Curry hunt: Go!Go!Curry (Small Chicken Curry)

Go!Go!Curry

273 W 38th St
(between 7th Ave & 8th Ave)
New York, NY 10018 (212) 730-5555

mission: to find good japanese curry in nyc.

what i ordered: small (“walk”) chicken curry

what it cost: $7

consumption:

i was really excited to eat this curry, since i had been craving it for a while. the presentation looked perfect, with the nice controlled drizzle of tonkatsu sauce on top of my chicken katsu. my chicken looked perfectly crisp, not greasy.

the good: my chicken was indeed crispy and not greasy. it was so crispy in fact, that it hurt the roof of my mouth after awhile. but it tasted so good! the crispiness was thin, perfectly adherent to the meat – not some thick bready coating. the curry was good, it had more complexity in its taste than your average instant curry. the tonkatsu sauce embibed the whole flavor experience with just a slight tang (not in a bad way).

the bad: the meat (though it had no funny parts – ie. bits of fat or cartilage, success!) was quite thin in the middle. so value wise, not the best. also the texture of the rice was inconsistent. some of my rice was nice and moist and sticky. other parts of my rice were kinda dried out. put a slight damper on the curry experience.

verdict: would eat if hungers. would be a better deal if $6.

The cheaper ramen: Rai Rai Ken (Miso Ramen)

Rai Rai Ken

214 E 10th St
(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003 (212) 477-7030

mission: to determine if rai rai ken’s ramen rivals other east village ramen-eries on the account of value

what i ordered: miso ramen

what it cost: $7.40

consumption:

upon first glance, my ramen looked quite enticing. it had plenty of bean sprouts, scallions and even crunchy garlic on top. there were a couple visible pieces of chicken.

the good: the broth turned out to be pretty good, though not as complex as the miso broth at ippudo. it had good nutty flavor and wasn’t too salty or overbearingly heavy. fresh bean sprouts + scallions. yummy crunchy garlic.

the bad: you remember those two visible pieces of chicken? yea, that was about it. 2 pieces. of chicken. the noodles themselves were also bad – gone far past the al-dente state. these two aspects basically killed it for me.

verdict: would only eat if extremely hungers. would try hard not to.

apparently this place used to be good, but no longer. perhaps there is a lack of quality control now.

Initiating Coverage: Momofuku (Pork Ramen)

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave
New York, NY
(212) 777-7773‎

What I ordered: Pork Ramen or ramen with the pork option.

The first time I came to Momofuku and ordered ramen was bout 2 years ago. It was good so I was honestly excited when I ordered this. The ramen of old was tasty. It was a bit on the salty side, but still good. The pork was braised and then grilled. And the portions were good.

The ramen I got this time was crap. The noodles were too thick by a factor of 2. Did quality control fail when they expanded or did the head chef eat to much and get fat fingers? Maybe they were trying to be unique, but it didn’t sit well with me. They really gimped me on the pork too. I got 1 slice of roast pork. It wasn’t even good roast pork. The broth was OK and the other toppings were OK. I was satiated at the end of my meal, but by no means satisfied. A mediocre dish by any standard; especially disappointing considering this came from a noodle bar.

Conclusion: I might buy it.

This cost: $12
This is worth: $8
This dish is 50% overpriced

Initiating Coverage: Momofuku (Shitake Buns)

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave
New York, NY
(212) 777-7773

What I ordered: Shitake buns.

Unlike the chicken buns, these didn’t come with very much filling. Still, it was just shitake mushrooms, hoisin sauce and misc greeneries in a standard steamed bun. It kinda looks like a baby chalpua, but much less tasty, much more expensive and much less likely to give you diarrhea.

Conclusion: I would not buy it.

Initiating Coverage: Momofuku (Chicken Buns)

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave
New York, NY
(212) 777-7773

What I ordered: Chicken buns.

I can sum this dish up in 5 words: Peking Duck for white people. Its overcooked pan-seared chicken, hoisin sauce and misc greeneries in a standard steamed bun. To be fair, they give a lot of chicken. To be on point, the chicken wasn’t good.

Not creative, not tasty, and not cheap. Next.

Conclusion: I would not buy it.

Initiating Coverage: Momofuku (Fried Veal Sweetbreads)

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave
New York, NY
(212) 777-7773

What I ordered: Fried veal sweetbread.

Doesn’t that sound delicious? Sweetbread. Its a very deceptive food. When I first heard it, I imagined an exotic corn dog where veal is used instead of a hotdog and a fried, sweetened bread is used instead of fried corn bread batter.

Oh how wrong I was. Sweetbread is actually usually the thymus glands of some poor four-legged farm creature. I say usually because there is disagreement in the culinary world on whether or not the pancreas can be considered as sweetbread. Either way, you’re munching on an internal organ.

As far as internal organs go, sweetbread isn’t bad. The come out looking like popcorn shrimp or popcorn chicken. Its crispy and golden brown on the outside and very tender on the inside. The flavor and texture is something like a very fatty chicken nugget. Yeah, it tastes like chicken. The dish was unusually heavy and I found myself struggling to finish it at the end despite how little of it there was. The sweet and spicy sauce that it came with helped to cut through the fatty taste, but only so much.

If you’re into eating internal organs like heart, kidney, gizzard, stomache, uterus, penis and testicles (can the last 2 really be considered internal if they’re dangling out?), then sweetbread is right up your alley. I wouldn’t order this again if I were just by myself; its just too heavy. I’d bring friends. Friends that don’t know what sweetbread is. That way they can help me finish this dish and I can watch their reactions when I tell them that they just ate a gland.

