Visited in December 2016
73 Thompson St
New York, NY 10012
Website
Not to take the spotlight off Hirohisa, but I want to talk about my blog for just two really quick minutes, NEED to get something off my chest.
I was having a rather “interesting” conversation with my sister this morning. I’ll get right to the point… In regards to sushi restaurants, her words to me during our text conversation was “u don’t talk, u lecture”. My text back was “I am witty and funny and amusing and knowledgeable”. Now, I wouldn’t say that to people I just met, or colleagues at work, or neighbors, but she is my SISTER. I’ve known her all my life, so when taken off-guard I am allowed to be a little bit brash. And not to sound obnoxious and arrogant, but I do think all those things are true. I literally giggle, and sometimes even laugh out loud when I write my post. I do find myself to be funny. Clearly, if I didn’t think I have something interesting to say, I wouldn’t be blogging. So in a way, perhaps all bloggers are to some extent pretty egotistical. But do we, or I, “lecture”?
Half my posts consists of me just rambling about whatever pops into my head, where my blog is almost an outlet for me to share my opinion on people and life in general. I just wrote my post on Kanoyama, where I spent forever talking about how too many people are just jerks these days. Was that me lecturing? Maybe… Or was it just my opinion on social etiquette, and the lack thereof? What do you think? Do you think I “lecture”? I don’t lecture. Lecturing is what old and mean people do. I’m neither old nor mean, I’m NICE. I’m VERY NICE. In the words of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless (I recognize I am dating myself), like WHATEVER.
Back to Hirohisa….
I was so hopeful that Hirohisa will be similar to the likes of Bohemian and Kyo Ya. Where they have amazing sashimi offerings, dons (rice bowls with sashimi toppings), and then options for cooked Japanese dishes. Things don’t always work out the way you hoped… Hirohisa PALES in comparison to my much favored Bohemain and LOVE Kyo Ya.
Hirohisa’s menu consists of a bunch of cooked Japanese specialties but very few raw options. Admittedly, I do not know much about cooked Japanese dishes. I am a chawan mushi (steamed egg custard) connoisseur, but that’s pretty much the only cooked dish I know anything about. And I don’t count waygu steaks as a Japanese specialty. Any restaurant with access to good Kobe beef (I know it’s from Kobe, Japan), or the more general waygu/wayshu beef (not quite Kobe, as they have a lower point of marbling), will make a mean steak.
Hirohisa has two options for omakase, a seven course and a nine course option. Neither option is printed, but you can request for them to share this information. Of course the wait staff is not familiar, because very few patrons will insist on hearing this. They will have to go back to the kitchen to inquire. Both options consist of 80-85% cooked, and 15-20% raw, but the seven to the nine course is not just an additional two servings, many of the servings are actually different. With the exception of the oyster, everything on the omakase was also available à la carte. Given that we were not interested in the soup serving, the simmered dish serving, or the grilled fish dish serving, we opted à la carte.
Our à la carte servings:
- Slow poached TAKO – This octopus must have been poached for at least 4-5 hours, it was incredibly tender. Almost too tender actually. When you have octopus, you want it to be tender, but with some The flavoring was great, but it was a little bit fishy. I didn’t think poached octopus could be fishy? I’ve made it at home a number of times, and I can’t imagine my fish vendor is any better than Hirohisa’s, but how would a fish cooked for that many hours still be fishy?
- Sashimi Platter – This is where Hirohisa pales when compared to Bohemian and Kyo Ya. Although Bohemian only ever stocks 4-5 types of fish, Bohemian’s sashimi dish is always incredibly fresh, always magnificent. And Kyo Ya is just in a whole different league when it comes to their sashimi dish. Kyo Ya stocks like a good 15 different kinds of fish, and you’re even able to order it individually as opposed to a platter.
Clockwise from top right corner:
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- HOTATE (Scallop) – Good, but nothing to write home about
- Saba – Not a fan of this cured fish, ever
- Arctic Char – Decent, but not a huge fan of Artic Chars, prefer a good fatty farm raised salmon
- Blackfish – UGH, gross. I love lean white fishes, but this was a little fishy, and SUPER chewy
- Bluefin AKAMI (lean tuna) – This was a lesser cut of Tuna. It went in smooth, but had a tinge of funky aftertaste that higher quality Tunas do not.
- KANI (Crab) – I love me some fresh steamed crab, but what is it with Hirohisa’s fish? Again, fishiness!!!
- Bluefin CHUTORO (medium fatty tuna) – Same deal as the AKAMI, it had an aftertaste. Boo!
- Overall, this was a one-time dish. At Bohemian, we typically order 2 or more of their sashimi platter, at Kanoyama, multiple repeats. At Hirohisa, one is more than enough.
- Uni Lobster Chawan Mushi – Ahhhhhh! This was GOOD! The chawan mushi was cooked beautifully, perfect level of silkiness and flavor, the lobster super tender, and the UNI fresh and bright! Only drawback was the UNI within the steamed egg. It was well-done UNI. Not good! When cooking UNI, you can’t ever toss it for more than one or two minutes. Steaming chawan mushi takes MAYBE 3 minutes, so how was it possible that the UNI was so completely overcooked to the point of being chewy? I don’t get it…
- Hotate Ikura Ae (Grilled Hokkai Scallop with Salmon Roe) – Can you say overcooked? How is this “grilled”??? It was ridiculously chewy! It was a STRUGGLE to finish the one piece I put on my plate. Boyfriend got stuck with the rest.
- Washu Gyu (Infrared Grilled Washu Beef New York Strip Loin) – This, Hirohisa knocked out of the park. It was marvelous. Not a huge fan of the sauce though. Not because it wasn’t tasty, but sauces only diverts the attention of such beautiful cuts of meat. This meat really just didn’t need any dressing up. A wee bit of sea salt is all it needs. None the less, this was a spectacular serving!
- UNI/IKURA don (sea urchin & salmon roe rice bowl) – From the menu, you have the option of UNI don and IKURA don, but not an UNI/IKURA don. So happy they were kind enough to accommodate our request. The UNI was from Maine, which I typically poo poo on, but today, it was very good. Thoroughly satisfied with this don!
Overall Thoughts:
If we had nothing but the WASHU GYU and the UNI/IKURA don, we would have been really happy people. But of our six servings, only two were great, one (the chawan mushi) was good, two pretty average, and one the HOTATE, just gross.
