Im really gonna miss my friend Momo when she permanently moves to London. She knows the coolest places to eat! She’s like a walking Zagat survey! She has seriously eaten at every restaurant in Manhattan. Its a wonder that SHE isnt the one with the food blog.

After we had dinner with a bunch of friends the other day, we went to this really cute dessert bar called “ChikaLicious”. Everything about that place is cute and tiny (except the prices)! That place is so small you have to take baby steps when you enter. If you step too big you’ll end up behind the counter. People dont seem to mind being piled up on top of each other, sitting on eachothers laps if they have to. They’ll sacrifice their comfort just to get a little taste of one of those cupcakes. And thats all youll get if you buy one of those cupcakes, A little taste!

Theyre so small that I cant really classify them as cupcakes! Maybe they should call em DIXIE Cupcakes. It annoys me when I see people eating them with forks. THEYRE TWO BITES! Maybe 3 if you’re dainty! COME ON PEOPLE! I bet these are the same people who eat their snickers with a knife and fork.

What makes up for it is the fact that the cakes are small but the taste is BIG! Those are some the most moist, fluffy, delicious cupcakes I’ve ever had. They ALMOST give Tonnie’s Minis a run for their money! I say almost, because Tonnie’s Minis are delicious, bigger, AND cheaper! So they win by default!

One itty bitty cupcake in ChikaLicious is $1.75. That sounds cheap but when you see how small it is, you’ll think again. A “Premium” cupcake is $2.50! Premium cupcakes are the exact same size as the regular cupcake but they have a filling. Caramel has a caramel filling, Strawberry shortcake has a strawberry filling etc. I would really like to taste the Smore’s cupcake! Those look great! I will visit that store until I have tried every cupcake and when Im done trying them all, I will do it all over again! So far I’ve had the coconut (my fave), the vanilla, and the almond. Im not overly fond of the almond because the toppings are too crunchy. The almond is good but its not a favorite.

They have other desserts like Custards and “Adult Chocolate Pudding”. Cant wait to find out what the pudding is like. I was tempted to try it the other day, but I thought I’d better slow down considering I had already eaten 3 cupcakes and was eyeing a cookie! Their Chocolate Chip cookies are fantastic. I actually like their chocolate chip cookies better than Insomnia Chocolate chip! And thats saying a lot because these cookies werent even warm! But theyre so good, they still warm your insides.

I love their cute little birthday cakes. They look so yummy. When I say little I mean it. Theyre 10 bucks and theyre about the size a real cupcake should be! LOL…Im exaggerating a little but not much. One birthday cake can be eaten by one person seriously. I would love this place much more if the prices were a little more reasonable but they have a bunch of cute desserts and snacks and I am determined to try each and every one of them regardless of the cost. So expect an updated blog post.

The only thing thats missing from ChikaLicious is a staff with personality. You would think such a cute, quaint place would have cute quaint employees but what I’ve found each time Ive gone there (3 times so far) are employees who seem a bit annoyed by the customers and by the fact that they have to be there. I guess I would be annoyed too if I was selling cupcakes from a closet. If they made the place double the size, I think everyone would be happier. They dont need to make it any bigger than that though. If they make it any bigger than that, it might lose its charm!

East Village
13 Saint Marks Place
New York, NY
(212) 777-0606

Went to Pho32 the other day! That place is so much fun! If youve never had Shabu Shabu, you have to try it at least once! Even if you dont like cooking! Shabu Shabu tricks you into thinking cooking is fun!

Shabu Shabu is this whole experience! The tables have these little circles in them that are kinda like little hot plates. The waiter brings you this little pot filled with broth, and puts it on the hot plate. Then when it starts boiling, they bring you a plate full of veggies, and thinly sliced meats of your choice (chicken, pork, beef, or seafood)…then you put it all into the pot and let it boil! As the steam and aromas come up you have a good time laughing and joking with your friends!

I recommend you ask for some raw onions and garlic to season it up even more. The Shabu Shabu also comes with a variety of sauces for dipping your meats and veggies in. The sauces are good but once I season mine up with the onions and garlic, I dont even need the sauces any more. Their rice is great! I think they put sesame oil in it, which gives it extra flavor. I like to put rice, and my cooked meat and veggies into a bok choy leaf, roll it up and eat it like that! its great! If you dont like rice you can order it with noodles. But I am a rice fiend! I think I could live for years on a desert island with just rice! I’d be fat as hell but I’d be alive.

