British Empire meets Southeast Asia
fusion of British, Indian & Southeast Asian
http://doublecrown-nyc.com/
316 Bowery at Bleeker – Bowery

The theme is ‘British Empire,’ the decor is ‘NYC meets India’ and the crowd has a distinct Hipster vibe. The food is quite good. This is a part of the Employees Only group which includes Public (Michelin Star), Macao Trading Co. (Portuguese/ Chinese), Employees Only and East Side Social Club.  All of them are very creative and offer both excellent food and FINE cocktails. One thing we were NOT a fan of (but could be if looking to get loaded) was the DIY Bloody Mary Bar (pictured below). Yes, you make your own and there is a prix fixe with all you can drink. Since you can control your portions it could be a deadly way to start your day. We have had late night snacks and drinks here as well. I would say I prefer the bar area to the dining room – grab the seats at the bar that face into the dining room.

Oh, and GET THE PRAWNS! Spring for the full pint. They deep fry the heads to crispy perfection and the shrimp is served ice cold with a delicious dipping sauce.

HALF PINT OF PRAWNS 12

MENU:
THE DOUBLE CROWN BLOODY
Tito’s Vodka, tomato, horseradish, lemon, lime, cilantro, pepper 9
LIONSHEAD PILS
Wilkes-Barre, PA 7

MACKEREL AND GREEN APPLE SALADboiled egg, watercress, lime pickle dressing 10

CORNED BEEF WITH CURRIED POTATOES poached egg, hollandaise, watercress 14

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7/29/11 – The menu format has changed since our last visit as has the logo! Apparently people didn’t get British Empire/Indian/Southeast Asian, so now it is just simply Asian fusion.  The elephants are gone from the logo as well.  The other bummer is those awesome prawns in a pint jar are gone too.  However, the food is still quite solid even though I feel like the whole Asian fusion thing is so over.

We had clients  to entertain with work and it was week two of restaurant week.  Since we found out Friday and needed rezzies for Monday, I had a really hard time finding anywhere ‘hot’ to book for 7:30pm!  But lo and behold, there was Double Crown offering 1,000 point Open Table seats at 7:30?!  So I pounced on it knowing the Employees Only group would not let us down.  My boss likes to keep the food and bottles of wine flowing while entertaining guests, so we tried a good bit of the menu and did shared plates for the table.  Only one dish failed. The mussels were bad.  Of course they were, it was Monday.  Only two of us noticed but didn’t stop the group from continuing.  Hope everybody felt OK later.  The chili coconut broth was delicious so maybe they just didn’t pick it up.

Cocktails:
CUCUMBER, APPLE AND ELDERFLOWER TALL
ZU BISON GRASS VODKA, ORGANIC APPLE, ST. GERMAIN ELDERFLOWER, CUCUMBER 12
SCENTED GRAPEFRUIT COLLINS
BELVEDERE PINK GRAPEFRUIT VODKA, CAMPARI, EARL GREY SYRUP, FRESH MINT, LEMON, SODA 12

Snacks:
DUCK STEAMED BUNS
with hoisin sauce 10
CRISPY PORK BELLY
with chili caramel and cucumber 9
SALT & PEPPER SQUID
with green chili dipping sauce 11

Starters:
YELLOWTAIL SASHIMI
with cucumber, hijiki, citrus-truffle dressing 12
SEARED SCALLOPS
with cashew-chili relish and watercress 14.5
STEAMED MUSSELS
with Tiger beer, chili and coconut 12

Fish & Vegetarian:
BUTTERNUT SQUASH CURRY
with grilled flat bread and snake bean salad 19
PAN-SEARED COD
with prawn gyoza, sesame broth, and bok choy 29

Meat:
BIG BRAISED SHORT RIB (FOR TWO)
Guinness and five spice sauce with truffled Asian mushroom salad 44

I will add that the decor is still a stunner and they have added a bar in the back called Madam Geneva.  It is also gorgeous and serves Asian bites but the specialty alcohol is Gin.  It’s worth a stop.