Avoid Noodle 32 at Food Gallery 32

If you want noodles, make sure to avoid Noodle 32 at K-town's Food Gallery 32.

Noodles are like ...the least expensive food you can get. But why pay $6-$9 for something that has low to mediocre quality?

I ordered #2, Dduk Ramen, it's ramen with eggs and rice cake ($6). The strangest thing is...where is the rice cake in my noodles? They used legit instant noodles ramen, not the expected Japanese ramen >_>

Also, the dish was MICROWAVED. Poor quality.

Rating: 2/5
Location: 11 West 32nd Street  New York, NY 10011

Go Go Curry Home Run Special

Home Run Special

Grand Slam

Fancy for some Japanese curry? Try Go Go Curry's Home Run special!

This is a special US menu, cost around $10. It's a mini version of Go Go Curry's grand slam: 1 katsu of your choice, 1 sausage, 1 shrimp tempura, an egg, all over a walk portion of rice.

Go Go's fried chicken and pork is never disappointing: crispy and juicy inside! It could be a little greasy for some people. You can pay $1 or $2 for add-ons like natto beans (smelly sticky beans) or cheese.

Don't be scared by the dark brown colored curry. It's very yummy! It's braised from pork and other ingredients. So flavorful.

Location: 273 West 38th Street  Manhattan, NY 10018
Rating: 4/5, delicious!

Dunkin' Donuts OREO Crumble Donut

Who loves OREO!?

Dunkin Donuts added a new OREO theme menu recently for the cookie's 100th birthday. The OREO donuts and OREO Coolatta.

I popped into a DD to grab a OREO crumble donut. It has sprinkled cookie crumbs on top, and creme fillings.

It was quite disappointing, because there was so little creme filling inside. You can tell from the picture. I didn't get to the filling til I was 75% done with the donut.

Best: Salted Egg Yolk Bun/Lau Sa Bao 流沙包

Dim Sum has an important part in Cantonese cuisine. Among all the steamed buns they served, "Lau Sa Bao" is definitely the BEST.

This type of bun has MANY English names: Salted Egg Yolk Bun, Golden Flowing Sand Bun, Salty Egg Custard Bun, etc. Flowing sand bun is the direct translation from the Chinese name 流沙包.

What's inside the bun?
Creamy egg yolk custard! You have to eat the bun shortly after you take it out of steamer. Recommended serving it hot.

Where to find it?

Chinese supermarkets. Especially this brand in the blog post. It's from one of the famous Guangzhou/Canton restaurant. Don't over steam!

Price: ~$3-5, 9 pieces inside
Rating: 5/5, the bun is sooooo yummy!

Smoothie in Tous Le Jours: Too Expensive

After Koryodang in Koreantown is closed, Tous Le Jours, another Korean bakery with a French name quickly replaced the K-town hotspot.

The decor is very different than Paris Baguette. It gives off a traditional bakery feeling, where the theme color is brown. It's no different than the one in Edison, NJ, yet it's bigger, and the seating area is FREE OF CHARGE, unlike Koryodang before.

The baked goods and dessert are awfully similar to Paris Baguette, but slightly pricier though. The drinks are sort of different, where they are promoting a squash smoothie now. They also serve shaved ice (of course), in about 4 different flavors (around $12 also).

Low quality drinks cost so much?

I ordered Lemon Jelly Smoothie and Peach Mango Jelly Smoothie (20 oz). Don't be fooled, it's NOT A SMOOTHIE. I repeat, NOT A SMOOTHIE. It's basically...a slushie with flavored bubbles underneath. Here are the reasons why they are bad:

1. Trick customers with names

Jelly? It's actually flavored bubble pops. Smoothie? It's actually a slushie.

2. Regular flavors yet the drink is $6 after tax

I can get the same quality in a cheaper bakery. No joke.

3. No bubble straw to suck up the bubbles

They really expect people to suck up the bubble pops with a regular straw? I needed to get a spoon to scoop up the orange pops. But on Yelp I saw they offered the bubble straw...what happened?

The good:

The peach mango smoothie tasted very tropical, good combination with the gluey sweet bubbles. Lemon one is just lemonade to me.

I really wouldn't recommend ordering drinks here. Yet definitely try their baked goods, they're decent like Paris Baguette.

Location: 31 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10001
Rating: 3/5

Paris Baguette: One of the Best Asian Bakeries

Most people would think Paris Baguette is a French bakery at first, but haha they are fooled.

This Asian bakery is actually run by Koreans, with more than 20 stores opened in the United States. Don't get fooled by "Asian", the decor and bakery items are very modern and westernized. There is one in Koreantown (of course). Even though it's a tiny one, everyday the store is packed with customers with different ethnics, you see how popular they are.

On the left side you often see prepacked bakery items, like garlic pretzel, bread, bread loafs etc, then sticky rice doughnut and croquet. On the right hand side you would see a lot more baked goods: seasonal fruit pastries, tarts, cheese/sweet potato/pineapple/apple/pumpkin pastry, cheese dome, ...etc.

Then there are the cakes! All look so cute and fabulous...also expensive x.x ($20-$40). Tiny ones are $5-7

Paris Baguette also sell seasonal drinks. I had a tropical bubble slush one time and it was delicious; BUT DEFINITELY NOT THE PRICE! (~$5-6). The sesame latte was ripped off: it was like the sesame drink pack from supermarket mixed with milk---doesn't cost $5 at all, so skip it.

The trending summer treat is definitely the shaved ice. But it's just ice, doesn't need to cost $12. You could just make it at home.

