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