Shanawaz

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Shahnawaz Restaurant

1380 Oaktree Road

Iselin, NJ 08830

(732) 283-2257

Yay, we finally made it to Iselin! The Iselin-Edison area has a large Indian and Pakistani population. Over the years, this enclave has produced this bustling community of shops, stores, and of course, restaurants. This was UFC's first sojourn into the area (exit 131 on Garden State) and we were very excited.

The main strip, Oaktree Road, was congested (we went on a Sunday). Parking was not too easy, specially with the restaurants that only had street parking.

We picked Shanawaz because its lunch buffet was pretty crowded. The posted menu was pretty good too, but since we are pretty much novices when it comes to Indian food, we opted for the buffet ($7.99 per person).

Shanawaz has an odd layout. Basically, you go snag a table, then go up to the counter and place your order. You can flag a waiter if you need drinks and whatnot, but you will have to go back to the counter if you wish to order other dishes.

The lunch buffet was excellent, but had few veggie options. There's a nice selection of the sauces, fresh naan bread, chicken biryani, chicken and lamb korma, a lovely spiced chickpea dish, and a nice potato dish.

Fresh naan, great for sopping up the sauce.

Chicken korma. The spice blend was excellent. DJKung went back for seconds and thirds. DJKung's pops liked the lamb korma, which reminded him a lot of the Philippine-style caldereta. The lamb was gamy and likewise excellent.

Superfatty's plate. This was my second helping, so there was more overlap of the dishes on the plate.

DJKung's pops wanted some white rice, which no good meal can go without. I also wanted to try their other apps, and ended up ordering a samosa and a fried potato puff.

Foreground: Fried potato puff. This was very yummy. I forgot what the app in the background was. This was denser, and was also very good.

The food was overall, pretty excellent. My advice is to scope out the buffet before picking this option, because at most, there are about five or six main dishes. They have a decent a la carte section, and the prices are very reasonable.

We did not have room for dessert; there were some sweets shops and bakeries on the main strip. I guess we'll have to reserve the food crawl some other time!

Boozoo Bajou at Cielo

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Boozoo Bajou at Cielo

We were looking forward to seeing Boozoo Bajou after his awesome DJ set some time ago. I did miss his last party, which was very danceable.

Too bad the party was on a Monday night, a frigid one, at that. It seemed that the party was not well-promoted, because the turnout was pretty low.

DJKung hanging out by the speakers. I like how his face has a nice glow from his telephone.

The venue, Cielo, has one of the more diggable sound systems out there. The sound comes out very crisp and clean. The hardwood dance floor is minuscule, unfortunately. The walls, which look like an abstract log cabin, is starting to look outdated.

Boozoo's set started off very spare and meditative. . . a great listening experience. He was reaaally slow to warm up. By the time we left (12ish), it seemed like he was still warming up. Played great listening songs, as opposed to boogie-able songs.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

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Momofuku Noodle Bar
East Village, New York



We had fun checking out Momofuku Ssam Bar some time ago, so we were game to try the sister restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar. The prices on the menu for MNB looked more reasonable.



We started off with some beer, chips and chicken wings.

Left: Ginka Kogen (Japan); middle: Lagunitas Censored Ale (California); right: seven spice potato chips. I really liked the Lagunitas ale. It had a very well-rounded, balanced flavor that went well with the food. DJKung said the same about his beer, although I detected a hint of bubble gum to it. (Be forewarned that the Ginka beer is $14!).

The potato chips were excellent. The spice blend was just right. The chips were cut rather coarsely, so they were nice and crispy.

Smoked chicken wings. DJKung liked this a lot, and in fact did not save some for Chibs. I tried the sauce and it was sweet, lots of little chili pieces; you could taste the smoke (hickory?) that went into it. DJKung said that this was falling-off-the-bone tender.

DJKung espied the tasting menu (four courses), so there went the budget. What's nice about their tasting menu is that each course has two options.

Tasting menu course #1: hamachi sashimi with carrot and celery puree. There were crunchy bits sprinkled all around; perhaps sea salt. The fish was fresh and yummy. We're of two minds about this; on one hand, good fish does not need anything else other than maybe a dab of wasabi. On the other, the play of textures and flavors was rather nice.





Course #2: Oxtail ragu. The noodles (garliani?) were thin sqaure strips of pasta rolled on it diagonal, rather chewy. This dish was gamy; DJKung felt that the beef was full of flavor.

I ordered the chicken ramen.

Chicken ramen. The chicken bits looked like they were broiled. The broth was pretty good.

Third course: broiled mackerel. I think we were expecting a whole fish, instead of just fillets, so we were disappointed. The fish did not taste fresh, but more like it was picked up from somewhere else and flown here. The sauce, a black olive puree, was excellent. So did the pieces of sweet fruity blood orange, pickles and the crunchy/chewy anise-flavored garbanzos. DJKung felt that the flavors were better individually and did not really gel well together.

Fourth course: quince and maple syrup ice cream, with crushed nuts and sugar crunch on top. This was excellent---salty, creamy, sweet and fruity.

