Robert - New York, New York

Robert

http://arkrestaurants.com/robert/

Located on the 9th floor of the Museum of Art and Design, a window seat in Robert gives you a stellar view of Columbus Circle and Central Park. Even though I called in saying I'd be 15 minutes late from my reservation, and then even arriving 5 minutes after that (we stayed pretty far from the restaurant), we still got a prime window seat!

 Colorful menu cover! They had a lunch prefixe menu which I think is a good deal for the food and the meal. Robert is biased to Asian influences. 

 Columbus Circle yoooo~

 The edge of bushy Central Park!

Mixed Green Salad - Herbs and sherry vinaigrette 

Lightly dressed salad with radish. Refreshing start and a large serving. Much appreciated due to the lack of veggies from previous days...

Tiger Shrimp Stew - Lotus Root, Bok Choy, Scallion, Soy and Rice Cake

While a spoon was provided, there wasn't much soup/stew to scoop up. This wasn't a stellar dish, but it was light and the cook on the shrimp was the way I liked it. 

Scottish Salmon with Zucchini and Butternut Squash "Spaghetti"

The salmon had a crisp skin and the spaghetti luckily wasn't overcooked. Pleasant flavors. 

Cheesecake - Orange Caramel, Guava Gelee, Chocolate Ganache

The cheesecake had a good flavor, but not a very smooth texture. I couldn't quite appreciate the guava gelee, sort of a gooey foam, as the texture was a little off-putting because it didn't seem natural to me.

Complementary Coconut Cake Bite with Hazelnut (?)

This was actually really tasty and just the right amount of sweetness following the savory dishes. This presented the same time as the desserts. 

Mandarin Orange and Lemon Sorbet with a Cookie Crisp

I'm assuming this was actually lemon, which I preferred, but the mandarin orange was refreshing as well. A buttery tasting crisp/thin shortbread is also good to add texture.

The interior: nice and colorful!

Service was generally pleasant, except for the time when the waiter overshot and poured water onto the table and onto my sunglasses I had left on the side of the table. Serves me right for placing it there. Thankfully it was only water!

A nice spot to relax and take in the sights above it all. The MAD store located on the lobby had a lot of artisan products and creations that were really interesting as well as to look and interact with!

Ze Kitchen Galerie - Paris, France

Ze Kitchen Galerie

http://www.zekitchengalerie.fr/en/ 

Please keep in mind that it's been 8 months since I ate here, so it's definitely difficult to recall what I ate...

Provided menu, but it was a bit odd how it doesn't reflect the menu of the night. Some presented items were not included in the menu and some on the menu did not appear in the meal. 

Savory custard

Close up of beef croquette-like bite. 

This was actually pretty pleasing to the palatte, but who doesn't like something fried?

Lightly seared fish with pickled components. 

Potstickers. Good crisp on the skin

Candale pasta filled with a mushroom and accompanied with a parsley sauce

Panseared calamari steak, with deep fried veggies and a squid/cuttlefish ink sauce

If you're allergic to calamari (in which it was substituted to tuna in this case), I suggest you steer clear of the sauce which is still on the plate. This might also instigate any allergic symptoms. We learned this the hard way haha~

Fish of the day with citrus sauce. It seemed also suveed, which isn't my favorite kind of cook, but it was definitely a light dish. 

Large cut of what seems like bacon, but it had a crispy exterior. Meat itself was slightly chewy but that could be its nature. 

Soup de Coco - Coconut soup, vanilla and red berries

I personally am somewhat allergic to coconut, but I really enjoy coconut in general. The berries are a nice touch towards the end of the meal. 

Glace Chocolat Blanc - White chocolate, wasabi ice cream, banana, passion fruit, pineapple 

This was actually really good. I can't really eat too much pineapple (I have a lot of food restrictions it seems...), but it complemented the white chocolate and wasabi ice cream. It was one of the more interesting things I had, but it definitely all worked together! Wouldn't mind eating this again...

Figue Confite - Fig confit, almond ice cream, grape juice

Slightly too sweet, but can always do with more dessert! It's a nice little smile at the end of the meal ;) 

Service was pleasant, with both French and English speaking wait staff. I would say 80% of diners for our sitting time spoke English. At one point, there was a dish where a sauce had to be poured individually into our bowls. The server had dripped on the table because instead of having a towel to wipe up the edge of the small sauce vessel, she had placed the vessel back on a small wooden placeholder in her hand, letting any sauce to keep dribbling down the side. That's the only food comment I would have for them to make sure to keep things clean versus having having the "look". The sauce drip went unnoticed by the staff so we cleaned it up ourselves because it was bothering us haha~ We're crazy that way...

Besides that and the assumption that we were Japanese and I deserved a wink from a male waitstaff, it was a rather pleasant meal at a good value!