Restaurant Review: Mister Hotpot

Last week, I finally had the opportunity to use a Groupon that I had purchased to Mister Hotpot in Sunset Park.  Not too many pics were taken as I was too busy eating the deliciously fresh food that we've selected, so I apologize!  I absolutely love hotpot, so I was really excited to try this new joint out.  I walked out with a very satisfied tummy, but very empty wallet ... even with a $30 Groupon!

Lets start out with the Pros.  The food was indeed really fresh.  They also had a huge selection of balls to choose from, one of which I loooooved: the fish roe ball.  A must try if you ever stop by!  I also loved the herbal soup base.  We ordered some udon noodles (which was fresh and elastic btw) and every bite tasted like herbal soup.  It was delish!  Nom, nom, nom.  Each selection also came out in a really fancy dish, so I have to give presentation an A.  Service was great & attentive and the decor was nice, which made the stay even more enjoyable.

And now for the Cons.  We made a reservation for 7pm on a Saturday night and the place was packed.  There were 4 to 5 other parties waiting to be seated, and we all waited over half an hour for  a table.  It doesn't help that the restaurant is situated on 8th ave, on one of the busiest streets in Sunset Park with pollution and huge crowds.  We all had to wait outside the restaurant while salivating and staring into the window at all the other customers eating.  A few parties got so fed up, they decided to stop waiting and eat at a different restaurant =(.  

Another con is I was CONNED!  I pointed out that I wanted shrimp, which was $6 on the regular menu, but the waitress, who was just doing her job (and doing it well apparently), asked me if I wanted fresh shrimp.  Thinking that it was the same price, I said sure ... and it came out to be $15 for a handful of shrimp!  I can't blame it on anybody but myself, for being foolish, but I would appreciate it if she informed me that fresh shrimp came from the special menu, which wasn't the menu I was looking at.

Lastly, the broth base itself starts off at $15 (or more depending on your soup selection)!!  So on top of everything you plan to order is this $15, which can really do damage to your wallet.  

Needless to say, the meal was absolutely fab, but I walked out paying $15 for shrimp that I regretted ordering cause I was getting annoyed with peeling the shell off anyway, plus $15 for soup that I didn't know about till I received my check.  Besides the wait and the pricey meal, it was a gratifying dinner.  I'll visit again when I'm up for spending some money.

Pork bone and herbal soups

Oysters, tripe, fish roe balls, cuttlefish balls, Fujianese fish balls, Beef .... just some of the stuff we ordered

Restaurant Review: Ritz Cafe

After prolonging my visit to Ritz Cafe for a couple of years, I finally decided to give it a shot.  The "A" on their window assured me that it wouldn't be that bad of an experience.  I wouldn't give it an "A" for their food, but it was pleasant and worth another visit.

The main reason why the restaurant was appealing to me at first was its Hong Kong style dishes.  HK style may be a bit ambiguous to some  people, but to me, HK style cuisine is simply a conglomeration of Chinese and Western menu items.  Something as simple as having a cup of milk tea with a ham and egg sandwich can tempt you into a restaurant like this.  They serve rice noodles, congee and typical Chinese dishes, but you can also find items such as baked pasta or spaghetti with Chinese toppings.

Despite that, we opted for Chinese dishes, but I am more than willing to try some of their HK style menu items next time.

We started off with a Chicken satay.  It was more on the greasy side, as it was oozing with grease rather than the lighter grilled chicken satay, but it was still tasty.

The beef stew rice noodle casserole was probably our favorite.  Rice noodles were soft and the beef stew was tender and flavorful.  It was also a generous portion with a good amount of one of my faves, daikon radish.

I wasn't feeling too well that day, so I opted for a lighter seafood noodle soup.  Unfortunately, it was too light ... just bland.  The broth had no flavor whatsoever, so I had to add white pepper ... a lot of white pepper.

My bf had the Singapore rice noodle, which was okay.  The chicken in the stirfry tasted a bit off to him, but it was a good enough dish.

Overall, I'd give the food a 7.5 out of 10.  Service was good, other than our waiter mixing up one of our orders.  The decor was plain but the good part was: we caught up with our Olympics on their flat screen TV.

Worth another visit.  Next time, I will go for the HK style items.

Restaurant Review: Polonica

I've been wanting to try Polish food for a while now.  I've heard many raves about it, but never understood why because photos I've seen of the cuisine never defined what "good food" meant to me.  I finally discovered the reason behind this after having dinner at Polonica Restaurant in Bay Ridge, a boutique restaurant with one waiter and a little more than a handful of tables.

