USA // New York 8.2 - Dinner at Cocoron

We wanted to have our dinner at Egg, but it was closed. Sought help from Yelp for alternatives and went to Cocoron, the soba place we had dinner at the first night we were in New York, together with our Thai friend who was working in Manhattan for two months. Funny how we had Japanese at Little Italy.

It's not life-changing but it is super tasty and so heartwarmingly comforting in the winter. I'm not a noodle person but I love japanese noodle dishes! This hit just the right spot. This time I had the warm soba, but Cocoron is known for their dipping soba, which I tried the first time. Each dipping soba will come with an individual hot pot containing your selected sauce, with a flame below to keep it warm, and a serving of soba. If there were any add-ons ordered, they would come in a separate dish, not together with the sauce. That's perfect because I love tempura flakes and I wouldn't want them soggy from soaking up all that sauce... The way to eat is to just dip the soba into the sauce and then slurp it up. The regular serving is just nice for me, but for Javin perhaps the Large would have been better. Towards the end the sauce does get a little salty because the flame causes water to evaporate quickly and the sauce becomes pretty concentrated, but Cocoron will serve some water (?) to add into the sauce.

The warm soba doesn't come with those funky sauces, it was just soba in a light soup with some other ingredients, depending on what you order. Not as interesting, but for days when you just wanna have lots of soup with your noodles, this is great. The cucumber thing is very refreshing too! We tried the egg but it wasn't fantastic.

Cocoron has two stores, one in Lower East Side and one in Nolita. I've only been to the one in Nolita, which is the second store, but I heard that the two stores have different menus and my friend's favourite sauce is from the store in Lower East Side. I suggest being there by five to five-thirty pm, because it does get crowded during dinnertime and the space is small (typical of New York haha).

Cocoron (Delancey St)
61 Delancey St
New York, NY 10002
b/t Allen St & Eldridge St
Lower East Side

Cocoron (Kenmare St)
37 Kenmare St
New York, NY 10012
b/t Mott St & Elizabeth St
Little Italy, Nolita

USA // New York 8.1 - Buddha Bodhi in Chinatown, Shopping in SoHo

The day before we headed to Buddha Bodhi in Chinatown for dim sum, but it was dinner time and they weren't serving dim sum anymore. So we ordered two dishes to go with rice, thinking it was the normal small zi char portions we have in Singapore and they came out huge! Just look at the picture above - there were SIX tofu portions which are each about the size of a palm (for Singaporeans, the size of a full tau kwa portion). The other dish is the same size. I think our meal could feed six people.

The next day, we headed to the same place for morning dim sum and the portions were huge again. Didn't manage to take a picture of everything we ordered but I was so full after the meal, along with the previous night's huge servings, I couldn't crave Chinese food for the next week.

Walked it off in SoHo before dinner. I might have gotten some stuff from American Apparel in between... ;) Like that pair of disco pants I have been searching for since forever! And a spanking new pair of NBs! I still love NBs because I like the shape. I need a pair in white! Have no idea what store I got my NBs from but they were on offer, 60 SGD or less <3

SoHo is my favourite place for shopping. The stores are all beautiful, or so I think because Singapore doesn't get stand-alone stores. The experience is really fun! All kinds of stores there. And food.

Had to take some pictures of my outfit with my new shoes after that. (Who am I kidding, I take pictures of my outfit whether or not I have new shoes hahaha) Took some shots for Javin too.

USA // New York 7 - Greenwich Village

Val // V necklace from THE ORDINARY CO

Javin // Double-breasted suit from COMMON SUITS

I heard a lot about Greenwich Village, from friends who have visited or lived in Manhattan, and it turned out to be one of my favourite places in NYC. According to my friend, it reminds her of London, especially along Bleeker Street, which may I mention, is where the original Magnolia Bakery store is located!!

I LOVE the banana bread pudding from Magnolia Bakery. Needless to say, I sneakily led Javin to Bleeker Street to "check out the area", when I just wanted to get some of that heavenly pudding. It was crowded as usual and all the other baked goods looked so tempting but we kept our eyes focused on their crowning glory, the banana bread pudding. Alas, I gave in and got a Hummingbird cupcake along with the pudding but it wasn't memorable. I even forgot I actually got the cupcake. Now I can't even remember if it was really a Hummingbird cupcake.

