Tremont647, Boston

I've never heard of pork momos before. Turns out they are small pork buns fried to a chimichanga level of crispiness served with hot sauce and soy. They're also damn tasty.

Next up was huervos rancheros, a dish I've had many times but never as nice as here. Tender steak, perfect fried eggs, gently tomato-y rice.

Overall breakfast was so good I booked to come back later in the week for the chef's 5 course tasting menu, one of those surprise affairs where they ask if you have any allergies but otherwise you get what you're given. In my case that meant another momo as an amuse and the fried Brussel sprouts as a first course.

Next up is Tremont's take on the Boston classic: the lobster roll. Lobster is mixed with corn then wrapped in a fried pastry cone. I could have eaten a half dozen of these. So could you. You should fly to Boston now and eat these until you're sick. Yes, they're that good.

Hake is served topped with gently curling bonito on a bed of fragrant rice and sweet peas (plus a single, possibly rogue, green bean.) I'm starting to think that Tremont647 has a degree of expertise with Asian cuisine that most placed in Chinatown
would kill for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I love an open kitchen and this place offers great drama in that respect. With just four chefs serving what I guess is approaching 60 covers (bar included) the kitchen is busy and gusts of flame attract the eyes (as do the funky serving staff congregating at the pass).

The last main course was a Bit less successful. Hanger steak on a spicy Lady of Guadalupe sauce was excellent. I was less keen that the dish, like the earlier lobster one, relied heavily on corn. And I was surprised at the inclusion of a blue cheese tater tot since I'd indicated at the start that the only thing I didn't eat was stinky cheese and I specifically said "nothing blue".

And that's the one issue I'd take with Tremont647. That it's undeniably high energy seems to translate to a degree of sloppiness. At breakfast they got my cheque wrong. Twice. At dinner they served me the one thing I asked them to avoid. Oh, it's not put me off. It's a lovely neighbourhood restaurant and I'll eat here again. But I'll expect them to fuck something up and that's a shame.

Dessert is pot de creme. I'm told that it's cream on top then "a couple spoonfuls down" I'll encounter salt and then butterscotch creme. In fact the salt is on top of the cream next to a mint leaf and delicious chocolate cookie. Overall the dish is really more-ish which is lucky since it's a epically generous dessert to end a five (+1) course meal.

So ok, Tremont647 is not perfectly polished. But if it was I suspect it would not be Tremont647. And, almost certainly, they would not be serving a menu this creative, generous and adventurous at just $45 for five courses. Heck, when I think about how little I paid here for how much talent and quality I wish I'd eaten here every night on this Boston trip.

(The author would like to note that although he was hit on during the course of this meal it did not in anyway affect his review.)

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