Posts Tagged ‘food with friends’

Da Long Yi Hot Pot: A Meal for Everyone

Wednesday, May 1st, 2024

For a fun group gathering, Da Long Yi Hot Pot makes the dinner experience more than just sharing a meal. Located in Lower Allston in an area some call the “Second Chinatown” near Boston University, this hot pot restaurant is easily accessible by bus, train, or car. Nearby on the same street are tons of exciting bubble tea cafes, dessert restaurants, sushi take-out stores, and much more for any hungry student looking for a snack post-hot pot meal (if you still have room in your stomach). The restaurant was clean, and the atmosphere facilitated great conversations with my friends in a quiet setting. There was plenty of space, with almost three separate rooms, a place for smaller groups, or a big dining room for parties over ten.

For people like me who are unsure about the art form of eating hot pot with many different types of dishes, I’m here to tell you the basics. Hot pot is like cooking an array of ingredients like a soup, but your friends are seated around a single pot at a table. Once the ingredients are cooked, you can transfer them to your own smaller bowl, dip them in sauces, or drink them like soup. Hot pot is typically associated with Chinese food, with the broth seasoned with various flavors from soy sauce to sesame oil to Sichuan peppercorns. Add thinly sliced meats, tofu, cabbage, shrimp, noodles, root vegetables, and more. The order of cooking is typically done in batches depending on the cooking time for each ingredient, but it is essential to remember to wait until the broth is boiling before eating. Hot pot is communal, so it is a great meal to share with friends and family, and it is cost-effective, too!

I have only experienced hot pot family style in the comforts of my own home, so I brought three friends along with me who were both eager to try a new hot pot restaurant and fill their rumbling stomachs. Immediately when my friends and I entered the restaurant, we were greeted by friendly and accommodating staff who provided recommendations on the menu and their signature dishes. I was glad they offered suggestions for the meal because there were so many different varieties of meats and meat cuts to choose from. As we were shown to our table in a quiet area, the staff also showed us an assortment of dipping sauces that we could pick and choose from on a table. My favorite side dish, pickled daikon, a root vegetable, was among the choices for side dishes, and I returned to the table for a second serving later in my meal. 

My friends and I settled on the two flavor pots, choosing spicy beef and mushroom as our two broth options. As someone who cannot handle spice, I found it nice that there were multiple options for spice levels on the menu and various meat and vegetarian soup bases. My other friends appreciated spice and beef more, which they eagerly ate with their meal instead. Our meat options included ribeye, pork belly, fish balls, meatballs, and shrimp paste. For our vegetables, we chose an assortment of cabbage, mushrooms, and corn. The restaurant was extremely flexible in our customizations, and there was something on the menu for all my friends. I love this type of meal, as we were able to add more ingredients to our soup base once we finished our first round of ingredient choices. My friends wanted a different style of tofu, pork belly, and another beef plate, which we quickly ordered and came out at a perfect time in our meal. My friend was also craving a smoothie, and the banana smoothie he chose tasted like it used fresh ingredients. 

Eating at Da Long Yi Hot Pot is an experience I’ll never forget. My friends and I had a fantastic time catching up over a warm and flavorful meal. For those experienced in the art of eating hot pot or are beginners like me, this place is welcoming to all with its pleasant atmosphere and easy-to-read yet diverse menu. I feel confident I could take any of my friends there again next time as their menu had gluten-free and vegetarian options, too. The servers were all kind and helpful and offered various traditional and unique dishes for the whole table. If anyone is unsure about their next meal with friends, I highly recommend treating yourself to some hot pot, exciting your taste buds while partaking in an active, engaging meal.



By Lecia Sun

Lecia is a student at Tufts University studying Classics and World Literature. When she is not reading, she can be found attempting the New York Times Games, trying out a new creative hobby, and dreaming about her next great bake. 


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Poké City: Downtown’s Hidden Gem

Wednesday, November 15th, 2023

Despite my close proximity to the Orange Line and easy access to the Downtown area, I don’t get out there much. Best $1,000 loan same day no credit check today. It is really such a great area though, with so many hidden gems and delicious varieties of food to try. I am so happy that I was able to get myself out there the other day to try something new with Poké City!

Poké City is a Hawaiian sushi bowl restaurant just a few minutes walk from Faneuil Hall. It is on Broad Street, which is a sort of quaint, business-centered area of Downtown. The area was super cute and rather quiet, so much so that it didn’t even really feel like Downtown at all. It was a sort of peaceful place, and I really enjoyed exploring this “new” corner of town.  They also have a Cambridge location for my friends across the river!

The logo itself is really cute—I like their tropical vibe, a lot of their menu items center on fruits like pineapple and mango, which makes it a unique kind of cuisine to find in Boston. 

I am ironically not really a fan of sushi, so I brought a friend that actually does like fish who happens to work in the area. She said that her coworkers grab lunch here all of the time, so I was excited to know that it was a really popular place, and she was eager to see what all of the hype was about. 

The inside was really nice and clean, and we sat down in front of the window so we could look out onto the nice city street. We went in the early evening hours, so the sun was just beginning to set, which made our view really beautiful and peaceful. The staff was also really nice—we were having a tough time deciding what to get but they were super patient with us while we figured out what we wanted! 

We both wanted to get signature bowls, but it would have been really easy to make your own customized bowl here. The ingredients are behind the counter, assembly line style, so it is super easy to personalize your order and make it so that it’s perfect just for you. I love this type of restaurant because it gives you the option to create your own, or you can enjoy one of their pre-designed bowls if you aren’t familiar with the type of food. Because I had never had this style of poké, I was happy to have some guidance through their signature dishes!

