Melody "NomNomNom" H.'s Profile

The food here is most certainly praise-worthy, but I am continually blown away by the warmth and precision of service here.

At dinner last night, my friend and I ordered the lamb and the ribs. We weren't much in the mood for starters as I was exhausted and wanted to keep dinner relatively short. Shortly after we ordered, our (incredibly handsome) Kiwi server (sucker for accents) brought out the slow poached baby beets served over lavender ricotta and almonds. He explained that the lamb would take a while to cook, so the beets were compliments of the chef.

Sean, who does not like beets, loved these beets.

I could further extoll the virtues of the fall-off-the-bone Marmite ribs and the brilliance of the fresh curried peas and yuca tater tots for quite some time and in meticulous detail, but I'll leave that to others. What compelled me to finally write a review for this place was that as we were finishing up, the chef came out and personally greeted the diners, asking how their meal was and thanking them for their patronage.

Having been a regular Kiwiana bruncher for some time now, I've sampled everything on the brunch menu and it's all been delicious. Sometimes I'll just sidle up to the bar and have coffee and a lime and cheddar scone with that delicious chunky jam, some bacon, and coffee, chatting with the friendly servers. Other times, I'll still sidle up to the bar (best seats in the house, folks) but we'll order a spread - standouts being the NZ salmon that was on special one week, ANYTHING that comes with the potato cake, french toast with fresh whipped cream and berries (and I'm not a sweets for breakfast kind of gal).

You brunchy boozehounds should also know that (1) they believe mimosas should be mostly bubbly with a touch of OJ - and they use Simply Orange, my fave, and (2) the bloody mary will exorcise any hangover you throw at it - get it with gin. Oh. And brunch is cash only, and there's a BofA ATM on the corner.

Follow them on Twitter to stay on top of their nightly specials - these have ranged from fried oysters to $1 oysters to $10 lamb burgers. @kiwiananyc

The paninis are huge with a perfect filling to bread ratio. Awesome. Frickin' awesome. And also BYOB.

Solid sujaebi at Arirang. I was craving chicken soup so I got the chicken version instead of the classic anchovy version. Still a win.

Saw that they have chicken kalguksu shabu shabu and I am EXTREMELY excited. This is going to be a Rendezfoods dinner for sure!

Also, I think their samgyetang (chicken ginger rice soup) is going to be delicious. The chicken broth for the chicken sujaebi was awesome, so I'm sure the samgyetang will be good, too.

They deliver to my office on 35th! Love.

A welcome oasis in the middle of tourist trap hell. Just north of Port Authority is this very Sex and the City-esque Thai place with great lunch specials ($7.95) daily and quite a few bottles of wine for $29 a pop. The food is good enough, not stellar, but it is reasonably priced and the ambiance more than makes up for it. Strongly recommend the larb salad and the pumpkin chicken curry. Summer shrimp rolls were meh; duck salad also meh.

Ten Degrees is a dependable go-to for happy hour in the East Village. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon post-9th St. shopping spree, pre-dinner. The guacamole is gigantic for $9, and the 2 for 1 drinks till 8 make it easy on the wallet. I recommend the Dougie.

No, not that Dougie.

Upgrade to five stars after tasting the cake batter soft serve. Wowzas. Birthday party in my mouth!

It's not as good as the original Prosperity, and is definitely nowhere near as good as Vanessa's Dumpling House. This goes for the dumplings, the sesame pancakes, and the jja jja mien.

BUT it's a dollar. And it's still good, just not good relative to others in the same class.

I come here three or four times a week. Sometimes more than that just to say hi. I adore everyone who works here - show up on a Saturday night and you'll probably find the bartenders keeping themselves entertained with some combination of the running man, the water sprinkler, and other ridiculous moves.

I don't always eat here, but when I do, I usually go with the $8 prix-fixe with the ratatouille or bruschetta (not the welsh rarebit) and a glass of bordeaux plus the $12 baked camembert. It's probably not good for my health that I eat 2 wheels of camembert a week now thanks to L'oubli, but I don't care. It's worth it. Also noteworthy: endive apple & roquefort salad, steak tartare and cold truffled potato salad.

Love that it's rarely overcrowded, and when it is, it's usually filled with neighbors.

After three years of NYC dining, this is still a perennial favorite. Taste, value, ambiance. I find it hard to stray from ordering the gnocco fritto with cured meats, artichoke salad, tagliatelle alla bolognese, and strachetti with rosemary potatoes. I don't care that it's cash only and that there is ALWAYS a wait. It's worth it.

Have two hours for lunch? Spend it here.

Prior to re-joining the workforce, I'd embarked on an epic week of face stuffing which began with a whimsical three course lunch at David Burke Townhouse. It surprised and delighted me at every turn. From the glass balloons in the hallway to the speckled egg hatchling logo, I found myself smiling with each detail and discovery.

You can choose from two different three course lunch menus: one for $24 and the other for $37. Click to see the lunch menu here. The dishes marked with the speckled egg are those eligible for the $24 menu vs. your choice of any three courses (speckled egg or not) for $37 at lunch. Since I was in a decadent kind of mood AND because I desperately wanted the scallops and head-on prawns, I went with the $37 prix-fixe.

We had the parfait of tuna and salmon tartar with potato tuile and creme fraiche and the pretzel-crusted crab cake to start. Full review and photos at http://mmmelody.com/20....

The prawns and scallops were phenomenal. This dish alone was worth every single penny of lunch. The three perfectly seared scallops and two grilled head-on (mmm... brains...) prawns were quite filling. The sauce was so rich and buttery that I forgot I was eating what was essentially a vegetable slaw.

The beef pot pie was the dish that delighted me the most. I keep using the word "delighted" because I can't think of any other word more fitting. Chunks of succulent roast beef, tomatoes, asparagus, garlic cloves, and onion were nestled in a creamy ring of mashed potatoes and topped with a flaky pastry crust round freckled with miniature flecks of chive (meant to represent peas, I think) and carrot. It warmed the cockles of my heart.

Dessert was just okay. I think we should've gone with the cheesecake lollipop tree since both the strawberry shortcake and butterscotch pudding were overly sweet. I didn't care a whit, though. I was already in a near-catatonic state of ecstasy post-app and -main.