I like to save money. But I also like to eat good food. Solution? Eat for free on Stern’s budget! As cohort leader, I have the freedom to choose what kind of events to spend my allocated budget on (with suggestions from cohort members, of course ;D). Since many restaurants in New York City have been extending their Restaurant Week menus, I chose to dine at China Grill, an Asian Fusion restaurant located near the famous 53rd and 6th chicken & rice stand.

China Grill serves family-style, so the dishes are portioned according to party size. Since we had 11 guests in our party, we got to choose 4 appetizers, 6 entrees, and 4 desserts. We basically got to try everything on the lunch menu that didn’t involve paying extra. The menu looked uber cool, so naturally I took a picture of it. The other guests at my half of the table had to get used to restraining themselves from the food until I took my pictures. =3

My eyes widened as soon as the appetizers started rolling out on huge platters. Oh the size and the variety! My favorite had to be the Crackling Calamari Salad, which was dressed perfectly with the lime miso dressing.

In a close second were the Lamb Spare Ribs, which had a sweet plum & sesame glaze brushed on top.

The Spicy Beef & Scallion Dumplings were tasty too when dipped in the soy ginger sauce.

While the Caesar Salad was the least impressive of the four dishes, it was nonetheless a quality salad with the Asian flavors of crispy wontons, spiced roasted cashews, and ginger aioli mixed in with the chopped lettuce. For some reason, they gave us an extra platter of Caesar salad, so we took it to-go (can’t let food go a-wasting!)

I honestly could have just walked away full from the appetizers alone, but I couldn’t give up the chance to taste the main course. The flaky, medium-rare Barbecued Salmon immediately won me over, paired perfectly with the Chinese mustard sauce and stir fried greens.

The pieces of Sweet Soy Marinated Skirt Steak were succulent and tender, but the bed of wok sauteed lo mein noodles was just way too salty for me.

I also surprisingly liked the Wild Mushroom Profusion Pasta a lot, swirling in as much sake Madeira cream sauce as I could with each strand of noodle. I usually order meat over pasta for pre-fixes since I feel like I get a better bang for my buck, but this was some good creamy sauce.

The Sake Marinated “Drunken” Chicken disappointed me though. I found my piece to be too dry and not a dish I wanted to focus on amidst all the other goodies, but props at least to the ponzu sauce, sweet crispy onions, and Asian slaw that came with the chicken.

As if that wasn’t enough, there was still the dessert course! The balls of Homemade Ice Cream & Sorbet formed a perfect colorful circle around the fruit garnish in the center, and fresh cookies and vanilla tuile adorned the outside edges of the ice cream/sorbet. The white ice cream was surprisingly banana and not vanilla, but still good.

The Hazelnut Chocolate Torte garnished with blackberry & orange creme anglaise sauce was also a delicious way to end our meal. Of course, you can’t have fancy dessert without the random drizzle and spots. :)

China Grill
60 West 53rd Street