Seminyak, Bali - Part 1

Our last stop on the dream trip was Seminyak in the south west side of the island.  To be honest, my first impression of Seminyak wasn't very favorable.  It reminded me a lot of South Beach or some snotty European beach town.  Compared to Ubud and Gili, it was super modern, Westernized and full of jet-setting Europeans and Australians.  But after spending 5 days there, it totally grew on me.  Hey, I mean I'm a jet setter right?!  We ended up eating at so many places that I will have to break up this post into several parts.

Our first outing was to Ku De Ta (Jalan kayu aya no 9 - right next to the Oberoi) which is one of the most well known beach lounges in the area.  When we walked in, I immediately noticed how everyone was so polished and dressed up.  In Gili, everyone wore flip flops and shorts.  At Ku De Ta, everyone was wearing expensive maxi dresses.  It's just a much more mature crowd.  One of the best things to do is to get to Ku De Ta before sunset so that you can catch the sun going down on the beach while having drinks.  When we opened the menu, it was quite a shock.  We definitely were in a more touristy area.  The fancy cocktails were 110,000 Rp ($12) each which isn't that far off from the prices in NYC.  We were starving so we got some appetizers too.  The menu was a variety of upscale Asian fusion items such as sushi rolls, spring rolls, skewers, gyoza and dips.   I got the fried calamari (95,000 Rp) and Aarti and Deanna got an eggplant sushi roll (95,000 Rp) and the agadashi (85,000 Rp).  Someone had told us that the food wasn't great there and overpriced so we were a bit hesitant to order, but we were so hungry it didn't matter.  Was it overpriced? Definitely.  But the food was actually pretty good and the presentation was really nice.   The eggplant sushi was also fresh and delicious and had the cutest soy sauce jar. 

 

I didn't try the silky tofu but Aarti said she really liked it.  It was a salt and pepper tofu dish with chili paste and grated daikon on top.

 

The calamari was nicely done and not greasy.  You could really taste the squid in it and you can't go wrong with a lemon aioli!

The cocktails were worth every penny.  I got a watermelon vodka drink sprinkled with cinnamon on top and it was refreshing and the perfect sunset watching cocktail. 

You'd think after these bites that we wouldn't be hungry but no, we were still on the hunt for dinner after this.  We decided to walk to Jalan Lakshmana which is the main drag in Seminyak and it's also known as Eat Street.  The street is full of international and more Westernized restaurants (I saw burger places, a few Italian places, Japanese and Greek food).  If you are looking for cute, local warungs or cheap, authentic eats, this is not the street for you.   We walked the entire length of the street and ended up choosing Chandi (Jalan Laksmana 72) because we had heard good things about it from others and in a couple of our guide books and it looked beautiful from the outside.  The menu is touted as fusion South East Asian food and the whole menu looked fabulous.   The food ranged from lots of shellfish, fish, and meat dishes to a full vegetarian section (you don't really see a lot of that).  I was so overwhelmed and wanted to order everything.  We started with Chandi's amazing crunchy tofu squares (32,000 Rp).  It was indeed amazing and crunchy.  It wasn't overly fried or greasy and the tofu was nice and silky on the inside and served with this mouthwatering peanut and cucumber topping.  I could have eaten another order of it.

I ordered a variety of grilled skewers:  scallops (50,000 Rp), tofu and corn (18,000 Rp) and tuna (18,000 Rp) and a small organic green salad (30,000 Rp).  I was hoping the scallops would be plump and thick but they were actually pretty small and a bit disappointing.  The tofu and corn was glazed with a miso like sauce and grilled perfectly and the tuna was actually not what I thought.  Instead of being a hunk of tuna on a stick, it was more like mashed up tuna that was molded around a sugar cane.  It was all served with a variety of sauces (see below) but honestly you didn't really need any of them to enjoy the food.  It was just so unique looking even though it was just grilled stuff on a stick. 

Deanna got the veggie version (110,000 Rp) and it was a feast!  So many different kinds of gorgeous veggies - tempe, trio of bell peppers, tofu, baby corn, asparagus, beet root, lotus root, infinity bean, star fruit, fennel, zucchini, shallots, scallion, whole garlic, and red onion (phew!).    It was all served with watercress and sprout salad, grilled pickled red chili pepper sambal, sweet soy chili sambal, and kemangi sambal.  It was amazing to look at.

