One of N.Y.C.’s Best Restaurant Groups Just Opened a New Aussie-Inspired Tasting Menu Spot

New York City’s latest restaurant opening comes courtesy of two of the culinary world’s powerhouses, but it’s a bit different from what you may expect from them.

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Acru , in Greenwich Village, is a new tasting-menu spot in partnership with JP and Ellia Park’s NA:EUN Hospitality (Atomix, Atoboy). And while the two have worked to elevate the perception of Korean cuisine in the United States, Acru is the first non-Korean restaurant from the team. Here, the chef-partner Daniel Garwood (formerly a sous chef at Atomix) has been given the reins to create a menu based on his Australian upbringing and his experience cooking at some of the best restaurants in Copenhagen and South Korea.

The highlight of Acru is the $95 tasting menu served in the 36-seat dining room. While the dishes will change regularly based on what’s in season, the opening menu starts off with tempura-battered potatoes covered in thinly sliced raw scallops and topped with caviar. Following are plates such as monkfish liver custard with a fermented carrot hot sauce and lamb served with grilled lettuce and Garwood’s “Seamite,” a play on Vegemite using seaweed.

Finishing off the prix fixe is a selection of desserts based on the chef’s childhood: Golden Hay Time is a riff on a classic Australian ice-cream bar with toasted hay and grilled pretzel ice cream. Fig Leaf Lamingtons, meanwhile, pair fig-leaf sponge cake with grilled berry jam. To complement the entire menu, Acru is offering both a standard wine pairing ($75) and a premium option ($195). Cocktails are on offer too, like a Bee’s Knees with grilled lemon.

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Off the main dining room is an 11-seat bar area where you can choose dishes from an a la carte menu that draws from the flavors of the prix fixe. The potato cake, for example, is similar to the scalloped potato, but it’s topped with uni instead. Small plates encompass red shrimp with warm grilled tomatoes and a pasta with fermented carrot sauce. Entrees range from sausage roll with house-made milk bread and sea buckthorn sauce to aged ribeye with a sauce of blue cheese fat, seaweed powder, and lovage oil.

The Michelin two-starred Atomix is one of the best restaurants in the world . With that sort of pedigree, we expect Acru to be no less of a delight.

Click here to see all the images of Acru.

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