Limiting one pic per place to avoid the clutter…I had quite a list of things to try but ultimately it boils down to where we are at the time and what was the nearest option for us. I also had a few michelin star reserved but changed plans as we were not flexible enough especially traveling with a toddler. We had an average of 2 meals a day since we mostly slept in or had breakfast at hotel.
Here’s quick review of all place we were able to go to:
– Au Cheval – Lived up to the hype for a great burger. The steak frites were also good
– Ramens: Ichiran – Good and just like how remembered it in Japan. Their matcha dessert is surprisingly good as well. Not sure why this place got so much hate lately. It’s still good to me and yes the price went up but they also don’t encourage tipping which is a little refreshing to see / Ipuddo – also great and the same as I remembered from Japan / Tsuta – Didn’t get to try the one in Japan while it was Michelin (line too long). Excited to try it here but it was a bit underwhelming as they ran out of the signature ramen, so I got the spicy. It was good but I have to say I enjoy Ichiran/Ippudo more. I know there’s better recs for ramen but they were few and far from where we were at the time. I’ll leave that for next time.
– Uncle Lou – had the Chow fun, salt pepper shirmp and scallops, crispy garlic chicken. All were good but crispy garlic chicken is where it’s at. big portions as well. We wanted to try more items but 2 adults and 1 toddler can only handle so much.
– Yakitori Totto – great little place, loved everything we had here. one of my fav meals
– Bibble and Sip – one of the best cream puff I’ve had. Skip bearded papa and go here…We got the matcha, taro and black sesame but the matcha one was my fav. It’s not too sweet like american desserts, very nice texture and smooth creamy fillings. I also love their matcha jasmine latte, and the seasonal hojicha latte.
– Joe’s – great slice as always. Had it like 3x because they’re close to my hotel and it’s consistent every time. Maybe not the best slice for locals but def one of the best slice of pizza I’ve had. Just simply good and consistent.
– Baked Cheese Haus – Raclette, great sandwich when enjoying it fresh but a bit on the salty side.
– Temple Court/Bar Room – Beekman breakfast, Good food and amazing bar ambiance. This our hotel restaurant and it’s always packed.
– Asian Jewels – didn’t post the typical dimsum food pics but they were good. The salted egg lobster was on point.
– Xing Fu Tang / HeyTea- can’t go wrong with milk tea and boba at Xing Fu Tang, stop by for a quick stop while Flushing. HeyTea on the other hand blew me away, I’ve heard good things about it and it lived up to the hype. Probably my fav spot for now.. their Jasmine tea is just divine. Very fragrant, refreshing and super smooth. Most places brew their jasmine tea too “dry”. their signature grape series is also very good.
– Nami Nori – easily one of my favorite spot on this trip. Splurge on this one but def got what I paid for. We order pretty much all the sets except veggies. All were excellent and the fish/uni/caviar were super fresh. Their truffle mushroom dip was pretty damn amazing as well. ~~I am surpised a place like this didn’t get recognized with at least a bib gourmand (~~it is!). I also had Temakase/Mako Kosaka on the list but they were out of the way
– Kung Fu Little Steam bun Ramen: long ass name but food were good and no frills. Peking duck bun were pretty good but I prefer the traditional peking duck experience. The noodles and XLB here are actually good as well. Super juicy and flavorful. We also intend to try XLB in Flushing but we were “dumplinged out” …
– Xi’An Famous Food – Got the Cumin Lamb noodles and damn it was surpassingly good. I was skeptical with the “fast food” no frills setting but I’m impressed. The texture of the noodles were just how I like them: bouncy, a little chewy and nicely coated in flavor. Great spot
– Leo’s – Everything King Salmon with scallion cream cheese. Overall a good bagel but based on the the feedback it seems like I might not had a fresh one as the exterior was “leathery” instead of the slightly cripsy. Will try other places on the next visit.
– K. Minamoto – ate mine before i could take a pic so the photo is from the display case. Great dessert, a bit sweet for me. it’s also a bit expensive but it’s pretty. Nice to have once in awhile.
– Pisillo – accidentally came across this place near our hotel, looked it up and apparently it’s one of the better places for an italian sandwich . No frill, cash only and the the sandwich was huge. and of course it’s delicous… when you see a place that offers pancetta, it has to be legit…
A few others no in photo:
– Laojie hot pot – superb. got the hotpot AND bbq and i didn’t regret. BBQ meat was perfectly seasoned and the hot pot was on point. Sauce bar has tons of options to DIY.