Pho32 is a great place to have a Shabu Shabu experience, but when you get there make sure you ask them if the table works! They love to sit people at tables, you get your mouth all set for some Shabu Shabu, then when you order it, they tell you the table doesnt work! How the hell are you running a Shabu Shabu joint with some broke ass tables? Thats like having a barbecue with no grill! Pho32 please get it together! I thought that the tables were broken at the 32nd street location because they were old, but the St. Marks location is new, so whats your excuse?

I went with a group and we were scattered all across a long table because some of the little stoves worked and some didnt. We almost looked like we were eating by ourselves…luckily a few more friends came to fill in the gaps and were smart enough not to order Shabu! Aside from the raggedy tables we had a great time. I love putting all the ingredients in, watching it all boil up..I love smelling the aromas! I love the control I have over my food! I can cook it for as little or as long as I want!

I liked this place so much that I went back the next day and took my mom. She had a great time. She loved the coffee they brought to the table. It was brewing in its own cup! Even the coffee cooks at the table! haha. I ordered the same thing the next day that I ordred the day before and I noticed that I didnt have any eggs. That leads me to believe that the eggs I was eating belonged to someone else’s order. SORRY FOR EATING YOUR EGGS! Especially considering there were 3 eggs and I ate two of em lol. BTW If you crack an egg in your pot, dont panick! It will start to boil so much that it looks like its about to boil over, so dont crack the egg in there if you have more than half a pot full of broth. To be safe maybe you should just boil the egg whole. Everyone might hate you for stinking up the place with a boiled egg, but at least your pot wont boil over.

These Shabu joints have a nice little hustle going on dont they? Theyre charging you 15 to 18 dollars for a bunch of raw food and making you cook it yourself! And they got the nerve to take FOREVER to bring the meat! We kept asking “wheres the meat? wheres the meet?” I felt like I was in a Wendy’s commercial! WHERES THE BEEF?! I mean seriously, why did it take so long? Its not like they had to cook it! Were they out hunting?

But seriously, they think their slick dont they? Im gonna open up a Shabu Shabu in the hood! Instead of broth Im gonna put some oil in those bad boys, and bring around slices of raw meat and flour so people can fry it up! Everyone will sit at those tables with pots of sizzling meat getting popped in the face with grease talkin about OOOOH THIS IS FUN! People are crazy as hell! I just might be onto something!

By the way, if you have your hair pressed, Shabu Shabu might not be the meal for you! With all that steam, you will go in there with a press & curl and come out with an afro!

Aside from the Shabu Shabu, I really enjoyed the appetizers, ESPECIALLY the fried shrimp balls! Those were so good, I had to order another. Dont look at me that way! I shared it with the group! We had a great time, eating and drinking! Sidebar: Pho32 does not have a liquor license so if you wanna get your drink on, you have to BYOS (Bring Your Own Sake!). And when you invite your friends to meet you at Pho32, make sure you say “Pho32″ and spell out the ” p-h-o” because someone thought I was saying “432″ like I suddenly got a country accent and started pronouncing “four” FO’.*smh* lol

541 Laguardia Place
New York
(212) 477-5700

This is just a quick post to let you know to check out Rhong Tiam if youre looking for a cute, cozy bar/lounge type of place to get a few drinks and chow down on some appetizers! The place is really adorable inside! The funny thing is, the place is so cute, I used a photo of the interior for my twitter background before I even knew what this place was.

The other night I went to meet up with my friends, walked in and said HEY THIS PLACE LOOKS FAMILIAR! HAHA! What a coincidence!

Rhong Tiam is actually a Thai Restaurant. I havent tried their food yet because I just went in there to meet up with friends and have a few drinks. We had some appetizers, fried cauliflower (delicious) and some calamari! I was told the calamari was great. I dont eat calamari so I will take their word for it. Other appetizers were ordered but they took so long to come that I left before they got there.

