Le Parisien

Last night was our date night. After a longish week for hubby, we finally had some time to relax. It's restaurant week throughout this and next week, and I wanted to go for some French food. We settled for Le Parisien, a French bistro in Murray Hill.

We walked over there from Grand Central to walk up our appetite. There were some pretty cute boutiques along the way. Murray Hill seems like a pretty nice/hip neighborhood, with 30 restaurants on each block.

This French gem is located in the heart of a neighborhood. It got pretty good ratings on Yelp. We made reservations, but it didn't seem necessary when we went in around 7.30, because there was only us and another table with theatre-goers for a pre-theatre meal.

The decor is as French as could be, with pictures, souvenirs, posters from France, depicting the artistic culture of les francais. The waiter and waitress / bartenders were French, so I conversed with them a little bit (until they asked me if I've been to Bretagne, and I answered yes because I thought it was Britain!).

Like the Eiffel Tower?

Absolutely loved their bread in a simple tin basket. Tres simple, tres parisienne.

The bread was a light sourdough, with the softest bread I've ever tasted in the middle and a medium-hard crust to give it a bit of a crunch. The butter was very rich too, not just your average butter.

Hubby got an iced tea, which came with a floating lemon in it. 

We started with Le Parisien house salad with arugula, endives and grilled tomatoes. It was dressed with vinegraitte dressing and olive oil, which added a lot of flavor to the salad.

I really liked the grilled tomatoes that added a twang of sweetness. The greens were soft and soaked through with the dressing. I particularly liked the endives that added some crunchiness to it all.

Bread refill

The waitress and waiter were both attentive, and came back with bread and drink refills every so often. This is really different from the islands where it's hard to flag down anyone.

I had to stop myself from munching on the delish bread to save room for the mussels I ordered. Our food came 15 minutes after we ordered.

My muscles came in a giant pot with the lid on, and a side of fries wrapped in a baking sheet. Hubby's dish was ginormous, with his steak frites cooked medium well and a large side of fries.

Bistro Steak Frites with red wine thyme sauce and caramelized shallots

Hubby's bistro Steak Frites was cooked just like his wanted. I tried a little of his meat with the red wine thyme sauce, which had a great salt-sugar balance. The wine added a twinge of sweetness and alcohol to the dish, which accented the steak's juiciness and freshness. I liked dipping my fries in it.

Oh yes and a note on these curly fries - they were seasoned with garlic and fried to a crispy golden finish. They were so good to munch on, and because they were already seasoned, I didn't even need to use ketchup! (But I got some anyways because it's like a ritual. Their ketchup btw is like homemade or something because you can almost taste the tomatoes).

Parisienne PEI Mussels in saffron and mustard cream

My mussels were juicy and fresh. So fresh that I tasted sand in one of them. I was amazed by the sheer amount of mussels in the pot. I used the little mussel fork to poke out the meat, and then hubby taught me to use the spoon and get some juice and drink it like a soup. The saffron and mustard cream was a bit sour to my liking, but it didn't effect my enjoyment of the mussels.

Fork em out!

Sip it like a gentle-woman!

Dish out the shells!

Towards the end, I just ended up getting out all the mussels into the soup because the shells were getting in the way. I was getting pretty full by now because of all the fries. The fries in the container looks deceptively small but they really pack em in. 

I had some soup left over, but the sauce was too sour for me to finish. Hubby had to help me finish up some mussels, because it can get a little overwhelming with so many of them.

By now the restaurant was filling up pretty quickly. There were people of all shapes and sizes, mostly couples who were there for a pre-theatre dinner. The waitress kept on asking people coming in if they had reservations. A party of four Chinese kids wanted to get in, but they were told to wait outside because it was not their time yet (they made reservations at 8pm).

I guess that's why their bread is so fluffy soft in the middle - it's great to soak up the extra sauce!

It must have taken abnormal strength to in finish up the fries, because they were clogging up my arteries towards the end. The oil was getting a little too much, and since they were curly, there was a lot of them towards the bottom that kept on getting stuck to each other.

Fini

Yet somehow, I managed to finish all of my fries. It got a little greasy towards the end, but I loved the fact that it was soft and starchy. Would have been nice to get more ketchup, but I ate it the French way like hubby suggested with the mayo, which I was pretty good too because the mayo was rich and just a tad sweet.

It was a lovely meal, and I loved the service! The place is really cozy and reminds you a lot of the artistic spirit and hospitality of the French, but without the busybody attitude of les Parisiens. (This place btw is run by people from Bretagne, a region northwest of France).

Next time, I'd definitely love to try to the Panfried Skate or the mussels with Thai sauce.  And maybe save some room for dessert, like their creme brûlée.

