Thoughts & Reflections

Tag: Bakeries & Cafés

Brunch at Cafe Clover

If anyone had asked me a year ago what my 2016 would be like, I wouldn’t have been able to guess at all. The start of this year has presented me with some very interesting challenges and adventures, especially in the work situation. After what seems like forever, I have moved on from my old company last summer and so did most of the terrific people I’ve worked with there over the years. We’re all spread out and it’s hard to not miss seeing familiar faces.

At the very least, I’ve tried to keep in touch with my old team through weekday lunches (it’s amazing how many people end up working in the same neighborhood but at different companies), farewell drinks all summer, and random meetups over dinner or brunch. A small group of us met last Saturday for a weekend brunch at Cafe Clover.

Two designers, one developer (me) and a product manager. This gathering was definitely a team effort: J, the product manager suggested the meetup and made the reservation; I sent a list of restaurant suggestions and one of the designers, C, helped to choose where we would end up. Nothing like collaboration, right?

Somehow, I ended up the first to arrive followed by J, M and C. We were seated at a corner table that was probably one of the nicest spots in the restaurant; it offered a great view of the bright interior and all of the other tables. It was so great seeing everyone together again and it felt almost like we never left given the conversation we had about the old company and other former colleagues.

But let’s get onto the food. The menu wasn’t lengthy but provided a variety of delicious and healthy options. Three of us went for the poached eggs, while C opted for the Quinoa Pancakes. To be honest, it was really hard to choose what to order since everything looked tasty.

The poached eggs were served with a tomato kale pan roast and spaghetti squash chia rosti. There was also a choice of Béarnaise sauce or herb vinaigrette; all three of us went with the latter. It was excellent! As for the pancakes, it was served with baked apples, cashews, and barrel aged syrup. C cut up little pieces from her dish to share with us and it was delicious as well. Really, it would be hard to order wrong since all the food was so good.

We asked about dessert and the waitress said they had an almond milk panna cotta. That sounded really interesting so I ordered two to be split among the four of us. When it arrived, the panna cotta reminded me of the classic Chinese sweet tofu dessert. It was creamy and not too sweet, and a sprinkling of chai tea made it even more flavorful. When we were finally ready to leave and the bill arrived, the waitress told us the dessert was comped. I didn’t quite understand why but it was very nice of them and we tipped her a little more as a thank you.

Good food, great company and a wonderful way to truly begin the new year. We’ll have to do it again soon!

January 20, 2016
Bonjour Brussels

One thing I envy those living in Europe is how easy it is to hop on a plane or train for a few short hours and quickly end up in another country. In the brief time we were in France, P and I set aside one day for a quick trip to Brussels. It’s a 90-minute ride from Paris to Brussels and since our hotel was right near the Gare du Nord, it was a walk to the train station from our hotel on a mostly quiet Monday morning.

We arrived at Brussels-Midi station and then took a tram to the town center, which seems to be the only part of town that was busy. Like in France, the Monday we were there was a public holiday (coincidentally the same day as Memorial Day) so most stores and businesses were closed for the day. This at least made our itinerary pretty short and we were able to see the things we wanted to see in the few hours we were there.

The Grand Place dominates the medieval heart of the city, with all the gilded and ornate buildings surrounding the square. Again, there were cobblestones everywhere so yet another day for more aching feet (and alas, no change of shoes all day) but we managed to keep going. We walked along the side streets surrounding the square first, just to see what shops there were and to decide where to spend our Euros later in the day.

I was enamored with the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert with its wonderful glass-covered arcades and all the sweet shops inside. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve seen so many patisseries clustered together in one place ever. In general, there were so many delicious sweets on display both in the arcade and in the shops all around the main square.

But first, we needed lunch. P had visited Brussels before and was leading the way to a good restaurant she had dined at on a previous trip so we made our way there. We arrived only to find it wasn’t open that day. Oops. Fortunately, that street was lined with many restaurants so there were plenty of other options and we ended up at L’Huîtrière. Many restaurants had outdoor seating and we were seated in a white tent on Place Sainte-Catherine.

The menu offered a lunch set consisting of a starter, entrée and dessert and we went with that.

