Ippudo: NYC and Think Coffee

As I mentioned in my last blog post, our first stop after arriving in Manhattan was a well known Japanese ramen shop over in the East Village called Ippudo. We weren't 100% sure of where we were going, not to mention the blisteringly cold weather, but we eventually got there, wind burnt and all. We didn't know much about the place, really, except that it got excellent reviews on many websites and was specifically recommended by someone my friend knows. Hence the trek to find this place.

Upon arriving, we were totally flabbergasted to find that the wait for a seat was an hour... at 1pm on a Tuesday afternoon. We decided that all these people must be waiting for a reason, so we put our names in and got the heck out of there because there wasn't even a place to sit for that time there were so many people waiting around. We walked down the street and found Think Coffee. Think Coffee is an environmentally friendly coffee shop that does its best to provide organic and fair trade products and serve their coffee in biodegradable products.


I ordered a delightful hot apple cider and my friend got an americano. The prices seemed very reasonable for NYC and we sat there killing an hour waiting for our table at Ippudo talking and relaxing from our 4 hour bus ride and our 1/2 hour trek through the cold.

Just before 2pm we headed back to the restaurant, just in time as the couple ahead of us that should have been seated were nowhere to be found and we were called next. We each ordered a set lunch, which was comprised of a big bowl of ramen, small side salad and a big bowl of rice with meat on top.

Now, the ramen tasted just like what I had eaten in Tokyo, so I didn't find any problem with the authenticity of this restaurant. It did seem a little overpriced to me, considering I paid $6.00 for that bowl of ramen in Tokyo, and I paid $16.00 for this set lunch here (13.00 if you choose not to get the set). But, this is New York, and this is America where they seem to think it's ok to jack up the price 4 times for anything "Asian", so I guess I should have expected this.

My ramen set

My friend's ramen set

The ambiance of the restaurant was great. Since it was just the two of us, we were just seated at a big table shared with many others. Not something that bothers me at all. Big groups were seated in half enclosed booths covered in tatami mats (no sitting on the floor, don't worry). The kitchen was big and open and you could hear them shouting in Japanese every time an order came up or whenever anyone passed them leaving. Granted, I doubt any of them were actually Japanese, I saw various races cooking in the kitchen, but it was still fun to hear Japanese being shouted on all sides.

When we went downstairs to find the bathroom, we found a little window to watch the man behind the noodles... a young guy was working the machine making fresh noodles for our consumption. Very cool, I guess they had to prove that their noodles really were fresh. Too bad I'm so darn short, I couldn't see in very well...


Anyway, I'd give this place 4/5 stars too. The wait was a bit long and the prices were a bit high, but despite that it was very authentic. Feel free to check out their website to find out how they "turned ramen into an art" and all their other bragging rights they feel they deserve.

Trip to New York City

The nice thing about living in Boston, besides the fact that it's a great city unto itself, is the fact that NYC is close and easily accessible, even without a car. Yesterday my friend and I took a day trip to The City. From Boston, we took the 8am Fung Wah Bus from South Station in Boston, which is only $15.00 each way for the 4 hour bus ride. Granted they don't have the best safety record, but I've had good luck with them. Fung Wah drops you right off in Chinatown and from there we walked through the blistering cold wind (actual temperatures hovered in the single digit Fahrenheit all day, not including the wind chill) to a restaurant in the East Village called Ippudo, part of a Japanese based chain of Ramen restaurants that "transformed" ramen. The restaurant is wildly popular, so much that we had to wait an hour for a table at 1pm on a Tuesday afternoon.

From there we went over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'd never been, so I figured we had to go. I still haven't been to central park though, but it was so cold we weren't keen on walking around any more than we had to.

After two hours in the museum, we headed over to Korea town, and though still not hungry from lunch, got frozen yogurt at Pinkberry, and found a place that was just like the chillest HOF you've ever seen. I felt like I was in Korea because there were probably only two westerners in the whole place and everyone was drinking soju and eating real Korean food, not the westernized stuff.

After that we headed back to catch the 9:00 bus, but didn't quite make it so we had to wait for the 10:00 bus. We got into Boston at 2:00am and thats why today I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed soon and I'll make some more detailed posts about Ippudo, the Met, and Koreatown later. Lots of photos to come, so stay tuned.

Kikuyama: Hibachi Restaurant, Dedham, MA

Twice since I've been home I've been to Kikuyama in Dedham, MA. This is a local chain of hibachi restaurants in the Boston area. I had actually never been to a hibachi restaruant before but I've been having a lot of fun going. It's kind of like dinner and a show because the chefs cook right before your eyes, not to mention attempt many little tricks while they cook.


