I count myself extremely thankful to be able to dine at some of the places that we do on our trips. I have to admit this trip to New York has been one of our most decadent. My sister and I took our cousins out to lunch at the Gramercy Tavern, a combined restaurant and tavern awarded a one-michelin star for the past six years. Impressive!

Here’s a picture of their menu.

All of their plates and dishes had the same logo.

They provided butter and salt.

To go with a sourdough bread or the brown roll (which I went). Unfortunately we wanted more but the bread guy wasn’t around. This probably explains why the old man at the table next to us distracted the bread man when he came to our table.

This is the Cauliflower, red quinoa, prunes and peanuts dish.

Then the Red King Crab, Sunchokes and apples

Then the Calamari & Carrot Salad, Toasted Pine Nuts and Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette

It was still really cold outside from the blizzard and I needed something to warm me up so for my appetiser, I chose Red Krui Squash Soup, Brussels Sprouts, and Apples. On first taste, the soup simply blew me away. It was everything a think hearty soup should be, perfectly seasoned (not in the way the Brits like) and the brussels sprouts centred in the soup with additional leaves topping it off. The toasted squash seeds added plenty of crunch and the drizzle of, what I’m guessing as, pumpkin seed oil deepening the flavours.

For mains, there was the Roasted Hanger Steak, Fingerling Potatoes, Russian Kale and Bourbon Sauce.

As well as the Red Snapper, Toasted Green Wheat, Kale, Trout Roe, and Squash Sauce

In addition to the Pork Croquette, Red Cabbage, Aji Dulce Pepers and Spiced Port Sauce

And finally my dish, Braised Lamb Shoulder, Heirloom Beans, Wild Mushrooms and Brussels Sprouts. Lamb seemed to appear on many menus, much more than I remembered than ever before in the US. I hoped for a rich, deep, soft lamb minus all the fat and I got it in this umami-rich dish. I counted at least four different types of mushrooms and there was plenty of beans and sauce to go with the dish. I may have been the last to finish, savouring each mouthful.

On to desserts! Here’s the Dried Cherry Cheesecake, Black Pepper Cookie and Cherry Lemon Sorbet. Reports had it the black pepper didn’t really come through.

Next up, the Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding with Cocao Nib Ice Cream.

And apparently, a slightly disappointing Sticky Toffee Fig Cake with Coffee Ice Cream. It apparently didn’t have the toffee flavour it should have had with not much sauce. It does look rather dry doesn’t it?

Finally here was my dessert, Peanut Butter Semifreddo with a chocolate macaroon. Americans obsess about peanut butter, much to most Europeans distaste. I don’t mind it, so I always like to try it in different things. In this dessert it worked really well. You can see the semifreddo served atop half a macaroon and then complemented by yet another one on the side. It was also served with some lightly caramelised hazelnuts.

And finally, some petite fours with yet another macaroon and tiny orange chocolate tart.

I have to say, this place really earns its food. Despite the outward appearance of simple ingredients, each dish really came alive and other than a few misses on the desserts, everyone raved about each of their meals. They have a slightly more casual, dining tavern but I’d be pretty happy going back regardless.

Name: Gramercy Tavern
Found at:
Website: http://www.gramercytavern.com/