Aquavit — Restaurant in New York

Amazing dining experience. Seafood centric chef's tasting menu. Better than Le Bernadine by quite a mile. And way less pretentious. Flavor, texture, mouth feel, portion, and experience are 5/5 at Aquavit. Every dish emphasized the main ingredient but also brought unique flavors. It's a very unique experience. The flavors and textures were very inventive and worked well that complemented the main ingredient. This is a seafood course like you've never had.

Reserved dinner for two for the chef's tasting menu. Definitely worth the time and money. This meal definitely lived up to the hype. Had a great experience from beginning to end. This can definitely be compared to Le Bernadine, however, Aquavit is definitely the winner. The overall execution of the dishes are definitely a whole tier above Le Bernadine. And without the need for "proper" attire. Definitely there were folks who dressed up but most people were business casual. Which I appreciate. Something about the service and the food reminded me of Del Posto in some ways.

Upong seating we were offered a refreshing sake cup of broth. This was a bit tangy, vinegary, and savory. Quite a few flavors going on. Just enough to "wet" the appetite really. Then came two bite size "appetizer". The lamb was definitely the more memoriable one compared. Lots of flavor in that small bite.

The reistling was definitely a great choice and the cocktails were uniquely done as well. Highly recommend the wine and the cocktails. I had the Lost in the Woods which was hints of sour and was excellent with the meal.

The first course is fluke and fennal. This was served in a delicate broth with tiny pearl sized Korean pears and small springs of herbs. This was refreshing. All the flavors were distinct but also complemented each ingredient.

Second course, scallop and carrot served on a scallop shell on a bed of warm pebbles. This kept the scallops in a very pleasant warm temperature. You can smell the sea salt. The texture of the scallops were melt in your mouth. There were dollops of sea urchin(?) butter. This was delicious and the texture was quite inviting.

Third, caviar and langoustine. The caviar popped was flavor in your mouth and this went really well with the flavor and the langoustine. There were quite a heaping of caviar in there. Don't remember what the sauce was, but it was an amazing texture.

Fourth, king crab and sunchoke. This was the best king crab that I've ever had. It was PERFECTLY DONE. It was cooked JUST right. I can't explain it. And it was served in this foam with a hint of spiciness and heat. The silky texture of the king crab and the delicate foam was quite luxurious mouth feel and this was after the caviar.

Then came the "intermission". We were offer a mixed nut rye bread with home made butter (forgot what it was exactly). This was great, although it was a bit dense.

5th, artic char and potato. This was good. The skin was crispy. Again, it was cooked just right. There was a good dollop of a different caviar. The potato was okay. Not very crunchy. But the caviar and artic char definitely made for another great combination.

6th, duck. Served two ways, roasted and a 24 hour duck leg confit. The duck keg was melt in your mouth amazing. The duck breast was okay. Probably the "less impressive" dish of all.

Then came the "pre-dessert", Korean pear sorbet dusted with hay ash. Very interesting flavor from the ash.

And finally we had the famous "bird's nest" dessert. Which was combination of fruit preserves/jam, chocolate, brittles of sorts ,edible flowers, and a dry yogurt dusting. Lots of flavors and textures going on here. But this was al surprisingly light and refreshing and not overly sweet.

And lastly a box of tiny sweets! Which is reminiscent of Del Posto!

This lived up to the hype. Fine dining done right. Will definitely be back when the...

The chef's tasting menu is a must have.

Overall I was very surprised to see that this place only received two Michelin stars as this easily competes with other 3-stars. The food was on point, full of textures and flavors between courses, and impeccable service from the staff. It feels weird coming from a pandemic world to seeing some staff and guests not wearing masks still, but hopefully this is a positive sign for the future. Regardless, I highly suggest visiting Aquavit for a special occasion such as birthday or anniversary.

Service I wanted to highlight how impeccable service was. It was like watching a ballet, as everything was choreographed, our sparkling water was filled consistently, and by the pairs they came by to clear off between courses. All the staff worked together very well with no issues to the evening.

Venue The restaurant was lovingly built, provides a lot of warmth from the current cold New York weather, and creates a very intimate environment in the main dining area. You're able to watch the kitchen as well, which is amazing to see how they're all working in-tandem to create a delicious experience. One down-side to the side circular booths was very little leg-room. As there was a wide variety of seating options, I'm sure this wasn't an issue for other patrons.

