The night before our lunch at Eleven Madison Park, a Michelin three-star restaurant and named in June as third best in the World’s 50 Best Restaurant ranking, I could barely sleep from excitement, the reason for my trip to New York. Of the seven top restaurants I am booked for in New York and London Eleven Madison Park tops them all in stature, a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.

I have written in a previous blogpost that my reservation was made efficiently by my ex-husband, a mere seventeen days prior to the reservation date. This is in stark contrast to The Test Kitchen (number 22 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list), which one has to book six months in advance, but which reservation system I have been told will change.

Each of the restaurants we booked at confirmed a few days ahead, and requested dietary information, as well as any other requests we might have to make our experience even better. Maitre’d Ariel Schneider identified herself as the wearer of spectacles, so that we could look out for her on arrival, but she didn’t wear any when we arrived. The biggest surprise of all was reading on the restaurant website that the cost, at $295 per head, ‘is all inclusive, excluding beverages and tax. As such, gratuities are neither expected nor accepted’! Maitre’d Jonathan Aubrey explained that their staff work for the passion of being in the hospitality industry. By building the service fee into the price, the guest does not sweat about the size of the tip, and every staff member, even those in the kitchen, benefits.

The decor

While the exterior to the restaurant is impressive, one can barely see the name of the restaurant, the Relais & Chateaux logo being far more prominent. The building used to be the Met Life building, but there is a new one now with that name just further along. One enters into a foyer dominated with flower arrangements in very large vases. Blue and green is the floral theme, and is picked up throughout the restaurant. At the entrance they shield the restaurant from view, so that one cannot see diners inside. A very basic reception desk, without computer, is manned by the hostesses, Ariel and I finding each other as I stepped in. I asked permission to photograph, and she said I should go ahead, and photograph as much as I wanted to.

The Art Deco building has high ceilings, with original Art Deco designs, and very large windows facing the park, and as the weather was good, it let in excellent light for the photographs, which could all be done at our table.  A bar counter runs down the length of the restaurant, with some seating in a raised section, with a most striking copper canopy. What impressed me was the beauty of the English Sycamore wood that is used throughout the restaurant, in paneling, in food carriers, in the chairs (with black leather), and in the food preparation trolleys. A zig zag pattern has been created inside the paneling, and was picked up in the hexagonal presentation boxes too. On the walls throughout the restaurant are paintings of New York -scapes, created by artist Stephen Hannock from photographs which his wife Jessie had taken.

Parties of six or more are seated in a private dining room upstairs.

More subtle is the use of four leaf types, representing those on the trees nearby: Ginko, Maple, Linden, and London Plane.  The four leaves make up the restaurant logo, and is on all their menus and corporate identity.

The table was surprisingly bare when we sat down, just a beautifully understated side plate created by Jono Pandolfi, who has created all the plateware for the restaurant. A napkin, a small water glass, and a gift box were the only items on the table, covered with a crisp table cloth. No cutlery was on the table. When asked about the ceramicist, I was brought a leaflet about him. When I asked about the cutlery brand Guy Degrenne, they brought a leaflet about his Absolu pattern, into which he has incorporated ‘copper, iron, and stainless steel from broken down tanks used in the war’.

The menu

There is no menu as such. One is verbally told what one will be experiencing during the meal, and that some courses are standard for all diners at the table, while one has a choice out of three dishes for the other courses. I struggled with the American accent, so our waiter Mac assured me that we would receive a menu on our departure. I explained that I was struggling with the dish descriptions, especially as some of them were spoken very quickly. Mac creáted a menu especially for me (the end one looked very different in shape), and this made things easier. He had personalized it for me, with all my choices of dishes on it, except one course, which was incorrectly attributed to me.  He fixed it, and returned it.

