Posts

Sun Light Bakery – Fresh made to order chang fen / cheung fan (Chinese steamed rice crepe) in Chinatown / LES

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Sun Light Bakery is a small Cantonese bakery on East Broadway located on the far eastern part of Chinatown that borders the Lower Eastside.  The bakery is a regular Cantonese bakery with decent baked goods.  However, the real draw is that next door is a small snack shop that is part of the bakery that serves fresh made to order chang fen / cheung fan, which is a steamed Chinese rice crepe with various fillings you can choose.  Typically, you see this dish at dim sum places.  However, in Hong Kong there are places that will make it fresh for you.  It’s much better fresh and when I saw they were serving it fresh, I got very excited.  They have a variety of fillings you can get such as dried baby shrimp, fresh shrimp, beef, roast pork.

So far I’ve tried the beef, dried baby shrimp and the cha shao / cha siu (roast pork):

Beef:

The beef is different than the version you get at dim sum places, this is more small chunks of minced beef as opposed to the minced beef that fills up the middle.  The chang fen is cut up and the lady will ask you if you want scallions and she will sprinkle diced scallions and cilantro on it (definitely recommend getting that).  You then pour a dark, semi sweet soy sauce on it.  This was quite good. 7.75/10

Dried Baby Shrimp:

This was the same thing, but I liked it a bit better as I really like dried baby shrimp. 8/10

Cha Shao / Cha Siu (Roast Pork):

This was the same thing, but I thought the cha siu wasn’t very good quality as it was a bit dried out although it still tasted pretty good overall. 7/10

Overall, a solid place and if you’re in the neighborhood I recommend stopping in.  Also, I recommend eating it immediately as it tastes much better.

Address:
160 E Broadway
New York, NY 10002
(212) 608-8899

Bisous Ciao – Amazing Macarons in the LES

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Bisous Ciao is a new macaron store in the Lower Eastside.  It’s a small store with a sleek minimalist black and white interior that only sells macarons.  I noticed it one day walking home from work and I was somewhat surprised to see it in the Lower Eastside as it seemed a bit out of place although the neighborhood food scene keeps getting better, so I’m happy to have them here.

I love macarons so I decided to pick up a box.  The guy told me that the glass case they keep it in is chilled, so I should keep them in the refrigerator until I want to eat them and then let them sit out for 10-15 minutes to let them get to room temperature.

I got the raspberry, pistachio, lemon, rose and black sesame.

Wow, they were amazing.  My gf and I couldn’t believe how high quality they were.  They were so fresh with a perfect cookie / pastry exterior that has slight crisp to it.  The fillings were amazing; the flavors tasted exactly like whatever flavor they were supposed to be.  Raspberry was my favorite, but they were all really good. 8.5/10

They are a bit on the expensive side at about $2 / piece, but I was so happy with the quality that I was happy to pay the price.  I’m surprised they don’t sell anything else and I certainly hope they can make a business out of this because the quality they are turning out is light years better than anything else I’ve had in New York.  Highly recommend.

Address:

101 Stanton St (between Orchard St & Ludlow St)

Manhattan, NY 10002

(212) 260-3463

Cheeky Sandwiches – Amazing New Orleans style sandwiches in the LES

/2 Comments/in , /by

Cheeky is a small sandwich place that I noticed walking to Chinatown and decided I should try it.  It turned out to be one of the better places I’ve been to in NY in a long time.   It’s one of the many new restaurants that have opened up in the Lower Eastside that is really making the neighborhood’s food scene markedly better.  The owner is a really nice guy from New Orleans and he opened up the place in December 2009.

The place is small and the kitchen takes up a good amount of the place with benches along the sides where you can eat.  Most of the clientele is pretty local and I think are mainly regulars as everyone seems to know the owner and vice versa.  The menu is fairly small and consists of 5 or 6 New Orleans style sandwiches and some sides like chips and beignets.  I love specialist type places and this is a very good one.

Here’s what we got:

Chicken Sandwich:

This is fried chicken on a house-made buttermilk biscuit with coleslaw and gravy.  This is delicious albeit very unhealthy.  The buttermilk biscuit is really good, very flavorful and buttery, not overly salty and just generally good.  The chicken is fried to order, nice and crispy, not overly oily.  It all goes well with the thick white gravy and the coleslaw which is actually mainly just red cabbage (different than normal cole slaw, which I’m not a big fan of).  Really great sandwich. 8.25/10

½ Fried Oyster and ½ Fried Shrimp Po’boy:

This sandwich is unbelievable.  The oysters and shrimp are high quality and fried fresh when you order.  The batter he uses is so good.  It’s dressed with a little mayo, lettuce and tomatoes.  The bread he uses is really good too.  It’s pretty self-explanatory, but definitely one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in NY. 8.25/10

Beef Sandwich:

This is braised short-ribs with wild arugula, cherry tomatoes, & horseradish sauce on challa bread.  The bread is really good, semi sweet and grilled similar to a grilled cheese sandwich.  The beef is quite tender and tasty, I would like it to be slightly more together as it’s completely braised until its strands of beef, but nonetheless quite good.  The cherry tomatoes and horseradish sauce go very well with the beef, another winner. 7.5/10

Beignets:

These are similar to doughnut holes, but the batter is a bit heavier than a regular doughnut.  They are fresh fried to order and then dusted with confectioner’s sugar.  I really liked these a lot. 8/10

Big Shot Grape Soda:

They’ve got a brand of New Orleans soda called Big Shot, my GF loves grape soda, its pretty good, not too sweet. 7.5/10

Overall, this is a great restaurant.  I highly recommend going there ASAP.

Address:
35 Orchard St (Between Canal and Hester)
Manhattan, NY 10002