theater district – ME SO HUNGRY

Maze Restaurant by Gordon Ramsey

My sisters were in New York a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know why. They said just for fun. I don’t get it. Anyway, they took me out Maze Restaurant by Gordon Ramsey at the London hotel. We had to make dinner quick because we had tickets to Paul Rudd’s play, “Grace.” We got the three-course pre fixe meals and tasted all of it.

We started off with Risotto, Butter Lettuce Salad and Slow-Cooked Organic Hen’s Egg. I was curious about the Risotto, since Gordon Ramsey makes such a big deal about Risotto on Hell’s Kitchen. No one can cook a fucking risotto it seems like from TV. Well, I don’t know much about risotto, but this one was pretty good. The Slow-Cooked Organic Hen’s Egg was interesting. It had some frothy thing going on. Neat to try, but maybe too much to try to eat the whole thing. I kind of liked the Butter Lettuce Salad the best. I didn’t think I would like a salad so much. I don’t know what made it good. It just looked like lettuce with corn and dressing on it. But really good.

Our entrees were the Roasted Cannon of Lamb, Brook Trout and the Berkshire Pork Chop. All pretty good. I liked the Pork Chop the best. It was the biggest meatiest of them all.

The dessert were really good too. I couldn’t stop tasting them. Chocolate Pudding was shaped into a rectangle block. Chocolate Fondant and Pumpkin Cheesecake were good.

Now that I look at the menu prices –Jesus! That’s expensive. Like that small bowl of Risotto is $19! And even though I really liked that salad, it was $16. God, I’m thankful for my sisters treating me. Grace was interesting.

Maze Restaurant – a The London Hotel. 151 W 54th St (btwn 6th & 7th Ave) New York, NY 10019

Had dinner with Mar and Marcellus after their mutual friend’s performance. And I’m just realizing now that I’m also their mutual friend, since Mar lives right above me and they know each other independently of me. She pointed out the Indonesian restaurant close by, serving perhaps Dutch-Indonesian or maybe a hybrid. I thought it was great. So much food I ate.

I think the special is the way to go. Soup or salad, a big platter of food (rice, chicken curry, beef satay, fried fish, veggies, shrimp cracker), beer or wine and a banana crepe dessert for $24. There were two other more expensive specials on the menu. I also ate Mar’s appetizers and Marcellus’ noodles. The roti canai’s curry dipping sauce isn’t as good as other places I’ve had, but good enough. The stuffed fried tofu was great with the java soya sauce.

I may have eaten Indonesian before and may have eaten at this very same place, but it was a good introduction to Indonesian cuisine while aware that I was eating Indonesian cuisine. Mar highly recommends Upi Jaya in Elmhurst, Queens for some authentic food. I gotta try that next. I had to keep emailing Marcellus to ask Mar what we ate. I forgot she lives right above me. I think I just heard her walk.

Bali Nusa Indah – 651 9th Ave (btwn 45th & 46th St) New York, NY 10036