Aarti got the black and red rice vegetarian nasi goreng (72,000 Rp) - this was cripsy tempe, tofu, turnip, edamame, zucchini, radish, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, red chili pepper, tarragon and an egg a cheval.  I had one bite and the black and red rice tasted a lot like quinoa and the vegetables were amazingly flavorful.

All in all, the service was fantastic, the presentation of the food glamorous and the food was delicious without being pretentious.  One of the best meals we had on the whole trip in terms of fancy dining.  Everything was top notch. The total bill for all 3 of us was 601,000 Rp.

Gili Island

After 5 amazing nights in Ubud, we made our way to the Gili Islands, which are 3 small islands between Bali and Lombok.  The 3 islands are Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.  We stayed on Gili Trawangan which is the most populated island.  The entire island is walkable in about 2 hours, doesn't have any cars on the whole island (there are horse drawn buggies that can help you get around if you need them), there is barely any fresh water (we basically showered in salt water the whole time) and another strange fact was that there are no dogs, just cats on the island.

The crowd on Gili T definitely skews young and leans towards the "full moon" party type.  Everyone there seemed to be about 20, gorgeous, had a hot body and most guys had tons of tattoos.  People here looked like they were backpacking for a while, didn't have a real job, and spent most of the day on the beach and most of the night partying.  Ahh, youth.  Ok, so in terms of food, there are actually quite a few options on the island.  Our first outing was to this hole in the wall called Kiki Nova (it's inside the art market in the center of town).  When you first walk in (and I use that phrase loosely as there isn't really a store front to walk into), you aren't sure if any of the food is sanitary.  All the food is homemade by this lovely woman in various pots and they are just sitting outside all day.  When you order, you basically point to all the different pots of food that you want a la Nasi Campur.  Every now and then she will tell you what they are but generally you kind of have to guess and take a leap of faith.

I had picked a little bit of everything (chicken, hard boiled egg, beef curry, eggplant, corn, greens, fried dough, rice, glass noodles, and this a roll type dish).  Even though I am a pretty adventurous eater, I was slightly hesitant at first.  But my first bite was amazing!  You could just tell that all the food was freshly homemade with no preservatives.  The spices and flavors were all natural and it was best to just eat everything together in one big messy pile.  I couldn't really tell what was in side the soft roll (in the front of the picture) but the inside was this sweet filing that I actually didn't love.  It turned out to be one of the best meals I had on the whole trip and all for 20,000 Rp (or $2).

For dinner on our first night we decided on The Beach House which is actually a hotel that has a large outdoor/beachside restaurant.  This one seemed to have the most people there, so we decided to give it a try.  It's on the southwest part of the island which has tons of restaurants, most of which have a similar outdoor beach feel.  Many of them also have these outdoor BBQs where they have tons of fresh seafood that was caught that day, sitting on ice, and then you basically go up and pick out your fish/shellfish and they grill it on site (the picture below isn't actually from The Beach House but it had a similar layout).  

Of course I had to try the seafood BBQ.  It's totally right up my alley and it made me wish that we had something like this at home.  I walked up to the catches of the day and selected a huge piece of tuna (65,000 Rp or $7.50) and also a grilled corn on the cob (15,000 Rp or $1.50).  I asked them to grill the tuna medium rare, so it shouldn't have taken so long.  I guess there must have been a back up because it took a while to come out, but when I cut into it, it was definitely medium rare.  I couldn't believe how big the piece of fish was.  Something like this at home would have cost at least double if not triple.  It was served simply with a lemon wedge.  My one complaint was that the sauce they served with it was way too buttery and kind of ruined the essence of eating a fresh piece of fish.  Deanna and Aarti both got a pasta that they said was way too oily and greasy.  Seems to be a running theme.

We also ate a small lunch at Locanda (North end of the island).  We had originally wanted to eat at Karma Kayak but inadvertently sat in a bungalow at Locanada which was literally right next to it.  Oh well.  The food there is very local, limited and simple.  I had the Soto Ayam with rice (plus a coke cost 65,000 Rp) which is basically a clear noodle broth with glass noodles, small slices of chicken and sliced egg and tomato.  It was a bit weird to be eating a hot  noodle soup when I was dying of heat but overall the food was fine.  As I said, it was basic and simple food.  It's what you'd expect from a hut in the middle of nowhere.  I have all of these ingredients at home and probably could have made it myself.  We were a bit bummed that we sat down at the wrong place because we did hear that Karma Kayak had really good tapas food (I know, totally random).

