Ruby's Cafe

Ruby's Cafe has grown to be one of my favorite spots in NYC – an Australian restaurant just as Dudley's but without the bad service.  Yes, Dudley's has horrible service, so I'd recommend Ruby's over Dudley's. 

This was only my second time at Ruby's but I fell in love after my first visit and am still in love after my second.  The first time, my friend and I ordered the Creamy Chicken Pasta – rigatoni, sun dried tomatoes & cream for $13.50 and the Chicken Schnitzel Salad – bibb lettuce, sweet chilli & mustard dressing for $14.  I am a huge pasta fanatic (if I had to pick only one food to eat for the rest of my life I would choose pasta) and this pasta was BOMB. It was so damn good. The chicken schnitzel was also super tasty. We also ordered a side of truffle fries because you can't go to an Australian restaurant without ordering a side of truffle fries because they are scrumptious as hell.  I've tried it at Dudley's and there it's a bit more sour + mustard-y but at Ruby's the mustard flavor is a bit more subtle, which is more to my liking. The piece of chicken they give is also quite generous.

My second time here we ordered the Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta – rigatoni, baby peas, tomato sauce for $13.50 and their crispy rice dish (not sure of the name because I don't see it on the website).  I think crispy rice is an Australian thing because I've tried it at Dudley's as well. It's a bit sour because of the sauce used but it's a very light dish, minus the enormous block of (halloumi?) cheese that I mistaken for a piece of chicken.  The spicy sausage pasta was not as good as the creamy chicken one but it was still delicious. I can't wait to go back to try new dishes because they haven't let me down!

The set-up of the restaurant is super simple yet cute and the service is great. I think a requirement to work at Ruby's is to be Australian because all the hosts/waiters I've encountered have an awesome Australian accent! I highly recommend this restaurant, mates! ;)

RITUAL

I was lucky enough to be reached out by Ritual to try their app and receive a $20 credit. Ritual is a food-ordering app where you get to place an order at a specific restaurant/cafe and you'll be notified as to when to leave to pick up your order.  When you arrive at the food spot, your order should be waiting for you at the counter! 

As of right now, Ritual is only participating with restaurants in lower Manhattan: Financial District, Brookfield Place -- Hudson Eats, etc. The destination I chose for lunch that day was Brookfield Place, Hudson Eats.  On the app, it shows you a list of restaurant choices and the location. I decided to go to Hudson Eats because it's consisted of a bunch of vendors so I'd have the option to go to two places since I was bringing along a friend.  First, I was going to get Skinny Pizza but then I stumbled upon Tartinery.  I had no idea what a tartine was but with the help of Google I found out that it's an open-faced sandwich, pretty simple but French so a little fancier.  When it was time to order, I opened up the App and went to Tartinery's page and clicked "Roast Beef Tartine" and added it to my cart. My friend wanted a bagel from black seed bagel so I attempted to add that to my cart as well, but it turns out you have to do it separately, which was kind-of a bummer for a few seconds but it was no biggie.  I punched in my credit card number and clicked check-out and that was it! It said my order would be ready in 6-10 minutes.  My friend and I walked to Hudson Eats to look around and damn, it was PACKED. Understandable since it was around 12:30, lunch time. We found the Black Seed Bagel counter and I saw a little brown baggie with my name on it! I was shocked that it was already done since it had only been about 3 minutes since I placed the order. Then we found our way to Tartinery and waiting for us was another brown bag with my name on it. It definitely saved us a lot of wait time, and it was super fast. If you're ever in a rush, I definitely recommend this because it will, with no doubt, save you time.  After placing your order, when it's time to get your food, you just go to the pick-up counter where usually they will have a Ritual sign.

Signing up was super easy which makes it easier on behalf of a consumer.  Be prepared to either take or upload a selfie because that's part of the set-up process (this caught me by surprise) but it's so the employees can recognize your face before giving your order to someone else.  Hopefully, Ritual will expand throughout all of Manhattan because I did find it really efficient and helpful.

If anyone is interested in this app, you can email me kaaayng@gmail.com and I can invite you to the app and you'll be able to receive $10 in credit -- $5 off your first order and $5 off the second! 

australia dairy company

Two macaroni + ham in soup combo with egg + toast

One HK style french toast

Pretty much every Hong Kong style cafe/restaurant will offer different sets for breakfast, we call it A-chaan, B-chaan, etc. which will come with a main dish and a side of eggs or toast or both!

Australia Dairy Company is a well-known food spot in Hong Kong; I've seen food blogs about it and friends' social media posts.  When I posted my photo on Instagram, several people left comments with enthusiasm.  On google it says that the place opens at 7:30AM. With Hong Kong being our first stop on our Asia adventure, we were super jetlagged waking up at <6:00am every day.  On the day we decided to go to Australia Dairy Company, we were up and ready by 7.  The restaurant was roughly a ten minute walk from our hotel.  With our long journey from our hotel room to the streets and then crossing the infamous Hong Kong pedestrian tunnels, we made it to Australia Dairy Co. at around 7:15.  We thought we would be waiting for it to open, but as we approached it, the gate was half open but the restaurant was already almost full. So I highly suggest going there even before opening time because they will be opened. When we got seated, there were still several tables left, but by 7:30 the whole place was completely full.

