(deviled tea egg and miso-braised pulled pork bhan mi) at Bon Me food truck in Harvard Square

At a glance:

Food truck location varies, they have several in-store locations around Boston as well.

Price: $

Stars (out of 5): 4.5

After I got out of class, I waited for 20 minutes for the Bon Me food truck to open their window. I don’t know why I did that, it wasn’t that I heard of Bon Me before (though afterwards, I yelped them and the ratings were quite good so they are very popular) or that I was craving Vietnamese sandwiches/bowls, I was just curious. So I sat there and waited and thought: “this better be good.” And it was. Thank goodness.

The menu is not extensive at all. You can choose any type of dish and add a regular or special filling (basically your choice of protein). But for the low price, they highlight the art of Vietnamese fusion in their food and do what they do quite well. The name: Bon Me, is a play off the Vietnamese word; bhan mi, meaning bread. On the streets of Vietnam, bhan mi like baguettes are stuffed with vegetables, meats, eggs, and even ice cream, to make a Vietnamese sandwich. That concept was brought over to the U.S and incorporated into the bold, unique fusion world. Bon Me serves up non-traditional sandwiches, bowls, noodles, and salads with Vietnamese-inspired cuisine and also cool drinks like Thai basil limeade and spicy ginger lemonade.

After much debate between the delicious looking bowl and the sandwich, I got a miso-braised pulled pork sandwich and a  deviled tea egg. The total? $8.50. That is dirt cheap for Boston food. Ok I must say the egg was expensive. $2.50 for one, single egg? Well, at least it was a good egg.

The boiled egg had a fleeting hint of tea, as you can tell by the marbled surface of the egg. (To make tea eggs, the general concept is to hard boil eggs in a tea-based broth.) The yolk was creamy and not dry at all, well done! This variation of deviled egg could not be simpler. The yolk wasn’t even dug up and mixed with mayo or mustard. The mayo was literally dolloped on top of the yolk and paprika was lightly sprinkled over the egg. And lastly, scallion bits topped off the mayo. Genius. The mayo had a kick to it so I think it might’ve been chipotle mayo. I also added a bit of Sriracha to complement the scallion bits.

Let’s now deconstruct the bhan mi sandwich. The baguette was toasted and super crunchy and tasty. The miso-braised pork was seasoned well with black pepper and garlic, but a bit dry. This could be due to the fact that the pulled pork was mostly lean, I wish there were a few bits of fatty meat in there. But no matter, because the meat to veggies ratio was perfect, and the veggies made the whole sandwich pop. The veggies: red onion, daikon, cucumber, carrots, and cilantro, were thinly shredded and pickled with a lightly briny and tangy sauce. Then, a housemade spicy mayo was the right on ingredient to bring the meat and pickled veggies together. Thinking about those pickled vegetables and the cilantro is making me want another sandwich right now. It was fantastic and I couldn’t stop eating it!

it was a very big and filling sandwich

Pro tip: if you like Sriracha, definitely try it on your sandwich because it will make the meat more moist and delicious.

Eat on!

(tacos caramelos) at El Pelón Taqueria near Fenway

At a glance:

92 Peterborough Street, Boston, MA

Price: $

Stars (out of 5): 4.8

Ah El Pelón Taqueria, how I’ve missed you! I came to this Mexican tacos and burritos joint twice before when I stopped in Boston for a short while. Imagine my excitement when my friends and I found this place close to the movie theatre where we watched the most recent Pixar animation and Disney film: Inside Out (great movie by the way, gotta give Disney credit for making attempts to address mental health and bring about social awareness regarding teenagers’ internal struggles).

a caricature of the hairless hero, who looks like the boss from their website haha

Pelón in Spanish literally means hairless (pelo being hair). The interior décor is as quaint as the eatery’s name. There are pictures of families and customers lining the walls. And the place has little to no room to sit, but plenty of outdoor picnic tables for a nice day!

the wall

more wall decorations  

Their menu is not large, but every item is distinctly authentic, cheap, and DELICIOUS. Seriously, I would not keep coming back to the same place for Mexican if the food were not on point.

the entire menu fits on this tiny brochure

In addition to the regular menu, they have the daily specials written on small chalkboards. I made sure to try them.