Teriyaki Bowl

I ended up getting the Teriyaki & Shrimp Bowl, which comes with chicken, shrimp (I ordered without), pineapple salsa, cucumber, sweet corn, seaweed salad, scallion, cilantro, sesame seed, teriyaki sauce, and rice. It was really delicious, and I loved the combination of the tropical pineapple salsa paired with the savory chicken; they went so well together and were so different from what I usually eat. They also added some extra carnitas chicken for us to try, which was SO good! It was nice and soft and full of flavor, I would definitely recommend it. My bowl was delicious, and not too spicy for my Irish palette. 

My friend ordered the Spicy Salmon Bowl, which was too spicy for my Irish palette, but was delicious nonetheless. This bowl came with salmon, mango, edamame, red cabbage, scallion, tobiko, furikake, sriracha aioli, and rice. Despite being a bit too spicy for me, it had really great flavor that even I could appreciate. It was actually surprising how much I liked it considering I do not really like fish or spicy food, so I guess that speaks to how great these flavors work together to create such a unique and delectable dish! I have basically no spice tolerance, but it seemed to be just the right amount of spice for my friend, because she ate the whole thing up!

Spicy Salmon Bowl

Overall, we had a really great time there. The building was clean, the food was delicious, and the atmosphere was very relaxing and tranquil. We lingered there for a while even after we finished eating because we were really enjoying the pleasantness of the area and of the restaurant itself. This is definitely somewhere that I am certainly going to return to, and I definitely recommend bringing a friend to sit and chat with you! 

Thank you so much to Poke City for the delicious food and hospitality. You will definitely be seeing me again soon!

There is truly nothing like eating some good food with your buddies while the sun sets on the city, so bring a friend and your student ID to buy one get one 25% off! 

By Erin O’Brien


Erin is a student based in Boston, MA studying Communications and Studio Art. She is drawn to telling stories about love and friendship, with themes of humanity and connection at its core. In sharing her personal truths, she hopes to provide readers with nuggets of learned wisdom and college survival skills


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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A Word on ‘Potatoes’: Chapter 3 — Cooking With What You Have

Monday, July 26th, 2021

As a struggling freshman, I often found my stomach growling in anger as the night approached. Once the sun had set far past the horizon, my feet carried me to the kitchen cupboards in my dorm, searching for old cookie crumbs. But, past the half-empty cookie boxes and stale pieces of bread remained one dorm staple: potatoes. 

My dorm in London, where all the cooking would take place after long hours in school. 

No good meal is complete without potatoes. Whether mashed with butter, roasted with garlic, pan-fried, or made into thin chips, potatoes are one of the most versatile foods and they are cheap. 

In my freshman year of college, my roommates and I often pooled money at the beginning of the week to finance shared grocery trips. Using the few bills we could scrounge up after busy weekends partying around London, we would head to the grocery store. This was the time to buy the essentials: toilet paper, bread, butter, various kinds of milk, and of course, potatoes. By purchasing these items altogether, not only did we show care by proving we would provide for one another, but we also created an unspoken rule: “I won’t let you go hungry.” These were the items we shared the things we used together as a small community. It put trust in each of us that if anyone ever needed something but didn’t have the means to get it, we would step in and help. This is one of the many ways we created a family within the dorm and built a solid foundation for a community. 

The cooking was often left to me. Having held a knife in my hand for the first time at the age of eight, one could say I know my way around a kitchen. After hours of studying, working in the university’s Student office, and speaking to my family from across the ocean, I often started my cooking process well into the evening. In a dorm with seven other girls, food goes as fast as it comes. One minute you would have seven pieces of chicken fresh off the stove, simmered in onions and tomato sauce with a hint of oregano and garlic, and the next minute you would have only the bones. The groceries did not last us long especially for me. I was known for sharing my meals, occasionally charging students from other dorm rooms for a plate of rice, guacamole, tacos, and salsa. At the end of the week, all I had left to eat were the neglected potatoes sitting in the corner of the kitchen, begging to live a little longer. Wrinkled and slightly soft, the sad spuds were eventually used to satisfy the growing growls of our stomachs. Despite them looking questionable before cooking, I never failed to create a tasty meal for my roommates, and I always knew they would walk away from a potato dinner with a smile on their face and a satisfied stomach. 

A favorite “potato meal” of mine: butter chicken and potatoes simmered together on top of white rice.

Potatoes are great because they’re versatile. They go with anything and everything. Although we originally ate them out of pure hunger and necessity, they have become a staple item in my apartment. When my roommates see me bring home a small bag of potatoes, it only takes them a few minutes to softly ask “So….potatoes for dinner?”

A recent meal I made for my roommates of roasted potatoes, breaded chicken cutlets, and an arugula salad.

If you ever find yourself in need of a quick and cost-effective recipe for potatoes, feel free to use mine! 

Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

– Small potatoes (as many as you would like)

– 4 cloves of garlic 

– 2 teaspoons of oregano

– 2 teaspoons of chili flakes

– 2 teaspoons of onion powder

– 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Steps 

  1. Preheat oven to 400° F
  2. Cut potatoes into halves and place into a bowl
  3. Mince garlic
  4. Coat potatoes with olive oil, spices, and garlic
  5. Once well coated, place the potatoes onto a baking tray
  6. Place into the preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Enjoy!

If you’re out of potatoes or don’t feel like turning on the oven in this heat, use the coupon below for sushi at Okinii!


By: Allegra Ruiz

Allegra Ruiz is a junior at New York University and she is from Chicago. She studies English and is minoring in Creative Writing. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, reading books and essay collections, and cooking for her roommates. Currently, she lives quietly in New York. 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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