Auna

We went to the this place for a friends 30ths birthday. We got a fixed menu, but ended up asking the waiters to wine pair our courses.

I will say the service is very high end (which I guess is expected since we were in the Polanco area). The waiters always made sure the table was clean, and they insisted on pouring the wines themselves (they would come over to the table if they saw you doing it!).

Here is the menu:

– **For Snacking (Shared):**

– Hummus with ‘chile de agua’ pico de gallo and wood-fired bread

– Pickled Vegetables with mushrooms, beet, and carrots on sweet potato sourdough

– **Starters (Shared):**

– Salmon Trout with soy vinaigrette, pistachio, and white kimchi

– Green Salad with blue cheese dressing and bacon-pepita crumble

– Fried Squash Blossoms with mushroom cream, guava chutney, and spicy sauce

– **Main Course (Shared):**

– Braised Short Rib with burnt onion sauce, ‘queso cuadro’, and blistered shishitos

– Striped Bass with romesco sauce, parsnip, and braised bok choy

– **Dessert (Shared):**

– Basque Tart with mamey ice cream and cocoa crumble

– Wood-fired Bananas with dulce de leche, ‘rancho cream’, and pinole crumble

From the above, the hummus, pickled vegetables, salmon trout stripped sea bass, and desserts were great. I probably wouldn’t get the others again (the braised short rib was cooked great, but the sauce/flavor wasn’t good).

The Office

This was a hidden bar under the Aviary. We went on the waitlist while we were eating at the Aviary. But then one of our waiters from the Aviary hooked us up and we got bumped to the front.

The bar tender actually is the head bar tender for the Aviary. I got their version of the Manhattan, which had a chocolate and banana twist. Really great.

The exclusivity was also shown when you had to use a key to get back inside if you wanted to use the restroom.

Le Roi de la Gaufre

Went to this place for some Belgian waffles in Belgium!

I got a waffle that has Nutella, bananas, and I added a scoop of vanilla chocolate ice cream. Would get this combo again.

Royal Kona Hotel Bar (Don the Beachcomber)

I was told this was an excellent place to watch a sunset while drinking a pina colada. I would have to say this is very true (although our sunset had some clouds covering it).

I ordered a banana lava flow and a mango lava flow (a lava flow is basically a flavored pina colada). Both were good, but the mango one was less sweet, so I thought it tasted the best.

The food at this place is meh. The coconut breaded shrimp was not that good. The poke chips were ok.

Icicles

So we decided to get some late night desert. And man, although it was pricey, it was worth every penny.

I got the Nutella n chill flavor (which was Nutella and banana). You also can get unlimited toppings (I got cheesecake bits, chocolate chip, lychee jelly, strawberries and a toasted marshmallow).