dabestspooner

I dont know whats more of a let down, the menu and prices or the tiny overpriced "flagship" Muji next to it. I wouldnt be surprised if Inakaya is owned by Muji, both scream poor management and poor business decision making.

While this may be true, some of the best places(mizutani, kyubei, jiro) dont charge that much.

containing collagen? ← yes small bits

Their menus are pretty similar between Yakitori Totto and Torys, yes - the latter is the little sister of the former, but Aburiya pretty much has it's own distinct robata menu with classed up versions of a few Totto things like their trademark tsukune, and Soba Totto's focus is on Soba, and they have a subset of the Yakitori menu, which I don't know will be maintained if and when they open another sister restaurant, as that yakitori menu generally follows the female head chef of the group as she is always working at the newest of the restaurants. ← Totto and Torys have slightly different menus(torys has the chicken sashimi) and different atmospheres, they almost feel like different unrelated restaurants.

Ippudo Santouka Lan 15 East Abburiya Kinnosuke Torys Soba Totto Back Forty Cookshop Hearth Chinatown Brasserie Gnocco Greenwich Grill

Hakata Tonton makes very good gyoza

Is Stephen the bald guy in the suit? He asked me if there was anything I dont eat, I told him "sazae" and he was like "I dont know what the f that is"

I've heard about Gari being an investor in bringing a new chain to manhattan. I wish Gyu Kaku here was 25,30,35 all you can eat like in japan.

Its one of my favorite tofus as well. I'm glad otokomae is pretty easy to find in NY.

I went to Matsugen last night. The bukkake soba is still on the menu, but written in Japanese as bukkake and Matsugen special soba in english. We started with appetizer trio of Yuba Sashimi, Uni Sashimi in Yuzu Gelee, Chilled Asparagus in Sesame sauce. The yuba sashimi is probably one of the best yubas I've ever eaten, served with just a bit of dashi shoyu and fresh wasabi. I enjoyed the rich, nutty, creamy simplicity. The uni from hokkaido was very orange and very creamy, very good but not as good as some of the uni I've had at Tokyo, Hokkaido, kanoyama, and jewel bako in their prime. I prefer my uni to be firmer. The hokkaido asparagus was perfectly blanched, but this dish seemed pretty pedestrian and like something I would make at home. Next we had kumamoto oysters with 3 different topped sauces. ponzu with momeji - pretty much the standard at a lot of places, but never the less very good yuzu kosho jelly with yuzu zest - very good could have used a bit more yuzu flavor sugar and rice vinegar - so simple but probably the best of the trio. The oysters were very fresh and briny. kagoshima gyu shabu shabu salad - Barely blanched kagoshima beef over mixed greens with a sesame dressing. The beef was excellent, barely cooked, tender and flavorful. The gomabara dressing tasted very fresh like the sesame was justed roasted. The atypical salad greens were kinda bland, I would have preferred mizuna or some more exotic salad greens. We asked to substitute for Inaka soba which has a nuttier rougher texture in both our sobas. The soba itself is excellent, very chewy, nutty, and complex. I think its better than soba totto's, soba koh, even Honmura An, and leagues better than sobaya. Bukake Uni Soba - Soba topped with Hokkaido Uni, Sesame, myoga, shiso, osen tamago, fresh wasabi, yamaimo, katsuobushi. Very good, the uni here was better than the uni in our appetizer. I'm not sure if most people will enjoy the sliminess of this dish from the yamaimo, uni, onsen tamago, once they pour the dashi on top and mix it up. A very refreshing summer dish. Ebi tempura Zaru Soba - Cold soba with 2 pieces of Shrimp tempura, one piece of kabocha, and one piece of shiranegi, The tempura here was very weak. One piece of shrimp was overcooked and tough at one end and very greasy. The tempura batter was of the thinner variety similar to Soba Totto's which I'm not too crazy about. I would have preferred either the darker Tokyo style or the more puffier Kyoto style. The soba dipping sauce was very good, had a very strong katsuo taste and was not too salty. They only gave me some sliced shiranegi to put into my tsuyu;some wasabi, and shiso would have been nice. Deserts were excellent. Matsugen Parfait - Home made Matcha, and Vanilla Ice cream with Fukuoka Strawberries, Warabi Mochi, Kinako Powder, Black Sugar Syrup, Hokkaido Red Beans. The ice creams were excellent and went well with the red beans, and kinako powder tasted like it was just roasted. The strawberries did not lose their sweetness in the mixture. This actually better than some of the parfaits I've had in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hokkaido. Anin Tofu with Strawberry Water - This was very good as well. This was probably the only almond tofu I ever had that grinded almonds in it. The strawberry water only complimented the tofu and did not overpower it. One concern we had was how will the quality hold up once the opening team of chefs return to Tokyo(the manager mentioned to us they flew their chefs in from their Ginza location), and will they source ingredients locally eventually instead of having ingredients shipped from several different prefectures in Japan. Also the wait staff could have done a better job explaining how to eat each dish better to diners who have never had soba before. Around us we saw other tables confused with what to do with tsuyu(pouring it directly on their soba and splashing all over themselves) and poking at their onsen tamagos. One instance we saw a girl put only grated daikon on her tempura and not mixing it with the dipping sauce and complaining it had no taste. I can see where the negative reviews are coming from. Overall I thought the food was excellent except for the tempura and would return when it gets cooler to have their shabu shabu and perhaps try their sushi. And speaking of sushi, the restrooms are located behind the sushi counter which I thought was awkward and could be a problem for the chefs when it gets busy and people are navigating behind them while they're cutting fish.

