PUMPKIN SOUP!

Hakkasan New York is a one-star Michelin restaurant offering Cantonese cuisine. If you are into Cantonese cuisine, you will most likely enjoy the experience at this restaurant.

Hakkasan NYC, located at the Theater District, is the second Hakkasan restaurant in the United States, and one of eleven Hakkasan restaurants all around the world. At this restaurant, you will find local ingredients and influences created exclusively for New York, together with the signature dishes of all Hakkasan restaurants.

Ambiance

I loved the ambiance of the restaurant at first sight. Chinese style of decoration was well done. It looked modern and elegant. The atmosphere definitely made me feel that I’m about to have some Cantonese food. 

The only problem was the noise. There were many seats and sections inside the restaurant. Perhaps it was loud due to the architectural design and the big crowd inside.

Taste

Hakkasan New York offers many different tasting menus. If you are a vegetarian, a special vegetarian tasting menu exists for you. I chose the signature menu, which was available for two parties or more. The dishes were shared after they arrive at the table. 

The experience started out with Hakka steamed dim sum platter. Dim sum is a style of Chinese cuisine prepared as small bite-sized portions of food served in small baskets or plates. It is one of my favorites in Chinese cuisine since I love to taste a little from everything. Hakka steamed dim sum platter consisted of scallop shumai, har gau, prawn and Chinese chive dumplings and black pepper duck dumplings. Shumai is an open-topped dumpling, stuffed with scallop or pork and other add-ins. It often comes topped with fish roe or grated carrot. Har gaw is a translucent shrimp dumpling with a wheat starch skin. It is one of the most difficult dumplings to make. All the dumplings were delicious. 

Next dish was crispy duck salad with pomelo, pine nut and shallot. The crispy duck tasted amazing and the combination of pomelo and shallot was also savory. The other dish; fried salt and pepper squid wasn’t so impressive for me. 

Roasted silver cod with Champagne and Chinese honey sauce was great. The sauce was one of the best sauces I experienced accompanying the fish. Silver cod was roasted so perfectly, it dissolved in my mouth.

Stir-fried Brazilian lobster tail in supreme XO sauce was again very good. Especially the XO sauce was fantastic. XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce originated from Hong Kong. Its main ingredients are dried scallop, chili peppers, Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, garlic and canola oil. Saucier was doing a great job with the different sauces throughout the tasting menu. 

Seared wagyu beef with enoki mushrooms in lemongrass soya sauce was another show. Both the wagyu and enoki mushrooms tasted wonderful. However, the following black truffle roasted duck was the signature dish in this menu. Taste of the duck skin blended with the black truffle was mind-blowing.  

Next course was stir-fried lotus root, asparagus and black pepper. Even if you don’t love vegetables a lot, you will enjoy this course. Stir-frying is a Chinese cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred in a wok.

Spring onion and egg fried rice was my least favorite in the tasting menu. It was really mediocre, I have eaten better egg fried rice in ordinary Chinese restaurants.

I wasn’t happy with the selection of dessert either. I usually don’t enjoy the traditional Asian desserts much (yes, there are desserts in Asia as well), so I never have high expectations for the dessert part. If the dessert were to impress me, I would be surprised and give full points for the taste. Apple ice cream matcha and coconut leche were served for desserts. I only enjoyed the ice cream in both. 

Service

The weakest link of Hakkasan New York was the service. Some of the courses which should be served consecutively were served at the same time. Yet, all the courses were unique and need to be eaten hot. The order and timing of the courses were managed poorly.

Another thing that surprised me was the fact that the waiters served the dishes as if it was fast food. They need to be more polite and explain the dishes clearly at a tasting menu experience. I wasn’t satisfied with the level of service.

You can easily make your reservation using their website where the menu is also present.

Creativity

There wasn’t much creativity in terms of the presentation of the dishes. It was traditional and standard. However, the combination of the ingredients and the sauces were close to being perfect. 

The decoration was nice and creative.

Value

Overall experience was nice. However, the service level needs to be improved. 

If you are into Chinese food I do recommend this restaurant. It was a bit crowded and noisy so it may not be the right choice if you are looking for a serene and romantic atmosphere. The wine list was satisfactory.