Happy Holidays!

It's been a very long time since I've posted anything, but I didn't want to let the year end without one final post, even if a quick one.  This has been quite an interesting year, I've enjoyed many delicious dishes, explored new cultures and had a blast doing all of it.

A few months ago I met up with a friend at Swizz Manhattan to catch up and enjoy some yummy Swiss dishes.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy too many dishes because we really overdosed on fondue.  The Gruyere and Emmenthal cheese fondue was absolutely addicting, we could not get enough and when we were done we were a little surprise how much cheese we ate.

We did manage to leave a little room for dessert and shared the Linzer tart, which was a rich dense tart with a thin layer of fruit and chocolate.  This was absolutely one of the best Linzer tarts I've ever had.

I want to say it's been so much fun tasting food from different countries and blogging about.  Thank you very much for being part of that.  I look forward to tasting food from many new countries in 2013 and blogging about it.  I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday season and a very Happy & Prosperous New Year!  Until next time, Buen Provecho!

Swizz Manhattan
310 West 53rd Street (Between 8th & 9th Avenues)
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212.810.4444
Closest Subway Stop: 7th Avenue (B, D, E)

Banana Leaf: Sri Lankan Food Adventure

I tried to do Sri Lankan food at several other restaurants over the summer but for whatever reasons it never seem to work out, so I was very happy when I came accross Banana Leaf.  Banana Leaf is a Sri Lankan restaurant in Chelsea.  There are so many items on the menu, I had no idea where to start so I asked for some recommendations. 

For my drink I had Nelli and my entree Chicken Kothu String Hoppers.  Nelli is a fruit grown in Sri Lanka.  It has an interesting mix of flavors.  This drink started out tasting sweet but towards the end tasted a little salty.  The gentleman at Banana Leaf said that it is said when you drink this beverage you will experience seven different flavors.  It's definitely a unique beverage.  The chicken kothu is a stir fry of chicken with vegetables like scallions and carrots.  It can be made with roti or string hoppers, I chose string hoppers because it's something I had never tasted.  String hoppers are really thin noodles made from rice flour.  This dish is made my combining the noodles with the chicken, scrambled eggs and vegetables.  It's very similar to a fried rice combination, but the texture seems a bit more delicate.  The dish is served with a spicy gravy that can be poured over the kothu.  I really enjoyed this dish a lot, it had so many wonderful spicy and savory flavors.

Nelli & Chicken Kothu String Hoppers

 For dessert I had Watalappam.  When I ordered this dish I had no idea that this is almost identical to coconut flan.  I make it a pretty fabulous coconut flan, so my expectations are always pretty high.  Well this was an interesting version of it.  The watalappam is made with coconut, eggs, milk and spiced with cardamom.  I didn't really taste the coconut at first, the strongest flavors were the eggs and cardamom.  Half way through the dessert I did taste the coconut, it was very subtle. 


Watalappam

I'm happy I finally was able to complete a Sri Lankan food adventure, this was one full of spice and flavors.  Until next time, Buen Provecho!

Banana Leaf
227 West 28th Street (Between 7th & 8th Avenue)
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212.494.0001
Closest Subway Stop: 7th Avenue & 28th Street (1)

Andre's Café: Hungarian Food Adventure

For this food adventure I decided to check out Hungarian food cuisine in the Upper East Side.   I stopped by Andre’s Café for some traditional Hungarian food.


Chicken Paprikash with Nokedli

For the main course, I opted for the traditional chicken paprikash with nokedli.  Chicken paprikash is a chicken stew made with sweet paprika, onions, peppers, and broth.  I’ve never had this dish before so I don’t know what it should taste like, but the flavor for this one was very mild, almost too bland for my taste.  I did appreciate how tender the meat was.  The nokedli is small pasta, very similar to the German spatzel.  The way this side dish was prepared, it reminded me of baked mac-and-cheese.  I liked this side dish a lot although I couldn’t eat it all cause it was super filling.