We ordered our macaroni with ham and within 30 seconds, the dishes came out. Our waiter didn't even relay the order to the kitchen.. We were amazed and shocked. It was awesome though.  The efficiency and speed of Asians was honestly so amazing, not only in Hong Kong but throughout our whole trip. I'm a fan of macaroni in soup and the one here was SOOOO good; the broth was creamier than any I've tasted. There were a lot of positive reviews about their egg, but to me it was too runny, I like my eggs more cooked. Hong Kong french toast. Amazing. I've never tried it before I got there and we had it every time we had breakfast. The one at Australia Dairy Co. was definitely my favorite though and I tried four or five different ones! (If you live in NYC, specifically Queens, teashop near Francis Lewis High School serves HK style french toast and it's obviously not as good as HK but it's still delicious. I'm sure places in Chinatown have but I haven't tried any yet.) Hong Kong style french toast >> American french toast, sorry America.  Our meal was also very inexpensive; when converted everything was probably $13-$15 (we also ordered 2 egg puddings and 3 drinks not shown.)

eats | kang ho dong baekjoung

This is hands down my favorite korean BBQ spot. As of 2015, I've been there about 10 times and it's only April.. who knows how many times I'll eat there in the upcoming months.  

When I come I usually get the small beef combo, which includes thinly sliced brisket, marinated boneless short rib & prime boneless short rib or prime rib eye. My favorite is their galbi (marinated boneless short rib, shown in the first photo) it is bomb dot com. They give a universal dipping sauce, the bowl with the onions in it and wasabi on the edge, which you can dip every type of meat in. They give you a medium sized bowl with bean sprouts and some green veggie, chives? green onion? and I'm not a fan of either but mixed with the red paste, the dipping sauce, and the beef.. oh my, it's delicious. Writing about it is making me salivate. They also give you a choice of a free side and we always get soy bean paste stew, doesn't sound too appealing, but I tried it here for the first time and I've been getting it every time since! Steamed egg, corn + cheese, and peppers are given with your meal!

Yesterday, I got my fix of Kang Ho Dong, and we decided to try something new: the pork combo which consists of premium pork jowl, premium seared pork belly & marinated pork cellar or thinly sliced spicy pork belly.  We all had absolutely no clue what a jowl was, but with Google, we found out it was the cheek of a pig. I felt a little uncomfortable eating it knowing it was a cheek. It was alright, but I don't know, I wouldn't eat it again. The premium seared pork belly, better known as sam gyup sal, was obviously delicious. Then they cooked our thinly sliced spicy pork belly in the kitchen, and it was pretty tasty!  It was nice to try something new, but I think I'm going to stick to the beef combo or order the meats separately because I would not want to eat pork jowl again.

I highly recommend this place, although it's on the pricier side, it's delicious and it's always important to splurge every once in a while for some good food! The one I always go to is on Northern Blvd in Queens; there's also one in K-town but I have never been, or even seen that location. 

i'm prada, you're nada

Photocreds: The Boyfran

I've slacked a lot in the month of March. The weather has just been sucking and has been making me feel so uninspired and unmotivated. Well since I haven't posted in a while, here's some pictures from the other day! Oh and sassy picture for a sassy title, hehe. 

The day started with brunch at in LIC. The eggs benedict had sausage and some type of tomato. It was pretty tasty, minus the tomatoes since I'm not a tomato fan. Kyle got a man-mosa, which was beer which orange juice instead of champagne.  He said he should've just gotten a mimosa, girly drinks for the win! Kyle bought a groupon deal for MoMA PS1, and it was pretty interesting in there. The reflection art was so damn trippy, I stared at it for a good five minutes trying to figure out how? At first I thought the artist actually just put everything to create that a mirror effect, then I realized I saw a mirror, but then I wasn't sure if I saw a mirror or not. I don't know if that'll make any sense to you, but it was just trippy! Definitely want to go to MoMA next. For dinner we had reservations at Hakata Hot Pot. I've been wanting to try Japanese hot pot for a while, and decided to finally give it a try. The place was TINY. I know most St. Mark restaurants are tiny, but this was one of the tiniest I've ever stepped foot into. It's a little different from Chinese/Korean hot pot because you don't really choose side dishes to put in a pot, it's kind of a set dish, but it cooks in front of you in a hot pot. It seemed pretty healthy to me since there was a lot of cabbage and bean sprouts, but then I think the pork belly cancelled out the healthy. I'm not a huge cabbage or bean sprout fan but with the special sauce they gave us it was pretty yummy! After a few bites, you can add noodles and dumplings which was a good add-on. Can't end the night without dessert! I tried the creme brulee "dough'ssant" from Chikalicious and it was so so so good. That's all I have to say, so go try it for yourself. I'm actually craving it as we speak.

In a little over a week I'll be straight chilling in Dominican Republic and I simply cannot wait 8)

Jacket: Forever 21 ✕ Leggings: Necessary Clothing ✕ Sweater: H&M ✕ Shirt: Forever 21 ✕ Shoes: Steve Madden ✕ Bag: Prada ✕ Sunnies: Forever 21

Alobar: Long Island City

MoMA PS1: Long Island City

Hakata Hot Pot: St. Mark's

Chikalicious Dessert Club: St. Mark's