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๐Ÿ“Ilili๐Ÿฅ˜ The Best of NYC Restaurant Week Series 2023 ๐ŸŒ†

๐Ÿƒ Vibes and Ambiance


Another restaurant located in Flatiron, Ilili is definitely a more refined Mediterranean dining experience for lunch meetings, or just a place to hangout with friends after a long work day. I was recommended this place by some of my friends before creating my Restaurant Week list so I really wanted to try. The restaurant has two main rooms: you have the lounge/bar area for more of a casual hangout. Then you have the main dining room with a very high ceiling. The wooden decor here is just very unique. On the menu, you can find a variety of traditional Lebanese dishes, with rich flavor profiles informed by both new approaches and historical recipes.


๐Ÿงซ Dishes

For starter: Falafel

I went here for a lighter lunch prix-fixe experience. For starter, we have falafel - a Middle Eastern deep-fried ball dish. The falafel I had was fried chickpea and fava bean croquettes. They have a very rich and grainy taste with hints of cumin and parsley, which was perfectly paired with the creamy sour cream.


Salad: Fattoush

I really wanted to try out something vegetarian so for my second starter, I had the Fattoush. This is a Lebanese Garden Salad with light sumac lemon vinaigrette dressing served with toasted pita. The fattoush was very refreshing and bright which was definitely a great choice.


Main dish: Salmon

For my main course, I had the Salmon a la Plancha, served with butternut squash puree with hazelnut and pomegranate brown butter. I know, that was a lot for a description, and the dish definitely marries the flavors very well. โ€œA la Planchaโ€ essentially means the Salmon was grilled on a metal plate, resulting in a very rich and crispy skin atop the salmon. Itโ€™s golden on the outside, yet tender on the inside. The slight tartness of the pomegranate was layered with the milder and sweeter butternut squash puree, resulting in a just-right combination to accompany the salmon.


For tea: Dammann Freres


And yes, they have Dammann Freres tea so I must of course order a pot to enjoy. I always like meself some classic English Breakfast with milk and brown sugar and so the super aromatic yet light tea was perfect to close out my lunch outing.


For a complete list of ranking, please feel free to check out my YouTube video:



ฮฃฯ‡ฯŒฮปฮนฮฑ


Peter Tran

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