Foodology
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In Cafe

Bibble & Sip: Coffee and Creampuffs in New York

We were looking for a cafe to grab some coffee and we stumbled upon Bibble and Sip Bakery Cafe.  They make all of their items in-house from pastries to the syrups used to sweeten our drinks.

They are trained in French Confectionery and inspired by Asian flavours, even their savoury treats bring you the best of the East and West. They are best known for their big cream puffs and they sell out quickly. When we came here, all the the cream puffs were ready to be served. Noon is a pretty good time to come here.

Interior

The space is a decent size with a few chairs and tables. Most people grab items to go.

Matcha Cream Puff

The cream puffs are the best. It has a nice crispy exterior and inside there is lots of matcha cream. If you come here, you must get a cream puff. Highly recommended. You will not regret it.

Latte

A latte was my drink of choice as I needed some caffeine. It was pretty standard and no complaints here. It kept me awake for the morning of going around New York.

Melon Pan

The Melon pan is  filled with melon milk cream and has a crisp crust on the exterior. When biting into it, the bread was pretty dense and dry. It took away the delicate flavours of the melon. I wouldn’t get this again.

Final Thoughts

Come here for Coffee and the cream puffs when you are around the Times Square area. Even if you’re not in the area, it’s a good spot to visit for the ultimate cream puff.

We Rate Bibble & Sip: 

Address:
253 W 51st St, New York, NY

Website:
https://www.bibbleandsip.com

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In New York

Anastasia the Broadway Music: Journey to the Past

This Broadway version of Anastasia transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman – Anastasia sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.

When I knew I was going to New York, a lot of people recommended we attend the Anastasia musical on Broadway. Seeing that I am a huge fan of the Disney movie, I booked my tickets and counted down the days till I would be in New York. We arrived with our paper tickets in hand 30 minutes at Broadhurst Theatre before the show to begin lining up. We were in the area early, so we just decided to wait.

Lottery

Anastasia has lottery tickets for $42 through a daily digital lottery at www.anastasiabroadwaylottery.com . The lottery opens at midnight on the day of each performance. The lottery closes at 9am for matinees and 2pm for evening performances. It’s a good way to score cheap tickets.

Seats

The theatre is pretty small compared to the other large theatres in Times Square, so if you don’t get a close seat, don’t worry too much as each seat is pretty good. We got 3rd row in the balcony closer to the right side of the theatre.

The Show

The sets, costumes, and  score including favourites from the animated film – “Journey to the Past” and “Once Upon a December”. They did include a few new songs, which I loved the addition. The show is a total of around 2 hours and 45 minutes.

I really enjoyed the show from beginning to end. I was so happy they removed all the supernatural elements that were in the animated film since it wouldn’t make sense to have a talking bat like Bartok as part of the storyline.

After the show

When you wait around after the show, the cast some out to meet the fans before heading home. It’s a great chance to get some picture, get an autograph, and even say hello. When I was here, I caught a glimpse of  Christy Altomare (Anya) and Derek Klena (Dmitry).

Final Thoughts

I absolutely loved this show and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting New York.

Website: https://www.anastasiabroadway.com

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In Chelsea

Morimoto New York: Lunch and Sushi Sets

During my 2nd trip to New York City, I had to come back again to eat from their lunch menu. I had an awesome time a few years ago, so I had to bring my friends. I’ve been to Morimoto Asia in Orlando, but it was more like Americanized Asian food.

Morimoto New York is my favourite so far, thus why I’m coming back again.

Interior

The interior is very nice and luxurious like you’re dining in a white tent because of the drapery.

The focal point of the dining room is their glass display in the middle of the room all lit up.

It’s so shiny and mesmerizing that you have to touch it.

Lunch menu

The lunch sets are a really good deal compared to their regular menu. You get pretty full off each box. I was eying the other table to see what they ordered before making my choice.

Uni Don

The uni don is an absolute stunner. It has grilled freshwater eel over a bed of sushi rice with cucumbers and green onions. It comes with a variety of pickles, green salad, and miso soup.

A very complete meal and I enjoyed every single bite. One of my favourite meals on this New York trip.

Angry Chicken

The angry chicken lunch set has shiso-cucumber pickles, citrus yogurt, and a roasted chili-miso sauce. It also comes with a variety of pickles, green salad, rice and miso soup.

The Washroom

Go to their washroom, it’s so beautiful like a piece of art. Very high tech and cleans your butt too.

