(curry bowl) at Boston Indian Kitchen in Back Bay

At a glance:

51 Mass. Ave, Boston, MA

Price: $

Stars (out of 5): 3.5

 

inside

Fast, convenient Indian food with very reasonable prices for Back Bay, let’s give this a try! The inside is open and clean, the workers are super friendly. They encourage you to try samples if you have any questions about the menu.

counter

I ordered the chicken tikka masala curry bowl, a side of samosas, and a peach vanilla lassi to go. Everything on the menu is under $10, unless you order the family sized entrees. They have a special called Naanz, which are naan flatbread sandwiches filled with a curry meat and greens.

   

 

The peach vanilla lassi hit the spot for me! I love the richness and creaminess of lassi, a popular yogurt based drink in India. What was special about this lassi was the fresh peach puree and spices added, the main one being finely ground vanilla bean powder! The vanilla fragrance permeated the drink, and I’d like to think the probiotics and active cultures in the yogurt made the drink healthy! As appropriate for my blog title, I enjoyed this drink by the esplanade on a cold, rainy, gloomy day.

     peach vanilla lassi

 

The samosas, which are golden fried pastry triangles filled with curry seasoning, potatoes, peas, and lentils, were unfortunately not what I had hoped for. They were small, not crispy, and under-seasoned. I love just the opposite: huge, crispy triangles overfilled with curry powder and potato chunks. But the coriander puree sauce that accompanied the samosas was fantastic! I loved the tang of the coriander mixed with spices.

my take out meal

Lastly, the chicken tikka masala curry bowl. Not a lot of chunks of meat, but what was there was nice, well cooked white meat. The tomato based sauce had good flavors but was a little too creamy. The rice pilaf was cooked well but overpowered by the large amount of sauce from the curry. The accompanying tomato, cucumber, and parsley salad was refreshing, but very little in amount so I couldn’t really savor it.

tomato based sauce was a bit too much. I added the pumpkin seeds to level it off hehe

Overall, a filling meal and a good fix for fast Indian food.

Eat on!

(lychee QQ tea) at ChaTime on Newbury

At a glance:

251 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $ (and a half)

Stars (out of 5): 3.8

If you need a refreshing, cold drink as you walk around Back Bay, I would recommend ChaTime (“cha” being the Chinese phonetics for tea). They offer a variety of tea drinks and bubble tea series. I like how they give you options; it’s all about options. You choose your sugar level, ice level, type of bubble, and flavors. Remember how I wrote in a previous blog post about bubble tea at TeaDo being a little watered down due to all the ice? Well, this won’t be a problem here because I asked for less ice. And for the health-conscious consumers who don’t want to overload on sucrose, they offer as little as 30% of regular amount of sugar. Did I mention their decor is super chic?

I chose a drink from the QQ series, which means the drink is saturated with coconut jelly bits and chewy tapioca pearls. I could only imagine why it’s named QQ. Millennials in China/Taiwan grew up eating this type of juicy, chewy fruit gummy called QQ candy. But this was just a guess haha. The lychee syrup with the jasmine tea base against the coconut flavored jelly made up a fresh flavor profile. Thumbs up for lychee!

One of my friends got the pomelo juice that had bittersweet pomelo marmalade bits in the drink. So the texture and flavors were quite interesting, in a good way! The juice was only lightly sweet but the citrus game was strong. By the way, the scientific name for pomelo is Citrus maxima. Haha. Ok maybe that wasn’t as funny as I had thought.

pomelo juice

And my other friend got the taro milk tea with 30% sugar. The lady was so nice and gave her a ton of extra tapioca pearls since she was the last customer of the night. It was very hearty! ChaTime’s taro powder is very rich and not finely milled, so the drink had a semi-rough texture that was fun and delicious!

taro milk tea with extra boba

Also, this is a bonus picture of the esplanade at night. The crescent moon was beautiful.

Eat on!

(veggie burger) at Veggie Galaxy near MIT

At a glance:

450 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA

Price: $$

Stars (out of 5): 4

inside

So there I was pretty hungry, roaming around MIT searching for a quick bite when I spotted the bright green canopy of Veggie Galaxy. And just 2 days before this, my floormates were talking about how incredible Veggie Galaxy was so I had to give this a shot. Vegetarian diner? Leggo.

