Nana's Japanese Cafe- A Hidden Gem, Alfred, NY

Alfred NY- the quaintest little town I have ever been to. I think its the contrast from Mumbai that I love so much. The absolute opposite in every sense.  Nestled in the mountains of the northern Appalachian, it is the home of the famous Alfred University. I have family up in Alfred. Hence, I have spent many a summers walking up the hilly country roads, along the farms and lakes, or the trees turn shades or yellow, orange and red in the fall and thanksgiving and Christmas meals staying warm eating wonderful goodness my aunt cooks while the world turns while outside.

This blog started in Alfred a few years ago when I nursing broken ankle. The first few recipes are from my aunt's kitchen.

I took a summer course of 3 months in 1998 to learn glass blowing at Alfred University. Now summers in Alfred are wonderful, it never gets very hot. It rains every couple of days and everything is lush green. On the weekends there are wonderful trails to discover, lovely little caves and waterfalls - Stonybrook and Watkins Glen. Niagara is a two hour drive and Corning (glass lovers) is an hour drive. Everytime I go to Alfred, its a home away from home. Its my safe haven in a country that was my home for 9 years.

Nana's Japanese Cafe was my go to lunch place while I was blowing glass in Alfred. It is a unique little cafe run by a Japanese lady called Nana. On a street of typical college restaurants and bars that serve sandwiches and pizzas, I found Nana's fascinating, healthy and not very expensive. Nana's was my first encounter with Japanese food. Here, I cried out in pain as wasabi burnt a hole in my nose like I had no idea what struck me. I was in love and totally fascinated by Sushi rolls, makis, inoris, the flavor of miso, udon noodles, ramen. Imagine - in this little Village of Alfred, I learnt to love the flavors of homestyle Japanese food. The cafe is simple and homey, with an eclectic mix of wooden tables and chairs, ceramic pots for decor.

So on my dad's birthday I decided to treat him and mom to one of my favourite places. It was such a sweet surprise to see Nana's smiling face behind the counter. I told her I used to come to her cafe 16 years ago. She gave me her biggest and warmest smile, came over to our table and chatted with my parents. We ordered her famous bento boxes that come piled high with salad slaw in a ginger soy sauce, teriyaki- chicken or tofu. Her tofu is perfectly crispy on the outside and soft inside. Rice in a sweet vinegar, beans in sesame, a California roll and slice of watermelon. I ordered my favourite miso with tofu soup, a mixed plate of sushi, an inori roll and steamed edemame. The food was wonderful, light and flavourful. It was mixture of color and texture plated on beautiful raku ceramics.

Sitting in Nana's on a rainy afternoon reminds me of the book Kafka on the Shore when the protagonist runs away to this little town to live in a library. Nana's is such a gem in the middle of nowhere Alfred.
I thought the song Runaway by Yeah Yeah Yeahs goes perfectly well with this meal.

Massive pine trees

The houses on Main Street

A little stream and a wooden heron

Quaint little Nana's Japanese Cafe

Blueberry soy smoothis & the deadly wasabi

Tofu and udon in a miso broth 

Lovely to see Nana after all these years

Bento boxes- tofu and chicken

Noodle soup and  3 kinds of sushi

Our lovely meal

Dad's birthday lunch 

Completely wiped out 

The backyard

My wonderful uncle & aunt, mom & dad

The age old Japanese Maple tree- almost 27 years old

Adventures of the Thai park, the Best Ramen Noodles and A Not so great Korean Bibimbap

It would seem like I am somewhere in East Asia but as a matter of fact I am still in Berlin (well actually I am back in Bombay now). Irene's friend Ringo told us about this park outside Berlin where the Thai community congregates and picnics. Thai aunties cook copious amounts of homemade Thai curries and fish and sell it to the people who come to the park. The three of us decided to head over there on Saturday evening. I told this to some of the Berliner folks I was hanging with. No one seemed to have heard about this mysterious park.
It took me a couple of Metros to get to Pruessenpark. Surprisingly this was a hugely popular park on a Saturday evening. The place was abuzz with Thai families. Teenagers playing frisbee and ball games. Thai aunties with little grill frying up different types of fish, prawns. There were large bowls of soups, curries, sticky rice. And my favourite the tapioca, red bean, jelly coconut milk icy drink.

