highly anticipated Bronwyn opened up in Union Square last night. we were lucky enough to get a reservation. i am a huge fan of t.w. food in cambridge. bronwyn is wiechmann and her husband’s new venture. i was super excited for the german wurst and bier meaning sausage and beer in german.
the bar opens til 1am
we sat in the back room, a european feel.
i like the chairs
couple beers were sold out already by the time we got there around 830pm
Ayiner – hefeweizen
i was in love with this grapefruit beer. i usually dont like fruit beers, but this one was really good.
house made sausages: not overly salty and very well flavored.
Knödel bacon bread dumpling, fiddlehead purée – i didnt really taste the bacon tho
Biernudeln dark beer pasta, artichoke, mustard, blue cheese
somehow i misread the dark beer pasta as deer pasta, so i was expecting deer meat at the entire time. -_-
Jagerschnitzel thin veal schnitzel, foraged mushrooms, walnuts, honey
i really liked this dish.
Oat-honey Challah, Rye Roggenbrot, Bauernbrot, juniper-sesame crisp, butter, sea salt
chocolate cake – i liked the richness of the chocolate, but i found the cake was a lil bit too floury
since it was our first time there, we wanted to sample a variety of dishes. although everything we had was FANTASTIC, i would probably skip the pasta, desserts and some of the starters next time. they have an extensive list of german beer and wine. i would come in for drinks and order bunch of their house made sausages and maybe a pretzel if im super hungry. just now as im writing up this post, i realized i didnt try any of the rieslings!!! i freaking love german riesling. ughhhhhhhhhhhhh how could i not try any?! service was awesome, fast, and accommodating! cant wait to return to try their riseling and more beer!
it was pork belly’s birfuday last thursday so we decided to celebrate it at Asta.
Asta, standing for Alex & Shish’s Taste Adventure, is Alex Crabb’s first restaurant after serving as sous chef at L’espalier for over five years.
parking wouldve been a pain, but fortunately they share the valet at Deuxave next door.
we sat at the ‘bar’ overlooking the kitchen. i loved the setup. it felt very cozy like i was dining at someone’s kitchen.
asta only offers tasting menus available in three, five and eight courses. they allow everyone at the table get different tasting menus which was awesome. ive read good reviews on the 5 course tasting and someone mentioned the 8 course was ‘overly conceptual’, so i was curious about that as well.
2008 Schoenheitz riesling ‘lisenberg’ alsace
duck heart, green almond milk, carpaccio
8-course tasting #1. oyster smoked and raw with celery juice
5-course tasting #1. peas with sheep’s milk cheese from vermont and mushrooms.
8-course tasting #2. after the storm: seaweed pasta, salmon roe, lemon mussel foam.
this was probably one of the ‘conceptual’ dishes. i loved it! when chef alex brought the dish, it smelled like the ocean. i was a fan of the lemon mussel foam, the whole dish tasted like ocean it was awesome. i loved it how it incorporated visual, smell, and taste.
the chefs were super friendly
8-course tasting #3. poached arctic char with ramps and cheeries.
5-course tasting #2. asparagus with egg and ajoblanco
8-course tasting #4. quail – escagot was stuffed in the quail, green garlic, and fava leaves. this was another one of our faves.
5-course tasting #3. scallop with farro, blueberries, and coriander. the scallop was fabulous ‘
2012 ch. d’Or et de Gueules ‘les cimels’ rose rhone – i wasnt a fan of it
5-course tasting #4. beef ribeye with chopped herbs, stinging nettles, and baby radish.
i thought this was a lil underwhelming and bland. the ribeye was very well executed, but i was looking for a kick to the flavor that it’s lacking.
8-course tasting #6. lamb with beets & scallions – same thing with the lamb: very well executed but a lil bland.
8-course tasting #7. campari stewed rhubarb with ricotta, pink peppercorns and white chocolate. im not a fan of rhubarb, but the flavors worked well together.
coconut cream pie. super dericious. the sweetness was just right.
5-course tasting #5. swiss roll – chcolate, passion fruit, tobacco. im a sucker for passion fruit, this def hit the spot. rich and creamy dark chocolate with passion fruit filling. ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
8-course tasting #8. almond and apricot – rosemary milk. this was served warm. super dericious and satisfying as well.
bunny cookies )))))))) hehehehehehe
i had a great meal at asta. food was light, dericious, creative, and unique in terms of the ingredients, smell, presentation, and taste. the unfamiliar ingredients connected surprisingly well together. the presentation was beautiful. i dont think they were ‘overly conceptual’ either. its like alinea in chicago, they combine food with art. i totally dig it.
like i mentioned before, i totally love the ambience and kitchen setup. very cozy, relaxing, and entertaining. staff was very friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. although i wish couple dishes had more flavors, the overall experience was excellent. i will def be back.