The diner is super trendy and hipster with an open kitchen/grilling station and outerspace-inspired decor.

semi-suspended booths

Let’s see, their menu has a very wide selection to satisfy a hardcore vegetarian’s palate. But they are famous for their seitan (wheat gluten, a good source of protein), breakfast options, dinner plates, and since I went on a Monday, they had a seitan “meat”ball sub special. They also serve a variety of vegan desserts and vegan frappes. There is a rotating cake display next to the checkout counter.

tasty vegan cakes

After careful deliberation, I decided to go with a good old veggie burger for carry out. You can choose between two types of veggie patties, either chipotle black bean or mushroom chickpea. I got a Kendall Square with a black bean patty. The Kendall Square is piled with 2 huge beer-battered onion rings, arugula, roasted red pepper paste, and a garlic mayo spread on the bun. I requested sprouts as an extra topping, because garlic mayo and sprouts = match made in heaven. At least in my head.

menu

zoning in on the burger menu

After the cook yelled “order up” pretty loudly, I received my warm burger that smelled absolutely wonderfully like roasted red pepper and garlic. Let’s deconstruct this burger! First of all, where were the sprouts I specifically requested? No clue…  -__- Whatever, I get it, but still kind of annoying. By this time I was already across the street eating in a park so moot point. Despite this minor mishap, the burger was glorious. The bun was crispy and buttery on the outside, soft on the inside and lightly grilled for warmth. The onion rings were perfectly battered and you know how BBQ sauce works well with beer-battered onion rings? Well, this roasted red pepper puree was like the typical BBQ sauce on onion rings, but a ton better and bolder. The puree seasoning was spot on and even had a little kick to it at the end. The chipotle black bean patty was well-seasoned, hearty, and earthy. I could taste the distinct bits of celery and black beans. Arugula was not even noticeable against everything else, oh well… And finally, the garlic mayo, though a bit oily, worked so well in bringing everything together, especially since veggie burgers tend to run dry without the grease and fat in a meat patty.

the patty

the whole shabang

The burger came with 2 sides: a side salad and a garden slaw. Let me just say the “salad” was, I kid you not, 10 distinct tiny leaves of mesclun with a light olive oil vinaigrette dressing/non-dressing because it was hardly noticeable. That was a bummer because I wanted a little more substantial amount of greens after such a satisfying burger. The garden slaw was also a super teeny portion lumped into a corner of the box, but it was a tasty, again I kid you not, 2 or 3 bites. Creamy but not overpowering, and I appreciated the bits of scallions added in to perk the flavor. Next time, I hope the portion of sides can be better!

garden slaw

TLDR: hands down best veggie burger I’ve ever put into my mouth (and I eat ALOT of veggie burgers). Very happy with what Veggie Galaxy delivered. For people who think vegetarians’ food options are limited comparatively, Veggie Galaxy’s creativity and skills will prove you wrong.

Eat on!

(pineapple bun) at Ho Yuen Bakery and Eldo’s Cakes in Chinatown

At a glance:

Ho Yuen Bakery: 54 Beach Street, Boston, MA

Eldo’s Cakes: 36 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA

Price: $ for both

Stars (out of 5): 4 for Ho Yuen, 3.8 for Eldo’s

Ho Yuen storefront

Eldo’s display case

 

Whoohoo for another day of exploring Chinatown and tasting around the little shops here and there. Growing up in an Asian household, pineapple buns were constantly in our diet. My friend and I went on a mission today to find the best pineapple bun in Chinatown, but we stopped after 2 bakeries because we were too full haha.

What I love about Cantonese pastries is that they are not based on cream and sugar but instead on flour and a variety of fillings. Texture is also really important. Each different pastry has its own crunch level and layers of flavors. Take the pineapple bun for example. The top layer is crumbly pineapple flavored crust while the bottom is lightly fluffy bread with a hint of sweetness. And the coconut bun is a long, oil-glazed roll with a slightly savory coconut and sesame paste inside. The pastries could get a bit heavy and uncomfortable on the stomach though because they are kind of oily. So eat sparingly :p

pineapple bun at Eldo’s

outside the coconut bun

inside the coconut bun

The pineapple bun at Ho Yuen had a better pineapple crust, while the bread at Eldo’s was more aromatic. Both came straight out of the oven though so we were quite lucky to have them deliciously warm. Also, shoutout to these ridiculously low prices and good deals. The pineapple bun at Ho Yuen is 80 cents, and the one at Eldo’s is 70 cents. I haven’t bought food for so little in recent memory. Even the chips in the vending machines at school are $1.25! No wonder we saw a lot of customers buy stuff in bulk, as in buying pans and pans of pastries. Even then, it was only around $10.

