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Where to eat Japanese food in New York City? Go where Japanese chefs like to dine. These restaurants are all recommended by chefs who moved to the city from Japan and pick these places to experience an authentic Japanese meal.
April 17, 2014
Where Japanese Chefs Eat Japanese in NYC
Go Where The Pros Go
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Photo Credit: Troy House
Where to eat Japanese food in New York City? Go where Japanese chefs like to dine. These restaurants are all recommended by chefs who moved to the city from Japan and pick these places to experience an authentic Japanese meal.
For more of these chefs’ recommendations, download the Find. Eat. Drink. iPhone app here.
EN Japanese Brasserie Chef Abe Hiroki
Takashi Chef Takashi Inoue
Kyo Ya Chef Chikara Sono
Sono is a native of Sapporo City in Hokkaido, which is Japan’s second largest island. He is the recipient of a Michelin star rating three years in a row and a three star review from the New York Times. At Kyo Ya, he serves Japanese kaiseki, a multi coursed cuisine focusing on seasonality. Read more »
Recommended by:
- Hiromitsu Takahashi
- Abe Hiroki
- Takashi Inoue
Hiroki grew up in Fukuoka City, on the island of Kyushu. He cooks using seasonal ingredients and modern techniques in his home-style washoku cooking, which is about creating a balance between nutrition and aesthetic harmony. Read more »
Recommended by:
- Koji Hagirhara
- Chikara Sono
Inoue is a third-generation Korean immigrant born in Osaka, Japan, and uses his heritage for inspiration at his West Village meat mecca. He specializes in yakiniku, which is a table-grilling Korean-style Japanese barbecue, and horumon, meaning discarded goods or the innards. Read more »
Recommended by:
- Anita Lo
Sobakoh Soba Master Hiromitsu Takahashi
Hakata Tonton Chef Koji Hagihara
Hagihara creates dishes from the Hakata borough, Fukuoka prefecture in the Kyushu area. The focus is using the collagen from pigs’ feet (Tonsoku) which is said to promote younger skin. Read more »
Recommended by:
- Abe Hiroki
- Chikara Sono
Takahashi studied in Japan to become a soba master and makes individually cut soba noodles using a traditional soba kiri cleaver. The noodles consist of 80 percent buckwheat (for flavor) and 20 percent flour (for texture). Buckwheat lowers blood pressure and decreases cholesterol. Read more »
Recommended by:
- Chikara Sono
Hakata Grilled Pork Toro Ramen at Hide-Chan
Photo Credit: Jason Lam [Flickr]
Hide-Chan Ramen
Cuisine
Ramen
Description
The focus here is the pork tonkotsu broth at this second floor ramen house from Bobby Munekata, the owner of Totto Ramen. Chef Koji Hagihara orders the Red Dragon Noodle, but also recommends the basic noodles, such as Tonkosu or Miso.
Details
248 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10022, T: 212.813.1800
Sushi at 15 East
Photograph courtesy of 15 East
15 East
Cuisine
Sushi
Description
Executive sushi chef Masato Shimizu apprenticed under sushi master Rikio Kugo at Tokyo’s renowned Sukeroku for seven years before coming to New York. It’s chef Takashi Inoue’s favorite restaurant in the city. “I could eat their omakase menu every day. It’s probably the highest quality sushi I’ve found in the city.” Chef Chikara Sono notes, “The sushi is great. I love to come here and sit at the chef’s counter.”
Details
15 East 15th Street, New York, NY 10003
T: 212.647.0015 (Book a Table) | 15eastrestaurant.com
Grilled Tonsoku at Hakata Tonton
Photo Credit: Troy House
Hakata Tonton
Cuisine
Kyushu / Tonsoku
Description
Seafood dishes are served at Hakata Tonton, but the focus is all about the tonsoku (pig’s feet) and the collagen, which is said to promote younger skin. Chef Abe Hiroki has fond memories because it’s cooking from his hometown of Fukoka. He recommends ordering the Motsunabe offal hot pot. Chef Chikara Sono enjoys being surprised by chef Koji’s dishes. In addition to the hot pot, things worth ordering include: pig’s feet gyoza, spicy caviar cod roe, and grilled pork tonsoku with spicy garlic sauce.
Details
61 Grove Street, New York, NY 10014
T: 212.242.3699 (Book a Table) | www.tontonnyc.com
Donguri
Cuisine
Kansai
Description
Donguri means “acorn” in Japanese, which is a perfect description for this small, minimally decorated restaurant that doesn’t serve sushi, but cooked dishes from the Kansai region of Japan. “The most respectable person for me is Mr. Hitoshi Kagawa at Donguri. He has great skills and techniques of the traditional way of cooking,” raves chef Chikara Sono.
Details
309 East 83rd Street, New York, NY 10028
T: 212.737.5656 | www.itoen.com/donguri
Kaiseki at Kyo Ya
Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.
Kyo Ya
Cuisine
Kaiseki
Description
Chef Chikara Sono’s goal is to offer genuine, traditional Japanese cuisine using carefully selected seasonal ingredients. The kaiseki (set menu) is the ideal representation of what Kyo Ya has to offer and is what Hiromitsu Takahashi suggests you order. Abe Hiroki loves his cooking, because “he has a wonderful style that allows the ingredients to really speak.” Takashi Inoue calls it a “great traditional restaurant” and recommends the sashimi, then the lightly fried tempura, followed by the Uni Kani Ikura Don (sea urchin, king crab, and salmon roe over rice).
Details
94 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10009
T: 212.982.4140
Wasan
Photograph courtesy of Wasan
Wasan
Cuisine
Washoku
Description
East meets West with Japanese techniques and New York ingredients. Owned by three guys from Japan, the two chefs are veterans of Inagiku at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, one of the most acclaimed Japanese restaurants in New York. The third owner is a sake sommelier, who became a finalist at the World Sake Competition and teaches a monthly Sake School. Chef Koji Hagihara raves, “The menu is so good here, I think it is really hard to make a decision to choose just one or a few dishes.”
Details
108 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003
T: 212.777.1978 (Book a Table) | www.wasan-ny.com
Sobakoh’s Soba Master Hiromitsu Takahashi | Fresh Soba Noodles
Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.
Sobakoh
Cuisine
Soba
Description
At Sobakoh, you know the noodles are fresh because soba master Hiromitsu Takahashi is in the window hand-cutting the noodles with a soba kiri cleaver. Chef Chikara Sono calls this his favorite soba noodle place. “I have to have the Inaka Soba, made with buckwheat.” The buckwheat soba noodles are healthy, they lower blood pressure and decrease cholesterol.
Details
309 East 5th St, New York, NY 10003
T: 212.254.2244 | www.sobakoh-nyc.com
Cha-An Tea House’s Green Tea Roll Cake with Sake Ice Cream
Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.
Cha-an Japanese Tea House
Cuisine
Tea House
Description
Hidden away on the second floor, they serve afternoon tea with Japanese sweet and savory snacks. They also serve lunch and if you’d like to drink something other than tea, they have beer, wine and sake. Chef Tomoko Kato trained at Bouley Bakery, the Russian Tea Room and Le Bernardin. Chef Chikara Sono calls her green tea roll cake with sake ice cream the best. “Ms. Tomoko Kato is a wonderful chef and also well-known as a pâtissier.”
Details
230 East 9th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10079
T: 212.228.8030 | www.chaanteahouse.com
More Japanese Recs
Download the F.E.D. iPhone app and get more recommendations from Japanese chefs, as well as many more New York recommendations from other chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, and food artisans.
