Banter Visited 1/13/2018 4.5 Forks

Banter  169 Sullivan St., New York, NY 10012

It seems like the hot trend these days are these cute Australian breakfast cafes.  There was Two Hands, Bluestone Lane and now there is Banter.  Although when I was in Australia, I didn't remember their breakfast being particularly memorable - in fact, none of the actual food there was memorable.  But who isn't a sucker for a cute Australian accent?  I met up with Anuja and Amy for our first Rabbit Habit of 2018 on a freezing Saturday and while almost every other restaurant in the Village was empty because of how cold it was, there was a line out the door at Banter.  In fact it was a 45 mins wait!  Luckily they had a covered place to wait but it's pretty much mayhem with all the other people waiting in the same area.  Finally after almost an hour,  we were seated and sadly it was right next to the bathroom.  Ugh.  Ordinarily I would have said something but it was so crowded and almost 2pm that we just sucked it up. 

The menu is full of instagram worthy dishes from avocado toast, chia pudding bowls, and beautiful salads.  We were all starving so we started with the sweet potato fries ($7) and the banana bread ($5) to start.  I got the golden folded eggs with sour dough toast ($16), Anuja got the avocado toast ($12) and Amy got the mushroom toast ($12).   The sweet potato fries came out quickly and this dish in it of itself is worth 4.5 forks.  They were so crispy and delicious and served with a large heaping of spicy mayo that it took a lot of self control for me to not eat the entire thing.  I'm usually weary of sweet potato fries because its very easy for them to be soggy but this one was perfect.  Be aware that it's a huge side order, so it's definitely worth sharing with lots of people.  We thought the banana bread would be a small slice since it was $5 and it was actually a huge thick cut served warm with sweet butter.  It was also fantastic.  

The components of my entree weren't anything special but they all worked really well together.  I actually commented to Amy and Anuja that I could easily make this dish at home as it was just scrambled eggs, smashed avocado, peas, slices of proscuitto, and a kale salad.  But food always tastes better when someone else makes it for you and this was the case here.  It needed a bit more salt on everything but overall it tasted fresh, healthy and it was super filling.  The sourdough bread was nice and soft and paired well with the avocado - it was a bit annoying to pay extra for bread but with so much other food on the plate I actually think that if I were to get this dish again (which I totally would), I wouldn't order it because you don't really need it.

Overall, I really loved this place but there are a few annoying things to keep in mind before you go:  as one would expect in a place that's got all this IG worthy food, the clientele is kind of annoying (it kind of felt like we were in Murray Hill if you catch my drift), the wait is long and they don't take reservation for brunch and most of the food could have used a pinch more salt.  BUT don't let those things stop you from going and none of them were truly deal breakers for me.  Plus they had fantastic coffee options and the portions are huge compared to the price, which is a nice change of pace in NYC.  Hopefully this craze will die down a bit and it can be more of a relaxing experience going forward.  Total bill:  $32/pp with tax, tip and yummy coffee drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Two Hands Visited 6/29/2016 3 Forks

Two Hands  251 Church St., New York, NY 10013

I have always been a huge fan of everything and anything Australian - how can you not??  There seems to have been an influx of cute trendy Australian coffee shops/bars that have popped up around the city and Two Hands is one of them.  They only recently opened up for dinner, so I was super excited to give it a whirl since it's within walking distance from my office. 

I'll give them props for design and decor - it's sleek, white and got beautiful pictures of the water in Australia.  Love it.  Next,  the staff and everyone who works there seems to be from Australia and were adorable with their cute accents.  Nice touch.  The menu is a nice line-up of simple farm-to-table type food. Laura and I were both starving and everything sounded good, so I was super happy when she agreed to try all the small plates AND split the burger with me.  Atta girl.  The small plates consisted of burrata ($17), octopus ($16), squash blossoms ($14), and shrimp sliders ($14).   For as long as I can remember, I've always been a big fan of Australian style burgers because they come with a fried egg and beets on them ($18) - I know, it may sound gross but it's awesome!

The small plates all came out around the same time and a few of them were indeed small.  There were only 2 squash blossoms on the whole dish, which seemed a bit ridiculous for $14. However, the 1 that I did have was quite tasty since it was stuffed with goat cheese - yum!  I just wished there were more of them.  Next I tried the burrata which was a beautifully plated dish - very Instagram worthy.  It was a large ball of burrata served with farro, asparagus, green puree, apple and coriander.  I will eat burrata in any way it's served to me and not really complain - the only comment I'll make here is that it definitely needed a pinch of salt to it because it was a bit bland otherwise.  The octopus was served a la plancha with chorizo, fennel and lemon puree.  What few bites of octopus I did get was pretty good but it was cut up into pretty small bites that I didn't feel like there was enough of it (like the squash blossom dish).  Next I tried the shrimp slider and this was actually my favorite dish of the night - it was 3 good sized whole pieces of shrimp on mini toasted brioche bread with lemon aioli and cucumber.  It was a bit messy to eat because the pieces of shrimp kept sliding out of the bun but it was seasoned really well and had a hint of heat to it as well with the spiced cucumber.

