Opened just a couple of years ago by the same team behind the renowned Eleven Madison Park, Greedy Girl sought a booking at the NoMad as a priority. Located in the hotel of the same name on 28th Street and Broadway, the restaurant is an elegant, dark room abutting a rather large and noisy atrium area – not dissimilar to Gramercy Tavern.

On our first visit to Eleven Madison Park, we enjoyed the experience so much, we asked for another booking. This was a very similar experience; we went back to The NoMad a few days after our dinner, for a lunch booking, purely to have one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, a roast chicken for two.

So, we’ll start this blog with our second visit – lunch. Our friendly Maitre D from our first visit, Nic (another Australian – you can’t swing a pizza slice in this city without hitting an Aussie) said the chicken was absolutely worth a return. Gluttonous husband initially was a little skeptical – how good could it be? Nonetheless, we presented our bellies for the final major NYC food experience of this trip.

roast chicken

The full roast chicken is presented to you at the table before carving

Having agreed to just have the roast chicken (pictured above) and perhaps one glass of wine, Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband again proved to have very limited self discipline.

Starting with the amazing focaccia made with fingerling new potatoes and spring onions, Greedy Girl took a glass of the Parigot and Richard blanc de blancs cremant de Bourgogne, a lovely creamy sparkling while gluttonous husband had a First Gold pale ale from Other Half Brewing in Brooklyn. The bread was stunning but we contained ourselves from scoffing the lot.

focaccia made with fingerling new potatoes and spring onions

Focaccia made with fingerling new potatoes and spring onions

First up for gluttonous husband was a refreshing salad. This was cucumber, basil, onion and goats cheese with balsamic-marinated strawberries. Very light, very cleansing, very pretty.

cucumber, basil, onion and goats cheese with balsamic-marinated strawberries

Cucumber, basil, onion and goats cheese with balsamic-marinated strawberries

Greedy Girl took the salmon rillette with rye bread toasts and ‘fines herbs’. This also featured a quenelle of avocado mousse on top which was quite luscious.

rye bread toasts and 'fines herbs'

Rye bread toasts and ‘fines herbs’

And so to the main event. The roast chicken. Gluttonous husband chose the recommended beer pairing, a Brooklyn Brewery brown ale, while Greedy Girl, having drained her bubbles, asked for a recommendation for a glass of wine – it turned out to be a Saint-Joseph cabernet franc. Both were great matches for the dish.

And here is how it arrives after being carved.

The succulent breast meat

The succulent breast meat

Dark meat roast chicken

The dark meat never looked so good

The breast is elegantly placed on the plate with some potato and white asparagus and a slick of heavenly jus plus some nettle leaves and a minced quenelle of greens. The dark meat has been combined with potato espuma, white asparagus, crunchy chicken skin and a poached egg, sliced open in the cast-iron pan at the table to reveal all the runny yolk goodness. OMG. How good can a roast chicken be? This was amazing. Lurking under the very brown skin of the breast was a combination of, sigh, foie gras and truffles. It was divine. Greedy Girl is not usually a fan of the dark meat but the combination of potato, egg and asparagus with it was sublime.

Not a skerrick was left on either plate. Full to bursting, we opted not to have dessert. Our delightful wait staff would have none of that, presenting us with our friend Nic’s favourite ‘pudding’ the milk ice-cream (see later in the blog for a full description of the dish, but at the top of this post, it’s in all its glory).

The NoMad doesn’t offer a tasting menu. Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband virtually have tasting menus because of their usual routine of ordering different dishes for each course and sharing.

Now to our dinner, a few days earlier. Greedy Girl zeroed in on the foie gras and lobster dishes while gluttonous husband asked our delightful waiter Marc about his recommendations – they were an egg and asparagus starter and the suckling pig. Sorted.

We started off the night with cocktails. Gluttonous husband had a rather potent tequila cocktail, while Greedy Girl had a cosmopolitan made with Tito’s vodka. Indeed, she was asked what sort of vodka she’d prefer. ‘Surprise me,’ she said to Marc. And he did – Tito’s vodka comes, from all places, Texas! It was a delightful (and potent) drop.

Once they were drained, we asked the sommelier for a recommendation on a half-bottle of red, trying to exercise a note of moderation in this all-eating, all-drinking frenzy. She suggested a Chateauneuf du Pape Vieux Telegraphe. Done.

Before we moved to the menu items, first up was again the amazing slab of bread we also had at lunch. Greedy Girl’s first choice for dinner was a foie gras terrine with perigord truffle and a small asparagus salad. The foie gras was delicious, soft and perfect, although Greedy Girl couldn’t discern much flavour from the truffle. Still, she hoovered it up, buttering a lovely slab of a very light brioche with gusto.

Gluttonous husband took the recommendation of slow-poached egg with quinoa, asparagus and parmesan. This was another OMG moment. The crunchy quinoa (Greedy Girl has a new-found respect for the ingredient) combined amazingly well with the saltiness of the cheese, the freshness of the asparagus and the very, very runny eggs. The delightful Nic told us some diners requested the eggs to be cooked through and he’d plead with them to try the dish as it was conceived. Have no qualms about runny eggs. This dish is absolutely worth getting on a plane for. Greedy Girl kept coveting spoonfuls.

And so to main courses. Greedy Girl went for lobster poached with morel mushrooms, snap peas and vin jaune (a white wine made in the Jura region of eastern France) sauce. The lobster was absolutely perfectly cooked but Greedy Girl felt it was overwhelmed by the sauce and preferred to eat it alone.

Gluttonous husband had the suckling pig, another recommendation. This was another amazing dish. This was confit suckling pig with a square of the thinnest, crispiest skin on top, served with apricots, arugula and a bacon marmalade. Gluttonous husband had been worried about the dish being fatty. Not at all. It was stunning. The pork meat flaked apart delicately and the combination of flavours was a world-beater.

It was time for dessert. Greedy Girl had her heart set on the milk chocolate ganache with a chocolate fondant and malt ice-cream. This was a very lovely dessert. The little chocolatey parcels were divine and the biscuity shards a delight. But given we’d had such success going with the wait staff recommendations, the delightful Nic insisted we try his favourite dessert, the milk and honey ice-cream featured at the top of this blog. Greedy Girl, who doesn’t rate ice-cream for the most part, thought this was quite inspired. The shortbread was crunchy and the honey a very subtle flavour. It was a light and refreshing plate of food.

The NoMad is a wonderful experience and, like Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London and its relationship to the Fat Duck, is absolutely not merely a consolation prize for not getting into Eleven Madison Park. It’s stunning. Get a booking while you can.


The NoMad

10 W 28th Street, New York

thenomadhotel.com/dining
The NoMad Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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