin did say you couldn’t get decent Thai food anywhere but there. So there we were.

From the brief menu, we only ordered what is relevant for Mum’s research trip starting with Thai spring rolls. The spring rolls were small and tightly bound with shredded carrots, vegetables, noodles and-alas-cilantro. We dipped them generously in the spicy plum sauce to try to drown out the cilantro.

When we ordered our dishes, we were asked to specify if we wanted them prepared mild, medium, spicy, or “Thai spicy”. Curious, we asked what “Thai spicy” was but kept our pad Thai at medium and our curry at spicy, or so we thought. The Sukho Pad Thai arrived first and we eagerly dug into it. Omigosh, it was so spicy the heat spreads across your face in just a moment. We got so red we were laughing. There were tons of little chili peppers in addition to a lot of some kind of chili powder mixed in. Okay, if this was medium, Mum flagged down the server to request our curry be prepared mild!!

The Thai fried rice was was a great reprieve from the spiciness of the pad Thai. It was prepared with smooth and fragrant coconut milk and it was a very simple dish with sizable chunks of chicken and we just inhaled this dish.

Of course, the curry was already prepared before we asked to tone it down but the server assured that that the curry will taste mild, especially after having “Thai spicy”. Huh, so he made a mistake ordering it? The red curry beef with squash was indeed mild. Not too memorable but not bad.

Buk Chang Dong Soon (2nd visit, Toronto)

Like a most eager child, I really wanted Mum to see what I like to eat, show her “my restaurants”. I never got a chance to do it when I was in Vancouver because she never visited but I did manage to show my father some places when he visited in August. I most wanted to show Mum tofu soup at a Korean restaurant!

After running most arduous errands after the first workday back in the new year, Korean food was a no-fuss option. Lil Sis tried to tone us down and have us order just two dishes but I urged for three. I didn’t want to share my tofu soup!

I ordered my vegetable tofu soup which as perfect as usual. Lil Sis ordered the bulgogi beef soup after being disappointed the short menu did not have a noodle dish. Mum ordered the bibimbap which is not pictured. As it turns out, the bulgogi beef soup has potato starch noodles on the bottom so Lil Sis was satisfied. However, the broth was super sweet and she ended up dipping into my mildly spicy broth to pair with her leftover rice. Actually, I don’t mind sharing the broth–it’s the tofu I want all to myself!

Ding Tai Fung (2nd visit, Markham)

Lil Sis forwarded me a link to the Urbanspoon list of best Scarborough restaurants and I narrowed it down to Ten-Ichi and Federick’s. Since Mum wouldn’t appreciate Hakka at Federick’s, it meant Ten-Ichi but they were crazy busy and we wouldn’t get a table for an hour and it was already 8. So we took her to Ding Tai Fung in Markham because they are imitating that famous chain out of Taiwan. It’s great to have Mum along because we can order 50% more food and she can explain some dishes. At the same time, she’s been in the boonies so long and we haven’t before directed the dining in Toronto and there’s a lot of stuff we can show her!

First off, we had real jellyfish and that was fine and nice. We kind of treated it like dim sum and ordered one round of food first because we were so hungry, having made the attempt at Ten-Ichi first. We also ordered the beef noodle soup and xiao long bao of course, both not pictured. To have something that really sticks to our ribs, I ordered the snow vegetable shredded pork rice cake. I like rice cake of late and I remember the shepard’s purse rice cake from High Shanghai so fondly. This was just okay and could have used some chili oil if I wasn’t too busy just eating it anyways!

Mum told us she hadn’t had vegetable rice in a while and it sounded non-threatening. It looks like steamed rice except for some glistening which comes from adding stir-fried and savoury vegetables to steaming rice. When I was getting my portion, I observed there was “soup” at the bottom which was actually a big puddle of oil! No wonder it was so tasty! We ordered another Shanghai delicacy, green onion pancake where green onion was really abundant in the middle layer. It was fried through though and the green onion was not raw.

Mum ordered some buns to take back with her to Halifax and we waited for quite a bit for our red bean crepe to arrive. Lil Sis observed that it wasn’t pretty looking in the least but the crepe was delicious and the red bean paste was good, especially when I’m not normally a fan.

