The Bazaar At SLS Hotel Review (South Beach, Miami)

The recently opened SLS Hotel in South Beach offers two great dining options: Katsuya and The Bazaar by José Andrés. As I had already dined at Katsuya's in L.A., I opted for the Bazaar.

First off, I have to say I really like the overall design of the hotel. You can see Philippe Starck's touch everywhere and although it is not as original as it once was, it still is very pleasing to the eye.

The Bazaar is supposed to be less adventurous in the molecular gastronomy field than the chef's signature restaurant Minibar in Washington, DC. It, however, doesn't cease to surprise.

One great example is the cocktails menu. I ordered a "clean and dirty Martini" as a pre-dinner drink and was not disappointed. The salt air (the foam on top) combined with the liquid olive at the bottom made for a very original taste for this classic cocktail:

WD~50 Molecular Restaurant Review (New York)

There aren't that many places in the world where one can have the opportunity to eat molecular food. As New York City is one of them, I took advantage of a recent trip there to have dinner at renowned chef Wylie Dufresne's WD~50 restaurant.

First off, let me say that I was surprised by the relatively casual setting of the restaurant which is not necessarily a negative point. If you're sitting at a table, you only have two options: the "Tasting Menu" and "From The Vault". Both are preset menus, the former representing the latest take on molecular gastronomy of the chef and the latter focusing on his all-time classics. We decided to order the tasting menu with wine pairing as it had more items and we wanted to try as many different dishes as possible.

Dinner started with a molecular Grey Goose Dirty Martini with a 2D paprika oil disk just to be in the mood for the molecular dishes to come! This 2D disk is a nice and original attempt at replacing olives with something less common. Then came the "Nigiri, Salsify, Seawed, Sesame" which I found to be tasty and interesting in structure: