T.W. Food

Once I saw that TW Food scheduled a sake special night, I immediately made our reservation and we were not disappointed. The dishes were very competitive with Japanese originals albeit with a distinctly European touch. First of all, the dinner was outstanding and the sakes served were surprisingly good. Some pairings were less than ideal. The selection was too biased towards Western Japan. Niigata was missing. I would have put the sparkling sake at the beginning, not the end. Finally, the least successful combination was «goat’s milk cheese curds, black sugar, rhubarb, dandelion» which hopelessly overpowered the daiginjo pairing. — The value was very good so. I have never seen such generous serving sizes. Next time (I hope it will happen), I won’t drive, because driving home would have been irresponsible.

This was my fourth time at TW foods and at this point my husband and I have experienced the truffle themed night, grand tasting, kitchen improv, and wine series. Despite its modest size, TW produced food of quality, taste and creativity of a Michelin starred restaurant at a very reasonable price. The service and wine pairing has been consistently good and I look forward to my next experience at TW. Keep up the awesome work!!!

Really love this place, it’s pretty much my favorite restaurant in the boston area. The food is top notch and rarely disappoints. I love that the menu changes frequently and the pricing is reasonable in my opinion for the quality of the food you’re getting. The dining rooms is small and cozy, great ambience. The service is always attentive yet not too pushy or too present. Last time my wife and I were there we commented on how if we were ever to open a restaurant ourselves we would duplicate everything at TW food, from the food to the flower vases on the table.

Great restaurant. Got amazed by its honey butter for bread

We went for the restaurant week 3-​course dinner. I was really looking forward to it cuz many of my friends have had a great experience at T.W. Food for restaurant week. However, our overall experience was quite disappointing.
The best part of the food was probably the sour dough bread and the honey butter with sea salt that came with it. We had cod and beef short rib for the main. The cod was okay, but the short rib was pretty dry. For dessert, the chocolate pudding tasted really cheap… couldn’t finish it.
We heard a waitress say that they changed a new chef. Probably that’s why. :(

I came here during Boston restaurant week. I think it is a good-​to-​try place but I don’t think I would come back.
Bread and butter: I think the bread is ok. The side is a bit hard. The best is the honey butter with sea salt. I ordered more bread just to eat the butter.
Pork Rillettes: this is ok. The combination tastes interesting. The worst is the broccoli. I feel that it tastes super dry, like dried vegetables.
Beef shortrib: it is different than what I expected. It’s like they used the pulled short rib meat to make a patty and pan seared it. The meat tastes flavorful and the outside is crispy. They had bone marrow which I thought was vegetables. The only thing I wish is that maybe they should add more sauce.
ICE: they give you three types of ice products (ice cream, froyo and sorbet) the chocolate toffee ice cream is the worst ice cream I’ve ever had. It is super salty for some reason, and I can’t even finish it.
Occasionally, they give you some tiny finger food to try. The table is definitely interesting as they have heating or AC right underneath the table. I can feel the heat in the beginning and cool wind at the end. It’s easy to find street parking on Friday night and it’s easy to find a table on Friday night too.
In general the food portion here is small, the flavor is ok and definitely interesting, and the service is ok. I feel super full after the meal because of all the bread and water.

3 course restaurant week dinner. Great service & food (oysters, skate & cheese) on a rainy night. Consistent as always.

Restaurant week 2016. I had been to T. W food for many times, but this time makes me so disappointed. The taste is awful!!! I doubt they change the chef, when I ask, it really does. That’s why the food is sooooo bad…

I am so disappoint for restaurants week of «T W Food» this year. I ordered the «seared foie gras» that is totally raw inside. Outside is crisp that is good. White cream on the side. Also, Cream and foie gras are not match, seem like a little bit low class.
Main course, I ordered beef short rib that is so salty but the sauce is ok. Also, this is my first time to eat beef with little bean (I don’t know what is that).
Dessert, I ordered Ascutney mountain that I most disappointed it. It is a piece of bread at the bottom, cheese at the middle and burnt cabbage on the top. Firstly, I don’t think this is a dessert. It should be a appetizer. Secondly, the cabbage taste so burnt and it don’t match.
Finally, I asked the waitress, are you change a chef? She said yes. Omg. So disappoint it.

