I had Café Noir, a Mediterranean restaurant located in TriBeCa on my list and we decided to go there after an event at Jodi's school. We arrived there after 9pm and, surprisingly, the restaurant was not packed. Yes, I was surprised considering how crowded all the other restaurants were on a Friday night. 

I like the decor at Café Noir, very bistro, but with a Mediterranean touch, and was pleased to see that the lights were not too dim when we arrived, until ten minutes later, when the darkness filled the room. Yes, I like to see what I eat on top of the difficulty to take good photos without flash. 

The menu there is Mediterranean, with a variety of dishes from Europe and North Africa, such as the squid ink paella or the couscous. After ordering, our waiter asked us if we wanted some bread that took a while to come: that was a sign, the kitchen being very slow...

We decided to share few dishes. First was a fantastic warm goat cheese, topped with rosemary and honey and served with grilled bread. 

This is definitely a dish I recommend If you like goat cheese. Not only did the pairing with honey work perfectly, adding some nice sweetness to the dishes, but I also love the fact that the two main components melted and mixed, giving an incredible taste. 

We also shared a small salad, served with white anchovies, that had nothing to rave about, but gave us good conscience, being probably the only healthy dish on the table. 

Next was the Mediterranean mezze. It was composed of marinated artichokes with grilled peppers and olives, quinoa tabbouleh, tomato marmalade, eggplant purée, mint feta yogurt and house made garlic flatbread. 

We really thought, based on the description on the menu, that there would be a nice amount of food: we were wrong! It is definitely overpriced, for a dish that I definitely would not recommend, but it was nothing compared to the Café Noir couscous that was for sure not worth $28. 

I mean, it had one house made merguez sausage, three pieces of chicken the size of my pinky, and a very negligible amount of lamb. Although I liked the semolina and chickpeas, I thought the veggies were bland. So disappointing...

We did not order dessert, not wanting to stay another hour there. So, no, I would probably not go back at Café Noir, finding the food expensive and not that great. I think there are much better options in TriBeCa, like Petrarca, The Odeon or Da Mikele by Luzzo's. 

Enjoy (...)!

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