We Rate Morimoto New York:  

Address:
88 10th Ave, New York

Website:
http://www.morimotonyc.com/

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In Dessert

Junior’s Cheesecake in New York City

Junior’s Cheesecake was founded in Brooklyn back in 1950 and is best known for their delicious New York Style Cheesecakes. If you’re visiting New York, you don’t have to travel to Brooklyn to their original location. Right by Times Square is this location with lots and lots of cheesecake. We stopped by after a Broadway show for a little bit of a sweet treat but their dining area was packed full of customers and plenty of other people waiting in line.

They have a take-out section where you can take a slice of cheesecake or a whole one to go.

We ended up getting 2 pieces for takeout and share it with our friends too.

Strawberry Cheesecake

This beautiful slice of cheesecake has the  original cheesecake topped with fresh strawberry pie filling and baked into a graham crust with our macaroon crunch. Loved the texture of the crust, the soft velvety texture of the cheesecake and the big pieces of strawberry.

Original New York Plain Cheesecake

Of course we had to go with this classic. This is really creamy but not heavy at all. When you take your first bite, it won’t crumble at all. The rich flavour is so addictive that you want more. It was rated “Best Overall” by the Wall Street Journal.

Final Thoughts

If you’re in the area and never had Junior’s before, best to go grab a slice at the restaurant or grab it to go.

We Rate Juniors Cheesecake: 

Address:
1515 Broadway, New York, NY

Website:
https://www.juniorscheesecake.com/

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In New York

Go! Go! Curry! in New York City

In New York we all chose somewhere we really wanted to go to. My husband decided he wanted to go to Go! Go! Curry! near Times Square. Go Go Curry started in Kanazawa-city, Ishikawa prefecture in Japan, so this style is known as a Kanazawa curry. It is served with black, thick curry sauce over Koshihikari rice, a premium short grain rice, with very thinly shredded cabbage and Pork Katsu – a crispy, deep fried pork cutlet – all in a stainless plate.

We came here for dinner as it was quick and relatively inexpensive.

Interior

The space is small and nothing that special. Not even a functional washroom, which we noticed was a common sight in New York.

Home Run Curry

This combination is a USA feature. It is has rice, curry, cabbage, sausage, pork or chicken katsu, shrimp and egg. We went with pork katsu and thought it was ok. The curry sauce is definitely different that what we’re used to.

Chicken Katsu Curry

This has the rice, shredded cabbage, curry and the chicken katsu on top. This was ok as well.

Final Thoughts

This is definitely quick and affordable curry in New York, nothing fancy. The katsu has a crisp exterior and goes well with the curry.

Address:
273 W 38th St, New York, NY

Website:
https://gogocurryamerica.com/

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In Chelsea

Doughnuttery Mini Doughnuts in New York City

Doughnuttery NYC makes artisanal mini Donuts inside Chelsea Market. My friend suggested it, so we got a bunch for a snack. It was very busy lining up and finding a table, but with some patience, we got our box of mini donuts and seats.

They have a lot of flavours, so thats what draws in all the crowds. They have traditional flavours like cinnamon sugar, but they have an even longer list for unique flavours like Urban Monkey, Pumpkin Pie Brulee and Paris Time.

Menu

Interior

We ordered 25 mini donuts in total with 5 flavours, so we did have to wait a little bit for them to get through the orders.

They use their special donut machine to make everything. It’s fun to see them get created.

Once they drop into the basket, they either get glazed or covered in flavoured sugar.

Mini Donuts

In our little box, we got the:

  • Cinnamon Sugar
  • Pumpkin Pie: Pumpkin, Graham Crackers, bruleed sugar, and fall spices
  • Cacao Boy: cacao nibs, chocolate cookies, and mesquite
  • Paris Time: Lavendar, pistacho, and vanilla
  • PBCP: Peanut butter, cayenne and pretels

I did not like the Cacao Boy at all, the mesquite flavour just ruined thr who flavour in my opinion. I enjoyed the cinnamon sugar as it’s a classic and you can’t go wrong with that. Paris Time was a good one as well if you like lavender.

We Rate Doughnuttery NYC:  

Address:
425 W 15th St, New York

Website:
https://www.doughnuttery.com/

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In Cafe

Black Fox Coffee Co. in New York City

We were staying in the Wall Street area during our trip and we needed some caffeine to get us started for the day before heading off on our flight back to Vancouver. We did quick search and there was Black Fox Coffee Co. a few feet away with good espresso beverages.

Interior

The cafe is hip and super cute and I just love their fox logo. There are lots of seats inside, but most people were taking coffees to go.

