japanese lunch in Midtown

[alex70]

i would like to have lunch in midtown. I want to try cooked japenese food or bbq.

[bigjeff]

looking specifically for saturday lunch; many of the places listed here open at 5pm on a saturday and I'm looking for something like noon or 1pm. any help here?

[ChiefHDB]

Zaiya is open during lunch Saturday.

[Silverjay]

Onya for a nice warm bowl of udon. I had some last week. It was good. I liked the broth.

[bigjeff]

onya sounds good; any other recs on the menu? zaiya is a bit too casual for me, but I do love it. ideally a place like soba totto is open early, instead of at 6pm on saturdays.

[Silverjay]

Onya also specializes in kushiage- little fried skewers. You can order these in bunches. We had some and they were fine. There is also a menu of standards including homemade tofu, homemade tamagoyaki, grilled sanma, and some other stuff. The tofu was fine. I wanted to try the tamagoyaki but got full after the udon. It's a nice sized portion. We specifically ordered "nabeyaki udon". I liked that a lot. Also on the menu was regular Japanese hot pot- which you would presumably finish off (shime) with udon. It was listed as an "enkai" item, which is usually for small parties. But I think you can order it for two as well. I think that part of the menu may be listed in Japanese only though. I'm sure you could ask about hot pot if you are interested.

[bigjeff]

thank you! headed there shortly!

[bigjeff]

went today (saturday for lunch) and, it was pretty good. limited menu on weekend lunch apparently, so none of those homemade tofu, nothing of their expansive menu that they have for dinner (but we took a peek at the binder); only offerings were 7-8 different udon dishes and 4-5 donburis, plus tempura. food overall was good but served way cold! and the back room was freezing too. really made a difference in the food. the servingware is plastic, not ceramic or cast-iron, so I think that really cooled the food down to the point where, the flavor was there but the temperature was so bad.

+ small curry udon (combo beef and chicken)
+ small kimchi udon
+ chicken/egg mini-don
+ mentaiko mini-don
+ tempura: eggplant, acorn squash, vegetable fritter

plenty of food for two, very good to go with the small size udon to get some different tastes; the curry udon was the best, only because it stayed the warmest; the other udon was good but had too many cold toppings (kimchi, soft-poached runny egg); noodles themselves were great, extra thick; good toppings all around and definitely, I would go back but seriously, the temperature was an issue. tempura was very tasty. for lunch, this place is extremely affordable.

dinner menu looked interesting but, I wonder how dinner-like this place is; it was self-service for lunch, I guess waiter service for dinner? still wouldn't make a difference in terms of heating up that dining room.

[lanadai]

Sakagura has a lot of lunch specials, lunch boxes, soba and rice bowls

[UES Mayor]

I second Sakagura-not mention alot-which it should be! don't be put off with its dowdy office building entrance however

[fooodie]

Defintely Sakagura. Otherwise Sapporo is pretty good or I think Gyu-Kaku has lunch specials.

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Sapporo
152 W 49th St, New York, NY 10019

Sakagura
211 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017

Gyu-Kaku
805 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10022

[ExFlexitarian]

Aburiya Kinnosuke has really great lunch boxes at $13-15 per. It's very delicate and tasty, and is filling but won't put you into a food coma like some carb heavy lunches will.

[cimui]

Aburiya is a good suggestion, tho I don't consider all that delicate (I'm always stuffed after lunch). Most set lunches are good; I have not, however, enjoyed the unagi or anago in the past.

[Undici Design]

43-45 W 55th btw 5/6 ave

[jwobkk]

How about trying Chikubu on Friday for the ramen special. Get there early because it is really popular.

[bberkowitz]

I always liked Sapporo at 49th and 7th. The Sapporo Special Ramen, for under $8, is ridiculously filling. (Though have not been in a while, since they re-did the space; can not vouch if that changed anything. Think was meant to be cosmetic only though).

[bigmackdaddy]

I like the West Side Ise. They have great tongue yakitori and the like. W.56th and 6th

[cimui]

Try Onigashima for soba and udon. Very good! It's on 56th or 57th between 5th and 6th.

[cimui]

Cimui present disavows cimui past on this matter. Onigashima is actually not a good idea.