Location: Ember Room on 9th between 45th and 46th (emberroom.com)
Edibles: I had the miso eggplant and the oxtail; Josh had the shrimp satay and Korean BBQ fried rice; we also had the mushroom salad, chocolate baby back ribs and the slider trio on the table, among others (I don't remember precisely who ordered what)
Musings: Ember Room is a new Todd English restaurant in the Hell's Kitchen / theatre district area. Unsurprisingly, the service felt like it hadn't quite settled down into a comfortable routine yet. We were eating pretty early and the restaurant was half-empty, but they had a bit of a delay in seating us and then didn't have enough menus to go around once they did.
The waitress recommended that we order tapas-style and share, but the portions are so small that they're really only practical for two people to share, not a whole table. The only dish big enough for multiple people to try was Amy's mushroom salad.
I was not impressed by the food, as I'm generally not by fusion cuisine. I thought my two dishes tasted overly sweet, and flavors were heavy-handed and muddled. It's like the food that was all the rage twenty years ago when chefs though it would be rad to put soy sauce, miso and wasabi in everything. With all the delicious, authentic and cheap Asian food available in the city, why bother with this junk?
The hunt for a good theatre district restaurant continues....
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