You should definitely give it a try. I also wonder how Matsugen's soba compares to Soba Totto. The whole Aburiya group are very authentic Japanese that seem to operate outside of the NYC dining "scene" for better and not so much for worse. ← Raji, have you been to Aburiya for lunch? Aburiya makes a mean lunch. I actually prefer their lunch menu over dinner. I have a feeling Matsugen will disappoint casual Japanese food lovers who will say something along the lines of "I'd rather go to Sobaya, Momofuku, Morimoto, and Nobu" or anyone who feels ripped off by Torys, Totto, Aburiya Kinnosuke.

Jonathans was actually my first meal ever in Japan, which was the first time I ever had Japanese style demiglace.

It is a credibility kill Then again I enjoy Jonathans and Nakamuraya, I shouldnt talk.

besides knives stock up on spices, curry roux, and tea I picked up some amazing sansho and hojicha the last time I was Japan.

I stopped by for brunch yesterday We had the guacamole trio and it was excellent. I didnt think quince and pomegranate would work in a guacamole but it did. I had the tilapia baja tacos and they were better than most places in the city, but the salsa was a bit on the sweet side. It would have been nice if they offered the more adventurous options during brunch like the lengua or grasshoppers. My wife had the chicken enchiladas with fig salsa, and she was very satisfied though she felt it needed some kind of kick to it. She thought the portion was a bit large and couldnt finish it. Everything was well prepared and we're going go back for dinner as we both felt dinner would be a lot better based on browsing the menu.

Maybe it's just a case of me ordering the wrong thing, and I'd be curious to try the torinikuramen next time. Don't want to take this too far off-topic, but I felt the shio broth was inferior to Setagaya's, and the miso broth inferior to Menchankotei's, both in a very objective way. ← You cant compare apples to oranges. Santouka is a tonkotsu broth and setagaya is a clear seafood broth. Only the shio tare and miso tare could be compared but you cant since its diluted in the broths. Menchankotei's broth is also seafood based. A better comparison for santouka would be to compare it to Ichiran or Ippudo whenever they open up.

Oooh I think many people would disagree with you. Might be a matter of personal preference. It's discussed here too, but this is before Setagaya opened http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=53714&st=30 But I really suggest you try their torinikuramen, and compared to their miso and shio broths, the white, cloudy toriniku broth is simply more satisfying. ← Actually the torinuku is the same broth as the shio

I wasnt crazy about setagaya either at least ippudo is coming and Santouka is close by.

You mean the Chiyoda next to Cafe Zaiya? Aburi sushi isn't that uncommon, it's just a matter of the sushi bar owning a blowtorch... You went to Midorizushi in Umegaoka or Shibuya? when did I recommend it to you? sorry if I forgot ← yeah Chiyoda next to Cafe Zaiya I know aburiya sushi is pretty common,but you don't see it too often as a set item in NYC. I went to the one in Shibuya, yeah I know the Umegaoka is better suppositly.

I agree with Raji, a good sushi place will have great sushi regardless of whether or not you sit at the bar or not. Thanks for the Midorizushi recommendation. Coincidently enough, the counter at Chiyoda's sit down restaurant is very similar, the plating, rice texture is very similar too. Theres even aburi sushi on the menu. Its possible the itamae may have worked at Midorizushi.

yeah but look at the date of last visit the rankings, its not up to date. Kanoyama has gone down hill a bit as far as I'm concerned. And I've been going there for 10+ years and was pretty let down on a recent visit. Bouley has surprisingly amazing sushi Why is Tomoe, Nobu, and Morimoto there?

I've seen the press releases and the chef is south korean, not zainichi even.

I like the pak mori the best out of all the places at the curry museum. It's sad to see it go.

This has happened to me as well, Kanoyama, I've seen my omakase bill jump from 55 to 275 because of a little spoken japanese. LOL I've been to the honolulu location and Sasabune and wasn't too impressed. Even though they claimed edomae, they used the same bottled unagi sauce on everything.

Trust me, the yubari melon ones at the Hokkaido fair were ma ma, flavorwise they were good, but consistency was very mushy, and the crust was mushy even fresh from the oven. Zaiya has melon pan, so does panya.