Empire Taste Club

Empire Taste Club Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Empire Taste Club, Food consultant, New York, NY.

Food tips and musings curated by Amanda Leung.

*Former Popup dinner party hosted by Eric Lapkin and Amanda Leung, celebrating childhood, life and travel experiences through delicious food and great company.

These Japanese donuts were O.M.G. They literally melt in your mouth, especially the custard ones! Worth getting pushed ...
05/25/2025

These Japanese donuts were O.M.G. They literally melt in your mouth, especially the custard ones! Worth getting pushed in Times Square to eat one lol. Go at 2-3pm to avoid the long line 🍩🍩🍩🤩🤤

News is horrible but Japanese hamburger saved me a little! Second attempt making it following recipe, this time with 2...
02/06/2025

News is horrible but Japanese hamburger saved me a little! Second attempt making it following recipe, this time with 2:1 ground beef to ground pork ratio and it is indeed juicier!! The red wine reduction sauce goes so well with the sticky Japanese rice, paired with a green salad and Vietnamese pickles. 美味しい😋🍔
#ハンバーガー

12/23/2024

Made it to 🇨🇦! is always our first stop 😋

Wow finally went to and it was the second most amazing soba experience I had in the US (first was in Oakland, CA, than...
08/25/2024

Wow finally went to and it was the second most amazing soba experience I had in the US (first was in Oakland, CA, thanks to )!!

Located inside a very charmingly renovated industrial building, the vibe of the restaurant was really zen (there was even a lady doing calligraphy with the owner doing singing bowl during the meal) and I was super excited to sit at the counter to watch how all the food was made in the kitchen behind!

We splurged and got the deluxe sashimi cold matcha soba, along with the ume shio hot towari soba and the eggplant appetizer, finishing with the summer dessert soba ice cream with matcha shaved ice, all served with beautiful handmade cermic bowls and plates. The soba was housemade and 100% buckwheat, which was more uncommon in NY. Noodle texture was thicker than regular soba and very chewy yet delicate. Both of the soba dishes were outstanding. The cold soba with sashimi was super fresh and each piece of fish was nicely cut and melted in our mouths! The hot soba was unexpected simple but yummy, the soup was a rich duck broth and the noodles totally soaked up all the goodness, dang! We drank every last sip lol 😜

The appetizer and desert were yummy as expected but not as memorable as the sobas. 100% coming back ❤️❤️❤️
#蕎麦 #そば #🍜

Went to the beach yesterday for the first time this year ⛱️ Met a cool guy who set up his own fire stove on the beach an...
07/24/2023

Went to the beach yesterday for the first time this year ⛱️ Met a cool guy who set up his own fire stove on the beach and cooked up fish he caught from Upstate the day before! He made his own marinate with spices and chili sauce and shared a grilled fish and sweet potato with us. It was extra tasty with the fire burnt flavor, I felt like I was chilling on a Caribbean Island 😆. We just picked up some empty shells on the beach and used them as our serving places, it was just so awesome! In return, we hooked him up with some fruits and wine. To finish the day, we went to my favorite restaurant of all of NYC and had the best clam linguine again. I❤️NYC 😋🙏🐟🔥🍝🦪

The most amazing Egyptian seafood feast ever!!!!!!!! The three of us were there for Iftar to have breakfast (Technically...
04/20/2023

The most amazing Egyptian seafood feast ever!!!!!!!! The three of us were there for Iftar to have breakfast (Technically only one of us was doing fasting before sunset for Ramadan 😆). I am glad I starved myself because look at all this food !

Because of Ramadan, we ordered our dishes during the day, so it will be ready to be served at dinner time. The owner is from Alexandria, so the style is Mediterranean and very clean tasting. This is the type of place where you pick fresh seafood at the counter and they cook them for you. In my opinion, Abuqir is far superior to the Greek place Astoria Seafoods nearby that serves similar style food but without the long lines. I recommend you to sit outside because it can smell quite fishy eating indoors along side fresh seafood on display.

We literally ordered almost everything on the menu!! Two branzinos, one was grilled Egyptian style with all kinds of spices and the other was sliced opened oven roasted with vegetables. Both were very tasty but especially the grilled one that was so flavorful with all those spices! Then we got grilled shrimp and fried calamari, very simple yet perfectly seasoned and executed. Also the Tajin which was a pot with tomato sauce cooked with seafood, that was delicious to be dipped with bread. Not to mention the eggplant cooked with tomatoes, eggplant with garlic and vinegar, and the homemade salad (so fresh and so well seasoned!). Usually the fish is eaten with tahini and brown rice, but I have to say the bread that came with our meal was super fluffy and warm and perfect.

All in all, super satisfying and happy iftar! We had enough leftovers for two more meals and each of us paid about $65 including tip and tax. I would totally come back!

