A pinch of salt and a bunch of fatties

Salt & Fat 
41-16 Queens Blvd 
Sunnyside, NY 11104 
www.saltandfatny.com

Scoot over Manhattan restaurants, Salt and Fat is now quite the trendy spot in Sunnyside, Queens. This place serves Asian-fusion tapas with an American classic makeover. I came here with my sisters and our significant others prepared for a 45 minute wait on a Sunday night, since they don’t take reservations. But it’s ok - with a little patience, you will be rewarded with a bag of complimentary bacon fat popcorn (not greasy at all). I could totally swim inside a playpen filled with this bacon fat popcorn instead of colorful balls, because this stuff is awesome!

Free bacon fat popcorn!

Yellowtail tartare with scallions, yuzu gel, served with cassava chips

Korean BBQ wraps with hanger steak, pickled daikon and miso

Scallops with roasted carrot puree, truffled corn salsa and capers

Braised pork belly tacos with pickled onions, kimchi salsa and queso fresco

Hampshire pulled-pork sliders with sriracha BBQ sauce and pickles

Oxtail terrine with caramelized onion puree and roasted mushrooms

Fried chicken with pickled daikon

Crack and cheese made with fried potato gnocchi 

I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have the fried brussel sprouts and short rib buns when we were there, but we thoroughly enjoyed almost everything that we ordered and their presentation was on par. At the end of the night, we were too full to even try their desserts, which I heard were absolutely delectable. If you live in the area, this would be a good alternative instead of Manhattan good eats, and it’s a cute spot for date night. Two thumbs up for being an innovative Queens’ restaurant and extra thumbs up for the complimentary tiny sweet yogurt drinks at the end of the meal!

Mickey's rating: 8/10 
Price range: $$$

Cute food

I think the hardest part about making cute food look cute visually, is making sure that the taste is just as appetizing. Nonetheless, these are still fun to make if you want to brighten up someone’s day! =] For unique ideas and inspirations, check out one of my favorite sites HERE.

Angry Birds bento box - with a little imagination, bento boxes are fun to make.

Candy sushi - made with rice krispies treats, fruit roll-ups, and swedish fish.

It's mango season!

 
So I was watching this show called Neighborhood Gourmet a few weeks ago, about 2 people who travels all over Hong Kong to taste all kinds of different cuisines. When they did a segment on Hong Kong desserts, I couldn’t help but drool over the delicious varieties that they have. Mango sago was featured on the show, and it just brought back all the sweet memories I had at Hui Lau Shan and Honeymoon Dessert in Hong Kong. I love the creamy pudding-like texture filled with sago pearl goodness, and I love mangoes! Since it’s mango season right now, I decided to make some mango sago. Enjoy!

Mango Sago Pomelo

Makes about 3-4 servings 
PRINT RECIPE 

Ingredients: 
1 big ripe mango 
¼ cup sago (small) 
½ cup condensed milk 
½ cup milk 
2-3 tsp sugar if needed (in case your mango isn’t ripe)
1 slice of pomelo (Chinese grapefruit) - optional

Directions: 
Soak sago for an hour. Rinse it to remove excess starch before and after soaking process. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add sago and simmer until it’s soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Be careful to not overcook the sago or it will become a glob. Then drain water through a fine sieve, and rinse it under running water to wash out the excess starch so that the sago is not sticky. 

Peel and chop mangoes. Reserve finely chopped mango pieces (1/4 of a mango) for garnish. Blend rest of the mango pieces with condensed milk, whole milk, and sugar if desired, to a smooth paste. Add more milk if you want to change the consistency. Transfer to a bowl and add cooked sago. Mix well. 

Garnish with pomelo (peeled and sacs separated) and reserved mangoes. Serve chilled.
 
Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? :)

A Taste of Northern Chinese Style Cuisine

House of Orient 
46-09 Kissena Blvd 
Flushing, NY 11355

I’ve past by this restaurant many times without ever giving it a second glance. Perhaps it’s because BCD Tofu House was replaced by this place, and the bitterness just lingered on... but let me tell you, this place was uhhh-mazing! House of Orient serves Northern Chinese style cuisine, strongly influenced by Muslim cuisine. Evidently, lamb is their specialty, where cumin and hot peppers are used liberally in every dish. If you like spicy food packed with bold flavors, this place is it!