We both ordered the mussels as a starter (the other choices were a fish soup or shrimp and cheese croquettes). The Moules St Catherine is a plate of mussels gratin covered in tomato sauce and served with a herb and garlic sauce in the middle. It was pretty tasty, despite the cheese (fortunately, it was easy to scrape to the side) and I really loved the herb sauce; I kept dipping slices of bread into it.

For the entrée, I went with the cod (served with a white butter sauce and chive) while P chose the steak (with a pepper cream sauce). The fish wasn’t bad but I wasn’t a fan of the creamy sauce (that’s just me). P’s entrée came with a side of frites which was nice and honestly, her steak looked to be the better dish. And there was only one dessert available as part of the lunch set, which was the chocolate mousse. The mousse was delicious, but P and I had some trouble identifying the edible decoration on top. Definitely not a cherry but I think we concluded that it was a tomato of some sort. (Note – Dec 11): Many months after I wrote this up, I learned that the fruit is actually a cape gooseberry.)

Lunch done, we stopped to admire St. Catherine’s Church at the end of the plaza before making our way back to Grand Place. There were a few shops that were definitely on to-visit list, mainly because P came with a shopping list. One place we had to visit was Maison Dandoy, a bakery that’s over a century old. They sell prepacked boxes of biscuits as well as several varieties in loose form (sold by the gram). I bought a box of speculoos cookies and some ginger and Earl Grey biscuits.

The other place on our to-visit list was De Biertempel, which one can deduce from its name sells beer. P had to buy certain bottles for her husband; since I don’t drink, I ended up purchasing an inexpensive Trappist beer for my sister.

After most of our shopping was done, we made our way to one of the more famous landmarks in Brussels.

The infamous Manneken Pis. It’s tucked into a corner just off the Grand Place but there’s always a crowd in front of the fountain so it’s a bit hard to miss; I had to squeeze through the horde of people to get a decent photo. On the day we were there, the statue was shown in all its nude glory but at times, the boy will be wearing some very interesting costumes.

Once I took enough pictures of the fountain, it was time to sample one last Belgian specialty: the Belgian waffle. Mussels, chocolate (in mousse form), beer were already scratched off the list but we saved the waffle for last. One of the streets that lead to the fountain is lined with shops that sell waffles. We bought from a shop that was right near the fountain and had a high turnover. P bought a plain waffle, which costs €1 at all of the shops while I went with a strawberry and confectioners sugar topping. Hot and toasty, one can’t beat a waffle fresh off the grill.

After finishing the delicious snack, we returned to the Grand Place and started to make our way back to the train station. I think we had about an hour’s wait before boarding and we spent much of the time standing around and watching the departures board along with everyone else to see where to go. The trip back to Paris wasn’t too bad though there was an incident involving the two women who sat behind us (one spent too much time talking on the phone and annoyed the person who sat next to her) but for the most part, it wasn’t too bad. At least we could give our feet a rest.

July 12, 2015
Three Meals a Day in Paris, Part 2

I hope I didn’t make people too hungry with the previous post—I have a tendency to do that with food posts on every blog I’ve created in the past.

I had my first crêpe in Paris at Crêperie Suzette in the Marais district. It was lunchtime and tempting as it was to go sweet, I opted for a savory galette instead. Since I am anti-fromage, I ended up with the only one that did not include cheese (mine came with topped with spinach, cream tomato coulis and basil). And of course, I cannot say no to a pot of (Darjeeling) tea. P went for something different and ordered the colorful Niçoise salad.

For the second night in a row, we stuck to dinner near the hotel and it was more Middle Eastern food. This time, we went to Zarame, a Lebanese restaurant. The two of us ordered shawarma plates; I think P had the chicken and I went with a mixed plate of beef and chicken. The platters were huge: slices of marinated and roasted meats with sides of potatoes, hummus, baba ghanoush, and salad. There was also a basket of warm fluffy pita bread for dipping into those delicious mezzes. And I washed it down with a pot of mint tea.

We were gifted a free dessert: Katayef, a Lebanese crêpe with a cream or custard filling, sitting in a pool of orange blossom syrup. It was a very nice and thoughtful way to end the meal. The staff was very friendly and the food was good (and healthy too).

