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New New York Restaurants

New NYC Restaurant: Archipelago

September 24, 2008 at 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

Usually we're wary of anything billed as a "fusion" restaurant, as the culinary world played out the trend some time ago. (Was there ever really a need for British-Malaysian cuisine or Chinese-Italian?)

But once in a while a chef comes along and offers up a fusion-y menu so different that gets us excited again. In this case, the chef is Hisanobu Osaka, formerly of Morimoto, and his menu, at new SoHo eatery Archipelago, puts French-prepared spins on traditional Japanese dishes.

Everything is backwards at Archipelago, where the appetizer menu is full of playful faux-dessert dishes like a "panacotta" made from lobster, curry and uni, and a scallop-Japanese eggplant "flan." Then the appetizers are reconceived as dessert: Goat cheese gnocchi is served with truffle honey and gorgonzola dulce, while the vanilla ice cream is topped with green tea sabayon and sweet black beans.

Related Stories:
· Archipelago [OpenTable]
· New New York Restaurant coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Archipelago]