While looking for a great place to dine south of the Central Park, I came across this restaurant, placed inside 1 Hotel Central Park. I liked the name of the restaurant, made me think of fun brunch, even though we were going there for dinner.

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We walked into a hotel lobby space, with a nice seating area. I thought this pace was nice, since it can be used by the hotel guests, and also by the restaurant customers, while waiting for their table.

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The restaurant host station was right by the seating area, and since we had a reservation, we were taken straight away to our table. The décor was very cozy with lots of greeneries, exposed brick, and warm wood everywhere.

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I liked the pop of light blue as well, making it fresh and modern. Our table was all the way back, near the kitchen. They had a large opening between the dining area and the kitchen, allowing the customers to peek into where the magic is made by the hard-working kitchen staffs.

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We started off with some drinks. I chose Grapes of Wrath ($17), made with rum, Jams grape, maple syrup, lemon, St. Germain Elderflower, egg whites, and bay. It was sweet with nice, creamy egg white on top. The interesting thing was that they had some sugar on the outside rims, but only about half of less than half the glass rim was coated… Did they forget to do the other side, or they realized after half way that they were not supposed to do that??? Didn’t look professional…

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My hubby went with Apple Crusta ($17), made with calvados, lemon juice, orgeat, and orange blossom rinse. It was more lemony than apple, which was a bit confusing… It had cinnamon sugar on the rims, and yes, it was put all way around. It was a nice touch and a great paring with apple.

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Since there were four of us, we ordered a couple of starters to share. The first item was Maplebrook Burrata ($21). It is made with griddled baby beets, aged balsamic vinegar, market greens, and toasted pistachios. The Burrata was so fresh and creamy! Veggies were very fresh, and beets were cooked perfectly. It was one tasty dish!

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The second items was Salt Cod Brandade ($22), made with lemon-herb aioli, toasted sourdough, and farm greens. It came super hot, with a few toasted bread to scoop up the goodness. It was meaty yet creamy, with the right amount of salty flavor. It was so good, very addictive!

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For main, one dish jumped out from the menu; Coconut-Curry Seafood Stew ($35). It sounded just amazing, so I went with that. It is made with clams, mussels, shrimp, hake, squid, basil, cilantro, and crispy shallots. It is a mouthful, and they did actually managed to put all of that into the stew! It was spicy and full of jewels of the sea! So comforting, and the balance of spicy flavor against the sweetness of coconut was just perfect. It really had generous amount of seafood, it was great! My hubby who sometimes gets jealous of my dish, decided to order the same dish. And yes, he really enjoyed that as well.

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The other two at the table went with something different. One of them chose Berkshire Pork Chop ($37), made with delicata squash, mutzu apple, maple caramel, and fried sage. She said that it was one of the best pork chop she’s ever had! It was very tender and plump, with really great sauce. The other one went with Pan Roasted Atlantic Hake ($33), made with stewed leeks, roasted mushrooms, and red mizuna. This one was also a big hit. It was delicious with great seasoning, the fish was flaky and juicy!

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We also had one side dish to share: Fried Fingerling Potatoes ($10), made with pecorino and rosemary. I had a high expectation of this babies, and they did not let me down. It had a brilliant crunchy and crusty exterior, with perfectly soft and potato-y texture inside. It disappeared quickly!

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Since we all enjoyed the food massively, we decided to push our luck with desserts. We were getting quite full, but the dessert menu was so enticing, we ordered more than we anticipated… We are weak against lovely sounding desserts! LOL. We ordered Toffee Pudding, Baked Alaska, and a Tart. Cranberry-Almond Tart ($12) was served with vanilla ice cream, and candied lemon. The vanilla was like a huge crown, sitting atop with proud. It was great with nice cranberry flavor. Sweet and tart, I think it stole the spotlight out of the three.

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Ginger Sticky Toffee Pudding ($12) was served with roasted pears, crème fraiche ice cream, and candied orange. It was dense and sweet, moist and decadent. The flavor of toffee went great with the pear and ice cream.

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Last but not least, Chocolate-Peanut Butter Baked Alaska ($12). Not everyone is a fan of chocolate with peanut butter flavor mixed together. That meant, more for me! My hubby and I enjoyed this dissert. It did have a strong peanut butter flavor, but it was not overpowering, a nice dessert to end the evening.

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We had a fantastic dinner, and we became instant fans of Jams. And I think the feeling is mutual, since our latte came with a cute heart…

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The bathroom was between the back dining area and the bar, and they had a few bathrooms here and there. Unfortunately, they were not in a great shape. I heard one of them were not tidy, and another one, the toilet was not flushing. I went into the one with the broken toilet, and since I am a proud handy-woman, I fixed it for them before I used it. Seems like several people had used the toilet before I came along, so I wonder when any of their staffs went to check the cleanliness of the bathroom… The rest of the space and the food was amazing, so it is very disappointing to see that they are not putting enough care to their bathroom…

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Other than that, the service was great. They came to clean the table between the appetizer and main dishes, our water glass was always filled, and we were well taken care of. I would love to go back and try more of their amazing dishes!

Jams – 1414 6th Ave, New York, NY 10019