Sunday is traditionally a day when most businesses (food and retail) are closed; that somewhat limited our choices of where to eat from the (incomplete because I left the other pages at the office) list I brought with me. I definitely wanted to check out Poilâne and with multiple locations in Paris, at least one of them was open on Sunday so that’s where we went for lunch.

The Le Marais location of Poilâne offers meal sets for different times of the day. The lunch set includes a soup or salad as a starter, a tartine or a salad entrée, a drink (wine or water) and coffee or tea. One can order à la carte as well but the lunch set was a a good deal for €14,50. I opted for the starter salad and the tartine sardines (sardines, butter, horseradish, wine vinegar, and herbs on sourdough); I was tempted to go for the tartine ecrevisses (crayfish tartine) but the sardine one appealed to me more and it was different, interesting and delicious. I finished off with a pot of green tea while P (who chose the tartine poulet) had a cup of coffee; our drinks were served with a little spoon-shaped biscuit on the side.

We did have Asian food one night in Paris, and of course it simply had to be Vietnamese. Fortunately, Time Out recently published a list of recommendations and after narrowing it down, we ended up going to L’Indochine. We were handed the French version of the menu (they did have English versions but we didn’t know that until another party came in well after us) but it wasn’t too difficult to read even with lapsed lessons in French. I ordered the Pho Dac Biet, which has beef served in various formats, including beef balls. P had the Pho Tai, which is more what I’m used to ordering at home. The bowls came in two sizes and we both chose the small. There were the usual accompaniments but what I liked was inclusion of shacha sauce, which is not an option at my usual Vietnamese places. The only disappointment was the lack of tripe in our bowls, but we got over it quickly enough.

Hot bowls of pho were perfect for the cool evening weather and we washed it down with limeade (me) and a mango milkshake. And I left room for dessert too. From the menu, I went with the Che Khoai Mon: a bowl of tapioca pearls with taro, pandan leaves and coconut milk. It’s definitely not something I’ve seen in New York Vietnamese restaurants (most of them don’t offer desserts). The Che Khoai Mon was different and tasty.

The last dinner (if one wants to call it that) in Paris was so plain compared to all others. We ended up walking from our hotel towards the Metro station and discovered a tiny Halal crêperie inside/next to an electronics shop. For all our walking along that street every day for a week, it was the first time we actually saw the shop, probably because we were walking on the other side of the street for once. Like La Varangue, the crêperie was a one-man operation. There were savory and sweet crêpes available but I wasn’t terribly hungry and went with a simple sugar crêpe. I wish I was more hungry though; the chicken tandoori crêpe sounded most intriguing and I wanted to try it too.

But that wasn’t the very last meal I had in France. This was:

Breakfast at the airport: a cup of tea and a vanilla whole milk yogurt from Paul, and a day-old (but still tasty) croissant from a bakery near the hotel. The yogurt was delicious and came in a black terracotta cup that I considered keeping but couldn’t come up with any good use for it (and there was no resealable cover). Actually, all the yogurt I had in Paris was good and that’s why I’ve been craving it since I returned, though I have yet to find one at home just as good.

June 22, 2015
Three Meals a Day in Paris, Part 1

After five days in Paris, I returned home and refused to eat croissants, baguettes, other Viennoiserie and French desserts for about a week. It’s not that our local patisseries and bakeries churn out inferior goods, but I just had too many sweet things far too often during my trip so I needed a short break from them all. (Though, I did end up craving strawberries and yogurt once I was home because I ate a lot of those things and did not have enough.)

With the exception of breakfast (included with our hotel booking, so the first meal of the day was ever constant), pretty much every meal we ate was something slightly different. From the tiny French restaurant for dinner on our first night to the hole-in-the-wall crêperie on our last, the food was pretty delicious no matter what type of meal it was.

Here’s a look at our main meals in Paris.

