Twist Mandarin Oriental

Twist Restaurant, Las Vegas (at Mandarin Oriental, in the city centre, mid-Strip).

Molecular gastronomy, fancy modern surroundings, what more do you want from a top Vegas fine dining restaurant? This may be ‘the’ place to absolutely go!

If you want to go straight to the menu details, scroll down.

This is a gourmet restaurant which tries to ‘woo’ you visually and of course challenge you gastronomically. It’s a fantastic restaurant, but let’s see if it’s for you:

It’s super modern and every dish comes in a fancy presentation just as you would expect from a gourmet restaurant. The price matches, of course, and you can easily spend 40 dollars for a fancy fish dish, for example; if you come from an expensive city like London or Vancouver you won’t even blink at the prices and you’ll overall thoroughly enjoy eating here. If you come to Vegas expecting the fantastic Vegas deals we have all grown accustomed to, then Twist is not for you. But if you don’t mind spending some cash you will not be disappointed and, equally importantly, you will not leave hungry (unlike some other fancy gourmet restaurants).

This is fine dining, gourmet dining, so come here if you have extra cash, want to sit somewhere really modern, want to absorb the ‘city-center’ ultra-modern atmosphere and want to see Mandarin Oriental Vegas, of course. Don’t expect buckets of character, it’s just modern elegance, the emphasis being on the word ‘modern’.

Located on the 23rd floor, it’s said to be the only US restaurant where you can experience the chef’s (Pierre Gagnaire) fine, ‘experimental’ cuisine, so far (this famous chef has top fine dining restaurants in many world cities such as London, Paris and Dubai). His cuisine is supposed to challenge your taste buds in a revolutionary blend of flavors and textures, departing from traditional combinations (this has been called the ‘molecular gastronomy’).

What Twist restaurant in Vegas restaurant looks like:

super modern, high ceilings, glass staircase to increase the ‘wow’ factor leading to a signature wine wall; 300 floating illuminated ‘globes’ to light up the area in an innovative way. It’s a 65 seater so you won’t be feeling lost and you’ll be wall taken care of. Of course, being on the 23rd floor of Mandarin Oriental, you’ll enjoy fantastic views of Las Vegas.

Customers: well, Twist at Mandarin Oriental is higher-end so expect food-lovers and food connoisseurs, but also convention attendees splashing out, regular people who want to experience something different gastronomically and in terms of atmosphere and, of course, regular ‘folks’ ‘treating’ themselves in one way or another. No children under 12 are allowed so you won’t be hearing screaming nor tantrums, and that’s great news to our sensitive ears and souls (smile!): at Twist you can enjoy your food in a great atmosphere.

The food items are truly varied and there’s something for everyone, but if you are a vegetarian you may be hard-pressed if you want a decent range of choices, unfortunately. For non-vegetarians, you can choose between a 6-course menu but, of course, a range of a la carte choices.

Menu Details (Twist at Mandarin Oriental in Vegas):

As you sit down you’ll be given ‘complimentary appetizers’, beautifully presented, such as mini cheese soufflés (made of the fantastic Pecorino cheese), garlic flax seed bread sticks (and we all know how healthy and good for us flax seeds are!) baby carrots, tuna and tomato ‘foam’ samples, cuttlefish vegetable salad and seaweed butter; they are all unique in flavors and you will find something you will love.

The alcoholic beverages you can choose from are also unique blends, some ‘spiced’ with fresh flavors such as lemongrass.

Amongst Twists’ special dishes you will find:

Langoustine Five Ways ($20) is a special, tasty European lobster served in 5 different ways, as the name suggests, each will challenge your taste buds (for the better).

A delicious and innovative selection of Foie Gras for about 40 dollars (you know, those fat pates French cuisine is famous for) which, since you’ll be eating lots of great bred with it, will certainly not let you go out hungry.

Turbot Fish. For about fifty dollars you will enjoy this traditional French fish dish (and, it’s authentically French, directly imported): you will enjoy grilled Turbot accompanied by signature seaweed mash potatoes and lemongrass butter (you will find lemongrass in several dishes at this Vegas restaurant). You may know that lemongrass is used quite a bit in Thai cuisine and one could say that some dishes have ‘something’ that could remind one of this fantastic spice Mecca (Thailand).

Lobster. For under sixty dollars you can enjoy lobster (from the US) cooked in a variety of ways, including ‘Ravioli’ lobster, where the traditional Italian pasta dish is filled with lobster, creating a unique flavor.

There are also several signature meat dishes, such as the ‘Never Never Veal’ (meat from Kansas), the great gorgonzola cake polenta (polenta is a delicious Italian corn-flour delicacy which requires great cooking skills to make it into a divine experience), signature salads with unique dips, and so on.

Desserts. A nice selection of fruits and house ice creams and sorbets; for us the absolute top is their Lassi, which is a dessert-type yogurt (quite popular in India and absolutely divine); any restaurant serving top quality Lassi knows about food, unquestionably. Just to give you an idea of the ‘fine dining’ desserts you can enjoy, here the pastry chef will offer you a complimentary mini pina colada sorbet and green tea fig puree… Gastronomic fun is how many people have described their desserts.

Wine List: extensive (42 pages), with bottles ranging from 45 dollars to many thousands (!)

Summary: excellent restaurant, excellent service, healthy portion (none of the ridiculous tiny portions of some gourmet restaurants), a touch cheaper than other fine dining Vegas restaurants such as Joel Robuchon and Guy Savoy. If you like fine dining and enjoy eating, you will love this brand new Vegas restaurant.

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