Overall, we had a great time enjoying the food and the place. The restaurant was quite empty when we arrived around 6pm. It was quite nice just munching on our chips and admiring all that handsome blonde wood. Later on, it got pretty packed. Table-sharing seemed to be the norm here.

Back again at You Chun

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You Chun Korean Restaurant

It has simply been frigid all day yesterday. We were ready for some Koreran food to warm up our insides. DJKung's pops has never been to You Chun, so we brought him there last night.

He really liked the hot beef broth that comes in a thermos, which everybody gets. Ditto with the cute app dishes that the always give out. Korean food rocks!

Clockwise from top left: string beans, fish in chili sauce, house saland with carrot-gigner dressing, napa cabbage kimchee, pickles (maybe turnip or daikon), kimchee, fried mushrooms, sweet onions. We never really figured out whether these are apps or condiments, really... we just go on attack mode as soon as they hit the table. THe variety of tastes and textures is very pleasing.

We skipped on the apps this time,since we were pretty hungry. DJKung got the bulgogi andthe kalbi ribs for hima nd his pops. I got hte seafood and kimchee noodle soup.

Bulgogi. This comes out sizzling hot! DJKung's pops liked this with rice.

Seafood and kimchee soup. This was quite spicy and very hearty. A lot of umami goin' on in this dish.

Look at how fat the noodles are! This was when I was a quarter-way into my soup. The noodles really plumped up---one noodle filled up my soup spoon! The menu is not too specific on the type of noodle this is. I am guessing it is a type of wheat noodle with some seaweed to give it a nice green color. Rather chewy, feels like it was hand-cut and made in-house or very close by.

Kalbi ribs (bbq beef short ribs). What else can I say.

DJKung and his pops did get jealous of the dumpling soup on the next table. The dumplings were just massive and full to bursting with pork filling. They kinda felt that getting both the kalbi and bulgogi was a bit overkill, as both were heavy beef dishes that had the same class of flavors. Me, I was just happy with my noodle soup!

We even got a little tipple of rice drink at the end of the meal. It was a refreshing way to end the meal.

DJKung has recommended that You Chun be upgraded to SUPERROTATION. Chibs had the take-home kalbi, and he agrees.

Hot chocolate, hot chocolate, hot chocolate at City Bakery

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City Bakery
Flatiron/Union Square

After another satisfying meal at Nyonya (we got house special crabs this time), we were in the mood for dessert. We're heard of City Bakery's hot chocolate, so we went to check it out.

City Bakery is in a very nice, airy cafeteria-style space. You could practically just lounge there all day nursing your drink. I was kinda disappointed that there wasn't a bigger array of pastries to pick from, since I thought it was mainly a bakery.

DJKung and I got hot chocolate. His pops got coffee, which he said was pretty good.

Left: honey and raisin scone. Right: hot chocolate with giant-sized marshmallow. The scone was light and buttery. The chocolate... well. It was soooo rich and chocolately, as if they just melted a big bar of premium chocolate and poured it in a cup. The hot chocolate was literally in a big soup pot, which they had to stir a bit before ladling out. We liked the it a lot, although it was a bit too sweet. DJKung was impressed with the sheer density of the marshmallow.

Apple tart. This was excellent. The apple slices were caramelized and full of apple goodness.

We could not finish our hot chocolate because it was just too rich. After overnight refrigeration, it was so super-thick, it was mousse-like. You could have stuck a metal spoon in the cup and it would have stood upright, so thick it was.

I think we'll try this place again, maybe for lunch or dinner. The hot cocoa was just waaay too rich; we'll probably split a cup next time.

Everyone's rushin' to Flushing, Queens

Chinatown
Flushing, Queens

Yay, we finally made it across to Flushing! UFC has been planning this excursion for ages it seems. Last weekend, we finally did it! And we did a food crawl, to boot!

Using our GPS, we made it to the Korean section and had to ask around for directions. Basically, the epicenter of the Chinatown her is Main Street and Roosevelt Ave, by the No. 7 Main Street, Flushing subway stop. We were even able to find some parking at the municipal parking lot on 41st Ave, although there was a bit of a wait.

Once we hit the crowded streets, we see a sign for handmade noodles at the food court of Golden Mall (41-28 Main Street). The food court turned out to be a bunch of little eateries pretty much on top of each other, each apparently with its own specialty. It reminded us a lot of this okonomiaki emporium that we checked out in Hiroshima a while back, where the atmosphere is for serious noshin'.

DJ Kung was really overwhelmed by the menu at Lanzhou Handmade Noodles. Yup, there was a guy there stretching out the noodles to order.

Menu at Lanzhou Handmade Noodles

I ordered the seafood noodles. Came with about three pieces of shimp with shells, fake crab, and a surprising number of little clams. The broth was divine. And the noodles? They were wheat noodles, with a nice spring to them, and cooked perfectly.

DJKung got the beef bowl, which he thought was excellent. He put a lot of the chili oil, which went so well with the broth. Even though it was below freezing outside, we were sweating from all the spice we used. Yum!

The noodle soup really invigorated us. We went back up to Main Street for some browsing. DJKung stepped inside Fay Da Bakery to get a sweet bread. Fay Da must get quite a it of Filipino customers, because they also sell ensaymada now.

