Category: <span>NY Eats</span>

Bessou means vacation home in Japanese. It is also a cozy hideaway restaurant in NoHo with charming white trimming french window underneath the little blue awning.
It was a very quiet night. The freezing weather might have played a part to that.
We sat all the way inside in the corner by the kitchen where the heat is blasting. Light smoothening music playing at a minimum level. It is comfortable and relaxing. There’s not much decor, very minimalist and chic modern. Light is warm and welcoming. The little water color picture on the wall resemble a little secluded beach we visited in Italy, but could have been any small fishing village in Japan. I can imagine Bessou being in one of those charming towns, nicely tucked away in a seaside inn on the quite end of the beach. Listening to summer waves, children’s laughters and wind-charm tingling in a far distance; but that is just my daydream. In fact, when we visited Bessou, it was absolutely freezing outside.


The drinks menu have various choices of wine and sake, all at a affordable price range. I chose the special of the night, a clarified Milk punch with pomegranate. The bubbly drink with sake pomegranate and fresh Brazil is extremely light and refreshing. More like a flavored water than a drink. And the lemon peel is an excellent addition. It brighten everything up. Take the refreshing sensation up to another notch.


Salad.— love the thinly sliced deep fried lotus root. The lotus root had a crispness of it’s own, after deep fried, it is like a perfect piece of potato chips but only healthier. There’s no sogginess ever.

Crispy Rice Onigiri with Maine uni, spicy tama miso, shiso, nori

Uni “toast”, this is what brought us here. Where ever there’s uni, it will be on our list, and we will eventually get there. Santa Barbara uni on top of a perfectly grills rice. A a smash of miso on plate. I feel that the miso was unnecessary. The saltiness was an attempt to balance the sweetness of uni or add flavor to the crispy rice. But neither need the help. They were perfect just as is. Really love the crunchiness of the rice. Perfectly cook and grilled inside out. Not mushy but just sticky enough to hold together. The outside layer is just crispy enough and it only breaks apart in the mouth. Perhaps the rice could be an even thinner layer.


The dinner menu only have 6 entrees but there’s a special. The night’s special is duck soba noodle, as it detaily illustrated on the lip chalk board outside the restaurant. We saw that when we were walking in. The duck noodle is surprisingly light, excellence balance. Then we had a bite of the clay pot braised fish, and were all enlightened. I never expect skate to be so silky smooth. This is excellent Japanese home cooking. Nothing oily, mostly soy base dishes, very comfortable light fare. Then all the sudden, one of us crave fried chicken, out of nowhere. The chicken karaage is wonderful, but not spectacular. However, the Japanese pumpkin (kabocha) sides was amazing. Cooked perfectly with a light graze on it to bring the sweetness out. I never like pumpkin, but i wouldn’t mind having a full bowl of this.
But truly, this is great Japanese home cooking, comfort a tried soul, especially in a freezing winter night.

Bessou | 5 Bleeker St | March, 2017


We found Han on a quiet block away from the neon light signage and crowd in Korean town. Away from limelights, in exchange for a little quiet and homey. Han give us a modern take of Korean home cooking. The long shape room is filled with shades of grey. Little wood table bouncing off fresnel lights. It is rustic, warm, and welcoming. No one yelling out “annyeinghaseyo”‘upon entering; no layers of smoke boasting from table top stove, or oily smell that smoke us into a walking Galbi; no one rushing our orders and hurrying our meal; it is laid back. It is homey. The one thing resemble of a typical Korean restaurant is the menu. The picture curated menu, like any other Korean restaurant, is extensive, covers everything from tapas, mains, pots, bbq, rice dishes and noodle.

 

no confusion here, you know exactly what you are ordering



Sowuju -grapefruit

Fire- grilled baby octopus with soy & apple-vinegar sauce
Seafood & hot pepper pancake (L); Bulgogi Hot pot: Bulgogi (center); Fire- grilled beef with onion and mesclun salad (R)
Country fried chicken with radish pickles

 

The grapefruit Sowuju is light and refreshing. I love the grilled baby octopus. My friends were a little turned- away by the wholesome of the octopus. But i love it. The chewiness was just right, with its apple vinegar soy dressing on the of the charred edges, it was just lovely. The seafood and hot pepper pancake is one of the best I have had in New York, plenty of seafood in the mix. The hot pepper was still perfectly crisp and crunchy. The tabletop stove cook bulgogi hot pot taste more like a Japanese Sukiyaki. I’d say it was a little on the sweet side. So was the grilled beef, it leans towards the sweet side. But outstanding is the K.F.C aka Korean fried chicken, it is crispy on the outside, sweet , tender and juicy on inside. No excessive oil, and just right amount of spice. It is wonderful. A little weak on the dessert menu. But no one judge a Korean restaurant by the dessert. It is not like we still have room, but we ordered one anyway.

