Saturday, January 28, 2012

Dragonfly

Dragonfly is Old San Juan's most hip, ground-breaking, and talked about restaurant.  Featuring cutting edge Latin-Asian Fusion cuisine and sushi, Chef Severo Duran mingles exotic spices and ingredients with creative twists.  Designed to resemble an old opium den in tropical Asia, Dragonfly's sexy gold and red interior is the perfect place to go for parties and special occasions.

About 20 minutes from our hotel, Dragonfly was our first choice for our second dining night out to celebrate my sister-in-law's Bachelorette weekend.  Since the food at Dragonfly is designed to be shared, we chose to be seated at cushioned lounge area near the back bar.  The ambience of glowing red lights is exotic and sumptuous.   Our server was so pretty and friendly and an excellent bar tender as she whipped up many delicious drinks for us throughout the night.

I started out with a lemongrass mojito, while others in our group chose various punches and martinis ranging from those featuring jalapeno to pomegranate.  The ginger-rita was also a huge hit.  All the drinks were freshly muddled and mixed and added to the fun party atmosphere that Dragonfly has to offer.  We chose several plates to share - a mix of sushi and dumplings as well as noodle dishes.  We started with calamari that was fried perfectly and very spicy.  My favorites of the night included the spring rolls (much better than the night before at KOCO), chicken lo mein and the sushi rolls.  Others loved the birthday noodles as they were very lightly prepared with freshly steamed shrimp.  They also preferred the Churrasco steak over the tough Korean bbq wraps.  I really appreciated the mix of Asian dishes and the variety added to the social atmosphere.

The desserts were also amazing and our impressive server even whipped up an Irish Coffee on the spot for one of the girls.  All in all, Dragonfly is super chic and fun and was the perfect spot for our large group of girls.  The hospitable service was top notch and location in Old San Juan was somewhat easy to get to.  Call for reservations ahead of time as the restaurant itself is on the small side, so seating is limited.

I want to say a special "thank you!" to Dort, Gigi and Sheila for setting us up at their lovely restaurants.  Our dinners in San Juan each night were memorable.  Both KOCO and Dragonfly were excellent and all the girls truly enjoyed themselves.

Total Rating: 4.2
Food: 4, Price: 4, Service: 5, Ambience: 5, Accessibility: 4

What I ate:
Calamari

Sushi Rolls
crab salad roll - shrimp tempura, cucumber, scallion, mango & seaweed crab salad
spicy hamachi roll - yellowtail, cucumber, scallion, jalapeno
lounge roll - crab, scallion, cucumber, with tuna, yellowtail, and avocado on top

Chicken Spring Rolls

Criollo Pancit Birthday Noodles
Filipino style stir fried noodles with chorizo, shrimp, chicken, and vegetables

Chino Latino Lo Mein
with fried chicken

Milk Chocolate Creme de Pot

Ginger Tres Leches Cake

White Chocolate Napolean
with ginger lemon infusion

Plus others ate:

Pork Dumplings
steamed and served with a citrus sauce

Korean BBQ Lettuce Wraps
Korean style grilled short ribs sliced and served with lettuce leaves

10 oz Asian Marinated Churrasco Steak
served with dragonfries


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