may's place

One of the reasons why The Chiconomist has been so neglected these past few months is quite simple: the purse strings have been really tight! The 30 Before 30 Project is fun and all but it is pretty costly, so aside from putting in ridiculous amounts of overtime work, I've totally held back on shopping and try to keep pricey dinners to a minimum. Which is why I really appreciated being introduced to this great deal of a sushi place in St. Mark's Place.

My friends Coco and JM turned me on to May's Place, a little spot that sells sushi at 50% with a $15 minimum. Since I am not a huge fan of crazy complicated rolls, I ordered the chirashi—an assortment of sashimi over rice plus a side order of miso soup for $19.95. 

Chirashi is one of my favorite things to order because I like having my sashimi as unadorned as possible, and I like being able to control how much rice I have my fish with. The problem is that chirashi is often pricey because of all the fish you get. Also, the restaurant should serve high quality fish because otherwise you end up with a crappy meal. I was extremely pleased with the chirashi I was served at May's Place. The fish was extremely fresh—the hamachi, in particular, was so tender and flavorful. At half price, this came to just about $10, which is an amazing deal.

I was very tempted to order the intriguing looking rolls but I am glad I stuck to my guns. My friends loved their rolls but I was complely satisfied with my chirashi. I highly recommend this place for a quick and cheap dinner!

May's Place is located at 121 2nd Avenue between 7th Street and St. Mark's Place, New York, NY 10003

rice ball heaven at oms/b

My first taste of onigiri (also known as omusubi) was upon landing in Tokyo. Starving after a long flight, we got a tuna rice ball and a tiny bottle of Yakult from an airport store to snack on while waiting for our ride. I still remember how that little ball of rice spiked with tuna and wrapped in nori was a little piece of heaven, an indication of more yummy meals to come in the week ahead.

Since coming back to New York, I've only had onigiri once, purchased from Sun Mart in St. Mark's Place. I thought it would be good since it did come from a Japanese store but to my disappointment, the rice was almost hard and the onigiri was completely unappetizing.

Then my friend Ludette told me about Oms/b, a tiny restaurant in Midtown that serves freshly made onigiri. We had been meaning to go there for ages, but I never got a chance to stop in until today. They have the most adorable little rice balls in fun colors and shapes.

On the left is the Hijiki onigiri, which has seaweed and edamame beans mixed with rice then wrapped in a yellow soy sheet. Perfect for my veggie days! The adorable looking pink onigiri is the Yukari-Plum rice ball, composed of Siso leaf (yukari) and white sesame mixed with rice, wrapped in a pink soy sheet, and topped with Kishu-Plum. I'm not a huge fan of plum so I'll just have to bask in the cuteness and move on. Not sure what the rightmost onigiri is, but liking the orange sherbet color of it!

I ended up ordering the wasabi shrimp onigiri in the middle, which was just delicious! The shrimp was plump and tender, and the rice was so freshly made that it was still a little warm when I bit into the onigiri. 

I meant to order that little bundle of yumminess in the center, topped with salmon roe (ikura). So I asked for ikura, not realizing they also had a regular onigiri with ikura on it. Note to self: next time, ask for the "Gorgeous Football Rice" to get the reward of biting into a mixed vegetable rice roll topped with salmon roe and eggs and enveloped in sweet fried tofu. I drooled a little, writing that sentence. 

The rice balls range in price from $2 to $3.25, which is not bad as far as Midtown lunch prices go. I think it's so worth it because the ingredients are so fresh and the onigiri is just yummy. Can't wait to try all the other goodies on the menu!

Oms/b is located at 156 East 45th Street (between Third and Lexington), New York, NY 10017-3115.

reunited and it feels so good

I'm sorry I've been neglecting this blog a little. This week was a big one at 30 Before 30 with two things getting knocked off my list. I also had Spanish finals, started running, and have just been all over the place basically. But today I have something yummy for y'all. Yesterday was my first day back on meat, which was quite a change for me. I had some butter chicken for lunch, which I wasn't too keen on, reinforcing the idea that I should really just eat meat when I know for sure that what I'm having is good and stay veggie otherwise. But this was totally worth going back to meat for. Hello my darlings, how I've missed you!

