Because I live and work in Midtown, I haven't had much chance to explore other parts of NYC. Yet people have been telling me about all these great restaurants in the "southern" part of the city, so I decided to venture out one day after work to Red Farm, which serves an "innovative, inspired Chinese cuisine with Greenmarket sensibility," according to its website.
It was my first time at this cute West Village restaurant, so I asked the waiter for recommendation. Right off the bat, he suggested the
Pac-Man Shrimp Dumplings ($12.50). I couldn't believe my eyes when the dish came to the table because the presentation was stunning and, quite frankly, too cute to eat!
As the name of the dish suggests, it had sweet potato tempura carved in the shape of Pac Man with blueberries for its eyes. Underneath the "Pac Man" was a generous serving of guacamole and two slices of cucumber.
There were a total of 4 dumplings in the shape of ghosts in the game. They were filled with juicy shrimps, and each dumpling were infused with flavors that ranged from lobster to leek to crab. My only wish was that the servings were bigger because my party and I gobbled up these "ghosts" within seconds.
Another dimsum that we ordered was
Pork & Crab Dumplings ($12). We got four pieces of pretty large-sized soup dumplings with a side of ginger & soy sauce.
Perhaps it's because I had such phenomenal soup dumplings in Chinatown, but the ones in Red Farm did not live up to the expectation. The skin of the dumplings were a bit too thick, while the inside didn't contain as much juice and flavors as I would have liked.
The final appetizer we ordered was
Kowloon Filet Mignon Tarts ($10). I must preface by saying that these petite tarts were the highlight of the night! We each got to taste one tart that was full of rich flavors.
On top of the crispy (and not fatty!) tart with corns and slightly creamy sauce was well-seasoned and marinated filet mignon with garlic flakes. I wanted to savor the tart without finishing it up in one bite. The filet mignon wasn't too tough and it was very juicy! I could probably eat this all the time.
After our three appetizers, the waiter brought the entree:
Lobster & Long Life Noodles ($39). I was really curious what long life noodles were, but they are basically chow mein noodles. The serving, as well as the plate it was served in, was quite large. It contained one whole lobster over a bed of noodles with mushroom and scallions.
I have to say that the main dish wasn't as good as the appetizers. Visually, the food didn't look that presentable as well. The lobster had lots of meat, but I sort of wished the meat had been taken out already so that I didn't have to deal with cracking up the shellfish. The lobster was also really starchy for some reason...
The noodle tasted really overcooked. It just disappeared in my mouth! If I could, I would just rename the dish "Lobster Chow Mein."
We were quite full by now and was about to pay for the food when the waiter told us that we have a FREE dessert on the house because we were asked to move to a different table during the meal. Even though we were stuffed, why not? We ordered
Key Lime Pie & Lemon Sorbet.
The one scoop of sorbet had a little mint garnish on top. The sorbet melted too quickly while I was trying to pace it because it was too sour.
The key lime pie was really sweet, especially the graham cracker crust. It had rich key lime flavors, and on top were swirls of meringue and three berries (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry).
Overall, I enjoyed my fusion-y experience at Red Farm. I loved that they offered us complementary dessert too...definitely giving it kudos for its service! Next time I visit, I will probably just stick to the
appetizers and some dimsums though!
