Recap of my thanksgiving in a city of food and food and food and food
(This is part 1 of a two-part post- checkout part 2 here)
Wah Fung Fast Food
This hole-in-the-wall place in Chinatown, famous for roasted pork, was highly recommended by many food youtubers & locals so of course it became one of my top must visits on this trip. The store was super old, cramped, and consisted of takeout only. Nevertheless, that didn't bother me since I came for the actual food. I decided to go all out and get all three types of meat over rice- pork, duck, and chicken.
My order came to around $6- a really good deal in a city like NYC. As I took my first bite of pork + rice, I was immediately taken to heaven!! The meat had a dream like texture- tender, juicy, slightly fatty without being too heavy, and optimal balance of sweet and savory. The rice served as the perfect complement as well, absorbing all the juice from the pork. Next came the chicken and duck. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed as they were significantly less flavorful and slightly tougher compared to the pork- next time I would get the pork only instead of all three meats. Overall, this place definitely lived up to its hype and I highly highly recommend every meat lover to visit.
Cote Korean BBQ
I came across this on facebook and was immediately caught by its "one michelin star" rating. The actual restaurant was juxtaposition of modern & minimalist decor with traditional Korean tables & seatings, with the ambiance being more like a western bar with dark lighting. It did not appear to be Korean-owned, though, which made me slightly skeptical at the authenticity of my food. I ordered the "butcher's feast", which consisted of a sampler of various meats as well as side dishes, appetizers, and soup. The price, considering the one michelin star rating, was quite reasonable at around $40.
The presentation of the meat was impeccable- various cuts of ranging from dry-aged ribeye to marinated galbi were shaped into small cubes and placed on a wooden board...literally couldn't stop taking pictures of this platter! The meat quality & texture were A+ but I wished there were more korean style marinated meat rather than normal steak. After all, this is a korean bbq restaurant not a steakhouse. The galbi was the only marinated cut and the one I was most excited about, but it was a bit salty and I've defs had better ones elsewhere.
Onto the side dishes! All the banchan served as refreshing complements to the beef & the egg souffle had a super fluffy texture as pictured. However, the soup was on the salty side and did not taste like ones I had in authentic Korean restaurants. Unpictured is the dessert- ice cream with caramel soy sauce drizzle, which may sound like a weird/unusual combo but actually worked surprisingly well together! (and was actually one of the highlights of this meal lol )
In conclusion, this restaurant was a slight let down and I would only recommend it for the aesthetics.
Jukai
This is a cozy Japanese restaurant in midtown that a foodie friend brought me to. At 8pm, there was still a 25min lineup (I guess it could only mean good things? except for my hunger haha). The menu contained chef's tasting courses as well as selections of appetizers, seafoods, and meats. I made my friend order since she is a regular here, and ended up getting oysters, washu beef sukiyaki with added udon, and two desserts which I talked about in the previous post.
Presentation of the oyster was on point, and I especially loved the small pieces of lime in each individual oyster. The quality & taste were as good as the presentation- super fresh and overall a great starter! The sukiyaki definitely lived up to my friend's hype too- broth had the optimal ratio of sweet to savory, beef had the optimal ratio of lean to fattiness...all elements of this dish just worked really well together in general! They were generous with add-ins like veggies, glass noodles, and tofu which was another plus. The extra udon also complemented the broth well- highly recommend. Overall, this was a great place to warm up on a windy nyc night!
checkout part 2 here :)
-SSS