My friend actually made this Indian yogurt drink for me. It was so easy and simple, but delicious and healthy. What you need though is a personal blender, or Nutri bullet, or Magic bullet…Take 2 to 3 large scoops of nonfat plain Greek yogurt based on your preference of creaminess for the lassi.
Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of mango pulp, which you can buy at a store like Trader Joe’s, based on your personal preference of how fruity you want the drink to be.
Add water and/or ice to dilute the drink based on your preferences. Blend in the magical blender.
Add honey and/or sugar to taste. Voila. As you can imagine, you can change this up and add different flavored yogurt, spices, and/or fruit, or even a little magic juice. 😉
Minimalist coffee bar with a modern, techy feel. The steampunk coffee comes out of these iPad-operated coffee machines. The wi-fi is supposed to be hella fast but when I went, it was barely working.
very cool steampunk coffee
I got a hot chai with chocolate. It was quite rich, the chai was good, but the shot of chocolate made it bitter. Maybe just get the chai by itself. And what happened to my latte art :*( ? I worked there for a little bit because I had such a nice view of Newbury Street from where I was sitting
view onto Newbury
I heard great things about the bacon gruyere scone so decided to splurge on one. I’m sorry to say it was kind of disappointing 😦 The bacon tasted old. And the gruyere was not good with the stale tasting bacon. The scone itself was too dry and hard. Maybe I just got a bad one of the batch, but it didn’t taste freshly baked at all.
I’m willing to give them another shot though! The chai really was quite good. And the steampunk coffee seems so exciting!
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.
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.
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 mehthat 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.
A good burger speaks to the soul. And Bartley’s burgers are famous around town. Since the 1960s, they’ve been grilling out delicious burgers for visitors and residents of Harvard Square. They are also quite famous for their onion rings and frappes, which they insist are quite different from a milkshake or anything else. The restaurant’s wacky atmosphere with bumper stickers, posters, and logos covering the walls fits perfectly with its hilarious, snarky, pop-culture references filled menu. Please look at the menu carefully and appreciate the humor. Props for trying to entertain the customer from the point when they sit down. Beware, they are cash only. I actually don’t carry cash around, so thank goodness my friend was there to spot me. Oops.
the wacky decor
The service was fast and efficient. They certainly know how to get the job done. Granted, it was a week night so they weren’t very busy. I got the Fiscal Cliff burger, which has essentially a bleu cheese salad on top. My friend got the School of Music burger, which is topped high with an herby boursin cheese spread, grilled mushrooms, and grilled onions. Both were masterworks.
the fiscal cliff burgerthe longy school of music burger
A medium-cooked burger had the perfect amount of red and was very juicy. The 7 oz of beef was easily devoured. The toppings didn’t overpower the meat but rather enhanced the flavors. The balsamic vinegar in my burger accentuated the umami of the meat quite well. Then we attacked the onion rings and thick-cut sweet potato fries piled high next to our burgers. They weren’t kidding, these were some of the best onion rings/sweet potato fries I’ve had! I like how the onion rings are not heavily battered nor deep fried until the coating is the only thing you taste. These resemble more of a tempura style vegetable.
look at this perfection
After dinner, we were so full that we couldn’t get the frappe we originally intended on getting. Next time though! They have so many great frappe flavors it would be a shame not to try one. I highly recommend this burger place! It lives up to its fame quite nicely.
***
After walking around Harvard Square for a while to burn off the dinner, I did stop by Starbucks to try their new frappes. Their 6 new flavors for a limited time are: lemon bar, cotton candy, red velvet, caramel cocoa cluster, cupcake, and cinnamon roll. I tried the lemon bar frappe, which is lemon syrup in a cream-based frappe with crunch caramel clusters on top. The barista was super nice and offered me a chocolate wafer cookie straw. Biting into the cookie straw while sipping the cool lemon bar blended beverage from it was magical. The drink gets a 10/10 I would say. The lemon flavor was really there but not too sour. I also love how this drink is less sweet than normal Starbucks frappes. I guess I’ll start changing my go-to green tea frappe for this.
the new lemon bar frappe at Starbucks
Also, I just blogged about a Starbucks drink… Ok then.
Thai food is my comfort food. I love all the flavors and vegetables and the spice. Thai restaurants also have the most creative appetizers and desserts. So of course, in Boston, I had to find my go-to Thai restaurant. Chilli Duck could just be the one; the food is spot on.
Walking along Boylston Street, you’ll see restaurants and bars lining up the street on either side. But take care not to miss this beautifully decorated, subterranean restaurant. I got carry out because I wanted to eat at the beautiful courtyard (below) of the Boston Public Library, which is just 5 minutes away.
a perfect place to lunch!
I ordered the crazy rolls and pad thai with chicken and shrimp. My rule of thumb is that the first time I go to a Thai restaurant, I try the pad thai. The second time, I get the drunken noodles. Yes it’s a bit idiosyncratic but that’s just how I roll. The crazy rolls were crazy good! It’s a tempura roll with shrimp, lettuce, basil, carrots, cucumber, vermicelli rice noodles, and a light drizzle of peanut sauce. It tasted like summer with a crunch. The mix of flavors perfectly captured what I love so much about Thai cuisine. The pad thai was very much a comfort food. The noodles were perfectly cooked but the dish was skimping on the ingredients. If it had a bit more sprouts, peanuts, and shrimp, it would be even better.
I also enjoyed a Mango Passion Fruit Coolata from Dunkin’ Donuts out on Copley Square, which overlooks the library. (I know, DD is getting quite creative with their drinks. So is Starbucks! I’ll talk about that more in my next post.) I would describe the drink as a blend of a Rita’s Italian Ice, a 7-11 slushie, and a box of sugar. Whatever, it was very thirst quenching and tropical.
A super chic contemporary tea house to visit after dinner. They have a variety of drinks from smoothies to bubble tea, the tea varieties include classic tapioca bubbles, exploding juice bubbles, aloe bubbles, and grassjelly bubbles. They also serve a few Japanese snacks and small dishes, which we did not try.
I recommend trying their specialty drinks, which is kind of like bubble tea mixology galore. Because we just had a heavy meal, we didn’t want a milk based tea, but went for the fruity flavors instead! I got the Hulk, which is kiwi, green apple, and lychee syrup with a green tea base. There’s plenty of aloe vera jelly on the bottom to add some refreshment. My friend got the First Love, which is red guava and passion fruit with a red tea base. Mine was sweeter than hers, but her flavors were bold on the taste buds.
Only complaint was the amount of ice that watered down the drink after a while.
Update: we came back a second time and got a tropical twister tea and a mango smoothie, respectively. The tropical twister (mango, pineapple, passion fruit with lychee jelly) was very artificial tasting but refreshing. Kind of like a tropical Kool-Aid? I couldn’t detect what tea base they used because the tea flavor was very minimal. Maybe it was a touch of black tea. The mango smoothie was nice and creamy, but the aloe jelly was a bit aromatic, like perfume? Whether that’s good or bad, I think is a personal preference.
(Eats) By the Esplanade 