March Date Night: The Restaurant Hop

I know, you read that title right, it says March. This was our date night in March but the busy bee that I am has not had a chance to post about it until May. Whoops. I swear we're gonna get it right one of these months but better late than never! If you remember, the date night basket idea is a gift I made D for Christmas, kinda like the jelly of the month club -- it's just the gift that keeps on giving. You can read more about the original idea {here} if you want to make your own date night basket for your sweetie. But enough with that, onto the date!

 March's date was a restaurant hop! Much like a bar crawl or bar hop, but with food. The idea was simple. We need to go to a different restaurant for each course of the meal. One for appetizers, one for the main entree, one for desserts....you get the picture. Depending on how big your belly (and wallet are) you can get crazy and go to a place for salad, go for an after dinner drink and stretch it out to 5-6 courses. For us, 3 would do.

Five points for anyone who recognizes this restaurant sign ; )

And sadly no, we didn't go there...

First Stop: Appetizer's at Matt & Meera

Confession: I have never had Indian food. It always intrigued me but I was scared the food would be too hot or I wouldn't like the spices. This new place in Hoboken opened up called Matt & Meera and is alwayss packed. And it looks adorable inside (I totally judge restaurants based on interior decor - it's true) so the exposed brick walls, low-candle lighting, and fresh flowers sucked me in. Anyway, I figured since we are only doing appetizers this would be a really not-threatening way to try Indian food And what do you know......delicious!

 We got these little samosas (I think that's what they're called) with yummy cilantro and mango chutney dipping sauces, along with chicken curry skewers which her spicy but good. D loves hot & spicy so he was good to go. They also had refreshing water carafes on every table infused with lemon and mint leaves -- nice touch. 

 Us chowing down -- and on to the next!

 Second Stop: Main Course at Ayami

I know what you're thinking. Indian food and sushi, are you nuts?? Yes, yes we were nuts and it didn't dawn on us until after the fact that we were mixing cuisines that should probably never be mixed in your belly together, but we did it. Such crazy kids we are. We were joking saying after sushi we should just hit up a Mexican restaurant and make this death wish complete. But in all seriousness, we were fine. ish. ; )

 We I have this running joke that D is a picky eater. I know he's not, but for some reason I won't let this joke die. See D, I admitted it -- you're not a picky eater!! So due to this ongoing joke that D hates, he decided to order things off the menu that he didn't even know what it was. Bold move D, bold move. This salad above called the Kani salad was actually really yummy. He lucked out here since it was pretty much just spicy crab and cucumbers.

I also got the clear soup you get when you order hibachi because this stuff is seriously my favorite. So simple yet so delicious.

 And to top it all off, we ordered a couple speciality rolls that had lobster and king crab (let's live a little shall we?) Usually when we order sushi (which is A LOT) we keep it simple as far as rolls go because 1. we know what we like and 2. those little buggers are expensive. 

Since this was a special date -- sure let's splurge on a $15 roll!!

Last Stop: Dessert & Coffee at Amanda's

There is this adorable little restaurant and wine bar near us called Amanda's that has this undeniable charm. The restaurant is in an old brownstone and you feel like you are sitting in someone's house, cozied up by the fire. That is so my kind of setting. D and I were stuffed, so we came here and had coffee, tea, and split this amazing flour-less chocolate cake with berries and powdered sugar. Amazing and sweet end to an awesome date. 

Past date night ideas can be found here:
{January Date Night}
{February Date Night}

Hope you enjoyed our Restaurant Hop date night. I'm trying to get back on track so hopefully one of these days I'll actually post the date night in the right month....but only time will tell! ; )

So would you go on a Restaurant Hop date night? What other cool date nights have you done?

xo Steph