Our next place for dinner ended up being a disaster and was put on the list of "Things we can't talk about on the trip" (the two other things we weren't allowed to talk about were work and the duration of our flight).  One of the workers at our hotel told us that the Indian food at Pesona (right on the main drag of the street) was pretty good so we decided the give it a try and give ourselves a break from Indonesian food.  I ordered the fish tikka and buttered naan and Aarti and Deanna got daal and a cauliflower dish.  Everything was going fine (I didn't mind my fish tikka but I did think the buttered naan wasn't good - they used that weird sweet butter you put on bread on the naan and it just tasted weird together).  Aarti and Deanna didn't like their food much but one of the reasons we all had such a horrible taste in our mouth (no pun intended!) was that when we went to pay for the meal, we had put out the exact amount in the bill fold.  The waiter came and "counted" the money but then quickly pocketed 100,000 Rp without us really noticing at first (although later we did all say that something fishy was happening right before our eyes).  Next thing we know, he's telling us we owe them 100,000 Rp even though we knew that we had paid the correct amount.  We were so angry and didn't know what to do, but since we were in a random country that we didn't know, we didn't want to argue (and in the grand scheme of things it was only $10 but it was the principle of it) and just gave him another 100,000 Rp.  It was such a shitty situation. So lesson learned, always count the money in front of the waiter yourself instead of handing the money over to them. 

On our last full day, we took a side trip to Gili Meno (the center island) which was my favorite.  It was the total opposite of Gili T in that there was probably 50 people max on the whole island and there were about 4 "restaurants" total.  We had a quick lunch at Mallia's Child since it was by the ferry station and we had a 3pm boat to catch.  Again, the food here is very basic and simple.  I got the chicken satay (with a coke, 65,000 Rp) and it was surprisingly decent.  There were lots of satays on the plate and basically anytime you dip something in peanut sauce, it's hard to go wrong.  I didn't see them make it but you do see lots of people on the streets grilling chicken on a squat, picnic-like grill, so I assumed that's how my food was made.  Funnily enough, the best chicken was this fried chicken drumstick that ended up on Deanna's plate.  As a "favor" to her, I ate the drumstick and it was delicious! The skin wasn't too fried but it had a nice crisp to it and the meat was so freakin juicy.  I was so surprised by it and wished I ordered a dish that had more of it.  I also tried Aarti's pumpkin curry and the pumpkin was basically a sweet potato and the dish was also surprisingly good. 

On our last night we had wanted to go to Blu D'Mare, which we had heard from other travelers was the most amazing Italian food (even compared to pasta they had had in Italy).  So we were super excited to try it.  But it was on the far Northeast corner of the island and by the time we got there it was 8:30pm.  There was a group of 3 girls who literally walked right in front of us and got the last walk-in table.  Of all the restaurants on the island, this is the one that required reservations.  We were pretty bummed.  So we walked around for a bit and ended up at the Cafe Gili and I got the snapper fillet (64,000 Rp).  While I do like my fish medium rare, this one was almost uncooked in the middle.  Unless it's tuna or salmon, I generally don't like other fishes that rare but we were so tired and hungry that I just wrote it off and prayed that I didn't get sick the next day.  It did come with a really flavorful garlic, onion, and chili sautee on top of the fish and had the fish been cooked a bit more, it would have been a top dish of the trip.  And I ended up fine the next day.

Next stop Seminyak...

Ubud, Bali

It's been a while since I've blogged and it's because I was in Bali for the past 2 weeks.  My goal was to pretty much unplug, so I didn't blog while I was away but I do want to share my eating adventures with everyone.  Since I was gone for so long, I'm going to break it down by the 3 different cities I visited: Ubud, Gili Islands and Seminyak.  I'm not going to list every place I went to but I'll try to highlight as many places that I can.  It was an amazing time and hope to go back some day! 

Ubud
Ahhh, Ubud.  If there is any one city to go to while you're in Bali, it's Ubud.  It's a fantastic get away with lots of culture, art, and lush greenery.  While there are lots of tourists, it's still got a fairly local feel to it (although there is a Starbucks in the middle of town).  We spent 5 nights there and I could have still spent more time exploring the area.  I really loved it.  There are lots and lots of great food choices all within walking distance of each other or a short cab ride away.  We had our first meal in town was at Cafe Wayan (Monkey Forest Road).  Most restaurants in Ubud have huge outdoor gardens that seem to go on forever (benefit of it almost always being sunny) with lots of Asian style low tables that require you to sit Indian style and this place was no different.   We all decided to order typical Indonesian dishes for our first meal.  It doesn't get anymore Indonesian than mie goreng.  I got it with seafood and honestly it was good but not mindblowing.  The bits of seafood (shrimp and scallop were the only ones I could see) were pretty small and were overcooked.  But all in all, it was a nice first taste to Bali.  The total bill for all 3 of us was 218,000 Rp (which is about $24).  

 

For dinner we went to Murni's Warung (no specific address).  Our hotel had made a reservation for us and at first when we walked in, it didn't seem liked we really needed it since there was lots of open seating on the first level.  But what we didn't know was that the hotel booked us a seat over looking the river on the 4th level (downstairs).  Unfortunately it was night time, so we couldn't really see much but I'm sure during the day you would have seen an amazing view of the river and gorgeous trees surrounding it.  The restaurant includes an antique shop and villas on site, so it's pretty unique place.  I ordered the award winning fish dish and the waitress told me it was made with black bean paste but when it came out, it looked more like a soup/broth.  It was basically cubes of white fish in a tamarind flavored broth with large pieces of onion, green peppers and snow peas served with a side of white rice.  It was a nice light meal that didn't have a particular fishy flavor to it (perfect since I was having slight stomach ache that night).  The great things about Murni's was that they also offered a free shuttle ride back to your hotel!

One of our negative eating experiences in Ubud was at the summit of this super touristy place to see this fantastic view of the volcano.  I don't remember the name of the place but almost every tour group stops here and while the views were indeed amazing and might even make up for the shitty food, you can also just run in and take a picture without eating there.  But we were so hungry that we just went for it.  I don't have any pictures but it's a buffet of bad Indonesian food.  Just bad quality and you could just tell that the food has been sitting out for a while.  The one plus was that they did have condensed milk available with their coffee, which I love.  The total bill was 125,000 Rp per person (or $14) which doesn't seem like much but given that you can get such better food for less, it was definitely overpriced.

Our 2nd dinner was at Bebek Bengil (aka Dirty Duck) (Jl. Hanoman, Padang Tegal) which we had heard was one of the best local restaurants in town and they claim to be the home of the original crispy duck.  So of course I had to get the crispy duck (82,000 Rp).  The duck is 1/2 a bird and served with a bean sprout salad, a side of sauces and white rice.  The duck was a bit on the skinny side and I am usually used to a bigger/meatier duck (a la Peking duck).  In an effort to be healthier, I generally avoid the skin but I just had to try it here and it was indeed crispy and delicious (totally made up for the fact that there wasn't too much meat).  The bean sprout salad had a coconut taste to it which was unusual.  One of the sauces was too smoky for me, but there was a shallot/chili/scallion oil was amazing and super flavorful and spicy.  Loved it.  Aarti and Deanna got a carrot/coriander soup and a mushroom soup and they were both delicious (mostly because they both had tons of cream in it).  Despite being a tourist hot spot, the waitstaff did have some problems with English and the service was generally very slow to the point of irritation.  But a plus is that they also had a free shuttle back to our hotel.

Another great lunch spot we went to was Batan Waru (Dewi Sita Street).  We came here after a long day of art shopping and we were exhausted.  The menu is authentic local eats and I got the Ayam Rica-Rica (72,000 Rp or $8) which was grilled chicken simmered in a chili, shiitake mushroom and coconut milk sauce.  It was extremely delicious and I inhaled the whole thing even though it was a pretty huge portion.  The chicken was super tender and juicy and the sauce had great heat and sweetness to it.  One of my favorite dishes on the trip so far.

