Koryodang: Korean Dessert (K-Town 32nd St.)
Koryodang
31 W 32 St
(btw Broadway and 5th Ave)
(212) 967-9661
It has been a while that I’ve been back in Korea-town. I believe it’s been over 3 years and you cannot believe how much this neighborhood has changed. There are more new and exciting shops opening around for young adults and hipsters to come here to hang out. I remember there was a day that this neighborhood was bombarded with many expensive korean bbq restaurants that was glowing with red neon lights to attract customers. But now not only are there korean bbq restaurants at competitively good prices, but there are local korean restaurants w/o the bbq and ones that have both. Added to that list are korean bakeries, cell phone stores, and lots more up and rising stores. This is a great time to be in K-town!
After my dinner at Gahm Mi Oak which was literally next store, we decided to come here. From what my friend Danny tells me, there’s a Koryodang bakery in Flushing and now there’s one here. It looked really nice, and what sealed the deal was a man flipping ice cream on a pan! I thought, how cool was that.
I really love how the koreans come up with new and innovative treats for me to eat. As a first timer, I knew I would not be disappointed here.
When me and my group came in, the place was literally packed with Korean people. 
Really packed. The waiter had to grab us 2 extra crappy seats for a table supposedly for 2, but it was alright. Nice gesture instead of having us to wait. Luckily I sat on their nice leather seat and Kim and Dawen sat on the “patio” chairs as Kim would put it.
After we were seated down, we received a framed menu with choices on both sides. I was already excited about the Icepan Icecream and Danny was excited about a Pear tart. I never had one, but I was excited to see one! Kim and Dawen ordered bubble tea, but I was curious on how the Korean’s take on it.
The Icepan Ice Cream! It comes with strawberry, kiwi, mango, green tea, pineapple, banana or raspberry. Price: $6.49
Beautiful isn’t it? I chose banana ice cream because I haven’t had that in a long time and I was so craving it. The ice cream is buried underneath all the fruit. My god, this is one of the BEST dessert I have ever had. My mouth was watering for more and my mood was excellent after getting into a fight with the bf. After we both had a taste of this, all the negative energies dissipated into thin air and we were both smiling and feeding each other. I loved this so incredibly much. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you guys to try it! HIGHLY.
Here comes the honeydew bubble tea! It’s very expensive – $6.99. And I thought Ten Ren is expensive!
Honestly, this is not worth the $6.99. At Ten Ren’s, it tastes a whole lot richer and thicker than this. It’s better that all the other bubble teas, but this is not worth the price. I wouldn’t recommend this.
Next on the list is the Pear Tart! Price: $3.25 I’ve never had a Pear Tart before, but I know dam well that it sounds like a sweeeeet treat! Let’s see!
My god, gorgeous. Gorgeous. When I digged into this magnificent tart, it was like I was in heaven. This treat is so rich in sweetness that it drives my mouth wild. You have to try it to believe it. The tart itself as you can see is sweet too, which I wished it wasn’t, but it was still a very very delicious treat. At this time, Danny was bouncing off the walls because he’s very sensitive to sweets.
Overall it was an excellent idea to come here. I would definitely come here again to try their other treats. If you want to know what else is on their menu, let me a comment and I’ll show you. I don’t believe there is a menu online now but that doesn’t matter.
Ok, the NYS health inspection results!
KORYODANG
31 WEST 32 STREET, MANHATTAN 10001
212-967-9661
Current violation points: 25 – PASSED (27 to pass)
Inspection Date: 01/11/2007
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1.) Toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper, waste receptacle and self-closing door.
2.) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
3.) Sufficient refrigerated or hot holding equipment not provided to meet proper time and temperature requirements for potentially hazardous foods.
4.) Cold food held above 41°F (smoked fish above 38°F) except during necessary preparation.
Ten Ren’s Tea Time
79 Mott St
(near Canal St)
New York, NY
I like to point how difficult it is to take pictures in Chinatown without someone walking into your shot. It took me several shots because I can get the above picture. My before picture looked like this:
You see this priceless face? Yeah he hates tourists like me who flashes around their cameras like nothing. Don’t worry, just know that you need to take a least a couple of shots to get a clear one.