We sat outside to eat as there were no seats in the bakery. The weather was really cold and even the direct sunlight wasn't enough to keep us warm, but the banana bread pudding was worth it!

After walking around for a bit, we shared a falafel sandwich from Taim, which I thought was really good, better than the one from Maoz, another chain where you can get your falafel fix. I love falafel bars here! They're usually vegetarian since vegetarian/vegan is pretty big here, so it's great for Javin and I. Taim has three falafel flavours: Green (traditional taste with cilantro, parsley and mint), Harissa (mixed with Tunisian spices and slightly spicy) and Red (with roasted peppers). The staff recommended Harissa so we went with that. If I were to go again with an emptier stomach, I would have gone for the mixed falafel platter to try all flavours!

I'm not sure about the other stores, but this store was pretty small, with seating for about five to six people. Probably not much of an eat-in place, but more of take-out. I heard the smoothies are good, but I didn't try because I knew nothing could beat Juice Press.

Greenwich is a very photogenic place with the "village vibe", so it's also known as The Village. It's the type of houses you see in Sex and the City - rows of houses with stairways that reach the pavements and many trees, which were all just branches when I was there because it was winter. I suppose it would be very pretty in other seasons!

There are many bars, cafes, book stores, clothing stores... Just walk around and explore on your own; soak in the feel of the entire place! You can visit Washington Square Park and NYU as you move towards the East.

Oh in case you're wondering, West Village is part of Greenwich Village. I know it can be confusing. There's East Village too, but East Village is not part of Greenwich Village.

Magnolia Bakery (Bleecker St)
401 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014
West Village

Taïm Falafel and Smoothie Bar
222 Waverly Pl
New York, NY 10014
West Village

How to know if short hair will look good on you

I saw this article on Harper's Bazaar that day and thought that I should share it! Many women are so unsure of whether they should cut their hair short, so I'm sure this article will help.

Basically, it's the 2.25" rule - read the article here to find out more!

USA // New York 6 - Saturday brunch in Greenwich Village and coffee in NoLita

A couple we knew recently moved to New York, so we met up with them for brunch on Saturday at Minetta Tavern. I love that New York's restaurants take so much pride in creating the perfect ambience and that every place has its own character.

Minetta Tavern was no exception. It was a rustic-looking place with beautiful decor - black and white checkered floors and red plush seats, characteristic of the typical American diner, with Parisan elements. It just felt so good eating in there. Plus the service was great!

We were there in time to try the weekend brunch menu. I got the Duck Hash with Fried Eggs, Javin got Eggs en Cocotte and the other couple got Sunny Side Eggs and Buttermilk Biscuits and the Minetta Burger. Apparently, they are known for their Black Label burger, which is made up of prime beef with caramelized onions. They're known for their prime beef.

I rarely have meat but my duck hash was so good! I think it was one of the most delicious dishes I had in New York. The duck was tasty, the hash perfectly fried and seasoned, the egg yolk runny... Perfect in all ways. Javin didn't really like his dish (probably not enough for his bottomless stomach), but mine was definitely a winner.

After our meal we went to grab some coffee. Good coffee is always a nice way to end a meal. I have no idea why but I was very caffeine-dependent in New York. I had to have at least one coffee a day. I had bad coffee, good coffee, but mostly Starbucks coffee because it's way too accessible.

Our friends brought us to Happy Bones. It was a bit of a walk to NoLita, but well worth it. Happy Bones is a cozy place, with just a few tables. A clean and white space with a lot of natural light filling the small area. They only serve coffee, along with doughnuts from Dough. Javin and I got a glazed doughnut to go along with our latte and hot chocolate, which was a nice contrast against my coffee. Sweet, but not too sugary, and it wasn't oily at all.

We sat outside. Girls on the bench having girly talk, and guys going about their guy conversations revolving around work and business. Comforting.

Comforting to have hot coffee in the cold. Not to mention it was mildly acidic, just the way I like my coffee. Comforting to have a Singaporean conversation with all our local slang after being surrounded by Americans for five days. Not that New York wasn't a pleasant place, but home is always the best.

Minetta Tavern
113 Macdougal St
New York, NY 10012
Greenwich Village

Happy Bones
394 Broome St
New York, NY 10013 b/t Mulberry St & Centre Market Pl
Little Italy, Nolita