Ten-Ichi Japanese Cuisine (Toronto)

After not getting into Ten-Ichi the night before, we were sure to make a reservation for the following evening. And confirm the reservation. Afterall, it would be Mum’s last night in Toronto until we see her again for one of here usual short stints in April. She suggested we could wait until the next time but Lil Sis and I couldn’t wait since we had perused the menu and salivated over the all-you-can-eat selection!

The strategy that I’ve learned from NPY is to try to order the fried and carb dishes until last. So in our first round, we ordered sashimi and proteins. We ordered salmon, “white tuna”, and herbed salmon sashimi. Herbed salmon sashimi is pictured here on its own and it was a tasty discovery. A fatty cut of herb-marinated salmon is lightly seared. It was a nice east-west fusion. The salmon sashimi was very good and we thoroughly enjoyed the white tuna sashimi which is much light a butter fish I had. In another round, Lil Sis also ordered red snapper but I save my appetite for salmon and tuna! We ordered one of the house special roles, roses maki which was an avocado-kani (crab) roll drizzled with mango sauce and topped with tobiko… fancy! But I thought the mango sauce tasted artificial and overly sweet.

We were also happy to see beef tataki on the menu–what a delicacy! But did they forget to marinate and lightly sear it? It was like eating completely raw beef and I did not have more than a taste. For the fun of it, we ordered wasabi mussels. They were served cold and drizzled with wasabi mayo. Unfortunately, the mussel was hard and not fresh-tasting. I wanted Mum and Lil Sis to sample some Japanese steamed egg which was very smooth and sweet. Otherwise, it’s something we can easily make at home.

Mum went straight for the teppanaki section and ordered some grilled flounder and grilled shrimp. The shrimp could have tasted more fresh and crunchy but it wasn’t bad. Lil Sis saw that the avocado seafood salad was indicated to require 20 minutes of preparation so we ordered it right away as soon as we saw it. The menu did describe it as guacamole-style avocado and the seafood was there in flavour but otherwise kind of missing. It was odd to eat heated avocado which seemed really creamy and to enhance the flavour strongly. Lil Sis and I perused the temaki (hand roll) section to find an ingredient that balances well with the other items we ordered and we both decided on spicy tuna temaki. It was a good choice. We weren’t as ravenously hungry as when we started but it was still just the most perfect handroll. The seaweed was not damp and chewy but had some crispiness. The tuna was prepared well, sushi rice was good, and I loved the fragrant and crunchy panko bits inside!

We wanted to try another house special and settled upon salmon roses which was salmon sashimi wrapped around chopped ika (squid). The chopped ika was mixed with mayonnaise much like chopped scallop is and this was a delicious and creamy bite, a winner for me compared to the roses maki earlier. Since my positive experience at Sushi on 7, I wanted Ten-ichi spicy salmon pizza as well. It delivered with chopped spicy salmon atop a fried patty formed from sushi rice. Opening ourselves up to more fried food in our second round, I also ordered the unique-sounding Japanese potato hashbrown. As Lil Sis ribbed, I just cannot turn down a hashbrown. It was definitely different with a smooth mash inside the crispy exterior and not bad. Lil Sis and I also ordered spicy been ramen which arrived looking very spicy indeed. The noodles looked like curly instant noodles but were cooked too long and a little too soft.

There were so many tempura options! We went with the tried and true tempura shrimp where the shrimp proved again to be a little less than fabulous and Lil Sis thought there was just a bit too much of the good panko batter. We ordered sirloin rolls which were so good when lovingly made for that dinner in HK and was a little heavy-handed here. And we were getting full. Still on her eggplant bender, Mum ordered grilled eggplant that looked like a dead eel and very unappetizing. Not bad though, she reported. For some real eel, Mum ordered the unagi don which was the tiniest portion ever!

