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Nobu New York, the flagship restaurant of Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, received three stars from the New York Times and a Michelin star. With such a fame and reputation, Nobu was undoubtedly to be one of my Top 3 restaurants during the restaurant week.
The interior design of the restaurant evokes the beauty of Japanese countryside with natural textures such as birch trees and wood floors, making the diners feel peaceful. However, the wall made of river stones brings the energy and excitement through the space, creating a surreal effect.
We began our meal with the tuna sashimi salad with Matsuhisa dressing and squid pasta with light garlic sauce. The squid was very fresh and chewy. Its pasta shape made the squid captured more of the light garlic sauce and became more palatable.
The highlights of this dining experience were the chicken with black sesame sauce and its Tiramisu with white miso. At first I was in doubt with black sesame sauce and wondered that it would be a good match for the chicken. However, I was really admired the chef’s creativity for this dish. The nutty black sesame carrying a little bit salty created a sparkle on the plain chicken breast.
My friend Tony said that he sensed a hint of seaweed from the sesame sauce. Since seaweed is an ingredient largely used in Japanese cuisine, I emailed the restaurant to ask for information about the sauce. Surprisingly, Nobu not only emailed me back the desired answer but also generously share a similar version of the sauce.
As for the dessert, it was quite surprised to have Tiramisu to end up the meal in the Japanese restaurant. I expected to get something like green tea ice cream or sweet red bean soup with mochi. However, this Tiramisu was not like others. The chef added one of the classic Japanese ingredients, the white miso, into the dessert to re-translate this traditional italian dessert. The crunchy chocolate chips on top created a fun texture. And I thought the hint of salty flavor of the Tiramisu came from the white miso. It was the dessert to die for.
Generally speaking, Restaurant week offered a good chance for me to visit Nobu restaurant. Even though the lunch menu was not fancy, it was still a good shot to enjoy the innovative modern Japanese cuisine.