Our very first meal in the City of Lights was dinner at La Varangue. My guidebook referred to it as a ‘one man shop’, though Philippe, the owner/chef did have a young assistant the night we ate there. Tiny restaurant, simple but good food, and very reasonable prices. P started off with an appetizer of cassolette d’escargots which was fine but really, I don’t get the hype about eating snails—it’s totally not my thing. Entrées were confit de carnad (duck leg) for P and I had the filet de poulet (a moist chicken breast with potatoes and rosemary sauce). And we finished off with a slice of gâteau au chocolat, though it was hard to choose between that and the crème brûlée. The chocolate cake was delicious and not too sweet. I normally can’t eat much the first night I’m abroad but this time, it worked out well and we didn’t overdo things on our first day.

We paid for breakfast at the hotel so that’s what we ate every day; I would have liked to have gone out to eat but with our crazy morning schedule, it made more sense to grab food downstairs and then head out to our first destination of the day. Each morning was a variation of eggs, meat (bacon, sausage or the charcuterie plate), beans, bread (mini baguette, croissants, or slices from rustic loaves), some veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers), fruit, and yogurt. And always a cup of tea and a glass of juice (orange or grapefruit). And this was why I avoided eating English or continental style breakfasts for at least a week after I returned home.

Lunch and dinner were slightly more interesting during the next several days.

A very late lunch at Fauchon on our second day meant there wasn’t as much variety left in the takeaway area of the café. I made do with a sandwich (smoked salmon with a yogurt dressing and mint), a green juice and a fruit cup that looked like a parfait of jewels. I was fascinated by the sandwich packaging; all of the sandwiches were stored in cute resealable bags ready to grab and go for an afternoon picnic.

The fancy takeaway lunch was followed by a very casual takeaway dinner. There are plenty of restaurants near our hotel and we ended up wandering down a street that had many eateries. Because of the late lunch, I wasn’t too hungry for dinner and ended up ordering a chicken sandwich (more of a wrap) at a Middle Eastern fast food place called Nassim. The sandwich was part of a set meal that also included fries and a soda; the mojito-flavored 7-Up tasted nothing like a mojito but a very sweet fizzy limeade. Maybe I should’ve grabbed the tropical flavored 7-Up instead.

Trying to cover all our meals in one post was a bit much so more food posts will be coming up, but I think we ate well enough on our first two days in France.

June 17, 2015
Dominique Ansel Kitchen

Have Cronuts become passé yet? I’ve given up trying to snag one without having to get up at a godforsaken hour and standing in line and decided it’s really not worth it. There are always lines at Dominique Ansel’s Soho bakery for either Cronuts in the morning or the Cookie Shots in the afternoon. And after a visit to his new bakery in the West Village, I think I never need to go to his original location again.

There had been a lot of press about Dominique Ansel Kitchen even before it opened; I read some of the reviews but kept my expectations low knowing how things ran at the Bakery. It’s been open for a while now but I finally went on Sunday with my friend Queenie. It was to be lunch for her and an afternoon tea break for me since I had lunch a few hours earlier. The premise for Kitchen is to serve a lot more made-to-order dishes (both savory and sweet) though there were still many things that can be ordered to go easily.

I had my eye on a Fraisier in the refrigerated counter but decided it was probably time to eat something that did not contain strawberries for once, given my recent berry cravings. Instead, I opted for the matcha beignets and the whole vanilla bean ice cream. And this is what they looked like when the waitress brought both to our outdoor table.

The beignets were light and airy, and the matcha flavor was very subtle that I could barely taste it when it’s mixed with confectioner’s sugar. It was good that I was wearing a green skirt that day too since I ended up getting sugar all over the table and in my lap. The ice cream was really delicious as well, creamy and smooth and a good vanilla flavor.

Queenie had ordered both savory sweet items. Her lunch was the Spring Vegetable en Papillote with Farro: vegetables and a softly cooked egg baked in parchment. It looked really good and would probably be something I would order if I wanted a healthy meal. As for the something sweet, it was the very popular (there were other tables besides ours that ordered it) Extra Fluff Mille Feuille.

I dubbed it as the leaning tower of custard and flaky pastry; it really was leaning and Queenie had to nudge it to keep it standing straight before she finally ate it. Each layer of pastry was at least an inch high. I didn’t try any of it as I had enough desserts in front of me but definitely something to keep in mind on a future visit… unless there’s something else new and tasty that would catch my attention.

