April 9th 2013: Dinner at GEM Restaurant and Lounge, Boston

Today after work, I decided to have dinner with my friend at GEM Restaurant and Lounge, located in downtown Boston.

This place on Province Street is pretty upscale, and the decor in the dining area was simply lovely.

The menu itself was pretty small, and not much of it seemed to stand out to me, but as I had $60 to spend here, I decided to get several appetizers instead, which turned out all to be excellent choices, namely the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Soup (Rye Croutons, Pumpkinseed Oil, Brown Sage), the Scallops (they were out of shrimp) and Grits (White Grits, Scallops, Bacon Lardons, Pickled Watermelon), the Handmade Ricotta Gnudi (Hon Shimeji Mushrooms, Cognac, Truffle), and the Tuna Sashimi Sandwich (Sesame, Avocado, Cucumber, Sweet Soy Mayo) with House Fries. 

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Soup

Handmade Ricotta Gnudi

Scallops and Grits

Tuna Sashimi Sandwich

I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin, but the soup was extremely well made, with the slight saltiness taking away most of the pumpkin flavor which I don't really like, making it really tasty and wholesome as a result. The scallops weren't too bad as well, and the pickled watermelon and mushrooms made the gnudi simply marvelous to the taste. I would never expect tuna sashimi in a sandwich, but this place made me rethink that as the sandwich was simply delectable, alongside the fries which went really well with the horseradish mayo sauce that came with it.

That was not the end though. With money to spare, we decided to go for the dessert, getting the Ricotta Fritters with Passion Fruit Curd and Chocolate Sauce for dips. I thought the fritters would be shaped like fries, but they turned out to be quite big and round.

I wasn't as much a fan of the chocolate sauce, but the passion fruit dip was pretty good, while the fritters themselves tasted like McDonald's apple pies. Pretty good overall, and we were extremely full by the end.

Overall, definitely an extremely good experience here, near the top of my list in Boston.