Double Crown

This is a completely pointless review since Double Crown is shut down… except for the fact that I simply need to express my love for this place. Surprisingly delicious every time… lunch… dinner… brunch… or my favorite… sitting at the bar watching the World Cup games. Thank you Double Crown. You were amazing.

I love places like this, a world with many levels.
Five different worlds to be exact.
From the street, Double Crown looks like an ordinary restaurant with a plain white oning, but when you walk in, you’re transported into another realm. Who turned out the lights? Where is that music coming from? How did I not know that all this was back here?
Level One:
You get pulled in by the patio and think how amazing it would be to sit outside for dinner, and as you as for table from the host you realize you’ve stepped into the second level…
Level Two:
Why sit outside when you have all this? The main dining room and bar. It’s dim, and you hear Indie music, the cool song, that you wish you knew the artist so you could download it, and then you forget.
Level Three:
And just as I’m trying to soak in Level 2, the host takes me back into a small intimate dining room in the back filled with candles, almost like I’ve stepped into a beautiful white, catacomb.
We have dinner in the back dining room under candlelight still wondering how we got here. They bring us a feast, pork belly, duck buns, very simple asian fusion dishes, presented tastefully, at shockingly affordable prices. You mean we get charm, decent food, and a light check? Loving this place even more.
Level Four:
I have a thing for beautiful bathrooms. As you walk downstairs to a long zen like hallway that I call the opium den. There are about four bathrooms downstairs larger than some people’s apartments in Manhattan. Space… This I love. Don’t forget to pick up some matches in the basket on your way back up.
Are you ready for Level Five?
Now who doesn’t like to walk through walls? When you’re done with dinner, push the wall in back left corner of the semi private dining room, and you’ll see that it’s actually a wall that leads to the speak easy bar next door. Now how is that to end your night?
Great place to have a private event if you’re renting out the back and the speakeasy.
3 stars for the food
an additional star for the experience
Double Crown is an adventure if you dare to imagine…

Been about 3 or 4 times. It has been very hit and miss.
I’ve had great meals, including the Sunday night roast for two (not sure if they still do it) however I remember the pork belly being terrible last time I had it.
Bartenders definitely know what they’re doing.

I’ve been here several times for dinners, brunches, drinks, and birthday parties and have enjoyed every visit.
The cocktails are delicious and constantly changing. My favorites are the Thai Dark & Stormy and the new Margarita with a pink-​sugar rim that they have been featuring recently. They also have a nice selection of draft-​beers which is unusual for classy establishments such as this.
All of the dinner entrees I’ve tried have been outstanding, but my favorite items are from the «snacks» menu. The duck buns are like meat pillows from heaven. The spicy beef salad packs an insane amount of flavor, and the coconut chicken salad is light and delicious. The salt n’ pepper squid is like calamari 2.0.
The desserts are always changing, and every one I’ve tried has been delicious and plated beautifully.
Brunch is great as well. Get the smoked salmon sandwich or prawns & eggs. A lot of people like the DIY bloody mary bar, but I prefer to have the skilled bartenders craft a perfect bloody for me :).
Service is ace. Don’t be afraid to ask the bartenders and servers questions about the dishes or ingredients, they are very knowledgeable.

Double Crown is when England meets Asia. Weird and un-​doable, right? But it can be done and it was memorable!
It’s tapas styles, so between me and my dining partner, we ordered 4 plates: Crispy Chicken Wings, Coconut Laksa, Scallops and Asparagus.
Everything was flavorful, cooked perfectly and presented all in theme and fun.
My favorite was the Coconut Laksa, very different and eclectic. Such an array of flavors with the sweet and spicy mix, texture everywhere, loved it. Scallops were cooked perfectly too… only, $ 14.50 for TWO SCALLOPS? A little overpriced for the environment.
Asparagus was very good, and served with a tangy sauce. Again, different in an awesome way! I was very disappointed with the wings. Hardly any meat on them, and they have the potential to be so good too! They are cooked «Szechuan Style», aka CRAZY fried and tangy. Mmmmm
Drinks were great! Fabulous cocktail list. Service was attentive and flawless. I will dine here again, and soon!
**One thing I noticed, is this would be a GREAT place to host a large dinner for clients, birthdays, engagement, etc… because they have a completely private room downstairs. My guess is it seats about 75.

