Kimika

Came here for brunch to give it a try and it felt like fancy brunch. The tortellini pasta was hands down my favorite out of the other entrees like the matcha mochi toast and the cotechino sando. The toast was a little too sweet for my taste but it was interesting with the mochi chewy texture. The sando was pretty filling. I also got a drink to go along my meal and. I feel like when I went for brunch a lot of people got the pastry box.

Great service from Roberto! Loved the fusion between Japanese and Italian cuisine. Portions are the perfect size and ambiance is lovely. Really enjoyed catching up with old friends here! Recommend the sangria, arancini, and the tuna tartare.

Loved our experience here at Kimika! Great food and service, would recommend for a date night. Great way to begin my trip in New York! Great service from Roberto

Finally get to try this sitting down after only having takeout in the past. Things definitely taste better sitting down. They use nice ingredients and have creative twists but not everything came out as yummy as we'd hope.

It was recommended for us to get one small dish and one large dish per person, and then sharing it all. We ended up ordering: sticky rice arancini, soy butter bigoli, eggplant katsu, brick chicken, and neapolitan panna cotta

Sticky rice arancini was yummy. The Japanese curry and Japanese plum (ume) made the arancini more tart and appetizing. The sticky rice didn't make the texture too chewy or mushy. The amount of mozzarella inside was also balanced well, because there was a cheese pull without being too heavy. The general shape doesn't fall apart or mush up when cutting into smaller pieces. The size works out well too because every bite has some crust and inside.

Soy butter bigoli was my favorite of the night. My friend and I don't know what bigoli is but googled it's some sort of noodle so went ahead with it. The texture is like a softer udon to me with just as much chew and slipperiness. I like that! Seeing soy butter also made me worry if it'll end up too oily or taste like Chinese stir-fry but not at all! It ended up being so savory and fragrant. The aromatics such as chives, shallots, and shiitake mushroom add so much flavor too. Although the fat was apparent, my mouth didn't feel oily to a point where I need to wipe after every bite, and our plates wouldn't be full of oily residue.

Eggplant katsu was a bit disappointing. It came out with an impressive big piece of eggplant sliced into a 1cm cross section. I think it should be cut thicker, because cooked eggplant becomes mushy and soft. At 1cm, I'm not getting much eggplant texture and more of the breading. The breading wasn't good enough either. It felt oily and not much flavor.
It comes with a side of caponata which I didn't really like. I'm not sure what the traditional version should taste like but here it seemed more like a salsa which doesn't match with the rest imo.
As with traditional katsu, it came with brown sauce and some shredded cabbage. The sauce was the best part of the dish because it was quite sharp and tart which made the dish more exciting. The cabbage wasn't sufficient brightness and juiciness to cut through the oiliness of the katsu, but the light drizzle of sesame dressing tasted nice.

Brick chicken was one of the items recommended by the server. I think he explained it as being cut which was a nice touch, but it didn't occur to me that cut means it'd still come with bones. The chicken itself had good protein taste, but it was slightly overcooked. I wish it was juicier. Some parts felt too dry. After having the eggplant katsu and the arancini, it felt like I had too much fried foods already. I wish this chicken had more sauce instead. There's more chicken that it looks in the photo so the sauce on the dish isn't enough for everything. I appreciate how they gave a pile of Japanese leafy greens too (shungiku).

Neapolitan panna cotta was honestly the worst dish of the night. My friend couldn't stand it after having a bite. The top layer is strawberry, middle is vanilla or cream (forgot), and bottom layer is matcha. The top part is the weirdest. The texture was too gummy and flavor was too artificial and chalky. I took a bite and scraped it off to eat the other two layers instead. I understand they set each layer before moving on to the next, but I'm amused how clean cut I was able to separate it out. The bottom two layers were more normal. The matcha was the best out of the three perhaps because it was the softest, and then the middle layer also had a texture in between. It's ironic though because I thought it should be more set from the bottom up. Anyway I wouldn't get this again.

Service was okay. They were diligent about changing our plates in between dishes. They were hard to flag down near the end when we wanted to order dessert. The main server was a little weird in the beginning when he asked like four times if we have any allergies. When he tried explaining us the menu, it got a little robotic and hard to comprehend, too much info.

Interior was cute too. When you enter they have such a large "lobby" where the bar is. I've seen them put tables in that entrance area before, so not sure if it's put away because of a quiet night or it's a post-covid decision. Most of the tables are in the area a few steps down on the left side of the "lobby". The few steps actually make it seem like a separate room which would be nice to host a small party in. Forgot if they have additional seats to the right side. There's outdoor seats but no one was there that day.

It wasn't busy when we went on a Thursday evening. I forgot if it was ever 100% full, but it was nice how they didn't rush us to leave. When booking, they say that you're allowed to sit for 1.5 hours but my friend and I ended up being there for

Had a reservation for a weekend brunch here. I got the tamago sando and matcha mochi french toast. The tamago sando was so delicious. The side cucumbers added a nice crunch. It wasn't a big dish so I wouldn't recommend ordering just this one dish if you're hungry. The matcha mochi french toast was a great way to end the meal. It was sweet and the custard on top was tasty.

