TAO, Uptown NY

Whilst on my trip to New York I was recommended a few places which were amazing to eat. One of my favorite things to do is to explore new and exciting restaurants and try different foods. Having grown up not really wanted to discover new foods and sticking to food I knew I liked, I have recently found it important to try new things and explore different cultures within food.

I had heard amazing things about a restaurant in uptown New York, named ‘TAO’. Having already been recommended various dishes from the menu, I slightly knew what sort of vibe to expect (the restaurant is a Pan- Asian eatery, with an imaginative menu and delicious cuisine).

I never anticipated it to be as amazing as it was and if anything under estimated it be a lot. Walking into the restaurant my first thought was “wow”, it didn’t look like much on the outside but on the inside the décor was dramatic and a large Buddha acted as a center piece in the restaurant. I thought the restaurant looked extremely impressive, it was clearly high end- by this point I was overly excited to try the food.

Obviously being a 19-year-old girl in New York is tough, legally allowed to drink in the UK but underage to be served in the United States. Despite this, I decided to try my luck anyway and was instantly asked for ID at the bar when asking for a glass of Rosé. In some ways I saw this as extremely responsible from the restaurant and I respected their decision to not serve me, aside from my disappointment. I was however annoyed by the fact that when seated at our table we were not asked what drinks we would like (even a soft drink) and were just given tap water as a substitute.

Moving on from this, the other girls and I picked our choices of food from the menu. I decided to go with the ‘crispy orange chicken’ which has been recommended to me by a friend. The dish came with a jasmine white rice which was slightly sticky, which I actually prefer. The orange chicken was incredible and the texture melted in my mouth. The chicken has a slight kick of chili which gave it an impressive taste, different from other orange chickens I had previously tried. It was also my first attempt at properly using chopsticks and I found it easy to do and pick up the food with (despite my initial ‘WOWCHA’ moment, stabbing my chopstick into the chicken and biting it off.. haha).

Overall, the restaurant had an incredible ambiance and the décor blew me away. The food was slightly pricey, but not overly bad considering the service and the vibe from the restaurant. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone. 4/5 stars from me!

#Restaurant #Food #Cuisine #Panasian #Newyork