I Ate Gold This Weekend.

“400 5th Ave,” Joseph said to the cab driver

Will I ever find heels that don't hurt? I thought.

I have determined that hotel restaurants are among the finest. Restaurants within hotels promise the utmost exceptional dining and service - and from my personal experiences, this has always held true. Ai Fiori of Setai Hotel was no different, I was quite impressed to say the least.

A quick brief on the interior: A gorgeous sleek spiral staircase (I’m too good at alliterations) led us to the second-floor restaurant. While waiting for our table, I began to notice the unique patterns and textures that covered the walls, furniture, and floors- these beautiful, intricate details had transformed a room into a piece of art. Also brought to my attention was the intimate, cool mood, created by the dark and contemporary setting, that swept over the entire restaurant and lasted the span of the evening.

 Something I LOVED about the restaurant: though the room was quite large, and packed, and we were even in close proximity to other guests, the acoustics were so good that I could hear Joseph perfectly fine without having to strain. Always hard to find. And always a plus when found. 

Now the food: For my “per cominciare” (fancy word for appetizer) I enjoyed the Insalata, a dark green salad mixed with mushrooms and aged Sherry vinaigrette. As for my entrée, the Tortelli (ricotta & mascarpone ravioli, sottocenere cheese, red wine glaze), was the perfect blend of flavors; it was nice and light yet still left me satisfied. 

Joseph had the Spigola (olive oil poached wild striped bass, artichokes barigoule, blue crab, ricci, and lemon) and liked it so much he insisted I should try it. Mind you, I’ve been a vegetarian for 10 years. Yes, 10 years. But, lately I’ve been saying I want to start eating fish (to increase my protein intake). And if I was going to try it anywhere it should be here, at this divine restaurant. Right..?

Well after about 10 minutes of on-the-verge hyperventilating I tried a piece about the size of a dime. And loved it. Who knew fish could be so good..

Ever my favorite part: Now that you are aware of my love for chocolate (my Max Brenner experience), it should be of no surprise to you that our dessert was Budino di Cioccolato (chocolate cremeux, hazelnut praline, fior di latte gelato). The only word I understood was chocolate...and that’s the only word I needed to understand. But the most unique part about this dessert, something I hadn’t seen before, was this little gold leaf decorating my dessert. Except that it wasn’t a decoration, it was edible. So I ate it. And I loved it. 

Saturday night turned out to be quite the interesting affair. I tried fish for the first time, and ate gold. Interesting indeed. 

Unfortunately I couldn’t take any pictures at the restaurant, for fear of embarrassing myself more than I already had (when I dropped my silverware quite loudly). So the photos posted are borrowed from the website. 

Meal: 10

Dessert: 10

Interior: 10

Bathroom: 10

Atmosphere: 10

(on a scale of 1-10: 1=bad 10=great)

Price: $$$

($=cheap $$=moderate $$$=expensive $$$$=woah baby)

My NYC is Your NYC, Daniella