Due to all my time being sucked up by the last bits of planning for the off-campus program I’m about to leave on in another few weeks, I’ve fallen further behind with my backlog of restaurant reports from our travels earlier this year. I still have a few reports from Ireland to come. I’d hoped to get at least one of those out this week but didn’t get around to it—the remaining reports are all quite image-heavy. And so here instead is another of the meal reports from the quick trip the missus and I made to New York in mid-October. I’ve already posted a report on our first lunch on that trip, which featured sushi at Gouie, in the Market Line at Essex Market. That was, on the whole, a decent meal, we thought. We ate sushi again for lunch the next day, this time up on the Upper East Side before a visit to the Met to take in the Manet/Degas exhibit, among other things. I’d asked around for recommendations and Momokawa seemed like a good bet. Here’s how it went.
Momokawa is located on 1st Ave., between 76th and 77th streets. We arrived just as they opened. I’d made reservations but, as at Gouie, these were entirely superfluous. We were the first customers and though more people were seated after us, by the time we left, close to 1 pm, no one else had yet taken a seat at the sushi bar. It is not a temple of sushi, by any means, as you might guess from the fact that they’re open for lunch. They have a full Japanese menu, and from what we could tell from the tables seated after us, they seem quite popular for their shabu shabu and sukiyaki. We, however, were there for sushi.
We passed on the omakase offering ($105/head) and also on doing nigiri by the piece. Instead, the missus got their chirashi, and I decided to get their assorted sushi combo, which comprises 8 pieces of nigiri and 6 pieces of tuna roll. We had a very early dinner with friends that evening, you see, and it promised (and proved) to be an excessive meal. So, no chance of a sushi blowout at lunch. Oh yes, both the chirashi and the assorted sushi came with pretty good miso soup and a salad.
How was the sushi? Pretty good, we thought, and we both thought it was quite a bit better than the previous day’s offerings at Gouie. My assorted sushi included a piece each of tuna, yellowtail, chu-toro, salmon, red snapper, shrimp, unagi and ikura. All were well above average. The rice was good too and there was no sloppiness of any kind. The missus likewise enjoyed her chirashi.
It was a quick meal and then we took a leisurely stroll to the Met where we enjoyed another slow afternoon of art.
For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.
Service was very friendly and present when needed. The cost was even better: for the two of us just $82 before tip. Not only was this cheaper than the previous day’s sushi (again, we liked this meal better), it was also cheaper than far inferior offerings in the Twin Cities. In short, I recommend Momokawa highly to anyone looking for good sushi on the UES that won’t break the bank. My guess is we’ll look to combine another visit here with the Met whenever we go back next.
Alright, I do have reports on our two dinners in New York to come as well. Both were excessive meals, one at Foxface Natural and the other at Semma. I hope to get at least one of those out next week along with an Ireland report. Let’s see how it goes. Before any of those I’ll have a report on lunch this weekend at Mandalay Kitchen in St. Paul.