The tasting menu changes every day, but based on just one sitting I’m sure it’s great almost every day.
Go here for a great meal at a quiet place that you will want to tell friends about
The wine tasting wasn’t great, and I would recommend sticking with the wine list.

I really don’t understand 4 star for this place.
Food is overpriced, and portion hare small. A first course of gnocchi had literally 7 gnocchi and the sword This course had two chunk of fish.
I m Italian, I don’t mind paying for good food, but this is not the case.
It is way overpriced ($ 17 for a salad).
You can find better quality elsewhere.

Went on Tuesday night for their 4 course meal with 4 wine pairings. Great meal and value. The pairings were excellent (and the wine portion very generous: D)!
However, if you are vegetarian, I wouldn’t recommend the tasting menu. As the whole table had to do the tasting menu, one of us was designated the vegetarian taster. Not a filling course and we ended up sharing ours around (which actually was plentiful).
Also, the house sourdough bread with their house made butter — absolutely delicious. I could eat that for dinner and be happy.

Luscious food in an impossibly loud room. Lovely service, small but interesting tastes both prix fixe and a la carte choices– but the noise made it totally unpleasant to speak to someone even across the table. We will never return.

Just had a delightful Sunday brunch at TW. The food was excellent. we had a party of 6, and 1, everyone loved what they ordered, 2, everyone’s food came out together, 3, the service was warm, friendly, and very professional. It is a charming space. I can’t wait co return and try it for dinner.

delicious food, great ambiance, welcoming service.
I got the the tagliatelle with wild mushrooms which was absolutely divine. It was actually on the tasting menu but they offered to make It entrée size for me, which I really appreciated. Appetizers and deserts were also great!
Very small place which creates a nice atmosphere but be sure to make a reservation, it fills up.

The food was good, but not special. The portions were so tiny, that I left the restaurant very hungry even after the 3-​course prix fixe menu meal.
It’s not worth the money.

Don’t just go here to eat, go to take some time to experience food.
We had an excellent dinner with interesting taste combinations. The waitstaff happily provide good recommendations on which choices would go best with both what were were drinking and what we were interested in. The chefs kept an eagle eye on our table and had our next course ready and on point a minute or two after we had finished the previous one at a leisurely pace.
We asked a little bit more about how they made something or other and the waiter (the waiter, good job man!) explained both the preparation in DETAIL along with the selection of ingredients and some of the experimentation that they had been doing to make the dish better. (or at least a different and more directed form of perfect.)

Went in a Tuesday for the four course menu with wine. Service was ok. Expected the server to know more about the wine and pay attention to water and bread at the table, and when we were or were not finished with a course. Wasn’t as impressed as the reputation suggests.

Other reviews have talked a lot about the food, so I’ll skip that part. The food was really, really good.
When we were seated, we immediately noticed that an AC vent in the floor was aimed right at us. My BF tried putting a napkin over the vent to block the draft and a waitress quickly came over and offered to cover the vent for us. She came out a minute later with a purpose made magnetic cover for the vent. It was a really thoughtful gesture.
This is going to sound a little crazy, but… the handsoap in the restroom was extremely fragrant. It smelled good and in other situations it would be nice, but it actually detracted from the meal, because the smell stayed on your hands and was distracting.

A short review, but when everything is perfect, there isn’t much to talk about. I haven’t found anything better in the city of Boston. Don’t change a thing!
FYI– The wine pairing pours are very generous. Don’t expect to drive yourself home.

RESTAURANT WEEK 2015 –
I love the pricing for RW but I feel like I ruin good restaurants by limiting myself to certain things off the prix fixe. Did the dinner 3 course ($ 38) w/​wine pairings for 2 courses ($ 18) so it was a decent deal.
Sourdough bread and butters were good. Easy to love bread though. Started us off with an amuse bouche of a spoonful of beet salad that wasn’t memorable.
1^st course. I had mussels in a Thai style broth that were made really well with pretty fresh mussels. Friend had the charcuterie of duck liver mousse and and really interesting looking pickled strawberries. Small portions but he seemed to enjoy it.
2^nd course. Duck confit leg for me and beef ($ 8 supplement) for him. The duck leg was good but I got spoiled by the best duck ever recently so I’m writing this review super biased. Oops. The skin was crispy but there wasn’t much substance to it. You’d think the panzanella salad would make up for substance but it was just gross. The bread soaked up all the really, really acidic dressing so the taste of sour tomatoes was overpowering. Comments on the beef were that it was one of the best cooked steaks ever, but very stringy and chewy. Still tasty though.
Dessert. I had the Budino dark chocolate custard and he had the panna cotta. Go with the chocolate custard. So good!
The restaurant was a little stuffy, even for a RW restaurant, although the servers were attentive, knowledgeable, and nice. Ultra fancy French vibe but the food and flavors didn’t match.