The place is really cute, but dont go there if youre in a hurry because they take all day to bring EVERYTHING! And dont let the waitress recommend things to you because she doesnt know wtf shes talking about! Stick to your gut! If you see something on the menu that you want, GET THAT! Dont let the waitress recommend something that she likes better because obviously her taste buds are on vacation.

I was gonna order the banana sticky rice but she recommended the Mango Flan and told me how delicious it was! So instead of sticking to my guns I listened to her! Note to self: Never order FLAN from a Thai restaurant! FLAN IS A LATIN DISH! Sticky rice is a Thai dish. They need to stick to what they know! That flan tasted like breakfast! All I needed was some bacon and hashbrowns. They tried to doll it up and make it look cute with fancy sculpted sugar on top and fancy sauce, but that wasnt nuttn but a damn egg! It tasted like pure egg and had the nerve to be 6 dollars. Did I just pay 6 dollars for a damn egg? The sticky rice was 4 dollars. She must not know what Flan is supposed to taste like, if she did, she wouldnt have said that mess was good. If you didnt know what it was supposed to taste like, I guess u could say it was good. But it wasnt good flan.

Other than that I think the place is cute. And it seems like a chill place to hang out and sip at cocktails and munch on appetizers. I would definitely go back! I would just be sure not to get any latin dishes! lol FYI I went to the one on 2nd ave.

Maaaan BBQs is like an old friend. We go WAY BACK! Ive spent plenty of fun evenings with family and friends at this place. Its not the fanciest place you can go to, but its decent and if you want some good grubbin on a budget, its a great place to go. My favorite location is the one in the East Village. It feels a little more trendy. Maybe because its in the village and because they have the outside seating area.

The west village location has always been a ghetto mess! And its even MORE of a ghetto mess since their original location closed down and turned into a bank, and they moved into an old shoe store! They didnt even TRY to make it look like a restaurant! It looks like people are eating their food in a shoe store window! Everytime I walk past that store I secretly laugh at the people inside.

Aside from that, the food is great! My favorite thing to get is the baked half of chicken with fries. They give you a choice of a quarter chicken (costs an extra dollar for white meat), or for 2 dollars more you can get half of chicken. I just get the half. If Im gonna pay extra for white meat, why not just get the white and the dark right? The meat is always seasoned well, cooked well and the barbecue sauce is great! I usually ask for a side of their warm barbecue sauce. For some reason that barbecue sauce in the bottles on the table just isnt the same. I dont know who they think theyre fooling but theyre not fooling me!

The quarter chicken meal is only about 7 dollars. If you go for the early bird special (before 6pm) you can get TWO quarter chicken meals for 10 bucks! If thats not a recession special I dont know what is! Imagine going out to dinner, and only spending 10 dollars for two people!

Their fries are fresh cut and tasty. Sometimes I get the rice. The rice is simple but they put scallions on it which makes it great! Anything with scallions in it is great to me! My mom loves their cornbread and I understand why! It tastes like somebody’s mama made it!

If you go with a group, make sure you get the onion loaf. Its a fried onion dish shaped sorta like a top hat! Its pretty good but its a bit overwhelming for one or even two people to eat. You need about 3 or maybe even 4 people to polish it off. Its not really something you take to go. Some things taste best when fresh out of the oil.

Their fried honey wings are pretty popular. Ive had them before and theyre good but theyre not a staple in my list of things to get. Theyre a little too messy and the wings are HUGE!! I like dainty little chicken wings. They say theyre chicken wings but they look more like turkey wings! I dont like to eat things that can put me in a headlock.

The baby back ribs are great! Dowsed in barbecue sauce and crisp around the edges. My stomach is getting an attitude with me for teasing it with all this barbecue talk when all its getting is a baked salmon and some white rice for dinner tonight. Thats good food but its no baby back ribs!

BBQs has a pretty decent menu with a little something for everybody! Everything from shrimp cocktail and popcorn shrimp to pulled pork and brisket. If youre in a warm and fuzzy mood try their chicken noodle soup. If youre in the mood for gas, try their chili! Its great! But tell them to hold the onions if youre on a date.

I love to go to BBQs with my mom and sister. Its a special place we go when we want to hang out or celebrate something but we dont want to go overboard. Its a great place to get a hearty meal and a few drinks while bonding with your friends and family without breaking your pockets.

