Annisa
“Foie gras soup dumplings were the highlight of the night – along with excellent champagne collection.”
“Anita Lo's kitchen probably matches Le Bernardin in consistency when it comes to preparing fish.”
“Entrees :
Miso Marinated Sable with Crispy Silken Tofu in a Bonito Broth : The best fish dish I have ever eaten.”
Annisa
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
8 reviews
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We had dinner here on my very rare leap day birthday this past year. It was so amazing i'll remember it for the next 4 years for sure! This is for sure a special occasion kind of place (unless you are super spendy).
We decided on a tasting menu and the waitress was very informative and helpful upon ordering it. She actually helped me discover my stone fruit allergy! Upon saying I was allergic to avocado, she asked if I was allergic to all stone fruits. I had never thought of the relation, but months afterwards I tried others to see, and knew I was for sure. So extra thanks for that!
Our wine, and food came out like well timed fireworks. The hand made butter that comes with the bread at the beginning of the meal was the best butter I have ever tasted.
The most memorable dish I had were the soup dumplings. I could have just eaten 40 and called it a day, but really everything as top notch. I loved how amazing the waitress was, explaining each dish and it's flavors as they came out.
The ambiance inside is intimate, romantic and so NYC. This was for sure one of the best meals of my life, and made for an amazing birthday!
I was pretty disappointed with this restaurant to be totally honest. My boyfriend took me for Easter and as we're total foodies, I had very high expectations. The place itself is small and intimate which I liked. I did like the ambiance, romantic, quiet and comfortable. The waiter came over and asked us if we were interested in a cocktail or some wine. I looked at their cocktail menu which was rather limited and asked him if they could make a Pisco Sour; he said they couldn't make that cocktail, but he would have the bartender come up with something using egg whites (my favorite). The cocktail was good, I believe it was a whiskey sour with egg whites. They then came over and gave us both a cold roll. Really?? Not that I['m all about bread, but that's all you can do? My boyfriend then opened the wine menu, which was very very selective and we went with an unoaked Chardonnay. We decided the five course tasting menu.
I have been to many restaurant with tasting menus, some places you get more food than others, this restaurant gave you very little. First course was the Sea Bream Sashimi with beats, bonito and Shisho. Very small dish, came with a piece of seaweed and gummy like beets I've never had before. Very Asian style salad. My boyfriend liked it. I wasn't a fan. Too fishy and the unique combination of flavors did nothing for me. To add to that, the waitress who came over to describe the dish (and every fish thereafter, seemed absolutely miserable, maybe she was upset she was working on a holiday, not sure. She never smiled or acted the least bit happy. I digress. For the second dish we both had the seared frois gras with soup dumplings and Jicama. One dumpling with a small piece of frois gras on top. The soup dumpling was good, great flavor combination, this was probably my favorite dish. 3rd course for me was Miso Marinated Sable with crispy silken tofu in a bonito broth. I really liked the crispy tofu, that was tasty. The fish itself was rather bland, white fish, little crispy on top in a light sauce. I wasn't impressed. Course 4 was Grilled Bluefish Wrapped in Grape Leaves with Black Chickpeas and Lemon Anchovy Vinaigrette. The concept was interesting. I've never had a fish wrapped in crispy grape leaves. The lemon anchovy sauce was light and a bit sweet, it did pair fairly well with the crispy grape leaf flavor. For desert they gave me Poppyseed Bread and Butter Pudding with Meyer Lemon Curd. I don't necessarily think high end restaurant when I think of Bread and Butter Pudding, it seems like a cheap desert. It was tasty though. The bread did pair really well with the lemon sauce. Fair enough. Taking another glance at the desert menu now, it's rather limited and nothing really excites me, so bread pudding was likely the best option.
Overall, I thought the place could have been better. I'm thankful we did the tasting menu because $50 for my fish dishes is absolutely absurd. Probably my least favorite high end restaurant my boyfriend has ever taken me too. Aside from the bread pudding desert, I would have left starving.
Overall, a very good experience.
I had several friends from Connecticut visiting the city last month (3/14/16), and they were interested in trying a tasting menu for dinner. I have been meaning to go to Annisa for quite some time so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Luckily, I was able to make a reservation via OpenTable with relative ease given the timing of our meal (early on a Monday).
The dining room features classy table settings and décor. Although the space is not large, there was ample room between tables resulting in an intimate atmosphere rather than feeling overcrowded. Service was excellent throughout the meal. The waiters did a nice job of surveying my group for dietary restrictions and preferences in order to customize courses as necessary. They also demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the food and wine menus for the evening.
