Viiza: Pizza Cones

If you live anywhere in the lower parts of Brooklyn, cough, 8th ave, cough, then you might have heard about this new place around called Viiza, a store that specializes in pizza cones. I was surprised to see an innovative place like this pop up on 8th Avenue.

Grilled Shrimp Cone

Another thing that shocked me was the line that went out the door in the afternoons. To be fair, the store itself is very small as there is no seating inside. I'm guessing people are reeled in by their drinks...

Strawberry Lemon Green Tea

... in light bulb bottles?!? Heck yeah, everyone wants one of those. It is completely rational to stand in line for a drink that comes in a light bulb bottle.

I should note that it takes a while for the cones to be made, even when it's late at night and you're the only one there. So, those long afternoon lines in the blistering hot sun can get pretty dreadful.

Sauteed Beef Fillet Cone

Now let's talk about the pizza cones themselves. So far I've tried the Grilled Shrimp and the Grilled Chicken (on separate days) and both were very cheesy and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that since I am a cheese addict. The amount of filling was decent; I got a chicken in almost every bite in the Grilled Chicken cone but I'm not sure I can say the same for the Grilled Shrimp cone.

Quick Mention: Steak 'n Shake

If you've got a hankering for a burger like I have been lately, you might want to check this place out if you happen to be in the area.

Read my review on Yelp by clicking here!

Happy eating!

Kaya: A Coconut Spread

Hello Food Friends! I am here, back from the dead to review/describe an interesting food product I came across in my local Chinese Supermarket (if you live in the lower parts of Brooklyn you can probably guess which one). I had never seen or heard of this spread before until I saw it sitting on the shelf, as I was frantically searching for agar agar powder (that’ll be for another post).

So here I have purchased “Traditional Kaya”, a coconut spread. According to the Wikipedia page about this spread, it is a coconut curd or jam that is popular in Southeast Asia, mainly Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Kaya in the Malay language means "rich", representing the texture of the spread. It is also referred to as Serikaya or Srikaya. 

While we were in the supermarket, my mother inspected it and said it was probably the stuff Chinese bakeries use to make their coconut breads or tarts, so I gave it a try. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this besides taste it, but my mother had also recommended I spread it on toast.

Upon purchase, I had expected the spread to be thick like Nutella or caramel, since it shares a rich brown color to caramel or dulce de leche. To my surprise, it was actually much lighter than I expected, contrary to its given name. The consistency is very similar to apple butter, which I feel to be a more concentrated version of applesauce. Imagine applesauce, except a darker color, sweeter and less watery.

The coconut flavor is very faint so this wouldn’t be a bad spread to feed to those who aren’t coconut lovers (e.g. Everyone in my life. Smh). I also detected a faint coconut scent, and when eating the spread accompanied with toast, it can be difficult to detect the coconut. Sampling by itself, however, it is much more prominent, but not overwhelming. It is not overly sweet either, so although I recommend you not to do this, you could eat spoonfuls of the stuff. 

Overall, a decent spread. Nothing that will blow your mind, but it’s not bad on toast. I’m interested to see what else I could do with this spread (Maybe a custard? Not sure, I’ll have to test that out). So let me know what you would do with this spread or if you’ve had it before!

 Happy eating!!