Its also a great place to take a date, especially if youre cheap or broke. Just make sure you hide the drinks/daiquiris menu and tell the waiter to ZIP IT (Because theyre obligated to ask if youd like to purchase a frozen drink!) Drinks cost more than the food! A drink runs between 8 and 15 dollars.
I love the strawberry daquiries! Im a dork, I get the virgin. I really dont like the taste of alcohol and I think the alcohol taste takes away from the deliciousness of the drink. I know. Im weird.

Sidebar: Dear East Village BBQ, please get rid of that ugly green awning! It is HIDEOUS! Whos idea was that? THEYRE FIRED!Go back to the brown, it was much more classy and inviting.

This wont be a long drawn out post because its about a deli/salad bar type of place and Im not big on delis. But I just wanted to let you know that Le Basket makes goooooood chicken noodle soup! Thats a hearty meal in that paper cup! There are several reasons I like their soup:

1. It’s not self serve! A man dishes it for you. That way you know everybody and their swine flu mama hasnt been touching your soup!

2. The meat is lean white meat.

3. They put potatoes in it along with carrots, celery and of course noodles!

4. Its salty enough that it doesnt need salt, but not too salty. And my friend Lisa Marie S. will be happy to know that theres no dill in it.

5. Its cheap! (about $3.50 for a large)

Theyre right across the street from Au Bon Pain on Broadway, but I walk right passed Au Bon Pain with my nose up in the air straight to good ole Le Basket! Their soup is cheaper, better, and it doesnt smell like hot cheese, socks and azz in there like it does in some other places who will remain nameless *cough Au Bon cough Pain*

Their soup is even better than Whole Foods “Mama’s chicken soup”. The flavor of the soup in Whole Foods is a little tastier, but Whole Foods puts a lot of dark meat in their soup. Me no likey! Plus its self serve so everyone touches all on that soup. No ma’am!

So if youre in the SoHo area and you need some hearty chicken noodle soup, go to Le Basket!

Im typing this as I chow down on soft, yummy oatmeal Insomnia cookies. So Im sure you know what THAT means… I exchanged my cookies! I told you their asses were not gonna rest until I got new cookies!

Heres how it went down:

I went into the store today and I see this brunette chick…and I’m wondering “is this the same dumbass that I dealt with last time?” I was guessing it wasn’t because I could have sworn the last chick was a blonde. But now I realize it wasn’t her that was blonde, it was her BEHAVIOR.

Not saying all blondes are dumb…but if youre a blonde, you should be glad she wasn’t, because she was really living up to “blonde” stereotypes and would have set all you “legally blonde” chicks back a few college years.

With that said, lets get into the BS that ensued. So I walk in and see her standing behind the counter. I ask her if there was a manager around and she was all “ME! Im the manager!”..all proud. Like being the manager of a cookie shop is a BIG accomplishment for her grown ass. I think NOT…Unless u still have teen at the end of your age. Which clearly she didn’t. (You’re probably saying “Well she’s probably a college student”..but who gives a shyt? Act proud once u have a real job. There are people with masters degrees that work as cashiers at Wal*Mart! Maaaaan obviously they let ANYBODY into college these days..because she’s stupid as hell!)

So Im like “well I bought some cookies from here a few days ago, which were hard..and the girl wouldn’t let me exchange em”. And she lashes out like she’s crazy talkin about “IT WAS ME! I wouldn’t exchange em!”..and I was like “well Im BACK! And im here to exchange these cookies”. So she tells me “like I told u before…we don’t exchange cookies.” So I asked her “who is YOUR boss?” And she tells me that her boss is all the way in Indiana somewhere (and I WILL be looking them up)…and she doesn’t know what I expect her to do.

