China Pearl Seafood Restaurant

Friends and I were craving good Cantonese style seafood and decided to satisfy that craving here.

We ordered 5 dishes...

Let's start off with the only non-seafood dish. I hope I'm remembering this vegetable right...I believe it's snow peas leaves? It was good simple stir fry. I think it's hard to mess this up.

Clams with Black Bean Sauce

In my opinion, this one was the worst of the batch. It was salty and when it came out, it looked a little weird too me. Something was off with consistency of the sauce. It looked like an "old dish" if that makes any sense.

I only ate a few of these clams.

Fried Flounder

I don't know why I don't order more fish when I go out. I like it but I'm not ready to cook it at home (I'm not over the slimy part yet). This dish was great. It was nicely fried so it had a nice crunch. The only bad thing was that it had some sort of soy sauce underneath it which made the areas that were on top of the sauce a bit salty. Next time, I will definitely tell them to put the sauce on the side.

Stir Fry Lobster - ~$29

This was great as well. It wasn't too bland or salty. The only bad thing was that there weren't a lot of pieces that had a lot of meat. It was good but I'm not sure if it's worth $29.

Salt and Pepper Fried Squid

The dish that others have raved about. It sure didn't disappoint. The batter was light, the seasoning was just right and it didn't taste oily at all. One of the best fried squid dish I've had in awhile.

Overall, good seafood place and I would go back. The bill came out to be ~$102 before tip. Not a cheap meal but I guess you would expect that considering the majority of the dishes were seafood.

China Pearl Seafood Restaurant
8222 45th Ave
Elmhurst, NY 11373

Hyderabadi Biryani & Chat

Decent Indian takeout near me. I've tried a few of their chicken dishes including their chicken vindaloo and I think their Pepper Chicken is the best.

Naan

The sucky thing about this place is that it is inconsistent. Sometimes, the pepper chicken is awesome, sometimes it is okay and sometimes it just plain sucks. I will say that it is usually good than bad.

This dish is spicy and has a good medium "thick" sauce. I hate watery curry as it just spills all over your plate and naan.

Hyderabadi Biryani & Chat
44-27 Kissena Blvd
Flushing, NY 11355

(718) 353-5577
biryaniandchat.com

Yeh's Bakery / Red Leaf Bakery

A friend told me that my favorite green tea cake bakery also makes good curry beef puffs. I love me a good curry beef puff so I decided to check it out one day.

I wanna say these were $1 each? They were good except that it had one major flaw. The meat to pastry was off. There was just not enough meat for the thickness of the puff. I felt like I was eating more of the outside than the filling which left my mouth feeling dry and wanting more. I guess Fay Da Bakery will still be my go to place for my curry beef puff cravings.

Yeh's Bakery / Red Leaf Bakery
5725 Main St
Flushing, NY 11355

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao

Found me a new Xiao Long Bao place!!!

Scallion Pancake

I gotta say...this was one of the best scallion pancakes I've had for awhile. It was flavorful, not too thick and was not drenched in oil.

Hot and Sour Soup

This was pretty darn good too. It was actually hot and sour! I hate hot and sour soup that is neither spicy or sour...

So they have your pork ones and crab ones...

This was delicious. The skin was thin. The meat was cooked right and the soup was flavorful. If you like Joe Shanghai and want to avoid the crowds, just come to this place.

Ma Po Tofu

I've very picky when it comes to Ma Po Tofu. I gotta say...this place makes it decent. I would say this would be my second choice after my old fav schezuan place.

Shanghai Pan Fried  Noodles

Blah - this was a disappointed. The noodles were tasteless and it was a bit oily.

Sliced Pepper Beef

Yummy.

I'm happy I found this place!

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao
59-16 Main St
Flushing, NY 11355

La Cabana Argentinan Steakhouse

I'm not going to write much about this one. Pretty bad food despite the great Yelp reviews. Friends and I were pretty disappointed.

At least they offered complimentary bread ;)

Sangria

I've had better. A bit watered down.

Veggie Soup

Chicken Empanada

I'm not a fan of the shell and the inside could have used a bit more flavor. It was also too dry for my taste.

Spinach Empanada

Don't think my friend was impressed.

Grilled Skirt Steak with a Chicken Leg and Mashed Potatoes

The steak was too chewy and bland. The only good thing about the chicken was the skin. The mashed potatoes was sooo plain and bland.

Same dish except this one has a sausage instead of a chicken leg. My friend didn't eat the sausage because it didn't look "appetizing". ;P

Same dish but with regular potatoes instead of mashed potatoes.


Truly disappointed. Ah well...you win some, you lose some.

La Cabana Argentinan Steakhouse
8607 Northern Blvd
Jackson Heights, NY 11372

(718) 426-5977

No. 1 East Restaurant

Wanted to try a new place one morning and found this on Yelp. I saw that they serve hot soy milk and Chinese crullers and I got excited right away.

