There is a new Japanese restaurant near the garment district! Yay! The garment district which is extremely close to Times square is devoid of restaurants of any specialty; Hell’s kitchen might seem close but when walking two blocks takes you ten minutes and lunch is an hour long which consisted of getting your lunch and consuming it- you don’t have much time to venture off to Hell’s kitchen. Therefore I was extremely excited to discover Ootoya.
First off, there is an Ootoya down by Flatiron. They offer a wider array of dishes, mostly appetizers. I had been there last year and did not know what to order. The Ootoya at Midtown West offers the main staples minus the appetizers; if I had chance to go back in time, I’d skip all the appetizers and order the main sets instead (although the descriptions make it traditional and boring).
Shodo (Japanese calligraphy) canvas on red walls with beautiful ceramics as decors!
Wooden bar ceilings and paper lights!
Bars with seatings
Sake bottles by the bar, wooden interior
Shima Hokke Ootoya Teishoku set- served with rice, miso soup (pork and vegetables), homemade pickles and steamed egg custard with Shima Hokke (Grille Atka Mackerel) (from web site)- The mackarel is grilled to perfection meaning it’s crispy outside and juicy inside without being overcooked.
Steam egg custard with a bit of salted yolk on top is as light and silky as possible- tastes like fresh tofu in your mouth.
Homemade pickles is lightly pickled and tastes almost fresh.
Miso soup is delicious and healthy with grainy miso paste if you don’t stir well enough.
Kabucha is sweet squash! There is also seaweed and grated radish on the side.
I really like the set; it feels very organic and healthy. Don’t get this if you’re on a date unless you’re an expert fish bone picker! I had to use my hand a few times to get the bones out as the oyaji (old man in Japanese) sitting at the next table looked at me disapprovingly, probably thinking what an amateur.
Zooming in on the wonderful presentation of Steamed egg custard. Yum!
Ootoya “Teishoku”- Buta Shio Koji- Silky Pork Belly is marinated with Ootoya Original Shio Koji (salt-marinated Rice Koji) (from web site)- Naturally seasoned, pork belly is of course very fat and grilled a little bit. It might look tiny on the plate, but this is very filling! Tasty.
Ootoya is a great place for traditional Japanese food. If you want to go during lunch, recommend going at 12 or earlier. We went at 12:15 and had to wait since it is a popular lunch spot. If you want to eat healthy but not sacrifice good taste, I’d go to this place!
nanansa 