Tolo — Restaurant in New York

Some friends and I came to Tolo a few weeks ago, I guess it was the first weekend they opened. It was so new that they didn't even have a sign yet, so we had a bit of trouble finding it when we got there. Once inside, it was super cozy though.

We were a group of 5 and had a reservation for 7:30PM. I'm a bit conflicted on how to rate the service as the sign said we had 90 minutes to dine, but we were basically rushed out by 8:30PM. Literally, they kept coming back to the table to clean up and asking us if they could start removing things. Definitely didn't make us feel too great, so we paid quickly and left to find another spot to get more food/drinks.

Onto the food. We ordered a bunch of small plates and couple mains:

Smashed cucumber Raw tuna String beans Little rice noodles Sticky rice Shake shake fries Bean curd Scallops Crispy fish

The raw tuna was probably the best thing here. The portions are tiny though, so we had to order 2 of these and a few of the other dishes too. We liked the rice noodles and sticky rice as well, there was a lot of flavor. We were not a fan of the bean curd, cucumber, or the fries. The rest were just ok. My friends really liked the drinks though, they tried 2 different drinks each, so would probably recommend coming here for drinks over the food.

I believe the bill came out to over $200, which was quite hefty for the portion sizes. We had to go somewhere else after...

Michelin Bib Gourmand- warranted Cliff notes -Solid food, service, and ambience -I'll be back when in NYC.

Detailed

We usually have a list of restaurants we plan to check out wherever we go and I make sure to get reservations in advance. Tolo was one of them.

This place is well worth a visit and deserves the Michelin bib gourmand award/being in the list.

New York is expensive but the value and quality is 🤌🏻

Food I'll preface by saying that I like beef and seafood mainly, but our favorite dish was the duck breast, endive, and black garlic.

The duck skin/fat cap was crisp and the duck breast perfectly cooked. There was a black garlic sauce which was savory and also a white sauce/perhaps egg based sauce on the side (aioli like) which added further richness. The endive was bitter which balanced all the flavor components of the dish. I like the plating as well- contrast of the black garlic sauce versus the white.

Service Attentive waiter and hostess. They made sure we were comfortable and answered any questions we had about the menu along with dietary requests.

They honored my very specific requests (usually I am not this picky).

Ambiance Lighting is dark and each table has candles so it makes it intimate but also there is plenty of conversation going on at the same time.

It gets quieter later on through the night. But we came during prime dinner time and we felt like we were in our own little bubble in...

Tolo is a new restaurant that everyone should check out. Located in Chinatown the restaurant stands unassuming under a Ming's Caffe banner. Once you step in, the atmosphere is cozy and friendly. The restaurant serves Chinese food with a touch of American flare. As someone from Hong Kong, I appreciated seeing familiar dishes such as the Shake Shake Fries which was the perfect amount of salty and crispy. The dishes we got were the "five spice boiled peanuts", "little rice noodles with XO sauce", "seaweed shake shake fries", "salt and pepper tofu", and "bean curd, shishito, long pepper & cumin". The peanuts were delicious and was definitely a highlight of the meal. Authentic Chinese styled boiled peanuts are soft, but these ones were slightly more crispy and flavourful (I prefer these ones). The rice noodles were also delicious and the restaurant serves a vegan version which mimics the umami flavor of the traditional XO sauce. My favorites were the bean curd and tofu. The bean curd was like none I had before and was packed full of spices. The tofu was crispy and had the yummiest chili aioli dipping sauce that elevated the classic dish. Finally, the service was nice and attentive. Overall the experience was amazing. I will definitely be a regular...