Queenie Darleen

Willy Wonka themed, jewel-like toppings and inventive recipes. 

Can’t wait to go back!

Back in March I got to meet Central’s chef and owner Virgilio Martinez while in Miami. We talked about the food scene and the possibility of him opening a restaurant in Miami, but both agreed that the city was more about the social scene and about being trendy, than it was about great food. However, it was last October when I flew to Peru and got to experience Central. 

Currently number one in Latin America and fourth in the world according to the Diners Club® World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, Central is reason enough to visit Peru. Now, I do have to say there are plenty of other excellent restaurants in Lima that are worth visiting, but as it happens when dining at World’s Best restaurants, dining at Central is not just about the taste and look of the food, but about the story behind the ingredients used in each and every one of the dishes, the creative process of those and more.

Situated in the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores in Lima, Central serves creative Peruvian food made with local Andean ingredients. The space is modern but warm, with natural or light-colored woods, some greenery and a view to the kitchen. Dishes are pretty straightforward but packed with flavor and made with ingredients mostly unseen outside of Peru.

Above: Coca bread. Served warm, this bread is unlike anything I’ve ever tried. Below: Toasted butter and a brioche type of bread made with a yuca-like root vegetable.

Warm ceviche. 

How can I describe this dish without being repetitive? It’s just not possible. Again, it was beyond delicious and unlike anything I’ve had before. For starters, ceviche is always served cold-- never at room temperature or anything warmer than that-- so it being served warmed automatically made it intriguing. And it didn’t disappoint. It sounds and looks much different from what is known to be traditional ceviche, but it maintains its essence. For example, I’m not sure about the exact ingredients, but the warm broth had the acidity of something like tomatoes in place of lemon, and it had a crispy (pork rind?) topping in lieu of choclo-- a Peruvian type of corn.

Charcoal-grilled octopus with lentils.

Octopus and lentils? Who would have thought that this two paired so well? I wouldn’t. But the earthiness of the lentils, combined with the charcoal and the sea flavors of the octopus, plus the ají amarillo and black olive sauces was genius.

Grouper and quinoa.

When in Lima, you must eat fish and seafood. Everything is so fresh, flavorful and perfectly cooked. 

I was pleasantly surprised when tiny, shiny pots made it to our table with the main courses. There was no mention of it in the menu, so I had no idea what it was, but they turned out to be a creamy mashed potatoes and squid side dish, so delicious it could be a menu item of its own.

Chia and chirimoya with berries.

Light and fruity. It had a mousse, pieces of chirimoya, meringue... many different textures. But not being a fan of chirimoya, I wasn’t completely blown away by it. Good for sharing though. 

A sample of their tangelo and honey dessert.

Lúcuma, chocolate and coca leaf.

Lúcuma, native of the Andean region, is the quintessential Peruvian fruit. It’s similar to mamey-- and if you don’t know what that is and have never tried it, I don’t know what to tell you. Apart from being similar to each other, I don’t know that they are anything like any other fruit, except maybe avocado-- and that’s a huge stretch. They have a similar shape and seed to avocado but the color, smell, flavor and texture is completely different. Anyway, lúcuma is widely used in beverages and desserts, including milkshakes, mousse and cheesecake in Peru. In many ways, this dessert is Peru in a plate-- it’s got cacao, lúcuma and coca. 

Final words

Reservations: Back when I made my reservation, it was done via email so it wasn’t very convenient, but now there’s a online reservation system so you should have no trouble booking in advance.

Service: Servers explain dishes in detail; no issues with the pace.

Food: The bread was warm! Yes! It seems like warm bread is such a rarity in fine restaurants, so I was happy to find that not only was the bread unique and tasty but also warm. The appetizers and main courses were outstanding. Dessert was good, but I never seem to be completely satisfied or over the moon with desserts because I always see room for more decadence. The good thing is that these desserts were sweet, nothing was burnt, they showed creativity and made use of fresh, local ingredients. All in all, I absolutely loved my dining experience and can see myself going back. In fact, I can’t recommend this restaurant enough. Anyone unfamiliar with Latin cuisine might find the food a bit too salty or bold for their palate compared to other cuisines and similarly rated restaurants, but in my experience I find that to be somewhat part of the Latin culture and food.

This unassuming Michelin-starred South West London pub is one of five of my favorite restaurants in the world. That’s right-- I enjoyed this pub more than I enjoyed fancier, highly-regarded restaurants like Eleven Madison Park or Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. And for that who don’t know, Brett Graham-- The Ledbury’s owner and head chef-- serves as director of Harwood Arms, which is a good indicator.

