Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Cheryl Tan, an author/freelance writer/blogger who just wrote a book called A Tiger it the Kitchen, A Memoir of Food and Family. It comes out Feburary 8th, but we have 5 copies to give away today… right after Cheryl gives us her recs for Lunching in Midtown.
Name: Cheryl
Age: 36
Occupation: Author, freelance food and fashion writer
Where in Midtown do you Work?: Currently, at home in Brooklyn Heights but I used to work at Time Inc. on 50th Street
Favorite Kind of Food: Anything spicy; anything with big, robust flavors. I grew up in Singapore, where the cuisine is a hybrid of Indian, Chinese, Malay and European styles and almost everything is fiery — or kicked up several notches heatwise with super-spicy tiny chilies. So I tend to seek out those flavors — I adore Korean food (yook gae jang, the bright red spicy beef soup, is a favorite), Indian, Singaporean, Malay, Thai. I love anything curried — even sweet Japanese curries. Even better if these spicy flavors are combined with fried chicken or pork — curry katsu is one of my absolute favorite dishes. As is ayam masak merah, this amazing Malay dish involving chicken that’s deep fried and then stir fried in a spicy and sweet gravy. When I was researching my book, I persuaded a friend’s mother who is a phenomenal cook to teach me how to make it — it’s super easy.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: I’m an adventurous eater but I don’t always love dishes involving less typical parts of the animal like intestines and testicles. It’s not so much the taste — it’s really the mouthfeel. Rubbery and gelatinous don’t really do it for me.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Go! Go! Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th)– I would eat there every day if I could. It’s cheap, the portions are huge and the curry pork katsu there is really the stuff of dreams. I adore many restaurants in Koreatown (Kum Gang San and Kun Jip, both on 32nd Street, are favorites) but probably end up going to Kang Suh the most just because it’s large — so it’s easy to get a table, which is important if you need to have a quick lunch — and the food is consistently very good. They do a lovely job here with kalbi and yook gae jang. Menchanko-Tei on 55th Street (btw. 5+6th) is a delight — I’ve sampled almost all their ramens and they’re all fantastic. I love their chicken kara age (Japanese fried chicken, an appetizer) and rice balls filled with salmon, too. When I covered New York’s fashion week while it was held at Bryant Park, I found myself repeatedly going to one place for lunch simply because you can have a super quick, comfortable and not bad meal at the bar (I’ve been in and out and had a full meal of pizza or pasta in just 20 minutes): Simply Pasta (41st Street, near 6th). It’s not the best Italian you’ll find in the city but they have a nice selection of the basics, the food is usually satisfying — and it’s very quick.
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Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, February 1st, 2011 under PROFILE: Midtown Lunch'er.
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Since this site is about finding lunch during the week we’ve completely tuned out all the crazy stuff restaurants are doing this Sunday… and yet this managed to catch our attention! “On February 3 the food shops and restaurants in Grand Central are throwing the very first Grand Central Terminal Super Bowl Bash. 11 of Grand Central’s food retailers, including Magnolia Bakery, Manhattan Chili Company, Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse, Café Spice and Mendy’s, will gather in Vanderbilt Hall to give out samples and sell items that make ideal treats for Super Bowl Sunday.” Uh… did somebody say samples! The event takes place from 11:30 to 6:30pm. Freeloaders, prepare to engage.
Back in December, Glaze Teriyaki opened to a lot of excitement from Midtown Lunchers and teriyaki lovers. The obvious excitement came from the fact that the owner is a Seattle native, bringing what has become THE food of Seattle to NYC. Chris H. was lucky enough to try the teriyaki when it 
