Category Archives: Restaurants & Food Courts

Yaya Tea

Posted on by

Instagram Post 1/7/2020

Quick post about a quick snack (and a satisfying one at that) from Yaya Tea at 86-12 Whitney Ave, Elmhurst, Queens – one of about a half dozen locations around these parts. Tea is the focus, of course, with selections ranging from green, oolong, black and herbal plus fruit teas, milk teas, and a custom DIY option. But I had stopped in for a snack, and among various appetizer, dumpling, and noodle choices, my sights were set on the onigiri (riceballs).

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

This is Shrimp Tempura Onigiri, one of over 20 types available. Alternatives include crab meat, fried squid ball, takoyaki (fried octopus balls), spicy crawfish, chicken, seaweed, sour plum, and the ever popular Spam 🤷‍♂️. Nobody is pretending that this is Japanese haute cuisine, but it hit the spot that day.


Still in the wrapper. Yaya even provides instructions as to the procedure for opening and consuming your purchase in case you’re a first timer.
 
 

Medo

Posted on by

Instagram Post 1/6/2020

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Adorbs!
🥰
Now, if that’s a word that resonates for you and if you like Hong Kong style sweet, fruity, soupy desserts, then you’ll ❤️ Medo at 3 Bay 25th Street, just off 86th St in Bensonhurst. The décor is primary school classroom, replete with kids’ desks (but adult sized and not cramped) stocked with crayons, coloring pages, and the like. Expect variations on coconut milk, mango, durian, sago, pomelo, red bean, sticky rice, taro and the other usual suspects; bubble tea, mille crepes, and additional snacks await as well.

Cute interior design notwithstanding, I seriously enjoyed what we ordered. From the Snow White section of the menu, this is the Durian and Black Glutinous Rice option: islands of sweet custard-like durian and black sticky rice with its welcome contrasting texture floated atop the icy snow and sago enhanced coconut milk.

And yes, next time I’m in the neighborhood, I’ll be back.
 
 

E Dim Sum

Posted on by

Instagram Post 1/4/2020

A modest venue just around the corner from the main drag, E Dim Sum at 2006 65th St in Bensonhurst offers Brooklyn its inexpensive, no frills, homestyle Cantonese food.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Steamed Minced Meat & Salt Fish, the better of the two dishes we ordered. The saltiness of the mackerel balanced the almost sweetness of the faintly garlicky ground pork patty which in turn complemented the bitter daikon. The essence of collaboration.


Potherb Mustard Pork Noodle, an herby concoction that included mustard greens, pork, and noodles. As alluded to.


The #obligatorynoodlelift
 
 

Randiwa

Posted on by

Instagram Post 1/2/2020

There’s some tasty ethnic cuisine to be found on Staten Island although it doesn’t always make the front page; the borough has its share of international communities and I’m guessing that when the subject is food, the Sri Lankan population gets the most ink (outside of Italian). The spicy cuisine is shaped by Indian, Indonesian and Dutch influences with some Southeast Asian touches and if you include a few markets along with some restaurant hopping (no hoppers pun intended), you could spend the day exploring it.

Randiwa, located at 1405 Richmond Ave, is a little less than an hour’s bus ride from the St. George Ferry Terminal, so getting there is a bit of a commitment (unless you’re already in the neighborhood). We gathered for their AYCE Sunday buffet. Note that IMO this (and others like it) is not intended to be a representative cross-section of the cuisine – order from the menu if that’s your quest – but it does provide the pleasant prospect of sampling many dishes.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Second photo is the annotated plate comprising:
• Palak Paneer, the spinach and squeaky cheese dish you probably know from Indian cuisine, was great
• Kale Mallung, kale and coconut, also top notch
• Lunu Miris, a spicy sambal with notes of orange
• Eggplant Moju, surprisingly flavorful
• Pork Black Curry, tender and somewhat chewy
• Soyameat, the nondescript name notwithstanding, this one was spicy and delicious
• Vegetable Noodles, deeper flavor than I had anticipated
• Deviled Chicken, wicked good
• Coconut Sambal, a Sri Lankan standby

…and the rest, here on Staten Isle.
 
