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Featuring Matsuri by Tadashi Ono |
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Matsuri is a Japanese restaurant which is located within the Maritime Hotel
at 369 West 16th Street (quite near Ninth Avenue) which is reputed to offer
great sushi and other examples of Japanese cuisine. It operates under the
culinary guidance of master chef Tadashi Ono with dishes described as
sensible and faithful to the Japanese cooking tradition. Surprisingly, one
of the most popular dishes here is actually the $23 sirloin steak, which
you would not immediately correlate with Japanese cuisine. The restaurant
is so tastefully designed by Japanese craftsmen that the establishment was
even recognized as having Best New Design back in 2004 by the Best in New
York Awards. Small Plates did a feature on Matsuri in 2003, and the
restaurant has even been included in the 101 Best New York Restaurants list
for 2006.
Usually, Japanese restaurants have a reputation for offering highly-priced
food with small portions. Matsuri might be the exception to this rule since
its prices start at $11 and culminate at $24, placing the restaurant in the
moderate to expensive range. But even though food is moderately-priced, the
quality does not suffer because ingredients like organic grains and fresh
fish are sourced everyday from Japan itself. This may explain why the menu
is amended according to the season, resulting in fresh offerings that
intrigue the mind and delight the senses. During your Matsuri visit, you
may try to sample such favorites such as the yellowtail sashimi in ginger
vinegar sauce, Sake Black Cod, and slim strips of fluke sashimi sprinkled
with ponzu and red pepper. Nobody with a daring spirit goes away from
Matsuri without trying one of the over 200 kinds of sake available here,
especially the house sake called Daruma that is produced by a specialty
sake brewer.
Matsuri master chef Tadashi Ono claims that all Japanese food have one
thing in common - they all rely on the freshest of ingredients. Thus, you
sample the ingredients themselves when you eat rather than have them
drowned in some kind of artificial flavoring to mask their true flavors.
Ono stressed that even he is still discovering something new about Japanese
cooking and their ingredients everyday as he tries out recipes and
innovates to produce new iterations. The name of the restaurant is derived
from the Japanese word matsuri which means festivals - indicating that
every meal prepared at the Matsuri restaurant is a celebration of life,
love for good food, and the shimmering nightlife of New York City. The
crowds that drove to Matsuri are a testament to this festival atmosphere in
the air, which only makes appetites get hungrier and diners and staff
happier into the bargain.
The restaurant is open for service from 6:00 in the evening until midnight
during Sundays through Wednesdays; and from 6:00 in the evening until 1:00
in the morning during Thursdays to Saturdays. It was formally introduced to
the public in October 2003. Upon entering the reception, you will probably
immediately notice the tansu chest that is used as a reception desk - an
example of skilled Japanese craftsmanship that will tell you, this is a
restaurant with class.
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