Cagen, New York

April 1, 2016

When one of your best friends is visiting and you haven’t caught up in a long time, I can’t think of a better evening plan than booking an omakase. The slowly paced service, the relatively hushed experience, and the adventurous meal you’ll both discover at the same time all contribute to one of the best dinner dates you can have.

There are quite a few well-known options in New York City but for this special occasion I looked for a jewel-box size restaurant off the radar that would offer intimacy and an original menu, and think I found a pretty good contender in Cagen in the East Village.

The small room below street level has a few tables at which you can order à la carte but the best seats are at the wooden chef’s counter where only the omakase is served. You can choose between the sushi-only option ($140) or go for the Chef’s Counter omakase ($130) which I think is really the way to go here.

Former Nobu chef Toshio Tomita opened Cagen in 2013 with a view to serve a high-end Japanese tasting menu and has received quite a few accolades since (including a Michelin star!) all the while pretty much flying under the radar. All the better for us since we were able to enjoy the scrumptious meal in peace.

The great thing about the Chef’s omakase is that you get to try his specialties which include housemade soba noodles and a Western twist to the selection of upscale Japanese dishes. Round this up with amazingly fresh fish flown in daily from Japan and you have a solid celebratory meal (with premium pricing to match but eh, I don’t get my dear friend from London to visit that often anyway!).

Sake tasting: do not leave without trying the Nama Genshu sake served in slushy form…surprisingly bracing and delicious!

Amuse-bouche

The selection of canapés included panko-crusted ham, a bundle of goat cheese with white chocolate and wasabi, sweet potato and two types of grilled fish…