Sweet Cold Soy Milk - $1.25

Sweet Hot Soy Milk - $1.25

We got one cold and one hot version. I enjoyed it. It had a good amount of sugar and wasn't bitter at all.

Chinese Cruller - $1.25

I didn't like this. It was too oily and too crispy. It was difficult to eat. I enjoy crullers that you can pull apart without it breaking into crumbs. I barely ate this.

Fried Dumplings (8 pcs.) - $4.95

I wasn't a big fan of the skin. It was very loosely wrapped and a tad oily. You can see the insides from the sides. The inside was not bad though . It was cooked thoroughly which is a must for me. I hate it when the inside of a dumpling is not properly cooked. I wouldn't order this again though. It's nothing special.

My buddy got this. I personally think it's a bit much for breakfast. His words were..."It's not bad."

I'm looking forward to enjoying the hot soy milk in the winter and trying their other items.

No. 1 East Restaurant
41-27 Main St
Flushing, NY 11369

(718) 460-8686

Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc

Update Below (7-24-13)

I went back to this place again a few weeks ago. Ordered two dishes. The fish with cumin and a new dish - Eggplant w. Hot Garlic Sauce.

Awesome food here. I love having a nice great restaurant near me.

The last time I got the cumin fish, it was a tad salty. This time, it was perfect. Crisp, flavorful and light.

The eggplant? Yummy too. It's not your typical eggplant with garlic sauce. It's on the sweeter side and I think the eggplant is deep fried so it has a tad of a crunch. This is the second place that I know of that makes eggplant this way. The first place I discovered this dish was at Golden Palace Gourmet, which I have banned (I do have a post on them from the first time I visited). Their service was horrible the last time I went. I can deal with the typical Chinese waitress service. What I can't stand is stuck up waitresses and owners. And you know what made it worst? When I got home, I realized that they gave me the wrong order! I think that they knew that too! I think someone didn't pick up their order and they decided to give me that one. Argh!

Anyway, enough about Golden POS Gourmet. This post is about the wonderful Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc.

I can't wait to go back and try their other dishes.

Eggplant w. Hot Garlic Sauce - $8.50

UPDATE (7-23-13)

Went back again and ordered two dishes that I've had before and one new one. I ordered the fish with cumin and Fried Pork in Orange Sauce. Both dishes were excellent. I found that the pork dish this time was better than the first time I had it.

Green Bean Sheet Jelly - $9.50

This was our new dish. I found this unexpectedly good. It was cooked with good flavor and I think it went well with the other dishes. It was a nice light appetizer that went well with the fish and pork. Just be careful when picking these noodles up because they are very slippery!

Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc
44-09 Kissena Blvd
Flushing, NY 11355

(718) 539-4100
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lao-dong-bei-restaurant-flushing

Vesta

Nice little Italian place in a non-congested part of Astoria.

Outside pic courtesy of the Internet

Steamed PEI Mussels, spicy sausage, tomato broth - $10

(Slow Braised) Meatballs, parmigiano, tomato - 12

Chicken Sausage, spicy tomato sauce, provolone, red peppers, crispy onion - 15 (I think that was the pizza)

Pappardelle, arugula, lemon, pine nuts, egg yolk, parmigiano - 14 (I think)

Roasted Half Chicken, escarole, potatoes, lemon white wine - 23

Striped Bass, fregola risotto, tomato broth, pickled fennel - 22

Lasagna 6 hour meat ragu (Sunday Dinner Style) - 15

Overall, it was a nice restaurant. Service was friendly and helpful. Food was great and the prices are standard IMO. If you to decide to go here, try to make reservations. It was pretty quiet when we got there at 630 on a rainy Saturday night but it picked up by the time we finished our dinner. 

Vesta

21-02 30th Ave

Astoria, NY 11102

(718) 545-5550

http://www.vestavino.com/

Satay

I've tried this place once or twice and was not that impressed. I need to go back a few more times to give my final opinion though.

Here are the pics.

Roti Canai

Not bad

Chow Kueh Teow

Eh

Sarang Burong

Beef Rendang (At least I think it was)

Satay
4601 Kissena Blvd
Flushing, NY 11355

(718) 888-1868

Malagueta Brazilian Restaurant

One of my favorite restaurants...my go to place to eat salmon ;)

Of course, I ordered the salmon dish but the person who went with me got some new stuff...and here are the pics.

Hmm..I don't remember the name of this soup.

Their Ceviche appetizer. I'm not a big ceviche fan but it was supposedly good. The raw fish was fresh.

I believe this was their Carne Guisada (Beef Stew with Veggies, served with Rice and Beans). Looks eh to me but it was said to be "not bad".


Malagueta Brazilian Restaurant
25-35 36th Avenue
Astoria, NY 11106
(718) 937-4821

www.malaguetany.com