 Our last dinner was at Cafe Lotus (Jl. Raya).  The main reason to come here is for the access to Pura Saraswati which is a beautiful temple that has nightly dance performances.  For an extra 80,000 Rp, you can sit in one of the tables that has great views of the dance performance.  If it wasn't for the view, you might be better off trying another place.  I got the crab and shrimp rolls (35,000 Rp) and they tasted like spring rolls that you would get in a bar in the US and I didn't taste any crab or shrimp.  Deanna and Aarti had got the veggie samosa and fried mushrooms and they were also overly fried and tasted like bar quality food.  For my main dish, I got the Tasmanian salmon (88,000 Rp) which was an overcooked/slight dry salmon fillet served with a very heavy mushroom cream sauce and roasted herb potatoes.  It seemed like a very Western dish but hey, I was getting a piece of salmon fillet for $9, so even though it wasn't amazing, in terms of US dollars it was still a great deal.  (It tastes better than how it looks in the photo - I know the cream sauce looks awful in the picture).  Aarti and Deanna shared a vegetarian platter that was huge and apparently pretty good. 

  

Next stop, Gili Islands.....

Totto Ramen Visited 5/14/2012 3 Forks

Totto Ramen 366 W 52nd St., (between 9th Ave & 8th Ave), New York, NY 10019

You'd think with my impending trip to Asia that I would lay off the Asian food, but instead I've had pho, sushi, bimbimbop, and dim sum in the past 4 days.  And now I've rounded off the food tour of Asia with a ramen dinner last night.  My good friend Neera was in town and she was coming from Long Island City, so I wanted to find a place that was easy to get to for all of us.  I ended up picking Totto Ramen since it was close to the E train and easy to get to for all of the dinner guests.

I knew that there would be a line but when I got there at 8:30pm, there was huge crowd that you could see a block away.  They have a self-sign in system and there were about 14 names ahead of us by then.  They also have a policy of only seating max 4 people at once.  There are only 2 tables that seat 4 people and the entire size of the rest of the restaurant is the size of a shoebox, so whatever your party size is, be prepared to wait but if you have 4 people be prepared to wait an especially long time.  In the end, we waited about an hour to get seated.  The inside of the restaurant transported me back to Japan with a very authentic look and feel and an all Japanese staff busily running around and yelling.


The menu has 6 different kinds of ramen, lots of topping options (corn, extra meat, scallion, bean sprout, avocado, egg, seaweed and spicy sesame oil),  and then there are a few specials on the board next to your table.  I chose the Totto Miso Ramen ($10.25) and the spicy tuna don ($6).  I clearly didn't need to order the tuna don but I am a sucker for anything that has raw fish on top of rice.  The tuna don was served with chopped tuna sashimi, onion, scallion, and flying fish roe in chefs special sauce served over rice, cucumber and kombu seaweed.  I didn't really see or taste the fish roe and there was this weird almost rice crispy like ingredient to the dish which definitely added an interesting texture and twist to the dish.  It was a bit hard to mix and eat the rice and sashimi together with chopsticks so that made the overall eating experience was a bit annoying but it was a nice way to start a meal.  Next came the ramen and it was steaming hot.  I literally felt like I was in a spa getting a steam facial.  The ramen was tender and I actually didn't think there was enough noodles in the bowl (although it could have been that I just ate really quickly).  The one thing that looked a bit different from other ramen I've had was this huge scoop of miso and ground pork on top of the noodles.  It kind of looked like pate and that was kind of weird to me and it didn't really taste like anything.  So I didn't really get the point of it.  There were two pieces of pork that looked a bit dry but upon biting into them were soft and tender and very tasty.  The rest of the bowl was served with a hardboiled egg, LOTS of scallion (almost too much), bean sprouts and onion.  While the ramen and broth were both good, I have to say that Ippudo's ramen is better.   It just didn't have the intense flavor and addictive nature of Ippudo's ramen (maybe that's actually better for my health?).  At Ippudo I practically lapped the broth but here, I just ate the noodles and didn't really touch the broth.  It could be because I had the tuna don before and wasn't as hungry.  I would come back here but definitely not if the wait is still an hour plus.  Total bill: $78 total for 4 people, includes 2 beers, 2 appetizers and 4 bowls of ramen.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Woo Lae Oak Visited 5/12/2012 3 Forks

Woo Lae Oak 8240 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22182

Usually when I come home to MD, my eating patterns are super consistent: Pho 75, Tachibana, and dim sum at New Fortune.  That's usually all I have time for when I come home for just a weekend.  But since this weekend was Mother's Day, I figured I would let my mom pick some place different since she was saying how she never really gets to try a lot of new places these days. 


