Morimoto NYC 2011 – My first visit to NYC

Chef Masaharu Marimoto the highly acclaimed star of TV series Iron Chef opens Morimoto NYC in January 2006. It’s a huge 12,000 square foot contemporary Japanese restaurant located on the fringe of the Meat Packing District. It’s hidden away within a archway and it really exudes a sense of occasion when you walk through a Japanese Noreen curtain the size of a house into the tranquil 2-floor 160 seater. It really is a supernova sushi venue with an omakase bar, a separate wooden sushi bar and countless private spaces protected by privacy glass. Morimoto is also trained in ‘kaiseki’ the Japanese haute cuisine – the traditional multi-douse dinner with many sophisticated cooking techniques.

Toro tartare – caviar, sour cream, wasabi, dashi-soy $31. You could literally smell the pungency of the tuna when this dish arrived. It was quite fishy to be fair (I find fresh tuna generally mild in odour), and tasted like how it smelt. It probably wouldn’t be my go to if I can here again. 

12 oz. Australian Wagyu fillet $75 served with their signature sweet onion and garlic jus. These friends including myself spent the night on the tiles in the now defunct jazz bar The Darby drinking copious amounts of Grey Goose vodka rubbing shoulders with the likes of A.Rod formally of the New York Yankees and hip hop pioneer Russell Simmons. So we were all craving steak when we finally peeled ourselves away from our hotel beds – the wagyu fillet was an obvious choice. The piece of meat was bigger than our fists which came sizzling on a hot skillet. The result was massive, a beautifully buttery tender steak further enhanced but that sweet umami sauce.