Spice Market offers cuisine with a South East Asian street food influence.
Located in the heart of the Meat Packing District at 9th Avenue and 13th Street, is Spice Market, one of New York’s more trendy dining establishments. My wife and I arrived early last Sunday evening, after doing a walking tour of the High Line (awesome by the way) and the evening consisted of three full hours of conversation and constant food, primarily because of the what we ordered (I ordered a 10 sample cross offering of the restaurant’s finest) and a partly because things were actually moving slowly from time to time.
The food was excellent. The sampler was called “The Chef’s Choice Menu” and for $85 it consisted of: Lobster Summer Rolls, Soy Curried Salmon, Hamachi Sashimi, Spicy Thai Slaw, Shrimp Dumplings, Spicy Chicken Samosa, Crispy Lamb Chops, Pan Roasted Cod and for desert, Ovaltine Kulfi and Jasmine Rice Pudding. My wife ate off the Gluten Free menu, which she says, “was amazing.”
Our waiter was friendly but a little stretched. I found this particularly odd given that the time we went, 5:30 on a Sunday evening, was not exactly rush hour. Still, he gave my wife a complimentary gluten free desert at the end, and that makes up for a lot of sins, particularly since the atmosphere was conducive to sitting and talking anyway.
The price seemed quite reasonable for the amount of food we received, but one recommendation: if you’re ordering the Chef’s Choice, and if you’re going to order wine, order the wine pairing. The pairing comes with four glasses of wine/champagne for $43. It’s far cheaper to order the pairing than to order the same wine by the glass.
The ambiance was terrific, ultra high quality Nuevo Asian fusion. We sat inside next to an open bay door, in fact in the evening in mid July, the floor to ceiling bay doors were all open, and the temperature was perfect. We sat next to two male friends who had known each other since high school and they too were having a terrific time. The couple to our left was international, she from the UK and he from somewhere in the Middle East. We even thought we spotted Sting! When I asked the waiter, he immediately said “oh no sir, that’s not him!” Funny that he knew that so quickly given that was not his section and he didn’t even look over. Hmmmm…
I always make my way to the bathroom because this is where many restaurants get it wrong – not this time. Spice Market’s bathroom was spotless, and the restroom displayed the same ultra high quality Asia Fusion theme, including a rest room attendant that did not have a tip jar! My wife says the same can be said of the ladies washroom.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it made for a great end to the summer weekend in NYC. We would recommend this trendy restaurant for friends, couples, but probably not young kids. Very nice indeed.
Overall: 4.3/5
