kyo ya

[wew]

Kathyrn (July, 7, 2007) referred to the food at Kyo Ya as Japanese home cooking, upscale. The food runs from light (a cold dashi broth with soft tofu and vegetables, or some sashimi) to robust (roasted eggplant with dried scallops in a rich semi sweet glaze, and gingery long cooked pork belly) with stops in between for grilled fish (much of the seafood comes from Japan, the servers have the details) and rice casseroles. What is important is the excellence of near everything I had. I moved from one dish that would be any place’s star maker to the next which, except for the so so tempura, was again great. The dishes are generally small and, after a while, I experienced food intoxication and continually stopped the servers to ask what this or that was, adding to the order dim sum style. This made for heavy bills which could be eased a bit by selecting a combination of light and heavy preparations.

[doona]

How is the decor??

[kathryn]

It's very clean and modern looking -- lots of wood, cool textures, soothing. It's spacious inside, too. Soft lighting. It's brighter up front in than in back by the chef's bar. There's also a private? room where you must take your shoes off to dine.

[gatilgan]

I'll going to Kyo Ya for the first time this weekend and need some recommendations of some of the must have items. Unfortunately, we'll not do kaiseki and order from a la carte menu. Thanks

[kathryn]

I love the sea urchin on tofu skin, beef tongue, lamb chops, and box pressed sushi. However a lot of my favorite items have been daily specials. Also the wait staff are incredibly help if you need recommendations.

[gatilgan]

Thanks, kathryn. How many dishes between 2 people would you suggest us to order? I was thinking 6-7 dishes.

[kathryn]

We end up doing 4-5 typically.

[feijai]

I seriously think kyo ya is one of the most under-publicized and under-rated (well nobody knows about it) japanese restaurant in manhattan.... the food they serve actually reminds me of aburiya (minus yakitori dishes) but more refined (and pricier). i think they have kaiseki starting 120 but can go all the way up to 200+ if requested. i;ve only ordered a la carte, but i've already gone 3 times and nearly everything that i've tried on the menu were exquisite (especially the fish, uni dishes, duck and chicken). there is a vegetable dish that i had which i thought was a rip off tho.. cuz it basically only consisted of a couple slices of daikon...

i spoke to the waiter and she said the chef used to work at Nadaman in kitano hotel (midtown) 3 years ago...don't know what he did the last 3 years though...

[vvvindaloo]

ok, so where is kyo ya? i am intrigued.

[wew]

Kyo Ya 94 east 7 st between 1st and A, downstairs

[vvvindaloo]

thanks!

[kathryn]

This place hasn't yet caught on with Chowhounds, I guess. Every time I've been, the restaurant is filled with lots of Japanese people. But, the food is great and they have high quality, fresh ingredients and daily specials. The other night we had edamame still on the branch, which was fantastic. I also like the "pressed" sushi.