I got a little too excited and asked for 3 orders of Joe's Shanghai's crab and pork soup dumplings. For a party of 6. Whoops. We ate it all though. As well as all of this:

I had the greens (for old time's sake hehe), loooads of yang chow fried rice (oh juicy shrimp, I missed you!), and some of the fried shrimp (below). But I passed on the salt & pepper pork. I actually did not feel like eating it at all, which just goes to show how going veg changes your eating habits. 

My friends did some insane food tripping while I was on my vegetarian diet, which I was very sad to miss. So I'm making them go back to a lot of these places. I'm really excited to go to Sik Gaek Chun Ha, that Korean restaurant in Flushing where Anthony Bourdain ate still-moving octopus. Check out my friend Pattie's blog post on their experience. I'm all for consuming still moving food, as you may already know from reading this blog.

I may never go back to consuming meat at a pace rivaling a T-Rex. But I have to say, it feels good to be eating some of my favorite things again!

tapas at bar carrera

To celebrate our friend Ludette's birthday, we indulged in tapas, wine and lots of girl talk at Bar Carrera tonight. I just love this place. They have so many great wines at reasonable prices, and the tapas they serve are just scrumptuous. I've blogged before about my undying love for their honey-drizzled salmon, black caviar and mascarpone cheese on a toasted brioche concoction ($6). It is truly one of the most delicious dishes ever. But their egg-in-a-blanket ($6) is definitely a contender for the sexiest-thing-on-brioche award. It's a truffled egg inside a mini brioche canoodling with Serrano ham and melted manchego cheese. I mean, really. I'm helpless against these two.

We also tried some of their specials. I can't remember the specifics but I recall being enthusiastic about the mushrooms on crostinis, and just mildly interested in the egg and garbanzos. That said, every bite of the garbanzo dish was scraped off that plate.

And finally, some very persuasive arguments against going vegan. On the left, pork belly caramelized with juniper sugar and chickpea puree ($6). The pork belly was perfectly tender with a bit of a crunch on the skin. Just lovely. But the dish that blew me away tonight was the plato jamon a la Campagna ($15), which had some delicious 18-month old jamon Serrano and the most sublime mozzarella di bufala that I've had in a long time. Our waitress (who was amazing by the way) told us that their mozzarella is flown into JFK fresh everyday, and is supplied to very high end restaurants around the city. Bar Carrera only has it because the owner is good friends with the supplier. It is just exquisite, I tell you. It is so fresh, light and just the epitome of melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

We also polished off two bottles of Setena ’04, which is a pretty good deal at $32 for the bottle. It's a combination of garnacha, cabernet sauvignon and syrah, with a nice and velvety texture, a long finish, and the flavors of dark fruit and spice. Definitely a great drink to have on a wintry New York evening.

Feeling no remorse after stuffing and boozing ourselves silly (don't be fooled, we doubled up on a lot of these plates), we stopped by Momofuku Milk Bar for some treats. I seem to have converted Cris into a milk cereal-soft serve patron. I seem to have converted myself into a compost cookie lover too. What's not to love about a cookie that has potato chips, butterscotch, chocolate chips, pretzels and coffee in it? That's all my necessary food groups in one cookie.

I felt so guilty after this that I walked 20 blocks home (plus the requisite 5 flights of stairs). But hey, sometimes some food's just too darn good to pass up!

Ok signing off ... hope you had a hump day involving some delicious treats too!

Bar Carrera is located at 175 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10003 and 146 West Houston Street, New York, New York 10012.

