Some Good Meals

[Evil Penevil]

 

This was a good meal   (smoked salmon on a bagel) at a rather interesting restaurant:  Vanguard Kitchen, located in Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport in Newark, NJ.  Newark Liberty is one of the three big airports that serves the New York metro area and a hub for United Airlines.  The pics of the restaurant I lifted off the Net.

 

 

 

 

The restaurant is associated with UA, as you can pay for meals using frequent flyer miles.  Each table has a tablet (IPad) from which you both order and pay. 

 

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You can also surf the Net while you eat.  I didn't try any porno sites- I'd imagine they are blocked- but I had no problem logging into Pattaya Addicts.

 

 

The food itself was good but expensive.  The smoked salmon and bagel, which came with capers, raw onion and tomato as well as salad and a generous dollop of cream cheese, was fresh and fine.  You can opt out of any of the toppings when you order on the IPad.  The meal cost a total of USD 20.00 (700 baht), including an 18% service charge and a bottomless glass of soda water.  I paid with 6,000 FF miles.

 

It's a bit strange the service charge is so high because the waitress does little more than carry out your food, although I did see them helping some less computer-oriented customers to order.

 

Anyway, it's not a bad place to kill some time while waiting for a flight.

 

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

Together with two friends, I had a very good meal at Xinn Tien Di, a Cantonese restaurant on the third floor of Gaysorn Plaza in Bangkok.  The restaurant is noted for its Peking Duck and that's what we had.  

 

 

I didn't have the right lens with me to take pics of the exterior and interior, so I lifted a few from the Net:

 

 

The star of Peking Duck is the crispy skin, not the duck meat.  

 

 

The skin is sliced from the duck and eaten with spring onions, cucumbers and a special sauce, all wrapped in a very thin pancake (actually a crepe).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The duck carcass is then taken away and the meat is prepared as a separate dish, most often as duck soup to end the meal.

 

 

Unfortunately, some foreigner who are unfamiliar with Chinese cuisine and Peking Duck in particular don't understand that the meat isn't eaten together with the skin and pancakes.  I have seen foreigners almost go into a rage and accuse the restaurant of "cheating" because the sliced meat wasn't served with the skin.  Some Chinese restaurants in the West may serve them together because so many non-Chinese prefer it, but that isn't classical Peking duck.

 

 

The duck at Xinn Tien Di had very crispy skin with a lot of flavor and no fat.  The sauce, supposedly made according to the chef's secret recipe, had a more distinct flavor of soya paste and was less sweet than some sauces I've had with Peking duck.  It melded well with the duck skin, spring onion and cucumber.

 

 

We also ordered fried goat ribs as a second course.  I've never associated goat with either Chinese or Thai cuisine and it was in fact the first time I'd seen it on a menu in Thailand.

 

 

The ribs were very meaty and flavorful, better than pork ribs, I thought.

 

 

As side dishes, we chose baked morning glory (aka water spinach) with garlic ...

 

 

as well as four kinds of sauteed Chinese vegetables (it was one dish). The veggies were fresh, had been properly cooked and tasted very good.

 

 

.  We ordered the duck meat dish stir-fried with garlic and soy sauce.  It was OK but nothing special and I didn't bother to take a pic of it..  As said, it's the crispy skin that is the highlight of Peking duck.

 

The duck cost 680 baht (two dishes) and with the other three dishes, the total cost was 1,500 baht for three people excluding beverages. It was an excellent meal and I won't hesitate to return to Xinn Tien Di next time I have a hankering for Peking Duck.  We found the service to be friendly, attentive and speedy.

 

Evil

 

[Uncle-V]

Yummmmm!

 

Great report Evil! I think I may give this place a try the next time I am in BKK.

 

I think the fried goat ribs are an Uigur dish. Uigur food was very popular with my students when I taught in Shanghai a couple of years ago. They kept dragging me to these Uigur places, which to me, were a lot like the Central Asian stuff we get in Moscow. (I was dygn for them to take me to some Chinese places) .  I guess they find Uigur food to be exotic. 555  

[Evil Penevil]

The "Blue Elk" burger at Bareburgers on Manhattan's Upper East Side.  Elk medium rare, duck bacon, Amish blue cheese, tomato fig jam and stout onions. Delicious!  The complimentary bottle of water in the 93 F heat (34 C) was very welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cost of the burger was $15 and $2.75 for the white peach ice tea.  With tax, the meal was $19.47 and I left a $3.53 tip, so $23.00 all in.  I didn't want chips or any other side.

 

It's interesting that the Blue Elk burger was cheaper than a Hooters' burger.  I have a feeling the rent Bareburgers pays a few blocks from the UN is higher than Beach Road.

 

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

 

Lunch at the Coach House Diner in northern New Jersey across the Hudson from Manhattan.  Today, it's a full service restaurant famous for its large portions.  It also has one of the best salad bars I've experienced.

 

 

 

 

I had one of the day's specials, all-beef knockwurst with homemade sauerkraut and boiled potato.  The salad-bar starter and the main course came with five (!) pieces of bread baked on the premises.

 

 

 

The special cost $10.00 and the bottomless glass of Coke Zero was $2.25.  It was enough food for two meals.

 

Evil

[taylor1975]

Interesting food and great value!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Evil Penevil]

Back in the U.S. for my pre-Christmas visit.  My motel room had a microwave and fridge, so I decided to see what sort of Christmas dinner I could put together with ingredients that were pre-cooked or could be cooked in a microwave.  Total cost for the plate below was $6.00 (210 baht) for turkey breast, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing.  The veggies were left over from a microwave dinner.  I bought everything at a supermarket.

 

 

 

 

This was a microwave turkey dinner for $2.00 (70 baht):

 

 

 

And the Dunkin' Donuts'  turkey dinner sandwich for $5.00 (not my photo):

 

 

 

Santa Penevil

[langbang]

Thank for sharing