How does 36 hours of nonstop eating in Manhattan sound? Yap, it was just as rewarding as it sounds. Devmann, Myra, Patrice, and I drove to Manhattan on Friday night and spent the following 2 days eating. Literally. Here is a recount of the gastronomically hedonistic weekend, ordered by food vendors:

We stayed at Jane's apartment at Morningside Heights, just a few blocks south from Harlem. She goes to Columbia hence the location. For lunch on Saturday morning, we (the 5 of us + Adrian, another Columbian) were planning to have shabu-shabu at Caffe Swish, but alas, they don't serve it until 4pm. But it's OK because they got Lady M Mille Crêpes: layers of extra thin crêpes stacked one on top of another with crème fraîche in between. It was was heaven.

After convincing Jane that there would always be tomorrow to study, we took the metro, i meant the subway, to Fifth Ave where this extra fancy Japanese pastry shop is located at. I don't know how did they do it but every single thing there looks too good to eat. After blowing my cd allowance on wagashi, we moved on to the next stop.



<< Patrice still wanting some more wagashi even though she got a bag full of it already

We arrived at Washington Square and the weather was scorching hot. The fountain was full of people wading and the park was so crowded and there were street performers (most notably the one singing "We are the champions" on a monocycle). And the weather forecast predicted showers for the whole weekend! Well, tant mieux, I guess. It was so warm so before going for the Belgian Fries, we decided to take a break at the Belgian Bakery, Le Pain Quotidien. And of course, being who we are, we ended up stuffing ourselves with more carbs. Well, it was a bakery, so it's rather impossible to avoid it and plus, they got g-r-r-eat bread and the jams were of Bonne Maman quality. Yum! Oh, not all was good. Do not order the Mint Lemonade, right Patrice? ^_^ It tasted more like Mint water with a dash of lemon.

A.K.A. Le Frite Knot. Belgian Fries was on top of my list this time, so I did some research on the Belgian Fries website which mentioned this one authentic place in Greenwich. It turned out they've become a beer bar now, but they still serve frites with 10 kinds of dipping sauce to choose. We ordered two medium fries and 4 kinds of sauce: Bourbon, Garlic Aïoli, Dijon Fine, and Andalouse.
My favorite was definitely the Garlic Aïoli while Dijon Fine was rather to wasabi-ish. Who knows Beer & Fries go so well together? Hahaha.. no wonder I got love handles, huh?

Post-frites, Jane decided to went back uptown with Adrian. So the four of us decided to walk around Greenwich and SoHo before having xiao long baos for dinner. Xiao long bao (a.k.a. soup dumpling) are your ordinary dumplings filled with crab, pork, or both, steamed with broth inside so you can't just bite into it. To eat it, you have to put the dumpling on a spoon, then take a small bite at the edge and sip the broth before chowing down the rest of the dumpling. Joe's Ginger is one of the sister restaurants of Joe's Shanghai the supposedly pioneer of xiao long baos in Manhattan. I've tried both and I think they tasted the same.

We finally managed to force Devmann into going to this café after he lost to Myra on an elephant-man-ant game (it's the Indonesian version of rock-paper-scissors, we use the thumb, the index, and pinky fingers instead. elephant kills man, man kills ant, ant scares elephant). ^_^;; After walking 10 blocks from Mott to Sixth Ave, we finally got there. If I have to pick one favorite café in Manhattan, I would definitely pick this. Good food, good selection of drinks, and great ambience. So perfect to jumpstart your mornings or for relaxing at the end of the day. Dimmed lighting, vintage european interior, and bossanova music.



<< Dev with his Mojito and Myr with her Capirinha

It's Sunday and the weather forecast couldn't be more wrong. Yay! They said it would rain the whole weekend but, that day was as sunny as it is possible before the asphalt starts to melt. We started the day at this homey, japanese restaurant that promises to serve authentic Kyoto peasant food. Their speciality is ramen, the curly noodle more widely available in its instant variety that I think people outside of Japan considered ramen = instant noodle.
We also met with my friends from LA, one of which happen to be Jane & Myra's friend from highschool. Yea.. this small world thing starts to get old, perhaps I should go to Iceland or Zaire or Mongolia.

While the Los Angelenos continue their shopping at Fifth Ave, the East Coasters continue their caloriefest at SoHo. This chocolaterie's subtitle was haut-chocolat and judging from the price, it was high enough! Five bucks for a hot cocoa was luxury indeed. Nevertheless, I think it was well worth the price, although I guess not everyone would concur with me ^_^. My favorite was the Bianca, it's white chocolate with Australian lemon myrtle, Provençale lavenders, and Madagascar vanilla. Ooh la la! The other interesting concoction was the Aztec Elixir. It was chocolate the way the Aztecs drank it: crushed cacao beans infused with ancho and chipotle chilies plus mexican vanilla beans, cinammon and thickened with cornmeal. Sounds adventurous enough?

We met up with Sylvia, Adrian's friend at Vosges, and surprise! she was a highschool friend of Devmann's brother. Since we already finished our drinks by the time she got there, we decide to go somewhere to sit down and talk.... over coffee and dessert perhaps? We were so close already to Balthazar so we decided to just go there. I love Balthazar for its authentic French Brasserie look: from the vintage mirror-lined wall to the hexagonal black-and-white tiles to the to-die-for crème brulées.

Well this one is neither a food vendor nor it is edible. Even so, I just have to include them on this list 'cause at the moment I'm all about Acceptance. Also, we played their cd all the way to New York, so in a way it is still part of the NY trip. ^_^
I really think they're gonna be big, if not in the US then in the UK for sure. They sound like a more mature Simple Plan or a less noisy Hoobastank, depending on which song you're listening to. Go to purevolume/acceptance to sample some of their song. Definitely listen to So Contagious and Different, both from their latest album, Phantoms.