Philippe
33 East 60th Street (between Park and Central Park East)

Always suspicious of "upscale" Chinese food, I agreed to dine at Philippe with some suspicion. The best Chinese foods are made in simple places; if places need to jazz things up with these gimmicks (and with prices that are utterly ridiculous), then the food must be suspect. Knowing the reputation of the proprietor and his other (and former) venues, I figured this place was all superficial...

My dining companion was late by half hour and I had a scotch to soothe the waiting time. We were seated in the increasingly busy dining area, which was rather pleasant. The environment was pretty nice and it seemed more like a "normal" restaurant rather than a Chinese place.

We had split two starters. The shrimp dumplings were okay, nothing special -- except for the ridiculous price. The house salad was actually quite good, and it was a nice change to eat salad in a Chinese restaurant.

We had two mains split as well. The pan-fried salmon was nice, in a semi-sweet-and-sour sauce. The chicken and broccoli was also not bad, with way too much chicken and too little vegetable (odd complaint for a Chinese restaurant, as it's usually the other way around). The food was nice, but nothing special -- again, the ridiculous prices, of course.

Overall, Philippe is a pretty average place, and definitely not worth the price. It's topped by so many other Chinese places around town, such as Phoenix Garden. Don't fall for the gimmick, go to a real place.

Food: B
Atmosphere: B+
For Lone Diners: B- (*)