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Affordable Fine Dining with a Tasting Menu in NYC

If you’re looking for a world-class dining experience in New York, you might learn about the price tag and want to curl up in a ball. Never fear: multi course tasting menus are here! Restaurants with excellent pedigrees, such as those listed below, offer lower priced, prix fixe deals for interested diners, whether those options are offered at lunch or in a lounge or bar area. What could be better? Getting to enjoy some of the best food in the city—perfectly poached skate, beef cheek mosaic, grape gelato—for less. Find below a range of prices for tasting menus at 6 creme-de-la-creme restaurants. Whether you're looking for an impressive wine list, succulent plates such as pork belly or black truffle, or wanting some seriously delicious ice cream a la carte, the affordable tasting menus are these hot spots will get the job done.

NYC Tasting Menus: Rouge Tomate Chelsea

Rouge Tomate

At the newly reopened Rouge Tomate, fresh and sustainable ingredients lead the way throughout the diverse tasting menu. For $85, you’ll have six petite courses, with an amuse bouche to start. On the current spring menu, the courses are packed with fresh flavor, from the bright yuzu on the walu crudo, to uni with rutabaga and grapefruit, to the halibut with spring peas and enoki mushrooms. With reclaimed wood throughout the space and a living plant wall, the non-stuffy atmosphere puts you right at home even as you’re sampling some of the finest food in the city. (Note: if you’d like wine pairings with your meal, it’s $65 extra.) 126 W. 18th St., 646-395-3978, rougetomatechelsea.com

NYC Tasting Menus: Daniel

Daniel

For many, Daniel is the first name in NYC fine dining. This Upper East Side institution, helmed by Chef Daniel Boulud, executes every detail with excellence. The tasting menu at Daniel, rotating seasonally, brings the best of the menu to the fore. Each piece will be plated like a miniature sculpture (beef cheek “mosaic,” anyone?), and the flavors of the veal tenderloin with chestnuts and sweetbreads will stick with you long after your plate is clean. These seven courses cost $234, with optional wine pairings for $135 or $225. If that’s a little too steep, try dishes a la carte in the bar/lounge, where you can enjoy more reasonably priced apps and entrees. 60 E. 65th St., 212-288-0033, danielnyc.com

NYC Tasting Menus: Satsuki

Satsuki

One Japanese tasting menu getting a lot of play in New York restaurants is omakase. Omakase is a chef-selected meal of sushi, sashimi, and other dishes and a typical feature of upscale sushi restaurants like Satsuki, the 10-seat sushi bar within Michelin-starred newcomer Suzuki. The bar is helmed by Chefs Kentaro Sawada and Toshio Suzuki, who curate exquisite omakase inside shells, tiny ceramic boxes, and atop deep-red plates, all with perfectly balanced flavors and tender, fresh fish. Satsuki offers only two menu options: a sushi-only omakase for $130, or a fuller menu with an appetizer, sashimi, and dessert for $250. Book a table now; there are only 10 seats! (You'll find a full dining room and an equally transportive selection of set meals at Suzuki as well.) 114 W. 47th St, 212-278-0047, suzukinyc.com/satsuki

NYC Tasting Menus: Le Bernardin

Le Bernardin

Le Bernardin ranks among the finest Manhattan restaurants and is renowned worldwide for Chef Eric Ripert’s innovative cuisine. The restaurant is decked with three Michelin stars, rave reviews from publications like, and a consistently full dining room to prove their mettle. Le Bernardin’s is a menu full of prix-fixe options and tasting menus, but we’ll highlight the most affordable. Enjoy their City Harvest in the lounge for $57, or come for lunch and have a tasting menu for $90 per person. You’ll enjoy delicate preparations of skate with papaya, lobster, and cardamom, as well as golden imperial caviar! 787 Seventh Ave., 212-554-1515, le-bernardin.com

NYC Tasting Menus: Jean-Georges

Jean Georges

Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has placed his stake firmly in the ground at the southwest corner of Central Park with the exquisite Jean-Georges. This refined, peaceful dining room is the perfect place for a two-Michelin-star lunch, which will run you around $52 on the pre-fixe menu. The seasonal menu, culled from sustainable sources, rotates frequently, but we’re sure you can find the popular tuna ribbons with ginger marinade and egg topped with caviar (that one will bump up your bill though!). 1 Central Park West, 212-299-3900, jean-georgesrestaurant.com

NYC Tasting Menus: The Modern

The Modern

The floor-to-ceiling windows at The Modern look onto the Museum of Modern Art’s sculpture garden. At the Kitchen Table section of the dining room, you’ll watch the chefs prepare your food from the tasting menu right before your eyes. At noon, the lunch tasting menu is $188 per person. The tasting menu rotates, but favorites like the foie gras tart might show up. Or perhaps the roasted lamb saddle with fairy tale eggplant and sheep’s milk yogurt might appear, or the grilled lobster with ginger-braised fennel and sweet caramelized nectarine. 9 W. 53rd St, 212-333-1220, themodernnyc.com

About the Author

Merrill Lee Girardeau lives and writes in Brooklyn.

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