Omakase SUSHI DAIRO — Restaurant in New York

I came here little while ago and got the sashimi set. Sitting at the counter and watching the chefs' respect and care for the food was astounding to me, and has seriously changed the way I think about food whenever I cook or eat. The level of culinary discipline practiced at this restaurant is what I use as a gold standard to compare everything else to. Once I got my food, I completely zoned out from what the chefs and my friends were doing because of how good it was. It was easily the best meal I've had in 3 years, and one of my favorites ever. I did not know it was possible for something that seemed so simple to me to be so robust in flavor and texture. The sashimi was presented beautifully, and the chef's skills were shown obviously with the cuts of fish. As many other people have mentioned, the rice was amazing, and is the best rice I have ever had. This goes back to what I was saying earlier, where something that I or many others may not think about, like rice, is given the utmost respect and care so that it can be the best it possibly can. Again, I have never seen anyone treat food the way the chefs in this restaurant do. Another example of this was when I noticed one of the chefs deboning a fish. Our food had already been served, and one chef was meticulously pulling small bones out of multiple fish in what I think was in anticipation of a large group reservation. He was probably deboning those fish for 15 or 20 minutes. Now, he did not need to do that. They could have easily sourced fish that has been deboned, or simply not offered the item on the menu due to the amount of labor required to prepare it. However, they have such dedication and attention to detail to their craft that typical cost-cutting measures are neglected in order to create not only delicious and expectation-exceeding product, but a truly perfect one. I live a few hours out of the city, but I am definitely making it a tradition to come back every time I...

For those who are trying to find the real deal without ridiculous price tag --- this is an authentic and high quality sushi restaurant, with professional and experienced Japanese sushi chef.

I had the $75 omakase, with 11 pieces and a toro hand roll, everything was delicious, I was very surprised that toro was included twice! The toro hand roll was not made with prechopped up mystery leftover meat, but hand chopped from a perfect piece of toro in front of me! Did I mention all the fish are from Japan? And the sushi chef mixed three kinds of rice and two kinds of vinegar to make his sushi rice? The omakase is a really great deal!

If you still have room after the omakase, definitely ask the chef if he has any recommendations. I tried iwashi, sardine, for the first time, the fish was not fishy at all, but instead it was melting in my mouth! Also ask if he has any smoked uni... It was delicious!

I really enjoyed the chef's style, there were some sushi pieces in the traditional style, and some pieces were with new flavors such as truffle. The chef said the harder part is not in creating new flavor combinations, but to not let the flavors overpower and take over the fish.

I really wish I had taken photos, especially because there were so many different fish and some I haven't tried before as sushi. The one time I said to myself to concentrate on the food, and now I really regret not...

You come here for the food and that’s it. It’s a very intimate space. Probably room for 12-15 at the counter and a few tables for maybe I’m guessing 12 other diners. Small. There’s no way to avoid eye contact with the chefs which is kind of cool. I would say the sushi is average and not particularly creative. Not sure if the omikase is more creative. I snuck a brief peek and think perhaps it may be (more creative) but uncertain. The otoro bluefin tuna had an unusual texture different from what I’ve had before…see picture. It didn’t seem to be as buttery as fatty tuna I’ve had at other sushi houses. I missed that. The Japanese uni wasn’t as fresh TASTING as I’m accustomed to. Usually you have that sense of tasting the ocean and sweetness… and the richness fills your mouth with that delightful sensation. This was missing in mine although the portion was generous. The menu has a variety of fish I had never heard of before. I tried the pricey seared nodoguro. It is like the Dover sole of sushi…very rare to find this fish and bring to market per Google. Honestly, aside from the grill flavor, it wasn’t particularly a “WOW”. Very friendly staff but my empty water glass was overlooked multiple times. They serve the sushi on a banana leaf on the counter. Nice in theory but my pieces toppled on the uneven leaf. Some of the uni fell off...