Asta
Category: Restaurants American (New) American (New)
47 Massachusetts Ave
(at Marlborough St)
Boston, MA 02115
Neighborhood: Back Bay
this is gonna be a long, disorganized, chaotic , and angry post just like the experience i had at little lamb restaurant 2 days ago . if you dont have the patience to read the entire post, here is my conclusion: the very second WORST dining experience i have ever experienced after Giacomo’s Ristorante
where do i start? I have absolutely no expectations for good services whenever I dine at a Chinese restaurant. As long as the service is timely I’d be happy with it. Little lamb def failed terribly in every possible aspect you can imagine.
Little lamb, xiao wei yang, is Mongolian hot pot chain and was just opened its first north American location in beacon hill boston last week. The menu, consisting of various broths and some of my favorite small dishes, looked really promising so I called up a few friends to check it out. We got there at 7:00pm.
The restaurant was half full. We were sat right away. The waiter brought us the menus and left without absolutely no explanations or warning of sold out items. I was confused about several items on the menu so I had to verify with the waiter. Getting the waiter’s attention was the most frustrating thing ever, he would just walk by me knowing that I was waving to him. So at this point, I started to try to get any other waiters’ attention. All of them did the same thing: walking by me knowing that I was trying to get their attention. I started to wonder if little lamb hired all blind workers or i became invisible. Finally, our waiter came, I ask him what’s in the veggie dumplings? He said he has no idea, but he would ask the kitchen for me. Great! I was also confused about another item on the menu, he told me it was sold out. Great! Why didn’t u tell me earlier?
They basically give u a piece of paper which has a list of their items and you can just check it off whatever you would like to order. However, the drinks are not on the paper so you actually have to tell the waiter what you want. We ordered 5 different drinks from the menu and they didn’t have 3 of them. They didn’t even have milk tea. Fine, we will take water.
We waited, waited, and waited. 20 minutes passed. He didn’t even bring us our drinks. He finally brought us 3 drinks but no water for my friends. 40 minutes passed, not only no food was brought to us, the FIRE ALARM WENT OFF.
the drinks sucked.
Seriously, has it ever happened to you? Fire alarm going off in the middle of your meal? It’s bizarre. Thanks to the fire fighters arrived only a few minutes later and turned off the fire alarm so we could return to the restaurant in less than 15 mins. We thought about leaving but for the sake of my blog and all my dear readers out there, we had to get the full experience for you guys so we endured it. We were starving and already waited for 50 mins at this point.
the fire trucks
to give u the ultimate experience, here’s a vid clip
Half of the customers left when we returned inside. They finally brought our hot pot and couple veggie dishes and noodles. So throughout the night the service was EXTREMELY slow. Not only that, after couple hours, they only brought us half of the stuff we ordered. Every time I asked the waiter where the rest of our food was he had no idea what was brought to us and what wasn’t. I had to name each dish that hadn’t been brought to us (not to mention it took me at least 10 mins of staring or waving at the waiter every time I tried to get his attention). He would only bring us 1-2 dishes every time I asked then forgot the rest again. This went on all night. We were super frustrated and starving! He would also name the dishes wrong; no idea what he was bringing to us. At the end of the meal, he still missed a few dishes but we all really just lost all our patience and just asked for the bill. How could this possibly happen!?!??!?!?! We checked everything off on a piece of paper so they should know what exactly we ordered. It’s hot pot! They don’t need to cook anything just wash the veggies and cut the meat and bring them over! How can you mess this up so bad?! They absolutely had no training whatsoever, not even common sense.
the veggie dumplings that the waiter had no clue about – chives, eggs, vermicelli.
at this point, the dinner already lasted 3+ hours. When the bill came, it was TOTALLY wrong. We got charged for some of the stuff that was never brought to us. They also charged us for a bottle of spring water. There was a bottle of spring water on the table but my friend brought that from home. WTFFFFFFF really?!? So I circled every item that was wrong on the bill for him and walked to the cashier with him, the bill kept going up each time he modified it. It took them FOUR tries to finally get the correct amount. At this time, we were beyond mad. They offer to give us some kinda ‘VIP’ card. We rejected it without a second thought. I told them we will never come back again and they ask me cluelessly ‘why’? Their cluelessness got us mad even more. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH we just wanted to bang our heads against the wall. this whole bill situation took another 30+ minutes, so our entire dinner lasted almost 4 hours. last time i had a 3+ hours dinner was eating a 27- course sushi tasting menu.
in terms of food:
you can get your own sauce
the broth was only ok. flavor wasnt rich at all, jus flat, msg, salty taste. the spiciness was not pleasant, like it was gonna choke up your throat and it wasnt even spicy enough for us.
this was the only time that the water boiled and never boiled again after we dumped food in. the heat was really low even we turned it to high.
