Safran French Vietnamese Cuisine – Chelsea, NYC
Safran
88 7th Avenue
Near W. 16th St.
(212) 929-1778
Safran Restaurant
Safran is located in the heart of Chelsea where the restaurants are chic, creative, and very down to earth. I have always loved this neighborhood because it is very diverse with all different types of people of all ages, more so with the younger crowd, and they all dressed so fashionably — yes, creatively fashionably. Besides lots of unique restaurants and people here, there are a lot of clubs and boutique shops that you will love to visit. Only in Chelsea will you find some of the most creative, yet down to earth people and restaurants here.
Which brings me to my visit to Safran.
My friends and co-workers alike have constantly urged me to eat at this fancy establishment. To my amazement, I probably passed by this restaurant maybe hundreds of times when I take my trips to Lohmann’s or to the eye doctor. But never once thought about eating there because I am accustomed to having Vietnamese cuisine in Chinatown. A Vietnamese fusion restaurant sounded interesting to me so one day I decided to gather some of my closest friends to meet up here for dinner.
Let’s get started with the food shall we?
Appetizers:
Fried Calamari - $7.00
Definitely not your traditional calamari. I felt like I ate more of the fried skin than the actual calamari itself. It is quite greasy and somewhat salty, but it is strangely comforting and addictive to eat. If this was less oily and the portion was a little bigger, I would have definitely loved it.
Shrimp Sate - $8.00
My shrimp sate. Yes, you are paying $2 per shrimp which is hefty in this economy. The shrimp is not bad, nothing extraordinary, but not bad either. I couldn’t help but notice how oily it is. Regardless, I still liked eating it but probably wouldn’t get it because of the price.
Chicken Sate - $6.00
My friend Jia had this appetizer and really loved it! I didn’t try it, but she definitely cleaned the plate. I guess next time I will order this instead!
Entrees
I will only give my personal opinion on the dish that I had. I will however show you the photos of the dishes that my friends had so you will know how it looks like.
Nanoi Noodles - $14.00
Autumn Beef of Hoi An - $14.00
Duck Breast Confit Noodle - $13.00
Oh, yes, I did remember my friend Amy saying that having duck noodles in Chinatown is definitely more worth it plus it is much tastier. So remember, think twice before ordering soup noodles unless you don’t mind to pay for it.
Chef Laura's Cracking Larb w/ Mince chicken with lemongrass roasted rice, mint, red onion, hot chili, roasted peanuts, shrimp and shrimp crackers - $14.00
This was one of the chef’s special and I was curious to try. I have to say, this dish is exceptionally oily. The way to eat this is to put some of that shredded chicken on to a romaine lettuce or you can put it on the shrimp cracker. I did it both ways and both times there were oil dripping out. Now if this wasn’t as oily and salty, it would be fabulous in my eyes. Not to say that it does not taste good, it is very comforting to eat because of the oil and the crackers. I think next time I will pass and order something else on the menu.
Dessert
Chocolate Souffle w/ Green Tea Ice Cream - $13.00
This should just be called chocolate cake because there was nothing souffle-ish about this dessert. There’s no liquid chocolate on the inside and it was just a warm chocolate cake. The green tea ice cream was nothing really special. In my opinion, I think you should pass up of this dessert.
Pistachio and Almond Drop w/Sponge cake base topped with pistachio and almond mousse - $8.00
This dessert is one of the many sweet pleasures of my life. The sweet and crunchiness of the pistachio and almond bites goes so well with the almond moose and the sponge cake. I would have loved to devour this dessert all to myself and I definitely will do so next time.
Anyways, until next time!
<3 FCG
Comments
4 Responses to “Safran French Vietnamese Cuisine – Chelsea, NYC”
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The food looks yummy but what I’m most interested in trying is the pistachio and almond drop w/sponge cake dessert! You should try to make it for me.
BTW, have you been to Sea in Williamsburg?
Food looks good but price is not too good for me.
Looks like high price Viet/Chinese food plus some cheesy desserts. Problem with Vietnamese food is that other than the pho, spring rolls, and pork chops, everything else is just ok.
i usually go to one Vietnamese place in the city and its in Chinatown… i might give this spot a try if I want a fancy change of pace.