Wayan feels like old guard New York “fusion” food scene done right. In a time when smaller, genre-bending concept restaurants filled with dressed down crowds are all the rage, Wayan feels a little dated, like the kind that would be written about in old school publications, the kind that is notable just for the fact that it focuses on a non-European cuisine while catering to a population with a refined but not all that diversified palate. It makes sense, Wayan is the first solo venture of Cédric Vongerichten, and the restaurant fits right into his family’s Jean-Georges restaurant empire.

The menu draws mostly from Indonesian flavors and ingredients, with some cameos from other Asian cuisines, and it’s all presented in a well-composed, fancy French restaurant kind of way. Despite the atmosphere that feels like cross between a themed Vegas hotel and an elevated PF Changs, and the menu that reads like any New American restaurant listing ingredients and downplaying the flavor notes in the fine print, Wayan is still celebrated for good reason, offering an upscale dining experience with food that stands out from the generally more western skewing fancy-casual restaurant scene.