the meat was pretty hard, thick, and chewy and too much fat on it.
hot pot meat should be sliced paper thin, melts in your mouth soft and mostly lean meat.
as we were eating, the water kept dripping down on us from the ceiling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well flavored, but fried instead of grilled
we order 15+ different kinds of veggies, noodles, dumpling dishes, but since the service was super super super slow and we were starving. i didnt wanna make my friends to wait any longer to take my pictures, so i stopping taking pictures.
since the heat was never hot enough, the oil started to grease together. got pretty nasty.
i understand that they just opened not long ago, but this kinda service is beyond hopeless. if you are not ready, at least start with a soft opening instead of a GRAND opening. Only serve limited amount of people until you get comfortable it. At least realize your mistakes, learn how to use the cashier machine, and have some kinda common sense. food was nothing special, even they had something good, half of the stuff on the menu was not available. Average food with this kinda disastrous service. We will not be back for sure. i dont think they will be ready anytime soon.
if you are still reading, thank you so much you are awesome. i really had a terrible experience and felt even more terrible for putting my friends through this. experiences like this are really unforgettable. RIP my brain cells that died that night from all that frustration and anger!
Little Lamb Restaurant
Categories: Food Do-It-Yourself Food Restaurants Asian Fusion Do-It-Yourself Food, Asian Fusion
326 Cambridge St
(between North Grove St & Grove St)
Boston, MA 02114
Neighborhood: Beacon Hill
Mooo… is a steakhouse located in downtown boston. their new ‘acoustic sunday brunch’ is every sunday from 10am to 2pm. you can enjoy live acoustic music while enjoying their new menu and creative bloody mary options.
their ambience and decor are def my fave kind: classy yet comfortable, high ceilings, and i love these chairs!
these high back chairs gave us a sense of seclusion and intimacy which i really enjoyed.
Honey-Bee – hendrick’s, house made thyme, honey syrup, and st. germaine 14
sweet, citrusy, refreshing, great for summertime
cinnamon rolls with butter – super soft and fluffy.
blueberry beignet – the beignet was very well fried while still remained an airy texture and the blueberry def complemented it.
extremely fresh fruits with very light whipped ricotta and a hint of honey.
bloody mary flight – bloody caprese, caper Mary and hot Mary
caper mary – ketel one citroen, lemon, caper juice, with caper berry, cocktail onion & Lemon
bloody caprese – van gogh blue vodka, balsamic with basil, and cherry tomato
hot marry – van gogh blue vodka, jalapeno, cilantro
we liked caper mary the best. it was the lightest among the three.
buttery smoked salmon and soft potato latke with sour cream and caviar
my fave thing of all
french toast with caramelized banana – there’s banana inside the french toast as well. perfectly cooked french toast: a crisp outside and soft, fluffy center without a soggy texture. the banana gives a tint of sweetness without being overwhelming.
the frech toast was served with gingered maple. the bottle was even warm when it was brought to us.
umm umm umm this was some official french toast
check out this small Tabasco that pork belly found amusing
steak & eggs wellington – filet mignon, mushroom duxelle, foie gras, spinach in in puff pastry
this pic is pretty self-explanatory. everything was perfectly executed. i love mushrooms, so i wish the flavor of the mushroom could stand out a lil more.
Baked Alaska
lemon vanilla ice cream, passion fruit syrup
ive had this at oleana before. it’s their signature dessert at oleana and i usually love anything passion fruit, but i hated it the one at oleana. extremely huge and sweet, meringue was super thick, couldve been another meal on its own. huge and overly sweet desserts jus cheapen the entire meal. never again!
however, we enjoyed this baked alaska at Mooo…. the size and the sweetness were just right. meringue wasnt as thick.
we had an excellent brunch at Mooo…. not only the food itself was outstanding, the service and overall experience were exceptional! our waiter Brennan did a fantastic job. extremely friendly, informative, accommodating, attentive, and professional without being pretentious. they have some of the BEST grade steaks in town if not the best! their kobe steak is grade A5 which is the highest grade you can get. they have plenty of seafood options for dinner as well. their seafood is always fresh and never frozen.
mother’s day is coming next weekend! i highly recommend this place if you are still looking for a place to take your mom for brunch. they will be serving their REGULAR menu not some generic prix fixe mother day menu that most restaurants are doing which is a big plus!!! cant go wrong with great food and service with awesome acoustic live music! take your mom for a walk after the brunch and enjoy some beautiful scenery around boston common!
Mooo….