Came here for restaurant week. Made a reservation for 6:15 however class ended early so my gf and I showed up around 5:30 and we were sat immediately with no problems.
Initial thoughts on the inside was that it was a quaint little place. If you want me to nit pick it looks like an old persons restaurant lol
I got the cream of tomato soup, lasagna and budino for dessert. My gf got mussels in green curry, duck confit, panna cotta to finish. The meal started off with house made sour dough bread served with regular butter and a green onion butter. Super delicious we gobbled it down and they didn’t hesitate to bring us more bread. Also, they brought us a small sample of a beet salad that was also delicious.
The soup was a well balanced soup. Nothing too crazy. The chorizo was a nice touch and the butter crackers inside of them have a nice contrast of textures. My gf’s muscles were well cooked and the green curry sauce had a nice flavor to it.
The lasagna came out next and it was a deconstructed sort of take to it. Honestly, when it came out I was a little bummed out cause it looked so tiny. Then I took a bite. Amazingly good flavor to it. The sauce was a bolognese and usually when I get bolognese at any other restaurant I compare it to hamburger helper. Definitely not here, it was ridiculously good. Looking back it was a great portion size as any larger and it might have left me in a food coma. My gf’s duck confit was cooked to a perfect temperature and all the light vegetables complimented the rich duck.
The only downside was my budino. A little too dark for my taste. Otherwise texture wise it was prepped well. If you’re a fan of dark chocolate you’d love it. My gf’s panna cotta was delectable. It had a basil syrup which sounds really weird but it worked so well with the dessert.
The service is what I wanna harp on the most. Super attentive and willing to make you feel welcome. My glass was empty for like 2 minutes before the wait staff came by to fill it up? I highly recommend this place and it’s been one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

As part of DineOut Boston last night, we did the 3 course dinner at TW Food. We made a reservation ~2 weeks in advance because we heard the restaurant was small (seats around 30 people) and could get booked quickly on the weekends. We drove into Cambridge from Boston and were able to conveniently park on the street close to the restaurant. We arrived a little before our reservation and were still seated promptly. The waiter was amiable and quickly brought us bread and gave us the perfect amount of time to look over the menu and place an order. The sourdough bread was warm and fresh; it came with green onion butter as well as a plain butter, both with sea salt. There was a bit too much sea salt on the butter for our liking; it overwhelmed the taste of butter.
For the 3 course meals, we ordered the salad/​seared blue filet/​chocolate almond custard and the liver mousse charcuterie/​duck confit leg/​chocolate almond custard. The salad was dressed in a tzatziki mixture with tomatoes, fried capers, and eggplant. The seared blue fish was perfectly cooked; the top had a great crunch but the fish was still juicy and flaked apart easily. It was served with a green bean salad and a corn/​mushroom purée. The liver mousse charcuterie was very smooth and came with bitter strawberries as well as 2 pieces of crostini. The duck was cooked wonderfully and came with panzanella and tomatoes. The chocolate custard had chopped almonds and sea salt on top of it; it had a rich and dark chocolate taste. All dishes were plated to perfection!
The quality and server experience was similar to Deuxave or Mistral in Back Bay. Nothing to complain about for food over server. However, TW Food does not earn more than 4 stars because of its lack of décor and simple interior. The walls seemed very bare; although the atmosphere was fine, it was nothing spectacular that «wowed» you.
Undecided if we would come back for the normal grand tasting menu and wine pairing. Pricing is lower than other tasting menus/​wine pairings in the Boston/​Cambridge area, but would enjoy an experience like this more at a restaurant that has fine décor to give an «elaborate» environment.

