Malaysian

Malaysian Kitchen festival was held November 5-6 in NYC's Grand Central Terminal.

There were several restaurants and food vendors, cooking and dancing demonstrations to increase the awareness of Malaysian food.

"S" and I tried several dishes:

- shrimp sambal with coconut rice ($7) - it was a little fishy and you only received 3-4 small shrimps, but the rice was good.

- chicken and beef satay ($5) - the chicken was good, but the beef was chewy. They sat on a steamed Chinese bun and were covered in peanut sauce.

- coconut and almond cupcake ($3) - a little dry, but the frosting was good

- iced lychee and green tea ($4) - very subtle flavor

- banana and palm sugar donuts ($3) - also dry and not too sweet

Financier

(aka more macarons)...was walking by the new Finanicer patisserie outpost in NYC's Grand Central Station and noticed they had macarons so I had to try one. For $2.25 this large macaron was tasty and worth the price. I tried the hazelnut which had pieces of hazelnuts in the cookie and a very flavorful filling. I will return to try the other flavors.

Kolache Mama

This new outpost of a Texas based chain of "grab-and-go" eateries just opened near NYC's Grand Central Station at 45 East 45th Street.

The base is a Czech derived fresh-baked dough filled with ingredients that are either "meatie", "veggie" or "sweetie". Each is $2.99/each or 2 for $5 (for the more ambitious - $30 for a dozen).

I tried a "meatiemama" Ruffino's Texas Smoked Sausage - Ruffino Brother's Texas Country garlic sausage link (a Texas sized pig in a blanket) and a "sweetiemama" Lemon Curd - British lemon-butter curd with lemon zest streusel.

Both were tasty and this makes for an inexpensive meal.

This is great for a quick lunch to go or you can stand at the county and munch on your "mama".

Grand Central Pizza

Golosi is a small, unassuming pizzeria across the street from Grand Central Station.

The pizza is sold by the "slice" or by the inch. A slice is approximately 3" long. The crust was thin and crisp and the toppings were good. I tried the funghi and the eggplant -both good.

They also serve gelato, but there were only 4 flavors available on the weekday I visited. The gelato case looked almost abandoned.