Cuba & Asian Fusion in One Day

I had a dine-around kind of day today. First I met up with Winnie - did our 10,000 steps though I am sure we did more than 10,000! Then we rewarded ourselves with lunch, as always. Today's was abit more special. I wanted to treat Winnie for her birthday. We were going to go for lobster on City Island but yesterday I was in Forest Hills and drove by La Cabana. We have been there a few times always enjoying their Chicharonnes and Winnie asked to dine there. I have always loved their Caribbean decor of different bold colors on the walls. The lunch special consisted of a choice of soup or salad..we opted for salad. The crispy chunks of chicken were juicy and tender on the inside. Served with yellow or white rice with red or black beans. Very yummy.



Later, I picked up Nikki from her office and we went to "ssäm bar". Finally. A couple of years ago, Nikki gave me a Momofuku gift card for Christmas and I was excited since I had been wanting to try this restaurant. Last year, we made a date, went to Momofuku Noodle Bar and was told the gift card was only good for ssäm bar! Sure enough, in small little letters, under the big bold MOMOFUKU on the gift card was "ssäm bar". That certainly left a bad taste! So I have been holding this card waiting to use it. Tonight was the night. But I didn't have high expectations.

But it started off pretty well. Driving over from Varick St to 2nd Ave & 14th was not bad. And then there was plenty of parking on 14th St. ssäm bar is located on 2nd Ave on 13th Street. Meters were done by 7PM - we were there at 6:52 and waited the 10 minutes in the car.

When we got to the restaurant, it was already pretty packed. But we were told it would only be a 5 minute wait and asked to wait outside. Space is at a premium. The hostess came out to get us and we were seated at the long bar with tall stools. Not my most favorite of seating. I thought we would be sitting next to each other but Nikki actually walked around and sat opposite me. The other diners were right at our elbows. Under the counter are hooks to hang your purse or bag - I don't know what happens if you have a coat. Momofuku Noodle Bar has the same set-up and I remember sitting on my coat! At least this time we didn't have to deal with that.

We both decided to share their popular pork buns. Presented more like Peking Duck than chai sui baos. It was much better this time than my first time which had very fatty pork.


I bit into it before I remembered I needed to take a photo!

Nikki ordered: "roasted lamb loin & belly– bulgur, snap peas, egg yolk"

And I had the: "poached chicken – sticky rice, morels, spring onion"


Surprisingly both dishes were quite tasty. My dish was like an avant garde "nor mai gai" which is chicken stuffed with sweet sticky rice except it was reversed and the rice was surrounding the chicken. Nikki gave me a bite of her lamb and it was done well and had nice flavor and texture. I had to admit I walked away very pleased.
I have to apologize for the quality of the photos...too busy eating!