This was our first time to New York and New Jersey! Our airbnb was in Jersey City which is super close to Manhattan. We decided that the best way to explore these cities is to eat our way through!
Airport food. Overpriced but we were stuck at the airport for awhile so I wanted to share what we ate. We ordered a grilled chicken salad, quesadilla, and tacos with chips.
JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY
Our first night in Jersey City, we ordered chicken wings from Chicken Factory in Hoboken. We used Grub Hub and they delivered it to us in about a hour. We ordered the spicy garlic sauce. Definitely tastes really good and crunchy. The rice came on the side which costs a bit more but chicken tastes better with rice. I thought it was pretty good but I still think Bonchon is better.
On our second night, we went to 99 Ranch Market which is a big Asian grocery store similar to Hmart. The only difference is the options at the food court. Hmart has Korean options whereas 99 Ranch has Chinese and Japanese options. We decided to try out ramen from Ramen Kitakata Bannai.
I ordered the spicy miso ramen (first picture) which has pork broth, spicy miso base, toro chasu, green onions, carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, cabbage, spicy garlic oil and eggs. It wasn't as spicy as I wanted it to be. It was average. I still think nothing can compare to the ramen I had in Tokyo.
My sister ordered the aburi miso ramen (middle picture) which has pork broth, miso base, toro chasu, seaweed, bean sprouts, corn, snow peas, bamboo shoots, green onion, and eggs.
E ordered chasu ramen (last picture) which has pork broth, shoyu base, toro chasu, bamboo shoot, green onion and eggs. E liked his ramen but still nothing beats the ramen in Tokyo.
Our third night, we ordered stuffed deep dish pizza from Gino's Pizza. I love the style of pizza and the pieces were huge. I was pretty full after one slice.
We also ordered food from Vivi Bubble tea in Hoboken. We ordered three rice bowls: braised pork, chicken teriyaki and pork chasu. We ordered takoyaki and drinks to go with our meals. The rice bowls was pretty tasty. The takoyaki was average.
For our last night in Jersey City, we decided to try out Dark Side of the Moo which is a small restaurant around the corner from our airbnb. This place had exotic burgers such as kangaroo meat. E tried out the kangaroo meat burger and it was pretty tasty. The burgers are tender and melts in your mouth. We definitely recommend this place.
FLUSHING, NEW YORK
We went to Flushing Chinatown to check out some of the food scenes out there. We decided to go to New World Mall to grab something to eat.
Before we went to New World Mall, we stopped at Golden Shopping Mall because of the famous noodles we heard about. But after checking out the place, we decided to save our stomachs for New World Mall.
But right at the front entrance there is a bubble tea place called Vivi. I ordered the Jasmine Float. It was bitter so I wished it was sweeten a bit.
At New World Mall, my sister ordered the spicy cumin pork burger from one of the stalls. It has a savory and salty taste but combined with the spiciness from the cumin. It was really crispy and has tons of meat.
I love seafood so I always try to find dishes with tons of seafood. I saw this food stall that sold this seafood lovers stew and I told them to make it medium spicy but it was super spicy. My tongue was burning hot! But it was still delicious! This stew had shrimps, fish balls, crab, and mussels topped on top of noodles. It took two of us to finish this.
After we left the mall, we were walking to get some kimbap but saw the sign with bingsoo on it. So we had to stop at Bagels & Bakery to get us some Matcha Green Tea Bingsoo. We got the large which feeds 3 - 4 people. Perfect for us on this hot day.
Our last stop in Flushing was to go to Song's Family Food for their Kimbap. We ordered the spicy squid with tuna. It was so mouthwatering! I wish we had ordered more but the place is small with no tables to sit and eat. But I recommend checking out this place and ordering a few kimbaps to go.
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
Our third day we went to the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan and decided to check out Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market is a food hall and shopping mall.
There were so many options for food but we decided to get a rice bowl and banh mi from Num Pang Kitchen. The banh mi bread is crunchy and not soggy like most places. The rice bowl was also flavorful. I wish we were more hungry for food. I would have liked to try many more places.
Ever since we've been to Japan and had coco curry, I've been trying to find good Japanese curry. We saw this grand slam platter from Go Go Curry and thought we should give it a try. It has sausage, pork katsu, chicken katsu, shrimp tempura on top of curry and rice. It definitely tastes good but does not beat Coco Curry. I wish the curry was more spicy. But if you're looking to try Japanese curry, you can give this a shot.
We were walking around East Village for Japanese and Korean skin care shops and saw this small stand in the middle of a neighborhood. We ordered the Salmon Rice Burger. The burger was tiny and a bit expensive but tasted like sushi in a burger format.
We also checked out Chinatown in Manhattan. Chinatown is huge! So many places to shop and eat at. But we were only there for one thing. And that was to find Sweet Moments Cafe.
I saw a video on Facebook of Sweet Moments Cafe in Chinatown and wanted to try their bingsoo. The table next to us had this big bingsoo with watermelon and ice cream on top. So we had to get the same thing to try! This is Watermelon Bingsoo. They use half a watermelon to carve up watermelon balls topped with condensed milk, rainbow jelly, rice cake, chocolate chips, apple syrup, ice cream and a meringue cookie.
This is $19 but so worth it! Best bingsoo I've had besides the ones in South Korea.
MY FAVORITE DRINKS
I love bubble tea shops! So my goal wherever we go is to try out different drinks with different flavors. New York is full of bubble tea shops so definitely stop in to try it out.
Overall, we had a great time trying out food in New York and New Jersey. There were a few places we wanted to try out but they were closed for renovations. So we'll have to wait until next time. What I won't miss about New York and New Jersey is the smell of sewage and the trash that's everywhere. It makes you appreciate how clean Minnesota is.
Until next time, happy traveling!