Momofuku Milk Bar is located at 207 2nd Avenue, on the corner of 13th Street, New York, NY 10003

pio pio

I love having a foolproof deee-licious meal right in my hood. After a leisurely afternoon throwing frisbees and enjoying a picnic in Central Park, I took Johan and Lucie to our neighboorhood Peruvian chicken joint, Pio Pio. There are seven Pio Pios around New York, from Queens to the Bronx. We're lucky enough to have one that's just a stone's throw away. The $26 Peruvian Combo has everything one would want in a meal: a juicy and lipsmackingly delicious rotisserie chicken, a fresh avocado and tomato salad, and some good old fries. I've been here for lunch, and they have a pretty awesome lunch special where you can have a quarter chicken, salad and a side (choice of fries, rice and beans, tostones, maduros or fried yucca) plus a soda for $9.50.

My one qualm with Pio Pio is that their service runs hot and cold. One one hand, it took us awhile to get their servers' attention that we needed a table, were ready to order, and were ready to leave. On the other hand, when Johan accidentally spilled his sangria onto the salad, our waiter immediately gave us a fresh salad without our having to ask. I would frequent this place waaay more if service was more consistent. But yeah, I love ya anyway.

Hope you had a great Sunday! How I love the fact that tomorrow, when I wake up, it's still the weekend ...

food coma at kum gang san

I don't know if this doing overtime on the weekends thing is working out for me because I always end up doing something excessive afterwards. A couple of weeks ago, I went shopping. Today, I ended up gorging. Due to excessive whisky drinking last night, I was craving some bulgogi, so I headed to Koreatown when I finished up. It didn't occur to me though that most Korean barbeque places do minimum servings of two so I had to change my game plan. Another thing I forgot was how ridiculously generous Korean restaurants can be with the apps. I was rather intimidated when all this was laid out just for lil' old me at KumGangSan:

Sweet Jesus, their version of apps is an entire meal for me. I didn't have much time to nibble before this arrived:

I ordered Gop Dol Bibim Bap, a dish of steamed rice, carrots, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, beef and egg served in a sizzling hot stoneware pot. I love the mixture of textures in this dish but I wished there was more beef in it since that's what I was actually craving. I guess next time I should just bite the bullet and try to eat bulgogi for two if it's what I really want! Nevertheless, I left KumGungSan completely stuffed and wanting to curl up for a nap. For $13.95, it's not a bad spread at all. Now to sleep off the food coma ...

Hope you had a great weekend!

KumGangSan is located at 49 West 32nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, New York, NY 10001. Tel. (212) 967-0909

bewitched by 'witchcraft

How in the world did I go almost 3 years in New York without having a 'wichcraft sandwich when they're everywhere? I finally popped my 'wichcraft cherry a few weeks ago when Ludette and I visited their 5th Ave/46th Street location, and it was amazing.

One description jumped out at me when I looked at the menu: grilled cheddar with smoked ham, pear & mustard on cranberry-pecan bread. I mean, what more could you want in a grilled cheese sandwich? When the plate landed in front of me, I was so intent on devouring the sandwich that I almost forgot to take a picture. That they actually give you two halves, but the first one disappeared immediately:

This sandwich was SO good. SOOOOO good. The sweetness of the pear and cranberry combined with the salty ham and cheese, and zesty mustard was ridiculously addictive. Oh god, I have to stop talking about it because it's making my mouth water ...

Today I came back to 'wichcraft by myself, needing a break from the pile of work threatening to drown me. It's a rare spot in Manhattan where you can sit, read a magazine and enjoy your lunch without other hungry diners breathing down your neck. It helps that they have a rack full of good magazines, hip background music, and no pushy bussers. I happily ate my grilled gruyere sandwich with caramelized onions while poring through the new Bazaar.

The gruyere sandwich was also really delicious but the grilled cheddar extravaganza is still my favorite. It's good though for my yoga days when I wanna lay off the meat. The other really great thing about 'wichcraft? The pricetag! My favorite sandwich in the world is just $6.95, while grilled gruyere is just $5.95. Excellent prices for midtown Manhattan.

