Food: Explore, Encounter & Experience

Cocoron - Soba: The OTHER Japanese food

Everyone generally thinks Sushi when Japanese food is brought up.  But don’t forget to overlook the noodles, namely Soba,  Ramen, and Udon. Today’s review is going to be on a restaurant that specializes on Soba. They come in three types, cold (which we haven’t tried), warm and dip.

The warm soba generally come in a nice fish broth (perfect for pescatarians) and a nice serving of vegetables.  Very good portions for those what you pay for. The curry soba is also a must-try for meat lovers just for the way they grill the chicken.

Chicken Curry Warm Soba

Oroshi Daikon Soba (Radish & other veggies)

Chicken Burdock Soba

Then there’s Dip Soba.  Visually the portion isn’t that big but it is the same amount as the warm soba. They’ll give you a VERY THICK AND CONCENTRATED broth in a bowl that’s heated up with inflammable crystals. The purpose is to dip the cold noodles in to heat up for 10 seconds or so.  When you’re done with the noodles, they’ll give you some extra warm water to turn that broth into soup to drink.  It’s a fun and tasty way to try your noodles, particularly if you like things extra savory (or you like the flavor to be more enhanced).

Two examples of Dip Soba pictured below: 

Dessert: Frozen Banana with Coconut Milk, Tapioca and Mixed Berries

The coconut milk, frozen fruits and mint blend together really well.  Lots of layers, lots of taste, the way we like it.  I’ve tried other desserts there but this is the best and we’ve stuck to this one when we go there.

Rating: 9.5/10

Pros: Delicious noodles (broth, noodles, toppings are all excellent), Reasonably priced, Great Dessert, AND Healthy! (we think…)

Cons: Really cramped space.  Not good for parties of more than 2

Cocoron
61 Delancey Street
New York, New York 10002

Thanh Da: My go-to Pho spot in Brooklyn

I was introduced to Thanh Da a few months back by someone who I can’t credit for confidentiality purposes (but if you’re reading this, you know who you are and thank you).  Like most Vietnamese restaurants I’ve been to, I haven’t stuck with their main dishes and therefore I can only speak for two of them.  Nevertheless, they’re good enough to have me go back again and again

Pho Xe Lua (火车头)

Compared to other Vietnamese places I’ve ate at, the beef chunks are much thicker (notice I said chunks and not slices ), that means it takes longer to cook and it’s much juicier than the beef I’ve had at other places.  The onions which can be overlooked are also juicy themselves.  Not to mention that the broth is already tasty without the basil (but I prefer to add it in for the extra kick).  The main draw of this is that the meat is just juicier than other places.

Rating 10/10: 
Everything just tastes really juicy when you bite into it from the beef to the onions.  My bowl was empty afterwards.  

Bunh Bo Hue

If you like spicy but not spicy to the point where you’re questioning if your taste buds still work: this is the perfect dish.  This is the first and only time I’ve had the dish so I can’t compare this to others.  However, compared to the Pho, the broth and noodles are thicker and the beef is more on the well-done side.  It’ll satisfy your craving for spicy things and the beef is a bit more well cooked than the Pho.

Rating: 9/10
While it’s well made, the dish itself doesn’t perfectly suit my taste.  If you’re the type to prefer spicy things and prefer the beef to be super well-done or mind that this isn’t the dish where you can completely empty the bowl, this would be a 10/10 for you.  But for me, this is a 9.  Nevertheless, If I’m craving something spicy when I’m in the area, I wouldn’t think twice about coming back.  

Thanh Da
6008 7th Ave, 
Brooklyn 11220
(Btw 60th & 61st St)

They also have a place on 8th avenue that sells primarily Banh Mi.  I’ll review that in the future :-)

- HZ

Mimi & Coco’s NYC

We went to Mimi’s and Coco’s twice this month to try out their Teriyaki Balls, Takoyaki Balls, Curry & a few other things we’re going to leave out of the review.

Hidden beneath yummy bonito flakes: Takoyaki Balls (picture by AC)

Overall experience: 8.5/10

HZ: Mimi & Coco’s has their own restaurant in the lower east side and sometimes they run a cart at a few street fairs like Madison Square Eats
AC: The Takoyaki (balls made of octopus meat) in the store is a lot better than the one in the cart.
HZ: Keep in mind, the cart one was still pretty good to us which is why we came to this store to begin with
AC: I think it’s because the ones in the stand, they give you a stick to poke it rather than in the store where you use a chopstick.  So in the store, the air didn’t escape from the balls before you bite into it, which I think really affects the taste.
HZ: Okay, that definitely explains it.  But the point is, the store makes it better because they’re less limp.  
AC: The octopus does taste good,
HZ: I’m sure the other customers agree, they ran out of Octopus the 2nd time you got there.
AC: :-(

Teriyaki Balls with Jimmy Dean Sausage, Teriyaki Sauce, Almond & Corn Flakes (HZ).

Overall experience: 8.5/10

AC: I like the Takoyaki better.
HZ: I think they’re too different to compare, i feel like I was eating the Western Breakfast version of the Takoyaki, I mean they even put corn flakes on it!  The corn flakes may seem a bit odd but it really helps highlight the flavor of the sausage.  I guess the best way to describe this would be like the “westernized” version of the Takoyaki balls

Vegetable Curry with Brown Rice & Chicken Katsu.

Overall experience: 9/10

AC: This is one of the few places I would go back to for curry.  It’s very starchy and cream-like compared to other Japanese places like Maid Cafe.  They made the stew with Japanese pumpkin and potatoes. The fried chicken was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. To top it off they’ve added paprika, sesame, and more teriyaki sauce. If you want a dish that can serve two people. This is it. The overall experience of this dish was: 8/10
HZ: You probably can’t tell from this picture, but it smells awesome, even all the way from the kitchen.  You can smel the spices on the chicken katsu when they first fry it, and then you smell the curry….it just makes you hungrier before they actually serve it to you.  Yup, the chicken katsu is very well spiced, it’s not just breading.  It also smelled really good when I took a picture of it…but I’m sure you can already tell by now.  

Mimi & Coco's 
92 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002