New York: B. Café West

B. Café has (apparently) been known for some time as a great brasserie with a Belgian flavour on the upper east side (75th between 2nd and 3rd). We found ourselves looking for Sunday brunch across Central Park, and stumbled across the new twin version on the west side (566, between 87th and 88th - take the 1 train to 86th St).

B. Café West is what a brasserie ought to be - the beers and the food are complementary and a good deal of care is taken with both. Brunch itself was not radically different from what one might have found in a hundred New York venues, but with a few tweaks that gave a Belgian feel. Eggs Benedict and similar assemblages sat alongside burgers and sandwiches like a Croque Monsieur. Frites were given a special emphasis in presentation and deservedly so - the paper cone set in a silver stand held a parcel of hot, crisp fries that could distract from the rest.

In my case the rest was a good house burger, done medium rare as requested. My companions had, respectively, the Eggs Benedict and a carefully-prepared and well-presented special order of dairy-free scrambled eggs, with greens and frites.

The beers were outstanding. There was an impressive range - I think close to 40 - beers across the range of different makers and types, grouped as Trappist, Lambic, Kriek etc. In proper Belgian fashion each had its uniquely-shaped branded glass. I had a Chimay Rouge to start, and for dessert a Leffe bruin. One companion had a Kriek Lindemans but stuck to food for dessert and had a Belgian waffle, which was (authentically I suspect) a crisper affair than the usual American breakfast species.

B. Café is an unusually good place to indulge in this American after-Church institution. If you're looking for a Church for the first course, try St Ignatius of Antioch at 87th and West End Ave. Tell them I sent you.

New York: Bo La Lot

With apologies to Vietnamese speakers or readers, I've made no attempt to preserve accents in rendering names of dishes here...

Thai Son is a bustling Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of New York's Chinatown (89 Baxter - a few steps from the Canal St station on the Lexington Ave subway line). The diverse clientele includes a reassuring plurality of Asian faces and people who look like they know their Pho. The food seemed to us to justify the confidence.

Our meal included a mixture of standard dishes that would feature in the Australian equivalent. Hungry, we started with the unadventurous but appealling cha gio Vietnamese spring rolls), which were served (like almost everything else) with huge hunks of cos lettuce for a distinctive hot-cold and crisp-soft combination.

One "entreé" was a special, Tom hap la ve steamed prawns (shrimp) in beer. These were fresh and sweet prawns, simply cooked and presented. Given the dish it was appropriate we accompanied the meal with Vietnamese '33' beer...

The other was the more distinctive Banh hoi bo la lot, also drawn from a decent list of daily specials on wall posters. Although this was described as "grilled ground beef in vine leaves" Banh hoi refers to the accompanying mats or squares of fine rice vermicelli, and the bo la lot were the beef parcels.

These could be called a sort of Indochinese dolmades, but the leaves that the meat is wrapped in are not grape leaves. They supposed to be betel or a near relative from the pepper family, but we didn't pry. In New York who knows what they can get hold of? The marinated beef is grilled in the leaves, and the diner assembles a further parcel out of this first one, wrapping the bo la lot in banh trang rice paper and lettuce with mint leaves, incorporating a sweetish sauce resembling hoi sin.

Thai Son's food was fresh, appetizing and reasonably priced. I'd go again if I were any closer and there weren't a hundred other restaurants in Chinatown to try first when I get back.