She had major attitude too…then every now and then, she would soften her voice to try to trick me into thinking she was being nice! Psssh Im no fool! I don’t know when white people turned into black people but she had attitude all up in her neck. Maybe SHE wasn’t black..but her neck sure was. Don’t be givin ME the black neck when im black and IM not even serving up the black neck mmmmkay?! I was all polite and she was doing her best ghetto-as-hell impression. See? Black people aren’t the only people who can act ghetto. (Sidebar: If anyone is offended by this post. I apologize…(unless youre the chick im talking about. YOU SHOULD be offended because you’re an ASS)..but I tell things just the way I feel..and this is not THEE most politically correct blog you will ever visit. Im just telling MY story. And guess who’s blog this is. If you guessed GreedySnob’s DING DING DING DING DING…you are correct. You win a chance to keep reading! To those who guessed otherwise, congratulations, you win a consolation prize of navigating to another blog that’s more suitable for your taste. And when I say “another” blog, I just mean another post on THIS Blog which isnt a rant about how Insomnia Cookies lady abused me.

Anyhoo..so the chick is all annoyed, and Im standing there like “Um..Im still waiting to exchange my cookies”..and she’s all “well I can’t give u a refund”..I said “I didn’t ask you for a refund. All I asked was to exchange my cookies for fresh ones”…so her dumbass tells me “well the best I can do is give you 2 or 3 free cookies” (isn’t that the same damn thing? She just changed the words around to make it seem like she was doing me a favor. Call it what you want lady. Pat yourself on the back and everything. Just give me my damn cookies!).

So I said “thank you! That’s all I was asking for! I will take 3! Considering it was 4 hard cookies that I bought”. So she gives be 3 new cookies…shaking her head and mumbling. She was mad as hell. I DON’T CARE! She can be mad all day. Id rather HER be mad than me! And I was getting my cookies so I was glad. Works for ME. So she
angrily shoved the cookies across the counter. I gladly took em..and no I did not snatch em. I let her be an asshole all by herself. I said thank you and threw the hard ass cookies in the garbage. I shook my head in disgust at her stank attitude and peaced out.

Overall it worked out. Yeah I took a loss of one dollar..but hey..better $1 than $4! So im good. And if you’re wondering..no, I will NOT stop going into Insomnia cookies for my cookie fix. Me not buying 4 dollars worth of cookies once in a while isn’t gonna hurt anyone but me. I have nothing against Insomnia cookies on 8th street or Insomnia cookies as a whole. They have great cookies (when they’re not hard like rocks). Its just that ONE chick who I have a problem with! Plus, considering she hates me now, it will give me joy to go in there with a smile on my face while she serves me cookies. And she can’t lick ‘em or do anything vile to them because they’re already made and I can see her when she packs them. So to lick MY cookies she’d have to lick everyone’s cookies (ooh that didn’t sound right lmao)

So we are still Insomnia Cookies fans arent we guys!? We just know to taste our cookies before we leave the store!

(photo above borrowed frommidtownlunch.com used as an example of spanish food, not the actual food from this place…but the food looks pretty similar)

I had some AWESOME Spanish Food today! Rice, beef stew, roast pork, potatoes and carrots all in one dish! I dont even know the NAME of the place! Its from a bodega that sells spanish food in the back! Can you BELIEVE such a store exists in SoHo?! How did they survive that!? Amidst all of these fancy boutiques and expensive eateries, On the corner of Mott St. and East Houston(pronounced HOWSTON not HEWSTON. I know its spelled that way but you can tell a REAL New Yorker by how they pronounce that street name) this little place stands strong and is still thriving! They just renovated too so theyre definitely making money!

And Im not talking about La Nueva Conquista! Can you believe there are TWO places like this in SoHo? Honestly I think the food from this bodega might be a little better than La Nueva! The only one-up La Nueva has on this place are their onions! NOBODY can touch the onions in La Nueva Conquista!

But this place has all kinds of yummy lunch treats, yellow rice, brown rice, white rice, soups, salads, pork chops, baked chicken, plantains, fried chicken!!!! THEIR FRIED CHICKEN IS FANTASTIC! Sometimes they even have tostones! But not often ENOUGH for me! I looked greedy as hell today in my class! I was the only one eating DINNER for lunch! Everyone else was trying to be cute with their little salads, sushi rolls, and dainty sandwiches and I CAME STOMPIN IN WITH THE BIG DAWGS! I opened up my platter and let the aroma of a HEARTY MEAL float under their noses! They were too proud to show their jealousy of my lunch so they acted like they didnt smell it..but I know they longed for a taste! I could tell by the slowing down of the chewing of their own food! A foodie picks up on these things!