Still dreaming of the cured pressed mackerel sushi at Suika, ordered and specifically emphasized just one piece of saba sushi. I was getting full and the opalescent skin always gets me. It wasn’t bad. Taro tempura was also unique and we were relieved at this point that only three pieces arrived. Lil Sis thought they were too hard and I enjoyed how they almost has a crispness to them. Mum’s unagi don was so very small and she wanted some soup so we took a risk and ordered the seafood hot pot. It sounded wild and extravagant for all-you-can-eat and fortunately it just turned out to be a Chinese broth with nappa cabbage and pieces of seafood. I was so full even the big chunks of tofu failed to appeal to me! Finally, I ordered some scallop cutlet since our meal was absent of scallop and they turned out to be deep-fried breaded scallop served with a refreshing wasabi mayo.

Okay, Ten-ichi’s all-you-can-eat dessert menu is amazing. Despite being full, Lil Sis’ eyes were bigger than her stomach and she wanted to order multiple of each of the six or seven desserts for just herself. Throughout the evening, we would see servers approaching tables with a tray full of shotglasses as everyone would sample widely and multiply.

We tried a different ice cream each: red bean, mango, and green tea. There were at least three other flavours. They are made fancy with a crisp wafer “waffle”. I thought the Jell-O would be those roughly cut cubes of all other all-you-can-eat restaurants but it came in a wider dish with a piece of fruit in it. Lil Sis enjoyed that alone. We each had custard cream which was topped with powdered graham crackers and tasted, as Lil Sis pronounced, like cookies ‘n’ cream. We each had the mango yogurt, one of the signature desserts. “Yogurt” was more like tapioca cream pudding and it was topped with mango puree. We had chocolate mousse. Mum and Lil Sis moaned that the tiramisu was very bitter due to the coffee but I thought it was fine. And the cherry on top was another house signature, the ginger creme brulee. We were beyond stuffed but it still tasted good, maybe a little firm, but the perfect cap to a super duper meal!

I feel so rubbish at figuring out where to go eat despite all my interest and being subscribed to so many food blogs. Apparently it goes in out ear and out the other. But one source of reliable, delicious, and fairly priced fare is Korean food and there is a Korean area (and it’s not even Koreatown) just south of the apartment that we’re keen to explore to find the best bibimbap and tofu soup. Lil Sis’ is all about the bibimbap while I’m all about the tofu.

It seems that 25 restaurants have been categorized as “Korean” and in “North York” and 22 of them are between Steeles and Sheppard, of which 17 of them are between Finch and Sheppard. A quick glance at the names of the top 10 and some or obviously (?) not Korean but I have a feeling that by virtue of being in the area and competition, they might not be so bad.

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

#1 on Urbanspoon North York list

Although this restaurant topped the list it was the last of these restaurants I went to. Why does a ramen shop from Japan end up on the Korean list? And while there, I only had Japanese food so you can proceed to the next restaurant if you wanted to read about Korean food.

Kenzo is located quite a bit north and off the “Korean strip” on Yonge and as a consequence, they were really quiet on a Friday night near closing time. I also observed a faint mouldy smell. I hate it when I get a whiff of that in a restaurant wondering if there wasn’t a sewage or bathroom leak. It also sets me immediately less comfortable.

I went with a clear shio ramen that was not bad. It was not prepared with thin ramen, not my favourite, but it was reasonably chewy and the broth was good, not overly rich or salty. MY wanted something spicy so she ordered the orochong ramen which in the photo didn’t look as red as the other spicy ramen. It was also listed as a favourite dish of “Japanese youth and Korean” so we were intrigued. It was so spicy! Not being a fan of kimchi, I wouldn’t normally get a kimchi broth in a Korean restaurant and that is actually what orochong was. I only had a taste and it nearly made MY keel over. I think she is happier for the experience but it was crazy spicy.

Oh Geul Boh Geul

#3 on Urbanspoon North York Korean list

My cousin, WC, is the best, and he and his wife, Sarah, are perfect together. They graciously let Lil’ Sis live with them for nearly a month when she didn’t have a place to stay and she reports how they have impeccable taste exemplified in their home decor that includes unique, stylish, and functional Japanese designs. So, we could certainly trust their recommendations for which Korean restaurants to try. Of the three Sarah listed, two were in Koreatown (Bloor & Christie area) and we didn’t want to head further down when it was already 10 p.m. so we went to another hub of Korean businesses in North York, and we were not disappointed.

