Ouch!
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Haha, yeah no Chinese speaking person would be impressed by that gai lan. We went earlier in the year, and I am in the dog house (âno tasting menu for a few monthsâ and âpossibly no vegetarian fine dining everâ) as a result.
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damn, sounds rough. that dish looks lazy and awful with little understanding - gai lan looks dry and dull, just adding truffle seems lazy when the main ingredient doesnât seem to be cooked nicely. truffle can be good but in my experience itâs a lazy crutch 85% of the time and the plating looks like it has little consideration for how the dish eats.
their switch to vegetarian comes off to me as a either marketing or naivety. iâm not necessarily doubting the chefâs sincerity on sustainability or ethical concerns, but the results of the cuisine really donât seem to match their ambitions as a fine dining restaurant. looks like theyâre phoning it in or didnât really have a good grasp of how to execute this cuisine to begin with.
let me guess - thereâs truffle, lots of small/mediocre shiitake, excess yuzu zesting, shiso, and an explanation of tonburi as âland caviar?â
not every place can be Arpège, where the balance and combinations are next-level.
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Happy to hear about Arpège; have a reservation for May.
Yes, everything you said, except I donât remember shiso.
It could be a brilliant strategy. Instead of buying expensive seafood, meat, and cheeses, you buy a bunch of vegetables from the farm you control. Could save $$$$.
youâre in for a treat. go all out and get the high menu if youâre willing. right from the âhot-cold Arpège egg,â you may realize the dishes are on another level compared to those imitations / homages that others have done. for the egg, itâs the balance of the sherry vinegar, maple syrup, chives, cream, and the pepper/clove/nutmeg/ginger spice off the bat. great all the way to the profiterole and mille-feuille. yes the vegetables are a revelation but so is the featured meat dish.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/dining/eleven-madison-park-meat.html
a glimmer of hope?
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EMPâs kitchen engineered meringue without eggs, almond-milk ricotta, and Japanese âland caviarâ made from dried seeds.
the author Melissa McCart makes it sound like EMP âengineeredâ tonburi, as if it was their creation just like an eggless meringue.
didnât EMP just buy the ingredient (produced in Akita)? she makes it sound like they took the raw seeds and invented a novel ingredient in NY, which I doubt is the case. iâve bought tonburi from a store in Oakland.
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Just sloppy writing.
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i respect daniel hummâs decision to move towards sustainability that resulted in a vegan menu in the last 4 years however there can also be sustainability with meat and fish. i am happy that there will be a new chapter of EMP with meat, yet again. the vegan menus did not do justice to the once âbest in the worldâ EMP menus that wowâd you with their duck, caviar, lobster, etc. and at the end of the day, money talks.
side by side of menus. one is from last month (not mine), and one is from my dinner experience in 2019.
last month:
my dinner in 2019:
wow.. the snails, what a memorable dish that was.
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