I love making people change their eating habits! Come on over to the fatty side! Its fun over here! (Until you go shopping for pants)!

Im mad this place raised their prices though! Their lunch used to be 6 dollars now its 7! ITS A RECESSION! Dont be raising your prices! Youre supposed to be lowering them! That kinda takes away from their charm! The cheaper something costs, the better it tastes to me! Arent things just better when theyre inexpensive? You ever bought a pair of shoes for like 80% off? One time I bought a pair of 400 dollar boots for 80 bucks! (i dont know if thats 80% off…who has time for math? I just know that its A LOT!)

But back on topic! This place is great! I will get the name of it for all you hungry SoHo workers, just in case the line is too long at LaNueva Conquiesta you’ll have another place to go! And even if the line ISNT long at Nueva, make this place your first choice sometimes! You wont be disappointed. We have to make sure to have the line a little long in this place too! Business keeps the places we like open! You dont want it turning into a Starbucks or worse, a Capital One bank! Where are all these banks coming from? I thought we didnt have any money!? WTF do they have in the vaults? I.O.U.s?

Anyhoo, I will be in that neighborhood next week. I will be sure to get the name of it! But you cant miss it! Its the only store on that corner and the only Bodega in the area!

I guess I spoke too soon when I gave Insomnia Cookies (the one on 8th street in Greenwich Village) a good review! Insomnia is officially on my shit list! If they don’t give me my 4 dollars back THEY’RE gonna have insomnia! Im not gonna let them rest until I get what I want!

I don’t have money to just throw away. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt! Maybe they were having a bad night! All will be forgiven once they exchange those stale ass cookies they sold me for some fresh soft ones!

But noooo! My friend was right! They’re falling off! They sold her some hard rocks recently too! And another time I bought a hard cookie from them! It tasted like a brown frisbee!

I wish I had tasted the cookies before I had gone home. I guess before you leave the store you have to do a taste test to make sure they’re not selling you rocks! Now you know! DON’T LEAVE THERE UNTIL YOU TASTE A COOKIE FIRST!

I didn’t try to eat my cookies until I was all the way home! A 30-45 minute train ride away!

So today I go in there and politely explain to the woman that I had bought cookies from there and they were hard and I wanted to exchange them. And she’s all “well we don’t take cookies back”. Im like “I’ve exchanged a cookie before”. She’s like “well u should have come back yesterday”. So I said “I was all the way home in another borough by then! Im not gonna pay $2.25, commute all the way back to exchange cookies”..she goes “well you should have called so id be expecting you”. She wasn’t even THERE yesterday! So how the hell was I gonna call her dumb ass?
What kind of sense does that make! Stupid ass crackhead logic is what that is!

Wtf was she gonna do if I had called? Psychically connect to me and send me new cookies over the airwaves!? Technology is good these days but we haven’t evolved that far yet! So Im like “well what would calling have done!? Im here in person now!”…she goes “well im not sure what you want me to do!”

EXCHANGE MY COOKIES DUMBASS! Its not even like I was asking for my money back! All I wanted was an exchange! She acts like the 4 dollars was coming out of HER pocket! I’ve never even seen her before! She must be new! They haven’t heard the last of ME! I’ll wait until someone more important is there!

I buy cookies at Insomnia so much and bring them so much new business, that I’ve gotten free cookies just because the guy knows my face! Just because HER little silly ass is new and obviously doesn’t know customer service policies (“The customer is always right”)..She thinks she can just come in there and change the rules!? I THINK NOT!

Whatever bleach she uses in her hair must have penetrated her brain and faded her common sense!

I will be back! And I will get new cookies! I WON’T SLEEP UNTIL I GET JUSTICE!

I guess THAT’S why they call themselves “Insomnia”.

Im gonna need for Insomnia Cookies to get their act together! I bought some hard ass crunchy cookies from them today! If I wanted some hard, dusty, stale tasting cookies, I would have gotten Chips Ahoy! I dont go to Insomnia for crunch! I go there for moist, chewy deliciousness! This is the 2nd time I got some hard ass cookies from them and my friend got a stale ass brownie. INSOMNIA YOURE FALLING OFF! You dont want me to retract my previous statement of how great you are!

