Lunch at Highline

Yesterday my husband and I took several of our good friends (E, Y, R, B, W) for lunch in Manhattan to celebrate my birthday. It is customary in my country for the birthday person to treat his or her families and friends. Since we all love Thai food, we decided to try out Highline after hearing positive reviews about them. I also planned to take them to one of my favorite dessert places (Bouchon Bakery) right after lunch.

We didn't go to the meatpacking district often, if I remember correctly this was the second time we were there. The first time was when we went to Del Posto last year (sorry I didn't write a post about them since I haven't started blogging yet, but here are the photos if you want to see).

We left home around 10:30 am to pick up E and Y before going straight to Manhattan. We were going to meet R, B and W at the restaurant, our reservation was at noon. By the way, we were lucky that we planned for lunch instead of dinner since there was thunderstorm later that day.

As soon as we arrived in Manhattan, we found a parking spot right away, on the same block as the restaurant. When we first saw the spot we thought we couldn't park there since there were orange cones, but soon came a man who moved the cones for us and then stood nearby. We understood right away what he wanted, so E got out of the car and gave him some money since we didn't want to have any problem.

The restaurant was empty, I guessed it might be because they just opened but proven to be wrong when there were only 2 other guests that came throughout our 2 hour lunch. We were quite surprised since from what we've read this place was usually crowded on the weekends, maybe at nights? The interior was modern decorated in white color, bright and very clean, the server was quite friendly.

While waiting for W who arrived 15 minutes later, we ordered our drinks. I knew that I wanted Thai iced tea, while my husband who usually like regular tea, that day wanted to try lychee cha dum thai which is an infused Thai black tea with re-hydrated milk and lychee fruit. R and B also ordered the Thai iced tea, while E ordered chrysanthemum tea and guava tea for Y. All the teas were very good, definitely a good start.

Thai iced tea and Lychee cha dum thai


Chrysanthemum and Guava & lemon peel cha dum thai

When everyone had arrived and got a chance to peruse the menu, we were ready to order. Since this was lunch, we were given a complimentary appetizer for each of the entree. Wow, it was a very good deal!

We decided to share everything so that we could taste them all. Here were what we ordered for appetizer:
- 2 orders of chicken lettuce wrap with 10 spices vinaigrette, it was amazing -- very tasty
- 2 orders of shrimp and chicken fritters served with mint and tomato sauce, it was moist and a little bland
- 2 orders of pad thai spring rolls served with tamarind dipping sauce, it was fantastic -- crunchy and flavorful
- 2 orders of caramelized shrimp with dried mushrooms, it was very good

Chicken lettuce wraps and Shrimp & chicken fritters


Pad thai spring rolls and Caramelized shrimp

As for entrees, here they were:
- 2 orders of black rice towel with beef flank and reduced soy (basically pad see ew), it was wonderful, the noodles were soft and the meat was tender
- 2 orders of black and white salmon, it was disappointing -- tasteless
- 1 order of massaman curry with organic chicken breast, peanut and potato, it was delicious, rich and very tasty -- we should have ordered 2 of this dish rather than the salmon
- 1 order of pad garlic with bokchoy and tofu, it was okay, nothing special
- 1 order of roasted duck with pineapple curry and fresh bamboo, it was fantastic, the meat was tender and the sauce was flavorful
- 1 order of green curry with tofu, eggplant and basil, it was pretty good

Black rice towel with beef flank and Black and white salmon


Massaman curry with organic chicken breast and Pad garlic


Roasted duck and Green curry with tofu

Since we planned to go to Bouchon Bakery after this, we didn't order any dessert from here. However when the waiter came bringing the check, he brought cheesecake for each of us, how nice! The cheesecake was creamy and rich, so yummy!

Cheesecake

After paying, we were off to the Time Warner Center for my "main entree" and more chit-chatting :-) Overall we were satisfied with both the food and service. This was a good and inexpensive place (especially lunch) to celebrate a birthday with some good friends.

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Highline
835 Washington St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 243-3339
http://www.nychighline.com