Category: Steakhouses
15 Beacon St
(between Tremont Pl & Somerset St)
Boston, MA 02108
Neighborhood: Downtown
(617) 670-2515
im trying mad hard to lose weight for my beach body, but having a roommate that always suggests to eat out isnt helping much.
sichuan spicy chicken
Chinese Water Spinach – this is my fave green veggie at all times. chinese name is empty heart veggie. badassss
as always, spicy fish
i enjoyed our meal at sichuan palace. i think its better than a few sichuan places in boston. relatively big portions. surprisingly we were super full after only 3 dishes. i am not too sure about the freshness of the ingredients. we all had mild diarrhea the second day and its not because the spiciness of the food, but that’s ok. help me to lose some weight! beach body or die trying baby!
Sichuan Palace
Category: Chinese
7 Summer St
Ste 17-18
Chelmsford, MA 01824
(978) 256-8545
although nothing was mind blowing, food was pretty well executed. i really liked the ambience and the decor. sorellina is one of the nicest restaurants in boston. the service was very good. great for a date. i would return for the whole experience.
Sorellina
Category: Italian
1 Huntington Ave
(between Blagden St & Dartmouth St)
Boston, MA 02116
Neighborhood: Back Bay
(617) 412-4600
restaurant weeks are unavoidable in my life since my birfuday and our anniversary all land on restaurant weeks. not a big fan of it and never had really good RW experiences, but it’s still tempting every time. yesterday was me and pork belly’s 3rd anniversary so i picked t.w. food in cambridge.
celery roots, apple shooter, vanilla salt
we opted for the wine pairing as well. i specially asked for all whites for me since i dont drink any red.
we had:
bishop’s peak chardonnay
merlot
muscadet
and something else i forgot the name
wine was really good and went well with the food.
CRÈME BRÛLÉE FOIE GRAS
this was so awesome. foie gras was super creamy and it tasted like creme brulee like the name. i most licked my plate =}
SEA SCALLOP pan seared, brussel sprouts, house cured bacon
scallop was well executed. it had a citrusy tint which gave a refreshing kick to it. the flavor of the house cured bacon was transferred to the brussel sprouts which gave it a nice bacon flavor.
i really liked the plate.
BRAMBLY FARM PORK loin, cotechino sausage, garlic polenta, braised cabbage
this was a lil underwhelming comparing to the rest of the food we had. the pork wasnt tender. i expect all pork fat to have melt in your mouth texture but this wasnt the case. sausage was nicely flavored tho.
DUCK CONFIT crispy “bone-in” thigh, quinoa, radish, rhubarb and pinenut pistou
this was a fantastic dish as well. the skin was crispy, meat was super tender and non of the ducky taste, everything else on the dish really blended well.
BOSTON CREAM TARTE vanilla cream, valhrona chocolate, almond
this was really enjoyable. very rich, creamy without being heavy. all the good characters of a dessert
BUDINO dark chocolate custard, candied hazelnuts, sea salt, olive oil
i was in love with this. never thought sea salt and olive oil can make a super good dessert. the dark chocolate was really really rich. the candied hazelnuts went really well with the sea salt and olive oil.
the meal at t.w. food was really really solid especially for restaurant week. i think they really know how to play between savory and sweet such as the creme brulee foie gras and the sea salt/olive oil with the dark chocolate.
the service was professional and all the staff were pretty knowledgeable. if you still looking for a place to dine for restaurant week. i highly recommend t.w food.
will return soon for their regular menus.
every TUESDAY they offer WINE SERIES where they
4 courses with Wine Pairings for $55
Sunday 10 am – 2 pm they offer JAZZ BRUNCH
T.W. Food
Categories: French, American
377 Walden St
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 864-4745
my friend invited me to eat at dolphin seafood with her and her friend, one of these third wheel moments. i looked up dolphin seafood and the reviews didnt look too promising. some guy ended up puking in the toilet for 2 hours after eating there. i never say no when a good friend asks me to go eat, whether im a third wheel or its a restaurant with scary reviews like this, i jus cant say no to a good friend and food. i respect people’s choices; i never give food suggestions either unless i was asked to give one. i dun wanna be one of those pretentious picky know it all (they think) ppl called ‘foodie’.
anyways, so i went and was mentally prepared for all that vomiting consequences. Dolphin seafood wasn’t that bad after all. everyone all had lobster, you cant really make that taste bad unless the lobster was bad itself.
I jus finished reading eddie huang’s new book: Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir. it was a very enjoyable and easy read. I finished it in 2 days. Other than we both love kong xin cai and penguins, i was surprised how much I can relate with this dude. It’s like hearing someone else telling the same stories i’ve been through but at the same time he gives me a new perspective on things or things ive jus never really thought about. If you are Asian and love food, I highly recommend this book to u.
Here is a review by the nytimes that sums the book better than I could: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/books/fresh-off-the-boat-a-memoir-by-eddie-huang.html?_r=0
“Long before I met him, I was a fan of his writing, and his merciless wit. He’s bigger than food.”—Anthony Bourdain
)))))))) hehehehehehe
