Tasti Dlite, Manhattan, NYC

There are a few of these scattered across the city and claim in selling tasty low-fat frozen dairy products (notice how they stay away from the word "ice-cream"). Partly out of curiosity more than anything else, I decided to pop in for something.

I settled for the ice-cream cookie sandwich because I'm always of fan of ice-cream sandwiches of some sort. This came in a vanilla-chocolate twist.

Ok.. I don't know what to make of this. It's not frozen yoghurt like how they claim on their website but it definitely did not taste as rich as ice-cream. There's something about how secretive they are in regards to what actually constitutes their product which makes it hard for me to accept that they're entirely kosher (and I don't like how their name is spelt as well). Anyway, this was fun just to try out but I'll go for the real thing the next time.

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Menchanko-Tei, Manhattan, NYC

It's nice to know that there are some decent ramen joints in Manhattan. Menchanko-Tei opens till midnight on the Fridays and Saturdays which makes it pretty convenient for a late dinner.

We started off with the grilled gyutan which was quite tasty but unfortunately sliced too thick. It was also slightly overcooked which made it a tad bit tough.

Their signature menchanko ramen is a soy-sauce based ramen served in a pre-heated cast iron bowl. Steaming hot broth, kept warm continuously; this was very much appreciated in the chilly Autumn weather. The ingredients also tasted fresh and even if I wasn't a fan of cabbage, the shreds here were crunchy and sweet.

Soy-sauce based ramens are nice but I was always a fan of the heartier tonkotsu (pork-bone based) ramens. Even though their Hakata ramen is not their signature dish, it was pretty delicious as well. In fact the broth came close to what I used to have at Ken's, the ingredients are pretty simple though with just a few slices of pork making up the meat.

A nice finishing touch to the meal is the draft Sapporo beer. Sure beats its canned or bottled version anytime.

With two accessible locations midtown East and West, Menchanko-Tei makes herself a rather attractive ramen joint to hit when I get those cravings.

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Big Wong Restaurant, Manhattan, NYC

Nothing beats a bowl of steaming hot pork and century egg porridge for a morning feed. Accompanied by crunchy dough crullers, the smooth porridge had that delicious taste and texture that could only be achieved by the tedious and laborious effort of stirring it slowly whilst it cooks. Big Wong is located on 67 Mott Street ((212) 964-0540) in Chinatown and is opened as early as 7am.

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