Petite green tea cheesecake

 

Her Name is Han | 17 E 31st ST. | Nov, 2017

Fish Cheeks– My new fav Thai in town, and we don’t have to go to the outerborough.

The less than a year old restaurant is hidden on the quiet street in NOHO. It offers simple traditional Thai fare, nothing too crazy, just simple, fresh, authentic Thai dishes, that make us feel at home. Before our visit to Fish Cheeks, Sripraphai in Woodside holds a dear place in my heart. There were a few Thai places popping on and off our “go to” list, but none make us feel complete. Fish Cheeks might come close.



The long shape dinning room is gently lit by the bamboo bended lamp hanging over head. The bar, awkwardly is tucked away in the end of the dinning hall, overlooking the semi-open kitchen, which is also the “waiting” area. Thanks to the new era of online reservation, otherwise waiting for a table would have been a torture. Passing through all the happy people having a nice meal and looking at all the fresh seafood getting prepped; what a way to make hungry customers to drool even more. The bar look like a fishing boat to me. The light above are pairs of fishes caught on line, and the tiles underneath the white bar top are colorful waves or fish-scale. A couple drinks down, we might actually feel floating at sea, although the cocktail list might need some work. There are only 5 listed, but you can always spike up a Thai Ice Tea.


Aside from the gigantic “bird cage” lamps, the place feel modern. But do not judge it by it’s cover, the food is petty authentic.
The menu is only one page, consider very short comparing to other Thai places in town, which often hand over a 2lbs booklet filled with pictures. Sorry, this menu offers no pictures. And don’t expect to see pad Thai, pad see ew or drunken noodle. Not that pad Thai is not good, but that’s all most people associate with when they think of Thai food, and seriously, we need to change that. There are so much more than pad Thai in the Thai culinary world. The spice, the fresh seafood, the balance flavor of salty and sour, are what we crave for in Thai. The dishes are family style. Like most Asian cuisine, it is meant to be shared. And like many other Asian restaurants, we only wish we have the whole gang here.

We are greet by a bowl of shrimp crackers and red chiles dipping sauce. Oh!!!! I love shrimp cracker!!! The best snacks!!! Go easy on the chiles sauce, spread it out. As they might choke you to tears… HOT!!!



There is also a special menu. A little white broad hanging on the side, declaring “no Pad Thai zone”. Only a couple items on special. We order the Prik Pao (strip Loin) off the special menu. The grill pork came with a bed of mint and cilantro in a pool of sauce. It is sweet and spicy. I wish the grill strip loin would have the same charred as Kor Moo Yang.


Then we moved on to the Shrimp in 3 crabs sauce (raw shrimp with lime juice, garlic, bird’s eye chili & mint). Fresh is the keyword here. The heat level is rather mild. But the lime brighten my palette. And those shrimps are sweet!!! #YUM
I love carb, and I love coconut. I should love coconut crab curry. The plating of it is not very consistent, I did a quick search on Instagram. Some pictures has more crab than the others. Some has scallions on it, with a little swirl of coconut milk, but ours didn’t. On this night we were there, it was just a pool of yellow sauce. It still tastes great, may be need a more heat.



We also have the steam blue fish with Thai herbs with a side of watercress. The blue fish is serve on a fish sharpe pot with a little stove fire under to continue the bubbling. It disappointed me a little as it is a filet with no skin… i love steam fish, and skin is essential. It traps the fat and oil of the fish and make the fish even more silky. Especially for this version, as it continue the cooking with the bubbling broth, over time, the fish easily become overcooked. I actually prefer it doesn’t come with the hot plate. The broth is a great mixture of nam jim sauce, rather mild, and there are fresh bird’s-eye chiles sprinkled over the top. And be mindful of those little chiles, the carry great punches. One of us had a big bite, and immediately started tearing up. Luckily, Thai ice tea was there to rescue.
It is not mind blowing, just genuinely great Thai home cooking. We would definitely come back, and also wish there was mango sticky rice to end the night.

Fish Cheeks | 55 Bond St | December, 2017

carma
It was quiet on this side of west village. Barely any traffic on this particular late summer night. When we arrived at Carma, it was empty. We didn’t get to sit in the patio, as it was booked for a private party, but it would be an awesome place to hold one. It is a rather interesting setting, the bar is all the way inside, and the dining room is divided by a load-bearing wall. Dimmed lighting bouncing off the brick walls, it is warm and cozy.