Not so Authentic Curry Chicken Naan

I've had many Indian food in my life. I used to buy Naan in a farmers market when I was in High School all the time. And at Syracuse, there's an Indian restaurant where I go often for the lunch buffet. Of course, I can't tell you how the most authentic Indian food taste like (since I've never been to India.) But I can tell that the Indian restaurant I went with JCheng was definitely not that great. Mirch Masala, meaning chillies and spices.

The restaurant's environment was very nice, a lot nicer than I thought. I have always imagined Indian restaurants stink with curry smell, small and dirty. But this one has no smell, and the decoration was more like Chinesey, there are lanterns written in Chinese words. Also, even though the staff there are all Indian, they speak fluent Canto which kinda scares me. I was very intimidated by it. I guess the restaurant has the whole mindset of getting a business going. Since it's set foot in Hong Kong, it gotta attract the largest population here -- Chinese.

Anyways, so I wasn't very fond of the environment, but that's okay. Their menu was pretty attractive. The lunch menu was cheap, like.. legit CHEAP! It was $38 HKD (which is about $4.5 USD). The lunch set includes soup, appetizer, the main meal, rice, naan and a drink.

I ordered curry chicken. The curry taste doesn't give out the essence of the Indian culture. It doesn't taste like you're in India. I would say the naan was too hard and tasteless. The food looks real good but the quality of everything is just so-so. I enjoyed the cheap meal but if I could choose, I wouldn't come back again for the quality. This restaurant located in Causeway Bay, in the food building right next to Island Beverly Center, on the 7th floor.

One last thing, the staff there are not the nicest. Our friend Ricky didn't finish the food and one of the waitors came up to our table and asked, "How come you didn't finish the food? Is it not good? It's very good! Try it! Try it!" (Imagine in the whole Indian accent English.) He looked like he was going to use his hand and pick up the chicken and stuff it into Ricky's mouth. I was sitting there wordless. It was THE awkward moment. Those staff give you a headache and their sarcasm is in the air if you don't eat their food. But in general, I guess it's an okay restaurant. I wouldn't exactly recommend that place if you're looking for the quality. Go there for the cheap price and AC.

PS. Only go for lunch time! Cause they dont' have dinner set at night apparently! It'll be a rip off if you go for dinner!!

Eat Up!
Michelle

An All-American Hot Dog Joint in Syracuse

I had the best hot dogs of my 19-year-old life at Heid's in Liverpool, 5 to 10 minutes away from Syracuse. My friend Patrick took me there one time and he absolutely adores this quaint historic hot dog joint that has a remarkable history reaching back to 1917.

And you got two choices of dogs: Hofman Franks or Coneys. Coneys are the white sausages that taste a bit spicy and the Franks are the darker traditional sausages. Make sure you specify which one you want at the counter to avoid blank stares. You can sort of see it in the photo above, the dog on the left is a Coney and the other is a Frank. Click here for a clearer picture of Franks and Coneys. You can order a meal that'll give you two hot dogs so you can try both. One hot dog isn't enough for dinner anyway! It's a toss up between the two, I really can't decide which one's better. I don't know if it was the hype of the place that made the hot dogs extra tasty. But just ask Patrick, and he'll tell you Heid's is his bread and butter.

And don't forget to head next door to the nostalgic '50s era ice cream parlor, also owned by Heid's. There aren't too many of those still left around, so go while you still can. Heid's is at 305 Oswego Street, Liverpool NY 13088.

Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng

Beijing Style Cold Noodles

The Beijing Wong Fu Dumpling Restaurant (北京王府水餃) at 98-102 Wellington Street in Central is one of the most famous places in Hong Kong to have Beijing style dumplings, which are freshly made with absolutely delicious fillings. My favorite is the cabbage and pork filling. They have a Dumpling Of The Day which are sold at a slightly lower price and I would definitely recommend ordering that because it probably means it's cheaper, and you can't go wrong with any options at the famous Wong Fu. The restaurant is frequented by people working in Central who want to eat quickly and go back to work, so this isn't really a place to sit and chit chat for hours on end. One of their lesser-known dishes is their Beef and Tomato Cold Noodles (below).


Now I've tried Japanese soba, which are cold buckwheat noodles served with ice underneath and eaten by dipping it in soya sauce. Cold noodles was very appealing at the time because of the sweltering heat in Hong Kong, but eating cold beef was a bit of a surprise, pleasant at first but slowly became a bit nauseating. The other option was replacing the beef with egg, but eating cold egg didn't seem that appetizing either.

