Last weekend in New York City, Samuel and I tried a new place in an odd location on West 38th Street almost at the Hudson River (literally over the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel where they are building the new Port Authority Bus Terminal!). The neighborhood seems secluded, but on arrival we were ushered upstairs in a beautiful residential building to find several cozy, quiet and very spacious rooms. One room had an open kitchen, ours had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Hudson with a very nice sunset when the curtains were opened! It was chic, elegant, classy and calm all at once. Our large table was quite far from the others, and each room had no more than 5 tables; even the bathroom was classy.
Crisp linens that were ironed when placed on the tables, fine delicate crystal and jazzy music with a soft vibe made this an ideal dining setting in my mind without even tasting a bite.
Cocktails looked fun and Angelina the sommelier explained that they were not all sweet, I loved my Tomatillo of tequila, modern lime and strawberry dubbed a soy margarita but this was spicier and served with a spoon laying on a giant ice cube in the middle filled with a spicy green tomato chutney gel, meant to be tasted with the drink. It was fun and yummy. Sam loved his Lychee of vodka. shocho and elderflower dubbed sweet & sour. After that he enjoyed the Rupee Indian-style beer form Maine while I went on to adore the paired wines ($125 for the regular pairing). The menus are simple with the vegetarian or vegan tasting @$175 and the non-veggie @$195. This is really amazing for NYC considering the more than a dozen courses, elaborate presentation of the dishes, setting, excellent service and more that really implied this was a Michelin-star destination (they opened in May and this year's NYC ratings will be announced soon, so we are praying!).
The first course was a set of three amuses(all the fotos are on FB):
CHICKPEA-DHOKLA puree, mint, mustard seed with white chocolate, cocoa butter and tamarind chutney
OYSTER -PANI PURI with green mango, cucumber in a pine tree shell with lemon foam
(vegetarian menu was Passionfruit instead of oyster with buckwheat & green apple)
AVOCADO - BHEL with Black Rice, Tamarind, onion, black pepper which I affectionately called Guacamole on a Black pepper cracker, but loved and it looked more like a giant Oreo cookie!
These three were just a small taste of the amazing flavors that were to come and the chef here was not afraid to use spice but never to the point of obliterating the taste of the main ingredients; the oyster with green mango being a perfect example.
YOGURT-CHAAT with sweet potato and raspberry sounds sweet, but was not with masala dust, tuile of dried and compressed strawberry and a raspberry/rhubarb broth! This came with my first wine a 2022 Panoramico white blend of Viura and Grenache from Rioja Alta.
The next wine was a Velenciso 2023 Viura with a hint of Grenache that was oak aged from Rioja Alta as well and the wine cut the richness of the
EGG -CURRY a brilliant dish with Masala Babka, Cultured Butter and Caviar on the side
(the veg version was Butternut -Sambar with medu vada, coconut & podi).
(the veg version was Butternut -Sambar with medu vada, coconut & podi).
We both adored the richness of the dish and its flavor which seemed to belong more to a soft poached egg dish from France with an asparagus & pea confit mousse topped with crispy potato and garlic.
LOBSTER - GHEE ROAST was no less exciting and whole tail came with swaths of sunchoke(white), yellow pepper and young garlic & pea(green) purees for dipping. A mineral intense Domaine Bretaudeau Muscadet 2023 "Gabbro" from the Loire was an ideal pairing.
MOREL-YAKHMI with green pea, white asparagus, truffle and white parmesan cream was the veggie course that Sam was raving over!
LAMB-SHAMMI was a rib, pickled jicama, sheermal all served on a large plate with each of the five parts sitting by its own. The rib was a BBQ style(with pomegranate spice) and there was also a saffron cracker. Sparse on the plate, but yummy in the tummy. Zahel 2010 Rothburger "Ein Kleines Fass" was a nice minerally red but a tad to chilly for my taste.
The veggie course was CELERIAC-SHAMMI wit endive, jicama, crispy onion, and tamarind chutney.
CHICKEN-MAKHANI was a large slice of breast in sauce with pepper & fenugreek with a side portions of Black Dairy Dal & Garlic Naan. The 5-star dal was superb and more like a stew than just lentils with a rich sauce perfect for the naan!
PANEER-PAVE was the veggie course with makhani, young courgette and the same sides of dal and naan.
Closerie du Pelan 2008 (the vintage is way gone now!) had a taste of the clay soil with a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Cabernet Franc that Angelina brought out as a special treat knowing that we reside in Bordeaux part-time! It was great and so amazing with that dal and naan to boot!
This was the end of the savory courses, but the evening was young (we sat down at 545pm, and it was still only 830pm!) and multiple desserts were on the way.
KHUBANI KA MEETHA with stone fruit, figs and almond was first with a sweetened apricot, fig leaf oil, poached peach, apricot sorbet, fig caramel and almond tuile. This was meant as a plate cleanser, but for me it was an amuse for the desserts to follow and a great little bite of flavors and fun.
Angelina arrived with two dessert wines, and I chose Carcavelos 1991 Quinta dos Pesos from Cascais in Portugal.
I have to mention that all evening each dish was served by the large team with such flair and finesse and we never felt rushed and loved the way in which each table was treated with such care.
Kaju-Katli for me was cashew nougat and milk ice cream with edible silver on the nougat, but Sam got Coconut-Ghewar which was payasam, saffron & pistachio topped with meringue and gold leaf! (I have chickpea and semifreddo in my notes, can that be right?)
The treats arrived with four listed as Blackberry (pate a fruit)
Besan Barfi (opera cake)
Mishti Doi (yogurt)
Filter Coffee(bonbon)
but then the chef came out with a surprise extra treat of Masala Chai which were small squares of light feathery chai cake that reminded me of cotton candy.
There was no more room as we left to walk back to the hotel after this f4-hour extravaganza of Indian delights. Indienne is really a taste of India with flair, finesse and class that I would not hesitate to return to again and again!
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