semi-expensive hobbies

On Sunday, I hung out with Endy in New York. After eating takoyaki and okonomiyaki and then watching No Reservations (which, by the way, is so very cute and happy and oh, it cheered me up so much), the two of us were starving for more food.

We hit up Kenka, which, I would like to put on the record, is possibly one of the strangest places I’ve ever eaten at. No, seriously. I regret not taking a picture of the front of the menu, because it was very very Special.

(Thanks to Endy for letting me use her camera for the macro pictures. My memory card was full, and her camera has better macro anyway. XD;)

First, the salad came. I have to say, I like Chaya’s house dressing much more. I’m not a fan of bitter greens, which these were, but the dressing did help. I just wish there was more. XD; It wasn’t enough to really even out the taste. Ah, well.

This and rice came with the ramen. DON’T. ORDER. RICE. This was possibly the worst rice I’ve ever had at any Asian restaurant or take-out place. It tasted like leftovers. It was so so awful.

Our appetizer of toro. There were 4 pieces in total, but they were pretty large pieces, considering. I’m not experienced in the ways of eating toro, but hey, it didn’t taste bad to me, Endy approved, and neither of us got sick afterwards, so I’d say this was a success. Their little plate-bowl things to put the soy sauce in was very very cute. :D

Next up, the main dish, ramen!

I’ve never had “real” ramen before, though Endy assures me that it is very very delicious, and that I should very much get my ass over to Mitsuwa to eat a bowl of very very good ramen. However, this wasn’t too bad, at least, noodles and soup-wise. I can’t say the same for the piece of pork they put in though. It was like eating a rehydrated piece of dried pork. It was $5 though, so I’m not complaining. The bowl was pretty huge.

I was surprised the oden came last, though I guess it takes the longest to make? I liked it a lot, though Endy thought it was too blank. Amazingly, I liked the daikon, which lemme tell ya, I am normally not a fan of. (My mother fed me too much of this when I was young. It’s up there in the Things I Do Not Like list with grapes and other things I can’t remember right now.) There was also this mysterious gel-ish thing that was not bad, though neither of us have any idea what it was. I was a big fan of the chikuwabu (gluten tubes) though.

In conclusion: Very cheap, though with the huge crowd, not worth the wait if you’re there for food only. I hear the beer is very cheap though.