Ginger and Spice in Ramsey (Photos!)

[fatcatbrew]

http://www.gingerandspice.com/

[Jason Perlow]

Thats an area that can certainly use a decent Asian restaurant. I'll have to check it out.

[menton1]

Sounds quite similar in theme and menu to Taro in Montclair...

[MikeyMike]

Thanks. I'll have to check this out as it right down the road from my house.

[Rosie]

We await your report. Any chance that you will be going tonight?

Thanks.  I'll have to check this out as it right down the road from my house.

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[EDS33]

I had the opportunity to attend the soft opening of Ginger and Spice. There's definitely nothing like this in Bergen County. The chef is able to combine French and Asian cooking techniques with some very interesting products to create excellent Food. My table shared the laqcured duck ( I need to find out the secret ingredient here) with lychee salsa, Udon Noodles with chicken, vegetables and red currey sauce, and an incredibly crispy and moist chicken breast with fried rice. The wontons were the best I ever had. Deserts were great:Chilled coconut and lemongrass soup with tapioca and brunoise fruit salad, and the Smores, well you'll just have to try it for yourself (a very original preparation). The prices are very reasonable. Go now. It'll be packed soon. Oh I almost forgot, there is a Chef's table for 6 and Doron (who worked closely with David BUrke of The Park Avenue Cafe) can hook all the foodies up.

[fatcatbrew]

Tried Ginger and Spice last night. It was packed and you could tell that they were a little overwhelmed. We were treated very nicely and I was pleased with the dining experience. Nicely decorated and the menu interesting. A great selection of teas and an option to have a chef's tasting menu. They also have a Chef's table in the rear of the restaurant that allows views of the kitchen. I started with a fantastic spicy salmon and tuna sashimi over mixed greens, daikon, radishes with a vinagrette hinted with Ponzu. My second course of tiger shrimp and lomein noodles was good but a little bit uninspired after the great app I had. But it was fresh and abundant and only $8.00 and I had enough to take home. My friend had laquered duck with a lychee salad and enjoyed it very much. My husband had a 7-spice steak that he wasn't crazy about and when one of the owners noticed his dissinterest, he sent over another steak entree with his complements that came on a bed of asian greens with taro root fries. Unfortunately we were too stuffed for dessert and I wanted to try the Smores that EDS33 referred to. They sounded sinful.

It was apparent to me that the people working here and managing are new to the business. However everyone had a friendly and positive attitude and were very interested in making their customers happy. I would definately go back and I wish them success.

[menton1]

For some reason, this place is afraid to put the menu prices on the website. What were the prices like?

[fatcatbrew]

For some reason, this place is afraid to put the menu prices on the website.  What were the prices like?

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Very reasonable.

It's BYOB and it cost us $25/pp with tip last night. We each had appetizer and a main course. No dessert.

Edited January 29, 2005 by fatcatbrew (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

Checked out Ginger and Spice last night. The food has some interesting fusion elements and the atmosphere far exceeds expectations of a strip mall storefront. The prices for the apps and noodles were $6-10, mains $16-20. Apps are sharable, the mains are plated individually. More later. Go now, it'll be very busy soon.

[tkrongold]

my husband & i went this past Tuesday for dinner. we had the Yin & Yang spring rolls - very good, the potstickers, also good, but the dough was a little chewy. my husband had the lacquered duck for his entree, which was delicious. for our tastes, it could have been a little rarer, but still good. i had the lo mein with shrimp & vegetables. huge bowl with good soup broth.

i was a little disappointed in the dessert menu, especially after our waiter told us that they have a French pastry chef on staff. i think there were only 3 items on the dessert menu plus a trio of ice creams (green tea, red bean, & chocolate). maybe they expand the dessert listing for weekends.

i agree with previous comments about the management being new at the restaurant business. our waiter was very tentative and almost too solicitious in his service, but that's better than rude & abrupt!

overall, we liked it & will probably go back soon (after this week's trip to Miami) since it's very different than other restaurants in the area.

[Rachel Perlow]

the lacquered duck for his entree, which was delicious.  for our tastes, it could have been a little rarer, but still good.

I agree with you about the duck. However, we discussed this with the chef. The breast is cured as it would be for confit before roasting. Even though it was served medium-well, instead of medium-rare, the meat was very tender and flavorful.

huge bowl with good soup broth.

I also sampled the wonton soup appetizer. The dumpling is similar to the thin-skin type of wonton I've had elsewhere. However the broth, the broth was fabulous. I could detect the gelatin in the mouthfeel -- it's REAL housemade stock. At most Chinese restaurants, if you get wonton soup to go and you don't finish it, the soup in the fridge never getalinizes -- it's a much thinner pork or chicken broth. This consomme was a stock that tasted like it was quite concentrated. In fact, despite trying many other more elaborate dishes, it was the wonton soup we kept talking about all evening!

our waiter was very tentative and almost too solicitious in his service, but that's better than rude & abrupt!

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I think we had the same waiter. He seemed very nice and was trying very hard. But almost too hard. It was like he was trying so hard to be unobtrusive that it had the opposite impression. But the place has only been open about a week. Hopefully, he'll relax as time goes on.

Regarding the desserts, I think as the menu evolves they may expand the dessert menu. In the meantime, I'd highly recommend the lemongrass soup.

[fatcatbrew]

I went to Ginger and Spice again last Saturday night.

Had another nice meal. Peppered Calamari was extremely fresh and tender and presented in a chinese take-out container (cute) with a garlic aioli for dipping. I had the tuna and salmon sashimi and daikon salad that was exactly as delicious as the first time I had it. It is always so nice to have consistency. Also had black and blue tuna over oriental greens that was very good. Service is definately green but they get an "A" for effort.

