Esmai’s — Restaurant in Brookline

My 2 girlfriends and I came to Esmai's Cafe for a girls' catchup on a Tuesday night at 6PM. Reservations were easy to make online. Meter parking was plentiful nearby. We were seated right away.

I remember this place as Hops n' Scotch and honestly, I think they really improved the space! The ambience was nicer, more posh, and the decor was super cute.

The service was quick, helpful, and very nice. We were checked in with often and made sure we were happy with the food. The menu of drinks and food were really interesting!

We got the: Spill the Tea mocktail - the rose tea was very subtle but tasty and aromatic, it was really pleasant and came in a pretty glass Hot Egg Coffee - VERY sweet (which I LOVE) it might be too sweet for some... but personally I LOVED the first sip which was sugar overload heaven XD Cold Egg Coffee (yes we got both!) - tasted great, almost like a bubble tea without the boba, the Vietnamese coffee is strong and sweet, which I like Banh Mi + Bone Marrow - a must get! this Vietnamese charcuterie board was very creative and DELISH!!! I loved the pate with the bone marrow on top of the toast - the bone marrow was melt in my mouth deliciousness, and then I made a separate toast with the pate, cold cuts and pickled veggies. this app was a winner for me Mini Beef Wellington - this was SO GOOD!!! Since there were 3 of us, we each got 1 mini beef wellington and the meat inside was so surprisingly tender!! And then the outside pastry was nice and flaky, and I kept wanting more and more of the sauce - this honestly was my favorite dish of the night Escargot - this was good and some of the pieces were nice and plump but I did prefer the other two apps above Grilled Octopus - I thought the octopus was very tasty and moist, the poached Asian pear salad was a nice addition Lemongrass Chicken Salad - the salad is pretty standard, but actually the lemongrass chicken was very juicy and flavorful Smoked Fried Rice - this was my friend's favorite dish, she really liked the smokiness of it, and I thought the fried shrimp egg roll was so creative Loco Moco - this was SO TASTY!!!! every component of this dish was good and balanced everything else, from the Japanese hamburger and its mushroom gravy sauce over the rice, the yolk oozing out of the fried egg on top, then cutting a piece of the spam on the side and then the macaroni salad and carrots and finishing with some fruit - this was my favorite entree and my 2nd fave dish after the Mini Beef Wellington Creme Brulee - this was so yummy and not too sweet, the right creaminess and so easy to eat, we finished it easily Matcha Lava Cake - SUPER DECADENT and again, I have a MAJOR sweet tooth, so I LOOOOOOVED this lava cake! It was oozing and the sauce with the cake and a bit of strawberry were PERFECT... and then you discover the matcha and it's a nice surprise! I was in chocolate heaven ^__^

Portions were really perfect for our party of 3 but we got waaayyyyyyy too much and we were STUFFED. We had to box the rest of the fried rice and loco moco. I recommend finishing the bone marrow right away though since when it cools down, it'll gel up.

Even if you're full, I'd say make room for dessert. If you're a dessert fan, both the matcha lava cake and creme brulee were worth it! But if you only had to choose one and you DO have a sweet tooth, I'd recommend getting the lava cake :)

All in all, a VERY successful and delicious night out with my friends. We were never rushed and it wasn't very crowded (albeit it was a Tuesday night), so we were able to chat for a while and really enjoy our food and drinks.

I would definitely come back and bring more friends, try out their creative cocktails next time, or maybe even come for a date night ;)

I highly recommend trying Esmai's! I also love that the owner chef is a woman and brings her culture in to the food and menu. You can feel the love and care that was put in to designing everything, from the decor to food. Please...

Being Vietnamese, I don’t normally gravitate toward Vietnamese restaurants since I’m biased toward home-cooked flavors, but Esmai’s menu sounded very enticing.

I’ll start off by saying that the interior is spacious and elegant (though, I fear the pink velvet chairs will get pretty dirty over time if not maintained well). Our server was also friendly and quick to take away our finished plates and refill our water.

Mini Lobster Bites ($13): The “bite” naming is fitting because these were tiny. I liked the milk bread, but the lobster was overcooked. Not good enough to justify the price. Escargot ($13): Using tongs is part of the fun of eating escargot, but these were served post-extraction. They tasted okay but heavy on the pesto, and the bread wasn’t anything special. Sweet & Savory Wings ($15): I expected traditional Vietnamese fish sauce wings per the menu description, but these tasted like regular American wings. Could not taste the fish sauce at all, so I was disappointed that this was the most expensive petite plate of the ones we ordered. However, the inside was moist. Lobster Rigate ($24): The pasta and sauce were tasty, and the portion size was good, but the lobster was overcooked again. Beef Wellington ($25): The beef is typically supposed to be rare or medium rare, so I was surprised to find it well done upon cutting this open. Maybe we should have explicitly asked for it to be rare, but the fact that our preference wasn’t questioned when ordering makes me think it was supposed to be rare but was accidentally overcooked. The beef and bò kho were also super salty, and the latter did not have the depth of flavor that the dish traditionally has.

Overall, I was disappointed by the food, but I’m still interested in coming back to try...

Esmai's is a Hidden Gem located in the former Hops n Scotch location right in Coolidge Corner. They have a focus on Western dishes with an Asian twist.

The restaurant's first floor boasts a large seating area with a large bar. We came during brunch time, and it was crowded but still had a lot of space for seating upstairs. We were seated almost instantly. The service was exceptional, with them explaining the dishes, checking in on our food throughout the meal, and bringing the food out in a timely manner.

The prices of the dishes are on the average size for the portion, but we really enjoyed the food we got here. We got the Jasmine Tea and the Vietnamese Egg Coffee, both of which were really good and had traditional flavors in them. For our brunch, we got the Souffle Pancakes and the Karaage Chicken with Egg on Milk Bread. The Milk bread sandwich was fluffy and the karaage wasn't too oily, and it came in a decent portion size. The Souffle pancake came with a light syrup that wasn't too sweet. The souffle did look a little deflated, but was still pretty good and fluffy. We also got the truffle fries, which came with a decent portion of truffle, as well as a nice dipping sauce for the fries.

Overall a good place to go to for a brunch out. The dinner menu also looks pretty good and enticing, such as the banh mi & bone marrow...