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May 31

Spice Market (NYC: Meatpacking)

Food 20: NYC

DSC03737.jpgLast of our NY dinner is at another celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant Spice Market, it's fusion East/Southeast Asian street food repackaged, re-present with $$ price. The menu has a bit of 'It's a small World' parade feel. We only ordered from the appertizers menu, which sounds more interesting and creative. who'd want to order $20 Thai Green Curry? Everything is shared among three people.

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Crispy chips with pretty spicy sauce. Crispy Sesame Crab, Sweet Soy, Pink Grapefruit & Ginger Salad. Very flavorful and awesome texture.

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Shaved Tuna, Yogurt, Chili Tapioca, Asian Pear and Lime. Love this! Again the same colorful mix of sweet, sour, savory flavor.

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Salmon Sashimi With Golden Garlic, Lemon And Soy (yum!) and Spiced Chicken Samosas Cilantro Yogurt.

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Shrimp Roll with Dill and Sriracha (so-so) and Edamame Soup, Parmesean, Lemon and Thyme (surprisingly good, love it!)

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Ginger Fried Rice (bland, not as flavorful as I expected) and Snap Peas, Shiitake and Waterchestnut (darn this looks and taste soooo normal Chinese).

DSC03767.jpgGula Jawa Tart, Candied Grapefruit and Palm Sugar Ice Cream. I love crispy tart, very tasty~

I expected total ambiance over food type but turns out I did enjoy the food. I can't help feeling most are made with incredibly cheap ingredients you can easily find in Asian market. There just wasn't any premium stuffs you would remember. No matter how creative the ingredients are, they're street vendor/noodle house kind of food repackaged to chichi New York crowd. But I can tell this would be a very exciting exotic taste-bud adventure for people who're not familiar with Asian food and cultures.

Also almost too cliche, my biased expectation of celeb 'scene' restaurants is kind of right on. Check: bitchy hostess with the most unpleasant sour face, over the top Asian palace decor, and the young sexy female staff handing you towels at bathroom is just a bit much. The lighting is a bit too low to really see the rich colors and textures of the beautiful interior. It feels like an open air night market at a historic quarter in Southeast Asia. Their menu doesn't change much, even if they change, for gimmicky place like this once is enough for me. Btw most patrons that night look like out of towners/tourists.

Freda | May 31, 2007 05:05 PM


Comments:

Probably fusion as in an umbrella catch-all for "we serve all kinds of southern/eastern Asian food, not in authentic form" ^^;; My friend wanted to try this place, so we came. When we went there and waiting for our table (even we reserved), I actually ran out to another more casual restaurant that I knew would be good, to see if there're any walk-in table. But before the waitress came back from checking, I was called back. It's still a fun eat. Well at least I can tell people I tried the "famous" Spice Market...^^;;

Freda | June 5, 2007 05:15 AM

Gosh the food are just simply asian, not even creative fusion type. What made you want to eat here in the first place? ^^;;;

seat | June 3, 2007 06:20 PM