I chatted with some of the ladies. They were reluctant to let me photograph them. One them told me she has been coming here for 16 years. That the police does show up and they all just hide the money and pretend it is a family picnic. It has been the practice for many many years. She could not recall how far back the Thai community of Berlin had been congregating at the park. She did smile and say - More people here than Buddhist Temple.

Thai fried fish, fried chicken

The famous Thai mortar and pestle

Thai candy

Liver? Heart? Testicles?

My favourite tapioca, fruity, corn, beans, coconut icy drink

Irene's lovely bangles and our very colorful rug

Barbequed chicken or pork?

A pho kind of chicken soup

Vietnamese spring rolls

The lady I chatted with requested me not to take pictures of the park. I wish I had photos to share with you how wonderfully colorful this picnic was.
Can someone translate for me please. I saw this on the way to Pruessenpark

On another night after experiencing the beautiful Sauna performance by my host Peter, which I will have to write about in a separate post, we (Peter, Ringo, Joey, Irene and I) headed out to this Ramen Noodle place another recommendation by Ringo. This place was quite simple and lovely and was called Next to and the restaurant it was next to was called Kuchi. So the story goes that Kuchl has been a very popular Sushi restaurant in Berlin so the Ramen Noodle bar which is fairly new decided to call itself Next To. Clever. Another lovely feature was that all the bowls, plate, glasses, were hand made japanese ceramics and wooden spoons. They have a lovely backyard with benches.

It was a beautiful night. We ordered Edemame beans and ramen soup. Ringo and I ordered the Tonkotsu soup and the rest the Miso soup. Ringo promised me it is a soup I will not forget with slices of pork and a nice chunk of pork belly that has been cooked for over 12 hours. The broth is basically made with boiling the bones for several hours. Can I tell you by far the most beautiful soup I have ever had. EVER.  There were sprouts, vegetables, boiled egg, slices of pork, seaweed, miso, ramen noodles of course and a sexy piece of pork belly. The noodles wrapped in basil leaves with the flavorings of this perfect broth was lovely to slurp. The broth reminded me why all the times I have looked for comfort in my food.

I looked into my soup and smiled savoring every bite. I took a small bite of the belly, it melted. It was delicate, soft and succulent.  I sighed. Ringo was watching me and smiled giving me the see I told you look. Joey- Peter's friend a photographer helped my food pose for me. Later we ordered a large bowl of green tea ice-cream. We sprinkled the sesame seeds generously on the ice cream.  The conversation light and fun. Another night where I felt completely at home in Berlin - a real Berliner. After dinner we got on bicycles and headed back home where we some more wine- I for a change stuck to trying another German beer.

Our merry group

Joey and Ringo

Edemame beans

Peter explaining the edemame

Boiled egg in the Miso soup. 

Joey posing with the soup

'Im in love with you' Pork belly

The Tonkotsu soup

The Ramen Noodle Soup

Peter- A lovely hand made ceramic mug.

Save the best for last

Green tea ice cream

Irene! 

The walls were made of printed wooden plywood planks. More translations in order.

The soup prep bar

My soup

Handmade ceramic bowls

The other soups

The last meal I want to write about in this post was really my first dinner in Berlin. Irene and I went to Cafe Yam Yam a Korean cafe near our home. We ordered a beef Bibimbap and a seafood Korean pancake. The bibimbap was alright. It had all the ingredients, the beef slices, the shredded vegetables, sprouts, carrots, eggs, rice, sesame. The Korean pancake with seafood was very greasy. The interiors were delightful though. It was my first dinner in Berlin- I really could not complain. I was there with the lovely Irene staying at her friend Peter's who lived in a remarkable artist community and had a lofted bathtub. He lent me his bicycle so I could get around Berlin. The building had beautifully graffiti all over it. One evening I found two musicians playing on the landing above our floor. The sound echoed beautifully throughout the halls. Such will be my memory of Berlin and Berliners. Life in a fairytale land of slightly rebellious and proudly poor youngsters.

The Bibimbap and iced tea

Loft or Love. (convert into upscale condos or leave it for the squatters) Liebe Liebe Liebe I say!

The Peter's Apartment building:

The view from my room and my bed

the neighbours wall

the gorgeous staircase.

The breath taking mind-blowing Tacheles right next to Peter's

Finally I leave you with this beautiful piece that these two musicians were playing on the landing as their friend video-graphed them. The sound is still embedded in my memory. For me its the Berlin piece.