WORLD SPA

How’s the Food at World Spa in Midwood?

"Hidden behind a brutalist facade under the F-train tracks in Midwood, this sprawling 50,000-square-foot bathhouse opens up into a surprisingly grand interior, starting with a marble service desk and a locker-room setup where a $100 entry fee includes a robe and locker but not anti-slip footwear, making it worth bringing your own shoes to avoid buying the spa’s pricey fake Yeezy slides. The space is organized around a central lounge and dining area surrounded by multiple hammams, banyas, and pools, plus an ice room where snow falls in the corners, and a glass wall separating the lounge from the pool and onsen zone gives it an open, resort-like feel. Food is a real focus here, with a menu that runs from Slavic banya staples like borscht, vareniki, and freshly made pelmeni with chewy noodles and schmaltzy ground chicken filling, to sushi-bar starters, Chesapeake oysters on ice that arrive fat and fresh, and mains like short ribs or salmon; pelmeni pair nicely with a generous side of sour cream, and are even better when the last few are tossed into a bowl of chicken broth with homemade noodles and dill. Drinks can be as simple as a round of vodka chased with fresh, pulpy orange-carrot juice or as cozy as a pot of Earl Grey served with jams, and dessert is anchored by an especially good honey cake whose delicate layers of sponge and rich cream taste freshly assembled, especially when matched with pine-cone syrup that’s resinous, tangy, and suited to the snowy tree décor on every table. The atmosphere is social and theatrical, epitomized by the “event sauna” group ritual, led by an employee named Juan who strips off his lifeguard shirt, blasts a playlist through a steam-friendly color-changing floor speaker, ladles water and ylang-ylang snowballs onto the rocks, and whips a towel around like pizza dough to circulate herbal steam toward each participant, turning the session into a kind of communal performance that can be intense enough to drive out the more uncomfortable guests while everyone else rocks out to “Hotel California” and ends with applause before a plunge into cold water." - Tammie Teclemariam