– Soy bean chan flower shop – random ass place that sells tofu pudding with ginger honey. cheap and delicious. lol the little gems you find in Flushing…
– New World Mall food court – was a hit and miss. Had a really good stall that sells crepes but one of the beef noodle stall was very mediocre
– Oxomoco – had the burrito, chilaquiles, steak tacos and tuna tostadas. All were great, least fav was probably the tostada. Kinda wished i did my research on the menu beforehand to go for dinner. The bunch menu was limited
– Taiwan pork chop house – simple, cheap and good. Had the pork chop and Taiwanese sausage both were excellent.
– Wah Fung no1 – Another cheap and good place. Def worth the 30min wait (off peak). Pork is very juicy and flavorful.
What an amazing food scene NYC has, will be back to continue the food adventure in the near future.
EDIT: I had resy with priority and it was pretty much useless during peak holiday season. Tableone was able to get me some res last minute but timing didn’t work out.
Interesting-Goose568
Pretty solid list, which sandy did you get from pisillo? I find them a bit hit or miss but you’re right that they are huge.
NYEDMD
Thank you so much for helping to make — and keep — New York the greatest food city in the world.
PMPOSITIVITY
When you come back next, try Tonchin since you seem to enjoy ramen! It will blow you away. Love the list of things you tried
Temporary-Daikon2411
You did good
throwawayfromhk
Would you say Nami Nori could be a good spot for a birthday dinner with a significant other? We both love Japanese food and have a budget around $100 per head!
andthrewaway1
I honestly want to start a slow clap
rmpbklyn
which taco place? and those thick noodel with meat where you go
Red__dead
This sub is becoming indistinguishable from instagram… basics and tourists taking and posting endless lame and cringy photos of generic hype spots.
mcnegyis
Looks awesome
seashellsnyc
Thank you for sharing! I avoid Instagram but I like seeing posts like yours which shows key dishes.
I found Temakase’s quality being below Nami Nori.
WebSleuth2000
Great pics. Thank you for sharing.
Everything looks excellent save for the bagel itself which doesn’t look super fresh. If you didn’t ask for it toasted, I’d suggest having it toasted in the future as that can bring some life back to a bagel that isn’t super fresh. There are lots of non famous/hole in the wall but totally excellent bagel places throughout New York. I might suggest trying to hit something up in the outer boroughs next time.
Hope you had a great trip!
spageddy_lee
You did really good. I really like how you stuck with the classics on a lot of things (Ippudo, Ichiran, Joe’s).. lots of folks gloss over how good these places still are because of the more recent/ trendy spots that get a lot of hype.
DinerEnBlanc
Glad you had fun. If you’re back and in the mood for more ramen, I’d recommend Tonchin and Ivan Ramen. The latter of which especially since they kind of set the current ramen trends in Japan.
dodofishman
Those Nami Nori handrolls look amazing!!! I miss Xi’an famous foods so much 😭
blackninja126
What camera did you use?
steps1912
you did pretty good actually.
DiverGuy
Need to see the before/after on the scale after this delightful meal journey
typicalgoatfarmer
I miss Ichiran so much
ExcuseGreat6989
If you sat at home with a bag of salt, white flour and sugar you’d get 75% of the same experience as these photos.
aberrantdinosaur
love getting ichiran delivered
wooden_soldier
Bravo. Fantastic tour.
Leeser
You did it right and I’m jealous of your stomach. Snaps to you!
burritostrikesback
This is one of the best I’ve seen on this subreddit! Extra points for Asian Jewels.
Emily_Postal
That crispy garlic chicken looks amazing.
msrubythoughts
can anyone help ID the specific dish in pic 12?
I need this. I don’t know why but must have this hehehe
wensythe
I just have to say, so impressed you did all of those WITH A TODDLER. I live here with a toddler and haven’t even gone to that many places. Granted I have an extremely picky eater but he does love ramen. Next time you can check out Hide Chan and Kin Ramen if you’re still on your ramen kick.
mybackhurtsughhhhh
You did a lot better than most visitors
The_Eclectic_Heretic
Great lineup! Since you’re a ramen fan, I have to plug Ramen Ishida because they make my favorite bowl (and I’ve sampled a lot).
