New York City: EN Japanese Brasserie (September 2016)

My spouse and I enjoyed lunch at EN Japanese Brasserie on a Sunday afternoon in late September 2016. EN is open daily for lunch/brunch and dinner daily. You can make a reservation by telephone or by using the online Open Table reservation system. EN is owned by a Japanese restaurant group that operates several sister restaurants in Japan, but this is their only US location.

EN Japanese Brasserie, which opened in 2004, is located on Hudson Street in the West Village. The lounge/bar area at EN encompasses a long, beige room decorated with wood carvings, communal high-top tables and chairs, and a bar. A small dining space is located opposite the lounge area. EN’s main dining room features high ceilings and two-story windows that create a cavernous space to highlight the wood furnishings and Japanese panels. The dramatic, spacious room is anchored by an open kitchen on one end (with a blond pine communal seating counter in front of it), a central column surrounded by a floral arrangement with additional communal counter seating around it, a few well-spaced tables, and tatami-style rooms (where you sit on mats with your feet [wearing Japanese slippers] sunk beneath the table in a foot well). You can also reserve three Meiji-era-styled apartment rooms on the mezzanine level for even more private dining. The restaurant designed and imported its furniture, décor, and fabrics from Japan to create an authentic dining experience.

As the restaurant’s name describes, EN Brasserie serves creative Japanese cuisine using seasonal ingredients. A monthly “Abe's Kitchen” event allows the chef to interact with guests during a multi-course meal. The restaurant offers specialty drinks, sakes, shochus (a Japanese distilled liquor), and traditional beers, wines, and spirits. We started with a sparking yuzu drink that contained prosecco, citrus juice, and elderflower liqueur. Among the cold and hot small plates offered, we chose their signature house-made artisanal tofu (made hourly and served either warm or cold with wari-joyu), a selection of o-banzai (small Kyoto-style dishes including thinly sliced shoyu-braised pork belly with lotus root (called buta bara to renklon no kinipira), yellow and purple cauliflower and broccoli in a tofu sauce (called shira ae), and shredded skinless chicken and brussel sprouts in a sesame dressing (called foma ae), miso black cod (broiled Alaskan black cod marinated in miso), crispy fried chicken (boneless and fried to perfection), yaki shabu (thinly sliced Black Angus short rib on a hot stone for grilling with veggies, chilled soba noodles (buckwheat noodles made fresh and served with a warm dashi dipping broth with slices of duck breast, spinach, and scallions), and for dessert, green tea tiramisu.

We loved our lunch at EN Japanese Brasserie – authentic Japanese food in a beautiful space.