Anchalee Pagsanjan: new york city

8/26/2016

Look Cute in Culottes

1/18/2016

New Year's FoodVenture

By Jonathan Cato

We decided that we were going to visit the city on New Years Day and have a foodventure.

Our first stop, 2 Bros’ Pizza. For only $3, you can have two regular slices and a can of soda or water. I feel like they’re gonna end up being a part of our NYC date routine, especially with a deal like that? You can’t go wrong. While having our “one-slice” appetizer, we were thinking about what our next stop was going to be and we thought of the best idea for a cold day, Joe’s Shanghai! 

Joe’s Shanghai specializes in soup pork dumplings and that’s what you could typically catch people ordering. We sat down, and before even looking at the menu, we knew what we were there for. We meant business! “Three orders of the soup dumplings, please!”, I told the waiter and in less than 5 minutes, our dumplings arrived. I’d say that was pretty good service.

Next stop was Fried Dumpling. A small little “hole-in-the-wall” shop with barely any seating and an old Chinese woman yelling either on the phone or to someone else. I think we both expected our dumplings to be fresh out of the fryer, the type of food to burn your tongue with the first bite and to our surprise, the person taking our order proceeded to just hand us a styrofoam container that she had pulled out of some heating chamber. The crisp that we expected, wasn’t there at all. We had some pretty flimsy dumplings, but we couldn’t complain. They were only $1 though.

We went to Mei Lai Wah Bakery after, which is famous for their Roast Pork Buns. As we walked in, the first thing I noticed was a cramped front entrance filled with Tita’s and Lola’s stocking up on two or even three dozens of the roast pork bun. We ended up buying ourselves a dozen, and the rest I gave to my family. What I love about their siopao is the amount of pork they put inside and the dough they use. The pork was sweet and savory and the dough was warm and sweet. I couldn’t ask for a better bun!

On the same street, we found a small bubble tea shop, Bubbly Tea. We just shared a peach-green tea bubble tea, while we took a seat to relax. So far, I’d say we had a pretty good run. 

We went backup to K-Town. We walked back and forth, browsing for menus outside each restaurant, which were mainly in Korean and featured prices that we’re a way bit too pricey for a small dinner. W3e finally decided on this “food court” type of dining called Food Gallery 32. It was pretty lively inside and there were several vendors ranging from bubble tea, ramen, rice bowls, and sushi. I decided to get a spicy pork rice bowl, while Anch got a salmon sashimi rice bowl. I liked their pork-to-rice ratio and the fact that it came with a fried egg and free soup! I took a look at Anch’s rice bowl and I felt bad for her, like she got ripped-off. They barely gave her any salmon, but I guess that’s expected with sushi-grade fish. It’s pretty pricey! We both agreed that our food was satisfactory and I’m sure this Food Gallery 32, won’t be first on our list of places to eat if we’re hungry, but if you need a quick bite and are in the area, it’s worth a shot to try it out! 

Any who, this concludes our food-venture. I hope you guys enjoy the video. Anch worked pretty hard to edit it!

Anchalee Pagsanjan

Look Cute in Culottes

New Year's FoodVenture

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