uni sushi $7
I rarely eat at “no name chef” restaurants simply because there are so many excellent restaurants with great and famous chefs at the helm, however on our way to eat in tribeca, in a downpour and stuck in rush hour traffic on park ave. that did not seem to move at all, my friend couldn’t stand waiting in traffic and said let’s go to japonais. I did not want to go to japonais but it was just around the corner on 18 st. so we ran in.
lobster spring rolls $16
these were not bad but not particularly memorable.
spicy mono roll – octopus roll topped with spicy tuna tartare in eel sauce $16
the reason my friend wanted to come here was for this roll. it was actually pretty good because i love the toothsome chew of octopus, but it’s a rather odd filling for a sushi roll. to say that the menu is a mash-up pastiche of pan-asian ingredients would be an understatement.
crispy fried soft shell crab $16
I had high hopes for this sandwich because fried soft shell crab is one of my favorite foods. imagine my chagrin as i bit into the body of the crab and found it WET, ICY COLD and FISHY tasting ! this should be more aptly named fried not-thawed-out-not-fresh soft shell crab. worst soft shell crab i have ever eaten, truly disgraceful.
chestnut chicken $24
very average roasted organic chicken. i don’t recall seeing any chestnuts. i’ll gladly take the fried chicken at the redhead over this any day.
sweet potato fries – not crispy but at least they were sweet potato fries which i like.
warm chocolate filled beignets $11
awful – i took one bite of this tasteless leaden ball and left the rest uneaten. the green tea semi-freddo it came with had no flavor whatsoever. i have never not eaten a dessert but this was atrocious.
I tell my friends that the reason that I always go to chef driven restaurants is because that’s where the good food is. there’s a reason that the best “famous name” chefs win awards – they cook the best ! japonais is proof of that statement. it’s a perfect example of a pricey no-name-chef restaurant that serves mediocre to horrid food that no new york foodie would be caught dead in. now you know why.
soy sauce pot – the most charming thing about this meal was this cute little red soy sauce pot.
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copyright 2010 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.
