Photo Plates

Anzu’s 25th Anniversary Tasting Menu, Illustrated

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This dish of smoked black cod with kabocha squash and truffle dashi was a defnite highlight.

Anzu (222 Mason Street, 2nd Floor), the upscale Asian-fusion restaurant at the Hotel Nikko, is, along with the hotel, celebrating its 25th birthday this fall. The dining room has been retooled, and in celebration they’re offering a five-course tasting menu that’s actually kind of a deal at $49 (with $30 extra for wine and sake pairings). Despite the stigma of that “fusion” word, the food feels neither dated, nor overworked, and there were a couple delicate and refined highlights that we’d say make this place a solid bet for Union Square dining, especially if you’re headed on a theater date.

See our slideshow of a recent meal.

An amuse from the sushi bar of spicy scallop, tuna, and tobiko caviar.
A deeply flavorful and delicious soup with morel mushrooms, shrimp relish, and a drizzle of basil oil.
A good departure from your standard beet salad, with spears of parsnip, turnip, burrata cheese, frisé, honeycomb, and blood orange vinaigrette.
One of two entrée choices on the menu, and our favorite, is this delicate, perfectly seasoned dish of smoked black cod, yukon gold potatoes, Honshemenji mushrooms, kabocha squash, mico cilantro, and a truffle dashi broth.
Perfectly cooked beef is paired with a super-rich, stock-based shallot and red wine sauce, along with Salinas purple cauliflower mash, heirloom baby carrots, and the best thing on the plate, a cheesy leek gratin.
This showy dessert, maybe the only dish that felt way too 90s, was a rich, flourless chocolate cake paired with banana cream, butterscotch sauce, and raspberries, served over a bowl of dramatic dry-ice “fog.”
Anzu’s 25th Anniversary Tasting Menu, Illustrated