 

Uyghur Apandi Food

Posted on by

Instagram Post 1/1/2020

I’ve written extensively about the oppressed Uyghur people who reside in the Xinjiang region of northwest China and, naturally, their cuisine, so I won’t repeat myself here (but if you’re so inclined you can learn more by searching for Uyghur at the top of any page). Happily, a number of restaurants and food court stalls have launched recently that feature this hearty Central Asian fare, and Uyghur Apandi Food is among them. Since Apandi occupies a stall (number 7, specifically) in Flushing’s Super HK Food Court at 37-11 Main St, you won’t be greeted with an extensive menu, but here are two of the dozen or so entries.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Nan Kordak featured segments of sesame seed encrusted Uyghur bread submerged in a soup/stew typical for the region, populated by orange and yellow carrots, coblets of corn, green pepper, spinach, cilantro, and, of course, chunks of lamb that had given their all to flavor the homey elixir.


Lamb Lagman (lagman being the interminably protracted noodle claim to fame of Uyghur cooking) included celery, red pepper, green pepper, and hot green pepper, and was accompanied by a gratuitous cup of lamby, gingery soup. (A chicken version is available as well.)
 
 

Upi Jaya

Posted on by

Instagram Post 12/2/2019

Outside of the (approximately) monthly Indonesian Food Festivals I’ve written about, Elmhurst, Queens also plays host to a number of Indonesian restaurants. Upi Jaya at 76-04 Woodside Ave has been doing an admirable job of dishing up the cuisine for locals as well as visitors (they’re a stop along my Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst Ethnojunket) for 15 years. Here are four items from the Appetizers section of the menu, each a tasty starter or a snack in its own right and all with universal appeal.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Risoles (you might see rissoles) – a snack assembled from a crepe rolled around seasoned chicken and diced vegetables (not unlike a Chinese egg roll in structure), covered with breadcrumbs and deep fried.


Lemper Ayam. Lemper is a snack made from coconut sticky rice compressed with any number of fillings, in this case ayam (chicken) that’s been lightly seasoned, rolled into a banana leaf and steamed.


Batagor: a portmanteau of bakso (a meat or fish paste), tahu (tofu), and goreng (fried), a specialty of West Java. Fried fish cake with peanut sauce; the crispy topping provides the contrast to the soft, chewy fishcake.


Arguably the best known Indonesian dish outside of Indonesia and a popular street food there, satay (or sate) is seasoned meat, skewered and grilled, often served with peanut sauce. An international favorite.

Main dishes in a future post.
 
 

Yin Ji Chang Fen

Posted on by

Instagram Post 11/13/2019

It is not often that I have the opportunity to write about a restaurant so special that I am compelled to recommend it enthusiastically; Yin Ji Chang Fen, a well-known rice noodle roll chain from Guangzhou, China, made the cut. Recently opened at 91 Bayard St in Manhattan’s Chinatown, you can expect long lines so grab a take-out menu and hone your decisions while you’re waiting.

Cheung fan (Chinese rice rolls), amid alternate spellings, are enjoying a moment in the spotlight here in New York City. You’ve probably savored them at specialty venues, food trucks, and dim sum parlors; in essence they’re a thin roll of steamed rice noodle filled with seafood, meat, or vegetables or wrapped around youtiao (Chinese cruller). Now if you’ve been eating them forever, you’ll immediately recognize that these are a little different from what you’re accustomed to in at least three aspects: the noodle is thinner, they arrive doused with a bespoke soy sauce based mixture, and the proportion of filling to noodle is off the charts.

In addition to 16 kinds of chang fen, Yin Ji Chang Fen offers 14 varieties of congee (aka Chinese rice porridge), both with ample customizations available, and a few Asian snacks.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Marinated Pork and Shrimp with Chives rice noodle roll; absolutely delicious. (Incidentally, portions are about twice as large as is customary around these parts.)


Inner workings: huge chunks of pork and whole shrimp.


Sliced Fish with Chives rice noodle roll. I thought I’d try an add-on so I asked for extra egg in this one. I was expecting to find the egg within, but what arrived was the rice roll as specified further enveloped in a thin omelet, a pleasant surprise.


