TULSI - Indian Restaurant

I've been passing by this restaurant since the time of inception as they took over the space. Tonight, after 3 months back from my trip frim India eating at I the best Indian restaurants which I made sure to go to, I decided to try Tulsi.

Before I went to India, most of my Indian food experience has been either buffet style or sometimes ala carte and they seem to all be mushy or grilled like a tandoor.

I am glad that I have the opportunity to evaluate what a Michelin Star chef cooking Indian food in New York is like.

The place is modern as you can see. Their menu varies from food from the north to the South in this restaurant.

I ordered Shrimp Balchao as my first course.  It was good but I wasn't impressed.  It reminded me more of a Philippine seafood dish called escabeche. It had tomato sauce, onions as a base and I could taste the sugar.

The price was a bit too high for something one can prepare the sauce ahead of time and shrimp added after.  $14!

Above was a dish I wanted to compare with what I had in India called Lal MAAS. It is goat stew with ginger, masala and other Indian spices.  It was good but for the amount of goat I had, $28 was outrageous!

The garlic naan was the best in the meal. The dough was very light and crisp and flavorful. That was $5.

Another disappointing dish I ordered was the fried okra.  I enjoyed this very much in Jaipur when my Tourguide ordered it. That was nice green thin slices of okra fried crisp.  But at Tulsi:

The okra was saved by the onions they fried and added to the dish; but it tastes more like burnt whatever. Because of the nutrient and the cost $9, I had ton save it to take home.

For dessert, I wanted to try something new. 

So I ordered Santra Payasam. It's some Indian custard served in a bowl made of chocolate. I can't complain but I wasn't ecstatic.

Now, my curiosity has just been fixed!

Tulsi

East 46th St., between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

1-212-888-0820

MUSSELS WITH THAI TWIST

You can use any kind of mussels as long as the date in the bag is not its last day for use.  Yes, a bag of commercially harvested mussels always has a date on its tag.  Read it so you know how fresh your mussels are.

For a change, I wanted my mussel dish with a Thai flavor twist to it.  So i used the following ingredients I had:

HOW TO MAKE IT:

Ingredients:

1 small shallot minced

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2  can of unsweetened coconut milk

3 TB safflower or canola oil

2 TB chili paste basil

2 TB Thai basil leaves

1 or 2 stalks of lemon grass cut in 1-1/2 inch lengths

Juice of 1/2 lime

Fish sauce to taste (1 tsp)

1 bag of fresh mussels

Sauté The garlic and shallot till translucent.  Add the coconut milk and all other ingredients except the mussels.  Cover pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add in the clean fresh mussels, and squeeze the lime juice over.  Cover the pot and cook for about 20 minutes till all the shells open.  Serve.

If you cook a long time, the meat of the mussels start falling off into the pot and they will appear dry.  Best served right away.

May eat it with rice or toasted baguette with garlic rubbed on it.

LECHON CHICKEN RECIPE

Here's a recipe I did not invent but was passed on to me.  If you make this, you certainly would enjoy eating it with or without the sauce they suggest.

Lechon means roasted but usually associated with roasted pig.  They call it lechon chicken because it is similar to the way a Philippine Roasted pignus cooked.  

RECIPE:

* 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) or 3lb dressed whole chicken

* 1 8 oz Sprite or 7up

* 3 tbsp of white or brown sugar

* 3-5 cloves of garlic, minced

* 1 medium sized onion, sliced

* 3 tbsp of lemon or calamansi juice

* 1 thumb size ginger, sliced

* 1 or 2 stalks of lemon grass (tanglad)

* ground black pepper

* 3 bay leaves

* 1 stick of butter

* salt

* 3 tbsp soy sauce

Cooking Instructions:

* Marinate the whole chicken in Sprite or 7up, soy sauce, calamansi juice, garlic, ginger, onions, pepper and sugar for an hour or more. To get the best result we suggest to marinate the chicken overnight.

* Preheat the oven to 325°C.

(About 375 degrees F)

* Stuff the Chicken cavity with the following:  lemon grass tied together, garlic, bay leaves and Peppers.

* Inject the marinade mix unto the inside of the chicken.

* Rub the chicken’s skin with butter, salt, pepper and garlic.

* Finally, roast the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.

* While roasting brush or baste the chicken’s skin, with butter about every 15 minutes

Optional* Serve hot with Mang Tomas lechon sauce.  (A bottled sauce sold in Asian grocery stores meant to be eaten with roasted pig)

AFTER WORK DINNER

For a quick healthy meal within an hour, I had a salmon trout and zucchini squash with cheese.

Instead of slicing and arranging my zucchini squash, I just chopped the zucchini, and Vidalia onion.

INGREDIENTS:

3 small to medium size zucchini squash

1/2 large Vidalia onion

1/3-1/2 c imported Parmesan cheese (preferably freshly grated)

Salt and pepper to season

1/3 c olive oil

2 TB butter

Melt butter with the olive oil in a fireproof baking dish.

Put the chopped vegetables in the dish, season with salt and pepper and mix well with the butter/olive-oil.  Grate your Parmesan cheese over the dish and bake at 350 degrees F oven for 40-44 minutes. Serve!