Located between the West Brompton and Fulham tube stations, Harwood Arms is a great lunch and dinner spot, where the menu changes daily and diners have to the option of choosing between a 2 course or a 3 course meal. The menu features a variety of proteins, including game, as well as local and seasonal ingredients. The dishes are complex, full of flavor and rustic but elegant at the same time. Service is casual and attentive.

Crisp chicken wings with creamed liver, crushed peas, anchovies and lovage.

Tasty and full of textures-- a mix of healthy and unhealthy goodness.

Roast duck, pumpkin, chard.

The best duck I’ve ever had that doesn’t have a Chinese flavor profile-- crispy skin, juicy meat and elevated but homey flavors.

Apricot cake with meadowsweet, orange and white peach.

This dessert can be described as refreshing and refined with just the right amount of sweetness. So delicious!

If I lived in London, I’d make weekly trips to The Harwood Arms, no kidding. 

When I first started planning trips around lunch and dinner reservations at some of the World’s Best Restaurants about four years ago, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal was one of the restaurants at the top of my list, but I hadn’t had the chance to make a reservation until last year.

To start, the bread was anything but memorable, and I do believe bread should be given great importance. For example, London’s The Ledbury, which I visited back in 2013, does have incredibly flavorful bread. It was so good, I can remember the buttery, flakiness goodness that was that bacon brioche, and the same can’t be said for Dinner. 

The best dish of the meal was by far the Rice & Flesh appetizer of risotto with saffron, calf tail & red wine. So creamy and rich-- it was absolutely delightful. And to top if off, the presentations was bold, bright and beautiful.

The Roast Iberico Pork Chop with cabbage, onions & Robert sauce at £38 (or $54) was just alright. The pork chop wasn’t particularly juicy or flavorful, the vegetables however were on point. But still, the price is absurd considering the preparation of the pork chop wasn’t particularly delicious or complex. Next time, I would other a different protein

On to desserts...

The Brown Bread Ice Cream with salted butter caramel, pear & malted yeast syrup (pictured above), one of their dessert staples, was saltier and more bitter than I would’ve looked for in a dessert.  But for those who don’t necessarily crave something too sweet, this is a good choice. Personally, I would’ve kept a more balanced ratio of salt to sugar. The Beekeeper’s dessert with honey, barley, malt and chocolate (pictured below, was stunning. The honey component was sweet and delicate, whereas the chocolate and barley component had a more bitter taste that I didn’t love.

I had very high expectations being that it was and still is in the top 10 of the World’s Best Restaurants list. But Dinner, unlike Per Se, Central or Le Bernardin, didn’t blow me away. In fact, it was good, but not extraordinary in my opinion– similar to my feelings toward Eleven Madison Park, currently 5th in the world.

What I do appreciate about Dinner is the fact that the space, the dishes and their presentation is elegantly understated, which I believe is fairly common in this type of not-overly-modern, but still modern British restaurants.

I do think I could return to Dinner sometime in the future, but for now, I’m not sure I’d give it such a high rank as is the 7th spot World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. 

Getting to Red Hood is a bit complicated, but Hometown Bar-B-Que is definitely worth the Uber ride.

Must order:

Brisket

Sriracha wings (pictured)

Sticky Ribs (pictured)

Texas Style Queso Mac n’ Cheese (pictured)

Stick With Me Sweets had been on my radar for a while, and I finally had the chance to stop by a few days ago. As soon as I walked in, I was fascinated with the colorful lineup of bonbons. Not only are they pretty looking, but they’re actually made with exciting ingredients uncommonly found in confectioneries such as kalamansi-- a citrus similar to lime or key lime--and black sesame. Some of the bonbons are more complex than others. Some have layers of flavors and textures whereas others are filled with ganache solely.

Their current 25 flavors include six white chocolates, nine milk chocolates and 10 dark chocolates. After much deliberation, I ended up getting a mix of white, milk and dark chocolate bonbons--some fruity, some nutty: yuzu (2), kalamansi meringue pie (1), black sesame & passion (1), Vero (3), passion fruit (2), liquid salted caramel (1), New York New York (3) and caramelized banana (1).

My favorite bonbons were the passion fruit, kalamansi meringue pie, Vero and yuzu. The kalamansi meringue pie, for example, is a replica of meringue pie inside a white chocolate shell. So if you’re a fan of meringue pie, then it is a must! My least favorite was the caramelized banana bonbon because I didn’t taste much of the banana. It was more of a subtle banana taste that wasn’t very palpable or impressive. 