All of this whet my appetite for the burger which I was super excited for.  We asked for it medium rare and it was most definitely closer to medium - in fact it was cooked through way too much for my own liking.  That to me is the death of any burger.  Secondly, when I order a fried egg (on anything, not just a burger) I expect a fucking runny yoke - yes, I am a complete crazy person about this but it drives me up a wall when it is more like a hard boiled egg on the inside and that's sadly what it was like here.  Super bummer.  Plus the cheese wasn't super melty - it was kind of plopped on there as an after thought and not really incorporated on to the patty.  Lastly, I was just not down with the bread. It looked like some kind of multi-grain type of bread but I found it to be super dry and ended up going Atkins style and only eating the burger.  Waa waa - the meal definitely ended on a sad note.

On the positive end, the spritz drinks were delicious and the overall vibe very chill and cool.  It's worth coming here for drinks and coffee but I'm not 100% sold on the food, or at least the dinner menu, just yet.  The small plates are indeed small but the prices aren't - they seem more on point with big plates, so definitely stick with the happy hour meu for now.  Total bill:  $63/pp with tip, tax and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The Musket Room Visited 9/10/2013 4 Forks

The Musket Room 265 Elizabeth Street (between Houston St & Prince St), New York, NY 10012

I had heard great things about The Musket Room, but the main reason I went was because it was described as New Zealand cuisine, which I thought was interesting.  I don't know much about New Zealand cuisine except for their giant and delicious green mussels.  I was hoping that they would have that on their menu, but the menu here is really much more high end than that. 

Allison and I went to dinner there at 6:30 and we were the only ones in there for a while.  We sat in the back room (which I would recommend if you had to pick either the front or back room) because it faces this lovely outdoor mini-garden/farm where they pick their own ingredients.  It's very soothing and beautiful.  As I mentioned the menu here is much more sophisticated than I expected and actually pretty limiting (there are only about 12 total items on the menu).   We decided to split the cold smoked scallops for an appetizer ($15) and since we were both indecisive on which entree to choose, we decided to split the octopus ($24) and cod ($29).   The meal started with our waiter asking us what kind of bread we wanted (instead of putting an entire bread basket down in front of us) and I opted for the bacon and cheddar brioche.  The bread was nice and warm and combined with the sweet butter, incredibly comforting.  I'm glad they didn't put a bread basket in front of us because I probably would have literally eaten my weight in bread before I even got my food. 

The scallops came out first and were definitely not what I expected at all.  It was served with cucumbers, black garlic, pears and sea beans.  But the scallops were cut and almost diced in texture.  I expected them to be served whole and if I didn't know what they were beforehand, I wouldn't really recognize them.   The cold smoked concept was unique and the flavors combined were actually quite good.  It was well balanced and a nice palate cleanser.  Next came our 2 entrees, which were pretty decent sized plates.  I tried the cod first - it was served lightly battered and fried on a bed of green pea puree blended with crab meat and topped with pickled oyster.  Oh my.  This dish was just stunning in taste and presentation.  Seriously one of the best fish dishes I've had in a while.   The pea puree was the perfect pairing with the fish and I wished that I could finished the whole dish.  Luckily, the octopus dish was also fantastic as well.  It was nice and tender and had the right amount of chew and give to it without being overly done.  By the end of my meal, I was pleasantly full which is a bit unusual with these more complex, high brow dishes.  While I still don't know if I would categorize this as strictly New Zealand cuisine, it's still a lovely restaurant with solid seafood offerings.  Total bill:  $65/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Wombat - Visited 1/30/10 - 3 Forks

Wombat 613 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY


Dan was craving some sort of meat/burger product and we had originally decided to go to Pop's until we heard that it was more of a late night, burger stand place. So we decided to check out the Wombat, which is on the part of Grand street that is still a bit "sketchy" but definitely up-and-coming. It's an Australian bar with a small restaurant in the back. Dan went with the Australian Burger ($8.50 + $2.00 for the fried egg), which was a lamb burger with beets. I had the turkey burger with cheese ($8.50 + $2.00 cheese). I gotta say, it was pretty tasty. They did not just pull out some frozen turkey burger patty and throw it on the grill. You can tel that it was formed from ground turkey with some seasonings in the meat. It was pretty big and very filling, but of course I ate the whole thing. The fries were delicious and crispy but a bit too salty, which I think they meant to do. The turkey burger came with a pretty good wasabi mayo that I dipped my fries in. They had a nice line-up of micro-brews, I got the Six Point Black Wheat ($6). My only complaint was that my hands and clothes kind of smelled of the food afterwards, which was kind of annoying.