Summer Associates Lunch Series - Vong

Part of the summer associate experience at a big New York law firm is to go on these summer lunches with associates who have too much time or who just love to eat, and experience the culinary scene in New York, which I have to second, is one of the best in New York. Lots of world famous chefs set up restaurants in New York, and since the law firms are paying for them, summer is definitely a time to take advantage of the free lunches ($$ amount vary by law firms) and try out some new (or old) restaurants.

The summer class at our firm started about 4 weeks ago and I had a chance to tag along (or organize) some summer lunches since then. So I am going to report on each one that I went to, until I move to Hong Kong at least. First restaurant in the summer associate lunch season is (drum roll please) . . . . Vong, which I actually went on May 18.

Vong is one of Jean Georges Vongerichten's original restaurants in New York and I think also is one of the first fusion restaurants in New York. It is heavily influenced by Jean-Georges’ time in Thailand (sort of a Thai-French fusion cuisine). Last time I was there was several years ago, and I thought the place was average, serves up good food but nothing spectacular. The restaurant offers some interesting combinations and the food are in general good, but it lost the sort of cool appeal after so many fusion places opened up and Jean-Georges started to branch out like crazy his restaurant empire (you know he is worth like $500 million?) However, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. There were 9 of us, a large party, which I think caused the service to be a little slow (actually, really really slow). Many people got the appetizer sampler, which includes everything on the appetizer menu, and is supposed to be shared between 2 people. I went a little more modest and tried just the crab spring roll. It was delicious. This was a dish I remembered to be on the menu couple years back, and it was good then, and it is still very good now. The crab meat was finely packed in the crispy spring roll and tasted soft and flavorful, which is counter balanced by the crispiness of the spring roll. When the menu says crab spring roll, it really meant crab, since it is stuffed with crab and not with a bunch of other spring roll fillers. Tamarind sauce accompanies the spring roll, and the combination worked wonderfully.

Skate was my choice of entree, and it was good, but not spectacular like the crab spring roll. The skate was accompanied with sugarcane vinegar and caramelized fennels. I would provide more color as to the skate wings, but quietly frankly, it was 2 weeks ago and I forgot, haha. I do remember though, however, that it was flavorful, but not overpowering as to rid of the skate its characters. The most memorable part of the meal, I must say, comes from the dessert, passion fruit soufflé. It was soft and creamy with a hint of sourness that balances out the sugariness of the dessert. The soufflé was the perfect way to end a lunch, and like the other dishes that I had, all the flavors were exotic in a way but subtle and seamlessly integrated into the dish. Too often, a fusion restaurant will serve up dishes that hit you over the head with the strong flavors of the various Asian spices or sauces, but could not integrate the spices harmoniously with the ingredients. Perhaps that is why I appreciated Vong that much more this time around, after being bombarded with the many so called fusion cuisine in the last couple of years that are often more showy than focusing on the substance. The restaurant does look a little old though, and the décor has definitely showed a little wear and tear compared to many of the grand new restaurants in the city. However, the food is what sets Vong apart from the others and perhaps the reason that the restaurant continues to do so well (it was packed during lunch time when we were there).