Fresh leek and pork pancake

Steamed lamb dumplings

Country style shredded pork with vegetables

Cumin lamb

Sauteed hot peppers with fried pig intestines

Stewed sour cabbage with pork belly and vermicelli in hotpot

Potato, eggplant and hot peppers

Fried pork with sweet and sour sauce

Mongolia style lamb chops

I highly recommend this restaurant for big groups since everything is family style. This is also a great place to bring your picky Asian parents for special occasions. They will love this place because it's quick, delicious, and reasonably cheap. We had 13 people, and the bill came out to $104. That’s less than $10 a person! I will definitely come back here more frequently to try all the other dishes on the menu. Thanks Tony for recommending this place! :)

Mickey's rating: 9/10 
Price range: $

If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put u n i together

Soto 
357 6th Avenue 
New York, NY 10014 
www.sotonyc.com

Last week was opening night for the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It’s a documentary about a 85 year old sushi master Jiro, who’s lifelong passion revolves only around sushi. With all the amazing sushi visuals, it's inevitable that this movie would leave me mouthwatering and falling in love with sushi all over again. 

Jiro Dreams of Sushi at the IFC Center.

Good thing I had one of the best sushi meals of my life at Soto, right before I went to see Jiro! With a full tummy, I controlled the sushi monster within me from unleashing inside the theater. If you're a sushi lover and haven't seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi yet, go see it! It's an inspiring story with beautiful cinematography. I truly enjoyed every moment of it - Jiro, you're my hero. :P

The facade of Soto.

Sushi Chef Kosugi prepares our sushi with a stern face.  

Hands down, this place is amazingly good. Does it seem like I say that about every sushi restaurant? Well it's true... even though Soto received mixed reviews and I've heard stories about Chef Kosugi, whom many patrons called “crazy”. He's known for having a bad temper with his staff and I even witnessed it. But I think he's just a serious man, who’s serious about his craft and knows exactly what the foie gras of the sea is. This place was unilicious! Unicredible! Uniful! Unirrific! Uninomenal! You get the point right? I walked right into uni lover’s paradise, where all uni lovers should UNIte!

Uni tempura with uni powder

Uni tempura close up - apparently when you deep fry uni, the unique flavor of uni disappears. It tasted like sweet potato. I think I'll stick with uncooked uni.  

Uni cocktail in a martini glass - it's indeed happy hour time.

Uni cocktail close up - sea urchin with soy reduction and fresh wasabi. This is my favorite uni dish. Make sure to get your own. I made the mistake of sharing one!

Uni and Yoba - black soy bean milk with uni served with shitake broth. I loved the depth of flavors and textures in this, and the cold broth was refreshing.

Uni Ika kelp roll - minty with good texture.

Steamed lobster with uni mousse

The steamed lobster with uni mousse was not only visually beautiful but tasted wonderful too. The lobster was cooked medium rare, full of flavor with a delicate sweetness that complemented well with uni, truffle oil, caviar and paper thin vegetables. Best lobster dish ever! This nearly stole uni's thunder. 

Lobster sashimi

We didn't know about this dish, until we saw Chef Kosugi intricately composing 5 of these lobster sashimis at the sushi bar. We immediately ordered it without hesitating, knowing that we wanted to try it, just because everyone else was having it. The sweet lobster was perfect, covered in a ginger vinaigrette with seaweed salad underneath. Wow!

Fluke

Isaki

Salmon sake

Red snapper

Striped jack  

Toro

We ordered the 8 piece omakase last, essentially letting the chef decide what to feed us. Sometimes I enjoy that surprise element, where each piece of fish is carefully and thoughtfully prepared by our chef. The best piece in the house was the toro. Oh... how I love thee! The toro was so heavenly, that it transmitted this indescribable euphoric feeling inside my body. I was giggling over the rich fatty flavor of the tuna belly melting in my mouth. It tasted like butter. We even skipped dessert and ordered one more toro sushi to cap off the evening. It's so gooooood.

So here are a few things to keep in mind, if you ever decide to dine here. Do not come here if you’re in a rush. Otherwise, you won't enjoy the full dining experience. The service is a little slow with only one sushi chef. The portions are small and the prices are expensive, but you're getting what you pay for - quality. Think about it, you get a taste of Japan without actually flying there. How awesome is that? I think Soto is one of the most inventive and most unique in flavors, in all of the sushi restaurants I've been to. I’ll never forget this incredible three hour meal.

3 things you must order here:
Uni cocktail – don't share this one!
Steamed lobster with uni mousse - so decadent and good!
Toro - this orgasmic piece of fish is kind of a big deal. Best toro I've ever eaten!

Mickey's rating: 10/10 
Price range: $$$$