I wanted to try a lot of more things, but was too full. So I’ll display a few more varieties below. I think Eldo’s has more Western pastries than Ho Yuen. Though admittedly, I like both stores for their distinct take on baked goods and desserts.

Eat on!

moon cakes with fruit and nut filling

radish cakes

nut cakes

 

fluffy white rice cakes

 

butterfly pastries with loads of crunch

crunchy sesame cakes

(fruit and cheese plate) at home

At a glance:

afternoon snack at home

Price: $

Stars (out of 5): n/a

campari tomatoes and kiwis are SO good with brie. That is all.

Eat on!

(Gelato) at Amorino in Back Bay

At a glance:

249 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $$

Stars (out of 5): 4.5

 

     

This gelateria and dessert parlour located among a row of shops on Newbury Street is truly a place to treat yourself. They serve fresh gelato, granita, sorbet drinks, a variety of coffee drinks, macarons, and even waffles and crepes. I also spotted a display case selling $85 gourmet balsamic vinegar.

the expensive Balsamic

rows of gelato

There are more than 20 mouthwatering flavors with beautiful names, so choose carefully. There’s also a seasonal flavor of Lime Basil sorbet. I tried it and it was a bold mix of Mediterranean flavors. The basil comes after the lime and provides a delicately surprising twist.

more gelato

still more

and more gelato

and macarons…

I love how the gelato masters serve your flavors to you in a flower shape on top of a cone. For $5.50, you can get a regular scoop of pure decadence in as many flavors as you would like. I got pistachio sublime (a favorite ice cream flavor of mine and also Amorino’s founder’s hehe), mango Alfonso d’India, and the seasonal lime basil. The mix of flavors worked well! I especially enjoyed the creamy tropical mango in the center after the nutty pistachio and fresh lime basil.

My friend got frutto della passione (passion fruit), fragola camarosa (strawberry harvest), sorbetto al cioccolato bio (an organic chocolate sorbet), and organic Sicilian citrus fruit.

We all had a tough time eating the gelato flowers but it had to be done. Definitely highly recommend this place. Whether you need a sugar pick-me-up or an act of kindness for your sweet tooth, Amorino’s gelato is where it’s at.

storefront

Update: I came back to Amorino for a second time and got 2 macarons al gelato. They are macarons with Amorino gelato as filling. This time, I would give a rating of 3 for the macarons.

 

I got a mango flavor and a pistachio flavor, which came down to $5. I’m sorry but I did not enjoy the gelato filling. It lost the light and fluffy nature of the macaron, and the macaron shells tasted a bit off with the ice-cold gelato. The almond mill? Yeah that was hardly detectable.

the line was quite long on a Friday evening close to closing time

I like the idea of a macaron al gelato, but I think the gelato in the middle needs to be somehow made fluffier and creamy if that were the case.

Eat on!

(Brunch) at Trident Books and Cafe on Newbury

At a glance:

338 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $$$ (mostly because drinks are so expensive, but also a pretty posh area/neighborhood)

Stars (out of 5): 3.5

A neighborhood attraction that’s part jam-packed bookstore and part trendy cafe. Many people go in and out or gather between the rows of stacked shelves and the busy dining area. My friend and I had brunch on the second floor with a nice, laid-back ambience, and I was super excited because 1) brunch is my favorite meal of all time and 2) this cafe had a pretty famous rep since they’ve been around for a long time. I mean, they have 1,200 reviews on Yelp.

Let’s see, their breakfast/brunch food is popular. Omelettes, egg scrambles, eclectic range of sandwiches. Their drinks menu looks delicious, with lots of exciting flavor combos and drinks from different regions of the world, but what’s up with the almost $6 smoothies and pretty expensive teas for a neighborhood cafe? I guess it’s very high quality yerba mate… I decided to splurge and order a Mango Cherry Bomb for $5.75 (featured).

