Wandering around Chinatown

It was an unusually warm and sunny October day on Saturday. A little too warm for the season if you ask me, but Mr. Trekker and I decided to go out and enjoy it anyway. We were craving some good beef jerky and had heard there was a place in Chinatown that we had never tried before which was supposed to be better than our usual place New Beef King, so we headed down.

We had to stop at J & R to pick up some cables for our new receiver so we jumped on the 6 train. When we arrived at the Brooklyn bridge station we were feeling a little adventurous so we decided to stay on the train and do the loop to see the old station that used to be used.

I have to tell you it was a little scary. We were the only ones on the train since it had been the last stop and there's something a little eerie about being completely alone in the dark depths of the subway tunnel. Halfway through, the train came to a complete halt for about 3-4 minutes. I had a mini panic attack of being trapped there forever. Visions of a power outage and a huge rainstorm suddenly flooding the subway station all came to mind. I started to have trouble breathing and my heart was racing when suddenly...the train started to move again. Phew!!! That is the last time we ever do that. Although it was kind of neat to see.

Anyway after I calmed down and had a successful stop at J & R, we headed into Chinatown.

Just the other week I had been talking to Mr. T about my lack of having good ice cream in the city. See I am an ice cream addict. At least once a week I have a huge craving for the stuff and I usually just run out to the store and pick up a pint of Ben & Jerry's. I have never been to any of the top places like Cones, Il Laboratorio del gelato , etc. So when I ran across the Chinatown Ice Cream factory I knew I had to stop in.

The amount of crazy flavors were overwhelming. I wanted to try everything!!! But since I didn't want to completely ruin my appetite for the day I limited myself to 2 scoops. I decided to go for the Black Sesame and the Egg Custard ice cream.



OMG- this was so good!!!!! Black sesame ice cream has always been one of my favorites since I had it at Sakagura and Cha'an and this was just as good, if not better than the stuff I had there.

The egg custard though really blew me away. Whereas the black sesame was kind of thick and dense, the custard was really light and smooth. It started melting almost instantly. It reminded me of when I was little and I would make stirred custard on the stove to put over fresh strawberries. It was awesome!

So after I gorged myself on ice cream, we continued walking up Elizabeth Street to Malayasia Beef Jerky. As you enter the store, the strong aroma of smoked meat reminded me of being at the Big apple BBQ. The place is only about as big as our tiny living room so it can be quite overpowering, We were excited to try everything and got a 1/4 pound of the regular beef jerky, the sliced beef and the spicy pork.

Wow! This beef jerky is about 10 times better than what we had been getting at New Beef King. It was so fresh and soft with an incredible smokey flavor. It literally tasted exactly like it smelled.

Close up of the Jerky

Mr. T and I devoured about 3 pieces each and were covered in spices but didn't care. It was so damn good.

We decided to continue walking around a little more just to see what else was in the area. We were heading down Mott Street when I saw the sign for Saigon Bakery. I have always wanted to try a Banh Mi so even though I was literally bursting at the seams we headed in to get a sandwich.

Mr. T was completely taken aback when we walked inside and he saw all the jewelry. You see, the Saigon Bakery is actually 2 things in one. Up front there is a jewelry store with earrings, necklaces, etc. When you walk to the back there is a small counter where you can order six different kinds of Banh Mi. Kind of carzy, huh!

Since I had never had one before I decided to go the traditional route and order the Bahn Mi Saigon- which is pork.

The picture came out really bad unfortunately but basically it's a big crusty roll stuffed with pork, pickled carrots, Sliced cucumber, radish, mayo, sriracha sauce and something else I couldn't decipher. It is also topped with a large amount of cilantro which we immediately had to take off due to Mr. T's allergy to the stuff.

This sandwich was awesome. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. For about $4 this thing will easily fill 2 people up for the day. The toasted bread was nice and fresh and all the ingredients just rocked together.

After that Mr. T and I decided we couldn't fathom eating any more food and headed towards home. All in all a fantastic, and cheap, day of eating

http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/