ABC Kitchen

Three very generous friends sent us a voucher for dinner at ABC Kitchen as our wedding present. As soon as it arrived in the post, I booked the next available sensibly-timed table, which was over a month away. After a month of anticipation, we walked into the beautifully lit, white-washed restaurant, and celebrated our wedding again with a couple of glasses of bubbles.

The plates were all mismatching in the cutest way. The casual, homey, welcoming feel of the restaurant was balanced out by the super-dressed up tables of girls and cocktails, and the extremely well-considered, pretty and refined plates of food.

Our first courses were wildly different from one another, yet both were bright, beautiful, and packed full of flavour. B's roasted cauliflower with onion and walnut crumbs and a fried egg was crunchy and rich. My tuna sashimi marinated with ginger and mint was hot, refreshing and looked so adorable in its starfish shape.

Our mains were both rich and decadent. We lived the life of NYC luxury for a brief while as I ate my way through a whole wood-oven roasted lobster, and B stuffed himself with the richest crispy pork confit. With a naughty side of house-cut fries, and a crunchy, vibrant side of beans with hazelnuts and mustard, we weren't taking much care of saving ourselves for pudding....

So we ended by sharing dessert: a bright, jammy, fruity concord grape tart. The perfect autumnal end to an extravagant Friday evening. Thank you so much S, H & J - we had an amazing time!

ABC Kitchen, 35th East 18th Street, New York, NY 10003