Restaurant week in NYC is back! Or should I say Restaurant 3 weeks? This time around, they extended the week so it begins on February 17 and ends March 7. We get to dine at popular NYC restaurants for $25 three course lunch, or $38 for dinner.
My friend Michelle and I decided to try a Japanese one first, and chose Haru Sushi located in Union Square, perfect for us to walk off our meal by shopping afterwards ;)
We both wanted to try the Tuna Tataki and King Crab Dumplings for their appetizer, so we decided to get one of each to share. The sauce was good, the tataki itself was pretty good too though I wish it can be a bit less dry/hard. The avocado was fresh, and the presentation was very nice overall. The dumplings' skin texture was more chewy, which was a nice surprise as it worked very well! However, the filling itself tasted more like shrimp than king crabs, but was very good nonetheless. I liked the presentation as well, it came in a steamed basket rather than just on a plate.
Again when choosing we were both stuck on what to pick, so we picked two to share. I heard their spicy tuna was good, so we had to choose Samarui, which came with 3 rolls - spicy tuna, crunchy salmon and yellowtail jalapeno. (If you wanted it with brown rice, it would be $3 extra) I was a bit terrified to bite into the yellowtail jalapeno, thankfully they removed any traces of seeds so it was not burning, but rather a nice hint of spice. The spicy tuna was the better out of the three as it had more flavor, but all three wasn't as flavorful as other sushi restaurants, nor as fresh tasting. They also could've worked on the presentation for this dish.
As for our second choice, we were about to go for the garlic shrimp but when we saw another table order the lunch box, we were sold. For the lunch box, we chose salmon teriyaki and it came with shrimp tempura and California roll. The waitress didn't ask which side I wanted, and I forgot so I didn't get the tuna roll instead. I guess it was better off, as the tuna roll from the other entree wans't the best, at least I like the freshness of the avocado in the California roll. The teriyaki sauce was good, but again I prefer my fish more tender, this was more dry/hard. However, the shrimp tempura was really good!! I love that they put carrot, onion and peas (? we're not too sure) into the batter, it's a unique type of tempura and the sweetness of carrot and onion really worked well! Loved it.
Then came dessert! I love mochi ice cream, however for some reason these didn't work very well for me. Upon biting into the green tea, it was more like fragrance than fragrant green tea. The red bean tasted very artificial as well, so I believe both were loaded with artificial flavors. The skin was also a bit too chewy and took too long to chew so towards the end I just started scooping the ice cream out instead.
Although the food was a hit and miss, the waitress was very nice and the food came out quite promptly, with minimum wait time. We asked for green tea, but didn't know it was an additional charge as most Japanese restaurants serve it free, so just a tip for anyone who is going to go.
They do offer $20 birthday certificate here when you join their rewards program, so I think it would be more worth it to go then. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be returning to Haru Sushi, BUT might try their Broadway location since the interior looks really pretty. Unfortunately I'm a sucker for beautiful interiors, hehe...
From my restaurant week experience last year, I prefer the taste of Morimoto. Even though it was a much smaller portion, the cod was really tender and delicious!
Since everyone loved my earrings, I thought I should share my look of the day here~ I love sweaters with embellishments as well recently.
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