Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen in New York, NY

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Don't be fooled by the word ramen in its name: Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen is a Chinese restaurant that offers flavorful dishes at prices that do not break the bank. There, one of their star item is the lamian or hand pulled noodles that Chef Peter Song, a native from China, prepares in the kitchen. 

This is a small place, crowded, especially during the week, being located on 8th avenue and so, spoiled with a lot of passage. 

We decided to go on a Saturday early evening. I guess we were right not to go too late as, when we left, the restaurant was full. And trust me, it filled up quickly as we did not stay hours there: you sit, you eat and you go. Not that they were pressing us to leave, but this is not the place for a tête à tête, the tables being very close to each other. Don't get me wrong: you get the same feel when you go to other ramen places like Menkuitei or Totto Ramen. 

So we decided to try some of their little steamed buns and ramen. 

We shared:

The Kung Fu steamed pork buns:

These are soup dumplings that I guess are a hit in most restaurant, not only for the taste, but also because people try to understand how the soup made it inside (they do not use a syringe, but just freeze it, before putting it in the dumpling). It was fairly good, a bit fatty, but in a good way. I would put them at the level of Joe's Shanghai. 

The way I eat them is from the top, after placing the dumpling on a spoon (the plate is for the photo only...). 

Only problem was that it was a bit sticky and we had to be careful when lifting them from the steamer as one or two broke and leaked. 

Then, we tried the vegetable dumplings:

For sure, the green color stood out...inside and outside. It was just ok for me: too much broccoli and the filling was a bit dry. 

Last was the ramen. I decided to go for the roasted duck one. 

I forgot how difficult it can be to eat duck with chopsticks because of the bones. But I made it. It was very flavorful altogether, the duck giving lots of flavors to the broth that, on its own, did not stand up like the broths you can have at places like Ivan Ramen or Ippudo.

The noodles were delicious and perfectly cooked.

It was ok. Would I go back? Maybe. This is not a must go.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Buddakan in New York, NY

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Buddakan was on my list for a while and I was thrilled when Jodi picked this restaurant for her birthday (ok, I did not tell the restaurant it was her special day as she hates it when they come with a cake and sing...).

As soon as we entered, we were amazed by the impressive decor of the venue.

I am not sure if they did that on purpose, but they walked us all around the main dining room before bringing us to the table, allowing us to see how this more than 250 seat restaurant was organized.

So we sat at a table and I truly appreciated being able to talk without screaming to Jodi, until they started to lower the lights and put some loud music. I think that was the only negative of the whole experience. I should have known had I looked at the history of the place: it was opened in 1998 by acclaimed restauranteur Stephen Starr (Morimoto, Fette Sau...) who is a fan of music and decided to name the restaurant in honor of Nippon Budokan, an indoor venue in Tokyo where artists like Bob Dylan, Cheap Trick and Ozzy Osbourne performed.

The menu, crafted by Executive Chefs Yuang Huang and Brian Ray is Chinese, but with a twist. We decided to start with some appetizers. First was the tuna tartare spring rolls:

This was a very interesting dish, combining the lightness and freshness of the tartare that had a slight kick with the crispiness of the roll.

The second appetizer was the hoisin glazed pork belly:

The pork belly was served with soft steams buns that were very light, soft and slightly sticky.

And the pork belly smothered in this wonderfully sweet hoisin sauce:

What we did was to put some pork belly, cabbage and shallots in a bun, et voila!

Then, we got some entrees. Jodi ordered the wild mushroom chow fun that was succulent, the chow fun being perfectly cooked and very tasty, and with a nice quantity of mushrooms.

On my side, I chose the black pepper beef that was a ribeye steak sautéed in a wok and accompanied with a bird's nest (well more like a cracker than a real nest):

The presentation was amazing and the way you eat that dish is by mixing the steak and onions with the nest that you pulverize with your fork. This is a dish I recommend: original, the ribeye was perfectly cooked and tender. Knowing that ribeye is my favorite piece of meat, I could hear angels singing behind me after each bite.

As Jodi loves sugar snap peas, we ordered some as a side:

They were served with soy tapioca and mushrooms. Although I am not the biggest fan of sugar snap peas, I really liked that dish.

Of course, we could not finish our meal without any dessert! We ordered their best seller: the crying chocolate.

Served with a Vietnamese coffee ice cream, it was made of malted chocolate ganache and when we ate it, we could see it crying, the chocolate slightly dripping from the top to the bottom.

It might have been the most ordered dessert, it was not my favorite. The almond bread pudding, suggested by our waiter, was fantastic!

Served with a whiskey ice cream, it was topped with caramelized bananas and bathed in a butterscotch sauce. Imagine that Jodi, who does not like almonds loved it (so I had to share...). Not overly sweet, it was divine and I certainly recommend it.

After this feast, a nice walk was necessary. Despite the night club atmosphere, Buddakan is definitely one of the best Chinese restaurants for that category: the food was delicious and the service excellent. I definitely have this restaurant on my list of must do.

Enjoy (I sure did)!

