Restaurant Week: Hakkasan in NYC, NY

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My next target for Restaurant Week was Hakkasan, a modern Chinese restaurant that originated in London in 2001 and opened its doors in Hell's Kitchen in April 2012 and earned a Michelin star. I was thinking that the $38 deal for dinner was a good way to try out that place as, the lack of prices on the menu often indicates a pricey meal...

This 11,000 square feet place is pretty impressive with its modern decor and deep blue lighting. The photo above is the lounge area and the one below part of the dining room.

Even more impressive is the long corridor at the entrance that reminded Jodi of a scene in The Shinning. Scary!

They sat us fairly quickly at our table and I admit that I really was not sure what to order as lots of dishes seemed very appetizing.

For instance, for the appetizer, I hesitated between the steamed dim sum platter and the fried one. Well, first I did not know what har gau was and discovered later that it was a shrimp dumpling. Then, they had a fried dumpling with duck and, as I love duck, I decided to go with the fried platter.

There were three dumplings: shrimp, mashed duck and pumpkin, scallops. The presentation was beautiful, especially the duck dumpling that had the shape of a pumpkin. They were delicious: slightly crispy and tasty, the dough was perfect, not too greasy. My favorite was the scallop one, then the shrimp and last the duck (I did not get as much duck taste as I would have loved to). 

Jodi got the stir-fried mushrooms with lettuce wrap.

I loved that dish, with or without the lettuce that, as the name of the dish suggests, is used as a wrap. 

It was full of pistachio and pine nuts that added a nice flavor to it. But know that it was slightly spicy...

For the entrée, I ordered the spicy prawn, served with Lilly bulb, almond and jicama. 

I was surprised how much large shrimp were on the plate as I thought that, being a special deal, portions would be small. 

I ate that dish with some egg fried rice that was quite good. 

Imagine the sauce of the prawn being like a curry, with the spiciness of a curry in fact. Fortunately, mixing with the rice and eating the jicama that not only gave a nice crunch, but had a slight cooling effect that helped. It was so good that, even if my mouth was, at time, on fire, I went back to it. 

Jodi ordered a vegetarian dish: three-style mushroom stir-fry with macadamia nuts, water chestnuts and gai lan that is Chinese broccoli.

It was good, but I admit that I found the dish a bit boring, missing texture if not for the presence of macadamia nuts, and taste. She also got fried rice. 

For dessert, we shared:

Vanilla ice cream with strawberry sorbet, strawberries, meringue and...black pepper. 

Ok, I admit that we did not really taste the black pepper, and I wondered if it was not just simply used to enhance flavors. But overall, it was a delicious dish, the high point being the vanilla ice cream that had a texture very close to a mousse. 

We also tried a lemon infused consommé with peach ice cream, a huge cherry, and some fig. 

That was a fantastic dessert, well balanced and very refreshing. I could have eaten more of it! Well, I also could have eaten much more of this amazing shortbread!

We had a delicious meal at Hakkasan: the food was succulent, the presentation stunning and appetizing, and the service perfect and courteous. Know that there is loud music there, like in a club, but even with that, I cannot wait to go back there for another dinner, that is what the spirit of Restaurant Week is about: discovering places. 

Enjoy (I did)! 

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Café Blossom on Carmine, New York, NY

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Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!  

A few years ago, the idea to go to a vegan restaurant would have made me cringe. Today, I am kind of excited at the idea to try some new flavors. So yes, I was excited when I got invited to try Café Blossom on Carmine, especially after reading the statement from one of its founders, Ronen Seri:

My vision for Blossom was to create a place with outstanding food, not just for vegans, but for everyone to enjoy.

Yes, I am not a vegetarian and much less a vegan, so going to this kind of restaurant can be a real test.

I like the place: simply decorated, I love the contrast of the dark wood with the white brick wall, like the ying and yang.

They push the concept to having a communal table situated right in front of the open kitchen.

The menu offers small and large dishes, some of them looking familiar such as the Caesar salad or the pipette Margherita, but with a vegan twist if I may say: the cheese is for instance replaced by tapioca cheese, bacon by tempeh bacon.