I have a feeling Lil’ Sis will know her Korean cuisine quite well but for now, it was quite adorable how she read the description of bibimbap stone bowl and thought it sounded quite nice. (Of course! It’s a great dish!) We were first presented with a chewy onion Korean-style pancake and devoured it, especially enjoying the more crispy regions. Then we clapped our hands in delight when we were presented with ten banchan(what I call the complimentary “appetizers” when I forget the Korean word). We hardly get more than five of the most boring varieties at our favourite Vancouver Korean restaurants so I was happy to see zucchini, a herby mashed potato salad, chilled tofu with green onions and chili, and potato noodles!

Since Lil’ Sis does not like tofu, I manoeuvered the tofu banchan close to me to have the chilled dish next to the hot bowl of tofu soup I ordered. I have had tofu soup three times within the past month and never tired of it.

Owl of Minerva

#5 on Urbanspoon North York Korean list

Ack, blame BlogTO.com for letting me know about Owl of Minerva. I thought it was the most uniquely named Korean restaurant such that when we were cruising down Yonge Street (yeah, I know), I would not have known it was Korean except for accompanying Korean characters. There are several locations around town and I heard the Bloor location isn’t actually legit but the owner doesn’t have the time/heart to go after them!

Owl of Minerva is famous for being open 24 hours and their pork bone soup so pork bone soup I ordered. What a deal for just $6.99. The banchan did not arrive until the food did so I didn’t have time for it and they were not my favourite ones in the least. The place is busy and untidy and we enjoyed the food with a few flies drifting around, not my favourite either.

But let’s concentrate on the food? As we waited for our dishes to arrive, Lil’ Sis came to realize that everyone was ordering the pork bone soup. I only knew from reviews it was the favourite so she had me choose from a few dishes she narrowed down and I unwisely choose the sweet & sour pork claiming, “It might be Korean style.” The pork bone soup came first and I shared one of the four bones that looked like they came from the spinal region with meat that just melted. The broth was also really tasty from the pork and spices, different from the tofu stew broth I am so familiar with. We devoured the steamed rice in a metal bowl we each were served “flooding” it with soup with each rice bite.

A $9.99 plate of sweet & sour pork was massive and completely unlike any of the usual Korean dishes we order and I picked at it a little and was thankful I had my own pork bone soup. The sauce was strong in honey and ginger flavour and the batter was intriguingly chewy, as if there was rice flour in addition to the standard batter ingredients. The pitfall was that it was hard to find the pork in the fried pieces, sometimes it seemed like we were just eating fried chewy batter. Next time we know what we’ll stick to!

Buk Chang Dung Soon Tofu

#6 on Urbanspoon North York Korean list

We drove down Yonge with the purpose of finding a Korean restaurant and were almost sure not to go wrong. Since Lil Sis’ was driving, I just had to say when when I spotted a restaurant to try. This restaurant had particularly big and bright signage and there were a couple of groups of people waiting by the door so it was my pick.

The menu was delightfully simple with about five tofu soups, a bibimbap and two other dishes. Everything was priced the same ($7.53) except for the two other dishes and the place was packed the entire time we were there. It was a bit like eating in a casual cafeteria but it was clean and the service was good and fast.

The banchan dishes that came were fair: spicy daikon, kimchee, bean sprouts, and beans. I don’t really like the fermented spice used so I stuck to the beans and bean sprouts, but oh were those little beans really tough! Lil Sis’ ordered the bibimbap which I forgot to take a picture and she would say that it has been her favourite as of after the next meal. I ordered the kimchee dong soon tofu (medium spicy) because I wanted the traditional Korean flavour and it did not disappoint–smooth, fresh extra soft tofu, rich broth, and great purple rice to accompany it.

Bi Bim Bap Korean Stone Bowl Riceteria (Eglinton West area, not North York)

This week, we did a little more preparation, browsing on Urbanspoon for our next Friday night adventure. Would it be Indian in Brampton (Lil Sis’ doesn’t understand my desire, and I haven’t been to Brampton before), Caribbean, Hakka? Or plain old Japanese or Korean? Lil Sis found Bi Bim Bap, a “Riceteria”, off the usual path (Yonge and Finch) and I was stuck on the name.

