UrbanDaddy had a Perk for One Dim Sum Brunch with bottomless Bloody Marys and beer (two-hour max) at Ember Room, a new (at the time) restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen (9th Ave between 45th and 46th Streets) that had Todd English in its pedigree. Don’t mind if I do!
The decor is eclectic pan asian, with some really nice touches like old fashioned light bulbs, bold artwork, and a beautiful dark wood all around.
Our Dim Sum brunch came with some varied dim sum, all of which were good… but none of which were outstanding…
We did enjoy our endless Chang beers.
The one dim sum I especially like were the shrimp, as it had a whole, sweet shrimp tucked inside.
We also added some korean bbq beef fried rice onto our order. It was quite good, but the hot stone bowl wasn’t quite hot enough to char the rice in the way that Korean Restaurants in Koreatown do so well. Also, it was supposed to be with kimchi, but since I can’t have kimchi, we went without. It was okay… but I think they rely on the kimchi to give it flavor, so it was a wee bit bland. It said it came with crispy shallots, which I was especially intrigued by, but they were too small to really notice.
It was good enough that I was curious about the full menu, so I came back for lunch one day with my coworkers.
They started with the chocolate ribs, which were slow cooked in a spiced chocolate sauce. Sadly, that sauce included chili, so I was out, but my coworkers scarfed these down.
We got a side of sauteed chinese broccoli. Frankly, I prefer the leafy part over the stems, but the oyster sauce on these made them very good.
I believe this was the thai basil chicken, which was spicy thai basil minced chicken over a fried egg, served with jasmine rice.
More korean beef fried rice.
And I went with the veggie burger, after a good amount of research by the waitress as to what I could, and could not, eat.
It came with some sort of soup which was surprisingly flavorful… but didn’t make enough of an impression for me to remember what it was.
The veggie burger itself was impressive. Tons of flavor, nice texture, and the fried onions on top were quite delicious. I’m not a veggie burger fan, but this was quite tasty!
Overall, I enjoyed both meals at Ember Room, but I can’t say I’m running back to try more. I think it’s a pretty good choice if you’re in the area or looking for a pre- or post- Broadway Theater meal. It is definitely different from the Italian that occupies most of that target market!
Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10
