Monday, October 27, 2014

RISTORANTE ITALIANO NEW YORK CITY

This is a fabulous little hidden gem  located on a weird street. We like a good dive so we decided to check this place out.  It is small and a little dingy in my standard but quite the norm at Little Italy in New York city


When you walk inside,  it had that warm feeling. Very home-y. We sat down right away and the staff there were very friendly! They recommended food options to us and were very patient with my indecisiveness that day. Thank you waiter! 


My friends had one of their thin crust pizza while I had their special homemade pasta with pesto sauce and seafood  risotto in  red sauce. Both were excellent. My pasta was perfectly al dente, which is very important for me, and had a nice kick to it which added to the all around flavor. 






If you're ever staying in this section of NY (sort of Times Square/Upper Midtown) I'd highly recommend hopping over here.

RISTORANTE ITALIANO
Little Italy NYC 

 

Sunday, October 26, 2014

ENCHANTED TALES WITH BELLE @DISNEY WORLD

This was one of the highlight of our Disney World trip, the other one was at Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique (see post here )  First, we tour Belle's house and then her father's workshop and an amazing special effects brings you into her castle. 



 Another amazing special effect is the wardrobe lady (sorry - I don't know their names) talks to you and gets you ready to meet Belle. Then you are brought into another room where you speak to Luminere on the mantle - amazing!!! - each one is better than the next. After that Belle comes out for an intimate story with a limited (24 or so) group and then poses for individual pictures. 



 The girls and my nephew were selected for parts in Belles story, which is done as a surprise for them.  They moved through 3 rooms during the experience and the animatronics are fantastic. 




 The best part was that Belle posed for a pic with each child at the end and presented them with a bookmark saying 'thank you for being a part of my story'.



 Its Disney at its best.

DISNEY WORLD
ORLANDO FLORIDA

MK shabu shabu Shinjuku

After that big time disappoinment of not being able to get a table at dancing crab (see post here), our angel of the night, Pao and jec brought us here instead.



Their goma and ponzu sauce is full of flavor and the taste is on point. Shabu shabu after all is all about the dipping sauce, so its really important that that sauces are not watery, over salty or bland.
The meat, the vegies and the seafoods are absolutely amazing. The sweet spicy korean broth is a bomb.... love it love it love it... I like my broth spicy like that.

And most of all i came here for an imprumptu meetup with my girlfriends who never fails to make a gloomy evening light up with their bubbly and funny personalities... 

Shabu shabu here is by far the best ive ever had... hands down. 

MK SHABU SHABU
3-13-3 Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 

 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

PLAYING THE WAITING GAME AT DANCING CRABS

Ive been waiting for ages for this kind of restaurant with `seafood in a bag` to pop out anytime soon in Tokyo so when they announced their much awaited opening, I called to reserve but lo and behold  it  got me wondering anew why some restaurants take reservations, while others—to the annoyance of many diners, me included—don’t.



Not having to hold tables for reservations brings a certain chaos to a restaurant and annoyance from anticipation from  customers like us.  When we arrived there were queues of people hovered around this restaurant`s doorway  for more than 2 hours or more, waiting to be seated while enviously watching diners inside and inhaling lingering aromas as satisfied diners departed. I know it was frustrating for some, me included.



I saw some walk-ins as early as 7pm last night , but people in line  wants to know if we can actually be guaranteed a table, I think that’s really important. But dancing crabs staff was not able to give any assurance to all those hungry faces in line.. grrrrr.



But there is a fine line between doing what is right for the restaurant and what is in the best interests of the customer. A no-bookings policy crosses that line.



Glad we just had a fab pictorial after we cancelled it all together and ended the night at the best shabu shabu in town (see my next post)




EMPORIO ARMANI CAFFE

My team for a project collaboration at one of the company Im working insisted on feeding me. So glad they did coz I was able to experience how posh this place which is similar to the Armani designers lines: sexy chic as anticipated.



The decor was sharp, clean and quite modern yet cozy and romantic. The coveted views of the ritzy Omotesando  strip nearby enhances the restaurant's alure.




I had the eye round of beef with Piedmont green sauce and they melt in your mouth but lacking in taste. There was a little potato cream at the bottom and two small potatoes cooked to a golden crisp that were so soft in the middle. Black truffles on top.



The bread basket included flatbread as well as breadsticks, alongside sliced bread. However we found the sliced bread to actually be a bit stale.



Besides the gorgeous interior decor, the food was just as the 2 stars description puts it "Meh."  Personally I think Armani should stick to designing clothes...  Why the harsh rating? Well I got the tasting menu.  The tasting menu is usually comprised of the Chefs best representation of the menu.  And if that is what I had then I'm not too sure I would return.



 Anyway, I think the food is severely overpriced for its quality. You're better off going off to a mom-n-pop place for Italian food. You're basically paying for the snooty atmosphere.


EMPORIO ARMANI CAFFE
 5-2-29 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
near Omotesando station exit A5

Friday, October 17, 2014

MODERN KOREAN FOOD, REVISITED

We`ve been dining at this restaurant since last year (see post here). So when bessy bong ask me to recommend a good place last weekend for his bday treat for us, this comes to mind right away.



Im not sure whats wrong with me whenever I go to buffet restaurant with an empty stomach... I would always, as in always  made a rookie mistake by gorging on the buffet items which limited the amount of space that I had in my belly to eat all the glorious beef though. FAIL. 



The meat was very delish:

it was seasoned perfectly! i feel like they use better quality meat here. and very fresh too! none of that greyish looking raw meat, but red delicous raw meat ready to be grilled!



Another thing i really like about this place is that someone is always rotating to come to your table to help you flip and grill your meat, and they ask if you would like anymore and what else would you like as side orders (included in the price). LITERALLY, we didnt have to press the call button because they kept coming to our table almost every 15 min or so! 




Happy Birthday bes... Thanks for this uber delish treat !!!


MODERN KOREAN RESTAURANT
AEON LAKETOWN

 

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