My friend and I went to T.W. Food last night during restaurant week. This was my third visit and I was not disappointed.
After the bread with green onion butter and the amuse bouche of an exquisite beet salad, I had the charcuterie of duck pâté and pickled green strawberries. Who ever heard of pickled green strawberries? This is what I love about T.W.Food — full of delicious surprises. The strawberries were great and so was the smooth and creamy pâté served with toast points.
For my main course, I had the linguini with grilled vegetables and poached egg. It was good, but not great. Dessert was sweet corn panna cotta with saffron. This seemed like a bit of a stretch, but it was light and delicious. I highly recommend this dessert.
Since it was restaurant week, the set menu price was $ 38, well worth it for this extraordinary food. The service was excellent. Our server was very good at describing each dish and getting a sense from us which one to recommend. That was really helpful. The ambiance is quiet and the room is lovely.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into via the exterior of this place but it was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had — their duck confit hash is absolutely amazing. Very well balanced and bursting with flavor. My girlfriend had the fried green tomatoes that were also quite impressive. Be sure to try the orange/​mango sparkling beverage, too. This place is very small, but it packs a huge punch!

Food was good! Duck Crème brûlée delicious.
Linguine was tasty!!!
A quiet, sedate atmosphere. Small and intimate place. Probably not what I was looking for atmosphere wise, but food was solid.
Beer and wine only.

My first visit to the Boston area and this was a wonderful welcome. I loved the quaint and intimate atmosphere and my taste buds loved the chefs tasting menu. Every dish was described by the server and the wine pairings were exceptional. Plus, the server was kind enough to write one down for me and give me a recommendation on a nearby cheese shop.
Overall, it was an exceptional experience!

What a gem!
This is a wonderfully harmonious environment, with exquisite food pairings and dessert options.
You can do the appetizer and main course combo for $ 55 per person or the grand tasting menu for 6 courses at$ 85. Call ahead to make sure it’s offered that day!
My friend and I had the most delicious crème brûlée foie gras accompanied by the most deliciously toasted bread I’ve had in ages. We also had the tuna crudo which was worth trying, but not as impressive as the foie gras.
As main courses we had cod which comes in a delicious tomato-​miso broth at the bottom, with perfect enoki mushrooms and shiso. The orecchiette was exquisitely flavorful! Lamb sugo, with peas and black garlic all to leave you very happy by the end of the meal.
Dessert was heavenly! If you would like something on the heavier side, the chocolate option with olive oil is highly recommended. I also tried the panna cotta which is summery and refreshing.
Wine? Yes there is a great list!
Ambiance: brick walls, restaurant seats about 25, excellent lighting (not too bright, not too dark) and great for dates or small family gatherings.
A must place for foodies!
Transportation: 20 min walk from Harvard square (red line + busses) and there is also street parking.

