Matthew "Matt" H.'s Profile

I had seen MUJI products for sale on the MoMA design store site and was always intrigued by them.  Were these simple and elegant-looking products worth their price?  Or were they just glorified IKEA quality wares marked up by way of us Americans' obsession with all things Japanese?

By chance, I walked by the MUJI store when wandering around SoHo last week.  Upon entering, I noticed awesome-looking office supplies on the left, furniture and housewares in the middle and clothes on the right.  MUJI seems to make pretty much anything, all in varying shades of beige, brown, and grey.  

As a college student, there weren't all that many things in the store that appealed to me.  I don't need expensive wastebaskets or office supplies, and the clothes were pretty boring looking.  The reason I like the MUJI store is for its design-everything is intriguing by way of its simplicity, and I found myself admiring many of the well-designed products.  Some things I found particularly cool were the shrink-wrapped t-shirts, mini keychain sketchbooks, and the low comfy bed near the entrance.  

I've decided that MUJI is for people who appreciate design and simplicity.  It's a great store for getting gifts, and also is a nice retreat from the noise and bustle of SoHo during the Holidays.

The best cappuccino I've ever had, the smallest coffee shop I've ever seen.  Happy staff, delicious olive oil cake, lots of authenticity.  I wish there was a place to sit inside.

Red Mango was once my favorite yogurt chain-creamier than Pinkberry, more elegant than the self-serve shops, and just a great experience overall.  My perception has changed with the opening of this new location, which has lackluster service and very little going for it besides the fact that its the closest froyo shop from where I live.  Red Mango is expensive and innovative in the wrong ways-their latest flavor, Tangomonium, is a bad-tasting blend of citrus and other mystery fruits and their new product line of probiotic iced teas seems completely random.  I'd much rather see better new flavors and toppings introduced.  While I still love the taste of their original yogurt, there really needs to be more to a yogurt shop than one good flavor.

[EDIT: Now closed]

The Yogurt Worlds of San Diego have been reviewed so many times that I'm not sure what exactly I can add with my own review that hasn't already been said.  I'll keep it short and simple with 8 things about Yogurt World:

1) Yogurt World is my favorite yogurt shop in San Diego.  I've tried plenty of the tidal wave of yogurt shops to flood socal in recent months, but always find myself coming back to this one.  YoWo is like a great friend you can never lose touch with for long.
2) Of its three locations, YoWo in Mira Mesa is the best because everything's bigger here.  There's actual room to sit  and hang out (unlike the Convoy one) and more flavors and topping choices to choose from.  You can also find a parking spot here easily-compared to the frustratingly full lot of rice burners that makes going to the Convoy one difficult.  Unless you're a student at UCSD, don't bother going to the UCSD location unless you want to waste time walking through the maze-like campus to find it.
3) YoWo Mira Mesa is always changing.  It was recently remodeled, gaining a more subdued paint job, comfortable lounge chairs, and window shades that block the intense sunlight streaming in during the afternoons.  There are new topping choices like whipped cream, hot fudge, and a variety of chocolate sauces available.  And best of all, pricing is at 29 cents an ounce right now!
4)  They have a twitter (yogurtworldmm) that tweets out new flavors and changes.
5) Yogurt World makes the best plain tart I've ever tried.  Period.
6) Not all the yogurt flavors taste good, but you're always going to find interesting surprises like sweet potato or strawberry banana.  A good tip is to keep the number of flavors you get small, or else your cup is going to taste like a million different things that don't exactly blend well together.  And get a sample of any new flavor first before getting 8 ounces of it.
7) Yogurt World is obsessed with spoons.  They have 6 different colors of spoons at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised if they add even more in the future.
8) No, Yogurt World is not perfect but it is pretty damn good.  I'm proud of San Diego's homegrown yogurt chain and will keep supporting its great product.

National franchise Yogurtland has got some balls to open shop down the street from San Diego's original self-serve yogurt mecca, Yogurt World.  As a longtime YoWo fan, I visited Yogurtland to see what it had to offer.  While the store itself was impressive with its modern look, I was really unimpressed with yo'land's froyo.  While each flavor is different, the few that I tried (coconut, tart, green tea, strawberry) were all too icy and not as creamy as their Yogurt World counterparts.  The coconut was cloyingly sweet and made my entire cup of yogurt taste funky.  Yogurtland's toppings bar was clean and well laid-out, with a healthy selection of fresh-looking fruit and other goodies.  I'm a huge mochi fan, and sadly Yogurtland's mochi balls lacked the chewy texture that I expect from well-made mochi.  

While Yogurtland may look flashy and is well designed (they have biodegradable branded spoons), I'll be sticking with Yogurt World because its yogurt simply tastes way better.

