Visited in August 2025
Lunch
Rating: One Michelin Macaron
Located in the picturesque area of Greenwich Village, this was an authentic counter experience with 21 pieces of sushi served. The quarter is intensely used by “influencers” and model agencies for photoshoots, which we could observe. To reach the restaurant by public transportation, one leaves the 1 MTA train (red line) at St. Christopher’s Street. The restaurant features counters in two different rooms, plus tables in one of the rooms. Our counter was not sold out. Two seats stayed empty. We were seven guests sitting at the counter. When we arrived, a small additional menu with extras was already present on the sushi plate. There, one could find an additional caviar course, a piece of wagyu sushi, and truffle as an add-on for one of the courses. We stayed with the plain menu. As drinks, I ordered a fruity non-filtered glass of Kamoizumi Summer Snow Nigori Ginjo Sake and a fruity ginger yuzu infused Japanese beer, Hitachino, Yuzu Ginger, Non-Ale, 0.5%< ABV Ibaraki.
I do not pretend that I understood all of the short explanations that our sushi master told us. They provided a menu with Japanese and English descriptions of the served fish at the end of the lunch. The reals servings deviated in some points from the menu but I could figure it out. I also added some explanations about the condiments which were used for each nigiri.
Sudachi, sea salt
Yuzu pepper, sake sauce
With miso paste on top
Now a short pause was happening when more fish were prepared for the following sushi courses.
Kumquat
Lemon juice, fresh ginger, sea salt
Sancho pepper leaf
The best part of the tuna, the fatty one from the belly was not served plain but slightly flamed.
Wasabi, soja sauce; fantastic quality of the salmon roe
Northern Islands uni is smaller than Hokkaido uni. Additive-free. Not the best sea urchin experience with bitter tastes that I normally do not know from sea urchin, which was a pity for a first-time experience of my lunch guest.
A long roll of seaweed filled with rice, radish and finely ground wagyu meat? We did not order the wagyu. This was a serving that we got while four of the guests at the counter got the flamed wagyu sushi.
No photo.
Tamago Yaki I Egg Cake
Summary
This was an authentic nigari lunch, which you do not often find in European big cities. The rice was delicious in size, bite, acidity, and temperature. The fish was superb in quality and freshness, with a relatively large size in relation to the underlying rice. The condiments made sense, and the request of another guest group to put more wasabi was politely ignored. The master gave brief but clear explanations. Service was present but invisible. As a guest, one barely noticed the removal of empty glasses and the regular exchange of finger-cleaning tissue. I liked everything except the uni. This had an unfamiliar and unpleasant taste.
Website of the restaurant: Sushi Nakazawa | New York
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