Interior was very clean. Bathroom was downstairs and that was also clean. Servers were kind and attentive. Food was amazing. I would come back here for sure.

The food here was amazing. If you eat a lot this might not be the place for you as the plates are pretty small so you may need to order a lot.

I recommend to try their truffle carbonara and matcha mochi french toast. The cabronara is a must try, it was sooooooo good and loaded with truffle! If you are a truffle lover, this is the dish to get.

The entrance maybe be a little confusing its the middle of the block and not the side. You can easily miss the entrance.

RATING: 8.1/10

PRO TIP: Get the tuna tartare and for drinks, get the mugen sour.

Strangely enough, a few of my friends have been here independently a few years ago and didn't like their experience. I actually enjoyed it here; perhaps in the past few years there's been sufficient changes to the menu? Anyways here's what we had:

TUNA TARTARE
A classic, and had plenty of crunchy components and comes with little seaweed slices to make a mini hand taco. Gives you a few bites per person if you have 3 people. I think it was good quality, the veggies were fresh.

UNI TOAST
The toast is actually quite buttery and has a gentle crisp itself, while the uni takes the show for how buttery and umami it is. It is buttery without being heavy. Is it the best uni i've had? Not necessarily but I did really enjoy the textures here.

BRANZINO
Whole steamed branzino which was quite tender, and tasty, with veggies over the top of it (forget what kind) - again, good, enjoyable.

PROSCIUTTO SCALLION PANCAKE PIZZA
Really good quality scallion pancake - chewy and soft, with a stretch, and lots of prosciutto. One of the more interesting fusion concepts.

RIGATONI BOLOGNESE W MISO
On the heavier side, this cheesy rigatoni looks to the naked eye to be a standard pasta dish; even as you're eating it it is italian-flavor forward, and the miso comes in at the end to add an extra boost of savory. Interesting combo.

All in all, this italian-japanese fusion restaurant is an interesting take, and I think worth trying. The waiter was super knowledgeable and very helpful in choosing our menu items. The issue with fusion is that often times, the fusion components do not add up to be greater than the sum of their parts. I would say the fusion components here somewhat make sense together, and were generally enjoyable.

FINAL CATEGORY: GOOD/GREAT
(terrible / bad / ok / GOOD / GREAT / excellent)

My friend and I came for brunch on the weekend. We had seen a few social media posts about the restaurant and want to try it ourselves. We made reservations for their earliest time so we knew we wouldn't have to wait too long due to its popularity. The brunch menu was limited compared to their regular menu, but they had the mochi pancakes there which wouldn't be there at other times I believe. However, in the end we did not order the pancakes which were popular and just ordered the burger/ sandwich and a prosciutto focaccia. The burger/ sandwich was delicious, but the focaccia was a bit heavy.

Overall, the restaurant and staff are nice, but the food was average. Other dishes could've been better if we have a chance to try others.

I made a reservation at this restaurant not thinking much about it for it to be one of my favorites in New York when I visited on my birthday. I was glad I did make a reservation as it was a colder day and walks in had to sit outdoors. I think I underestimated it a little due to so much availability beforehand when I booked it a week out. I'm used to brunch places in New York being booked out weeks if not a month out. The staff were really pleasant to talk to and the restaurant itself was very sleek and attached to a modern hotel. The food menu for brunch is pretty unique. This would be the type of place you would go with some friends to share meals or even go on a nice date with. The building itself gave a very sophisticated charm that I really enjoyed from all the marble in the space to the high ceilings.

Both drinks I got were fabulous and I went out of my comfort zone and tried some more unique flavors and the drinks exceeded my expectations taste wise and visually. The server was such a dear and was chatting with me as I discussed how I got ditched during my birthday and had a nice laugh with him. Now what I came for .....the french toast YUM. This was not crazy sweet which I really like as the gooey matcha toned it down. After, I really wanted to get their truffle pasta but I didn't feel like spending $34 because I treated myself too much in a past weeks and this was also my birthday so I tend to go overboard. However, I would love to come here again and try so many of their dishes.

What I got
Kaga Milk Punch
The shiishitorita
Matcha mochi french toast

Prices $$$
Food 10
atmosphere 10
Service 9

Went to this beautifully designed restaurant with my friend and her boyfriend. We heard mixed reviews but always wanted to try this place. Two of us started off with cocktails which were the saving Grace for this place as their cocktails are actually very good.

I ordered the milk punch which was flavorful and refreshing.

The food came out and unfortunately it was very disappointing and expensive for what it was.

The steak was missing seasoning and even the sauce was pretty bland. The cook on the steak was correct and we were satisfied with that.

The truffle pasta was super small and salty. Not what I was expecting or hoping for.

The bigoli tasted just like the flavor of the mall food court Chinese lo mein. It's a decent flavor but not an upscale one or one Id want when dining outside the food court

Very mid Japanese fusion brunch experience. The interior and ambiance was great but food was meh. Good place to have a girls date with drinks. They also have a diff dinner menu so maybe that's more impressive but their brunch did not impress me. Small portions for the price and barely any flavors

Best thing was def the drinks and matcha mochi waffle here

I was most disappointed by the katsu sandwich. It was dry and flavorless

Pasta looked delicious, loved the texture but also lacked flavor

Would not be coming here again :/