Luckily theyre good about returns! because I’m sure gonna return the 6 cookies I bought from them! And theyre lucky theyre doing a relief fund for Haiti so I will let them slide! Props to the do gooders!

THIS IS YOUR WARNING INSOMNIA! THE COOKIES HAD BETTER BE MOIST, WARM AND DELICIOUS TOMORROW OR YOURE GETTING A DEMERIT! lol

60 W 56th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10019
(212) 757-1642

Remember your old college days when you bought a whole case of Top Ramen for a dollar and thats what you lived off of for the entire 4 years (or 2 years shout out to Associates Degree holders! lol)…and you vowed never to touch, talk about, look at or think about ramen ever again?

WELL ITS TIME TO BREAK THAT VOW! Because what you had my friend, was not REAL ramen! That was bootleg ramen! The ramen you were eating was equivalent to a bootleg DVD…complete with babies crying in the background and silhouettes with big hair walking by with buckets of popcorn. Allow me to introduce you Menkui-Tei! The place to go, if you want PREMIUM Ramen! The only time I’ve had better ramen was when I was in Japan! But if you dont feel like catching a 14 hour flight, you can get your metrocard and take a 14 minute (give or take) train ride to the East Village.

Menkui-Tei has the most delicious ramen that I have had in New York so far! They have so many different types to choose from, youll want to go back every day to try each one! From, Soy Sauce, to Wonton-Men, to Sutamina you will not be disappointed! And for those of you (and by “you” I mean “us”) who like to mix and match, they even have a full menu of things that you can add to your ramen! Sometimes one ramen dish has the broth that you like, but the other ramen dish has the meat you like and another one has the dumplings you like! Well check out the “extras” menu and get them all thrown into one bowl!

Aside from ramen they have a full menu of other dishes like curry chicken, fried rice (very good!), and traditional Japanese dishes that I dont remember the names of! But forget about that stuff! Just stick with the ramen! You cant go to a NOODLE shop and not have noodles! You can grab a few appetizers like edamame, gyoza or fried chicken, but you really dont need side dishes. The bowl of ramen is so huge, it will keep you full for the rest of the day! My favorite is the Sutamina! My friend Yuni put me onto that! Its very tasty and has a slight hint of spice thats not too overwhelming, so even you wusses can eat it! It has a nice amount of scallions, delicious sliced pork, and veggies. With my sutamina I like to add a boiled egg (or 2), and wontons! Its so good, youll never look at top ramen the same again!

The only drawback is you could probably get about 12 thousand packs of top ramen for the price of one bowl of ramen at Menkui-Tei! This place is not cheap! I mean its not expensive but, a bowl of ramen goes from 9 to 12 dollars. And if you add extras it can get pretty steep! Mine ends up being about 15 bucks because I add wontons which is about 3 bucks, and boiled eggs which are about a dollar each! wtf! a dollar for one egg! I feel like smuggling in my own boiled eggs! I can get a whole DOZEN for those prices!

In general 9-12 dollars is not a steep price, but when you hear 12 dollars for ramen I bet the first thing you say is “FOR SOUP?!!?!?!?”…..YEAH FOR SOUP! Its worth every penny! Its authentic ramen and its cheaper than the thousand+ dollars it would cost you to fly to Japan for authentic ramen! Its a great place to go with your friends. The restaurant is clean and neat, not very big, but they fit a decent amount of people comfortably! They also play great music! The Menkui-Tei “DJ” is a better deejay than some of the deejay’s ive heard spinning at clubs! They play everything from old school hip hop and pop, to the some of the BETTER new stuff. Its fun to hear the throwbacks while you slurp your ramen!

Menkuite has two locations but my favorite is the one in the Village. The one in the Village plays the cool music and they have more to choose from on the menu. Also, the location in Midtown is more crowded and cramped and its so damn hot and sweaty in there that I dont know if Im eating soup or if Im IN the soup!

Overall, Menkuite is one of my favorite places to go with my friends. Its cozy and cute and youll walk out with a full belly and a warm spirit every time!

Wanna buy me a cookie?

THANK YOU