15 East
15 East 15th Street (between Union Square & 5th)

I have always had issues with fusion cuisine, but a friend of mine sent me a very interesting review of 15 East, so I decided to try it.

It was an early evening on a Summer Tuesday, so it was pretty empty. Nevertheless, I wanted a good meal. The service was excellent -- maybe due to the place being empty. But still, that was much appreciated. A few glasses of wine and sake made the entire process quite nice.

I chose to "fusionise" my dinner by having a sushi start and a kitchen main course. For the starter, I chose a few pieces of sushi. Having grown up in Hawai'i, this is like second nature to me; frankly, I hate this "mainland" invention of the "sushi order paper" since we used to just order at the sushi bar like "normal" people do! So I am overly judgemental when it comes to sushi...

I have to say this place, like many in Manhatten, are overpriced and not very good. The hamachi (yellowtail) was bland, and nothing special. The aoyagi (orange clam) actually tasted a little funky...the fact I'm alive writing this now means it was not dodgy. But still... The kamasu(Japanese "barracuda") was okay. What really failed was the chu-toro (fatty tuna), which was pretty bland, and the expensive o-toro (very fatty tuna) that was small and also semi-bland. I've had better in most places. The presentation was nice, but the fact it came with no wasabi shows this place was not serious when it came to the Japanse stuff...sad.

The main course improved things so much. Maybe they need to keep to the kitchen stuff for most of their service. The black ink risotto was very nice, with a touch of bonito flakes in the flavour. A side of grilled squid was nice, but it was not the advertised item. It seems they are trying to cut corners. It was a good dish nevertheless, but still...

I had a strange panna cotta for dessert and ended up swallowing a lot of papaya seeds...ugh...so I didn't leave the place very happy. Too bad, this place could have been much better. What really killed it (and from what the waitress told me, a frequent complaint) was the lack of coffee at the end... Even with their sister restaurant Tocqueville next door, they didn't have the stuff. I thought, this was a fusion restaurant, with Brazilian music in the background, and no coffee?

Ugh...they gotta do better for me to come back...very disapponting...

Food: B---
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: B