United States

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Atoboy – New York City – Friday 17 October 2025 – Dinner

Mastery ingredient combinations are evident at this incredibly impressive Korean restaurant. Take a description of a squash dish with gochujang (fermented chilli paste), sage, and fontina cheese. Sounds like something you’d try? 

I wouldn’t normally have squash, but tonight I have the privilege of dining with friends who are locals and first toured me around New York in 2004. Wyatt has been to Atoboy a couple of times already, and knows to trust the flavour combinations. Together with his long time partner Caroline, we order each dish off the prix fixe, as there’s three options for each course. 

We sit back, relax and get ready to enjoy a show of diverse tastes and flavour combinations, that often have us in awe. The “naegroni” aperitif illustrates the impact of the kitchen’s experimentation is not lost in the drinks side of things.

The incredibly impressive squash comes draped in a blanket of fontina cheese. There is no telling what an incredible flavour profile will greet your taste buds as you take your first bite. It has very good company though. Alongside, bite sized squid snacks are bursting with flavour too. Insanely, the delicious prawns with kimchi, seem to have less impact, yet are superb in themselves.

Earlier we’ve begun with sea urchin atop black quinoa, which feels like a special treat given how normalised starting with other luxuries like oysters has become. Bluefin tuna is served generously in cubes with carrot, smoked trout roe and nuruk (traditional Korean fermentation starter). That first few polite chopsticks to taste has us all going back for more, no less politely, but with a certain extra vigour.

The fluke with chojang (sweet and spicy dipping sauce), cucumber, and perilla, demonstrates both the subtlety of the highlighted protein, and its wonderful accentuation in combination. Jimmy Nardello peppers, a sweet Italian variety, which are not hot, served with smoked soy, horseradish, and radicchio, looked to be the weaker dish, but like the squash, this was not the case.

In the mains (US – “entrees”) there was a clear winner for me with the oxtail, which had enough difference to be interesting, but the familiar gaminess that I personally love. Thinly sliced pork with a sea of yellow sauce, potatoes, sunchoke, and plenty of herbs easily eclipses the Spanish mackerel dish which was perfectly cooked, but the weakest dish I tried.

The controversial aspect of the evening was the fried chicken. The story goes that many come for the prix fixe to simply add the chicken (though I’d imagine they come away as gushing about the whole meal as I did!) Wyatt initially looked to our waitperson on whether to order two and was suggested to start with one. The upsell is not a thing here it appears. Immediately upon touching down on the table, we requested the second, knowing that this perfectly treated piece of fried chicken must be tried several times to confirm it is in fact perfect! And yes it was.

Caroline and I had enjoyed a glass of the Ernest Vineyards Chardonnay from Sonoma, and it was time to have a light red with some of the mains, which was a wine made by Arianna Occhipinti from Sicily using a grape variety I cannot remember trying called Frappato. It was a nice light versatile match to the mains, including the mackerel. Earlier, Wyatt had ordered a traditional Korean rice wine called White Lotus Makegeolli, made by Shinpyeong Brewery, and he loved it.

For dessert we stayed true to the course we had set, and ordered both available. The SuJeongGwa (traditional Korean punch) granita was by a small margin my favourite, with the curious combination of burrata cheese, lychee yoghurt and walnuts working together to provide that sweet and savoury balance to Asian dessert. The goguma (sweet potato) ice cream with chestnut, black tea, and date, was really not far behind, and had a sweeter profile but still with restraint. I really liked the biscuit to add texture, and the walnuts for the same reason in the former dessert. Across all of these dishes for the evening it left a sense of awe as to how they were created in the first place.

As we caught up it was easy to miss some of the intricate details, and service was one where I didn’t feel there was any obvious improvements that might be made (even the upselling!) 

Here at this minimalist styled restaurant the interest points and colour to the meal is all on the table, and in my case, with the company surrounding those dishes. Atoboy is a brilliant restaurant in a sea of them here in New York City. 

Atoboy
https://www.atoboynyc.com
43 East 28th Street, New York
Dinner 7 nights
+1 646 746 7217
info@atoboynyc.com

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Gage & Tollner – Brooklyn, NY, USA – Sunday 25 September 2022 – Dinner

There are meals that you can vividly remember. Even though we eat out a fair amount, there are always a handful of meals each year that occupy a precious space in the memory bank, mostly for positive reasons. The space is precious because I have a terrible memory for certain things, names and faces come to mind, and yet I can still recall subtle aspects of certain dishes, and the conversation with the sommelier, at some restaurants.

I mention memory, because that is exactly what I’m going on (plus some photos) for this review. Life has got in the way of my writing, and life is dominated by our little boy. I prioritise the best meals we have each year to feature, and this was not just a brilliant meal, but an all around convivial experience, shared with friends we only have an opportunity to see every few years.

Gage & Tollner is on the edge of Downtown and Brooklyn Heights, and has a fascinating history in the area, with a Victorian era dining room that is simply beautiful. There is a richness of atmosphere as we arrive, with the restaurant already quite full, and the bar at capacity. We are led to our wooden booth to settle in to a meal that would last over four very enjoyable hours.

Enter Caroline and Wyatt who have lived in the area for a couple of decades. They’ve organised dinner tonight, knowing the penchant we have for great restaurants, and have that sense of pride that comes with having an excellent restaurant in your neighbourhood. With a massive menu we are lucky to be guided by their earlier experiences, and there certainly is a diversity in the selections.

Our waitperson takes the extensive order of a selection of oysters, rib eye steak, prawn cocktail, devils on horseback, crispy mushrooms, grilled tuna, brussel sprouts, hashbrown, mushroom risotto, fried chicken, tatter tots, house rolls, Caesar salad, creamed spinach, and a Barolo to top it off! Cocktails to start too, of course.

Described as an oyster and steak house, but certainly much more, you expect the oysters to be high quality. The diversity in the selection is excellent, and I’ve never had such distinctive but seriously brilliant oysters before. Often in an Australian context I would be having several from the same place, but here they have not given up anything for the wider variety, with four different oysters to try. It’s a hell of a start.

Having enjoyed the prawns, devils, and other early courses, some glorious bread shared the spotlight in the form of the famous Parker House Rolls. After quite a break (helpful from a digestive perspective but perhaps a little protracted), we were on to the main events.

Starting with the rib eye, the steak and oyster game is definitely in the big league. The garlic rub is both effective and adds to the presentation. It’s perfectly cooked as you’d expect, and the potato hash is the perfect partner. The tuna is a surprise, the fish steak fillet paired with a delicious pepper and corn salad.

It is time to use the dessert compartment that we try to keep free for these types of feasts. Knowing the serving sizes have been generous this evening, we elect to all share the bomb Alaska which is growing in its fame here. Sure enough it is sensational, and the best one I’ve ever eaten, including a few goes at Stokehouse’s (Melbourne) which is a superb contender.

As it approaches midnight, we have had a wonderful meal and catch up with friends who we only see sparingly. It’s hard to imagine a better venue for such a reunion. It’s also hard to imagine Gage & Tollner not once again being known as an institution of Brooklyn dining.

Gage & Tollner
https://www.gageandtollner.com/
372 Fulton St, Brooklyn, New York
+1347-689-3677