Lai Wan Style Assorted Congee, topped with shredded egg, ginger, greens, peanuts and cilantro.


Inner workings revealed fish fillet, squid, pork skin, and more. Note that their congee may be a little thinner than what you’re used to. Although not canonical, you could unabashedly add some Spicy Chili Crisp, provided tableside, if you’re so inclined.


From the Asian Snacks side of the menu, Deep Fried Fish Skin; best I’ve ever had, ruined me for others.

Go here now. That is all.
 
 

EazyLife Restaurant & Lounge

Posted on by

Instagram Post 11/18/2019

If you like West African cuisine but can’t decide between Nigerian and Ghanaian food, you might consider EazyLife Restaurant & Lounge, 1300 East 222nd St. in Eastchester, Bronx, where two chefs are in residence, one from each nation. (Incidentally, the dual arrangement insinuates a round of dueling jollofs since the two rice recipes are markedly distinctive.)

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

Our appetizer was Nigerian Isi Ewu, goat head sautéed in “native sauce” as the menu described it. Of course, the texture and flavor of goat head are unlike goat meat from further down the carcass; more like goat skin, these nubs are chewy and benefit from the spicy sauce and spears of red onion that accompany them.


Keeping with the Nigerian theme, this entrée is Bitter Leaf Black Soup. Bitter, yes, but in a good way, with a satisfying spicy kick. Croaker was the fish of choice in the starring role.


Afang Soup was less a soup or sauce and more along the dry stew <-> chopped leafy vegetable continuum. Made from afang (aka okazi) leaves, sometimes with the addition of spinach, cooked down with palm oil and dried fish, it had a medium spice level. More croaker alongside. Our starchy fufus (aka swallows) that day, not pictured, were amala and the more neutral pounded yam.
 
 

Seafood Palace

Posted on by

Instagram Post 11/11/2019

Bensonhurst’s burgeoning Chinatown (yes, really) is home to a phalanx of Guangdong (Cantonese) and Hong Kong style restaurants as well as a few dim sum parlors (as you’d expect). The area is ripe for serious exploration, but to get things rolling my dining buddy and I did a survey of most of the eateries, noting which warranted further investigation. We settled on Seafood Palace, 2172 86th Street, Brooklyn, for lunch and despite the paucity of patrons that day, it did not disappoint.

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

The menu calls this delectable item Sea Clams and Sweet Pea Pods with XO Sauce; the Chinese reads XO蜜豆桂花蚌 which I interpret as XO honey bean osmanthus mussel (or clam). The XO sauce part is a gimme and honey bean refers to sugar snap peas. The clams looked and tasted exactly like sweet razor clams but I’m told that “osmanthus clam” refers to something dissimilar. (For a more, shall we say, graphic description of osmanthus clams, see this post.) Assuming you like clams, treat yourself to this eminently accessible dish served with a mildly spicy sauce enhanced with ginger, scallions, green chili, red chili, Chinese chives, purple onion and what I suspect were tiny nubs of flavorful pork. Definitely good eats.


Pan Fried Egg with Noodlefish was a tasty, unpretentious dish obviously prepared with great care and admirable skill. The scrambled eggs were light, fluffy, pillowy and moist and the kind of preparation you’d expect from French cuisine. Noodlefish, aka ice fish, are related to smelts, so watch for the few unavoidable tiny bones.

And yes, I’m going back. Soon.
 
 

Tessey’s International Kitchen

Posted on by

Instagram Post 11/2/2019

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)

She was a tough old bird, both in the barnyard and on the table. Nigerian Hard Chicken is prepared using older hens who laid their last egg when they wore a younger bird’s feathers. And yes, the meat is hard indeed, and chewy as well, but certainly flavorful. Fortunately, we also ordered Red Stew, a simple and tasty Nigerian dish made from red pepper, tomato, and love which turned out to be a perfect accompaniment. Darn good collard greens rounded out this pre-game lunch at the recently opened (June, 2019) Tessey’s International Kitchen, 2542 White Plains Rd in Allerton, The Bronx, where Nigerian as well as soul food options rule the roost.


The entirety.