NYC is a Small Food World

I generally try not to write about new restaurants (or food in general) on this blog, otherwise I wouldn't write about anything else. I'm making an exception, however, because of a request from my neighbors during a meal last night at Wakiya, a new high-end Chinese restaurant run by the Nobu team and featuring food from chef Yuji Wakiya (who is already a star in Japan).

Being the first night that reservations were being honored (following an extended friends and family run which did a great job getting the place running smoothly), I figured some celebs might be around - however, I found myself too distracted by the food to look. While you can find amazing and cheap Chinese food in NY (e.g. XO Kitchen), this was the first time I've had Chinese food so refined. The Pork Belly with Chili Soy (photo) and Layered Spicy Soy Pidan Tofu (photo) were absolutely amazing - light, but with delicate and complex flavors. The Fiery Pepper Hunt (shown above-right) could have used a spicy dipping sauce, but was quite good and visually stunning. The only dissapointment was the Peking Duck which, while excellent, was shockingly small (when the menu says "4 pieces" it means four small pieces of crispy wonderful skin). The desserts were delicious, especially Wukiya's Signature Mango Pudding (shown below), which tasted truly wonderful despite the over-the-top presentation featuring dry ice.

When the desserts arrived, we struck up a conversation with our neighbors, one of whom turned out to be none other than Danyelle Freeman, a.k.a. Restaurant Girl. I'm not sure if she is going to post anything about Wakiya (I got the impression that she and her rowdy crew didn't enjoy the meal nearly as much as my table did), but I thought I'd post my photos here in case she was interested in linking over. A guy from Eater was also at the table with Danyelle and posted his review today (including a picture of my dinner companions taken with his iPhone).