After visiting the vast Cézanne Drawing exhibition at M0MA, we headed to lunch in the area. This show, open through September 25, consists of more than 250 rarely shown works in addition to some of Paul Cézanne’s paintings.

After the museum, we headed a few blocks to wagamama, the Asian chain from London, with consistently good service and food. I hadn’t yet tried this Midtown location as it opened right before the city closed for the pandemic.

Their crispy wok-fried bang bang cauliflower ($8) coated in firecracker sauce is one of my favorites. I also like their steamed, then grilled, pork dumplings (gyoza) with a soy sauce-based dipping sauce (five for $8).

The steak bulgogi came with soba noodles bulgogi sauce, kimchi, a tea-stained egg and some, sadly burnt, miso fried eggplant ($18). I did like that the meat came medium-rare as we requested (although it doesn’t look so in the photo!).

Their decadent layered chocolate cake comes filled with dark chocolate and hazelnut creams then trickled with wasabi and chocolate drizzle and accompanied by vanilla ice cream.

Both the retrospective and restaurant are worth visiting!

wagamama
100 West 55 Street
New York, New York 10019
332- 900-6111
www.wagamama.us/