Petit Robert Bistro in Needham

To celebrate the birthdays of the July babies among our friends, we decided to have dinner together at Petit Robert Bistro in Needham. We have never been to this location, but we decided to give it a try because we liked the food served at the Back Bay location. Since the restaurant is under the same chain, you would expect to get similar quality food, but this turned out to be a wrong assumption.

We arrived at 5:30pm and were the first ones at the restaurant. The décor is a very corporate-like environment and is not as cozy as the Back Bay location. The server was okay but not too friendly.

We placed in two orders of Escargots as appetizers for 8 of us to share. The Escargots were chewy and topped with a nice garlic butter sauce. The garlic butter sauce was good and we used it as a dipping sauce for the bread also.



For main dishes, we ordered Rack of Lamb, Grilled Salmon, and Paella dishes. The Paella was special of the week. Since we had an extremely delicious Rack of Lamb at the Back Bay location, we were expecting the same quality at this location in Needham. However, the quality of the Rack of Lamb was significantly below our expectation. We ordered the lamb as medium rare, but it came out to almost rare. Also, the food was not hot, and the side dishes of potatoes and carrots were soggy. There is also one lamb chop that had its meat cut off. I did not expect to be served with a bone.

(Rack of Lamb at Needham Location)

(Rack of Lamb at Back Bay Location)


For desserts, most of us ordered the Grand Marnier Soufflé. The quality of the soufflé was even better than the ones we got at the Back Bay location. The Soufflé was freshly baked and was served with a chocolate sauce for the right amount of sweetness. The texture of the Soufflé was a little like steamed eggs and it was moist. However, it was not as light and fluffy as the ones we got in Bonaparte in Montreal.



Overall, the main dish was a total miss but the appetizer and dessert were a hit. One big minus of this restaurant is that it charges an automatic 18% gratuity to the AFTER TAX total of our bill. Automatic gratuities should have been calculated on top of the BEFORE TAX total of the bill, and so we felt cheated. The gratuity came out to $52, which was not worth it at all, especially since the service was not particularly good.

HOKAT Rating:
80/100

Address:
45 Chapel St
Needham, MA 02492-2601
(781) 559-0532
http://www.petitrobertbistro.com/

OYa Sushi Restaurant

It is our 5th anniversary and we decided to have an extravagant and memorable meal. We saw that O Ya is rated as the best sushi restaurant in Boston, so we made a reservation a few weeks in advance for this special day. When we arrived at the restaurant, there was a wooden door with no label and no number. However, behind this door is a truly amazing Japanese restaurant. It kinda felt like the entrance in the story of Alice in Wonderland.





We were seated at the sushi bar area where we watched the chefs in action. Across from the sushi bar, there are about five tables. The place is pretty small and the décor is simple with a wooden feel to it. The waitress recommended to us the omakase (chef’s choice) which costs about $150 per person. We decided to order a la carte style instead and make our own selections. We ordered the following sushi and sashimi, which is prepared as creative fusion style and not traditional:

1) Hamachi Belly with yuzu soy marinated Santa Barbara sea urchin. The hamachi was very fatty and smooth. This is the first time we have ever had hamachi with sea urchin, and they matched extremely well. The fattiness of the hamachi and creaminess of the sea urchin made this a special dish.



2) Fried Kumamoto Oyster with yuzu kosho aioli and squid ink bubbles. The oyster was lightly fried, and was warm and crispy. The squid ink bubbles was icing on the cake and made the sushi nice to look at, but it did not change the taste because the oyster had a strong taste to it.



3) Scarlet Sea Scallop with white soy yuzu sauce and yuzu tobiko. The sea scallop had a refreshing taste to it. The yuzu sauce on the sea scallop was a little sour and tasted like plum. It added a citrus flavor to the scallop.

4) Warm Eel with thai basil, kabayaki, and fresh kyoto sancho. This was the most disappointing dish of the night. The eel in Oishii Sushi was a hundred times better. The eel had too many bones in it and the flavor of thai basil and kabayaki did not match with the eel. We expected a high caliber sushi restaurant should spend the time to pick off some of the bones from the eel.

5) Wild Bluefin Toro with spicy mentaiko mayo, negi, and sesame. The toro was fatty and smooth. The spicy mayo sauce matches well with the fattiness of the toro. The sesame enhances the aroma of the sushi. You can never go wrong with toro sushi.

6) Wild Bluefin OToro sashimi with wasabi oil and lots of green onion. The OToro was even fattier than the previous Toro. The fattiness of OToro made it melt in our mouths. The wasabi oil made the piece of OToro slide down our throats. The only slight criticism of this dish was that it was a little on the salty side.

