yaokui: January 2008

Petrossian

Posted by Sarah and Gan at 1/27/2008 | Labels: *** stars, $$$ price, New York City Food

Address: 182 West 58th Street, New York

http://www.petrossian.com

Phone: 212-245-2214

I felt really bad after tasting the food at Petrossian. It is not because the food was not good, but because I went in with a preconceived notion that it was a restaurant with expensive caviars and mediocre food targeting business people and tourists. But I have to say, by the end of the dinner, I was totally impressed. We had the 3 course restaurant week menu, and everything from the caviar on blini, to the crispy duck leg confit to the Grand Marnier cake dessert were fantastic. This is definitely a place we’ll go back again for good quality contemporary French cuisine.

Transmontanus USA Farmed Caviar Served on a Blini with Crème Fraiche

Petrossian Smoked Salmon Served with Toast Points, Crème Fraiche, Fresh Dill

Seared West Coast Sturgeon Wild Mushrooms, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts & Caviar Beurre Blanc Sauce

Crispy Duck Leg Confit Medjool Dates, Rapini Risotto

A side of Mushroom & Parmigiano Risotto

Honey Poached Pear with Rosemary Walnut Cake Brown Butter Ice Cream

Grand Marnier Valrhona Cake Creme Fraiche Ice Cream

Resto

Posted by Sarah and Gan at 1/21/2008 | Labels: *** stars, $$ price, New York City Food

Address: 111 East 29th Street, New York

http://restonyc.com

Phone: 212-685-5585

Resto is the first Belgium restaurant Gan and I have eaten in NYC. We have tried Pomme Frites and Belgian Chocolate, but we just never tasted their famous Les Moules or Belgian Beer. So this past Sunday, a bunch of us had dinner at this highly recommended Belgian restaurant called Resto at Park Ave and 29th Street. Resto definitely lived up to its reputation and we truly enjoy the food and beer, and the service was fantastic as well!

Belgian Beer - I ordered a glass of Konings Hoeven Quadrupel (top), while Gan and Yao Hua ordered the Leffe Blond (bottom).

Crispy Pig's Ear Salad with Cranberry Beans, Escarole, Soft Egg - The crispy pig ear tasted just like bacon, except it has a thicker texture and is more crunchy. Overall, a really nice salad and we loves the poached egg.

Moules Frites - The restaurant serves mussels in different sauces and we ordered natural, which is the wine sauce and witte ale, garlic & orange zest. The mussels come with fries as well.

Beef Cheek Carbonnade with Mustard Spiced Carrots, Frites - the beef cheek was tender and flavorful.

Fried Chicken and Waffle - Arteries clogging good!

How can we possibly skip Belgian chocolate ice cream??

Kak Liza's Home Cooking @ Kim's

Posted by Sarah and Gan at 1/21/2008 | Labels: Home Cooking

Kim hosted a poker/monopoly night on Saturday, and provided food he catered from Kak Liza for the guests (sounds like a casino - buffet + gambling). According to Kim, Kak Liza does catering as a side business and from time to time she cooks awesome Malaysian dishes such as Nasi Lemak and deliver to the lucky people working at midtown (Dang, I'm jealous!). Gan and I got a chance to taste the food at Kim's and they were good!

Curry Chicken

Achat

Fried Bihoon

Nasi Kelantan

Desserts - I bought the cake from Buttercup Cupcakes. Not impressed at all...the cake was stale

Nick's Chilli Crab @ Iqbal's

Posted by Sarah and Gan at 1/13/2008 | Labels: Home Cooking

Nick Choo should really consider opening a restaurant in NYC. Gan and I will eat there all the time (of course, as paying customers!). Last week, Iqbal hosted a Nick Choo's Chilli Crab dinner at his home. Nick cooked the crabs in two styles - Black Pepper and his signature Chilli sauce; he also prepared some really delicious Ayam Percik. It was a meal I'll remember for a long time. So thank you Nick, for the fantastic crabs and thank you Iqbal, for inviting us to that wonderful dinner!

Homemade chilli crab sauce

Crab brains are actually very delicious. It has abit of an egg-yolk taste to it. Goes well with spicy sauce.

Chef Nick in action

Ready to eat!!!

Nick's cooking shirt

Iqbal, the Host

Black Pepper Crab

Chilli Crab

Sliced Baguette for dipping

Gan and I shared a huge chilli crab!

Ayam Percik

Finger licking good!

Nyonya Restaurant

Posted by Sarah and Gan at 1/13/2008 | Labels: ** stars, $ price, New York City Food

Address: 194 Grand Street, New York

Phone: 212-334-3669

Nyonya is a very popular Malaysian restaurant in NYC that serves pretty decent Malaysian dishes. Gan and I love to go there for their curry stingrays, yong tau foo, prawn mee, wah tan hor and satay. I am particularly happy with the service, the waiters and waitresses really take good care of their customers. The ABC (mix shaved ice dessert) there is a must try.

Hainanese Chicken

Stingray Curry in a casserole

Kangkung belacan

ABC - mixed shaved ice topped with brown sugar, jelly, syrup & evaporated milk

Won Dee Siam

Posted by Sarah and Gan at 1/13/2008 | Labels: *** stars, $ price, New York City Food

Address: 792 Ninth Ave, New York, NY

Phone: 212-459-9057

We were introduced to Won Dee a long long time ago by Gan's college friend Henry and it has been one the Thai restaurants that we go to from time to time for good and cheap Thai food. This is a hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurant but the place is clean. The Pad Kra Prow, Tom Yum soup, Kang Dang and Curry Puffs there are fantastic. Sorry guys, Gan and I did take out so there's no food pictures this time :) -- we went to Won Dee again this past Friday and thought I should revise the posting by adding some pictures of the food. The dinner at Wondee Siam was satisfying, as always!

Gan: There's a second store called Won Dee II but we prefer this one as the lady who cooks in this one is great. This is always a good place to stop by for a good Thai meal. It's very reasonably priced too.

I think the restaurant only has 8 tables in total
Gan: The kitchen is even smaller! You have to go across it to get to the bathroom.

Kraree Puff - ground chicken, sweet potato, onion, curry powder, white pepper wrapped in french puff pasty dough sheets, served with cucumber sauce. Wondee Siam's kraree puffs are absolutely delicious!