Krista G

I always wanted to like Borobudur more than I did. I haven't been recently (I think there have been a couple different owners), but the food was always so-so. However, if I lived nearby (which I don't) I might be more inclined to return. I'm by no means an Indonesian food expert, but new-ish Upi Jaya in Woodside was more to my liking.

Ok, I never post, but when it comes to tater tots it's hard to stay silent. A few years ago a friend and myself taste tested various dips and condiments with tots: Sriricha, salsa, hummus, etc. Blue cheese dressing was the winner (blue cheese dressing was also a favorite pepperoni pizza dip for another friend). The frightening part of our experiement was that the sack of frozen tots we had easily shared in one evening was meant to be 13 servings according to the nutritional guidelines. Despite my my obvious disregard for fat and oil, the tots don't really seem to benefit from deep-frying. It goes against the everything tastes better fried approach I usually live by. My all-time favorite tater tot recipe (that I've yet to actually make), an award winner from the Ore-Ida site:Pineapple Cranberry Tater Tot Pudding

Well, thank you for the offer. I'm so jealous of all the great food resources in S.E. Asia. Of course, NYC has many merits, but we're lacking in Malaysian-Singaporean culture.

Have you considered asking them to ship you multiple issues once every quarter or every 6 months to save on shipping? I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask, though I don't have much faith in subscription departments being able to keep track of special requests (I seem to have enough trouble getting my American magazines to show up properly). It's too bad they don't just sell it on the newstand or specialty shops here.

I enjoy reading bits from Flavours magazine on the The Star website, and wanted to get print copies here in NYC. The price is 1yr (6 issues) = RM55.00, which is about $14.50. That's fine, but they want to charge RM 36.00 per copy for shipping, which is around $9.50. $72 for six issues seems a little pricey to me...or is that fair for an international subscription?

I recently bought some Vosges truffles for friend's birthday (though didn't try any myself). What I found most amsuing was their Vincent Gallo collection. Am I the only one who finds this odd? Maybe Kalamata olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wild Tuscan fennel pollen epitomize Mr. Gallo, but what does he have to do with chocolate? Peculiar.

i moved out of ny about 4 months ago now, but the last tim i checked, the Mosco St. grocery had calamansi juice, but no fresh limes. Cynical as i am, i have to assume that they use the bottled juice in restaurants, since the fruit isn't easy to obtain in the US. My local Thai grocer (in Poughkeepsie!) has them. I think she gets her supplies from Manhattan Chinatown. She tells me they are grown in Florida and Hawaii. Edited to add: If you want to know, I can ask which shop/supplier she gets them from. I'm pretty sure they're calamansi and not key limes as they're pretty small. I'm curious if they exist in the U.S. because I have a weird fascination with kalamansi and Filipino foodstuffs in general. (Early in the year I was predicting they would become the "it" citrus for 2004, but I think finger limes are becoming oddly trendy instead). I think they're actually a little bigger than key limes and contain bigger seeds than typical limes, but I'm certainly not a citrus expert.

I don't think it was that hard to get reservations, but I think it has been closed randomly for private parties. I had originally wanted to go on a Sunday, and the reservationist seemed exasperated (this is second hand, I wasn't the one who called) that we weren't aware they were closed that date for some fete or another.

A non-drinker could definitely get out of there under $60 per person. 1 tapa, 1 appetizer, 2 entrees, 1 side, 1 dessert and 4 drinks was $140. About $40 of that was drinks. But it is hard to resist the urge to over-order. Two starters for two people was plenty, but I could've easily shared a third item. Not that I left hungry, mind you, I just enjoy variety.

I tried Kittichai Monday night as a birthday dinner, and the experience was favorable. I actually liked Spice Market, but that's a horse of a different color really. As a side note, does anyone know why Spice Market was chosen as the name of the Meatpacking district restaurant when that name is already associated (at least in my mind) with the Bangkok restaurant formerly helmed by Ian Chalermkittichai? Anyway, we had one tapa, the Southern Thai ceviche of diver scallops, caviar & lemongrass wrapped in an egg nest, which was nice, but the scallop didn't really shine through the egg and caviar. However, an appetizer of crispy rock shrimp, grilled eggplant and chili lime juice was amazing. I agree that the short ribs in green curry was right on. Traditional in a good way, plus an atypically Thai cut of meat. Instead of the sea bass, we chose the special of dorado, which was cubed, dusted in tempura batter (they made the point of saying it was dusted, not heavily coated) and presented between the head and tail with a sweet chili sauce. I loved the accompanying fried basil and lime leaves, but then, I'm a sucker for fried herbs. The only dessert I tried was the kaffir lime tart with coconut ice cream, which was enjoyable. The grated lime rind (I think that's what it was) added a nice punch of color to the little rectangle. A glass of gruner veltliner was alright, but I was more impressed with the cocktails. I can't recall the name, but the one with calamansi juice, coconut milk, Grand Marnier and Skyy voda was tart and creamy without being cloying. A very refreshing summer cooler. I've never seen calamansi (or kalamansi, whichever you prefer) in the U.S. I'm wondering if the juice was bottled or fresh squeezed. On the way out, we noticed Mario Batali smoking at one of the outdoor bar tables. I never seem to notice famous faces in crowds, but he's hard to miss.

Isn't Mario from Seattle? Not that it makes his phraseology any less annoying or pretentious...

Shiewie, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm crazy about laksa, but I think I'm more familiar with the Singapore version (brown, curry-ish, gravy, right?). I'll have to explore the world of assam laksa. The one time I tried ordering it here in NYC the waitress tried steering me away from it. I really had to insist that I truly wanted it. I also love char kuay teow, at least the American-Asian version. I can't wait to try the real thing. This is going to be a serious eating vacation, I only wish I had more time in each city.

Maybe I should start a new thread since this is a question of my own rather than additional help on KL food...but I'll be in Penang (as well as Singapore and Bangkok) in August and was wondering where to find the best places to eat. I'm interested in regional things that you can't find in NYC like Roti John. Of course there's Gurney Drive, which I've heard much about--but what else? It's my first trip to Asia so I have a lot to learn, I guess. By the way, I found Friedchillies.com a couple weeks ago and thought it was quite amusing (reviews of IKEA meatballs?!), but then, I get a kick out of fast food franchises in other countries. I've been totally fascinated by the S.E. Asian Pizza Hut websites, lots of Thousand Island dressing and sausage stuffed into the crust. I won't even get into the McDonald's offerings...