This is one sweet West Village must-visit cocktail bar.
You know the kind of cafes and restaurants that exist on
Paris’ Left Bank?
Or in the imagination or fantasy where you dream of a place
like this?
It is a romantic, dimly lit, bar and restaurant -- rich
with design elements that suggest decades of patrons, draped around their chair
or bar stool (or each other) telling intimate stories and canoodling all the while
sipping exotic cocktails.
The décor is designed to suggest being inside an old dining
car on the Orient Express. Hence the name.
While I didn’t really catch the train vibe while sampling "le
cocktails" and appetizers there on a recent poetic, autumn-in-New York kinda’
evening, I was reminded of that quintessential cozy, sexy corner restaurant
from the cinema or that dream sequence.
So que’elle chance!
It’s too bad that the name suggests an Asian restaurant when
this intimate cocktail bar is so not that.
This is where you go for a romantic date.
Or a transporting food and drink adventure.
We need and love cocktail-focused environments.
Seriously, no one makes these drinks at home.
Put down the beer bottle and the white wine glass and get out and enjoy the world of American-led cocktails.
Where do you think Cocktail Hour came from?
I am a proud member of the NYC Food Bloggers and our last
meet –up was Orient Express.
Is it any wonder why Katy, our food goddess of all things
food blogging would have chosen this venue?
The Orient Express has a wonderful food provenance.
Osman Cakir, owner of next-door Turks and Frogs, also claims
“a story for every item on the menu.”
So take that, Eleven Madison xx concept pioneers – you have
been usurped!
However, the food narratives at Orient Express are fun. Unpretentious.
They don’t get in the way of the food.
For example, the “Nagelmakers, which is a blend of port,
dark rum and rye served with orange and angostura bitters in an absinthe rinsed
cocktail glass is their ode to the man who financed the Orient Express.”
Or how about this one: “The Zaharoff is tequila, lime and
honey topped with house-made grapefruit soda and floated Campari refers to a
writer and banker on the Orient Express whose stingy history on the Express
earned him the nickname ‘Mr. 10%.’”
So while it’s no news that writers didn’t have much money
for tips then – or now – all the stories are intriguing and interesting to
hear.
…Helps break the ice, so to speak, while one works up the
verve for their own stories, wouldn’t you say?
The Danube cocktail, is most refreshing and recommended.
It is made with Ketel 1 vodka, lime juice, mint and cucumber
soda.
I was always warned against absinthe so didn’t try the “Death
on the Orient Express.”
If one is feeling adventurous, go for it.
It embraces absinthe, Becherovka, and Presecco.
Better was the floral “From Russia with Love:” a cocktail
confection blending vodka, ginger, lime, and rosewater rinse.
The food is very good.
Small plates abound. The cheese plate
is sourced from Murray’s www.murrayscheese.com/
Featuring Feta, Mahon, Caprossado, Manchego and Gruyere.
The hummus was good but uninspired.
Savory entrée dishes are served in skillets, according to
the restaurant, with many dishes inspired by Eastern European cuisines.
Turkish coffee and dessert is a-can’t-go-wrong finish.
The restaurant is modest in price. The focus is on the
atmosphere-as-ingredient and the cocktails and small dishes.
Enjoy a food adventure on the Orient Express and come back
satiated and rewarded.
The Orient Express is located at 325 West 11th
Street, New York, NY, 10014