The food was pleasant. We ordered the seven course chef's tasting menu (note – the entire table must participate for tasting menus). There was good variety between the courses. Some notable dishes included the sea bream sashimi, seared foie gras dumplings, and miso marinated sable with crispy silken tofu. We were provided four to five desserts to share among the group. I enjoyed them all, especially the pecan and salted butterscotch beignets with bourbon milk ice.
I recommend coming here for dinner regardless of whether you choose to enjoy the food a la carte or through one of the restaurant's tasting menus.
Superbly executed Asian fusion menu, which says a lot because it's hard to do a good Asian fusion menu right. This has a similar vibe as Benu, which is the epitome of really excellent Asian fusion.
Run by a Chinese female chef, the only female chef who's ever prepared a state dinner in the White house, this West Village place is ideally located (especially if you are staying in Soho) and is of course easily accessible by the subway as most places in the village tend to be.
My last supper on this trip could have been done in so many places but I'm glad that I got to have it at an Chinese chef's run restaurant. It's got a very affordable tasting menu but you could also order a la carte.
Chicken mousse to start. My friend got the grape leaf wrapped blue fish and I got the the mackerel with fried milk.
Octopus, definitely get that.
I'm going to say a couple of things about Asian influence in these fish dishes. Instead of banana leaves, she used editable grape leaf to wrap and steam the blue fish in, very Balinese in its style and therefore it's tasty and moist.
I ordered the mackerel because she used fried milk in the dish. There is something very special about fried milk. This is basically a fried milk custard that is often served in Cantonese restaurant (Note to San Franciscans out there: Dragon Beaux on Geary in Richmond district, serves that dish in their usual dim sum fare and is exceptional).
During the last meal I ate in my homeland, in the heat of summer 1988, before my life was forever altered in ways no one could ever have predicted o anticipated, I had ordered the fried milk dish. I had never had that before, at the time I was just a teenager and had only lived in Canton for two and half years. I was swallowing my tears saying goodbye to my parents, who I did not have an opportunity to see for many years after that meal, and I remembered thinking how sweet and soft this fried milk dish tasted. It was a Cantonese special, and is not available in all those other regional cuisines.
I arrived in San Francisco later that week, and started a new life, a life that I did not realize, at the time, turned out to be a permanent one. On very many occasions, I dreamed about this fried milk, which was not available in the States back then, not even in Chinatown of San Francisco.
when I bit into the fried milk in Annisa, my childhood memories were evoked. Very much like that sour restaurant critic Anton Ego from the movie Ratatouille, I was too transformed. It is, at the end of the day, all about the perspective.
It was at that moment, that I realized that Ms. Lo had a rare talent of making subtle flavor combinations like a biochemical engineer, with precision, imagination and originality.
Fried mackerel and fried milk. You must get that. It rocked my world.
Yum!! I was saving this up for a special occasion, and an anniversary dinner seemed like the perfect opportunity. We came here on a rainy Wednesday night, so while OpenTable made it seem like there weren't tables available available, I think any walk-ins would have been sat immediately. Like every other review says, this is a quiet, intimate place with great, efficient, and professional service. The table was cleared between every meal and specific silverware was provided, and every dish was explained carefully (down to a recommendation of how to rest the silverware on the plate so they wouldn't fall into the bowl).
We decided to go A La Carte and got 2 apps and 2 entrees:
1) Beef Tartare – fine, but didn't stand out. I could have used another chip. The 2 sauces were good compliments to the tartare. But, I wouldn't get this again.
2) Seared Foie Gras with Soup Dumplings – I agonized over ordering this dish because I don't agree with the typical "farmed" method of harvesting foie gras (a quick Google search will reveal what I'm talking about), so I asked the waiter where they purchased their Foie Gras. He said it was from Hudson Valley Foie Gras. A quick search revealed a farm that raised their fowl ethically and "cage-free", so that made me feel better about ordering the one dish that everyone raves about. So I got it, and my partner was so happy I did. It's just as good as everyone says! [However, I did later read some negative reviews about the farm so…meh. It truly is a wonderful dish though – the foie gras plus the salty soup is a really great pairing. The dumpling skin itself is a little thicker than real dumplings, but that didn't take too much away from the dish.
3) Roasted Chicken – Great! Moist meat and crunchy skin. I wasn't a huge fan of the pigs feet sauce (though I do love pigs feet!) but my partner enjoyed it very much.
