Reflections

Yesterday, I went with 2 of my friends to Aquagrill in Soho for brunch. I actually work a block away from this restaurant but never went on a workday. I’ve been trying to plan a visit when conveniently, my friends wanted to go out to brunch.

If you look at the reviews for this restaurant, they’re pretty good. But I didn’t go there for the entrees. I went there for the oysters. This place is like heaven for raw bar lovers… and yes, I was in heaven. The three of us shared their “Oyster Sampler”, which is one of each oyster, a total of 22. When they brought up the huge plate with an assortment of shapes and sizes on a bed of ice, my mouth nearly watered. I think it’s an understatement to say that I love oysters. And I was not disappointed! The oysters were like madness. Absolutely beyond satisfaction. Each one was fresh and melted in my mouth. I couldn’t ask for more.

And if you’re not much of a raw seafood person, Aquagrill offers a variety of other options. First of all, their bread, which is more like homemade blueberry mini-muffins and lemon sugar shortbread (served with butter and warm strawberry jam), is to die for. I always love restaurants that give warm, freshly made bread than the dry Italian bread that can break my gums. I also had their mussel soup, which has a light cream base with saffron and leeks (I think). It was delicious. For my main entree (yes, I ate a lot), I had the grilled bass sandwich. That was not as good, but then again, I had already been half full. The bass was a bit too spiced up for my tastes and the bread wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Maybe I should’ve went with the omelettes or eggs benedict. They looked mighty good on other people’s plates.

We opted out for dessert, having been quite stuffed and about to go into a food coma. Although I should give special mention to their dessert (that we didn’t have). Apparently Aquagrill makes their own chocolate and they have a $15 tasting menu with one of each chocolate. That would’ve been a perfect end to an already wonderful brunch. The only damper was the fact that it rained on my way out (not their fault) and that the wait time between plates was a tad long. But neither was gonna convince me that Aquagrill was not a keeper. This one is a comeback for sure.