June 3, 2015
The Dessert Kitchen

I met up with my friend M for dinner on Friday and noticed there was a new dessert place that opened next door to the Indian restaurant we were visiting that night. Simply named, The Dessert Kitchen serves a variety of desserts, most of which have an Asian twist. To me, it’s like a cross between the Asian-style dessert places in the city (e.g. Chikalicious or Spot Dessert Bar) and those I find in Hong Kong or Chinatown that serve Chinese dessert soups.

After our unsatisfying Indian meal, we headed next door. The staff were offering samples of waffles to passersby, who mostly seemed to be local residents. There were balloons outside that heralded the restaurant’s grand opening; it had only been opened for about a week. When we arrived, it was still pretty early in the evening so there were no seated customers except for us.

The menu comprised of a lot of sundaes, parfaits, waffles as well a section of interesting Asian style desserts (green tea kanten jelly noodles anyone?) and Taiwanese shaved ice. I ended up ordering a strawberry sundae (I forgot what the fancy name for this was from the menu) and a hot fruit tea.

I love strawberry-based desserts and we’re at the start of the peak season for the berries so I thought this was a good item to try; other people had ordered strawberry desserts as well for takeout and I heard one of the staff members say that it’s been a pretty popular option so far. The strawberry ice cream was made in-house and tasted delicious. I’m unsure of the rest of the ingredients in it but there were some tapioca balls, lychee jelly and I think condensed milk. Overall, I liked it but want to try other things the next I visit. There were a lot more eat-in customers later on so it was nice to see what some of the other menu items look like. One couple who arrived just after us ended up ordering some of the ice cream cones which looked as fanciful as pictured on the menu; it’s definitely something I would consider choosing next time. The freshly made waffles smelled tasty too but I wasn’t really in the mood for waffles that night.

My fruit tea arrived in a very large glass teapot-cum-mug. Bonus points for the pretty presentation and how it matches my sundae. I thought it would be a fruit-based tea with leaves but it’s all fruit pieces which is nice too. As for the taste, it was mostly of a berry flavor though I thought I saw pieces of papaya in there as well. Not really sure what else was in there but it was good.

The best thing I liked about Dessert Kitchen so far is the lack of crowds since it’s still new and under the radar (for now). So many of the other dessert-only restaurants in the city are always packed and I don’t really frequent them anymore because there are rarely empty seats since people tend to linger. At least there is a to-go option here so that’s definitely a plus.

June 1, 2015
Tea Break at Chalait

I finally had an excuse to visit Chalait, a cafe that opened not too long ago that specializes in matcha-based drinks — my friend Queenie is working there and what better excuse to drop in, say hello and take a tea break. After dim sum earlier in the day followed by some window shopping, it was the perfect time to give my feet a rest. Thankfully, Chalait wasn’t too crowded when I arrived and after placing my order, I grabbed a seat at the counter so I could chat a little bit with Queenie.

I definitely wanted a drink and I ended up ordering a snack of Nutella toast as well. Instead of a simple matcha iced tea, I chose the special, a matcha spritzer made with cucumber and mint. It was the perfect drink, light and refreshing. The toast was simply two pieces of baguette slathered with Nutella and topped with pistachios and sea salt. Simple and very sweet; the Nutella was warm and very gooey, with my fingers leaving a sticky mess all over the napkin. There are savory options on the menu, too; the woman sitting next to me ordered the avocado toast and it looked tasty. I should definitely return and try it on my next visit.

May 20, 2015
A Morning in Kitzbühel

Apologies for the month-long hiatus; I’ve been struggling with a second bout of illness within a month and unfortunately, I’m still in the midst of recovering from a very painful sinus infection. I’ll try to post a bit more regularly now that the worst of it has passed (I hope).

After a day in Munich, we continued westward and headed right back into Austria once more. Our final destination of the day was Innsbruck but we made a morning stopover first in the ski resort town of Kitzbühel. I’ve never heard of the town before but apparently, it’s renowned for skiing. The only problem with that, as our guide pointed out, was the very mild weather which meant there wasn’t much snow to be had in the mountains for some world-class ski events.

