Tigerland

After a hard long day shopping at Ikea (thanks to James who let me buy almost 200 scented and unscented candles - OK most of them were only little tealights that came in packs of 46 scented and the jumbo pack of 100 unscented - to make the flat a bit more girly) we decided to try out Tigerland, a Vietnamese/Thai fusion restaurant on Avenue A. We had planned to go there on Friday night but a combination of James having to work late and the weather being sooooo cold meant that we couldn't really bear to walk ALL the way to Tigerland that night. Yes, NY is making us lazy (and spolit for food choices!!) :)

The restaurant is a bit hidden and set back from the street so you only spot it just as you are walking past. We arrived in time for their fixed price menu which was a bargain considering how lovely the food was. We shared the stuffed Angel Wings (deboned chicken wings stuffed with prawns, pork, mushroom and glass noodles, fried and served with homemade sweet chilli sauce - see pic above) and the Banh Xeo (a Vietnamese crepe filled with with shrimp, fresh Berkshire bacon and oyster mushrooms). The crepes were one of our fave dishes at a Vietnamese restaurant called Tahn Binh in Newtown in Sydney so we had high expectations. Lucikly, we weren't disappointed. But we were a bit confused by how to actually eat it. We were told by our waiter that you are supposed to tear up the Banh Xeo and put it inside of the lettuce leaves that were provided and dip it into the two different sauces served with it. At least we think that's what he said but he spoke so softly neither of us fully heard what we were supposed to do. We ended up using knives and forks in the end but whatever way we ate it, it was delicous.

Then we had the Seared Normandy Duck Red Curry with organic butternut squash & oyster mushrooms and the Clay Pot Fresh Crab Spicy Glass Noodles with Calamari & Wild Shrimp. The glass noodle clay pot was fantastic - such fresh seafood and a level of chilli that grew on you slowly. The duck was beautifully cooked but wow! was that curry sauce HOT!!! Think I drank about 4 glasses of water just trying to get through it, along with the organic oolong tea we had with the meal. Have definately lost my UK curry stamina since we've been here :)

Just as we thought we couldn't possibly fit any more food in, they brought us dessert. A small bowl of light tapioca flavoured with coconut and served slightly chilled. It was actually quite refreshing and helped get rid of that 'I've eaten so much I think I'm going to EXPLODE!' feeling. Although I think we still had to waddle our way back home....

The nice thing about Tigerland is that all their food is organic, and not only is it cooked really well but the service was great; even though they had a huge birthday party going on in the restaurant while we were there and they were busy getting all the meals and drinks to those tables, we still had excellent service. We might take my parents to Tigerland when they come to visit at the end of Feb. Still having a fabulous time exploring all the restaurants and bars in the neighbourhood!!!

Tigerland, Avenue A between 4th and 5th

Max

We went to Max last night for dinner. It was the coldest day (and night) in New York for two years so although we were planning to try somewhere else, once we were outside and felt the -20 degree C wind and the light snow that was falling we very quickly decided to eat somewhere closer to home. We'd heard things about Max, a cheap and cheerful Italian place a few blocks straight down avenue B from us and decided to check it out.

(If you want to see where it is, go to http://mondomap.com/mondo/ and click on Alphabet City. Then follow Avenue B down past Tompkins Square Park to the corner of B and 4th street - you can do this by holding down shift and scrolling down with your mouse to move the map - Max is on the right hand side, the second building down from 4th street.)

It was a TINY but cute restaurant with an open kitchen. We shared the tomato bruschetta ( a big enough serving for 2-3 people) and some sauteed spinach (this was supposed to be a side dish but for some reason they brought it out early). I had the fresh spaghetti with lamb ragout for a main and James tried the lasagne which was brought to the table bubbling in its own earthenware dish. Although both dished looked nice and tasted... well, OK... neither was a stand out and we both felt we could have done a better job ourselves. My pasta was overcooked, although the sauce was tasty, and James couldn't tell whether he had a meat or veg lasagne. Hmmmm...

The service was also terrible - probably the worst we've experienced so far in NY. Three university students who obviously didn't want to be there and as a result spent most of their time standing by the front door gossiping and talking about parties they'd been to than looking after the customers. We had to ask to place our order after sitting with the menus for about 20 minutes, had to ask for plates even though we'd said we were sharing the brushetta and spinach (not to mention it was pretty obvious) and then we had to ask for the bill. On the other hand, the mexican waitstaff delivering the food to the tables and re-filling the water were excellent.

Even though it was cheap, it was a bit disappointing (especially when there are places like Cafecito around the corner) and we won't be going back.

Max, corner of B and 4th.

cafecito

We went to Cafecito last night: a cute Cuban restaurant on our block, right around the corner. I can't believe we've been in this flat so long and never even realised it was there!!

It has a nice looking (although smallish) bar and then you turn right into a bigger room with lots of small tables which is the restaurant. The cocktails are strong (I had a mojito and James had the Cuban Punch). We shared the Bollos (roasted corn and black bean fritters) as an appetiser and James had the Churrasco (char grilled skirt steak with Cuban chimichurri sauce and lime cured onions, served wtih yellow rice, black beans, and tostones) and I had the Ropa Vieja (cuban style beef stew made with pulled flank steak, fresh peppers, onions, plum tomatoes and freshly ground cumin, served wtih white rice, black beans, and tostones). The food was so yummy and James' steak was cooked perfectly.

Neither of us knew, in our ignorance, what tostones were but they turned out to be delicious slices of fried plantain - sliced quite thickly so they were still soft in the middle and not like plantain chips (which are also nice). It came with a delicious garlic dipping sauce too.

The prices were fantastic too - no wonder the place was packed and there was a long queue forming by the time we left!

Cafecito - Avenue C between 11th and 12th streets

Could this be the new Starbucks ad?

First snow in NY for 2007

This week we received our first (decent) amount of snow for this winter - setting new records for the latest snow during winter for well over 100 years.