Eating New York - The BEST Bacon Caramel Corn and Candy Bars from Liddabit

I love the Chelsea Market for the under roof close to Meatpacking district Smorgasbord it is. Since my last visit a candy store has popped up it's called Liddabit Sweets and it's AMAZE!

I first heard of Liddabit from OhJoy! so I was absolutely ecstatic when I saw the store. I went into a happiness frenzy and bought a ton of Bacon Caramel Corn, yes like bacon diddle daddle if it existed only better. Thithi (of teeteeiswithme) was there to capture my moment of blissful madness.

I walked out of the store with a candy bar in each flavour, boxes of caramel corn and bacon caramel corn, a box of chocolate dipped sea salt caramel and a box of pretzel beer caramels. Wait there's more, I bought the cookbook and a free twix inspired candy bar, which they don't sell but give to customers who drop a guap!

Photography by: Thithi Nteta of teeteeiswithme

Liddabit Sweets
425 W 15th St. (Or use main market entrance at 75 9th Ave.)
New York, NY 10011
(212) 229-0022
Best for: Bacon caramel corn and the chocolate dipped sea salt caramel
Not sold on: the twix inspired candy bar (I guess that's why it's free)

Eating New York - Cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery

As I mentioned here I was in New York for two weeks, I'm back on the Jozi Cool as of  this past Sunday. Of course after the craze and my craving (see here), I couldn't be in New York and stop in at Dominique's for the real deal, he patented the name CRONUT and for a quick pose of course!

Dominique and I

After a full week and a half in New York, promising to be in SoHo (South of Houston said HOUSE TON) by 6 am, finally Thithi (of teeteeiswithme) and I made it to SoHo. An hour and a half waiting on line, we finally made it to the counter to order.  I ordered my allocated two per customer cronuts along with ten made to order madeleines and the magic souffle. Welcome to pastry heaven and sugar rush central, oh yeah we ordered coffee to go with it all too.

Madeleines and the magic souffle

This month (September 2013) is the Fig Mascarpone Cronut month. The Cronut is layers of laminated dough (almost flaky croissant like pastry) proofed, shaped, fried and rolled in sugar like a donut with a sublime filling. I'm am using the word sublime objectively. The fig mascarpone filling is a texture combination of a cream, meets a creme anglaise that holds ever so well in the cronut.

The September mascarpone with a fig preserve swirl filling, is light, creamy & perfectly sweet. At first bite you get the slightly crisp exterior, a glazed sugary lip then the layers of flaky pastry and finally a creamy balanced not overly sweet mascarpone cream and a fig preserve kick. It's truly to adults what a finger in a jam donut is to kids.

Merci  beaucoup Dominique!

What is the magic souffle you ask? I'm dedicating a whole post to Dominique's latest, watch this space.

Photography by Thithi Nteta of teeteeiswithme

I'm in New York in case you're wondering!

So I'm on the New York COOL! Got in last Friday to catch the Made In America festival in Philadelphia and back in NY in time for the labour day parade in Brooklyn on Monday.

This is a sneak peak via Instagram into what I've been up to in NY. Pouting! Eating tacos at The High Line! Drinking cocktails on Williamsburg rooftops!

Tacos from the taco truck stand at The High Line

Huckleberry Lemonade at Berry Park

New York Foodie Fixing Must EATS!

So after a full month of being back on the Jozi Cool I have finally compiled my list of must do eats in New York City.

Brunching:
I'll start with what we, The Love World Tour-ists, did the most and the best Brunch

1. Revel in the Meatpacking District for bottomless mimosas
2. The Dutch in SoHo also great for fried chicken and dessert pies
3. Ze Cafe Midtown try anything with crab
4. The Co Op for the Everyday People Brunch Lower Eastside

As you can imagine there was lots to do in New York so most of my lunching was done on the go, these are my favourites. Cost effective and a little grease with the shake shack burgers.
Lunching on the go:

1. Hampton Chutney Upper Westside for dosas 
2. The City Bakery for healthy buffet
3. Shake Shack for a shack burger and black & white shake
4. Cafe Duke Soho for hearty Asian inspired buffet
5. Olives Soho for fresh sandwiches and choc chip cookies

Dinners:
We have an apartment in New York so most dinners were homemade by myself or my mum but we did manage to get a few GREAT dinners in.

