Taste of New York
3 hours train ride away from home is the Big Apple. Most of our visits there were shopping trips trying to stock up chinese ingredients that we just couldn't get locally. Once in a while, I get the opportunities to go beyond the grocery duty and enjoy a proper sit-down meal. My favorite memory for many years has been the impressive meal at Daniel. The four-hour tasting menu was my first encouter with haute cuisin and I could not stop ever since. Too bad that I did not snap any of the pictures back then to show how they looked. Many meals at different places later, I now found my second favorite place and this is one did not break the bank.
COSME is a contemprary Mexican restaurant on 21st street. It features an open space and trendy deco, a very relaxed setting. What impressed me was their creativity that redefined what I know as Mexican food.
When I saw dish names like pig's feet and beef tougue on the menu, I knew this place is not going to disappoint me. Of course, they have enough "normal" ingredients that will not scare everyone away.
Our first dish was the uni tostato. I would call it the mexican cousin of Japanese sushi since uni is such a common item for sushi. The avocado salsa and the crispy tortille reminded me where this is really from. This dish gets my point for creativity.
Then came the Cobia with Pineapple puree. The texture of the fish was amazing to me - firm with a bite. When combined with the pineapple puree, it was purely refreshing.
Now the dish that may make some people scream - the beef tougue! It came with a good portion of salad and warm soft tortilles. The beef trougue was cut paper thin and was perfectly seasoned. Roll it up with the tortille, this is one awesome taco!
We saved enough room for desserts. One of their most-raved-about dessert is the Husk Meringue with Corn Mousse. It is both eye-catching and mouth-watering. The outside crust was the baked meringue, sweet and cruchy. The inside was the light, super corn-ny mousse. This is the most creative dessert I had for the past 3 years.
I also got my eye on the beet flan - never ever had it before. The beet was incorporated into the custard and it made it not annoyingly sweet. It is also very artfully presented which got my huge points for the overall experience!
There are still quite a few things on that menu that I would like to try when I go back next time.