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Kafana | кафана – Amazing Serbian Food! Meat fest!

Gao Di and I went to celebrate Valentine’s Day at the same place we went last year, the amazing Serbian restaurant Kafana (кафана) in Alphabet City. I owe the discovery of this place to Eileen, thanks homie! Anyway, Valentine’s Day also happened to be the first day of the Chinese New Year and we rejoiced in the most un-Chinese of ways, having stuffed our faces at Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown the day before. What I mean by that, is that Chinese people traditionally do not eat meat on the first day of the new year, only eating some Chicken at dinner. They say that brings good luck.

Either way, Kafana happens to offer a most meaty of meals and this place RULES.

Before I get to my comments on the food, I’d like to share a quick story that prefaced our actual meal. Our table was right by the door, and while Gao Di was in the bathroom, a duo of very strange guy plus very old guy appeared hovering by our table. The man asked that the old man, who I assume was his father, take a seat for just a moment. Not knowing what to do, I told him it’d be fine just that my girlfriend would be returning shortly. Sure enough, she was on her way back, and these guys didn’t budge. The owner and service people were stunned. Not knowing what to do we just sort of stood around while this strange business proceeded. All I can say is these people were ridiculously weird and no one knew what to do. The restaurant was super busy but within a moment, the owner opened up another table for us. All I can say is that the workers were champs and handled the situation as best they could. They were super nice and we still had an amazing time! We wound up with dessert on the house… now! To the food…

As I’ve troubled you to read through that story I will keep my notes on the food from being too long winded and make it more of a photo essay… who reads this anyway? Pictures pictures pictures…

We started off with the spinach pie which was quite delicious, dense and flaky!

You are also always treated to some bread with delicious red pepper spread when you come here. Don’t eat too much of this just because it’s free.. there’s much more to be had.

Behold. Kafana’s Mixed Grill for Two (Mesano Meso) is the perfect meat fest. This feast comes with: Seljacka Kobasica (peasant sausage), Dimljena Vesalica (thinly sliced smoked pork loin), Rolovane Suve Sljive i Dzigerica (prunes stuffed with walnuts & cheese rolled in bacon and chicken liver rolled in bacon), and a Krmenadla (pork chop). That’s a lot of pork products, and that’s a lot of “can’t go wrong” food right there. All of this is delicious. The bacon-rolled prunes and chicken liver are particularly delicious as is the pork chop. All that meat is also a deal at $29.95. MMMMMMM.

Sufficiently stuffed but always game for more food we were treated to one last treasure: a flourless chocolate walnut cake. This thing is ridiculously dense and is amazing for any chocolate lover. I recommend it.

Anyway, that about sums up all that needs to be said about Kafana. The restaurant has an awesome ambiance, the food is amazing and the wait staff is super friendly. My experiences at this restaurant have all been awesome and I encourage you to go there!

Kafana is located at 116 Avenue C between E 7th St. and E 8th St.

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Minca – Alphabet City

Minca is a small ramen shop I stumbled upon when I lived in alphabet city. It’s located on East 5th Street between Avenues A and B. Minca and Kambi on 14th st are apparently owned by the same person but I think Minca is far superior. Minca is small and because the place gets packed it can feel very cramped even though it seats a few more people than tiny ramen shop Rai Rai Ken. The wait isn’t too bad but you certainly do feel awkward when you stand around waiting for your seat because it’s too cold outside and end up hovering over diners’ tables.

Aside from the lack of personal space, Minca offers a nice ambiance and seats at the bar get a nice view of the open kitchen. I have had some of the more extravagant ramens here but this time I kept it simple with the Minca Shoyu Ramen and Pork Gyoza.

The menu at Minca is simple, they pretty much stick to ramen and gyoza. The pork gyoza is really, really good with a nice thin skin and tasty pork filing. An order equals 6 hand-made dumplings for $4.85, highly recommended to complement your meal (pork overload yes!!!). Minca’s website states “We Take Pride in Our らーめん” (Ramen), and they do. It’s obvious the love and care put into these ramen bowls. The minca shoyu ramen features a pork & chicken mix broth with a soy sauce flavor  and is ridiculously delicious- thick and meaty! The charshu pork is amazingly fatty and tender, it seems to melt in your mouth. It’s such a shame you only get two pieces- lucky for me Eileen isn’t so down with fatty pork and gifted me with some extra pork- YUMMMMM. The ramen is also topped with a soy sauce infused half of a hard-boiled egg, scallions, mushrooms, seaweed, and bamboo shoots. This ramen is, simply put, fucking delicious. Also, the bowls seem to be pretty low on the MSG and I never leave with that weird after-taste MSG gives you. The standard Minca Shoyu Ramen is $9.50, a better deal and better tasting than Ippudo. Some of the more intricate ramens at Minca range up to $14.

Minca is an amazing, authentic ramen shop and places in as one of my top places for ramen noodles in the city. I’m also a big fan of Menkui Tei and Ramen Setagaya and will get to reviewing them at another point! If you know of any amazing ramen places in New York that I may not have heard of please leave me with a suggestion!

Minca can be found at 536 East 5th Street between Avenues A and B in Alphabet City.