FOR THE FISH:

I used 1lb of Ocean Trout Salmon (I wanted to try this).  Or you can use any salmon. Season with salt and pepper and broil for 6 minutes.

Serve with lemon.

GO BO Vegetarian Restaurant

I have been wanting to eat here for some time.  It's actually better than I thought. The place looks nice and I could actually have a late 2PM lunch.

I chose the Seitan entree served on top of kale, with squash, brown rice with beans, and some cucumbers.

Seitan is processed wheat whereby the carbohydrate has been extracted.  This had a texture of a meaty giant mushroom. 

The sauce was delicious but tend to be on the sweet side.  For normal people, this could be healthy.  I'm not sure if it's really healthy if you were trying to avoid sugar and carbs.

Dinner Party

Last night. I had a get together dinner at our place.  It started as a plain dinner plan for me to make something which ultimately led to surprising one of our friends - a birthday party (ahead of about a week) since she was going away for the next two weeks.  And since an old  classmate was also in town for a short visit, i decided to include her since one of the friends attending was also her classmate.

I always write down the menu so I don't forget what to serve.

I picked the white theme so the China stands out and the flowers are various shades of white as well.

I chose a low flower arrangement so we could see each other across the table for conversation.

Some of the dishes' recipes are found in my blog site.

DOMINICAN MEAL

(One of the few restaurants in NYC where tax and tip are already included)

The garlicky vinegar sauce:

On our way up north of NYC, I love stopping by this authentic Dominican restaurant.

My favorite in their menu (after trying a few dishes in the past) are the grilled pork chops (which now has taken 1st place in my list) and the steak palomila.

And make sure to ask for their super garlicky vinegar concoction to use over your pork chops.

To balance my diet, I usually order their salad with avocado, corn, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.

CANTINE PARISIENNE

I had Blackboard Eats coupon for 30% off for Cantine Parisienne that I've been wanting to try.  The coupon was good for the table up to 6 people!

Cafe Parisienne is located inside a hotel by Little Italy bordering SoHo.  It is also called NOLITA area - short for North of Little Italy.

The place is modern, sleek ,with cafe chairs as opposed to old antique French.  The servers we've had so far were both French.  The Chef is French as well.

Dishes we ordered:

Crab Cake with a light cabbage salad and greens served with a tangy sauce.

The cod is well prepared which sits on vegetables served with a delicate sauce with mussels and rice confit.

Delicious Croque Monsieur - Rich but delicious!

I like this restaurant because it reminds me of Paris.  It's casual, it's not pretentious, and the price is reasonable.

Cantine Parisienne

40 Kenmare St. , New York, NY 10012 40.720714 -73.995381 Elizabeth St.  212-966-2740

http://www.yelp.com/biz/cantine-parisienne-new-york#hrid:Krtv_OlUwgxmqqgQ4PYrpQ

THE NOMAD in THE NOMAD HOTEL

First thing I have to say is I'M IMPRESSED!

My new favorite in NYC!  It certainly fulfills presentation, price point, service and taste!  Yes, a little pricey but not exhorbitant and not to mention the outstanding nouvelle decor.  I praise them for their creativity and new techniques.  I was happy from appetizer to dessert and how prompt and responsive our server was.  Although, there was one server that seemed a bit snobbish who sat us down.  The suckling pig, although small in portion (but honestly, it's a healthy portion unless you like to eat like a glutton) fit the description of being crispy skinned.  That passed my suckling pig test even though the crispy skin was placed on top of a pork confit. They did have a good slice of pork belly with crispy skin on the side as well.  My lobster with its sauce was delicate.  The milk and honey dessert is very light and not too sweet.  I'm so glad it's the dessert we ordered.  I highly recommend this place.

This restaurant was established inside The Nomad Hotel about 13 months ago from today.  It's no surprise why I love this restaurant without even knowing its background prior to eating here.  This restaurant is under Chef Charles Humm of Eleven Madison which is an expensive Michellin Star acclaimed restaurant not far from this restaurant.  Charles Humm spent his cullinary experiences in Switzerland, New York and California; which is why he is able to compose that clean fresh California taste, with sophisticated European Swiss taste and meet New Yorker's expectations!

The black canopied entrance of this fine handsome building opens to a unique boutique hotel where the restaurant awaits you.

Such elegance but not pretencious.  The sky above is open because the roof is made of glass.  There is always light that shines during the day as if you are outdoors. 

There is a bar area behind the restaurant and another separate room on the other side with a very large fireplace. You can either dress up or dress casually which is why it's very trendy.





I opted for the healthy julienned snow pease with mint and pecorino cheese in a light salad dressing.

This is the appetizer or small orders.

This first course of our dinner was this  poached egg with pancetta (minced), some cheese, brown butter and quinoa and some asparagus.  I think it would have been a nice brunch to itself!

They will give you war focaccia bread with rosemary and chickpea.  We had to ask for seconds as we were 3 people and we needed it to soak up the sauce from the egg.

I had to try the steamed lobsters poached with fennel, vermouth and asparagus.  The sauce is so light and delicate, it does not drown the lobster taste.

