Obligatory Food Post

     In all honesty, my favorite part about New York is the variety of food it has to offer. I try not to eat out too much to save money, but let's be honest here- it's tough to ignore the hundreds of delicious smells tempting you as you walk through the streets in almost every area in the city. If you know me well, you know that my favorite type of food is anything Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, etc.) or with an Asian twist. It's certainly no secret that New York is a hotspot for amazing Asian cuisine, so I am tempted to eat out every single day. In order to keep my cravings at bay, I have created a list for myself of my favorite restaurants in the city, so that I can return on my visits from Philly (and trust me, there will be many trips specifically for food).

1) I think my all time favorite restaurant in New York so far is Baohaus, located on 14th Street. Baohaus is a small Taiwanese/Chinese restaurant specializing in bao, which are delicious Taiwanese steamed buns filled with pretty much any meat or vegetable. I love Baohaus' take on the traditional food because they serve their bao opened up sort of like a taco, and they are filled with things like fried chicken, fried fish, tofu, vegetables, and pork. They also offer taro fries, sweet bao fries made from their bao buns, and rice bowls. Everything is amazing, but I especially recommend the Birdhaus Bao, which is filled with juicy fried chicken and the AiYu Jelly Lemonade, which is made from fresh squeezed lemonade, AiYu seed jelly, and rock candy. Order at least three bao and one order of fries if you want a full meal because they are small! A fun fact is that Baohaus is owned by Eddie Huang, who turns out to be good friends with my roommate! I guess the city isn't as big as it seems. 

2) Eight Turn Crepe is one of the most interesting places I have ever eaten. Located on Spring Street, Eight Turn Crepe is a tiny restaurant dedicated to sweet and savory Japanese crepes. Yes- Japanese crepes. The wall art is cute, the menu is cute, the people are cute- it's basically my dream world. There isn't much to say about this beautiful wonderland except that you have to go. I recommend the sweet Azuki Berries crepe, which contains sweet cream, Matcha cream, strawberries, Matcha gelato, almonds, Pocky sticks, and some weird (but amazing) beans. 

3) One of my favorite areas in all of New York is the Flushing China Town in Queens. I like this China Town a lot more than the one in Manhattan because it feels more authentic and the food is way more interesting! Flushing China Town has more of a street food feel, so there are tons of indoor food courts housing all different types of Asian finger foods. Picture your local mall food court but the menus aren't in English and there are cuter restaurant logos. Crazy Crab 888 is a great example of how the food in Flushing is more interesting than the more well known China town. As you can guess, Crazy Crab 888 is a seafood restaurant, but it is literally an Asian seafood feast. My roommate and I ordered crabs, crawfish, and shrimp, and the food came to us in giant plastic bags. We wore bibs and gloves and picked apart the full creatures for hours until we finished the three huge bags they brought us. It was such a fun experience, and the food was so unique. You can even buy lottery tickets at Crazy Crab 888- it has everything you ever need. I recommend a night out to the Flushing China Town area complete with a crab feast and Korean Karaoke after.

4) I will end my list that could go on forever on a sketchy note. I work on 7th Ave and 39th street, and right around the corner on 38th street between 7th and 8th Ave is a Chinese restaurant that doesn't really have a name and smells really good. Go inside. You will find a tasty display of authentic Chinese food spread out in front of you for you to choose from. Everyone moves very fast inside, so you kind of have to look and point quickly, but anything you point at will be good. I recommend the red colored pork (I think it's pork) and the fish. A lot of people I work with go every day, and they call it "Cheap and Dirty" because its about eight dollars for one meal that is really two meals (and the restaurant is very authentic, so be prepared!). While the regular food is good, the real action starts at exactly 1:40 pm every afternoon. That's when the sweet and savory buns get put out! At exactly that time (not before and definitely not after) all of the lunch food gets replaced with about five different types of freshly baked buns. The best part? They're only 80-90 cents each- and they're big. I recommend the pork buns and the long yellow buns with sesame seeds on top. The yellow ones are my favorite because I think they are filled with a coconut egg cream, but I couldn't really tell you. Just go! It's cheap, and it's an experience.

    This is a small version of the huge list I have for myself- I could go on forever! There is such great food here in every nook and cranny you could imagine. Needless to say, I haven't saved much money.