Tonic NA - 3/5: High George offers two non-alcoholic mocktails; one with club soda and one with tonic. The drink was described as being citrusy, with mint and rosemary. Neither my wife or I were too pleased with it: it was quite sour without any citrusy tang. There was a sprig of mint as a garnish, but no mint in the drink at all... sort of a pointless decoration. You can get better mocktails at other bars like Ordinary or 116 Crown, which don't even advertise mocktails on their menus.
Paid vacation - 5/5: On the other hand, this was incredible, likely one of the best cocktails I've had. The drink is gin-based with many almond ingredients like almond powder and orgeat. It was incredibly smooth without being weak. The drink is definitely way more than the sum of its parts, which to me is a sign of a great cocktail. One thing to note is that the amount by volume seems quite low compared to other bars. This is actually great for me since I'm not much of a drinker and often leave cocktails unfinished, so your mileage my vary. You're getting less drink per dollar, but I think the quality more than compensates.
Pork belly skewer - 4/5: Wife thought it was too salty. I thought it was great, but it's definitely on the salty side. The pork belly is grilled and then seasoned with a red powder (I think it was Japanese shichimi, but I wasn't really paying attention), and each piece is interspersed with a meltingly soft slice of cooked peach. You get three pieces of pork belly and two peaches per skewer for $5 which is on the pricy side for sure.
Chicken katsu bun - 5/5: I was very pleasantly surprised by this. The chicken cutlet is very thin but manages to remain moist, which is a very common issue with katsu in general. The seasoning was also excellent, and the bao tasted great. (The bao is more like a split mantou than the guabao which are seemingly everywhere in New Haven these days.)
Clam bun - 3.5/5: The clams themselves were a bit disappointing -- overly breaded and salted to the extent that you can't really even tell you're eating clam. However, the bao was very good: it was notably sweeter than the previous bao, which paired very well with the clam and seasoning. The bao itself was lightly seared, adding a little extra caramelized sweetness but without being overwhelming like traditional fried dessert baos tend to be. I'm actually impressed that High George seems to have different types of bao for different dishes; there was definitely a lot of thought put into the menu.
Overall - solidly 4/5: Excellent for the most part, but just shy of amazing. I'd definitely come back in the future, but will likely pass on the food for the most part. The fact that High George offers fantastic drinks and solid-but-not-amazing food makes it the exact reverse of Hamilton Park, which makes dinner downstairs followed by drinks on the roof a very tempting proposition. The space itself is also beautiful and well decorated, with an amazing view. Service was great! read more