Asana at the Mandarin Hotel - A First Look

After touring the new Mandarin Hotel last week and reviewing the menus at their restaurant, Asana, I couldn't wait to try it.

Yesterday Ed and I stopped in for brunch. We were both in the mood for breakfast food, but there were plenty of menu options if one of us had decided to have lunch instead.

I had the Brioche French Toast with blueberries and added a side of crispy bacon.  While it sounds as if it could be a heavy version of the classic dish, it was quite the opposite. This French Toast almost floated off the plate.

Thin slices of brioche (with the crust removed) were lightly dipped in the egg mixture and cooked to perfection. Small jars of maple syrup were offered in addition to the blueberries. And, I just now realized that no butter was presented and I never missed it. The buttery flavor was already baked into the dish.

Ed tried the traditional Eggs Benedict. These were served with asparagus and tomato garnish and a potato pancake. His eggs were perfectly poached, and we both enjoyed the sides on his dish.

Our expectation for service and ambiance was high because these are Mandarin trademarks.  We were not disappointed. We were pampered by a team of servers. A small wobble in our table was immediately addressed and carefully corrected. Water and coffee were kept topped up. All questions were answered.

The dinnerware, cutlery, serving pieces and linens were lovely and added to the experience. (I've already located a source for the slanted bowl that contained my blueberries. It will make a great food photography prop.)

The room is comfortable with serene touches throughout. The music was low and soothing. This was a calming place to spend a bit of time at the end of a troubling week.

I hope that when the lounge end of the room is full, you can still enjoy the dining area. With the two sharing a very open setting, there may be a very different feel to the dining room when the lounge is busy. But, I won't prejudge that and maybe the "total scene" that has been reported in the lounge since the opening will change in time.

We will go back and try other meals on the dining side and if the bar area settles down, we'd love to try that as well. There is a great selection of items on the special bar menu. But, we were assured we could order anything from the dining room menu at the bar.

Here is a post about Asana I added to Chowhound.com's Boston board earlier last week.

"A most gracious staff member gave me a tour on Tuesday and showed me the menus for all three meals. Many tempting items and concepts. They have a number of themed Bento Boxes. That should be fun. It was clearly high end on the pricing.

It is a lovely room but what caught my attention was described as "the chef's pride and joy" – a cheese cave in the center of the room, made of glass. My guide even cracked the door a tad so that the lovely aromas could tempt me.

The menus will be on line soon-- they are just working out final details.

They will be open for the holidays and will announce those menus as soon as possible. Again, the chef is just finalizing them.

I think that between L'Espalier's expanded cheese cart (and the new salon where you can just have cheese if you wish) and this glass cave, the Mandarin complex may become "Cheese Central" for Bostonians. Now, if they could just find a space for a Formaggio Kitchen branch, life would be sublime."

Details:

Asana
Mandarin Hotel
776 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/boston/dining/asana/

Other Opinions:

Not much on Chowhound.com at the moment but here is one thread that may gather additional comments.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/562932

No Yelp on Asana but here is one on the M lounge and Bar.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/m-bar-and-lounge-boston