[Chicago] Restaurant week 2014: Embeya

I can't believe another year has gone by and it is now restaurant week again. For my first round in 2014, I chose Embeya, a newish restaurant not too far from home, right at the start of Chicago's famous Restaurant Row. Just a few days before my reservation, a friend asked: why would you pick a pan-Asian restaurant? That sure got me worried, as I've never met a pan-Asian restaurant that I like. Being an Asian myself, I associate certain food terms with very particular types of food/flavor, but most pan-Asian places I've been to simply dowse their food in coconut milk or soy sauce (or both! gasp!) and proudly called it Asian. Well, Embeya calls itself "progressive Asian", whatever that means. So I walked into the restaurant on this brisk Saturday with a good amount of trepidation.

I was greeted by the friendly hostess...but what I was really grateful for was the heater right beside the door. Chicago really upped the game with winter this year. The decor of the place was pleasant enough, dark & sleek with some Asian touches.