Mr. Colicchio, you rock.

i blame anthony bourdain

Last night, before going to bed, I watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where the gastronomic adventurist was eating all sorts of fabulous curries in Sri Lanka. By the time I hit the off button on my DVR, I had a mad craving for curry. It was insufferable. I ended up lying in bed Yelping "Indian buffet" places within a 1-mile radius of my apartment. It was 3am by then so I had to content myself with the idea of stuffing myself for lunch the next day. But before I went to bed, I decided I would visit Dhaba. I live on the fringe of Murray Hill, which has come to be known to Manhattanites as Curry Hill for the profusion of Indian restos. Dhaba is one of them. How did I settle on Dhaba?

It wasn't just because one of the Yelp reviewers said that while she was chomping on naan there one night in June, Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin walked in (they had another person with them so they weren't technically on a date, if you must know!). But yes, the idea that I might use the same silverware as Pattinson was a bit of a motivating factor. The main reason I picked Dhaba was because the first few restaurants that came up on Yelp were vegetarian, and I'm a strict carnivore.

But anyway, today I walked over to Dhaba at 12 noon, got a table for 1, descended on the buffet, and came back with this:

I concentrated mainly on the chicken tikka masala, as you can see, some bhuna lamb mirchwala and chicken biryani. I liked how they served all sorts of bread: naan, poori and batura. I've never tried anything other than naan before so that was pretty cool. They also serve you some freshly cooked chicken tandoori tableside, but I missed out on that because I was done eating by the time they came around to my table. No worries, I didn't have space anyway. This little indulgence put me over the edge:

It was my first time to ever try tawe ka gulab jamun, fried milk balls swimming in cardamom flavored sugar syrup. So deliciously decadent that I had to take every last bite, even if it felt like my stomach was going to burst. I also had a bit of Punjabi kheer, cardamom flavored rice pudding punctuated with raisins and slivers of almonds and pistachio. The pudding tempered the very sweet milk balls quite nicely. Definitely a wonderful way to cap off a meal.

The price for the buffet was $12.95, which is expensive to me as I know that there plenty of good Indian buffets in the city for just $7 or $8. But I enjoyed the meal anyway, so it was no big deal. I satisfied a craving so intense that had Pattinson walked in, I might not have managed to tear myself away from the chicken tikka masala long enough to ask for a picture. Or so I like to think.

Dhaba is located at 108 Lexington Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets.

in-and-out

Landed in San Francisco a few hours ago, and finally FINALLY got my In-and-Out burger! When Mika went to get In-and-Out in Vegas, Sonu was introducing me to my very first Vegas cocktail—you know, those ones that are maybe 20 inches long and filled to the brim with margarita, colada or martini and a smattering of gummi worms? Well obviously, a cocktail like that and In-and-Out don't really mix, so I had to miss the burger. But today, I finally got a tasty cheeseburger with crisp lettuce, tomatoes and onions, and a thick and yummy chocolate shake (when I asked Mika if we could share a shake, I got a very point blank "No"). Happiness. Now like a little piggie, I'm going to go take a nap, because that's what vacations are all about! Gorging on yumminess and then taking a nap before all those calories get used up. Vegas posts to come soon but for now back to the vacay!

my weekend in polas

Super long post and gratuitous use of Poladroid warning.

I feel like I had a really long weekend because I did so much. And ate so much too. Not a good thing for my figure because I've had to lay off Bikram (my pesky cold would infect everyone extra fast in all that heat and humidity), but whatever. What's the point of working out, if not to enjoy pigging out all the more?

I started the weekend with a totally unnecessary but very enjoyable red velvet cupcake from Buttercup. I was craving for it badly, so I walked through the drizzle to grab one and ate it as I walked home to the Upper East. I figured I was burning calories as I ate so it wasn't so bad.