Anyways to continue, Ten Ren, I can say makes one of the best Bubble Teas in chinatown because it has this richness, in terms of taste and color, and can almost be compared to the ones on the west coast. I have tried bubble tea in Toronto, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and they all vary slightly, but will never let you down. If you try the bubble tea at Green Tea or Tea-riffic, also down on Mott St, you’ll taste how diluted their drink is and how bland it is, compared to Ten Ren. Let me tell you, bubble tea is definitely not made like that in NJ, Canada, or the west coast. Ten Ren here won’t disappoint, since Ten Ren is also located around the world.
I will rate bubble tea in terms of:
Appearance
Richness in taste
Texture of tapioca (boba or pearls in the west coast)
Price
Portion
This is exactly how big Ten Ren is. There are limited seating in the back and there is no bathroom at all. Repeat there are no bathrooms for customers so you should either take your drink to go or wait until you go to a restaurant or go back home.
By the way, this place also serves food as well:
Though I’ve never eaten there before.
There are only two guys who works here as you can see, and on the counter you’ll usually see a ten ren cup with tapioca filled inside and then they fill up your drink. You can tell if they leave it out for too long because then it becomes hard. But most of the time it’s soft and chewy, very chewy, just the way it should be.
A small drink is $4.00 and a large one is $6.oo.
I ordered a passion fruit tea w/tapioca from the ice slushy category:
My friend ordered the mango flavored one which looks exactly like this one. I had no idea that passion fruit would turn out to be orange, but it did and it tasted like it.
Let me tell you, at Green Tea and Teariffic, they can’t make a bubble tea like this maybe because they have a different way of making the tea. This drink is sweet til perfection and the tapioca is exactly how I remembered it — soft and chewy.
I highly recommend this place if you’re in chinatown or wanting to sport a good bubble tea.
And if you’re a heavy bubble tea drinker, I’d recommend you to ask for this card from the cashier:
Sorry if it’s a bit blurry, but basically it says what it says: Buy 10 get 1 free.
I will give it a 4.5 out of 5.
Well time for the health inspection verdict. Are you ready?
TEN REN’S TEA TIME
79 MOTT STREET, MANHATTAN 10013
212-732-7178
Current violation points: 27- PASSED
Inspection Date: 02/21/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1.) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
2.) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
3.) Personal cleanliness inadequate. Clean outer garments, effective hair restraint not worn.
4.) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
Elixir Juice
Elixir Juice
2 World Financial Center
(Lobby Level)
225 Liberty St
New York, NY
(212) 945-0400
After a long lunch at Chipotle, softrice and I waddled over to the world financial center to grab ourselves some smoothies since I was raving to him on how good it is. I’ve tried almost every single drink on the menu, except one or two, and I was excited to try the last two although I did not had such high expectations for those two. In softrice’s mind, he was bent on his apple pie smoothie, not the signature Elixir smoothies. If that’s what he wanted, that’s what he will get.
I ordered the Work Out boost that has apple cider, banana, orange juice, strawberries, spirulina, and muscle protein. The last two are active ingredients to give you an extra burst of energy, hence work out boost. I was disappointed when received it because it was brown! Look!
Price: $6.50 (small)
This looks like a chocolate shake except that this has traces of red specs on it because the strawberry. Yeee-uck. That’s right, it even tastes yeee-uck. But the texture was expected to be superb, it was nice and thick, not like the ones you’d see in Jamba Juice or Smoothie King. This is grade-A quality texture.
Verdict: This tastes horrible. For a boost of energy, try Smart Start instead. Check out the menu on the website.
Recommended: Of course not. Yuck.
And unfortunately softrice did not like his large Power Apple Pie smoothie. I tried it and it tastes fine, like a real apple pie. I thought it was good, but he thinks it’s too thick. Well it’s supposed to be thick. Next time, try the fruity ones! I higly recommend that.
Yes, these smoothies are very filling and can help you lose weight.
I love this place too much, but not everything tastes heavenly. I recommend you guys to go and give it a try.