We were originally going to try this Spanish Tapas place but they weren't open for lunch and after hemming and hawing, we did end up back at Tachibana for lunch (still one of the better sushi places I've been to in MD) but for dinner she decided that she wanted Korean food.  She had been to Woo Lae Oak for lunch but never dinner and thought it would be too expensive, but since I was paying I told her it wasn't a big deal.  Strangely enough, Woo Lae Oak was the name of this fancy Korean place that used to be in NYC that I always wanted to try but never did.  I'm not sure if these are related or not, but none the less I was glad to try it.  The inside is definitely fancier than your typical Asian restaurant and the waitstaff is very formal and serious.  The menu consists of the appetizers, Korean BBQ, soup dishes, rice dishes, noodle dishes, and then what they call All Time Favorite entrees.  To be honest, the prices weren't that bad unless you were ordering the BBQ, but that's expected when you order BBQ at any Korean place (or at least the places I've been to).   We thought that BBQ would be too much for 2 people, so we ordered the Haemul Pajeon (seafood and scallion pancake -$10), the Soon Tofu Jigae (tofu stew with seafood - $13) and the seafood bimbimbop ($16).  

The small order of pancake (you can order the larger one for $15) had 4 pieces which was perfect for us.  I usually find these pancakes very greasy and oily but this one was strangely not so.  I did fine the batter a little bit too thick and would have preferred it to be a bit crispier.  The inside had scallion, oyster, squid and shrimp, but to be honest I didn't really see or taste most of them. I know they were in there but it wasn't like they were prominently featured in the pancake.  Next came the tofu stew and bimbimbop.  I started with the tofu stew which was basically super soft silky tofu with spices and the same seafood combination that was in the pancake.  At least here, I definitely could tell that there was scallop and there were 2 medium sized tiger shrimp with the shells on.  While I liked the dish, it did look like something I could probably make myself.  Even though the dish was not huge, served with white rice, I was pretty full by the end of it.  I forced myself to eat 2 spoonfuls of the bimbimbop.  Of course this one had seafood in it too (clearly my mom and I are cut from the same cloth).  I did notice that I didn't see a fried egg on this which was a bit disappointing because that's the best part of bimbimbop but when I thought about it, it might have been weird with the seafood.  The two bites I had were pretty good, the chili paste had flavor and heat but was still sweet.  There was lots of pickled veggies and kimchi in it which just added to the intense flavors of the dish.  I really wish I had more room for it so that I could give it a better assessment.  Even though we were full, since it was a "holiday" we did order dessert as well.  I will still stand by the fact that I don't think Asian dessert are good.  Their dessert menu was clearly more Westernized, which was totally fine by me.  We ordered the blood orange mousse cake ($8).  It was a very light orange mousse with a layer of almost orange rinds (I don't think that's what they were but it was almost a tough/hard layer of orange that wasn't the fleshy part) and light vanilla cake.  It was totally fine and I loved the fact that it was super super light but again, it wasn't anything to write home about.    


The one huge disappointment of this restaurant was the service.  Our waitress never checked on us after she took our order and I constantly had to ask for a re-fill of water.  By the time we wanted to order dessert, we had to flag down a hostess to help place the order and to get our bimbimbop boxed up (and when I say boxed up, they had you a container for you to box yourself).  I don't always like waitstaff that is too attentive, but you should come by at least once or twice to ask if there's anything else we want, especially if you notice that we have finished our main meal.  I'm glad I tried a new place in MD and I would come back here again but I wouldn't say that it gets a spot on the permanent rotation. Total bill: $59 with tax and tip. 

Note, I know I'm listing this under MD when it's really in VA, but I'm just too lazy to create a new tag. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

Kimchi Taco Truck Visited 5/7/2012 4 Forks

Kimchi Taco Truck

With the World Financial Center undergoing massive changes, there is seriously a lack food options (not that they were great to begin with) in the building.  So it was a seriously welcomed change when they brought together a bunch of different food trucks during lunch time starting this spring.  The line-up changes everyday but I had only been going to the Taim truck because I love their food there so much.  But Allison and I figured that it was time to try something different today.   I had seen the Kimchi Taco truck there but I had an allegiance to Korilla and wasn't sure if it would be as good.  But I figured it was worth a try.

