This post on Everything Frosted is overdue. Time to give it it’s due. I had just come from dumplings on Mosco Street when this blackboard caught my eye. Even though I was stuffed from the dumplings, the cupcake flavors were irresistible. I just had to go upstairs and take a look. I was greeted warmly by the owner. He was passionate about his creations and offered to freshly frost a cupcake with less frosting than those that were already in the case. The choice was hard to make but I finally decided on a green tea cupcake with jasmine vanilla buttercream frosting. He packaged it in the cutest single cupcake box. Unfortunately my box took a tumble before I got it home so I couldn’t get a decent picture of it but check out their website (link above). And go try the cupcakes for yourself. The cupcakes would be great paired with ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory! I’m going to try that next time.
Posts Tagged ‘green tea
Flushing- Sago
Sago Tea Cafe on Main Street in Flushing serves appetizers, rice, and noodle dishes along with bubble tea (aka pearl tea or boba). They also have a Korean food menu. Instead of having my usual almond milk tea or green tea smoothie, I tried the Fried Green Tea Ice Cream as I caught up with friends. Joe’s Bestburger is right across the street they have a half price deal for their Rewards Card members a couple hours before closing. My friend Sam was recommending the chicken sandwich, claiming that it is better than Chick-fil-a. I tried holding out until 10pm to have dinner but I didn’t make it. I had Burger King instead. Hardly interesting at all. My model/actor friend Jay gave me his rewards card to Joe’s Bestburger so I’ll make it there sometime soon.
Ippudo and Cha-An
Hooray for birthdays!! I turned…well, let’s just say that it makes me happy to get carded when I order a drink! My friends took me to Ippudo for ramen and Cha-An for dessert. A well rounded Japanese evening out. If you go on Ippudo’s website, the intro says, “Ramen is Japan’s Soul Food.” I’m still thinking about the exact parallel between ramen and say, chicken and waffles, but I think I understand generally what they are getting at. It was my first time eating there and it did not disappoint. I had heard that people wait over an hour but we got there right at the start of dinnertime and were seated right away. The broth was incredible and they also offer an option of bringing you extra noodles to go with the broth. I ordered a special for the day, a cold noodle dish with Tan Tan in the name. It immediately brought to mind Chinese Dan Dan noodles which are a spicy noodle dish, also with ground pork, from the Sichuan province. Some Chinese people talk about how everything in this world originated in China, just like Mr. Portokalos in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding says, “Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.” I guess legend does have it that Christopher Columbus brought noodles to Italy from China, as well. Well, according to Ippudo’s website, ramen was brought over to Japan by a Chinese Confucian of the Ming Dynasty. The cold noodles I had came in a chilled Pyrex measuring cup with egg, shrimp, wine jelly, ground meat sauce, cilantro, fish flakes, and instructions to mix everything together really well. The flavor was incredible. My friends’ ramen in broth was incredibly flavorful, as well.
For dessert, we walked from 4th Ave and 9th Street over to Cha-An, a Japanese Tea Room. I had the Black Sesame Creme Brulee and the Green Tea Float, and my friend had the Zenzai (actually, he had two of them). The brulee came with a scoop of ice cream on top and a sesame crisp. The Float had a red bean ice cube floating in it. Honestly, I could have eaten two orders of the creme brulee, as well. And the green tea flavor of the float was really good and strong, like I remember the drinks tasting in Asia. I would like to experience the tea ceremony there, at some point. I think rituals are underrated in America.
Oh, and somewhere in Manhattan there is a guy walking around with a shirt that says, “Everybody loves Ramen.” Let me know if you see him!
Ippudo Cold Noodle Special
Sesame Brulee with Ice Cream and Green Tea Float
