Teisui
“Just to generate pizzazz, they should run a $99 eight-course tasting menu, add one additional piece of sushi, and a touch more yakitori.”
“Another standout course was the Kamo Mushi-Yaki, which featured duck breast, a red wine sauce, and seasonal vegetables.”
“The ingredients, design and flavor of the dishes continued to amaze us and the sake pairing was on point!”
Teisui
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
7 reviews
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Whoever argues about the price is totally missing the point here – as one of the top notch Kaiseki places that just opened in NYC, Tuisei definitely was trying very hard to grow its popularity and I could see it through both the fresh ingredients and the flawless service.
Nothing to choose from on menu, as everything is fixed by the chef. Also service charge is already included in the charge. Came down at 150pp, I would still say it is quite a bargain.
Now switching to food – I'd say while the menu only contains ten courses (including the complementary one it will be eleven), every single dish demonstrates its unique characteristic. My personal favorites are – chicken thigh cooked with mushroom/onion and wrapped in a plastic bag (so as to keep the aroma, smart move!), rabbit with miso cappuccino (wondering how they came up with this idea, so innovative!), duck breast (so tender and juicy, with a slight yuzu touch!). Of course, dessert would always be my favorite part and I deeply enjoyed my ice cream sugar cookie.
What I like the most about Teisui is its focus on detail and its creativity. Definitely one of the strong candidates for 2017 Michelin star!
KenScale: 8.0/10
New York City has lately been seeing an influx of Japanese restaurants from home, especially with sushi and ramen. Yakitori is another type of Japanese food that has been popular with the New York City diners, but you would typically not associate with the grilled meat on skewers with high-end dining; they are more typical in various izakaya bars located in neighborhoods like St. Marks in East Village. That's why I was intrigued to find that a new restaurant opened up in Flatiron for a high-end yakitori style food from an owner of a hotel atop a mountain, inspired by ryokan (Japanese country inn). I took a plunge and overall had a satisfactory experience.
When I first saw that Teisui offers only one tasting menu at $150 per person (including taxes and gratuities), I knew they had be doing something special, not just serve a string of predictable skewers. The meal already started pleasantly with flavorful chawanmushi with uni and foie gras in it, followed by a dish called "Hassun" (an assortment of gindara (black cod), kiritanpo (cylindrical mashed rice), chicken and watercress salad) that was also quite a nice bite. The kitchen certainly doesn't shy away from putting together a show. A mix of chicken tender, mushrooms and onion sauce came in a wrapped plastic bag, and was delicious, and the Kyoto miso "cappuccino" where you pour miso broth on top of pieces of rabbit meat had nice balance of flavor as well. Some dishes were somewhat predictable and I felt the consistency of flavor and texture was somewhat off. I honestly can't remember anything special about the haru tori-mune (chicken breast with pumpkin puree, bamboo shoots, fava beans and fiddle heads) or kamo "minazuki" (duck breast with red wine sauce, powdered duck and seasonable vegetable). If the kitchen was going to highlight the yakitori side, why bother serving a pedestrian sushi plate (the one served on my visit had a piece with flounder on top and another with chu toro with uni and ikura and the latter somehow didn't taste as it should be despite the combination of various ingredients that I so much love)? On the other hand, though, I was pleasantly surprised with tori-momo with couscous, where chicken thigh worked in a remarkably beautiful fashion with mashed potato, eggplant and couscous. That dish was the highlight of my night, with exceptional balance of flavor and texture where it shows the kitchen isn't just playing safe. The next best dish was simple miso soup with red snapper and king crab in it, not only because the broth was absolutely aromatic but the way the kitchen put it together, placing a couple of Mt. Fuji rocks into the pot to create the sizzling effect that was just a sight to behold. The meal ended with anmitsu, a combination of mocha, black sesame, macha ice cream, seasonal fruits and honey cracker that I did enjoy but wasn't particularly enamored with.
Getting a reservation at Teisui is easy, and I was actually shocked that the dining space was nearly empty, with only a couple of other groups sitting at the counter. Have they been not doing enough in the PR department, or is the concept of eating yakitori-style tasting menu at that price point too much to take? I couldn't tell. Anyways, if you are already shelling out $150 per person, why not go for the sake pairing? At least the pairing that I ordered had some really fantastic sake menus (there was actually one person from the company that produces one of the pairings who came over to us to explain its origin). I'm not sure why the restaurant has billed itself as a ryokan style restaurant, given the modern décor really didn't give that vibe of some countryside resort. Teisui is not perfect, but overall the dining experience here is something that a curious diner could explore if you're looking for a unique take on the art of yakitori.
