I’ve written before about Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle on the edge of Chinatown in New York (here, and here). On a recent visit I was very nervous. The front window now displays an “A” rating from the health department. Ruh-roh. Was it going to be any good? What’s more, the refrigerator with drinks was no longer sitting outside. It was now actually in the restaurant. Not to worry, the interior of the restaurant looked as it ever has before. There’s still the same guy pounding noodles on a table between the dining room and kitchen with his bare hands. The menu is up on the wall. Very little English is spoken, but everyone knows what you mean when you ask for “Number 2, and a Number 11.” The nooodles – both as soup, and on…
Food Report 2013
Tag Archives for Food Report 2013.
Get Out of the Resort on Maui: Two Restaurants in Lahaina Worth Trying, Star Noodle and Aloha Mixed Plate
My mental model of Maui is that the better restaurants are mostly clustered in the towns closer to the airport like Kihei or Wailea. There are plenty of big resorts in Lahaina, like the Marriott and the Westin and the Hyatt Regency, but that the food offerings were middling at best. And even the better Maui restaurants offered fantastic views but food that wouldn’t be as impressive if you weren’t in a beautiful location on holiday and certainly wouldn’t impress at the price point in other cities. I discovered Aloha Mixed Plate on a visit to Maui in 2009. Mind you, it isn’t the world greatest food or service though the food is good. What it does offer is reasonably authentic local food, in an open air setting on the water (though somewhat obscured by…
An Introduction to Singapore Hawker Centers – How They Work, and Which One is Best for You?
Singapore is one of the world’s best food cities, both at the high and low end of the spectrum Hawker centers are one of the primary reasons that Singapore — far from just being ‘a stopover’ — is one of my favorite cities in the world. What are Hawker Centers? Hawker centers are basically food courts which host a variety of providers, each of which usually specializes in one or just a few dishes. Because there are many providers, many of whom make the same or similar things, competition is intense. The best, then, become very good. The dishes are usually cheap. Singapore is known for the hawker center, and the government owns the facilities — originally they were a move towards centralizing the food stalls and ensuring hygiene. More recently they’re supported to preserve…
San Diego is a Great Town for Sushi.. and Dessert
The Gaslamp district of San Diego is great, lots of things to do, it can be fun. But though there are tons of restaurants, the point of those restaurants is something to do (and of course, like the Checkers commercials say, ‘Ya Gotta Eat!’). On the one hand it means there’s competition – but it’s mostly competition for fun and a scene. So if you want to eat well, you need to choose carefully. I much enjoyed Taka for sushi. Online reviews were good, and it turned out to be better than expected though not at all inexpensive (you’ll pay extra for something to be good in the Gaslamp area, I think, the rents are relatively high). There’s a menu of specials and their list of sushi and sashimi I decided to add their live…
Does the St. Regis Bali Have the Best Breakfast Buffet in the World?
I probably like the cooked to order menu service at the Park Hyatt Maldives and room service at the Andaz 5th Avenue more. The highest quality ingredients I’ve had for breakfast were probably at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris. And the buffet (which I understand is no longer as good) that I had at the Le Meridien Chiang Rai several years ago was probably better as well — it wasn’t more extensive, but there were more and more interesting things that would be brought around by servers for you to try over the course of a meal that weren’t on the menu. (The most extensive buffet title probably belongs to one of the many top end hotels in Kuala Lumpur.) But I imagine that the breakfast buffet at the St. Regis Bali is the…
Elephant Jumps Thai in Northern Virginia Getting Even Better With New Dishes
About two and a half years ago I first wrote about my favorite Thai restaurant in the DC suburbs, Elephant Jumps in Merrifield. Regular readers know this place and word has certainly spread. I understand that some of the bloggers from First2Board organized a lunch there before the start of Frequent Traveler University at the end of April. There aren’t a ton of places that age well, and admittedly after it first got popular it had a few ups and downs especially with service (they were learning to staff properly and handle getting busy). They worked through the bumps well, and I kept going back. And going back. I had pretty much everything on the menu except for their Thai-Western fusion dishes which just didn’t appeal to me. This is a hole in the wall…
The Best Hand Pulled Chinese Noodles in New York (or Anywhere)
About 10 months back I wrote about some of my favorite food spots in Lower Manhattan. One of those was Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle. The link above is to the restaurant’s Yelp page, they don’t have a website. They don’t have metal utensils. Or air conditioning. Or a credit card machine. Or an A rating from the health department, for that matter. What they do have is the absolute best hand pulled noodles and delicious soup, in expensively. They don’t speak much if any English, you order by number off of the big sign on the wall with pricing and you pay at the end by cash (it seems like they could care less if you tip or not, and the man taking my money recently looked at me funny when I overpaid by about…
Austin Food & Culture — and What it Taught Me About Barbecue and… Thai Food
I was in Austin recently, it’s one of my favorite cities, both for classic Texas and for much more modern culture. One of the things I did over the weekend earlier in the month is picked up tickets for ‘Master Pancake,’ a live Mystery Science Theatre 3000 style performance in a theatre/draft house. So you get something to drink, you can pay extra for comfortable chairs (a very modest upcharge), and watch some cutting-edge comedy. In this case, one of the original MST3K folks joined Austin regulars as they mocked Hunger Games. I may not have the most exciting Saturday nights, but it was a lot of fun. I also returned to some of my favorite barbecue spots, and I learned something about barbecue in the process. I expected consistency — restaurants that have been…
Return to the Maldives: Tea at the Burj al Arab, Dubai
Trip Report Index: Introducing and Strategy New York JFK – Abu Dhabi, Etihad First Class Park Hyatt Dubai Touring the Burj al Arab Tea at the Burj al Arab Abu Dhabi – Male, Etihad Business Class Male – Kaadedhdhoo, Maldivian and Transfer to the Park Hyatt Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives Kooddoo-Male-Abu Dhabi, Maldivian and Etihad Business Class Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi – Dusseldorf – London, Etihad First Class and British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – San Francisco, British Airways New First Class Our hotel media rep dropped us off at the Skyview bar, where we identified ourselves to the desk. We were the third reservation there, they found us on the little slips of paper at the desk. It was important to us to be on the early side (and we arrived…
New Years in Paris: Air France Business, British Airways First, and the Park Hyatt Vendome: In and Around Paris
A trip report in five parts Air France A380 Business Class, Washington Dulles – Paris Park Hyatt Vendome Mostly Eating in Paris British Airways Paris Orly – London and the Concorde Room British Airways “New” First Class, London – Washington Dulles The first night’s dinner was a bit impromptu, the Park Hyatt’s concierge stepped in with a recommendation based on my request for something nearby (walkable), casual bistro, reasonably priced (I didn’t want to spend 50 euros per person), and good food — that was available at the last minute by reservation, so that it wouldn’t entail a wait. The recommendation was for Restaurant L’ardoise, which fit the bill perfectly. We walked in and the place was packed. I mentioned that we had a reservation and the woman greeting us said, “You talked to me??”…
