NYCReview
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When the food at a restaurant is all over the place, you often get an unfocused experience. But at Nudibranch, that’s not the case.
The menu here seems like it was put together by someone blindly drawing cuisines from a pouch like Scrabble tiles. You’ll see food influenced by places like South America, Mexico, and a bunch of different Asian countries—and, while not every dish is a home run, the ones that work really work.
As soon as you step into this East Village restaurant, you feel like you're part of a West Elm catalog shoot. Take a seat in the dark wood-filled dining room, and for $85, you get to choose one course from each of the three sections of the menu. (You can also order any item à la carte.)
photo credit: Nudibranch
Start with the refreshing raw scallops on top of seaweed crackers that will make you think of both Korea and Japan. Or try the frog legs fried in an absurdly good ginger and lemongrass batter. Your fingers will involuntarily transport every last bit of crust that falls on your plate straight into your mouth.
But the absolute best thing here, which helped propel Nudibranch from a pop-up to a full-fledged restaurant, is the mushroom course. The kitchen cooks different types of mushrooms with Shaoxing wine and throws a big raw egg yolk on top. If you find it difficult to articulate what umami is to someone, have them try this dish, and the meaning will become clear in about two seconds.
photo credit: David A. Lee
Hit up the people in your life who aren’t afraid to eat dishes they’ve never seen before, and bring them to Nudibranch. We love how the kitchen is trying new things and going for it in a slightly random way, and if you bring a group of four, you can pretty much try everything in one visit. The dishes change seasonally, and whenever the kitchen comes up with their next menu, we’ll be the first ones to make a reservation.
Food Rundown
photo credit: David A. Lee
Mushroom
photo credit: David A. Lee
Scallop
photo credit: David A. Lee
Frog Leg
photo credit: Kenny Yang
Squid
photo credit: David A. Lee
Cauliflower
photo credit: David A. Lee
Flat Iron
photo credit: David A. Lee