Pretty good Thai food in a relaxed, sophisticated and clean atmosphere with traditional Thai accents.

Entrance:

Greeted by a large golden Buddha and verdant plants, once you step in it’s dark red wood floors, furniture, and white table cloths. I’ve only been on weeknights, when it’s pretty empty, but it should be more full on weekends.

Complimentary appetizer:

To start off, while reading the menu, we were given these triangles of crunchy fried chips folded around a small meatball, and sweet and sour chili oil for dipping.

Perlas del Mar de Andaman €8.40 (Pearls from the Andaman Sea)

Four small round soft scallops sauteed in a slightly sweet and spicy soy sauce, served on giant thin shells.

Pad Thai €7.60

A pretty good portion of pad thai, even though it was listed under the sides section of the menu. The flavor was pretty good also, with peanuts, eggs, lime, and lots of bean sprouts, but overall was way too salty to finish the entire plate by itself.
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A Magnolias in Chelsea.

Entrance:

Very cute with flowery walls and all pastel colors.

Cakes and cupcakes:

The moment I stepped into Billy’s Bakery, I thought “Wow! This looks exactly like Magnolias!!” There are two glass display counters (just like Magnolias) filled with cupcakes, little cheesecakes and pies, and on top are whole cakes protected by plastic cake covers. Behind the back counter, you can see trays of cupcakes, and watch people bake and spread frosting (just like Magnolias). I guess a bakery is a bakery, and it’s hard to set one up any other way, but it really looked just like Magnolias! I have to say though, the front entrance here is much cuter.

My purpose of visiting Billy’s Bakery was to pick up a birthday cake. I ordered it 2 days in advance with no problems and came to pick it up in the afternoon.

8 inch 2 layer Classic Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting $28.00

This is their “signature moist chocolate cake”, “a moist, delicious cocoa based cake.” For the inscription ($2.00) I asked for chocolate icing (I censored the name hehe), and as for the decoration, I just asked for lots of chocolate chips, which they didn’t seem to add to the bill. Normally, their decorations, like flowers or polka dots, range from $5-$10.
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Entrance:

On the corner of 6th avenue and 21st street. In the summertime, nice and breezy with all the windows open and the tables spread out onto the busy street.

Interior:

A stylish bar lines one side of the restaurant. We were greeted by a pretty hostess at the door and served by non Americans, which added to the Europeanish atmosphere.

Bread.

Fresh hot doughy soft bread, good for soaking up olive oil and vinegar. Eat quick! Or when they get cold, they’re tough and chewy like the rolls you get on airplanes.

Salt & Pepper Calamari
Fried cornmeal, Lime & Black Mountain Pepper $11

Soft chewy calamari in a thin crispy crunchy shell with a creamy citrusy and spicy mayo sauce. I’m assuming the black powdery stuff on top was the black mountain pepper. It tasted like salty crispy smokey burnt crumbles, and the flavor was really strong.
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