We walked in and waited a couple of minutes to be seated because there was only 1 wait staff in the entire restaurant, which was probably more than enough given the size of the restaurant, but a bit understaffed if all tables were full on a busy night.  It also took a while for us to finally get some water on our table, which was greatly needed at the time because it was a humid night and the restaurant wasn't too air-conditioned.  Nonetheless, these issues didn't bother my boyfriend and I because we're not demanding and we understood the circumstances.  All we cared about was the food!

Now for the food!  I have to say, Polish food probably isn't the most aesthetically appealing food to eat.  I don't often use shapes to describe food, but other than the lack of color in their dishes, odd shapes and the lack of garnishments also played a major role in its unattractiveness.  However, it was something different for our taste-buds and the unique combinations & cooking styles definitely make the cuisine note-worthy.  

For appetizers, we ordered the mushroom pierogi and Polish kielbasa.  Again, they're not photogenic but they were pretty tasty!  The pierogis, or Polish dumplings, were filled with potato and mushrooms and accompanied by some sour cream.  It was a unique combination and unlike the usual Chinese dumplings that we order out or make at home.

Couldn't stop cracking up after taking this pic ... but it was good!

This is one of those days when you want to kick yourselves for trying to be "health conscious" and go for boiled instead of fried.  I think the sausage (kielbasa) would've been more appealing to look at if it was fried, but what can we do.  We ordered the boiled one and ... well ... you can see for yourselves in the pic above.  LOL.  Don't be fooled by the pic though, it was homemade and actually quite good sided with the mustard.

For the entrees, we ordered the Hungarian pancake with meat (recommended by my boyfriend's Polish coworker) as well as the stuffed cabbage.  The pancake resembled a big hash brown, which excited my "healthy" bf lol.  He liked it so much he ate nearly 2/3 of one before trying anything else, and was full by then.  The smart one on the other hand (no need to mention names ... LOL) had 1/3 only and had room to taste AND enjoy the other dishes.  The stuffed cabbage resembled a healthier version of a burrito.  It was filled with pork and rice and topped with a tomato based sauce.

 

One of my favorite dishes of the night was this side salad for every party.  It was sooooooooo appetizing!  When they placed it on my table, all I thought of was Korean banchap, except it was yummier!   The red cabbage and carrots were picked and the beets were just delish!  Coleslaw and sauerkraut I've had before so I kind of just pushed them to the side, but oh-em-gee the carrots, red cabbage and beets were uh-mazing!

There you have it, our first Polish meal.  We cleaned our plates into our expanded stomaches.

The Rise of Fall

I refuse to accept that summer is officially over :( Sadly, it is!  And I will be spending the next 3 months doing my favorite Fall activity: stepping on crunchy leaves.  Whomp whomp! Fortunately, summer wasn't a complete waste despite spending a whole month doing nothing but studying (I passed the test by the way!!).  I went on a cruise with the wonderful Royal Caribbean cruise line to San Juan and St. Maarten.  I am a loyal Royal customer and love, love cruising!  It is the best vacation package you can ask for: amenities, people from all over the world, sun on the deck, pools, rock climbing, fabulous shows, ice skating, so on and so on, all in one huge ship!  The best part was obviously the GOOD FOOD!  Breakfast, lunch, dinner AND 24/7 snacks, all readily prepared for you.  This was my fourth time cruising and I've never been disappointed.  See for yourself!

Steak

Pear Tart

Lamb Shank

Chocolate Souffle

Creme Brulee

Escargot

And ofcourse ... there's gotta be Racks of Lamb on Rack of Lam right?!!

Cruises are truly fantastical.  Our meals were cooked to utter perfection and the service that we received was flawless.  There's so many activities on the ship and excursions off the ship to counterbalance all the food you eat.  I still come home chubbier than when I left, but it's so worth it!

Goodbye summer!  You will be remembered and I can't wait to see you again!  Hasta luego!!

Pizza? No, Pisa!

How often do people eat pizza?  Better yet, how often do New Yorkers eat pizza?  Frequently I suppose, since the good old "New Yawk Pizza" originated from this city.

Pizza parlors are scattered all over New York.  It leaves me wondering whether there are more pizza parlors than Starbucks, which seem to appear once every three blocks or so!  Has eating pizza become habitual as coffee has become addicting?  Hm!  Well, all I know is while there are those who eat pizza on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, eating pizza is a rare thing for me, but I  DO have occasional cravings for a good pizza!  My most recent craving brought me not one, but two pizzas!

So I offered him ONE bite & this is what he leaves me with

Out of the blue one day, on a train ride back home, I had a huge craving for pizza.  Thoughts came running through my head of good tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese, and the perfect last crunch of a pizza crust.  Pizza deprivation is a serious matter, kids!  So my feet walked me to a local pizza parlor to order a New Yawk Pizza and some garlic knots, all for $2.50 + tax.  I felt no guilt at all.  Nothing better than a cheap craving satisfaction and a full tummy! 