    

Ok. The food. The food is hearty, quick, and everything you want Mexican food to be: fresh, flavorful, guac-filled, and heartwarming. The tacos caramelos under tacos de la casa (house-special tacos) are my go-to. For $8, you get two overloaded soft shell tacos filled with amazingly juicy and plump carne asada (grilled steak), fresh guacamole, hot sauce, melted cheese, and salsa fresca. I like spicy food so the hot sauce was not hot enough for me, but it was homemade and  packed with boldness. The juices from the steak mixed with the melted jack cheese was so decadent, and complemented well by the fresh salsa fresca and guac that brought me to a sea shore. Lastly, the double-tortilla was warm and inviting as I sunk my teeth into the meaty umami of the steak. The wedge of lime on the side is a perfect kick to add to the whole ensemble if you are so inclined.

     

And because I love this place so much, I also ordered a daily special, which was the Sonoran hot dog. Hot dog wrapped in bacon, topped with more bacon, onions, diced tomatoes, mustard/mayo/ketchup, and guac, all on a grilled bun? Yes please. I admit, this hot dog is not for everyone. I personally normally stick to just relish and/or mustard on my hot dogs, so I was quite surprised at my decision to get this, especially since it has ketchup. (Ketchup on hot dogs is like… ummm what? I mean the hot dog is already quite a sweet meat with such a weird flavor profile… but to each his own, right? Who am I to commentate on other people’s condiment options.)

fully loaded Sonoran hot dog

Ok back to the Sonoran hot dog. It was delicious! Flaws: a little salty, the hot dog was floury, and definitely I didn’t enjoy the mayo nor the ketchup, but mixed with the mustard, they were bearable. The bacon had a smoky flavor and the tomatoes and onions were nice condiments. The toasted bun sealed the deal for me. Nicely done.

My friends got the carnitas (braised, shredded pork) burrito and the tacos Americanos (grilled chicken instead of steak), respectively. Both enjoyed their meals and commented on the nice mix of flavors and the heartiness.

a HUGE carnitas burrito

tacos Americanos with lettuce

For dessert, I had a coconut flan. Yeah I know, I pretty much tried everything. The flan was not as smooth as I had hoped. In fact, there were a lot of curdles in there. Maybe that was what authentic Mexican flan should be? Or maybe it was overcooked? I loved the shredded coconut hidden in there, and the caramel coconut syrup was not overpowering but instead subtly sweet, subtly nutty. Very satisfying.

coconut flan

Also, try the fish tacos. They will change your life for a moment while you are eating them. At least they did for me.

Eat on!

(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!

(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

(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!

(Chickpea Fritter and Rosemary Fries) at Clover in Kendall Square

At a glance:

5 Cambridge Place, Cambridge, MA

Price: $ (and a half)

Stars (out of 5): 4.5

today’s menu

So this is the trendy, food-science-lab-esque, vegetarian fast food hub Boston is in love with. No wonder. As soon as you walk in, you can feel the energy and vibrancy of this cafe. The chefs are busy putting together sandwiches behind the open counter but you can see how they are constantly collaborating with each other and conversing with the customers. The customer service is fantastic even though there’s no waitstaff. When I went, there was a lady who stood with a smartphone at the front of the line, introducing the menu to us and answering our questions (since the menu is a little vague and there’s no descriptions). She even gave us a free order of fries with rosemary (featured image) to share. I was confused about the rhubarb agua fresca so she got me a sample right away. Also there was a customer who is blind ordering beside me, and she got a personal waitress for her visit even though it’s a fast food place. Such a friendly group of people!

interior

Clover’s super cool because they build recipes from the community through their weekly food development meetings that anyone can visit. I must make my way to one! The food is fresh, local, and full of feel-good ingredients. Everyday, the menu changes with what’s in that day. I love the “experimental” and eclectic vibe of the cafe. They even have a carbonated water on tap contraption set up!

love the exact temperatures.

