Wife and I had the 4 course lunch (which turned out to be 5 courses to my pleasant surprise). Only the wife had the wine pairing as I was doing the driving.

Service was excellent and so was the ambiance, and I think it's a very nice place to hang out in the afternoon for sun downers and for drinks in the evening (especially when live music is playing via the grand piano or was it a baby grand piano?).

Now for the most important part, the food. We had the Tostada, Cauliflower soup, Tortellini, Quail and Tres Leches for dessert. The portions are a tad small, luckily I had a big breakfast and filled up on the complimentary bread which were really good by the way, so I left satiated. Unfortunately, if you come hungry, you will most likely leave hungry or peckish at best.

In general, the food was good but could easily have been great with some refinement, and you actually get a glimpse of where the chef wants to take you in terms of flavor but just comes up short with the execution. In most cases, it was either not enough flavor was extracted or the flavor was not tamed.

Let's start with the Tostado, a bit sized portion of a taco chip with black beans and stuff. It was a good idea to start of the meal, but the taco overpowered every other element of the dish. A squeeze of lime would have also made it better.

The Cauliflower soup with sweet corn and mushroom ice cream. Yes, you read that right, mushroom ice cream. Actually the mushroom ice cream was delicious and the contrast of temperatures between the ice cream and thick soup was interestingly delightful, but unfortunately there was not enough contrast or boldness of flavors to distinguish one from the other resulting in a 1 note dish in terms of flavor.

The Tortellini was probably the weakest and most forgettable dish as I literally couldn't remember it and had to rely on the picture of the menu taken by the wife to remember it. The tortellini lacked seasoning and its filling lacked flavor and the only other thing I can remember from this dish is the carrot puree which was very good but still needed a tad more flavor and the pineapple gel that didn't need to be there.

The Quail was for me the highlight of the meal, probably the best quail I've had (though admittedly its not something I really order) and that gravy really elevated the dish to another level. However, the misstep was the green stuff (chimichurri I think), it was just too overpowering that you actually want to stay clear of it, which was a bit disappointing as I think had the chef been able to tame its flavor the progression of flavor from the gravy to it would have been absolutely heavenly.

Lastly, the Tres Leches dessert which was my 2nd favorite of the course. Such a simple and humble dessert but really a fitting end to the meal as it really worked as a contract to the quail dish. However, a different variant of the banana could have worked better, or better yet had the banana been fried.

Overall, it was a good meal with lots of potential and I think the chef is someone to watch out for in the near future.

We had a good evening at NCW, mostly due to the fantastic service. The food was disappointing! Most of the courses needed salt, the ceviche was more of a dry fish tartare lacking in flavour and the quail was tough with flabby rather than crispy skin. The carrot tortellini had almost no filling at all.
We had the wine pairing and found the amounts poured lacking in generosity.
The atmosphere could be greatly improved by some warmer, dimmed lighting.

We were pleasantly surprised to find on a rainy night midweek, a cosy fine dining experience in the heart of melville, with the feel of being on a wine farm. Overlooking Marks Park, NCW has a country home feel, with beautifully decorated interior and even more beautifully laid out food. A seven course meal that felt just right with mixture of texture and flavours. in particular the mushroom icecream with soup was a very special course. each course is well explained by either chef or maitron leaving you excited to taste what they just explained.

The only bit I would like to see expand is the wine training of the restaurant staff, which could match that of the love for food they all so obviously have.