*Quick Note: I don’t know why but the past week, my photos have been coming out kinda dingy. Maybe its the weather. Or maybe I’m a bad photographer.
Wow, its been a hot minute. Haha sorry, I have commitment issues ^^;;
But last week, the H2O Street gang and I shlepped to Chinatown for Jorge’s celebratory “Welcome Back from Mexico!” dinner. We ended up @ Shanghai Cuisine for tasty lil Xiao Long Bao !!! Who doesn’t like those delicate little pouches of juicy, porky goodness?!
Here’s the joint, smack on the corner of:
Tina and I in the front. I’ll be damned if I know what the sign says (and I don’t know why we are blue!):
Andy Peruses Menu – looks disgruntled. Jorge Anticipates – looks hungry!:
This is not me. I swear:
The inside of the restaurant was a little warm. I don’t think there was AC there, only several sluggish ceiling fans, so save the trip if it is a scorching summer day. Or else, you will regret. Dearly. One does not ingest scalding hot soup dumplings in 80+ weather sans air conditioning.
This is the vinegary stuff for the dumplings. It is quite pungent and tangy – good for cutting through all the greasy goodness of melted pork fat. Mind the strips of ginger!
Finally! Dumplings arrive piping hot in bamboo steamers:
This is what the lovely little thing looks like. I will show you how to eat it. Consuming a pouch of boiling hot pork fat/juice requires a little know-how:
First you balance it on your soup spoon. Then with your chopstick, poke a small hole near the bottom of the dumpling (if you are brave, or stupid, you could nibble a small hole in the skin). Then carefully lift the dumpling with chopsticks to drain the onto the spoon. End results should look like THIS, a drained dumpling and a soup full of artery clogging goodness:
Here, take a peek inside!
We had ordered the original pork dumplings but I think our order got switched cus we ended up with four steamers full of Pork and CRAB dumplings. NICE. The crab lent a sweet flavor to the melt-in-your-mouth tender clump of pork and the soup is rich and velvety. Seriously, ultimate asian comfort food ^^V
Jorge les gustan! Super tasty, yes yes? Hehehe!
We ordered a bunch of other stuff, rather congenial dishes, like Beef Chow Fun, Shanghianese Fried Chicken and Sauteed Baby Bok Choy with Garlic:
Because everyone loves fat bouncy slippery rice noodles with soy sauce and beef:
The chicken was moist and tender, the skin could’ve been crispier. Dunking it in the soy sauce laced with sesame oil makes it tastier. It is not as bad-ass as the fried chicken I had from Congee Village a while ago:
We had wanted Sauteed Pea Shoot Tips, but the restaurant had ran out of the delicate greens. So we settled for Baby Bok Choy instead which was sweet and crunchy. And I love anything slathered in garlic so wheeee!:
For dessert we to go to Chinatown Ice Cream Factory . This place is ALWAYS crowded, especially on warm summer nights. It is also the size of a shoebox, so don’t be gentle and dapper – you have to elbow your way in towards the counter =]
They have lots of flavors – interesting stuff like Almond Cookie (which is uber floral-tasting, and a tad to artificial for me), Taro (lol its purple!), Lychee (mmm, juicy flavor with little bits of fruit swirled through-out). There are the perinnial (read: BORING haha just kidding) flavors like chocolate and vanilla too.
Andy got Red Bean and Tina got Oreo Cookie in a Cone. I didn’t taste it but the consensus was satisfactory:
I get Cherry Pistachio – its really good. Delicate nutty pistachio flavor complimented by the sweet freshness of cherries. Not to mention, there are hefty chunks of the fresh fruit and nuts in there! The texture of the ice cream was pretty good – smooth, with very fine ice crystals. Sorry this shot is so blurry, I was trying to show you guys all the pieces of cherries and pistachios in there:
Hehe munching on Ice Cream. I have shiny hair and way-too-long bangs. And Andy, why must you always look so serious?!
Moving on along, later in the week, I met up with Tina after she got out of class. We were both bored and my sweet tooth was aching so we FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY visit the Dessert Truck. I know, you’d think after being in NYU for so long, I would’ve had everything on the menu already.The darned thing is ON CAMPUS. Lol. Anyway, heres what the cute little truck looks like:
Stupid tree is in the way. Boo.
We’re both feeling chocolatey – Tina gets the Molten Chocolate Cake sprinkled with Sea Salt and topped with Roasted Pistachios. I get the Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Creme Anglaise. Ta-Da!
Molten Chocolate Cake:
Ooey Gooey innards. The cake was moist and rich; the center was a flood of warm liquidy chocolate ganache
A close up shot (we took it into a dining hall with crappy lighting so sorry for the quality) of a spoonful of cakey goodness:
My bread pudding was equally lovely. Look at it, drowning in a sea of vanilla custard sauce:
The pudding was very chocolatey, and very very very smooth. It was like a cup of pure chocolate custard actually. To be honest, delicious as it was, I do prefer to have the spongy mouth-feel of egg soaked bread cubes which this pudding lacked. The sauce was nice, but it wasn’t exactly screaming vanilla. Still it was very good.
The Dessert Truck Logo on a little chip of milk chocolate:
Innards shot w/ custard sauce dripping everywhere:
Spoon shot:
Well, folks, that does it for this installation of edibles. Enjoy!
Places visited in this post:
Shanghai Cuisine
89 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013
Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard Street
New York, NY 10013
Dessert Truck
8th Street and University Place
New York, NY 10003