Unknowingly, I get home to find out that my beau has arrived home before me.  I wasn't going to give him my pizza, I only had 1 slice!

A couple of nights later, he comes home with a BOX for me.  Very aware of what a big fat foodie I am, what else would he fill a box with, really?  Lol.  Although I'd wish the box was 100x smaller and contain something that could possibly BLIND me, the huge box that contained a whiff of pizza was acceptable, for now.  He brought me some pizza from Adrienne's Pizzabar, which was a lot more upscale than my New Yawk Pizza.  Thin crust and topped with prosciutto, basil leaves and tomato, his pizza brought me back to Italy.  Oh, the days back in Florence, Rome and Venice ... the visit at the Tower of Pisa ...

Speaking of Pisa, Italy had the most amazing, authentic, thin crust pizza.  Here is a pic of us in Italy, with a huge a** pizza:

Pizza craving?  CHECK!

Why My Thai?

I gotta feeling ... that tonight's gonna be a good night!  That's tonight's gonna be a good, good night!

Tonight was the perfect night to dine out.  The weather's been fluctuating for the past week, so it was nice to see the sun again and feel the summer heat.  My beau and I decided to take advantage of the weather as well as a gift certificate that I had purchased a while ago to My Thai, located at 78th and 3rd Ave in Brooklyn.  It was a pleasant experience - great service, delightful ambiance and yummy food!

We started off with a dish of beef satay as appetizer.  The beef was tender and perfectly marinated.  It came with 2 dipping sauces, one that was vinegar based and another that tasted like a combination of peanut butter and sweet chili sauce.  They were both delicious but I preferred the latter whereas my beau liked the lighter one.  That goes to show you that fatter people tend to go for food and sauces that are much stronger in flavor ... lol.  The way I look at it is... we know what good food tastes like and they don't!

I thought the heart-shaped brown rice was so cute.  Normally you would see white rice as an upside-down round bowl, particularly in Chinese restaurants, so I thought this was pretty creative and a unique spin to the usual.  What girl doesn't like seeing a heart?  I'll admit it, I did the whole "Aww" thing when the dish came out, lol!

Unfortunately, my heart had to be broken when the main dishes came out.  It also started oozing with blood!  No, more like I drizzled a lot of flavorful sauce on it!!

We paired our rice with a specialty of theirs, Mango Chicken, apparently a very popular choice amongst the customers.  It was basically a sweet and sour chicken, mango and bell pepper stir-fry plated on mango skin.  It was delish!  Not only was it sweet and sour, there was a hint of spicy, which wasn't too overpowering ... just perfect for a weakling like me.

Ofcourse, we also had to order a curry dish, so we went with a "medium spicy" red curry seafood platter.  Although I normally prefer Indian or even Malaysian curry over Thai curry, I don't mind its coconuttiness.  It gives the curry a great aroma and sweetness, which is preferable over the overly spicy types once in a while.  This one was still a tad too spicy for me because I have a weak tolerance ... so you can imagine how empty I kept my glass of water.

Meal must've been good ... we ate EVERYTHING!

AND we had room for some green tea ice cream!

*burp

Hearty Breakfast

What's your favorite breakfast? A platter of over easy eggs with bacon, home fries and toast like my younger brother likes his? Blueberry pancakes? Lego my Eggo waffles? Cereal with cold milk? It's interesting to see how many different breakfast items we've all come to enjoy and how breakfast varies with different cultures. There's the toasted Cuban bread with cafe con leche, the French's quiche and the to-die-for buttery croissants and ofcourse, the Chinese's dim sum!

I know I've previously suggested not to translate Chinese phrases/words literally, but in the case of "dim sum," it is okay! Dim sum means "touch heart." I presume that its aesthetic beauty and delectable tastes is what gave it its name. It surely touched my heart after I had it for breakfast this morning!

The one and only con of having dim sum at a Chinese restaurant is being seated with other customers. I personally don't mind this because I can easily ignore them and am almost always distracted by food anyway, but on days when you are easily irked or want a private space to you and your beau, having your own table is clearly preferable. I didn't have that luck today as I had to sit with 3 other strangers on the same table, but fortunately, I was in a good mood! They probably thought I was crazy though, snapping pictures of everything rather than digging in! I say, they should be glad I wasn't snapping photos of their food!

The meal typically begins with tea: Jasmine or Chrysanthemum. I've always been a big fan of chrysanthemum tea, especially sweetened ones ... so that was the choice! Dim sum without tea certainly feels incomplete ... after all, you gotta have sum tea when you go "yum cha"- drink tea.

