Authentic restaurants that tastes like where it claims to be from

Italian - Via45 Red Bank Not your typical NJ red sauce joint. They cook food like I had in Florence.
Chinese - Shanghai Bun Matawan Still waiting to get to China, but best I’ve had outside Chinatowns.

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Florence! Nice! My fix in the city used to be pepolino by recommendation. Does via45 also specialize in ribollita soup (love this), farro risotto, veal/ricotta meatball, spaghetti alla chitarra, wild boar, and ricotta cheesecake? If not, what were the dishes you got that were like what you had in Florence?

If you go to misoya get their spicy sapporo style (they have three different kind of miso ramen). The closest I’ve had to what I had in sapporo in the city (including minca). I understand what you mean by ambiance. I hate ippudo here with a passion. Gave them two tries and never went back. Their ramen is severely over hyped. A lot of times these big chains open here and are great the first month or so cause they bring their cooks from Japan to train cooks here for a month. It then goes through a decline after. Done faster than others. Misoya has been a victim of that to a certain extent but still remains the best representation of sapporo miso ramen. Zundo ya was really good when we went last year. Also tonkotsu ramen. Still keeping my fingers crossed for someone to finally bring legitimate wakayama tonkotsu shoyu ramen.

Yes hakata tonton is amazing cause you can get their nabe stuff as a take out as they chop everything for you. Motsu nabe specialty store. You certainly know your stuff Joon!

Lol. No, not Florentine dishes, but the style of cooking. Taking whatever is fresh and good and not mucking it up when you cook it. Their ever changing menu is always worth eating.

Ah, so American Italian. Italian soul with American ingredients

I haven’t been in many years but I had boar at piero’s in union beach.

It’s not a destination spot, but maybe if you are in the area there is a Jamaican spot in long branch called norahs. They are legit. Norah and her son run the show and they are Jamaican. Hours are spotty so call ahead before showing up… Definitely a hole in the wall spot and quite a few Jamaicans hang there.

There is a danish place in red bank that I want to try too. Has anyone had any decent food there?

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The only Danish place I know of is in the Gallaria and it’s a sandwich and coffee shop. Is that he place?

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Yes it’s a cafe and in the galleria. I’d like to try a few sandwiches.

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Cool!! Is that a smørrebrød place?? There used to be a really good one in tribeca (think it was called Copenhagen) but closed down because people didn’t know how to appreciate it yet. I’ve been hooked since. The rye bread used in the grand station stalls just aren’t dense enough.

Love Norah’s. They make the best roti, Trinidadian style. I’ve tried to make it several times and there is no way that is going to happens. Better to leave it to the experts.

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Yes I think it is, but I know nothing about Danish food.

Ms bean, do you have any trini spots to try?

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Are there any regional Italian restaurants that make regional Italian food like back in Italy other than “from scratch” (Rome)? There’s a big Italian population here in NJ. I’d imagine there’d be more but my co-worker is telling me the only way to get it is at someone’s home. If people are making these dishes at home, surely, someone is making it in a restaurant? Seems the opposite situation with the lack of Japanese population but the same result which is odd to me.

I wish I did @corvette_johnny but alas I don’t. I only figured out Norah’s roti were Trini style when I was trying to find a recipe for them. Are you familiar with them? They had a ground lentil filling between their layers. Quite different from the Jamaican style I was more used to having.

No I haven’t tried that yet but I will soon. Thanks for the tip :slight_smile:

@joonjoon how’s the jerk chicken scene in ap? I remember you said you had a spot. I think I’m going to hit linos soon and top off that hickory chicken with some jerk spice. I’ve got some stuff I brought back from sxm.

Had lunch yesterday at Soram for the first time in Ridgefield next to h mart. Wow… By far the best Korean restaurant in the tri state. It’s pricey but the dishes are honest, clean, and better than anything I’ve had at other restaurants. I’d typically say “it’s good…for a restaurant” at Korean places but this is amazing if you’re familiar with Korean food.

Had the chung gook jang jjigae (if you like natto this fermented soy stew is a must), dduk mandoo gook (clean tasting rice cake and dumpling soup), kong biji jjigae (boiled and mashed soy stew), bindae dduk, jjin mandoo (steamed dumplings), and bo ssam (amazing). This place is a Korean food lover’s dream.

If you want to try expertly made no nonsense Korean traditional rice cakes and traditional sweets, check out Yedang next door. There’s also one in closter that does pat bing soo but haven’t gone that far out as of yet. Amazing. If sharing between a few people I highly recommend ordering something called “sam sek gyung dan” a day ahead (they make everything from scratch). I usually buy too many things when I go there cause everything looks great… Be careful with this. Buy a little at a time. No preservatives or artificial anything so they do go bad quickly (couple days?). Keep what you’ll eat that day and next and freeze the rest (for the rice cakes). To defrost, just leave out on the table for a few hours and enjoy.

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That sounds awesome! On my other screen looking up how far they are from Freehold now :grin:

The only place I’ve had bo ssam is at David Chang’s joint on E 13th st, and he is nothing if not inventive so I’m wondering how a traditional bo ssam would differ.

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Man looks like you got to try a lot at soram! I was there with my mom a few months ago and enjoyed it. Simple place without a lot of banchan or anything but well done. Dumpling soup was legit and the broth tastes like a good home made version. My mother was happy with it which is all I need to say. She hates most Korean restaurant food.

If you haven’t tried to sok chon in pal park give it a try, they have some tasty gookbap action. Another rare place my mom approved of. Lol

Yeah also not a fan of ippudo. I mean their ramen is fine, but I just don’t think it’s worthy of the hype. I’ll have to try misoya one of these days, thanks for the rec. I don’t get out to Manhattan much any more unfortunately.

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David Chang’s Bo ssam is a pet peeve of mine. It’s got similar components but not really close at all to the actual Korean stuff. I enjoyed it, but I honestly don’t think it’s better than the real stuff, is priced 2x as high and has flooded the internet so it’s hard to search for the real stuff. :stuck_out_tongue:

The next time I make kimchi I’ll bring you some bossam. Maybe do a HOuse party.

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I’ve had the large format steak at momofuku ssam (can’t recommend it enough) but didn’t get a chance to try his bo ssam.

Would be great if you could report back on the differences if you get the chance to try soram’s.

I find his dishes at ssam to be a mix of cultures. His dduk bokgi for example uses sichuan peppercorns and a meat “bolognese” spicy sauce. I personally liked that dish as it kept the soul of each culture intact. His oysters with ssam jang is interesting too (guessing it was ssamjang mixed with cocktail sauce).

What specifically about the bo ssam did you take issue with? If it was that it wasn’t traditional I don’t think that’s what he was going for