Top 7 Brunch Dishes And Drinks That Will Make You Wish It Was The Weekend Every Day

1. Ricotta Pancakes from Foragers Table

The melt-in-your-mouth, heavenly Orange Blossom Ricotta Pancakes from Foragers Table is the fluffiest, most moist pancakes you will ever taste. Each serving has three stacks of light and velvety pancakes topped with candied orange and fresh strawberries for an addition of fruity and citrusy flavors. The soft ricotta cheese in the pancakes batter produce a unique consistency with moist center.

2. Dim Sum Platter from Hakkasan

The signature Hakka Steamed Dim Sum Platter from Hakkasan is unlike any dim sum dishes you will taste in Chinatown. Inside the bamboo steamer is two sets of scallop shumai, har gau, prawn and Chinese chive dumpling, and chicken and corn dumpling. Each dim sum - made using the finest ingredients - is so beautifully executed that a photo snapping is a must before you devour it.

3. Duck Egg and Polenta from La Sirena

The hearty Duck Egg and Polenta from La Sirena - the newest culinary opening of legendary duo Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich - is an interesting fusion of coastal Italian cuisine with the American South influence. The duck egg, which has more viscosity to the yolk and a thickness to the white compared to the chicken egg, is laid atop of creamy, grit-like polenta that is topped with herb and almond pesto.

4. Lox & Bagel from Mr. Purple

Simple yet delightful to the senses, the Lox & Bagel platter from Mr. Purple is a must to satisfy your craving for the ultimate brunch experience. Create your perfect bite of toasted sesame bagel, tomato, onion, capers, and smoked salmon - all smeared with a generous spread of cream cheese. While you are at it, enjoy the vibrant rooftop atmosphere of the restaurant on the 15th floor of Hotel Indigo in the Lower East Side.

5. Sunday Brunch at Peacock Alley

Feast on the quintessential brunch experience at Peacock Alley in the main lobby of The Waldorf Astoria, where you will dine on famed dishes like Eggs Benedict, Waldorf Salad, and red velvet cake while basking in the grand atmosphere. There is no shortage of food options at the Peacock Alley, with the buffet-style menu that ranges from poached jumbo shrimp and beef wellington to omelet station and lemon meringue tart.

6. Roxy Brunch at Roxy Hotel

Are you indecisive when it comes to savory vs. sweet entree at brunch? At Roxy Brunch every Saturday and Sunday, you can get both - and much more - with a diverse buffet spread that includes Belgian waffles made to order, baked ham carving station, lemon verbena scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, and smoked salmon and sturgeon. As an added bonus, you can sit back and relax to the tunes of live jazz music throughout the day.

7. Build-Your-Own Bloody Mary at Del Frisco’s Grille

Just a quick ferry or train ride away from Manhattan, Del Frisco’s Grille in Hoboken serves DIY Bloody Marys that will complement any brunch entrees. You can make between 4-6 glasses of spicy Bloody Marys with this interactive menu, which includes house-made Bloody Mary mix, Tito’s vodka, Tabasco, salt and pepper, and a plate of fixin’s (bacon, pickled okra, limes, beans, pickled peppers and celery). It’s time to get creative!

Restaurant Review: From Presentation To Flavor, Hakkasan Delivers Delicious Dining Experience

Hakkasan Group

Dining at Hakkasan in Manhattan’s Theater District is more than just an experience - it’s an exquisite culinary journey through the restaurant’s innovative dishes that showcase traditional Cantonese cuisine with a modern twist. This year, I got to partake in Hakkasan’s celebration of the Year of the Monkey by attending its Chinese New Year dinner, which featured a limited edition menu created by International Executive Chef Ho Chee Boon.

Double Boiled Fresh Ginseng and Chicken Soup

Designed with the hope of bringing joy, luck, and prosperity to the diners, the elaborate pre fixe dinner began with a bowl of Double Boiled Fresh Ginseng and Chicken Soup. The soup was an excellent start to the meal as the flavorful broth enriched with ginseng, tender chicken breasts, bamboo pith, and wolfberry warmed my soul.

