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No, that used to be called the Malaysia-Indonesia Restaurant. It has a basement and is right on the corner of Pell St. New Taste Good was just off Bowery and was strictly a small ground-floor restaurant. I think it is (or was) 1 Doyers St. That's right. You're welcome, Janet. I used to tout Restaurant Malaysia in Flushing but had a few blah experiences there, so while I continue to think it's a decent place if you're in the neighborhood, I haven't been back for some time and wouldn't be quick to recommend a long trip there. I'm sure I'll try Sentosa on Prince St., Flushing some time this semester.

eGullet member and Ha'aretz food critic Daniel Rogov's take on Rosh Hashanah and Israeli wines: For the rest of the article, click here: Wine and Spirits / Where is it written? What do you think of Mr. Rogov's recommendations?

I don't have the guidebook that listed the phone number, but try this from http://www.tastingmenu.com/restaurants/beijing/: Particularly because it was Frommer's "50 Most Memorable Trips" guide to China that recommended this restaurant, I was shocked to find this on the overview of dining in Beijing on Frommer's website (www.frommers.com, and the direct link is http://www.frommers.com/destinations/beiji...01010028.html): Bad food? Biggest scams? For a better dining experience, pack a picnic? And they make Bird's Nest Soup, a prized delicacy in China and among overseas Chinese, sound not only disgusting but like something that would only be served among a menu of totally gross food. (Bird saliva it is; a sign of a lousy restaurant it isn't.) I've never seen the point of bird's nests and also abhor the theft of endangered species' nests (though let's please not get into a debate on that in this thread; let's start a new one if you want to do that), but just don't get the 600 RMB menu with the bird's nests! Frankly, I have to wonder whether someone who thinks the food in that restaurant is bad is nuts. Can a restaurant really be so inconsistent that they're unbelievable one time and lousy another, with the same cook? I might have considered the possibility that they have improved somehow, and done so too recently to have garnered positive mention in Frommer's Beijing, 3rd Edition, published December 15, 2003 (the source for the quote above), but Frommer's China: The 50 Most Memorable Trips, 3rd Edition, which highly recommended them, was published in July 28, 2003, so I suppose we have to chalk it up to the different authors (Graeme Smith, Josh Chin, and Peter Neville-Hadley for Frommer's Beijing and J. D. Brown for 50 Most Memorable). And if there's anything I've learned on eGullet, it's that no restaurant escapes without bad reviews from someone. You name it, every restaurant that's very often considered great has been panned by someone. And if there's one that hasn't been, in the future, some member will do so. And I'm not saying they'll be wrong, but it sure is hard for me to imagine a bad meal at the Li Family Restaurant.

I generally found Sentosa acceptable and reasonably satisfying, but I have yet to try their relatively new Flushing location. I would no longer stand behind everything in the following linked post, but here were my takes on New Taste Good (I forget what it's now called: Doyers St. just off Bowery) and Singapore Cafe: If you do go to whatever New Taste Good is called nowadays, don't get the squid: It's dried reconstituted. Otherwise, I used to find their food dependably satisfying and inexpensive. As I recall, it now describes itself as Cantonese and not Malaysian but its menu hadn't changed Here's my highly unfavorable post on New Malaysia in the arcade. However, New Indonesia & Malaysia is a different restaurant, on 18 Doyers St. That has to be the place Laksa described in his foodblog or somewhere else, with the kuih store on the ground floor and restaurant in the basement. And I haven't been to that location in quite a number of years. I'm unfamiliar with Sanur, which, if it were true to its name, would be Balinese (Babi Guling, anyone?!), nor have I gone to Eastanah. I haven't been to any Penang branch for many years but if I did go to one other than the original branch in Flushing, I'd undoubtedly try the one closest to another area of high concentration of Chinese people (including some from Malaysia), i.e. the one Laksa went to, on Elizabeth just north of Canal. A friend of mine who's spent a lot of time in Malaysia went there I guess 1 1/2 to 2 years ago and liked it very much (said they spoke Malay with her, too). By the way, here's what I had to say about the Flushing branch of Penang: I must sound like a real sourpuss in this thread, but my standards for Malaysian food can be variously thought of as very high or simply as judged against the average cheap restaurant (and in some cases, stall) in Kuala Lumpur and environs. It's possible to get great Chinese food of various types in New York, and I want Malaysian food that's merely good, but I'm not sure I can get it with any kind of consistency.

Rambutan is not hard at all to eat. Eat it the same way you eat lychee - pull off part of the skin with your fingers, eat the fruit, and spit out the pit. No knife should be necessary, though the skin is a bit tougher than lychee skin.

Thanks, Andrea. I had forgotten the question, but I'm glad you didn't.

After getting delivery and takeout from this place about 5 times, my verdict so far is that the Sichuan dishes are not all on the level of the Chelsea or Hell's Kitchen locations but many of them really are at a comparable level, and the food is quite good. The Hunan recipes, I'm not as sure of. I got #119 Spicy & Sour Vegetables, and they left out "salty," which was perhaps a stronger taste than anything else (and too strong by far). But though I'll approach the Hunan part of the menu with caution, my bottom line is I'm glad this place is in my neighborhood.

