Kyotofu
705 Ninth Avenue (between 48th & 49th)
New York, NY, 10019
212-974-6012
info@kyotofu-nyc.com
Lunch / Brunch
Tuesday though Sunday, 12:00pm to 5:00 p.m.
Dinner & Dessert Bar
5:00pm to 12:30am Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday
5:00pm to 1:30am Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Yesterday was Japan Day at New York City’s Central Park.  Held at the East Meadow near the 97th Street and 5th Avenue entrance, the event featured samples of Japanese culture.  The team here at Diners.org wanted to go check out the food and tea ceremonies but alas, by the time we got there everything was gone.

So!  Instead we are going to cover our recent visit to Kyotofu, a restaurant that specializes in “Modern Japanese Deserts”.  Contrary to its tagline, Kyotofu is not just a specialty eatery like Nunu Chocolate.  Kyotofu serves both lunch and dinner menus in addition to their deserts.

This is photo from Kyotofu's website showing their NYC location. You can probably see the first problem we have with Kyotofu: There is no obvious sign showing that this is Kyotofu to passerbys. The best they have is a letter-sized flyer right by their door. A bad decision in our opinion since there are quite a few Japanese restaurants in the vicinity. Finding this place was a pain.

But inside it is much nicer.

Here is another photo from Kyotofu's site, this time of their dining area. It wasn't lighted like this when we got there during the day so this was probably taken during the evening. The window binds in the back of the photo is their storefront. The photographer was probably standing next to the bathroom door when this shot was taken.

To be honest, according to Kyotofu’s website description the Manhattan location was “Designed by Japanese architect Hiromi Tsuruta, Kyotofu is a modern take on a traditional Kyoto-style home.”

That may explain the aesthetics, which we have to admit makes the restaurant a nice place to dine in (we spent something along the lines of four hours there).  There are more pictures at Kyotofu’s website which you can check out by clicking here.

Now the food here reflects the artistic goal of Kyotofu.  This isn’t your paper/styrofoam plate joint; every dish comes with its own presentation.  Below are a couple of dishes, deserts, and drinks the diners.org team and friends sampled:

From their summer menu, ZENSAI starters: warm japanese mushroom salad (baby arugula, red onion, and parmesan)

Trio of burgers and I think tofu chips. Aren't they cute?

More tofu chips.

Kyotofu also has dinner menus which allows you to pick a starter, main course, and desert for a much cheaper price. Like typical bento box styles, everything's neat and organized but most importantly... delicious. The mustard sauce is incredible.

Deserts! This is their "trio of sorbets" which is homemade at their location

This is one of their tofu deserts but we forgot which one >_> Tasty though.

Honestly, we forgot which desert this was. One of our friends got this and we have to ask her if she remembers. We will update this when we find out. Still, ain't it pretty?

Kyotofu also serve some very nice homemade drinks. Yeah, we lost the notes on this one too.

Yeah seriously, this is embarrassing. We need better notes on what we ordered when we dine out.

Well, that’s all of the pics we have for you for now.  Many thanks to Donna, Zuchra, and Pedro for the pictures and the fun times.

They also give cooking lessons on Mondays which perked our curiosity.  We will try our best to check that out sometime soon.