Raon is a new Korean tasting restaurant from Chef Soogil Lim and his wife, Sasook Youn. Their other restaurant, Soogil, is located in the East Village, and they’ve wanted to open a more intimate fine dining type of restaurant. One of the key features that attracted me to this was that they would a tasting menu centered around kimchi. When we went to Meju, we simply adored it. So we wanted to see how this would compare because both restaurants emphasize that kimchi is a key part of the experience.

Roscioli has been on my list for a while since the original location of this restaurant is in Rome. This New York City alternative offers a pasta tasting menu, which looked quite interesting and affordable. I was able to book a reservation about a few weeks out for a 6 PM dinner. Keep in mind that the tasting is located downstairs, whereas the normal restaurant is located street level.

Odre recently opened a little over a month ago, and it was on my list to checkout. Similar to other Korean small-tasting restaurants, this offered an inexpensive tasting of Korean rustic-style cooking. The restaurant is part of the Hand Hospitality network, which includes Nonono, Cho Dang Gol, Jua, Okdongsik, and many more. I was able to make a reservation fairly easy a few days prior to our visit for a 5:30 PM Friday evening dinner.

Sixty Three (63) Clinton was a restaurant that I had my eyes on for a few months now. They change the menu monthly, so it was previously difficult to time the menu preferences to our food preferences. I finally found a menu (July) worth going for, however, little did I know the day of my reservation was the day the menu changed. We had 2 items on the menu with “mushroom”-like ingredients in it.

As a splurge due to this incurable money sucking disease of gourmand syndrome, we splurged for Manhatta. Manhatta is known for its gorgeous views at the 60th floor facing up-town. It is part of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes The Modern, Gramercy Tavern, Marta, etc. to name a few. Aside from the view that the restaurant offers, the last few years they have made an effort to improve the food.

Frevo was a restaurant that has been on my partner’s list for some time. When we went to Atomix Bar, the chef had also highly recommended the restaurant. The head chef Franco Sampogna is Brazilian and comes from the region that my partner is from. The entrance to the restaurant has a very tiny art gallery, and it’s been recognized on the Michelin Guide with 1 star. We were able to reserve this a few weeks back without any issues.

As a Christmas celebration before we embark on a trip, I wanted to knock this final yakitori tasting off the list. We’ve been to a slew of yakitori tasting places, and this is the last one that is on the higher end. Torien still has 1 Michelin Star in 2023, and it also has a sister 1 Michelin Star restaurant, Torishiki, in Tokyo Japan. We were able to make a reservation for this for a Saturday a few weeks back without issues.

We finally made it to The River Cafe, which was a restaurant we wanted to go for a while. This restaurant sits right next to the East River, right under the Brooklyn Bridge. We made a reservation for a table of 7 at 5 PM on a Friday night. The dinner consists of primarily 3 courses, which has a fixed price of $195. The River Cafe has 1 Michelin Star and first received it in 2010.

Bom is a restaurant located in the back room of its sibling restaurant, Oiji Mi. We had been to that before, and I thought it was pretty decent. Bom was always on my list of things to try, but at $295 per person, I was pretty hesitant and skeptical. This restaurant doesn’t even have a Michelin Star yet. Since reservations are fairly easy and Oiji Mi was pretty good, I thought I’d give this a try since we were celebrating two major milestones in our lives.

Tempura Matsui is a Michelin 1-star restaurant in Manhattan that specializes in tempura omakase. I had previously gone to another tempura omakase at Secchu Yokota. As I said previously, I really enjoy tempura as a whole, so I am very curious how a Michelin Star tempura tasting compares to a hidden gem tasting. Fortunately, my partner went to see a Broadway show, so it gave me the ability to solo dine at this restaurant.