amma nyc review

[turnipmonster]

wife took me to amma last night to celebrate bday.

ambience

The place is very quiet and fairly small, even by nyc standards. I would say decor is pretty conventional except for the weird/cool lighting, which look like brass sprouts. there is a big brass sprout chandelier in the middle of the room.

food

the special appetizer (which was one of our courses also) was a crepe made out of coconut milk and rice flour filled with sauteed vegetables and served with a coconut sauce.

we both had the vegetarian tasting menu, which was 7 or 8 courses. highlights were flash fried okra, eggplant with pumpkin sauce, paneer with a tomato-cream sauce and tandoori vegetables w/raita and garlic naan. the naan was very fresh and the sauces were a real standout. the pumpkin sauce was thick and spicy without being oily at all. for dessert I had the mango cheesecake which was just shy of excellent. portions were well sized, I was full at the end of the meal but not completely stuffed.

as far as non-veg stuff goes, they seemed to feature seafood pretty heavily. the special entree was a halibut with some type of coconut sauce, they also had bay scallops and usual tandoori stuff.

service

service was excellent. very attentive and each course was accompanied by a detailed description of the ingredients involved. our waiter was not too stuffy and told us a little about the spice blends used where he was from in india (bombay). pacing of the courses was excellent.

--turnipmonster