Itai Boublil

Moc Moc

Last night Irm and I tried a new Japanese restaurant in town named Moc Moc. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the place in the beginning because of its peculiar location (a side street in Princeton that no one ever crosses), but after listening to my colleague raving about the place we decided to give a try.

The food was absolutely delicious!

I particularly enjoyed the crab salad I ordered as an appetizer. It was spicy and somewhat sweet at the same time, and was mixed with tobiko (fish eggs), which I like very much. I have seen so many places that do a “good job” ruining this dish, and I was glad to see that the chef at Moc Moc knew what he was doing. Irm ordered the Fried Tempura as her appetizer, and thought it was made to perfection.

Normally I order sushi as my entrée when I go to Japanese restaurants, but this time I decided to order something different so I asked for the seafood Yaki Udon. It was an excellent choice, and  I enjoyed it very much. The dish had fresh chopped vegetables mixed in it, with lots of thick noodles and a variety of seafood. The servings were big, which I liked as well.

All in all, we had a good time dinning at Moc Moc. We will definitely go back there to try their sushi. If you are in Princeton, make sure to put it on your list of places to dine.

Restaurant Review

It was a hot day yesterday, and we decided to try and get some ice cream after the not so good restaurant we dined in earlier in the afternoon. We normally do not go to Halo Pub (located in downtown Princeton NJ), but this time we decided to give a chance.

It is beyond me how an ice cream (in this case an ice cream cake) can taste so bad.  I mean, it is only an ice cream right? Well, apparently the folks at Halo Pub do not think that freshness should be part of their ice cream philosophy.

We ordered two ice cream cakes (two slices). One was the Chocolate ice cream ball (the actual name skipped off my mind), and the second was a Pina Colada ice cream cake.

Both of these cakes where stale! It is probably the first time in my life that I could not finish an ice cream because of its taste. I usually do not complain about food, and especially not when it comes to ice cream, but these ice cream cakes were 1 star at best!

Halo Pub in Princeton NJ: Not recommended.

Restaurant Review

Zen is a new restaurant located in the heart of downtown Princeton. It replaces Ichiban Japanese Cuisine, which closed a few weeks ago. The new restaurant offers a combination of different Asian dishes, also known as Asian Fusion. The menu outside looked appealing, so Irm and I decided to give it a try.

The service was a bit pushy in my opinion. I find it very hard to enjoy a meal when the waiter, the owner, and another waitress keep coming to the table every 4 minutes to ask if  the food is okay. I think it is a question they should ask once during the meal, and at the end of it.

The food was a bit disappointing. With the exception of the Basil Tempura, all of the dishes we ordered were bland, and didn’t offer any uniqueness in flavor or look (as the menu outside the window claimed).

The most disappointing dish was the Robatayaki, which was described as skewers of assorted meats, seafoods and vegetables. Just to clarify,  Robatayaki is actually  a place where customers sit around an open hearth on which chefs grill seafood and vegetables. The fresh ingredients are displayed for customers to point at whenever they want to order.

This wasn’t the case in this restaurant. They simply referred Robatayaki as skewers of assorted food. Anyway, this was the most disappointing dish in the menu. To start, the amount was very small, almost the size of half of an asparagus (I am not joking, it was that small).  To add to it, the taste was very bland, and the beef and chicken (dark) skewers we ordered were tough to eat, and exceptionally chewy (not a good thing with meat).

All in all, it was very disappointing. We will not go back there any time soon.

Restaurant Critique

Last night ,Irm, Babagee (my father in law) and I dined at Hanami Japanese Cuisine just outside Princeton, NJ.

We had a great time celebrating Irm’s birthday, and enjoying the great company of her father, which I always enjoy very much.

For starters we had an order of Shumai, which was very good. Often time this dish will be a bit gooey, but to my surprise it did not disappoint.

For her main dish Irm ordered the Wood Chip Grilled Beef Tenderloin, which had wasabi truffle butter, caramelized baby veggies & teriyaki pudding. It was excellent!

Babagee ordered the Filet with Black Pepper Sauce, which had Asparagus, snow peas, water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms and baby corn. This dish is relatively a bigger dish than the previews one, which makes it a good choice if you are hungry.

I ended up oredering three rolls of sushi, the Hulk, the Red Dragon, and the Hanami.

The Hulk had Spicy white tuna & tempura flakes inside with yellow tail, avocado & wasabi tobiko on top.

The Red Dragon had Shrimp tempura & spicy mayo topped with spicy tuna & tempura flakes.

The Hanami had Tuna, yellow tail, salmon, kani, tobiko, avocado wrapped with cucumber.

All of the sushi dishes were very fresh and delicious, though a bit expensive.

All in all, we had a great time together.

The Hulk

The Hanami

The Red Dragon

Our next and final stop after the Indian Restaurant, was Finale Desserterie and Bakery in Cambridge.

