HARU HANA - NEW YORK, NY

Haru Hana
28 West 32nd Street
New york, NY 10001

September 2, 2011

I really haven't seen my sister in quite sometime, so we both decided to grab lunch in NYC. Naturally, I told her to pick a place of her choice, I'm always open for new things. As we got off the path station on 33rd street, we walked down Korea Way. This is a strip of anything Korean and Japanese. Shops, eateries, and bakeries flooded the strip. We came across this one place called Haru Hana. It is a fusion restaurant that has a menu divided into Japanese and Korean foods.
Here is my review of what I ate.

SERVICE: Greeted at the door. Staff is uniformed. Grade A. Waiter was seldom attentive. When I say this, I do mean that when a waiter sees an empty glass on the table, it should be refilled.

FOOD; (Octopus with pork bell hot peppers) If you are looking for a real hot spicy dish, this would be it. Just make sure you have a glass of milk next to you to calm each bite. This dish was superb. Octopus, which can easily be overcooked, can be tough. But in this dish, It was cooked so perfectly that as you ate each bite it broke off easily into your mouth and exploded with the flavors of the green and red peppers. It is accompanied with a cup of white rice, so you can decide for yourself if you want to go hardcore and just each the peppers or fuse it with some of the rice. Great either way. Along with the peppers, onions, garlic and red pepper flakes this dish is the perfect for those in the mood for spice.

(Pineapple Saki) Not quite the Saki fan. Don't ask, but I'll just say that I've had some traumatizing ones..hehe. The pineapple Saki has a rustic flavor of cider that just blankets over your mouth and touches your taste buds and nostrils. The flavor does linger for about a minute. Real nice. Perfect combo to start off the octopus dish.

ATMOSPHERE: Inside this restaurant you will feel as if you are sitting underneath a cherry blossom tree. No for real!! it is a cherry blossom tree decor inside the place. For those of you who are on a first date. This is my recommendation. Very romantic. All around the restaurant hangs traditional Japanese paintings. You really do get the Asian experience as you walk into the place and look around.

RECOMMENDATION:  Yes. This place is perfect for a lunch date. Just make sure you aren't working when you do go only because the wait time for the dish is a tad bit longer than expected. This place would also be great for a romantic dinner date with a night out in NYC. It is close to the path station on 33rd street and near by shopping areas.