Nonetheless, the first few bites were very refreshing since the restaurant is a bit hot and crowded. But the noodles were completely drenched in oil so I was full very quickly. Now this is when a tall glass of cold soya milk comes in. Boy, the soya milk washed down all the oil and grease like no other, but the oil still sat in my stomach and made me antsy to run 10 laps to feel normal again. So passengers take note, the noodles are worth trying but share it with 2 people or more. And don't forget to order a glass of cold soya milk and a big generous plate of dumplings. Make sure you dip the dumplings in the dark vinegar, not soya sauce! Expect to pay around HKD40 to 50 for lunch per person.

Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng

Pet Cakes from Arome Bakery

Arome Bakery (東海堂) released a line of adorable animal mousse cakes this summer, each one selling for HKD15, pretty pricey for a small piece of cake. And to be honest, it was more for the amusement than for the taste. My family didn't know how to put the fork down, on it's face? Eat the chocolate ear first? Eating a mousse cake never felt so morbid.

Inside the mousse is fruit and a small piece of yellow sponge cake. Honestly, it tastes so generic. My friend Shelley's display picture on her iPhone is the picture of the piggly wiggly because she says it reminds her of her significant other. Maybe this cake would be good for special occasions like V Day or an anniversary, where funny-looking food can be appreciated in a crowd. My brother had too much fun eating his doggy's face, and my dad had way too much fun putting the fork into the pig's face and jiggling the mousse around. My mum chose to eat her bunny's ears first, leaving it looking like a bald sorry bunny. I just tried not to imagine I wasn't eating an animal staring straight at me.

Maybe once in a blue moon I'd want to eat something so amusing in appearance. Otherwise I'd warn all passengers to beware and stay away!

Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng

Katong Laksa in Sheung Wan

Last summer while interning in Sheung Wan, I explored the area every lunch hour trying to discover some hidden gems. Little did I know that the restaurants I "discovered" are already very renowned. One of which is Katong Laksa on Mercer Street, where even my favorite Canto actor Tony Leung has been seen slurping away a bowl of laksa. The entrance of the restaurant has newspaper clippings of all the raving reviews and pictures of celebrities who have visited. I came here yesterday with Anita (that's her in the photo!), who interns in Sheung Wan right now. Anita speaks with a jumbled-up accent from living in so many places, which somehow to me sounds very Singaporean, so it seemed appropriate to bring her to a South Asian restaurant.

I've been here three times already, and each time I couldn't finish the entire bowl. What I love most about laksa is the soup, the heavy coconut milk flavour in the mildly spicy soup. I also adore the tofu puffs that soak up all the soup. I'm not really a fan of the seafood in the noodles because it tastes a bit soggy.

The restaurant decor is very tropical with its orange walls that fit very nicely with the orange-colored soup. It's easy to imagine oneself in Malaysia in the moment. In Singapore, I was a huge fan of barley water, which is a ice-cold sweet drink that's supposed to lower the heat inside you. I'm never free of cankersores in my mouth, which I heard is from too much heat, so hopefully this drink will help. The table next to Anita and I ordered barley water right after us too! Toast Box, another Malaysian eatery also serves barley water too. Anita finished more of the laksa than I did, so props to her! It's not something I'd want to eat daily, and I certainly frequented the Chinese noodle shop next door much more often last summer. But the Hong Kong heat is unbearable, so why not imagine yourself in a tropical country? Hong Kong is 'sub-tropical' which totally should not count. The cheapest bowl of laksa is HKD40.

Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng

Homemade Lemon Squares

Welcome aboard, let me introduce you to our first dish!

So last week, I made lemon squares at home. The first time was a disaster because the cake tin I used was too wide so when I poured the mixture in, the squares turned out to be only about 3cm thick. The second time was a huge success, hooray! I used a quarter cup of lemon juice, and the squares weren't sour at all. Squeezing the lemon juice was a bit hard on the hands without a juice squeezer, but it tastes so much more real and fresh than lemon juice straight out of a bottle. The surface of the squares don't look that appealing from the burnt sugar, so sprinkle on a heap of icing sugar until it's covered like snow. Click here for a Betty Crocker Luscious Lemon Squares recipe.


Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng