Spring, finally

Nobu

Nobu has long been my dream restaurant to try, but it never seemed to fit my budget. Thankfully, there’s restaurant week – so one more crossed off the list (or is it?)
Maybe I had high expectations for a $24.07 lunch menu, but it’s Nobu – right? I was expecting little but also to be wowed. While my friend and I had a satisfying lunch, the wow factor has been missing.

For starters we had the squid pasta with light garlic sauce and the sashimi salad.
The pasta IS the squid, cut to resemble pasta, with shiitake mushrooms and tender asparagus in a very delicate sauce, this was the winner in my opinion. The sashimi salad was nice, the tuna ok (honestly, I’ve had much better) but the sauce that bears the chef’s name was excellent.

Entrees were the fish and chips Nobu style and sushi. The fish and chips came with 3 dipping sauces which I found a nice touch but a bit ridiculous given that there are 6 smallish pieces of fish and as many chips. The delicate tempura batter on the fish makes it worthwhile though.
Sushi was plenty and good, but again I feel that, although great quality, I haven’t been wowed. So I set myself for disappointment expecting the kind of fish that feels like butter and melts in your mouth, for the low-low price of $25. I’ll take the blame and I keep Nobu on my “please blow me away with your food” list. Regular prices if I’ll ever be able to afford it.

We also ordered the udon soup off the regular menu and I’m sorry to say that I had a much better one at a Midtown place just the day before. The picture of the soup didn’t come out right, but believe me: it wasn’t much to it anyway. While chock-full of noodles and what-not, it was – in one kind word – uninteresting. Was left on the table barely touched.

We ended with dessert, chef’s selection, a wonderful-wonderful passion fruit pudding with a citrus cream and a tuille that shattered instantly on the tongue and provided a 3rd texture. Refreshing and delicious.

Nobu
105 Hudson St (at Franklin St.)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-0500

Malaysian Street Food Fair

Sept. 14th 2010, Meatpacking District.

In a very small space on 14th St. at 9th Ave.  were crammed several booths from well-known Malaysian restaurants like Fatty Crab, Laut, Nyonya, Spice Market and Cafe Asean, as well as Chefs Todd English and Ian Chalermkittichai. There were a couple of different laksa, satay and popiah (why nobody makes popiah like I had in Singapore? every single one I tried in NYC is so bland and unexciting!!), as well as nasi goreng, beef rendang or nasi lemak. Beautiful dancers enchanted the crowd. Although extremely crowded, it was a nice event – that I wish we had more of this coming summer. Maybe with more ample space?