Address: 455 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10022-8100, USA (Inside New York Palace Hotel, previously Helmsley Palace Hotel)

Telephone number: + 1 212 891 8100

Website: www.giltnewyork.com

Date of visit: 13 October 2010

Price guide: $100 plus per head

Comments on wine and beer: Another amazing wine list. There are some decent wines at a reasonable price. There were also wines at thousands of dollars a bottle.

Summary:

Another top notch New York Restaurant, another tasting menu.

Guilt is housed with the New York Palace Hotel – opposite St Patrick’s Cathedral. The inside of this place is amazing – all wood and carvings. If they have stained glass windows,  it would look like an Abbey.

As we entered via Madison, I noticed a highly vibrant outdoor bar. All the New York “want to be seen” sets were here drinking cocktails at $20 plus a glass.

Inside was another bar, again totally packed.

The restaurant is situated in a long room overlooking 47 street. There can’t be more than 20 tables in it.

The menu is very interesting; it offered 10 starters and 10 main courses. Its fixed price for 3, 5 or 7 courses at $89, $110 and $140 respectively. Wine pairing for the 5 courses is another $75 and $90 for the 7 courses.

For the 7 course tasting menu, the chef chooses the dishes based on your requirement (allergy, taste preference etc).

We had the 7 course tasting menu and a bottle of Joh. Jos.Prum cabinett ($75) and a 1994 Rioja Reserva ($110).

There were 2 amuse broche to start with. The first was a beef flavour marsh mellow which actually tasted like borscht but I am not too sure as it was the size of a sugar cube. Similar to Per Se, these things are far too small to allow the diner to taste properly. Next was a soup of apple and cranberry. There were too much cold cream sitting at the top of the cup so you get the hot and cold feel similar to an Irish Coffee. I am afraid that I am lost on this hot and cold concept – why can’t they warm the cream up?

Onto the main dishes:

First up was a slice of  hamachi shashimi with preserved lemon and zaatar. The hamachi was marinated so it was more like a ceviche. The dish was slightly sour and had a chilli hit to it. By now, it is quite clear that the chef is into bold tastes and textures.

Next was a dish of shrimp and salmon cavier with turnip, pear and nori. It was very pretty and again, it offers a mixed taste and texture. By the way, the turnip was mashed and this works well with the shrimp.

We were then offered a dish of curried baby octopus. It was a sweet and creamy curry – very much like a Japanese Curry rather than a SE Asian or Indian curry.

The next course was Spanish mackerel with squid ink and crispy chick peas, melon, chorizo and cauliflower.

The main course was a thick piece of “red” beef fillet (called loin of beef on the menu). This was served with onion and tomatoes treated in several ways.

I have to say that everything was very tasty but the dishes were too clever and there were too many ingredients so you do not taste the ingredients but rather a summation of the flavours.

As everything was arranged in a pretty pattern, the overall position of this (and any tasting or degustation menu) is that you ended up with very little carbohydrates and vegetables on the plate.

Next up was the sorbet. After that, desserts. Instead of two desserts, I was offered two plates of cheeses as the next two courses. I have to admit that I found US Restaurant cheeses very bland. As this chef was into flavours, I was hoping for strongly flavoured cheeses. But, no! The cheeses were served in very small portions of triangular wedges  arranged with fruit and nuts. The cheeses were different for each course and there were two types of cheeses on each plate. They all tasted very mild, like a mild monterrey jack or a weak brie/camembert.

Throughout the meal, we were offered bread rolls – apple, cheese, sour dough and brioche. The breads were tip top and in my view was one of the highlights of the meal. I enjoyed everything but nothing stood out for me. By the way, the Maître’D – Stefen was excellent.

Well, compared with Per Se, this was half the price and just as enjoyable.

E