The first time we went, our chef was pretty animated and excited about the little performance, though our second chef was a bit unfriendly and lacked enthusiasm wich seems to me the only reason why you would pay so much money for this food is for the show that comes along with it.

Anyway, the food, of course, was quite good, dispite the poor entertainment value. I was satisfied, though I'm glad I didn't order the fried rice because it was a bit salty for my taste.

Here's a video you can enjoy where our chef made a fiery volcano out of an onion.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, too bad it's over..

In my family, we tend to be a little bit slow when it comes to some things. Especially Christmas. We've gone through many years where we bought a Christmas tree, never to find the time to decorate it. My mom and I are work-a-holics and we're always too tired to decorate when we get home. Even now, my "break" from work in Korea, I've been working at Macy's for the Christmas season, getting up every day at 4:30am to get to work by 6:00 am (glad that's over).


So, this year, my mom decided not to let another Christmas tree go to waste and decided to decorate it last night/today. Yes, December 29th. We'll have to give it another name, since Christmas is over. A friend suggested a "festivus tree" or a "winter tree". She also finally got the Christmas decorations up too.

Welcome home.

Update 2.0

So I received word from both FedEx and the director of my new school that my visa documents had been received yesterday. I was informed that they would bring the documents to the immigration office on Wednesday and it would take 2 weeks maximum to get the visa issuance number.

Waaa.. I just want this to be over and have my visa in hand. Because even when I have the issuance number it will still take 2 or 3 more days before my visa is in my hand. I want to buy my plane tickets now, I hate the suspense, but I can't buy my ticket until I know when I'll have my visa. Ideally I'd like to arrive on the 15th of January, because that's the boyfriend's birthday, but I don't know if it will happen. :-( It's cutting it kind of close there...

Into Boston

Monday after work I went in town to get the apostille for my criminal background check. Let me tell you it is 3x more expencive than in Vermont, so I'm glad I only needed one document apostilled. Anyway, here are some photos from my journey" (it's actually less than 1o miles from my house) for you to enjoy.


State House. It was near here, around the corner and down the street where I got my apostille for my CBC.

Snow in Boston Common, right accross the street from the State House. It's a big park which is full of people in the summer. Now in the winter, folks don't spend too much time here, but someone trapesed through the snow. Not me. And if you're interested, the storm Saturday night/Sunday morning dumped 1 foot around here. But it's the light fluffy stuff, not the heavy wet stuff we usually get.

A cute couple walking through the Common.

A view of Downtown Crossing, one of the big shopping areas downtown. Macy's is to the right here. Filene's Used to be to the left, but they merged with Macy's so they are tearing down the building to make way for... something else, who knows what.

Update

Lots of things going on this week.

First of all, one of the volunteer Korean teachers from my Saturday Korean class is visiting Boston right now. She stayed last night at my house, but I think she changed her mind about staying with me for the rest of the time when she saw how inconvenient my house is. As I mentioned before, by American standards, it's in a very well connected area, but by Korean standards, it's not at all. Not to mention the subway station nearest to me is somewhat dangerous and I don't want her pulling out her map and looking like a tourist in a dangerous part of town. Also, not to mention she probably felt bad that I gave her my bed and slept with my mom in her bed. It sounds like she'll come back and celebrate Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve and spend the night one more time, though.

Today I finally got everything together and put the documents in the mail for my visa. Even though I sent it today, FedEx told me it won't arrive until Dec. 28th. That's 6 days from now! I guess it's because of Christmas? So I'm guessing that the earliest that I can have a visa in my hand will be Jan 11th, and that is if they bring my paperwork to immigration and are not on vacation next week....

Also, today we bought a Christmas tree. Frankly, being the bah-humbug person I am, I could care less if we get a tree, it sort of seems like a waste of a life for a tree, not to mention a waste of $30 for something that will be thrown in the wood chipper in 2 weeks. But what can you do when your mother demands she have a tree for Christmas because she doesn't know when the next time she will have one will be. I'll just try to appreciate it and not look at the wastefulness of it. It will be nice when my Korean friend comes back to my house for Christmas eve. She can see the way a house is supposed to look on Christmas (we haven't decorated much yet...).

I'll post some photos soon of my excursion into Boston to get the apostille for the criminal background check. (though, I'm not even sure if you need it nowadays, no one has said anything about it...)