I had read about Teisui opening about a month before it did, and as a big fan of Japanese food, I was stoked to see what looked like a delicious restaurant opening nearby. I ended up booking a reservation about a month after it opened, but perhaps if you book on OpenTable, you might not get a seat at the counter / chef's table – we ended up sitting at one of the few seats off to the side along the wall. That said, it's still a nice atmosphere – high ceilings with old-school incandescent bulbs and a bookshelf sandwiched in encased brick that gives it that typical trendy NYC feel. With low-key EDM usually being the choice of music in the background, dinner had a very chill vibe to it. The drink menu is solid as well, with an extensive selection of sake in particular.
The menu here is simple – a 10-course kaiseki tasting menu that comes in very reasonably priced (IMO) at $150, inclusive of gratuity. It'll be interesting to see how much the menu changes with the seasons – or if they change it up at all – but at the very least, the base menu is fantastic. You start right off on a very decadent note – a chawanmushi topped with foie gras and uni, which is absolutely delicious and creamy. The egg custard has perfect flavor and consistency, but the cold piece of uni is a really nice contrast, and the creaminess is amplified by the fattiness of the foie. Next up was a plate with four different bites on it; I really liked the miso black cod – cooked to perfection, not overly marinated, and very flaky – as well as the kiritanpo, which was smashed rice cooked in a similar manner to yakitori. It was chewier than regular rice, almost like mochi, but it was crisped perfectly on the outside and had a light sweetness that worked really well against the overall savory flavor of the dish. We then moved into the meat dishes, starting with boiled(?) chicken that was served wrapped in hot broth in plastic wrap(!). The chicken was very tender and intensely flavored, and the mushrooms added a nice little bid of acidic flavor to what was a very savory dish. We then went on to the rabbit miso cappuccino, which honestly was probably my least favorite dish of the night. The rabbit itself was good (albeit it was a quite small portion), and I enjoyed the miso for the most part, but it definitely was a dish that seemed to lack the same kind of flavor that the rest of the meal brought. To close out the first half of the meal, we finished with tsukune – a fantastically delicious pair of chicken meatballs served on a skewer and dipped in a poached egg yolk. The presentation of the dish is fantastic – you have a very elegant metal skewer holding the meatballs in place, with the egg yolk fitting perfectly in a small divot next to it. With just the yolk, the intensity of the egg flavor is really noticeable when you dip the meatballs in it…definitely one of the highlights.
Before the next course, we had a palate cleanser – with ikura in it! Definitely one of the more interesting ones I have encountered, but the light flavor of it really helped reset the taste buds as we moved on to the meat-heavy portion of the meal. The yakitori served with beets and an arugula-wasabi sauce, with a dash of salt on the side, was excellent. The chicken is cooked with more care than most yakitori places, and the arugula-wasabi sauce was perfect – the arugula being dominant, but with a creeping spice at the end as the wasabi makes itself known. This was followed by a delicious few bites of duck breast served in a hearty red wine sauce, as well as seasonal vegetables that were plated in an elegant fashion around the rim of the dish. The following plate was another yakitori skewer (this time with thigh meat – and again cooked perfectly), but it was served on top of couscous, little whirls of mashed potatoes (they looked like meringues) and lightly grilled eggplant. A bite of all together was exquisite. We finished up the main courses with a few pieces of sushi – it was okay (the flounder was good, while the singular tuna roll piece with uni and ikura was a bit too much in one bite), but I honestly thought this felt like a somewhat forced nod towards a popular Japanese cuisine. The grand finale is a giant cauldron (hyperbolic, perhaps) of miso soup. Rocks from Mt. Fuji are heated to 700 degrees and dropped right in, heating the soup to boiling temperature almost instantaneously. The soup itself is a huge quantity for two people, but it has really rich flavor, largely due to the copious amount of scallions. The pieces of king crab and snapper, though, had a very rich miso-infused flavor in each bite. We finished up with an anmitsu – a very solid version, although it's not the best I have had.