They were full when we first arrived so we walked around West Eglinton for half an hour. That stretch of Eglinton was very commercial and the few Chinese restaurants we saw were stuck in the past (House of Chan, now-defunct China House, and Tasty Szechuan). Just north is more “old Toronto”, cute houses with manor style but city-size.

Without question we each ordered a bibimbap dish. Each dinner comes with miso soup (with very fresh spring onions), banchan, and soo jung ga (cinnamon-ginger). We were floored that all we got, for the two of us, was one kimchee banchan. It was not an auspicious start to the meal.

In short order, my gourmet mushroom bibimbap and Lil Sis’ Korean BBQ (beef) bibimbap arrived. They are very visually appealing and presented nicely just as the whole restaurant is very modern to suit the area. We followed the instructions listed in the menu and stirred in the sauces we received earlier in shot glasses with our chopsticks. Then we pressed the rice to the side of the bowl with our spoons and proceeded to eat with our spoons. The list of default vegetables is impressive with 11 items–I’ll take their word on it–causing a jumble of flavours. I defied their recommendation and went with sour hot sauce instead of the boring-sounding soy garlic. Did I make the wrong choice?? I enjoyed the heat of my sauce and working my way through the mushrooms from cheapest to most “exotic”. But we both noticed the dishes were really greasy and none of the rice stuck to the bowls to make a nice crunchy layer of crispy rice. I also noted that there were some additional innovative flavours that I missed the traditional Korean flavour.

Hosting NPY in Toronto and going to New York recently are among the many reasons why I have not posted for a while… oh boy, and what a big-time eating trip it was! We went two years ago to New York on my first proper, grown-up trip there and visited the major tourist sights and learned my way around the city. This time was much more relaxed, picking up and checking out the places we missed last time or learned about only after we left the city. While we did take a lot of our host BiNK’s suggestions, I also tried to have prepared something by following closely people who had recently been to New York like Follow Me Foodie, my friend Alfred, and former New Yorker Angela Tung.

So it was a mix in the end but one thing I noticed that I may have previously balked against was that we ended up having some kind of Asian food every day. Without fail. It was kind of funny and when I noticed this trend, I just rolled with it. Because it was tasty!

1 Nov

Sake Bar Hagi (Midtown, Times Square)

My original plan was to go to East Village and visit a ramen shop like Ramen Setagaya or momofuku noodle bar but that would not happen at all. BiNK suggested Ippudo over all others and we would nto end up going either with purported long lines but brought us to Sake Bar Hagi in the neighbourhood of her apartment that is just off Times Square. Our first proper New York restaurant it was, as NPY noted, a cool underground one. Although it was late on a Tuesday evening we had to wait for a table and we squeezed the three of us at a two-top where NPY and I shared the booth seating side while BiNK sat across from us on a chair.great tapas – fave tangy udon, cheesy tofu steak

We wanted to try this izakaya’s yakiudon and ordered the non-spicy yakisoba yakiudon that was springy when you chewed on the noodles and the sauce was light and slightly tangy. We ordered chicken karaage and it came arranged beautifully and the chicken was tender and moist.

BiNK recommended the cheesy teriyaki tofu steak and I was wary based on the last cheesy Japanese dish I had–piles of mozzarella dumped into ramen broth. The proportion of cheese for the thickness of tofu was just right and I liked tasting New York tofu. BiNK’s favourite dish is barra cabbage which was a sautee of miso paste, cabbage, pork belly, bean sprouts, and some chili. It was surely nice to have the vegetable content but I was a little disappointed with the pork belly which didn’t seem to add much to the dish.

momofuku milk bar (Midtown)

After our big dinner at Sake Bar Hagi we walked about ten minutes to the midtown momofuku milk bar because I came to New York with a list and cereal milk soft serve was on it! So was crack pie for a while but if it’s just like a butter tart, I was no longer interested and neither was NPY. Cereal milk soft serve did taste faintly like its namesake but to me it tasted more like dilute Horlicks, malty. NPY enjoyed his cinnamon bun pie and the blueberry & cream cookie.