Le Parisien
$$
**** (4/5)
Kids-not-that-friendly (reservation required for kids or large parties)

Kimchi-haseyo

Last week after a long day I had a sudden ambition to make some kimchi (possibly to reconnect with my Korean roots but mostly to show hubby that I can make kimchi!).

I bought some daikon (Japanese/Korean carrots) and cabbage. First I diced up the daikon and cut up the cabbage into 2-3 inch pieces.

Chop chop

The recipe calls for some sea salt that you can find almost anywhere. Dump a handful (about that much in the picture) in the cabbage and the carrots. I also sprinkled some sugar in it as well to balance out the taste.

While the cabbage and carrots are marinating, cut up three stalks of scallion in 2 inch pieces.

And some slices of ginger.

And mince a couple cloves of garlic (this will give the kimchi some omph).

Mix the above two ingredients into the scallions and cover up until the cabbage/carrots finish marinating.

I happened to have bought some chili-flavoured oil with crispy shrimp from the Chinese supermarket that weekend, which will go nicely with the kimchi. You can always substitute this with real garlic and red pepper flakes.

I used for the spices one teaspoon of oil (go easy on this), some oyster sauce and some sugar. You can really adjust the spice level according to your preference.

Mix the spices into the scallion/ginger/garlic.

 

After two hours (longer is better), wash out the cabbage and squeeze out all the excess salt water.

Combine the spiced ingredients (i.e. scallions, garlic, ginger) with the marinated ones, and mix thoroughly.

The secret ingredient?

That's right - Pepsi!

This is what makes the kimchi crunchy and sweet. And some of this can't hurt either (a lot of kimchi recipes actually calls for apples or pears).

Then mix that all up...

You are supposed to leave it in a cool, dry space for 1-2 days, until it ferments. You will know when it ferments because it will smell pretty funky and the mixture will turn a little sticky. I only left mine out for half a day, and then put it in the fridge, because it was pretty hot and I was afraid it would go bad.

After a day in the fridge...

It's kimchi time! This was unbelievable crunchy with the right amount of spice. It's really garlicky because of all of garlic cloves I put in, but the taste is quite authentic. I found myself picking off one cabbage after another, and eating the carrots as if it were Cheetos! It's really quite addictive, and the carrots help you digest after a heavy (or light) meal. The spices in the kimchi is also purportedly good for your system, especially in the summer.

Two (three if I could) thumbs up for this kimchi recipe! (I also made enough to give out to others, in case anyone wants it =)

Stirfry Crab Pasta

I know it's been a while since I've posted my own cooking adventures. It's just that I haven't had much time to eat, let alone cook. My major food groups these days are tortilla chips, bananas, salsa and Kefir yogurt.

But the other day I felt obligated to crack open the cupboards and actually make something (it's theraputic, you know).

There were some frozen crab meat in the fridge that I took out, thawed and cut into bite-sized pieces. (If you are in a hurry, you can rinse it with hot water, boil the entire piece and then cut up into pieces.)

 

And the frozen brocolli (I know, I know, it's better to get it fresh).

 

And it's real simple - first you just boil some pasta (I used fine spaghetti,which is thicker than angel hair so it doesn't break so easily, but has a nice al dente texture of a thicker noodle). Then transfer the pasta into a frying pan with some water (so it doesn't dry up).

Then mix in the crab and brocolli, stir in some pasta sauce, oyster (or hoisin) sauce, and a dash of spices like the chili sauce I used here.

Mix well in the pan, and stir around until the sauces are evenly distributed.

Dress it up or down as much as you'd like. The crab meat already has plenty of flavor, so it's just the noodles you have to make sure is flavored.

Put it in a nice bowl, and you have yourself a nice bowl of noodles (for today and tmr's lunch!)

Hubby loved it so much that he couldn't wait to eat it for the next day's lunch!

Household Finds

 

I'm going to start off with this picture. Anyone notice anything?

Look closely. 

Nothing?

Well, it's a subway rat that I saw on my way home last weekend. Its head is squeezed between the second and third cables down at the bottom. (Just glad it's there, not in my home!)

Found some neat things browsing the stores over the weekend, like this (rather rude) tee about Canada.

Who do you think we are, eh?

For gimicky picniky items, Pier One is your choice for...

The ultimate hot dog condiment server

Speaking of picnics, you definitely need one (or two) of these babies...

And Costco's got boxes upon boxes of them in their store!

I've always wanted to find this (because I'm definitely not smart enough to do it myself)...

Even tells you when you've run out of toilet paper!

We also checked out Aldi, the super cheap supermarket. Hubby pointed this out to me so that next time, we can reduce our fridge storage and make life simpler.

Like a two-in-one for your bread!