My visit to Double Crown was for brunch with my cousin, and her friend. Originally, we tried going to Delicatessen, but after finding out there was a long wait, we decided to go elsewhere.
Double Crown is a beautiful restaurant — even the bathrooms here are awesome! They have a prix fixe brunch option, which I opted for — $ 20 for coffee/​tea, brunch entrée, and a cocktail — not bad at all! For my entrée, I had the Sambal Prawns and Scrambled Eggs accompanied by a Bottle Rocket Cocktail. Cocktail was pretty good, and entrée was okay. The entrée came looking beautiful, delicious, enticing. But when it came down to eating it, it was just mediocre — lots of frills, but didn’t really impress. There wasn’t really any interesting flavor to it, just pretty much a few pieces of large prawns over mediocre scrambled eggs.
Double Crown is definitely a nice place to go to for meal dates or socializing — beautiful place with conversation starter aspects (bathroom, DIY BLOODY MARY BAR!!!, etc). But the brunch food is just okay.

It was Easter Sunday and of course in the spirit of «celebrating», me plus eight decided to head out to grab Sunday Brunch. Double Crown did more than serve nine fussy brunch /​alcoholics. They made us happy!
Scrambled eggs — yum… i’m already hungry!

Average but not outstanding brunch.
The space is beautiful, there’s outdoor seating, and service for the most part is friendly. But the crowd is a little too Bowery, if you know what I’m saying, and the food is just okay.
Brunch offers 2 prix fixe options: 1) $ 20 for entrée, unlimited coffee/​tea and one cocktail (including a single go at the bloody mary bar), or 2) $ 32 for entrée, unlimited coffee/​tea and unlimited bloody mary bar.
The bloody mary bar is a fun adventure with inventive options — ginger, cilantro, horseradish, jalapeño, mango salsa, variety of peppercorns, olives, pickles, etc, etc. And the unlimited coffee is strong and delicious; though, my cup ran dry a bit too often.
My English breakfast featured two disappointingly watery poached eggs over a piece of white toast, too-​al dente vegan baked beans and roasted tomatoes and mushrooms, which were the tastiest part of the dish. It was filling but didn’t follow through on the promising originality of the offering. If I were to get it again, I’d go for scrambled eggs instead.
I might return for a cocktail in the future, but there are too many other fabulous brunch options nearby to even consider putting DC into rotation.

I was reluctant to have my bday dinner here at first due to the 3.5 stars that was given on Unilocal.But after reading thru the actual reviews, it seemed like the food was good, so I thought I would give it a try.
I had reservations, so when we arrived, we were seated right away. The place was packed on a Saturday nite, ambiance was nice, a lil loud and a the place is a lot bigger than I expected.
Our waiter brought out some bread for us as we looked over the menu for cocktails and starters. The bread is realllllly good! It’s some kind of poppy seed, raisin, onion bread, I’m not even sure what’s all in it, but it’s really good.
For cocktails I had the grapefruit collins, and the blood orange martini, both were very delicious.
For food we ordered the following:
–Duck Steam Buns: It was alright, nothing spectacular. Will prob never order again.
–Yellowtail Sashimi: Very good. Sliced up evenly, w/​toppings and ponzu.
–Beef Salad: delicious! Almost like a papaya «beef» salad. Dressing was perfect.
–Bone Marrow w/​Orange Marmalade: to die for! Sooooo good, also came w/​toasted brioche bread, compliments very well w/​the orange marmalade. Would be back, just for this!
–Twice Cooked Chicken in Star Anise Broth: very flavorful, and a great twist for you chicken lovers out there.
–Roasted Pork Belly: delicious! Cant go wrong w/​pork belly! The skin was extra crispy w/​a glazed on top, soooo good!
–Hanger Steak: Tasty, the juice is from the bone marrow. Classic dish.
We ordered a few sides of steamed rice w/​our entrees (being asian, I cant help it, when I eat meat, I need to have rice) the steamed rice came w/​a topping of chopped up garlic and cliantro. What a great way to add flavor to the rice. It went well w/​all dishes.
We didnt order any of their desserts as we had our own cake from Lady M for the occassion. The waitress had told me that they charge a $ 5 cake fee, we told them that was fine… what she failed to tell me that it was a $ 5 cake fee PER PERSON! Ugh, we found out when we got the bill. Had we known it was PER PERSON, we would have taken our desserts else where. Minus one star just for that.