A thin A5 brown leather holder with cocktail and Champagne options was left on the table, with an A4 200+ page brown leather winelist listing 4000 wines. Our initial sommelier Nick (he stopped serving us midway) said their cellar contains 21000 bottles, but that it was not presentable enough to view. There was no discussion about the cost of the wine pairing option, with wines to accompany the Tasting Menu ($224 from the bill). The wine pairings were not listed on the menu at all. Another sommelier took over from Nick, and when I questioned his choice of a light red wine with the asparagus dish, he snapped at me, and walked off, instead of justifying his pairing. Luckily he did not come to our table again, and a variety of waiters did the pouring thereafter. Not one of the pairings was justified or explained, so it became a mechanical pouring exercise only. One would have expected more at a restaurant of this caliber.

Mac talked through the menu with us, and provided the options, for us to choose, for the relevant courses.

The meal

Mac opened the ‘gift box’ on the table, and it revealed Black and white savoury cookies, with an apple and cheddar filling.

The Hors d’Oeuvres, four of them, came to the table in four hexagonal stacking boxes, picking up the zig zag design in the restaurant wood paneling. They were opened and placed on the table: Peekytoe crab salad, fava bean croquettes, Morel with Rye crisp, and Widow’s Hole Oyster with Caviar.  The crab salad came with slices of radish  varieties, including daikon, a green daikon, and a watermelon radish. One spooned the salad onto the slices, and ate them with one’s fingers.

A standard course for the table was an unusual Eggs Benedict, served in a tin, with corn, egg, and ham, and topped with caviar. The Hollandaise was added at the table. This course was accompanied by mini English muffins. For this course a mother of pearl egg spoon was provided.

The first course in which we were allowed to choose came up next. Each of us chose a different option: marinated fluke (left below), served with peas and grapefruit; English peas, with garlic and yoghurt; and foie gras, marinated with sorrel and black truffle, and topped with a bitter almond tuile, and served with a white asparagus foam (right). At this point some of the items on the plate were not mentioned, so we had to request further information.

Bread rolls, coarse salt, and cultured butter made in the restaurant kitchen from Dorset cows’ milk, and sprinkled with dehydrated cheese from Vermont, were brought to the table. The bread course appeared late in its serving in the menu flow, and seemed superfluous, given the extent of the menu.

The butter-poached Lobster course was a standard one for the table,  and was served with citrus, daikon, and fava beans, one of my favorites, and beautiful in its presentation.

At this point Maitre’d Jonathan beckoned us to the kitchen, in response to my request on arrival to photograph the chef, which is normally done at the table, when he/she can dash out quickly.  He took us on a guided tour of the kitchen, and we stood on one side, in front of a trolley, on which stood a 1900s ice shaving machine. Danielle was creating ice shavings, for a dish we assumed. From here Jonathan could explain the presence of Miles Davis posters in the kitchen. The first review which the restaurant had received mentioned that the food was good, but that it missed some Miles Davis. The staff analysed this critique, and created a list of adjectives, which epitomizes what Miles Davis stands for in general, but specifically for the restaurant. It has become a poster in the kitchen, and is the mantra for the kitchen, by which it measures its success, and clearly it is working! The Miles Davis mantra for Eleven Madison Avenue is: Cool, endless reinvention, inspired, forward moving, fresh, collaborative, spontaneous, vibrant, adventurous, light, innovative, eleven words encapsulating Eleven Madison Park!

All the time Jonathan and Executive Sous Chef Dimitri Magi were in eye contact with each other, and when the chef had two minutes, he came towards us, shook hands, asked where I was from, and then returned to the pass. Impressive was the silence in the kitchen, no shouting, just the Jazz playlist inclusive of Miles Davis. It turned out that the ice shavings were prepared for us especially, to enjoy a frozen Manhattan, to which had been added cherry bourbon syrup, Angostura bitters, and orange jellies, an incredible touch, and was the overall highlight of the restaurant experience, as it was unique to only us. We must have spent a good half an hour in the kitchen, observing the disciplined queuing at the pass by the waiters, waiting for their guests’ dishes.