Bread! But seriously, in Manhattan, check out Kalustyan's on Lexington and 28 St. and Dowel on 1st Av. between 5th and 6th Sts. If Jackson Heights is convenient for you, you'll find much bigger Indian stores there.

Janet, I decided a few years ago that I was underwhelmed by Nyonya, though some of my Malaysian friends disagreed with my appraisal. I felt their menu was too large (including some non-Malaysian stuff they don't do well, like the Mee Jawa I tried one time), and in particular, their desserts (bubur and pulut hitam) are blah - no isi (which sort of means nothing in them, as bubur cacak should have plenty of root vegetables, not just token little pieces of cassava or something), though they're soothing and vaguely remind me of my second home. But then again, I've generally had trouble with feeling too positive about Malaysian restaurants here, particularly since I went back to Malaysia in July-August 2003. No coincidence there, I think.

Me too, Steven. Your criticism of the critic is very harsh. I found the review of Per Se good but will consider any comments explaining why it was like a little kid learning his multiplication table.

Thanks for the report. It looks like you're going to visit every Korean restaurant in the West 30s. Is Flushing next?

You're right; it's no way pure chili oil. But it still packs a nice wallop!

William, I'm glad you're posting again. I had some little pastries filled with smoked date paste at the end of a meal in a traditional tea house/restaurant in Shanghai. Nice stuff!

It's delicious!

Exactly. Bruni's review of Per Se made really pleasant reading. I hope Bruni continues to focus on the food in other reviews.

John, the places you're talking about are in Washington Heights, not Morningside Heights. As a child of W. 97 St., I've always considered Morningside Heights (W. 110-W. 125 St. from Riverside Drive to Morningside Drive/Amsterdam Av.) part of the Upper West Side. I've never considered West Harlem/Hamilton Heights or further uptown neighborhoods (Washington Heights, Inwood) part of the Upper West Side. I know the terminology "Upper West Side" is confusing, though.

Thanks for the explanations. I get the difference now.

Tips are also taxable. What do you mean by a taxable sale?

That sounds a lot like many New Yorkers' attitudes toward Zagat. Thanks for your input.

I'd suggest using good dried mint, in that case. In a worst case, I'd prefer a strong variety of teabag peppermint (e.g. Pompadour, but I don't shrink from using cheaper brands and letting them steep longer) to a syrup or alcohol-based extract. Then again, I'm strange in that I like mint leaves but don't like mint in any other situation.

chengb02, I was told by a reporter from one of the expat magazines that some of the expat publications had trouble writing bad reviews when such were merited, because of their dependence on advertising from the places they review. Do you know anything about that?

There may indeed have been more Japanese people on the Upper West Side in the 1970s. My brother and I used to enjoy going to the Japanese grocery and tzatzkes store on the northeast corner of 99 St. and Broadway, which had one of those glass man figures in the window that filled up with a reddish liquid, tipped over, and then sprung upright to start again. We liked their sort of caramely candies with edible rice paper on the outside.

We've discussed other places up there in this thread. Please mention the places. Speaking of which, does anyone remember the name of the Chinese restaurant that opened some time in the 70s on the 2nd floor of the building that takes up the block between 109th and 110th Sts. on the east side of Broadway? Szechuan Dynasty or something? Maybe Hunan Dynasty? It was good, and I'm sorry it didn't last longer. We often walked there and back from 97 St., and I remember one time when we ordered "Strange Taste Chicken." It was perhaps the only dish we had there that we didn't like, but we couldn't say we weren't warned! I also remember a Chock Full 'O Nuts branch on 116 St., just across from Columbia. I don't remember when it opened, but it was a busy hangout for Columbia students (of which my mother was one in the early 70s, when women could go there for graduate school only). I felt at the time that it was a solid coffee shop, but I was only 8 or so, I guess. I enjoyed the Twin (?) Donut shop on the southeast corner of 110 St. and Broadway often for an after-school treat when I was in 3rd and 4th grades (i.e., 1973-75) in Cathedral School of St. John the Divine. I learned the meaning of "cruller." They had so many varieties of donuts; it was a pleasure.

It's an important and often crucial technique in Indian cooking but does have counterparts elsewhere. Madhur Jaffrey refers to the cooking of garlic and onions in oil in many Italian dishes as their version of a tarka, for example. The basic idea of a tarka is that it flavors the oil or ghee and thus, flavors the dish in a way that can't be duplicated by simply putting the spices (or whatever) in a pot of dal or stew or something else (Edward also quite rightly pointed out that "this changes the flavor of the spices themselves"). Similarly, so many Italian dishes wouldn't taste the same if you put the tomatoes in right away and added wine, rather than starting by frying some fragrant ingredients in olive oil.

A rendition of these by Grand Sichuan St. Marks was part of my lunch today. They looked a lot like your photo, except that there were I think 5 smaller dumplings and not as much sauce. The English-language side of the menu says "Sichuan Wonton w. Red Oil," and the Chinese side is exactly as Yuki posted above.