yaokui: Traif

Address: 229 S 4th St, Brooklyn, NY (between Havemeyer St and Roebling St)

Phone: 347-844-9578

http://traifny.com

Time flies! Gan and I have been living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for almost four months now and we are loving every minute of it. We moved there because we fell in love with the food, the people, the shops... basically everything there. So nowadays, instead of driving into the city for brunch on the weekends, we enjoy exploring our neighborhood and trying out good places that most Brooklynites have already discovered some time ago. Pies N Thighs, Dokebi, Samurai Mama, Diner, Marlow and Sons, Caracas Arepa and Egg are just some of the good restaurants in the area.

When most places concentrate on making the same old brunch menu to satisfy the NY brunch crowd, Traif differentiates itself by doing what it does best - unique and interesting small dishes/tapas style food. Roasted beets with yogurt and cheese, bacon wrapped stuffed dates on spinach, egg-in-a-nest, comice pear salad are some of the dishes we really liked. The sweet and savory comice pear salad and roasted beets with yogurt and cheese were light and appetizing, great starters to prep the palate before the heavier dishes arrive. The smoked salmon bravas was also a nice take on the traditional Spanish patata bravas dish, it was playful and delicious! We thought the fried chicken and biscuit dish was just alright, especially when compared to the ones served at the fried chicken temple - Pies N Thighs.

Overall, we had a wonderful dining experience at Traif --- dishes were creative, delicious and we had a nice table at the patio garden. Our waitress was fantastic and helpful as well. Can't wait for summer so we can enjoy the food at their open air garden seating.

Recommended dishes: Comice pears salad, smoked salmon bravas, egg-in-a-nest and roasted red beet, bacon-wrapped blue cheese-stuffed dates (this one especially is a surprise. it looks like some type of mutated bug but it tasted absolutely delicious.. even the crispy bacon outside and goeey and sticky cheese inside gives it a bug texture. yikes! be adventurous, it's worth it.)