New York Restaurant (and somewhat tourist-y) Adventure! Pt.1

Hello all! Hope y'all had a great February. I have lots and lots of food photos to follow so get excited!

My cousin Sae Yoon (she shall be called simply 'S' from now on as I can not be bothered typing out everytime) came over from Korea for her piano audition at a music school in Manhattan. With that as an excuse, I got few days off and decided to go on what I thought was a rather epic food adventure (and some other touristy activities).

The list went like this:

wd~50
Eleven Madison Park
Betony
Peter Luger
Del Posto



The first dinner was at wd~50.
One star Michelin & Three star New York Times.

Sesame 'bread'. Super addictive. 

Oyster in its 'shell', preserved lemon, snow pea & hazelnut 

Interesting, the 'shell' was made of eatable clay? I'm sure that's what the server told me.

Sea scallop, coffee, cauliflower 'marshmallow', orange 

This dish was pretty funky. Even for my taste. Probably more a texture thing.

Squash - roasted peanut soup, COCKSCOMB, fig tobacco 

First time I tried cockscomb. I had to google what it was. Surprisingly delicious.

Sweetbreads, cucumber-lychee, tonic, fermented black beans  

Sweetbreads? YES PLEASE!

Hanger tartare, pickled Asian pear, amaro, bearnaise ice cream

The beef was slightly sous-vide which was a first for me for beef tartare. It was great in its own way though, different textural sensation than raw beef tartare.

Veal?

Can't remember...

Shrimp 'grits', pickled jalapeno

I think it was basically like ground up shrimp that had the texture of grits. Awesome.

Bass, celery, macadamia, grapefruit 

Dish of the night. Perhaps it was the pairings that really elevated this dish. I think it was Lagrein Kretzer 'Sudtirol' Nusserholf 2012 or something..suuuuuper yummy!

Milk braised pork collar, sunchoke, black sesame, kaffir

cured duck breast, curds-n-whey, sweet potato, rice noodles

Barlette pear sorbet, honey-milk crisp, tarragon 

Apple tart, pomegranate, swiss chard, pistachio

Toasted coconut cake, smoked cashew, carob, brown butter sorbet

Ovaltine cake, marcona almond, cardamon, sheep's milk

petit four 

Thanks to James, who used to work at wd~50 and now I work with, I got looked after very well and also got to try some awesome interesting beverages. Chur bro!

The next night was The Mecca, according to S, along side Peter Luger and Shake Shack, Eleven Madison Park. Apparently it's one of the places that Koreans must visit when they come to NYC. That kind of explains why we get so many Koreans... 

Eleven Madison Park

3 star Michelin, 4 star New York Times, No. 5 on St. Pellegrino list 

The Mecca, The one and only (well other than the actual Mecca, of course)

Letter opener inspired by oyster knives

Ticket 

Cookie box

I have filled and tied so fucking many of these things, it was so nice to be on the receiving side finally. Winning at life.

Savoury black & white cookie

Oyster w vichyssoise & caviar

Scallops w water chestnuts & apple snow

Beef tartare, smoked bone marrow & caviar

It's hard to pick the best dish but this was definitely up there. Never had anything that tasted so luxurious in my mouth. So rich and flavoursome. I was almost in tears by this point.

Rye, pickles & pastrami

Seared foie gras, sunchoke, pear & hazelnuts

Seared foie melted like butter in my mouth. Seared foie all the way. Sorry duckies. Your fatty livers are just so delicious.

Waldolf salad

Waldolf salad No. 2

Loster pre-bites

Lobster, kale, pear & razor clams

Celery root (or celeriac for the rest of the world) & black truffle

The dish that surprised me the most. I'm not the biggest fan of celeriac but this was super well balanced and the black truffle jus nicely softened the herbal tang.

Cauliflower & curry

THE duck

Duck breast, rutabaga. whipped honey

Oh the duck. It IS the ultimate duck, I'm sure of it.

Mangalitsa pork, cabbage & beans

Picnic! 

Kitchen tour

Chef Chris, me & S. I was pretty drunk by this point.

I got a photo with THE chef of EMP using my connections.......(it's a joke, all the Korean blogger like to emphasise & claim that they got toured to kitchen and got a photo with chef because they are so special.)

Set shit on FIIIIRRRRREEEE

Pre-dessert

Steven & tea service

I love our table side tea & coffee service. Great interaction, tasty hot beverage and you get to learn things!

Sooooo.....that was quite easily one of the best meals of my life. This was the third time dining at EMP (first time for dinner, however) but this one felt much, much more special and far more impressive. 

Perhaps because I knew people now or perhaps because I was happily tipsy this time. I think it was the balance. 

Food was amazing, every course was flavoursome, cooked well and presented in a creative way. But then it was balanced out by the dining room team and the service - it wasn't just about the food but the whole experience. 

Things that I found annoying and cheesy or whatever while working had a completely opposite effect when I was sitting at the table. It certainly made me appreciate the team I am lucky enough to work with and made me super proud to be a part of other diners' (often once-in-a-life-time) experience. 

Not in a cocky sort of a way though. But, like, yeah, honestly, it's a pretty awesome place I work at. 

So, I've decided to turn this into several post. Otherwise I don't think I'll ever get it done. 

I really wish Ally would finish her post from like 3 months ago though :p