[City Travels] St Mark's Place

 

With the ongoing pandemic, many of us can no longer dine like the old days. So many businesses had to shut down during these uncertain times and it's such a shame that the places I wanted to visit no longer operate. It had me reminiscing about fun dinners I had a couple years back. Here is a new installment in the new series of City Travels, where I now recall my old dining retreats. We're start off with the infamous St. Mark's Place.

I hadn't been familiar with St. Mark's Place until my co-workers brought me there for late night dinners and drink sessions. I've grown fond of the place. I recall back in high school when a classmate highly recommended that I pay it a visit for its interesting clientele and guests that occupy the streets at night. Years later I see that her description still fits, the night folks are as colorful as ever.

[Guangzhou 2016] Part Eight: Bubble Tea and Fast Food

If you guessed right in the previous post, this is another food based post. I should probably go ahead and create my own food guide in addition to a travel guide. Today's guide is going to be all about fast food and bubble tea. These two things seem to be inseparable upon my travel. You have one or the other.

[Guangzhou 2016] Part Six: There's a Mini Shanghai Under my Streets?!/Typhoons are the Best Days Out to Go Eat

During my 30 day stay, my greatest find was perhaps this underground mall called Fashion Tianhe Plaza (时尚天河商业广场). I had no intentions looking for another mall to browse through, but hey, you're right there in front of me outside the train station. I believe there are a number of ways to enter the underground plaza as it is very big. Upon first visiting, it is very easy to get lost and I wasn't able to find the same vending machine I used last time.

[City Travels] Chinatown's Must Visits: Hotpot, Bubble Tea, Cantonese Cuisine

It's been a while since I posted some food related entries. Instead of giving individual reviews in separate posts, I decided to compile a lot of them into one large post. Here is the Manhattan Chinatown bonanza post featuring highlights of this small Chinese melting pot.

[Guangzhou 2016] Part Four: TOP is on My Bottle of Oolong Tea and Gourmet Supermarkets

Going to a market is taking a look at the life of the average person living in the place you are staying at. If there's one thing I know about Chinese supermarkets is that they're big and they try to sell a whole variety of things.

[Food Review] Woorijip

I've been to Woorijip a few times when I'm in a pinch. They are a good place when you are looking to have fresh food and not spend too much.

[Food Review] I Spend Too Much Just For Booze and Fried Chicken

I haven't seen my good friend, Will, in over a year and suggested we meet up at The Coop. His exact words were "Are you willing to shell out a lot just for food?". I didn't even hesitate and said yes. Let's just say I shelled out way over my budget, but it was still worth it in the end.

[Food Review] How to Learn Vietnamese Bit By Bit

To this day, I try a new dish at Nam Son to learn a new name. Today I will recall a bun thit nuong cha gio I had in November.

[Guangzhou 2016] Part Two: Underground Malls and What ... Inedible Sushi?!

Underground malls have been around ages in Asia. You see vloggers around the world go to them and cry at home when your nearest mall is a dated infrastructure raised from the ground. Guangzhou has managed to transform itself into a city of shopping attracting people from even the remote provinces of China.

[City Travels] The Elmhurst Edition: ICook, Joju, and Target

I've been on more trips to Target and Trader Joe's than any other place. My date of traveling is nearing and it's about time I solidify my packing list. Trying to minimize the items to bring can prove difficult when the things you want to bring with you increases. On my trips to Target, I tagged along with Lils to know Elmhurst a little better. It's another Chinatown there with more stuff for us to explore.

*Edit: I wrote this post roughly two-three months ago.

[Food Review] Nam Son/We Came Back Just For You

I'm telling you, Nam Son is love.

[Food Review] The Coop

A cousin of mine reached out to recently and suggested meeting up at The Coop. I had heard of The Coop before as trendy and hip for young people to gather. It's marketed as a bar and restaurant known for its fried chicken. So what's so special about their fried chicken and cuisine?

[Food Review] Catania Bakery

Local bakeries are the little gems of the neighborhood. To a newcomer they may not be on your radar, but for the frequent customer, it becomes your hotspot.

[Food Review] Duck Wong Restaurant

At least a month ago, I was at a dinner with my co-workers. It was a rainy day with heavy downpour yet people were willing to wait outside at Sake Sushi. However, I was not outside for Sake Sushi. A co-worker suggested that we go to Duck Wong, a restaurant owned by someone they knew. Though it was far from where I live, it was worth a try on my day off.

[Food Review] Tick Tock Diner, We Betrayed the Pho

After watching The Secret Life of Pets, Lils and I went to eat. This time I wanted to go to a diner. What a poor choice I made. Nam Son, we betrayed you for burgers instead of pho.

[Food review] Gammeeok

I went with Lils to watch Finding Dory. To be honest, it wasn't as entertaining to me as Finding Nemo. For others, they found Dory more interesting than Nemo. Either way, there were some good parts and boring parts. After the movie, my friend introduced me to Gammeok, a Korean eatery that can very easily be missed.

[Food Review] Go Go Curry

Each time I want to go to Go Go Curry, it's not Go Go Day. It's the gimmick that keeps people from coming back. On every 5th, 15th, and 25th of the month, you earn a free topping coupon with your purchase. So finally I landed on a Go Go Day last month.

[Food Review] Hanok

I met up with some friends for a quick dinner. With no real aim of where to eat, we decided to visit Food Gallery 32. Despite having many choices, my dilemma each time is picking which stand to purchase from. In the end, I always end up buying from Hanok as they always delivered authentic Korean fare. The stands that I previously saw had disappeared and some had revamped themselves into something entirely different.

[Food Review] Hummus and Pita Co

When you wake up late for work, you have no time to prep a freshly made lunch. I opted to buy lunch again for work, but I wanted to try something new. So on a windy and rainy day, I set out for a different lunch than usual.

[Food Review] Ennju

For lunch, I like to take walks during work so that I'm not cooped up in the same place. One of the places my co-workers suggested to me was Ennju, a small Japanese eatery run by Japanese owners. I had nearly missed the place because the scaffolding made it difficult to locate the name. I still can't find the name of the store and identified it by their menu instead. So what was going to be in store for me?