Good burritos, shitty quesadillas.  Try one if you like your quasadillas lumpy and enjoy meat juice dripping out of the middle after taking one bite.  Blech

Dear Sipz,

Your giant bowlz of rice, noodlez, and fake chicken/crab/shrimp/beef/babies aren't very appetizing to me, a meat eater who appreciates vegetables and his vegetarian friends.  I'm also not so sure why you feel the need to replace the s's at the end of your menu items with z's.  That's way too gimmicky for the hipsters and ordinary vegetarians you're trying to attract.

My first lunch with you was very unimpressive.  Dinner, on the other hand, was quite nice.  I was thoroughly impressed by your veggie sushi, which I had heard rave reviews about from my friend Parima S.  She loves your baked Sipz dynamite roll (I think that's what it was called-it's the second warm roll on the menu).  This was my first time trying warm sushi, and I must admit, it was pretty good.  The orange mayo on top was really nice and made me forget the lack of fish in my meal.  I also liked the cold caterpillar roll.  The sweet potato and shitake mushroom inside was a great combination, and the thinly sliced avocado layered on top was both perfectly ripe and skillfully arranged.  Bravo!

So Sipz, I think you've got some great things going for you.  Your dinnertime sushi and giant cups of water are two examples.  As for things that could improve, I wish you had a better interior that's less dark and cave-like as well as some much more inspired (read: tastier) hot food items.  But until you remodel and revise your menu, carry on in your herbivorous ways!

Yours nomnomingly,

Matt H.

Droopy Love.  That's the name of an awesome drink at Green Tea House Cafe (is it a house or a cafe?).  I came here intending to get myself a standard boba milk tea, but noticed an unusually named drink on the menu.  I found out that it's espresso mixed with Thai tea.  Being curious, I ordered the drink and was delighted with the result.  Thai tea is tasty, espresso is also delicious, and together they tasted incredible.  Even better was how the drink had no space-depleting ice in it.  As far as I recall, this is the only boba place I've visited that serves drinks like this.

Props to the Droopy Love.  The kind owner told me his 26 year old son invented it.  (dear son, you are one creative bamf)  While GTHC isn't exactly a place I'd enjoy hanging out at--and there are many boba shops I could say the same for--I'd be happy to stop by here to pick up some quality boba... as long as I can find a parking spot.

The Indian Club at my school used to order samosas from Masala Art, but then discovered that the samosas at Gourmet India are cheaper and far more delicious.  They are cooked fully (unlike Masala's) every single time and the quality is always top-notch.  We will probably be catering a huge meal from Gourmet India at the end of the year, and I have no doubt that the food will be amazing.

I am a Chinese Indian.  I love anything Indian, and Masala Art has been my savior over the past few months whenever I've had a craving for Indian food.   It's the only Indian restaurant in the Needham/Wellesley area, and luckily, it's been able to satisfy my cravings in a snazzy manner with high quality food and a modern but warm dining environment.  I've experienced many aspects of Masala Art's cuisine, including dine-in dinner, lunch buffet, delivery, and catering:

Dinner

Most entrees are really delicious. Chicken tikka and palak paneer (I never knew cottage cheese could be so delicious) are awesome, as is the chana masala.  Mango lassis are great here as well.  On Diwali, we had a terrible experience with the spicy dosas, which were rubbed with way too much chili sauce and were pretty much inedible.  Service is excellent as is the classy, dimly lit atmosphere.  

Lunch Buffet

I felt like throwing up after I had the lunch buffet one day for my roommate's birthday.  This may either be because: a) Masala Art spikes their buffet food with baking soda (as suggested by my clever Indian friends) to bloat people up and have them consume less food, and/or b) I pulled an all-nighter the night before to finish a final project for one of my pass/no record courses (stupidest idea ever) and was feeling tired and queasy.  Either way, I didn't end up throwing up and the food was good enough that I'd go back again.  It's difficult to find a buffet that doesn't give a sense of low-quality food prepared in huge quantities, but Masala Art achieved this by bringing out food in small but sufficient quantities and having servers constantly whisking away empty plates and refilling waters.  And I loved^1000 the butter chicken.

Delivery

Masala Art recently started their delivery service.  It's free during its introductory period, and I decided to take advantage of it by ordering some food one night I slept through dinner.  The food was delivered on time in really thick, durable plastic containers.  I was disappointed with the naan, which was much chewier and smaller than the naan I've had at dinner there.  

Catering

I needed to order a shitload of samosas for a Bollywood movie night the Indian Club was hosting and turned to Masala Art.  The samosas came right on time and were accompanied by copiously excessive containers of their delicious chutneys (mint and tamarind).  I was very disappointed with the samosas, however, as they were not fried long enough.  The outsides were nicely browned but the insides tasted undercooked and not sufficiently spiced.  Next time, I'm going to order from some other Indian restaurant and foot the delivery charges.  Hooray for our club budget!

Despite my mishaps during certain experiences, I really like Masala Art and highly recommend it.  Just not for catering or when you pull all-nighters.