Cherry & Cheese Strudel

I did leave a little room for dessert.  This place is known for their strudels, but they also have lots of other desserts like: Kreme (a Hungarian dessert of custard between flaky pastries), creamy roulades, and a variety of cakes.  I chose the cherry/cheese strudel. This pastry crust was very flaky; the filling was very thick and heavy.  I’m not a huge fan of strudels but this one was pretty good.  However, the serving is pretty big so I had to take mine to go.

This was the perfect food adventure for a rainy day.  I was in the mood for comfort food and that’s exactly what I got at Andre’s Café.  Until next time, Buen Provecho!

Andre's Café
1631 2nd Avenue (between 84th St & 85th St)
New York, NY 10028
Phone: 212.327.1105
Closest Subway Stop: 86th Street (4,5,6)

Café Prague: Czech Food Adventure

I have a colleague whose family originated from Prague.  He always speaks about the wonderful Czech food his grandmother used to make and the delicious food he remembers from the Czech restaurants in Astoria.  I’ve had the Czech Republic on my short list of countries to do for the blog for some time, with the hopes of visiting a Czech restaurant in Astoria.  As time has gone by I haven’t had the opportunity to go out to Astoria, so I hoped I would find a Czech restaurant in Manhattan and sure enough I came across Café Prague.

Café Prague is a tiny little café, just off 5^th Avenue on 19^th Street.  Since my colleague mentioned his favorite dish was roast pork with dumplings, that’s exactly what I decided to order.  At Café Prague they serve this dish with sauerkraut.  The pork was well seasoned and topped with caramelized onions.  The dumplings were different than the dumplings I’ve had before, they’re not stuffed; instead these look like sliced bread and taste a little like the soft inside part of dense bread.  The sauerkraut was the most surprising part of this dish, it was very flavorful and served warm.  I’m not a big fan of cabbage, but the sauerkraut was tasty enough for me to have a few bites.   I washed all this down with a Pilsner, a traditional Czech beer.

Roast Pork, Sauerkraut, Dumplings & Pilsner

I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted for dessert, so I decided to have two minis: Satecky and a Laskonka.  The Laskonka looks and tastes very similar to a meringue cookie, made of egg whites and sugar.  The Laskonka is made with two cookies sandwiched together with Nutella.  This is a very sweet dessert!  The Satecky is a sweet puff pastry filled with jam or other ingredients.  The one I had a Café Prague, was light, filled with I believe apricot jam and dusted with powder sugar.  I could’ve had four or five of these, they were so good.

Satecky & Laskonka

I’m glad I finally got around to tasting Czech food.  It was a tasty and satisfying food adventure.  Until next time, Buen Provecho!

Café Prague
2 West 19th Street (at 5th Avenue)
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212.929.2602
Closest Subway Stop: 14th Street/Union Square (L, N, Q, R, 4, 5, 6)

AQ Kafe: Swedish Food Adventure



Things have been a little hectic lately so I haven’t had a chance to blog about some of my latest food adventures.  But, the busy schedule has not stopped me from tasty new cuisines, if anything I’ve been on a bit of a European kick so I’m hoping to catch up in the next few days.


Swedish Meatballs, Potatoes, & Lingonberries

I recently had lunch at AQ Kafé in Midtown to enjoy some Swedish food.  When I first did a Google search for Swedish food what popped up was meatballs and lingonberry jam.  That’s precisely what I had at AQ Kafé.  The meatballs were covered (although not overwhelmed) with gravy.  They were accompanied by creamy mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers, Lingonberries and a roll.  The pickled cucumbers eaten in combination with the mashed potatoes reminded me of the potato/cucumber salad I had at Café Sabarsky some time ago.  The Lingonberries were slightly sweet, slightly tart; a complementary taste to the mild taste of the meatballs.


Flourless Chocolate Cake

For dessert, I did not have a traditional Swedish dessert; I opted instead for the flourless chocolate cake.  The cake is rich, dense, and incredibly decadent.  I would’ve liked to enjoy a more traditional dessert but they really didn’t have any on the menu.  So I’ll have to continue my Swedish food adventure and seek the sweet stuff elsewhere.  Until next time, Buen Provecho!

AQ Kafé
1800 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212.541.6801
Closest Subway Stop: Columbus Circle (A,B,C,D,1)