Restaurant Week (RW) can be real hit or miss. Even if you follow the cardinal rules we’ve laid out you could still end up with a dud of a meal. That’s just the chance you take. Or, you could end up with the $35 dinner of a lifetime, like I did last night.
As a rule, RW is defined by choices: soup or salad, chicken or fish, chocolate cake or ice cream. BONDST breaks that rule. Their main course, a bento platter of sorts, lets you have a little taste of everything. Though you do have to select either rolls or sashimi, every diner has the chance to sample the satisfyingly crunchy “spicy crispy shrimp,” the rich and delicious broiled Chilean sea bass in a saikyo (read sake-inflected) miso sauce, and the yummy, but slightly less memorable steamed yuba dumpling (chicken in a tofu skin).
For more on my fantastic experience, plus pictures of course, keep reading after the jump.
Posted by: Nicole Price Fasig
Order: mixed green salad, bento plate with rolls, coconut tiramisu, martini tasting
Price: $$$$
Location: 6 Bond St. (between Lafayette St. and Broadway)
Type of Food: Japanese
Veggie Friendly? N
I had a hard time spotting the restaurant at first at that only added to the fun. The front door is easy to miss, because it looks like the entrance to an apartment building. Once you go in, if you’re seated on the second floor, you have to take a trip in a cramped elevator which lets you out on what feels like a private dining room. The tables are cramped, but you won’t notice the diners around you as soon as you become engrossed in the menu.
Before we even thought about meals, my friend and I opted to start with one of BONDST’s RW drink specials: their exclusive “martini” tasting. Though the dry saketini was a bit hard to stomach (think more sake, less tini), the sweet saketini was quite delicious and the lychee martini was almost overwhelmingly saccharine.
I opted to get the mixed green salad in ginger dressing for my first course. Though it may not sound exciting, the salad got my meal off to a great start with the delicate but flavorful dressing and the unusual thin fried something (straws? noodles? I’m not sure what they’re called but they add a nice crunch.) on top. Oh, and the complimentary bowl of edamame didn’t hurt.
The rolls I ordered with my bento plate were incredible. I noted a hint of lemongrass in the salmon avocado roll and the spicy tuna had a great bite, likely aided by the mixture of sauces on top.
Of course, my friend and I couldn’t settle on a dessert, so we had to split. I selected the coconut tiramisu, a more familiar flavor combination but no less enjoyable for that fact. That dish came with kumquat and chocolate sauces and a coconut tuile (basically a candied piece of coconut) on top. My friend ordered the lychee panna cotta, served with strawberry rhubarb compote. The dessert managed to be rich and light, creamy and flavorful all at the same time. It was probably the most unexpected flavor combination of the evening, and also one of the most enjoyable.
Other RW participants take note: Without going overboard, BONDST managed to intrigue me with an ample selection of tastes and definitely made my list of fancy restaurants I plan to visit again.
From left to right: sweet saketini, dry saketini, lychee martini
My salad and edamame
Mmmm. Coconut tiramisu!
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