Favourite NY restaurant

(All photos from Juni website: www.juninyc.com)

Last year we dined at and were overwhelmed by the fare at Juni on East 31 Street, a new restaurant with an Australian chef. It had been named New Restaurant of the Year 2013 by Esquire magazine. So we hastened to book again this year.
We were impressed to see that it has already in only its third year been awarded a Michelin star.
It was a little harder to get our preferred time this year, but we delighted to be shown to the same table we had last year. The deal is to be greeted in the vestibule to by two elegant ladies, relieved of coat by one, and handed to maitre d' by the other. The floor is carpeted, we had a semicircular nook and nothing disturbs the listening to low key explanations given by our food and drink waiters and their several assistants. There are other diners in the room but they are far away and the sound of their conversation is more than muted.

Courses (6) and wine chosen with assistance, the meal starts with bread and butter, and two extraordinary dips. There is no chance for more than a mouthful because a long procession of preartistry begins almost immediately, astonishing the eye and mouth left and right as the artistic creations appear with some rapidity.

The three cold and warm entrées follow at a more sedate pace, then the fish, meat and dessert. All are so superb to see and consume that superlatives themselves might prove limited. Is it possible to find an imperfection? Yes, we thought our mango jalapeño dessert with powdered ricotta was insufficiently assertive of both flavours, so deduct a point here.

We look forward to the award of another star next year and a steady ascension of Sean Hergatt into the international chefs' hall of fame.

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