We saw some delightful pastries too, but we opted to just stick to coffee. They also sell 49 Parallel coffee beans, which is surprising since it travelled a long way to be in New York City, just like us. hahaha. 49 Parallel is from Vancouver, BC.

Latte

I got a latte and it was what I needed this morning. Good temperature and the right amount of espresso to milk ratio.

Final Thoughts

We sat here for a little bit as we planned the rest of our morning on our phones before heading off to see a few more sights before heading to the airport.

We Rate Black Fox Coffee Co: 

Address:
70 Pine St, New York

Website:
https://www.blackfoxcoffee.com

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In Cafe

Blue Bottle Coffee in New York City

There are so many Blue Bottle Coffee locations in New York City. A taste of the West Coast in NYC. When we were visiting Chelsea Market, we made a stop here for coffee before we began walking the High Line.

The space is very small, so there is barely any room to sit, so we took our drinks to go.

New Orleans Ice Coffee

It was a hot day, so an iced coffee was what we needed. This is is cold-brewed for 12 hours with roasted chicory and sweetened with organic cane sugar. Then they add organic whole milk to it. It’s a bit sweet and creamy, but most importantly delicious.

We rate Blue Bottle Coffee: 

Address:
450 W. 15th Street, New York

Website:
https://bluebottlecoffee.com

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In Food Carts

The Halal Guys: Street Food in New York

The Halal Guys is a food cart on the south-east corner of 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York. When we were in New York, we made sure to go to the right place to get some authentic Halal Guys. There are a lot of other copycat carts in the area, so make sure you’re at the right one.

We saw so many on the same street that we were confused. But we did end up at the correct place. The line moves pretty quickly as the staff are super efficient. Make sure you have cash on you as it’s cash only.

You can eat your meal on some benches close to the carts or you can take it back to the office.

Beef Platter

There is your choice of meat, salad, rice and bread. Initially we wanted the lamb but they apparently stopped serving it, so beef it was. It’s a pretty large meal for lunch, but it’s worth the price. The beef was deliciously spiced.

 

All meals come with your choice of red of white sauce. The white sauce is delicious like a mild ranch sauce, while the red sauce is really spicy hot sauce. Use the hot sauce sparingly as it’s like an inferno and we can usually handle out spices.

All that sauce!

Chicken Platter

The platter is the same but the meat is different as I chose chicken.The chicken was ok, but I would have liked it to be a bit more moist and hot.

To get best of both worlds, you can get a platter with both beef and chicken.

We Rate The Halal Guys: 

Address:
South West corner of 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue

Website:
https://thehalalguys.com

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In Cafe

Cha Cha Matcha in New York: Review

The hottest trend I’ve been seeing lately is matcha shops popping up all over North America. Cha Cha Matcha is located in New York City and has been drawing in crowds going crazy over matcha. Since I do love matcha, I made a visit during my trip.

Matcha is finely milled Japanese green tea leaves, traditionally prepped with hot water into a frothy, whipped beverage. This ancient Japanese drink has over 100-times the antioxidants of regular brewed tea and is naturally one of the most antioxidant-dense foods on the planet.

Interior

The counter to order is on the left side and some seating is on the right. We can at a busy time, so there were no seats left. Everything here is pink and green.

Menu

Matcha

Straight up matcha and hot water. It is very bitter for those who have it for the first time.

Iced Matcha Latte

Deliciously sweetened and it has matcha and milk. A good choice or any hot days.

Red Matcha Latte

This is matcha with red bean and it’s surprisingly good if you’re into red bean. There is even a palm tree etched with matcha powder on top.

Final Thoughts

It’s good to see more alternatives to coffee bars with matcha bars to give more options for those who need a little caffeine in their day.

We Rate Cha Cha Matcha: 

Address:
373 Broome St, New York

Website:
https://chachamatcha.com/

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In Chinese

Xi’an Famous Foods: Spicy Noodles in New York

Xi’an Famous Foods is a chain of fast casual restaurants based in New York City that serves authentic Northern Chinese dishes. When in New York, I had to try it since I love some good spicy noodles. We went to the location closest to MoMA and it’s literally across the street.

Interior

There is seating on either side of the walls, but no group tables at all. Those who are eating alone or with people don’t have to worry. It was busy in the evening, so we waiting a little bit till another group left.

Menu

Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles in Soup

The hand-ripped noodles, topped with sauteed spicy cumin lamb, in a lamb/beef broth. It was definitely spicy but so good if you are a spicy food lover. For those who aren’t into spicy food, you shouldn’t get this.

Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles

Their hand-ripped noodles mixed with sauteed spicy cumin lamb. It was so so so delicious and comforting, but it had a kick of heat to it. There are good chunks of lamb in it. The noodles were a bit chewy.

Final Thoughts

It was great to have something in New York that wasn’t burgers or pizza.

We Rate Xi’an Famous Foods: 

Address:
37 W 54th St, New York

Website:
http://xianfoods.com/

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In New York

Luke’s Lobster: Seafood Rolls in New York

The first stop in New York when we got into the city was to get a bite of Luke’s Lobster for dinner in the financial district. They serve up sustainable seafood straight from the source and pair seafood with chowders and bisques, Maine-style sides, local desserts, natural sodas, and local microbrews. Luke’s Lobster first opened its doors in the East Village in 2009 and now has multiple locations across the country.

Interior

The decor is reminiscent of a dock or boats which matches with the seafood. Since it was late into the evening, there wasn’t anyone else here, so we had the whole place to ourselves.

Menu

Luke’s Trio

Luke’s Trio give you a sampling of each roll. You get 1/2 lobster roll, 1/2 crab roll, and 1/2 shrimp roll.

The sizes are pretty small, so if you eat them all, you’ll definitely need a few extra items to go along with your meal. The lobster roll was good but it was gobbled up as quickly as it took to prepare the meal.

The crab roll is filled with Jonah Crab and it subtly sweet and delicious.

The shrimp roll uses North Atlantic Shrimp between the toasted bun. Naturally sweet and enjoyable as well.

Lobster Mac & Cheese

This has pasta shells in a creamy, mascarpone-cheddar blend with tender chunks of lobster, topped with garlic herb breadcrumbs. The lobster was buried under all the breadcrumbs and pasta, so there as a bit of digging to be done to ind the pieces of lobster. It was good but the size was also a bit small.

Clam Chowder

This is a New England- style clam chowder. We got a small size to share between the two of us. Warm, hearty and enjoyable.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food was delicious and fresh, but it was a bit pricey for what we’re used to. It can get expensive if you want to get full. I would recommend coming here for a snack rather than a full meal.

We Rate Luke’s Lobster: 

Address:
26 S. William St, near Broad, New York

Website:
https://www.lukeslobster.com  

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In Cafe

Coffee Project NY: Deconstructed Latte

Experimenting with coffee has never been more fun. Coffee Project NY is a small cafe in the East Village is making customers get out of their morning routine and try coffee in a different way.

When I was in New York, I had to give it a try as we were in the area and needed a good cup of coffee.

Menu

On the menu, they have the classic coffee items like most cafe’s. The two unique items is the deconstructed latte and the Nitro Flight.

Deconstructed Latte

The Deconstructed Latte was amazing. It starts off with a shot of espresso, a shot of creamy raw milk from Salem, NY, then the latte with a small bite of waffle. Then some sparkling water to cleanse the palate.

To drink this, you slowly sip a small amount of the espresso first like you’re drinking wine. Then move on to the raw milk. Last, sip the latte, which features both ingredients combined. It’s more than just coffee, it was a fun experience.

Highly recommended if you’re ever in New York City to check out this cafe.

We Rate Coffee Project NY: 

Address:
 239 E 5th St, New York

Website:
http://www.coffeeprojectny.com/

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In New York

When in New York, go to Joe’s Pizza

We were in New York for a week and one of places the internet told us to go to is Joe’s Pizza for an authentic New York slice. We went to their original location in Greenwich Village for a snack. For around $3 a slice, it’s not bad at all.

Interior

The shop is small and has limited seating. If you’re lucky enough to grab a seat, you should eat the pizza fresh. We ended up getting it to go and back at the apartment. They put our 2 slices in a take out box and it was easy to take on the subway.

Slice

Pepperoni Pizza and Fresh Mozzarella pizza were our picks. The slices were of good size and the crust was still a bit crisp with slight char.

Final Thoughts

Was it the best pizza we had? Of course not. For the convenience and price, it was decent. There are still lots of places in New York that make a good pizza especially in Brooklyn.

We Rate Joe’s Pizza: 

Address:
7 Carmine Street, New York

Website:
http://www.joespizzanyc.com/

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In East Village

Raclette NYC: Delicious Melted Alpine Cheese

A popular place is Raclette NYC is the East Village for some savoury melted cheese over your meal. How can you deny such a glorious thing? When we visited New York, we couldn’t say no. It’s gotten very popular in the news lately for this classic Swiss dish.

Interior

It was busy for lunch, so reservations are recommended to ensure you have a seat. We made reservations a few days in advanced and they did call us a day before to confirm our attendance.

