NYC: Lunch at The NoMad Restaurant with Waz

Before I forget it, I’d better write about my lunch at The NoMad. This was my last meal in New York City with fellow foodie Waz, and we had therefore decided to splurge a little.
The NoMad has 1 Michelin star (2015) so even though $29 is a bit above my ordinary lunch budget, I think it was a really good deal.

The NoMad is the restaurant at The NoMad hotel, so I thought it would be easy to find, but the main entrance to the hotel looks so anonymous, I walked by twice, before I realized that I was at the right spot.

The NoMad has an excellent selection of vegetarian dishes, which was why we picked the restaurant in the first place (Waz is a vegetarian), and my intention was to also skip the meat that day, but then I saw they had tête de cochon (pig’s head), and I got curious.

I asked one of the waiters how it was served, as I didn’t want to be the barbarian, attacking a big fat pig’s head in the middle of a predominantly vegetarian restaurant, but I was told that the pig’s head would be in a terrine-style dish.

When it arrived, it looked completely like the traditional Danish dish sylte, which my grandma used to make, and the taste was also similar, so I couldn’t have been happier, even though Waz was sending me and my pig’s head terrine suspicious looks. Waz went for the more visually appealing gnocchi, which was served in a foamy cream with fava beans and feta.

For the main course, I continued down my carnivore track and ordered the chicken burger with fries. It was a very filling dish, and while it was tasty, it wasn’t extraordinarily good, and I regretted, I didn’t order one of the more experimental, vegetarian dishes, such as the mushroom tarte with quail eggs and ricotta, which Waz had.

After my meat feast, I was full. Waz veggies had also been very filling, but we were both determined to try NoMad’s famous Milk & Honey dessert, so we decided to share.

Milk & Honey looks like a reverse-engineered fancy sundae. Some of the components include milk ice cream, buckwheat honey, shortbread and dehydrated milk, and all together, it’s one of the most perfect desserts, I’ve ever had. It was love at first bite, and next time I visit The NoMad, I’ll skip appetizers and mains and order 3 portions of Milk & Honey straight away instead.

On our previous lunch dates, Waz and I have always taken a selfie by the end of the meal, but for some reason, we forgot it this time. I guess it was because we were so busy raving about that Milk & Honey dessert.

Anyway, I hope that we’ll remember to take up the tradition next time we meet. With all that great food, maybe we’ll be twice as heavy in 10 years, and it would thus be fun to be able to look back on the pictures from the early days of our foodie adventures.

The chef and co-owner at NoMad, Daniel Humm, is also the man behind the highly acclaimed fine dining restaurant Eleven (3 Michelin stars in 2016), so if you’re curious about his culinary creations but don’t have the budget to eat at Eleven, then The NoMad Restaurant might be a good idea, especially if you go for the affordable prix-fixe lunch ($34 for two courses) during the week.

The décor is classy in an old money, Gossip Girl kind of way, and invites to small talk and consumption of bourbon cocktails, but during the busy peak hours, it can get a bit noisy. While it’s not a problem to have a conversation, The NoMad Restaurant is a bit more boisterous than your average French fine dining resto.

• The restaurant was packed, when I was there for lunch so a reservation is highly recommended.

• The NoMad Restaurant has one Michelin Star (2017)

Waz and I have also tried some really tasty Korean vegetarian food at Hangawi

The NoMad Restaurant (inside The NoMad Hotel), 1170 Broadway (Between 27th St & 28th St), Flatiron, New York, Tel+1(347)472-5660