On Saturday, I went out to see apartments in Union Square, so I also spent some time walking through the outdoor market. I snacked on an Italian cheese stick (ho-hum) from one of the booths and got some handmade spinach ravioli to experiment with at home. I daydreamed of buying fresh herbs but since we're moving and I have a black thumb, I thought it best to spare the adorable mini basil bushes.

Then I realized it was the best time as any to get a haircut, so I trained it down to Chinatown and sat down with Charlie, my main guy at 22 Pell Hair Salon. He hacked off a good 5 inches from my way too long hair and gave me a very layered cut. I don't love it but I like it enough. I'm just glad I don't have to ponytail it anymore. And it cost all of $25 (plus tip) so I'm not complaining. After my cut, I had to stop for bubble tea. I ordered a cold taro green milk tea with pearl tapioca ($4.25) at Green Tea Cafe on Mott between Bayard and Pell. I thought it was pretty good. Bubble drinks in the Philippines are more like milkshakes, but here it really tastes like tea, which I like. And I just loved the consistency of their tapioca balls: soft but firm, and nicely chewy. Yum.

Then I made my way back to Shake Shack, where I met friends for dinner. I was pretty excited because I had never tried Shake Shack before; the line is just too darn intimidating! Thank god for the bubble tea. I wasn't starving in line but I had a healthy appetite when I finally had my burger in hand. I was originally going to get a cheeseburger was convinced that I had to have the 'Shroom Burger ($6.50), so I got that and was not disappointed. There's nothing better than a breaded pattie stuffed with portobello mushroom and melted cheese (supposedly onions too, but I didn't really taste it). The crisp lettuce and tomato gave nice contrast, and even the bun was pretty tasty. My only complaint? It's so small! It's perfect for a small chick like me but I imagine the average man would need about two burgers to feel full. Oh, I also tried the Shakemeister Ale ($5.25), brewed by Brooklyn Brewery especially for the Shake Shack. It's a little hard to appreciate beer from a plastic cup but it tasted pretty good. The hoppy taste was very apparent, and it was not overly bitter, which I like since I'm normally a Hefeweizen drinker. Would definitely order it again.

After dinner we went to 40/40 to watch the Pacquiao vs. Hatton fight, which was, lets face it, really not much of a fight. Hatton hit the mat TWICE on the first round, and surprise surprise, was knocked out before the second round even ended. Manny's untouchable! Filipino pride!!!

I felt kinda bad for the owners of 40/40 for a sec because they probably didn't make back what they had to pay in order to show the Pay-per-view fight there. The Filipino crowd walked out immediately after the fight ended in search of cheaper libation. But then I remembered Jay-Z owned the joint so jeez, who needs to feel sorry for him?

We ended up having martinis at PS 450 and then ended the night with, what else, more food. We went to Yakitori Taisho and gorged on saikoro steak, grilled squid, chicken skin skewers and these phenomenal grilled pork spare ribs ($7.50). Mmmmmmmmm ...

Yeah. It was a good weekend.

banh mi #1

For some reason, I'd been wondering about Banh Mi for days. In the 25 years I spent in Asia and 2 1/2 years spent in New York, I'd never tasted a Vietnamese sandwich. The first time I heard about Banh Mi was from my mom, who had tried it on a trip to Ho Chi Minh and raved about it. Last week I tried a Vietnamese Num Pang and became more glaring to me that I really need to get my chompers into a Banh Mi. Today I finally got my chance.

A lot of people would that Boi To Go's Banh Mi is not really authentic, is too pricey, and so on. But hey, we're far away from Chinatown so I have to judge this by midtown standards. That said, I have to say that I was very pleased with my first Banh Mi experience. I ordered the BBQ Pork Banh Mi ($7.50) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The barbequed pork is slightly sweet, and tastes similar to the roast pork you can get in Chinatown. I loved the taste of pate smeared on the toasted baguette, and the extra creaminess lent by the avocado slices. I loved the pleasantly sweet taste and the crunchiness of the pickled daikon and carrot. The lettuce and cilantro nicely rounded out this jampacked sandwich.