7) Santa Barbara Sea Urchin with valencia orange, homemade soy, and fresh wasabi. This was our favorite dish of the night. The sea urchin was so fresh to the point where it tasted sweet. The sweet taste of the orange matched so well with the creaminess of the sea urchin. When you tasted sweetness in a sea urchin, you know that it is fresh. There is no seawater taste to it at all.

8) Wild Bluefin Toro with republic of georgia herb sauce. We were not quite sure what kind of sauce is republic of georgia, but we definitely tasted the earthiness of the herb. The Toro was fatty and smooth, as always. The Toro that they served was consistent in texture and fattiness, kudos to the chefs.

9) Scottish Salmon Belly with cilantro, ginger, and hot sesame oil drizzle. This dish tasted just like a traditional Hong Kong style steamed fish, but with an extremely fatty piece of salmon belly.

10) Santa Barbara Sea Urchin with uni mousse, kuidashi gelee, and tonka bean. The sea urchin was so fresh and sweet. The gelee on top added extra sweetiness to the already tasty sea urchin. Below three pieces of sea urchin was some uni cream, which was not overbearing and was mild.

11) Wild Santa Barbara Spot Prawn with garlic butter, white soy, and preserved yuzu. The prawn was so incredibly fresh, almost as if they just came out from the tank. The garlic butter and yuzu enhanced the sweetiness flavor of the prawn.

12) Foie Gras with balsamic chocolate kabayaki, raisin coca pulp, which was served with a sip of aged sake. The foie gras melted in our mouths with a fatty oily taste. We ended the night with this dish and toasted our fifth anniversary with the sip of aged sake. To our surprise, the aged sake tasted very sweet and could be served as a dessert wine.

We also ordered the following dishes:

1) Eclectic Eel with tamago, foie gras, and kyoto sansho. At first, we misread this as electric eel and had no idea what kind of eel it is. The dish turned out to be foie gras on top of a piece of eel with eggs in the bottom. The foie gras matched well with the soft eggs. However, once again the eel had too many bones in it.

2) Chilled homemade soba noodles with santa barbara sea urchin, soba dashi broth, nari, fresh wasabi, and scallions. After a series of sushi and sashimi, the chilled soba noodle with sea urchin was a nice dish that cleared our pallets. Again, the sea urchin tasted so fresh and sweet. The sea urchin added a sophisticated taste to the good old ordinary soba noodle.

We did not have a high expectation before coming to this restaurant. However, at the end of the night, we felt so satisfied with the innovative sushi and sashimi dishes. The quality of the fish was first class, with uni and prawn that tasted sweet. It was definitely a close match with the sushi that we had in Japan. The difference is that the sushi in Japan is prepared in traditional edo style, whereas the sushi in OYa was prepared with sauces to enhance the taste. Yes, it would definitely make a huge dent to your wallet, but the taste and quality was worth it. We recommend this restaurant for a very special occasion. If the prices were not that gastronomical, we would want to make this our weekly meal. Finally, we have found a sushi restaurant in Boston that beats Oishii.

HOKAT Rating:
96/100

Address:
9 East Street, Boston MA 02111
(617) 654-9900
http://www.oyarestaurantboston.com

Ken Oringer's Toro Spanish Restaurant

We went to Spain during Thanksgiving of last year, and we had a really great time there. The architecture by Gaudi was truly amazing. We loved the Sagrada Familia, which was the most beautiful church we have ever seen. The food in Spain was great too, with delicious tapas, paella, and seafood. This is why we decided to relive the experience by trying out a Spanish restaurant in Boston and tried out Toro by Ken Oringer. The atmosphere in Toro was lively and boisterous. We arrived at 5:30pm and the restaurant was already filled with crowds. We were seated in a high table, which was right next to the bar area.

For appetizers, we tried the salt cod croquetas which is a popular tapas selection in Spain. The croquetas was fried to perfection and it matched very well with mayonnaise. It also came with rings of fried lemon skin. The fried lemon rings had a sweet taste to it.

The second tapas dish that we tried was the Costilla de Buey, which is braised short ribs of beef. The buey was tender and tasted like it had been simmered and boiled for hours. The portion was pretty small and we think it was just a little over-priced.

For main dish, we ordered the Paella Valenciana. The Paella came out looking great, with mussels, clams, shrimps, chorizo, chicken drumstick, and green peas on top of rice with a tomato sauce and lobster broth. When we started digging in, we were surprised that there was so little rice! We could hardly scoop up the rice to eat. The portion that we got in Spain was so much bigger. The seafood was fresh and tasty, and the chicken was tender. However, besides the insufficient amount of rice, the sauce was too salty. The more we ate, the more salty it felt like. We were glad to have ordered a blueberry soda because it helped to counter the salty taste of the paella.

HOKAT Rating:
84/100

Address:
1704 Washington Street, Boston MA
(617) 536-4300
http://www.toro-restaurant.com/