Four months after moving to Greenpoint and the weather is perfect. Just right to go kick some things off the Greenpoint bucket list! You know, explore as far as possible, eat at the restaurants you keep saying you’re going to, and drink Bloody Marys because that’s what weekends are for.
The day started after noon (obviously) with a trip to the tip: lunch at Ashbox, on Ash Street, which is between (get ready you’re gonna freak out) Ash and Box streets on Manhattan Ave! Was your mind completely blown just there? My salad was creative, colourful, delicate, and delightful – just like Ashbox itself! But I think where it’s really at is the Onigiri – rice wrapped in seaweed, warm and flavourful. I can see many cold-weather ventures up to Ashbox for tea and onigiri in the future!
The wind blew cold, but the skies were bright, and after stopping to pet a very domineering beagle mix in a sweater (DOGS IN SWEATERS ALREADY AIN’T COMPLAININ), we saw the Newtown Creek, Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, and a cute park (more dogs in sweaters) and it became clear that it was Bloody Mary time.
Enter Lobster Joint. As soon as we stepped inside, the smell of butter and seafood made this place a new entry on the Greenpoint Bucket List. I’m hell-bent to go back sometime for a full meal, because this Bloody Mary was THE BOMB. Perfectly spicy and THERE IS A LOBSTER CLAW ON IT. Waving, “Hello, I’m your delicious Bloody Mary! I’m spicy and full of booze and you won’t be able to feel your nose when I’m done with you!”
So tipsily we stumbled into Eastern District because they had this window display of bears picking cheese off trees. You know, like you do. We picked up some soft cheeses of our own, and fancy cider to enjoy laterrrr. By this point we were basically drunkenly shopping and headed back homeward with a pit stop at Kimchi Market where we were able to taste kimchi and pickled squid and oh yeah some more treats to bring home and oops passed out and slept until 7:00pm. It’s Saturday, and I didn’t have to work. That’s all the excuse I need.
But the adventures continued! Having made such progress today already on the Greenpoint Bucket List, I suggested getting dinner at “that place down the road we keep meaning to go to” “you mean the Malaysian place?” Well, not really. No. We were both wrong.
Having got turned around, we followed a shih tzu into a grocery store and found *gasp* My New Favourite Local Market. I can’t believe what a productive day of wandering this was! I even got to thank the shih tzu myself in the coffee aisle (WARNING: do not feed coffee to your shih tzu) for leading us to this market with amazing products, great prices, and the best atmosphere I can’t even get over it. Freddy’s Market, get ready to see lots of me, making heart-eyes-emoji face at you.
We finally found the place! You know, THAT place? Selamat Pagi, a Balinese restaurant, one block further away than we thought – OOPS! BUT – this place was incredible. Not only did we feel the warm welcome despite arriving at 8:00 on a Saturday night for dinner, their menu is outrageous, the food was beyond belief, and the vibe was cozy and perfect. Pictured above is the green papaya salad, which was rich and flavourful and the best I’ve ever tasted. I ordered the Pumpkin Curry, of course, and it was flawless. Not pictured is the creme brulee we had for dessert – my first creme brulee EVER and I couldn’t stop saying how delicious it was the whole time I was desperately licking it out of the dish. Does anyone wanna come with me to Selamat Pagi to give me an excuse to come back again like, now???
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