I ordered the chickpea fritter thanks to Yelp reviews. Their sandwiches are all made from seasonal ingredients so they are not set menu items. They also have plates, which are essentially deconstructed sandwiches without the bread and served with a little salad instead. The chickpea sandwich is a pita pocket filled with a full heaping of falafel, cucumber, very thinly shredded carrots, pickles, hummus, pickled red onion, and pickled cabbage. The sauce on top resembles cusabi but I’m not exactly sure because it wasn’t as pungent and blended in quite well with the vinegary taste of the pickled cabbage and onions.

the chickpea fritter in its full glory

The sandwich was so hearty and I loved the boldness of the flavors. My only complaint is that it was kind of difficult to eat? So I had to fork it, which was fine, but I kind of prefer my sandwich to fit in my mouth. Also, the way this sandwich was constructed vertically, all the pickled vegetables were on top while the hummus and cucumbers settled to the bottom. So I experienced quite distinct flavors as I worked my way through the sandwich, one with mostly the taste of hummus, the other with mostly the taste of pickled cabbage and falafel. Everything else fell in place in between. Was that intentional? Maybe…

putting my fork to work

My friend got the Panelle sandwich, which is polenta, feta, and lemon aioli. Sounds yummy!

I finished every last bit of the sandwich. The fries were very interesting. The potatoes they use must be different. They are very starchy and sweet, almost resembling yuca. Or I’m just going crazy. The rosemary and salt added are nice touches to accentuate the flavor. Rosemary is a great herb for starchy vegetables because it’s very aromatic and potent, so I think the match is spot on!

halfway through the sandwich. The portion’s very generous.

I also ordered the rhubarb agua fresca after trying the sample because it was so good! The rhubarb syrup had such a fresh aftertaste that lingered on your tongue. There was just enough lemon in the drink to add a kick. The aqua fresca just tasted like rosewater dew, which was fantastic.

rhubarb agua fresca

I was very happy with my trip to Clover! There’s even a vertical herb garden inside the cafe! They are wonderful people doing wonderful things for the food world.

Eat on!

(Burgers) at Bartley’s in Harvard Square

At a glance:

1246 Mass Ave, Boston, MA

Price: $$

Stars (out of 5): 4.8

outside the restaurant

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 burger

the 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.

Well, eat on! Haha.

(Soup Dumplings) at Taiwan Cafe in Chinatown

At a glance:

34 Oxford Street, Boston, MA.

Price: $$

Stars (out of 5): 3.8

If you are looking for authentic Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine, this is the place to be. They are also open until 1 am daily so definitely a nice place for late night indulging of your taste buds. This is my third time coming to this pretty small cafe that sits about 20 parties at a time. The line on weekends can be very long so coming on a week night this time was a good decision.

For 2 people, I recommend getting a light fare/appetizer, a meat dish, and a vegetarian dish. For the light fare, my go-to is the soup dumplings. I’ve heard their scallion pancakes are quite good too.

Their soup dumplings are really tender and have the just right skin to filling ratio. The minced pork inside is rich (a little on the greasy side but hey, I only eat these occasionally) and the soup is flavorful. I eat soup dumplings by getting a little bit of soy sauce on my spoon, then picking up the top of the dumpling gingerly with my chopsticks while scooping the bottom onto my spoon with soy sauce. Then I nip a little hole in the skin so the soup can flow out at the perfect rate. Ideally, you would want to drink a little of the soup/soy sauce mixture while eating the dumpling. Yeah. Kind of an acquired skill. I’m still failing all the time. The skin is very fragile at the bottom and can stick a little to the paper in the basket. That’s when the skin can break and all the soup will flow out. At this point, you can’t do anything but to observe this sad moment and eat the remnants of the dumpling, which is still heavenly even without the soup. Haha.

We also ordered the Sweet and Sour Chicken Chunks. The chicken is lightly battered and crispy (I recall it being a little more crispy the last time I came) and sauteed with green peppers and onions. The sauce is a very distinct sweet that’s not overpowering. This is probably my favorite dish in the entire Chinese cuisine. Though this sounds like the stereotypical dish you get at Americanized Chinese restaurants, trust me, it’s very different. But my mom still makes fun of me all the time for being super lame.

We also got mustard greens sauteed with garlic. It was quite refreshing against all the meaty dishes. The garlic mixed with the juices of the greens had the perfect kick to it.

the sauteed mustard greens.

Overall, we were very satisfied, and definitely full after the meal. The dishes came out fast and it was a good fix for 2 hungry girls who had the craving for soup dumplings.

Eat on!