#tasting menu

sooooo as a bloodymary enthusiast and wine/alcohol pairing nerd, I had to get this off my chest. somebody give me a generous budget and fly my best friends to my locations so I can do this for real.

There are restaurants that you should love. The kind that arrive with such an impeccable set of credentials that loving them feels almost like an obligation; the right chef, the right training, the right philosophy, the right accolades. You want to love them. You keep giving them chances. And each time you sit down, you find yourself waiting for something that never quite…

IKOYI- After having one of the best lunches I have ever had at Ikoyi a few years ago, I was so excited to be back at the restaurant, this time for the full dinner tasting menu, in the new space.

Sadly, where my lunch had been absolutely perfect, I did not feel the same about dinner. It was very good, with some delicious bits, wonderful flavors, and real creativity. But the four most significant dishes of the menu all suffered from editing issues. Each one had at least three different sauces on the plate. And each time, we were told to "taste the dish with each of them individually, and then mix them together." Two of the dishes even had a foam, in addition to the three different sauces. The dishes also had numerous other elements, and all felt like they needed a good and substantial edit. If edited down, I think I would have absolutely loved all of them. I do not remember Chef Jeremy having this issue when I went do that incredible lunch years ago, and I am very surprised by the development- in my experience most great chefs get better and better at editing down as they progress in their career- this is the first time where I come across a chef that seems to have taken things in the opposite direction.

A. Wong- Wow, what an incredible meal, with bite after bite that demonstrated to me how little I know about the breadth of Chinese cuisines across the country. This meal is such a spectacular experience, with wonderful service to boot. While there isn't one particular dish that I will necessarily remember for years to come, each course with a dozen or so bites brought deliciousness after deliciousness. An absolutely fabulous meal. Makes me so eager to come back to the restaurant for lunch to try the a la carte option and more dim sum.

Benares- Nice spot with a much more creative range of dishes than the usual. However, I wasn’t blown away by any of them besides a chicken curry that was perhaps the least creative dish we ordered. The proteins are all of excellent quality. But honestly, I prefer Tamarind.

St. John’s- Excellent lunch here. This place never disappoints.

Kokin- After seeing this restaurant pop up, we hauled out to Stratford, looking forward to an amazing Japanese lunch. The nigiri bites were decent, but everything else was not great at all.

I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that South Korea is hot right now; I’ve been watching a lot of Korean TV lately, which is somehow hilarious, heartfelt and slickly produced all at once. I mean, who hasn’t loved Squid Game or Physical 100… Such wildly gripping drama. You may also have noticed that Korean food is absolutely exploding across the globe. New York in particular has gone all‑in,…