Some NYC food, part three

A few last notes from NYC...

If you are looking for some quality and interesting teas go to Harney & Sons. Located in SoHo they have a tasting room where each person is allowed a free tasting. Go with a few friends and you have an opportunity to try out a few of their many teas such as Florence, a chocolate hazelnut black tea, Mint Verbana, a mint lemon herbal tea, or one of their many earl grey teas. Also feel free to ask their staff any questions you might have about tea as they are very friendly and knowledgeable. A tea tidbit that I came away with is that it is a common misconception that green tea does not have any caffeine. Although green tea does contain less caffeine than black tea, this does not mean it has no caffeine. In fact depending upon the variety and the amount of time it is steeped for, green tea can contain up to 1/2 the amount of caffeine as found in a cup of coffee. Most of the caffeine comes out of the leaves in the first brew, so a trick to minimize the caffeine from a cup of green tea is to dump the first cup of tea and rebrew a second cup using the same leaves.

For some awesome awesome dumplings, and not just any kind of dumplings, but Kimchee Dumplings, go to Mandoo Bar in Koreatown. I did not actually go there myself, but my very thoughtful friends W A F brought some dumplings for me to eat on the ride home. I ended up not getting to them until lunch the next day, but what a great lunch it made it. It started out with a pleasant discovery that my takeout bag contained not only the kimchee dumplings, but also two side dishes. The side dishes that are served with Korean meals are one of the many things I love about eating Korean food. The  meal  got better as  I  bit into one of

the dumplings. Their filling was a delicious mix, the kimchee flavoring not overpowering, but still present, and their dumpling skin was made very well having the right amount of thickness. My only other experience with kimchee dumplings was only a few months prior, in Taiwan. I thought then those dumplings were pretty good, but the dumplings from Mandoo bar blew those away. Next time I am in New York I must go try some of Mandoo Bar's other Mandoos (dumpling in Korean). I am sure those are going to be amazing as well.

Mandoo Bar's Kimchee Dumpling

Kimchee Dumpling in Taiwan