Prepared with oyster mushrooms, oven dried tomatoes and Niçoise olives,  it was a sublime appetizer: the dumplings were delicious, with a thin shell perfectly cooked and all the elements on the dish worked well together. The sauce the dumplings were bathed in was so good that I would have licked the plate...

The burger looked sublime, between the nice char on the side of the patty and the generous amount of cheese that was dripping all over. I so wanted that first bite that I forgot to take a photo when fully closed! But trust me: that first bite was divine; the meat was delightfully charred, perfectly cooked medium and juicy.

I hesitated between that dish, their tandoori combination platter and the chicken tikka masala. But the crab curry at Baluchi's is so good, that I could not resist and was not disappointed. Normally, it is spicy, because of the chillies in the dish, but I asked them to make it not spicy and, although there was a subtle kick, they did a good job.

I discovered Billy's Bakery few years ago, going at their location in Chelsea, but, instead of indulging with cupcakes like most of the customers, I inhaled their delicious banana cream pie.

Baja is a Tex-Mex restaurant located uptown Hoboken, several blocks from the second Charrito's location and far from East LA. I rediscovered this place recently, after several years of a hiatus, being disappointed in the past by their menu. I was just wondering if they changed anything; for instance, will their guacamole be homemade rather than store bought? Would they have a more interesting menu? That is what we would discover. 

Flight is a Gastropub located on the Upper East Side, opened in October 2014, by Dermot Kelly (who is also the beverage director), Taukiv Azam and Executive Chef Golam. Although their logo has a wing, this is not a place for the aficionados of aviation, but more for the foodies who would like to enjoy a sampling (a flight) of drinks (beer, wine or whiskey) or food. 

Le Village is a French restaurant located in the East Village that opened last January. This place is not totally unknown to me as it is the continuation of an incredible adventure Chef and owner Didier Pawlicki, who also own Taureau and La Sirene started few years ago with Table Verte: the first French vegetarian restaurant in the city.

I discovered Taïm more than 2 years ago, as I was searching for the best falafel in the city. And it truly was for me the best one. Then, they opened an outpost in Soho that I did not get a chance to try until recently. Taïm (pronounce Ta-eem, that means in Hebrew tasty, delicious) is an all vegetarian hole in the wall that will flabbergast you.

The eggs were perfectly cooked, the yolk being delightfully runny, and the salmon cooked as requested, rare and giving to the dish a new dimension. The only negative is that I would have preferred the fruits in a separate plate or a bowl as they soon foot submerged by the Hollandaise sauce.

Couple of weeks ago, we discovered Woops! Macarons and Cookies, a store in the heart of Port Authority that sells...macarons and cookies. They have plenty of locations across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and we could not wait to try some of their products. Our first attempt was to try their macarons.

I was thrilled to go to City Lobster and Steak, more for the lobster than for the steak to be honest. As you know if you follow this blog, I am definitely a carnivore and enjoy a good ribeye, but, after trying a lobster roll few years ago at The Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck, I became addicted to it.

Betony was on my list of restaurants to try and I was thrilled to go there recently for lunch. This place, opened in May 2013 by two alumni of Eleven Madison Park, Executive Chef Bryce Shuman and General Manager Eamon Rockey, received multiple accolades, one of them being a Michelin Star.

There is no secret that I love ramen, but also Korean food, that I tried in my multiple trips to Korea many years ago. So, I was thrilled to try Mŏkbar, a Korean ramen shop that opened in May 2014, with the goal to bring Korean flavors and street food to New York.

The dinner at Tordesilhas was succulent and I am glad that I got to meet with Chef Mara Salles who proposes a wonderful experience to her diners, a culinary trip to the different regions of Brazil whose cuisine is unfortunately not popular enough abroad. Obrigado!

So we went to Margherita Pizzeria, a place that opened in 1981 and has since been a very popular place. In fact, when we were there, it was so packed! But no worries: the service was not affected and pizza kept coming at a fast pace. The secret: two wood fire ovens and an army of cooks in the back. 

Feijoada is Brazil's national dish, so I could not be in that country and miss an opportunity to try it. This specialty is made of black beans (feijoa in Portuguese), meat, manioc, collar greens (cove) and oranges. It is like a Brazilian cassoulet, but cheaper as the meat are the remains of the animal: ears or tail for instance.