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Sunday 5 October 2014

Ichimura at Brushstroke, New York

Trying an omakase sushi meal has been high up on my agenda for a while. Having given up on trying to secure seats at Sushi Tetsu in London and Sushi Nakazawa in New York due to the demand  I was excited to find out that Mrs Nom managed to book us into Ichimura at Brushstroke during our NYC trip. In what was to be my first ever evening meal in the busy metropolis and what a fine one it was. Ichimura is located in the former bar area of Japanese restaurant Brushstroke, both held one Michelin star during our visit but Ichimura has since been awarded a second star in the 2015 Michelin guide for New York City.

Due to the small sushi bar setting seatings are limited to two per night at 6pm and 9pm. There were nine diners during our sitting and after after a short wait for the first set of diners to depart we were luckily plonked right in front of Master Ichimura, ideal seats to watch the master at work. 


Master Ichimura was very softly spoken asking us if we had any allergies as we took our seats, with a permanent friendly and smiley demeanour that lasted through the whole meal all of the diners including us couldn’t help but feel charmed by the Master. Below is a summary what we experienced during our sitting. Starting with an appetiser plate followed by sashimi and chawanmushi before the endless nigiri selection featuring some very fine fresh fish. Our descriptions wouldn't do the fish justice so we will let the pictures do the talking. Each piece was expertly cut exuding natural oils and served at the right temperature before melting in the mouth. Freshly grated wasabi and the level of soy was decided by Master Ichimura and he got it spot on each time.

Appetiser plate

Sashimi plate - chu-toro, mmberjack, striped sea bass, octopus, abalone, red snapper

Chawanmushi - steamed egg with Dungeness crab and truffle 

Sea bream

Isaki

Striped sea bass susuki

Kinmedai  - Golden eye snapper

Aji horse mackerel

Bonito

Serra Spanish mackerel

Amberjack

Herring

Shima-Aji - Striped jack fish

Red sea snapper

Sea urchin – Nagano and Hoikkido

Sea shrimp

Chu-toro, medium fatty tuna

Ikura – salmon roe

O-toro, fatty tuna belly

Grilled sea bream & Myoga plum sauce

For us the double layer chu-toro and o-toro nigiri along with the sea urchin were the best pieces of the night, but in truth all of the other fish we sampled were extraordinary. The meal has set a whole new benchmark for us when it comes to sushi, it may only be topped by visiting Japan, hopefully sooner than later. At $180 a head before drinks and at around £170 each with moderate sake it is certainly priced at the high end but for the quality of the fish it is a price worth paying.

Ichimura at Brushstroke on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. Sushi is a very famous seafood chinese dish. But i seriously wonder how they make a non cooked fish so tasty.

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