Kitzbühel is a very old town with lots of beautiful, colorful buildings and very narrow streets. Our bus was parked in a lot just on the outskirts of town and we took a stroll into the medieval heart of the city. We had about an hour or so to wander around but nothing in the shops really interested me and overall, it was pretty quiet even for a Monday. It makes me wonder what it must be like to be around during the World Cup ski season.

Stepping out of the medieval town center, the buildings are no less colorful nor boring:

Kate, our tour director, advised us to grab lunch while we were here. We were heading straight for Innsbruck afterwards and there would be no other stops along the way. She suggested a butcher’s shop down the main street but I think most of us ended up at the café right at the meeting point for our departure.

It wasn’t quite lunchtime just yet and I wasn’t even terribly hungry at that point. The café was pretty packed with people, mostly from my tour group and the other group that ran parallel to ours. I settled on toast with butter and plum marmalade and a cup of Earl Grey. Really light fare but at least I wouldn’t be completely starving.

There were some interesting pastries and chocolates in one of the display counters and while tempting, it was far too early for sweets! I don’t think a slice of cake or torte would last very well on the ride to our hotel.

March 22, 2015
Ho-Dduk at Grace Street

After a long day of shopping and browsing, my friend P and I ended up in Koreatown on Saturday. Our feet were tired and after a tasty but not too filling lunch, we just wanted some place to sit down and grab a snack and drink. I suggested Grace Street since there is more seating than the other bakeries and cafes along 32nd Street.

I hadn’t been to Grace Street in a long time. After we were seated by the hostess, we took a look at the menu. Besides tea and coffee, they serve a few interesting desserts. I was tempted by the waffle (which is freshly baked and the menu warns it will take approximately 15 minutes) but ended up ordering a Korean doughnut called the Ho-Dduk.

Neither of were quite sure what to expect; the waitress said she it could be shared among two people but that was pretty much it. When it arrived, the doughnut was cut into six pieces with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. There was a filling inside the doughnut that spilled out onto the plate: the cinnamon was pretty song and flavored the brown sugar nicely. I liked eating it with a bit of the ice cream and enjoyed the warm and cold, spicy and sweet flavors in my mouth. It also reminds me a lot of the Japanese sweet, yatsuhashi (my sister brought back some from Kyoto on a trip to Japan many years ago).

I’m glad we gave it a try instead of going for the slightly less interesting waffle (mochi waffles, anyone?). It’s something I would definitely order again.

November 16, 2014
Arcade Bakery

I first learned about Arcade Bakery through my friends, Queenie and Jee. It’s received several write-ups in food blogs and magazines since then but it took me a long time before I got around to visiting. Like Patisserie Burrow, Arcade Bakery is one of those places open only on weekdays and since it’s located in Tribeca, it made it hard for me to visit when it’s actually open.

On the last day of my vacation, I went down to see Queenie and with some helpful directions from her, then headed down to Arcade. I might have walked right by the entrance had they not recently put a sign on the exterior of the office building the bakery is located in. As its name implies, Arcade can be found literally in the arcade of the building. The corridor is lined with dark wood paneling and set into niches are pull down tables where people can sit and eat, if not taking their food to go. There are also shelves with fancy loaves of bread for decoration.

The baked goods at the counter looked really good but I wanted something more savory for my lunch. There are a few sandwich selections as well as pizzas. The pizzas are made-to-order and I considered it but the individual pie was too large for me to finish then and there. Instead, I picked the vegetarian sandwich (can’t remember what was in it other than roasted carrots and chickpeas but it was really good) and an iced tea.

And after that, I headed right back to the counter to pick up something sweet to go. Queenie had recommended the chocolate croissant so I went with her suggestion and also ordered a lemon sugar brioche as well. They ended up being breakfast the following days and after popping them in the toaster oven to warm them up, they tasted just fine. The chocolate croissant was excellent and definitely one of the better ones in the city. If time permits (e.g. another vacation day), I’d like to go back and try some of the other items. I did see several office workers come in and leave with bags of baguettes under their arms, so perhaps I should try one those next time.

October 29, 2014