They should’ve just named it the Cherry Bomb… Couldn’t really taste the mango iced tea. And the drink was a little bit too frothy because of the vanilla ice cream added, and a little too warm. I would’ve preferred a more chilled drink. Tapioca boba was cooked perfectly though and I liked how the drink was not sugar overload but quite “simple and sweet.”

Now deciding on what to order was quite a feat for me since I wanted to try a bit of everything. The menu has SO many options, and none of them quite fit in the same box. How do you choose between lemon ricotta french toast and Momos? (Didn’t know what momos is either but apparently it’s a Tibetan dumpling dish?) How many different cuisines they are trying to fit into one menu is beyond me. There’s everything from falafel to mac’n’cheese to fish’n’chips to quesadillas to burgers to dumplings. Ok then. I finally settled on the prosciutto brie sandwich and my friend ordered the apple brie omelette. A brie day is a happy day.

menu

My sandwich was a-ok. The prosciutto was nicely cured and had a good fat to lean meat ratio. But the brie and fig jam combination against the prosciutto was not working for me, which is abnormal because typically I love brie with sweet jams and fruits. I don’t know what it was but the brie was kind of tasteless so the fig really overpowered the sandwich. In addition, the sourdough baguette sounded good on the menu but it was very hard to chew. I mean yeah, sourdough… But this was a workout for my jaw muscles, which I really didn’t want as I was eating. My friend enjoyed her apple brie omelette quite a lot though. “Hint of apple crunch, creamy cheesiness enveloped by omelette. Solid combo.”

 

the sourdough baguette is meh

that looks gooey and melty and yummy

Overall, I was a little underwhelmed by Trident, especially since I paid around $25 for lunch. However, I really appreciate their extensive menu and adventurous food and drinks. Good brunch with some good bites, that’s all you can ask for.

Eat on!

(Takoyaki and Yakisoba) at Ittyo in Porter Square’s Japanese Row

At a glance:

1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA

Price: $$

Stars (out of 5): 3.8

Japanese row

In Porter Square, there is a building with a row of Japanese eateries and bakeries. They each serve distinct Japanese cuisine and we had quite a difficult time deciding which to go to. We finally settled on the little noodle shop at the end of the row called Ittyo. They serve udon and soba as their specialities. Udon is thick white wheat noodle that is extremely chewy, usually served in a simple, clear broth with shrimp tempura. Soba is dark buckwheat noodle that can be served cold as well. I ordered the yakisoba, literally fried soba noodles. But in yakisoba, the noodles are not the normal buckwheat, but wheat noodles instead.

storefront

The yakisoba comes on a hot sizzling plate with sautéed chicken, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and onions. There is also shredded pickled ginger to top it off. I thought the dish was very savory, maybe a little too salty. The chicken wasn’t cooked well, but the special house yakisoba sauce was delicious! The pickled ginger is really a nice touch to add kick to the dish, and perhaps good to clear the salty flavor off my tastebuds. Apparently in Japan, yakisoba can be served in a hot dog bun  and the dish would be called yakisoba-pan, pan is bread.

My friend got the udon noodles with shrimp tempura. She said the broth was tasty and the noodles were good but again, the dish was too salty.

udon noodles

I also got a side of takoyaki, fried octopus balls. It was tasty! To make this popular dish, takoyaki batter is filled in a precast pan with spherical molds. Inside the tempura-like ball is diced octopus and a very distinct cream. The dish is topped off with drizzles of Japanese mayo, some form of Worcestershire sauce, and what I think is bonito flakes or squid flakes, not sure.

inside a takoyaki ball

After this filling dinner, I went grocery shopping nearby and found mini pineapples! So cute.

Also, the girls on my floor set a summer goal of trying everything on this list.

31 Mouth-Watering Eats in Boston for under $10

Stay tuned as I try to cross off this list. Eat on!

(street food) at Dragon Boat Festival on Charles River

At a glance:

on the Cambridge side of Charles River

Price: varies

Stars (out of 5): 5 for variety and diversity!

There was so much food at the annual Dragon Boat Festival!! Food trucks and eateries really lined up next to the river to showcase their specialties. I ate so much food while checking out the various performances. The kung fu performance was exhilarating; they were waving around their weapons with such ease and grace!

Don’t really have a lot of pictures to show because my phone ran out of battery halfway through the festival, but I’ll just highlight some great things I had.

There were fresh coconuts for sale! People were actually walking around with fresh, carved young coconuts. The vendors would stick straws into whole young coconuts so you can drink the magic water inside. Then, they have hammers to break open the coconut for you so you can eat the meat. On a side note, do you ever see coconuts at the super market and feel intimidated because you don’t know how to eat/use them? Fear no more. I have some tips. Ok, this is completely irrelevant… But relevant at the same time…

Let’s start first with the mature coconut. They are the brown, fuzzy, rock hard spheres you see people drinking out of. Look around the coconut. You shall see 3 dots in a triangle on one end kind of resembling creepy magnified Drosophila eyes. There are two dots on the same row, and you want to find the other dot that’s NOT on the same line (basically the tip of the triangle). Yes that dot. Congratulations, you just found the softest part of the coconut. In this general area, the shell can be poked through with a sharp object. Use the tip of your knife, or a screwdriver, or whatever (be careful), and drill a hole into that dot. Make the hole large enough for you to stick a straw through. Enjoy yummy coconut water. (Do not confuse this with coconut milk. Coconut milk is made from combining coconut water and coconut meat and pressing the mixture until milk comes out). There won’t be a lot because this coconut is mature already, so it has mostly meat, but there’s definitely enough for one person to savor the tropical goodness. At this point, if you throw away the coconut, you will be wasting the quintessential coconut meat inside. Find a hammer and rotate the sphere in your hand like you have the globe in your hands. Find the equator: there is a line in the middle that encircles the coconut. Tap your hammer following that line. After a few times tapping around the coconut, the fruit should crack open in the middle. Now you can take the hammer and break the halves into even smaller pieces. Then you can take a knife and slowly work off the peel from the fleshy white meat. There will be ALOT. You can either grate the meat on a fine grater into fresh coconut shreds for baking and dessert, or cook with whole pieces of coconut meat.

Ok this is really going off on a tangent. The young coconut is even easier! The young coconut resembles a dome with a pointy cone head. Take a knife and start shaving off the tip. Shave shave shave until the whole cone head just comes off haha. Peel that away and you have literally a bowl full of water swishing inside. And the meat is so tender that you can just scoop and eat it with a spoon. Or you can save it for cooking. My mom then uses the young coconut shavings/peel to fertilize her garden to substitute for wood chips. Yeah my family maximizes the wonders of a coconut.

I digress.

Back to the street food.

BonMe was there serving up Vietnamese fusion fare. The miso braised pulled pork bowl was so good.

Eggroll Cafe had succulent Asian versions of Philly cheesesteak.

Bao Nation had the most creative but quite expensive buns. I had the Central Bao, which is braised kurobuta pork belly, sesame, and cilantro.

Things I wanted to try but didn’t have room nor money for:

Dwa Cafe, India Castle, George’s gourmet grill, Rica gourmet, Arepas and Gyros, Tea station, and Boston Projuice popsicles.

Also there was fresh sugarcane juice on tap…….. Sugarcane is a wonderful thing. I used to buy them whole and gnaw on pieces. I know, super ratchet but super fun.

Eat on!

(Cannoli) at Mike’s Pastry in Harvard Square

At a glance:

11 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA

Price: $

Stars (out of 5): 3.5

Ah, the famous Mike’s Pastry. I was very excited to spot one in Harvard Square because I thought they only had one location on Hanover Street. Please don’t hate me when I say I’ve had better cannoli. BUT it was still a good fix for my sweet tooth. Their cannoli shell is very crunchy and tasty. The filling was a little much. I got a pistachio cannolo for $4.50, and after I got through the bits of pistachio at either end of the pastry, I had a hard time eating ALL THAT RICOTTA FILLING. Though this is can be a good thing for some people who like plentiful cannoli filling. For me, it was just a tad too sweet.

I think next time I’ll get the limoncello because I like lemon flavored pastries.

I also got a lobster cream puff ($2.50). Looked and tasted like a glorified Boston Cream pie in a puffy shell.

Mike’s is also famous for their ricotta pies and rum cakes. And they have homemade gelato. Ooo.

Sorry Mike’s, not totally in love with you just yet like a real Bostonian. But I can see why so many people fall in love with their hearty pastries and crunchy cannoli. Also, I saw that they have pizzelles, undoubtedly my favorite Italian pastry. There were whole stacks for $6.50.

Eat on!