From home we identified and booked online dinner at Juni, which was named by New York magazine Esquire as the new restaurant of the year 2013. Their flexible menu system is 4 or 6 course chosen from 5 groups- cold and hot entrée, main fish and meat, dessert- chef's tasting menu, or even à la carte. We took the recommended 6 item- 3 entrée, fish and meat, dessert. In addition there was bread and a series of amazing amuses-bouche to start. Every item, especially the amuses-bouche- was a work of art in the food, the tiny dishes being presented on the most complicated plates, for example a large porous rock formation. We accepted the sommelier's recommendation of a West Coast red wine ( based on our description of our preferred style) and were delighted.
Their photo gallery and sample menus can be found on their website, which for artistry is worth a look: www.juninyc.com
Jeremy strongly recommended we sample Yasuda, a low profile sashimi-sushi place, so we had our penultimate lunch there. The restaurant had no external identification, so you have to know it's there. We sat at a bar with the multiple chefs on the other side, and asked ours to make the choices for us. There followed a remarkable hour of watching the cutting of fish, rolling of rice and careful handing of the product to us. We were presented with series of fish slices from around the world, sometimes 3 on our plate- eg three different kinds of salmon. There were also clams, scallop, sea urchin, eel, and oyster. The restaurant forbids tipping. We thought it was unique- at least in our experience- and a travellers' highlight.
www.sushiyasuda.com
Posted with Blogsy
No tipping - in a New York restaurant? Wow!
ReplyDelete