Upon approaching the Ember Room, I was impressed by the look of the place. It has a very rustic, dark wood interior with many fun decorative details. I knew that this place was going to be good just by the looks of it!
Outside The Ember Room
Beautiful Lanterns on the walls
Lanterns
The menu at this restaurant is a combination of Asian and American delicacies with some BBQ items to focus on the traditional American fare. The 8 course tasting menu was pre-designed and just served to us as ready. It took all the guess work out of ordering, which was kind of nice. Luckily, neither one of us is overly picky with foods, so we weren't too worried about being served something that we couldn't eat.
I started with a very delicious drink, that I have to admit, I forget the name of. But it was really pretty to look at and extremely tasty, so I have to share!
Tons of fresh berries in my drink :)
The first course delivered to our table were the Roasted Sea Scallops. The scallops were pretty large in size, and were covered in smoked bacon, pea shoots, and kohlrabi, which is a cabbage. The plate had two scallops in total, so we each got to enjoy one. I have to admit, when I crave seafood, I don't generally think about scallops, but hese scallops had a lot of flavor and I really enjoyed them. I especially loved the fact that they were covered in bacon! Perhaps one of the most non-kosher delicacies anyone could consume!
Roasted Sea Scallops
The second course served were meatballs! Generally, I don't expect to see meatballs at an asian place, so this came as quite a surprise to me. The meatballs were called the Thai Pastrami Meatballs, which were covered in Chinese mustard and tamarind glaze. The meatballs were really moist and definitely had that asian flavor, versus having an italian marinara flavor, which you expect of meatballs.
Thai Pastrami Meatballs
Our third course arrived at the table, and both of us had no idea what it was! We were served BBQ Berkshire Pork Belly, which was covered in maple-soy, fuji apple, and celeriac slaw. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked this dish because when I think of pork, I don't think of it being very sweet. As I kept eating, I actually decided I really liked it! It almost reminded me of eating french toast, which is definitely a weird thought when you think of pork. Also, the apple and celeriac slaw was a nice touch to the dish because it brought a little bitterness to the dish to contrast the sweetness of the pork. I would definitely eat it again.
BBQ Berkshire Pork Belly
Next, we were served Shrimp Satay. I generally love shrimp, but this dish wasn't anything special. The dish had two lonely shrimps covered in finger chili, cilantro, and lemon grass. It was refreshing to eat, but like I said, nothing life changing.
Shrimp Satay
The shrimp was followed by the Crispy Gingered Oysters. I must say, this dish was SCRUMPTIOUS! The oysters were crusted with panko, topped with champagne mango relish, and accompanied with spicy mango aioli. If there was a dish I would want more of, I think it would be this one. The refreshing salsa killed the heaviness of the heavily fried oyster and made it a perfect combination.
Crispy Gingered Oysters
Next, we were served seared tuna with salad. I felt that this dish should have been brought out as one of the first dishes because of its lightness and salad-like look. Although, I definitely enjoyed this dish because who can pass up seared tuna!
Seared Tuna
For the last two courses, I was surprised to receive the most American influenced dishes, that actually didn't have any trace of Asian flavor in them. I can't complain about the dishes though, because who can pass up wings and ribs. The BBQ Wings were made with a house made BBQ sauce. I thought they were good, but not overly revolutionary. I also prefer my wings to be more on the spicy, hot side, so these BBQ wings did not impress me. They were covered in sauce, so at least they weren't dry.
BBQ Wings
The St. Louis Ribs were very standard ribs. They were very tasty and covered in the ember room special BBQ sauce. There was a hint of Asian flavor to them, but not enough to make me think that these were anything special.
St. Louis BBQ Ribs
For wings & ribs, I generally associate going to a BBQ place that only does BBQ. I kind of prefer to keep it that way. Otherwise, I did generally love all the Asian/American dishes that actually showed the combination of the cultures.
I would suggest going to the restaurant for the ambiance and the interesting selection of food. Keep in mind, that our tasting menu was something special that was all part of the deal that my friend had bought. All of our dishes are featured on the regular appetizer menu, which is usually A la Carte. Also, there is a Pre Theathre Pre fix 3 course menu available.
Enjoy!
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