To end this lengthy review – I really enjoyed our dinner here. The food is classic Japanese but gently infused with Western sensibilities to create a very unique and absolutely delicious dining experience. Highly recommended, and I cannot wait to come back again!
The food and service were both just ok.
We sat at the counter and were able to watch the chefs prepare the food. Usually this is a great experience, but not when there is a lot of clumsy work and plating. At times, I felt like I was cringing seeing some of the rushing and carlessness.
There were 10 courses plus an amuse bouche and an intermission palette cleanser. My favorites were probably the rabbit and the intermission course. The rabbit was tender and full of flavor. But I guess a lot of people skip the rabbit because when we were asked about any allergies, there was emphasis on whether the rabbit was ok. The intermission course had a nice cream that was slightly sweet with some savory and crispy elements that went perfectly together. Most of the other dishes were ok, but not especially memorable.
I really wanted this to be an amazing meal, but it was really just ok. There were a lot of chicken dishes. The grilled chicken pieces could have been seasoned better. The chicken meatball was relying heavily on the teriyaki sauce. The sushi was two pieces, and one was a chu Toro that was very tendony. They also go very light on the uni, but it is hokkaido uni, so not my favorite anyway (Santa Barbara or San Diego ftw). The duck was ok but could have actually been more tender and seasoned better. The foie was good but I probably would have enjoyed it more with a better accompaniment than chocolate. The red wine sauce went well with it though. The miso soup was very salty and there was only a tiny sliver of fish. The dessert was fine, it didn't look or taste particularly amazing. I was actually a bit surprised they didn't have petite fours at the end since they started with the amuse bouche.
$150 with tip included.
We enjoyed the experience overall. There are very limited seats and I think they require reservations- $150 prefix menu only (10 courses- takes almost 3 hours to finish all). I find that they have way too many staff although they are all friendly and attentive.
The food wasn't bad but wasn't amazing either- see all in pics! You basically see how they plate your food, the seats are around the bar/ open kitchen area with the chef.
Would be a good date spot if you have the money to swag its intimate and you can enjoy a long dinner.
Teisui kaiseki – A wonderful flavor, texture, multi-dimensional yakitori wonderland experience. All meat are juicy and tender throughout the meal, with different taste and texture combination revealing or more accurately put, surprising us with layers of delicate flavors. The service was also impeccable.
Tsutsumi-Yaki (chicken tender with onions and mushrooms wrapped up in a plastic bag to keep the aroma!) brilliant idea to always wrap up anything mushroom — they just smell heavenly after cooked!
Rabbit meat – juicy, tender and little chewy. The taste of buttery thickness and foamy miso cappuccino balance each other in terms of salty savory and creaminess, which also add layers to the juicy rabbit meat.
Tori-Mune Konsai!!! My favorite dish of the night. Amazingly juicy and tender chicken breast meat with two flavorful sauces – arugula plus wasabi cream, and red beet cream. The chicken breast is loyal to its original flavor – just lightly salted, which gave room for the two sauces to increase flavor complexity of spiciness, freshness, sourness in addition to the original sweetness. Amazing taste, amazing presentation – well done Teisui!
Kamo mushi-yaki: duck breast, read wine and seasonal veggies.
Really really well-cooked duck meat – meat is soft, juicy and tender. The sourness of red wine and fruity flavor from yuzu is very tasty, however a bit overwhelming that I can't taste the original flavor of duck meat in this dish. But but, the residual taste is amazing! Light aroma from duck fat with a refreshing fruity/winely note.
Tori-mono with couscous:
(Chicken-thighs, mashed potato, eggplant and couscous) – another favorite dish of the night! YUM! As the dinner proceeds to almost the end, we had a lot of state, flavor and texture wonderland exploration. Just like all the Hollywood blockbusters or best-seller stories – here the peak of the night comes…. time for something more incremental – right amount of carb from creamy mashed potato and couscous brings the satisfaction to a new level! Chicken meat is again tender, juicy and flavorful!! It is flavored with soy sauce, but unlike most tariyaki place where the chicken meat is marinated with overwhelming sweet soy sauce, the flavor is well-balanced between the soy sauce and the original chicken meat flavor.
Lastly, the dessert! Yuzu jelly, green bean, with honey milk ice cream – absolutely delicious!
