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Cafe Zaiya

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quirine
quirine
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
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1
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3
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Cafe Zaiya

  • November 25, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by quirine from Brooklyn, New York
Cafe Zaiya

As my dad said when I took him to Cafe Zaiya, "it's like Tokyo in here". The place is so crowded and full of people, a lot of them Asian, that you really do feel like you're in Tokyo. The cafe offers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, all for take-out, since finding an available table there is next to impossible. This place is so unusual because they offer crazy, yet delicious, food for insanely low prices. The breakfast is actually quite simple and mainly consists of donuts, pastries, and a thick slice of "honey toast". Lunch involves everything from the customized tossed salad to egg salad sandwiches to sushi to chicken teriyaki to donuts that are filled with hot dogs or curry sauce. The fried chicken sandwich runs less than 3 bucks and the famed lunchbox, which includes two mini sandwiches on croissant with a hot dog donut and half an orange, is only $4.50.

You could spend a half hour poring over all the various, strange food items they have. I often find myself with odd food combinations like the sushi stick with a tuna corn (tuna and corn stuffed into a baked roll). The very best part about this little Japanese lunch place is the famous Beard Papa. The Beard Papa is the best dessert invention of the millennium so far. Lines were out the door at an official Beard Papa store on the upper west side last year. I was laughing all the way to Cafe Zaiya since it seemed I was the only one who knew they had a little Beard Papa stand inside. You might ask what this crazy dessert is, but it's actually quite simple. It's a custard puff with powdered sugar and it's best eaten "within 2 hours of purchase". They cost about $1.25 each and are worth every penny.

If you're into affordable, zany, and delicious food and you happen to be in midtown (it's right near the NYPL) check out Cafe Zaiya for a quick bite.

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