They made some menu adjustments based on the feedback they received from their customers over the last couple of weeks.

[Rosie]

Be sure to read Jason's article in the NJ section of the NY Times February 20, 2005.

Great piece Jason.

[Jason Perlow]

Some new photos of Ginger and Spice:

(note all food shown is in tasting menu portions)

Dining Room

Left to right: Pastry Chef James DiStefano, Owner Vincent Chin, Exec Chef Doron Wong

Fried Wonton Appetizer with Cumin Citrus Glaze

Wonton Soup (excellent)

Pan Stickers

Yin Yang Rolls

Rainbow Beef Salad

Thai Curry Udon Noodles

XO Fried Rice

XO Fried Rice cross section

Miso Crusted Salmon with cold soba noodles

Roasted Lacquered Duck with Lychee Salsa, Sesame Mantau and Hoisin Mustard Glaze

Mesclun Green Salad with Lotus Chips and Soy Ginger Vinaigrette

Coconut Crepe

Strawberry Granite

Soy Milk Panna Cotta, the signature dessert of the restaurant

[rooftop1000]

Ok thanks to Jasons loverly photos we tried this last night. We tried the potstickers..Tasty, tuna and salmon sushi salad..Amazing, Crispy noodles with giant clam and chorizo..Tasty but the peas fall to the bottom and for mains I had the Lychee Duck with steamed bun and Karl had the Black and Blue Tuna the Duck was pretty good and the fruit relish was great but.......That Tuna was disturbingly bad something close to charcoal lighter fluid maybe but not quite that good......I dunno I have heard of a Mexican herb that tastes like Creosote but this was pretty nasty...

kitchen timing was a little clumsy but staff was very nice.....and I did tell them we were there because of Jasons pictures.

I guess I would go back......food & tax $72

tracey

Edited February 20, 2005 by rooftop1000 (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Rooftop: I'm not sure what went wrong with the tuna, it was actually one of our favorite dishes. My only problem with that dish, and its more of a presentation issue, was that it was sort of blackened with a crust, and instead of it being sliced nicely for service, it came with a regular knife instead of a steak knife, so it was hard to cut into. But otherwise I really liked the dish. The other fish dish, the Miso Salmon with the cold sesame buckwheat noodes, is also very good.

[rooftop1000]

Well Karls "not dead yet" so it wasnt the fish that was off but something must have gone terribly wrong......these things happen, probabley go back with my mother she is drooling over your duck picture.

tracey

[Jason Perlow]

Tracey, in those situations, its okay to send something back. You should have called Vincent over, and told him what was wrong with the dish, and I bet he would have sent out something else. He probably wants to know if something is going wrong in the kitchen.

[lalaland]

Finally made it here after a few weeks and liked it a LOT...only real disappointments were the panstickers, the giant egg roll, and their ice creams. Probably just need tweaking...

We loved the XO rice, sashimi salad, rainbow beef and a noodle dish (good, but can't remember preparation).

Great flavors and can't beat the prices either. Decor was a pleasant shock compared to its strip mall exterior...

[phatbastard]

The photos are absolutely stunning, Jason. You're becoming quite the food photographer!

Oh how I wish I was a New Jersy-er/New Yorker. :(

Edited February 23, 2005 by phatbastard (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Finally made it here after a few weeks and liked it a LOT...only real disappointments were the panstickers, the giant egg roll, and their ice creams.  Probably just need tweaking...

We loved the XO rice, sashimi salad, rainbow beef and a noodle dish (good, but can't remember preparation). 

Great flavors and can't beat the prices either.  Decor was a pleasant shock compared to its strip mall exterior...

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Yeah, I didn't think the giant eggroll was particularly exceptional either. My favorite of the fried appetizers is clearly the Wontons with the cumin/citrus/tamarind sauce. The Panstickers themselves are quite good, but the accompanying dipping sauce is uninteresting, its your basic soy/vinegar sauce with scallions and sesame oil. I found that the Wonton dipping sauce actually was a better accompaniment for them (and actually, I felt it went great with the fried calamari as well), but its unlikely you'd end up ordering both appetizers at the same time, unless you were among a group of say 4-6 people.

[Lutece]

Thats an area that can certainly use a decent Asian restaurant. I'll have to check it out.

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We live in this area too and are forever looking for great asian food. Our fave being Thai house in Nyack for that, Wasabi for Japanese in Nyack, Henry's place in Ridgewood for good Chinese and a few great Vietnamese and Malasian places throughout NYC.

Having read your review off we went to Ginger and Spice for just lunch. I agree the wonton soup was good, but Henry's wontons are better, the menu needed more vegetable dishes I think, the dumplings were filled with pork , would have been better with less pork and more veggies or a combo. The noodles and chicken dish to us, was oversalted and the curry sauce just was not evident at all. We love curry too.

We complained and he took it back and gave us Pad Thai instead. This was better but nothing outstanding. Based on your pix , we will go back again for dinner and order differently. The atmosphere was nice, the service was great they are very nice people and I hope they take this criticism constructively and improve on a few things for us very picky foodies. I'm new to this and am glad to be here. I love all your posts

[Jason Perlow]

for those of you who missed the writeup:

Ginger; Spice and Flat-Panel TVs

[Dgw]

Hello to all!!!

My name is Doron Wong Chef at Ginger and Spice in Ramsey. I would like to thank everyone that has written great things about us, thanks for all the support!!!

We have been open for 2 months now and it has been hard work working out all the kinks in the restaurant. We take everyone's opinions very constructively to improve us and serve you better, please keep it coming!!

We will be undergoing Mid-Spring menu changes in two weeks, for myself this is the most exciting season of the year...english peas, artichokes, rhubarb, soft shell crabs...list goes on...

So stop on by as we will be running previews as specials!!!!