Kyotofu

[BryanZ]

Kyotofu

705 Ninth Ave

btwn. 48th St. & 49th

212-974-6012

After a very nice sushi dinner at Sasabune on the other side of the city, we trekked over to Kyotofu, the new Japanese dessert bar.

By 9:20 there was a wait of about ten minutes, easily passed by looking at the menu and drink list. Although we didn't have any the cocktails look especially tasty. The room is very minimalist and chic. The tables very tightly spaced. I wondered why they didn't make the kitchen prep and bar area smaller while expanding the dining room. Perhaps the walls were already in place, but they could have accomodated a larger dining area given the restaurant's overall dimensions

The menu itself is somewhat confusing, and this is for someone who has a basic understanding of the Japanese language. Perhaps because I've never been overly fond of Japanese pastry (as opposed to Japanese-style French pastry which I love) many of Kyotofu's offerings were foreign to me. The menu does not describe what okayu, anmitsu or dorayaki are, thus requiring the assistance of a server when ordering.

Those servers were somewhat scarce and it took several somewhat lengthy minutes for one to finally come over to take our drink order and answer any questions on the menu. The staff was very friendly though and gave off a distinct downtown vibe. In fact, the whole restaurant seems out of place at its address given its soundtrack, design, staff, and overall atmosphere.

We ordered one dessert and one "Kaiseki prix fixe" to share between the two of us. This was an ample amount of food for those who don't mind sharing. The kaiseki includes three courses (much like a Chikalicious) for $15. This was a very fair price for the variety of desserts included in the set.

Included in the kaiseki was:

A sweet tofu with some kind rich "Japanese-sweet" (those who know, know) syrup. This was very tasty. Again, not sweet and creamy in the European pastry sense, but definitely sweet and creamy.

Next was a main course sampler that included anmitsu with black currant mochi, kinako-an cream, azuki red bean sauce. The anmitsu (a type of Japanese jelly dessert gelled with agar) was subtly flavored with plum sake. I thought the plum sake flavor wasn't strong enough but the accompaniments were very cool. There was also a portion of okayu, a type of Japanese rice pudding. Again, the base flavor was very subtle but the accompaniments of dried sour cherry, kuromitsu whipped cream, and candied ginger definitely made the dish. Next was a miso-chocolate cake (did they take this from Goldfarb, did Goldfard take it from Japan?) that was quite tasty. The miso flavor was light so that it worked to bolster the rich bitterness of the chocolate without adding too much fermented salt. Personally, I would've like more miso, but I love that combination in general. Lastly there was a fig yokan, another gelatinzed offering served with a roasted soy bean powder (I think). This was the least appealing item of the night, as it was kind of bland.

The petits fours in the kaiseki were two very moist cookies. I usually don't like cookies, but these were very tasty. One was a very subtle kinako, or roasted soy bean, which we first thought was salty peanut butter. The other was a cookied dipped in green tea chocolate.

The dessert we ordered separately was the toasted walnut tahitian vanilla parfait with maple soy-marscapone mousse and caramel apricot sauce. This was very similar to the kulfi that's been on the menu at Tabla forever. This version works walnuts into the frozen cutsard itself. The apricot caramel was nice but I would've liked more of it to brighten up the vanilla. This was good but not great.

They presented us with what I think were orange-y gelatin jelly things with the check. They were kind of hard to pick up and at went bouncing onto the table for us and another party next to us. Hold tight.

All in all a very nice, subtly tasty experience. Kyotofu really gets into what modern Japanese pastry is all about. Thankfully it eschews much of the traditional Japanese "sweets," which I hate with a passion unmatched, in favor of a more modern approach. Unlike Chikalicious, however, it still retains a distinctly Japanese soul.

The food, after tax, before tip was $25. Cocktails are $9ish, teas $3-$6 for a pot.

[kathryn]

Went here last night with my boyfriend around 10pm -- it was charming and fantastic. Seated immediately (snow may have had something to do with it), very cozy atmosphere, friendly service, although I sometimes had trouble understanding everything our server said since her Japanese accent got in the way and the room was 75% full. Other than that, it was great. All white walls and seats might seem too cold and modern, but the up-lighting was very warm. There were only one or two empty tables when we sat down in the back room, although there were a handful of people up front at the bar.

I ordered the prix fixe, my boyfriend ordered the chocolate cake and a cocktail, their signature drink, which was white sesame shochu, cranberry, and mint. Very tasty, though it seemed like a summer drink. We were so enamoured, we thought about seeking out white sesame shochu on its own.