I certainly loved Stick With Me Sweets and can’t wait to go back to try the wild strawberry, speculoos s’more, raspberry rose and toasted coconut bonbons and get some more of the kalamansi meringue pie, passion fruit, yuzu and Vero.

But bonbons aren’t the only sweet sold at the sweets shop. They also make mini cakes, marshmallows and other confectioneries like caramels, fudge and nougats. I got strawberry nougats, cassis (black currant) caramels and mango-passion fruit caramels. Though I now regret not buying any of the raspberry or yuzu & salt caramels. Other flavors include dulce de leche and sea salt caramel. The strawberry nougat is fun to eat because it’s chewy and you can taste the fresh strawberries-- there are no nuts. The caramels are silky and melt in your mouth. My favorite was the mango-passion fruit caramel, which tastes similar to the passion fruit bonbon. I suppose I really, really like passion fruit, and these taste like the real thing.

Caramels and nougats are $1.50 each, while bonbons are $3.40 each. They can be bought individually or in sets. For instance, if you want them boxed, you can choose 6, 12 or 24 bonbons. Otherwise, they’re packed inside a clear plastic pouch.  

In Los Angeles there are thousands of taquerias, and I’ve probably haven’t even tried 1% of it, but I can tell Guisados is special. The tacos, under $3 each, are a mix of authentic, rustic and gourmet. The slightly thick, gluten-free corn tortillas are made fresh and the menu is considerably varied-- there is chorizo, shrimp, chicharron (pork rinds), chicken, steak, mushrooms, etc.-- and there are even tacos made with mole poblano and cochinita pibil, which you don’t find just anywhere.

Voted New York City's Best Restaurant by Zagat more than once, 3-Michelin star seafood restaurant Le Bernardin has also earned a spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, placing 19th for the second consecutive year. And none of that surprises me because everything about Le Bernardin is phenomenal-- the ambiance, the food, the service.

We were running about an hour late to our lunch, but the reservationist and hostess were incredibly attentive and understanding.

Our table was spacious, the setup was clean and modern, the charger plate was gorgeous, and there were fresh flowers. The amuse bouche was a creamy salmon rillette with thin toasts, of which we were given two portions-- one for each side of the table.

The lunch menu is extensive and making a choice was difficult, but I decided to go with the charred octopus with green olive and black garlic emulsion and sundried tomato sauce vierge to start, then pan seared monkfish with pea purée, morels, and Armagnac-black pepper sauce for the main course, and to finish, I ordered the sesame dessert with macerated mango, young ginger and black sesame ice cream. The rest of the table got the tuna with foie gras, oysters, hake, snapper, striped bass, dark chocolate parfait, and berry desserts.

My octopus was tender and the sundried tomato sauce vierge, very reminiscent of Mediterranean cuisine, was on point. The fishes were all cooked with finesse. The monkfish was cooked just right--temperature was perfect-- and the flavors were natural and subtle, which reinforced Le Bernardin's idea that the fish is the star of the plate. No one ingredient was overpowering, and I can say that this was the most flawlessly prepared fish I've ever tried.

The desserts were stunning. Mine, the sesame-mango composition, had a mix of fruity and nutty flavors and various textures: foamy, creamy, crispy, pulpy. The mignardises were warm, fluffy black currant financiers sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Currently ranked number one in the US and fifth in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Eleven Madison Park is situated on the ground level of the Credit Suisse building across the east side of Madison Square Park. Its atmosphere, decor, food and service are laid back and unassuming, and reservations are not difficult to come by if you book 28 days in advance.

The 16-course tasting menu, somewhat theatrical and undoubtedly experimental, consisted of a mix of simple and complex dishes, some of which were accompanied by drinks such as tomato-basil soda, pale wheat ale brewed by Ithaca Beer Co., and Laird & Company apple brandy. Every course is a surprise as they don't hand out the menu until the end of the tasting, so you don't know what you'll be eating until they serve the dishes. However they did tell us that there would be a foie gras course, which would be seared or brûlée, and beef or duck depending on our choice.

To start, we were presented with a box of savory black and white cheddar cookies with apple chutney, followed by a tiny portion of sea urchin snow with smoked cantaloupe and yogurt, which had a refreshing, cooling effect on the palate.

Then, my favorite dishes of the entire tasting menu: surf clam (tomato, beans and bacon), littleneck clam (Manhattan chowder, razor clam and scallop), tomato (confit with lobster salad and bonito), and the foie gras (seared and brûlée with summer berries and beets).

The surf clam was unexpectedly rich and creamy with just a hint of bacon, whereas the Manhattan chowder was a total different take on the classic chowder. EMP's version was a broth, served on a tea pot and meant to be sipped directly off a small cup. The assortment of shellfish was beautifully plated, but what I loved most was the freshness and contrasting flavors and textures.

