In 2008, Jean-Georges - the highly acclaimed French chef - opened Matsugen, a soba-house-turned-haute-cuisine gem in the Financial District.
It showed up on nycgo.com as a choice for restaurant week, and it caught the attention of this loyal Jean-Georges fan (I consider my lunch at Nougatine on Central Park West my first life changing experience with food - more on that later).
Eric and I arrived at the restaurant and immediately felt welcome. The space was expansive, sunlit, and inviting. The wait-staff greeted us warmly on our way in.
The welcoming ambience
I opened the menu and found two options - the restaurant week menu (essentially a bento box lunch), and a 7 course omakase (chef’s tasting menu). After a couple milliseconds of deliberation, I went for the second option.
Eric and I have done the omakase at Morimoto before, so we do know how this kind of game is played - a series of small, delicious bites of food that don’t last very long and leave you wanting a little bit more. Regardless, we were very happy with our experience at Matsugen. After taking a look at the photos, I think you’ll know why.
(About the photos - Eric and I turned photo-taking into a bit of a competition. We were each allowed 3 shots for each course. The best photo of each dish was chosen to be put in this blog post.)
(All of the photos below were taken by Eric. Some days, you just can’t win.)
Amuse Bouche: Edamame with chinese five spice and fleur-de-sel
House-made tofu, lightly dressed and served with microgreens
Lightly fried shrimp with a spicy remoulade
Sea urchin in a yuzu jelly
Spinach with a spicy sesame dressing
Chiwan Mushi with Kinoko, Chicken, and Crab
Sashimi
Soy-marinated tuna sushi
Miso cod - undoubtedly the best dish in the course. The fish was creamy, rich, tender, and moist.
Fried okra, asparagus, lotus root, and japanese eggplant
The house specialty - cold spicy sesame inaka soba
Vanilla Caramel Pudding
I absolutely love tasting menus. (Unless you’re dining at Esca) the chef brings you through exciting combinations of flavors and textures that showcase his or her personality and creativity. And when you’re with a good friend, the time between each course passes in the blink of an eye.
Lunch at Matsugen was the perfect prelude to a dinner with some of my favorite people at Amanda Freitag’s beautiful establishment, the Harrison.
Have a good rest of the week!
