Sushi of Gari in NYC

After a long day at the US Open, we were starving!! We drove over to the upper east side on 78th street. We found a nearby parking spot and we headed straight for sushi! We were seated immediately since we had a reservation at 8:30pm. We were very surprised that the restaurant is still extremely packed. So what is this restaurant famous for? They are famous for Omakase, the chef’s choice.

Sure, we will go with two chef’s choice with creative style sushi. Creative style sushi isn’t the traditional style pressed sushi. It is sushi with the chef’s own garnish and sauce pairing. Thus, no soy sauce or wasabi are required. The chef’s choice consists of 3 plates of sushi, with 4 pieces of sushi per plate. Our first plate of sushi arrived timely at our table. They were fatty tuna, sea bass, flounder, and smoked salmon. Each piece was delicious and refreshing. The fatty tuna with ponzu sauce was the best of the bunch. We had a wonderful moment to reflect what we had on our first plate of Omakase while watching the chefs in action through this little kitchen window from our seat.

The second plate of sushi arrived shortly after. On this plate, there was white fish, salmon, hamachi, and seared tuna. The waiter told us that their all-time favorite is the salmon with a piece of slow cooked tomato on top. It is definitely a great combination. The sourness of the tomato matches very well with the rich taste of the salmon. The overall aroma is rich and fulfilling and also provides a distinctive taste. Kudos to the chef who came up with this combination!

Our final plate of chef choice sushi was presented to us on our table. We found the peanut sauce on a piece of yellowtail quite interesting and delicious on this final plate. There was another piece of tuna with some sort of cheese sauce which tasted like Chinese style turnip cake. Yes, we were craving for more, since the chef’s choice was gone too quickly! The quality of the fish is extremely fresh and comparable to the ones we had in Tokyo. The chef did put in a lot of thoughts (trial and error perhaps?) to provide the best taste combination possible.

After the three plates of omakase sushi, we were still craving for more. So, we ordered a sushi regular, one piece of chopped eel sushi , and one piece of foie gras sushi. The chef put a big piece of pan seared foie gras on top of a soft piece of daikon served with a sweet balsamic vinaigrette sauce, delicious!

The waiter mentioned that we should come at an earlier time and possibly during week days to taste more exotic ingredients. We’ll remember that sir! Lastly, did I mention that this is also a Michelin one star restaurant?

HOKAT Rating:
95/100

Address:
402 East 78th Street
New York, NY 10075
(212) 517-5340
http://www.sushiofgari.com/