On Monday's the popularity contest is usually between the Taim and Kimchi Taco truck.  Today was no different.  Luckily, we got there relatively early (11:45AM) so the line was still bearable.  Any time after noon, expect to wait at least 20 minutes for your food.  I took a peek in the truck and was a bit concerned that there wasn't a single Asian person working the truck.  Now don't get me wrong, that by no means guarantees that the food is good or authentic but kimchi is a pretty specific type of Asian food that isn't seen in many places outside of traditional Korean restaurants and takes a serious cook to know what they are doing.  The menu is a mix of tacos, kimchi bowl, kim cheesesteak (with Cheez Whiz!) and a few sides.  I opted for the kimchi bowl with multigrain rice and Korean BBQ short rib ($8).   This was pretty much a burrito bowl served with lettuce, fresh kimchi, pico de gallo, pickled daikon, green onion and lots of short rib.  I was impressed with the quantity of food and the quality wasn't bad either.  The multigrain rice was unique.  I can't quite explain what the rice was but I've actually bought it before in Asian supermarkets.  It's got a thicker texture and it's purple and has other grains in it.  It's super healthy and much heartier than regular brown rice.  The kimchi was fresh and had strong flavors although it could have used a bit more cabbage.  I did ask for it medium spicy but to be honest it wasn't spicy at all so that was a bit disappointing.  The short rib was tender and you could definitely taste the marinate that it was soaking in.   This was a great cafeteria alternative and I would definitely come back to try the other proteins they offered: spicy seared pork, spicy pulled chicken, and tofu edamame falafel.  However,  Korilla is better and more authentic tasting and their sauces are definitely what sets them apart of Kimchi Taco.  But since they are not an option, I will still gladly choose Kimchi Taco over a turkey burger from the cafeteria any day of the week.

Photo Credit: Yelp    

Eatery Visited 5/5/2012 2.5 Forks

Eatery 798 9th Ave., (between 52nd St & 53rd St), New York, NY 10019

I know it's been a while since I've written here since I've been trying to be good with my food budget recently.  So I wished my first entry in two weeks could be a great one.  This is just eh. 

I often get asked "where should I go to eat?" and I usually have a few good suggestions.  But I realize that most of my suggestions are downtown or in Brooklyn.  So when my friend from high school asked for a suggestion of a nice-ish place in Hell's Kitchen I was actually stumped.  I know a few divey good Thai places like Pam's Real Thai, Wodee Siam, or Pure Thai Shophouse.  But that's all I got in that area.  Unfortunately we were supposed to have dinner at Print in the Ink48 Hotel but they screwed up our reservation so we were left walking around 9th Ave looking for a place to eat at 9pm on Saturday.  Somehow we ended up at Eatery which looked nice enough from the outside. 

From the outside I assumed that the menu would be all-American, it pretty much was with lots of salads, pasta and burgers.  But then it also had this weird Pan-Asian and Mexican vibe to it with dumplings, tofu stir-fry, and quesadillas.  Weird right? It's generally not a great sign when a restaurant has got an identity crisis.  In honor of Cino de Mayo they were offering a Mahi Mahi special with tostadas and a chipotle cream.  The waiter was raving about it so I decided go for it.  My friend got the quesadilla and the fish tacos while his friend got the burger.  Instead of bread, they offer you these Asian-like shrimp chips with sesame seeds.  It was actually pretty good and a nice alternative to bread.  The quesadilla came out first and was also pretty decent.  Nothing spectacular but the tortilla was nice and soft and the grilled chicken was juicy.  While I wasn't expecting the Mahi Mahi dish to be a real homage to Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be more "Mexican".  Instead it was a decently cooked piece of fish on top of essentially what was a bunch of corn chips, lettuce and tomato.  The chipotle cream didn't have a lot of flavor to it and I would have preferred actual sour cream.  The dish was fine, it just seemed like something I probably could have made myself.  There wasn't a whole lot of finesse to the dish.   I took a look at my friend's fish tacos they also seemed to lack any real sophistication to it.  I'm not saying my food has to be fancy but it should at least look like something I can't re-create so easily at home.  When the waiter came around to offer dessert, we got convinced by his raving description of the fruit tart (I really need to learn that it's a waiter's job to convince people to order stuff they may not want).  The tart also wasn't very impressive.  The fruit it in was actually fresh and big but the custard in it was way too sweet.      


All in all, I wasn't super impressed with The Eatery food-wise.  But the decor is nicer than your usual Hell's Kitchen dive and the waitstaff was sweet.  Next time I'm in Hell's Kitchen I"ll probably still stick to the Thai hole in the walls.  Total price: $43/pp with tax, tip and cocktails. 

Photo Credit: Yelp