The chef is an Ippudo alum if that helps. Restaurant isn’t very toddler friendly though. It’s barebones in there.
chihawks
As a Chicagoan this caused me confusion. I forgot Au Cheval is now in NYC.
30 Comments
Limiting one pic per place to avoid the clutter…I had quite a list of things to try but ultimately it boils down to where we are at the time and what was the nearest option for us. I also had a few michelin star reserved but changed plans as we were not flexible enough especially traveling with a toddler. We had an average of 2 meals a day since we mostly slept in or had breakfast at hotel.
Here’s quick review of all place we were able to go to:
– Au Cheval – Lived up to the hype for a great burger. The steak frites were also good
– Ramens: Ichiran – Good and just like how remembered it in Japan. Their matcha dessert is surprisingly good as well. Not sure why this place got so much hate lately. It’s still good to me and yes the price went up but they also don’t encourage tipping which is a little refreshing to see / Ipuddo – also great and the same as I remembered from Japan / Tsuta – Didn’t get to try the one in Japan while it was Michelin (line too long). Excited to try it here but it was a bit underwhelming as they ran out of the signature ramen, so I got the spicy. It was good but I have to say I enjoy Ichiran/Ippudo more. I know there’s better recs for ramen but they were few and far from where we were at the time. I’ll leave that for next time.
– Uncle Lou – had the Chow fun, salt pepper shirmp and scallops, crispy garlic chicken. All were good but crispy garlic chicken is where it’s at. big portions as well. We wanted to try more items but 2 adults and 1 toddler can only handle so much.
– Yakitori Totto – great little place, loved everything we had here. one of my fav meals
– Bibble and Sip – one of the best cream puff I’ve had. Skip bearded papa and go here…We got the matcha, taro and black sesame but the matcha one was my fav. It’s not too sweet like american desserts, very nice texture and smooth creamy fillings. I also love their matcha jasmine latte, and the seasonal hojicha latte.
– Joe’s – great slice as always. Had it like 3x because they’re close to my hotel and it’s consistent every time. Maybe not the best slice for locals but def one of the best slice of pizza I’ve had. Just simply good and consistent.
– Baked Cheese Haus – Raclette, great sandwich when enjoying it fresh but a bit on the salty side.
– Temple Court/Bar Room – Beekman breakfast, Good food and amazing bar ambiance. This our hotel restaurant and it’s always packed.
– Asian Jewels – didn’t post the typical dimsum food pics but they were good. The salted egg lobster was on point.
– Xing Fu Tang / HeyTea- can’t go wrong with milk tea and boba at Xing Fu Tang, stop by for a quick stop while Flushing. HeyTea on the other hand blew me away, I’ve heard good things about it and it lived up to the hype. Probably my fav spot for now.. their Jasmine tea is just divine. Very fragrant, refreshing and super smooth. Most places brew their jasmine tea too “dry”. their signature grape series is also very good.
– Nami Nori – easily one of my favorite spot on this trip. Splurge on this one but def got what I paid for. We order pretty much all the sets except veggies. All were excellent and the fish/uni/caviar were super fresh. Their truffle mushroom dip was pretty damn amazing as well. ~~I am surpised a place like this didn’t get recognized with at least a bib gourmand (~~it is!). I also had Temakase/Mako Kosaka on the list but they were out of the way
– Kung Fu Little Steam bun Ramen: long ass name but food were good and no frills. Peking duck bun were pretty good but I prefer the traditional peking duck experience. The noodles and XLB here are actually good as well. Super juicy and flavorful. We also intend to try XLB in Flushing but we were “dumplinged out” …
– Xi’An Famous Food – Got the Cumin Lamb noodles and damn it was surpassingly good. I was skeptical with the “fast food” no frills setting but I’m impressed. The texture of the noodles were just how I like them: bouncy, a little chewy and nicely coated in flavor. Great spot
– Leo’s – Everything King Salmon with scallion cream cheese. Overall a good bagel but based on the the feedback it seems like I might not had a fresh one as the exterior was “leathery” instead of the slightly cripsy. Will try other places on the next visit.
– K. Minamoto – ate mine before i could take a pic so the photo is from the display case. Great dessert, a bit sweet for me. it’s also a bit expensive but it’s pretty. Nice to have once in awhile.