This place looks nice but only has average food. Also, we were in a rounded booth which was pretty uncomfortable.
I tried the :
Mackerel Salad (great)
Spicy Pepper Squid (good)
Pork Belly (below average, too sweet)
DC Fries (good)

Came here for dinner with a group of six.
The starters & snacks were all excellent: duck buns! curries! prawn dumplings! coconut laksa! bone marrow! and more! Fantastic.
The main dishes were not bad at all, but they were disappointing coming after the amazing small plates.
The desserts were nothing special, with one incredible exception: the vanilla pandan trifle. We got two of them; I wish we’d gotten six.
Non-​food tidbits: the place looks nice and the service is good, but it’s too loud (either that or I’m an old man and my hearing’s going).
If I come back, I’d consider ordering only small plates, and then ordering too much of the trifle. That would be a fantastic meal.
3.5 stars, if I could give it.

This review is for Madam Geneva.
Great staff, yummy drinks and since it was our private party we also had amazing musicians. and so top notch.
I love the design of the restaurant and their private rooms. very renaissance with a hint of goth and crossing with rustic while having hints of modern.
and the duck buns are AMAZING.

Double Crown cannot be classed as a fusion restaurant in the manner that most diners these days bandy the term about. Instead, Chef Brad Farmerie and the creative team from the AvroKO Hospitality Group have marketed the restaurant as serving up Southeast Asian fare from the British Colonial period. Being as red blooded a Singaporean as I am, and having as fierce a pride in the heritage of my nation of birth as I do, I was intrigued to find out just how successful such a concept would prove amidst a general lack of awareness in this part of the world about the unique culinary history of Southeast Asia. Sure, the Western world is familiar with Thai and Vietnamese fare, but the cuisine of Singapore and the other former British colonies is an entirely different beast — even among the most seasoned foodies I have met in New York City, arguably one of the more gastronomically educated cities in the world.
Double Crown does not serve up Singaporean food, or even Malaysian food. It seems that the focus here is on using traditional Southeast Asian ingredients and showcasing them against backdrops more familiar to Western palates. Taken for what it was, the food proved surprisingly good. And shockingly, even decidedly colonial in appearance and taste. In addition, the attention to detail in the restaurant’s design was astonishing (although having been impressed by Public and Lavo, I would have expected nothing less from AvroKO) — a turn of the century Peranakan dining room on a grungy NoHo Street corner. The intricate woodwork used in the décor evoked the best in Indonesian craftsmanship, and the blue and white china table settings had me in a dreamy nostalgia, for they were the same bowls and plates I ate off as a child.
To start, a round of Bloody Marys at the DIY Bloody Mary bar. I was like a child in a candy store: a teaspoon of grated garlic, a dash of Tabasco, a quick stir. Then a pinch of sea salt and some pickled mangoes, another quick stir. And then a squeeze of lime, a cherry tomato and off a celery stick garnish. Look at me go! I had created a wonderfully tasty Bloody Mary, peppery and savory, icy-​cold yet strangely spicy, an alcoholic gazpacho both refreshing and satisfying. I had four over the course of brunch, each as delicious as the one before.
A lovely bread basket arrived, with a selection of fruity preserves. I was particularly enamored with the dense yet flaky cornbread, a crumbly platform atop which I layered swaths of vanilla-​infused butter and dollops of homemade pineapple jam. Simple toast did the job equally well when the cornbread ran out, although the basket only came with two pieces of these, insufficient for our table of five.
And then, onto brunch. My order of Sambal Prawns with Scrambled Eggs was quite good, if not what I was expecting. Sambal is a traditional Malay/​Indonesian paste made by pestle-​grinding small chilies in a mortar. My childhood memories are littered with sepia-​colored flashes of our maid in Singapore hard at work pounding tiny chili padi (Bird’s Eye Chili) in her little stone mortar, sweat dripping from her brow. The fiery red paste would then be mixed with dried shrimp paste to make sambal belacan, a pungent, delicious condiment which would inevitably fill the house with a sharp aroma that lingered for hours. Double Crown’s sambal was very light, and merely lent the prawns a sweet aftertaste, rather than the spicy smack in the mouth I was hoping for. However, the flavors and textures were terrific, and the succulent prawns paired well with the scrambled eggs, which were fluffy and studded with bits of creamy avocado and juicy tomato. Thick slices of toast lay in wait under the prawns, spongy couriers for leftover sauce. I wiped my bowl clean.
I sampled a bite of the Roast Pork Belly dish that my dining companions had ordered. A hunk of charred red, fatty pork over rice, a sweet, starchy dish topped off with a layer of sunshine in a fried egg. The pork was tender and unctuous, a very good rendition, and the rice, stained with pork drippings, egg yolk and paired with a selection of Chinese vegetables, was luxuriant and packed a punch that Mike Tyson would have been proud of.
One note: we had ordered the Homemade Mini-​Doughnuts for the table to start. They were out of these, so they brought the bread basket as complimentary appeasement. However, when our waiter came out to tell us that they were also out of the Crispy Skate Sandwich and the Prawn Dumplings in Hot-​Sour Broth (both of which our table had ordered), I was a little let down. Granted, it was around 2pm, but New Yorkers love their late Sunday brunches, and the dining room was absolutely jam packed with patrons. To run out of three popular dishes in the middle of a single brunch service is unacceptable.
Thankfully the food that they actually did still have was good. I’ll have to try their Nyonya Sunday Dinner the next time I return. And return I will.