Large as this sandwich is, I wiped it out. Tips on eating your Banh Mi:

• Try to keep in in the wrapper as the contents tend to spill out of the baguette


• Eat your sandwich over a covered surface. Line your desk with paper towels or napkins


• Do not eat over just your office clothes because you will end up with Pollock-esque splatters everywhere. There's some juice that trickles off the sandwich that could land on your pants, and pieces of meat, daikon, carrots and avocado will fall out no matter what you do. So exercise care.

This is going to be the first of many Banh Mi's I will enjoy, I'm sure. I desperately need to know what the $3.95 Banh Mi's in Chinatown taste like!

Where: Boi To Go is located at 800 2nd Avenue between 42nd & 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017

cambodian sandwich alert

After reading this writeup on Serious Eats about Num Pang, I was obsessed with the thought of having a Cambodian sandwich. Since it's just a few blocks walk from the Bikram yoga studio I frequent, I was able to convince Mika, Buddha, Monkey and Bonnie to come try it with me last night. We were all starving and all our senses seemed heightened, having just come from Bikram, so thank god the sandwiches were amazing.

A Num Pang is apparently similar to the Vietnamese Banh Mi, but since I've yet to pop my Banh Mi cherry, I can't say that one's better than the other. What I can say is that all of the sandwiches we tried were yummmmmmy. Mika had the grilled skirt steak sandwich ($8.75). Strips of nicely grilled steak, pickled carrots, cucumber and coriander were tucked into a perfectly toasted baguette smeared with chili mayo. He drizzled it with sriracha for a good spicy kick.

The skirt steak sandwich was delicious. The steak was well flavored with coriander and peppercorn. I wouldn't order it again though because I take small bites, and it's hard to bite through the skirt steak strips since they're not as tender as other cuts. But I'm sure Mika would have it again since he takes bigger bites than I do.

I would definitely get the hoisin veal meatball sandwich (only $6.75!) again, though. The meatballs incorporate jasmine rice, basil and stewed tomatoes, and they're little bundles of yumminess. My picture below doesn't do the sandwich justice. The meatballs are quite hefty, and they're so flavorful and juicy. I wiped out my sandwich without a problem and was nicely satisfied.

Bonnie obliterated her pulled pork sandwich, which is amazing because she usually picks at food and doesn't finish it. I only tried a few morsels but it seems really good too. Buddha tried the catfish sandwich and it disappeared in seconds. He also tried the corn with chili mayo, coconut flakes and chili powder, which I imagine tastes similar to the one served at Cafe Habana. I'm definitely trying that next time.

We went at around 9:30pm on a Friday night and the place was empty, which was great because we were starving. Apparently the lines are obscene there during lunch. I'm sure I'll be stopping here regularly for sandwiches after Bikram.

All in all, another successful food expedition!

P.S. Num Pang is cash only, so stop by the ATM before going.

Indian Brunch

One of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon is to dig into the $8.95 buffet at Bawarchi, the Indian restaurant a block away from our apartment. I brought Sonu here for dinner once, who's Canadian-Indian, and she and her brother gave the restaurant pretty good ratings in terms of the authenticity of the dishes. The only place they could get better food, they said, was from their own mother (We all know Indian mothers make the best food right?). Pretty strong reviews, Mika and I thought.

I always tend to go crazy and pile as much food as possible on my plate when I go (as evidenced by the picture above). But I should really limit myself to some rice and loads of the Chicken Tikka Masala, the addictive boneless chicken tandoori swimming in creamy tomato sauce. It is sooooo good, but I always sabotage myself by loading up on other good but not as good stuff. It is a wonderful feast to have on a Sunday afternoon, and amazing rescue for those who spent Saturday night partying too hard. There's nothing that some hot, rich, saucy food and delicious mango lassi can't cure, I say!

Where: 1149 1st Avenue at E. 63rd Street, New York 10065

Happy St. Paddy's!