Conclusion: I would buy it.

Initiating Coverage: Ramen Setagaya (Cha-syu Tsuke-men or noodles with dipping sauce)

Ramen Setagaya
141 First Ave
New York, NY
(212) 529-2740

What I ordered: ‘Cha-syu Tsuke-men Oomori’ or BBQ pork salt ramen with noodles served separately. I think the ‘oomori’ means deluxe which means I just got more noodles and/or broth. Assuming quality does not change with quantity, this review is applicable for all sizes of food.

With college still fresh in my mind, part of me is very against paying more than $0.99 for ramen. If I just got a paycheck or if I’m celebrating, I may move on to $1.99 ramen. And considering I know how to make good ramen, you better be giving me some damn good noodles if you want me to shell over 10+ bucks.

These were some pretty damn good noodles. I want to first start off by saying I had no clue what I ordered until it came out. Ramen in my mind has always been curly noodles in big hot bowl of tasty broth with some other random stuff tossed in. What I was given was a plate of almost fettuccine-like noodles (so flat instead of thin and round) next to a bowl of broth. The noodles kinda threw me off at first, but they taste fine. I didn’t know you could eat ramen like soba, but it works for me.

What went through my head after my first bite was “this tastes funny. . . kinda fishy.” Not like nasty fishy, but a flavorful fishy. It wasn’t until halfway through my meal I realized that the fishy flavor came from (drum-roll please) scallops in the broth. Let me repeat that: there were little scallops in my broth. Do you realize how amazing that is? Sure there’s crab/ lobster/ shrimp/ scallop/ insert expensive sea creature flavored instant ramen (usually part of my celebratory $1.99 ramen), but to actually get an expensive sea creature in my broth is a completely different story. Only thing I can compare this to is ordering salmon roe sushi and getting caviar instead of salmon roe. Slight misrepresentation of the “salt” broth, but if you want to substitute salt with dried scallops, by all means go ahead.

Flavorful goodness aside, I realized that if I want to order a HOT dipping dish, I should not sit directly under an air conditioner vent. Take moist noodles spread on a plate with their surface area all exposed like a exhibitionist and add stream of cold air. The result is freezing cold noodles due to evaporative cooling (and stiff nipples if I were to continue my exhibitionist comparison . . . which I am). I had a lot of noodles. 5 minutes into my meal I had a lot of cold noodles. Dipping a lot of cold noodles into a bowl of hot broth will reduce the temperature of the broth. So about 10 minutes into my meal, I had a lot of cold noodles and cold broth; probably not the way this dish was designed to be served and enjoyed. Although this series of unfortunate thermodynamic events reduced my overall enjoyment of my meal, it was still a delicious dish.

Conclusion: I would buy it even if I were not hungers . . . provided that I am not seated under an AC vent.

Initiating Coverage: Turkish Kitchen (Humus)

What I ordered: Humus.

Chickpeas mashed until a mushy pulp. There’s only 3 possible ways you can screw this up.

1. Use bad chickpeas
2. Insufficient mashing such that there’s chunks of chickpeas still in the hummus
3. Put something nasty in the hummus

Thankfully Turkish Kitchen does not do any of the above. The hummus tasted fine, but could be presented better. Despite looking like a plate of new-born baby poop, hummus can be presented well; shaped like a crater and with olive oil and an olive in the center appears to be the height of hummus decorations though.

Conclusion: I would buy it (but its just hummus, not exactly a complicated dish).

Not only is it delicious, it also clears the sinuses

Welcome to part 2 of it tastes like burning. Today we’ll continue down our path of pungency and cover some of the equally ubiquitous but much less pondered contributors of “I just took a bite of this and I feel like I want to die.”

We start with a conundrum (or a riddle if you will). What do hot dogs and sushi have in common? OK. . . yes. . . they both have been central themes of Japanese porn. . . but you could say that about almost anything in the world. The answer I was looking for was: “They are both commonly enjoyed with isothiocyanates.”

Isothiocyanates is the chemical in condiments such as mustard, horseradish and wasabi that is responsible for its strong flavor. The essential or volatile oil produce vapors that stimulate the nasal passage much more than the tongue. That’s why you get a strong, but usually short reaction.

Interestingly, mustard seeds, horseradish roots or wasabi roots in their natural state are actually quite harmless and do not smell strongly at all. Only when the plant is chewed, crushed, ground or disturbed in some similar fashion is the pungent chemical produced and released.

At the risk of giving out the secret of all Japanese restaurants, the wasabi that comes with sushi is not real wasabi. Real wasabi roots are expensive and quickly lose flavor after being exposed to air. So the wasabi that normally comes with our California rolls is nothing more than horseradish, mustard and green food coloring. Don’t you feel ripped off?

Initiating Coverage: Turkish Kitchen (Patlican Salatasi or Mashed Eggplant)

What I ordered: Patlican Salatasi or mashed eggplant blended with herbs (even though most would know it as Baba Ghanoush).

Like hummus, any idiot with a sledgehammer can mash eggplant into baba ghanoush. But it takes more delicacy than the hands of a sledgehammer wielder to properly roast the eggplant and season the mash with herbs. Overall, I found the dish to be enjoyable.

Similar to the hummus review, dish presentation could have used work. But I didn’t order mash expecting it to look like expert sugar-work sculptures.

Conclusion: I would buy it.