We started off with some drinks. Jodi ordered their belvoir sparkling elderflower lemonade:

And I ordered the house brewed fresh ginger ale:

Then, we shared two appetizers:

The first one was the buffalo risotto croquettes served with pickled carrot ribbons and blue cheese sauce.

There were three croquettes that were divine: think about rice balls made with buffalo sauce that are deep fried and then topped with blue cheese.

This was a very successful dish, very flavorful and I loved the fact that these little rice balls were not dry.

The second appetizer was the taco trio:

It was made of roasted mushroom adobo, corn tortilla, cabbage, huitlacoche, carrot/onion escabeche and micro cilantro. I had no idea what huitlacoche was and later discovered that it was corn mushroom, corn smut or even called Mexican truffle (that's pushing a bit!).

This was a delicious dish: very flavorful, I did not mind at all that it was vegetarian. I love the crunch of the cabbage, as well as the bold flavor of the roasted mushroom adobo. Another great dish!

For the entrées, Jodi ordered the soy bacon cheeseburger:

She decided to have French fries as a side rather than field green: after all, it is a burger.

It was composed of seitan patty, tapioca cheddar, caramelized onions, grilled shiitake mushrooms, soy bacon, lettuce, tomato, chipotle aioli on a sesame bun. I admit that it was a bit messy to eat because of the soy bacon that was too hard and make it difficult to cut through. I also did not like the texture and taste.

On my side, I decided to order the huevos rancheros, curious to see how one of my favorite brunch dishes would end up.

The dish was made of tofu scramble, adobo sauce, tapioca cheddar, black beans, soy sour cream, served on a crispy corn tortillas.

This was a nice interpretation of that dish. Being eggless, it did not have the same smoothness that the egg yolk usually gives, but I found it quite interesting, the tofu being moist and flavorful, perfect mixed with the beans and sour cream. I wonder if the yellow color is coming from turmeric...

Last was dessert. We went for the peach and strawberry crumble, served with vanilla ice cream:

And the New York cheesecake, served with a peach reduction, strawberries and chocolate chips:

The desserts were quite good, especially knowing that they do not use butter. The crumble was the best one, although I would have liked more fruit in it. But the cheesecake was fabulous too, with its crust that was very coconut-ey.

My meal could not be complete without a coffee and, instead of going for an espresso, I went for a cappuccino, curious to see how they would pull it off without milk (they use almond milk in fact). And it worked!

This was a nice meal, surprising in a lot of ways. If you go to Café Blossom, I definitely recommend the buffalo risotto croquettes, the tacos and the desserts. You will not regret it!

Enjoy (I did)!



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Restaurant Week: The Russian Tea Room in NYC, NY

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I always wanted to go to The Russian Tea Room, but I admit that I heard so many things about it: food not good and overpriced, and poor service, that it was on the bottom of my list. But then, Summer Restaurant Week happened: it is a great way to try pricey restaurants at a discount (three course meal for $25 for lunch and $38 for dinner), as long as the restaurant embraces the event's purposes and does not cheap out on quality or service. 

So I went to The Russian Tea Room for lunch after booking a table on Opentable. I mention it because I looked at the description of the restaurant and it said that the dress code was business casual meaning long sleeve shirts, no t-shirt or shorts. Well I guess that they are more relaxed for lunch, Midtown being full of tourists, because I saw many people wearing these supposedly not recommended outfits. 

The decor of this place, created in 1927 by former Russian Imperial Ballet members is incredible, a bit over the top, as if we were transported to the 1900s. There is of course the bright red banquettes that seem to be made of plastic (it is not), the chandeliers, and the multiple paintings on the walls (not sure if there is any space left to hang another thing!). 

The first experience on how pricey the place is is the cork fee: one of my friends brought a bottle of champagne from France for a celebration. Apparently, the cork fee was $55! We surely declined. 

So, as we were making up our mind as far as the menu goes, they brought us some bread and butter. I admit that I thought that the bread was not that fresh at that point...

Then, I chose an appetizer: goat cheese and mushroom blinchik that is a crêpe filled with goat cheese, wild mushrooms, melted onions, served with a sauce made with lingonberries. 