1. Gramercy Tavern Flatiron district the Tavern for the vibe and the dining room for fine dining
2. Fatty Crab Upper Westside for the chili crab
3. Momofuku Noodle Bar East Village for RAMEN! their pork, shrimp or mushroom buns are AMAZE!

Sweets and treats
I am a sucker for sweets, especially pastries and I have to say if you can only pick one sweet treat head over to Dominique Ansel Bakery during the day. You will not regret it

1. Dominique Ansel Bakery SoHo for salted caramel eclairs, macaroons and made to order madeleines
2. Baked by Melissa Soho for mini cupcakes on the go
3. The Big Gay ice cream shop for red velvet ice cream sandwich and the salty  pimp
4. Momofuku Milk Bar Upper Westside for cereal milk ice cream and a slice of sickly sweet yet addictive crack pie
5. Veneiros Italian Bakery East Village for cannolis

Happy New York Eating!

The City Bakery buffet style

Looking for wholesome & healthy then city bakery is a goodie. That is if you consider a chocolate room healthy, which I of course do.The City Bakery is ideal for those who work in the area looking for variety and a good meal in 30 minutes. It has a wide range of savoury and sweets on offer.

Grilled cheeses, bruschetta

Chicken wings, fried chicken, mac 'n cheese

Gazpacho

Salads

After circling the buffet twice, I opted for healthy Israeli couscous salad with a side of wholesome slightly crispy, spicy chicken wangs. It was all super tasty but a little warming up is needed. I added a non-alcoholic sangria, which conceptually made sense but for me the wine was missing. For the South Africans the non-alcoholic sangria tasted a bit like purity baby juice.

In the chocolate room

The City Bakery is great for freshness and variety, also my brother recommends their brunch time french toast.

The City Bakery

3 West 18th Street, NY

Hampton Chutney Dosas

This post is for those gluten-free people like my mum. Dosas are crispy crepes made from rice with a slightly sourdough taste. On my Upper West Side trip I was given a recommendation to try Hampton Chutney for their Dosas.

 I asked for the most popular dosa curry chutney chicken with spinach, balsamic onions & a side of cilantro (coriander) chutney. 

It's packed full of flavour; spicy and turmeric yellow. What they don't tell you is that a dosa is huge, like Akhalwaya's AK huge, so go hungry! 

I could only get half way because I had to save some space for a yummy mango lassi.

Hampton Chutney Co.

464 Amsterdam Avenue, Upper West Side, NY

Saturday = Smorgasburg

Saturdays for me are market days, off to Williamsburg I went for a food market fix at Smorgasburg.

The Smorgasburg is a melting pot if people; families, hipsters & a sprinkling of cool kids. Too many options so little time!

Jerk Chicken

Meat sandwiches

Drip coffee

I settled for Handsome Hank's shrimp and chips. Squeeze of lemon on the lightly battered shrimp a dip in tartare and pop nom nom nom.

Dessert was a lemonade with a scoop of the most beautiful cucumber white wine mint sorbet in it. Über refreshing!

Happy market day! If you're in New York head to the Smorgasurg it's right on the water.

On the go Kung Fu Milk Tea

Decided to grab a drink on the go while waiting for the M15 bus, I was always on a bus. Spotted this tiny shop, Kung Fu Tea, full of people which is always a good sign.

I said I'm a first timer what should I have? The Kung fu milk tea with bubbles of course. The bubbles being tapioca balls. I have to tell you, it's a trip this drink. For South Africans it's best described as a mild kinda flo, cold tea with large black sago balls in it.

 

One of the must tries in New York is bubble tea, so do it!

Kung Fu Tea
241 E 10th St, East Village, NY

A taste of Fatty Crab

My brother recommended Fatty Crab as a must go to while in NY, so off to Fatty Crab I went. Stepping in from the rain to a bustling restaurant with a bar in the back, it turns out they jotted down our reservation incorrectly so we had to wait 15 minutes for a table but I'll put this down to lost in translation. Though I have to note I have a great American twang which I use when calling, that's right Boo!

We were told that ordering five dishes would be a good amount for the three of us (my mum, aunt and myself). I took the liberty of ordering the watermelon pickle & crispy pork, green mango & papaya salad, oysters, chili crab, pork buns and the fatty duck.

The green mango and papaya salad is not for the faint-hearted it is fiery hot with fresh slices of chilli. But tasty with a balance of ginger, green mango, ripe mango and sweet papaya.

