It’s Friday evening in Manhattan and you want to be at Shukette. Perched up at the curved counter, where everyone and everything looks extra gorgeous in the soft glow of candy-stripe globe lamps. The room is buzzing with laughter and chatter, with small plates and big flavors arrayed before you. It feels like New York is back. And you are back in the middle of it.
In the open kitchen, chefs are hard at work frying puffy laffa bread (part of a dedicated bread programme) in cast iron skillets, ready to be smeared through creamy, tahini-y humus. Saucers are swirled with preserved lemon labneh, topped with tuna meatballs. Hot fries clatter as they are shaken with shawarma spices. Olives are scattered over crispy skate, almonds over jewelled rice.
A huge grill anchors the kitchen, bringing char and smoke to joojeh chicken, marinated in saffron yogurt, whole fish cooked (and presented) in a cage alongside herby pistou, and kebabs are served with hot whole wheat pitas.
The ever-changing, highly seasonal menu means there is always a surprise to look forward to. Last week, fried squash blossoms. This week, beet moutabal, the vivid pink scattered with dramatic black nigella seeds. Give in to seize-the-day (over) ordering. Get the roasted Delicata squash with hot honey and mint, AND the chicory with grapes and spiced pumpkin seeds, now, while you can.
Each plate of bold, happy food sings with herbs and citrus, pops with spice and salt. For every hot there’s a cool, for every creamy, there’s a crunchy. Chef and partner Ayesha Nurdjaja stands at the far end of the kitchen, overseeing the menu that she spent much of lockdown imagining, as the pandemic delayed Shukette’s opening. Fans of Shuka will recognize a strong connection between the two restaurants, though, down in Soho, Nurdjaja was operating out of a basement and Shukette, open and vivid in every sense, is the exact opposite of a basement.
Finish your meal with a tahini soft-serve oat milk ice cream, with candied (seasonal) butternut, hazelnuts and a gentle snow of halva floss. And don’t miss the effervescent gazoz – spritzes made with seasonal fruit and herb infusions and sparkling wine – though you really can’t miss them, as they’re gorgeously garnished with a dramatic bouquet of herbs.
Reviewed by Katherine Knowles
