USA Sep 2011 – Day 2

6 hours of sleep is sufficient for me, enough to adapt to the new time zone, just about enough to rest those weary legs for the days instalment.

My legs decided to walk from 46th street all the way down past 1st to Grand st and explore Chinatown. Actually I really wanted to go there to see how my favorite vietnamese dish Pho measures up in New York City. I also wanted to sample Banh Mi sandwiches and see if there’s any difference in flavor or taste.

The best way to explore any city is using your feet. It took me about 1.5 hours to get to my destination but along the way I can see the different shops and department stores I wanted to shop at towards the end of the trip and entering the different “towns” in the city i.e Korea town, \srab town, little Italy etc.

I had to strategically eat my way through the day today as I had a food tour at 1430 so it wasn’t going to be an easy task. Ideally I wanted to eat at 11, walk off the food by 1430, eat till 1730, walk that off and prepare the stomach for dinner at 1930. Obviously that never went to plan, my stomach has a mind of its own and it doesn’t talk to the brain properly or ignores it.

Just before I got to Chinatown I noticed a few marquees up and herds of people gathering around a square. It turns out today was also the annual NYC Dumpling Festival. This unplanned food event was an obstacle that I did not see coming and as a result had to think about how to consume these dumplings with the tight food schedule already in place. I may not have any room left in my belly for the treats later on.

I powered on past the festival and thought about whether I could or couldn’t do it. However I know one thing for sure that there was absolutely no way I’d enter the dumpling eating challenge.

When you get to Chinatown in lower east side you can definitely smell it in the air. Its not a bad smell but you can smell the grease, the concoction of ingredients being cooked and perhaps even a hint of MSG.

The first item I had for the day was Vietnamese Banh Mi, which basically is a freshly baked baguette filled with goodness. The goodness comprises of pickled carrot, daikon, your choice of meat, coriander, cucumber and some spreads like egg butter or mayonnaise. I opted for the bbq pork which was the preferred choice on the menu. It was a bad choice I thought as the meat balls look a lot better. The sandwich itself was crunchy and the filling was very tasty. The only thing I didn’t like was the bbq pork as it was very dry and the texture made it almost inedible had I not removed some of the meat.

Next up was Pho with rare beef and cooked brisket. The broth was clear and there wasn’t large amounts of MSG in there, which was good. The noodles were very thin and I could do with a bit more of it. Overall I think the Pho was good but not exceptional, I just though maybe they could have been more generous with the meat.

I could not fit any more food at this point so I spent the next hour or so watching the locals play soccer. I thought this would give me time to digest the food before the food tour in 2 hours. Despite it being a friendly game, it got very competitive and some players even sustained injuries.

After about an hour sitting down under tree, I started walking back towards the dumpling festival where the idea was just to take photos and not eat anything otherwise I can forget about the food tour. When I arrived there, the eating competition was about to start. The person who could eat the most dumplings in 2 minutes was going to have their names in the guiness world record books for just that. The rules were simple, no water, only eat and finish a dumpling before you can continue to next one and the judge will check the contents of your mouth before continuing on. The lowest number eaten was a measley 5, the average was about 10 and the winner consumed 18. Personally I would have done about the average as well.

The food truck tour started at the elevated railway bridge. We continued walking on this bridge for a good mile or so. The railway track and bridges have been converted all into a walkway with plants, art features and various other things. Its a nice place to go for a walk without crossing the street and looking out for cars.

At the end of the track there is an area where you can eat food from a food truck. The food trucks here are not your average corner trucks. These ones come with chefs and bigger kitchens to cater for the large crowds that gather. Some of these trucks earn about $100k per year and up to even $1m if you become that popular.

I befriended a nice local couple on the tour and so we went for drinks at a sports bar to watch some college football. They wrote down a list of restaurants and roof top bars to visit which was nice of them. Turns out they both lived in london for a short while so there was something in common.

I was really tired at this point and I still had to go meet my friend for dinner in Harlem. I hadn’t read much on the area so was bit nervous whether or not it was hostile there. Dinner was at the famous Sylvia’s restaurant serving soul food which I’d never had before. I was very much looking forward to this place after the tv shows and adverts about this place.

Once I arrived at Harlem and got to the road level there were four policeman standing in front of starbucks and several african-american guys next to them. I just thought here we go! I stood there waiting for my friend constantly spinning around to see what was around me. I was probably over-reacting from all the things I’ve heard about this place but really with the amount of people around, its not as bad as it sounds at the time. I even spotted one guy in drag, which was totally out of the ordinary.

Sylvias is about a stones throw away from the subway station so after meeting my mate we didn’t have too far to walk. Upon arrival we had to wait for a table so we got chatting with the bar guy who poured us drinks and we spoke about football. He is a Chelsea supporter so the taunts from him were forthcoming, friendly of course for a rival supporter. Once we were seated we ordered a combination of things so we could sample all that is Sylvias. We got cat fish, deep fried chicken, ribs, mac n cheese, corn bread, coleslaw, rice and some collards?. The food was great and I could have easily done another set of ribs. Upon leaving the restauran I shook the bar man’s hand and he vowed Chelsea is the team to beat in the 2011-2012 season.

After the sylvias we were going to hit the bars and clubs at the meat packing district which apparently from my mates research had plenty of these. I really wanted to go to a rooftop bar so we went to one called Rooslvelt Bar recommended by the couple I’d met earlier. The decor inside this bar and the outside area is superb. The views are just as good overlooking other sky scrapers. This place would be nice for after work drinks. However it is quite expensive for the simplest of drinks from the menu but you’re paying for the view.

Smiles