MintNYC: Stylish and Slightly Impractical
We love design. Great design doesn’t have to be expensive, and it should be beautiful and useful. MintNYC makes a wide variety of museum-quality pieces, and we tried out two of them: the Sushi-time Sushi Plate and the Vin-eau Carafe with Cups.
Objets d’art indeed- sleek, simple and bold colors, sturdy porcelain, no instruction manual needed. Both items were handy, if a tad impractical.
The Sushi-time Sushi Plate (~$40) is designed for two, with the soy/wasabi in the center surrounded by your sushi or sashimi, and with two small places to lay chopsticks (included). It was easy to clean, and worked fairly well. The major issue we had was the weight: the thing weighs as much as a couple of sizable textbooks! This makes it difficult to shelve, since you cannot simply place it up high as it is so staggeringly heavy. And this, in turn, makes it a little hard to use at home, though the sturdiness is probably great if decide to break into the restaurant business with your maki.
The Vin-eau Carafe with Cups (~$40) seems naturally appealing. The cups stack nicely in the stem of the carafe, and contrast the white with a stark red. While we would’ve liked to have a greater choice in colors (you have the option of red, red, or red at this time), this wasn’t the primary issue. The carafe wasn’t too heavy- in fact, the weight was perfect. But cleaning the carafe was a nightmare, as the stem is fairly small, and a fairly large section is unreachable except with some fairly sophisticated washing technology we do not possess- some sort of extraterrestrial pipe cleaner perhaps. This may seem a minor point, but along with the small detail that the cups are a bit tiny unless you’re having sake to go with the maki, it made us less likely to use it.
We’ll keep an eye on MintNYC, and their stuff is available in the MoMa gift stores. Let us know if you have any ideas on what other utensils we should put through the paces.