2 Nov

Totto Ramen (Midtown, Times Square)

NPY picked up Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark tickets from TKTS so we could not have dinner until late and I hadn’t planned anything specifically after show. BiNK suggested Totto which she had yet to try due to the line. It was another “underground” restaurant and at 10:30 we still waited about 20 minutes for a seat at the bar.

From our seats at the bar, we could watch the operations and that chefs were having fun especially when Earth, Wind and Fire’s September came on and they were dancing on the spot while carrying out assembly line-like tasks.

I chose what appeared to be a house special, totto pork paitan ramen, which was a rich and heavy chicken broth. The straight egg noodles were slightly al dente and it was a simple noodle soup that hit the spot. Being very health-conscious, NPY ordered the vegetable ramen with shiitake and seaweed broth ladled over salad greens and additional toppings included marinated avocado, tofu, fresh bamboo shoots, enoki, and lime. It was a beautiful and unique vegetable ramen. NPY also ordered the cha siu mayo don to have a taste of rice. From my noodle soup, the pork was lean and almost dry but there was plenty of yummy Japanese mayonnaise and the rice was surprisingly and pleasantly seasoned with strong umami flavour.

3 Nov

Pongsri (Midtown, Times Square)

In the afternoon, we were headed to the 9/11 Memorial in the financial district so I had only assigned for that day lunch in the Times Square area before we took the subway down. BiNK could join us for lunch and suggested Pongsri which has great lunch specials with an impressive noodle selection and appeared to be full of locals on their lunch break.

BiNK and NPY ordered noodles so… I had to order a curry and it was my usual red curry tofu. I will order that nearly every time! The curry was good and I liked how they did not use julienned peppers but instead real vegetables like bok choy and broccoli.

BiNK ordered rice noodles with beef and broccoli which looks and sounds like the Chinese dish (except greener) but she likes it much more, probably due to the use of special Thai sauce. NPY’s gai see mee translates to shredded chicken noodle, steamed egg noodles in a rich thick light gravy that made the noodle slurpy and delicious.

Tearific (Chinatown)

We checked out Teariffic in Chinatown because BiNK likes it so much but I found the mango slush perfumy. For a small bite (more desserts, another shop was on the horizon), I ordered a two-flavour Taiwanese toast with predictably delicious condensed milk on one half and coconut butter on the other.

The small tea shop served a limited selection of hot food and was decored with traditional Chinese stools at small tables. It was a cute find.

Boka/Bon Chon (East Village)

It was a long trek around the city so we were all ready for Bon Chon. At first I thought we would go to the K-Town location but it has changed name and we set out for the East Village location to visit that area once this trip. East Village was like an oasis of Asian restaurants and we spotted many places we’d be almost easily happy to dine at. At 7:30 on a Thursday night, we had to wait about 30 minutes. It would be NPY’s favourite meal for the lively and lounge-y atmosphere… and because it was my treat?!

We ordered the famous double-fried but not greasy Korean fried chicken, of course. To get the complete experience, I ordered the wings and drumstick plate and asked for a mix of soy garlic and spicy chili sauce… we did not know the pieces would be so big! Way too much and I made sure NPY had his chicken with beer to have the full taste sensation. The skin was seasoned well and crispy and indeed not greasy and the meat was still tender and moist.

I also wanted to try the custard which turned out to be like the steamed egg dish my mother made at times. It was fluffy and there were bits of dried shrimp and greens lending light flavour. I also ordered the Korean 3-layer bacon which was like their short rib in taste and consistency.

We were splurging and I ordered the unagi (most expensive) bibimbap in a hot stone bowl ($1 more) but it was such a disappointingly small amount. Not only that, the toppings overwhelmed the small amount of rice. I nibbled on the picked daikon between dishes to clear my palate and tone down the heat from the spicy chicken!

4 Nov

DohYO in Yotel (Midtown)

Where do you find restaurants to try, NPY asked BiNK who told us that she was browsing around OpenTable.com. Yotel is new with locations in Manhattan and Heathrow. At the ground level, it is a little intimidating looking–no reception but automated kiosks to check yourself in and elevators. There was no indication there was a restaurant inside until you go into the elevators and figure out you want to go to the fourth floor for the restaurant.

