May 3rd 2015: Spending the Day in Lexington with My Friend

My friend wanted to have dimsum today, so I decided to take her to the Yangtze River Restaurant in Lexington which I have been to before in the past for dimsum buffet.

Before that, we stopped by the Mystic Lakes

Before heading to downtown Lexington, where we walked around for a bit to check out the shops in the area. There were pianos out in the open for people to play today, part of a programme called "Lex Play Tunes".

We were able to get seated in the restaurant a little earlier than when they opened,

But we had to wait a little longer for the dimsum to be ready.

The food wasn't too bad, but the multitude of Chinese desserts they have here is what appealed to me.

After lunch, we spent some time at Starbuck's before taking a break at Sweet Thyme Bakery, getting a Green Tea Cake

Which did not disappoint at all.

After visiting the Lexington Visitor Center,

we spent some time relaxing on the Battle Green before deciding to head to Artistry on the Green, located within the Inn at Hastings Park. Really upscale feel to this place.

We had delicious starters, which I unfortunately did not get the name of.

Our appetizers consisted of the Watercress Vichyssoise (Smoked Salmon, Radish, Watercress),

served cold and raw, delicious especially with the smoked salmon, and the Warm Roasted Cauliflower Salad (Roasted Cauliflower and Apples, Curry Vinaigrette ).

Excellent stuff, especially the curry sauce, although I did not take to the sour apples.

The Seared Sea Scallops (White Bean Ragout, Kale, Lobster Romesco)

took some getting used to because of the strong romesco sauce, but I soon realized that eating it together with the beans really mellowed it out and totally transformed the entire dish, which my friend subsequently realized as well and pretty much enjoyed the rest of it.

Dessert, which came in the form of the Chocolate Bombe (Hazelnut Praline Crust, Caramel Ice Cream, Cocoa Nib Tuille, Salted Caramel Sauce, Fleur de Sel), was the only disappointment of the night.

Though presented well, the saltiness of the salt was a little too extreme for either of us, although the ice cream was really good.

Overall though, definitely the restaurant to come to in Lexington.

With that, a perfect day of spending time together in Lexington came to an end.