Tag Archives: HK

HK Brunch

17 Nov

I am still undecided about my feelings about HK.  It is close to my apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, so I find myself there on occasion.  It feels a bit like a place with an identify crisis.  At times it’s a cafe, at times it’s a club, at times it’s a trendy restaurant, at times it’s a gay club.  No matter what it is, with garage door sides and a large leather curtain that you enter through, it always has a cool look.  I have had great drinks there, amazing appetizers and lousy meals (in the same sitting), some decent lunches, and some very long wait times.

We went there for brunch and it left me with a bit of indecision still as to whether or not I actually LIKE this place.

My cousin ordered the belgian waffles.  These were well cooked and delicious.  In my opinion, it’s a bit hard to get a belgian waffle really WRONG… they are just hard to find in a lot of places.  This one was fine, but it was no Wafels and Dinges (but really… what is?).

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2 omelets were also ordered.  Both seemed well cooked, but again, not special.

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I got the poached eggs with red wine sauce over wild mushroom asparagus hash. This was… weird.  Very tasty but the execution was all wrong. First, when I think hash, I don’t think soup. This was soup with a pile of veggies, a poached egg, and some red wine cabbage on top.  Delicious soup and vegetables mind you, but still soup. When you open a poached egg, you want the yolk to run into a delicious sauce that is absorbed by great ingredients.  When I broke this open, it was like someone threw yolk into soup. Because it was soup.  I’m still confused.


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Overall… I’m confused.  I don’t know how else to put it.  This wasn’t as our bad as our entrees last time, but wasn’t nearly as good as the tuna tartar app.

Total Nom Points: 6 out of 10

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HK

14 Dec

 HK is a restaurant and bar (and lounge? and rooftop bar?) on 9th Ave at 39th Street.  It looks very modern inside and has garage door windows that open in the nice weather.  They have expanded it, and perhaps they are just trying to be too many things.  They do somethings VERY right… and some things VERY wrong.

Our evening here started before heading to see a Broadway show.  We showed up at about 6, figuring that we would have no problem getting in and out in an hour and a half to catch the 8pm show.  The restaurant was almost empty, and our chatty waiter informed us about MANY things, including that he was having a bad day and that it was his iPod playing.  Congrats dude.

We started with an app of tuna tartar that came with herbs, apple, and quail egg.  It was absolutely FANTASTIC.  I would go back in a heartbeat for this (though it doesn’t appear to be a permanent staple on the menu).

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It was all downhill from here.  Our entrees took about an hour to come out. 

Mike order the lamb chop special.  It was… fine… but nothing special. 

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 And rather small for the price (it came to $30 when we got the bill).

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 But small was not even realized yet.  I ordered the duck with cinnamon pears and carrots.  Sounded great.

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But there were 3 thumb sized portions of the duck, which was bland, and a whole plate filled with pear (which were delicious and all… but you don’t order duck for just over 3 bites).   And as I ate it, in this VERY dark restaurant, I realized there was an orange burried under the pile with the rind still on… and a cinnamon stick.  Top Chef echoed in my head: “You don’t put unedible garnish on the plate.”  And to make that worse, in a dark restaurant, the taste of orange rind can really ruin a so-so dish.

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And on top of that, we barely got out in time for our show.  Two couples that sat down next to us about 20 minutes after we sat down were still awaiting their entree when we paid the bill.  They informed their waiter, who was chatting up the (overly cute and gay) men at the table next to them, that they had to catch a show.  The waiter’s response: “Everyone here is trying to catch a show, sweetheart.”  Uacceptable.

Go for the drinks and tuna tartare.  Skip the entrees.

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

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