Sushi Azabu

We got the $180 omakase with both the uni and toro tastings, and while the sushi (and other dishes) were good, it was really not that standout considering the price and the many other amazing sushi places in NYC.

The sushi is prepared very traditionally, and no special sauces are used (I am perfectly fine with that).  The quality of fish was decent but not mind blowing, and unfortunately the selection of fish we had was pretty ordinary: medium fatty tuna, salmon, sea bream, scallop, pike mackerel, snapper, white shrimp, uni, ikura, half roll of tuna with pickled daikon, tamago, and anago.  

I was initially most excited by the prospect of uni and toro tastings (the whole reason I decided to come here), but those were disappointing.  The uni tasting we had were from 2 different regions of Hokkaido, and the dish was presented with some seaweed so you could wrap it on your own.  On the plus side, it was a worthy tasting in the sense that you could definitely taste the difference.  However, I didn't love either uni and have had better uni at many other sushi restaurants.  The toro tasting came with 3 small pieces of toro -- a medium fatty toro, a seared medium fatty toro, and a fatty toro.  All were decent, but again, nothing too memorable, sadly.

  

Of the other dishes, the most memorable was the hot course -- normally a piece of grilled miso king crab, but we were also offered an option to get a foie gras chawanmushi, so we opted for one of each (crab and foie gras) so we could try both.  The foie gras chawanmushi had beautiful presentation with caviar and gold leaves, but the foie gras itself was a bit hard and not as soft and creamy and buttery as I was expecting.  (Normally I forget foie gras is liver because it's so soft and buttery, but in this instance, the texture was very much like liver.)  The miso king crab was delicious and my favorite item of the night, but each piece was pretty small.

 

Overall, nothing was bad, but we were expecting much better given the price, the reviews, and other experiences at similarly priced places.

Supermoon Bakehouse

I may or may not have played hooky from work to come and snatch a smashed choc-nut brownie cruffin on its last day, and if I did, it was totally worth it.

All of the croissants we tried, even the plain, were perfectly flaky.  I was worried that the sweet stuffed croissants (we tried the pistachio rose and chocolate) would be too sweet, but they were nicely balanced.  I thought the pastrami croissant could've used a bit more pastrami, but the flavor was good.

The only let down for me was the triple black donut; the squid ink brioche itself lacked flavor, and the black sesame filling was also not that strong.

Overall good experience, and bonus points for photogenic pastries + shop.

Pure Thai Cookhouse

Had to wait an hour and cut it a bit close before going to our Broadway show afterwards, but it was worth it.  All of the dishes had such good and complex flavors.  It's a small spot and we were rushed in and back out, but the food was good.

The papaya salad and chicken wings were pretty standard but well done.  The wok roasted chili with shrimp was delicious; great heat but so much more than just spice.  The ratchaburi crab and pork dry noodles were also delicious.  The dish was a little bit sweet, and the preparation reminded me of Cantonese noodles with the roasted pork; it was a good fusion dish.  We also tried the Ayutthaya beef noodle soup (special of the night), which had a bit of a tart broth and lots of goods, including beef balls, tripe, short rib, beef loin and strip. We also tried another special curry of the night, and the flavors there were also spot on.

Overall, everything was enjoyable, and maybe I'll have to add this to the Seamless rotation to skip the wait.

          

JeJu Noodle Bar

Overall really good flavors, although some of the dishes were on the salty side.

Ssam buns -- Every noodle shop seems to offer pork buns, but these were pleasantly different.  The sauce was good, the meat was leaner (a plus for me; I don't like it when there's more fat than meat), and the corn and jalapeno garnishes were tasty additions.

  HDB -- I wasn't sure what to expect but wanted to try it given all the positive reviews, and am glad I did.  It was similar to a poke bowl, with vinegar rice, raw fish, veggies, and seaweed.  It was good but on the salty side.  It would've been more refreshing if less salty.

So-Ramyun -- Very delicious and aromatic (veal) broth.  The garlic chips and garlic oil really made this ramyun dish very fragrant.  The broth was milky but not too heavy, and I found myself sipping the broth alone.  Only negative is there aren't a lot of toppings; only few thin slices of beef and then garnishes.

Fish Coop -- Great complexity of flavors in the broth and the toppings.  The confit chicken was very tender, as was the pork belly, although there was only one small piece of pork belly.  There were also some pickled cucumbers and the thicker pieces of seaweed you find in Korean seaweed soup.  Only negative for this one is the broth, while seemingly light, is actually quite salty, and I wasn't really able to drink/sip this broth alone like I did for the so-ramyun.

In terms of service, there are no "traditional" servers and the chefs take your order, which is sort of fun.  Everyone was friendly, although for some reason, our noodles took a very long time to come out (think our order ended up going to another table first), but we enjoyed the meal overall so won't complain.

Stuffed Ice Cream

I found this to be overrated, unfortunately.  A lot of the ice cream flavors sounded fun and good, but after taste testing a few, the only one I actually liked was the Royal Milk Tea, so I got a Cruff with the Royal Milk Tea and the Cookie Monster just because.  The service was very slow and inefficient, and maybe I wouldn't have minded if the doughnut was still warm, but it was not.  To be fair, the doughnut was a decent vehicle to hold the ice cream in, but I would definitely not eat it as a standalone item, and since I didn't particularly care for most of the ice cream flavors I tried either, I'm not sure I get the hype, personally.

Cocoron

Good casual soba spot that will hit the spot.  There's a very extensive selection of hot and cold sobas / soup and dipping options; possibly too many, actually, as it's hard to figure out what you want.  There's also a number of different appetizers you can try.

Most recently, I tried the mera mera hot soba, mentai mochi spring rolls, and steamed chicken meatballs covered with sticky rice.  Everything was good.  I was most excited to try the spring rolls because I love mochi and have never had mochi in spring rolls before, and that was a good dish, although there was barely any mentai (cod roe).  

Overall everything was tasty though.  May not be your highest quality food, but I don't think it will disappoint either.
    

MáLà Project

Flavors and sauces are all really good, but I would caution portions seem to be on the small side.  For a party of 6, we ordered 4 appetizers and got 28 ingredients for our dry pot (doubled down on 14 items), but I think we all left still a bit hungry.  

For appetizers, we got the pig ears in chili oil, the mouthwatering chicken, the lotus root, and the gold and silver manto (with condensed milk!).  The pig ears and chicken had a kick but were not too spicy, but the lotus root and manto with condensed milk balanced out the heat perfectly. 
I wish we ordered some other appetizers, as there were other things that sounded good too.

As for the dry pot itself, we ordered it mild and asked for additional hot sauce on the side, and I would say that the mild spice is pretty mild.  If you like spice, don't be afraid to kick it up a notch.