Foodie Adventure in Boston & Cambridge

Hello!

This is the second and final part of my adventure in Massachussets. On the Literary adventure post I mentioned that the second one would revolve around my general adventure and lots of food. As I'm writing this post and uploading photos however, I realize that I went to maybe one actual "tourist" destination and the rest were basically food photos... (oops!) But who doesn't love food? All the information for places mentioned will be linked and also listed at the end of the post.

Friday Night Dinner- Thelonious Monkfish Sushi and Asian Fusion

Monkfish hands down has the best names for maki rolls I've ever seen in my life (Hello, hello kitty maki). The restaurant itself is not that big so my friend had to rsvp for our tables in advanced.  The ambiance of the restaurant was very cozy and simple. We ended up sharing two rolls the 'Spicy Red Dragon Roll' which is shrimp tempura + cucumber, topped with spicy tuna and the 'Holly and Ivy Roll' aka ' Christmas Roll' which consists of lobster, mango, avocado + ginger rolled into rice + nori; drapped with salmon + white tuna; seasoned with seaweed + salmon roe. Did you get all that? Definitely check out the rest of their awesome Maki rolls list on their website.  

Spicy Red Dragon Roll & Christmas Roll

And I was also forced to order dessert (even though it was freezing cold outside and we didn't have our coats) and ended up sharing strawberry mochi and vanilla ice cream tempura.

Strawberry Mochi and Tempura Ice Cream

Monkfish is a must visit if you love sushi. Definitely a place that you can be more adventurous and order from their long list of great sushi (get your California roll somewhere else!) 

Saturday Brunch - Back Bay Social Club

Saturday was Boston day. We woke up pretty early and got our breakfast at Starbucks and headed into Boston for the book festival. We first went to the Old Granary Burying Ground where Paul Revere, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin's family and many Revolutionary War era patriots were buried. The Granary is part of the Freedom Trail 16 official sites. If you plan on going to Boston, definitely plan that in advanced. You can find photos from this trip over on my photography page. We walked passed Boston Commons and made our way to Brattle Book Shop and towards Copley Square where the Book Festival was held.  We needed to find lunch fast in the area and we ended up at Back Bay Social Club Dining Room and Bar.

Back Bay Social Club is a flashback to the 1960s style cocktail lounge with red booths, mahogany bars and black and white tiles. This two floors establishment boasts a well rounded brunch menu and a relaxed environment.  Even though their Brunch Menu was limited to a page, we still had  hard time choosing but ended up ordering the Chicken and Waffles with house barbecue maple syrup and Corned Beef Hash with eggs and toasts. Yes, they were huge portions, and yes we did finish them.

Chicken & Waffles

Corned Beef Hash with eggs and toasts

Sunday Breakfast & Lunch- Mr. Crepe & Grafton Street Pub

We woke up early to go to the Sommerville Flea near the Red Line Davis MBTA stop. The flea market itself is small (about 10 vendors) but I did buy a Fagley cake cutter.

Sign for Somerville Flea

After our quick trip to the flea market, we wanted to visit a couple of the local shops in the area but they were not open till 10 a.m. and we saw this cute corner cafe. Even though we technically just had breakfast an hour ago, who says no to crepes? This place was packed. By packed I mean every tables inside the restaurant were taken and there was a long line out the door. Since we had time to kill we stayed in the lined and ordered some delicious crepes. We ordered raspberry, lemon, sugar sweet crepe and roasted mushroom with fresh thyme and cheese. 

Mr. Crepe

Roasted Mushroom, thyme and cheese savory crepe

After visiting some of the neighborhood shops, we went to Harvard University. We walked around for a bit passed the Harvard Square, went to the Harvard Book Store and some local shops. We then looked for a place that has a lobster mac and cheese on the menu and Grafton Street Pub was pretty high on Yelp. Alas, it was not meant to be, by the time we got there they were still serving brunch (sad. very sad). So my friend ordered fish and chips and I believe I ordered the Buttermilk Fried Chicken sandwich which came with guacamole on a ciabatta with a side salad and fries. 

  

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich

Fish & Chips

Sunday Night in Central Square Shalimar Indian Food and Harvest Co-op Market

Since I have to leave super early Monday morning, we decided to stay indoors where it's warm and watched a movie. My friend had picked up my one of my favorite Indian food - Paneer Makhani which is Paneer (Indian cheese) simmered in rich creamy tomato gravy from Harvest Co-Op Market and some Paratha (flat bread) from Shalimar Indian Food. Harvest Co-op is a community market where they sell natural and organic food. Shalimar Indian food mart is attached to the Dosa Factory which is an Indian restaurant. Central square is just so vibrant and it reminds me of South Street in Philadelphia.

That's a wrap! 

I had such an incredible time catching up with my friend in Cambridge and visiting Boston for the very first time. I definitely can't wait to go back and experienced more local food and maybe do more 'toursity' activities. If you haven't read my literary adventure please do visit that as well. As always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions please leave them down below. Thank you so much for reading!

Until next time,

Places mentioned:
Thelonious Monkfish 
524 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Back Bay Social Club Dining Room and Bar
867 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02199

Sommerville Flea
52 Holland Street
Sommerville, MA 02144

Mr. Crepes 
51 Davis Square
Sommerville, MA 02144

Grafton Street Pub & Grill
1230 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

Shalimar Indian Food/ Dosa Factory 
571 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Harvest Co-Op Market 
580 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139