New Green Bo, what a let down

After seeing so many Chowhounds rave about it and Nosher totally endorse it, I thought I would be having some amazing Shanghainese food. Me and Xiao hadn't seen each other all semester and seeing how we were so close before, it was just weird so we wanted some time to connect.

So I went to work yesterday, the last day before their break so it was a pretty lax day. No one stayed for afterschool, not even the tutors and I was planning on leaving early as well, even if I did need the money. I was starving and thirsty so I wanted to try Quickly and to hit Prosperity Dumpling for a snack. But if I did that at 5 PM, when I normally get off work, I would probably be too full for dinner.

In the end, we were let out early at around 4:30 and I made way to Prosperity Dumpling. It was really a hole in the wall and it was a bit empty when I got there (two other customers beside myself) and they basically ignored me until they had served the other two customers. I was hoping for some sort of acknowledgement at the very least because I was kept waiting for a bit long.

After some slight miscommunication, I got the stuffed sesame pancake that was nothing like what Nosher had but it was still okay with me because it was the most amazing thing EVER. It was stuffed with thin slices of beef, with some sort of preserved carrot and with cilantro and it was so flavorful and slightly warm, and totally filling. And it was freaking huge! It was the size of a slice of piece! And the best thing about it? Total cost? $1.50

I wish I could have taken pictures of the thing (I really need to get a camera and set up a proper food blog)... I totally woofed it down.

I'm so going back there. It's close enough to where I work that I can just pop in, get something and be on my way. And considering how often I just go without breakfast and lunch when I go to work, it's a good thing. ^^ Plus, I want to try their dumplings too. It's $2 for ten which is really nice actually.

I then walked over to where me and Xiao were going to meet -- the Starbucks at Canal and Centre. It was surprisingly busy but I was able to get a seat. I got a bit too thick Caramel Frappuccino so it had to melt a bit before I could really enjoy it. I studied Physics for an hour or so and then Xiao came! We talked (really bitched) about group projects, people we know, professors, a lot of stuff at Starbucks before heading out for dinner at New Green Bo.

We had the Crispy Eel, the Rice Balls with Sesame in Wine Flavored Soup and the Pork with Preserved Vegetables, Soybeans, and bean curd skein.

The Crispy Eel was okay. I can see why some people would like it -- it's like a not spicy, not garlicky, version of my father's sesame beef. It's pieces of fried of deep fried eels that has this black, sweet glaze. They placed slices of lemon grass on top that were okay and some limpy looking cilantro. In my opinion, it was a bit too sweet, way too crispy for my liking, which made it a bit hard. Not exactly the amazing, life-changing dish I've been told it was.

The Rice Balls were basically those little balls made with rice flour that my grandmother makes all the time, but stuff with a sweet sesame paste and placed in a soup that has bits of rice that was flavored with white wine. The soup itself felt a bit lackluster. It had the wine flavor but it felt like an afterthought more than anything else. It was a bit watery and the rice balls were few. Plus, I like rice balls, but I'm not fond of sweet things inside of them. In their full rice ball form and in a nice savory soup, they're absolutely divine but...

The main dish, the pork with preserved vegetables, soy bean and dry bean curd skein was a bit boring. It lacked taste, character and really was like something I could cook up on my own... It was the first time I've had soybean and it was a lot harder than I though they would be. The dry bean curd skein (or was it skin?) was definitely good on it's own but I really don't think the full potential of it was really explored since it was like the rest of the dish and lacked flavor.

All in all, the meal cost us about $20.50 and it really wasn't a horrible meal, but it still wasn't that great either. :\

Anyway, I'm going to wipe that restaurant off my list and hopefully that negative experience would be replaced with a good one with Janet. We're doing dim sum tomorrow (I'm so damn excited! ^^) and I think I know just where to go. :)

POM's Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea

Right before the Blades of Glory advance screen last Tuesday, I tried Pom Tea for the first time. The screening was sponsored by Pom so they had free samples of the stuff for the people who were able to get in.

I'm not sure which I tried since they really didn't have labels but I'm pretty sure it was one of the teas and not the juices. Even though I've never had any of the Pom juices since those are all rather dark and the stuff I drank looked like tea.

I wasn't all too fond of it when I first tried it. I'm not exactly the best tea drinker, even though I'm definitely becoming more and more fond of it as I drink more Honest Tea. The first thing that came to mind was that it was rather strong in the pomegranate taste, something that I wasn't all too fond of. I really didn't think I would try it again, despite it's seemingly popularity among the masses.

But when I went grocery shopping today (really, it was basically eggs and juices), I saw the bottles of Pom Teas staring right at me at the entrance and I decided to give it another shot.

I've always liked the design of the Pom Tea bottles. They're meant to be reusable glasses which is really novel. But I do agree with BevNet that they are hard to open and I did spill a couple drops of it when I was trying to open it. It takes a bit of force to pry it open and I really don't think this packaging is what you really want when you're on the move. Sitting here at my desk, drink it seems to work well, but walking around Manhattan, trying to catch the subway and taking sips in between -- I can just see myself stumbling and falling and spilling it all over me.

Anyway, on the shelf, there was the Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea and the Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea and I ended up choosing the peach version. I've always liked the Snapple Peach Tea so I decided to try that one. That and I've never been all too fond of green tea or the taste of lychee outside of fresh lychees.

It's not bad. It reminds me a lot of Snapple though, which I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing. The peach is a bit over powering in respect to the pomegranate, which might be why I like it more but I would like to have tasted a bit more of the other flavors as well. I really didn't taste much of the passion fruit flavors at all and was surprised to even hear that it was even in it. I just though the "Passion" part of the name was just there to enhance the name... ^_^;;;

It a bit too sweet for a tea which makes it a little less when it comes to thirst quenching. I wish they had done something like Honest Tea where it's only a touch of honey to give it just a bit of sweetness that works well to sweeten and not overpower the drink.

Still, I can't say I didn't enjoy the drink. It went by way too quickly and I do want more of it. It is a bit expensive for my tastes but I do think it's a nice drink and would probably buy more of it someday, maybe as an accompaniment to a quick lunch on campus. I would like to try some of the other flavors though and maybe just straight up Pomegranate Juice, although that might take a bit more coaxing on my part... It's just so dark looking...