Sweet bread from Fay Da Bakery. DJKung said it tasted just like the ones from Mei Lai Wah on Bayard Street in the big Chinatown.

Street view. I wanted to catch a picture with a plane flying overhead, which was approximately every ninety seconds. La Guardia Airport is really close by.

A tiny cream puff joint on the other side of Main Street crossed my eye. Their big-ass cream puffs ($1.25 each, $6.25 for 6) were premade and already loosely wrapped in plastic. These babies were fresh and reaaally good. The crust was a darker golden brown, dsted with powdered sugar, and was crispy. The filling was not overly rich, not too sweet, and just the way I liked it. The place was called Lemon something...

Look at this beauty!

The Chinatown here is really nice just to walk around and people-watch. The food shopping here looks pretty good, although we did not see a lot of seafood displays hanging out in the open. I think it's because there are a lot of big gricery stores here, and the fish are all indoors.

On one of the side streets, we came across a "taho," aka soft tofu stand. Interestingly, it a florist's shop shared its space with it. The store, fittingly, is called Soy Bean Chen Flower Shop (Roosevelt Avenue). We had to bring the soft tofu home because we were getting full at this point. It was sooo silky and satisfying when warmed up.

Superfatty's so happy she found the Soy Bean Chen Flower Shop. Brings back a lot of happy childhood memories. You can eat the tofu inside. We got a quart of it for $2.

The soft tofu tasted just like how I remembered it, except the Filipino version comes with a dark sugar syrup and tiny tapioca balls.

We next ducked into a joint on Roosevelt Avenue that had dumplings. Northern Chinese Dumplings was tucked into a corner of a mixed-use space that included a dry grains store, a video store, and a sushi joint.

We ordered the leek and aquatic food dumpling. The wrappers were rather heavy and the filling was ok. We figure that the food is heartier in the colder north regions of China.

Not bad for $3.25! Even comes with some pickles.

We resumed our walking and stumbled into Flushing Mall. This was great because we had to go pee at this point. The shops in this mall looked pretty quiet. All the action was in the food court, where an awards program for kiddies was being held.

The people watching the program were six and seven deep. A lot of proud mamas and papas were in the audience.

The food court had various offerings. We're definitely going back here. We had a tiny bit of space for the takoyaki.

Takoyaki. The lady turning these octupus balls was not as fast as the others we've seen. However, I think this was the best I've had. She really took her time to make sure it was perfecly cooked and crunchy all over, and each piece had a real bit of octupus in it!

Takoyaki. Look how generous the garnishes (nori, bonito flakes, sauce) are. You're the best, Takoyaki Lady!

On the way back to the car, I just had to have a few more cream puffs for the road. We also stopped by the dumpling place next to the parking lot for some fresh soy milk (unpictured). We gotta try their dumplings next time.

Chibby enjoyed his cream puff a lot. This was a great food crawl!

El Aguila keeps soarin' high!!!

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El Aguila

Happy Three Kings Day! We headed back to El Aguila in Passaic last weekend for some hearty fare. The place is busy as ever, and we noticed a lot of newbies like us checking out the place.

Creche close-up. The whole display was actually more than six feet tall, and stylized to look like it was the side of a mountain.

We wanted to make it for breakfast to try their specials (churros y chocolate), but woke up late. No worries, though, because the hot entrees were good to go. It appeared that they have a rotating selection of dishes, because they had different foods on display.

Hot dishes. The reflection on the glass camouflages the guy chopping meats for carnitas---you can see his hand on the far right, behind the counter.

The bakery was hoppin' that day in preparation for Three Kings Day, a major religious holiday in Mexican tradition. It celebrates the time when the three wise men, after following the star of Bethlehem, found the baby Jesus. If I remember my religion classes correctly, they gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. More importantly, I think this is the time that kiddies get presents.

Patty cake, patty cake, baker man. Make me a cake as fast as you can!

Trays of rosca de reyes (bread ring for kings). Traditionally, a coin or a little baby figure is baked inside the bread; whoever finds it is supposed to have good luck the whole year.

I ordered a cubano torta (cuban pressed sandwich), with no ham. DJKung got the carnitas burrito (same as last time), and a carnitas taco for his dad. We also got a pina drink and a pina colada drink.

The jolly torta man here prepared my sandwich.




Hot skillet for torta. See how the torta man grilled both pieces of bread, and even the cheese. He also cut fresh slices of avocado and used some tomato and lettuce. The sandwich was not really pressed like a real cubano, but it was still hot, crusty and dang good.

Top picture: torta cubano, sans cheese. Bottom picture: cross-section of same. The tomato was a bit anemic, which is why it looks yellow in the picture.

Taco carnita.

As for the drinks, the pina drink was very fresh and delightfully unsweetened. I ordered the pina colada because it was white in color and looked unusual. It was very sweet, with an artificial taste, no coconut flavor... at least now I know what it is. Can't wait to try their other juices.

El Aguila now has printed menus too. DJKung got the scanner up and running so you can check out their awesome menu. FYI, barbacoa is goat meat.