Tommy Toy's Cuisine Chinoise
Categories: Chinese, French
Neighborhood: Financial District
-1 star rating
HELL NO WE WON"T GO
the only reason this has a star is Yelp's interface doesn't give negatives.
We went to eat at Tommy Toy's last nite. It's supposed to be haute cuisine chinoise instead it was ... interesting. They had a great space with very good lighting- soft and warm so everyone looked fabulous; Especially all the old and wrinkled WASPs.
We waited close to 10 minutes for a waiter who took our drink order but left without giving us menus. After which we waited another 10 minutes (an eternity to a hungry stomach) for the waiter to reappear. We asked for menus and instead he said very quickly that he thought we should get the special meal. When we persisted, we got the dine about town menu but no regular menus (TS got a dessert menu-by mistake I think?) Eventually we persuaded the waiter that we REALLY wanted menus, he capitulated, and after perusing the pages I realized he was trying to sell us a meal that was $68/person! Can you imagine? So we went with the Dine about town menu- 4 courses for $32 sounded pretty good to me
Here was the line up
Appetizer phylo wrapped chicken (chestnuts?) triangle- not particularly tasty nor crisp
2nd course tomato crab bisque en croute served in ceramic coconut bowls
Yup you heard me right
Ceramic coconuts.
Texture was thin and watery with hard bits of carrot and shredded lumps that were supposed to be crab; one redeeming factor the puff pastry was excellent and buttery
1st main Sea bass fillet topped w/ ginger and scallion steamed in parchment paper- lite flaky fish, delicate flavors melded- delicious and a huge portion so that was worth it (my favorite dish of the evening)
2nd main Seared beef medallions on fried rice- tender beef but nothing much else to rescue the dish from bland bland flavors
1st 3 courses were all baked (which is unusual in Chinese cuisine)
Both entres were good but the appetizer and soup were completely bizarre. So does the experience make me want to go back? HELL NO
We talked about whether we would go back- I thought it was appalling especially for the prices they charge.
So maybe I like ghetto Chinese food but I would never refer to what we ate as Chinese except that Chinese people cooked it. Perhaps you interject here- "no, it's haute cuisine chinoise" yeah right- it was not and not what I had hoped for. Don't waste your money with so many other fantastic Chinese places to eat at
I can't understand why but they get a 25 in zagat so I think it's all old WASPy people who eat there and think they're eating chinese food and are delusional about it being really good quality because of the location, price and buzz, it's all about marketing
When I was in Shanghai I had cuisine chinoise- totally awesome tofu soup, delicious seafood, tasty beef, fantastic squab and duck. It was a galaxy apart, sounds like tommy toy needs to take a field trip.
I'm sure they do very well with their aged WASPy clientele but they don't need our support.