My feelings for Double Crown are torn. However, after careful consideration, I am going to give it a 4 still based on my experience.
I booked a table of 8 but it turned out of 5 showed up and obviously not all on time. We got seated about 30 minutes later after all party arrived. The restaurant was so friendly that they let us wait in their hidden bar in the back and told us not to worry about the table. The back bar is called Madame something and it is so cozy and hidden I wouldn’t even know it was there if they didn’t tell us!
I got the Crispy Pork Belly and Chinese Broccoli for my entrée and we shared some pork buns for the table. The pork bun was an interesting twist of the classic bun but it was delicious even with mustard.
My crispy pork belly was really good. It is basically a big chunk of pork belly with its skin/​fat part deep fried to crispy. The meat portion was so tender and juicy. I really love it. As far as for the side of vegetable, it is just vegetable!
I do have to say the price is pretty steep for Asian cuisine and a simple bowl of rice is $ 6!!! So come here for some good Asian food and excellent ambiance. Don’t expect the low price or authenticity here.

I’m kindof obsessed with the brunch at this place. It’s a little bit unhealthy. The obsession… and perhaps also the amount of drinks consumed at brunch. But on to the review:
First, you have to get the basket of pastries. I’m sorry, you just do. They are orgasmic. Each one is a tiny bit of heaven, a spin on a classic — and the vanilla bean butter & rhubarb jam are also requirements. Just deal with it. You can thank me later.
There are one or two prix fixe options, depending on whether you prefer unlimited Bloody Marys or other things for brunch. They have a little bar set up with all manner of things your little heart could possibly desire to put into your Bloody Mary, should you choose the make your own version.
I really liked the old English breakfast; it’s a combination you don’t see every day for brunch: eggs, beans, tomatoes and mushrooms. Savory with just the right seasoning.
Other stand outs were the Dikon fries, the fruit salad (I know right? I think it was the addition of some tropical fruit) & for drinks you can’t go wrong with their perfectly done Pimms cup or the Earl Grey & Elderflower Fizz.

I was a bit dubious of a «British Asian» cuisine (does that mean wherever Britain raised its flag? as in, wherever cricket is played?)
Scones and buns are served gratis, but you’ll have to order rice on the side. Mayhaps that’s what makes it british? otherwise, everything else we ordered leaned Asian — from the lakhsa noodles to the shrimp dumplings to the pork belly and cod. Trendy and lively and posh prices.

