Hakkasan NYC

Food Rating: 3/5

Service Level: 3.5/5

Attire: Business Casuals

Chef: Tong Chee Hwee (Head), NY Chef (Ho Chee Boon)

Cuisine: Modern Cantonese

Review: Based on dinner menu.

Cash you will blow out: Significant
Location: Midtown West

(Michelin Ratings: 1 Star) 

I initially planned to take my best buddy for a birthday dinner here but due to her hectic work schedule, ended up at Hakkasan with my husband who is as much a curious food buff as I am. 

Hakkasan stands emitting bright blue light through its windows and Main tall door, on 43rd street, between 8th and 9th avenue, otherwise a totally nondescript block close to Time Square. 

I almost expected a Budakkan, but it was not. No TALL Buddhas, no grand dining space, but a maze of fake room separators inside, preceded by a long tunnel from the front door to the reception area, filled with an Indian incense that to me smelt like my meditation alter at home. 

2 hostesses stood at the reception. One speaking directly to me, and, the other confirmed my name while looking in the other direction at the wall, with a particularly angular tilt to her jaw..(I was not impressed with the greetings) but let me assure you our server made up sufficiently for this, later.

The menu at Hakassan is interesting and offers ample choices on the appetizers, main course and dessert section. The highlight however is the drinks menu. On this blog you will not get to hear a lot about the drinks menu because I am a teetotaler and therefore I always judge a drinks menu by the choice of non-alcoholic drinks on it. And, this one certainly caught my attention with some fabulous non- alocoholic choices offered at $15 each. (slightly pricey for a non-alcoholic drink). 

The Cocktail menu is neatly divided into "Character". "Elegance", "Strength &Grace" and then there is the "Beer", "Bellinis" and last but not the least "Non Alcoholic Cocktails"

I tried the 'Kowloon Cooler' and 'Eden'.. The former a concoction of berries, lychee, cranberry, bitter lemon soda and the latter is made of black grapes, rose sugar, lychee and soda water.

Both delicious.

For the appetizers; we chose two of the small plates: Hakka Steamed Dimsum Platter and Crispy Duck Salad.

The dim sum platter was a colorful box of yummilicous looking dumplings (mix of chicken, shrimp, vegetable dumplings) but failed to impress me as the rest of NYC offers better. Something was missing from the shrimp dumplings clearly. I couldn't point my finger to it but it lacked the taste that I expected from good shrimp dumplings.

On the other hand, the crispy duck salad confirmed to the brilliant reviews by our server. It was tossed on the table and served by the server neatly onto our plates. The duck was crispy and full of flavor and the pine nuts in the salad added to the overall taste.

The appetizers were quite filling so we ordered the main course a bit conservatively 

For the main; we chose: Crispy Chicken with Komquat (lemon sauce) and Chicken and Fish Fried Rice

The Komquat sauce, I was told by the server, is a new entry on the  Hakkasan menu and tasted better than what I have tasted elsewhere. Dense yet not too strong on the tongue, it added a great flavor to the crispy chicken. The only downside was that a piece of crispy chicken had small fine bones in it. (I am not a huge fan of anything with bones and this was definitely a downer for me).

The fried fish rice: First thing first- It smelt great and was served with finesse onto small bowls by our server and from there it made its place on our small plates. The taste of the rice however failed to impress me which was a surprise because how can something that smells so good, taste so bland? I have absolutely eaten better at most $$ places in NY and NJ area. 

At the end of the evening, I was determined to write a review of my mixed feelings for Hakkasan and for the sake of  a complete review, ordered a dessert that was recommended by our server. 

Dessert for us was a Peach Tart with ice cream (I missed taking down the actual name of this dessert and its unfortunately not on the online menu either). The presentation of the tart was beautiful. The tart overall had a citrusy  flavor and colorful character. It was decorated with a sugar ice net on top. The ice cream to my surprise had a strong ginger flavor (not mentioned in the description of the dessert on the menu) but was absolutely fantastic. 

This review is incomplete without a mention of our server, who was absolutely fantastic. He knew the menu and the food he was selling to us. He made some good recommendations and was eager and proactive to help us understand the offerings.(Next time, I will make sure I note the name of the server).

Over all: The experience was good but not outstanding and the bill was "significant" but not super expensive for a Michelin Star restaurant. 

This is my first review on this blog and if there is anything I have missed out on, then do comment in the comments section so I can bring it to you on my next review.

Cheers.

(Dear Readers: Please don't forget to leave a comment if you visit this page. Not only is it nice to hear what you think about the review but it's also encouraging for me to know that you are reading it. Leaving without a comment for me is always like walking into the open door of my house, and leaving without saying hello to me. I look forward to hearing what you think.)