DohYO, the restaurant, had great colourful Japanese art all over the walls and had a fun, hip vibe. The waiters were really attentive yet I have to laugh when they stop to ask if we had dined at DohYO before and explain to us the concept of family-style dining. We’d have to order 3 or 4 dishes each and they would be the size of the side plates… they weren’t kidding. We started with 8 dishes so here we go….!

While we waited for BiNK to arrive, we started off with a “pitcher” of potent strawberry margarita asking for it to be blended (“frozen”) and the carafe that it arrived in seemed to be an ill-planned idea as the server crouched at our low table and scraped slush out with a too-short straw to serve us our first glass of drink.

We ordered the pork and foie gras gyoza which were rich and creamy and the skins were chewy and sticky. The green curry chicken also arrive next, a small bite of tender chicken.

The wagyu beef brisket sounded nice although it wasn’t very brisket like. The dish of wok-fried cauliflower was tart with the use of black vinegar and a touch spicy, a nice purely vegetable dish.

For a share-able carb dish, we ordered stir fried pork belly ramen which was cooked al dente and a bit dry but when you punctured the poached egg, the dish was eggy and creamy. Black cod was good as can be expected with a nice pickled artichoke and lemon sake aioli lending the tart profile to the dish.

The lobster steamed bun was a rich mixture of lobster (claw), avocado, and fermented black bean. I would not have thought of that combination but it was a nice contrast with the clean steamed bun. BiNK doesn’t eat lobster so we also ordered the home ground beef sliders. The lemon sake aioli showed up again and BiNK liked the sliders most of all.

We had a little room for more so we added three more dishes!

One of the add ons was a modern and quality take on the spicy tuna roll. We also ordered the shrimp and chicken fried rice that was prepared with kimchi for a hint of spice. Then, in an odd turn, we ordered the falafel lettuce wrap, a small, refreshing bite.

5 Nov

Kunjip (K-Town)

Amongst other activities, on this day, I hung outside the Al Hirschfeld Theater where How to Succeed in Business was playing and Daniel Radcliffe would exit at any moment and sign autographs. Actually, NPY figured out which actor the crowd was waiting for and I joined in for the experience. It was a benign crowd about four deep but within ten minutes, there was another four layers and the crowd was compressing. Another ten minutes and there was no escape. By the time I got my photographs of Christopher J. Hanke, Rob Bartlett, and Daniel Radcliffe, it was late. BiNK was working late too so we went to K-Town to their favourite restaurant.

Banchan dishes were plentiful and in addition, they offered egg custard for free! We also shared the chap chae.

I ordered the spicy tofu soup made vegetarian because I don’t like the odds and ends seafood pieces in the tofu soup. I’m noticing purple rice being served more often… a new trend? I forgot when I advised NPY to order the oxtail soup that it would be really mild (kind of bland) in taste. It was smokey and comforting but still bland.

6 Nov

Cha Pa’s Noodles and Grill (Midtown, Times Square)

On our way to a midtown restaurant serving Thai food street style, we ducked into a Vietnamese restaurant instead and I was happy to check out Vietnamese in New York! Cha Pa’s is a modern and clean restaurant and for that, and some of my safe orders in the past week, I refused to order pho, noodle soup!on our way to thai street style, went for viet really evil salty curry (like japanese hayashi sauce) and shaken beef, BiNK loved her crab/shrimp noodle

NPY was also in an experimental state of mind and we ordered three things between the two of us. The Vietnamese chicken curry arrived first, a small portion served with banh mi. It was pretty salty and reminded me of Japanese hayashi sauce that is a bit like salisbury sauce. BiNK had eaten just beforehand at work and so ordered only a lotus salad with chicken that looked healthy and light.

