This lovely item is a Thai spring roll in apricot sauce. The sad part is that the spring roll had shrimp, so after one bite, I stopped eating it. But the sauce was excellent.
I also tried vegetarian duck at this restaurant. Vegetarian duck is so good because it’s not rubbery like normal tofu or soft and squishy, (like tofu, and also how I imagine fish to taste). It has this ribbed texture and nice chewy, salty taste. My dining partner told me it tasted like real duck. Although I am a vegetarian, I like eating fake duck because it tastes so good! And affirms my belief that I don’t need to eat meat to have a full culinary experience… though Kobe beef sounds pretty delicious (although I’ve never had real beef). The duck was in this flavorful, thin brown sauce. Here, you can see a picture:
This Thai food was eaten in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on the corner of Kent & Manhattan (I can’t remember the restaurant’s name).
The next night, I went to dinner at a little bistro-type Italian/Spanish restaurant called Cafe Condesa.. dim lighting, delicious wine, big windows opening out to the evening… very romantic, all in all. My dining partner ordered the Fresh Fettuccine and it was so amazing… I get tired of eating bad pasta at Italian restaurants. More often than not, the pasta is overcooked and drenched in some creamy but tasteless sauce…and it’s not fresh, and tastes chewy and starchy. This pasta dish, however, was fresh, and was perfection:
The pasta, which was fresh and tender, was topped with wild mushroom ragout, manchego cheese, and broccoli rabe. Broccoli rabe is a slightly bitter, leafy green vegetable popular in southern Italy. It is often steamed or sauteed in olive oil. Ragout is defined as either a stew, or a sauce for starchy products, such as noodles. Manchego cheese is sheep’s milk cheese from Spain that is aged for at least 3 months. It is creamy and slightly salty, and very delicious.