Teisui demonstrates its unique deep understanding of yakitori and creativeness upon that understanding – all dishes are bold in expressing a new exploration of presentation, flavor, and taste!! Good luck Teisui for the coming Michelin star of 2017 selection!
True to its design, Teisui serves a 10-course seasonal menu ($150) that's modeled after a yakitori kaiseki meal that's typically served in Ryokans. And like all restaurants in Japan, hospitality is included – something I really appreciated and wished we had more of! Wine pairings are an extra $90 and sake pairings are $95 – but don't feel pressured to participate. We ended up ordering individually off their impressive list since we're a bit picky about our sake.
Our meal started off with a hot towel to clean off, which I really came to appreciate during my time in Japan. It's great to be able to clean off the dirt from outside before starting our meal! Then came the amuse bouche of chawanmushi with edamame purée and foie gras and topped with Hokkaido uni. The chawanmushi was super creamy! Since chawanmushi and the lighter edamame purée was so lightly seasoned, you could really taste the foie gras and uni. I could literally sit here and eat this every day!
One of my favorite courses was the Tsutsumi-Yaki, which featured tender chicken and mushrooms cooked in plastic wrap. You are presented the dish fully intact so you can unravel the plastic and catch the full aroma of the chicken and mushroom soup-like dish. People always say that you don't just eat with your mouth – but with your nose and eyes too. This dish definitely appealed to all three!
Another favorite was the Rabbit Miso Cappuccino, which featured two pieces of rabbit meat and Kyoto miso cappuccino. The course was presented to us in separate cups – the rabbit in one and the miso cappuccino in the other. We were instructed to pour the cappuccino into the rabbit cup and have it with the rabbit meat. To be honest, I was a bit thrown off by the words, "miso cappuccino", but I was pleasantly surprised when it paired so well together. The cappuccino flavor was light and very smooth and creamy. We ended up scooping the leftover out with a spoon.
Another standout course was the Kamo Mushi-Yaki, which featured duck breast, a red wine sauce, and seasonal vegetables. Our waitress told us that there is citrus jelly drizzled over the season vegetables of tomato, pepper, and radish. The citrus was indeed a nice contrast to the savory red wine duck. This was a standout dish of the night – the duck breast was cooked to perfection and the red wine sauce was not overpowering at all.
My clear favorite of the night was the Tori-Momo with Couscous, which featured chicken thigh cooked yakitori-style with mashed potato, eggplant, and couscous. I'm not normally a huge fan of couscous, so for me to say this was the star of the night, it means it was pretty darn delicious! The presentation itself was gorgeous with a gold plate topped with perfectly squeezed dollops of mashed potato. A piece of thigh meat paired with the airy and light couscous was a burst of flavors in my mouth.
The Chef's Special Selection of sushi, a piece of nigiri and a piece of a roll was also a nice course. The flounder nigiri was good, but I really enjoyed my tuna roll piece that was topped with Hokkaido uni and ikura. The uni was creamy, salty, and sweet at the same time – the true butter of the sea!
The last savory course – Ishiyaki Teisui – or miso soup with red snapper, king crab, and Tokyo scallion. The chef beings over the soup in a huge bamboo bowl and then explains that he will heat the soup with rocks from Mt. Fuji that are heated to 700 degrees. He drops the rocks into the soup, which brings it to boiling temperature almost immediately. After a few seconds, he removes the rocks and serves us each a bowl of soup. The soup is enough for each person to have at least 3 servings. I had a huge piece of red snapper in mine, along with copious amounts of Tokyo scallion. I remember seeing the size of the scallions while I was in Tokyo and marveling at how big they are. Now I know how they taste! The soup was light and rich in miso flavor – not too salty at all.
Our grand finale was the Anmitsu with yuzu jelly, red beans, a scoop of honey milk ice cream, and topped with a sugar cookie. This was a light and refreshing way to end our meal – the dessert was a nice change to the otherwise savory meal without being too sweet or lingering.
I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Teisui and cannot wait to find a reason to go back! The service was impeccable – our waiter and occasional waitress were both very attentive without being overbearing. They also open the door for you when you enter the bathroom and then listen to you to come out so they can open it again for you. It's really these small little things that can really add up to making the evening. I highly recommend a visit to Teisui – whether you're just looking for a good meal out or celebrating a special occasion!