Jukai – fake flowers
237 E 53rd St., New York, NY 10022
(212) 588-9788
I love Jap food but not this one. This Japanese restaurant is in the basement, six steps below the street, under a barber shop. Their tasting menus – Chef’s tasting course – are $55 and $95, which includes:
- Assorted starter
- Oyster
- Five kinds of sashimi
- Seafood of the Day
- Special sushi
- one of 6 choices
- Udon
- dessert
Phew, that’s the list of food for a dinner – much of them aren’t to my liking. The Oysters are too big and meaty. The 5th picture below – left piece of the special sushi is fatty tuna. It’s bit too fat, even for me who likes fatty stuff.
Seafood of the Day has lobster too. I picked lamb chop which adds extra $5. Interesting to note, four out of six choices require extra $5, such as duck. So I’m thinking, why bother? Just raise the price to $100? Maybe their mentality is like the fake flowers … Whatever, I won’t return, even they’ve very nice chopsticks. The udon didn’t smooth out my belly, the soup tasted raw, unseasoned.
The decor is minimalist and functional, but fake flowers are everywhere, which is a huge turn off, especially in a basement. Service is bit tardy: the girl in white shirt never came to refill my sake, only when they came to clean the table, did the woman in black jacket empty the bottle.
As with Cafe China, tipping isn’t necessary. They cite: Following the custom in Japan, Jukai’s service staff are fully compensated by their salary, therefore, gratuities are not accepted.