T.W. Food is located in the suburbs in Cambridge, MA. Upon entry, you have to pass through a thick cappuccino colored curtain. There’s a waiting area with a long couch, coffee table, and books. It looks as though they bought this one story house with a basement and renovated into a restaurant. It had a home-​y feel — cream colored walls, brick wall, large mirror, and framed art (some abstract and map). It’s a small restaurant with several tables for parties of 2 or 4, and of course larger parties upon request. It’s recommended to make a reservation through OpenTable or by phone. Each table had white tablecloth and accented with small floral centerpiece.
Tonight, my party of five came here for Dine In Boston, which served a three course meal (appetizer, entrée, and dessert) for $ 38. From the Restaurant Week menu, it seemed like a French Inspired American cuisine. Our table had a great view of the kitchen. It was a truly great experience to watch the chefs prepare our dishes. For drinks, we ordered a bottle of white wine — Sannio Falanghina, which was iced in a clear glass bucket on our table. It was light, citrus-​y, and refreshing. After placing our orders, our server gave us whole grain bread and sea salt butter and sea salt herbed butter. It was so good we kept asking for more bread. To start our meal, they gave us small bites including a mushroom ragout with pine nuts in a small spoon and cornmeal hush puppy with a light brown mayo sauce.
All of us ordered from the Restaurant Week menu:
Guest #1 ordered Arugula Salad, Chicken, and Strawberry Cremeux.
Guest #2 ordered Carrot Soup, Cod, and Strawberry Cremeux.
Guest #3 ordered Carrot Soup, Beef, and Chocolate Budino.
Guest #4 ordered Fried Clams, Orecchiette, and Strawberry Cremeux.
Guest #5 ordered Carrot Soup, Cod, and Strawberry Cremeux.
The Starters:
The Arugula Salad consisted of arugula, fennel purée, pickled fennel, almonds, and shaved cheese (tomme de savoie) tossed in a roasted onion vinaigrette and garnished with mini croutons made of fried bread. The Carrot Soup consisted of carrot, brown butter, and stock blended together and topped with fried capers, herbed yogurt, pumpernickel mousse, and thinly sliced carrots. It was delicious — thick in consistency, rich in flavor, and spiced in taste. The Fried Clams were served with creole remoulade, cherry peppers, and homemade pickled vegetables. It was flavorful and meant for people who love spicy foods.
The Main Entrees:
The Orecchiette consisted of meat from orecchiette, roasted leg of a lamb, chopped garlic, peas, and shredded pecorino in a homemade tomato and meat sauce. The Cod consisted of a pan-​seared cod served over a bed of wilted spring greens, whole roasted sunchoke (aka Jerusalem artichoke), and beet-​sake purée in a miso broth. It was light in terms of richness and seasoning. I didn’t like how the beet purée mixed into miso broth and felt that the miso broth was a bit on the salty side. The dish would have tasted better if it was served diced beets and more roasted sunchokes! The Chicken consisted of roasted, tender chicken with crispy skin, roasted baby leeks, parsnip purée, fiddlehead (aka young ferns) and radish ragout. The Beef was lightly seasoned, cooked to rare (as requested by the guest), served with charred mustards, new potato confit, and spring onions in sauce robert (brown mustard sauce).
The Desserts:
Two of our guests were disappointed that Panna Cotta (with honey and spring fruits) was sold out for the night and had to order something else. The Strawberry Cremeux consisted of cookie crumbs, strawberries, caramelized strawberry infused white chocolate, and lime meringues drizzled in red fruit jam. It was light and definitely one of the healthier options on the dessert menu. The Chocolate Budino consisted of warm melted chocolate topped with almond crumble, sea salt, and olive oil. It was rich and perfect for chocolate lovers.
With our desserts, we ordered coffee and tea — Ginger Lemon and Cloud Mist Green. The coffee came with a french press and the tea came with a teapot. Our server gave us a small piece of almond cake (similar to a Madeleine) to end our meal.

One thing is very clear — the reviews of T.W. Food are all over the place. I think I understand why.
First T.W. Food is a very small (in terms of operation and physical space) restaurant. In addition, the food, designed around a farm-​to-​table philosophy is constantly changing. Finally, with their recent accolades (Boston Magazine Best Restaurants 2014) — T.W. Food is drawing a diverse dining crowd.
All of this is to say — I enjoyed my experience at T.W. Food, but I noted a few areas for improvement. What worked about the food: the plating was thoughtful and defined in the traditional bistro style. The variety of dishes (at least for the evening that we dined) was diverse and paired wonderfully with the wine. And, perhaps most important, there seemed to be a really conscious effort to match food to the season (something I particularly enjoy). As for the wine pairings — the evening we dined focused on Malbec and featured very generous pours. The variety of Malbec wines was impressive — even though I would have loved to see more French Malbec’s featured (especially for a French bistro-​style restaurant).
Now for the part of the evening that didn’t work so well — T.W. Food is tapping into a higher end dining crowd. I bet the average bill runs over $ 200 (with many upwards of $ 300). At such a price point, I expect a more orchestrated and refined service. Instead, the wine served with each course (NB: our menu featured only 3-​courses and pairings) often came to the table poured and I was only shown the vintage once (in four pours). The dishes were timed in a staccato manner — with our meal speeding up and slowing down throughout the evening. Finally, the servers were rushed and spent little (to no) time explaining the dishes or describing the meal. It felt a bit like a «okay hurry up and eat — we have another table coming.»
My final thoughts: T.W. Food is a nice place. The food is burgeoning in development and refinement and the staff are working hard to find a pace that fits for the physical constraints and limitations of their space. It is also in need of some refinements. I should suspect that these refinements will come with time — or they will need to remake themselves to remain viable in a restaurant dense city like Cambridge/​Boston.
Will I go back? Probably not. Did I enjoy my meal? Most definitely. .. with a few caveats.