Finale is a place we always associate more with good memories with friends and family,  than with its delicious desserts. We used to go there so often, that by now we are familiar with most of their wonderful desserts.

We decided to order three different plates to share with each other.

Our first dessert was the Molten Chocolate signature desserts. The Molten is a baked-to-order warm chocolate cake with a gooey center, served with coffee gelato, milk chocolate covered almonds and Valrhona chocolate sauce. This is a rich and tasty dessert.

Our second dessert was the Boston Cream cake. The Boston Cream features a delicious yellow cake, cream and chocolate. Also includeed are chocolate whoopee pies, a vanilla gelato sandwich with cherry almond florentines, apricot sauce and fresh fruit. We enjoyed this one.

Our third and last dessert was the Hot Fudge Sundae. If you love Sundae ice cream, this one is for you. It featured Tahitian vanilla gelato with fudge brownie pieces, hot Valrhona fudge sauce, fresh whipped cream and topped with a candied maraschino cherry. Heaven!

To be honest, we could not finish all of what we ordered. We came to Finale soon after we finished eating at the Indian restaurant. A better idea would have been to take a long break, and then come to Finale. It was still very good, and highly recommended. If you find yourself in Cambridge, craving for something sweet, Finale is definitely a place you want to try.

Finale Desserts

Saturday night we decided to explore some Indian food, and the first place that came to mind was Tamarind Bay in Cambridge. Irm dined in the place a few times, so we decided to follow her advice

The restaurant is very small, and located at the basement level. There is something about small restaurants that does not agree with me, but it was not that bad that I was going to say no to a good Indian food.

For appetizers, we had the Chilli Batata: Potato edges and bell peppers cooked in chili sauce. This dish was very delicious, and also spicy (very spicy), so I suggest ordering some Naan to go along with it.

Our second appetizer was the Saag Aloo Tikki:  Spinach & potato cakes served with tamarind and mint chutney. This dish is highly recommended. The combination of the mint and spinach is a culinarily haven, especially when topped with the special sauce that is provided.

For our entrées we ordered three different dishes:

The Raahra Gosht, lamb simmered in a wok over a period of time until it turns crisp brown & garnished with fresh coriander, was a bit too oily to my taste. In fact, it was our least favorite dish because of its high level of oil (literally, the lamb was floating in oil). Suffice it to say we did not particularly like the dish, although it was not so bad that we could not finish it.

Our second entrée, Bhindi Adrak okra seasoned with ginger and onions sauce, was a little bit better, but we found the okra to be somewhat softer than traditional Bhindi (it had “mashed potato” like consistency).

Our third entrée was the Murge Malai Palak. Tender pieces of chicken cooked in spinach & cream sauce. The dish is a good choice if you enjoy eating creamy spinach and chicken. I thought it tasted better mixed with the Raahra Gosht, but it is only me.

We did not order any desserts, since we planned of going to Finale shortly after (review coming).

Overall, I enjoyed the appetizers more than I enjoyed our entrées. I will consider going back there, because I find their appetizers to be the most unique and flavorful Indian appetizers I have ever tasted.

The pictures below are the dishes we ordered.

Our Appetizers: Saag Aloo Tikki, Chilli Batata

Our entrées: Raahra Gosh, Bhindi Adrak, Murge Malai Palak

It became a tradition for us to eat at Saray Turkish Restaurant every time we visit Boston.

Dimitri, Irm and I ate there last night, and as always were very satisfied with the quality and the authenticity of the food.

For appetizers, we had some homemade (really homemade) hot hummus covered with sauté pine-nuts and butter. This ,of course, was topped with fresh cumin to give it a unique taste.

Also for appetizers, we had what is called “The Jerusalem Salad”. Fresh chopped cucumbers/tomatoes/red onions/and parsley covered with salt, black paper all mixed with lemon juice, and covered with fresh homemade Tahini. This is Irm’s favorite salad.

The appetizers came with freshly baked Turkish bread, which was extraordinary tasty.

For our main dishes, Dimitri and I ordered “the Special”, which is a dish that offers every single meat dish the restaurant has to offer placed on a plate (see picture number 1). This dish is highly recommended if you ever choose to dine in Saray.

Irm had a very good shish kabob, which was grilled to perfection (picture number 2)

For desserts, we ordered a selection of some Turkish sweets, which again was very satisfying and very fresh (see picture number 3).

I have yet to find a middle eastern restaurant that is as true to its culinary roots as Saray is. The selection of spices is carefully picked to match the unique Middle Eastern Cuisine taste I grew up on, which makes the food unique, tasty, and different than other so called Middle Eastern restaurants.

If you are in the Boston area, you definitely need to pay a visit to Saray. You will not be disappointed.

The Special

Shish Kabob

Saray Turkish Sweets