Then we were off to selecting our dim sum! Where are the damn carts? Ha churng, gnau churng, ha gau, siu mai, see joke guen, jun ju gai! Give us everything you've got! Yeah, that's pretty much how chaotic it gets, but that's the fun in having dim sum. There's customers who have 1 or 2 bamboo steamers on their tables, chatting away and forgetting to eat. There's also customers with giraffe necks and owl eyes attempting to spot the closest cart around. Upon spotting one, they manifest their hunger with their loud squawks, which you can hear from across the room. Ok, ok, I'm getting a little imaginative, but that's having dim sum in my own perspective! lol

Well, here are a few items that I have to order EVERYTIME because they are just so darn delicious, with the exception of the item pictured last, a dim sum I tried today for the first time. Chinese restaurants get creative with their dim sum, mixing and matching different ingredients into dumplings. This one was filled with chives and shrimp and topped with a goji berry, such a cute presentation.

So the next time you find yourself contemplating what breakfast to have, drop your french toast, bagel, muffin, or whatever else on your mind. Go for a round of dim sum. Start your morning with a cup of tea instead of coffee. Have a hot bowl of Chinese porridge instead of oatmeal. Replace your eggs and toast with dumplings, some rich in protein and low in carbohydrates, others as carby as you'd like em!

As loud and crowded and crazy as it'll get in the restaurant, I'll be sure that the dim sum will dim your sum

J. King Seafood Plaza
618 62nd Street,
Brooklyn, NY

Food and Family ... the Perfect Combo

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had Friday off [because I have very cool bosses]. So I spent some quality t-i-m-e in Manhattan's Chinatown with my sister. We tried out a Vietnamese restaurant for the first time, Tu Do, located at 102 Bowery St. We stepped in fearing for the worst, but hoping for the best. It was about 1:45pm with only 2 tables seated with customers, so we were quite hesitant to walk through the door, but we figured that we should give it a chance and establish our thoughts after the meal. Luckily about 10 minutes upon placing our order, customers started to show up and we let out a sigh of relief! I guess people who work around the area take a later lunch?


So we started off with a shrimp summer roll for appetizer. It's always refreshing to begin a meal with a light and cool little snack, especially on a hot summer day! We each ordered a beef pho as well, and boy was it a ginormous bowl! It was quite the deal as they didn't skimp on the beef nor the noodles. It was so big that I had to take the rest of it to go. One may disagree with me however, as my sister finished hers entirely!


Pho is one of my favorite comfort foods. Don't underestimate this broth! It is comprised of so many ingredients, that even Top Chefs may not be able to identify some of the subtle flavors at a round of the Tasting Challenge. The noodle soup is so soothing to the stomach, I suppose it is a popular item on winter days. Nonetheless, the richness in flavor also makes it an irresistible option on hotter days! I also suggest adding a little kick to the beef and tripe with a touch of hot sauce mixed with hoisin sauce. Garnished with basil leaves, lime, scallions, onions and bean sprouts, pho is one of my all time favorites 'pho sure!

Case of the Mondays ...

So it is Monday, yet again. As with most people, I hate Mondays with a passion! One of the most unpleasant feelings occurs when Sunday night approaches and the length of your weekend comes hastily to its end. Though you should be using the last few hours of Sunday wisely, to your dismay, thoughts and pictures of yourself sitting before your stationary desk at work come gushing into your brain. No matter how fun-filled your weekend might've been, it ends on that horrible note! Now wouldn't it be nice if weekends were extended? Or even better, to have every Wednesdays off? I've been a long-time supporter of working Mon-Tues, taking a day break in the middle of the week, then working Thurs-Fri, and taking another 2-day break. Breaks are lovely! You'll be replenished the next day ... and it'll be a productive day! I say it should be federally mandated! Yay or nay?!

On a brighter note, on Sunday, before those irksome thoughts of work came haunting me ... I had my weekly fix of Vietnamese Sandwich, or Bánh mì! This sandwich is by far the best sandwich that's ever existed. Made with plain & simple ingredients such as pickled carrots and daikon, cucumbers, cilantro, grilled pork, mayo and cold cuts ... all resting on a toasty French baguette, this sandwich proves that some plain things in life can get a little addicting!

Believe it or not, I've actually attempted to make my own Bánh mì before, straight from scratch, yes including the French baguette itself!
Fine, I cheated just a teeny bit by using roast pork rather than marinating and grilling my own pork (I've seen the recipe!!). Well, to make a long story short, my homemade version of the sandwich was an utter embarrassment... not only to the Bánh mì itself... but to my culinary skills as well!

Now for the wandering minds, my favorite spots to purchase Bánh mì are the following, in no particular order (Well... maybe I do prefer one over the others. I'll disclose it someday! )
Thanh Da - Brooklyn, NY
Ba Xuyen - Brooklyn, NY
Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli - New York, NY