Tea And Sympathy

On Tuesday night, I met up with Stamps and Giggles at Go Japanese Restaurant in "Little Tokyo" which is centered around St. Marks Place in the East Village.  The place definitely qualifies as a hole-in-the-wall, with its scratched tables, rickety chairs and most of the menu plastered all over the wall - but it's cheap, delicious and I can dress like a bum without judgment.  It's also one of those few Japanese restaurants that makes me want to stray from my beloved sushi and order the hot dishes.  Me and Stamps arrived first and got a table, followed by Giggles looking rather stressed.  "What's wrong?" I asked to which she responded by rambling incoherently about work, but not really answering why she appeared so un-Giggles.  Stamps, frustrated by the lack of an answer, turned to me and said abruptly "So when do you leave for China?" referring to my Shanghai work trip at the end of the month!

After surveying the menu and the various dishes scrawled in colored markers on white 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper in both English and Japanese, we settled on a couple of old favorites -  the omusoba (stir-fried yakisoba noodles wrapped in an omelette) and the black cod with miso.  We also ordered the steamed kabocha squash, tofu and unagi cooked in egg, okonomiyaki (savoury pancake with pork and veggies) and spare ribs (an impulse add-on for Giggles, who was craving meat).  All the food was tasty with the exception of the okonomiyaki, which was a bit heavy after having consumed the omusoba according to Stamps and Giggles.  Giggles did decompress a little as she ate and even perked up when I suggested cupcakes for dessert.  With the usual favorite cupcake spots too far away (mmm Cupcake Cafe) we decided to try a place across the street called Spot, an Asian-inspired dessert tapas bar.

We sipped cups of tea and sampled the mocha maldon salt caramel and vanilla caramel vietnamese coffee cupcakes (bit dry, but good buttercream), with a chocolate mint cookie thrown in for good measure.

Giggles spoke a little more about her day and Stamps's ear was a bit more open with the introduction of chocolate.  Soon Giggles managed to abandon some of the negativity of the day and happily dreamed aloud about selling pad thai off a food truck.  We never really found out what plagued her that night, but sometimes a good meal, a bit of sugar and just being with friends is enough to make it all seem better.