My brother took us to Jean Georges for dinner. If you ever plan on going, reserve at least three weeks in advance. And be prepared to wait, either way. (We waited for 20 minutes with a reservation to get a table.) And also set aside at least three hours for the dinner, because it's like a show. I don't usually go for fine dining, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. We ended up choosing the three-course prix fixe menu so we could have our separate choices in the courses (as opposed to the seven-course menu, in which none of us would have a choice in the courses).
Our amuse bouche included a mushroom soup of some sort, smoked salmon topped with a sauce I don't remember, and beet with some herb (?). (It wasn't listed on the menu and I wasn't paying attention to what our server was saying.) I do remember it being really tasty, though.
My first course was the sea scallops with caramelized cauliflower and caper-raisin emulsion. For serious, I could've eaten, like, eight of those.
My second course was the arctic char with burgundy truffle crumbs, and silky and crispy parsnips. It looks the ugliest of all my courses, but I think this was my favourite. The fish was perfectly cooked - it was so smooth and silky, not overcooked at all (very common mistake), it's what all chefs should aspire to when preparing fish. This is saying something, as I usually despise cooked fish. The sauce just complemented the fish so well.
My third course was the loin of lamb with black trumpet mushrooms and baby leeks. They sliced the lamb on a cart right in front of us (so the juices don't run) and drizzled warm truffle butter all over. It was so damn good. Just perfectly cooked; juicy and flavourful. It didn't have that overpowering musky lamb taste, either.
We picked from four different dessert menus, so I chose "Garden." Each menu has four tastings, so mine came with: chocolate cremeux, mochi, blackberries, and hazelnut; bitter almond macaron, sweet pea ice cream, and green almonds; carrot cake, rum raisins, and cream cheese froth; fresh sparkling raspberry, melon, vanila-birch cream. In terms of taste, I didn't really like any of the desserts except for maybe the sparkling drink. The carrot cake was pretty good, but the rum raisins were overwhelming for me (because I don't like alcohol) and the froth was kind of... icky. Cream cheese frosting should just be cream cheese frosting, you know? The macaron with the sweet pea ice cream tasted... green. Like, eating leaves. And the chocolate cremeux with mochi was just underwhelming. I thought it was going to be more... chocolate-y?
To be fair, though, everything was very light and fresh, which would've been a good ending to the meal (in theory), because a lot of the food and sauces were quite heavy and I didn't want an equally heavy dessert. So it was just kind of disappointing after such a great dinner. But my brother ordered the Chocolate dessert menu, and he said it was phenomenal. And apparently Jean Georges is known for the chocolate-based desserts. I guess I should've listened.
We also got four different dessert "courses" on the house: mini pumpkin macarons, hand-cut marshmallow squares, fruit jellies, and house-made chocolates. I didn't try the jellies, but everything else was great - simple and tasty.
Overall, the food was brilliantly delicious, and simply and elegantly presented (the photos do not do the food justice, honestly). As one reviewer put it, "every moment feels effortlessly choreographed." Our servers were phenomenal (and super attentive with the never-ending bread baskets). They place each dish in front of you, take off everyone's lids at the same time (seriously, it looks almost like a dance routine), and then explain exactly what is on the plate and even how to eat it so you get the best culinary experience. It has a hefty price tag, but it was definitely a one-of-a-kind dining experience.
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