Laut - NYC

Michelin-starred Malaysian/Thai food? Even though I'm Asian, I was still kind of skeptical of how Asian food could be refined enough to be Michelin-starred. I was also hesitant to dish out the money, since Malaysian and Thai food can easily be found around the city at lower prices. Luckily, I found a deal on Groupon and decided to bring my family here for my dad's birthday dinner (my parents are so old school Asian that they would never let me spend that much money on them for food - only if there were some sort of coupon!). I'm a horrible food blogger - I'm trying to update more frequently and right after I eat a meal. Unfortunately, this meal took place over the summer so I'll just fill you in on the memorable details!

We were at Laut relatively early for dinner, so I really enjoyed the setting (I'm a sucker for restaurants with exposed brick walls).

Chili Tofu: fried tofu stuffed with cucumber, jicama, bean sprout & chili sauce

This was my appetizer - I loved the sauce and toppings. Normally fried tofu at Thai restaurants are over-fried and don't really taste like much of anything - I liked that at Laut, the tofu still had a soft consistency on the inside.

Five Spice Pork Roll: Marinated pork with five spice and fried

Chicken Satay: Grilled marinated with spice on skewer with peanut sauce

Roti Canai: Indian style crispy thin pancake with spicy curry dipping sauce

Ikaan Chili Garang: Fried fillet of flounder with shrimp paste chili sauce

My dad ordered the fried fish and this was easily the best dish out of all of ours. It was extremely spicy but the chili sauce had actual depth in flavor, rather than just burning your mouth off.

Asam Lemak Udang: Sour spicy coconut milk with shrimp lemongrass garlic cherry tomato okra

Actually...I remember absolutely loving this dish too. Also very spicy.

Beef Rendang: Simmered until dry exotic spices lemongrass, lime leaves, grated coconut with thick coconut milk

Chili Crab (with steamed bun): Spicy chili crab (soft shell), egg, garlic, ginger, tomato sauce, sesame peanut oil

This was my order and it was very good. It was slightly on the sweeter side, but I didn't mind it.

Mango with sticky rice

Green tea ice cream with toasted coconut flakes

Their green tea ice cream was amazing! My mom was obsessed with this. It was not sweet at all and had a really deep matcha green tea flavor. I wish we actually asked them who supplies their ice cream, or if it's house-made. I've recently discovered really good green tea ice cream from the Maeda-en brand at Asian grocery stores - but the one at Laut was ten times better than even that brand!

Ginger candy with the check - I love these sorts of extra touches from restaurants!

Vapiano - NYC

A lot of times, my friends and I just want to meet up for a quick affordable meal to catch up, something low key. Yet, we always run in to the problem of finding a restaurant for our weekly catch up sessions - it seems like most restaurants in NYC are either too high maintenance or too casual, with more of a "fast food" feel. Even the restaurants that try to pass off as casual neighborhood spots have surprisingly high menu prices.

Some of my college friends had an event at a sports bar near Union Square one night, while I had another event to go to in the same area so we decided to go to Spice for relatively affordable Thai food. I had only been for lunch before and was surprised that the dinner scene was much more high maintenance (think over done mood lighting and house music). There was also much more of a wait than I expected. After waiting for around 30 minutes, and running late for our respective events, my friends and I opted to go across the street to Vapiano, and were rewarded with a much more serene and elegant (yet affordable and low key) atmosphere where we could actually hear each other talk. They have an interesting system where they give you a card, you go to the respective meal station where you order and get your food, they swipe your card at that station, and upon leaving, you give the card to the cashier who then charges you for the amount reflected on your card.

I loved the simple decor at Vapiano, they even had an olive tree growing in the restaurant (picture above is from their website). Their options of Italian and Mediterranean food also all sounded good. I only opted for a shrimp salad, but it was delicious! This is definitely at the top of my list now as a go-to for catch up sessions with friends.