Diced Wagyu Beef & Pine Nut Golden Cup

The next course of “Small Eat” included Diced Wagyu Beef & Pine Nut Golden Cupand a selection of Hakkasan’s signature Steamed Dim Sum Platter. The finely diced, juicy wagyu beef and pine nuts were piled on top of lightly fried, crispy cup. Beyond the complexity of flavor and texture in the dish, I was impressed with the beautiful plating that highlighted natural colors of pomegranate seeds, micro greens, and flower petals.

Steamed Dim Sum Platter

There were four different varieties of dim sum in the Steamed Dim Sum Platter. My favorite was the Scallop Shumai. Wrapped inside chewy dumpling skin was a plump piece of shrimp and scallop with a scoop of caviar roe on top. The only disappointment in the platter was the Duck & Yam Bean Dumpling; the gravy-like, thick sauce on top of the dim sum, as well as the combination of mushy yam and salty duck, was not pleasing to the mouth.

Pipa Duck and Roasted Chilean Sea Bass

The shareable “Main” course featured a generous portion of four dishes and fried rice. My favorite was a tie between the Pipa Duck and the Roasted Chilean Sea Bass. The Pipa Duck had beautifully crispy, golden skin with juicy, albeit fatty, meat. The hoisin sauce at the bottom added pleasantly sweet end note. The Chilean sea bass, glazed with Chinese honey, was so succulent that it just melted in my mouth. I particularly enjoyed the tempura battered mushroom on top of the sea bass.

Wok-Fry Lobster, Hericium Mushrooms, and Scallop & Crab Fried Rice

Other dishes in the “Main” course included Wok-Fry Lobster in spicy truffle sauce with asparagus, mushroom, and carrots, and the vegetarian Hericium Mushrooms stir fried with lotus root, asparagus, and lily bulb in black pepper sauce. The Scallop & Crab Meat fried rice was the perfect accompaniment to the generally salty main entrees.

Golden Halo

To sweeten the palate, the dinner concluded with Golden Halo, an intricate dessert of soy caramel, cubed banana with edible gold flakes, chocolate truffle, and candied peanuts. Oh, and don’t forget about the dust of gold on the plate! At the end of the dinner, I also got to write my wish on a gold ribbon to hang in the restaurant and received a farewell gift of Year of the Monkey gold coin as a sign of good fortune. I have a feeling 2016 will be a prosperous year after this delicious Chinese New Year meal at Hakkasan!

NYC Red Farm's Asian Food, Too Cute to Consume

Because I live and work in Midtown, I haven't had much chance to explore other parts of NYC. Yet people have been telling me about all these great restaurants in the "southern" part of the city, so I decided to venture out one day after work to Red Farm, which serves an "innovative, inspired Chinese cuisine with Greenmarket sensibility," according to its website.

It was my first time at this cute West Village restaurant, so I asked the waiter for recommendation. Right off the bat, he suggested the Pac-Man Shrimp Dumplings ($12.50). I couldn't believe my eyes when the dish came to the table because the presentation was stunning and, quite frankly, too cute to eat!

As the name of the dish suggests, it had sweet potato tempura carved in the shape of Pac Man with blueberries for its eyes. Underneath the "Pac Man" was a generous serving of guacamole and two slices of cucumber.

There were a total of 4 dumplings in the shape of ghosts in the game. They were filled with juicy shrimps, and each dumpling were infused with flavors that ranged from lobster to leek to crab. My only wish was that the servings were bigger because my party and I gobbled up these "ghosts" within seconds.

Another dimsum that we ordered was Pork & Crab Dumplings ($12). We got four pieces of pretty large-sized soup dumplings with a side of ginger & soy sauce.

Perhaps it's because I had such phenomenal soup dumplings in Chinatown, but the ones in Red Farm did not live up to the expectation. The skin of the dumplings were a bit too thick, while the inside didn't contain as much juice and flavors as I would have liked.

The final appetizer we ordered was Kowloon Filet Mignon Tarts ($10). I must preface by saying that these petite tarts were the highlight of the night! We each got to taste one tart that was full of rich flavors.

On top of the crispy (and not fatty!) tart with corns and slightly creamy sauce was well-seasoned and marinated filet mignon with garlic flakes. I wanted to savor the tart without finishing it up in one bite. The filet mignon wasn't too tough and it was very juicy! I could probably eat this all the time.

After our three appetizers, the waiter brought the entree:  Lobster & Long Life Noodles ($39). I was really curious what long life noodles were, but they are basically chow mein noodles. The serving, as well as the plate it was served in, was quite large. It contained one whole lobster over a bed of noodles with mushroom and scallions.