My absolute favorite and the one dish I’d want more of was the tomato confit with lobster salad (buttermilk and olive oil on the side) and goat cheese stuffed lobster claw duo. The confit was a celebration of tomato and lobster, and the stuffed claws were creamy and tangy. Also part of this course, an interestingly odd tomato-basil soda that tasted just like tomato-basil soup, except cold and carbonated.

The bread, accompanied by two types of butter (one regular, one duck fat infused) and sea salt, was good, but I wouldn’t have mind trying other types of bread. In fact, I’m surprised they didn’t offer different choices like many other top, 3-star Michelin restaurants in New York City or London.

The melt-in-your-mouth foie gras was complemented by seasonal berries. The brûlée version, reminiscent of crème brûlée, was rich and smooth with a little sweetness and bitterness from the torched sugar. The seared version was equally tasty. In fact, both tasted better than the foie gras I had at Per Se last fall.

Almost half-way through the meal, we had the grinder clamped onto the table, so we knew the DIY carrot tartare course would be next. We were each given rye toast and a board with condiments that included mustard oil, horseradish, egg yolk, sunflower seeds and sea salt. And while the presentation certainly had a wow factor, the ground carrot was too mushy and the condiments didn’t do much for it. This DIY carrot tartare seemed like a great idea but the fascination died as soon as I had my first bite. I would’ve preferred to see a diced carrot tartare or perhaps a carrot substitute.

The eighth course was poached black bass with zucchini and ratatouille-stuffed squash blossom. The fish was buttery and perfectly cooked, but the true star of the dish was the squash blossom.

The following course was the least tasty and most flat: Sunflower barigoule with sunchokes and black truffle. I still don’t understand this dish and/or how it adds value to the tasting menu. It is memorable, but not in a positive way.

For the main protein, we were given two choices: 140-day aged beef or roast duck. The fact that the entire table was forced to choose between duck and beef was upsetting because some of us wanted the duck and others wanted beef. We ended up settling for the roasted duck with apricots and fennel only because we assumed it’d be as delicious as the roast chicken served at Daniel Humm's NoMad restaurant. Big disillusion. The duck was a tad bit undercooked for my liking, and even though the skin was well seasoned and crispy, the meat itself was bland.

The cheese course was presented in a picnic basket. Greensward cheese, pretzel, honey mustard, pickled green tomatoes, and beer were all part of the course, which I have to say, wins the most creative and elaborate cheese course award.

Next, we had the pre-dessert. Egg cream with vanilla, seltzer and olive oil drops, which the server prepared table side.

The first dessert was a sassafras sorbet with banana cake, caramel and vanilla. My only complaint is that the sorbet tasted medicinal-like. The sassafras aftertaste was off-putting and not nearly as refreshing as other herbs like basil or mint. The rest of the components did work well.

The second dessert was red pepper cheesecake with strawberry and cashew. The taste of the red pepper was overpowering, and I would even go as far as saying that this dessert was slightly more savory than sweet. But, the unexpected and clever card trick that accompanied this dessert was actually entertaining.

Hidden under this dish was a small plate with a piece of chocolate. Basically, the server plays a card trick and the cards you end up choosing end turn out to be a match to the chocolate flavors hidden under each person’s red pepper cheesecake.

To finish, we had chocolate covered pretzels sprinkled with sea salt,  apple brandy to drink, and also sweet black and white cookies with apricot.

In terms of novelty and showmanship, Eleven Madison Park was a good experience, but I wasn’t mind blown. I applaud the level of inventiveness and format (e.g. DIY tartare, cookie boxes, and picnic) because I had never experienced anything like it, but at the same time, part of me resents the fact that my expectations were not fully met or exceeded.

Servers were friendly and informal, but service was highly inconsistent. At times, I felt rushed and did not enjoy the fast paced food service. Also, we did not see the main server after she dropped the bill-- she did not ask about our experience at the end of the meal or said goodbye as we left-- though I was given a small granola jar to take home.

Cocktails are reasonably priced, but you do have to pay for the sparkling water and coffee, and gratuity is not included. It isn’t as expensive as Per Se ($295+ per person, gratuity and non-alcoholic beverages included), but you still end up spending $250 per person at the very least. Will I be back to Eleven Madison Park? Probably not, unless they make drastic changes, add more excitement to their tasting menu, and improve their service. I was excited to try EMP and I wanted to love it, but it let me down. In my book, Per Se is superior to Eleven Madison Park.