The temperatures may have been dropping in New York, and the thought of a cold salad may not have been on the top of my list, but if my little ears get wind of a raw food restaurant I am on Google and mapping my way to it quicker than you can say 'activated nuts'!
Sometimes, a raw restaurant (nothing cooked above 118f, to retain the essential nutrients) may be living off the aged reputation of the ubiquitous dishes of raw pizza, raw lasagne and chocolate, avocado mousse. For the uninitiated these will be eye openers, not to mention shifting your perceptions of uncooked food. But, I'll be honest, when I have a short amount of time to run around a city discovering exciting, innovative food, if this is all they offer, I'm skipping it. An online glance over the Quintessence menu intrigued me. The whole menu is 100% organic, gluten free and vegan).
I called up a foodie playmate and we headed over to the East Village. I'd already made up my mind from my menu musings earlier so my friend and I decided to order two of the most interesting looking dishes and share them. I opted for the Indian dish.
Indian Platter
The India Platter was a Mali Kofta, chickpea and vegetable balls covered in a curried almond sauce, served with mango chutney and cucumber raita. It was creamy pillows of curried heaven.
Our second choice had to be the
Mexican Platter
Flax and corn enchiladas with 'refried' beans, 'cheese', dowsed in mole and guajillo chilli sauce. My dining partner had long been a fan of the Mexican Platter but his allegiance shifted that night to the Indian plate. Honestly, I'd happily choose either of them.
The food was exceptionally flavoursome and inventive with wonderfully balanced textures. Filling too. No room for dessert!! The service was non-invasive but present. It was early, 6pm so it was fairly quiet. It is a small place so it probably fills up quickly. It had a nice ambience but I didn't see how it had the 'spa like experience' their website spoke of? In my opinion, it is just a nice, relaxed atmosphere to enjoy good food with good friends.
There are a few cooked items on the menu, sadly it was a one time visit on this trip so I cannot vouch for those. Their menu is extensive with original, amazing sounding appetisers and entrees (they have a dish called fofu? I'm waiting on a reply from them to enlighten me to what that may be). They serve shakes, raw pies and puddings, too. Their website is a bit odd. On face value it looks like they only deliver, this is obviously not the case.
quin·tes·sence (kw
n-t
s
ns)
n.
1. The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing.
2. The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil.
3. In ancient and medieval philosophy, the fifth and highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, thought to be the substance of the heavenly bodies and latent in all things.
Quintessence
East Village
263 E 10th Street
(btw. Ave A & 1st Ave)
NYC
(646) 654-1823
New York never fails to be so vibrant and utterly entertaining. I captured a great moment on the subway This guy was the icing on the cake to a great night. He just walked up and started showing some moves. Only in New York?!
4 comments:
Those are indeed creative raw dishes! I'm just starting to get more interested in raw food would love to try either one of them. They look so good. :-)
@chow vegan
Hey Chow, how are you my friend??! Good to hear from you! Both were delicious. I wish I could 3d print them so I can eat them when I'm not in NYC! But, I guess that is the lazy persons version of a recipe?
There’s a new raw and vegan restaurant that just opened in Paris last month…I’m curious to try it! It’s actually the first raw & vegan restaurant in Paris! I love cheesy and veggie enchiladas, they are so delicious! What a cute gem, thank you for the recommendation!
@veganmiam.com
Ooh, I had not heard about the raw restaurant in Paris. I hope to visit Paris in 2014. What is the name of it? I'll watch out for your blog post about your visit! Thanks for stopping by Richa! xx
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