I have to say that the main dish wasn't as good as the appetizers. Visually, the food didn't look that presentable as well. The lobster had lots of meat, but I sort of wished the meat had been taken out already so that I didn't have to deal with cracking up the shellfish. The lobster was also really starchy for some reason...

The noodle tasted really overcooked. It just disappeared in my mouth! If I could, I would just rename the dish "Lobster Chow Mein."

We were quite full by now and was about to pay for the food when the waiter told us that we have a FREE dessert on the house because we were asked to move to a different table during the meal. Even though we were stuffed, why not? We ordered Key Lime Pie & Lemon Sorbet.

The one scoop of sorbet had a little mint garnish on top. The sorbet melted too quickly while I was trying to pace it because it was too sour.

The key lime pie was really sweet, especially the graham cracker crust. It had rich key lime flavors, and on top were swirls of meringue and three berries (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry).

Overall, I enjoyed my fusion-y experience at Red Farm. I loved that they offered us complementary dessert too...definitely giving it kudos for its service! Next time I visit, I will probably just stick to the
appetizers and some dimsums though!

 

Eat Till You Drop

When I tell my friends I have been in Korea all summer, the typical questions are as followed:



"What are you doing?"

"How are you liking it?"

"How's the food?"



The last question stumps me every time. How am I liking the food in Korea? A simple answer is: it's too great.



I love food, and I am a voracious eater. The only reason I am able to maintain my body is that I am a rather picky eater as well. There are many things I avoid, both for my health and my eccentric taste bud. For example, I don't eat pork (bacon, pork chop, sausage, etc.) because pigs scare me. I realize it's quite irrational, but this fear prevented me from consuming pork for so long that if I tried eating it now with a blind eye, I still can't do it because it upsets my stomach. I also dislike anything greasy (fried food), creamy (cream-based sauce), or chocolatey (I'm partially allergic to chocolate...).



Despite my picky taste, I still love trying new food. And today I got to eat food--albeit not new--until my stomach erupted in pain from overdose.



I crossed the Han River twice today instead of relying on public transportation; I foresaw that my day would involve lots of food consumption so I emptied my stomach in advance by exercising. I first met up with a guy from Harvard and had Chinese food. The two of us ordered mapa tofu (spicy tofu with minced meat), vegetable fried rice, noodle in clear broth with seafood and vegetables, and shrimp dimsum. The food was decent, but I realized I am not a huge fan of Chinese cuisine because it uses too much oil.


The small serving was mapo tofu was just the right sized because I didn't eat it much--too much chili oil floating on the top. The fried rice was likewise a bit too greasy for my liking.

I have had better shumai (shrimp dimsum). Nothing special with these ones, except for the oozing juice inside.

We then shared the famous Meal Top patbingsu, which, by the way, is a summer dessert I am absolutely sick of because of this article on patbinsgu that I wrote for Chosun Ilbo. I had to visit 15 cafes in 5 days, and my stomach was in pain for a long time afterward.



After this feast, I did my last day of tutoring with Belle, and her parents bought me dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant called Anna Bini. The tomato salad with fresh mozzarella was so delightful! I usually don't like cheese (that's actually one of the many food items I dislike), but I could eat this mozzarella every day! It was chewy and savory at the same time. Great texture!



The cream pasta with squid ink black noodle is the restaurant's signature dish, but since I don't like cream-based pasta, I only had a bite to be polite.



I ordered black olive oil pasta, which surprisingly wasn't as oily as I had expected! I liked the seafood in it, especially the lobster tail.



I am also not an omnivore, so I only had two pieces of steak. The only time I can tolerate steak is when it's cook to rare so that I can taste the tenderness of the meat, but this was cooked to medium. Bleh.



We ordered this chicken, broccoli, and bacon risotto at the end because the parents thought the food wasn't enough. The mom put a heaping spoonful on my plate to try, and I had such a difficult time finishing it because the chicken was fatty and the risotto had bacon in it :( I didn't want to seem wasteful so I ate the whole thing.



Anyways, my stomach is crying inside right now because it is full of food, but I am just eating as much as I can before I leave Korea because the food at Harvard doesn't even compare. And I need to get a little fatter, anyways.