– Pisillo – accidentally came across this place near our hotel, looked it up and apparently it’s one of the better places for an italian sandwich . No frill, cash only and the the sandwich was huge. and of course it’s delicous… when you see a place that offers pancetta, it has to be legit…
A few others no in photo:
– Laojie hot pot – superb. got the hotpot AND bbq and i didn’t regret. BBQ meat was perfectly seasoned and the hot pot was on point. Sauce bar has tons of options to DIY.
– Soy bean chan flower shop – random ass place that sells tofu pudding with ginger honey. cheap and delicious. lol the little gems you find in Flushing…
– New World Mall food court – was a hit and miss. Had a really good stall that sells crepes but one of the beef noodle stall was very mediocre
– Oxomoco – had the burrito, chilaquiles, steak tacos and tuna tostadas. All were great, least fav was probably the tostada. Kinda wished i did my research on the menu beforehand to go for dinner. The bunch menu was limited
– Taiwan pork chop house – simple, cheap and good. Had the pork chop and Taiwanese sausage both were excellent.
– Wah Fung no1 – Another cheap and good place. Def worth the 30min wait (off peak). Pork is very juicy and flavorful.
What an amazing food scene NYC has, will be back to continue the food adventure in the near future.
EDIT: I had resy with priority and it was pretty much useless during peak holiday season. Tableone was able to get me some res last minute but timing didn’t work out.
Pretty solid list, which sandy did you get from pisillo? I find them a bit hit or miss but you’re right that they are huge.
Thank you so much for helping to make — and keep — New York the greatest food city in the world.
When you come back next, try Tonchin since you seem to enjoy ramen! It will blow you away. Love the list of things you tried
You did good
Would you say Nami Nori could be a good spot for a birthday dinner with a significant other? We both love Japanese food and have a budget around $100 per head!
I honestly want to start a slow clap
which taco place? and those thick noodel with meat where you go
This sub is becoming indistinguishable from instagram… basics and tourists taking and posting endless lame and cringy photos of generic hype spots.
Looks awesome
Thank you for sharing! I avoid Instagram but I like seeing posts like yours which shows key dishes.
I found Temakase’s quality being below Nami Nori.
Great pics. Thank you for sharing.
Everything looks excellent save for the bagel itself which doesn’t look super fresh. If you didn’t ask for it toasted, I’d suggest having it toasted in the future as that can bring some life back to a bagel that isn’t super fresh. There are lots of non famous/hole in the wall but totally excellent bagel places throughout New York. I might suggest trying to hit something up in the outer boroughs next time.
Hope you had a great trip!
You did really good. I really like how you stuck with the classics on a lot of things (Ippudo, Ichiran, Joe’s).. lots of folks gloss over how good these places still are because of the more recent/ trendy spots that get a lot of hype.
Glad you had fun. If you’re back and in the mood for more ramen, I’d recommend Tonchin and Ivan Ramen. The latter of which especially since they kind of set the current ramen trends in Japan.
Those Nami Nori handrolls look amazing!!! I miss Xi’an famous foods so much 😭
What camera did you use?
you did pretty good actually.
Need to see the before/after on the scale after this delightful meal journey
I miss Ichiran so much
If you sat at home with a bag of salt, white flour and sugar you’d get 75% of the same experience as these photos.
love getting ichiran delivered
Bravo. Fantastic tour.
You did it right and I’m jealous of your stomach. Snaps to you!
This is one of the best I’ve seen on this subreddit! Extra points for Asian Jewels.
That crispy garlic chicken looks amazing.
can anyone help ID the specific dish in pic 12?
I need this. I don’t know why but must have this hehehe
I just have to say, so impressed you did all of those WITH A TODDLER. I live here with a toddler and haven’t even gone to that many places. Granted I have an extremely picky eater but he does love ramen. Next time you can check out Hide Chan and Kin Ramen if you’re still on your ramen kick.
You did a lot better than most visitors
Great lineup! Since you’re a ramen fan, I have to plug Ramen Ishida because they make my favorite bowl (and I’ve sampled a lot).
The chef is an Ippudo alum if that helps. Restaurant isn’t very toddler friendly though. It’s barebones in there.
As a Chicagoan this caused me confusion. I forgot Au Cheval is now in NYC.