Junoon

To celebrate my sister and my birthday, we chose to go to Junoon this year. She always wants something different from what she usually eats. She doesn't eat a lot of different cuisines. It's not that she's not adventurous. It's more that she doesn't go out of her way to explore and discover much like Mr. M&P and I. Anyway, I know that she doesn't have much experience with Indian food so I thought it would be a good idea to suggest fancy Indian food. Most people have some kind of pre-conceived notion of what Indian food is; And that's usually curry. Boring and wrong. It's so much more than that. And I for one, wanted to find out more about the cuisine too.

So we sat a very spacious table and spoke with the waiter. We asked him about the menu and what would be best to share. We went through many suggestions and ordered a good variety. But to start, the kitchen sent an amuse bouche of carrot soup with paneer. It was flavorful but light. A really nice easy start to the meal.

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Tuesday Nights: BXL Zoute

Towards the end of one year, my friends thought that we weren't hanging out enough. It's true, we weren't. So they started Tuesday night get-togethers. Every Tuesday, we'll pick a bar to drink, eat, and hang out for a couple of hours. Whoever can make it will attend. If you're busy, it's okay. There's always next week. So this is Tuesday Nights on Tasty Eating where you will find bars that serve food and how we like them.



On this recent Tuesday Night, we headed out to: BXL Zoute

I've been to sister restaurants of the BXL Restaurant family before and enjoyed them. So when I found out that there's one flatiron area, I wanted to try it out too. BXL Zoute is a bigger and newer version of this chain of Belgian restaurants. I do, however, enjoy the kitsch at the other locations too. So it's personal preference, really.



We looked over the menu and picked a few things to share. Above (from left to right), Bitterballen ($8) which are meat studded bechamel croquettes. These were awesome! If you like Spanish croquettes, you would love these little balls of creamy, cheesy goodness. We also had the Boudin Noir-Coquille ($14) which was an interesting plate of seared scallops and blood sausage. This take on surf and turf combined sweet tender scallops, and funky meaty blood sausage. And finally, one cannot go to a BXL restaurant without ordering the Moules Frites ($22). They offer several different flavors but we opted for the traditional kind: Marinieres (white wine shallot broth). Perfectly plump mussels in a delicious broth ripe for some crusty bread. And the frites were no slackers either. Crispy and well seasoned. Delicious!

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Aldea

For Mrs. Pattis Magician and Ms. Pastry Chef's birthdays, we went to Aldea to celebrate. This George Mendes restaurant focuses on Spanish and Iberian Peninsula cuisine. Seafood is showcased here as well as any seasonal ingredients. You may choose to dine a la carte but the $75 4 course meal is ideal if you prefer to get more bang for your buck. You get to pick any snack, first course, main course, and dessert from the menu. The dishes are not made smaller if you choose the prix fixe. So if you're a big eater, this would work very well for you. For myself, I had some issue finishing all my food but that's just me.

Before I continue, the prices listed below are the a la carte prices. However, we did choose to do the prix fixe.



To start, the snack I picked was the Croquetas de Bacalhao ($11). These creamy little balls of bechamel and fish was light as can be. The side of roasted garlic aioli was nice addition of strong garlic flavor without overpowering the lightness of the croquetas.

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Tuesday Nights: Barn Joo

Towards the end of one year, my friends thought that we weren't hanging out enough. It's true, we weren't. So they started Tuesday night get-togethers. Every Tuesday, we'll pick a bar to drink, eat, and hang out for a couple of hours. Whoever can make it will attend. If you're busy, it's okay. There's always next week. So this is Tuesday Nights on Tasty Eating where you will find bars that serve food and how we like them.



On this recent Tuesday Night, we headed out to: Barn Joo



On man, this post goes way back. Way back to February. Yes, it's that old. I though about not posting it but the food was really good so I wanted to give Barn Joo the mention.

On this night, we had quite a large group. This meant good food sharing at this gastropub. We ordered from the menu with a frenzy and then the food began to rain onto our table. First the fried oysters. These plump morsels of briny, creamy oysters fried until crunchy were really nice. The garnishes on top gave it just enough of freshness and spicy kick to cut through the oyster itself. I would definitely order this again. Unfortunately, these tasty things aren't on the menu anymore. Maybe it's a special now.

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