The warm weather on Friday teased us and I thought we were moving away from the winter, but Saturday’s temperatures and wind gusts reminded me that we still have a month left before the spring. Since it was so cold, Ken and I wanted to get some more ramen and made a trip to the east village to eat at Ippudo. The wait at Ippudo was going to be over 2 hours so we decided to walk to Menkui Tei for a quicker meal since I’ve never experienced a huge wait there.
I forgot that the restaurant was cash only (seriously, who doesn’t accept credit cards these days?!) so our initial plan of ordering two bowls of ramen and fried chicken had to be saved for another trip. Instead, we trimmed down our order to just ramen. Ken ordered the Menkui ramen:
And I ordered the Tonkatsu ramen:
The tonkatsu ramen is supposed to be a rich pork bone broth but tasted more like a mushroom broth with a very small side of pork. Ken’s broth was too salty and had no flavor depth.
We were semi-satisfied with our meal but I think there are many more better options, especially in the east village.
For Valentine’s day, we had a mini celebration in our office. In the past, we’ve done some fun celebrations; ice cream socials with It’s It’s from San Francisco, bourbon tastings, and cupcakes and champagne celebrations. For this celebration, we ordered cupcakes and purchased a bunch of candy for everyone to share. Since one of our officemates has a gluten-free diet, I decided to order cupcakes from Tulu’s Bakery in the East Village, which specializes in gluten-free treats:
My friend assured me that people wouldn’t be able to tell that the cupcakes were gluten free (I’ve never had a gluten free cupcake but it doesn’t sound appetizing). She was right; the cupcakes were incredibly moist, appetizing, and the frosting was a lot better than the majority of the frosting of cupcakes I’ve had. No one in the office could tell, either. In fact, I’d say that the cupcakes we had from Tu-lu’s were some of the best in New York:
My favorite cupcake was the chocolate + pistachio frosting combination, but they were all really delicious. Tu-lu’s also delivers for a flat fee of $12, which is absolutely perfect because I can definitely foresee us ordering from them in the future!
On Sunday, Ken and I got off to a rocky start with our cab ride to Chinatown because the cab driver had no idea where he was going. We asked him to drop us off by Golden Unicorn and he wanted to drop us off in the general vicinity (close to the FDR). When I told him he had to go to the exact intersection I asked for, he acted like he didn’t understand. We eventually got out of the cab and ended up walking to Golden Unicorn, but we were pretty late getting the day started and by the time we got to Golden Unicorn, there wasn’t much food left.
I like most of the places I’ve visited for dim sum in Chinatown; they’re not absolutely mind blowing but the food is good and there’s usually only a 20 minute wait to get a table and to start eating. The last time I visited Golden Unicorn there were carts being pushed by women yelling Cantonese to each other and diners; this time, there were only two carts being pushed around with the leftovers no one else wanted.
We started off with pork buns:
A bit on the sweet side, but generally pretty good; they reminded me of the pork buns from Fei Da, the bakery I like to visit on Mott Street. Some places add green onion to their pork buns, which is a huge no-no for me, but this one tasted pretty good.
We eventually found a server that helped flag down the next two dishes – beef meatballs with Worcestershire sauce:
And my personal favorite, shrimp dumplings:
We also had some sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves (we were too hungry and I forgot to photograph it). There were things I missed that are my usual dim sum staples: mashed taro with pork in a bird’s nest, glutinous rice paste dumplings with pork filling, and tripe. We were too late for all of those (they’d sold out earlier in the day) but luckily we left just in time to get some liang pi noodles at Xi’an Famous Foods, baked goods around the corner, and some fruit for our ride home.
After our Valentine’s day bowling date, Ken and I wanted to grab a quick bite to eat. I initially suggested ramen at Ramen Setagaya, but after bowling, decided I wanted some pasta and pizza at Otto. I’d visited one time a couple of years ago with Ariel and we weren’t very impressed with their pizza or service, but decided to give it another shot.
The restaurant wasn’t too packed when we arrived after 9:30 and we were seated right away (unlike last time when I made a reservation and still ended up waiting quite some time for our table). We started off with lentils:
Hearty but not heavy, served cold, and I didn’t like it at first but after my initial bite the taste grew on me. I think I wasn’t a huge fan of the citrus since I associate lentils with something more hearty.
Ken ordered the spaghetti alla carbonara:
And I ordered the lasagna-like pasta with pork shoulder, tomato sauce, and basil:
We also ordered the pane frattau pizza with tomato sauce, pecorino, a sunny side up egg, and pepperoni (we added the pepperoni):
The spaghetti alla carbonara was one of my least favorite preparations of carbonara I’ve ever had (and I’ve made some disastrous carbonara at home with whole wheat spaghetti!) There was no creaminess to the dish, the pasta was slightly undercooked, and the meat tasted like cheap sausage. The pizza was my second least favorite; it was greasy, the crust tasted like a Trader Joe’s pizza crust with absolutely no flavor, and it was the saltiest pepperoni and pecorino I’ve ever had (I’m guessing the tomato sauce was also heavily salted because it was literally making my tongue feel like sandpaper). However, the saving grace of the evening was my pasta, which had delicious chunks of pork shoulder, mixed with full-bodied tomato sauce and perfectly al dente strips of pasta.
We didn’t have room for dessert, otherwise I would’ve ordered my favorite: olive oil gelato. The service was a tad better than the last time I visited but the water refills were slow and the waiter forgot about us as soon as the food arrived. I’ll probably eat at the bar the next time I visit Otto, specifically for the pork shoulder pasta and the olive oil gelato.
After a long day of working, Ken and I went to dinner at Menchanko Tei to fill up on ramen and fried chicken. Ken first visited the restaurant a couple years ago when his brother-in-law was in town on business and took him there – he brought me there because we were both in the mood for ramen and Ken said their fried chicken ramen combo was really delicious. The restaurant is located in midtown west sandwiched between a Dunkin Donuts and a Five Guys:
The restaurant has a front room and a back room along with a small bar area for dining in case you go by yourself. It’s a popular spot for lunch and when we visited on a Saturday night, there were a lot of Japanese people dining by themselves.
Ken ordered the Tori Kara (Fried Chicken) Menchanko original recipe topped with japanese style fried chicken:
And I ordered the Hakata Ramen – ultra thin ramen noodles in a rich broth topped with simmered pork slices, black mushrooms, red ginger, and scallions:
We also ordered two rice balls – sake (grilled salmon) and Mentaiko (spicy rod roe):
My ramen was really delicious and hit the spot; the noodles were thicker than the ramen you’d order at Ippudo, but the thickness of the noodles matched the rich broth and thick slices of pork. The rice balls were a little too salty and the seaweed had been added to the rice when the rice was still hot so the seaweed was really mushy. Ken and I really enjoyed our noodle dishes (Ken loves their fried chicken noodle dish) and wanted to stay for dessert but since their menu is pretty sparse, we hiked to Times Square and ate Cold Stone (strawberry shortcake!) We also took this photo in Times Square:
There’s a Menchanko Tei closer to us in midtown east and we are definitely going to head back before the winter ends for some delicious ramen.