🐟🦐🦑🥗🍚🍆😋

——

Went to the popup for lunch today and it was so good that I had to resume posting again 😆 It’s comfort food made modern...
03/03/2023

Went to the popup for lunch today and it was so good that I had to resume posting again 😆 It’s comfort food made modern brought here from Seoul. There were only two items on the menu, , which is a slow cooked meat soup and mandoo, which are Korean dumplings. I ordered both items and finished feeling really good because they tasted super clean, flavorful and not too heavy. Honestly both items were just really well made. The pork gomtang was served with rice and pork slices, it had a really deep meat flavor, only seasoned with pepper. The mandoo was also very special, it got kimchi and pork fillings but it was a flavor and texture profile that I have never had in Korean food! I can’t believe I ate everything so quickly lol. The popup is supposed to go on until April, so make sure you make that reservation and try it before it goes away! 🍲🥟🇰🇷🤤

The two winning dishes from the new Singaporean food court for me: the Chili Crab from and Prawn & Spare Rib Noodles f...
12/10/2022

The two winning dishes from the new Singaporean food court for me: the Chili Crab from and Prawn & Spare Rib Noodles from . Anthony Bourdain would be proud 🥲 The crab was packed with flavor and served super hot wok-flame, it was probably as close to Singapore as it could get! The Prawn noodles used “chum-chum,” which was 1/2 rice and 1/2 egg noodles, served with very deep flavored prawn broth that was slow cooked with hundreds of tiny shrimps and prawn shells. Go with a few friends, so you can order everything from all vendors 🦀🦐🍜🤤❤️
#蝦面 #滲滲 #辣椒炒蟹

Thanks to friends visiting from out of town, it gave us a good excuse to indulge on some tasting menus around town! Thi...
09/26/2022

Thanks to friends visiting from out of town, it gave us a good excuse to indulge on some tasting menus around town! This time, we went to .nyc, a French restaurant run by a Japanese chef and it was so good!!! From the presentation, to the technique and ex*****on, and the service. Not pictured was the yummy bread and the seaweed butter, as well as the excellent wine pairing that half of our party had. I also really enjoyed watching the clientele who were dining besides us that included elegant old ladies with pearl necklaces and rich Chinese kids from mainland. It was a perfect, Michelin star experience!

Super cozy and special private dinner by Japanese chef at her Williamsburg loft last weekend. We were all so impressed...
09/04/2022

Super cozy and special private dinner by Japanese chef at her Williamsburg loft last weekend. We were all so impressed by how she banged out a 12-course fusion seafood and locally sourced tasting menu all by herself from that tiny kitchen for the 9 of us! Highly recommended if you want your own party, byob and we all got a little too tipsy 🤪

Here is a sample of what we had:

“Mussel, egg custard, corn, cucumber puree olive oil

Kombo kelp cake, kelp cream, rice cake, shavings

Blowfish, fernented salt, citrus
Grilled zuchini, abodashi sauce

Montauk scallop, sansho cured pepper

Citra fish, Eggplant, scallion paste, tomato, cucumber, tomato water, shiso

Rainbow trout, miso broth, pepper

Yellow fin tuna, heirloom tomato, ricotta, purple basil, ponzu”

I am so proud of myself for using all the bitter melons that were left! Did a bitter melon and spare rib soup and a Fil...
09/04/2022

I am so proud of myself for using all the bitter melons that were left! Did a bitter melon and spare rib soup and a Filipino style pickle. The pickle was actually super yummy, because there was so much vinegar and sugar in the marinate, you can’t even taste the bitterness anymore! Just crunchy and refreshing 😋 The soup can use some improvement, according to my mom, I left a crucial ingredient that could’ve cut out the bitterness, which is Chinese pickled veggie. Next time !!
#苦瓜排骨湯 #酸甜苦瓜

Long time no post as I was battling with hand eczema all summer; couldn’t really cook and had to avoid too many foods 🤪H...
08/27/2022

Long time no post as I was battling with hand eczema all summer; couldn’t really cook and had to avoid too many foods 🤪

However, everything changed today! I was gifted these beautiful bitter melons from my coworker, all home grown and picked fresh this morning from his backyard in Queens! I had to get back to the kitchen. To be honest, bitter melon and durian are the only two foods that I still couldn’t really tolerate, but every once in a while, I tried to suck it up and give them another chance. Tonight, I decided to cook these pretty babies and see if I can convince myself to love them.

I am doing a simple stir fry with scrambled eggs following a recipe from . To prepare bitter melons, you first need to cut them in half, scoop out all the seeds and the white parts in the center, since this is what makes it very bitter. Then, per my coworker’s tip, to cut out the bitter taste furthermore, you would soak it in water with added salt for about 30 mins before cooking. While it is being soaked, prepare eggs in a bowl, add salt, pepper and sesame oil to season and stir. Pan fry it until it is 75% cooked, put aside. Cut melon in 1/4” wide strips. Blanche melon first, then stir fry it on the pan on high heat. Add a little sugar, Shao Xing wine, soy sauce and oyster sauce to season. Toward the end, add the egg that was put aside and mix them, but not for too long. Ta-da! Now you got your stir fry bitter melon with eggs!

I am not sure if it’s because this melon is organic and super fresh, I actually think it tastes very yummy!! It is still a little bitter but I can also taste the sweet crunchiness as I bite into it. I can’t say that this will become my favorite food now, however, I am not against it as much! I only cooked one tonight and can’t wait to try two other recipes with the rest of them 😋🍈🍳🍚🥢
#苦瓜炒蛋

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