When the dish came, I thought that it was a small portion. Fortunately, it was delicious, goat cheese and melted onions pairing very well together, the later having a nice sweetness. And if you love mushrooms, you will not be disappointed either as they definitely stood out. The crêpe itself was perfect: very thin and well cooked, it was nicely soft. I just wished there was more of it. 

For the entrée, I got the chicken à la Czar that is sautéed chicken breast with roasted red peppers and mushrooms in a light cream sauce.

Interestingly, they were not at all consistent with the serving: I got two mushrooms, while one of my friends got plenty. 

And in fact I picked that dish for the mushrooms! Fortunately, the chicken was well cooked and moist, perfect when dipped with the cream sauce that was, as advertised, light. 

For dessert, I chose the chocolate pyramid, made with bittersweet chocolate mousse and with a raspberry filling:

That was a delicious dessert: light, not too sweet and very chocolate-y. I surely recommend it. I ate it with an espresso that was quite pricey ($8).

Although it was a bit inconsistent, I liked my lunch at The Russian Tea Room: for $25 we got a good deal and had a decent meal. I should mention the service that was quite good. Would I go back outside of Restaurant Week: probably.

Enjoy (I did)!

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The Russian Tea Room

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Bacon and Beer Classic at Citi Field, home of the NY Mets

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Jodi and I got invited to Citi Field for a Bacon and Beer Classic where visitors got an all-inclusive experience: walking through the stadium,  sampling craft beer & bacon-inspired treats by local chefs and supporting local charity, Citymeals-on-Wheels. 

I admit that, coming from France, I am not really familiar with baseball. It is not a practiced sport there and is mainly known because of movies or TV series like Seinfeld (I know: wrong stadium!). 

So, I was anyway excited to learn a bit about baseball and discover the backstage of this sport, as we were allowed to go on the field, under the stadium, in the tunnel, where photos were restricted. 

We saw for instance the players' lounge, the gym, the locker room, as well as the press conference room.

After the amazing tour, we went back to the stadium:

I should mention that we sat a bit in the dugout that is the team's bench area:

So, let's talk about food and beverages: they had more than 80 restaurants and breweries, the first ones proposing dishes made with bacon. So I got to try a bit of everything...Here is some of what I tried:

Sylvia's - Sweet potato and bacon roll.

Big Daddy's - Cinna-Bacon cupcake (cinnamon maple batter, cinnamon frosting and candied bacon):

Duke's - Roadhouse chili (bacon croutons, jalapeño, candied bacon, cheddar, cornbread and chipotle sour cream):

Sweet Dreams donuts - bacon donut:

Mac Bar - Bacon Mac & Cheese:

Delicatessen - The King's cheesecake (peanut butter, candied bacon and caramelized banana):

Blackbird's - Beef and bacon patty:

Whitman's - Peanut butter and bacon burger:

Strip House - Black pepper smoked bacon served with arugula, charred corn and pickled melon salad:

Roni Sue's chocolates - Bacorn (homemade caramel popcorn and bacon bites & chile spiked peanuts) and pig candy (chocolate covered bacon):

Robicelli's bakery - bacon brownie:

South Brooklyn Pizza - Bacon and blue cheese pizza:

Come and Get It BBQ - bacon and chocolate chip cookies:

John's of Times Square - Bacon and cheese pizza:

Rudy's Pastry Shop LLC - bacon cheesecake:

Chef One Corp. - Dumpling and roll:

Black Tree - Whiskey bacon chocolate chip cookie:

Ribs Within - no name...

S. Ottomanelli and Sons - caramelized onions and bacon burger:

And of course, I got some beer...

So, this was a great event: I may not have learnt much about baseball, but I am now more curious. Food wise, this was fantastic: some dishes like the cupcake from Big Daddy's or the smoked bacon from Strip House were amazing, and I have to say, these restaurants and Chefs showed a lot of creativity, especially the ones serving sweets, proving that you can put bacon everywhere! And the fact that charities benefited from it is definitely a plus.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Please note that this event was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own! 

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