Menu

They have other items items on the menu – Croque and Tartines, but the raclettes are very popular.

Parsienne

The Parsienne has a 7 oz pan-seared marinated skirt steak, sautéed mushrooms, roasted asparagus and potatoes. The we got the black truffle cheese from France. One of the most popular choices. The best part of this experience is seeing the staff bring the raclette to your table and scrape the oozy cheese onto your plate right before your eyes. The stake was done medium rate and it was delicious.

Savoyarede

This dish has roasted potatoes, cornichons, and pickled white pearl onions. I wanted something simple and not too heavy as I already had a meal prior to this. I chose to have the porchini cheese from Switzerland. Delicious and cheesy with the savouriness of porchini. The overall dish was pretty meh, but then again, I chose a dish that wasn’t as interesting.

Final Thoughts

You pay for the dish and then you pay for the addition of the cheese. So, the menu is a bit deceiving even though these are both raclette dishes. If you’ve never tried this before, it’s still fun to try out and remember to get a reservation.

We Rate Raclette NYC: 

Address:
511 E 12th St, New York

Website:
http://raclette.nyc/

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In British Columbia

How to Find Cheap NHL Tickets

When in New York, visiting as a Canadian tourist is definitely not cheap. One of the fun things we did in the evening was go to a New York Islanders vs Vancouver Canucks games. It’s pretty easy to find tickets under $10 through Stubhub. As hockey isn’t as popular as basketball, it’s pretty easy to find a good deal. There seems to always be tickets available in advance or even same day.

This blog post isn’t sponsored at all, just a big fan of the site and sharing my personal experience.

We grabbed our mobile tickets and headed to Barclays Centre. I was a bit nervous because I had my DSLR Canon camera with me and information online wasn’t clear if I could bring a professional camera with me. As we went through security, they went through my bag and didn’t even comment about my camera.

We got our physical tickets and headed to our seats. They were in the upper bowl quite high, but still easy to see the whole game. Still clear to see who as who on the ice and following the puck.

It was a great evening spent with friends watching our hometown team while on vacation. Coming from Canada, hockey tickets aren’t cheap at all. So, it was really nice to see the game for cheap. If you’re ever on the hunt for cheap NHL ticket, definitely check out StubHub for tickets.

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In Korean

Bon Chon Chicken: Soy Garlic Fried Chicken

Bon Chon Chicken is a South Korean-based international fried chicken restaurant chain in New York. Majority of the US locations are in California and New York. We came on Thanksgiving long weekend and they were open. We wanted to come here for a visit as their fried chicken sounds and looks good.

Interior

This particular location near Wall Street wasn’t anything special. There is a large bar on the right side and seating on the left. Since it was the 5 of us, we were seated right away as Wall Street tends to die at night.

Menu

Soy Garlic Signature Fried Chicken

We got the medium size of drumsticks with 10 pieces per order. The chicken drumsticks were pretty huge and crispy even with the soy garlic sauce. Highly recommended.

Bibimbap

This has white rice, assorted seasonal vegetables, topped with egg, served in a sizzling stone bowl with Korean red pepper paste on the side. We added bulgogi to this item. The dish was meh.

Beer

Of course, if you have fried chicken, you need beer. Just stick with fried chicken and beer at Bon Chon.

We Rate Bon Chon: 

Address:
104 John St. New York

Website:
https://bonchon.com

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In Dessert

Momofuku Milk Bar: Disappointing Time in New York

Momofuku Milk Bar has seen better days. I’ve had it in Toronto and also my previous visit to New York at their East Village location. Since it was our first night in New York on this particular trip, I wanted to show my friends how delicious it was by ordering the cereal milk soft serve and the crack pie.

Since the Financial District does die down, the area was deserted, but Momofuku Milk Bar was still open. This particular location has a take out window.

Cereal Milk Soft Serve

This was a good portion to share with my friends, but it tasted really bad. It was reminiscent of the milk at the bottom of your cereal bowl. It was more tart and creamy like yogurt. Not sure what happened there. We’ve had this before, but this time it really tasted very different.

Crack Pie

The crack pie was the redeeming factor. It does look a bit different due to the while stuff on top. Back in 2012, they didn’t have that but they must have tweaked the recipe. It has a toasted oat crust and a delicious centre made of butter, sugar, brown sugar and cream.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the quality has definitely gone downhill. I don’t know if it was just this location or if its across the board, but I really didn’t like it enough to return.

We Rate Momofuku Milk Bar: 

Address:
110 Wall Street, New York

Website:
http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/milk-bar/

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