Semi-documented post - Freemand and Jade Island

Thanks to Norie (again!), JD and I were able to experience that very NYC tradition, Sunday brunch :) 

This time, we headed downtown to Lower East Side to a place called Freemans. The address says Rivington Street but thats only the entrance to the alley (Freeman Alley) which you than walk down to the resto. Not exactly the location where you would expect a resto but there it was and it was heaving with people also!

Apologies for no pics cos again, there was a friend gathering which was so much fun - yummy food (mostly American stuff) and great company, it was just a shame that we didn't get the chance to meet up more often as our group of 8 - I guess thats what happens when everyone leads such hectic lifestyles so these moments are to cherished :)

We then spent the rest of the day with my other good friend J and her bro hanging out in Central Park, (including checking out a food truck which sold waffles!!) before heading out to her part of the city and having dinner at her dad's workplace - you may recognise it as this place (hint. one of the very few tiki lounges left in NYC)! Very interesting to be able to experience "Chinese food for Westerners American style"! :)

Loving the cycling caps - gaufres and cycling, quintessentially Belgian! :) 

Haha! Pineapple surprise :)

The equivalent of our prawn crackers - deep fried spring roll wrappers served with plum sauce and Chinese horseradish

Mixed starter - very meat oriented including chicken wings, chicken strips and spare ribs. Not as many sauces compared to their European counterparts.

Kung Po chicken - peanuts instead of cashews :)

Fried chicken vermicelli - we tend to use egg noodles for chow mein :) 

Fish fragrant aubergine - the US use the long, thin purple aubergine as opposed to the fatter, blacker ones we have. The purple one are definitely tastier and more tender.

Fillet of beef (or filet mignon) with veggies

Keens Steakhouse

I first heard about Keens from an episode of "No Reservations" a few years back. The food looked so tempting that JD took his bros and dad there when they were over in NYC for a stag weekend and it did not disappoint.

One of the things we wanted to experience on this trip was to go a proper steakhouse; as usual, I did do my research but in the end, could not find any conclusive evidence on where the best place in town was so we plumped to go to Keens. Keens is unlike steak places that are in London (Hawksmoor, Goodman); the decor is much more traditional and looks like things haven't changed much since it opened in 1885.

Service was courteous and helpful and food was pretty solid too. Definitely not cheap but well worth a visit for a special occasion :)

 Starters of Maryland crab cakes and Caesar salad. Am such a sucker for crab, think I will need to get down to Bal'more some time to experience the real thing. We've also been blown away by how good Caesar salads are on this side of the pond :)

Porterhouse for 2 with sides of fries and creamed spinach (and no! JD is not saying grace in this last pic despite his "holier than thou" pose!!)

Loving the little touches which make Keens unique.....some paper for your to make notes about your meal.....

Haha!! Life is more fun with drinks and desserts :)

In the presence of antiquity :)

Love that you get to sit next to a bust too :)

The dreaded bill :(

Breakfast / brunch at Cafe Forant

A recom from our guide book and somewhere which was relatively close to our hotel. Nice brekkie but suffered from lack of A/C (to be fair, our waitress had warned us about this when we sat down), not helpful when its c. 37C outside!!! 

Undocumented food binge

Recently, I have noticed that I am reluctant to take the camera out for food pics if I am sharing a meal with friends whom I haven't seen in a long time. I find that I have just been too caught up in the moment catching up instead of documenting what we are eating (which has led me to think if I should carry on blogging about food, esp. resto visits but thats for another time). One such night occurred during our trip in NYC where we were meeting up with a couple of friends for dinner. Since the weather was still searing hot, we plumped for sushi for dinner at Blue Ribbon. This was to be the first and last of pics for the night :(

Blue Ribbon is a small sushi resto in Soho with a reputation for serving super fresh fish and high quality sushi. Dinner was lovely and we shared a large plate of sushi and sashimi. When it came to ordering some more food, I was hoping for some yakitori since I thought I had smelt some cooking in another part of the resto. Unfortunately, upon perusing the menu, Blue Ribbon does not serve yakitori. No worries, my friend Norie then suggested we can go for yakitori elsewhere which was close by so we settled up and went in search of some grilled meat! :)


After a leisurely walk up to the East Village, we managed to bag a table right at the very back of Yakitori Taisho (felt like the scene out of Goodfellas when we were being led to our table!) and feasted on some yakitori as well as some of Norie's recoms, fries with roe mayo and stir fried glass noodles!!


Now you would think after all this eating, we would be done for the night but no! We decided to turn into pure gluttons and headed to a dessert place called Chikalicious for some sweet treats. I plumped for some soft serve and cupcakes (the latter which I had to get a doggy bag for) - everything was really yummy and some of the best cupcakes I have ever tasted, an achievement in itself as my loathing for cupcakes is well documented! 

Apologies for the lack of pics but if you do happen in NYC, I do recommend you check out the restos mentioned in this post. 


More importantly, it is worth remembering that food is best shared with friends and if that means at the expense of a few food pics, then so be it :)

Momofuku Milk Bar

Whilst hanging out in Williamsburg, we stumbled across a Momofuku Milk Bar so had to pay it a visit :)

 Our haul of cookies!! Way, way too sweet :(

JD's espresso shake on the other hand was perfect and delish!

I may not be too enamoured with the food at David Chang's places to date but I have to say, the service at Milk Bar in Williamsburg was the most friendly and sincere that I have had during this trip. I had forgotten how much 'tude some peeps in NYC have so it was a nice and welcome change :)

Missed food opp - Korilla BBQ!

We came across this food truck at DUMBO but didn't try anything cos our tummies were still full to the brim with pastrami on rye. I was told later on my trip that this is a great food truck so it was with regret we never got to try Korilla BBQ, next time! :)

NYC institution - Katz's Deli

Probably best known around the world for "that" scene from "When Harry Met Sally" but also renowned for their pastrami sambos :)

For first time visitors (like us), one enters the deli and you will be met by someone at the front door who gives you a couple of ticket stubs. You have a choice of seating; there is waiter service if you choose to sit by the wall (top pic) or you order yourself at the counter if you sit in the middle (bottom pic).  We chose the latter and as it happens, we were sitting one table in front of the one which was used in "When Harry Met Sally" :)

There are different stations at the counter depending on what you want to order so be careful to look! (I stood like a muppet at the wrong station waiting for someone to serve me tea/coffee) Remember to take your ticket stubs to each station so the server can note down what you have ordered.

My order of pastrami on rye. The servers are hilarious; mostly Latino but with the thickest Noo Yawk accents! Having placed my order, I stood around like the hapless tourist I was. A plate was placed on the counter with a couple of slices of pastrami. I carried on standing around some more until my server shouted, "Dat's for yoo, baby!" Aha!! A sample plate! I only managed to have one slice before the real thing appeared in front of me and I quickly refrained from finishing my sample plate when I realised how much more I was going to have to eat!! 

The pics don't do it justice but these sambos are HUGE!!!! This is my first time eating proper pastrami so don't have anything to reference it too but boy! it was soooooo good!! The meat was tender, juicy and full of flavour and perfect with rye bread with mustard. 

Alternatively, you can opt for a Reuben (like JD) which is pastrami, sauerkraut and melted cheese :)

Afterwards, you head to the exit where you hand over tickets stubs and settle up. Although Katz's is on the itinerary of many a tourist, it did not disappoint and the food was truly delicious.