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Restaurant Week: Hakkasan in NYC, NY

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My next target for Restaurant Week was Hakkasan, a modern Chinese restaurant that originated in London in 2001 and opened its doors in Hell's Kitchen in April 2012 and earned a Michelin star. I was thinking that the $38 deal for dinner was a good way to try out that place as, the lack of prices on the menu often indicates a pricey meal...

This 11,000 square feet place is pretty impressive with its modern decor and deep blue lighting. The photo above is the lounge area and the one below part of the dining room.

Even more impressive is the long corridor at the entrance that reminded Jodi of a scene in The Shinning. Scary!

They sat us fairly quickly at our table and I admit that I really was not sure what to order as lots of dishes seemed very appetizing.

For instance, for the appetizer, I hesitated between the steamed dim sum platter and the fried one. Well, first I did not know what har gau was and discovered later that it was a shrimp dumpling. Then, they had a fried dumpling with duck and, as I love duck, I decided to go with the fried platter.

There were three dumplings: shrimp, mashed duck and pumpkin, scallops. The presentation was beautiful, especially the duck dumpling that had the shape of a pumpkin. They were delicious: slightly crispy and tasty, the dough was perfect, not too greasy. My favorite was the scallop one, then the shrimp and last the duck (I did not get as much duck taste as I would have loved to). 

Jodi got the stir-fried mushrooms with lettuce wrap.

I loved that dish, with or without the lettuce that, as the name of the dish suggests, is used as a wrap. 

It was full of pistachio and pine nuts that added a nice flavor to it. But know that it was slightly spicy...

For the entrée, I ordered the spicy prawn, served with Lilly bulb, almond and jicama. 

I was surprised how much large shrimp were on the plate as I thought that, being a special deal, portions would be small. 

I ate that dish with some egg fried rice that was quite good. 

Imagine the sauce of the prawn being like a curry, with the spiciness of a curry in fact. Fortunately, mixing with the rice and eating the jicama that not only gave a nice crunch, but had a slight cooling effect that helped. It was so good that, even if my mouth was, at time, on fire, I went back to it. 

Jodi ordered a vegetarian dish: three-style mushroom stir-fry with macadamia nuts, water chestnuts and gai lan that is Chinese broccoli.

It was good, but I admit that I found the dish a bit boring, missing texture if not for the presence of macadamia nuts, and taste. She also got fried rice. 

For dessert, we shared:

Vanilla ice cream with strawberry sorbet, strawberries, meringue and...black pepper. 

Ok, I admit that we did not really taste the black pepper, and I wondered if it was not just simply used to enhance flavors. But overall, it was a delicious dish, the high point being the vanilla ice cream that had a texture very close to a mousse. 

We also tried a lemon infused consommé with peach ice cream, a huge cherry, and some fig. 

That was a fantastic dessert, well balanced and very refreshing. I could have eaten more of it! Well, I also could have eaten much more of this amazing shortbread!

We had a delicious meal at Hakkasan: the food was succulent, the presentation stunning and appetizing, and the service perfect and courteous. Know that there is loud music there, like in a club, but even with that, I cannot wait to go back there for another dinner, that is what the spirit of Restaurant Week is about: discovering places. 

Enjoy (I did)! 

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Joe's Shanghai in New York, NY

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It has been years since I went to Joe's Shanghai, having tried their midtown (food just ok and poor service) and their Chinatown location. But, after trying the soup dim sum at Red Farm, I wanted to go back and see how these restaurants measure up against each other.

We went on a week day and showed up a bit before the opening as, each time we passed by, there was a long line, this restaurant being recommended in a lot of guides. Surprisingly, there was barely anybody, so we got a table right away. 

The restaurant filled up slowly, but was not as crowded as expected. 

Few minutes after we sat, the waiter came with some tea and asked us if we wanted the dim sum so they could fire them up in the kitchen. We answered affirmatively and proceeded to look at the menu to pick the other dishes we wanted to try. 

I could not of course resist ordering the fried quail, a dish that you can buy to go in few locations in Chinatown (or at Whole Foods, uncooked).

There were succulent: a tad crispy, but still moist, that is not that simple as it is easy to overcook them. 

Then, we shared the fried spring roll.

Unfortunately for Jodi, they were made with shrimp, that she hates except in shumai. I liked it, but it was not as good as the scallion pancake that followed that was probably one of the best I had so far. 

Then came the pork soup dim sum:

They were eight of them, very, very hot. I proceeded to put one in a spoon 

And eat it from the top. 

The shell was very good, as well as the filling, although I found it way too fatty and prefer the more delicate taste of Red Farm. 

Our last dish was braised bean curd with spinach, the same dish we ordered the last time we went. 

I admit that I conceded this dish to Jodi, as I am not a big fan of spinach...

The bean curd was very good, smothered on a delicious thick sauce, but I wished they served something else than spinach. 

The bill, paid cash only, was light, for a very decent meal. Joe's Shanghai is a good spot for Chinese food, it's Asian crowd proving it. They are precursor of these delicious soup dim sum, but if you really want to try, go to Red Farm: I think they are better there, even if pricier. 

Enjoy (I did)!

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Joe's Shanghai

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