Restaurant Week at Riingo

My friend, her fiance and I deliberated for quite some time between the regular lunch menu and the Restaurant Week meal at Riingo today. The prospect of dark chocolate mousse and green-tea donuts was the deciding factor, and we all ordered the special $24.07, three-course lunch. "Can I please have some of your green-tea donuts if I order the chocolate mousse?" I pleaded.

"Well, we're not going to have to try each other's entrees," my friend said wryly. She, her fiance and I were all equally interested in the miso-glazed mahi-mahi. At least we'd all ordered different appetizers! Her fiance ordered the bacon-accented potato soup ("Tastes just like a rich, creamy mashed potato," I opined), she went for the salmon avocado roll, and I chose the walnut-sprinkled and caramelized pear frisee salad with Roquefort crumbles. I couldn't resist ordering a few pieces of sushi - salmon roe with a hint of citrus, and a slab of pearly pink yellowtail.

We're so accustomed to the sweet miso black cod served at so many establishments that it took us a minute to get our palates around the soy-flavored mahi-mahi. Once we did, we appreciated the meaty fish with its sides of smoky gingered bulgur and steamed greens.

I groaned. "I wish I hadn't eaten so much of the garlic edamame spread that came with the rolls." (I hope someone decides to mass-produce this spread... it's better than any hummus I've ever eaten.) My groaning was short-lived, as the green-tea-marmalade, sugar-sprinkled donut holes arrived, as well as my star anise ice cream with chocolate mousse: a cylinder of dark chocolate enveloping three layers of ganache, mousse and cake.

As I was taking my last sip of roasted rice green tea, the waitress brought by three gift certificates for $24.07! Try to get into Riingo by Friday (the last day of Restaurant Week) and you'll also be treated to a complimentary future meal.

Riingo: 205 East 45th St., (212) 867-4200. East 45th Street, which also boasts Sakagura and Sushi Yasuda as well as Riingo, is now so tempting that I almost can't handle it anymore.