When we returned to the table, it was time for the Asparagus dish, plated at the table for us, on a beautiful wood and stainless steel trolley. We had seen the pig’s bladder doing the rounds at each table, and finally it was our turn! Mac told us that this cooking technique, to braise the asparagus inside the bladder, was the predecessor to sous vide, created by Paul Bocuse, who cooked whole chickens inside a bladder! Mac carefully cut open the bag, and plated one asparagus spear with potato, underneath of which was black truffle.

Our next course was the main course, and two of us chose duck (left), and one a 140-day dry-aged ribeye covered with eggplant strips and broth, which was served with variations of new potatoes, morel custard, and spring garlic. The duck was honey-and-lavender glazed, with rhubarb and spring onion, sharing the potatoes too. The duck crust was crispy and crunchy, containing coriander, cumin, lavender, and Szechuan pepper. A nice touch was offering a spoon for the sauce.

The menu officially ended after the seventh course, which was Dutch Brioche filled with Hudson Valley camembert, served with Rhubarb jam and sorrel Crème Fraîche.

It was therefore a surprise when Mac offered us three dessert options (poached strawberries, sassafras ice cream), but we were unanimous in choosing the Baked Alaska. Mac told us that the dessert was named after a Senator, who became Secretary of State, buying Alaska from Russia, not thought to be a good idea initially, but as oil was discovered the perception changed, and the Baked Alaska was created in 1876 in the Senator’s honour at Delmonico’s restaurant nearby! It was beautifully presented, and Mac flambeéd it at the table, whereafter it was taken to the kitchen, to serve it to us in three portions. It consisted of vanilla ice cream, lemon sponge, strawberry sorbet, strawberry ice cream, and meringue. Our coffee order was taken, and the dry cappuccino was well made, but the coffee was disappointingly weak.

It was still not the end. Mac brought a wooden box with four different slabs, some cards, pencils, and the challenge to match the taste of the four chocolate slabs with four types of milk-generating animals, cow, sheep, goat, and Water Buffalo. While it caused some giggles at our table, it seemed a very odd (and unnecessary) ‘course’, and must make the wait staff wish the guests were leaving already!

But it still was not the end! Mac brought a metal holder on which hung three pretzels, first coated in white chocolate, then in dark chocolate, and then sprinkled with some sea salt, served with a St George Apple Brandy. Then our close to four-hour lunch had come to an end, but not before we were sent on our way with a goody bag each, containing an Eleven Madison Park glass container with granola for breakfast the next day, as well as a ‘caviar tin’ filled with each of our personalized and dated menus!

The end

The most special part of the Eleven Madison Park experience for me was the half an hour we spent in the kitchen, a unique experience. I was impressed with how the staff moved between tables, silently, not talking to each other, and only overheard in addressing the table next door. They seem to anticipate one’s moves, and are there to pull back the chair or to push it back. Every time one leaves the table, they place a new unused napkin on the table. I had three napkin changes during the course of the lunch. The staff look very smart, in black suits and ties. I was surprised to see so many empty tables, and was told that because it is summer, the clientele of the restaurant is likely to be in the Hamptons on weekends. The staff make way for any guests they pass.

What was surprising for the world’s third best 50 Best Restaurants was  that there was no toilet paper in one of the ladies cloakrooms; that we had staff changes during the meal, Ariel having left, it appeared, as well as our initial sommelier; the rudeness of the replacement sommelier; the continuous stretching from the right to add or remove cutlery on the left, despite there being more than enough space at our round table; the lack of wine pairing information and motivation; the lack of detail of some of the ingredients by the servers; the ironing of tablecloths on tables next to us, while we were still in the restaurant; and the hand-written bill, which did not provide any breakdown or details of wine or beverages ordered.

Mac and Jonathan were the heroes of our unforgettable restaurant experience at Eleven Madison Park!

Eleven Madison Park, 11 Madison Avenue, New York. Tel +1 212889 0905  www.elevenmadisonpark.com Twitter: @wguidara Wifi available. Instagram @elevenmadisonpark Lunch Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Dinner Monday – Sunday.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog  Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter: @WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here Instagram: @Chris_Ulmenstein