NPY ordered the seafood crispy egg nest with a good portion of vegetables and fresh shrimp. Of course I love the crispy noodles that also had soggier portions. To try something different, I ordered the Shaken Beef not knowing exactly what it would entail except it was listed first amongst the entrees and might be a specialty. The beef was well marinated and pungent in flavour and very tender as it was cooked only to medium doneness.

kyotofu (Midtown, Times Square)

Last time we were in New York, BiNK introduced us to kyotofu which has a lot of tofu-infused dishes and desserts. Last time, we had the snacks in addition to dessert but this time, we went for Vietnamese first and while we were full immediately after dinner, a couple hours later, we were ready for dessert and thankfully kyotofu is on Seamless Web and we ordered before they closed for the evening and the desserts were delivered to our door!

I ended up ordering the black sesame tofu panna cotta that, it turns out, I ordered last time. It is not sweet at all except for the addition of the syrup. NPY ordered the warm chocolate cake with moshi which got deconstructed in order to be delivered. The vanilla bean ice cream had a weird foamy consistency so I only really spread the divine miso caramel over the cake.

For the complete picture, we also went to Shake Shack (twice), Norma’s, Grimaldi’s Pizza, Jacques Torres, the burger joint, Bouchon Bakery, Southern Hospitality, Lobster Place, Rice to Riches, and Holey Cream. Not being Asian cuisine, I’ve created a separate post, Dineout Reviews: The rest of New York, 2011 Ed., on the other blog!

I don’t think I did the themed Dineout roundups 2 years ago so here is where we ate in ’09 (Asian bolded): Oh Taisho, au bon pain, europa cafe, Great N.Y. Noodletown, Rice to Riches (twice), kyotofu, Shake Shack, Corner Bagel Market, Pisticcio Trattoria, pinkberry, Pigalle, Majestic Pizza, Dylan’s Candy Bar, Sushi Samba, Amazing 66, Kunjip, Koryok@ng… see some overlap there?

Similar to catching TIFF films this year, I’m quite keen to watch some Reel Asian International Film Festival screenings during the festival running November 8-13 in Toronto and November 18-19 in Richmond Hill. The Richmond Hill screenings are just a subset of the Toronto ones and not the films that caught my attention so I guess I’ll be headed into the city a few times.

There are so many more films given the festival runs for twice as long as VAFF (Vancouver Asian Film Festival) that I only perused the full-length feature films and tended to not sift through the shorts as I did for VAFF. There are more films that caught my eye than I have time to watch so I will need to shorten the list.

• When Love Comes (Saturday November 15, 5:15pm) – this is a Taiwanese film centered on a 16-year-old withdrawn girl and her dysfunctional family; it is “critically acclaimed film that presents the struggles of a traditional Taiwanese family in their efforts to cope with each other’s flaws.”
• The Journals of Musan (Saturday November 12, 12:00pm) – gets into the complexities and struggles of North Koreans who have defected and tried to start a new life in South Korea
• Fortune Teller (Thursday November 10, 8:45pm) – a Chinese film of a fortune teller just outside of Beijing whose craft is considered illegal and he works with many fellow members of the underclass such as prostitutes and shadowy figures
• Summer Pasture (Wednesday November 9, 6:45pm) – a documentary of a young nomadic couple in the highly insular community of Dzachukha, Tibet where they experience the “5-most”: highest, coldest, poorest, largest, and most remote area of Sichuan Province. This would be an exclusive and rare look into these people’s lives.
• Lover’s Discourse (Tuesday November 8, 7:00pm) – a modern-day Hong Kong film of the love lives of eclectic characters – looks quite cute and stars Eason Chan, Karena Lam, Kay Tse, Eddie Peng, Jacky Heung and Mavis Fan.
• Pearls of the Far East (Sunday November 13, 5:00pm) – seven women’s narratives, based on true stories of forbidden love, and set in stunning locations throughout Vietnam and Thailand, but with a homage to diaspora with a link to Toronto
• Surrogate Valentine (Sunday November 13, 3:00pm) – as mentioned in my VAFF post, I’m really keen to watch this film after great promotion by one of the actors (Lynn Chen) and the prospect of seeing the cast in attendance!
• Piercing 1 (Saturay November 12, 10:30pm) – quite different from what I would normally notice, this Chinese animation reflects gritty working-class life. I’m just not sure if it is free of gangsters, spirits, and all the usual stuff I don’t like.

Image from reelasian.com