High Chai Tea Room

Tried this Lower East Side Russian style restaurant for the second time tonight. Tea infused vodka, and marTEAnis are their specialy, along with regular tea served "Russian Style," highly concentrated tea is mixed with hot water out of a samovar, a metal tank used for keeping water hot. My favorite tea was chocolate tea, had the flavor of chocolate, but suprisingly lacked the watery quality of badly done hot chocolate.

Monday through Thursday, they have happy hour, two drinks for the price of one. I decided to take the opportunity and sample what they had to offer. The rose petal martini was well done, they managed to get the flavor of roses, without too much sweetness. For my second drink I was seduced by the chilli margarita. It certainly packed a punch spicewise, and I would not recomend it for those who can't take heat.

Food was okay, but came in second to the drinks. The "wild mushroom julienne in a pastry shell" seemed to have been made with mushrooms of the canned variety." They ran out of pastry shells during the meal, but I was fortunate to get one. The salmon with lentils was well done, and the highlight of the meal. For dessert they were out of the lychee wontons I wanted to try, so I ended up with essentially a chocolate, chai brownie. It wasn't bad, but I can get a fancy chocolate desert anywhere in the city.