Eclectic, Fusion, AvroKO, interesting menu and Brad Farmerie are ingredients for a true top ten in my list. And so, being totally ignorant of all this elements I couldn’t other than mentally update my bookmarks list based only in what I saw when I first crossed Double Crown through Madame Geneva.
Interesting things about Double Crown is the Indian-​British dual nature reflected either in the menu and the deco, being this one able to take your words away. I didn’t expected less from AvroKO my friends. As I said, Double Crown is the container of Madam Geneva, part of the speakeasies, popular for their Gin-​Jam cocktails and as many others, hidden behind a secret door, a swivel wall at the main dinning room this time, that unfortunately was a little disappointed as well. Double crown is for me, in parallel with Public which guess who is the designer team, one of the most gorgeous places in the city. Described by many others as British Imperialism style I can’t be more agree. There is 3 mandatory visits inside Double Crown; a dinning room right after the main door, where brunch, cocktails and Tea service are served, modern and with Indian deities ornaments; the main dinning room, where the British imperialism style is showed to maximum level and the downstairs bathroom, mandatory itself but where AvroKO team show all their talent; I’m still dreaming with the font filled with petals and the sweet scents that evolve you while you are in your way.
More interesting things as I said is their Indian-​British fusion menu. A Sunday brunch was the idea that I had on mind since I went to madame Geneva but they offer British Style Afternoon Tea Service, not that common and that we decided to try first. This service is available from 3:30 — 5:30 during the weekends. Presentation wise is beautiful. Flavor and ingredients combination is amazing as well, but they didn’t reach the expected level according the general style. Being a tea service I was expecting more variety. Just 5 – 6 to choose is pretty poor. We choose the Tea Sandwiches service and we received 3 micro-​sandwiches pieces: Smoked salmon, Chicken and Cured Ham coming along with other surprising ingredients that certainly improve the flavor. Very well designed, nice combination and unexpectedly disappointed. The selected bread was good as well, white or with grains but it wasn’t tender, it was really dry and the sandwiches was served too cold. Enough to ruin the whole thing, seriously. It was $ 16. We also order the 3 cheese plate with raising bread. You already know how was the bread. Nothing change; and it was $ 12 for 3 micro-​slices of cheese, being not so exceptional.
I have to say that I liked the warm coffee cocktails that we order. It was strong and revitalizing for that cold Sunday afternoon. The Lychee Bellini (with Lychee juice and Lindauer Brut, a sparkling fruity wine from New Zealand) and the cucumber, apple and Elderflowe Tall spin in my head every time I read the drinks menu.
As you can appreciate in the shoots everything looks perfect; but it wasn’t. In fact, it was far away from perfection. And reading others reviews about dinner and brunch I start to wonder if Double Crown is all about how it looks like other than how is inside which is the matter at the end. I also wonder how Brad Farmerie can be doing so well at Public and it doesn’t happen the same at Double Crown. I haven’t discard the idea of dinner or brunch here yet… the menu is so attractive to my eyes and ahhhhh the place is so beautiful… but I’m feeling it less and less exciting and maybe I just keep Double Crown as a destination for wine or a cocktail early at night.

*3.5 stars*
Proprietor/​Chef: AvroKo, partner Dan Rafalin/​Brad Farmerie
Aside from the obvious «scene» here, Double Crown is an odd love affair, where extremes should never cross boundaries. The not so obvious will eventually manifest itself, marking the paths to cross inevitable. I encountered British meets Indian/​SE Asian cuisine for the very first time… so cheers to my first take on the mix.
First, I’ll say that they are very innovative on the mixed drinks here. I had a gin concoction, which was thick, spicy and mildly sweet with just a tint of lemon tart. It was weird, but sensational. We ordered three appetizers which were solid but nothing more. I do remember taking an extra piece of yellowtail, which will either account for my love of the sashimi, or extra compliments to the dish. For my entrée, I tried the steamed snapper. Fish was cooked nicely, but overall the dish was a bit on the saltier side for me. We ordered a few sides as well. again, nothing beyond the solid mark. Ended with two nice desserts, my pick of a chocolate cake of some sort… which was OK. Still– made for an overall, very enjoyable meal.
I“m still kind of confused by its food categorization… my take is that it definitely had lots of Asian accents to the food… but the British was left undetected. Forgive me for being ignorant, but what the hell is British food anyways, aside from chips & fish???

3.5 stars is what I’d give this place.
I ordered a chicken salad, which was $ 13. A bit on the pricey end, but nonetheless decent. The atmosphere was perfect (and actually pretty packed) for my co-​workers birthday drinks on a Wednesday night. We sat at the bar and had seats for 4 of us.
The Australian bartender is cute (my co-​worker had her eye on him the whole night!)

If my entrée was not fantastic, I’d have to stick Double Crown with a one star. Redemption came in the form of their venison wellington, a flawlessly cooked rare cut of meat lightly embraced by a thin crusty pastry.
We had a reservation for 9:30, but didn’t get seated until after 10. Our entrees were ordered soon after, but didn’t hit the table until 11:30. No apologies were made for blowing the reservation or the stomach-​painfully slow kitchen.
The space is beautiful, the crowd incredibly so (missed connection: to the model sitting directly across from me, you know who you are. Stay lovely, xoxo Jeremy).
I’d definitely go back for the food, but be prepared to dedicate your whole night to the experience (and not voluntarily).