Cafe Zaiya Bakery – East Village, NY
Cafe Zaiya
69 Cooper Square
New York, NY
I apologize for the lack of posts! I’ve just been very busy, but I always have blogging on the back of my mind. I will try to update whenever I can even though if the posts are short.
I am a big fan of bakeries! When I’m in the East Village, I always make sure I stop by Cafe Zaiya for their sweet unique pastries and bubble tea. The price is a little on the expensive side compared to a bakery in Chinatown, but it’s worth every penny. I must admit that it isn’t the first time I’ve been to this cafe, but it’ll be my first post on it!
So I picked up a few pastries and I would like to share them with you. Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m buying, but I know it has to be tasty because it looks it! If you guys know the name of the following pastries, please let me know!
Black Sesame Bun w/Red Bean Paste
Close up of black sesame bun w/red bean paste
Sunway Cafe Chinese Diner
39-07 Prince St
(Near 39th Ave, 7 train to Flushing)
Flushing, NY
After watching Simpsons The Movie at the glamorous College Point Movie theatre, the bf, bf’s brother, and I were craving for food. We left at about 10:30 pm and tried to figure out what the hell we were going to eat. No, not Wendy’s or White Castle again. For once, we were all sick of fast food and thought that we needed to sit down tight at a civilized place with plates of real food. Since we were on a tight budget, we decided to head out to Flushing for some cheap ol’ Chinese food. The bf’s younger sweet 16 brother, Alvin, suggested that we go to Sunway. He swears that it’s the best place ever and claims that he’s been there over 20x. It must be dam affordable if he goes there religious. With growling tummies and a loose wallet, the bf and I decided that we should hit this joint and find out.
If you’re in Flushing, you have to be blind not to see this restaurant. It’s smacked right in the middle of Flushing, literally a block away, and it’s right on the corner of Prince and 39th Ave. We got there around 11pm and had to wait on line because there were so many people waiting for a seat! Outrageous! Well, it’s better than it being deserted because then it would get creepy, like in manhattan’s Chinatown.
After about 10 mins, we got seats right under the plasma tv. The baseball game was playing, but not like anyone was paying attention to it. Most of the people here were younger kids that looks really fobby. A pack of young teenage girls were giggling in the back of the restaurant, and a good sprinkle of older fobby guys were sitting in the middle chatting it up like gangsters.
Anyways, after we were seated for like 10 mins, a waitress came to us and asked what we liked to drink. Let me tell you, the best part of the menu are their drinks. I’ve never seen anything more colorful and cocktail-like in my whole entire life. They serve an array of bubble teas and mixed fruity drinks. I opted for the Phoenix Sunrise drink, picture below, because it sounded so kickass. When the drink arrived, I was oh so impressed by the color because it looks like how it sounds and it tasted very sweet, which I love. I can taste mango and orange. Exactly what they put their drink is beyond me. And Alvin got the mango smoothie, which to me didn’t look anything special. The taste wasn’t that great too.
Alright time for the chow part of this blog.
Rice noodles with duck, wonton, and choy sum
Price: $3.75
I wished they gave more rice noodles. Apparently Alvin didn’t finish this bowl due to the dim sum that we ordered, which I will get to. I did have a taste of the duck and wonton and to me, it wasn’t anything special. I grew up eating this stuff, and I figure as long as the taste doesn’t get worse it’s fine by me.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Recommended: Yes especially if you never had this before, or you’re craving for delicious duck and noodles.
Rice noodles with braised beef
Price: $3.75
Again, what’s up with skimping with the dam rice noodles?? I ordered this thinking that this dish can absolutely cannot go wrong, but it did. I’m pissed as hell with the skimping, but to give me the hard ass part of the beef and a few pieces of meat is not cool with me. The broth tasted pretty good, but I’m not feeling this skimping part.
Rating: 2.5/5
Not Recommended
Dim Sum!
Price: $2.25/each
Beef wrapped with Rice Noodles (In Chinese, it’s called Ha Chern)
Malaysian Spongcake
Ha Gow (Shrimp covered with thin rice paper)
Pork Bun
I give them props for having dim sum at this hour. These didn’t taste bad at all. If you are craving for dim sum late night, I’d definitely recommend it.
BBQ Spare Ribs
Price: $5.25
This is the cheapest piece of meat that I’ve ever seen. There’s not a lot of meat and this is the most oily thing that I have ever eaten. I didn’t really like it and wouldn’t recommend anyone ordering this.
Remember, you pay for what you get. The food is decent here and it really gives a quick fix for a staving stomach. The drinks here are absolutely phenomenom. People were ordering it here like crazy. I really recommend that. Alright, I’ll leave you with the health inspection results from the city.
SUNWAY CAFE
39-07 PRINCE STREET, QUEENS 11354
Violation points: 9
Inspection Date: 09/14/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
Sanitary Violations
1.) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
2.) Evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
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.