Next time, we shall order the Roast chicken for 2 as shown in the menu above.  It has foie gras between the skin!  We saw this ordered by quite a few tables.  It comes out perfectly brown roasted served topped with a bunch of rosemary standing up like a tree.

SUCKLING PIG:  The confit of pork is topped with a perfectly crisp suckling pig skin.  Covered by vegetables on top is a roll of succulent pork belly with dark crisp skin served with cooked prunes around the plate.  (I claim myself as a connoseur for suckling pigs having grown up in a country that served it in special occasions - which was often enough during a year)

I watch what I eat so we ordered a side dish of vegetables.  On the right is a mixture of snow pease, pease, and fava beans.

AAAH!  The dessert!  Given the restrictions I have for eating too much sugary stuff, I had to pick the most incredible and unusual dessert from the list that I could learn something new from.

Above is Milk & Honey dessert.  The scoop of "ice-cream" is really the smoothest cold milk that is not too sweet.  The crispy white cracked things around is really milk - probably bubbly and dried up to create a delicate crisp cookie.  The brown cookies crumbled around must be the shortbread which when I first imagined was not this way; so I was pleasantly surprised!
This is a light dessert to try!

CIELO - An Italian Restaurant in Jerusalem

As I said in my previous blog, we went away for a Pilgrimage trip to Israel.  As a foodie, I enjoy the food of various countries.  But after having falafels for lunch and other Middle Eastern dishes, we decided to try an Italian Restaurant close to our hotel in Jerusalem suggested by our Italian tour guide.

We went to Cielo which was a small quiet and romantic little restaurant; pictured below.

The restaurant opened at 6PM and we asked to be seated then instead of 7:30 to give us time to go shopping at the Maimlla Mall nearby.  On Saturdays, the mall is open till 11PM.

I wanted to order the special dishes that were not in the menu and some dishes that were in the menu.
These were the dishes we had:

We were first served an amuse bouche of tapenade on slices of baguette with what appeared to be home made soft rolls.  The rolls were delicious.

This is one of the special dish for the night.  It's actually a seafood soup.  Underneath that green soup are pieces of squid and fish.  This is a light and tasty soup.  A great first course and something I've never had before. They should put this in menu as a regular choice!

The other appetizer we had was this scallop dish.  It was delicately flavored and tender. It was another special dish for the evening.

The main course was fish cooked in a very light tomato broth served with mussels.  The fish is fresh and well prepared.

We had to have the special prawns. It was cooked in garlic and the prawns were sweet.

Our dinner came with a side dish of vegetables: Sweet potato, sliced eggplant with tomatoes on top and mini squash.  Very healthy indeed!

I always order something new.  Above, I had some coffee cream with fresh strawberries and hazel nuts on top.

What Italian dinner be complete without Tiramisu.  This was excellently prepared!

This Italian Restaurant is definitely more Northern than South.  It was very good but a little pricey if you deviate from the regular menu like we did.

CIELO
Ben Sira 18, Jerusalem, Israel
Tel. 02-6251132

HEROD'S HOTEL IN TEL-AVIV

I recently went to Israel for a Pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land.  This trip is most unforgettable since I am very well versed with its biblical history.  In fact, it is everything I have learned since childhood come alive.

With all my anxiety of what accommodations and food we may have, to my surprise, my first day experience proved to be awesome!

Due to the recent bad weather and flooding the week before, our hotel went under water and therefore was upgraded to a hotel by the sea.  What more could you ask for.  Our room had a balcony overlooking the parked boats and pool.  Most importantly, the food was well presented and deliciously prepared in an array buffet-style.

The new assigned hotel was called HERODS. 



There was the chef who cooked the lamb burgers, chorizos, duck breast and fish to dish it out fresh for you.

There were slices of peppers being grilled as well.  Do you see the duck on the left, chorizos in the center and the lamb sausages to the right?

They had chicken, stews, noodles and 2 more dishes on this side. 

There was stuffed grape leaf and a variety of yellow peppers to the left

Above, you can watch the array of desserts at Herods Hotel by the Mediterranean Sea in Tel-Aviv where we stayed.  And it's no surprise why I helped myself as evidenced below.

And you think this was dinner?  The following morning, I couldn't resist to try breakfast!  They had fresh baked pastries and breads.

 

 

 In the background was Challah type brioche bread and in the foreground was a very flaky apple strudel (that's what I thought it was).

On the right were more pastries such as mini freshly baked croissants.

How about some warm Herods chocolate sauce to pour on top of your waffles on the left.  Or eggs with savory tomato sauce.

We had a large choice of smoked fish to choose from including smoked salmon.  I liked the large sliced ones in the middle third from the right.

You can order eggs the way you want it as well.

Imagine 5-6 rows of these filled with food to choose from for breakfast.  It's like a Las Vegas buffet but healthier. (I think)

There were even cheeses to choose from.  So, next time you get bumped off a hotel, maybe you'll end up with one that's better than what you had expected!

HERODS HOTEL
155 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv 63453, Israel

Ranked #24 of 78 hotels in Tel Aviv