Location: 6 W. 32nd St. New York, NY 10001
Rating: 4/5 for bakery goods, 2.5/5 for drinks

Meat Sandwich/Panini at Eataly

Eataly is the Italian and fancier version of the Chelsea Market.

I was hungry, bored. So I went to this market with a friend to enjoy some meat sandwiches. When you first walk in, expect to see crowds EVERYWHERE. There is always a long line at the panini shop (at the 23rd street entry). They're currently selling a few seasonal/regional special, and I got this spicy pork and cheese panini, almost $10 with tax.

Spicy pork = salami. The cheese was tender and milky, perfect to be inside a sizzling hot panini. Even though the panini is previously to save time, it still tasted very fresh after it's been grilled.

Then I digged in deeper into the market, and to the right was another sandwich/meat shop. The meat they sell makes you drool---smell too good. We ordered a meat sandwich (~$11). The meat slices were tender, juicy, definitely a meaty sandwich, and way better than a Philly cheesesteak.

This Flatiron market is full of Italian delicious foods and it's definitely one of the places to shop if you're cooking a Italian dinner. Lunch-wise...$10 is probably too much for a sandwich. But it's always good to switch it up, can't always have Subway ;)

Location: 200 5th Avenue  New York, NY 10010
Rating: 4/5

E-Mo Sells Traditional Kimbap (Korean Sushi)

You can always get your sushi within 5 blocks. But not traditional Korean sushi/kimbap like the ones served at Koreantown's E-Mo.

E-Mo really is just a take-out store. You walk into this tiny store, and order the type of kimbap you desire (from regular bulgogi, to sausage, tuna, cheese, etc), then the chef would roll the sushi right away. Price range is totally acceptable. Free miso soup is included.

What makes E-Mo's kimbap "traditional" is that they always include carrots, pickled radish, and SPINACH. The spinach (I think it's spinach...) creates this "weird smell" when you first open the box. Not everyone can tolerate it I'd say. It's definitely a rare ingredient, yet traditional, to put in since most Americanized kimbaps usually have avocados inside instead.

Not to mention, the rice is perfectly seasoned, with sesame oil too.

Location: 2 W 32nd St, New York 10001 (Btwn 5th Ave & Broadway)
Rating: 4/5, totally recommended

Rice to Riches: Rice Pudding, Not Only For Rich People

Yes, you can make a fortune with rice pudding. Just look at Rice to Riches.

The place has its sense of humor. It serves really rich rice pudding, in more than 20 flavors and 10 different toppings, and each flavor and toppings have creative names, like "I Gotta the Panna cotta," Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug," "Sex Drugs And Rocky Road,"---yeah would you like try some sex drugs?

The pudding is served in different bright colors of bowl. A 6oz costs $4, 8oz $6.75, 12oz $8.50. If you want 3 different flavors, the 18oz one costs $12.50. The serving size that serves 10 people costs $40.

Location: 37 Spring ST, New York 10012
Rating: a tengrade of 6.5/10, recommended

Maruko Sushi & Tea: Fast Sushi Takeout

There are lots of Japanese foods in NYC and in the country. But actually not much easy quick takeouts in Chelsea. If you like your Japanese food right away, you might like Maruko.

Maruko Sushi & Tea originates from Flushing, Queens (I believe), where lots of Asians particularly Chinese and Taiwanese (I'm sure) live. The store gives me a Chinese-feeling---the staff talk among themselves in Chinese.

They offer regular sushi rolls, one single piece sushi, bento boxes (chicken, salmon, and eel), desserts like daifuku, and of course, bubble tea!

The sushi are....just ok. Bento boxes are better in value ($8-10 plus tax). Not to be cheap but the salmon piece is very tiny...also they give you small pieces of eel. You definitely need to heat up the food because they've been sitting in the fridge.

Their bubble tea and tea drinks are pretty decent. Regular size is $3.50 and now they're doing a promotion for regular bubble tea---any size only $3.00!

Location: 21st ST, between 6th and 7th AVE (near 7th AVE)
Rating: 3.5/5, ok for a take-out place

Koreantown's Koryodang is Closed

One of Manhattan K-town's Korean bakeries, Koryodang is officially closed. To me, it's finally closed.

Why?

I went there on March 20, 2011 and rated on Yelp immediately--2 stars. Then went back again (friend's diligent request), and still didn't change my mind about the bakery.

The pastries are ok. You can get better things at Paris Baguette, which I think it's the best bakery in K-town. The worst thing about Koryodang is that you are REQUIRED to pay an expensive beverage if you wanna sit at the tables. Everything all adds up and it's crazy---"Can someone tell me why this mediocre bakery is so expensive?" (Brian on Yelp)

In addition, their drink quality is not good either. Fellow Yelpers agreed with me:

"...get served fake-ass, powdered, watered-down bubble tea in a glass FULL of ice and artificial flavors." --- Leslie

"My friend ordered his [drink] without ice and they gave him ice." --- Jessica

"You can replicate the bubble tea that Koryodang sells by going to Staples...it's that chalky and artificial tasting." --- Jason

Another Korean bakery Tous les Jours is opening at Koryodang's location.

GL

NEW Burger King Sweet Potato Fries

Saw the Burger King promo of their NEW sweet potato fries, I couldn't resist and walked inside after I've walked out of Popeyes.

I got a small for $1.89. The promo pic always looks mouth-drooling. But in reality...just so-so. Not every piece was fried properly, so some fries were saggy and not crispy.

Rating: 2.5/5, not really recommended