Hip Korean "Street" Food at Take31

Although NYC's Koreatown is technically only a block long on 32nd St., there are some other lesser-known Korean restaurants scattered throughout the neighborhood. One such restaurant is Take 31, which stands for...

Take your time, enjoy the atmosphere that is take31, and have fun!

Appease your appetite for Korean food and brew.

Keep a lookout for art exhibitions and events that are often held in take31

Eat take31's unique monthly dish, developed with a fresh recipe.

31 The only tasty fun you'll find on 31st street!

Not gonna lie that it's a little cheesy...

To start off, my group ordered the Danhobak Galbi Jjim ($19.95), which is marinated beef short-rib with slices of sweet pumpkin and potatoes.

It came in a pot that resembles a bowl that you use to wash your face in traditional Korean villages.

The braised beef was quite jerky and fatty. I had difficult time looking for pieces that were actual meat rather than just chunks of fat. I really liked the squash pieces (what can I say...I love squash!), but they would have been so much tastier if the slices were larger. As of now, they seemed more like garnishes rather than a complement to the beef. I also don't see the need to sweetened them.

I was a big fan of the spicy and slightly sweet red sauce. It tasted especially good when mixed in with rice. Nonetheless, I probably wouldn't order this dish again because it was way overpriced for what you get.

We also got a complimentary bowl of ttopoki, which is spicy red cake dish. Unfortunately, the sauce was extremely bland and the rice cake was not chewy at all. Oh well, it was free anyways.

We ordered an Altang ($17.95) to share. This soup had cod eggs and cod bowels with radish, onion scallion, hot pepper, and hot pepper flake. It sounds disgusting, but the cod eggs and bowels are actually quite delicious! The bowels just taste like chewy pasta, while the eggs have a texture similar to foie gras. Once again, though, the dish was way overpriced for the amount you get.

This is Dosirak ($5.50), Korean old school style lunch bow with rice, sunny side up egg, sausage, and sauteed kimchi. When you get this dish, you have to put on the lid and shake it so that all the ingredients are mixed. I don't eat sausage so I don't know what this dish tasted like. I probably won't be back here again though.

Koito, an Authentic Japanese Restaurant in Upper East Side

I dined with my cousin at an authentic Japanese restaurant on the Upper East Side. I had about an hour to burn, so i decided to walk from my office on the 47th floor to 93rd...in heels. Not a good idea. Undeniably, I was quite tired and starved by the time I arrived at the restaurant! The restautant is a little hole in the wall that seats only about 10 people or so. Everything on the menu looked great and we decided to share the dinner special ($49).

The course began with two large bottles of Sapporo beer (you can also choose sake) and veggie appetizers. I could honestly eat this platter all day, every day! The plate had all of my favorite vegetables, including kobocha squash, eggplant, and lotus root.

Unfortunately, the vegetables looked better than they tasted. The slices of squash were not very sweet, the lotus roots were quite salty, and the eggplants were bland. The radish had very mushy texture, while the bamboos were flavorless.

Next on the table were sashimi appetizer. There were pieces of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and mackerel.

My stomach can't tolerate too much raw fish, so the sashimi sampler was the perfect amount. Sashimi were fresh, though I wished the tuna pieces were bigger. Mackerel is one fish I cannot eat raw no matter how hard I try because the fishy smell is too strong for my liking.

The meal also included 26 pieces of sushi. The fist plate had 16 pieces of nigiri. There were four of tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and mackerel.

Nothing too special...I was sort of disappointed by the lack of variety because I just ate the same type of fish as sashimi.

The fish on top of the nigiri were plump, fresh, and juicy enough.

The yellowtail seemed like it already had soy sauce on top. There was a dab of wasabi on top of the rice.

Salmon is probably my favorite. It tastes so much better raw than cooked!

The final plate had more variety in sushi with shrimp, clam, eel, egg, sea urchin, and fish roe.

I used to not be able to eat salmon roe because of its size and the way it pops in my mouth. I felt like such a murderer "killing" so many unmatched baby salmon! But now...I really like them but not this much!

Tomago and sea urchin. I never know whether to eat these in one bite or not...Koito was overall a pretty authentic restaurant, but I do wish I got to eat more than the traditional nigiri or sashimi.

Grilling On Crystal Belly Grill at Kristalbelli in NYC

New York City is the mecca of fine dining experience. It is also a place where the world's top chefs (as well as young, up-and-coming chefs) gather to explore their culinary endeavors.

Kristalbelli, a relatively new Korean fusion restaurant in Midtown West, is owned by JYP, an entertainment guru in South Korea. According to its website, the restaurant prides in its use of the finest ingredients to showcase "the full range of authentic and robust Korean flavors and also to spotlight the delicate aspects of forward Korean cooking.." The restaurant's menu features modern twist to traditional Korean dishes.

The restaurant gets its name from the crystal belly-shaped grill that is at the center of each table. Apparently, they are personally designed by JYP at a cost of $30,000 each! Some of the advantages of crystal grills include...
1. Infrared-ray, which allows the meat to cook inside and outside simultaneously, therefore keeping the juice within.
2. Cooks 2 to 3 times faster compared to traditional stainless or metal grills
3. Prevents smoke, therefore keeping the grilling experience clean

The chef brought us complementary appetizer. The triangular plate had pieces of kimchi kimbop (rice, kimchi, and beef rolled in seaweed), lightly battered and fried. The dish was accompanied by rolled-up spicy noodles and refreshing salad.

I am not a fan of fried food, but the kimbob tempura wasn't too heavy. Too be honest, the restaurant was dark and I didn't realize it was fried before I took a bite of it. The crunchy texture on the outside complemented the savory beef, spicy kimchi, and seasoned rice.

What a great way to start a meal. The noodle was too spicy for my liking, but the fresh greens balanced it well.

