It turned out that I had timed my trip to New York rather fortuitously. This year was the 20th anniversary of New York Restaurant Week and the festival had been extended to an incredibly long period from July 11th – September 5th, not that I was complaining. Those of you in the UK may be familiar with London Restaurant Week, which is a relatively new and exciting addition to the scene. However in this is clearly a well-established event in New York and in fact occurs biannually in January as well as July. In New York what this means is that at hundreds of restaurants across the city, three courses lunches are offered at $24.07 (a play on 24/7) and dinners at $35 (all tax and tips not included). As a result I would have been foolish not to take advantage of this at least once. Due it to its location near my friend’s apartment around the downtown financial district my restaurant of choice was SHO Shaun Hergatt.
Wall Street is not known for good restaurants and in 2009 SHO set out to change that. It is situated within the luxurious Setai club and spa building, designed to cater to the rich that populate and work in this part of the city. The restaurant is usually full with a business crowd, appropriately suited, entertaining clients and striking up deals. Despite more casually dressed than everyone else I was fortunately not made to feel out of place. Inside the restaurant is extremely plush with black, cream and red. There is a striking bar area and to get to the main restaurant you walk between two long glass wine cellars with a candlelit bench leading the way. It's classy and punchy whilst fortunately staying on the right side of gaudy.
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| Entrance |
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| Wine cellars |
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| Bar |
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| Dining room |
We were running late and arrived right at the end of lunch service at 2pm. Luckily, despite some confusion from the maitre d’ and the waiting staff (who knows why) at the possibility of accommodating us, we were eventually seated. Our table was next to an expansive glass window that took up a whole wall allowing a full view of the rather capacious kitchen beyond. The numerous brigade of chefs appeared exceptionally calm and relaxed, several taking photos of food they had produced. Although this was probably due to the fact it was pretty much the end of service.
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| Kitchen |
The menu appeared rather daring, concentrating on exciting ingredients and unusual combinations. Cuisine here is French in nature with Asian accents. With three choices per course available, including vegetarian options, there was ample choice. The bread service was excellent, with a choice of three warm rolls (that kept coming) accompanied by something I had never seen before; a saffron potato puree. Many people might turn their noses up at the thoughts of layering carbs with carbs, but it was brilliant.
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| Saffron potato puree |
My starter was a beautiful tower of trout discs with pear and fish eggs. There was an especially enjoyable contrast between the small salty explosions from the fish eggs and sweet crunch from the pear. The trout itself was mild and smoky and carried itself well.
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| Trout, pear & fish eggs |
The main course contained huge, plump, juicy prawns covered in a sweet and spicy sauce and micro coriander (or cilantro as they call it in America) with pak choi and a dense rice cake with a crunchy top. This all provided a subtle texture contrast between the three main components. Prawns this large and this good are always going to be victorious.
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| Prawns, pak choi & rice |
SHO is one of those places that enjoy serving its dishes on rather large plates, making their portions seem much smaller than they are. My dessert of peaches and apricots was a fine example of this. Despite this the peach sherbet danced on the tongue whilst oaty biscuits carried up slightly caramelised peaches and cream ice cream. The apricot ice cream was strong in flavour and provided a subtle fruit contrast. An exceptional dessert.
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| Peaches, apricot sorbet biscuit & peach sherbet |
Petite fours contained a sweet and sticky melt-on-the-tongue rose meringue and tangy lemon and vanilla macaron whose sharpness was expertly tempered by the vanilla.
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| Petit fours; rose meringue, lemon & vanilla macaron |
SHO Shaun Hergatt is a wonderful restaurant with extremely precise and complex cooking that is far from boring and well worth its one Michelin star. The portions are a bit on the small side but if you fill up on the bread like I did you’ll be more than fine. Inside is a beautiful space that gives airs of pretention but the staff most certainly do not behave in such a way (fortunately). They were very friendly yet not as slick as you might expect (which to me made it all the more affable and less ostentatious). Probably why it hasn't got more than its one star. It is worth the trip, especially for the set menu, which represents excellent value for money. Also one to consider for an occasion.
Price: New York festival set lunch menu $24.07. Set lunch $27 for two courses, $33 for three and Dinner is three courses for $75
Where to go before/next: There isn't much to do around Wall Street but Ground Zero or the Vietnam Veterans memorial or Battery Park are all within walking distance if you're there around
Website: Click here
Location: The Setai, Second Level, 40 Broad Street 10004
Nearest Subway: Broad Street
Opening Times: Lunch 12.00 – 14.00 (Mon – Fri). Dinner 17.30 – 22.00 (Mon – Sat)
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