4) Miso Marinated Sable – My favorite part of this dish was the bonito broth, which was a salty, miso-y broth with a bunch of roe! It added a extra layer of flavor to the sable, which had perfectly roasted skin, and the crispy tofu. This was a salty-sweet dish all around.
The amuse bouche and palate cleansers were very nice touches! I liked how these dishes aren't trying so hard to be Asian Fusion; they are just very solidly executed dishes. 4 stars only because I'm not dying to go back. But this is worth putting on every MUST TRY list.
KenScale: 9.0/10
Among my top NYC restaurants, Annisa is always there, as evidenced by the fact that it is one of those places I keep going (no less frequently than at least once a year). How can you not love the dishes from chef Anita Lo? They are sophisticated without being stuffy, and the level of execution is always superb.
I revisited recently in a group of three and had an opportunity to sample a lot of new dishes while also savoring the old classics that I very much loved. The famous seared foie gras with soup dumplings is still one of the best appetizers in the city, and my friend fell in love with it so much that he ordered another dish (consisting of three pieces). Scallop and uni sashimi, despite its promise, didn't come out as well as I had expected, but the fried oysters with cucumber, fennel and yogurt were very delightful, and the steak tartare with bulgur, cinnamon and a sesame tofu sauce was one of the better ones I've had recently, with outstanding texture and delicate balance of flavor. I've had the signature miso marinated sable with crispy silken tofu in a bonito broth multiple times now, and this dish still deserves more praise. The impeccable texture of the fish combined with the aromatic broth is still a winning formula that will make me keep coming to Annisa. Duck with foie gras and pickled verjus grape toast was another nice discovery among new dishes that I've tried, as was the olive oil poached arctic char with black olives and fig-sumac puree. For dessert, a tasting of chocolate and malted desserts was as delightful as I had remembered, and the assortment of ice cream and sorbet, as well as roasted pineapple with pink peppercorn, pandanus ice cream and rice paper were also flavorful without being overly sweet.
The restaurant is still hard to secure reservations, so always booking in advance is a good idea. A lot of things change in New York dining scene, so it's always satisfying to know that there are some wonderful institutions that do not change and still churn out excellent dishes with consistency and continuity like Annisa does. I sincerely hope it sticks around for a long time.
Every time I meet up with A and Z, i know that a good meal is gonna happen. When they announced that they were coming to visit me in NYC, it was the perfect time to try the soup dumplings…with foie gras. These foie gras dumplings were reputed to be so delicious that a friend was able to persuade her vegetarian girlfriend to break habit and cave in…but only for these dumplings.
The funny part is that we get there and the foie gras dumplings are not even our favorite part of the meal! Blame high expectations and maybe my cheap taste buds for the soup dumplings at Joe's.
However, lessons of the evening…
The best way to navigate the Annisa experience is to come here with your foodie friends aka people who really enjoy fine dining. Order a couple of appetizers, entrees, and desserts to split. Do not order the tasting menu unless your party is less than 3 people.
Pass on the gnocco. Those maitake mushrooms may fight cancer and HIV, but I still prefer my home cooked oyster mushrooms sautéed in butter and salt and pepper.
Do order the sablefish. One bite is all it took to realize that this was the best bite of fish that I have ever had in my entire life. I'm serious.
You must order the lemon poppyseed bread pudding. The waitress told us that it was her favorite and after one bite, it was mine as well. The lemon curd is on point and it's sacrilegious to say this, but Annisa's bread pudding is better than my mama's. It's crispy, it's soft, it's savory, it's sweet. It's just a symphony in your mouth.
Overall, delicious meal and even found some of my all time favorite dishes, so why the 4 stars?
Hostess was super sweet and my water glass was never empty, however, I never got the feeling from the staff, that this experience revolved around me or around the food. While the staff were very polite and professional and checked up on my table, I never felt like it was a priority to make sure that my table had the best experience possible. Also, every time, I asked the staff what their favorites were, I typically got the response, oh this dish is one of our most popular. The only passionate food response I heard was about the dessert, where the waitress told us that it was her favorite.
Everything from food to service was great. We had the 5 course and I had a ginger vodka cocktail which was not sweet and really good. My favorites were the foie gras with dumpling, which I could have eaten a whole plate of, the steak tartare and the rabbit duo. Both desserts were amazing… the beignets had some kind of syrupy filling and the bread pudding had this amazing consistency and was really good with the lemon curd…which I could have eaten a whole bowl of. I would love to come back to try other dishes…its a shame this place isn't in SF.