I think the prix fixe is the way to go here. You get an appetizer (sweet tofu), a sampler of four desserts (rice pudding, fig jelly, chocolate cake, walnut ice cream), and petit fours (two wonderfully soft cookies), and then they bring you some sweets with the check (pear jelly cubes).

I enjoyed the sweet tofu (seemed like something I might have eaten in my youth as a Chinese-American) and it seemed kind of like an Asian flan due to the black sugar sauce on top. My boyfriend only thought it was OK. The dried apricot was an unexpected surprise and contrasted nicely with the subtle taste of the tofu.

Like Brian Z, I greatly enjoyed the rice pudding dish because of the cherry and candied ginger garnishes. I'm not usually a big rice pudding fan, and the Kyotofu rendition seemed as far as possible from the gooey glop you sometimes find passed off as rice pudding. I actually mistook the cherries for raisins at first. The spiced tuile was a good foil for the rice pudding -- it was a combination of many difference spices and I could have swore I tasted cumin in there, which was also an unexpected note. It's always nice to get a mix of different textures in a dessert as well: the crispy tuile, al dente rice, soft cream, and chewy ginger and cherries.

My toasted walnut tahitian vanilla parfait was tasty but too hard to eat. The density of the walnuts in the ice cream made it awkward to break apart the cylinder and I ended up clanking my utensils a fair bit in trying to eat this dish, especially because of the cookie that was hidden underneath. I enjoyed the obvious freshness of the walnuts, but overall I did not enjoy this as much as other people since to me it was tasty but ordinary: just walnut ice cream and some sauce. Perhaps the full on dish is better, as I couldn't really taste the caramel apricot sauce.

As a big chocolate fan, the mini miso chocolate cake was amazing. Moist, rich, dense bordering on fudge, but not cloyingly sweet, and the slight miso hint gradually revealed itself after a few bites. There was a tiny dusting of green tea powder on the plate that didn't really add much to the cake. Personally, I would come back solely for this cake. If you like chocolate cake, Kyotofu is the place to go.

Lastly, the fig yokan was like a thick fruity jelly. Reminded me of the jelly candies you can get at Asian supermarkets. Simple, elegant, and another item that reminded me of my childhood. Not so much a 4th dish as much as a precursor to the "real" petit fours.

The "real" petit fours were two soft, perfect cookies. One, a sugar cookie dipped in green tea chocolate, and two, a black sesame white chocolate cookie. The cookies were, simply put, perfect. Soft, a little crumbly, not dry, not hard, almost melt in your mouth delicious. I am seriously contemplating buying an entire box for myself next time I am in the neighborhood. I haven't had cookies this good (E.A.T? Black Hound?) in a long time.

And to top it all off, we had some pear jelly with the cube. They were small, dice-sized cubes of pear puree. Also very simple and elegant, and basically like someone had pulverized pear and shrunk it down to a single bite size.

I live within walking distance of Chikalicious, and to tell you the truth, Kyotofu impresses me much more.

Ended up being about $45 including tax and tip (1 prix fixe, 1 entree, 1 cocktail). As far as upscale dessert destinations go, the price is on par with Room 4 Dessert and Chikalicious, although the atmosphere seems to be more comfortable and less crowded.

[raji]

Kyotofu got headline on Gothamist... apparently they are doing sake tastings

http://gothamist.com/2007/09/06/banshaku_at_kyo.php

The Hell's Kitchen dessert spot was host to a tasting of sakes from Yamagata Prefecture's Dewazakura Brewery, which specializes in ginjo sakes. There was a representative from the brewery on hand who gave detailed descriptions of each offering. The five sakes were accompanied by savory, and, naturally, sweet treats.

[BryanZ]

Friends of mine live right by here so I stopped here after a rather large meal at Ssam.

Too full already, I was convinced to share an otsumami platter of 4 savory items and order an entire kaiseki for myself. After Shake Shack, Ssam, and Kyotofu, I was rather stuffed. Oh well, at least it was all enjoyable.

The otsumami platter was serviceable but not all that great. Fine if you want a few savory items before dessert but not worth going to the restaurant for these items alone. Some of them just seemed strangely conceived and could be done better with the same ingredient just combined differently.

The dessert program has not strayed from its very Japanese roots. At least in the kaiseki, every single item tastes in some way Japanese. There are analogs to other pastry in the city--Tabla's kulfi, the ubiquitous warm chocolate cake, savory ice creams--but the flavor profiles here are unique. I suppose it's refreshing to see a place stay true to its concept and not necessarily dumb itself down the way Chikalicious kind of dead, but this is not dessert for everyone.

Tables remain very tightly spaced, service was fine. Worth stopping by if you're in the area and are into the whole Asian sweets thing.

Edited May 17, 2008 by BryanZ (log)