Food Review: Eleven Madison Park in New York City | The Best Restaurant in the World?

Posted on December 14, 2016 by theRantingPanda in Food

The Place Our recent trip to New York City was nothing short of an elaborate gourmet affair, with the obligatory pilgrimage to the ultimate foodie’s dream spot – Eleven Madison Park. After hearing so much from our friends who have been to this Three Michelin Starred, Word Number One Best Restaurant 2017 (it was World Number Three in 2016 when we visited) , our expectations were high as we made our way for dinner to its location right beside Madison Square Park. Reservations can be made 28 days in advance, and our heartfelt recommendation is to reserve on the very first minute as the slots are opened, which snapped up quickly by avid foodies.

We were ushered to the bar and had some pre-dinner drinks as we arrived early before our dinner appointment at 5.30pm. The interior of the restaurant is exactly what I like – high ceiling with full glass panels and natural lighting, monochromatic choice of colour tones from the utensils to the table cloth.

The Food Helmed by Daniel Humm, the US$295 (excluding 8.8% taxes) Tasting Menu is the only option on the menu. It is certainly expensive by global standards, and is by far the most expensive meal we have ever had. Interestingly, lunch and dinner prices are the same, and no additional gratitude or tips is required nor accepted. So that begs the million dollar question, what do you get for a US$295 per person meal? First up is a box of surprise, guess what?

For one, service is top notch at Eleven Madison Park. Our service staff had explained all our dishes presented clearly with a bubbly tone, striking occasional conversations to make sure we were well taken care of and remembering fine details such as our names and special request from the moment we arrived till the end of our meal. At the end of your meal, we were even presented with our personalised menu for keepsake.

The other winning point of the eight course Tasting Menu is the string of surprised thrown on our table literally throughout our dinner. We shall not provide spoilers here, but do expect dishes to be presented quite differently from what you will normally encounter. The least we can reveal is that we enjoyed the interactive moments with our dishes.

For the ingredients, you can pretty much expect premium dishes such as caviar, lobster, foie gras, beef, trout and many more, as well as interesting combinations of ingredients. We were impressed right from the amuse-bouche.

Rants What else but the hefty price tag?

Will I Return Again? In all honesty, not every dish surpassed our expectation though we would say we were satisfied with most of what we had. The overall dining experience is probably what renders Eleven Madison Park its highly coveted Three Michelin Stars status, from the service to the way the dishes are presented to the personalised touches. This is definitely one of the best meals of our life, no doubt about it. Will we pay for the same price to dine here again? Our answer is a resounding yes.

And after a meal here, you might just want to check out our list of free things to do in NYC!