Tuome — Restaurant in New York

Tuome is one of the best hidden gems in New York. I came here with my best friend, and I will be coming back again.

For appetizers, we ordered the SCALLOP [dumpling, squash, foie gras] for $28 and QUAIL [classic soy sauce, smoked potato, mizuna] for $24.

The scallop was an extremely creative take on traditional Siu Mai, where the scallop was integrated into the Siu Mai, with a fresh seafood flavour. The foie gras was cooked to perfection, and melted in my mouth.

But the real star of the show was the quail. I come from Guangzhou, where we take our roasted quail extremely seriously. And while this quail didn't seem to be roasted (maybe pressure cooked?), it was among the most tender quails I have ever eaten. You can pull apart the bird just through gentle tugs, which I have only ever been able to do at one other high-end restaurant in Guangzhou. The meat was also extremely juicy. The only place where it falls short compared to traditional roasted quail is the flavour is less marinated into the bird, and depends more on the sauce that was paired with it. Nevertheless, I'd put this on the same level as traditional roasted quail - something I never thought I'd say about a restaurant outside of Guangzhou.

The mains were also spectacular. We had a LAMB [black pepper, shishito, soubise] $48 and SNOW CRAB [noodle, squash, dashi butter] $43. The lamb was incredibly tender, and the paired sauce accentuated the meat perfectly. It was as tender as the lamb at the best french restaurants I've dined at. The snow crab was more of an alfredo pasta with bits of snow crab on top. The snow crab's flavour didn't really integrate into the pasta, but no matter. The pasta itself was creamy but light, and on par with most regular restaurants in Italy. That may seem like a complaint, but if you've ever been to Italy you know that is an incredibly high bar.

The only real complain I have about this restaurant is it is let down by its service. It took lots of waving my hand about and trying to catch a waiter's attention for our order to be taken, and overall, we thought that the dishes could've done with much more of an introduction. I think this is the only thing separating this restaurant from even greater heights. But other than that, I can confidently say this is the best restaurant at this price point that I've been to in North America.

I...

Two words...PIG OUT! Literally, pig out on their dish "Pig Out."

I came here for restaurant week last year. The first time I tried to get a seat, the wait was too long so I didn't have a chance to try it....this time, I planned ahead and made a reservation.

Food: HEIRLOOM TOMATO - [RICOTTA, VADOUVAN GRANOLA, BASIL] - This dish was very refreshing. Tasty, but nothing amazing. Only ordered this because it sounded better than the 3rd option.

CHICKEN LIVER - [MOUSSE, NY MAPLE, MILK BREAD] - Now, I usually do not like liver because of that iron taste, but this dish was really delicious! I actually asked my friend to make me a second toast and then we asked for more bed to finish the mousse off! Definitely try this dish if you have a chance.

QUAIL - [CLASSIC SOY SAUCE, SMOKED POTATO, MIZUNA] - super tender little bird with a nice reduced soy sauce. What was best about this dish was that the flavor brought back childhood memories of my grandma's cooking! That was the best part. Another dish highly recommended!

PIG OUT (FOR TWO) - [BERKSHIRE PORK, SPICY PEANUT NOODLE, CONDIMENTS] - So this was actually the highlight of the night. Apparently it takes 3 days to cook this pork. It has a really nice crisp skin topping. The pork is shredded and made into a block. It's paired with grated ginger, hot sauce, and peanut noodles. Pork is a little big salty, but not unbearable and pairs well with the noodles. Noodles are cooked al dente and the peanut sauce is very flavorful. This is a must have if you come eat at Tuome. Very unique dish that I haven't had anywhere else.

TAPIOCA - [COCONUT PUDDING, BERRIES, ALMOND] - standard tapioca pudding, nothing special.

BEIGNET - [ICE CREAM SANDWICH, GOAT'S MILK CARAMEL] - this was pretty good. It was like a fried bao, crispy and slightly warm and paired with the ice cream. A little too much breading for me so I just ate one side with the ice cream.

Service was great and they explained a lot of the dishes very well. Glad I got a chance to dine here and I will definitely be coming back to try the other dishes on the menu, and maybe even the pork if I come with a larger...

Unbelievably bad experience, not only for a Michelin-star-studded restaurant but for any decent dining establishment, for that matter. Extremely uncomfortable seating with the tables squeezed in the dining area, "like sardines in a crushd tin box". The tables are so tightly spaced (if spaced at all), that for the entire duration of your meal you will be forced to listen to your fellow diners' discussions of their marital problems or babysitter troubles. Now, we all have heard the excuses about the expensive rent, so we won't compare Tuome with its Midtown counterparts, but with their Michelin and non-Michelin neighbors located in the same area, give or take, such as Contra, Gem or Papilles, each of which manages to keep a certain level of comfort no matter how tight their quarters are. Extremely limited menu. For this level of scarce number of choices the food has to be phenomenal. But is not. It is the same ubiquitous offers of wagyu, fluke, and Momofuku-styled noodles. Everything has been done elsewhere and before, and in a much better way. There is one dessert on the menu. Why? One dessert suggest Jordi Roca is in the kitchen. But he isn't. Everything is boring, uninspiring, utilizing the shortcuts for a restaurant to be labeled a foodie haven. The bathroom's floor was covered with the sticky urine, and we mean covered. How is that for a Michelin ranking? To add insult to injury, upon being handed our check, we inquired if the gratuity was included. Negative. So, we asked, how come our check was $143.72 and the slip presented for our signature was $168.76, i.e. over 25 bucks more? No satisfactory answer was provided. Could it be an honest mistake? Probably. But for some strange coincidence, the mistake was to the benefit of the house/server. Never ever can we recall being overcharged (scammed?) in this fashion, neither in NYC nor in any other place. To conclude we will have to try to avoid using profanities, so just pick and choose a better place than this...