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Not one fiber in my body is Irish but I celebrated anyway with some girlfriends at Wilfie & Nell, where the requisite corned beef came in a sandwich with some melted gruyere, and red pickled cabbage slaw on the side. It took me awhile to bite into mine as I was waiting for the novocaine from a 4PM dentist appointment to wear off. When it finally did, I was rewarded with one delicious sandwich. It was a cheap night too; 2 beers and a sandwich cost me all of $25, already including the tip. Loving the luck of the Irish!

Nice and Kushi-Q

I really don't know why it took me almost a year to try Kushi-Q, given its proximity to the UN. I've known about it for awhile now because my friend and former co-worker Vanessa would always come back to her desk with a salmon bento, but didn't get around to trying it til today. Kushi-Q is pretty much a fast food version of yakitori. Since East burned down last week (I know! Sob! After I fell in love with their half-price yakitori Tuesday nights too!), I've been trying to find a quick sub in the area. My dear foodies, we have a winner.

I ordered the Butabara Bento Set, which is made up of three skewers of bacon coated in tare sauce atop a bed of salad, plus a cup of miso soup. While the bacon is missing the delightful char one gets from a classic yakitori grill, it mimics the flavor of yakitori bara pretty closely. The salad serving is extremely generous; I couldn't finish it so next time I'd probably ask for the half rice-half salad option. The miso soup is nothing special but as long as it warms up my tummy and it's free, I'm good. I think it's a very good deal for just $7.35 (with tax), considering just yesterday I paid over $10 for an inedible lobster bisque and a very basic salad at the deli near my office. I can't wait to go back tomorrow and try the salmon, or maybe chicken teriyaki, or maybe atsuage tofu ... mmm mmm mmm!

The place itself is super cute. White leather stools line a bar on the wall, Japanese pop plays non-stop, and everything is just super clean and sleek. I can imagine it'd be crowded during lunchtime, but I went at 6PM and it was pretty deserted. Good for a quick bite or a takeout pick-up after work, if you're lazy to cook. Definitely a must-try for Midtown East inhabiters!

Where: 723 Third Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets

The Heat Is On

It's really strange to think about it now, but before moving to New York, I was pretty clueless about Korean food. There just weren't that many in Manila back when I was still living there, and the only dish I knew was bulgogi. Well, on my first year in New York, I lived at the dorm in FIT, which is not only inundated with Korean fashion students but also just a short walk away from Ktown. So I learned more and more about Korean food and immediately fell in love. I cannot imagine what life would be like without my favorite Korean dishes.

Thanks to Jenny's visit and her insufferable craving for a super spicy seafood and noodle soup called jjambong, I discovered a heretofore unknown to me part of Korean foodie culture: Korean-style Chinese food. Aided by another Korean friend Avery's massive food knowledge, we sought out Hyo Dong Gak on the fringe of Ktown.

This is what their jjambong looks like.

The soup is so thick with red chili that it is opaque. It is also quite glossy, which is a result of the perfect melding of the chili and oil. According to Jenny, this is key to making a good jjambong. One serving is MASSIVE. I would definitely recommend sharing one bowl between two people. At $7.95 for one bowl, that's definitely value for money, don't you think? They didn't skimp on the ingredients. The soup was laden with noodles, squid, shrimp, mussels and fish, plus some veggies. It was incredibly spicy—the type that almost hurts, but in a good way. The pickled radish served on the side was a welcome respite from the incessant heat that soup provides. Jenny was in heaven as she dug into her bowl. The jjambong received five stars from the Korean foodie. I quite liked it but my stomach can only probably stand the abuse every so often, so I wouldn't eat this on a regular basis.

The kkangpoongi, however, is another story. These are battered pieces of chicken fried to a crisp and then coated in a sweet and spicy sauce. It's like General Tso's chicken with a massive kick. I could totally hunker down with a plate of this and some steaming white rice. MMMMM.

Where: 51 West 35th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues, New York, NY