Meal We went with the Chef's tasting menu, not knowing what to expect, as I like to be surprised. This meal did not disappoint. There were a couple of items that had a slightly interesting twist on crunch that I wouldn't expect nor really enjoyed myself, but the flavor pairings and elements were so carefully crafted that each bite was something to savor. Our meal featured both seafood and fowl. My most favorite dish from the night was a caviar and lobster dish. It had this delicious and psychedelic green and white sauce that was the best compliment to caviar and lobster ever. If that dish was served to me 9 times in a row, I would die from delight. I was extremely tempted in getting another plate, but I didn't want to throw off any balance that was carefully prepared for the evening. The salmon char was something out of a fantasy novel. It was both charred deliciously on the skin and had that hearty crunch but the meat itself was warm, soft, and full of flavor. It was certainly magic used for crafting that piece. For the main course, which featured duck breast and leg, I fell in love. The two pieces somehow tasted completely different from each other but both were savory and the sauce used helped enhance the flavor. They were very kind enough to include a palate cleanser between the two pieces of duck which I appreciated. One downside was that we opted to add the black truffle, I would suggest against it as the black truffle felt more like it was an additive versus complimentary. I love black truffles, but I would urge you to avoid it with this dish. For our last course, the desert was something out of a dream, a bird's nest with a winning combination of sweet, sour, creamy, and savory. I'm a huge sweets fan and this certainly hit all the spots for me.

Final Note If you're looking for a lovingly-crafted dining experience in New York, you definitely need you treat yourself to Aquavit. Go for the Chef's tasting menu and allow yourself to be surprised and delighted with every course. Unfortunately, things don't last, and I had wished our dining experience never did, but I can say you won't regret a visit and dinner. The experience lasted just over two hours and even after the restaurant closed they let us finish our coffee and tea never asking us to leave. The warmth, love, care, and deliciousness is unmatched by many...

Ok, this is for two separate things. I have gone to this place every year for my birthday for the last 6 years and a couple times for my wedding anniversary. I found this place because they are only one of two places on NYC that makes my favorite cake Princess Tort. Fika is the other, but I found their cake a bit dry. Since moving here 6 years ago I have bought a Princess Tort cake from them every year for my birthday, and have enjoyed many dinners here.

My birthday dinner here was awesome. The main hostess always recognizes me and says hello, even if she only sees me once a year. The wait staff was not as friendly as I’m used to, but did a fine job serving and announcing the dishes and non alcoholic drink parings. The food was amazing as usual, and came out within a good amount of time spread out over time. I was a bit upset that I was charged $100 just to reserve a table and none of it was put towards the food when I showed up to eat! I understand the $100 charge and then you don’t show, they get to keep your money, because that seat could have gone to someone else. But just being charged $100 ON TOP of your meal that is already really expensive, that’s a bit greedy.

We had the tasting menu and had a reservation for 9:15pm, so we were there a LONG time. We saw many folks came after us and leave before us in our long sitting for the tasting menu, so maybe keep that in mind when I talk about the desert Aquavit is know for, the birds nest. My companion and I were very disappointed with this year’s birds nest. In the past we got three small “eggs” on our bird’s nest all with their own little yellow yoke inside. This time felt like a lazy substitution. Each of us got a single giant egg instead of three which was quite hard to break and had no “yokes” inside either of our eggs to speak of. It was still yummy, but lacking in the bird’s nest presentation I’ve come to expect.

My full Princess Tort cake I bought for my birthday was a bit of a disappointment this year. I didn’t have the option of a bigger cake, and the cake itself was really dry. Other than the marzipan outside, it didn’t taste anything like I had expected or experienced in years past. The cream layer usually rests on the top of the cake between the cake itself and the marzipan. For some reason a thin layer of cake was set between the cream and the marzipan. There was way too much cream in this cake for the normal cream layer. And the cream was too fluffy (it’s usually a bit more dense) and was overpoweringly flavored with vanilla. What ever happened to the simple stand alone sweet cream flavor? The other fillings between the layers of cake were almost nonexistent. The thin layer of custard was so small it was overpowered by the huge amount of vanilla flavored cream sitting on top of it. And the raspberry filling was so thin, it just got absorbed into the dryness of the surrounding cake layers. Normally there is twice the amount of raspberry preserves where I can feel the bits of raspberry in my mouth, not just enough to make a thin line of red in the cake. Super disappoint this year. I feel like they have a new pasty chef this year who has no idea what they are doing and just cutting corners like with the birds nest or trying to change the classic recipe of the Princess...