Gamja Jeon ($14) is a shredded potatoes and jalapeno pancake. It was really greasy at the bottom, even after dabbing it with napkin. The slightly burnt, crunchy potatoes gave it a similar feel as French fries. The pancake tastes a bit bland without the soy sauce that came with the dish.

Chadol Bap ($12), or thinly sliced beef brisket with rice. I guess this is sort of a fusion on Japanese nigiri. The waiter had really tough time separating the thin slices on the grill. The meat was really fatty. The square sushi rice was topped with jalapeno, wasabi, and some sort of red pepper flakes.

After our appetizers, the waiters came by to set up our table for the main meal. Rather than having one sets of banchans (side dishes) that everyone share, we got individual plates of side dishes. All I could think was, "There are lots of dishes to be washed tonight!"

Filet Mignon ($55/person). Once the crystal grill was hot enough, the waiter brought four chunks of filet mignon. Judging by the color of the meat, I could tell how juicy and savory they will be!

I prefer my steak rare because if it's cooked well, the meat loses its tenderness. The waiter cut the meat for us, and then they will be up for grabs.

Pink meat, just the way I love it! Despite not having much fat, the filet mignon was amazingly tender and juicy. I didn't fully grasp the meaning of "melt in your mouth" until I had this.

Next on the grill were two pieces of NY Strip ($49). These were fattier than the filet mignon.

The crystal grill sucked all the smokes in the vent, so my clothes did not smell like grilled BBQ afterward.

We wrapped up the meal with Korean fusion desserts. Even though we only ordered one dessert, the chef brought us complementary desserts...aka all the desserts on the menu!Goguma Cake($10): Sweet Potato cake with candied sweet potato and sweet potato ice cream. The cake was a bit dry, but I really loved the sweet potato puree/cream swirled within the cake. The ice cream just tasted vanilla to me.

Sesame ice cream ($10). An interesting flavor.

Chaps! by B E S F R E N ($10): Handmade Gluten-free Korean Rice Cake Blended w/ Artistic Flavors including chocolate caramel chips, cheese cream oreo, and vanilla blackcurrant berry. The mochi that I ate had oreo bits. I prefer traditional mochi with red bean fillings.

Ho-Tteok ($10): House made rice cake with vanilla ice cream. Unlike traditional ho-tteok that you can get from street vendors in Korea, this ho-tteok wasn't drenched in oil. Inside the glutenous, chewy rice cake was sweet honey jam fillings.

Creamy Lobster Risotto at Sandrine's Bistro

 The first and the last time I was at Sandrine's Bistro  was in 2011 when I tasted rabbit for the first time. Since that exquisite dining experience, I have been meaning to visit again, but because Sandrine's Bistro is not the most affordable restaurant, I have kept away from my promise. Before I leave Cambridge for the summer, though, there was one item on the menu that I really wanted to try. I decided to dine out here on my last Friday night for a while.

My friend ordered the first item on the menu: Magret de Canard a I'Orange Sanguine ($28). In plain English, that means roasted peking duck breast with pea risotto and blood orange reduction. I am not a huge fan of duck because of its natural fattiness, but I read somewhere that duck fat isn't that bad. I tried a little bit of the pea risotto, and it was seasoned quite nicely.

Without any dilemma, I chose the Lobster Risotto ($32) with spinach and cognac lobster sauce. I asked the waiter if it would be possible to skip the cream, cheese, and any other dairy products to accomodate my lactose-intolerance. The waiter came out a few minutes later, telling me that the Lobster Risotto is the only dish that they can't make dairy-free because the lobster is already cooked in cream. Nonetheless, because it was the dish that I had been wanting for a while, I decided to suffer from stomach cramps later and enjoy the dish.

...and I had no regrets! The lobster risotto was so savory, and the cream wasn't overwhelmingly nauseating either (though I still would have preferred it without cream...). The spinach added nice bitterness to the otherwise creamy risotto. The rice was cooked just the right amount to have enough texture without tasting too mushy.

 There were plenty chunks of lobster for my $32 worth of money. I wished the seasoning of the dish had been richer. Perhaps a dash of salt would have done the magic? Sadly there were no salt & pepper on the table.

I ate everything on the plane, even the decorative greens on the top! Inevitably, my stomach was growling at me all night, but the 45-minutes of euphoria in my mouth was totally worth it :)

Traditional Taiwanese Cuisine at Sugar & Spice

My dorm is located in between Harvard Square and Porter Square. Even though I have visited several restaurants in the Square due to its proximity to my classes and social happenings, I rarely spend time near the Porter Square. Really, there is no reason for me to be there! Now that school is out for good and that I have so much free time, I decided to venture out to Porter Square to check out a Thai restaurant there called Sugar & Spice.

My friend and I ordered the Steamed Shrimp Shumai ($4.95) appetizer to start. We got 7 pieces of really dry shumai that tasted like one of those frozen shumai you get from Costco. The fillings were pretty much absent and it was mostly the outer skin. The shumai was also bland and tasteless, even when it was literally dunked in the soy sauce.

Our first entree was Gra Prao Chicken, ($9.95) spicy minced chicken in chili sauce. There was a bed of greasy, chili oil underneath which freaked me out a little. The white rice tasted a bit undercooked, and I couldn't really taste the chicken because it was minced so small. I would have liked more spices.

The Pad Thai ($8.95), or stir-fried rice noodles with shrimp, chicken, egg, peanuts, bean sprouts and scallions, is a must-dish at a Thai restaurant. The pad thai was sweeter than other pad thai I have had (indeed it reflects the name of the restaurant well!). There were only three medium-sized shrimps and bits of chicken. Usually the ground peanuts are served on the side, but this restaurant had it all mixed in the noodle already.