Green mango & papaya salad

The pork buns, are alas not Momofuku buns, and lacked a little lustre. It was in need of a little cucumber and radish pickle with a bit of oyster sauce.

Pork buns

The pickled watermelon with crispy pork belly was interesting. The textures complimented each other with the soft watermelon and the crunchy yet soft pork.

Pickled watermelon & crispy pork belly

The best dish of the night was the chili crab served with two doorstop slices of white bread. The crab is cooked in a sweet coconut cream based sauce that has an ever so slight hint of chilli. Delish! I even tucked my napkin in my shirt cos "I'm just mobbing like that" lol!

Chili crab

Oh you're waiting to read about the fatty duck, well it didn't ever reach our table. So will have to try it next time.

Dessert was a coconut-lemongrass panna cotta which had the absolute perfect wobble with a sweet savoury taste to it.

Coconut-lemongrass panna cotta

Get your hands dirty and sink your teeth into Fatty Crab! Do let me know what the fatty duck is like.

Fatty Crab

2170 Broadway, Upper West Side, New York

Heaven in Dominique Ansel Bakery

There's this little bakery in Soho that offers little pieces of heaven. Dominique Ansel Bakery is sweet goodness in a store even for those who are gluten intolerant, the have pavlovas and flourless chocolate cake.

Madeleines are made to order, warm with a hint of lemon and sprinkling of powdered sugar.

The salted caramel eclair is perfect with a sprinkling of salt

 

I juist had to take something away for later, more madeleines and a box of macaroons. Earl Grey, Raspberry Balsamic, Pistachio, Vanilla and Chocolate mocha macaroons.

 

I always take a piece of heaven to go!

Dominique Ansel Bakery

189 Spring street, Soho, NY

Late night sweets at the Momofuku Milk Bar

Had a serious sweet craving the other night so hopped on a bus crosstown to the Momofuku Milk Bar on the upper west side.

No surprises the Milk Bar was full of customers trying to get their fix and the most popular item ordered was the crack pie, yes you read right the crack pie. Cookies, pie slices, and soft serve ice cream in cereal milk flavour.

If you want a piece of Milk Bar at home they have lots for sale cookie mix, cereal milk mix and of course signed copies of the Momofuku cookbooks.

So this is my Milk Bar fix, a set of truffles, a slice of crack pie and an Arnie Palmer (half ice tea half lemonade) to wash it all down. The crack pie is a buttery sweet salty filling almost condense milk type filling in a toasted oats crust.

The truffles are strawberry lemon, b'day cake and mint cookies 'n cream. My fave was the sweet tart strawberry lemon truffle is a sweet tart bite. The b'day cake tastes like a ball of all sorts of hundreds and thousands.

Momofuku Milk Bar (upper west side)

561 Columbus ave

Alchemy at Apotheke

Sunday night walking through a tiny alley in Chinatown and opening the only wooden door to that leads us to Apotheke. If you walk too fast or don't pay attention, you'll miss it.
It's dimly lit with an air of mystery and alchemy. It feels like an alchemists store with lightbulbs that look like concoctions are on the boil and mysterious bottles dressing the bar shelf.

Love the attention to detail

The menu/ prescriptions is extensive. Prescriptions are divided into stimulants, therapeutic treatments, pain killers, stress relievers, health and beauty, aphrodisiacs, euphoric enhancers, fruit extracts.

The Alchemist (barman) at work

All you need to do is tell the barman know what liquor you're into and the taste profile you enjoy, and for sure there's a prescription for you. We started with stress reliever and a health&beauty prescriptions.

Bees Knees & Dr Ruth

Dr Ruth is a health and beauty prescription with California strawberries, vodka, rosemary, agave nectar, lime and champagne. The bees knees is a stress reliever with Vodka, bee pollen, goji berry reduction, pink guava, ginger, lime and agave nectar - and nectar it is. Can you believe bee pollen?!

Bees Knees

I can't remember what this last one was called but it was super yum and the most popular cocktail around our table of 10.

Don't bother with the waitress go up to bar and get the bar men to put on a show. They are welcoming and super chatty, and I got a free shot. The Sunday night there was live music a blend of jazz, eastern, middle eastern fusion - we couldn't figure the genre but we luuurved it! This is my kinda of place tipples galore!

Apotheke
9 Doyers street, Chinatown, New York