When you represent yourself as a curry expert, people always ask the best places for curry in the city.

Sadly, I don’t have too many restaurants to recommend. Too few Asian restaurants, in my estimation, offer that special combination of delicious food and big-city ambiance. I’ve written about this before (please see, “What’s a Good Place for Thai Dining in NYC,” among other posts.) Bottom line: Sure, there are tons of good take-out Asian restaurants, but not enough places where you’d go for, say, a date or to celebrate a special occasion.

Which brings me to an exciting development….a new hot spot named Red Farm has opened in my neighborhood. Now, it would be a stretch to call this a curry destination (it’s not). That said, it’s got the most interesting appetizer called Crispy Duck & Crab Dumpling (photo below) that comes with a delicious curried dipping sauce. Yum. Double Yum. Actually, it comes with four dumplings — all made to look like little crabs — so make that quadruple yum.

Crispy Duck & Crab Dumplings

We had this with the Kowloon Filet Mignon Tarts (I die!) and shared an entrée of Diced Lamb with Chinese Broccoli & White Asparagus, which of course left room for a delicious apple dessert. The setting is something like a rustic farmhouse (albeit, on Hudson Street in the West Village — not exactly bucolic) but it’s warm, inviting, cozy…. the perfect place for a great meal.

By the way, there is, in fact, an actual curry on the curry, Okra & Thai Eggplant Yellow Curry, which I’ve yet to try after three visits. I’ve been too distracted by the black cod and the snow pea dumplings. Next time.