"The Walk"

"The Walk" [thuh wawk]: an advancement on foot from approximately 125th St. in Manhattan to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in which the participants routinely pause at eateries

*Some of these "stops" are out of order, as they're arranged in order of consumption

Stop No. 1: Absolute Bagels, Manhattan Valley, NYC, NY:

Pumpernickel bagel (ate 1/2, gave the rest to Jarett & Ben)
(Not warm, but still very soft and chewy. Loved how many caraway seeds there were in here!)

Stop No. 2: Ladurée, Upper East Side, NYC, NY:

Yuzu-ginger macaron (shared w/Ben)
(Wow, intense ginger flavour. Good macaron texture, but a bit on the soft side. I prefer mine slightly "crunchy". Very moist and good filling to cookie ratio though.)

Orange blossom macaron (shared w/Ben)
(Citrus-y, but more subtle. Very light and refreshing but the filling was a bit creamy. Same comments regarding composition as the previous macaron.)

Stop No. 3: La Maison du Chocolat, Upper East Side, NYC, NY:

Mint chocolate macaron (shared w/Ben)
(The mint flavour was very subtle. I liked the crunchiness of this macaron, but their filling to cookie ratio was a bit skewed. The chocolate flavour was also a bit overpowering at times.)

Coffee chocolate macaron (shared w/Ben)
(Oh my god, this was so good. Super intense and potent coffee flavour infused with a bit of chocolate.)

Passion fruit flavoured ganache chocolate (shared w/Ben)
(Strong passion fruit flavour. Enjoyed how the bitter dark chocolate was very light and not at all overwhelming.)

Lemon & orange flavoured ganache chocolate (shared w/Ben)
(The citrus flavours were also very strong here, but it blended well with the semisweet chocolate. Also very light and the ganache wasn't overly sweet either.)

Stop No. 4: Margon, Midtown West, NYC, NY:

Cuban sandwich (shared w/Ben)
(Scraped off a lot of the mayo. Ugh, I hate mayo. Normally I don't eat this much meat in any sandwich, but Cubans are an exception. There's something about the blend of smoked & processed meats, mustard, pickles and hot sauce that just gets me. This was really quite good, but I would never eat an entire one by myself.)

Close-up of the sandwich.

Morir soñando smoothie: OJ, carnation milk, vanilla extract & sugar (the small cup was Kevin's, shared the large one w/Ben, Daniel & Kevin)
(Super refreshing. The employee told us the consistency wasn't what she wanted, but it resulted in extras so she gave us the additional cups. Tasted like a lighter creamsicle but more lime-y than orange-y.)

 Random sample:

Mango lassi

 Stop No. 5: Szechuan Gourmet 朵颐, Midtown West, NYC, NY:

Chopstick-ful of Daniel's spicy sesame noodles
(Super oily. Not as spicy as I would have thought.)

Hot & sour spicy cellophane noodles (gave some to Ben & Daniel)
(I dumped out all the oil and picked out most of the scallions. This dish was aptly named; it was quite spicy and sour. My stomach probably wasn't very happy with me toward the end of this dish, and I ended up diluting most of the flavour with water.)

Stop No. 6: Korea House in Food Gallery 32, Korea Town, NYC, NY:

Bibimbap (shared mostly w/Ben, gave some to Daniel & the soup to Kevin)
(I didn't eat the egg either. Good, but I wish they had served it in the traditional claypot. This had the right amount of spice and ratio of ingredients, but there's something missing that prevented this from being fabulous. Maybe I'm just too used to Korean food back home.)

 Sample from Pinkberry, Midtown West, NYC, NY:

Cookies & cream smoothie

 Stop No. 7: Eataly, Flatiron, NYC, NY:

Dolce di primavera gelato: zabajone (Marsala wine egg cream) w/Colombia cake, candied fruit & nuts (gave some to Ben & Daniel)
(Mmm refreshing. I think I like Grom's candied fruit gelato better though. The wine egg cream is a bit overwhelming at times, especially for someone who isn't a big fan of wine.)

Taste of Daniel's pistachio gelato
(Tasted like an avocado smoothie from Asian restaurants!)

Sample from David's Tea, West Village, NYC, NY:

"Big Apple" tea
(Not very strongly brewed.)

Stop No. 8: Milk and Cookies Bakery, West Village, NYC, NY:

Chocolate chocolate cookie, oatmeal raisin cookie, m&m sugar cookie, pb cookie, salted caramel chocolate chip cookie (shared all w/Ben, Daniel & Kevin)
(The employee was super sweet and gave us broken bits of cookies! All were your standard cookies, but I really enjoyed the pb one.)

Chocolate chip cookie (shared w/Ben & Daniel, can't remember if Kevin had any)
(Standard cookie, but liked the chewy and slightly nutty texture. I think this is because of the oat flour.)

Sample from a stand in a farmer's market:

Kettle corn
(I have such a bad kettle corn addiction.)

Stop No. 9: Sundaes & Cones, East Village, NYC, NY:

Wasabi ice cream
(Whoa, interesting. Tasted just like wasabi! Maybe now people won't look at me and Marie weirdly when we eat our vanilla soft-serve topped w/wasabi peas. I liked it, but I don't think I would have eaten an entire scoop of it.)

Corn ice cream, banana ice cream (shared both w/Ben)
(I really enjoyed the corn flavour. Due to its very subtle saltiness, the corn ice cream was kind of savoury and quite refreshing to eat. The banana ice cream tasted like blended frozen bananas. Quite good if you like bananas and horrendous if you don't. Both textures were great though! Very smooth and creamy, and not heavy.)

 Sample from Liquidteria, East Village, NYC, NY:

Apple, lemon, immunity now boost & ginger juice
(Gosh, what a punch of ginger!)

 Stop No. 10: Paul's Da Burger Joint, East Village, NYC, NY:

Pickles

Turkey burger w/sweet potato fries (shared w/Ben)
(Good, but definitely not comparable to Paradise Tavern's.  The turkey was a bit dry but nicely seasoned. I wasn't really a fan of the bun though; the joint didn't heat it up enough so it was still slightly hard.)

Stop No. 11: Punjabi Grocery & Deli, East Village, NYC, NY:

Samosa, chai tea (gave some of both to Ben & Daniel)
(Slightly salty samosa and the chai tea needed more spice.)

 Stop No. 12: OddFellows Ice Cream Co., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC, NY:

Miso butterscotch cherry ice cream
(Good blend of salty and sweet, but I wasn't a fan of this cherry.)

Spoonful of Daniel's ginger walnut w/carmelised banana ice cream & purple rice ice cream
(Mmm the ginger walnut ice cream was so good. Loved the kick of ginger. The purple rice ice cream didn't really taste like purple rice, but had the texture of rice ice cream found in grocery stores. It was refreshing, albeit lacking in flavour.)

Spoonful of Ben's blueberry buttermilk honey ice cream
(Tasted like blueberry yogurt and pancake batter. Slightly tart and light. Quite refreshing.)

Cornbread sundae: cornbread ice cream w/blueberry compote, maple syrup & bacon-infused whipped cream
(I couldn't decide on a flavour so I just ordered a sundae that the employee recommended. I don't like bacon and before this summer, I haven't eaten bacon in years, but this is the second time I've eaten something with bacon in it. The whipped cream tasted just like bacon. Holy moly. It was bacon-infused alright. The entire blend of bacon, cornbread & blueberry was actually quite enjoyable, but just the bacon and cornbread was a bit on the disgusting side. I also really enjoyed the bits of cornbread in the sundae. Overall an exciting experience for the palate, but I think I would order something else next time. The bacon flavour just lingers for a bit too long.)